[By Ron Halbrook]
Introduction:
1.
Young King Solomon
& a beautiful young woman of Shulam
celebrate their love
as she becomes his bride.
10 I am my beloved's,
and his desire is toward me.
2
Introduction:
2. We see their relationship develop
as a series of scenes & stages.
3
Introduction:
3. This poem celebrates loyal steadfast love
experienced in marriage.
God ordained companionship,
affection, & passionate love in marriage.
4
God ordained companionship,
affection, & passionate love in marriage.
24 Therefore shall a man
leave his father and his mother,
and shall cleave unto his wife:
and they shall be one flesh.
5
Introduction:
3. This poem celebrates loyal steadfast love
experienced in marriage.
Passionate love is God’s gift
in marriage—unmatched by crude, cruel
counterfeits (pornography, fornication,
adultery, rape, incest, homosexuality, etc.).
6
Passionate love is God’s gift
in marriage—unmatched by crude, cruel counterfeits
15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern,
and running waters out of thine own well.
16 Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad,
and rivers of waters in the streets.
17 Let them be only thine own,
and not strangers' with thee.
18 Let thy fountain be blessed:
and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.
7
Passionate love is God’s gift
in marriage—unmatched by crude, cruel counterfeits
19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe;
let her breasts satisfy thee at all times;
and be thou ravished always with her love.
20 And why wilt thou, my son,
be ravished with a strange woman,
and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
21 For the ways of man
are before the eyes of the LORD,
and he pondereth all his goings.
8
Passionate love is God’s gift
in marriage—unmatched by crude, cruel counterfeits
22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself,
and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.
23 He shall die without instruction;
and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
9
Introduction:
3. This poem celebrates loyal steadfast love
experienced in marriage.
Married love: spontaneous, beautiful,
powerful, & exclusive—
includes “moments of separation & intimacy,
anguish & ecstasy, tension & contentment”
(Zondervan NIV Study Bible: 1020)
10
Introduction:
3. This poem celebrates loyal steadfast love
experienced in marriage.
King Solomon found this love as a young man
but later stumbled over political marriages—
this gift can be damaged or lost.
11
Introduction:
4. Why people avoid this book, or spiritualize it
as a poem of Christ’s love for the church.
Satan associates passion with sexual sins.
Study with appreciation not fear:
God not Satan created passionate love
in marriage.
12
Introduction:
5. God’s gift of married love is a priceless blessing:
Changes our character by teaching us
to value & serve our mate!
Perpetuates the human race in a godly way!
Merits praise, celebration, & thanksgiving!
13
TITLE 1:1
The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s
1. Solomon asked God for wisdom (1 Kgs. 3:9).
2. He wrote 3,000 proverbs, 1,004 songs (4:32).
3. This is his most beautiful & unique song!
14
I. FIRST SCENE 1:2-2:7
Love’s Passion
SUMMARY: Solomon & his beloved Shulamite
share admiration & affection.
“His banner over me was love” (2:4).
15
II. SECOND SCENE 2:8-3:5
Love’s Promise
SUMMARY: Their love grows like the beauties
of springtime. The Shulamite dreams
about searching for Solomon.
16
A.
She is ripe for picking:
committed to him but not yet married.
She says:
8 The voice of my beloved!
behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains,
skipping upon the hills.
9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart:
behold, he standeth behind our wall,
he looketh forth at the windows,
shewing himself through the lattice.
17
A.
She is ripe for picking:
committed to him but not yet married.
She
10 My beloved spake, and said unto me,
relates Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
what 11 For, lo, the winter is past,
he said:
the rain is over and gone;
12 The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs,
and the vines with the tender grape
give a good smell.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
18
A.
She is ripe for picking:
committed to him but not yet married.
He says:
14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret places of the stairs,
let me see thy countenance,
let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice,
and thy countenance is comely.
19
A.
She is ripe for picking:
committed to him but not yet married.
He says:
15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes,
that spoil the vines:
for our vines have tender grapes.
Let us guard
& protect
the tender vines
of love.
20
A.
She is ripe for picking:
committed to him but not yet married.
She says:
This love is mutual & exclusive!
16 My beloved is mine, and I am his:
he feedeth among the lilies.
17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away,
turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe
or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.
Because he values her so highly (“lily among thorns,” 2:2),
she wants to give herself to him freely, fully.
21
B.
She dreams she cannot find him,
then finds him & holds him fast.
She says:
1 By night on my bed I sought him
whom my soul loveth: I sought him,
but I found him not.
2 I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets,
and in the broad ways I will seek him
whom my soul loveth:
I sought him, but I found him not.
3 The watchmen that go about the city found me:
to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
22
B.
She dreams she cannot find him,
then finds him & holds him fast.
She says:
4 It was but a little that I passed from them,
but I found him whom my soul loveth:
I held him, and would not let him go,
until I had brought him into my mother's house,
and into the chamber of her that conceived me.
This love includes the challenge of seeking & finding:
up’s & down’s, drifting apart & drawing together,
alienation & reconciliation, confusion & clarity.
23
B.
She dreams she cannot find him,
then finds him & holds him fast.
She says:
5 I charge you,
O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
by the roes, and by the hinds of the field,
that ye stir not up, nor awake my love,
till he please.
I charge you by all things beautiful & tender,
let love grow in its own time & way.
24
III. THIRD SCENE 3:6-5:1
Love’s Wedding
SUMMARY: After the joys of the royal wedding,
Solomon praises the beauty of his wife.
She invites him into the garden of love.
25
A.
“Behold King Solomon” & his entourage
with his bride on their royal wedding day.
Friends share the celebration:
6 Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness
like pillars of smoke,
Symbols:
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
attractive,
with all powders of the merchant?
strength,
7 Behold his bed [royal carriage], which is Solomon's;
safety,
threescore valiant men are about it,
security
of the valiant of Israel.
8 They all hold swords, being expert in war:
every man hath his sword upon his thigh
because of fear in the night.
26
A.
“Behold King Solomon” & his entourage
with his bride on their royal wedding day.
Friends share the celebration:
9 King Solomon made himself a chariot
of the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made the pillars thereof of silver,
the bottom thereof of gold,
the covering of it of purple,
the midst thereof being paved with love,
for the daughters of Jerusalem.
Honored the occasion & his bride with new carriage!27
A.
“Behold King Solomon” & his entourage
with his bride on their royal wedding day.
Friends share the celebration:
11 Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion,
and behold king Solomon with the crown
wherewith his mother crowned him
in the day of his espousals,
and in the day of the gladness of his heart.
Day of great joy: wore a symbol of his mother’s love
as he made his bride his first love
28
B.
Solomon woos her
with passionate praise of her beauty.
He says: 1 Behold, thou art fair, my love;
behold, thou art fair;
thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks:
thy hair is as a flock of goats,
that appear from mount Gilead.
2 Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep
that are even shorn,
which came up from the washing;
whereof every one bear twins,
and none is barren among them.
29
B.
Solomon woos her
with passionate praise of her beauty.
He says:
3 Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,
and thy speech is comely:
thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate
within thy locks.
4 Thy neck is like the tower of David
builded for an armoury,
whereon there hang a thousand bucklers,
all shields of mighty men.
30
B.
Solomon woos her
with passionate praise of her beauty.
He says:
5 Thy two breasts are like two young roes
that are twins,
which feed among the lilies.
6 Until the day break,
and the shadows flee away,
I will get me to the mountain of myrrh,
and to the hill of frankincense.
31
B.
Solomon woos her
with passionate praise of her beauty.
He says:
7 Thou art all fair, my love;
there is no spot in thee.
Compliments not criticisms made her feel
loved & valued above all others.
32
C.
Solomon promises her security,
and expresses his passionate love for her.
He says:
8 Come with me from Lebanon,
my spouse,
Insecurity:
with me from Lebanon: needs reassurance!
look from the top of Amana,
from the top of Shenir and Hermon,
from the lions' dens,
from the mountains of the leopards.
33
C.
He
says:
Solomon promises her security,
and expresses his passionate love for her.
9 Thou hast ravished my heart, Her love captivates
& delights him!
my sister, my spouse;
thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes,
with one chain of thy neck.
10 How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse!
how much better is thy love than wine!
and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
11 Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb:
honey and milk are under thy tongue;
and the smell of thy garments
34
is like the smell of Lebanon.
D.
Solomon says she is a garden,
& she invites him to enjoy her fruits.
He says:
He praises her moral purity!
12 A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse;
a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
13 Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates,
with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,
14 Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon,
with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes,
with all the chief spices:
15 A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters,
and streams from Lebanon.
35
D.
Solomon says she is a garden,
& she invites him to enjoy her fruits.
She says:
16 Awake, O north wind;
and come, thou south;
blow upon my garden,
that the spices thereof may flow out.
Let my beloved come into his garden,
and eat his pleasant fruits.
This love is exclusive,
yet free, inviting, giving, & sharing!
36
D.
Solomon says she is a garden,
& she invites him to enjoy her fruits.
He says:
1 I am come into my garden,
my sister, my spouse:
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;
I have eaten my honeycomb
my honey;
Joyswith
of passionate
love:
I have drunk my wine with my milk:
Mutual!
Friends say:
Encouraged!
eat, O friends; Plural
drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. Plural
37
Conclusion:
1.
Young King Solomon
& a beautiful young woman of Shulam
celebrate their love
as she becomes his bride.
10 I am my beloved's,
and his desire is toward me.
38
Conclusion:
2. We see their relationship develop
as a series of scenes & stages.
39
Conclusion:
3. This poem celebrates loyal steadfast love
experienced in marriage.
God ordained companionship,
affection, & passionate love in marriage.
40
Conclusion:
3. This poem celebrates loyal steadfast love
experienced in marriage.
Passionate love is God’s gift
in marriage—unmatched by crude, cruel
counterfeits (pornography, fornication,
adultery, rape, incest, homosexuality, etc.).
41
Conclusion:
3. This poem celebrates loyal steadfast love
experienced in marriage.
Married love: spontaneous, beautiful,
powerful, & exclusive—
includes “moments of separation & intimacy,
anguish & ecstasy, tension & contentment”
(Zondervan NIV Study Bible: 1020)
42
Conclusion:
4. God’s gift of married love is a priceless blessing:
Changes our character by teaching us
to value & serve our mate!
Perpetuates the human race in a godly way!
Merits praise, celebration, & thanksgiving!
43
Conclusion:
5. God’s greatest gift of love: forgiveness in Christ!
The gift above all gifts!
16 For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
44
Conclusion:
5. God’s greatest gift of love: forgiveness in Christ!
We must receive the gift!
15 And he said unto them,
Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;
but he that believeth not shall be damned.
45
Conclusion:
5. God’s greatest gift of love: forgiveness in Christ!
Saints who sin can be restored!
16 Confess your faults one to another,
and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much.
46