The Holy Bible - Song of Solomon

We do not know when this book was written or who wrote it. We do know that King Solomon is mentioned in this book. This book is a collection of love poems celebrating the love between a couple. The main voice in these poems is that of a woman, while we also have a voice that seems to belong to a man who is not Solomon. The woman seems to be engaged to the man, who is a shepherd. It is virtually impossible to analyze this book as a single poem because it does follow a structure and is quite disjointed. However, we can understand it using key themes. One is that of longing and desire, as when this couple gets separated, the voices interchange, shifting from the woman to that of the man. It is clear that they deeply love each other and want to be together. The other theme is that of physical attraction where the couple elaborately and explicitly describe each other. At the end of the book, the poem defines love. Using emphatic language, it paints the picture of love as an extremely powerful thing, how it can both be a constructive and destructive force. But, ultimately, love is a gift from God. The book ends with Solomon trying to buy the woman's love, but she refuses and longs for the man she is in love with. The message of this book seems to be the importance, significance, and power of love and how it transcends earthly things like wealth and is part of divine providence.