SS 1: We Meet the Couple

Song of Solomon 1:2 "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—for your love is more delightful than wine. "

Song of Solomon is underway. The love book. The book you should read if you are trying to hook up with someone of the opposite sex, or a king or a vineyard girl.

The language is pretty intense here, not bothering to hide or use euphemisms. He is a king in search of true love. She is a laborer who tends her brothers' vineyards. Not exactly a match made in heaven at first sight. And she, though she is falling in love with the king, appears to be very self conscious of her dark skin. This is a characteristic presumably not congruent with the typical royal woman of the king's court. He wouldn't typically want someone from the laboring class. But it didn't matter. She's beautiful, and is speaking to him as though she sincerely wants to be with him, and not just because he is royalty.

Sweeter than perfume, more delightful than wine, this is the language used by the two to describe how they feel about the other. He doesn't try to mask that he is drawn by her beauty. But it isn't like, "Yo, you're hot, lets get in bed." He offers descriptions with specific examples: a mare in Pharaoh's chariot squad. He is a cluster of henna blossoms. Her eyes are like doves.

Then he describes their house, cedar and firs. They don't live in some ghetto mud hut or a tent.