SOng of Solomon 1

Is it really LOve?

What are some of your favorite love songs?

Otis Redding- I’ve been loving you . . Try a little tenderness…These arms of mine...

Sam Cooke- You send me. . .Cupid. .

Aretha- I say a little prayer…Day dreaming

there are so many! Sade sweetest taboo

There is a feeling when we hear the song. . or think about it.. It evokes a particular feeling inside of us.

Love in our day and time is tricky; what is it? Is it important? How is it achieved?

What do i do to obtain it, what must i give up?

All these and others. . are questions and thought swirling around the minds of people across the world as it relates to Love.

The world has done an incredible job of saturating our minds around their version of love. It’s a part of pop culture. . it’s in the movie’s . . it’s on television. Its on commercials

we get hit with a worldly example of what love is all the time. . . and since we see this all the time; many of us buy in to these philosophies.

This is why we want to take this month the month usually dedicated to Love and Valentine’s day and stuff to give a Beautiful and Biblical version of Love.

Unfortunately, we have done a terrible job explaining the biblical version of love. what love is, God’s design.

from the blog:

The Song of Solomon is a celebration of love God intended for a man and a woman in marriage. Sadly, this book is seldomly taught on or discussed in our churches and God shows us the power of love in marriage. The opening passage shows the bride complimenting her groom for his aroma and reputation; this section the groom returns the compliments and expresses his love for her. It begins with a comparison between the woman and a mare and then concentrates more on the woman’s ornaments which highlights the royal nature of her beauty.

We have all heard the phrase “beauty is in the eye of the beholder, meaning beauty is not judged objectively. Everyone has their own opinion of what beauty is. The Temptations wrote a song titled “beauty is only skin-deep” defining their opinion of beauty. For them, appearance is only part of the formula to describe beauty; yet taking into consideration that beauty is not a guide to character. The groom greats his bride with warm and flattering words highlighting her beauty. He is already blown away by her appearance; and he adds that the jewelry she wore enhanced her natural beauty. Since this is the month is all about love; try using your words to describe the beauty of the person you love.

Song of Solomon 1:3 ESV

your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you.

this is the first section of compliments we will see that goes back and forth.

the Bride is in love with the Groom and she talks about his fragrance.

Your smell and fragrance is wonderful. He has the looks. . she wowwed by him . . . His smell makes it better- good hygiene.

He is all she wants. But it is not the smell alone… its Reputation as well.

“your name is the spreading fragrance’- its everywhere. . . all the ladies adore you .

there is something about having a great name!!!

your name and reputation is worth than money, fame. . anything

Your name will out-live your physical life. I believe it is vitally important to have a good name and great reputation.

what do you want to be known for. . . how do you want to be remembered?

COuld our name and reputation cause us to attract certain people in our lives?

Song of Solomon 1:8–11 ESV

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. I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots. Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels. We will make for you ornaments of gold, studded with silver.

He talks about her natural beauty. He recognizes her from among all others in the town.

Song of Songs (Poem Four: A Beautiful Mare (1:9–11))

The man now describes the beauty of the woman, beginning with a simile drawing comparison between his beloved and a mare. To our modern tastes this analogy does not immediately impress us as complimentary. We might imagine, though, the mare’s sleekness,

Song of Songs (Poem Four: A Beautiful Mare (1:9–11))

To paraphrase the thought of the man, he is saying that she drives all the men crazy with her attractiveness, with the implication that she drives him to distraction as well.

This is important because he affirms her and gives her value. Why this important. Earlier she said to the women in the town that she was not beautiful.

He says your beauty causes everyone to stare.

her beauty is far more than all the garments and jewelry she wears.

Last point

Song of Solomon 1:14 ESV

My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of Engedi.

Song of Songs (Poem Five: Intimate Fragrances (1:12–14))

She describes him as a cluster of henna blossoms. The word cluster (ʾeškōl) is most often found in reference to grapes (cf. Song 7:8, 9 [7:7, 8] in connection with the woman’s breasts). Here it is connected to the henna (kōper), a shrub, well known in Egypt and Palestine, whose flowers are used for dyeing hair red. The metaphor probably emphasizes his pleasant smell. Yet these are not ordinary henna; they are from the region around En-gedi, one of the most delightful locations in all of Israel. En-gedi is on the western bank of the Dead Sea, just north of Masada (which of course did not exist as a fortress until many centuries later). The surrounding landscape is desolate, but En-gedi is a delightful oasis with waterfall and stream. Hidden and private, it is a romantic place to be sure, contributing to the contrast developed through the Song between the countryside as place of love and the city as a place of alienation.

She says his presence is like the beauty in the midst of ugliness

He is like flowers in a dessert