Often when I tell people how profound I find the Song of Solomon to be, they look at me funny.
Mostly men.
Women aren’t as insecure reading language about letting someone kiss them on the lips, when they understand it’s referring to a man.
But often times when other dudes back off when I tell them they should dive into this book, they point to verses like this. I often am told it is all symbolic or just about a man and a woman and for married couples to read.
It’s really not that odd to me how scared of this book so many people are.
Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth. For Your love is better than wine… (Song 1:2)
I thought I’d take a moment to leap into a neat little verse of the Song of Solomon in the part of your Bible where, if you’re like most people, the pages are probably still stuck together, because, this passage is NOT telling us to ask Jesus to kiss us on the lips.
God revealed Himself to Miriam and Aaron through a mediator, whereas He spoke to Moses face to face. Although each of the prophets received the same words of God, their reactions were utterly different. Perhaps this explains why loving and being loved are so unequal. Each prophet and each Christian believer has a unique relationship with God, but yet a commonality throughout each of those personal relationships with Him as well.
The Kiss of the Word
In Hebrew thought, the mouth was considered to be where thoughts and words come from. Jesus said man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Mat 4:4). Yes, let these words satisfy our souls. These are like kisses on our lips.
What is happening in this passage is that the bride is making a request to the One who has authority over the King. In terms of the spiritual analogy, the King is Jesus since she is speaking to the One who has authority over the personal matters of the King, which would be the Father. The cry for the kisses of God’s Word actually in our context is prayer and not just reading the written Word. But when we have that depth of intimacy with our King, the written Word will come alive. ((Check out a previous post of mine, What is The Word of God? https://stevebremner.com/2011/07/what-is-the-word-of-god/)).
Jesus didn’t say to the devil in the midst of temptation that man shall live by memorizing every word written in a book of what God once said. No, the Son of man had a present continuous relationship that He was speaking of. Man does not live on a loaf of bread one day and then never again. He needs to continually be fed and satisfied.
The kiss of the Word, the kisses of His mouth refer to the Word of God. The Word is that which proceeded out of the mouth of God in Deuteronomy 8:3. This is also the passage Jesus quoted to the devil during His temptation in the wilderness. At any rate, for many generations, Jewish rabbis would refer to this verse as the kisses of the Torah, the kisses of the Word, or the kisses of the law. The Bride here is asking that God would reveal His Word to her in a way that awakens love in her heart.
Do you want the same?
