Investing In The Best Song of Solomon 5:6-8, 6:1-3, 8:4-7 Lesson for May 24/25, 2014 Memorial Day Weekend Charles Lyons, Ph.D. INTRODUCTION: Song of Solomon 5:6-8 KJV 6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. 7 The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. 8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. Song of Solomon 6:1-3 KJV 1 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee. 2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 3 I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. Song of Solomon 8:4-7 KJV 4 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please. 5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. 6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. It is not surprising that most of us would, when asked, say that we love, treasure and stand for God s Word. That is who and what we are as Bible Believers. However, even the most devout in attendance would be hard pressed to recall a recent sermon from the book of The Song of Solomon. When a believer reads the Song of Solomon they do so somewhat concerned, confused and curious. It may even surprise many of us to know that some pastors of the earliest part of the 20 th century wondered if it even belonged in the Canon of Scripture. However, please note that it is legitimately one of the books of the Old Testament. That was resolved long ago for the body of Christ. In addition, consider the fact that when Jesus walked the earth it was accepted as a part of God s Word (what we know as the Old Testament) and He never challenged its acceptance. The Old Testament of Jesus day is what we have today. Remember Jesus Word in John 10:35, If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken ;. There can be two basic applications of the words of this book. First, God s incredible praise and teaching on the relationship between a godly husband and wife. Remember that Israel of the Old Testament was unique among other nations in their honoring of women. In other nations a
woman was little more than property, yet in God s eyes a woman and a godly wife was a person of honor. Secondly, down through the centuries we have also come to see the application of the passage to demonstrate the relationship of mutual love subsisting between Jehovah and Israel. This would also be in harmony with Jesus role as husband to the local churches, the Bride of Christ. Mutually in this context we will look at three passages in this lesson on love. As our title implies, we will look at how to develop the most special of love and relationship as we will be Investing in The Best. We will look at this lesson and these passages in this way: Longing Love Song 5:6-8 Exclusive Love Song 6:1-3 True Love Song 8:4-7 I. LONGING LOVE Song of Solomon 5:6-8 KJV 6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. 7 The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. 8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. Preceding these few verses we have the beloved away from the home. We do not know the purpose for his absence, only the reality that he has been away. He returns desiring to have the fellowship of the one that he loves. The lock of that day would be accessed by placing your hand through an opening from the outside and reaching in to unlatch the door and then enter. In the preceding passage the man comes and makes only the gesture to welcome his beloved to open the door to him. She does not immediately wish to be bothered to rise up and open the door to him. Spiritually speaking, God desires to have daily ongoing fellowship and intimacy with us. Yet often, we may neglect our quiet time with Him. It is as if He were far from us. We could welcome Him and spend time in Bible reading and prayer. However we are busy, set other priorities and neglect that love and communication He offers. Page 2
We get up late for work and put quiet time off, we come home and may be busy with family or activities and at the end of the day we are simply too tired. God reaches to us but do we answer? Review Revelation 3:20, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Now we come to our verses. She finally gets up and opens the door to her one true love only to find him gone. She goes out into the city desiring to find him, yet without success. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. You see there was a time he was calling out to her and she neglected the relationship, neglected the time and intimacy they could have together. In much the same way we as believers can neglect our time with the Lord. He calls us, He beckons to us and He desires for us to build relationship with Him. We chose to exercise our free will to ignore Him to engage in our own lives. Our spiritual life becomes cold. After much time of neglect we go out seeking Him, our indifference and pride caused us to miss out on the time we could have built up. It is as though we reach a point in our life in which we have lost the intimacy, fellowship and understanding we once had when we were active in our faith. Now we go about looking for God in a world where we may be saved yet lack any power of faith. The woman in the passage goes out into the night and finds herself in the darkness of this sin filled world. She is taken and treated not as the wife of her beloved but as a woman of the streets. When we walk away from our worship and fellowship with Christ and God we are viewed in the world as nothing special. We are not viewed as a joint heir of Jesus Christ, just a walking victim for the world s abuse. Suggestions for illustrations: Consider Who We Are In Christ Joint-Heirs Romans 8:17 Sons of God We shall be like Him 1 John 3:2 Forgiven Ephesians 4:32, 1 John 2:12 Provided For Matthew 6:8, Matthew 21:22 Might Have Life John 20:31 Contrast Bible Study Class and Workplace How are you greeted when you come to class? Are you missed when you are away from class? If you don t have all the answers, do we love you? At work or world, do they care if you are hurting? At work or world, do they pray for you? In the light of day the woman of our passage, tired and exhausted by the world, cries out to the daughters of Jerusalem that if they see her beloved let him know she is sick of love. In other words, when we come to ourselves, much like the prodigal son, we recognize just how much we miss and love the relationship we had with God and desire to be restored. It was not that she was sick of him, but sick and weak in the absence of that love. When we move away from God in our daily walk we grow sick to be restored longing for restoration of the joy of our salvation. Page 3
II. EXCLUSIVE LOVE Song of Solomon 6:1-3 KJV 1 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee. 2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 3 I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. To appreciate this passage you need to connect the previous section and the context of chapter 5 up to this point. She has gone searching for her love. She reaches a stage where she calls out to the daughters of Jerusalem. They are puzzled at her question and her situation. Why, because if this man that she has lost track of is so incredible, if she really loves him so much, if she genuinely is so committed to him, then why would she lose him and where he has gone to? Why would she not be with him even now? This is a reasonable question. Continuing our analogy from earlier, if we value our relationship with God why do we neglect our time with Him? If we treasure His word, why would we not read His word and commit it to our memory? We can easily send a double message to the world. If we claim to be believers and yet do not spend time with God in Bible reading, prayer, fellowship, worship and service, the world will question our reality as a believer. Even a lost and dying world grasps the concept that if you value something or someone, than you should act like it and demonstrate your commitment to that someone. This passage lays a simple but strong foundation to our acting on our words. If our love for Christ is real it will be reflected in a real walk for Christ. Our words and our walk must be in harmony. To her credit her description of him is so great that the daughters of Jerusalem desired to go with her to meet him. How about us, do we speak of our faith and our God in such a way that others long to know such a great faith, such a relationship and such a God? In remembering that, My beloved is gone down into his garden, she remembers the reason that he would be there was because they had made plans to walk, fellowship and celebrates their love there, review Song of Solomon 7:10-13. Perhaps the strongest but simple statement is her declaration that, I am my beloved s, and my beloved is mine Song of Solomon 6:3 and of course her statement in Song of Solomon 5:16, This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. What greater connection for a couple to be both their beloved and friends. What about our relationship with God? Is God in Christ only our fire insurance to protect us in eternity? Is God only a provider and healer in case of emergency? Or have we taken the time to know more about God and truly begin to fall in love with Him. Has God become both the friend Page 4
that we trust and the great love of our life? How much time are we prepared to spend with God? As a teacher here is a great opportunity to suggest and inquire from the class ways that they can: a. Spend time with God b. Identify ways they can demonstrate their friendship with Him c. Visibly demonstrate their love for God. III. TRUE LOVE Song of Solomon 8:4-7 KJV 4 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please. 5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. 6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be condemned. As we move into this last segment of our passage we can see a confidence in faith and love. What do I mean by this? Consider the authority and tone of verse 4, I charge you, at once indicates that she is taking a stand for the one she loves, her beloved, and also that she is showing a sense of relationship. This is not just any person, he is her love and she does not want him disturbed or distressed. How does this contrast with our view of the previous passages of God and His people? We ought to demonstrate, in our daily walk, a serious commitment to God and Christ. It should bother us how our faith is viewed, how our God is spoken of and His Word is received. We should as believers be offended by attacks on our faith and be prepared to stand and share our faith and be the salt of the earth in the time in which we live, remember Matthew 5:13, Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. This type of passion should stir us both to stand for Christ and to value the time we can spend in worship and adoration. We should look for ways (and discuss this as a class) to worship God in church and at home. Page 5
As we move into chapter 8 and verses 6-7 we see joyous and passionate words that describe the love of the bridegroom for his bride. We have seen these elements in various passages throughout the book of the Song of Solomon. They are united in marriage and the bond is relentless. Many waters cannot quench love, it is passionate, strong and lasting through time. This is also a powerful picture of the passion and sustaining relationship between the love of Christ and the union at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, Revelation 19:9. The bride makes the declaration of a seal placed upon his heart. It is a declaration that is settled, resolved and something she doesn t have to wonder about. She can trust his love and commitment to her. This is a confidence that we can have in Christ s love for us. His love is eternal, lasting and we can never be separated from Him, John 3:36, Romans 8:35-39. It would do us well in our quiet time to meditate on the strength and lasting nature of God s love to us. The last little phrase of the passage speaks of our attitude towards our love for God and His love for us. It shows something of our sense of priority. Listen again to the phrase, if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be condemned. What the phrase refers to is that if a person sacrificed all their wealth, influence and status for his love the sacrifice would not matter. Compared to the love for his beloved the loss of all that was given up is nothing. That which was given up would not be missed and it would be something undesirable when compared to the love he gained. CONCLUSION: As we wrap up this lesson and this passage let us share with the class a historical moment. The time is December 11, 1937. A relatively young man, known to his family as David, had done some growing up having served his country in World War 1. He had been taught even as a child of his responsibility to God and his country. He accepted this responsibility and tried to honor his family. However, as he continued to grow and mature so did his love for a woman who he desperately wanted to marry. His family and his country loved him but did not approve of his marriage. He had to make a choice. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it says our passage in chapter 8 verse 7. David had to make what many would see as a difficult choice, but for a man in love it was one he was prepared to make. His actions caused constitutional crises. Why, because his future bride had been divorced and was from America. As for David he was better known as King Edward, VIII of England. On December 11, 1937 he abdicated his throne for his one great love. His brother became king of Page 6
England and David and his bride became known as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. They left for France where they were married. In his abdication speech he told his nation and the world, I have found it impossible to carry the heavy burden of responsibility and to discharge my duties as king as I would wish to do without the help of the woman I love. On another occasion when asked about his marriage he commented, Of course, I do have a slight advantage over the rest of you. It helps in a pinch to be able to remind your bride that you gave up a throne for her. A husband should find his example of how to love his wife not from history, not even King Edward the VIII, but from the example of Jesus Christ. Likewise a wife should be confident in trusting a husband not because she is told it is a command but because he has demonstrated a love and sacrifice that justifies it. Christ has demonstrated His love and compassion to the local church and we can know more about that the more we grow in faith and His Word. Couples should communicate with each other in a similar manner that we daily communicate with God and His Word. Additionally men should not just be willing to live a sacrificial life they should look for ways to instill trust in their home. If there is going to be a competition in the home, let it be a competition to see how fast each can honor the other. In 1937 a man was willing to leave his throne for love. Yet this great love pales in comparison to the love that was demonstrated at Calvary on the cross. Our lesson speaks of the practical actions that our love for God should bring about in our daily lives. Is our commitment to daily love Him such a small thing to ask in the light of the fact that He was willing to leave His throne to come to earth and shed His blood for us. When the trumpet sounds and we are called up to be with Him, we as the bride should already know Him. Why, because there are things that we can do now. We can spend a lifetime of getting to know Him through His Word, our local church and our daily walk. Page 7