Song of Solomon (or, Song of Songs) is similar in style to love poetry in Egypt from around the time of the Judges or the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties of Egypt (1305-1150 BC) (Papyrus Harris 500; The Cairo Love Songs; The Turin Love Song; The Papyrus Chester Beatty I Songs see HERE).

The Song of Solomon is similar to an album of songs or a musical. The book is a collection of several songs that are sung back and forth by:

• A male singer (“Lover”)
• A female singer (“Beloved”)
• A female chorus (“Friends” of the girl or the female singer)

The singing begins with the female singer, the “Beloved” girl embarrassed and apologizing about her dark skin. In her part of the world and in her ancient culture dark skin from working in the sun was common. White skin was preferred because it was the color of the skin of the wealthy and the upper class who had servants to do the work. The color of the skin was not racial, but a social distinction. Skin color indicated class of people not race in this reference by the girl.

We do not know why her brothers were upset with her, but because of their decision she had to spend her time outside caring for the family vineyard (literally) and she did not have time to take care of her own vineyard (metaphorically her body, namely her skin).

She then addresses her boyfriend who is a shepherd. She asks him where they can rendezvous over his lunch hour. He needs to give her a time and a location otherwise she will have to cover her face with a veil and go out in public looking for him.

At this point in the musical (Song of Solomon 1:8) the female choir, which is made up of the girlfriend’s friends, giving her clues and general directions to her boyfriend.

In Song of Solomon 1:9-11 the boyfriend begins to speak/sing. First, he compares her appearance to that of one of Pharaoh’s chariot horses which were always exceptionally adorned in decorations and gold as is attested to many images and wall carvings (See Tutakhamen’s horses HERE). Or, he could be saying if she, a beautiful mare, ventured out among the shepherds there would be a commotion among the stallions (males). He then promises a gift of gold earrings with studs of silver to add to her beauty. The boy seems to be doing fairly well financially as a shepherd! So, he may be speaking metaphorically.

The girlfriend responds by calling her boyfriend “the king.” She speaks of the fragrance of her perfume reaching her boyfriend. And, likewise, his presence to her is like the rare, expensive spices from En Gedi, an oasis high above the western shore of the Dead Sea.

Pastors and parents often try to blame the government and public schools for the cultural decline of our American society. They also throw sitcoms and Hollywood into the boiling cauldron of responsibility. But, the truth of the matter is our children have been lost long before sitcoms, schools and socialism got a hold of them.

Only 19% of a group who call themselves born again have a Christian worldview.
If pastors were actually teaching the Bible maybe people would believe in absolute truth, a creator, biblical principles of society, sin, the sin nature of man and the existence of evil. Read this except from Barna's report and maybe you can see how far gone we are as a society.

"The research data showed that one pattern emerged loud and clear: young adults rarely possess a biblical worldview. The current study found that less than one-half of one percent of adults in the Mosaic generation – i.e., those aged 18 to 23 – have a biblical worldview, compared to about one out of every nine older adults."
(See Barna Research)