Song of Songs - Study 2
Song of Songs 5-8
Study 2 of 2
The Song of Songs is a poetic love story. Here we see that God has ordained the physical expression of love between a husband and wife. Thus, sexuality is not a polemic against spirituality. The first half of the Song of Songs is a passionate description of a couple’s union in the first days of their marriage—but what happens later, when they have lost the novelty of their special love? The second half of the book speaks to that very issue; here the text records two significant lessons for the couple wanting to glorify God in their marriage:
- A spouse should not deny the legitimate sexual desires of their mate (5.2-6.3). The king was late coming to bed one evening, but arrived with the request, “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one” (5.2). But the Shulammite woman greeted the king with reluctance, “I have taken off my clothing. How can I put it back on? I have washed my feet. How can I get them dirty?” (5.3). Even though the king touched her, it took too long for her feelings to be aroused; “I opened to my love, but my love had turned and gone. I was crushed that he had left. I sought him, but did not find him. I called him, but he did not answer” (5.6). She was crushed. This time she charged her maidens, “if you find my love, tell him that I am lovesick” (5.8). Her maidens took the opportunity to probe: “What makes the one you love better than another, most beautiful of women? What makes him better than another, that you would give us this charge?” (5.9). While it was that case that when the king had come home late she lacked gratitude for him, the maidens’ question evoked her love once again. After an eloquent description of the king’s head, hair, eyes, cheeks, lips, arms, body, legs, and mouth, she told her maidens: “This is my love, and this is my friend” (5.16). The maidens understood the devotion of their friend, and agreed to help reunite the couple (6.1-3)
- Sexual intimacy is often the height of reconciliation (6.4-8.14). How would the king reply to the earlier ingratitude of his wife? He complimented her: “You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, lovely as Jerusalem, awe-inspiring as an army with banners…my dove, my virtuous one is unique…Women see her and declare her fortunate; queens and concubines also, and they sing her praises” (6.9). The young maidens replied with cants of celebration for the beauty of the Shulammite (6.10-13), and Solomon again spoke of his desires to enjoy her body (7.1-9). This time she would not deny her husband’s desire, “Come, my love, let’s go to the field; let’s spend the night among the henna blossoms. Let’s go early to the vineyards; let’s see if the vine has budded, if the blossom has opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love” (7.11-12). Here once again the Shulammite expressed the warning, “do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time” (8.4); during the days of her youth she was guarded for this even by her brothers—who protected her from sexual immorality (8.8-9)
Song of Songs 5-8 may be arranged to show the danger of selfishness in marriage. The drama of these scenes results from the Shulammite woman’s reluctance at the advances of her husband; in withholding herself she was claiming to own herself. While the contemporary mindset understood that Israelites were ultimately owned by God because of the exodus (cf. Ex 4.21-23; 13.1-2, 11-16), this theme is advanced even further as the storyline of Scripture advances to the period following the death and resurrection of Christ. The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that God had bought them in Christ, and they thus no longer owned themselves. They were His slaves, purchased to serve His interests, the needs of others. For Paul this had no abstract meaning; it was practical, having implications even for Christian marriage. After warning them against sexual immorality, he went on to answer their question about abstinence for married couples; they thought this might allow them to experience advanced spirituality, singular devotion to Christ apart from concerns for one’s spouse. Both Paul’s warning against immorality and his answer to their question about abstinence are grounded in the fact that they no longer owned themselves. They had been redeemed in Christ, and selfishness was no longer an option:
“Flee from sexual immorality! ‘Every sin a person can commit is outside the body,’ but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body!
About the things you wrote: ‘It is good for a man not to have relations with a woman. But because of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. A husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband. A wife does not have authority over her own body, but her husband does. Equally, a husband does not have authority over his own body, but his wife does. Do not deprive one another—except when you agree, for a time, to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may tempt you because of your lack of self-control” (1 Cor 6.18-7.5).
*For a complete list of references, please see scripturestoryline.com