Song of Solomon

Song of Solomon illustrates the intimate relationship we can experience with Christ as Christians through the relationship between the ‘Shumalite’ and King Solomon. This relationship, whilst available to all, will only be experienced by those who are willing to become completely saturated in God’s love and abide under the Shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91).

The intimacy described develops after a person has accepted Christ as their Saviour. It could be described as ‘advanced’ doctrine with regards to our spiritual journey with God. Jonathan loved David who was a King who defeated enemies in battle, just as we love Christ who defeated death. In comparison, the Shumalite woman loved King Solomon because as king and wise ruler, he was worthy of such love. It wasn’t for anything that He had done.

We all love Christ for what He has done for us, for adopting us as sons of righteousness, but how many of us love Him for who He is? How many love Him for reasons other than ‘self’? Most will declare that their love for Christ is in no way selfish or based on themselves, however those same people who claim to possess such love allow their emotions to rule their relationship with God. Their relationship with God changes in accordance with their personal circumstances. They become offended or accuse God when they do not receive the things they think they are entitled to or events don’t happen the way they would of liked them to. Fools. Do they not know that grace is attained based on God’s goodness and mercy, not on our selves? It is all about God. Human emotions are such a vice to the work of the Lord. It is not by any personal effort that we obtain God’s favour. It is all based on God’s goodness and God’s mercy.

Songs of Solomon, in beautiful poetic form shows us the satisfaction and fulfilment that a relationship of Christ can bring. Whilst Ecclesiastes reveals how pointless life is without God, Song of Solomon shows us how satisfying life can be with God.

How much satisfaction we receive is up to us, for we have free will, but we know that infinite fulfilment and joy and intimacy with God is available to us under the Shadow of the Almighty. Whether we are happy to stay at a level of intimacy that can be illustrated by a kiss on the neck to show that we are forgiven and justified before God through Christ, as in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:20, or whether we want to deepen our relationship with God, as illustrated by a more intimate kiss in Song of Solomon 1:2.  We can be confident of the satisfaction that a relationship with God brings. His Spirit can never be quenched (1 Thessalonians 5:19). He is already waiting for us with His arms wide open. He already knows us intimately; Matthew 10:30 tells us that He even knows the number of hairs on our heads. God has done everything that needed to be done and He is calling us. It is for us to diligently seek Him.

This intimate relationship sang about by Solomon is not referring to any physical relationship, for we know that that cannot bring everlasting fulfilment, only temporary. The only thing that can bring eternal fulfilment and thus the only thing Song of Solomon can be singing about is a relationship with God. God uses the gifts that He has given us such as marriage and physical relations as an illustration of the glorious relationship and unity we will one-day experience with God. These gifts will pass away, but our relationship with God is eternal. We read in Ecclesiastes that as good as these gifts can be and as much joy we can muster from our marriage, our careers and our eating and drinking, it is all pointless without God and it all fades away. Ecclesiastes 3:2 “There is a time to be born and a time to die”. We should never cease to desire beyond these gifts. We should not rely upon these gifts to bring fulfilment, for they never will entirely. We must instead put our reliance in the thing that these gifts all point to and come from. We must rely upon God. Ecclesiastes 9:7 tells us “Go eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a merry heart…” These things are given to us as a blessing. But they are not satisfying. Only God is. Song of Solomon 1:2 tells us that God’s love is “better than wine”.

Song of Solomon is probably the most neglected book in the Bible. The reason for that is probably two-fold. One, people read it as if it relates to the satisfaction we can receive from God’s gifts, rather than read it as a book which uses God’s gifts as an illustration to point to a much better and satisfying relationship with the gift-bearer Himself. Two, most Christians sadly are not at a place to share such intimacy with Christ and therefore the book is of no relevance to them.

Meditating on Solomon’s song reveals the wonders available to us through an intimate relationship with God. In that way it ca be read directly in coincidence with Hosea, another book that uses a gift of God, marriage, to show our relationship between God and us. Whilst Hosea looks at the relationship between God and us from the point of view of God, Song of Solomon looks at the relationship between us and God from the point of view of ourselves.

Hosea compares God’s everlasting and forgiving love for us to a husband (Hosea) who takes a harlot (Gomer) as his wife and loves her despite her constant adultery and unfaithfulness. It is a humbling and saddening picture that has the power to cause conviction within us and cause us to throw ourselves into the arms of our Saviour in awe of what He has done for us.

In comparison Song of Solomon puts us in the shoes of that unfaithful woman and encourages us by showing us what a relationship with such a loving God feels like and the satisfaction that it can bring. Whereas Hosea humbles us to a point where we gratefully throw our selves into the arms of Christ, Song of Solomon gives us the reason to stay; the reason to renew our minds, set ourselves apart to Him, cast of our old natural man and cease from unfaithfulness.

-BACCHRISTIAN