Song of Songs – Part 2
Our last time together we started looking at the Song of Songs. You may remember that we divided up the book into three sections. The first is “anticipation.” The two lovers just can’t wait for their wedding day. Well, today’s the day! Chapter 3, verse 6 and following. The beloved is speaking here.
Who is this coming up from the desert
like a column of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and incense
made from all the spices of the merchant?
Look! It is Solomon's carriage,
escorted by sixty warriors,
the noblest of Israel ,
Then it goes on with a description of the scene … down to verse 11.
Come out, you daughters of Zion ,
and look at King Solomon wearing the crown,
the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
the day his heart rejoiced. (SS 3:11)
This marks the transition to a kind of a wedding scene. There are disagreements among scholars as to how we understand this. Some people think that Solomon is the literal bridegroom being described. I believe that’s unlikely, for a couple of reasons.
We know from chapter 1, verse 7, that the groom was a shepherd; and of course, Solomon was not. Another reason is that the major theme of this book is the exclusiveness of the love between the man and the woman. “My lover is mine, and I am his.” Anybody remember how many wives Solomon had? 700. Smartest guy in the world. And 300 concubines. And the text never says, “My lover is mine … and hers … and hers … and 997 other girls.”
I believe it’s much more likely that Solomon is kind of a code name for the groom. Poetry often works that way. And the pageantry and the court imagery used here expresses something very important. He may be just a shepherd, but in the eyes of the one who loves him, he’s a king.
This is not just an illusion … smoke and mirrors. In God’s eyes, the world is not divided up into important people like Solomon and CEOs, and then unimportant people like shepherds. In God’s eyes, everybody bears His image. In God’s eyes, everybody was made to reign with Him. And true love enables us to see just a little bit of what God sees when He looks at us through the eyes of Christ. When we love somebody, we see the ragged shepherd … but we can also see the king or queen.
So many people in our world are good at seeing faults. When we’re married … seeing somebody up close … we can see their faults all day long if we want to. What do we look for? The shepherd … or the king?
Chapter 4, verse 1 and following. This is the lover speaking to his beloved.
How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes behind your veil are doves.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from Mount Gilead .
Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn,
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin;
not one of them is alone.
Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
your mouth is lovely.
Your temples behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.
Your neck is like the tower of David ,
built with elegance;
on it hang a thousand shields,
all of them shields of warriors.
Your two breasts are like two fawns, (SS 4:1-5a)
Everything real clear so far? Let’s just stop for a moment here, because this is the kind of imagery that tends to just bog folks down. So let’s take a crack at explaining these images … it will help open the book up to us.
He says, “Your eyes behind your veil are (like) doves.” Doves in that culture were prized, especially for their color. In the sun, they were kind of a translucent gray.
And when you look into somebody’s eyes, it’s a very intimate thing. It’s a soul gaze. Their eyes will tell you if they’re happy, if they’re sad, or if they’re beaten down by life.
When you are deeply attached to somebody … it could be a spouse, a child or a friend … you know the color of their eyes. You want to know what’s going on in their soul, so you look into their eyes.
This man has looked real deep into those eyes. Maybe there is a pair of eyes we haven’t looked at deeply for a long time. We need to do that. Take the time to do that.
He goes on: “Your hair is like a flock of goats.” Again, in our day, “goat head” is not a compliment. But in that culture, it made sense. When a large herd of goats came down a hill, they would wind around it in a way that looked quite striking and attractive from a distance. This was the lover’s way of saying, “You hair is thick and wavy. I love how it curls. It looks wonderful!”
Then he says, “Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from the washing. Each has its twin.”
What’s with the twin deal? Does she have too many teeth? Let’s think about their culture for a minute. How many of us have or had children? How many of us have helped the orthodontists put his own children through college? Think about life in those days. There were no dentists, no orthodontists, no toothpaste or toothbrushes, no braces, no flossing. That was a bad millennium for teeth. Everybody was missing teeth.
But her teeth were lovely. They were white. They looked like sheep that had just been shorn and washed. And there was a lower tooth for every upper tooth. Isn’t that more attractive when you have lowers that match your uppers? That’s where that twin “thing” comes in. That’s the whole idea … there’s a full set of teeth.
He compliments her head. “Your temples are like the halves of a pomegranate.” The idea here is that she has a symmetrical head, just like we talk about somebody having a good bone structure.
Then he talks about her neck. The neck was a symbol of strength. Even in our day we say something like, “Her head will not be easily turned by someone who comes along.” It’ a symbol of elegant strength.
Then he says, “Your two breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies.”
This is just weird. I think he got to this point and just lost it. You can go ahead and look up this one on your own. There’s definite meaning with all the gentleness and the things involved with fawns, but I’m not going to go there.
Now, here’s what’s going on. This guy is not just taking inventory here. This is an ecstatic celebration of the worth of the one he loves. And he is using images that would be deeply compelling to the Middle Eastern heart. He’s going on record saying, “This is how much I want you. This is how firmly I devote myself to you.”
Moving on … verse 8 and following. The Lover is still speaking.
Come with me from Lebanon , my bride,
come with me from Lebanon .
Descend from the crest of Amana,
from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon,
from the lions' dens
and the mountain haunts of the leopards.
You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! (SS 4:8-10a)
Now, we’ll notice that in this section, it’s the first time he uses the word “bride.” He repeats the phrase, “my sister, my bride.” That’s strange to us, but in that culture family ties were the most binding ties of all. Blood was definitely thicker than water. So he is saying, “My tie to you will be the most binding of all. All of the loyalties that would go into any relationship with a member of my own birth family, I now give to you.” This is where he’s making his wedding vow.
So, let me ask. How’s your vow going? When was the last time you really looked at your spouse? When was the last time you named things in which you delight? “I love your smile.” “I love your heart.” “I love the way your eyes light up.” “I love the way you make me laugh.” He does all this for her.
Now, this is taking place during the wedding … and then it moves right into the honeymoon. Look at verse 16. This is the response of the Beloved. Again, I wouldn’t read this, except it’s in the Bible. She says:
Awake, north wind,
and come, south wind!
Blow on my garden,
that its fragrance may spread abroad.
Let my lover come into his garden
and taste its choice fruits. (SS 4:16)
You do understand that when she’s talking about a garden, she’s not talking about a literal garden with sunflowers and rutabagas. This is a metaphorical way of saying, “Whew whee!”
They are rejoicing in the intimacy God has given them within the marriage covenant. The fact that this is recorded in Scripture teaches us that God rejoices in this also. After all, it’s His gift to us.
Let’s keep moving. Chapter 5. At the end of the first verse, after the Lover has responded to his bride, the friends give a toast to the bride and groom, cheering their intimacy and closeness.
Eat, O friends, and drink;
Drink your fill, O lovers. (SS 5:1a)
About the role of the friends. Marriages don’t occur in vacuums. When we think about friends who are married, we want to ask ourselves, “Is their marriage stronger and better because I’m their friend?”
Praying for them is good start. God invites us to cheer and affirm when a marriage is strong and heading in the right direction. We can encourage our married friends, listen to them, and respond in ways that builds hope. If a marriage is in trouble, we can encourage our friends to seek out a good Christian counselor. When a marriage is doing well, we can rejoice with our friends. Every marriage needs a cheering section.
Chapter 5, verse 2. In the flow of the story, at this point the wedding is over. We don’t know how much time has past. Look at verse 2.
I slept, but my heart was awake.
Listen! My lover is knocking: (SS 5:2a)
She probably slept uneasily, because she was missing her man. Then she hears him knocking on the door. The text goes on:
"Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my flawless one.
My head is drenched with dew,
my hair with the dampness of the night." (SS 5:2b)
What’s going here? He’s a shepherd. He’s spent the whole night out with his flock. He comes to the door and says, “I had to work late, dear. My head is covered with dew, but I’m home now.” Notice all the pet names he uses, “my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one.” Can we guess what’s on his mind?
And here’s her response in verse 3.
I have taken off my robe--
must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet--
must I soil them again? (SS 5:3)
In other words, “Do I have to get up and let you in?” This is an ancient Middle Eastern way of saying, “Not tonight, I’ve got a headache.”
Even in this Song, the marriage deal is not always easy. But, she changes her mind, opens the door, and now he’s gone. She can’t find him, so she goes looking for him. She tells her friends:
daughters of Jerusalem , I charge you--
if you find my lover,
what will you tell him?
Tell him I am faint with love. (SS 5:8)
And then her friends respond:
How is your beloved better than others,
most beautiful of women?
How is your beloved better than others,
that you charge us so? (SS 5:9)
In other words, “What makes your man so hot, girlfriend?”
And she gives them another one of those long, metaphorical descriptions of why she loves him so much, and reaffirms once more, “I’m his and he’s mine.”
A little personal aside here. She says, “My lover is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.” (SS 5:10) Know what “ruddy” means? It means he had a red face. Know who else had a red face in the Bible? King David! It says in 1 Samuel 16:12; “So he sent and had (David) brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features.” So, for guys like Matt and me, we’d be considered handsome in the ancient Middle East because of our red faces.
Anyway …
Finally, he comes home, and there’s more passion and more joy. And it all leads to a passage in the final chapter that I think are the most beautiful words about romantic love ever written. We’ll read them in a few moments. But to wrap this up.
The message of the Song at this point is this. The wedding day is not the end … it’s the beginning. Too many couples focus on the wedding day and the honeymoon and spend all their time getting ready for that one short, stressful, blissful moment. But a marriage lasts a lifetime. And even in the strongest, most passionate marriages there will be tough times.
Every couple needs to be ready for that. If we get married expecting perfect harmony, endless romance, and no conflict, we will be sadly disappointed. The issue isn’t will we face difficult times … because we will. The issue is how will we respond when those tough times come?
Those are the days when we need to receive God’s power and grace when ours is in short supply. Those are the times when we need our chorus of friends to support and encourage us. Those are the moments that we might seek out the help of a good Christian counselor to help us get perspective and the tools that will help us move forward and build a marriage that honors God and brings blessing to our hearts.
The Song of Songs knows all this. And after their tough time … the Beloved says:
Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
And her Lover answers:
Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of his house for love,
it would be utterly scorned. (SS 8:6-7)
This is a closing declaration that their love will be unquenchable. In a world where intimacy, romance, and relationships seem to get snuffed out by busyness, apathy, unresolved conflict, financial stresses, poor communication, and selfishness … we need to hear these words.
Love seems to get quenched each day. But it doesn’t have to. God wants us to be happy in our relationships. But it takes work, commitment, effort. It’s well worth it. So do it!
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank You for the wonder, the variety, the frankness of Your Word. We want to rejoice that You created us man and woman, and Your gift to us is intimacy and joy in the marriage covenant. Grant us the wisdom of Your Spirit, the power of Your love, and the joy of fellowship and communion that is Yours in the Trinity, that our lives and relationships honor what You have intended, bringing joy into our hearts, and giving honor to You.
And the people said, “Amen.”
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