Intro
• Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon) was written by King Solomon & its name is taken from the first verse in the book, "Solomon's Finest Song."
• 1 Kings 4:32 - "Solomon composed 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005." - of the 1,005, this is his finest
• It is well known that King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines; 1,000 women in his life. How could he truly write about the perfect expression of love in marriage?
• Some believe Solomon wrote the Song of Solomon in his youth, the books of Proverbs in middle age, & the book of Ecclesiastes when he was old.
• Did he always follow everything in Proverbs? No
• When you look at the great people in the Bible you can see that God always calls and uses people, despite their failures, for His glory.
• The song truly is a love song in which every groom is King Solomon and every bride is a princess.
• The Song is poetry and should be taken symbolically, not historically.
• Song of Songs is classified as wisdom literature because it not only celebrates love, it also teaches love.
• So many times the Bible gives warnings and condemnations about sex; it addresses the abuses of sexual intimacy quite a bit.
• Song of Songs is not a series of warnings and consequences about the abuse of sex, however it is a celebration of love expressed rightly in marriage.
• During our study of the book of Song of Songs, we will see different aspects of true love.
• Today, we will see that true love's joy is expressed in our #1 Excitement for Each Other, #2 Praise for Each Other and #3 Companionship With Each Other.
• Prayer
#1 Excitement For Each Other
• Song of Songs 1:1-8
• Remember, Song of Songs is actually a song. It is comprised of three parts: Man, Woman and Chorus. If you have some letters out beside the verses in your Bible, that is why.
• The song doesn't actually start until verse two where it abruptly starts with sudden excitement on the woman's part.
• She desires his kisses because just like wine, she imagines that they will be exhilarating and intoxicating at the same time.
• The comparison to wine continues in the second part of verse 2 where she states that his love, his caresses, is more delightful than wine.
• His love excites her senses, more than wine & more than perfume. (3a)
• Even the very mention of his name brings her delight. (3b)
• Because she has caught his eye over the others, she considers herself to be the luckiest woman in the world. She is his chosen one! (3c)
• Her desire is for him to hurry up and take her to his chambers; anticipation of their wedding night. (4)
• She calls him king, but remember, this is her king, not literally King Solomon; much of this book is symbolic.
• The chorus of women, her friends, now join in on the second part of verse 4 to celebrate the love that they have for one another; Obvious
• In fact, from verse 3c and 4 we can see that the chorus of ladies actually swooned over him.
• In contrast to her king that was actually swooned over by this chorus of ladies, she feels embarrassed and defensive about her own looks.
• Why? Because she is "dark like the tents of Kedar" because the "sun had gazed on her" when her brothers made her work the vineyards; she felt that she neglected her vineyard, her body, for the sake of this one.
• In this society, light skin was more attractive than dark skin because dark skin meant that you were part of the laboring class.
• By being a part of this class, she would have faced social prejudices, not racial ones.
• On one hand, she was "black like the tents of Kedar" which were blackened from exposure to the sun but on the other hand she was as "lovely as the curtains of Solomon."
• She wasn't a pampered beauty of the upper class, and though she was hardened from working in the elements, she was beautiful.
• She looks to her suitor as a source of rest; She simply just wanted to be with him. (7)
• He welcomes her presence and is happy for her to be with him.
• When true love develops between a man and a woman, a genuine excitement for each other is birthed.
• Remember back to when you first fell in love, you couldn't be around him/her enough.
• You didn't care if he/she was from the upper class or lower class, it did not matter because that was who you were in love with.
• Too many times the excitement that we felt for each other turns into tolerating one another and can actually turn into dreading being around one another.
• True love, like the love we had at first, has an excitement for one another.
#2 Praise For Each Other
• Song of Songs 1:9-2:3
• In these verses we see where the man and woman share quick exchanges of their praise and adoration for one another.
• M - First of all, we see where the man is comparing his beloved woman to a horse among Pharaoh's chariots. (9-11)
• It might not sound like a compliment, but Pharaoh's horses were heavily decorated with jewelry, ornament and other embellishments.
• He was saying that she was a woman of great beauty and dignity.
• W - The woman then replies that she finds her king very attractive and she is very aroused by him. (12-14)
• She anticipates their wedding night when she can experience his fragrance and embrace (My love = sachet of Myrrh)
• Like the henna blossoms of El-Gedi, an oasis with a waterfall, he was vibrant, alive and refreshing to her.
• M -(15) He then states that she is not only beautiful ,but very beautiful. She has eyes like doves which refer to her character (innocence Mt10:16)
• W - (16-17)After being called beautiful, she declares that he is handsome and that she is delighted by him being handsome; she also imagines the perfect romantic spot for them.
• She goes on to say in 2:1 that she is a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
• This flower would have been like our daffodil, a common wildflower.
• She was being very modest, still probably troubled by her evaluation of her looks. She is saying that she is just one of many flowers; she thinks that she is nothing special at all.
• M -(2:2) - The man did not have the same low evaluation as she did.
• For him, compared to all the other women in the world, she was the one true, beautiful flower and the rest were all thorns.
• W -(2:3) - She returns the compliment to the man by stating that he is more handsome than all the other young men, an apricot tree among the trees of the forest.
• One can truly see in these verses the intensity and love that these two have for one another; There love was exclusively for each other.
• Often times, when love is young, we cannot quit being complimentary of one another; expressing our joy and love for each other.
• However, as the years roll on, many times our praise for one another often times wanes.
• Too many times days, weeks, months and maybe even years roll by without us expressing our praise and love for our husband/wife.
• We need to be our husband/wife's biggest supporter but that all starts with how we feel about them in our heart.
• True love is expressed in our praise for one another.
#3 Companionship With Each Other
• Song of Songs 2:4-7
• It is clear here from verse 6 that the man and the woman are engaged in an embrace.
• Verse 4 says that "he brought me to the banquet hall" which has the idea behind it of being a house of wine.
• She is trying to express that just as wine is intoxicating, so is being in the man's embrace intoxicating to her; drunk on love.
• This rush of feelings causes her to swoon in verse 5; Lovesick.
• She is not sustained and refreshed from real fruit, once again symbolic; She is sustained and refreshed by the love that he brings to her.
• The pleasure that he brings her is as sweet as fruit.
• In verse 7, She compares the female to the gazelles and wild does and by doing so she is saying that they are alike in their beauty, vigor and desire to be sexually active.
• Also in verse 7 she offers a challenge to the chorus of Jerusalem girls and that challenge is just as relevant today as it was then.
• That challenge was that the Jerusalem girls should not allow themselves to be sexually aroused until the proper time; marriage.
• Many in the world will say today that you need to just let people sow their wild oats, then once they have done that, then they can settle down.
• The world encourages sex outside of marriage with anyone at any time.
• That is not the message here that the woman is trying to get across.
• Sex should be reserved for marriage; for your true companion in life.
• True love is expressed in our companionship with each other.
Conclusion
• Today, we have seen that true love's joy is expressed in our #1 Excitement for Each Other, #2 Praise for Each Other and #3 Companionship With Each Other.
• Challenge
o In order to truly experience the joy of true love, we must belong to God through Jesus, who loved us more than anyone ever will - Accept Jesus Christ
o Let us be challenged to have an excitement for one another like the love we had at first.
o Let us be challenged to express our praise for one another
o Let us be challenged to express our intimate love for one another only within the confines of marriage
