The Bible says in Song of Solomon 1:4,
“The
song of songs, which is Solomon's.[2] Let him kiss me with the kisses of
his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.[3] Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured
forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.[4] Draw me, we will run after
thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice
in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.”
This book is a song that Solomon wrote, a great song, a song about love: love
between a husband and a wife. Of course, the Bible shows marriage and love
between a man and a woman. Nature itself teaches you that such is the normal
way for human beings. God created it that way. Jesus said in Mark 10:6-9, “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male
and female.[7] For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;[8] And they twain shall
be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.[9] What
therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
We are not surprised that Solomon
wrote by the Spirit of God such a lengthy song about love between a man and a
woman. God is love. All true love comes from God. Love started with God. No one
will ever love you as much as Jesus loves you, but God gave love between a
husband and a wife probably first of all to be symbolic of His love for us.
Almost everything in life and in the physical world has some spiritual symbolism
to it. The love of a man for a woman symbolizes the love of Christ for
believers. The Bible says in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”
Human beings have written many, many
love songs about love between a man and a woman. The vast number
of popular songs are love songs. Remember the purpose of this love is to
remind you of God’s love for you. One of the reasons that God brings a man and
a woman together in love is to show them how much He loves them to have given
them such love for each other. Love is a gift from God. As a matter of fact God
Himself designed love, both physical and emotional love. There is nothing dirty
or wrong about physical love between a man and woman. They are fulfilling God’s
design and God’s will: in marriage, of course. God’s perfect will is that a
couple would come together in a life-long bond and union, that we call
marriage.
The first part of the Song of Solomon
is the woman speaking about her love for her man. Immediately, she speaks of
kisses. What is a kiss? It is a symbol of affection and intimacy that only a
husband and wife who are madly in love with each other can know. This intimate
relationship will be referred to over and over in the book we call the Song of
Solomon. God means for a married couple to enjoy each other and to enjoy each
other’s company for the length of their marriage. God did not mean for there to
be a honeymoon and then that is the end of that enjoyment. Remember that the
loving and intimate marital relationship is supposed to reflect our loving and intimate
spiritual relationship that we have with Jesus.
This wife has a high opinion of her
husband. She said in verse 3, “the virgins love thee.” And she said
in verse 4, “the upright love thee.” By saying, “the virgins love thee,” she
believes that other women think well of him too. Good women who are virgins
love her husband, and we will see later in this book that a wife like this with
a husband like this knows that she can trust her husband. The “upright” are the
good and decent people of the earth who love God. That tells you the kind of
person that you want to seek to marry, if you are a Christian. God wants you to
marry another Christian who loves Jesus. It is not enough that they say that
they are a Christian. They must demonstrate by their life that they are a
Christian. It says in Second Corinthians 6:14, “Be
ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion
hath light with darkness?”
The Bible says in Song of Solomon 1:5-6,
“I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as
the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.[6] Look not upon me, because I am black,
because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me;
they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.” In each of
these verses the wife sings, “I am black.” The Hebrew word that
is translated “black” is the basic word for “black” in Hebrew. It does not mean
“brown,” and it does not mean “sun-tanned.” It means “black.” Elsewhere in the
Bible it is translated “black horse” and “black hair.”
The message of the Bible is that this woman had black skin. You have probably heard
the phrase, “black is beautiful.” The Bible says the same thing in verse 5, “I am black, but comely.” Notice that her husband is described in chapter 5 verse 10 and 11, “My beloved is white
and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head
is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and
black as a raven.”
The wife is described as being black
and the husband is described as being white. We could call this an inter-racial
couple: black and white. But black and white was only mentioned in passing.
That is because racial issues do not dominate Bible themes. The Bible is a
great book of equality, pure and simple. God has created every human being. Every
person is a sinner. God loves everyone equally. Jesus died for everyone on the
cross of
In the book the Song of Solomon notice
what the woman said about her circumstance in life as far as her situation
before she was married. She said in chapter 1 and verse 6, “my mother's
children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards.” This book is
very much a Cinderella story. Here is a young woman being mistreated, but a man
comes along who loves her and whom she loves, and everything changes in her
life for the better. Her life becomes so much better, not because of money or
wealth or fame, but because of love. She went from a situation where she was
not loved to one where she was loved. That is what you want in marriage. Be
practical and be wise, by all means; but do not marry if love is not there.
The wife says to her husband in Song
of Solomon 1:7, “Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth,
where thou feedest, where thou makest
thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth
aside by the flocks of thy companions?” The reason that this
husband and this wife had such love for each other is that they were
soul-mates. The wife said to her husband, “thou
whom my soul loveth.” This is critically important. You do not want to marry
anyone who is not your soul-mate. You do not want that disaster. So it is a
matter of making the right decision before you get married. The
spiritual principles for finding the person that you should marry can be seen
very clearly in Genesis chapter 24 when Isaac and Rebekah were brought
together. Here are some of the Biblical principles for finding your soul-mate,
given very briefly:
1. Pray about it.
God answers prayer.
2. If you are a
believer in Jesus, do not consider anyone who does not believe and who does not
demonstrate by their life that they love Jesus. “Be ye not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers.”
3. Consider
respectfully the advice and opinions of elders such as parents, grandparents,
pastors, etc. In our culture that does not mean that you must turn your
decision over to them; but make sure that you at least carefully and
respectfully consider what they say in their evaluation of your situation.
4. Remember that
God loves you and He wants what is best for you. If He wants you to be married,
then He has the perfect person prepared for you. That is exactly what God did
for Adam in the book of Genesis. It says in Genesis 2:22 that God “brought her
unto the man.” A very similar thing happened when God brought Isaac and
Rebekah together. Just by a divine “coincidence” Rebekah showed up at the well
just at the right moment after Abraham’s servant prayed that he would be led to
the right maiden for Isaac.
5. Remember that
true love comes from God. Your soul-mate will love you as much as you love him
or her. Be careful of an infatuation that is not love. If both do not have the
same level of love, it is not of God.
6. Be willing to
wait. You not only want God’s person for you, but also God’s time for you. Human
self-will is a dangerous force. Many great sins happened because of it. It would
be terrible to marry the wrong person because you did not learn to wait on God
and trust His love for you.
The husband answers the wife in verses
8-11. He says to her, “If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth
by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.[9] I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of
horses in Pharaoh's chariots.[10] Thy cheeks are comely with rows of
jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.[11] We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.”
He has the same love for her that she has for him. That was one of the points
that we made above about finding your soul-mate. A one-sided relationship will
cause much sorrow and regret. If what you have is true love from God, the other
person will have the same type of love for you. If they do not, get away before
you are married. Marry a person who loves you as much as you love them, and
your life will be a song about love too.
The Bible says
in Song of Solomon 1:11-17, “We will make thee
borders of gold with studs of silver.[12] While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth
forth the smell thereof.[13] A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved
unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.[14] My beloved is
unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi.[15] Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold,
thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes.[16] Behold, thou art fair, my
beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.[17] The beams of our
house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.” This husband and wife
have great love for each other. They continue to say the nicest things they can
think of to each other and about each other. Their home and their relationship are
built on love for each other. They are dedicated to each other and to each
other alone. We already saw that they kiss, and now we see that they hug each
other because the wife says, “he shall lie
all night betwixt my breasts.” That is a
description of the husband and wife curled up and hugging each other as they
sleep. Symbolically this great love represents the kind of spiritual
relationship that a believer can have with Jesus. Jesus loves you. The question
is: how much do you love Jesus?
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2015 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved