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Answer: (c) True, the bride and bridegroom share their love for each other
Read Song of Songs 1:4 in context (Song of Songs 1)
Note: we as read throughout the first chapter, the bride and bridegroom share their love for each other.
Note: bedchamber, or chamber, is an archaic word for bedroom or a private room.
Note: Song of Songs 1:4 is an important verse in understanding the Song of Songs, especially where Bible
versions apply either me/us or the me/we view to this verse.
Note: Ehlke, in the People’s Bible Commentary, a NIV based commentary, speaks to the importance of Song of Songs 1:4: “The KJV translates the opening line of verse 4, ‘Draw me, we will run after thee.’ This translation is more in keeping with the ancient reading of this verse. And it is the first of a number of passages that in various ways hint at something beyond a literal love story taking place in Song of Songs.” Ehlke considers the NIV and other versions of the Bible that uses wording that could alter the meaning of verse 4 when he explains that the lovers would obviously want to be alone unless “the King represents Christ, then it makes sense. Believers want others to join them in following Jesus” (Logos Bible Software).
Note: Ehlke is in agreement with a much older commentary by Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown that, from a wider perspective, sees a Jewish and a Christian spiritual view of the 4th verse that could be expressed as “(1) The cry of ancient Israel for Messiah, for example, Simeon, Anna, etc. (2) The cry of an awakened soul for the drawing of the Spirit, after it has got a glimpse of Christ's loveliness and its own helplessness.” In a more narrowed view, they further speak to the me/we aspect of the verse by adding, “No believer desires to go to heaven alone. We are converted as individuals; we follow Christ as joined in a communion of saints (Joh 1:41, 45). Individuality and community meet in the bride” (Olive Tree Bible Software).
Works Cited
Ehlke, Roland C., People’s Bible Commentary: Ecclesiastes/Song of Songs. Northwestern Publishing House, 1988 (Logos Bible Software).
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Public Domain, 1871 (Olive Tree Bible Software).
The screenshot below is compiled from Bible gateway and compares and contrasts the use of me/use or me/we