Sex and Marriage - Part 3
Love Letters and Love Songs
Song of Solomon 2:3:13
Love letters and love songs are meant to be shared only by the lovers and not an audience of on lookers. There are many reasons for this, the special language that lovers share is often unique and original it may stem from their shared experiences.
When my wife and I were dating we gave each other pet names a kind of code name that we could use to describe each other in the presence of strangers and still express the highest levels of intimacy.
Solomons Song of Songs is that kind of language, the language of lovers. It is a language that is very clear to the intimate parties involved but the language becomes obscure to outsiders.
You will not find passages of this book quoted in the New Testament. You will not find God mentioned by name or inference and Jesus did not quote from it. Still it remains as a part of the Great Cannon of Scripture being placed there by the Jewish Fathers the keepers of the law.
Matthew Henry refers to this book as an allegory, a letter, a parable and a nuptial song and a Epithalamium (song written for a bride as she makes her way to her honeymoon room) Mathew Henrys Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III Song of Solomon - Introduction.
It is the spiritual language of the heart expressed in the divine language of the Holy Spirit. There are several books of the bible where we find we need an interpreter to enlighten us and expound the meaning of what we are reading, such examples are Daniel and Revelation and Ezekiel and others. We become like the Eunuch in Act 8:34 when he turns to Philip and asks can you explain to me what I am reading?
You must know what love is if you hope to glean the truth of this book. You must know the language of love as it is expressed by lovers. The Jewish fathers prohibited young people from reading this book until they were at least 30 years of age and had acquired some understanding of love and life.
If we approach this book with youthful carnality we could turn what is meant to be a flower of poetic expression into a weed of poisonous vulgarity. This is not a seedy paperback novel with lusty caricatures of the lovers. This is a dialogue and discussion about fidelity and faithfulness about longing for what is best and right and pure in a relationship between a man and a woman.
There are within the pages of the bible many great mysteries that still elude us. Likewise there are within our hearts many great mysteries still to be disclosed. One of the greatest mysteries of all is pure love between a man and a woman. How one man and one woman can find perfect fulfillment only by and through their union as one couple pledged only to each other for the whole of their life is a profound mystery. Yet that is the ideal for so many of us - True Love.
It is a subject we can not help but sing about and write about and express in every way possible, sculpture, painting, poetry, dance, movies, plays and on and on in an endless attempt to convey what love is between two people. Still we can not express it fully.
There is in love a certain - je ne sais quoi (an indefinable quality that makes somebody or something more attractive or interesting) We can not properly define all that being in love means to us when we try to explain it to someone else.
For instance when my wife and I were dating she attempted to explain to a friend how she had fallen in love with this young handsome police officer who had swept her off her feet. She went on and on to list the attributes that he possessed in great numbers and all her girl friend could respond with was - you have got to be kidding - hes just so weird how could you love him?
You will see what I mean as I refer to scripture: Song of Solomon 6:4-6
4 You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah,
lovely as Jerusalem,
majestic as troops with banners.
5 Turn your eyes from me;
they overwhelm me.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin,
not one of them is alone.
Now what girl wouldnt like to be compared to a marching army with banners or to have her flowing hair compared to a flock of goats? Her teeth are all straight not one sticks out or stands out as missing. Now that sounds like a look to go for.
While this language seems archaic and strange to us it was in fact a beautifully crafted poem that captured the heart of the listener.
Scholars are at odds about this book of scripture as to where to place it. Some have looked to prophetic, wisdom and apocalyptic passages of Scripture, as well as to ancient Egyptian and Babylonian love songs and wedding songs in an effort to categorize this unique book of scripture.
The Song belongs to Biblical wisdom literature and that it is wisdoms description of an amorous relationship. The Bible speaks of both wisdom and love as gifts of God, to be received with gratitude and celebration.
If you read it you will discover King Solomon trying to win the heart of his newest addition to his harem the Shulammite woman.
Shulammite is not her name but is the Hebrew equivalent of the name Solomon. She is seen by Solomon as his perfect equal in every way. She is called - Beloved. The other three main characters are referred to as the friends, the lover and the Shepherd.
The object of Solomons affection does not yield to him even with all his glory and power as king. She does not spurn him but rather stays faithful to her true lover the Shepherd. It is a story that teaches us the extent of true love, it can not be bought with gold, it can not be won over with power or authority, it can not be bribed or coerced it can not be held captive in a harem awaiting the kings pleasure.
This song is also an example of how we are drawn to beautiful people that we ourselves may want to love but their hearts are not given to us. They are not meant to be ours and were never meant to be ours and by forcing ourselves upon them and using all manner of flattery and presents and even poetry they can not and should not be ours and we should abandon the desire to chase them since they are given to someone else in such a complete way that makes the pursuit a selfish and sinful desire.
William Shakespeare seems to have borrowed from scripture with his famous play of Romeo and Juliet. Theirs was a love that wanted to be but could not be because of family feuding. It was a destructive love that ended in tragedy.
We read in Chapter 6:10
10 Who is this that appears like the dawn,
fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
majestic as the stars in procession?
Romeo:
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.
Our love for one another as husband and wife is to be sacred and pure and holy. We are to be devoted to each other till death due us part not until someone else catches our eye. We need to write love letters to one another as we once did and in so doing we can once again discover our unique language of love and preserve our intimate communication and become one body and one flesh. Tonight write a letter to your true love.
