Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
Today is 2-for-1 Friday!
Check out Love Song!
The Questions
1) Why is such an erotic song of love found in the Bible?
2) What confession of love does the Lover make in verses 8-11?
3) What is being celebrated as the Beloved Bride sings, “Let my love come to his garden”? (verses 16 – 5:1)
Song of Solomon 4:1-5:1
Man
How beautiful you are, my darling.
How very beautiful!
Behind your veil,
your eyes are doves.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down Mount Gilead.
2 Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep
coming up from washing,
each one bearing twins,
and none has lost its young.
3 Your lips are like a scarlet cord,
and your mouth is lovely.
Behind your veil,
your brow is like a slice of pomegranate.
4 Your neck is like the tower of David,
constructed in layers.
A thousand shields are hung on it—
all of them shields of warriors.
5 Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies.
6 Until the day breaks
and the shadows flee,
I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh
and the hill of frankincense.
7 You are absolutely beautiful, my darling;
there is no imperfection in you.
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;
come with me from Lebanon!
Descend from the peak of Amana,
from the summit of Senir and Hermon,
from the dens of the lions,
from the mountains of the leopards.
9 You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride.
You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
10 How delightful your caresses are, my sister, my bride.
Your caresses are much better than wine,
and the fragrance of your perfume than any balsam.
11 Your lips drip sweetness like the honeycomb, my bride.
Honey and milk are under your tongue.
The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
12 My sister, my bride, you are a locked garden—
a locked garden and a sealed spring.
13 Your branches are a paradise of pomegranates
with choicest fruits;
henna with nard,
14 nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,
with all the trees of frankincense,
myrrh and aloes,
with all the best spices.
15 You are a garden spring,
a well of flowing water
streaming from Lebanon.
Woman
16 Awaken, north wind;
come, south wind.
Blow on my garden,
and spread the fragrance of its spices.
Let my love come to his garden
and eat its choicest fruits.
Man
5 I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride.
I gather my myrrh with my spices.
I eat my honeycomb with my honey.
I drink my wine with my milk.
Chorus
Eat, friends!
Drink, be intoxicated with caresses!
Original Intent
1) Why is such an erotic song of love found in the Bible?
Coming from an ancient culture where lovemaking and bodies and chants were often used in cultic ways to impress false gods, this ancient song would have been first, deeply refreshing, and second, strikingly obvious in its total lack of cultic pleadings. This song of love stuck out in its first cultural setting as blatantly delightful because it did not sing of love to bribe a false deity, nor did it sing of using another’s body for personal gain. Rather, the song is sung simply because Lover and Beloved are celebrating each other. Bible scholars have worked hard over the centuries to bring correct understanding to this ancient book in context of the rest of the Bible, trying on all types of lenses of interpretation. Is the book a dream? Is it only meant as a picture of God loving the Church? Is it meant to symbolize cities and nations from a political standpoint? Deeper study into each of these, come up empty with the sense of having stretched the text considerably to arrive at pre-determined agendas, which is an improper approach in studying the Bible. (We strongly encourage doing some research as to why these other potential interpretations fall flat from a biblical perspective. To get you started, we recommend New American Commentary or this semi-brief commentary from The Gospel Coalition or, this one from Desiring God) Often, when studying Scripture, the most simple explanation is exactly the correct understanding. Song of Solomon is a love song shared between a Groom and a Bride as they approach their wedding and enjoy each other. In a culture that distorted sex for personal gain, the Bible would not be complete without God’s holy perspective on marriage, men, women, and sex. Thanks to this beautiful love song, we see not only God’s delightful pronouncement of “Good” over sexual enjoyment and the valuing of men, women, and marriage, we also find that He Himself is a God of unity, oneness, and pleasure.
2) What confession of love does the Lover make in verses 8-11?
On the heels of singing in detail the delightful aspects of his Beloved’s body in verses 1-7, closing with, “You are absolutely beautiful, my darling; there is no imperfection in you”, the Lover presents an evocative invitation to his bride. “Come with me from Lebanon, my Bride…” (verse 8) The Lover longs achingly to make his bride his own and consummate their marriage together. His adoration for her is certain and she is his one and only Beloved. His desire is for her, and her alone. His verbose melodies of love culminate in verse 9 where he confesses, “You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride. You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes.” Although the original Hebrew is ambiguous, theologian Duane Garrett states in his commentary, “The sense of the verb (captured) could mean both ‘I am hopelessly in love with you’ and ‘you have sexually aroused me.’” The Lover is expressing he is altogether captivated by his Beloved Bride. He is letting her know he desires for her to unleash the enchanting pleasures he sang about on him so they can mutually enjoy each other.
3) What is being celebrated as the Beloved Bride sings, “Let my love come to his garden”? (verses 16 – 5:1)
In verses 12-15, the Lover acknowledges that the sexual delights he longs to enjoy are locked away from him. This section of the love song accentuates, and elevates, the Bride’s virginity. Culturally, a woman’s virginity was to be guarded and locked up. We see imagery of this as the Bride anticipates her wedding night and the loss of her virginity in chapter 3. She longs to consummate her marriage vows with sexual intimacy, but her virginity, personified by the guards (Song of Solomon 3:3) keep her from doing so. In the same token, however, her virginity (again, the “guards” of her “city”, ie: her sexuality) is the passage ticket which allow her to be married. In the ancient culture of this poetic love song, unless you were a virgin, you could not be considered eligible for marriage. Hebrew law forbade marriage to anyone who wasn’t a virgin. (Deuteronomy 22:20-24) If anyone was discovered to not be a virgin, they were to be stoned immediately. Remember the story of Mary, pregnant with Jesus in Matthew 1? Her life was at risk for becoming pregnant out-of-wedlock. While the allure of the Beloved’s sexuality beckons him, the Lover cannot access his Bride for the garden of her sexuality is locked away behind her virginity. “My sister, my bride, you are a locked garden, a locked garden and a sealed spring.” (verse 12) Verses 16-5:1, therefore, celebrate the consummation of the marriage bed as the Bride sings, “Let my love come to his garden and eat its choicest fruits.” The new husband now responds with delight, “I have come to my garden—my sister, my bride. I gather my myrrh with my spices. I eat my honeycomb with my honey. I drink my wine with my milk.” The long-awaited fulfillment of sexual pleasure finds its climax as the two lovers become one flesh.
Everyday Application
1) Why is such an erotic song of love found in the Bible?
Looking at this biblical book from a 21st century perspective where “sex sells everything” we are trained to think that anything sexually explicit must be abhorrent to the Holy One. Song of Solomon’s place in the Scriptures insists we reconsider our perspective. Is it actually shameful to sing of such sexual innuendos and lewd suggestions? Or, because we do find them in the Bible, does our own perception of sexuality need to be adjusted? Often, we have a confused image of God as being stiffly stoic, almost mournfully silent. But this is far from the God whose Spirit inspired the words to this love song, who crafted a woman’s body and a man’s body to uniquely fit together and bring pleasure to the other. The God who delighted in crafting a man’s penis, a woman’s vagina, breasts, chest muscles, swaying hips, soft lips, skin tone, and body hair, is the same God who calls the stars by name, sweeps oceans into sandy shores, and knits babies together in the womb. This is the God who came in human flesh to struggle, to suffer, to wear our shame, and die our death so we might be united to Him again, mysteriously as One. This is the God who delights in every aspect of us, and longs for us to tune our ears to Love Song He sings over us. Are you married? Enjoy your spouse! Are you single? Enjoy knowing your body is delightful, and hand-crafted on purpose. Have you given your heart to Jesus? Enjoy knowing that the God who holds your soul forever, and who will one day resurrect your human body and make it perfect, loves to sing over you. Have you never experienced oneness with the God of the Universe? Give the whole of yourself over to Him. Know Him, and let His delight sing over you!
2) What confession of love does the Lover make in verses 8-11?
While the Lover in the song confesses he is utterly captivated by his Bride, I confess that I’ve often read this Song and scoffed, “They clearly hadn’t been married yet”, fully implying that, once married, the captivating passion of lovers quickly wains. Married women, can I get an amen?! At Gracefully Truthful, one of our core values is transparency, so I will also share something else with you, equally true. As I’ve spent hours pouring over these God-inspired words in Song of Solomon, His Spirit has increased my desire for my husband physically, emotionally, and spiritually. As I have turned attention to God’s desire for oneness within marriage and delight in my spouse, His Spirit has stirred me to hunger for an increase of these things in my marriage. When we focus on the passion, or lack thereof, in marriage; when all we want are the “good vibe feelings”, we will very quickly become disappointed, even jaded, in our relationship expectations. However, when we study how God desires for us to live in oneness as He exists in oneness between Father, Son, and Spirit (John 17:20-21), He brings us delight. Relationships are messy and complicated, marriage certainly most of all. Passion, while enjoyable, isn’t sustainable in real life; we simply don’t always feel erotically drawn to our spouse. However, in the context of our marriages, if we focus on the delight of the God who bound us together as husband and wife, we can allow Him to renew our love and delight for one another. Give it a try and study God’s Words in Song of Solomon for yourself as you pray over your spouse! If God has called you out as a single person, spend time praying for sexual purity for yourself to honor the delight God designed for marriage.
3) What is being celebrated as the Beloved Bride sings, “Let my love come to his garden”? (verses 16 – 5:1)
Interestingly, the entirety of the Song of Solomon hinges on these two phrases, “Let my love come to his garden” and “I have come to my garden.” Hebraic poetry is most often arranged by “chiastic structure”, which is evidenced throughout Old Testament books, especially in Psalms and Proverbs. You can think of chiastic structure as being a mirror. Line A and B of a poem are mirrored in theme by the following two lines, B and A. The heart of the message is emphasized at the center of the “mirror”. The first half of Song of Solomon is organized in such a way that it is reflected in the second half, the hinge point being the unlocking of the garden to sexual intimacy as the two lovers are married. This structure is intentionally designed to emphasize and elevate oneness and delight in marriage. In our culture today, sex is exploited nearly everywhere we look, and in Christian circles, we tend to steer clear of mentioning or teaching on sexual delight in marriage. But, Sisters, sex is no small deal to the Lord of the Universe. He created it and marriage is fully intended to be the safe haven to explore sexual delight. A wise counselor once shared with me that sex is the “barometer” of marriage. Generally, if shared sexual activity in marriage is low, it indicates a low health in marriage, and that other issues are likely contributing to poor marital health. Wives, tend to the garden of sex with your husband. Talk about it, delight in it, put attention toward it, and have sex with your husbands! Single women, guard the garden of your sexuality well, knowing it is a gift!
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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
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