Jesus My Beloved
/The Song of Solomon is unlike any other book in the scriptures. It is considered both poetry and wisdom literature but also described as a collection of love poems. The literal meaning is focused on the intimate love between the king and his bride. But according to one source, the book was not read by the rabbi’s as a literal love story between a man and his wife until the Middle Ages. Instead, it was considered an allegory describing God’s love, a King, towards His bride, Israel. This is more consistent with the whole of scripture in that the purpose of God’s word is to reveal His love to a lost and dying world, and Israel was a big step in that direction.
As New Covenant believers, we would take it a step further and say, “the purpose of the scriptures finds its last day’s fulfillment in a marriage between the King (Jesus) and His bride (the church)”, so that is how we will approach these selected passages out of Song of Solomon today.
One of the main reasons that Song of Solomon was always interpreted by the Rabbi’s as an intimate love story between God and His people Israel is because there are multiple prophetic references where God, Himself, through the prophets, refers to His relationship with Israel as a love relationship between a man and His wife. I want to read some of these passages to prepare the context, and as you will see, some of this language is very graphic, and what we should see through these verses is that God is full of emotion. He is jealous over those that belong to Him, and He is angered when He is treated as a second hand lover.…
Hosea 1:2
Isaiah 54:4, 5 ESV
4 “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed;
be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
5 For your Maker is your husband,
the LORD of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.
Ezekiel 16:1-17 ESV
The LORD'S Faithless Bride
1 Again the word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, 3 and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.
6 “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ 7 I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.
8 “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine. 9 Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. 10 I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14 And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.
15 “But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be. 17 You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore.
Jeremiah 2:1, 2 ESV
1 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD,
“I remember the devotion of your youth,
your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.
Jeremiah 2:32 ESV
Can a virgin [maid] forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me
days without number.
We can hear from the language God’s emotion and the love that He has for His bride. We can see His longsuffering, patience and kindness. I wonder how many repeated acts of infidelity the most loving human husband would tolerate before finally, with a broken heart and tear filled eyes walk away? Two, three, four…? I mean how many acts of unfaithfulness could a human heart really handle before having to call it quits. Yet, this has been happening to God repeatedly since the creation, all through the years of Israel’s existence, and in most of our lives in this room, we have let Him down repeatedly, and He still loves us. He still gives us second chances, third fourth, fifth…
Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV
22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
ESV The Bride Confesses Her Love
SHE
SS 1:2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine;
3 your anointing oils are fragrant;
your name is oil poured out;
therefore virgins love you.
4 Draw me after you; let us run.
The king has brought me into his chambers...
The first response is by His bride. She describes the intimacy of their relationship. She uses oil and wine to describe the love that she feels for her husband, the king.
The New Testament uses the words oil and wine to describe His covenant love.
Mathew 25:4 she said, “His name is like oil”, somebody needs to hear this, as the days grow darker, we need the oil, there is oil in the name of Jesus, because there is power in the name of Jesus. Wise virgins have oil filled lamps.
Matthew 26:28 she said, “your love is better than wine,” Jesus referred to the wine in the cup during the Passover meal as His blood, the blood of the New covenant, and…John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus is the Good Samaritan, ain’t nobody else helping the beat up and broken like Jesus, and He found that man bleeding and dying on the Jericho road, and he poured in the oil and the wine. The kind that restores my soul. He found me bleeding and dying on the Jericho road and He poured in the oil and the wine.
She sings of oil and wine and Jesus brings the oil and the wine, but look at this one verse, “Your name is like oil poured out…” Just the mention of His name, that’s why I love that song, “Your name is like honey on my lips, your Spirit like water to my soul. Your word is a lamp unto my feet… Jesus, I love you. I love you…”
The OTHERS— I like how the ESV directs us in this. She spoke of the beauty of her groom/ king and the others agree and join in… this happens more than once in Song of Solomon, and it will happen in your life too if you let it. If you let your heart fall in love with Jesus, you will talk about Him in such a way that others will want to know Him too.
1:4 We will exult and rejoice in you;
we will extol your love more than wine;
rightly do they love you.
Another spot where others are drawn towards the king based on the actions of His bride
SHE
Song of Songs 5:8 AMP
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am sick from love [simply sick to be with him].
OTHERS
Song of Songs 5:9
What is your beloved more than another beloved, O you fairest among women [taunted the ladies]? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you should give us such a charge?]
Song of Songs 5:11-12
11 His head is [as precious as] the finest gold; his locks are curly and bushy and black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, bathed in milk and fitly set.
Song of Songs 5:16
His voice and speech are exceedingly sweet; yes, he is altogether lovely [the whole of him delights and is precious].This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!
Song of Songs 6:1
OTHERS
1 Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
that we may seek him with you?
Her language about Him draws the others close. He becomes attractive and they want to seek Him also. Holy Spirit cause our love for Jesus to grow. Anoint our language of the King, so that others will want to find Him too.
There is something different about that person
Song of Songs 7:1 AMP
[THEN HER companions began noticing and commenting on the attractiveness of her person] How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O queenly maiden! Your rounded limbs are like jeweled chains, the work of a master hand.
They see the beauty of the King’s bride. Her love for the King doesn’t only make Him attractive to them, but her love for Him makes her attractive to them.
Ephesians 5:1-2 ESV
Walk in Love
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
And not only is Jesus a sweet fragrance to the Father, when we walk in love and do the will of God, we become a sweet smelling fragrance to God…
2 Corinthians 2:15-16 ESV
15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
I wanted you to see how her companions saw her from the perspective of her love for Him, and how God sees those that are living a life of love towards Him, but in going back to chapter 1, she sees herself in a self conscious way. She isn’t sure how these women of Jerusalem will think about her. Isn’t that so true when we come into the faith. We desire to share the hope and love that the Lord has given us, but we are apprehensive of how others will view us. We can become so self conscious rather than Christ conscious that we allow others to affect our witness:
SHE ESV
5 I am very dark, but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has looked upon me.
My mother's sons [brothers] were angry with me;
they made me keeper of the vineyards,
but my own vineyard I have not kept!
But take notice of what she says re why she’s dark. It’s because she has been working in the vineyard, in the heat of the sun. Her brother’s made her do the work. She toiled so much in the vineyards that the sun had darkened her skin, her own needs and desires came second.
In the vineyard, doing Kingdom work is one descriptive of a servant of the Lord. I’m not talking about doing work for the church. I’m talking about doing work for the Lord. And I’m not talking about earning something with the Lord, I’m talking about out of a love for the King toiling in the vineyards one more minute of one more day in hopes that this seed that I plant, this weed that I pull, this water that I add will result in a soul, an increase for my King’s Kingdom.
The Parable of the Two Sons
Matt 21:28-32
The Parable of the Tenants
Matthew 21:38- 41
They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
This is where we were born in human history…the church age. The time frame where the nation of Israel were the first tenants of the vineyard, but those leaders did not have the heart of God for His Kingdom. They were greedy for personal gain. And so we have been the other tenants of this age, who are expected to give Him His fruits in their seasons. When the time is right, He will return to settle accounts. Matt 24:42-51
Throughout the word, God reminds us that He will return for His people, His bride, and I don’t think that the Song of Solomon is any different
Song of Songs 2:8-13 ESV
8 The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills 9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. 10 My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, 11 for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. 12 The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 13 The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
The last scene that I want to talk to you about brings us back to chapter 5,
Song of Songs 5:2-8
SHE
2 I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.”
He’s coming in the midnight hour, and she, like the unwise virgins, is…
3 I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them? 4 My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me.
How exciting and thrilling do you reckon it will be when Jesus opens the door and comes to bring us home.
5 I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the bolt. 6 I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer. 7 The watchmen found me as they went about in the city; they beat me, they bruised me, they took away my veil, —- she has no veil, she’s no longer a bride those watchmen of the walls. 8 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love.