Song 1:7-8 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Song 1:7-8: 1:7-8 leading your flock: In the dramatic view, the woman’s lover and his friends are literal shepherds, not a line of work or the company that one would associate with King Solomon at any time in his life. • like a prostitute (literally like a veiled woman ): Prostitutes wore veils to hide their identities (Gen 38:14-16 ). Since the woman has been claimed by Solomon as a concubine, she has reason to shroud herself and avoid being obvious. She wants to avoid having to ask everyone around her for the location of someone she loves (cp. Song 3:3 ; 5:6-7 ). She wants to find him privately during the resting period at noon so they can enjoy the time together.

bGen 38:14-16►

cSong 3:3►

‏ Song of Solomon 1:7-8

Summary for Song 1:7-8: 1:7-8 ^a leading your flock: In the dramatic view, the woman’s lover and his friends are literal shepherds, not a line of work or the company that one would associate with King Solomon at any time in his life.

• like a prostitute (literally like a veiled woman): Prostitutes wore veils to hide their identities (Gen 38:14-16 ^b). Since the woman has been claimed by Solomon as a concubine, she has reason to shroud herself and avoid being obvious. She wants to avoid having to ask everyone around her for the location of someone she loves (cp. Song 3:3 ^c; 5:6-7 ^d). She wants to find him privately during the resting period at noon so they can enjoy the time together.
1:8 ^e The man’s first words in this poem lovingly pacify the woman’s anxiety by giving directions to where she should meet him.

• The man desires to be with her and tells her to come under the guise of a goatherd, following the trail of his flock.