Song-of-solomon 1:1

The song of songs - A song of peculiar excellence. See the Introduction. The rabbins consider this superior to all songs. Ten songs, says the Tarpon, have been sung; but this excels them all.

1. The first was sung by Adam when his sin was pardoned.

2. The second was sung by Moses and the Israelites at the Red Sea.

3. The third was sung by the Israelites when they drank of the rock in the wilderness.

4. The fourth was sung by Moses when summoned to depart from this world.

5. The fifth was sung by Joshua when the sun and moon stood still.

6. The sixth was sung by Deborah and Barak after the defeat of Sisera.

7. The seventh was sung by Hannah when the Lord promised her a son.

8. The eighth was sung by David for all the mercies given him by God.

9. The ninth is the present, sung in the spirit of prophecy by Solomon.

10. The tenth is that which shall be sung by the children of Israel when restored from their captivities. See the Targum.

The "Song of songs," i. e., the best or most excellent of songs.

Which is Solomon's - literally, "to" or "for Solomon," i. e., belonging to Solomon as its author or concerning him as its subject. In a title or inscription, the former interpretation is to be preferred.

1:1 The song - The most excellent of all songs. And so this might well be called, whether you consider the author of it, who was a great prince, and the wisest of all mortal men; or the subject of it, which is not Solomon, but a greater than Solomon, even Christ, and his marriage with the church; or the matter of it, which is most lofty, containing in it the noblest of all the mysteries contained either in the Old or the New Testament; most pious and pathetical, breathing forth the hottest flames of love between Christ and his people, most sweet and comfortable, and useful to all that read it with serious and Christian eyes.