Plymothian

In Song of Songs chapter 2 the woman affirms her own beauty as a Rose of Sharon and as a lily of the valley.  This shows how a healthy self-image is what God desires for his people.  It is an essential component for sexual intimacy.  A woman who is insistent on seeing herself as bloated, overweight, ugly, imperfect, unlovely makes a poor lover.  A woman who may be judged by some in these previous categories, but sees herself as beautifully formed by God can exhibit the confidence that will make her an excellent sexual lover no-matter the broader perception of herself.  She can not blame a man for making her feel ugly – the feeling is not based in reality.  The feelings may be real and all feelings need to be acknowledged.  However, a woman is beautiful to Christ.  If a woman’s identity is in Christ she knows that she is loved unconditionally as Christ loves her.  Unfortunately we do not connect an inner, spiritual beauty with an external beauty.  We continue to think that sex is a physical act and it is more importantly a meeting of sexual partners soul to soul.  A woman who allows her confidence in God to shine through and allows herself to enhance her beauty for her lover will be attractive to her lover. 

Positive, true, self-talk can be a start.  We can breathe a prayer throughout the day, “I am beautiful in the eyes of God.”  This is a total beauty and it is unconditional.  It is beauty in the eyes of a faithfully loving beholder.  God defines reality.  When we call ourselves ugly, we denigrate what God has called beautiful.  Of course, sin has affected us all.  Where there is good and beauty, evil is there also.  However, to only acknowledge the effects of fallen living is to deny the beauty that is still in all of us because we are created in the image of God.  It is a god-like beauty, then, that resides in each of us.  To just limit that to the soul or spirit of man is to ignore the implications of the incarnation.  Jesus became flesh.  He wasn’t a stand-out hunk – but he was beautiful.  Humans are more beautiful than the birds of the air or the flowers in the fields.  If you are a woman you must bring this to mind.  You must meditate and pray and not allow the false beauty of the world to take away your true beauty which is fully exposed in sexual intimacy.  In many of our churches we focused on the depraved side of humanity – if you are uncomfortable naked in legitimate circumstances you might pray that God would give you the confidence to see yourself from the other point of view.  When you can say that you are as beautiful as a rose or a lily – you speak truly of yourself.

In the second verse the man affirms the woman and even takes it further.  It has to be stated that the woman can not depend on the man’s affirmation – but it does help.  The exclusive nature of their relationship says that not only is she beautiful, but all other women seem like brambles and thorn bushes in comparison.  This is because of the exclusive decision of the lover to see his beloved as distinct.  Also a truly open relationship, where secrets and fear and joys are shared enhances the physical beauty of a woman.  No-one has shared with the man as she has shared with him and so no-one can appear as she does to him.  If she were scarred by flames or deformed by injury the beauty that he sees through her body could not be changed.

Sonnet 116 from Shakespeare shows this same point:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
   If this be error and upon me proved,
   I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

So – love is not love that alters when it alteration finds.  Physical intimacy and sexual enjoyment should not change because of a change in circumstances or physical form. 

Song of Songs 2:1,2

 She^[a]

 ¹ I am a rose^[b] of Sharon,
   a lily of the valleys.

   He

 ² Like a lily among thorns
   is my darling among the young women.

Questions

1. If a rose is truly implied in verse one, they were rare in Israel.  How does this enhance the reading?
2. The woman calls herself a lily and at other times refers to the body as a lily.  How would you describe her self-image?
3. How can a woman maintain a healthy self-image that enhances sexual image despite aging, weight gain, or the adverse effects that child-bearing can have on the body?
4. How can a man encourage a woman to see herself as beautiful?
5. What stops men from continuously telling their wives how beautiful they are and enhancing their sexual confidence through the years?

A sexually empowered woman, a passionate lover, and a despotic king seem to comprise the major players in The Song of Songs.  The woman intrigues me because she is described in terms that sometimes describe a prostitute.  A prostitute enhances her sexual allure in order to engage in business.  A prostitute is sensually skilled in ways that will ensnare multiple men and so increase her revenue.  The senses are heightened in each area of smell, taste, sight, sound and touch.  A prostitute who is good at her trade knows how to enhance each of these areas.  Why does the woman of Song of Songs enhance her charms in ways that cause her to be afraid that if she appears to the shepherds she will be mistaken for a veiled woman (prostitute)?  What separates a sensual lover from a whore?   A true lover uses these skills to excite their exclusive love.  A prostitute uses these same God-given skills to excite partners in a way that lacks true love and intimacy.  However, the church has become so heavenly minded that it does not encourage the full enjoyment of the senses that God has given us.  Within marriage a we can explore and give each other gifts that excite the senses.  Passion is excited by sensual stimuli. 

If Song of Songs is a book of wisdom, then using the senses to enhance our passion and intimacy is wise.  The lovers in Song of Songs are treated to tasting kisses that are sweeter than wine and somewhat intoxicating too; they smell each others perfumes (literally and figuratively); they see each other’s tanned skin;  they lie in the open and make love on the green, fertile grass beneath the cedar and fir trees.  The lovers take risks.

We must now turn to the lucky man who gets to look upon and experience a woman who enhances all of her charms for him.  Are Solomon and the Shepherd the same person?  It is possible that this is the case.  In fact a king like Solomon would have been thought of as the shepherd of his people.  However, there seems to be a contrast between the table of Solomon and the chambers of the king, with the wild, untamed freedom of the domain of the shepherd.  The original language allows for Solomon and the Shepherd to be two different people.  In fact, this would make more sense.  The exclusive nature of the couple’s love is diluted among one of 1,000 lovers if we place the woman in the harem of Solomon and insist that her affair is with her husband.  If she has been taken into Solomon’s extensive harem and dares to escape back into the open to meet a shepherd to whom she has already ‘surrendered her vineyard’, then the exclusive nature of her passion and her equality with her lover is maintained.  In short, if we maintain that Solomon is the lover we create an unequal relationship and equate God with a polygamist if we press the book for an analogy of God’s love.

‘Solomon’s Song of Songs’ is therefore a book about Solomon.  It would better be titled a ‘Song of Songs regarding Solomon’.  It ceases to be a Song Sung by Solomon but becomes a song sung by two passionate, faithful lovers who have been separated by a sensate, despotic, polygamist.  We have in the book a rugged simple shepherd and a tyrannical symbol of male chauvinism.  Although this tanned, well adorned, sweet-smelling beauty is taken by a tyrant into his court at each opportunity she rushes into the open country and seeks out secret liaisons with her shepherd lover.  Who then is her husband?  To whom must she be faithful?  That is a difficult question.  It is possible that she does not consummate her relationship with either – however, it is more probable that she is forced through a male dominated power-system to have sex with a king she does not care for whilst maintaining a faithful secret sexual relationship with the shepherd.  If we were to press this further we might say that she is married to the shepherd and through fear and oppression she is raped by Solomon.  Solomon as the serial rapist is then a dark threat to true love who comes out in search of his possession in chapter 3 whilst she is in search of her love.  This fits with our knowledge of Solomon and his many wives.  Quite frankly, without this interpretation we are reading a book about ‘how to be a Casanova’ rather than how to be a faithful lover.  Solomon uses sensual skills to entrap women, or dominates them by his power.  The shepherd uses his sensual skills and words of love for one woman who is withheld from him against their will.  A prostitute uses her sensual prowess to excite many men and overpower them for profit.  A loving woman enhances and uses her sensual prowess to create intimacy between her and her partner.

Song of Songs 1:1-17

¹The Song ofSongs, which is Solomon’s.

    She^[a]

 ² Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine;
 ³ your anointing oils are fragrant;
your name is oil poured out;
   therefore virgins love you.
⁴ Draw me after you; let us run.
   The king has brought me into his chambers.

   Others

   We will exult and rejoice in you;
   we will extol your love more than wine;
   rightly do they love you.

   She

 ⁵ I am very dark, but lovely,
   O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
   like the curtains of Solomon.
⁶ Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
   because the sun has looked upon me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
   they made me keeper of the vineyards,
   but my own vineyard I have not kept!
⁷ Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
   where you pasture your flock,
   where you make it lie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who veils herself
   beside the flocks of your companions?

    He

 ⁸ If you do not know,
   O most beautiful among women,
follow in the tracks of the flock,
   and pasture your young goats
   beside the shepherds’ tents.

 ⁹ I compare you, my love,
   to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
¹⁰ Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
   your neck with strings of jewels.

   Others

 ¹¹ We will make for you^[b] ornaments of gold,
   studded with silver.

   She

 ¹² While the king was on his couch,
   my nard gave forth its fragrance.
¹³ My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
   that lies between my breasts.
¹⁴ My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
   in the vineyards of Engedi.

   He

 ¹⁵ Behold, you are beautiful, my love;
   behold, you are beautiful;
   your eyes are doves.

   She

 ¹⁶ Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.
Our couch is green;
 ¹⁷ the beams of our house are cedar;
   our rafters are pine.

Note:  I usually use the NIV but I think it loses the idea of Solomon as the villain.  In the more literal ESV it comes across more clearly.

Questions

1. How do the lovers excite the senses?
2. How are Solomon and the Shepherd related?
3. Why might a woman who is using all her sensual charms be mistaken for a prostitute?
4. How do you use the senses to enhance your marriage?
5. Why do you think that many Christians who are strong in their faith make lousy lovers?  (For remedy see below)

Going Deeper

Plan a shopping trip with your spouse where you overcome your embarrassment for the sake of self-sacrificial love.  Go to shops like Bed, Bath and Beyond, The Body Shop, and Bath and Bodyworks to buy a few things that will enhance the fragrances that you share.  Go to a department store and sample the fragrances and check out the intimate apparel.  Buy some jewelry.  Take a day at the spa to have a couples massage and let her be pampered.  Rub each other’s shoulders to release tension.  Choose a place to eat that you know the food is not filling but tastes wonderful.  Cook a meal for your spouse.  Dress up for your spouse.  Overall show your spouse that you are willing to use your resources enhance their sensual experiences with you.  Be creative and unselfish. 

The Chapel Sunday School Verses for McHenry

1 Thessalonians 4:3

 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality

Matthew 22:37

 ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^[a]

1 Samuel 16:7

 ⁷ But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

These verses are part of a study on spiritual formation.  I think the first is particularly important because to the conscience stricken, it may have seemed like a warning not to engage in the sensual practices mentioned in The Song of Songs.  Sexual Immorality, though is not all sexual activity.  Sexual immorality is only the sexual activity that takes the sexual organs and uses them in ways that they were not designed to be used.  Thessalonica and much of Greece would have had sexually active cults that used sex for fertility rites.  Also in a patristic society men often used their power to dominate women and have multiple sexual partners through prostitution or infidelity.  the Greeks needed to leave sex for selfish ends behind.  True intimacy begins with intimacy with God.  God created the genitalia and he knows their proper use.  If we do not obsess on sex but pursue God we will be transformed.  The passage in 1 Samuel shows us that the content of our character is more important than our physical prowess or external features.  In fact, internal transformation enhances appearance.  A joyful heart makes a happy face (Proverbs 15:13).  If we see a genuinely happy person we are attracted to them.  So the primary focus is to love the Lord God with everything.  If we do that our attraction and all other aspects of life will follow.

Sex.  What does this word mean to us?  If many of us were to see the word on its own we feel like blushing.  There is a lot of shame and embarrassment associated with sex.  God and sex don’t seem to go together.  We are eternally in the presence of God yet we think he is blocking his ears if we talk about sex.  The idea that God is with us in the bedroom would cause a lot of embarrassment to some. 

Sex.  Male and female.  Man and woman.  Adam and Eve.  From the beginning mankind has been two sexes that were designed for each other.  From the beginning they are to desire each other.  They were designed to share with each other.  Sex is not merely a physical act.  Sex is the meeting of minds and the open communication of emotions.  Men generally find speaking in terms of the mind easier and women often engage in more emotional expression.  However, both sexes are constantly feeling and constantly thinking.  Sexual intimacy is at its height when the mind, body, soul and emotions are shared with an open attitude.  Sin and fear have driven us away from each other.  Both sexes are looking for control, and fear of losing control destroys intimacy.  Both sexes are looking for safety, and past hurts cause us to be defensive.  Both sexes want to be accepted, but they want the other person to accept them first.

Erotic love risks.  It dares to be naked.  God has designed us to disclose ourselves without fear.  Each lover needs to find a way to open up even, if they are beaten back by their spouse.  Each lover needs to create a safe place where the desires of their fallen, broken spouse are well received.  The desire to come together in sexual union is neither a place for a man to merely unload his sexual tension – nor is it merely a place that a woman stereotypically endures for the sake of bringing children  into the world.  Sex is a disclosure of fears and desires to one who is distinct in the eyes of the lover from all of their gender.  We are given one by God to whom we must allow ourselves to express our feelings.  We are given one by God in whom we must confide our fantasies.  We are given a confessor who will accept us with our flaws and the acceptance will cause us to well up with pleasure  and passion.  However, to obtain the pleasure of acceptance, we must accept.  To obtain the unity of submission, we must submit.  To receive a tender hearted whisper, we must whisper truths about the loveliness or the dignity of the one God has given us.  Too soon do we let ourselves obsess on one facet of our spouses imperfections and we let that cloud the fact that they are created in the image of God and that they are fearfully and wonderfully made.  We seethe about how we are abandoned rather than walking through the hurt and into their isolation.  This is sex.  It is a journey.  It is not a journey of five minutes and forgotten names.  It is a journey of a lifetime that scales disappointments, distraction, and dissolution.  It is a journey that walks into a headwind and swims upstream.  It is a story that reveals a heart corrupted by sin and brings healing balm.  It is a story that can only be lived in the strength of God because he has already been living it.  Christ has pursued his bride, the church and won her through death.  We give up the pursuit of our closest love with no scars from nails, thorns and lashes.  When looking for strength to pursue we need to look to the wounds.  We were unlovely when Christ loved us.  He saw us as we were created to be and he paid the price for us to get there.  Sometimes we see the unloveliness of our bride or groom as the years have hurt them or life has scarred them – we are to pay the price for their healing.

Song of Songs speaks of a passionate love through literal meaning and allegory.  It speaks os a burning desire of two lovers to be lost in each other.  However, it also speaks of God’s love for his people.  He desires us to be open, transparent, and dependent on him.  He gives us a spouse to apply what he teaches us.  He gives us Song of Songs to teach us the way.

Questions

1. What do you look for in a spouse?
2. How does your spouse disappoint you?
3. How do you pursue your lover when they seem unlovely?
4. How does God interface with your romantic life?
5. How does the above writing challenge ‘sex before marriage’?

Marriages go through high points and low points.  Dating is diminished over time.  Divorce within marriage occurs and couples end up leading separate lives.  Some couples are never intimate and form a cold alliance where the main objectives are financial or for the children’s sake.  Song of Songs is a challenge.  It is full of erotic passion.  The church has reinterpreted the passion to clean it up and traditionally recast the book as a love between Christ and the church.  The truth is more simple, God created erotic love and passion.  God created the desire in men and women to be intertwined both physically and emotionally.

The Skinner Small Group has been trying to retrace a path to both physical and emotional intimacy which is why one of the group members chose this book.  How do we get there?  Nancy and Ray Kane ran a bootcamp for us at my house which will be in two parts.  The first part has revealed things to the group that have been breathtaking.  One thing that they did was empower the men to take the initiative.  This is sexual and emotional leadership.  Passivity kills relationships.  It creates a cold isolation.  It is a heart that battles through its own pain to reach out to the beloved that wins out in the end.  We all have emotion.  The sharing of emotion creates intimacy and desire.  The desire is not compartmentalized into sexual and emotional – healthy desire within a marriage encompasses both aspects.

My mother told me of a survey in England which asked sexually active teens about their partner.  The truth was revealed that they did not know them.  The strong sexual desire had been confused with intimacy.  There are others who have friends that they would tell anything to and who they would cry with and laugh with.  This is beautiful but it is not necessarily erotic.  There is room for Eros in God’s range of love.  The term for love frequently used for God’s love is agape.  This love is not a special ‘God-love’ or a term exclusive to God.  It is just the broadest term in the Greek for love.  It is all encompassing in that it contains all other loves.

Song of Songs Introduction II

Theme and Theology

In ancient Israel everything human came to expression in words: reverence, gratitude, anger, sorrow, suffering, trust, friendship, commitment, loyalty, hope, wisdom, moral outrage, repentance. In the Song, it is love that finds words — inspired words that disclose its exquisite charm and beauty as one of God’s choicest gifts. The voice of love in the Song, like that of wisdom in Pr 8:1 — 9:12, is a woman’s voice, suggesting that love and wisdom draw men powerfully with the subtlety and mystery of a woman’s allurements.
This feminine voice speaks profoundly of love. She portrays its beauty and delights. She claims its exclusiveness (“My lover is mine and I am his,” 2:16) and insists on the necessity of its pure spontaneity (“Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires,” 2:7). She also proclaims its overwhelming power — it rivals that of the fearsome enemy, death; it burns with the intensity of a blazing fire; it is unquenchable even by the ocean depths (8:6-7a). She affirms its preciousness: All that one possesses cannot purchase it, nor (alternatively) should it be exchanged for it (8:7b). She hints, without saying so explicitly (see the last NIV text note on 8:6), that it is the Lord’s gift.

God intends that such love — grossly distorted and abused by both ancient and modern people — be a normal part of marital life in his good creation (see Ge 1:26-31; 2:24). Indeed, in the Song the faithful Israelite could ascertain how to live lovingly within the theocratic arrangement. Such marital love is designed by the Creator-King to come to natural expression within his realm.

Literary Features

No one who reads the Song with care can question the artistry of the poet. The subtle delicacy with which he evokes intense sensuous awareness while avoiding crude titillation is one of the chief marks of his achievement. This he accomplishes largely by indirection, by analogy and by bringing to the foreground the sensuous in the world of nature (or in food, drink, cosmetics and jewelry). To liken a lover’s enjoyment of his beloved to a gazelle “browsing among lilies” (2:16), or her breasts to “twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies” (4:5), or the beloved herself to a garden filled with choice fruits inviting the lover to feast (4:12-16) — these combine exquisite artistry and fine sensitivity.

Whether the Song has the unity of a single dramatic line linking all the subunits into a continuing story is a matter of ongoing debate among interpreters. There do appear to be connected scenes in the love relationship (see Outline).

Virtually all agree that the literary climax of the Song is found in 8:6-7, where the unsurpassed power and value of love — the love that draws man and woman together — are finally expressly asserted. Literary relaxation follows the intenseness of that declaration. A final expression of mutual desire between the lovers brings the Song to an end, suggesting that love goes on. This last segment (8:8-14) is in some sense also a return to the beginning, as references to the beloved’s brothers, to her vineyard and to Solomon (the king) link 8:8-12 with 1:2-6. In this song of love the voice of the beloved is dominant. It is her experience of love, both as the one who loves and as the one who is loved, that is most clearly expressed. The Song begins with her wish for the lover’s kiss and ends with her urgent invitation to him for love’s intimacy.

Questions

1. What do you associate with the word ‘love’?
2. What do you associate with the word ‘sex’?
3. How are sex and love related?
4. In your opinion how does God relate to erotic love?
5. Do you speak or write words of love to anyone?  Why?  Why not?

Going Deeper

I asked Dr. Gerry Peterman how Eros and Agape are related.   Isaid that I thought God’s love was broad enough to encompass many different kinds of love.   Here is his reply:

This is a very interesting question. I’ve pondered it only a little, and am by no means sure I have an answer. Further, I’m not sure of the content of any previous communication we’ve had about this subject. But I have a few ramblings which I hope will be slightly helpful.

So, if I may, I start with ἀγάπη, noting that the LXX uses it at times to translate what looks to be romantic and/or sexual feeling and/or action (Gen 34.2-3: And when Shechem saw her…he took her and lay with her by force. And he was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl [καὶ ἠγάπησεν τὴν παρθένον] and spoke tenderly to her; 2 Sam 13.1-19, especially vv. 1, 15: Amnon’s rape of Tamar. After he assaults her, he hates her more than he loved her [ἠγάπησεν αὐτήν]).

Philo uses ἔρως forms (ἔρως, abstract noun; ἐράω, verb; ἐραστής, personal noun) extensively. It does not appear that these are inherently negative or ungodly or merely visceral. For example:

1. Alleg Interp 2.55-57: The soul that loves God (φιλόθεος), having disrobed itself of the body and the objects dear to the body and fled abroad far away from these, gains a fixed and assured settlement in the perfect ordinances of virtue. Therefore witness is borne to it by God that it loves things that are noble (ὅτι καλῶν ἐρᾷ).

2. Spec Laws 1.59: Great principles are taught “by the most holy Moses, who is a lover (ἐραστὴς) and teacher of the truth which he desires to engrave on his disciples…”

I’m not sure I understand what “broad” means regarding the love of God. If by broad we mean that it is logically and exegetically appropriate to speak of God having kinds of love or different objects of love, then I’d agree (as D. A. Carson in The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, where he delineates 5 loves). But I’m not so sure that if we assert that God’s love is broad that the assertion is equivalent to saying that each exact kind of love humans experience is a type of love that God experiences. Likewise, I’m not so sure that each type of love which both experience is experienced the same way.

By way of illustration: If by ‘God’ we mean the Trinity’s essence (as opposed to the Incarnate Son and his  physical experience), then I’d say God does not love the taste of strawberries. But the enjoyment of them is designed by him. Further, he completely understands their enjoyment. He knows pleasure (e.g., he has pleasure in his Son, Mark 1.11).

One might response with an experiment regarding Hebrews 4.15 (For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin). I do not come to this text saying the following:

1. “There is a temptation which is temptation to feel guilty about past forgiven sins. There is a temptation to feel ashamed of how sinful we are and think that God does not love us. Both these temptations are based on past sin. Jesus has no sin. Thus, Jesus could not have faced this temptation. Therefore the first part of the verse is false. Jesus was not tempted in all ways as we are.”

2. OR “I am constantly tempted to waste a lot of time playing video games. Video games did not exist in Jesus’ time. Thus, Jesus could not have faced this temptation. Therefore the first part of the verse is false. Jesus was not tempted in all ways as we are.”

So how exactly or how narrowly do we define a ‘kind’ of temptation? How exactly or how narrowly do we define a ‘kind’ of love?

So, to come back to love…. I can talk about God loving in all the ways that humans love, but I am not so sure we need to assert this. Similarly, if we talk about God loving in all ways that humans love, we do not need to assert that the love is experienced the same way. Finally, we need to establish how finely or how exactly we will define the ‘ways’ or ‘kinds.’

As the text in today’s reading, I will be posting the first part of the NIV Study Bible’s introduction to Song of Songs.  The reading does not have the authority of the biblical text.  It is a secondary source that comments on the Bible.  Why, then, would I encourage us to read it rather than attempt to jump straight in and read the inspired text?  The reasons are many, but I will try and explain some of them.  Reading the Word of God is like entering into a relationship.  Like entering into any relationship it is good to know the background of the one you are dating.  Of course, you can work it all out as you go along.  However, it is good to speak with someone who knows the person you are going to date.  There are those who have walked through the biblical text before.  Some love the text and see it as beneficial, others see it as fairy tales sent to comfort the weak.  I want to know what to look for and what to appreciate before I enter into the relationship.  In that way I will miss less of the beautiful details that are right before my eyes.  Secondly, we are reading someone else’s mail.  In a metaphysical sense the writing of the Bible is for all people in all the ages.  However, we gain insight into how the text is to be understood when we understand who wrote it, for what purpose, and how it would have been read originally.  Finally, we must still ourselves and prepare for the task at hand.  Just like an insensitive lover jumps into bed without thought for the one they are with, we also sometimes jump into the text unprepared.  We walk away unsatisfied because in affect we were not present to engage in a relationship but just to take a gem or word of assurance with us for our own sakes.

NIV Study Bible:  Song of Songs: Introduction

Title

The title in the Hebrew text is “Solomon’s Song of Songs,” meaning a song by, for, or about Solomon. The phrase “Song of Songs” means the greatest of songs (cf. Dt 10:17, “God of gods and Lord of lords”; 1Ti 6:15, “King of kings”).

Author and Date

Verse 1 appears to ascribe authorship to Solomon (see note on 1:1; but see also Title above). Solomon is referred to seven times (1:1,5; 3:7,9,11; 8:11-12), and several verses speak of the “king” (1:4,12; 7:5), but whether he was the author remains an open question.

To date the Song in the tenth century b.c. during Solomon’s reign is not impossible. In fact, mention of Tirzah and Jerusalem in one breath (6:4; see note there) has been used to prove a date prior to King Omri (885-874 b.c.; see 1Ki 16:23-24), though the reason for Tirzah’s mention is not clear. On the other hand, many have appealed to the language of the Song as proof of a much later date, but on present evidence the linguistic data are ambiguous.

Consistency of language, style, tone, perspective and recurring refrains seems to argue for a single author. However, many who have doubted that the Song came from one pen, or even from one time or place, explain this consistency by ascribing all the Song’s parts to a single literary tradition, since Near Eastern traditions were very careful to maintain stylistic uniformity.

Interpretation

To find the key for unlocking the Song, interpreters have looked to prophetic, wisdom and apocalyptic passages of Scripture, as well as to ancient Egyptian and Babylonian love songs, traditional Semitic wedding songs and songs related to ancient Mesopotamian fertility religions. The closest parallels appear to be those found in Proverbs (see Pr 5:15-20; 6:24-29; 7:6-23). The description of love in 8:6-7 (cf. the descriptions of wisdom found in Pr 1-9 and Job 28) seems to confirm that the Song belongs to Biblical wisdom literature and that it is wisdom’s description of an amorous relationship. The Bible speaks of both wisdom and love as gifts of God, to be received with gratitude and celebration.

This understanding of the Song contrasts with the long-held view that the Song is an allegory of the love relationship between God and Israel, or between Christ and the church, or between Christ and the soul (the NT nowhere quotes from or even alludes to the Song). It is also distinct from more modern interpretations of the Song, such as that which sees it as a poetic drama celebrating the triumph of a maiden’s pure, spontaneous love for her rustic shepherd lover over the courtly blandishments of Solomon, who sought to win her for his royal harem. Rather, it views the Song as a linked chain of lyrics depicting love in all its spontaneity, beauty, power and exclusiveness — experienced in its varied moments of separation and intimacy, anguish and ecstasy, tension and contentment. The Song shares with the love poetry of many cultures its extensive use of highly sensuous and suggestive imagery drawn from nature.

Questions

1. How is the title ‘Song of Songs’ compared to ‘King of kings’?
2. Why are people unsure of the author and date?
3. Why is the book possibly an outline of a wise view on love?
4. How can the unleashing of passion be wise?
5. Do you experience ‘love in all its spontaneity, beauty, power and exclusiveness’?  How can you increase each of these areas?
6. Think on each of the list ‘intimacy, anguish and ecstasy, tension and contentment’.  Discuss with your spouse or lover how you have experienced each of these.

Chapel Study

In the Chapel Sunday School at McHenry, Ken Gates asked us to meditate on a series of verses to develop our spiritual maturity.  There are 9 passages. The first two are as follows:

2 Corinthians 3:18

¹⁸ And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate^[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Romans 8:29-30

 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

The first verse above seems to indicate that our faces will shine in a similar way to Moses.  Moses had to cover his face because it reflected God’s glory.  We are, like Moses, able to enter into the presence of the glory of God.  This is in varying degrees.  Although we and God have no veil between us, a full disclosure of God’s glory and holiness would kill us.  How then do we see God’s glory?  It is an abstract concept that is shown through something else.  For example, God demonstrates his glory in raising Jesus from the dead.  God demonstrates his glory in pulling our lives from the abyss.  Maybe the particular details for us involve God enriching a conversation with our spouse when we are faithful to him.  Maybe we follow God’s directives to discipline our children and we find that God receives glory when the directives work.  The most meaningful times, in my experience, when God receives glory is on the ‘path marked with suffering.’  This is shown in heart-rending times like watching my father find God in the midst of a painful death from cancer.  The Holy Spirit then shone from my father, who was a babe in Christ, as he passed from this world.  As we contemplate God’s very real presence with us we reflect his glory in our own lives.  The Spirit transforms us internally and we become something other than what we were.

The second verses are contentious ones.  The reason is that they are the basis of a debate as to whether God determines who will be saved or whether we determine our own salvation though a completely free choice.  The Chapel takes a position it calls ‘Responsivism’ which in loosely Arminian (Note:  there is a Responsivist Cult which is an entirely different thing).  I take a loose position affiliated with Calvinism. The point of the reading in the context of spiritual formation is that God is sovereign over a process by which the individual is changed.  Our changes and predicaments are no surprise to God and as we submit to him all things work for His good and for His glory.

Sins of anger.  Paul next turns his sights on manifestations of anger, which destroy community:  “anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”  “Anger’ refers to a chronic feeling rather than outbursts of “rage”.  More subtle expressions of anger ooze out in “malice” we bear others and the spiteful potshots we take to defame their reputations.  “Filthy language from your lips” does not simply refer to curse words.  It has in mind the abusive language we use to hurt others.  Christian speech is not determined solely by whether it is true or false but by whether it helps or harms another.

“Do not lie to each other” surprisingly caps the list.  Adlai Stevenson, a U.S. senator and presidential candidate, once said, “A lie is an abomination unto the Lord and a very present help in trouble.”  In Ephesians  4:25 putting off falsehood and speaking the truth are linked to all being “members of one body'” and lying is rooted in an attempt to gain advantage over others.  It therefore is at odds with Christian love even though Christians have been known to concoct lies to deceive others (see Acts 5:1-11).  Such deceit reveals a lack of mutual trust, undermines community, and breeds anger. (David E. Garland)

Colossians 3:1-17

¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your^[a]life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.^{[b] 7} You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Questions

1. How does a constant attitude of seething anger build up in a person?
2. How does this wellspring of anger manifest itself in language we use?
3. How is most human anger triggered by a fear?
4. What are you afraid of?
5. Can you bring the fears that are connected to your anger to God?

Sexual sins.  The vices are heavily weighted toward sexual sins:  “sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires.”  Paul considered sexual relationships outside of marriage to be sinful, and the term sexual immorality runs the gammut of forbidden sexual acts.  Paul’s frequent warnings against it in his letters (see 1 Cor. 5:1, 9-10; 6:9; 2 Cor. 12:21; Gal. 5:19; Eph. 5:3; 1 Thess. 4:4) suggest that the society’s lax sexual mores were not easily weeded out from the habits of converts in his churches.  sexual desire is hardwired into the human psyche and is not evil in itself.  But the moral indifference of the age fuelled uncontrolled erotic passion, misdirected sexual desire, and bred sexual excesses.

The list is capped off by “greed, which is idlatry.”  Greed refers to the haughty and ruthless belief that everything including other persons, exists for one’s own moral amusement and purposes.  Essentially it turns our owndesires into idols.  It is the overweening desire to possess more and more things and to run roughshod over other persons to get them.  It stands opposed to the willingness to give to others regardless of the cost to self.  Greed can crave after persons and is never satiated by its conquests but always lusts for more.

In Hellenistic Jewish literature, all the sins of the pagan world were epitomized by references to their sexual immorality and their idolatry (see Rom. 1:18-32), and the two are interconnected.  Idolatry has as its chief purpose to get some material advantage from the gods, and idol worshipers tried to manipulate them to that end.  The lust for worldly possessions quickly elbows God from the center of our lives as it captivates our total allegiance.  We cannot serve both God and mammon, and those who serve mammon cannot serve God (Matt. 6:24).  Our desires sit on the throne of our hearts rather than God.

Paul concludes this list of vices by attesting that such behavior will incur God’s holy wrath (Rom. 1:18-32; Eph. 5:6).  Moule cites the even more heinous list of sins in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and comments that it “reveals the kind of life from which Christianity rescued people.”  They used to live that way because that lifestyle was normative for their society.”  People tend to live the same way that others around them live, adopting their standards, values, and ways of thinking.  The uncompramising morality of Judaism and Christianity probably attracted many Gentiles who were repulsed by the moral corruption of their society.  Christianity demands that Christ’s followers live worthily of him.  If avowed Christians behave no differently from their surrounding culture, they betray their calling and defame their faith. (This entire entry was taken from David E. Garland)

Colossians 3:1-17

¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your^[a]life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

⁵ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶ Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.^{[b] 7} You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸ But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹ Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰ and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. ¹¹Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Questions

1. How can each of the first list of sins be related to sex?
2. How can someone who thinks that sex is a gift from God be so sexually ‘restrictive’?
3. How is sex used for selfish ends?
4. If it is right for you to be sexually active, what does sex mean to you?
5. How could you have an unhealthy view of sex (both a diminished view and an exaggerated view)?

Going Deeper

• Would you agree that since the ‘sexual revolution’ society has become more free?  How is this freedom promoted today?  What has such sexual freedom failed to deliver?

http://seg.sharethis.com/getSegment.php?purl=http%3A%2F%2Ftheplymothian.wordpress.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost-new.php&jsref=&rnd=1327762325572

We are works in progress. In that case there is a daily choice to put on some attributes and cast others aside. The old life in Colossians is coupled with hollow and deceptive philosophy. The kind of philosophies that floated around were gnostic and sophist. The gnostic philosophies claimed that there was mystery to be had and it would only be revealed to the select on the inside. Usually there were rituals and cultic practices to initiate one into various levels. Paul contradicts this with the sole mystery being Christ. Sophistry relies on complicated arguments that sound impressive but lack substance. The moral arguments that people were making against Christians did not come from a genuine transformation which is only to be found in Christ. Being transformed into Christ involves casting off two lists of vices. The first category could be called sexual sins. The second would be vices related to anger. I’ll go into this in more detail tomorrow.

Colossians 3:1-17
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Questions
1. How would philosophy (ways of thinking) and morality (ways of acting) be connected?
2. What kind of life would come from a focus on secret societies or complicted self-justification?
3. Would you say a list of vices are present today that could be loosely grouped under sexual and anger related?
4. Why don’t people throw off sexual sin today?
5. How does anger lead to sin?

Christ is in no way equal to the angels. In Colossae they see to have had a problem with people worshiping angels. Later it became so out of control that Michael seems to have been worshiped in a cult in the area. Paul wants to counter this trend and so he spends the earlier chapters of Colossians showing how far superior Christ is. When the Colossians are asked to fix their hearts and minds on things above, the inference is that they are to fix their hearts on the throneroom where Christ is seated without equal. Christians are folded into Christ and Christ is folded into the Father.Our minds are to contemplate the deep truths of who Jesus is and in reaction everything that detracts from Christ is killed without compramise or mercy.

Colossians 3:1-17
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your[a] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Questions
1. Why should we set our minds on things above?
2. What is contrasted with things above?
3. What has happened to your life?
4. Is your life compeletely focused on following Christ?
5. Why is it difficult to focus on unsen things?