True Love Abides
Notes
Transcript
I realized in preparation of this sermon, that I have never preached out of the Song of Songs - also known as the Song of Solomon - the title of which comes out of the first line:
The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
I have read through it before, I knew it contained some of the Bible’s steamier passages - but I had never spent time really studying it. What I discovered as I dove deeper is that this is a challenging book to develop a message around.
It is unique among all the biblical text. It is a love song. After it was composed, the song likely gained popularity within the social life of the ancient Israel - sung during celebrations of festivals and weddings - as the people danced and enjoyed the gifts of life. It was probably sung as entertainment in the royal court and at family reunions. But it is not just a ancient love song.
It was recognized early on as sacred scripture and was included in the canon of the Hebrew Bible -what we call the Old Testament. It was included among the wisdom literature - along with Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes and some of the Psalms. The authorship is attributed to King Solomon, but that is disputed by many scholars with fairly solid reasons. Tom Gledhill, in his commentary on this book, says “It has been suggested that just as Job explores the riddle of suffering, and Ecclesiastes the riddle of existence, so the Song explores the riddle of love.”
One of the elements I found interesting is the name Song of Songs. It is not just one song out of many songs - it is THE song of all songs. We find this superlative form in other phrases in the Bible, such as “Holy of Holies”, “Lord of Lords”, “King of Kings”. What makes Song of Songs the best of all songs?
Probably because it celebrates the greatest, strongest, most powerful of human emotions which is love. The book of Genesis tells us that God created the first humans, Adam and Eve, so that they would come together as complementary partners and to be one. A union of love. Gen 2:24-25
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
As one writer puts it, The Song of Songs is an invitation to intimacy. The question that theologians have often wrestled with is “between whom is this invitation given?”
As the reader, are we to understand this book as a very sensual and romantic love song between two lovers or is this song meant to be viewed, as early rabbis and Christian teachers and preachers have tended to view it for most of history, as an allegory of the intimacy between Yahweh and Israel or Christ and his Church, respectively?
I would argue, and others have as well, that it should be viewed both ways.
From the first viewpoint of the song celebrating the love shared between a man and a woman, we find in this song an expression of romantic love so completely at odds with the way the world so often portrays sex today. There is nothing gratuitous, objectifying, crude or self serving in the portrayal of the lovers interactions throughout the song. Instead we are presented with the story of two lovers completely enamored and devoted to one another.
I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.
As one writer put it, “the Song gives us a much- needed opportunity to reflect on human love and sex in a healthy, unblushing, biblical way.”
In his book Revelation of God, George Knight states that…
The Bible Knowledge Commentary Interpretation and Purpose
The purpose of the book is to extol human love and marriage. Though at first this seems strange, on reflection it is not surprising for God to have included in the biblical canon a book endorsing the beauty and purity of marital love. God created man and woman (Gen. 1:27; 2:20–23) and established and sanctioned marriage (Gen. 2:24). Since the world views sex so sordidly and perverts and exploits it so persistently and since so many marriages are crumbling because of lack of love, commitment, and devotion, it is advantageous to have a book in the Bible that gives God’s endorsement of marital love as wholesome and pure.
and in the book “The Message of the Song of Songs: The Lyrics of Love”. Tom Gledhill writes that...
The Message of the Song of Songs: The Lyrics of Love Author’s Preface
The Song of Songs is an unabashed celebration of these deeply rooted urges. In beautiful poetic language, the Song explores the whole range of emotions experienced by the two lovers, as they work out their commitment to each other. From the aching yearnings for intimacy, to the ecstasy of consummation, from the tensions of separation and the fears of loss, to the relaxed contentment of togetherness, from coquetry and flirtation, to the triumphalism of passion; all these are traced out in the ebb and flow of a growing relationship of mutual love. So we have a strong biblical affirmation of love, loyalty, beauty and sexuality in all their variety.
Now I do have to warn you, if you decide to read the whole song after you leave here, there are metaphors used as the lovers describe one another that are going to seem very strange to us modern folks today. We hear the words and the visuals that come to mind paint a very weird picture - but to the original audience, accustomed to pastoral and agricultural living, each metaphor used had meaning and the original listeners would have understood the meaning.
For instance:
Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost its young. Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. Your neck is like the tower of David, built in rows of stone; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors.
I’ll stop there - the songwriter continues down the body. Men, I do not recommend telling your wife that her hair looks like a flock of goats or that her cheeks are big as pomegranates.
The original audience however would have interpreted these words differently. Doves were known for their tranquility - so when he says “your eyes are doves behind your veil” - he is praising her calm and innocence. And according to a biblical scholar, the dark hair of Palestinian goats “was beautiful in the sunset as a flock was descending from the mountains” - and so this was a compliment to the beloved whose hair had the same beautiful quality. Her teeth were white like a flock of sheep just shorn and each had a perfectly matched twin - meaning, she had a perfect set of teeth - none missing. And her cheeks were reddish and sweet like pomegranate.
In this passage, the groom on his wedding night is praising his bride beauty - this would have been the first time both would have seen one another fully when all was removed. She was perfect in his eyes, and he was the same in hers.
The song is a celebration of this sacred union.
The Song of Songs, as I mentioned, can also be used as a parable about the relationship between Christ and his followers. We can easily see this in our reading this morning, Songs 2:8-13. Throughout the Old Testament, the relationship between Yahweh and Israel is described as a marriage. And in the New Testament, this theme is expanded further with Jesus being presented as the bridegroom and the Church as his bride.
If we have claimed Christ as our Lord, we must ask ourselves, do I truly love Jesus with the same passion and hopeful anticipation as the bride in this passage expresses for her lover. Do I desire an intimate relationship with Christ, to know Him and to be fully known by Him. Do I yearn for his return and desire to enjoy the newness of life in His presence?
Listen to passion and anticipation read earlier:
The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice.
Behold and look. In several of his teachings, Jesus taught his disciples to behold and look. To be alert of his coming and to be ready.
And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.
Jesus beckons us to come and be with him. Rev 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Jesus does not invite us to simply follow him as disciplined students - but he invites us into intimate relationship - a spiritual relationship built on the purest expression of love. The same love shared between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The first question the recently resurrected Jesus asked of Peter was this: “Do you love me more than these?” And that question he ask of you as well: Do you love me more than anything else?
My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
Stan Mast, in his commentary on this text, says “Finally, our passage stresses that this is the time to make a move, because it is spring. No, not on the secular calendar, but on our spiritual calendar… Because of his resurrection, it is always spring for us. It is always time for new life, for fresh flowering, and for renewed fruitfulness…this is a spiritual invitation to draw closer to the Lover of our souls and experience renewal.”
One of the hymns that Charles Wesley’s composed was Jesus, Lover of My Soul - in that hymn we hear the words:
Jesus, Lover of My Soul, Let me to thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll.
While the tempest still is high.
Hide me, O my Savior, hide,
Till the storm of life is past;
Safe into the haven guide,
O receive my soul at last.
I hope you walk out of here today with a clearer appreciation of the biblical view of romantic love and the goodness of God’s gift of sex within the boundaries He has established, but even more importantly, a desire to draw closer to Christ - for as Stan Mast noted “If sex is grand, how much grander is union with the One who invented it all to begin with!?”
Amen.