Understanding the Love of the Lord - SONG OF SOLOMON START

Today we begin a look at one of the most evocative books in the Bible - the Song of Solomon. It's a collection of love poems between a man and his bride. It exults the explicit and singular sexual relationship scripture admonishes - a husband and wife in marriage. There IS no other Biblical definition of marriage than man and wife. And yes, you have the right to disagree but God is the ultimate judge, not me. 

How does this book begin?
Song of Solomon 1:1–4 (ESV) The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s. 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. We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you.

The woman is already in full response to the husband's love. Here is a pro tip for me. Love your wife into loving your kisses. She longs for his kisses in verse 2 because she confesses, "your (his) love is better than wine."

Not only is she ready to kiss, but she is also ready to unite in a sexual union. She is willing to run with him into the bedroom and express physical love with her husband because to her there is nothing better than his love. 

What else does she love about him? His name. His character and reputation are attractive to her. She has watched him from afar and learned of him through the community. His name speaks for itself. She knows his character is one that draws only pure women to him (virgins). 

The book opens with gusto and continues throughout the text - it's about the passionate desire for intimacy between a husband and wife that is not rooted in sex but is driven toward it because of the beautiful lives they lead in the community and before one another. 

So much of sex today is impersonal, immoral, and incomplete. It leaves women mostly dissatisfied because they were made for more than just a one-night stand or a jump to the bedroom. There is to be passion and desire, but they must spring from things that matter. A show of genuine love that is better than the joy (wine) life can offer plus a character worth desiring. 

But if we go further in the text we understand that this relationship of a husband to his wife is the relationship the Lord has desired between Him and His people. Paul writes about marriage in Ephesians 5 concerning the roles of men and women. He then elucidates the ultimate reality of this picture:

Ephesians 5:31–33 (ESV) “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

How wonderful to think about this concerning our relationship with the Lord. he wants more than ritualistic observance of creed or systematic religion. He wants love between us. He wants passion and desire not for what He gives us but for who He is. Now, this of course is not sexual but it is beautiful. It means that religion solely described in terms of empty practices is useless and not close to God's desire for us. 

More importantly, He wants faithfulness. Marriage is one man and one woman for life. Through the ups and downs, they stay together. The Lord will do that for us. Will we do that for Him?


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