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What Are Your Thoughts? Copyright , Patheos. Song of Solomon reminds us that both marriage and the physical union that follows originate in God; we should therefore consider each of them as evidence of His grace working itself out in the world. View Chuck Swindoll's chart of Song of Solomon , which divides the book into major sections and highlights themes and key verses. Song of Solomon. Who wrote the book? Where are we? Why is Song of Solomon so important?
What's the big idea? How do I apply this? The people surround the King as the Bridal City, the New Jerusalem, which is decked out in royal splendor and surrounds Christ, the Husband, and which outshines the sun and moon with the reflected glory of God Rev He describes her as a tree which he climbs to gather and eat her fruit , reminiscent of the fruit trees in the garden.
It is nearly the same greeting Laban gives Jacob Gen and different groups claim kinship in similar terms cf. Jud , 2 Sam , , Up until this point the man has been called adam because he was formed from the dust of the ground, adamah. The word Ish is almost exactly the same word as Esh , fire. So, the dirt-man becomes fire-man in union with his bride. He is transformed and glorified.
The house where the lovers meet is made from temple materials — cedar and cypress , and like the temple the garden of love is a place of feasting ; Both the Bride and the Beloved are described in terms of temple imagery.
She is pictured as a lily, with cheeks like halves of pomegranates, like the lily-topped and pomegranate-encircled pillars in the temple court 1 Kg ff. Again, she herself is like a pillar that the Beloved climbs, a palm tree like the palm groves carved into the walls of the temple 1 Kg Her aroma is that of frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon and spices, like the perfumed anointing oil used in the sanctuary Ex ff.
As a love poem, it expresses in very passionate terms the desire of the Bride for the Beloved, and that of the Beloved for his Bride. In Ephesians 5, Paul points out that the fundamental meaning of the sexual relationship between a husband and wife is that it is an image, a type, of the relationship of Christ and the Church.
Scripture, especially in the prophets, frequently refers to Yahweh as Husband and Israel as Wife cf. When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine.
Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.
Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Yahweh brought His people out of wallowing in the blood of Egypt to bring them to His mountain and establish His covenant with them.
He anointed Aaron and the whole tabernacle with oil, setting them apart for holy use. He adorned them with the glory of the tabernacle: gold, silver, embroidered cloth and leather - plunder from the Egyptians. The rendering of the story in Ezekiel highlights the covenant of Sinai as His marriage covenant with His people. But despite all this, Israel turned away and whored after other lovers, other gods, and lusted after the gods of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, or anyone else who happened to pass by.
The Song shows desire set over against lust. The desire of the two lovers for one another is full, passionate, mature. Each is fully longing for and seeking after the other and will not turn aside to any other. Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me. She has become the radiant, glorious, spotless Bride - a Bride fit for the King. If what Paul says is true, that marriage is a picture of God with His people, Christ with the Church, then here we see the complete devotion and passionate desire of Christ for His Bride and of the Church for Christ.
This has implications for how the Church should be viewed. How often was Israel led astray? Personally, I find it nearly impossible to accept the first, however. I submit, on the basis of SOS , the following:. I have taken off my robe— must I put it on again? I have washed my feet— must I soil them again? My heart sank at his departure. I'd argue any sensus plenoir of the text is very simple - it's a man and a woman gettin' it on.
It's pretty straightforward. The characters themselves are pretty straightforward - there is a man, a woman, and a chorus of friends, pretty standard for any dramatised work of the period.
If one accepts this is a man and a woman, then the next question is, what is the relationship between man and woman in the context of the work -. Here, the case is often made that this is a newly married couple. SOS has the man saying to the woman:. That said, the only unequivocal statement that can be made is that these people are desperately in love - and they understand that. As far as wisdom literature goes and this is clearly wisdom literature the point is simple - love is wonderful, but.
It would take me a very long time to explain everything, but I find difficulty in both Israel as an analogy because she doesn't have sisters, the Church also doesn't have sisters is never "dark" as in "dark but comely" , and I don't generally like taking scripture as, "Well, the whole thing's just irrelevant anyway," especially since the first verse declares the work to be both the greatest of songs as well as a song of peace Solomon means "peace". Instead, I think that this is the story of a Saint.
A saint is someone who has sisters and someone who received beatings. A saint is someone who is dark generally a condition of poverty tan from working in the fields as well as a possible reference to sin and yet is redeemed by the beloved.
But, the thing which I find the most conspicuous is what I view as the hidden prophecy. As the woman likens describes herself in the opening verses, she drops a very subtle hint as to where she is from.
She uses a borrowed word from Arabic and through the rest of the text it becomes more and more clear that she is supposed to be from the area the Danites dwelt.
She would have been from Israel and yet she comes to Judah to wed. She was poor and likely provincial , but she is now a queen. And we can see this as a prophecy by looking to the life of Christ. Christ was born in Judah, but he is raised around where this maiden would have lived.
Finally, he travels down to Jerusalem for the act which will marry them. It is almost like he is not only reuniting the pieces of Israel, but he is also taking the maiden from her place of weakness and abuse and exalting her.
Finally, the references to the girl's sister are also explained.
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