Preface

“Behold, thou art fair, my love, behold, thou art fair: thou hast doves’ eyes”

The Song of Solomon is the most fascinating and comforting book of the Bible meant for the backsliding Church, the Bride of Christ, that is the comfortless, disheartened and desperate disciples of Christ who have been either lost in the wilderness of sinful pleasures or trapped in the snares of the cunning Devil.

Three books Solomon wrote. The first book ‘Proverbs” was written by him out of the God-given wisdom. The second book “Ecclesiastes” was written by him not merely out of his wisdom but out of his experiences of backsliding in that he “loved many strange women” (I King 11.1) and thus found himself landing in the vanity of this world. Solomon, depicting his romantic episode with the Shulamite, a shepherd girl, wrote the third book “Song of Songs” so as to assure the backsliding children of God forgiveness of sins and restoration of soul by His long suffering and abundant mercy.

This book having some special features is shrouded with the secrets of God and reveals in a mysterious way the unfathomable and incomprehensible love of Christ for His bride. The unique feature is that Christ reveals His eternal love individually and personally toward His elect.

This wonderful book embodying love, also called as “the love-letter of Jesus to His bride” precedes the prophetic books of the Bible, which mostly bristle with words of judgment against the backsliding children of God. Strangely enough, the Song of Songs has no words of judgment or accusation. The absence of the word “sin” would catch the eye here unlike the other biblical books. Without this unique book, the Holy Bible would truly lack in something spectacular and majestic. This wonderful book of the Bible unfolds the marvelous and unique Personality of Christ Jesus, and the peculiar personality of His bride as viewed by Him. The divine Author devotes more of this book to describe the beauty and the peculiar personality of His bride than about Christ, the Bridegroom. This shows His great concern for His Body, the Church.

The Song of Solomon constantly exhorts the backsliding children of God to “rise up and come away” whatever be the present circumstances or the past life. This book unfolds the incomprehensible love of Christ for His elect – the sheltering love which covers the multitude of sins; the sublime love which blinds the holy eye of the Bridegroom to the wretchedness and unworthiness of His beloved; the flaming love which cannot be quenched by “many waters”; the lofty love which cannot be drowned by “the floods”, the precious love which cannot be valued in mere monetary terms.

This book enriched in its superb poetic contents would mean a great deal to a poet seated in the Darbar (court-room) of the King of Kings and would, if rightly interpreted, prove to be rather unparalleled by any other poetic book of this world, ever written. Oh, hardly had I touched a string of this heavenly Vina (an Indian stringed musical instrument) as a novice when I heard the sweet voice of my Beloved! Will you please come apart, whatever be the mundane business you are engrossed in, so as to be alone with your Beloved, and play the role of the Shulamite in this divine drama, not as a worldly stage actor, but as a true bride of Christ?

The blessed Holy Spirit inspired, taught, and guided me in writing this book during a long period of almost 15 years from 1986 to 2001. The Lord taught me practically out of my own life in interpreting the Song of Songs. Today this book has fallen into your hands not by mere coincidence but by His providence because God has a message for you. As you read and meditate on this book, your personal life may surely undergo a tremendous change, and God will mightily use your ministry in a manner beyond your own imagination. You need a tranquil environment and a lot of patience in comprehending what the Lord wants to convey you through these pages. There are 8 chapters in the Song of Songs. Each chapter is interpreted in sequence under various sub-titles.

- Job Anbalagan