Song of Songs Chapter 5

5:1-16

Verse 1 is about the man delighting in his beloved.

The beloved also longs for her beloved, but then he is gone and she cannot find him. Indeed the watchmen of the city beat her up as she searched for him. There are times in life when Christ seems so close, then He is gone. Once we felt God so close, so aware of His love for us, then nothing! We long for a return of the closeness of the Lord, we go and seek Him out, we pray, we praise, we read the Bible, we cry out to Him, but nothing happens. Worse than that, the circumstances of life, the thoughts and emotions within us just seem to beat us up.

The friends ask what makes her lover so special. She then goes into a rhapsody of his great qualities. If God seems far off just now, consider why it matters so much to you. Why do you seek Him, why do you long for Him? Why not just get on with life like most of the world does with worrying about whether you are close to God or not? It is because he is so wonderful. We know that He is the only One who gives meaning to our lives, He is perfect in every detail, He is the One who can restore us.

Song of Songs - Chapter 4 - Altogether beautiful

4:1-7

The lover now delights in his beloved. The terms used are not ones we would use today, indeed it might be very unwise to use some of them. Nevertheless, it is worth looking at one or two of them. "Your hair is like a flock of goats". The goats of Canaan were usually dark. Now remember that the beloved was dark and the society of the time did not consider dark to be desirable. So the lover finds beauty in some aspects of the beloved that society mocks. We need to be careful not to allow society to mould how we view ourselves, for society's values are often complete nonsense and worthless. And there are things about us that other people mock, but that the Lord delights in.

"Your teeth are like sheep". Remember that dentistry wasn't then what it is now! To have good teeth would be a rare blessing.

The lover finds no flaw in her. Society urges us to spot faults in people (and in ourselves). If we are married we should delight in our wives or husbands. The Lord also delights in us. Have we got faults? Yes. Have our wives or husbands got faults? Yes. But God sees us as perfect because of Christ. 

4:8-15

The lover continues to delight in his bride. Note the use of the term "sister" in v9. To use brother or sister in the love poetry of the time was quite common and did not indicate anything of an incestuous nature.

"You are a garden locked up" (v12). There were many delights in the beloved that had not yet been opened up. We need to realise in a marriage that a mutual self-giving relationship opens up features of each other, it nurtures positive qualities and develops new gifts. People sometimes wonder if they have married the right person. The more important question is "how do we love the person we have married". It is not just about the person you marry, it is about the person that they (and you) will become within the marriage.

And the Lord sees all sorts of hidden potential within us. And we need the Lord to come into our lives to awaken all this hidden potential.

4:16

The woman invites her beloved into her life. We need to invite Christ into all aspects of our life, to realise its true beauty and potential.

Song of Songs Chapter 3 - Seek and you will find

3:1-5

The beloved yearns for her lover and goes seeking for him. Remember that Jesus said, "seek and you shall find". We should long for the Lord and go looking for Him. Maybe you are going through some things in life just now and know that you need the Lord, and are searching for Him desperately, yet he seems far off, or otherwise elusive. Be encouraged, for this is normal, and the promise is that we will find Him. Note that it is her heart's desire that motivates and drives her. We need to have a passionate desire for the Lord. The woman finds him fairly quickly, then holds him and will not let him go.

3:6-11

Verses 6-11 may have been spoken of by the friends, but it doesn't really matter. She has longed for her lover, thinking she would not find him. Now when she hasn't just found Him, but he is there with a wedding procession, and not just any old wedding, but a king's wedding. We go through times when the Lord seems far off, but take heart, we will find Him, and when we do it will be a million times better than it was before.

We need to appreciate just how much the Lord is for us, and the splendour He has waiting for us.

Song of Songs - Chapter 2 - His banner over us is love

2:1,2

“ a rose of Sharon” is not the best translation, for it is meant to mean that the woman cannot believe that her beloved is really interested in her, she is just an ordinary flower, nothing special. Likewise we can wonder how the Lord can possibly be interested in us. However, the man assures her that he is interested in her, she is special. Likewise Jesus does consider us to be special, we are important to Him.

2:3-7

The woman then reiterates her appreciation of him and her delight of him. “His banner over me is love”, a well-known chorus is based on this verse. In military terms a banner was there for the troops to rally to. Jesus loves us, we should never forget this if we want to have a proper view of life/ “Do not arouse love until it so desires. Love is powerful, but should not be played with. Passionate sexual love belongs in marriage between one man and one woman, and nowhere else.

2:8-13

The man is then pictured as leaping towards her and calling her to come with him.

2:14,15

The woman is delighted, yet also fearful, for “the little foxes” can ruin the vineyard.

2:16,17

“My beloved is mine and I am His”, this sums up the proper relationship between us and Christ.

Song of Songs - Chapter 1 - Desire

1:1

“Solomon’s Song of Songs”. Song of Songs is a superlative, meaning this song is the greatest of songs. 1 Kings 4:32 says that Solomon wrote 1005 songs, this is the greatest of those. AS mentioned in the introduction there are arguments against his being the author. It is also possible to take this as meaning the song is about Solomon, the problem here is that Solomon had so many wives and concubines, he was hardly a paragon of virtue.

1:2-4

The “She” delights on her man, longing to be kissed by him. It is important to remember that this is a poem, and so a strictly analytical approach, which might be appropriate for a book like Romans does not really apply here, a more emotional approach is perhaps in order. The man she desires is admired by the young women, and she wants hom to take her away with him.

The friends of the woman rejoice and delight with her. A relationship is not purely private, it has wider consequences that affect others.

1:5-7

Being fair was considered better than being tanned, unlike today. In the day of this book the poorer woman would tend to work in the fields, and hence would be affected by the sun, and so would have a darker complexion. Later, after the industrial revolution, poorer women would work in factories, and so would be of a fairer complexion. So the woman has some insecurities about her looks. She had been forced to work in the vineyards. The beloved is a shepherd who would resort at midday. A “veiled woman” would be a prostitute, the woman did not want to be considered like that.

1:8

The friends give advice to the woman, to follow the tracks of the sheep, she also seems to be a shepherdess.

1:9-17

The woman is worried about her suitableness, but the beloved seems to have no such qualms, considering her to be most beautiful. In 1:16 she replies that she finds him equally handsome. V17 is a comment on the strength of their relationship.

Song of Songs - Introduction

Song of Songs - Introduction

Having done Ecclesiastes, this is another difficult book., one that we might wonder why is it even in the Bible at all. Like Sther, God doesn’t even get a mention in the book, moreover it is semi-erotic. “Song of Songs” means the greatest of songs. The opening of the song seems to imply that Solomon was the author of the book, and this may well be true, though the matter is open to debate. It is possible that the book was written in the ninth century BC, though some argue for a later date.

Authorship is not settled, interpretation of the book is even more thwart. It can be viewed as an allegory of the love between God and Israel, or God and the church, or God and believers. The problem is that allegorical approaches are prone to the interpreter imposing any interpretation they like on the text, rather than seeing what the text actually says. It can also be seen as a celebration of erotic love between a man and a wife. There is certainly something to be said for  the latter. The relationship between God and His people is often expressed in terms of that between a man and his wife, for instance the church is called the bride of Christ.

I think the best approach is to (i) treat it as a poem celebrating love, and (ii) to see it as an allegory of God’s love for His people. A husband and wife are meant to delight in each other, and we are to delight in the Lord, and He delights in us.

Bibliography

Amongst others the following two sources are particularly helpful:

(i) The Song of Songs episode on David Pawson’s “Unlocking the Bible” podcast series is very helpful;

(ii) TOTC Song of Sons (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries(2015)

Colossians 4:12-18 - Final Greetings

4:12-15

Epaphras was the one who first took the gospel to Colossae (1:7). He was always praying for them, praying that they would “stand firm in the will of God, mature and fully assured”. Being fully assured should be normal for Christians. Paul speaks highly of Epahras Luke is also mentioned. He sometimes travelled with Paul, and that is probably why he was able to write Acts. We then get mention of a house church.

4:16-18

The letter was not just for the Colossians but was also for the church in Laodicea as well, they needed the same lessons. Archippus is encouraged to ensure that he completes the ministry he has received from the Lord. wMost of the letter would have been written by a secretary, but he uses his own hand here to add a personal touch.