She reciprocates his feelings (7:9-10), and they go on a second honeymoon to the countryside villages (7:11) where they resume their passionate partnership (8:1-3). He longs to enjoy her pleasures again (7:8-9). The husband quickly realizes his mistake he returns to her, confessing she is “my dove, my perfect one… unique.” The friends beg the Shulammite to return to him (6:13), and the husband launches into another graphic description of her body, lingering on every part of her form, from her feet to her hair (7:1-5). She fears her husband has “gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and gather lilies,” and yet she knows their marriage must be kept sexually exclusive (6:3). That doesn’t deter her, and she gives a rather explicit physical description of his body to her friends, asking them to watch for him (6:10-16). The bride chases after him but can’t find him, and, to make matters worse, she is mugged in the nocturnal streets of Jerusalem (5:6-7). He storms out, apparently headed to the royal harem. One night, Solomon wants to make merry with his wife, but she is too tired (5:2-3). Throughout this honeymoon passage, the language is very graphic yet veiled in figurative terms that appropriately covey the beauty of the intimacy of marriage without being at all vulgar or course.Īfter the honeymoon, the couple has a falling out. Notice how explicit the Scriptures are, and yet how discreet. Their friends encourage them to drink they fill of love (5:1). I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey I have drunk my wine and my milk” (5:1). He tells us, “I have come into my garden, my bride I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. The bride invites her groom to “come into his garden and taste its choice fruits.” He does. The groom describes his wife’s body in exquisite detail (4:1-7), and he calls her his “bride” five times (4:9-15). This is where the book gets steamy (in a sanctified sense). It is “the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced” (3:10). The day final dawns when Solomon comes for her in a carriage escorted by 60 warriors (3:7). She can hardly wait for her wedding day and she badly misses her beloved when he is not near her (3:1-4) but again, the couple is cautioned against yielding to the temptation of premarital sex (3:5). She accepts his proposal, exclaiming, “My beloved is mine and I am his” (2:16). He says, “Come with me… Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me” (2:10, 13). With great anticipation, the Shulammite looks forward to the next visit from Solomon and can hardly believe it when he shows up (2:8). But they are cautioned not to become physically intimate until the time is right, that is, until they are married (2:7). The book opens with the Shulammite longing to be kissed by the handsome king (1:2) and he is smitten with her, declaring her is as beautiful as one of Pharaoh’s mares, which, in those days, was high praise (1:9). When Solomon came into the area to check on his flocks (1:7) he saw the girl in the vines and it was love at first sight. The story involves Solomon, who owned vineyards in the Galilee (8:11), and a peasant girl from Shulam (6:13), who was working among the vines and was bullied by her brothers (1:6). It helps to have a modern Bible that identifies the speakers. Three speakers assume roles in this epic poem, as if in a play: Solomon the bride and their friends. No generation has more needed a Song-of-Solomon view of love and sex and marriage.īackground: Solomon wrote 1005 songs (1 Kings 4:32), but this is the best-the song of songs. Since God invented love, sex, and marriage, He intends His people to enjoy the blessings He invented and Song of Songs leaves no doubt about that. Yet Song of Songs is highly sensual in a sanctified and God-blessed way. I would use the word “steamy,” but that doesn’t sound right either. I would use the word “erotic” but that term has negative connotations. But Song of Songs is the Bible’s definitive book on love, sex, and marriage, and it is filled with sexually colorful images. Solomon veiled his sensuality in figurative language, and earlier generations simply used it as an analogy for Christ’s love for His bride, the church. I wish I had realized this much earlier in my ministry, because I would have based pre-marital counseling around it. Introduction: Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs) is the Bible’s Pre-Marital Counseling Course. The Bible’s Most Misunderstood Book – And Its Most Sensual
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