Lesson Seven • Delight
Pastor Josh Combs + Keaton Washburn
I (Josh) admit the music on my iPhone is pretty eclectic. It is a weird combination of 90's Christian music, movie and Broadway soundtracks, Disneyworld music, rock music we have played in prisons, and songs I listen to when I exercise. Fun fact: Pastor Jayson (author of the previous study guide) and I both love cheesy 70’s and 80's love songs. When we ride together to lunch you might see us weirdly sitting at a stoplight jamming to some really corny music. I know, it is weird. On my phone, I also have “Barry White's All-time Greatest Hits.” Honestly, I cannot remember why I downloaded the entire album, but I did. At times I will make my kids squirm by playing “Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe” or some other ridiculous song super loud in the kitchen. It never fails to embarrass them and I love every minute of it. This album from the late 1970s and the Song of Solomon both have themes of love, desire, and romance. Frankly, both can, at times, make me blush.
As we approach the Song of Solomon or the Song of Songs, it is important to remember that what we are reading is a song. Solomon was a prolific writer. According to 1 Kings 4:32, “He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.” Some commentators see the Song as the best of those songs written by King Solomon. We might make the mistake of reading the Song as just poetry on the page, but it was a song to be sung. Imagine printing the lyrics to your favorite song and just reading them, without any rhythm or melody. It would be flat and boring. It would be humorous if you knew the way the lyrics were structured to rhyme or flow, where rhythm changed, and the melody came through. Song of Solomon (or the Song) is a love song.
1. What is your favorite love song? (or maybe your favorite song, if you will not admit to knowing many love songs?)
We are going to examine two important themes in this poetry of the Song of Solomon.
• Love
Some authors, see in the poetry of the song, a story, while others reject the narrative approach and see the book as a collection of ancient love songs. Regardless of where you land, love is a major theme in the book. Love, trust, friendship, and passion are all intertwined, not separate, in this beautiful song.
2. Song of Solomon 8:5-7 attempts to describe love. List some of the descriptions.
“To be loved, to be loved, what a feeling to be loved.” It is not to be lusted after but loved. In the Song, this couple expresses their love in words, actions, names (“my love”), feelings, and longings.
3. How would you describe love?
4. How do you see love expressed in movies and tv shows?
5. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. How does the Apostle Paul describe love?
Three times in the Song of Solomon, the writer warns against awakening love before it is time because it is a powerful force. See Song of Solomon 2:7; 3:5; and 8:4. The point the author is making is to keep love locked down until the proper time because once it has been stirred up, there is really no putting it back away. Conversely, when it is time, stir up and awaken love all you want. It is wonderful and one of God’s gifts to a married man and woman.
• Longing
Without any hesitation, the Song of Songs is a celebration of human love, wonderfully expressed within the context of biblical marriage. As we saw in lesson 5, marriage has a deeper meaning. The love of a man and woman and vice versa is a preview pointing us to the main attraction. This does not empty marriage of meaning, rather it gives it its full expression. Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 5, that the mystery of a man and woman becoming one “is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:32). Do not abandon the foundational fact that the Song of Solomon celebrates God’s good creation of marriage, but take some of the themes and see their full expression in Christ.
6. Read John 15:13. How did Jesus describe love?
7. How did He show love?
A God-honoring marriage is a God-given preview of the ultimate satisfaction we will have when we see the Lord face to face. John Piper said, “God is most glorified when you are most satisfied in Him.” Read Psalm 16:11.
8. Are you satisfied with Christ?
Eugene Peterson in the Message, paraphrases Song of Solomon 3:1, writing, “Restless in bed and sleepless through the night, I longed for my lover, I wanted him desperately. His absence was painful.” On the surface, the woman of Solomon’s greatest Song was lonely and longing for her love. If we see this portion of the Song illustrating longing (which there are lots of love songs that are really longing songs), we recognize that, as humans, we have deep longings in our souls. We long for meaning, purpose, fulfillment, truth, friendship, love, and satisfaction. That emotion of longing is God-given. It is built into the fabric of who we are. God hardwired us to long for Him, because He and He alone ultimately satisfies. Saint Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
One day, our “wedding” day will come. The groom, Christ, will return to take His bride to the home that He has been preparing (John 14) and we will be forever with the Lord. Revelation talks about the great Marriage supper of the Lamb, a grand and eternal wedding reception. If you have been to some of the receptions I have been to that might sound like the opposite of Heaven, but this will not be endless waiting, bad food, or awkward conversation. This will be the culmination of all we have been longing for. It will be “pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).
Sources
The Song of Solomon: An Invitation to Intimacy by Douglas Sean O’Donnell from the “Preaching the Word Series.”
“NICOT,” Song of Songs by Tremper Longman III.
“Christ Centered Exposition Exalting Jesus” in Song of Songs, by Daniel Akin.
As we approach the Song of Solomon or the Song of Songs, it is important to remember that what we are reading is a song. Solomon was a prolific writer. According to 1 Kings 4:32, “He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.” Some commentators see the Song as the best of those songs written by King Solomon. We might make the mistake of reading the Song as just poetry on the page, but it was a song to be sung. Imagine printing the lyrics to your favorite song and just reading them, without any rhythm or melody. It would be flat and boring. It would be humorous if you knew the way the lyrics were structured to rhyme or flow, where rhythm changed, and the melody came through. Song of Solomon (or the Song) is a love song.
1. What is your favorite love song? (or maybe your favorite song, if you will not admit to knowing many love songs?)
We are going to examine two important themes in this poetry of the Song of Solomon.
• Love
Some authors, see in the poetry of the song, a story, while others reject the narrative approach and see the book as a collection of ancient love songs. Regardless of where you land, love is a major theme in the book. Love, trust, friendship, and passion are all intertwined, not separate, in this beautiful song.
2. Song of Solomon 8:5-7 attempts to describe love. List some of the descriptions.
“To be loved, to be loved, what a feeling to be loved.” It is not to be lusted after but loved. In the Song, this couple expresses their love in words, actions, names (“my love”), feelings, and longings.
3. How would you describe love?
4. How do you see love expressed in movies and tv shows?
5. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. How does the Apostle Paul describe love?
Three times in the Song of Solomon, the writer warns against awakening love before it is time because it is a powerful force. See Song of Solomon 2:7; 3:5; and 8:4. The point the author is making is to keep love locked down until the proper time because once it has been stirred up, there is really no putting it back away. Conversely, when it is time, stir up and awaken love all you want. It is wonderful and one of God’s gifts to a married man and woman.
• Longing
Without any hesitation, the Song of Songs is a celebration of human love, wonderfully expressed within the context of biblical marriage. As we saw in lesson 5, marriage has a deeper meaning. The love of a man and woman and vice versa is a preview pointing us to the main attraction. This does not empty marriage of meaning, rather it gives it its full expression. Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 5, that the mystery of a man and woman becoming one “is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:32). Do not abandon the foundational fact that the Song of Solomon celebrates God’s good creation of marriage, but take some of the themes and see their full expression in Christ.
6. Read John 15:13. How did Jesus describe love?
7. How did He show love?
A God-honoring marriage is a God-given preview of the ultimate satisfaction we will have when we see the Lord face to face. John Piper said, “God is most glorified when you are most satisfied in Him.” Read Psalm 16:11.
8. Are you satisfied with Christ?
Eugene Peterson in the Message, paraphrases Song of Solomon 3:1, writing, “Restless in bed and sleepless through the night, I longed for my lover, I wanted him desperately. His absence was painful.” On the surface, the woman of Solomon’s greatest Song was lonely and longing for her love. If we see this portion of the Song illustrating longing (which there are lots of love songs that are really longing songs), we recognize that, as humans, we have deep longings in our souls. We long for meaning, purpose, fulfillment, truth, friendship, love, and satisfaction. That emotion of longing is God-given. It is built into the fabric of who we are. God hardwired us to long for Him, because He and He alone ultimately satisfies. Saint Augustine wrote, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”
One day, our “wedding” day will come. The groom, Christ, will return to take His bride to the home that He has been preparing (John 14) and we will be forever with the Lord. Revelation talks about the great Marriage supper of the Lamb, a grand and eternal wedding reception. If you have been to some of the receptions I have been to that might sound like the opposite of Heaven, but this will not be endless waiting, bad food, or awkward conversation. This will be the culmination of all we have been longing for. It will be “pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).
Sources
The Song of Solomon: An Invitation to Intimacy by Douglas Sean O’Donnell from the “Preaching the Word Series.”
“NICOT,” Song of Songs by Tremper Longman III.
“Christ Centered Exposition Exalting Jesus” in Song of Songs, by Daniel Akin.