"Love, Bible Style" April 9 Readings: Song of Songs 1-8

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Today's Reading - Song of Songs 1-8 


Background


The Song of Solomon, also known as the Song of Songs, or the Canticles, is one of the harder books of the Bible to interpret and understand. Frankly, I'm not sure how to do a devotional from the book, other than to say that it teaches us something pretty important about the marital relationship - that it is holy to God who created it. 

The fact is that the wording of the Song is so vivid, so sensual, that many through the years have taken to interpreting the Song as an allegory. For many of the rabbinic Jewish interpreters, the song was an illustration of the love between Israel and God. Many Christian interpreters have allegorized this Song to make it speak of Christ and the church. 

That is simply not what the text says and is an unfortunate misreading of the intent of the book. If we fail to understand the important message of the book, and the approach of the church toward sexual and moral matters is skewed. Too often, evangelical Christians have had negative attitudes toward sex - as if it is something dirty, shameful and ungodly. The Song reminds us that it was God who created us male and female and called his creation very good. Within the boundaries of marriage, sex is holy and sacred, a beautiful gift of God. It is only when God's intent for marriage - one man and one woman for life - is forgotten that sex becomes sinful. 

Devotional - Love, Bible Style


Is that what it really says?

Yeah, the Song of Songs is a unique book of the Bible. It doesn't mention God or the law or holiness or righteousness or any of those concepts the rest of the Bible is about. It is two lovers whose focus is on each other and their love for one another. There is a chorus that celebrates the two and their love as well. Opinions about authorship, about the identity of the various characters, about the themes and purposes, differ widely. The book has been commonly attributed to Solomon but recent scholars (even conservative ones) have raised questions about that. A brief devotional such as this one doesn't have the time to explore these.

It is truly a struggle to bring a "devotional" thought. This is a sexual poem about a man and his wife and the love they share. The imagery is PG-13 at best and some of the inferences, properly understood in Hebrew, stray beyond that. What do we say about this?

One simple thought to remember. Hugh Hefner and the other pornographers did not make us male and female. God did. Modern culture only corrupts and perverts what God made. God created us male and female and he called his creation very good. He is the author of sex and there is nothing shameful about a man and woman enjoying what God created within the boundaries God created.

We are far too likely to allow our values to be reactionary. We see what the world is saying and doing and we go in the opposite direction. In a sex-crazed, filth-obsessed world, it has been all too easy for the church to act as if physical pleasure in marriage is bad or dirty.

Our values need to be shaped by the word of God, and it says that God created us male and female and Song of Songs celebrates that. It is not an ugly thing but a God-honoring, life-affirming, spiritually beautiful thing for a husband and wife to put Song of Songs into action.

Father, thank you for your creation, which is beautiful in so many ways. May I never treat what you created as if it is ugly, dirty, or shameful. 

Think and Pray


Thank God for all that he has created.
Are you properly valuing the creation of God - within the limits God has set.

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