A Lamp Unto My Feet Bible Study Website
SONG OF SOLOMON
Lesson #01
INTRODUCTION
- Of what value is this book?
- In a society where there are just as many divorces among Christians as there are among non-Christians, this book takes on an increased importance.
- Read Mat 24:12
- Read 2Tim 3:1-7
- You will notice that in our passage of 2Tim 3:1-7 about the end times, we find:
- =1= “…lovers of their own selves…” (2) (Selfishness is the first item on the list which means it is the most important item on the list.)
- =2= “…without natural affection…” (3) (This is the confusion over gender with the approval of homosexuality.)
- =3= “…trucebreakers…” (3) (This is divorce).
- =4= “…lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God…” (4) (This is lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, and the lust of the pride of life. (1Joh 2:16))
- The majority of relationship problems in marriage fall into these four categories.
- Many people believe that the high incidence of divorce is due to the modern concepts of sex.
- However, there are many reasons for these divorce statistics of which money, not sex, is primary.
- Aside from that, for the Christian, God is concerned about every aspect of the life of a believer including money and sex.
- The common belief among Christians is that this book, Song of Solomon, is all about sex. While it does have its sexual content, it is not ALL about sex, as we will see.
- Many people confuse love and sex, especially the youth, simply because we usually do not know what real love is.
- We think that love is sex because that is what Hollywood teaches us. It is interesting that the King James Version of the Bible uses the special word, “charity” in 1Cor 13 to refer to true, unconditional love which can only be demonstrated by a born-again believer in Jesus Christ.
- Why didn’t the translators use the word “love” in 1Cor 13 when it is used in other parts of 1Corinthians in the King James Bible? (1Cor 2:9 1Cor 4:21 1Cor 8:3 1Cor 16:22, 24)
- They wanted us to get it straight! Sex and love is not the same thing. Fraternal love and “charity” is not the same thing. There are different kinds of love.
- Most people will be surprised to learn that medical science has discovered that the most active sex organ of the human body is the brain. But God knew that from the beginning.
- In a society where there are just as many divorces among Christians as there are among non-Christians, this book takes on an increased importance.
- Who wrote the book of Song of Solomon? Who was he, and when did he write the book?
- King Solomon wrote this book, though at times that is disputed.
- Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba.
- Remember that David had a sinful, sexual relationship with Bathsheba before they were married.
- However, Solomon was conceived after they were married.
- Solomon was given wisdom when God asked what he wanted above all else. (2Chr 1:1-12 1Kin 3:9-12 1Kin 4:29-34)
- In the book of Proverbs, written and/or edited by King Solomon, the word “wisdom” means = skillful living.
- Every believer in Jesus Christ should have the desire to live skillfully in every aspect of life.
- While King Solomon did not live all of his life skillfully before God, he does give us God’s perspective so that we might do a better job of it than Solomon.
- Solomon had 300 wives and 700 concubines.
- If Solomon truly had wisdom and believed in the monogamous love for one woman that we see in Song of Solomon. Why did he not live it?
- Just like the book of Ecclesiastes written by Solomon, we see Solomon’s life disintegrate into walking away from God into worldliness only to discover that worldliness is empty vanity.
- In the same way, because Song of Solomon was written when Solomon was a very young king with all the passions of youth. It is possible that so many polygamous relationships that caused Solomon’s downfall caused him to remember God’s standard given to him by God when he was young was certainly the better way.
- The Title of this book:
- The Hebrew gives us the title in verse 1, “Song of Songs” because Solomon wrote many songs of which this is his best work. (1Kin 4:32)
- Sometimes the book is called “Canticles” which means Songs.
- English Bibles give this book the name “Song of Solomon” to reflect its poetic nature and its author.
- What is the form of this book?
- The form of the book of Song of Solomon is a lyrical love song with a choral group of singers.
- That means that speeches and events do not necessarily occur in the natural sequence of time.
- In other words, the narrative and events occur according to theme and may or may not be according to time sequence.
- It is like watching a movie with a number of flashbacks in time.
- The chorus:
- The chorus in the book is a fictional group of singers that make comments on the events.
- Sometimes these comments are thought-provoking commentaries.
- Sometimes these comments are warnings.
- Often these comments by the chorus give a transition from one event to another.
- The chorus in the book is a fictional group of singers that make comments on the events.
- Song of Solomon can be divided into 15 reflections by a married woman in the form of love songs.
- These love songs are from the perspective of Solomon’s queen, a Shulamite.
- She looks back at the events in her life that led her to a relationship with Solomon, then, she looks forward in anticipation to married life, and then we see some marital problems occur.
- Historical background:
- King Solomon reigned for 40 years from 971 BC to 931 BC. He was Israel’s richest king. He was so rich that world dignitaries came from foreign countries to meet him.
- Solomon owned vineyards all over the nation of Israel.
- While visiting his vineyards, he met a beautiful country girl, a Shulamite, at a vineyard in Northern Israel at foot of the mountains of Lebanon. Shulamite is not her name but the location of her birth.
- Because she did not grow up in Jerusalem or in the palace, she was not used to the lifestyle King Solomon lived. She had to think long and hard whether she should marry this affluent king and leave her beloved country life behind.
- After the marriage, the Shulamite was very homesick. Solomon took her on vacation back to the vineyard where they had met.
- While Solomon had many wives and many concubines through political marriages, the Shulamite woman was his favorite wife. The wife of his heart.
- King Solomon reigned for 40 years from 971 BC to 931 BC. He was Israel’s richest king. He was so rich that world dignitaries came from foreign countries to meet him.
- Basic themes:
- There are three basic themes in the book of Song of Solomon.
- We will follow all three of these themes through the book which is not often done in Biblical commentaries. Usually a commentary of this book follows one or two themes.
- =1= The theme of sex in marriage that demonstrates to us God’s intent when He created man and woman placing them in a family relationship of love.
- It is important in today’s world to call attention to the fact that a sexual relationship between a man and a woman must be confined to marriage as we see in this book.
- For the New Testament believer in Christ, it is important to note that sex outside of marriage is forbidden by God. (The word “fornication” is sex outside of marriage.) (Mat 15:19 Act 15:20 Rom 1:29 and 1Cor 6:13, 18 use the word “fornication” in the King James Version of the Bible.)
- Unfortunately some people study this book and take out the sexual content by saying that the words do not really mean sex. To do that, you lose God’s lessons regarding marriage and sex that God wants us to understand.
- =2= The theme of God’s love for Israel is played out through the Old Testament using sexual terms.
- Through the Old Testament God expounds on His great love for Israel. This makes the story in Song of Solomon an allegory. An allegory is a story on the surface with a deep, underlying meaning much like a parable.
- God says that He loved Israel so much that He married her. (Isa 54:5 Eze 16:8-14 Hos 2:19)
- God says that He loved Israel so much that He was jealous when she worshipped other gods and idols. (Exo 20:5 Eze 16)
- Because of Israel’s idolatry, God said she committed adultery. (Jer 3:1,20 Eze 16)
- To give us this marriage-relationship theme, God sent the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute that exemplified Israel’s actions and God’s unconditional love for her.
- Parts of the book of Song of Solomon are sometimes recited at the Jewish Passover celebration.
- Unfortunately this theme is either the only theme used to study the book or it is not often included in a study of the Song of Solomon. By its neglect we fail to see God’s great love.
- Through the Old Testament God expounds on His great love for Israel. This makes the story in Song of Solomon an allegory. An allegory is a story on the surface with a deep, underlying meaning much like a parable.
- =3= The theme of an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ on the part of the individual believer in Christ that makes up His church, the bride of Christ.
- Read Eph 5:23-25
- The church is called the Bride of Christ that makes herself ready for the coming of her bridegroom, Jesus Christ. (2Cor 11:1-2 Luk 5:35 Joh 3:29 Rev 19:7-9 Rev 21:2,9 Rev 22:17)
- Therefore, Eph 5 is the basis of this theme where the relationship between a husband and his wife are in parallel with the relationship between Christ and the church.
- Unfortunately, many theologians, teachers, and pastors neglect this important theme when studying this book. The result of such neglect causes us to miss many lessons that deal directly with many marital concepts as well as one’s relational concepts with Christ.
- =1= The theme of sex in marriage that demonstrates to us God’s intent when He created man and woman placing them in a family relationship of love.
- Symbolism:
- Everybody loves a love story. There is much beautiful symbolism in this love story.
- The symbolism is used to demonstrate to us the beauty of a love relationship: the beauty of sex in marriage, and the beauty of a love relationship with God.
- General background:
- In considering the three basic themes in the book of Song of Solomon, we need to begin with an understanding of God’s intent regarding man.
- Gen1:26 tells us that God created man in God’s image. God is a triune being manifested in three personalities, God, the Father; Jesus the Son; and God, the Holy Spirit. Man also is a triune being of a spirit, a soul, and having a body.
- In order to live skillfully in God’s Kingdom, man must learn God’s intent for each of these three parts of man’s being.
- Man’s spirit:
- Man’s spirit before the sin of Adam and Eve was the predominant part of man’s being. It was how Adam could relate to the Almighty God, his creator.
- Unfortunately after the sin of Adam and Eve, man’s spirit shriveled so that it is difficult to tell the difference between the spirit and soul of man after the fall. (Heb 4:12)
- When man is “born again” by receiving Jesus Christ into his heart as his personal Savior, it is the Holy Spirit of God that enters into man’s spirit to make him alive to God. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life because He makes man a new creature and gives him a new life in Christ. (Rom 8:10 2Cor 3:6)
- Man’s soul:
- The soul of man is what makes each person unique from all other humans. The soul contains man’s personality, his reasoning powers, his desires, his emotions, and his will.
- God created man’s soul to live forever either in eternity with God or in eternity without God in the lake of fire. (Rev 20:10, 15)
- For the believer in Christ that dies or is raptured (1Cor 15:51-52 1The 4:15-17), man’s soul is taken by the Holy Spirit to be with the Lord forever.
- Man’s body:
- Man’s spirit and man’s soul are housed together in a temporary body of flesh.
- Before the sin of Adam and Eve, the body of man was of little importance to man, relatively speaking.
- How do we know this?
- The first thing Adam and Eve were aware of after their sin was their bodies. They were ashamed and sought to cover themselves.
- Therefore, since the first sin and including today, man is very aware of the body because in the flesh of man is what the Bible calls the flesh nature.
- The flesh nature is the sin nature passed on from Adam and Eve. (Rom 5:12)
- The Apostle Paul describes the flesh nature in Gal 5:19-21 which includes fornication.
- Without the control of the Holy Spirit living in man’s spirit after being born again, man will always give in to the flesh nature that lives in his flesh.
- Man’s spirit:
It is when the flesh nature controls the individual that we have so many marital problems or relationship problems in general.
This is why we need this study of the book of Song of Solomon.
This is why we must use this book to relate to all of the three themes.
In other words, a non-believer could study this book and put into practice all the right principles regarding marriage and still not have a successful marriage.
But as a believer in Jesus Christ, if he works on the principles in this book regarding his personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the concept of God’s great love, and the principles regarding marriage, then the probability is that he will live successfully in every aspect of his life including marriage.
Because of the three themes in our study, this book is not just for married people or people thinking about marriage, it is for everyone who wants to live successfully.
- Source material for our study:
- Solomon on Sex by Joseph C. Dillow
- Union and Communion or Thoughts on the Song of Solomon by James Hudson Taylor
- Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon by Irving L. Jensen
- The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary on the Bible, Charles M. Laymon, editor
- Outline of the Song of Solomon: (from Solomon on Sex by Joseph C. Dillow)
| Beginning of Love | Development of Unity in Love | ||||
| Wedding Day | Reflections on
Courtship |
Wedding Day | A Dream of Love Refused | Country
Vacation |
|
| 1. Shulamith in the Palace
(1:1-8) 2. At the Banquet (1:9-14) 3. In the Bridal Chamber (1:15-2:7) |
[a flashback]
4. A Visit in Spring (2:8-11) 5. The Little Foxes (2:15-17) 6. A Dream on Counting the Cost (3:1-5) |
[continues]
7. The Wedding Procession (3:6-11) 8. The Wedding Night (4:1-5:11) |
A Problem | The Solution | 14. Vacation in the country
(8:5-14) |
| 9. A Dream of Love Refused
(5:2-8) |
10. Change of Attitude
(5:9-6:3) 11. Solomon Returns (6:4-10) 12. Shulamith in the Garden (6:11-13a) 13. The Dance of the Mahanaim (6:13b-8:4) |
||||
| The Glorious Ideal | The Practical Reality | ||||
| Love’s First Entrancing Days | Love’s Deep Abiding Joys | ||||
| The Palace | Lebanon | The Palace | Lebanon | ||
Homework
Song of Solomon 1:1-2:7
- Preparation for Song of Solomon 1-2:7 The Wedding Day
- Generally speaking, when Shulamith is speaking she calls King Solomon, “My Beloved” but when King Solomon is speaking, he refers to Shulamith as “My Love”.
- Read Song 1:1-8 Shulamith in the palace
- In what way do these phrases relate to the believer in Christ?
- “Thy love is better than wine.” (2)
- “I am black, but comely.” (5)
- “feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents” (8)
- In what way do these phrases relate to the believer in Christ?
- Read Song 1:9-14 At the banquet
- What do gold and silver symbolize in the Bible? (11)
- Read Song 1:15-2:7 In the bridal chamber
- In what way does verse 17 relate to Israel?
- Why is the believer in Christ compared to a “lily among thorns”? (2:2)
- What is the banner of love over the believer in Christ? (2:4)
- In regards to sexual relationships, what is the warning by the choral group? (2:7) Why is it good advice?
- Memory Verse: Song 2:2
