Search The Scriptures —Study 4 — Song of Solomon 5:2-6:3

Study 4 From the Book of Song of Solomon is: Song of Solomon 5:2-6:3

       1-     Is there any underlying reality in the disturbing dream of 5:2-7? Would we be right to see in this passage teaching about, e.g., the importance of response in love, or the likelihood of suffering if response is lacking?

       2-     How far is the bridge’s delight in, and praise of, her lover a feature also of our relationship to Christ? Do we meditate on Him as our ‘beloved’ and our ‘friend’ (5:16)?

Notes

  1-     5:2. ‘I slept’: these words indicate that the bride is relating a dream.

  2-     5:4. The door was bolted—on the inside (see verse 5)

  3-     5:10 ‘Distinguished among ten thousand’; literally, ‘marked out by a banner’, i.e., as outstanding among the rest as a standard bearer. 

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Search The Scriptures —Study 3 — Song of Solomon 3:6 – 5:1

Study 3 From the Book of Song of Solomon is: Song of Solomon 3:6 – 5:1

        1-     What do you make of Solomon’s entrance here, and of his part in the whole of the Son? See also, e.g., 1:1, 12; 6:8, 9, 12; 7:1,5; 8:11, 12.

        2-     What do these frank expressions of a man’s physical delight in his bride teach us about the place of sexual attraction in love and marriage? What is the significance of the private garden image?

        3-     Scripture uses marriage as a picture of God’s relationship to His people and Christ’s relationship to His church. See, e.g., Is. 62:4, 5; Eph. 5:21-33. Is there, therefore, a sense in which 4:8-15 illustrates this relationship? Cf. Pss. 147:10, 11; 149:1. Is our heart reserved for Christ alone?

Notes

        1-     3:7. ‘Liter: in verse 9, ;palanquin’: a couch covered by a canopy home by four or more men.

        2-     4:4. The neck, decked with ornaments, is compared to a battlemented tower, hung with shields.

         3-     4:8. On the three-character analysis the bride hears the voice of her beloved, calling her to himself and the verse may be taken as a poetic description of the dangers to which she is exposed in the palace.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 2 — Song of Solomon 2:8 – 3:5

Study 3 From the Book of Song of Solomon is:  Song of Solomon 2:8 – 3:5

        1-     What purpose do the various pictures from nature serve in revealing the quality of love?

        2-     What characteristics of true love emerge in 2:16, 17 and 3:1-5?

Notes

        1-     2:10-12. An appeal to respond to the approach of love, like nature to the return of summer.

       2-     2:15. The enemies may be small-‘little foxes’ but the mischief done great. If the blossom is spoiled, there will be no fruit.

        3-     2:17. A picture of evening, not of early morning. The shadows flee away when the sun that causes them sets.  The bride asked her beloved to wait until the evening, When it came, she ‘sought him but found him not’ (3:1)

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Search The Scriptures —Study 1 — Song of Solomon1:1-2:7

Study 1 From the Book of Song of Solomon is:  Song of Solomon1:1-2:7

      1-     Much of this passage consists of conversation. The analysis provides one answer to the problems of how many characters are speaking and where the break occurs.  What do you think is the basic situation?

       2-     Can we learn anything from the different imagery used by the man (1:15-17; 2:2) and the woman to express their love and longing for one another? Does this suggest anything of the different qualities, or needs, of each?

Notes

        1-   1:12-14. Women wore small bags of myrrh suspended from the neck under their dress. To the girl, her beloved was as the costliest perfume.

       2-     2:1. The girl describes herself as an ordinary wild flower of the meadow

       3-     2:3. The apple tree affords both shade and fruit.

       4-     2:4. ‘The banqueting house’: literally ‘house of wine’, signifying ‘a place of delight’.

       5-     2:7. A difficult verse. It seems to mean that love should awake or come to life of itself or in its own time, not by artificial stimulation and not before the beloved one is pleased to respond. Gazelles or hinds are noted for their timidity.

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Search The Scriptures —Study 0 — Introduction to the Book of Song of Solomon

Study 0 From the Book of Song of Solomon is:  Song of Solomon 

The song of Solomon is unique not only for its exquisite literary charm, but also for its rich appreciation of human love and the beauty of nature, and its deep insight into the human heart. It has also appealed to Christians as a picture of the love of Christ for His church, and gives to them words in which to utter their hearts’ devotion to Him.

             It is uncertain who wrote it. The phrase ‘which is Solomon’s in 1:1 may equally mean ‘which is for Solomon’ (as in the title of Ps. 72) or ‘which is about Solomon’; and there is no other clue to its authorship.

            According to the earlier and more traditional interpretation, there are two main characters—Solomon and his bride. Many commentaries of great devotional beauty and insight have made this interpretation familiar, in which the bride is regarded as a ‘type’ of the church, and Solomon of Christ.

            Others, however, discern in the background of the story another figure, that of a shepherd, who is the girl’s true lover. It is he whom she calls ‘my beloved’.  A girl from the village of Shulem, she had gone one day to visit her garden, when she fell in unexpectedly with some of Solomon’s retinue, who took her captive to the palace (6:11-13). There the king visits her, and struck by her great beauty seeks to win her for himself. But she has a shepherd lover to whom her heart is pledged, and to whom she remain faithful. Three times the king visits her, wooing her with growing ardour, until at last, finding all his efforts of no avail, he sets her free.  At the close of the book she is seen leaning on the arm of her beloved, returning to her village home, where she is received by her family and friends, as the shepherd lover’s acknowledged bride. In this view, much of the book consists of reveries in which the girl communes in thought with her beloved, and of incidents and dreams connected with him, which with artless simplicity she tells to the ladies of the court.

            With these different interpretations to choose from, we must obviously form our own view from a study of the book itself. If we take the Song as it stands it is clear that we must look at it first of all as a poem, or collection of poems, about human love between man and woman. The study questions are therefore designed primarily to discover the meaning of the Son of Solomon at this level.

Search The Scriptures —Study 7 — Ecclesiastes 11:9 – 12:14

Study 7 From the Book of Ecclesiastes is: Ecclesiastes 11:9 – 12:14

With this lesson we end the book of Ecclesiastes. Tomorrow, we will start the book of Song of Solomon.

       1-     In the Preacher’s counsel to youth, (a) in what is youth to rejoice, (b) to what all-important fact must heed be given, and (c) who is to be remembered? What is the reason for this counsel?

        2-     Contrast the joyful hope of the Christian with the picture of death and old age given here. Cf. 2 Cor. 4:16-18; 2 Tim. 4:6-8; 1 Pet.1:3-5.

       3-     In summing up man’s duty, what place is given to God? How, in consequence, ought we to live?

Notes

        1-     11:10 ‘Vanity’ has here the meaning of ‘transitory’ or passing’.

        2-     12:2. Old age, is here compared to winter weather, when storm succeeds storm.

        3-     12:3-6. A series of pictures of the failure of man’s various bodily faculties in old age, such as strength of limb, number of teeth, keenness of sight, etc. ‘When old age fears a height, and even a walk has its terrors, when his hair is almond white, and he drags his limbs along, as the spirit flags and fades’ (verse 5, Moffat)

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Search The Scriptures —Study 6 — Ecclesiastes 10:8 – 11:8

Study 6 From the Book of Ecclesiastes is: Ecclesiastes 10:8 – 11:8

1-    List the spheres in which the practical wisdom of 10:8-20 apply, and deduce any general principles for your practical guidance.

2-    11: 1-8. Since the future cannot be known, what advice does the writer give regarding and appropriate attitude in life? Cf. 9:10.

Note. 11:1-2. ‘Trust your goods far and wide at sea, till you get good returns after a while. Take shares in several ventures; you never know what will go wrong in this world’ (Moffatt)

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