December 26

The breathless love story continues. These two will never know happiness outside of each other. They are living inside of a dream that God had created in the Garden of Eden.  It is a romantic love that completes one another.  It requires a sealed commitment inside of a monogamous relationship. And like in Eden, there must be no barriers between or distractions from this commitment. The relationship needs to be “sold out”, all in, and no plan “B”. This love, as in all married relationships, is something to be celebrated.  It is set up by God to provide us with strength each step, elation to be alive, wistful about the past, hopeful for the future, and understanding God yet better.

5 – Most of this chapter is her raving about him.  His stately nature and build. His looks, his skin, his hair – What’s the phrase? is it, “she finds him super delicious”? ha! oh dear.  She goes on and on describing him. And she is telling this to her lady friends in the city.  One commentator calls them the Palace Women. They were at times a choir.  Some may think this strange.  But think this through, what do ladies who are of age and looking for love talk about when they get together? BOYS!  I heard of a Bible Study of young married women in the midwest called, “Who’s Next?”  The question they are asking is, who is going to announce that they are pregnant … next?  By the way when the Pastor of the church shared about this Bible Study with my husband it was the 1980’s. The Bible Study had commenced early in The Great Depression. It was still going about 55 years later!. The average age of the ladies was now 77. Talking about God and their love lives started it all.  How’s that for wonderful ?

6 – Much of the romance and passion of love is the managing of departures and arrivals.  That is the beginning of ch. 6.  Then The Song of Solomon goes on extensively – this time it is him monologuing about her.  He is basically noting that her beauty is the talk of the land. And then he goes on to describe her in salacious ways that need no further description. The old English poet Robert Blake once said that the woman’s body is too much to bear.  And it’s true. Men who marry and commit for life, and then experience their wife, are changed for life.  Men aren’t shallow for being this way.  They are lustrous and rich and lively and loving.  This factor of the wife spurs them at heart to march onward through life and accomplish great things that are good and right.  Married men simply do better, are healthier, happier, more productive, more charitable, more wealthy, they live longer, and are more kind.  And, might as well get real about this, it’s what Solomon describes in S/Sol. 6:4 -thru- 7:9 —

7 – –this is what sparks men to commit for life.  One Spanish proverb says, “he who loves one woman, loves the whole world.” He needs nothing more or different. And you gotta love that sign that hangs over the country estate explaining where this whole fascinating plantation gets its inspiration: “All Because Two People Fell in Love“.  We get this, don’t we?   Then the final four verses and going into the next chapter – –

8 – – – we hear her simply longing to be with him. In her mind, the whole countryside is her bridal chamber.  She wants him all the time and everywhere and thinks of him all the time and everywhere.  Remember, he is the King of the land.  He isn’t a 21 year old who doesn’t yet have his own plot of land to manage and has all kinds of free time. There aren’t 4-5 day weekends all over the calendar to prance through gardens wearing just a kilt – though he’d probably prefer that.  The insinuation is that they would love to be enraptured with each other all the time, but there is a whole life to manage along with sundry duties and responsibilities that are to be tended to along with his love life.  Her point is valid…there are regular times that they will need to get away and he needs to forget that he is the king of a country. We see that these two value their love as something to be protected; fiercely protected. We see the interweaving of business dealings in their relationship as the vineyard is referenced.   And it is well noted that she brings peace into Solomon’s world.  Ahhhh love