Summary of The Book:
A celebration of how the most important human relationship can be the greatest experience we ever have on earth, when done the God of the scriptures way.
It is also the story of Christ and His church. We don’t have to be ashamed to talk abut sexual intimacy within God’s holy plan for it.
Pt. 1: Song of Songs 1:1 – 2:8
(Author)
1 The Ultimate Song, by Solomon.
- Compilation of wedding songs / poems by Solomon
- Two ways to read the book: Multi-Layered meaning of Scripture
- #1. The description of the ideal union of two humans done God’s way
- #1. The description of how we should be intimate in our relationship with God
- We should be the Bride and Christ is our Groom!
(Bride)
2 Let him smother me with kisses from his mouth, for your love is better than wine. 3 Your anointing oils have a wonderful fragrance; your name is like anointing oil poured out. This is why young women love you. 4 “Take me with you. We will run together”. The king has brought me into his rooms.
- The groom’s love is better than wine: intoxicating at different levels (spiritual)
- Good smells were a luxury,
- God’s idea of love & commitment between a man & a woman is enjoyable!
(Guests)
We will be glad and rejoice for you. We will praise your love more than wine.
How right it is for us to love you!
- The community of God’s people affirm this God ordained relationship
(Bride)
5 I am dark tan but beautiful, you daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. 6 Don’t stare at me because I’m dark; it’s the sun that tanned me. My mother’s sons were angry with me and made me look after the vineyards. But I haven’t cared for my own vineyard.
- There is a humility that is part of the character of the Bride
- She is not to be judged by appearances alone
(Bride)
7 Tell me, my love, where you pasture your flock, where you have them rest at noon; for why should I veil myself beside the flocks of your friends?
- She is asking to be incorporated into every aspect of her beloved’s life
- She want to be fully associated as HIS, she wants to be taken off the market
(Guests)
8 If you do not know, you most beautiful of women, then follow the footprints of the flock and let your kids graze by the shepherds’ tents.
- They are telling her she could know if she would follow the right guidance
- Some of being brought to union by God involves letting it happen organically
(Groom)
9 My love, I compare you with my mare, pulling one of Pharaoh’s chariots —10 your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with its strings of beads; 11 we will make you ornaments of gold, studded with silver.
- This is an expression of how the groom wants to show his bride off
- These ornaments highlight her natural beauty, but they don’t overshadow it
- She deserves nice things but she doesn’t need them to be his desire
(Bride)
12 As the king reclines at table, my nard gives forth its perfume: 13 to me the man I love is a sachet of myrrh lodged between my breasts; 14 to me the man I love is a spray of henna flowers in the vineyards of En Gedi.
- When the groom is in his place the bride will naturally attract him
- To the bride the groom is a secure pleasure, an ever present source of delight
- A great spot at a great location
(Groom)
15 Look at you, my love! How beautiful you are! Your eyes are doves!
- Doves used as items of sacrifice
- The affection is genuine
(Bride)
16 — Look at you! So handsome, so pleasing, my darling! Our bed is the greenery; 17 cedars are the beams of our houses, cypresses the rafters.
- The bride is enthralled with the groom because he is HER darling (exclusive)
- The location of their intimacy is all creation! (not just sexually in a bed)
(Bride)
2:1 I am but a rose from the Sharon, just a lily in the valleys.
- Another expression of humility by the bride
- She is saying she is not anything special but an ordinary, common flower
(Groom)
2 Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the other women.
- In comparison to others the groom views his bride as a breed unto herself!
- There is no comparison in his eyes
(Bride)
3 Like an apple tree among the other trees in the forest is my darling among the other men. I love to sit in his shadow; his fruit is sweet to my taste. 4 He brings me to the banquet hall; his banner over me is love.
- The apple is the most valuable of trees: vary hardy, long producing, & beautiful
- Security is found in the groom’s covering,
- The bride wants to be overshadowed by the groom
- His natural gift to is enjoyable to HER
- It’s a place of celebration & honor: public display of the grooms affection
- His banner is who He is and what He believers about her
(Bride)
5 Sustain me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love. 6 I wish his left arm under my head, and his right arm around me. 7 I warn you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and deer in the wilds, not to awaken or stir up love until it wants to arise!
- The groom at once flusters the bride and sustains her
- For the bride to be sick with love is to be overcome, but the groom is the cure
- The embrace of the groom is almost too much for her t handle
- God wants the fullness of intimacy to be an overwhelming experience
- But it is only to be experienced in the way HE has sanctioned
- The warning is that to get the full experience you need to do it God’s way!
Summary:
The experience of God ordained marriage goes beyond natural pleasures. A Biblical relationship with Christ is supernatural.
The Bride is drawn to the Groom as the Biblical Church is drawn to Christ!
The Bride is humble & focused on others. Christ’s Bride exists only through humility
The Groom is proud of His Bride and brings Her into every dimension of His life. Christ wants us to share every aspect of Himself with us.
The exclusivity of the marriage relationship provides ‘secure pleasures.’ Only ‘In Christ’ can we experience ‘peaceful Joy’.
There is a proper time for love between a man and a woman to be expressed in sexual intimacy: The union of Biblical marriage. The terms of our surrender to Christ’s Lordship are His to dictate.
APPLICATION:
Why do you believe (or not believe) that sexual intimacy should only occur between a man and a woman in the relationship of Biblical marriage?
How do you see yourself as Christ’s Bride? How do you act as Christ’s Bride?
Married Couples: what ‘secure pleasures’ can you provide for your spouse?
Not yet Married: how will invite your future spouse into every part of your life?
How can you live more like Jesus Christ is proud of you and wants to show you off?