Song of Solomon
Song of Solomon: Jesus our Groom
I.) Chp. 1 – 3:5 Falling in love
II.) Chp. 3:6 – 5:1 Here comes the bride
III.) Chp. 5:2 – 7:10 The truth about love
IV.) Chp. 7:11 – 8:14 Keep falling in love
We now come to the conclusion of the five poetical books which if you look at them minister to the make up of man. We were created as a triune being “Spirit, Soul and Body” and each of these five books speaks to a different aspect of mankind.
- Job: Expressed the cry of the human spirit for God to answer, deliver and comfort the heart that is suffering. What Job discovered by direct revelation from God was that the answer, deliverance and comfort lay not in knowing what and why but in finding rest in the WHO!
- Psalms, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes: Express the cry of the soul (the center of the emotions, intellect and will). Psalms spoke to the varied emotions, sometimes raw expressions but those emotions are brought before the heart of God. In Proverbs we find that understanding and wisdom is only found in a relationship with the Lord. Then finally in Ecclesiastes we find that under the sun we will only find true joy when we bend our will to God’s.
- Song of Solomon: That brings us to the final book which deals with our physical being and we find that the greatest need we have is the need for LOVE. This book is a “Love song” a poem dedicated to the human expression of love. But it goes deeper than the mere human expression of romantic love to the true fulfillment of our need for love which is found in God’s love for us as we are called the bride of Christ.
From the very first verse we are told that “The song of songs…is Solomon’s” he is mentioned seven times through out the book and he is also identified as the groom. According to 1 Kings 4:32 Solomon “spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five.” And this song has 49 words that appear no where else in scripture and was most likely written early in his reign though we are told in 6:8 that by this time Solomon already had “sixty queens,…eighty concubines, and virgins without number.” Yet with that said by the time we read in 1 Kings 11:3 the full extent of his harem will reach “seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines” and more importantly we read that “his wives turned away his heart”. Based upon this book we see that it was a historical event written in as a four act play depicting the four parts of marital love, the play is set in Jerusalem and in a field that that the bride’s (a Shulamite woman) family has leased from the King (Solomon who becomes the groom). It has only three main characters:
- The Bride: She is a Shulamite (the feminine form of Solomon: Truly she is Mrs. Solomon before she ever knows it). She has two brothers and two sisters but is forced to work the vineyards and tend the flocks as her family is poor. She is the “Cinderella” of the story as she has to work hard and has become tan in the hot Israeli sun. The Groom always refers to her as “my love”.
- The Groom: He is the King Solomon who during his search for the meaning of life apparently goes out onto his property and as king tends the sheep when he spies out this tanned beauty. They fall in love without her knowing that the handsome shepherd is really the king. The bride always refers to the groom by the words, “my beloved”.
- The Friends:Thesefriends are made up of “The daughters of Jerusalem” and “Her brothers”
It appears as Solomon is truly in love which would suggest that his “sixty queens,…eighty concubines, and virgins without number” were political in nature and not romantic. Make no mistake about it this book looks at marital intimacy but puts it into the parameters of marriage. Oh how satan has polluted the pure stream of intimacy by play both sides of the fence:
- He has made it dirty, something to be hidden and repressed and only thought of in terms of reproduction.
- Then he has made it entertainment, something to be exploited and driven without restraints like mere animals.
Song of Solomon presents human intimacy as God intended it to be between a man and a woman who have untied together in their mutual love for God and each other. Not just physical driven by our desires but spiritual led by the Holy Spirit into a molding into one from two of our body, soul and spirit.
Though this is a historical play of marital love it also is a great picture of God’s love for his bride the Church and the beauty of these 8 chapters go far deeper than what a man and woman can experience in a marriage united to Him.
I.) Chp. 1 – 3:5 Falling in love
In the opening act we see the physical attraction of the Shulamite as she sets her eyes upon this handsome shepherd who as yet she doesn’t know is none other than the wealthy land owned king. She says in 1:2 “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth–for your love is better than wine.” Dear ones when we first saw the beauty of our Lord’s grace the mere thought of His forgiving love was stronger than any earthly stimulant. She rightly remarks in verse 4b all the daughters of Jerusalem say, “We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will remember your love more than wine.” No wonder the Shulamite says, “rightly do they love you”. There is a work of the Spirit where we recognize the Love our Lord has far others and long for it ourselves. The there is the amazing reply of the beloved shepherd king to the Shulamite where he says in 1:15 “Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes.” Mutual attraction as he declares her beauty and in 2:2 he says of her “Like a lily among thorns”! Saint’s is it not a wonder that our Lord sees us as a lily among the thorns? He views us through the eyes of His redemptive grace which makes us a fragrant beauty amongst the cursed of a fallen world. It takes no time before she is proclaiming his greatness to all her friends in 2:4 “He brought me to the banqueting house and his banner over me was love!” In verse 2:8-9 she speaks of his physical attributes and agility, yet he is no brute who posses such power he is a gentleman as he spoke to her in 2:10 “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Have you heard our Lord say such words to you calling you oh so tenderly to come away with Him? In 2:14 she longs to see him and hear the sound of his voice, oh that you and I would so long for our Lord as she does!
But in 3:1-5 the shepherd king goes back unknown to her to his place and she seeks the longing of her heart, asking all if they have seen him and she is distraught at thought of being apart from her love. Saints would it not be great to have such a longing of heart for our Lord?
II.) Chp. 3:6 – 5:1 Here comes the bride
The second act begins with her love coming out of the wilderness but he is not just her shepherd, no he is her king! (verses 3:6-7). The 4th chapter opens with a repeat of his adoration of her which has not changed even though her understanding of who he is has. In 4:7 he declares that “You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you.” They say love is blind but not so my friend as our Lord’s love transforms our blemishes as he makes us His own. In 4:9-10 he call her his sister and spouse as our Lord makes us His family and we become one with Him. In 4:16 the wedding union is consummated and they have become one in wedded bliss. Such words are difficult for us to reconcile in light of our union with Jesus but when we asked Him into the chamber of our heart we walked with Him in the garden of both Eden and Gethsemane and the fragrance of His life poured out on our behalf mingled with our tears of joy. There are very few people who don’t remember the first time we fell in love with our Lord and He swept us away to make us His own. Oh how wonderful, how glorious is our First Love, may we never leave Him and if we do let us go back and do the first works.
III.) Chp. 5:2 – 7:10 The truth about love
The third act opens to adjustment of married life as they enjoy their love for each other but in 5:6 they find making time to be with each other challenging as she says, “I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had turned away and was gone. My heart went out to him when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.” Such seeming rejecting from the one she loves leaves her wounded outside the walls of his protection. Who among have not felt at times that we have called out to our Lord, opened our heart up to Him but don’t sense an answer? She tells her friends in 5:8 that if they should see him that they are to tell him that they she is love sick. Her friends try in 5:9 to console her by saying that he is not all that. Is that not the way of satan in answer to our need to diminish our Lord simply because we think he is not near? Ah but in 5:10-16 she will have none of that as she recalls his beauty and marvels at his greatness. Dear ones you will find no comfort in the longing of your heart by diminishing Jesus goodness, no absence does make the heart grow fonder. Go back to Him and speak of His greatness, rekindle your love of Him when He feel you are not near for it is not Him that has wondered it is us! In 6:1 such a heart changes her friends as they desire to help her find him and she responds by reminding herself of His love for her and her love of him in 6:3 where we read, “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.”
The in 6:4-10 he recalls her beauty and her perfection among all the others, as he says in 6:10 “Who is she who looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?” Then in 6:13 he along with his friends call out, “Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon you.” It was not he that had left her it was she that had left him, does your heart not bare the truth of this? He woes her back in 7:1-9 and such id our Lord towards us when we wonder away He again woes us back to His loving arms by recalling to us all that He sees in us because of His transforming love.
IV.) Chp. 7:11 – 8:14 Keep falling in love
Now to the 4th and final act as she responds to his wooing her saying in 7:11 “Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the field; let us lodge in the villages”, and in 7:12 she promises “There I will give you my love.” In 8:6 She says, “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death…” Then she reaffirms her commitment to him by saying in 8:7 “Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it..” Her brothers make a stab at her unworthiness in verse 8 by speaking of what she lacked but she now sees herself in verse 10 “in his eyes” and she “became one who found peace”. Dear saint’s there is no place you can find shelter from the onslaught of our short comings then to see ourselves in the eyes of His love and grace! And the play ends with the Beloved saying “You who dwell in the gardens, the companions listen for your voice—Let me her it” and she responds with back with “Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountain of spices.” I can’t but help to see the similarities of the final words of Revelation in 22:20 where we read, “Surely I am coming quickly” and John responds back saying “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”