Tommy Mann

In Proverbs 3 Solomon speaks of wisdom as a godly lady, and he tells his son the reason why he should pursue this lady named wisdom. One reason why is found in verse 17: "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." Pleasantness and peace sound nice. Pleasantness means enjoyable or agreeable. Everyone wants to have an enjoyable and peaceful life, but I think Solomon might be saying something a little more clever than just that.  Although she is not mentioned by name in the book of Proverbs, according to 1 Kings 14:31, Solomon's wife's name was Naamah. The Hebrew word for pleasantness is noam,  which is closely associated with Solomon's wife's name (her name is also translated as pleasantness). But there is more. In the Song of Songs, Solomon's young wife is not named, but she is called Shulamite, which is the feminine form of Solomon's name (kind of like being called "Mrs. Solomon"). Shulamite is connected with the Hebrew ...

  In 1881 Charles Fry wrote a hymn with this familiar refrain: “He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star, He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.” The line, which also forms the title to the hymn, comes from the Song of Solomon. 2:1 says, “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.” Lilly of the valley and rose of Sharon have become titles for Christ because of this verse.    Many Christians take an allegorical approach to interpreting the Song of Songs. They say the poems contained therein exist only as a picture of the love God has for His people. Indeed, the Bible frequently uses the analogy of a marriage, with Jesus being the perfect groom, and the church collectively being the bride. I happen to believe the book is meant to be taken at face value—as a beautiful, at times erotic, expression of love between two real people, King Solomon and his first true love, the Shulamite.   With that said, I believe we also have latitude to take the lov...

If you have spent much time in church you have probably sung some songs with lyrics like these: “He leads me to his banqueting table, his banner over me is love… Jesus is the rock of my salvation, his banner over me is love.” “Sweetest rose of Sharon, come to set us free.” “He’s the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star…” But are those songs biblical? They come out of the writings of the Song of Solomon, but are we to understand those lines as describing Christ? The Song of Solomon is a collection of love poems that were written between two people who were deeply in love and about to be married. While we know that King Solomon is one of the writers, the other’s name has escaped us, and we know her today simply as the Shulamite woman. Some people believe that since this woman is not named then she never existed; some teach that this book is pure allegory, only existing to serve as symbolism. King Solomon, they say, represents Jesus as the Bridegroom...