SONG OF SOLOMON 1-8 THE BOOK OF LOVE2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Song Of Solomon 1-8 The Book Of Love

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013. Hopefully you've been reading along with us and already have some good insights. But as we get into the book of Song of Solomon this evening, we're finishing up the poetic books. We've been for a season now spending time looking at these poetic books and going through the Bible in three years.

And the poetic books are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and then Song of Solomon. And so this is the final of those poetic books. And so we kind of, you know, shifted gears for the poetic books and did, you know, the pulpits down here. We did things a little bit different because we were, you know, it's a different style of writing and it was appropriate for us to have a different style of service as well.

Now, going forward, we're going to be kind of more back to a traditional style because we'll be hitting the prophetic books for pretty much the remainder of the year as we head into the New Testament starting in 2014. So we're going to be covering a lot of territory and using a lot of slides and things like that, like we have been, to kind of help fill in the gaps between

♪♪

is no different. And so as you consider the poetic book Song of Solomon, there's a lot of factors that come into play as far as understanding what is really happening in this book. And you have to take into account the language that it was written in, the customs and the culture of that day and understand, you know, what was going on and what they meant by these things that were written.

So with it being a poetic book, there's a lot of discussion and ideas about what Song of Solomon is all about. But

And basically, as you look at it, it's kind of a collection of songs, but compiled together as one unit and really arranged as kind of like a play. It's like a theater. Like there's three acts, and I'll point those out in just a moment. But in that light, and that should kind of help give some insight into this book, because I don't know if you've ever had a chance to maybe dig into some of Shakespeare's plays or

But, you know, it's notorious that, you know, you get in and it's like, what in the world is this guy talking about in these plays? Because he uses this poetic language. In the same way, the book Song of Solomon is like that. It's poetic. It's theatrical. There's a lot of imagery. And a lot of it we're disconnected from because we're not in the culture of

So if you think Shakespeare is a little bit difficult to interpret, this book is much older. It's in an ancient language. It's not in English. And it was a whole different culture at that time. So that's why it's challenging. And that's why, as a result, there's a variety of thoughts and opinions regarding this book and how to understand it.

In fact, if you wanted to look into it, you would find multitudes of various ideas and understandings and interpretations of what Song of Solomon is all about.

And it comes to this point where, you know, as we get into it this evening, I would suggest to you that, you know, there are some things that are just not very clear in the Bible. There's some things that there is room for lots of discussion because it's not explicitly stated. And so we cannot really be dogmatic about this book.

Of the various views and opinions, there are strengths of those views. There's weaknesses of those views. And so you kind of have to deal with that. And so there is just a lot of discussion that could be had. Now, I'm not going to attempt to try to give every perspective. I'm going to pick one and stick with it. And we'll go through the book that way. But let me just read you a couple things to give you an idea of what we're talking about here.

Charles Ryrie, the commentator, says this book describes Solomon's love for a Shulamite girl. The king comes in disguise to her family's vineyard, wins her heart, and ultimately makes her his bride. So Ryrie says, you know, this book is really just, it's a love story about Solomon and this Shulamite. And he wins her, he marries her, he makes her his bride.

Corson looks at it a little bit differently. He says,

But perhaps even more controversial than the content of the Song of Solomon is its intent. And so trying to figure out what was it written for? Why is it in the Bible? What is the point of it? It's room for much discussion.

Now many take the book Song of Solomon and they interpret it as what's called an allegory or it's just pictures. You know, all it is about, many would say, is Jesus and his love for the church. That's all that Song of Solomon is about.

Charles Spurgeon, the famous preacher, he took that approach. And with that approach, he preached at least 59 sermons from the book Song of Solomon about Jesus and his love for the church and the church's love for Christ.

So, you know, there's some strong ideas about that and understanding that. Jews throughout history have also seen it as, you know, God's love for Israel and Israel's love for God. And so, but in the New Testament age, you know, we think of it as Christ and the church. Now, for me personally, I tend to think of this book primarily as a love story. That it's primarily about this relationship between Solomon and this Shulamite woman.

That's what it was written for. That's its primary purpose. To describe in this poetic form. Their relationship and how it came to be. Now.

Because it is about this love that they have and the marriage that takes place, there is, of course, some parallels. And it may remind us of God's love for Israel or Christ's love for the church. And that's fine. But I suggest that it's not the primary meaning and it's not the primary purpose that this book was written or the primary purpose that it is included in our scriptures.

For me, I would say to you that allegories and pictures are useful, but we have to remember that they only go so far. You know, it's like if you take a Hot Wheels car, right? And you look at it, you play with it, you have some fun with it, and you realize, all right, this is a picture, it's an allegory, or it's an illustration of an actual automobile. And there's lots of parallels, but there's also lots of differences, you know? It only...

foreshadows or pictures an actual car to a certain extent and then there's a lot of areas where the the picture begins to break down it's not exactly like you know it's not to scale exact details just miniature that's not the way it is in the same way as we talk about you know the marriage being a picture of christ and the body of christ christ and the church

There's specific things about that. You read Ephesians chapter 5. Paul specifically is talking about the roles in marriage. The husband, the head of the house, the wife submitting to the husband, the husband loving the wife, the wife respecting the husband. There's specific structure and specific things that Paul's making reference to as he gives the comparison of the husband and wife relating to Christ and the church. And so

If we try to take it too far and then every detail of marriage is then compared to Jesus and the church, well, it begins to break down. It's not meant to be used in that way. And so I come to the conclusion this is primarily a love story. And so we're going to be looking at it from that perspective and considering this love story that develops between Solomon and the Shulamite.

Just so I have some support on that, here's what David Guzik says. The best way to see this book is as a literal, powerful description of the romantic and sensual love between a man and a woman. Observing both their courtship and their marriage, it does not give us a smooth chronological story, beginning with the introduction of the couple to one another and ending with their married life together. Instead, it's a collection of snapshots,

So that's the angle we're going to be focusing on, and you'll see that as we continue on throughout the chapters. So as we begin looking at this, though, I mentioned it's like a play. And so there's basically three acts or three scenes in this play. The first act is the courtship.

This is Solomon and this Shulamite girl getting to know each other, expressing their love for one another, but they're not yet married. And they're not yet involved sexually. And so we're seeing that develop. We're seeing it build up. And so in chapter 1 verse 1 through chapter 3 verse 5, we see that courtship relationship leading up to the marriage.

Then in Act 2, we see their wedding take place. And that is chapter 3, verse 6 through chapter 5, verse 1. And that's where it gets a little bit more graphic and talking about their relationship and the consummation of their marriage. And then in Act 3, we have some of the, you know, the remainder things after they're married, some of the things that they go through. And so you can see that in chapter 5, verse 2 through chapter 8, verse 14.

Now as we consider this play, this poem that is set before us, there's a cast that's involved. There's people that are involved. So it's the Shulamite and she is a bride from the northern area of Israel. And so Solomon of course is in Jerusalem but he's going up to this northern area to meet her, to be with her and then he's going to bring her down to Jerusalem at their wedding.

The beloved that's made reference to here throughout the book Song of Solomon is Solomon. And the Daughters of Jerusalem, they're like kind of like a chorus, kind of like bystanders. So if you're thinking about a play, you know, it's not like a literal event that was taking place. But in a play, you know, sometimes they have people that just kind of interact and are kind of supporting cast and those kinds of things. And so this is, it's kind of like a chorus or a choir that is there, which are the Daughters of Jerusalem.

And then you have the Shulamite, that's the bride, her brothers, and they come into play occasionally throughout the time. And then there's also the mention of a relative. Now, the different people that are speaking, you know, if you have the New King James Version of the Bible, it identifies, you know, in front of the paragraph, this is the Shulamite, this is the beloved, this is the daughters of Jerusalem.

All of those indications are not in the original Hebrew, but because of the way that things are worded and plural or singular, male or female in the Hebrew, the translators put that in there to help us understand who's speaking because we don't have the same level of understanding.

through the English language. So if you think about like Spanish, you know, you can tell if it's a girl speaking or a guy speaking or if you're addressing a girl or a guy by the way that the words are in the same way Hebrew, you can tell who's speaking or who's being spoken to by the gender of the nouns and that thing. All right. So as we begin this, just to kind of give a little bit of a disclaimer, I'm not going to go into great detail or maybe...

gory detail would be more appropriate. But I do want to say, I mean, we are going to address the things that are here. And I believe that there's a need for us to understand what is right and good. You know, outside of this building, we're bombarded with the world's perverted view of love. And, you know, it's thrust down our throats and thrust into our face all over the place. And

And so we are bombarded and so it's essential and I think it's really important for us to tackle this book. Even if you're not married because whether or not you're married, you get bombarded with the world's perspective which is a perverted view of love. And so through billboards and commercials and music and movies and books and so on and so forth...

We get told lies about love and relationships. And so why should God not include his perspective? Why should he not, you know, give us some clarity on what is right and the appropriate way to express love and enjoy a relationship?

Because God is not opposed to romantic or sexual relationships. He created that. He encourages, he commands that between husband and wife. And so we need to have that accurate understanding of God's perspective regarding all of this. So let's jump in. Chapter 1 here in Song of Solomon. We're not going to go verse by verse or anything like that. We're going to jump around, just kind of hit some highlights. And so we'll start in verse 2.

We're told it's the Shulamite speaking, and she says, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine. So we begin this love story with the girl, maybe dreamy-eyed, kind of staring off into the distance, saying, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. She's looking forward to, she's dreaming about Solomon and expressing the desire for intimacy with the king.

Now as we're introduced to her, we begin to develop an understanding of who she is as we look at verse 5, where she declares, I am dark but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. And so she is a little bit insecure about her look. She's not so excited about her appearance. She says, I am dark but lovely. Now

For us, there's a culture difference here. You know, there's tanning salons and people go and lay out and try to get tans in our culture. But in their culture, to be tanned meant that you were working in the fields. And it showed your poverty. It showed, you know, that you had to work for a living, that you weren't well off. And so it was not esteemed highly to be darkened by the sun.

So she is self-conscious because she's so dark because she's been out in the sun. She's dark from working outside and she explains in verse 6 why. She says,

So we can see a little bit of her family here. Her dad is not mentioned at all throughout the book. And so maybe he's not even in the picture. Her mother's sons, maybe they're not directly related to her. It's not clear. But they made her keep the vineyard, she said. So she's outside working the vineyard. She's getting tanned.

And so she says, my own vineyard I have not kept. So I haven't been able to keep up my beauty treatments. I haven't been able to keep up myself because I've been tending to the vineyard out on our property. And so it's kind of like a little bit of a Cinderella story here. My brothers made me go work in the field. And so now I'm dark and tanned, which is not attractive or appealing in our culture is what she is saying. Verse 7.

Here she speaks to her beloved. She says, And here she's expressing her desire to be with Solomon.

She's expressing that I don't want to wander around looking for you because that's not good. There's other shepherds around. There's other things around and people might take that the wrong way that I'm, you know, looking to be loose in my living. But she's saying, tell me where are you at and then I'll meet with you because I would like to be close to you and find out where you are. And so he responds in verse 8. Here's our first word from the beloved. He says, if you do not know,

So he gives her the instructions. Here's how to get there. Here's what to do so that we can be together. Verse 15. The beloved speaks again. He says, And so,

Here we get to see that the feeling is mutual. She's dreaming of him. He's dreaming of her. That they're attracted to one another. She's self-conscious. She says, I don't think I'm very attractive. I'm dark. I'm tanned. I'm affected by the sun. But he says, you are fair, my love. Now, when he says you are fair, you can't think in like Kelly Blue Book terms. All right? When you...

When you rate a vehicle as fair, that means that the vehicle has some, you know, mechanical or cosmetic defects. That's not what he's saying. He's saying you are beautiful. You are excellent. And so he is attracted to her and thinks that she is beautiful. She responds in verse 16. She says,

When she talks about him, she says he's handsome.

And pleasant, again, this mutual attraction, this desire for one another. And then she also says our bed is green. Now there's a couple things about that. First of all, when she says bed, that's not a bed in the bedroom, but really that's a reclining couch that would be around the table or a banqueting table. And so they wouldn't sit, you know, in chairs like we do. They would lounge around the table when they would eat and

And so that was referred to as well, or that's the Hebrew word that's used here in translated bed. So first of all, she's not talking about the bedroom. She's talking about the dining room. And she says that it's green, which is the idea that it's not yet developed. It's fresh. You know, it's not yet full grown. It's just in the beginning stages. And so their love is just beginning here in chapter one. And that's what we are seeing as they express their attraction for one another.

Chapter 2, jumping to verse 4. Here the Shulamite is speaking to the daughters of Jerusalem. She says, He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

So this couch around the banqueting table, that's what she was just talking about. And here she's telling the daughters of Jerusalem, I went to a banquet. We were at the feast together and we were on the couch together. We were beginning that relationship together. And she said, it's a famous line, his banner over me was love.

You've probably heard that before. It's in a lot of songs. The idea here, a banner was what was used to easily identify what group you belong to. So when the tribes of Israel were marching through the wilderness, each tribe had their banner. It was, you know, everybody understand here is the tribe of Benjamin and here is the tribe of Judah. It's a public declaration.

It's, you know, like changing your relationship status on Facebook now. It's a public declaration. That's the idea here. So everyone could see he loves me, she says. He made it public. It was known. He let me sit next to him at the banquet. So everybody knows there's something happening here and we love one another.

But they're not quite together yet. And they're not married yet. In verse 5 she says, So she's saying, I went to the banquet. Now she's talking to the daughters of Jerusalem. And she misses him. She's lovesick.

So sustain me with cakes of raisins. You know, we feasted together, but we're separate. I really want to be with him. I'm lovesick. So help me get through this. Help me maintain through this separation. In verse 8, the Shulamite says, the voice of my beloved, behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. So their next meeting, she gets very excited. She hears his voice.

And she begins to have great joy. She's leaping on the mountains and skipping on the hills. Those of you who are married, you remember those days? You know, you hear the voice and it's like, oh, it's like suddenly the day is awesome no matter what was going on. That voice which made your heart skip and leap. Verse 10, my beloved spoke and said to me, rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.

Let's spend some time together. Now, what follows in verses 11 through 14 is lots of imagery regarding springtime. And you know what happens in springtime, right? Love is in the air.

And so previous chapters, you know, we were seeing the imagery of the fragrances and spices. Here we see lots of imagery from the spring, the flowers and the singing and the birds and the green figs and the tender grapes. And you say, oh, how sweet. You know, their love for one another as related or pictured by the spring that is going on. They're not married yet.

They're anxious. They're madly in love. And they desire to spend time together. And that's what we're seeing. Verse 16. The Shulamite says, my beloved is mine and I am his. He feeds his flock among the lilies. It's getting more serious now. They're committed to one another. He's mine. I'm his. They're separated. He's out with his flock.

But she has this confidence in their relationship. Perhaps they're betrothed at this point. They're engaged and committed to the marriage. When the time is right, they'll be together. But now they've transitioned into, we're not just attracted to each other, but we belong to one another. And so their relationship is progressing. Now we head into chapter 3. Verse 1.

The Shulamite says, So here we begin in these verses, verses 1 through 5 here. What most people believe is a dream that she has. That in her dream, she is searching for him. That as she goes to sleep, she is longing for him. And so she says,

And so she's searching for him in her dream. She's dreaming about him. She cannot find him. But then she does finally find him in verse 4 and then brings him to bed. But with the understanding that it's a dream, this isn't sex before marriage. It's an expression of her desire.

David Guzik puts it this way. These lines do not record or do record the sexual longing of the maiden and this is indicated by the particular term used for bed. This is the common word for bed distinct from the word for couch that we saw earlier. So he says you know she's expressing she is thinking about dreaming about being with Solomon in that intimate way. And so this is the courtship

Solomon and the Shulamite. The beginning of their relationship. Their attraction to one another. The beginnings of their commitment to one another. Now we see the longings for one another. And primarily what we're seeing is the story of the Shulamite.

The beloved Solomon really doesn't have a lot to say in this whole book. It's mostly her story and her telling the story of what is going on. But this is now their courtship. Now as we go on in chapter 3 verse 6 and following, we're going to be looking at the marriage, actually the wedding that takes place. So verse 6, the Shulamite says,

Who is this that's coming out of the wilderness? There's something happening. There's a caravan coming. And it's causing this smoke to rise up as they're going through the wilderness. All this dust is going in the air. So there's this big pillar as they make their way over here. Now, what we need to understand about their culture is their wedding practices. Right?

They were not quite like what we do. Usually a couple would be betrothed or engaged for a couple years, one to two years. And during that time the groom would be preparing for the wedding and preparing for after the wedding. That is preparing a place for his bride. And when he was finished, it wasn't up to him. It was his father who had the final say. He'd say, Dad,

Is the room ready? Is it good enough? And he'd say, son, you missed a spot. You got to paint that, you know, put out some carpet here, you know, bring some plants in here or something. Get some life in, you know. And so the dad would have the final say, okay, son, you're ready. You know, now's the time you can have the wedding. And so when the father gave the okay, then the son would go and get his bride and

and bring her to that place that he prepared. And that's where they would have the ceremony and the celebration, a feast. They would have a feast for seven days to celebrate this wedding.

And so we have, you know, the procession where the bride enters from the back and, you know, walks in. Their procession was really this collecting of the bride from her parents' house and then bringing her to the home that had been prepared for her. And then they would celebrate for seven days. So the imagery is understood as Jesus in John 14 says, I go to prepare a place for you and

If I go, I'm going to come again to receive you unto myself that where I am you may be also. That is wedding language. He's saying, I'm going to prepare a place. You're my bride. And I'm going to come back and collect you and bring you to this place that I have prepared for you. And so what we see happening here in chapter 6 as there is this procession, these pillars of smoke, we're seeing the beginning of the wedding day.

Now there's two perspectives on this and it's not super crucial which one you take. But this could be Solomon traveling to go get her. Or this procession could be the Shulamite being brought to Solomon by all of his men that he sent to collect her. So either going one way or the other, it's the same result. She's going from her father's house to this place that is prepared. Verse 7.

Behold, it is Solomon's couch with 60 valiant men around it of the valiant of Israel. So there's this great procession of these valiant men to bring her to the ceremony. Verse 11.

Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day of the gladness of his heart. And so you see this grand picture of Solomon, this great entourage. He's seated in his chair. He's crowned. He's king. And now him and his bride are about to be united in marriage. Chapter 4. Here the beloved begins to speak in verse 1.

He says,

Now for those, you guys, you've been married. You remember that day, right? You remember that time. You saw the bride at the end of the aisle.

And you were taken aback. Oh, she's beautiful. That's what's happening here. Solomon sees his bride on his wedding day. And this is his description of her. Now, again, this is where all of the poetry comes into play. You know, it's a lot of imagery that we're a little bit disconnected from because we're out of the culture.

So as he describes her as fair, having dove's eyes, you know, he's expressing how beautiful she is. You know, not that she has tiny eyes or, you know, beady eyes or anything like that. It's an expression of you're beautiful. And your hair is like a flock of goats. He's not saying that her hair is like goat's hair. He's saying, okay, look from a distance at a mountain. Okay?

And you see all of these goats coming down the mountain. You see them winding down the mountain. That's what your hair is like. And it's lively and it's beautiful. It's something of beauty. It's not something that's insulting. Your teeth are like shorn sheep. Now, what he's saying is your teeth are clean. They're white. They're white.

They all have their twins, which means, you know, you have a full set of teeth. The teeth that are supposed to be, there's none that are barren. You don't have gaps. So you're beautiful and you've got a nice set of teeth. He goes on, your lips are beautiful. Your neck is like the Tower of David. That's what every girl wants to hear, right? Guys, if you quote this to your wife, she will love you. She'll melt in your arms.

Actually, you'll probably end up with some mechanical and cosmetic defects. You'll be fair. But he expresses his admiration, his love for her, and how beautiful she is to him. Now, as we continue on in this chapter,

Solomon is referring and what's being described here is the wedding night leading up to the consummating of the marriage. And so some of the stuff here can be quite graphic. But he is, you know, describing this glorious occasion of the wedding night as they are finally united. Verse 12. He says, a garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse. A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Verse 15. So here you find the theme verse for Calvary Chapel Living Water. Verse 15. No, that's not the right one.

When he talks about the garden here in verses 12 through 15, it's a reference to their sexual encounter. And it's a reference to the reality or the fact that she is a virgin.

Gardens in those days were enclosed. They were private. They were guarded. They were protected. And so in the same way, this garden that he's referring to is her virginity. It's enclosed. It's private. And this is what God honors. I know the world says otherwise.

And the world, you know, suggests that it's normal and it's common. It's accepted that you have sex before you're ever married. But that is not what God instructs. In Hebrews chapter 13 verse 4, he tells us that marriage is honorable among all and the bed is undefiled. So sex itself is not wrong.

But he says fornicators and adulterers God will judge. That's sex before marriage or sex outside of the marriage relationship. God will judge those people who are engaged in that activity. What God honors, what God desires is to wait for marriage. Verse 16. The Shulamite now is speaking and she says, "'Awake, O north wind, and come, O south!'

So he's talking about the garden. He's talking about their sexual encounter. She's responding and she's reciprocating. She's saying, blow upon my garden separate winds. Let this happen.

Now, she's talking about her garden, but then notice she transitions. Let my beloved come to his garden. And so there's a transition that's happening here as they come together in marriage. David Guzik puts it this way. This is the moment of yielded virginity where the beloved is invited to enjoy the previously protected and sealed sexuality of the maiden. In the line before, she called it my garden. Now, it's his garden.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 that the husband and wife don't have authority over their own bodies anymore. But the husband and wife have authority over each other's bodies now in marriage. That it was your garden, now it's his garden or her garden. That that is what happens in marriage. And so here she is yielding herself to him in this intimate way and they are consummating the marriage.

Alright, now we go down to chapter 5, verse 1. The beloved speaking says, So, verse 1, now we see it has taken place.

They've consummated the marriage. He's gathered his myrrh. He's gathered the spice. He's eaten the honeycomb. And he's drunk his wine with his milk. And then he immediately goes and tells his friends. Why is that? Again, this is a very different thing for our culture. For them, this was a momentous occasion.

Now remember, he would go get her, bring her to the place he prepared, and then they would feast for seven days. But the feast really began right here, right now. So,

I know it's a little bit weird for us to think about, but it was something they celebrated. So the husband or the bride and the groom, they would go and enter into their marriage in that way. And when that was completed, then they would announce, it's done. We've been united together. And that's the celebration. That's when the celebration began. And so they would wait for that to be announced in order for that seven-day feast to

to take place. Also, you know, a little bit more detail if you want it, that was also, you know, it was at that time the proof of virginity was given to show she really was a virgin, the contract is valid, you know, they weren't lying to us, you know, that kind of thing. And so then that was like, okay, it's official, you know, she was who she claimed to be, they've consummated the marriage, they've joined together, now let's celebrate. And so then they would feast for seven days.

And so that concludes this wedding portion of this book. And now we go on into looking at some other things after they've been married that they go through. Verse 2.

Now this is also, like we saw before, believed to be a dream that the Shulamite is having. Again, she says, I sleep, but my heart is awake. So as she has this dream, you know, perhaps, remember it's a play, right? So maybe the harp, you know, is do-do-do-do-do-do, you know, to indicate there's a dream happening here. And she says, I sleep, but my heart's awake.

And what seems to be happening here, again, there's a lot of room for discussion in some of this, but it's possibly describing the aftermath of a fight that they've had. And he's trying to make up and she's inside and she's like, I don't want to talk to you right now. And he's knocking on the door, please open up. My sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one. You know, you can kind of, guys can understand that. It's like, yeah, you're reaching for those descriptions. And, you know, like, I'm sorry, I love you. I want to, you know,

what has gone on. And then also he's like, hey, my head's covered with dew. I'm uncomfortable out here. Please open up. I don't like us in this continual thing. Let's be reunited again. But what's being described here, she's kind of holding back. She's reluctant. And then she goes to the door to open up, but he's been discouraged by that time and so he's gone away. And so now she's searching for him. And I mean...

Married couples, you kind of know what this is like, right? It's like, you know, one tries, then they kind of, okay, well, I guess it's not going to happen right now. And then they go away, but then the other one's like, okay, let's get back together and, you know, sort things out. And that's kind of what happens. Verse 6, she says,

So she's describing this intense desire. She yearns for him. But when she opens the door, he's not there because she had waited and he had given up and gone away. In verse 9, as she's searching and expressing this desire for him, the daughters of Jerusalem chime in and say, what's

What is your beloved more than another beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved that you so charge us? The daughters of Jerusalem chime in and say, what's so special about this guy that you want to be with him so bad, that you want to correct this situation in your marriage? What's so great about him? And so in verse 10, she begins to describe him similar to how he described her.

She says,

His legs are pillars. You get the idea, right? So she goes on to this lengthy description. And what's interesting about this to me, as she's describing him, is that it seems that these descriptions of the man transcend time and history much better than the descriptions of the woman. I wouldn't have any problem, Kim, if you start describing...

Especially like his body is carved with ivory. You know, just like, yeah, you know. I think mine's carved with jello. Chapter 6. Chapter 6.

They begin now to reconcile. In verses 2 and 3, she kind of makes some statements about her confidence in the relationship. And even though he's not there at the moment, she says, I know I'm his and he is mine. I'm kind of speeding up because we're running out of time. Verse 4 through 7, the beloved Solomon is responding and describing her beauty again. Very similar to what we saw earlier. The teeth like sheep and washed and twins and all of that. Verse 8.

There are 60 queens and 80 concubines and virgins without number. My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the only one of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her. The daughters saw her and called her blessed, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

So here, this is where it kind of gets a little bit difficult understanding what this book is about. Because it's like, oh, this great love story. And then all of a sudden, we're reminded, yeah, wait a minute. Solomon, Solomon didn't just have one wife. Like you would think as you're reading through this book. It wasn't like the love of his life and that's who he was faithful to. In fact, in 1 Kings 11, we learn that he had 700 wives.

And then 300 concubines. And so he had quite a harem. At this point, he doesn't have that many. It's only 60 queens and 80 concubines. So it's a little bit, he's young, you know. Lots of room to grow here still. So that's where it gets a little bit like, well, he's describing kind of the ideal. And we have a lot to learn from it. But he didn't walk in it perfectly. Chapter 7.

Verse 6, he describes her again. Verse 6, he describes her again.

And she responds, the wine goes down smoothly for my beloved, moving gently the lips of the sleepers. So here we see they've reunited. They've made up.

And now they're joining together intimately once again. Clearly, Solomon is describing his desire for physical intimacy. And again, this is good. Within the confines of marriage, it's appropriate. It's by God's design. And it's meant to be enjoyed. And the language he's using is...

Language expressing this is enjoyable from him and from her. And so God intends that. That's appropriate that it be enjoyable on both sides. Verse 10, she says, I am my beloved's and his desire is toward me. So she recognizes, she sees that desire that he has for her. And again, it's to be enjoyed by both sides. One commentator puts it this way.

He says,

Now it gets really weird. She says, To your brother? To your brother?

Like, what? Well, here's what's going on. I know it sounds weird. It's out of place. But again, we have to understand the culture. In their culture, husbands and wives would not show affection in public. Brothers and sisters could show affection.

So they would be able to giggle and laugh and lean on one another. They would be able to show affection. But husbands and wives, it was not accepted in their culture for them to show affection. And so she's saying, if you were my brother in the sense that

Not that he was her brother, but that she would be able to show her affection. It's kind of killing her. They're in public and she can't express how much she loves him and how much she cares for him. And so that's what she's describing here, that difficulty. Verse 3, she says, Verse 4,

So she is picturing herself. His hand is behind her head. He's holding her and she takes that opportunity. She said this already a few times, but just highlighting it now. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases. As she's in this embrace or picturing this embrace, she says, okay, younger girls, don't stir up this kind of relationship until it's the right time.

This is important because it's so easy to be misled. And the world as a whole is misled in this. Because we do, we have a desire to be loved. We have a desire to love. And we see this kind of embrace and we think, that's it. That's what I need. That's love. That's what I'm looking for. And so a person goes out, they hug, they kiss, and they say, I'm in love. Of course, you know sex is referred to as making love.

But that's not really what love is. You want love, you want to be loved, but you can't create love by hugging and kissing and having sex. That doesn't make love. That doesn't create love. She says, look, you see this, this is what you want, but don't stir up love until it pleases, until it's the right time. Those things are the expressions of love within a marriage relationship.

And so if you're single, this is a valuable lesson. And if you'll heed it, it will be very valuable to you. Don't get caught up in chasing after a relationship. And don't get freaked out because you're not in a relationship. Don't stir it up. If you've got to stay away from the movies or the books or whatever it is that stir up those things in you, then don't stir it up. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, some have the gift of celibacy.

But the implication there is most do not. Now, if most do not have the gift of celibacy, then God's plan for you is to be involved in a relationship. Unless he's given you that gift. But most likely, God hasn't given you that gift. He does have a person set aside for you. But don't stir it up before it's time. Wait for his timing. Don't rush into things. In verse 6 says,

She says to Solomon, Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave, its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame. She talks about this seal, reminding us that marriage is a lifelong covenant. Set me as a seal upon your heart. This is for good. This is permanent. This marriage is to last.

I'm not going to get into the closing verses. There's a lot of variety of things that are going on there, kind of looking back to the past and her brothers and such. But we see this great love story that takes place between Solomon and this Shulamite. And from it, those who are not married, I say learn the lesson of not stirring up or awakening love before it's time. Stay away from those things. Stay away from those embraces.

And stirring up those emotions and those feelings. Abstain from a sexual relationship for sure because while fornicators and adulterers, God will judge, Hebrews 13 verse 4 says. But husbands and wives, on the other hand, this is a great reminder for us to enjoy one another. Marriage is honorable among all and the bed is undefiled. For those of you who are within the marriage covenant, enjoy your relationship. Express your love.

Whether it be with great imagery, physically, verbally, whatever it might be, express your love to one another. Well, as we finish up this evening, I want to jump ahead a little bit and just give a little bit of an introduction into the book of Isaiah because that's where we're getting to tomorrow. We're starting in Isaiah chapter 1. And so in... I just closed it, sorry. Jumped a slide.

All right. So we're beginning a new section, the major prophets. No, maybe not. All right. So in the major prophets, we're going to be looking at Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel. All right.

If you haven't been reading with us through the Bible in three years, there's reading schedules on the back table. So it's a great time to jump in with us in the book of Isaiah. And I would encourage you to do so. And so as we begin the book of Isaiah, we're entering into a whole different type of style of writing. We're entering into different contexts. You know, it's not the poetic books. It's not the Psalms.

It's a lot of different stuff that's going to be going on. So you need to understand that as we go in, that we're kind of going to be entering into a time where God's going to be calling us to repentance. And you might think, well, I'm already here. I don't need to repent. But through the prophets, God calls us to repentance. And we're going to be spending the next few months talking a lot about that.

But let me remind you a little bit about the history of Israel. I know it's late. If you've got to go, you're welcome to go. But I think it's important for you to have the context of what's going on. So here in the history...

Of Israel. Kind of going back a ways. We've been dealing with Solomon. And kind of the golden era of Israel's history. But remember. When God brought Israel out of Egypt. Through Moses. They were in the wilderness. Ultimately Joshua led them into the promised land. They got established in the land of Canaan. They went through a season. Known as the time of the judges. There was no king. Everybody did what was right in their own eyes. Until.

They rejected God from leading them and said, give us a king. And God gave them Saul. He was the first king of Israel and established the kingdom of Israel. He wasn't a good king. Immediately God, not immediately, but after 40 years, God sets David on the throne. And David was a godly king, a man after God's own heart. And he did great in bringing Israel back to the worship of God.

His son Solomon built the temple and brought Israel to the height of its glory. They were just, you know, the world's power of the day. There was great wealth, there was great power, and there was the great worship of God. But when Solomon died, his son was foolish. And so as a result, the kingdom split into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom kept the name Israel. The southern kingdom took the name Judah.

And from that time, we see a strong downward spiral by both the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The northern kingdom never had a good king, never turned back to the Lord. They were involved in idolatry from the very beginning.

The southern kingdom kind of did this every other thing. Every other king was good. They would turn back to the Lord. Then they would turn away from the Lord. Then they would turn back to the Lord. And it was this constant cycle all the while getting worse and worse and worse in their rebellion against God.

And so you can kind of see that here as the kingdom is split in two. If you want a better look at this, they're going to be giving out handouts of this timeline as you exit. So you'll be able to check it out. But so as we look at Isaiah now, he's the first of these major prophets that we're going to be looking at. And he prophesied during the time where the northern kingdom existed.

Is judged by God for their sin. When God brings the nation of Assyria. To conquer Israel for their rebellion against God. Now he's not primarily speaking to the northern kingdom. He's speaking to the southern kingdom. And essentially what he's saying is. Look what's happening up there. Look what God did because of their rebellion. So get right with God and repent. The prophets were sent not to tell the future.

But to call the people to repentance. And as an effort, you know, to prove that they were of the Lord and genuine in their call to repentance, they often would foretell and tell about the judgments and things that God would do. But that wasn't their primary purpose. He was primarily sent to Judah to call them to repentance and say, look what's going on. Look at the destruction there. You need to repent and get right with God.

And so that's where we're at. You got to kind of refresh your memory. The nation has been turning away from God and rebelling against God. And now Isaiah shows up on the scene to call people back to repentance. And as we start in chapter 1 tomorrow, that's what we're entering into. This call back to the Lord by the prophets. And again, we'll be looking at that for the next few months. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your word and the great value that it has. And Lord, the great...

breath that it has, Lord, covering all subjects that we need for this life and everything that we need, whether it be a culture of penance or some encouragement and exhortation to be involved romantically with one another as husbands and wives or the exhortation to abstain from

from sexual relationships before we're married. Lord, you cover all the bases and you make sure we know exactly what you desire of us. And so, Lord, I pray that you would help us to respond appropriately.

And Lord, as we head into this season of looking at these prophets, I pray, Lord, that you would bring us to repentance. That you would bring forth whatever is not correct and out of line in our lives. Lord, that we would be submitted to you and humbled before you. Lord, that we would be able to walk in holiness before you.

as we seek to please you and live our lives in accordance with your will and your commands. So, Lord, I pray that you would bless each and every one here, bless our week, help us to walk with you in the way that you've called us to. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.