Genesis 2:18-25
18 Then
the Lord God said, “It is not
good that the man should be alone; I
will make him a helper fit for him.”
19 Now out of the ground the Lord God
had formed every beast of the field and
every bird of the heavens and brought
them to the man to see what he would
call them. And whatever the man called
every living creature, that was its name.
But for Adam there was not found a
helper fit for him. 21 So the Lord God
caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man,
and while he slept took one of his ribs
and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And
the rib that the Lord God had taken from
the man he made into a woman and
brought her to the man.
23 Then
the man said, “This at last is
bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman, because she
was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a
man shall leave his father and his
mother and hold fast to his wife, and
they shall become one flesh. 25 And the
man and his wife were both naked and
were not ashamed.
The Bible’s Romance Novel
Song of Songs
Book is also know as Song of Solomon
King Solomon and the Shulammite
peasant woman
Written in Solomon’s early years
It is a song honoring love & marriage
7 poems…courtship, wedding, marriage
Most sensual language in Bible
Main themes:
1. Sex
2. Love
3. Beauty
4. Problems
Sex
God made male/female for one another
Sex is a gift from God
It is meant for the marriage relationship
Motivated by love and commitment
for mutual enjoyment and family
Not for selfish motives
The marriage relationship goes
much deeper
Purity and sacredness of romantic love
Especially important today with our
distorted views on sex and marriage
God created love and marriage
He also created sex and intimacy
They are good, and are to be enjoyed
within marriage
Not to be abused
Love
“Love” may begin as a feeling
Beginning of relationships can be filled
with a lot of emotion
Not to be rushed
“Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love until it
desires.” (2:7; also 8:4)
Feelings can be deceiving
Emotions alone are not enough to
support a lasting relationship
Emotion and commitment need to
be allowed to develop together
LOVE = Emotion + Commitment
Friendship is important
“…This is my lover, this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.” (5:16)
“phileo” -- “eros” -- “agape”
Love in marriage is multi-faceted
When a spouse is lost, emotional
support of friends is critical
A love relationship must be mutual
“My lover is mine, and I am his” (2:16)
“I am my lover’s and my lover is mine”
(6:3)
Relationships that are one sided are
rarely healthy or permanent
True love is a decision of commitment
Marriage is a celebration of a daily
commitment to each other
“While romance keeps a marriage interesting,
commitment keeps romance from dwindling.”
(Life Application Bible)
Openly express emotions & commitment
“Fiddler on the Roof”
Beauty
Beauty is often the first attraction
The two lovers of our poem praise
the beauty they see in the other
Our love for our loved one makes
him or her look beautiful to us!
Spanish “novio/novia”
Chapter 6, Lover:
4
You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah,
lovely as Jerusalem, majestic as troops
with banners.
5 Turn your eyes from me; they
overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of
goats descending from Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
coming up from the washing. Each has its
twin, not one of them is alone.
7
Your temples behind your veil are like
the halves of a pomegranate.
8 Sixty queens there may be, and eighty
concubines, and virgins beyond number;
9 but my dove, my perfect one, is
unique, the only daughter of her mother,
the favorite of the one who bore her. The
maidens saw her and called her blessed;
the queens and concubines praised her.
Chapter 5, Beloved:
10
My lover is radiant and ruddy,
outstanding among ten thousand.
11 His head is purest gold; his hair is
wavy and black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves by the water
streams, washed in milk, mounted like
jewels.
13 His cheeks are like beds of spice
yielding perfume.
His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh.
14 His arms are rods of gold set with
chrysolite. His body is like polished ivory
decorated with sapphires.
15 His legs are pillars of marble set on
bases of pure gold. His appearance is like
Lebanon, choice as its cedars.
16 His mouth is sweetness itself; he is
altogether lovely.
Our love for our loved one makes
him/her appear beautiful
Beauty should not be limited to
physical characteristics
Inner qualities keep love alive –
sincerity, generousity, spirituality, humor
These qualities don’t fade!
Story of wife finding gift
Problems
Overtime, little things can wear on us
“Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards
in bloom.” (2:15)
It is important to deal with the small
problems, irritations, even distractions
that can destroy a relationship
Feelings of loneliness, indifference and
different goals can come between
Chapter 5
Eludes to issues that had come between
them, and the husband had left
When she realizes this, the wife
searches for him and hopes to
solve the problem
Communication is critical to
romance, renewal and
reconciliation
Don’t let walls come between you
Take care of problems while they
are still small
Song of Songs gives us a
picture of marriage
From first attraction,
courtship, wedding, romance,
dealing with problems
It ends with a the beloved
telling her friends about the
power of love
Chapter 8
Beloved
6 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.
7
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.
The ultimate example of marriage is
how Christ loved the church
The church is referred to as the
Bride of Christ
Ephesians 5 uses this analogy to
illustrate marriage…
to show us how husbands and wives
are to love each other
22 Wives,
submit to your husbands as
to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the
head of the wife as Christ is the head of
the church, his body, of which he is the
Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to
Christ, so also wives should submit to
their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands,
love your wives, just as
Christ loved the church and gave himself
up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing
her by the washing with water through the
word, 27 and to present her to himself as a
radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or
any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
28 In this same way, husbands ought to love
their wives as their own bodies. He who
loves his wife loves himself.
29 After
all, no one ever hated his own
body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as
Christ does the church— 30 for we are
members of his body. 31 “For this reason a
man will leave his father and mother and
be united to his wife, and the two will
become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound
mystery—but I am talking about Christ and
the church. 33 However, each one of you
also must love his wife as he loves himself,
and the wife must respect her husband.