Recently I got up to preach at Centro de Fuego/The Fire Center (our church here in Lima, Peru), and people snickered and made jokes when I told them to turn in their Bibles to the Song of Solomon. Remarks like “of course” were heard across the room, and jokes about how people were sarcastically telling me shocked because I “hardly ever go there”. However, I DO preach and teach from all manners of topics found in the Scriptures, but this one book is definitely my favorite. I feel like it’s a key that unlocks a lot of the rest of the Scriptures, at least through the paradigm of God’s love.
I’ve been interested in this particular book of the Old Testament for nearly 9 years to date. I’ve gone through stages or waves where I got into studying this book really thoroughly for weeks at a time, and then my interest would wane. The first time I really started to see and have my eyes opened to the idea that there was more to this book than imagery and symbolism, was in my first semester of Bible school in Pensacola, Florida. One of my mentors, S.J. Hill was teaching an entire course on the book that lasted one semester. It drove me nuts that this book of only 8 chapters could have enough material that he could teach for a whole 16 weeks or so on it. 1
Since it was a second year class and I was only in my first year, I decided to grab a Matthew Henry commentary, and go through the book and look up every reference to other words in the Scripture that were referenced. In almost no time at all, my New King James translation of the Bible had markings all over the margin–so much so, there was almost no white left. S.J. left after my first semester, so I never wound up getting to have his class, but someone lent me a 20 session tape series Mike Bickle did on the subject, and those really rocked my world2. A couple of years later, I got fascinated with it again, and re-read it every day for 30 days in the New International Version, and towards the end of that month, felt like I was overflowing with divine insight and revelation that I didn’t need to get from a commentary or scholar. 3
I personally believe this song to be a demonstration of practical realities of John 17:26:
I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.
King Solomon’s Life and Rule
Copyright Site The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith, http://www.thebricktestament.com/king_solomon/
That being said, I look at Solomon’s life. If we go to the first book of Kings, we see Solomon begin to reign in Israel after his father David. He loved the Lord and walked in the statutes of his father (3:3). In his immaturity, he still offered sacrifices on the high places, but Scriptures state that He loved the Lord. He even offered 1000 burnt offerings at one time when only one was necessary under the old covenant4. In Gibeon God appeared to Solomon in a dream at night (3:5) asking him what He wanted the Lord to give him. Solomon asked for wisdom, above anything else:
And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. (1 Kings 3:11-12, 4:29-31, ESV, emphasis mine)
If this man was granted such wisdom and discernment, then obviously the things he wrote ought to be taken seriously and studied and given careful consideration. Most Christians spend time memorizing verses out of the book of Proverbs, but yet the pages of the Song of Solomon are still stuck together in their Bible like the day when they first bought their Bibles. Many don’t want to ‘go there’ and delve deep into the things about the heart of God through the Bridal paradigm this particular book helps unlock. We ought to listen to what Solomon obtained in intimacy and revelation with the Lord, don’t you think?! Observe what the following verses state;
He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom. (1 Kings 4:32-34, emphasis mine)
Most people are well aware that he wrote most of the proverbs in the middle of our Bible. But this man–the richest and wisest man who ever lived, wrote 1004 other songs as well–of which we know almost nothing about other than this one verse here merely mentions them in passing.
A Masterpiece
This song is called the “Song of Songs” in the same manner that the most holy place in the tabernacle is called the Holy of Holies, or the same way that Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. God saw to it that this one made it into Scripture canon, because I’m convinced it’s a key to something about the heart of God.
In their study Bible Studies for the Preparation of the Bride: A Study of the Song of Solomon, Bob & Rose Weiner point out the following:
In contrast, the preceding book, Ecclesiastes, is an exposition of the vanity of vanities. In Ecclesiastes we find that all things under the sun are sought for — the wrong things in the wrong way. In the Song we find that one thing is pursued; a relationship with the King, which in its consummation, tells us that satisfaction cannot be obtained through knowledge alone. The Song speaks of rest from wandering and tells us that man can reach satisfaction only through love. 5
Other Writers’ Insight
The Apostle John had a close relationship with Jesus that nobody else had. He was in the inner three, one of the ones who was with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration, and the only one of Jesus’ disciples who witnessed his crucifixion. John also lived the longest out of all of them and is said to have died a natural death, as opposed to a martyr’s death like the rest did. Jesus, at the cross, also gave him the charge of taking care of His mother after he left. John repeatedly referred to himself as the one Jesus loved, and made mention of things like how he was laying his head on Jesus’ chest at the last supper. Almost no other human being who lived during the time of Jesus can say the same things as John does in his writings. His gospel is even different than the other three listed in our Scripture canon, and contain details the others don’t. John is also the one Jesus revealed Himself to later in his life, and John wrote about it in what is properly known as The Revelation of Jesus.
If you read the Song of Solomon and then start reading Revelation through a lens of one who knew Jesus intimately, and not as a doom and gloom apocalypse book, you will immediately notice similarities and mirroring symbolism. For example, notice Solomon’s description of ten characteristics of the Bridegroom in chapter five of the song; radiant and ruddy (v. 10) compared with John’s description of how Jesus’ shone like the sun when He appeared to him (Rev 1:12-18, 4:2-3); the living one (v. 10) compared with John’s description of the Ancient of Days (Rev 1:3-18, and see John 8:56-58) and the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end (Rev 1:8); distinguished among ten thousand (v. 10), John mentions Jesus coming back with ten thousand of his holy ones (Rev 19:12) and found upon his head is a crown with many diadems and a name only He knows. Compare this with how in the Song, the maiden described the Bridegroom’s head with finest gold (v 11). These are but just a few descriptions found in common between the two books. I’m sure you’ll find more as you dive into this for yourself. John also understood, and wrote about things from the Bridal perspective and understood the significance of many of Jesus’ teachings and miracles. 6
Charles Finney, one of the greatest revivalists in the last few hundred years, also described the secret to his prayer life as that of having a tremendous appreciation and revelation of the Lord’s love and desire for him, through an understanding of the Song. Even in his testimony, Finney understood that God longingly pursued him7 Of the Song he said:
The language of the Song of Solomon was as natural to me as my breath. I thought I could understand well the state of mind he was in when he wrote that song; and concluded then, as I have ever thought since, that that song was written after he had been reclaimed from his great backsliding. 8
Finney went on to say later in his biography that he believed very few people encountered such an intimacy with God like he was experiencing and yet this was a man so used by God to spread revival and lead many souls to Christ. Dare I say that we cannot have corporate revival if we don’t have personal revival?9
So these are just a few reasons that I take this book seriously and get excited about it more than any other book in Scripture canon, and why I desire to stir up as many people as possible into it as well–to start a revolution of people fascinated with God and who spend time worshiping and seeking him because they understand His delight in them, and therefore seek to delight in Him back.
That’s where I’ll end this for now. I’ve got some stuff burning in me that I’ve been trying to write out for my new blog, and maybe if I feel the need to, I’ll share them on Fire On Your Head for a larger readership, but at least in the weeks and months to come I can refer back to this post for why I’m going on a journey deeper into this book and writing about it.
What do you like about the Song, or what is your favorite book you’re passionate about in the Bible?
- For his notebook on it, click here. To hear the class online streaming for free, visit here. [↩]
- Click here http://mikebickle.org/resources/series/song-of-songs for a more recent version of those same teachings [↩]
- Such as this insight into chapter 2:14-15 of the Song [↩]
- See my article on Fire On Your Head called “Solomon, The Cheerful Giver“ [↩]
- Bible Studies for the Preparation of the Bride: A Study of the Song of Solomon, Bob & Rose Weiner, p11 [↩]
- See The Wedding At Cana: Why Did Jesus Really Turn the Water Into Wine? and More Reflections on the Water Turned to Wine [↩]
- “Finney On Revival” by V. Raymond Edman, p.34-35 [↩]
- Ibid, p. 54-55 [↩]
- For more about this, see a previous post I wrote about Finney here called Finney On Intimacy With God [↩]
