HONEY MOON
Song of Solomon 4:1-5:1
In our last study we saw the Wedding procession of Solomon and the Shulamite woman. We now come to the consummation of their marriage. In modern times we refer to this as the Honey Moon. This is a very important chapter of the Bible because it shows that God desires for a husband and wife to enjoy one another sexually. God created us the way He did on purpose.
There is much discussion in this chapter about the beauty of the Shulamite woman. Solomon begins his description of his wife’s beauty at her hair and works his way down. It is not until the end of the chapter that this couple has sex. This chapter also praises the Shulamite woman for remaining a virgin until she was married. Let us read our text and then we will look at some other passages of Scripture that speak about marriage and sex.
Their Honey Moon
Song of Solomon 4:1-5:1(NKJV)
THE BELOVED
1 Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats, Going down from Mount Gilead.
2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep Which have come up from the washing, Every one of which bears twins, And none is barren among them.
3 Your lips are like a strand of scarlet, And your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil Are like a piece of pomegranate.
4 Your neck is like the tower of David, Built for an armory, On which hang a thousand bucklers, All shields of mighty men.
5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, Twins of a gazelle, Which feed among the lilies.
6 Until the day breaks And the shadows flee away, I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh And to the hill of frankincense.
7 You are all fair, my love, And there is no spot in you.
Song of Songs 4:1-5:1(The Message)
THE MAN
You’re so beautiful, my darling, so beautiful, and you dove eyes are veiled By your hair as it flows and shimmers, like a flock of goats in the distance streaming down a hillside in the sunshine. Your smile is generous and full- expressive and strong and clean. Your lips are jewel red, your mouth elegant and inviting, your veiled cheeks soft and radiant. The smooth, lithe lines of your neck command notice- all heads turn in awe and admiration! Your breasts are like fawns, twins of a gazelle, grazing among the first spring flowers.
The sweet, fragrant curves of your body, the soft, spiced contours of your flesh Invite me, and I come. I stay until dawn breathes its light and night slips away. You’re beautiful from head to toe, my dear love, beautiful beyond compare, absolutely flawless.
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, With me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, From the top of Senir and Hermon, From the lions’ dens, From the mountains of the leopards.
9 You have ravished my heart, My sister, my souse; You have ravished my heart With one look of your eyes, With one link of your necklace.
10 How fair is your love, My sister, my spouse! How much better than wine is your love, and the scent of your perfumes Than all spices!
11 Your lips, O my spouse, Drip as the honeycomb; Honey and milk are under your tongue; And the fragrance of your garments Is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
12 A garden enclosed Is my sister, my spouse, A spring shut up, A fountain sealed.
13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates With pleasant fruits, Fragrant henna with spikenard,
14 Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, With all the chief spices-
15 A fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And streams from Lebanon.
THE SHULAMITE
16 Awake, O north wind, And come, O south! Blow upon my garden, That its spices may flow out. Let me beloved come to his garden And eat its pleasant fruits.
THE BELOVED
1 I have come to my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey I have drunk my wine with my milk.
(TO HIS FRIENDS)
Eat, O friends! Drink, yes, drink deeply, O beloved ones!
Come with me from Lebanon, my bride. Leave Lebanon behind, and come. Leave your high mountain hideaway. Abandon your wilderness seclusion, Where you keep company with lions and panthers guard your safety. You’ve captured my heart, dear friend. You looked at me, and I fell in love. One look my way and I was hopelessly in love! How beautiful your love, dear, dear friend- far more pleasing than a fine, rare wine, your fragrance more exotic than select spices. The kisses of your lips are honey, my love, every syllable you speak a delicacy to savor. Your clothes smell like the wild outdoors, the ozone scent of high mountains. Dear lover and friend, you’re a secret garden, a private and pure fountain. Body and soul, you are paradise, a whole orchard of succulent fruits- Ripe apricots and peaches, oranges and pears; Nut trees and cinnamon, and all scented woods; Mint and lavender, and all herbs aromatic; A garden fountain, sparkling and splashing, fed by spring waters from the Lebanon mountains.
THE WOMAN
Wake up, North Wind, get moving, South Wind! Breathe on my garden, fill the air with spice fragrance. Oh, let my lover enter his garden! Yes, let him eat the fine, ripe fruits.
THE MAN
I went to my garden, dear friend, best lover! Breathed the sweet fragrance. I ate the fruit and honey, I drank the nectar and wine. Celebrate with me, friends! Raise your glasses- “To life! To love!”
This marriage had begun. Why maintain a marriage? To answer this question Jesus focused on three important factors: The actions of God, the desires of God, and the warning of God.
The Actions Of God
Mark 10:6(NKJV)
6 But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female.’
Mark 10:6(The Message)
In the original creation, God made male and female to be together.
God made them to be distinct and different sexes. God intended to have a race of humans that was divided into two recognizable sexes – male and female. He made them male and female made them biologically and psychologically different one from the other. Men and women are made spiritually identical. This is what makes men and women equal before God.
The Desires Of God
Mark 10:7-8(NKJV)
7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
8 and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Mark 10:7-8(The Message)
Because of this, a man leaves father and mother, and in marriage he becomes one flesh with a woman- no longer two individuals, but forming a new unity.
“For this reason” – what reason? Why, because they are male and female. That is why they were made male and female so that ultimately they might be joined together and become one. This is what God had in mind in making them male and female in the beginning. There are a great many implications in this simple statement. Recognize that it does away with all such notions as “homosexual marriages.” There are no such things – not true marriages. It takes a man and a woman to be married. But what our Lord makes clear is that this relationship is the highest relationship possible in life. Notice that it takes priority over all others. Closer even than the ties of blood is that of marriage in the mind and heart of God. “A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife.”
So what is the purpose of marriage? It is to become one, as Jesus said. It is not something that happens instantaneously when you get married. The wedding service does not make you one. The first act sex after marriage does not make you one. It begins the process, but does not finish it. It takes the whole marriage to accomplish this. Marriage is the process of two people becoming one.
The Warning Of God
Mark 10:9-12(NKJV)
9 Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
10 In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter.
11 So He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.
12 And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
Mark 10:9-12(The Message)
Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart.”
When they were back home, the disciples brought it up again. Jesus gave it to them straight: “A man who divorces his wife so he can marry someone else commits adultery against her. And a woman who divorces her husband so she can marry someone else commits adultery.”
Notice that Jesus takes the matter far beyond the Jewish view of marriage. The Jewish view, as reflected in the Law, was that the initiative was always with the husband. It was only the husband who could divorce his wife. But in our Lord’s words here, they are on an equal basis. And he indicates that adultery, sexual infidelity, destroys the work God has been doing by building oneness in a marriage. You see, the phrase, “What God has joined together” does not refer to a wedding service; it refers to what has been going on in the marriage. God has been blending two people. He has been putting their lives together. He has been doing it. That is why he has taken them through the trials and conflicts they have gone through. He has been using one against the other to break down their resistance and reveal the hard places in their hearts and to soften them and make them into the people he intended them to be. God has been at work in the marriage.
This is why marriage involves sex, and why sex is such an important part of it. Sex is the visible picture of what a marriage ought to be. This is why God reserves sex for marriage. He is building a miracle; he is making a union out of two, as a picture of what he wants to do for all of humanity. This is why adultery, sexual infidelity, breaks the work of God and brings it to an end.
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Wednesday Evening Bible Study
Series: Intimacy (Study In Song of Solomon) #5
March 5, 2003
Bel Aire Baptist Church Marriage Class
Pastor Shawn Drake
