Saturday, May 21, 2011

Convo with Pastor - Song of Solomon 4:1-10


1 How beautiful you are, my love,
Your eyes are doves behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
moving down the slopes of Gilead. ...
3 Your lips are like a crimson thread,
and your mouth is lovely. ...
4 Your neck is like the tower of David ...
5 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies.
7 You are altogether beautiful, my love ...
9 You have ravished my heart, ... my bride ...
10 How sweet is your love, ... my bride!
how much better is your love than wine ...
Song of Solomon 4:1-10
 
We are told in 1 Kings 4:32 that Solomon wrote 1,005 songs. Was this amorous song from Solomon autobiographical? Probably a little! (Solomon certainly knew a little about having a wife ... or two ... or more.) I prefer to think of it as a proverb -- as absolutely true because it's timeless advice to all the wise king's men, as really a wonderful work of creative fiction (like me writing a joyful country song, saying something like, "I met a brown eyed girl in a patch of butternut squash").
 
Anyway the Song of Solomon is much more than a man meeting a pretty girl in a squash patch. It is perhaps as close as you can get to an R-rated part of the Bible. (Actually, that's not exactly true. Some parts of Scripture might be R-rated for violence. But this is the part that causes many to blush on account of focusing on sex.)
 
But why?
 
Turn on the TV anytime of day and you'll find sex. And I doubt that it would surprise you to find out that something like 87% of the couples who are having sex on TV are not married. So what's so R-rated about a truly loving marriage relationship on the pages of scripture? A man is passionate about his wife. And she's a little enamored with him. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?
 
Celebrate with the Song of Songs the way things are supposed to be. A man loves his wife. A wife delights in her husband. Life is good.
 
In Christ's Love,
a thankful husband
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Several years ago, my husband and I read the bible in a year outloud to each other.  When we got to this section, we tried to read it lovingly and 'romantically' but instead only ended up rolling laughing [which can end up a good thing also].  The metaphors don't always translate through time, but the emotions behind them do.

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