Song of Songs - Chapter 1

We begin our journey through this amazing love story in Chapter 1, finding along the way some great metaphors about our relationship with the Lord Jesus.

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Hello everyone, welcome back to Jeff's Bible Track. This season is all about Solomon's Song of Songs, and in this episode we begin to work our way through the text. Today we cover chapter one. Before we begin, I'd like to set the scene as I imagine it. It begins in a large vineyard in Israel. There are a number of servants working there, many of whom are women. One day, a stranger in ordinary clothing walks into the vineyard with a watchful eye. He notices one of the maidservants and becomes fascinated with her. He can't really understand his attraction to her since she is dark skinned due to the sun, is filthy from walking and working in the dirt, and is all unkempt. But the stranger sees something in her that she fails to see in herself, and he continues to visit the vineyard to see her. Before long they fall in love. One day the man reveals himself as the owner of the vineyard, King Solomon himself, and he asks her to become his wife. And so the maiden emerges from the vineyard, ceases from her labors, sheds her filthy rags, and enters into an intimate union with the king. Thus the Song of Songs contains a series of exchanges of love between the king and his bride, the Shulamite maiden. As such, it is symbolic of the union and fellowship between the Lord Jesus Christ and those of his people who want to go deeper into that relationship. As the song begins, the Shulamite speaks first. Let's start with verses two through four A of chapter one, reading from the nineteen seventy eight version of the NIV. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is more delightful than wine. Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes, your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you. Take me away with you, let us hurry. The king has brought me into his chambers. The kiss longed for in verse two is not that of the father on the neck of a prodigal son when he returns, that's the kiss of forgiveness. The emphasis of this book is the relationship of love between the believer and the Lord. Initial forgiveness, or salvation, is long past. This book explains how a believer is brought from a place of intense need to complete satisfaction. This maiden has been stirred to a greater longing and desire for the king. Her previous relationship with him was ordinary and became for her quite unsatisfactory. Now she longs for a more intimate personal relationship. Therefore, she yearns for his kisses, which would show his personal love for her. You know, no one can kiss two people at the same time. And that's an important point. We're talking here about undivided affection and loyalty. And the kind of kiss she wants is not on the cheek, as Judas Iscariot, not on the feet, as Mary, but the kisses of his mouth, a most personal and intimate love. You see, an ordinary relationship doesn't cut it anymore. Hey, for those of you who are married, you know what I'm talking about. You started with getting acquainted and eventually moved to romantic love and then a commitment for life. This person wants to go much further than the ordinary believer. This then is the starting point for real spiritual progress. It's an inward spiritual longing for the Lord Himself. Now, how is it that some have this longing and some don't? Well, it's a matter of spiritual vision. Some, because of the condition of their hearts, are allowed by the Holy Spirit to catch a glimpse of Jesus in all of his glorious person, and are allowed to enter his chambers. The second half of verse two was about this. His love is more satisfying than wine. The world turns to wine to satisfy an inner craving. Sometimes they get hooked and need more to satisfy, and each succeeding hangover gets worse. It's a vicious cycle and finally destroys the person. The maiden says the love of Jesus is more delightful, more satisfying, and better than wine. Verse three, she says pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes. Your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you. The fragrance of Solomon's perfumes was pleasing to the maiden. This speaks of anointing. Jesus is the anointed one, which is the meaning of Messiah in Hebrew and Christ in Greek. He is the anointed one. He is the one who was perfumed, if you will, by the Father for his task, and to be the bridegroom for the church. And it's his name that is like perfume poured out. What happens when perfume is poured out? Well, the scent fills the room. This is what happened when Mary poured perfume on the feet of Jesus in John 12 and verse 3. And I quote that verse, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. Excuse me. The same thing happens when the name of Jesus is spoken. There is peace and there is rest. When the maiden came into contact with Solomon, the fragrance on his body would rub off on her, and everywhere she went thereafter, that scent was proof that she'd been with him. In the same way, you and I, when we've been with Jesus, we take his fragrance into the world. In 2 Corinthians 2, verses 14 to 16, it says, But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ, and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him. For we are to God the aroma aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death, to the other, the fragrance of life. She says, No wonder the maidens love you. It's because you smell so good. Women love nice smells. I mean, sometimes if their husband wears the right fragrance, they melt right in their shoes. The name of Jesus and the very person of Jesus Himself are so fragrant that we could well say to him, No wonder your church loves you. And being caught up in his embrace, his fragrance, she says in verse 4, Take me away with you, let us hurry. It's as though she's saying, I don't want to face this world anymore. I don't want to look for any other men. I just want to go away with you. Sometimes Christians can feel the same way about Jesus. This is how the maiden felt. And the next line says, The king has brought me into his chambers. Jesus, as did Solomon, will always reward us when we want more of him. Now, while we don't have him physically present with us as the maiden did Solomon, we can still enter his chambers. It's called the place of prayer. And I feel we should all have a time and place where we meet with the Lord one on one. In the middle of verse four, a group of the maiden's friends speak up, and these are onlookers to this relationship. Many say these onlookers represent other Christians who marvel at the relationship their friend has with Jesus, but don't have that relationship for themselves. But they're happy for the maiden. This is evident when they say, We rejoice and delight in you, we will praise your love more than wine. The maiden or the bride speaks again in verses four through seven, and I quote, How right they, the onlookers, are to adore you. Dark am I, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon. Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother's sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards. My own vineyard I have neglected. Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends? Now at this point we're back in the inner chamber. She's praising the king as were the onlookers, but in her case it's when she's alone with him. The daughters of Jerusalem in this verse is another name for the other Christians around. And the fact that they're daughters indicates they are born of God. Notice in verse 5 that her first reaction to being brought to the inner chamber was a consciousness of her native blackness. In fact, the King James Version says, I am black. This doesn't refer to her race, but to the blackening effects of the sun. You see, if she hadn't pursued and sought for Jesus, she would not have seen herself in her true nature. Being alone with Jesus will bring us face to face with ourselves the way we are. And this is why many Christians don't pray alone. But while she became aware of her true nature, notice the balance that exists in her life. She says, Dark am I yet lovely. Though she acknowledges her sinful nature, she also realized that a beautiful change had taken place in her life through the righteousness of Christ. She describes herself this way to the other believers I am black by nature, but lovely in Christ. Now she's still speaking to the daughters of Jerusalem in verse 6, and still sensing her blackness from her communion with Jesus. She asks her fellow Christians not to stare at her. This is a common attitude among young Christians. They're thinking, don't look at me, because they don't want their natural life exposed. So before being dealt with by the Holy Spirit, they'll tend to hide their natural life from others. The problem comes in if they never allow the Holy Spirit to deal with them. But when deeper steps toward Jesus are taken, we don't want to cover up what we really are, but we confess our faults freely to one another. The maiden says in verse 6b, My mother's sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards. My own vineyard I have neglected. Now here's a question for you. Who are your mother's sons? That's right, they're your brothers. Her brothers in Christ became angry with her. Why? Perhaps because her brothers would rather argue about the fine points of doctrine than fall in love with Jesus. Kind of like Mary at the feet of Jesus and Martha angry with her for not doing the busy work. Her brothers put the Shulamite maiden to work in the vineyards. But she finally realized her own spiritual life had suffered. She was hungry and thirsty for fellowship with Jesus. And so she asked the question at verse seven, tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends? You see, she doesn't want to be beside the flocks of Jesus. She wants to be smacked dab in the middle of the center of them. She wants to be as close to Jesus as are the closest friends of Jesus. The king finally speaks in verses eight through eleven, and it's in answer to her question about where he grazes his sheep. He says, If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the sheep, and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds. I liken you, my darling, to a mare harnessed to one of the chariots of Pharaoh. Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels. We will make you earrings of gold studd with silver. Within the inner chamber with the king, who is Jesus, the maiden has come to see three things. First, she's black or darkened in her human nature, but lovely in Christ. She also has come to see that through the Lord's dealing with her, she sees the vanity of mere fleshly external works of service. A superficial relationship with Jesus isn't enough anymore. And she recognizes her need for spiritual food and rest, as we saw in verse seven. The king immediately responds to her diligent seeking, commends her, and gives the needed guidance. Notice the king addresses her as the most beautiful of women. Wow. She is the one of greatest attraction to him because she has shown the greatest desire for him and the greatest ability to appreciate him. This is what's behind one of the simplest of principles in the kingdom of God that if we seek him, we will find him. Simple as that. It's about walking with him through life. So he says, if you do not know, follow the tracks of the sheep. The tracks speak of vital experience with Jesus. This is what the maiden wants. And she needs to carefully discern what that vital experience is and or consists of. Now she could focus on departed or older saints. Some she might look at and say, I don't want that experience. Some she may look at and say, That, that right there, that's what I want. Follow the tracks left by the sheep. The king also speaks to her about sharing her new experiences with those even less mature than she is. The Lord's intention then is that the maiden would be a vital part of the flock tended by one of his true under shepherds, and he wants her to be responsible for bringing others in so they may graze as well. So all of us who want more of Jesus have this dual relationship with his body. On one hand, she needs to look at those more mature than she is to discern what a vital relationship with Christ is all about. On the other hand, she needs to look at those less mature and fulfill her ministry to them. Verses 9 and 10 describe some of her natural beauty, talent, and abilities. The point in these verses is that we all have things that were built into our lives before we met Christ, by parents, DNA, upbringing, friends, enemies, education, etc. God looked at these things as things that he can use. The king looked at the maiden's natural beauty and commended her for it. God doesn't want to erase all that we were before we met him, he wants to cut the fat away from the meat and build on that which he can use. And so the king says in verse 11, We will make you earrings of gold studded with silver. For the king to use the word we here shows the Trinity in operation. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all have a part in beautifying our lives. And that could be a series all in itself, but we'll leave it right there. Gold, gold represents the nature of God. To be beaten into earrings took time. It's a fine and delicate work, and God is the master in doing this. Silver speaks of redemption. At the root of all this beautification is the cross of Jesus. The maiden or bride speaks again in verses twelve through fourteen. She says, While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. My lover is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts. My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of Engedi. Solomon's table is a topic of special significance in the scriptures. For example, in first Kings four, it speaks of his daily provisions for his table. I can tell you it was a lot. It also talks about those who were assigned to supply his table on a monthly basis. It was a rich provision that was set on the king's table each day and was blessed with his own presence. The maiden was here at the table enjoying all of this bountiful spread because she speaks of what happened while she was there. Sitting with the king, Jesus, at his table is those times when we receive spiritual satisfaction from communing with him. These are times of real spiritual joy, when we eat of all that the sacrificial death of Jesus has provided for us. And it is in realizing God's provision that causes our perfume to spread its fragrance. When we really understand what God has made available to us in Christ, we can fully dedicate ourselves to Him as well as praise Him fully. This was the significance behind Mary's anointing of Jesus in John 12. Jesus was at the table, the King's table. Mary's perfume spread its fragrance throughout the house. Jesus, knowing Mary's thoughts and motives, knew that she was anointing him for his burial. Mary had an understanding of what would come to her as a result of Jesus' death. How? Well, one example was sitting right across the table from her, her brother Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead in John 11. She knew one thing that would come as a result of Jesus' death, a resurrection for the righteous. It was through her focusing on that that her perfume filled the house. The point is, if you, as the bride of Christ, keep your focus on all he's provided through his death, then your life will rise to him as a sweet smelling sacrifice. And by the way, if you need a crash course on all he's provided to you, listen to my season on our incredible salvation. I know, I know, shameless self-promotion. You see, Jesus has given all to us. We offer ourselves back to him. A full dedication of ourselves to him follows a full appreciation of him. The henna blossoms in verse 14 were used by Jewish maidens to adorn themselves. So whereas verse 13 speaks of the place of hidden affection for Christ, this verse speaks of her public life, where she is clothed upon with Jesus, and there's an outward expression of Jesus that is visible to the world around her. That's awesome. She confesses Christ, talks about him, and displays his beauty to the world. Listen to what the king says next in verse 15. How beautiful you are, my darling. Oh, how beautiful your eyes are doves. He encourages her about her beauty. It's an inner beauty and it's adornment from him. He praises her beauty because she has doves' eyes. The eyes of a dove are truly beautiful, and the king has zeroed in on her eyes because she now has spiritual perception and insight which makes her attractive to him. She now has single eyes, meaning her eyes and heart are only for Jesus. It is this which makes her so fair in his eyes, therefore the king praises her. The maiden's reply is in verse sixteen, How handsome you are, my lover, oh how charming and our bed is verdant, which means green. She has now arrived at that which she was seeking earlier, and that is rest. It speaks also of the shepherd care of Jesus. Green pastures are the beds for sheep, therefore to lie down in them is to have rest. This is an obvious reference to Psalm twenty three in verse two, which says He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. The Lord's table in verse twelve was the spiritual food she was after. Now his bed includes satisfaction of having eaten, but the emphasis is on restfulness, freedom from anxiety and worry. She's so caught up in him she doesn't have time to worry about anything. The king wraps up chapter one with verse seventeen. He says, The beams of our house are cedars, our rafters are firs. The two most important kinds of wood in Solomon's temple were the cedar and the fir. In other words, and this is important, they were timbers proved worthy for use in the construction of God's dwelling place on earth. Now this will do wonders for your self-image when you get hold of it. In one sense, we're unworthy of Jesus choosing us. But Jesus has just said to us that the place where we find rest, his house, is the same place where God finds it, his pleasure to dwell. We are the temple of God, the Holy Spirit. What makes us worthy is that God has chosen to dwell in us. He has used worthy materials in making us a spiritual house for himself to dwell in. Well, let that sink in as we finish chapter one. For now, we're signing off, and we'll see you with chapter two. Until then, God bless you.