Maranatha Grace Church

As we set to take the Book of Song of Songs Challenge, we need to keep in mind that this book is also part of the Canon of the Bible. “It is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Outline

1. Love’s Strong Desire (1:1-2:7)
2. Love Lost and Found (2:8-3:5)
3. Celebration and Consummation (3:6-5:1)
4. Love’s Anxiety and Consummation (5:2-8:4)
5. Love’s Affirmation and Consummation (8:5-14)

Happy reading!

Hello:

Book of Song of Songs Challenge – Day 23 Song of Songs 1 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

1 Solomon’s Song of Songs.

She

² Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—
 for your love is more delightful than wine.
³ Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes;
 your name is like perfume poured out.
 No wonder the young women love you!
⁴ Take me away with you—let us hurry!
 Let the king bring me into his chambers. (Song of Songs 1:34-38)

The Song of Songs is considered by the Jewish people as the most beautiful of all songs or number one song. It is a song that is above all songs, which was recited to the Lord, by his people, the people of Israel. The church of the Lord Jesus also finds herself in that song, professing her love for her Lord.  The church loves the Lord passionately since Christ loves her passionately. He loves the church so much that he gave his life as a sacrifice for her.

There should not be hesitation in love. Jesus told the church of Laodicea, “So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16).  She was too cautious. We should be all reminded that, “Qui ne risque rien, n’a rien – He who risks nothing has nothing.”

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Song of Songs Challenge – Day 24 Song of Songs 2 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

She

2 I am a rose of Sharon,
 a lily of the valleys.

He

² Like a lily among thorns
 is my darling among the young women. (Song of Songs 2:1-2)

Every group have their own distinct language to communicate effectively within that group. The medical field has its language. Information Technology has theirs. Lovers also have their own unique language; any couple who forgets that truth is looking for problem. In the 80s the very popular song “Here Comes the Rain Again” captured the uniqueness of lovers’ language, “Talk, talk, talk to me like lovers do.”

The Bible tells us that ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’(Matthew 4:4, Deuteronomy 8:3). The profound expressions of love portrayed in Song of Songs demonstrate that Romantic Love cannot survive without the passionate words of the lovers.  

I am a rose of Sharon,
 a lily of the valleys.

Like a lily among thorns
 is my darling among the young women. (BC)

So  baby  talk  to me
 Like lovers do
 Walk with me
  Like lovers do
 Talk to me
 Like lovers do ( 1984 AD)

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Song of Songs Challenge – Day 25 Song of Songs 3 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

All night long on my bed
 I looked for the one my heart loves;
 I looked for him but did not find him.
² I will get up now and go about the city,
 through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
 So I looked for him but did not find him.
³ The watchmen found me
 as they made their rounds in the city.
 “Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
⁴ Scarcely had I passed them
 when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go
 till I had brought him to my mother’s house,
 to the room of the one who conceived me.
⁵ Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
 by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
 until it so desires. (Song of Songs 3:1-5)

I grew up in the church. Yet, not once did I hear a chapter of Song of Songs being read during a service. Maybe the leadership thought that this kind of love should not be talked about in a holy place. However, it was this kind of love –erotic love- which made it possible for God’s people, the Israelites, to thrive in Egypt. It took the Israelite women a lot of faith, courage and ingenuity to continue intimate relations with their husbands under the harsh slavery of Egypt.

Jewish lore said that after Pharaoh’s decree to kill all the male children, the men decided to withdraw completely from love making. But the women persisted, they used all types of enticements to arouse their husbands’ desire for intimate relationships. God blessed them for it, they conceived and had children. And for the sake of the women God allowed the Israelites to leave Egypt with great wealth. (Exodus 3:22; 12:36)

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Song of Songs Challenge – Day 26 Song of Songs 4 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

You are altogether beautiful, my darling;
 there is no flaw in you.

⁸ Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,
 come with me from Lebanon.
Descend from the crest of Amana,
 from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon,
from the lions’ dens
 and the mountain haunts of leopards.
⁹ You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;
 you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
 with one jewel of your necklace.  (Song of Songs 4:7-9)

You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you (v. 7). After one reads such words, the first modern reaction is a question mark. Seriously? There is no flaw in you. Is the Lover lying? Maybe not. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. “L’ Amour est Aveugle.”

Did the "Beloved" believe such exaggerated words? “There was no flaw in you.”  She could not honestly believe that she had no flaw, but probably she did not mind hearing them.  It is like one of the hit songs of the 80’s, “Tell me sweet little lies (Tell me, tell me lies).” Who would want to be told lies? Most likely a lot of people when it comes to love don’t mind exaggerations, they made that song a hit song.

God’s love is no exaggeration. He loves us so much that he sent his only begotten son Jesus to die on a cross for us.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Song of Songs Challenge – Day 27 Song of Songs 5 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

She

¹⁰ My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
 outstanding among ten thousand.
¹¹ His head is purest gold;
 his hair is wavy
 and black as a raven.
¹² His eyes are like doves
 by the water streams,
washed in milk,
 mounted like jewels.
¹³ His cheeks are like beds of spice
 yielding perfume.
His lips are like lilies
 dripping with myrrh.
¹⁴ His arms are rods of gold
 set with topaz.
His body is like polished ivory
 decorated with lapis lazuli.
¹⁵ His legs are pillars of marble
 set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
 choice as its cedars.
¹⁶ His mouth is sweetness itself;
 he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, this is my friend,
 daughters of Jerusalem. (Song of Songs 5:10-16)

The description of the Beloved in this chapter is more than the description of a human being. It appears as the longing of the church for the return of the Lord Jesus.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Song of Songs Challenge – Day 29 Song of Songs 6 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

Where has your beloved gone,
 most beautiful of women?
Which way did your beloved turn,
 that we may look for him with you?

She

² My beloved has gone down to his garden,
 to the beds of spices,
to browse in the gardens
 and to gather lilies.
³ I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
 he browses among the lilies. (Song of Songs 6:1-3)

 Maranatha!  Christ Revient. 

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

Book of Song of Songs Challenge – Day 30 Song of Songs 7 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

She

May the wine go straight to my beloved,
 flowing gently over lips and teeth.
¹⁰ I belong to my beloved,
 and his desire is for me.
¹¹ Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside,
 let us spend the night in the villages.
¹² Let us go early to the vineyards
 to see if the vines have budded,
if their blossoms have opened,
 and if the pomegranates are in bloom—
 there I will give you my love.
¹³ The mandrakes send out their fragrance,
 and at our door is every delicacy,
both new and old,
 that I have stored up for you, my beloved. (Song of Songs 7:9-13)

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:  a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3). The lovers waited patiently and expectantly for a whole season to run its course (v. 12). We should learn something from them, “there is joy in the waiting with the anticipation of consummation.”

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)

May the Lord richly bless you!

Hello:

We have reached the end of our Book of Song of Songs Challenge, tomorrow we start the Book of Joshua Challenge.

Book of Song of Songs Challenge – Day 31 Song of Songs 8 (Please click on the blue links to be directed to the Readings)

She

Place me like a seal over your heart,
 like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
 its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
 like a mighty flame.
⁷ Many waters cannot quench love;
 rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
 all the wealth of one’s house for love,
 it would be utterly scorned. (Song of Songs 8:6-7)

For love is as strong as death (v. 6). There are both irresistible.  God has shrouded them in mystery. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband” (Ephesians 5:31-33).

May the Lord richly bless you!