Solomon Love Story of Christ and the Church

Song of Solomon

A Love Story about Christ and the Church
 
     Today I read the short poem Song of Solomon and how beautifully it matches the Love that Christ has for the Church (His Bride) and how we likewise should have this same Love toward Christ our Lord.  Song of Solomon is a beautiful poem and I thought it would be well worth reviewing as it tends to be one of those books that most read only once in their lives and not again.

     The Hebrew title of Song of Solomon means “The song of songs” and was written by King Solomon. From the title, it appears as if Solomon thought that this was the finest of the 1,005 songs that he wrote. The Song of Solomon is a love story filled with metaphors and beautiful imagery. It is a story of King Solomon courting and marrying a shepherdess and the joys and heartaches of wedded love. Allegorically it shows how Israel is God’s betrothed bride (Hos 2:19-20) and the church as the bride of Christ. There are three main speakers: the bride (Shulamite), the king (Solomon), and a chorus (daughters of Jerusalem).   Another interpretation of the story is that the girl (a Christian girl) has been incorporated into a harem of the king however she is in love with a shepherd (Jesus Christ) and how the world is seeking to lure her away after the world, but cannot be lured away.

     Chapter 1: The song starts with the Shulamite girl talking speaking about herself, that she is a shepherdess and is tanned by the son, and how the king brought her into his chambers. The king speaks about his love for her talking about her dove eyes. 

     Chapter 2: The king describes her as a lily compared to the others as thorns, and she responds in kind, saying he is like an apple tree among trees of the forest (non-fruit trees) and that he provides her shade and his fruit is sweet. She declares that her beloved comes leaping over the mountains to her, and she desires to see his face and hear his voice. She declares that her beloved is hers and she is his, and he feeds his flock among the lilies.

     Chapter 3: She continues to speak, saying that at night she could not find her beloved so she went looking for him and when she found him, she would not let him go. She further exclaims that her love came out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke perfumed with myrrh and frankincense. She explains that this is Solomon, who comes on a palanquin (a portable enclosed chair) made of silver, gold, and purple, and he is crowned with the crown that his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding.

     Chapter 4: The beloved now speaks and declares that she is fair with dove’s eyes and has beautiful hair and perfect teeth, lips, cheeks, neck, and breasts. He declares that she is without spot. This would match the analogy of the bride of Christ being seen by Christ as without spot (being covered by His blood). The scriptures talk about the church as being without spot or blemish because He sees us through love. Love covers a multitude of sins. He sees us in that completed, perfect state in Christ Jesus.

     The beloved (king) then expresses his love towards his spouse beautifully through multiple descriptive means of how amazing she is and compares her to so many beautiful and good things – all of which would bring up an emotional response to which she would respond well. We could take a lesson here and learn from Solomon how to express our love for our own wives. Women need to have a constant expression and assurance of that love and that our desire is for them.

     A garden kept for itself is never productive. The bide declares that the beloved should come and “let the spices flow out” and partake of the garden. We, being the bride of Christ, must bear fruit. All who do not bear fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire.

     Chapter 5: The beloved declares that he has come into his garden and partaken of the myrrh and has eaten his honey and drank his wine with his milk. We then see that she cannot find her love and searches for him and describes him to the daughters of Jerusalem. We see here the allegory of Christ and the Church where Christ is the fairest of 10,000 and altogether the lovely one.

     Chapter 6: The bride declares that her love has gone to the bed of spices to feed his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies.   The beloved continues to declare his love for his spouse, saying that she is his perfect one, and the only one. This is another reference to her being the Church as she is described as looking towards the morning.   The world is wrapped in darkness, but one day Christ will return, and a new day will dawn with his arrival. We are to be a reflection of God and be righteous (hide ourselves in Christ).

     Chapter 7: The king again addresses his beloved, declaring her beautiful attributes. He describes one of her features as being like the tower of Lebanon. Solomon built this tower after he completed his palace and 20 years after he married the Pharaoh’s daughter. The king is bound by her beauty. She responds that “She is her beloved, and his desire is toward her”. This is a beautiful statement between Christ and His Church.

     Chapter 8: She describes her love for him and her desire to please him. She then asks him to set her as a seal upon his heart and arm (to be together forever).   She describes how strong their love is that it cannot be quenched, and it can’t be bought as it is true love of Christ for us. The final words of the bride for her beloved are to “Make haste, my beloved”. This also corresponds to the end of Revelation when Jesus says, “Behold, I come quickly”.

God Requires us to Study His Word!

      The principle we are to follow is for us to "Prove all things by the Word of God” (1 Thess 5:21).  That includes all ministers, teaching, preaching, doctrines, sermons, writings, opinions, and practices. Examine all by the light of the Bible. Any teaching that is not 100% supported by the Scriptures you are to reject wholly. Studying is not optional for Christians but required by God. In fact, we are commanded by God to “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2:15). 

     The problem is that there is no such thing as a perfect English translation that tells us exactly what God’s word is. There is always a discrepancy between the original Greek (NT in this case) to English and mankind has created more than 450 different English translations which have thousands of differences between themselves. So which version should you be studying if they are all saying different things? The best you can hope for is to find a translation that mirrors as closely as possible the original meanings of the scriptures. 

      How much easier would it be to study God’s Word if an English New Testament translation existed that took each of the original Koine Greek words and applied the original meaning along with the original parsing assigned to each of those words?  This is something that even the King James scholars did not do because of the constraints placed on them by King James, their lack of knowledge of Greek, and their time constraints. The Pure Word is a New Testament reference that does just that! It is the perfect resource that every Christian should have to dive into God’s Word and use along with your preferred version of the Scriptures.

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