The Song Of Solomon
Commentary
Chapter 1
1. This book is a song. The Holy Spirit through Solomon gave us this book to stir up our affections when it is appropriate and it is always appropriate when it is directed toward our Savior Jesus Christ.
2. The love of Jesus Christ is better than wine, is better than anything that this world has to offer and every true Christian knows it. Every true Christian knows that and every true Christian responds to it by loving Christ back the best that they can.
If you don't love Jesus you're not saved.
3. We Christians are to be like Jesus; we are to live like him and through our actions as well as our words proclaim his love and his holiness and everything else about him and then those who are drawn to truth will begin to love Jesus through us. If we don't live for Jesus and we don't love Jesus then no one will come to Jesus through us.
4. The upright love thee. They certainly do. The upright love Jesus. They are glad and rejoice in the presence of Christ.
5. If you love someone how they look is secondary and Jesus loves us with a perfect love in spite of our sin or in spite of what others might consider to be unattractive. The sun had scorched the woman in view here because she was palpably outside doing a lot of menial labor but it didn't matter to the one who loved her.
Love that doesn't go beneath the surface isn't love, it is lust, and it certainly isn't love for that person if anything it is love for self. So much of what is defined as love for others is nothing but love for self.
You look good to me, I think you're pretty, I think your handsome, you make me feel good, therefore I love you. No you love you, and you like being around that person because they make you feel good. It is love of self. Jesus loves us because it's his nature to love not because there's anything inherently lovable in us.
6. Not very impressive by the world standards but then again in God's eyes no one is impressive. The people who humbles themselves are the ones that will reach out to God and experience his love through Jesus Christ.
7. In other words, why should I settle for anything less than the best. We live one time in this life and we should make the most of it by serving Jesus the best that we can. And we should not settle for the world's entertainment when we can have fellowship with Jesus Christ. And we should not settle for the riches of the world and the experiences of the world and the gains that this world can offer us when we can instead spend our time getting things for eternity and glorifying Jesus Christ in the process. Jesus is the best why not experience him to the utmost degree.
8. The shepherd says if you don't know where I am today just follow the trail of my flock to the shepherd tents and there you can feed your sheep. Jesus has answers and he gives them to us if we love him. He will guide us to what we need and make sure that we have it at all times. It may not be how normal people obtain what they need but then again God is nothing like a normal person... Thankfully!
9. He tells the woman that she is lovely. Why? Because she is connected to him and therefore he loves her. Our sin has ruined the image of God that we were originally designed to bear, but coming to Christ and belonging to him makes us lovely in the eyes of God. We are as beautiful and perfect and holy to Almighty God as is his son. The Bible says we are accepted in the beloved; we are accepted in Christ. No one else may think your lovely physically or spiritually but Jesus does and he is only one that matters.
10. He complements her beauty once again. Jesus wants to tell us over and over again how much he loves us; he wants us to be assured of his love for us because the Bible says perfect love casts out fear. God doesn't want us to go through life as Christians fearful of what may happen in the future. Spending time in the word of God every day, praying to God, and praising him every single day will give us the assurance of his love for us and in the process drive out the darkness of fear.
11. The King says I'm going to decorate you even more. The King wants her to look better all the time just like Christ always wants to make us better, to make us more holy.
The king's love for this woman did not depend on how well she was decorated just like Jesus's love for us does not depend on our good works but when you love someone you want what is best for them and in our case Jesus wants us to be as holy as we can be because that is best for us.
12. She says the king lies on his bed or sits by his table and he is pleased by the fragrance of her perfume.
The good works of God's people are often referred to as a sweet savor to God and our prayers are like pleasant incense to him. We grieve God whenever we do something wrong and we grieve him whenever we failed to do something right and so it's always nice to know what we can do to please him and a couple of the most pleasing things to God are when his people do good works for his glory and spend time with him in prayer.
13. The picture is one of the deep love between Christ and the Christian. When a Christian is walking with Jesus there isn't anything in this world that can pull them away from him. It's only when ones love for Jesus begins to fade due to unconfessed sins that they become separated from him and the sad thing is it so subtle that they don't even realize it; don't feel it. They don't feel the separation and they don't feel the loss of intimacy with their Savior and God.
Sin should always be confessed immediately to avoid what will inevitably lead to a broken relationship.
14. In other words the King says that the woman is like a bouquet of flowers in a garden. I look forward to spring every year and two reasons stand out to me immediately: number one when the flowering crab trees begin to blossom the sweet smell is beyond description and then a week or so after they're gone the lilacs begin to bloom. Sometimes I stand next to the lilac bushes are underneath the flowering trees for quite a while and just try to take in as much as I possibly can.
We can't fathom the love that Jesus has for us as Christians but we can scratch the surface when he compares his love for us to a bouquet of flowers. He enjoys us so much and he loves us so much and he wants our fellowship so much and we might ask why? And I don't know why, but it's true, and it's a two-way street when we are walking with him with no unconfessed sins in our life.
15. He says to the woman: how beautiful you are, my love, how beautiful you are and he loves her eyes and he tells her. Notice how he loves her for who she is. He loves her not because of what she does for him but because of who she is. For him it is enough that they are together.
Is it enough for you to just be with Jesus? I ask that because it is enough for him to just be with you. The king's desire to be good to the woman stemmed from his deep love for, and the simple joy he received from being with her. A Christian doesn't need rules and regulations to serve Jesus. If they are content to spend time with him; if is there than everything else will fall into place.
There's an application here for the relationship between a man and a woman as well. If just being with you isn't enough for that other person, if they always have to be doing something, if they always have to be going somewhere, if they always need something exciting and new to enhance their life with you then I wouldn't give two bits for that relationship and I'd walk away in a hurry. True love whether it's between a Christian and Jesus or between two people is satisfied just being together.
16, 17. He says I just love laying out in the shade on this green grass with you. It's so pleasant, and so are you. Simple things are enough when you love Jesus and he doesn't need anything elaborate from you either; he just wants you; he just wants to enjoy being with you. Simple things become remarkable things when you're with Christ just like simple things become remarkable things when you're with the person that you love.
Chapter 2
1. The girl speaks to the king and says I am the Rose of Sharon the Lily of the Valley and Solomon answers in verse two..
2. The King says you are like a Lily among thorns. No one can compare to you; you're the best. Humanly speaking she probably wasn't, her skin was probably dried out and rough from all the sun but he doesn't care because he loves her. She's the best thing that happened to him.
Jesus is the good shepherd and you as one single child of God are as important to him and precious to him as all the other Christians who have ever lived combined. He loves you that much; you're that precious to him and by the way if you are saved then he's that precious to you. The Bible says to those of us who believe Christ is precious.
This is a love relationship between a Christian and Jesus Christ their Savior. There isn't anything about law, there isn't anything about legalism in this relationship. Jesus is good to us because he loves us, and we love him back and want to be good to him. We love him because he first loved us.
3. The woman says of the King that he is the finest Appletree in the entire orchard. In other words, he is the best out of all the men that I've ever known. And then she says I'm seated in his shade and enjoying his fruit. Sounds like a perfect match doesn't it?
People try everything to be satisfied and nothing really works, not completely, because we are spiritual beings, and we need to be reconciled to God in order to feel complete. Don't waste your time trying to find satisfaction in the things of the world. Repent of your sin and ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, and make a commitment to follow him, and then start enjoying his company through the word of God and prayer and you will discover that there's nothing better than Jesus, and Jesus all by himself is all that you need; he satisfies.
The Bible says that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out the mouth of God. We need Jesus to be satisfied just like the woman was satisfied by the man that she loved.
4. The girl says that the King brought her to the banquet hall and she was happy because everyone could see how much he loved her.
That reminds me of the time that Jesus stood outside of Lazarus's tomb and wept. The crowd that was there said: behold how he loved him. Jesus loved Lazarus and he loved his sisters so because they were sad he was sad.
I don't know how many people who are not saved appreciate the love that Jesus has especially for Christians and actually for the entire world. Anyone who would leave heaven where everything is perfect and comfortable and confine himself to one physical body when before that he was omnipresent must love us a lot. And it didn't stop there because Jesus became a blue-collar worker and lived among people and put up with sinners all of his life and you know the more holy you are the more difficult it is to be around sinners and Jesus was perfectly holy; so that wasn't easy. And finally Jesus died a horrible, torturous death on the cross paying for our sins. If that's not love, and if that's not enough proof that Jesus loves you then you are a hopeless case; you are hopelessly self-centered and you think way more highly of yourself than you should.
5. She is saying feed me with your love for I am completely lovesick. All she thought about was this man; she just had to be around him, and when she wasn't around him we know that all she did was think about Him.
I hope you're that way towards Jesus no matter how long you have been saved because that's what Christ wants from you. In fact it is spiritually dangerous to lose that first love. Jesus told the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation that they had lost their first love and they needed to get it back or things were going to go from bad to worse until finally their spiritual light would be put out entirely.
The road to apostasy begins when one begins to lose their first love for Jesus so make sure you keep it fresh. That means don't tolerate sin. That means don't tolerate a day without prayer and being in the word of God.
6,7. She tells the other girls in the community to let her man sleep. He was paying attention to her as we saw in verse six so she doesn't want anyone else to disturb him and to distract him. She wants him all to herself and there's nothing wrong with that in a relationship.
People think that jealousy is somehow wrong or an undesirable characteristic but it isn't. God is jealous over us; he was jealous when his Old Testament people began to set him aside and worship idols and that's because they belonged to him.
If someone who belongs to you is messing around with another man, or another woman, or getting too chummy with them, even if it isn't physical; even if it's just mental and emotional bonding, or closeness you have every right in the world to be jealous, and there's something wrong with you if you're not because they're out of line.
8. She sees her beloved coming, leaping upon the mountains, and bounding over the hills. Poetic language indicating that when she needs him he's there and he's there in a hurry. She was his priority.
You are Jesus's priority; he tells you call on him and he will answer. In Jeremiah 33:3 God says call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.
9. She said my beloved is like a young deer; he stands behind the wall and looks at the Windows. In other words he's concerned about her and he watches over her for good. Jesus is ever vigilant toward us as well, he tells us that he is with us always even until the end of the age.
10-13. The man says to the woman come away with me right now; this is the perfect time.
Do not waste time as a Christian. Do not delay to give Jesus your complete obedience. Do not for a second put off doing what he wants you to do. The moments of your life are priceless and any time that is not spent in fellowship with Jesus for whatever reason is a waste of the gift of time that he has given us, and we can never get those minutes back and I think in eternity you will regret that, I know I will.
14. The woman says I need to hear your voice, I don't know where you are, maybe you are hiding behind some rock; one thing I know is that you are out of sight, and I need to at least hear you.
I have been saved for over 37 years and I believe the only day and it was probably a couple of days that I did not spend time with Jesus in the word of God was a few years ago when I had major surgery. Otherwise I couldn't stand going through an entire day without hearing the voice of God.
If you don't crave the voice of God like this woman craved the voice of her man than your walk with Jesus isn't what it should be. There’s a disconnect some place.
15. She petitions her man to get rid of the little foxes that are ruining the vines. If he doesn't do something they won't have a harvest of grapes.
She knows where to go to when she needs help, when she has a problem. And the Bible says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The first person we should turn to when we have a problem of any kind, (and we should do it without even thinking), the first place we should go is to Jesus, and if we are close to him that is exactly where we will go.
16,17. She says I am his and he is mine. Jesus is not a religion; if you get anything out of this book it should be that being a Christian is not about going to church or following a ritual or belonging to a denomination.
Jesus is not a religion. Being saved is not being religious. There are a lot of religious people who will die and go to hell even though they think that their religion will save them. Being saved comes down to having a close personal one-on-one relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Being saved, being a Christian is being able to say: I am his and he is mine.
Salvation is having a close relationship with Jesus Christ where you know that he loves you and you know that he is the most important thing to you. If you are saved than yes Jesus is your creator, and your God, and your judge, and your Savior, but he is much more than those things; he is also your friend.
Chapter 3
1. The woman in this story is searching for the man that she loves and she's having a hard time finding him but she continues to search.
We are blessed that Jesus seeks us just as God sought Adam after he sinned. But we must respond to his call by seeking him as well. God says "you will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart."
2. She looked but she could not find so she kept looking everywhere-she did not quit.
Sometimes it seems as if God is nowhere to be found, but his true people continue to seek him; they don't give up on Jesus.
3. This woman's love for her man is so strong that she assumes everyone else including the watchmen knows who she is looking for without her even mentioning his name. And the watchmen is probably thinking: what are you talking about, and who are you talking about lady?
Don't be surprised if others, even professing Christians, don't have the same interest in Jesus, and his word as you do. I know in my case, right from the very start when I was saved at age 25 I had an unquenchable love for Jesus, and his word and being a new Christian I didn't understand why everyone who called themselves a Christian wasn't like me. But somehow throughout my life I have always plodded my way through the masses of lukewarm Christians until I found those that really loved Jesus enough to enjoy talking about him.
4. She found him and she's not going to let him go no matter what. It was too long and too difficult of a search to let him slip away.
This reminds me of the apostles who Jesus asked: are you going to walk away from me as well? Their answer was: where would we go? You are the only one who has the words of life.
So some people who call themselves Christians get frustrated because they don't like something that the Bible says and so they walk away from Jesus; I've known people like that. And I would tell them right to their face: your fool! You may not like everything God says, it might not all set well with you; join the crowd! Who cares? So what? Just remember God is God and Jesus is the only Savior, Jesus is the only way to avoid hell, Jesus is the only way to get into heaven and so you walk away from him because you don't like something that is clearly taught in the word of God? Well you're going to like hell even less.
5. She's watching out for him; maybe she's watching out for herself a little bit too by keeping the other ladies at a distance, but let's give her the benefit of the doubt and say she is watching out for him. I say that because we know that she loves him and when you love someone you want them to be blessed and you want to protect them.
Jesus loves us so he protects us. God says no evil shall befall you and no plague shall come near your tent; 1000 may fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand but it shall not come near unto you. God protects us, and we want to protect him also, in the sense of maintaining a good Christian testimony so that we do nothing to harm his reputation in the eyes of others.
6. This is an talking about the Shepherd now, this is talking about Solomon. In verses six through 11 we see Solomon's procession to Jerusalem from Shunem which is where the woman in our story was from.
7. 60 powerful men surrounded Solomon as his bodyguards.
8. Solomon, at least at the beginning was probably the greatest king in all of the earth and certainly Israel was the greatest kingdom at that time and yet he still had to be guarded by these skilled soldiers. The Bible says the strongman keeps his house. There is evil in this world, as you know, and if the good are not strong than the evil will take over. Evil must be kept in check or it will overrun the world.
9,10. Solomon rode in the Rolls-Royce of chariots, even a goldplated Rolls-Royce.
11. Solomon looked pretty impressive; there was a lot of pomp and ceremony.
Again this is a picture of Jesus Christ and the honor that he should receive from all people and the honor that he will receive from everyone on Judgment Day. The Bible says every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. Some will confess him as Lord and bow their knees before they are thrown into hell for rejecting him as Lord and Savior during their life, but they will bow and give him the honor that he has coming.
Chapter 4
1. This must be cultural because if you told a woman today that she looked like a flock of goats you might get a slap in the face. I don't know, either that or she might storm away from you insulted.
It seems strange to us but the fact is everything he says about this woman is a description of her beauty in terms that they would understand and so this guy considers himself to be very blessed that she loves him like she does.
If God has given you someone who loves you you are blessed. Being loved is a great gift from God; it should not be taken for granted and it should be appreciated like this man appreciated the love of this woman.
2. Again this is a complement because he is saying that her teeth are as white as sheep's wool that has been washed and none are missing.
3. She's wearing a veil which women wore in those days, at least before they were married. That means she couldn't see her face in its entirety but what he saw he liked and he knows her well enough to know that he loves her, and although she wears a veil he still thinks she's beautiful.
This reminds me of Christ and Christians which again is what this entire story is about. It reminds me of Jesus and Christians because the Bible says that even though we Christians have not yet seen Jesus we love him. We Christians love Jesus because we know him; we don't have to see him to appreciate him.
4. Again this probably seems rather strange to us today; I guess he liked her neck which is fine, but I think you know you're in love with a woman when something as commonplace as her neck impresses you.
5. This is an interesting description; he describes her breasts and it is not simply talking about the physical beauty of this woman. You know today if you talk about a woman's breasts everybody thinks of sex and only sex, and that's part of it, but in Solomon's mind there was more to what he was saying then that.
He describes her breasts as being like two young roes. You say what in the world does that mean? Well he's describing the healthiness of her breasts; they were healthy enough to satisfy, as he mentions here: twins.
Many probably don't appreciate that today but back then it was very much appreciated because strong healthy breasts were needed to prevent a woman's babies from dying. So this man is describing the beauty and the strength of this woman. He is saying you are fit to be a mother which was the highest calling for a woman in that society.
6. These words continue to express his love for her.
7. As far as he is concerned she is completely beautiful; she is perfect in every way; she is the perfect fit for him. I'm not sure she would have won any beauty contests in that day, or today, but she was the perfect woman to this man who loved her. He wouldn't trade her for anyone; he was completely content in her presence, and again this points to Christians and Christ. Christians, true Christians, those who have genuinely repented and received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior would not trade Jesus for anyone or anything else in this world. To the genuine Christian Jesus is perfect, and sufficient and of course that is exactly what he is.
8. The man says, come with me, and she must be willing to follow him if she wants to belong to him; if she wants him to be her man. And this is a picture of Christ and any would be Christian as well. Jesus demands that we forsake all to follow him. He said unless one is willing to pick up their cross daily and follow me they cannot be my disciple. The cross symbolized dying to self, and that means being a slave in the true sense of the word by losing your identity and setting aside your desires to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
9-11. Lebanon was famous for their enormous and many cedar trees. The cedar trees of Lebanon gave off a scent that was pleasant to humans while at the same time being abhorrent to serpents and to many insects. Consequently the snakes and the insects stayed away from the area where those trees grew in abundance.
The cedars of Lebanon are a picture of the relationship between this man and woman and they're also a picture of the relationship between Jesus and his church, or individual Christians. The devil, that ancient serpent as the Bible calls him, and his associate devils are repelled and powerless when the word of God is proclaimed clearly. The word of God is to devils like the Cedars of Lebanon are to serpants and insects; God's word repels them; they flee from it. On the other hand the word of God is a sweet scent, a pleasant scent to people who belong to Christ.
12. He compares the woman that he loves to a beautiful garden with a fountain and what he is describing is a wonderful parklike setting. Actually it's more like a paradise setting. That's what he sees when he looks at her. When he's around her it's as if he's in paradise. In other words it doesn't get any better; he is suggesting that the blessings of his relationship with her are as good as any blessing can possibly be.
And of course perfect blessedness like what he is describing can only be realized fully in our relationship with Jesus Christ and only fully experienced and enjoyed when we are in our resurrected bodies. But we can at least get a little taste of that blessedness now, enough to know that it is the best thing on earth, but with the realization that it's still a far cry from what it's going to be in the future when we are actually with him physically and in our resurrected bodies.
13-16. Notice what she says in verse 16 again: " Awake O north wind: and come thou south! Blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out."
She wants the joy that she experiences with her man to spread to others who know them. That happens when two people are in love the way these two are. They were so in love and they were such a perfect fit that their joy radiated on to others and blessed them as well. Their love for God and their love for each other made them great to be around.
When Christians are close to Christ and their relationship with Jesus is alive and real than they will have joy and that joy will be experienced by those who are close to them.
Chapter 5
1. In the last chapter the woman invited her man into her life and he accepted so again we see that these two really loved each other.
Verse one contains symbolic language designed to illustrate the love that they had. I'm sure you've noticed that there is a lot of symbolism in this book especially when these two start describing each other, and I think that's because true love is beyond words, true love cannot be described with words it can only be illustrated with flowery language. That's also the way it is with Jesus and a Christian. A Christians love for Jesus is beyond description. Superlatives begin to ring hollow because they fall short, and one can never appreciate the love between Christ, and a Christian unless they themselves experience it.
2. Here in verse two the woman is sleeping and she had her door locked, but then all of a sudden her man arrives at the closed door, and he spoke to her in a very loving way. He wants to be with her; he wants her to open the door, and let him in. He wants to spend time with her because he missed her.
3. The woman had already gone through her bedtime routine; she is in bed and she is comfortable, and in addition to that she is suggesting that she's not in good enough condition for her man to see; she wouldn't feel comfortable.
You know, these two people always wanted to do everything properly when it came to each other. She loved him too much to do anything, or in any way expose him to anything that might be even a little bit unpleasant. Consequently she's sort of puts him off here. It's not that she isn't interested it's just that she doesn't feel quite comfortable because she's not right. When we love someone we want things to be right, we want to make them happy, we don't want to upset them in any way.
It's the same with Christians and Jesus; we love Christ and so we don't want to upset him, and we get upset when we know that we have upset him because of our sins.
4. So when her man puts his hand on the door latch her heart starts to flutter with excitement and she seems to be changing her mind about maybe letting him in; she starts to think may be it'll be okay.
5,6. Now she's feeling horrible. It took a while for her to get dressed properly and to get the door open, and consequently by the time she arrived her man was gone. She delayed and she lost her opportunity, and now once again she's going into a panic mode.
The Bible teaches that we should always be ready for the return of Jesus Christ. Those who delay thinking that they have plenty of time will one day discover that they have run out of time. It'll be like the book of Jeremiah when he said "the harvest this past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." Who was Jeremiah the prophet speaking to when he said that? He said it to those who were indifferent toward God. The Lord comes as a thief in the night; he comes unexpectedly to those who are not ready, to those who are indifferent, to those who are lukewarm.
When Jesus comes it's too late to start getting ready. When Jesus comes you've run out of time. That's why people must always be ready for the return of Christ or for are going to be with him when we die.
And something else also; don't squander opportunities that God gives you and don't waste time doing sinful things or useless things. Christians we must always be ready for the opportunities that God gives them to serve him because he never promises us a second chance if we squander the first one.
7. She lost her man so she goes out looking for him again, and she met up with the watchmen again but this time they were bad to her.
Back in those days adulterous women visited their men at night, and prostitutes did their sinful work at night, and thieves roamed the streets at night, murderers lurked in the darkness of night, and so doubtless the watchmen on duty felt that the woman in this story was that type of a woman, and guilty of those things so they apprehended her and actually assaulted her.
8. I don't know if you have noticed this or not but this woman seems to experience trouble every time she's away from the man who loves her and here she is once again suffering emotionally and may be physically for rejecting him when he was at her door. So she comes across these other ladies and she tells them how much she loves her man and desires to be with him and tells them that if you find him tell him that I need him badly.
This is a tough lesson for her and often times Christians have to learn tough lessons as well, and in fact every time we say no to Jesus we suffer in some fashion. We may suffer physically, but we certainly always suffer spiritually when we refuse to follow our Lord.
9. So these other ladies don't understand what is so special about her man. They've seen him before and they probably thought he was okay but not that big of a deal. They don't understand because they don't love him like she does, and it seems like they think she's a little foolish to make such a big deal out of him.
They don't get it because they don't love him and the unsaved think that Christians are foolish for making such a big deal out of Jesus because they don't love him either. Why not just confine him to one hour on Sunday morning like the rest of us do?
They don't get why we' re always talking about the cross of Christ and his blood that was shed to pay for our sins. They think it's foolish and that's exactly what the Bible says they will think. The Bible says that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.
The unsaved don't get it just like these women didn't get it either. The unsaved don't understand what's so special about Jesus, even professing Christians, don't see what's so special about Jesus. Oh yes I'm a Christian and yes I go to church and I take communion and I was baptized and I said the sinner's prayer, or I was confirmed, but no I don't talk about him, I talk about sports and I talk about movies and I talk about rock 'n roll bands and I talk about country music bands and I talk about anything and everything other than the Lord Jesus Christ; I don't understand!
The unsaved don't understand why Christians love Jesus so much, and they don't understand why Christians talk about him so much, and read the Bible so that they can learn more about Jesus. They think you are crazy for getting up early on Sunday mornings to go to to church instead of sleeping late on your day off. They dont understand you because they don't love Jesus like you do.
10. She says the one I love is strong and healthy and you can see it in his face.
11. She says he has great hair and if you think that's what draws her to him you haven't learned anything so far in this book. It wouldn't matter if his hair was white or if he was completely bald to her he is priceless.
12. She says his eyes are bright like a precious stone set in a nice ring.
13. She compares him to things that have beautiful scents and again this is symbolic language that just expresses her love for him. He is simply the greatest thing that she could ever possibly imagine.
14-16. You asked me why I care so much for this man and my answer is this: he is my beloved.. In other words he is everything she wants in a man, and I like how she finishes her description of him by simply saying he's my friend. They love each other and they are best friends also.
You know a love like this doesn't come around very often, and it would be nice if every person in the world could experience it, but not everyone does. What a joy when two people are attracted to each other physically and they also have a spiritual connection which of course is the most important thing if you're Christian. When those two things are in place that relationship is going to click. These two fit like a glove. They loved each other spiritually they enjoyed how each other looked and they also thought alike and so they fit together like two pieces of a puzzle which is why they miss each other so much when they are apart.
You may not have someone like that in this life but you have Jesus if you're Christian and you can fit with him like two pieces of a puzzle: you and him connect like a hand in a glove and you can have the same feeling of contentment and joy when you spend time with him as two people who are deeply in love with each other experience when they are together. Remember this book illustrates the relationship between a Christian and Jesus.
Chapter 6
1. I think these ladies might be giving the woman a bit of a hard time maybe even being somewhat sarcastic because they say where is your beloved? In other words, where is he? You're supposed to be the fairest among women; he supposed to love you so much; so where is he; he's not around. And of course I don't know but there might be some jealousy here because that is the way it is often in the world; sometimes the unsaved say to Christians when they are going through hard times "where is your God now, why doesn't your God help you now?
2. She not only knows where the man is but in fact back in chapter 4 she's the one who told him to go there.
3. They love each other, and they trust each other, and she knows where he is, and other people cannot shake their confidence in each other, so ladies it's a waste of time to even try.
It should be the same with us and Jesus. The Bible says that God knows those who belong to him and that is a very comforting verse. Others may think that you're not a Christian because you don't believe exactly the way they do on every single issue, there are legalistic Christians out there who will question your salvation if you don't follow their man-made rules. Others may think that you're not a Christian because you haven't always behaved like a Christian, but God knows if you belong to him; God knows if you have received Christ as your Lord and Savior.
People can say anything they want to say; they can try to discourage you as a follower of Jesus Christ any way they want to, but they won't get very far because they can't shake your confidence in Christ, and they certainly can't shake God's commitment to you.
So again she repeats the words that she belongs to him and he belongs to her. They belong to each other and that relationship needs to be protected and anyone or anything that would seek to come between those two needs to be rejected immediately.
I remember a few years back a very popular contemporary "Christian" singer saying publicly that she really enjoyed flirting with other women's husbands. And she felt perfectly safe admitting to that sinful activity; she thought it was cute; she thought it was modern. Yeah and Sodom and Gomorrah were modern also. Nothing like creating strife within that bond between a man and a woman that belong to each other, and her claiming to be a Christian also. In so many cases modern evangelicalism and modern evangelicals have profaned the sacred and have made light of that which is holy.
4. The man says you've captured my heart. Only the devil and his emissaries to try to disrupt a beautiful relationship like that. If you like to flirt with another woman's husband then go flirt with some unsaved person than you can both go to hell together.
5. He already said this earlier about her hair and believe it or not it was a great complement.
6. He already said this too and again it was a compliment. I guess we learn from this that it is good to repeat complements when they are sincere. One manifestation of love is repeated praise and encouragement.
It is good also to praise God and to say the same words of worship and praise to him over and over again when it is sincere. God never gets tired of sincere praise.
8,9. In these two verses the man is describing the uniqueness of this woman that he loves; she is one-of-a-kind.
10. He says of his lady that she shines like the dawn and she's is beautiful as the moon and she's as bright as the sun and she's as wonderful as the stars and all these heavenly bodies give out different types of light but each one is unique and lovely in its own way and that's this woman to this man.
11,12. The woman says I intended to go to the garden that is filled with nut trees but I don't know what I'm doing here. That makes two of us because I have no idea what these verses are talking about.
It sounds like Babel to me and if it is its Holy Spirit inspired Babel; it's recorded accurately and I guess if nothing else we can conclude that when someone is in a deep state of love like she was or enamored with the word of God and the Lord Jesus Christ like Christians should be then that is where our focus will be, and we lose sight of the things around us and whatever importance they might have.
13. Her companions wanted her to stay by them but it was time to go be with her husband. The wedding is over it's time to move on; now she belongs to him.
Chapter 7
1-5. He is admiring her; he is admiring her beauty, her legs, even her ankles, and he just can't get over her. And keep in mind that the man in the story is King Solomon. King Solomon could of had anything that he wanted and in fact he did have everything that he wanted. He imported beautiful treasures from all over the world. He had more silver and gold and precious stones than any other King that Israel ever had. But the beauty of this woman that he loved impressed him more than all of those things combined. He found his greatest treasure right here. She was the Pearl of great Price.
Jesus is the Pearl of great Price according to the New Testament. Our relationship with Jesus should be and will be more valuable to us, and more beautiful to us than anything that the world can possibly offer. In fact the Bible teaches that the joy we receive from fellow shipping with our God and our Savior is more than the combination of all the joy that all the things of the world could possibly provide.
6-10. No one can possibly dissect these verses without destroying them just as they are. They are poetic flowery language depicting the love that these two people have for each other.
11,12. So their love is strong and they want to express it in the physical act and the fruit of that act will be one who is a part of each one of them.
13. She said she has many gifts for the man that she loves. She wants to please him, she lives to make him happy, and to prove how valuable he is to her.
Chapter 8
1. When she says that she wanted her and her husband to be like brother and sister so that if they were outside in front of other people they could kiss she was talking about a cultural thing back in those days where people in the same family could kiss each other in public but it wasn't proper for a husband and wife to do that.
2. When she wasn't with other people she wanted to kiss her husband in a different way, a far more intimate way. She talks about her mother's house which probably refers to a safe place, a private place, a family place. And when she talks about her pomegranates she is talking about her breasts and so she is speaking of allowing her husband to enjoy her in an intimate way in private.
3,4. The woman has a lot of confidence in the fact that her husband loves her. She knows this is the right time for them to be in love and to express it to each other and she doesn't want anyone to interrupt them.
The Christian needs to spend personal quiet time with Jesus and do everything that they can to make sure that it is not interrupted. Jesus told Martha the sister of Mary who sat at his feet soaking up the word that Martha should not interrupt the Fellowship that he was having with Mary in order to run around doing busywork. According to Jesus only one thing is needed and Mary found it and he wouldn't let anyone interrupt it.
5. Here in verse five the couple is seen coming from the wilderness. Keep in mind that in Scripture, especially in a symbolic book like this one, keep in mind that the wilderness symbolized trials, and even the curse of God. So here we have these two people that are coming up out of the wilderness. That speaks to the fact that they have overcome all obstacles to their love and as a result they will begin to enjoy life together.
6a. In the Bible a seal indicated ownership. Seals were placed on items that were very valuable to the owner. People didn't seal things that were worthless. So this woman wants this man's seal to be placed on her. In other words, she wants to be seen as his most valuable possession.
Carry that over to our relationship with Jesus Christ. The Bible says that God has sealed Christians unto the day of redemption. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit has put his seal upon us. You may not feel like you are a valuable possession to your Creator, but that doesn't matter, feelings are irrelevant; the fact is you are his valuable possession; you are as valuable a possession to Jesus as this woman was to this man and this man was to this woman.
6b,7a. These verses summarize the strength of the love that these two people had for each other. Their love was invincible; it was unstoppable; it was unquenchable; it was a persevering love; it was as strong and mighty as many waters, and many rivers, and nothing could possibly quench the love that they had for each other.
And nothing can quench God's love for us either. The Bible says that God loves us with an everlasting love. Jesus said greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friend, and Jesus showed the unquenchable nature of his love by laying down his life for us; by dying on the cross to pay for our sins so that he could save us from hell.
7b. In other words, they are saying that their love for each other is priceless and that all the money in the world would not be enough to purchase something as valuable as the love that they have for each other. If anyone was foolish enough to try to bribe either one of these into forsaking the other it would be laughed at; it simply would not happen.
8,9. The bride in our story, the woman in our story is recounting what her brothers once said to her and their attitude toward her when she was young. When she was growing up she had older brothers who cared for her; they watched over her, and even at a very young age they were preparing her for marriage.
Her brothers said if she is a wall, in other words, if she displayed good character, and judgment, if she was morally upright, then they would allow her a measure of freedom. On the other hand if she was reckless, and immoral; if she was like a swinging door that could go either way than they were going to restrict her freedom.
Her brothers were preparing her for when she was an adult. She was in a home where her family loved her, they protected her, they trained her in righteousness, and that is why now that she is an adult she understands how to express love in the proper way. Her husband is blessed because her priorities were correct and they were correct because she was trained well when she was young.
10. She proclaims the fact that she had indeed been a wall not a swinging door. In other words she had been chaste. She was pure for her husband; she restrained herself as a young girl and that helped her to win the love of a godly man.
I must hasten to say that this doesn't mean that a girl who has made some mistakes and has committed sexual sins in her past cannot be loved by a godly man. A good and godly man will love a woman for who she is right now regardless of what she once was like.
11,12. Evidently these two people first met in a vineyard that Solomon had rented to her brothers.
You never know how God is working and how he will use every day things, seemingly mundane, average, run-of-the-mill things. You never know how God is going to use those things to bring about wonderful blessings for his people in the long run. That certainly was the case with these two people. I doubt that neither this man or woman ever thought that when her older brothers rented out a vineyard from Solomon that she would end up marrying the man and that they would have such a wonderful life together.
13,14. Their love was intense, it was as intense right now as it was in the very beginning. They longed for each other in marriage just as much as they did earlier in courtship.
This is a very difficult book to teach, at least for me it is, but there are a lot of lessons in the song of Solomon. I hope I pointed out some of them out for you.
Certainly, among other things, this book teaches us that God has ordained the sexual relationship between a husband and wife. It teaches that husbands and wives should be completely dedicated to each other and that they should enjoy one another, not just spiritually, but physically. It teaches that sexual activity is not in any way dishonorable, or dirty when it is exercised within the boundaries of marriage. God has given men and women physical desires for each other, and they are to satisfy those desires within the boundaries of a loving marriage between one woman and one man. That is God's plan.
Chapter 1
1. This book is a song. The Holy Spirit through Solomon gave us this book to stir up our affections when it is appropriate and it is always appropriate when it is directed toward our Savior Jesus Christ.
2. The love of Jesus Christ is better than wine, is better than anything that this world has to offer and every true Christian knows it. Every true Christian knows that and every true Christian responds to it by loving Christ back the best that they can.
If you don't love Jesus you're not saved.
3. We Christians are to be like Jesus; we are to live like him and through our actions as well as our words proclaim his love and his holiness and everything else about him and then those who are drawn to truth will begin to love Jesus through us. If we don't live for Jesus and we don't love Jesus then no one will come to Jesus through us.
4. The upright love thee. They certainly do. The upright love Jesus. They are glad and rejoice in the presence of Christ.
5. If you love someone how they look is secondary and Jesus loves us with a perfect love in spite of our sin or in spite of what others might consider to be unattractive. The sun had scorched the woman in view here because she was palpably outside doing a lot of menial labor but it didn't matter to the one who loved her.
Love that doesn't go beneath the surface isn't love, it is lust, and it certainly isn't love for that person if anything it is love for self. So much of what is defined as love for others is nothing but love for self.
You look good to me, I think you're pretty, I think your handsome, you make me feel good, therefore I love you. No you love you, and you like being around that person because they make you feel good. It is love of self. Jesus loves us because it's his nature to love not because there's anything inherently lovable in us.
6. Not very impressive by the world standards but then again in God's eyes no one is impressive. The people who humbles themselves are the ones that will reach out to God and experience his love through Jesus Christ.
7. In other words, why should I settle for anything less than the best. We live one time in this life and we should make the most of it by serving Jesus the best that we can. And we should not settle for the world's entertainment when we can have fellowship with Jesus Christ. And we should not settle for the riches of the world and the experiences of the world and the gains that this world can offer us when we can instead spend our time getting things for eternity and glorifying Jesus Christ in the process. Jesus is the best why not experience him to the utmost degree.
8. The shepherd says if you don't know where I am today just follow the trail of my flock to the shepherd tents and there you can feed your sheep. Jesus has answers and he gives them to us if we love him. He will guide us to what we need and make sure that we have it at all times. It may not be how normal people obtain what they need but then again God is nothing like a normal person... Thankfully!
9. He tells the woman that she is lovely. Why? Because she is connected to him and therefore he loves her. Our sin has ruined the image of God that we were originally designed to bear, but coming to Christ and belonging to him makes us lovely in the eyes of God. We are as beautiful and perfect and holy to Almighty God as is his son. The Bible says we are accepted in the beloved; we are accepted in Christ. No one else may think your lovely physically or spiritually but Jesus does and he is only one that matters.
10. He complements her beauty once again. Jesus wants to tell us over and over again how much he loves us; he wants us to be assured of his love for us because the Bible says perfect love casts out fear. God doesn't want us to go through life as Christians fearful of what may happen in the future. Spending time in the word of God every day, praying to God, and praising him every single day will give us the assurance of his love for us and in the process drive out the darkness of fear.
11. The King says I'm going to decorate you even more. The King wants her to look better all the time just like Christ always wants to make us better, to make us more holy.
The king's love for this woman did not depend on how well she was decorated just like Jesus's love for us does not depend on our good works but when you love someone you want what is best for them and in our case Jesus wants us to be as holy as we can be because that is best for us.
12. She says the king lies on his bed or sits by his table and he is pleased by the fragrance of her perfume.
The good works of God's people are often referred to as a sweet savor to God and our prayers are like pleasant incense to him. We grieve God whenever we do something wrong and we grieve him whenever we failed to do something right and so it's always nice to know what we can do to please him and a couple of the most pleasing things to God are when his people do good works for his glory and spend time with him in prayer.
13. The picture is one of the deep love between Christ and the Christian. When a Christian is walking with Jesus there isn't anything in this world that can pull them away from him. It's only when ones love for Jesus begins to fade due to unconfessed sins that they become separated from him and the sad thing is it so subtle that they don't even realize it; don't feel it. They don't feel the separation and they don't feel the loss of intimacy with their Savior and God.
Sin should always be confessed immediately to avoid what will inevitably lead to a broken relationship.
14. In other words the King says that the woman is like a bouquet of flowers in a garden. I look forward to spring every year and two reasons stand out to me immediately: number one when the flowering crab trees begin to blossom the sweet smell is beyond description and then a week or so after they're gone the lilacs begin to bloom. Sometimes I stand next to the lilac bushes are underneath the flowering trees for quite a while and just try to take in as much as I possibly can.
We can't fathom the love that Jesus has for us as Christians but we can scratch the surface when he compares his love for us to a bouquet of flowers. He enjoys us so much and he loves us so much and he wants our fellowship so much and we might ask why? And I don't know why, but it's true, and it's a two-way street when we are walking with him with no unconfessed sins in our life.
15. He says to the woman: how beautiful you are, my love, how beautiful you are and he loves her eyes and he tells her. Notice how he loves her for who she is. He loves her not because of what she does for him but because of who she is. For him it is enough that they are together.
Is it enough for you to just be with Jesus? I ask that because it is enough for him to just be with you. The king's desire to be good to the woman stemmed from his deep love for, and the simple joy he received from being with her. A Christian doesn't need rules and regulations to serve Jesus. If they are content to spend time with him; if is there than everything else will fall into place.
There's an application here for the relationship between a man and a woman as well. If just being with you isn't enough for that other person, if they always have to be doing something, if they always have to be going somewhere, if they always need something exciting and new to enhance their life with you then I wouldn't give two bits for that relationship and I'd walk away in a hurry. True love whether it's between a Christian and Jesus or between two people is satisfied just being together.
16, 17. He says I just love laying out in the shade on this green grass with you. It's so pleasant, and so are you. Simple things are enough when you love Jesus and he doesn't need anything elaborate from you either; he just wants you; he just wants to enjoy being with you. Simple things become remarkable things when you're with Christ just like simple things become remarkable things when you're with the person that you love.
Chapter 2
1. The girl speaks to the king and says I am the Rose of Sharon the Lily of the Valley and Solomon answers in verse two..
2. The King says you are like a Lily among thorns. No one can compare to you; you're the best. Humanly speaking she probably wasn't, her skin was probably dried out and rough from all the sun but he doesn't care because he loves her. She's the best thing that happened to him.
Jesus is the good shepherd and you as one single child of God are as important to him and precious to him as all the other Christians who have ever lived combined. He loves you that much; you're that precious to him and by the way if you are saved then he's that precious to you. The Bible says to those of us who believe Christ is precious.
This is a love relationship between a Christian and Jesus Christ their Savior. There isn't anything about law, there isn't anything about legalism in this relationship. Jesus is good to us because he loves us, and we love him back and want to be good to him. We love him because he first loved us.
3. The woman says of the King that he is the finest Appletree in the entire orchard. In other words, he is the best out of all the men that I've ever known. And then she says I'm seated in his shade and enjoying his fruit. Sounds like a perfect match doesn't it?
People try everything to be satisfied and nothing really works, not completely, because we are spiritual beings, and we need to be reconciled to God in order to feel complete. Don't waste your time trying to find satisfaction in the things of the world. Repent of your sin and ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, and make a commitment to follow him, and then start enjoying his company through the word of God and prayer and you will discover that there's nothing better than Jesus, and Jesus all by himself is all that you need; he satisfies.
The Bible says that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out the mouth of God. We need Jesus to be satisfied just like the woman was satisfied by the man that she loved.
4. The girl says that the King brought her to the banquet hall and she was happy because everyone could see how much he loved her.
That reminds me of the time that Jesus stood outside of Lazarus's tomb and wept. The crowd that was there said: behold how he loved him. Jesus loved Lazarus and he loved his sisters so because they were sad he was sad.
I don't know how many people who are not saved appreciate the love that Jesus has especially for Christians and actually for the entire world. Anyone who would leave heaven where everything is perfect and comfortable and confine himself to one physical body when before that he was omnipresent must love us a lot. And it didn't stop there because Jesus became a blue-collar worker and lived among people and put up with sinners all of his life and you know the more holy you are the more difficult it is to be around sinners and Jesus was perfectly holy; so that wasn't easy. And finally Jesus died a horrible, torturous death on the cross paying for our sins. If that's not love, and if that's not enough proof that Jesus loves you then you are a hopeless case; you are hopelessly self-centered and you think way more highly of yourself than you should.
5. She is saying feed me with your love for I am completely lovesick. All she thought about was this man; she just had to be around him, and when she wasn't around him we know that all she did was think about Him.
I hope you're that way towards Jesus no matter how long you have been saved because that's what Christ wants from you. In fact it is spiritually dangerous to lose that first love. Jesus told the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation that they had lost their first love and they needed to get it back or things were going to go from bad to worse until finally their spiritual light would be put out entirely.
The road to apostasy begins when one begins to lose their first love for Jesus so make sure you keep it fresh. That means don't tolerate sin. That means don't tolerate a day without prayer and being in the word of God.
6,7. She tells the other girls in the community to let her man sleep. He was paying attention to her as we saw in verse six so she doesn't want anyone else to disturb him and to distract him. She wants him all to herself and there's nothing wrong with that in a relationship.
People think that jealousy is somehow wrong or an undesirable characteristic but it isn't. God is jealous over us; he was jealous when his Old Testament people began to set him aside and worship idols and that's because they belonged to him.
If someone who belongs to you is messing around with another man, or another woman, or getting too chummy with them, even if it isn't physical; even if it's just mental and emotional bonding, or closeness you have every right in the world to be jealous, and there's something wrong with you if you're not because they're out of line.
8. She sees her beloved coming, leaping upon the mountains, and bounding over the hills. Poetic language indicating that when she needs him he's there and he's there in a hurry. She was his priority.
You are Jesus's priority; he tells you call on him and he will answer. In Jeremiah 33:3 God says call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.
9. She said my beloved is like a young deer; he stands behind the wall and looks at the Windows. In other words he's concerned about her and he watches over her for good. Jesus is ever vigilant toward us as well, he tells us that he is with us always even until the end of the age.
10-13. The man says to the woman come away with me right now; this is the perfect time.
Do not waste time as a Christian. Do not delay to give Jesus your complete obedience. Do not for a second put off doing what he wants you to do. The moments of your life are priceless and any time that is not spent in fellowship with Jesus for whatever reason is a waste of the gift of time that he has given us, and we can never get those minutes back and I think in eternity you will regret that, I know I will.
14. The woman says I need to hear your voice, I don't know where you are, maybe you are hiding behind some rock; one thing I know is that you are out of sight, and I need to at least hear you.
I have been saved for over 37 years and I believe the only day and it was probably a couple of days that I did not spend time with Jesus in the word of God was a few years ago when I had major surgery. Otherwise I couldn't stand going through an entire day without hearing the voice of God.
If you don't crave the voice of God like this woman craved the voice of her man than your walk with Jesus isn't what it should be. There’s a disconnect some place.
15. She petitions her man to get rid of the little foxes that are ruining the vines. If he doesn't do something they won't have a harvest of grapes.
She knows where to go to when she needs help, when she has a problem. And the Bible says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The first person we should turn to when we have a problem of any kind, (and we should do it without even thinking), the first place we should go is to Jesus, and if we are close to him that is exactly where we will go.
16,17. She says I am his and he is mine. Jesus is not a religion; if you get anything out of this book it should be that being a Christian is not about going to church or following a ritual or belonging to a denomination.
Jesus is not a religion. Being saved is not being religious. There are a lot of religious people who will die and go to hell even though they think that their religion will save them. Being saved comes down to having a close personal one-on-one relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Being saved, being a Christian is being able to say: I am his and he is mine.
Salvation is having a close relationship with Jesus Christ where you know that he loves you and you know that he is the most important thing to you. If you are saved than yes Jesus is your creator, and your God, and your judge, and your Savior, but he is much more than those things; he is also your friend.
Chapter 3
1. The woman in this story is searching for the man that she loves and she's having a hard time finding him but she continues to search.
We are blessed that Jesus seeks us just as God sought Adam after he sinned. But we must respond to his call by seeking him as well. God says "you will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart."
2. She looked but she could not find so she kept looking everywhere-she did not quit.
Sometimes it seems as if God is nowhere to be found, but his true people continue to seek him; they don't give up on Jesus.
3. This woman's love for her man is so strong that she assumes everyone else including the watchmen knows who she is looking for without her even mentioning his name. And the watchmen is probably thinking: what are you talking about, and who are you talking about lady?
Don't be surprised if others, even professing Christians, don't have the same interest in Jesus, and his word as you do. I know in my case, right from the very start when I was saved at age 25 I had an unquenchable love for Jesus, and his word and being a new Christian I didn't understand why everyone who called themselves a Christian wasn't like me. But somehow throughout my life I have always plodded my way through the masses of lukewarm Christians until I found those that really loved Jesus enough to enjoy talking about him.
4. She found him and she's not going to let him go no matter what. It was too long and too difficult of a search to let him slip away.
This reminds me of the apostles who Jesus asked: are you going to walk away from me as well? Their answer was: where would we go? You are the only one who has the words of life.
So some people who call themselves Christians get frustrated because they don't like something that the Bible says and so they walk away from Jesus; I've known people like that. And I would tell them right to their face: your fool! You may not like everything God says, it might not all set well with you; join the crowd! Who cares? So what? Just remember God is God and Jesus is the only Savior, Jesus is the only way to avoid hell, Jesus is the only way to get into heaven and so you walk away from him because you don't like something that is clearly taught in the word of God? Well you're going to like hell even less.
5. She's watching out for him; maybe she's watching out for herself a little bit too by keeping the other ladies at a distance, but let's give her the benefit of the doubt and say she is watching out for him. I say that because we know that she loves him and when you love someone you want them to be blessed and you want to protect them.
Jesus loves us so he protects us. God says no evil shall befall you and no plague shall come near your tent; 1000 may fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand but it shall not come near unto you. God protects us, and we want to protect him also, in the sense of maintaining a good Christian testimony so that we do nothing to harm his reputation in the eyes of others.
6. This is an talking about the Shepherd now, this is talking about Solomon. In verses six through 11 we see Solomon's procession to Jerusalem from Shunem which is where the woman in our story was from.
7. 60 powerful men surrounded Solomon as his bodyguards.
8. Solomon, at least at the beginning was probably the greatest king in all of the earth and certainly Israel was the greatest kingdom at that time and yet he still had to be guarded by these skilled soldiers. The Bible says the strongman keeps his house. There is evil in this world, as you know, and if the good are not strong than the evil will take over. Evil must be kept in check or it will overrun the world.
9,10. Solomon rode in the Rolls-Royce of chariots, even a goldplated Rolls-Royce.
11. Solomon looked pretty impressive; there was a lot of pomp and ceremony.
Again this is a picture of Jesus Christ and the honor that he should receive from all people and the honor that he will receive from everyone on Judgment Day. The Bible says every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. Some will confess him as Lord and bow their knees before they are thrown into hell for rejecting him as Lord and Savior during their life, but they will bow and give him the honor that he has coming.
Chapter 4
1. This must be cultural because if you told a woman today that she looked like a flock of goats you might get a slap in the face. I don't know, either that or she might storm away from you insulted.
It seems strange to us but the fact is everything he says about this woman is a description of her beauty in terms that they would understand and so this guy considers himself to be very blessed that she loves him like she does.
If God has given you someone who loves you you are blessed. Being loved is a great gift from God; it should not be taken for granted and it should be appreciated like this man appreciated the love of this woman.
2. Again this is a complement because he is saying that her teeth are as white as sheep's wool that has been washed and none are missing.
3. She's wearing a veil which women wore in those days, at least before they were married. That means she couldn't see her face in its entirety but what he saw he liked and he knows her well enough to know that he loves her, and although she wears a veil he still thinks she's beautiful.
This reminds me of Christ and Christians which again is what this entire story is about. It reminds me of Jesus and Christians because the Bible says that even though we Christians have not yet seen Jesus we love him. We Christians love Jesus because we know him; we don't have to see him to appreciate him.
4. Again this probably seems rather strange to us today; I guess he liked her neck which is fine, but I think you know you're in love with a woman when something as commonplace as her neck impresses you.
5. This is an interesting description; he describes her breasts and it is not simply talking about the physical beauty of this woman. You know today if you talk about a woman's breasts everybody thinks of sex and only sex, and that's part of it, but in Solomon's mind there was more to what he was saying then that.
He describes her breasts as being like two young roes. You say what in the world does that mean? Well he's describing the healthiness of her breasts; they were healthy enough to satisfy, as he mentions here: twins.
Many probably don't appreciate that today but back then it was very much appreciated because strong healthy breasts were needed to prevent a woman's babies from dying. So this man is describing the beauty and the strength of this woman. He is saying you are fit to be a mother which was the highest calling for a woman in that society.
6. These words continue to express his love for her.
7. As far as he is concerned she is completely beautiful; she is perfect in every way; she is the perfect fit for him. I'm not sure she would have won any beauty contests in that day, or today, but she was the perfect woman to this man who loved her. He wouldn't trade her for anyone; he was completely content in her presence, and again this points to Christians and Christ. Christians, true Christians, those who have genuinely repented and received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior would not trade Jesus for anyone or anything else in this world. To the genuine Christian Jesus is perfect, and sufficient and of course that is exactly what he is.
8. The man says, come with me, and she must be willing to follow him if she wants to belong to him; if she wants him to be her man. And this is a picture of Christ and any would be Christian as well. Jesus demands that we forsake all to follow him. He said unless one is willing to pick up their cross daily and follow me they cannot be my disciple. The cross symbolized dying to self, and that means being a slave in the true sense of the word by losing your identity and setting aside your desires to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
9-11. Lebanon was famous for their enormous and many cedar trees. The cedar trees of Lebanon gave off a scent that was pleasant to humans while at the same time being abhorrent to serpents and to many insects. Consequently the snakes and the insects stayed away from the area where those trees grew in abundance.
The cedars of Lebanon are a picture of the relationship between this man and woman and they're also a picture of the relationship between Jesus and his church, or individual Christians. The devil, that ancient serpent as the Bible calls him, and his associate devils are repelled and powerless when the word of God is proclaimed clearly. The word of God is to devils like the Cedars of Lebanon are to serpants and insects; God's word repels them; they flee from it. On the other hand the word of God is a sweet scent, a pleasant scent to people who belong to Christ.
12. He compares the woman that he loves to a beautiful garden with a fountain and what he is describing is a wonderful parklike setting. Actually it's more like a paradise setting. That's what he sees when he looks at her. When he's around her it's as if he's in paradise. In other words it doesn't get any better; he is suggesting that the blessings of his relationship with her are as good as any blessing can possibly be.
And of course perfect blessedness like what he is describing can only be realized fully in our relationship with Jesus Christ and only fully experienced and enjoyed when we are in our resurrected bodies. But we can at least get a little taste of that blessedness now, enough to know that it is the best thing on earth, but with the realization that it's still a far cry from what it's going to be in the future when we are actually with him physically and in our resurrected bodies.
13-16. Notice what she says in verse 16 again: " Awake O north wind: and come thou south! Blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out."
She wants the joy that she experiences with her man to spread to others who know them. That happens when two people are in love the way these two are. They were so in love and they were such a perfect fit that their joy radiated on to others and blessed them as well. Their love for God and their love for each other made them great to be around.
When Christians are close to Christ and their relationship with Jesus is alive and real than they will have joy and that joy will be experienced by those who are close to them.
Chapter 5
1. In the last chapter the woman invited her man into her life and he accepted so again we see that these two really loved each other.
Verse one contains symbolic language designed to illustrate the love that they had. I'm sure you've noticed that there is a lot of symbolism in this book especially when these two start describing each other, and I think that's because true love is beyond words, true love cannot be described with words it can only be illustrated with flowery language. That's also the way it is with Jesus and a Christian. A Christians love for Jesus is beyond description. Superlatives begin to ring hollow because they fall short, and one can never appreciate the love between Christ, and a Christian unless they themselves experience it.
2. Here in verse two the woman is sleeping and she had her door locked, but then all of a sudden her man arrives at the closed door, and he spoke to her in a very loving way. He wants to be with her; he wants her to open the door, and let him in. He wants to spend time with her because he missed her.
3. The woman had already gone through her bedtime routine; she is in bed and she is comfortable, and in addition to that she is suggesting that she's not in good enough condition for her man to see; she wouldn't feel comfortable.
You know, these two people always wanted to do everything properly when it came to each other. She loved him too much to do anything, or in any way expose him to anything that might be even a little bit unpleasant. Consequently she's sort of puts him off here. It's not that she isn't interested it's just that she doesn't feel quite comfortable because she's not right. When we love someone we want things to be right, we want to make them happy, we don't want to upset them in any way.
It's the same with Christians and Jesus; we love Christ and so we don't want to upset him, and we get upset when we know that we have upset him because of our sins.
4. So when her man puts his hand on the door latch her heart starts to flutter with excitement and she seems to be changing her mind about maybe letting him in; she starts to think may be it'll be okay.
5,6. Now she's feeling horrible. It took a while for her to get dressed properly and to get the door open, and consequently by the time she arrived her man was gone. She delayed and she lost her opportunity, and now once again she's going into a panic mode.
The Bible teaches that we should always be ready for the return of Jesus Christ. Those who delay thinking that they have plenty of time will one day discover that they have run out of time. It'll be like the book of Jeremiah when he said "the harvest this past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." Who was Jeremiah the prophet speaking to when he said that? He said it to those who were indifferent toward God. The Lord comes as a thief in the night; he comes unexpectedly to those who are not ready, to those who are indifferent, to those who are lukewarm.
When Jesus comes it's too late to start getting ready. When Jesus comes you've run out of time. That's why people must always be ready for the return of Christ or for are going to be with him when we die.
And something else also; don't squander opportunities that God gives you and don't waste time doing sinful things or useless things. Christians we must always be ready for the opportunities that God gives them to serve him because he never promises us a second chance if we squander the first one.
7. She lost her man so she goes out looking for him again, and she met up with the watchmen again but this time they were bad to her.
Back in those days adulterous women visited their men at night, and prostitutes did their sinful work at night, and thieves roamed the streets at night, murderers lurked in the darkness of night, and so doubtless the watchmen on duty felt that the woman in this story was that type of a woman, and guilty of those things so they apprehended her and actually assaulted her.
8. I don't know if you have noticed this or not but this woman seems to experience trouble every time she's away from the man who loves her and here she is once again suffering emotionally and may be physically for rejecting him when he was at her door. So she comes across these other ladies and she tells them how much she loves her man and desires to be with him and tells them that if you find him tell him that I need him badly.
This is a tough lesson for her and often times Christians have to learn tough lessons as well, and in fact every time we say no to Jesus we suffer in some fashion. We may suffer physically, but we certainly always suffer spiritually when we refuse to follow our Lord.
9. So these other ladies don't understand what is so special about her man. They've seen him before and they probably thought he was okay but not that big of a deal. They don't understand because they don't love him like she does, and it seems like they think she's a little foolish to make such a big deal out of him.
They don't get it because they don't love him and the unsaved think that Christians are foolish for making such a big deal out of Jesus because they don't love him either. Why not just confine him to one hour on Sunday morning like the rest of us do?
They don't get why we' re always talking about the cross of Christ and his blood that was shed to pay for our sins. They think it's foolish and that's exactly what the Bible says they will think. The Bible says that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.
The unsaved don't get it just like these women didn't get it either. The unsaved don't understand what's so special about Jesus, even professing Christians, don't see what's so special about Jesus. Oh yes I'm a Christian and yes I go to church and I take communion and I was baptized and I said the sinner's prayer, or I was confirmed, but no I don't talk about him, I talk about sports and I talk about movies and I talk about rock 'n roll bands and I talk about country music bands and I talk about anything and everything other than the Lord Jesus Christ; I don't understand!
The unsaved don't understand why Christians love Jesus so much, and they don't understand why Christians talk about him so much, and read the Bible so that they can learn more about Jesus. They think you are crazy for getting up early on Sunday mornings to go to to church instead of sleeping late on your day off. They dont understand you because they don't love Jesus like you do.
10. She says the one I love is strong and healthy and you can see it in his face.
11. She says he has great hair and if you think that's what draws her to him you haven't learned anything so far in this book. It wouldn't matter if his hair was white or if he was completely bald to her he is priceless.
12. She says his eyes are bright like a precious stone set in a nice ring.
13. She compares him to things that have beautiful scents and again this is symbolic language that just expresses her love for him. He is simply the greatest thing that she could ever possibly imagine.
14-16. You asked me why I care so much for this man and my answer is this: he is my beloved.. In other words he is everything she wants in a man, and I like how she finishes her description of him by simply saying he's my friend. They love each other and they are best friends also.
You know a love like this doesn't come around very often, and it would be nice if every person in the world could experience it, but not everyone does. What a joy when two people are attracted to each other physically and they also have a spiritual connection which of course is the most important thing if you're Christian. When those two things are in place that relationship is going to click. These two fit like a glove. They loved each other spiritually they enjoyed how each other looked and they also thought alike and so they fit together like two pieces of a puzzle which is why they miss each other so much when they are apart.
You may not have someone like that in this life but you have Jesus if you're Christian and you can fit with him like two pieces of a puzzle: you and him connect like a hand in a glove and you can have the same feeling of contentment and joy when you spend time with him as two people who are deeply in love with each other experience when they are together. Remember this book illustrates the relationship between a Christian and Jesus.
Chapter 6
1. I think these ladies might be giving the woman a bit of a hard time maybe even being somewhat sarcastic because they say where is your beloved? In other words, where is he? You're supposed to be the fairest among women; he supposed to love you so much; so where is he; he's not around. And of course I don't know but there might be some jealousy here because that is the way it is often in the world; sometimes the unsaved say to Christians when they are going through hard times "where is your God now, why doesn't your God help you now?
2. She not only knows where the man is but in fact back in chapter 4 she's the one who told him to go there.
3. They love each other, and they trust each other, and she knows where he is, and other people cannot shake their confidence in each other, so ladies it's a waste of time to even try.
It should be the same with us and Jesus. The Bible says that God knows those who belong to him and that is a very comforting verse. Others may think that you're not a Christian because you don't believe exactly the way they do on every single issue, there are legalistic Christians out there who will question your salvation if you don't follow their man-made rules. Others may think that you're not a Christian because you haven't always behaved like a Christian, but God knows if you belong to him; God knows if you have received Christ as your Lord and Savior.
People can say anything they want to say; they can try to discourage you as a follower of Jesus Christ any way they want to, but they won't get very far because they can't shake your confidence in Christ, and they certainly can't shake God's commitment to you.
So again she repeats the words that she belongs to him and he belongs to her. They belong to each other and that relationship needs to be protected and anyone or anything that would seek to come between those two needs to be rejected immediately.
I remember a few years back a very popular contemporary "Christian" singer saying publicly that she really enjoyed flirting with other women's husbands. And she felt perfectly safe admitting to that sinful activity; she thought it was cute; she thought it was modern. Yeah and Sodom and Gomorrah were modern also. Nothing like creating strife within that bond between a man and a woman that belong to each other, and her claiming to be a Christian also. In so many cases modern evangelicalism and modern evangelicals have profaned the sacred and have made light of that which is holy.
4. The man says you've captured my heart. Only the devil and his emissaries to try to disrupt a beautiful relationship like that. If you like to flirt with another woman's husband then go flirt with some unsaved person than you can both go to hell together.
5. He already said this earlier about her hair and believe it or not it was a great complement.
6. He already said this too and again it was a compliment. I guess we learn from this that it is good to repeat complements when they are sincere. One manifestation of love is repeated praise and encouragement.
It is good also to praise God and to say the same words of worship and praise to him over and over again when it is sincere. God never gets tired of sincere praise.
8,9. In these two verses the man is describing the uniqueness of this woman that he loves; she is one-of-a-kind.
10. He says of his lady that she shines like the dawn and she's is beautiful as the moon and she's as bright as the sun and she's as wonderful as the stars and all these heavenly bodies give out different types of light but each one is unique and lovely in its own way and that's this woman to this man.
11,12. The woman says I intended to go to the garden that is filled with nut trees but I don't know what I'm doing here. That makes two of us because I have no idea what these verses are talking about.
It sounds like Babel to me and if it is its Holy Spirit inspired Babel; it's recorded accurately and I guess if nothing else we can conclude that when someone is in a deep state of love like she was or enamored with the word of God and the Lord Jesus Christ like Christians should be then that is where our focus will be, and we lose sight of the things around us and whatever importance they might have.
13. Her companions wanted her to stay by them but it was time to go be with her husband. The wedding is over it's time to move on; now she belongs to him.
Chapter 7
1-5. He is admiring her; he is admiring her beauty, her legs, even her ankles, and he just can't get over her. And keep in mind that the man in the story is King Solomon. King Solomon could of had anything that he wanted and in fact he did have everything that he wanted. He imported beautiful treasures from all over the world. He had more silver and gold and precious stones than any other King that Israel ever had. But the beauty of this woman that he loved impressed him more than all of those things combined. He found his greatest treasure right here. She was the Pearl of great Price.
Jesus is the Pearl of great Price according to the New Testament. Our relationship with Jesus should be and will be more valuable to us, and more beautiful to us than anything that the world can possibly offer. In fact the Bible teaches that the joy we receive from fellow shipping with our God and our Savior is more than the combination of all the joy that all the things of the world could possibly provide.
6-10. No one can possibly dissect these verses without destroying them just as they are. They are poetic flowery language depicting the love that these two people have for each other.
11,12. So their love is strong and they want to express it in the physical act and the fruit of that act will be one who is a part of each one of them.
13. She said she has many gifts for the man that she loves. She wants to please him, she lives to make him happy, and to prove how valuable he is to her.
Chapter 8
1. When she says that she wanted her and her husband to be like brother and sister so that if they were outside in front of other people they could kiss she was talking about a cultural thing back in those days where people in the same family could kiss each other in public but it wasn't proper for a husband and wife to do that.
2. When she wasn't with other people she wanted to kiss her husband in a different way, a far more intimate way. She talks about her mother's house which probably refers to a safe place, a private place, a family place. And when she talks about her pomegranates she is talking about her breasts and so she is speaking of allowing her husband to enjoy her in an intimate way in private.
3,4. The woman has a lot of confidence in the fact that her husband loves her. She knows this is the right time for them to be in love and to express it to each other and she doesn't want anyone to interrupt them.
The Christian needs to spend personal quiet time with Jesus and do everything that they can to make sure that it is not interrupted. Jesus told Martha the sister of Mary who sat at his feet soaking up the word that Martha should not interrupt the Fellowship that he was having with Mary in order to run around doing busywork. According to Jesus only one thing is needed and Mary found it and he wouldn't let anyone interrupt it.
5. Here in verse five the couple is seen coming from the wilderness. Keep in mind that in Scripture, especially in a symbolic book like this one, keep in mind that the wilderness symbolized trials, and even the curse of God. So here we have these two people that are coming up out of the wilderness. That speaks to the fact that they have overcome all obstacles to their love and as a result they will begin to enjoy life together.
6a. In the Bible a seal indicated ownership. Seals were placed on items that were very valuable to the owner. People didn't seal things that were worthless. So this woman wants this man's seal to be placed on her. In other words, she wants to be seen as his most valuable possession.
Carry that over to our relationship with Jesus Christ. The Bible says that God has sealed Christians unto the day of redemption. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit has put his seal upon us. You may not feel like you are a valuable possession to your Creator, but that doesn't matter, feelings are irrelevant; the fact is you are his valuable possession; you are as valuable a possession to Jesus as this woman was to this man and this man was to this woman.
6b,7a. These verses summarize the strength of the love that these two people had for each other. Their love was invincible; it was unstoppable; it was unquenchable; it was a persevering love; it was as strong and mighty as many waters, and many rivers, and nothing could possibly quench the love that they had for each other.
And nothing can quench God's love for us either. The Bible says that God loves us with an everlasting love. Jesus said greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friend, and Jesus showed the unquenchable nature of his love by laying down his life for us; by dying on the cross to pay for our sins so that he could save us from hell.
7b. In other words, they are saying that their love for each other is priceless and that all the money in the world would not be enough to purchase something as valuable as the love that they have for each other. If anyone was foolish enough to try to bribe either one of these into forsaking the other it would be laughed at; it simply would not happen.
8,9. The bride in our story, the woman in our story is recounting what her brothers once said to her and their attitude toward her when she was young. When she was growing up she had older brothers who cared for her; they watched over her, and even at a very young age they were preparing her for marriage.
Her brothers said if she is a wall, in other words, if she displayed good character, and judgment, if she was morally upright, then they would allow her a measure of freedom. On the other hand if she was reckless, and immoral; if she was like a swinging door that could go either way than they were going to restrict her freedom.
Her brothers were preparing her for when she was an adult. She was in a home where her family loved her, they protected her, they trained her in righteousness, and that is why now that she is an adult she understands how to express love in the proper way. Her husband is blessed because her priorities were correct and they were correct because she was trained well when she was young.
10. She proclaims the fact that she had indeed been a wall not a swinging door. In other words she had been chaste. She was pure for her husband; she restrained herself as a young girl and that helped her to win the love of a godly man.
I must hasten to say that this doesn't mean that a girl who has made some mistakes and has committed sexual sins in her past cannot be loved by a godly man. A good and godly man will love a woman for who she is right now regardless of what she once was like.
11,12. Evidently these two people first met in a vineyard that Solomon had rented to her brothers.
You never know how God is working and how he will use every day things, seemingly mundane, average, run-of-the-mill things. You never know how God is going to use those things to bring about wonderful blessings for his people in the long run. That certainly was the case with these two people. I doubt that neither this man or woman ever thought that when her older brothers rented out a vineyard from Solomon that she would end up marrying the man and that they would have such a wonderful life together.
13,14. Their love was intense, it was as intense right now as it was in the very beginning. They longed for each other in marriage just as much as they did earlier in courtship.
This is a very difficult book to teach, at least for me it is, but there are a lot of lessons in the song of Solomon. I hope I pointed out some of them out for you.
Certainly, among other things, this book teaches us that God has ordained the sexual relationship between a husband and wife. It teaches that husbands and wives should be completely dedicated to each other and that they should enjoy one another, not just spiritually, but physically. It teaches that sexual activity is not in any way dishonorable, or dirty when it is exercised within the boundaries of marriage. God has given men and women physical desires for each other, and they are to satisfy those desires within the boundaries of a loving marriage between one woman and one man. That is God's plan.