A Gem from Packer

I confess that there was some air-punching when I read this, in a section of his book God Has Spoken, where he deals with the inspiration of Scripture, which is both fully divine (the Author is God himself) and fully human (God does not bypass the abilities of his chosen and prepared messengers):

There was, on the one hand, lyric inspiration, in which the inspiring action of God was infused with the concentrating, intensifying, and shaping mental processes of what, in the secular sense, we would call the inspiration of the poet. This produced the Psalms, the lyrical drama of Job (which as it stands is a highly wrought theological poem, whatever basis it may be thought to have in historical fact), the Song of Solomon (a parable of the love of God and His people, in the form of an exotic, erotic, ecstatic love-duet), and the many great prayers that we find scattered throughout the historical books.

The Song of Songs and Relationships

To Victoria and Simon, newly engaged

Having made notes on the Song and what it says about the relationship between God and his people, I want to point out some implications that the Song has for relationships, which I think apply both to those in relationships (married, engaged to be married, or courting with a view to marriage) and those who are not. There are both implications for how those relationships should be conducted, how we should support those in such relationships, and what we can be praying for. I don’t want to re-open a discussion that has taken place elsewhere, but considering the relationship between God and his people first and then moving on to the subject of courtship, marriage and sex is, I believe, both faithful to the intent of the text, and keeps human relationships in their right context, which is what will most lead to godly practice.

1. Dignity

The apostle Paul takes the ordaining of marriage and the bodily union which should accompany it and says that this was instituted as a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5.31-32). In the Song of Songs, we see that written large, as human relationship in all its glorious technicolour - its emotions, its longings, its activities - are all employed to speak of the relationship between God and his people. This gives heterosexual courtship, marriage and consummation great value. We must not share the view of the early and mediaeval church that sexual activity is somehow dirty or sinful. That has more in common with Greek philosophy and Gnosticism than the Bible. Nor must we share the world’s view, that treats courtship, marriage and sex as cheap and casual, something to be entered into lightly.

2. Perspective

Because marriage has been instituted by God as a picture of the relationship between Christ and his church, we must also realise that marriage is not ultimate. We must not make the pursuit of marriage or sex an idol, seeking our identity, value and meaning in those things. In the enjoyment of relationships and their associated features, we should always be looking beyond to the glorious reality to which they were created to point.

3. Adoration

The whole song consists essentially of the beloved, Christ, telling his bride, the church, how much he loves her and the church telling her beloved how much she loves him in return. Husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church, and wives respecting their husbands, should involve telling one another how much they love each other so that each of them knows. Praise and delight is to be expressed.

4. Patience (Song 2.8-17, 3.1-5, 6.1-12, 7.11-13, 8.1-3)

There is mutual longing in the relationship between Christ and his church. There is a desire for each to be with the other, but patience is required before consummation takes place. The world says of human relationships that it’s all right to jump straight to the consummation without waiting: if you’re attracted to someone, sleep with them. But Christ is patient in waiting for the consummation of his relationship with the church. If husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5.25), then until the man and the woman are married, no matter how much they long for one another, no matter how difficult it is to wait, it is right and proper for them to wait before they enter into the joys that properly belong to married life.

5. Grace (Song 5.2-6.9)

Though the bride in the Song can be lazy, complacent and self-centred at times, harming her relationship with Christ, Christ nevertheless returns to her and delights in her as much as he ever did. If husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, then human relationships have to model grace. There will be times when through the faults of one or the other, the relationship will be difficult; there will be distance. One person may be less committed to the relationship than they ought to be. The response in that situation is not to hold it against them, to say that they must take the initiative to remedy the situation, but rather for the offended party to forgive and for both in the relationship to remain committed to one another.

6. Exclusivity (Song 1.7, 5.9-10)

Christ loves his bride exclusively and does not want another, and similarly, the bride doesn’t want anyone but Christ. So, too, husbands and wives are to remain exclusively committed to one another and not have eyes for another, but to continue to hold one another in the highest esteem.

7. Sacrifice (Song 1.12-13, 3.6, 4.6, 5.13, 8.12)

In the Song, we have seen how much imagery there is to do with the Temple and sacrifice, for example, the myrrh used in the anointing oil and frankincense for the incense employed in the temple, and how that points forward to the sacrifical death of Christ, who was presented with gifts of frankincense and myrrh and whose crucified body was embalmed with myrrh. He sacrificially loves his church. And it is this that delights the church, and leads her to give herself in costly devotion to him. Similarly, the relationship between a man and a woman is to be characterised by costly, sacrificial love and service.

8. Permanence (Song 8.6-7)

The character of the love between a husband and wife is to reflect as much as it can the love between Christ and the church which is described as a ’seal’, which is ‘as strong as death’, which ‘many waters cannot quench’ and which cannot be bought. These wedding vows should be taken with the utmost seriousness:

I take you to be my wife (husband),
to have and to hold
from this day forward,
for better for worse,
for richer for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish (and obey),
till death us do part,
according to God’s holy law,
and this is my solemn vow.

Whatever difficult circumstances life may throw up - illness, financial difficulty, temptation - we are to remain committed to our marriage and persevere through thick and thin.

Expository Thoughts on Song 8.5-14

The melodic line running through this last, short section of the Song is the security of the church.

1. Christ’s love is permanent (vv. 5-7)

This section starts, as did the previous section, with the beloved bringing his bride out of the wilderness (v. 5). Christ is redeeming his church and bringing her to the Promised Land of the New Creation. The bride is saying that she has always loved her beloved, and she asks to be set as a seal upon his arm and heart, so that he will never forget her, so that they are permanently united (v. 6). She describes his love - it’s as strong as death, that is, though death comes, Christ’s love will not be broken. There is still that union even in death. Moreover, jealousy is described in a positive context here, and that, too is as fierce as the grave; the grave cannot overcome this jealous love of the beloved for his bride. This is exalted language for love. Such a positive view of jealousy is part of the character of Yahweh - see Exodus 34.14 - it’s part of his glory, his character. This is also suggested by the description of the love and jealousy at the end of v. 6: ‘Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD’ (ESV), if that is the correct translation. This burning love cannot be extinguished (v. 7), nor can it be bought from God. No matter how much one tries to give him to take away that love, it will be to no avail. The beloved’s love for his bride is strong, inextinguishable and lasting. This is Christ’s love for the church, and we see this in the New Testament:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or faine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?… No in all these things we aremore than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8.35, 37-39

In our world of unfaithfulness, this is something to hold on to. Christ is faithful to his people and nothing can separate us from his love, neither our sin nor our circumstances. Nothing can persuade Christ to disown us when we are his. Whatever our difficulties, Christ still loves us. There is hope of resurrection here - love is as strong as death and jealousy as fierce as the grave. Death, the grave, cannot break Christ’s love for us and he in his love will bring us through it to resurrection life (and in the meantime we will enjoy his unbroken love in heaven).

2. The Church’s defence is secure (vv. 8-10)

We are taken back to the bride’s youth. Her brothers describe her as a little sister with no breasts (v. 8), but they are planning what to do when she is spoken for, when her beloved comes. This is their wedding gift to her - to fortify her, to make her strong, to protect her against any who would harm her (v. 9). That is what she will be like when her husband comes to her. She goes on to describe her present state - she is a wall with towers (v. 10), one who finds peace because of her relationship with her beloved. There is no warfare. She is secure. The language used of this little sister again confirms her identity as God’s people. She looks like Jerusalem, with a wall and silver battlements, and doors with cedar boards, with towers. Remember how Solomon brought much silver and cedar into Jerusalem (1 Kings 10.27). Moreover, the Jerusalem means ‘city of peace’. God’s people are protected and safe, because of her relationship with Christ.

3. The Church’s love is lavish (vv. 11-14)

This is the church’s response to the safety and security she has. The comparison between vv. 11 and 12 is slightly hazy, but I think it goes something like this. Solomon has a vineyard which he lets out for a price. To obtain the fruit from the vineyard, 1000 pieces of silver as rent was due. Well, the bride has her own vineyard. (Again, this identifies her as God’s people - Israel was often described as a vineyard (e.g. Isaiah 5.1-7). And she gives of her vineyard. Solomon gets 1000 pieces of silver’s worth, while the keepers of the vineyard get 200. God’s people give themselves in love generously to Solomon’s greater Son, the Lord Jesus. The image shifts to the garden (v. 13). The one who dwells in the garden is the bride (cf. 4.12). The people and the land are linked. Just as others listen to the bride’s voice, so the beloved wants to hear it. And the bride speaks, expressing her love, calling the man her beloved, and summoning him to come over the mountains to her (v. 14, cf. 2.8, 4.6). Christ longs to hear the voice of the church, his people living in their land, and his people long for him to come to them. Does this characterise our love for Christ. Do we give of ourselves in a costly, sacrifical manner? Do we meet Christ’s delight in the voice of his church with a prayer longing for him to come to us as an expression of our love for him?

Expository Thoughts on Song 3.6-8.4 (2)

2. The Church resists her husband, Christ (5.2-6.1) - continued

We left the church adjuring the daughters of Jerusalem to tell her beloved that she is sick with love if they find him (v. 8). This leads them to enquire about what is so special about her beloved (v. 9). Here we see displayed her rekindled love. She describes him in glowing terms - he’s radiant and ruddy, and if you lined up ten thousand men he would top them all (v. 10). She then describes his whole body, and the description is rich in allusion and again in this one individual we see the divine and the human. The sapphires which bedeck his body (v. 14) are what comprised the pavement when God appeared on Sinai (Exodus 24.10) and are in Ezekiel’s vision of the Lord Almighty in glory (Ezekiel 1.26). But also present are gold (vv. 11, 14, 15), ivory (v. 14), spices (v. 13), other jewels (v. 14) and cedar (v. 15). This brings us back to the reign of Solomon, the pinnacle of Israel’s monarchy. Gold, ivory and precious stones were abundant in Solomon’s reign (1 Kings 10.10, 18, 21-22, 25) as was cedar wood (e.g. 1 Kings 5.6, 8 ) for the temple and his palace, through trade and through the tribute of the kings of the earth. Again we see an individual who is simultaneously Yahweh and Solomon the glorious king at whose feet the riches of the world are laid. When the light of the New Testament is shone on this passage, we realise we are again face to face with the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, there is the scent of myrrh in the air - the scent of the temple, of sacrifice and death. Notice the relationship that the church has with Christ - he is her beloved and her friend (v. 16). God’s people have a great desire for Christ, the God-man, who has died for his people, and before whom the kings and nations of the earth bow. Notice the effect that the expression of this love has on others: they want to seek him too (6.1). Do we speak of Christ and delight in him in such a way that makes him attractive to others, that they too want to know him?

3. Christ restores his bride, the church (6.2-8.4)

This section is sheer grace. Her complacency having been rebuked and her passion rekindled, the beloved comes back to his bride. He has gone down to the garden which is full of spices to gather and graze among lilies, that is to say, he has come to her (see 4.12, 14, 5.1). Lilies as we have already seen, I think, are symbols of God’s redemption of his people - Hosea 14.5. ‘I am my beloved’s and my beloved his mine’ - the covenant relationship between God and his people is still present, and he continues to delight her (vv. 2-3). He compares her to Tirzah, a place in Israel, and Jerusalem, awesome as an army fully arrayed in its splendour (v. 4). He is still overwhelmed by her, and he delights in her as much as he always did, describing her as he has already (goats leaping down Gilead’s slopes, washed ewes coming from the river with their young, none of whom are lost, cheeks like pomegranates - vv. 5-7; see 4.1-2). He is faithfully and exclusively committed to her. Sixty queens and eighty concubines and innumerable virgins might be set before him but he chooses his bride, whom he sees as his dove, perfect and pure - she’s the only one for him (vv. 8-9). That’s how committed Christ is to his church. And the effect of Christ’s love for his church brings salvation to others - the young women, queens and concubines see her and bless and praise her; God’s promise to Abram was that he would bless those who bless him (Genesis 12.3). Others too come to know God’s covenant blessing because of the beauty of the church and Christ’s commitment to her. He goes on to compare her to the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun (v. 10) Is this further redemptive language? In Isaiah 30.26, God says that ‘the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow’. Christ is delighting in the bride whom he has saved. The bride goes to the orchard to see if anything is blossoming, if the vines are budding and the pomegranate is in bloom (v. 11), i.e. that the time for consummation of their relationship is there as the land is redeemed, as it becomes like the Promised Land; in Christian language, she is waiting for the New Creation, and she finds herself in the presence of her beloved again (v. 12). Others want to look on her (v. 13) and the bridegroom continues to delight in her. In 7.1, she is bedecked with jewels (like God’s redeemed people; see again Ezekiel 16.11) and she is described in the terms of an idyllic land - there’s a rounded bowl never lacking wine (v. 2), like the redeemed land (Amos 9.13-14), there is a heap of wheat encircles with liles (see above for lilies and God’s forgiven people their restored land), there are fawn and gazelles as before (v. 3), the neck is a tower, this time of ivory, and she is again compared to a number of landmarks (vv. 4-5). All except Carmel are outside of the borders of Israel; perhaps there’s an indication here that the restored land in which the redeemed people share fellowship with the Lord expands to encompass the world. There is again the purple of the tabernacle curtain (v. 5) and the association with the presence of God amongst his people. The king is captivated by her. He describes her as beautiful and pleasant (v. 6) and uses the imagery of the palm tree, (vv. 7- trees which were carved into the cedar of the temple (1 Kings 6.29), the symbolic garden when God meets with his people. The Promised Land is again alluded to with the comparison to the ‘clusters of the vine’ (Numbers 13.23). The beloved wants to possess his bride and enjoy her. Again, the bride wants to wait for that time of consummation with her beloved, the renewal of the land (vv. 11-13). Mandrakes are particularly associated with sexual consummation - see Genesis 30.14. The bride wants to feast together with her beloved (7.13, 8.2), and the food on which they feast, which the bride serves her husband, is the fruit of the Promised Land. She loves him so much she wished she had known him from infancy. Her longing is to bring her home, to the place where their love for one another can be fully enjoyed (8.2). This is a longing for the New Creation when the bride shall know Christ as she is known, and there is feasting in the New Creation. The beloved and love embrace (v. 3) and the pain and overwhelming forgiveness and renewed love and commitment lead her to adjure the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up or awaken love until it pleases (v. 4). We learn from this pasage that though we may stray from Christ, try to shut him out or ignore him, yet he returns to his bride, the church. There is forgiveness, and he continues to delight in her. He is faithful and committed. May we the church remember how much Christ loves his people and wants her. Would that this would lead us to confident repentance. And may we echo the bride’s longing to be with Christ, to know and experience more fully his love, and wait with expectancy for that time of consummation, so that we can celebrate in God’s new world.

Expository Thoughts on Song 3.6-8.4 (1)

This section is quite long, but I think it is meant to be taken as a unit. The ‘adjure’ in 5.8 doesn’t quite fit the same pattern as all the others, and functions more as a hinge, leading directly into what follows rather than marking a turning point, with what precedes it in chapter 4 being mirrored in chapter 6. Moreover, the theme of coming out of the wilderness in 3.6 is repeated in 8.5, immediately after the standard refrain ‘I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases,’ indicating the beginning of a new section, or perhaps concluding this section. Because it is quite long, I will share my thoughts in two parts.

So far, the relationship between the lover and beloved has been expounded mainly in terms of the future experience of Christ and his church, but of course that relationship already exists in the present, and this section in particular raises some of the struggles in that present relationship. There are, I think, three sections. I will look at the first one-and-a-half today:

1. Christ marries his bride, the church (3.6-5.1)

Something is coming out of the wilderness, like columns of smoke (v. 6). If that isn’t meant to indicate that the identity of this individual is Yahweh, I don’t know what is. When he led the people Israel out of Egypt, through the wilderness and out of the wilderness into the Promised Land, he went as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night (Exodus 13.21). Moreover, when the redemption he will accomplish is prophesied in Joel 2.30, when he pours out his Spirit on all flesh and everyone who calls on his name is saved, he declares that there will be wonders in heaven and earth, blood, fire and columns of smoke. Yahweh is redeeming his people. Moreover, the scent is of myrrh and frankincense (v. 6), which is the scent of the tabernacle/temple, where God’s presence is symbolically located amongst his people - myrrh was used in the anointing oil for the tabernacle, its furnishings, utensils and ministers (Exodus 30.22-24), while frankincense was a component of the incense offered in the temple (Exodus 30.34-35). The carriage of this individual is made from the wood of Lebanon, with silver, gold and purple cloth included in its construction (vv. 9-10). Again, it is meant to evoke a picture of the tabernacle or temple, the latter being built from the wood of Lebanon , and overlaid with gold, with the curtain of the former separating the Most Holy Place containing the colour purple. The identity of this individual is Yahweh. Yet he is also Solomon (vv. 7, 11). Solomon was the greatest of Israel’s kings, presiding over a united kingdom when its borders were at their most expansive and when the nation was at the peak of its prosperity. In the prophets, ‘David’ is often mentioned when the intended subject is one of his descendants. I think a similar thing is happening here. ‘Solomon’ stands for one of his descendants. The individual is both Yahweh and Solomon. This we see in the Lord Jesus Christ, the descendant of Solomon according to his human nature, and also Yahweh. He was presented with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh by the Magi and by his sacrifical death of which the frankincense (as an ingredient in the temple incense) and myrrh (as we saw previously) speak, he achieved the redemption of his people. We experience this in part now, and one day we will experience it fully, as we are brought out of the wilderness by him. The relationship is secure and there is defence against the terrors of the night (vv. 7-8). Others are encouraged to see the bridegroom going to meet his bride (v. 11).

The bridegroom delights in the bride whom he is marrying. Repeatedly in this section, for the first time in the Song, he refers to his love as his bride (4.8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 5.1). In his description of her, it’s as if we’re being given a guided tour of an idealised land and people, which makes sense given the intimate connection in the Bible between the people and the land in which they live. There are doves flying through the air and goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead (4.1) and the sheep have been shorn, washed in the river and have given birth to their young, and there are none missing (v. 2). There are pomegranates in the land, the third component of the fruit of the promised land in Numbers 13 and Deuteronomy 8.8 (v. 3). We see the tower of David and the shields which defend it (v. 4), and fawns and gazelles grazing (v. 5). However, the time has not yet come for full consumation of their relationship. Verse 6 alludes back to 2.17; the winter is not yet over and the land is not yet fruitful, and so the bridegroom goes back to the mountains and hills whence he will one day come (cf. 2.8), which he describes as the mountain of myrrh and hill of frankincense. These are, as we have seen, the fragrant powders which give his litter its aroma. It’s a picture of the mountain on which the temple stood, on which through sacrificial death relationship with God was possible. So this verse still implies relationship, but relationship not fully consummated. The Lord continues to delight in his people - she is beautiful and flawless (v. 7). His invitation to her is to come with him up from the wilderness of the north, where the mountains of Lebanon, Amana, Senir and Hermon are located, which are untame, dangerous places (v. 8). She is to come out of the wilderness into the land for which she is suited. The reason is because he is entirely captivated by her (v. 9). This time, he says that she is better than wine and more fragrant than spice (v. 10). Her lips drip nectar. The reference to honey and milk (v. 11) is an allusion the Promised Land, which was a land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3.8). In describing her fragrance as ‘the fragrance of Lebanon’ (v. 11), there is an allusion to God’s promise of salvation in Hosea 14.6. The bride is his redeemed, forgiven, restored people. The image shifts to that of a locked garden in which there is a fountain, bringing forth even living water (v. 12, 15). In this garden there are pomegranates and choice fruit (v. 13), and again there is the aroma of spices (v. 14). He is describing his people back in Eden or back in the Promised Land. Recall that Eden had a river running through it and the trees bore fruit which was good for food (Genesis 2.9-10).  The aroma of spices is again the aroma of the Temple or Tabernacle - cinnamon was another ingredient along with myrrh and oil for the anointing oil, while frankincense as we have seen was an ingredient for the incense. Pomegranates were carved into the temple pillars ( 1 Kings 7.20). The bride is in the sanctuary, in the presence of God. Myrrh and aloes together were what Nicodemus used to anoint Jesus body after his atoning death (John 19.39); at the heart of the church’s beauty is the death of Christ. Such is the bridegroom’s delight in his bride that he calls on the wind to stir up the fragrance (v. 16). In response, the bride invites her beloved to come to her to eat the fruits of the garden (v. 16), which he does, coming to her, gathering his myrrh and spice, eating his honeycomb with honey and drinking his wine with milk. Christ enjoys fellowship with his bride in the garden, just as God walked with the first people in Eden in the cool of the day, and this looks forward to the experience of the church the New Jerusalem, where the tree of life on the banks of the river bears its fruit and the fully redeemed church sees God’s face (Revelation 22.1-4) and there is feasting at the Marriage Supper (Revelation 19). Again, the bridegroom’s feasting with his bride begins now at the Lord’s Supper. Such activity is positively to be encouraged; the bride and the groom are to be intoxicated with love (5.1). The fact that the garden is locked and the fountain sealed (4.12) means that it is only this bridegroom and no other suitor who can enter the garden and enjoy intimate fellowship with the bride, love her and eat with her. Again, we need to recognize as the church Christ’s love for us and delight in us. We should wonder at Christ’s work on the cross that makes us beautiful in his sight. I the relationship we presently enjoy, we should hope for and eagerly await our full redemption, which will be glorious. And if Christ delights in his bride this much, we too should love God’s people, particularly in light of what we one day shall be.

2. The Church resists her husband, Christ (5.2-6.1)

But now comes a period of difficulty in the relationship. The bride is sleeping and she hears a sound at the door - it is her beloved, knocking, wanting to come in to her (v. 2). Yet she is lazy - she has undressed and had a bath and so she doesn’t want to get out of bed or get her feet dirty (v. 3). The beloved tries the door, which excites the bride’s love (v. 4). When she eventually prepares herself for him and opens the door (v. 5) he has already turned and gone. It is too late. She is heartbroken - her soul fails her. She seeks him, and can’t find him, calls for him, but gets no reply (v. 6). And so she goes out into the city, where she is attacked and beaten (v. 7). She wants to find her beloved for she is sick with love, which is what she asks the daughters of Jerusalem to tell to her beloved (v. 8). Can’t this be the experience of the church? In Revelation 3.14-22, Laodicea is neither cold nor hot - the church there is useless. Christ calls her to repent. He says that he is standing at the door of the church knocking and promising to have fellowship with those who hear him and let him in. But if the church is lazy or apathetic or complacent, prioritising her personal comfort and convenience above serving and experiencing Christ, then he turns away. The pleasure of communion with him is not experienced for a while. The dangers of the city, Babylon, the world in opposition to God may even be allowed to harm the church for a while. He does that to humble his church, to make her repent and realise how much she longs for him and to stir up a new desire for him. In what ways can the church do that? Not repenting when the preached word convicts of sin. Not evangelising if it comes at a cost. Not living in a Christian way if it comes at a cost. Individuals neglecting the preaching of the word and the sacraments because it’s not convenient. Christ may seem distant for a while, the church might come under attack or suffer problems, but this is to bring the church to the point of longing for him again.

to be continued…

Expository Thoughts on Song 2.8-3.5

Again, this unit seems have a common theme running through it, that of longing, the mutual longing of the lover and the beloved for one another.

1. Christ’s longing for the presence of the church (2.8-17)

The bride hears the voice of her beloved who like a gazelle or stag is leaping over the landscape to reach her.  There is eagerness, excitement, joy. He then arrives where she is (vv. 8-9). It is time for him to take her away to a much better place, to enjoy the land with him (v. 10). Winter with its rain has passed; spring is now there (v. 11). The language of flowers appearing on the earth and the time of singing arriving  (v. 12) is redemption language. See Psalms 96 and 98, Isaiah 35.1-10, Isaiah 49.13. God has come to save his people. The ripening of the fig tree and the blossoming of the vine is reminiscent of the Promised Land (Numbers 13, Deuteronomy 8. and this is what is promised when God says he finally comes to save his people - Amos 9.13-15, Hosea 14.5-7. God comes to save his people to take them to a beautiful and fruitful land. Sin and its consequences will be completely done away with, and it will be like being in the Promised Land again. In the New Testament, this is what we see God does in Christ. And Christ longs to see his beautiful bride, his church, he longs to hear her voice (v. 14). He doesn’t want there to be anything to spoil their enjoyment of one another in the land (v. 15). The bride reflects on her relationship with her beloved (v. 16) - ‘My beloved is mine and I am his’ echoes God’s covenant promise: ‘I will be your God and you shall be my people’. But all that is described in vv. 8-16 is future. It is not yet ‘day’. There are still ’shadows’. So until the day comes, until it breathes out the beautiful fragrance of the redeemed land, until the shadows flee, she longs for the coming of her beloved like a gazelle or stag on cleft mountains (v. 17). And that is the experience of the church. We have the future prospect of life in the fruitful new creation with Christ where he will delight in the praises of his people and we shall look on him and he on us. He says, “Behold, I am coming soon.” “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come”" (Revelation 22.12, 17). May we recognize how much Christ longs to come and take his church to be with him in his new world forever, may we recognize how wonderful that world will be, and so yearn for that coming. May we remember how he longs to hear the voice of his bride because it is sweet and be stirred to pray to and praise him in the present. Knowing that he doesn’t want anything to spoil the future world, may we repent now. And when the coldness, barrenness and unpleasantness of the present world is particularly acute, may we remember our future so that our love remains fervent and we continue to have hope.

2. The church’s longing for the presence of Christ (3.1-5)

The bride continues to speak. She may be dreaming of her beloved. He is certainly not present beside her in her bed at night (v. 1). Again, he is described as ‘him whom my soul loves’, just as Israel was to love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul. Not content to be without her beloved, she gets up and heads into the city, which we learn later is a dangerous place (5.7). The church is in the dangerous city, Babylon now, a place full of oppression and idolatry, not yet with Christ, enjoying unhindered communion with him. She searches and she doesn’t find (v. 2). She asks the watchmen where he is (v. 3). Then she finds him and holds him and will not be parted from him. She takes him back to the safe environment of her home and even her bedroom, far from the dangerous world of the city outside, where their love is consummated (v. 4). Again, she adjures the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up love until it pleases, but this time it is the experience of longing for which they have to be ready. Until that time when we the church find Christ whom our soul loves and are taken out of the dangerous world into security, may not be satisfied but continue to long for his presence, but do so safe in the knowledge that one day we will be with him in safety forever.

Expository Thoughts on Song 1.1-2.7

It’s all well and good saying that the Song of Songs is about the relationship between God and his people, Christ and his church, and not sex, but what is the ‘cash value’? What might that look like in practice? I’ve decided to have a look at the Song again in my own devotional time, and while I’m taking a revision break, I thought I might share my thoughts with you. This is most definitely a collection of thoughts coming out of the text, rather than anything directly preachable, although I’d love to work on it in the future. I am heavily indebted to the prior work of Matthew Mason and Ros Clark in this - the previous post has a link to something Matthew has prepared and that in turn links to Ros’ work.

1.1-2.7 function well as a single ‘preaching unit’, concluding with a refrain in 2.7 and united by the theme of the mutual delight of Christ and his church. While this isn’t closely reasoned argument and doesn’t appear to be a particularly structured narrative, there appear to be three movements in this first section: 1.1-8 (’Long for Christ!’), 1.9-2.2 (’Delight in Christ!’) and 2.3-7 (’Feast with Christ!’)

1. Long for Christ! (1.1-

The bride, the church, longs to experience Christ’s love, which she esteems far more than wine; it gladdens her more than anything this world can offer (v. 2). All our senses are meant to be engaged as we let this poetry sink into us: the fragrance of anointing oils, oil poured out evokes the environment of the temple where God meets with his people. That’s further emphasised when she later describes herself as ‘like the curtains of Solomon’ (v. 5). God is the king whom she loves (v. 3). She longs to be with him, and Christ brings her into his chamber, the place where love is to be fully experienced. This love spills over to others as they, in turn, recognize the greatness of Christ’s love, that he is worthy to be praised and they rejoice in him (v. 4). The bride, however, recognises her own intrinsic undesirability. Her skin is sun-damaged and she has rather let herself go in her experiences of life. Kedar was a people beyond the borders of Israel. Perhaps by comparing herself to them she feels like she doesn’t belong in this relationship, that she doesn’t deserve it (vv. 5-6). Nevertheless she is confident of her own standing before her beloved, that she is ‘lovely’, and so she diverts attention away from her appearance. The church knows itself to be intrinsically undesirable - sullied, scarred, decaying and far from God because of sin - and yet in Christ’s eyes she is lovely, and so can be confident, as is the bride in the Song, to come into the presence of her beloved. He is the one whom her soul loves (’You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might’). The king is also a shepherd. See Ezekiel 34.11-24 - the shepherd is the Lord God who is also of the line of David, the one whom we meet in the Word incarnate. The bride is not content with second-best. She doesn’t want to be with his companions, veiled. She wants full, unhindered relationship with him (v. 7) And he wants her, describing her as the ‘most beautiful amongst women’, directing her how she may find him and welcoming her presence with him (v. 8). This all makes sense when we realise that the love Christ has for his people is a love that meant he ‘gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish’ (Ephesians 5.25-27). O that as a church we would recognize the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ and long for him ardently! O that we would remember how Christ sees us and welcomes us when we doubt his love for his people, and in our insecurities.

2. Delight in Christ! (1.9-2.2)

The church is now with Christ and he continues to delight in her (v. 9). The horses of Egypt were great and renowned - Solomon in his wealth imported horses from Egypt for his army (2 Chronicles 1.16,17). She is beautiful in all her jewellery (v. 10), just as God adorned his people with jewellery in his love when he rescued his people despoiled Egypt and the peoples of Canaan (Ezekiel 16.11-12). The bride is Christ’s saved people. Again, this love overflows to others, although this time, others too recognize the beauty of the church and long to serve and beautify her further (v. 11). The king and his bride lie together on the couch and their scents mingle. Only this time, it evokes a strange image. Nard was what Mary used to anoint Jesus’ feet in advance of his death (John 12.3-7), and myrrh, which was given to Jesus by the Magi (Matthew 2.11) was what Nicodemus used to embalm Jesus’ body after his crucifixion before it was buried (John 19.39). The church’s delight is in her beloved who died. The image shifts to Engedi, a wilderness place in Israel near the Dead Sea. Yet there are vineyards, and the beloved is like a cluster of flowers there. Christ is present with his people, described so often in terms of a vineyard in Scripture (e.g. Isaiah 5) and by his death he redeems even the creation itself, bringing life out of a dead earth, which we see, finally, in the new creation (v. 14). Christ continues to delight in his bride (v. 15) and his bride delights in him (v. 16) and she looks around at her surroundings. Are they outside, lying on the grass in a forest? Are they in a building? The house is made of cedar, the material with which the temple was built (1 Kings 5.6). Along with the fragrance of the anointing oils in v. 3, we’re meant to feel as if we’re simultaneously in a garden and a temple, or rather, the garden, of which the temple was meant to be a recreation, the world as it is meant to be, in the presence of God. Again it points us forward to the new creation (vv. 16-17). The bride describes herself as a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys (v. 18), which idea her beloved takes up and says that she is a lily among brambles. That’s how he compares her to those who are not his bride (v. 19). Again, may we grasp how Christ feels about his church. May that shape we see our brothers and sisters in Christ. May we love the church more. And may we delight more and more in Christ who died and who redeems the earth and brings us back to a restored Eden.

3. Feast with Christ (2.3-7)

Here we see the activity at the heart of Christ’s relationship with the church. The bride delights in her beloved because he is like an apple tree in a forest feeding her with sweet fruit (v. 3). Again, this echoes back to Eden, in which the fruit of the trees was good for food (Genesis 2.9) and points us forward to the new Jerusalem, in which is the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month (Revelation 22.2). This is life in a world with God as it is meant to be. It is all of grace: Christ brings his bride in his love to feast with him (v. 4), and his bride longs for the food he provides. Cakes of raisins were what David gave to his people when he blessed them in God’s name after the Ark of the Covenant was brought up to Jerusalem, signifying his presence among his people (2 Samuel 6.19). Again, this is about relationship with God being put right and the blessing that comes when he is with his people. Raisin cakes were also what were offered to/eaten before idols (Hosea 3.1), but here it is the beloved’s raisins she wants, and not anyone else’s (v. 5). Feasting is at the heart of the new creation at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19.6-10) and it’s at the heart of the life of the church as the new creation in the present, as we feast with Christ at the Lord’s Table week by week. All this longing is produced by an intense love (v. 5) and there is great intimacy between the beloved and his love, Christ and the church (v. 6). It it because of the intensity of this love, I think, that leads the bride to say what she says to the daughters of Jerusalem. It’s going to be so powerful, you had better make sure you’re ready for it (v. 7)! May this increase our longing for the new creation, and lead us to a regained sense of the importance of sharing the Lord’s Supper week by week, feasting with our beloved and being refreshed and sustained by him.

(I’m not sure how this would be expounded if it were simply a celebration of human relationships or wisdom for good relationships: tell your husband/wife how much you love him/her (poetry is good), put on a bit of scent, take a holiday in a log cabin and go out for a meal every now and then, perhaps?)

Tolle aude!

Please may I draw your attention to a set of sermons preached by Matthew Mason on the Song of Solomon, which may be downloaded HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

I’ve only listened to the introduction and the first talk - they made the journey from Northampton to Oxford this weekend very productive indeed - but they were excellent. In the introduction, Matthew reminds us that the Song of Song (like all Scripture, of course) must be interpreted in the light of, not apart from, the Bible’s main plotline about God creating a people for himself, which finds its climax in the Lord Jesus coming, living, dying, rising and builing his church. He shows us that YHWH and Israel’s covenant relationship is described as a marriage in Ezekiel 16, a theme which is fulfilled n the NT as the relationship between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5). The Song of Songs isn’t about human relationships, but is about something far greater - the love of YHWH for Israel, or for the Christian believer, the love of Christ for the church. In the talk, Matthew refers to an essay justifying this interpretation, which I guess is the same as the one that may be found HERE on his weblog.

The first talk on the Song itself is about Christ’s love for the church. Matthew starts with a literally spine-tingling poetic translation of the Song by Marcia Falk which I may have to obtain for myself. He has two headings - Christ longs to be with the church, and Christ is captivated by the beauty of the church, or something like that. He clearly explains the imagery and how it relates to the temple - doves/sheep/rams as animals of sacrifice, pomegranates and lilies being temple decorations evoking a return to Eden. He applies it well to the church, enjoying greater intimacy with God than Israel, but with a not-yet element still to come. This talk renewed my love for the gospel - it’s not just about forgiveness and justification and salvation, but it’s about sinful human beings being cleaned up and made the bride of the Son and enjoying fellowship and communion with that society of loving persons, God the Holy Trinity himself. Christ does not love the church like the husband in a Shakespeare sonnet which Matthew- depite her ugliness. No, she truly is beautiful in his sight. And the reason is because the cross worked. I was reminded that no matter how I felt about myself, Christ loves his people, I was reminded of my obligation to the church, for I am one who is to love the church as Christ loved her. That applies to commitment to church attendance, relationships within the church, going after the wanderer… And as part of the church which will be married to Christ on the last day, dressed in white, I am not to roll around in the mud, as it were, now.

That probably doesn’t do these talks justice - I am merely writing from memory so it’s not all that coherent. The best thing I think you ought to do is listen to them.

Matthew Mason on the Song of Solomon again!

THIS is also very, very good.

STOP WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING AND READ THIS NOW!

Ros Clarke’s thesis on the Song of Solomon.

Ros makes a robust case for the Song being a metaphor of the marriage relationship between YHWH and Israel, tracing the biblical theological themes of land and marriage before applying the metaphor to Christ and the church and the longing we experience as we await the consummation of our marriage. I find myself deeply persuaded by her demonstration of the myriad allusions in the Song to elsewhere in Scripture.

O that I had a similarly sharp eye for BT motifs running through Scripture!

Matthew Mason on the Song of Solomon

THIS is really, really good.

The Song of Solomon

Liam laments that so many Evangelicals misunderstand the Song of Solomon. Of course, it’s clearly not about sex. That is not to betray an undervaluing of sex which is the charge often levelled against those who do not see this to be literally about the emotional and physical relationship between a man and a woman. It is simply to recognize the potential for the communication of spiritual truth poetically with imagery, simile and metaphor. I hesistate to see this as straight allegory, as some have understood in the past (and indeed the present), but Biblical Theology is a great help in understanding this book and there are, I think, sufficient clues in the text to render the present author’s opinion exegesis not eisegesis.

Peter Leithart, in A House for My Name, in many ways an excellent book, asks some thought-provoking questions after treating creation and specifically the characteristics of the Garden and the events that take place therein. One such question is, “How is the Song of Solomon related to the creation of Adam and Eve in Genesis 2?” (p. 57)

Song of Solomon 4.12-16 speaks of a garden with trees bearing myriad fruits, through which rivers flow and upon which a wind blows:

“A garden locked is my sister, my bride,
a spring locked, a fountain sealed.
Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates
with all choicest fruits,
henna with nard,
nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,
with all trees of frankincense,
myrrh and aloes,
with all chief spices -
a garden fountain, a well of living water,
and flowing streams from Lebanon.

Awake, O north wind,
and come, O south wind!
Blow upon my garden,
let its spices flow.”

The echoes of Genesis 2.7-14 are striking and must be deliberate. I am always willing to be sharpened by others’ treatment of Scripture, but it is noticeable in the Song that the man is not with his bride in the garden, his bride is the garden. Given that the Promised Land is spoken of in Edenic terms (cf. Ezekiel 36.35), and that the land often stands for the people of Israel, are we seeing here a description of the relationship between the king and his people, a relationship which is clearly described elsewhere in marital terms (cf. 1 Chronicles 11.1 and Genesis 2.23)?

If this is the case, then it is irresistible to see a connection between the reference to frankincense and myrrh in v. 14 with the gifts of the Magi in Matthew 2.1-12: in their visit, we see their portrayal as the garden-bride, and does this not wondrously teach us of the inclusion of Gentiles in the church, the antitypical Bride whose husband is Christ, ‘one greater than Solomon’?

Canticles vi.11-12

I wonder if you share the experience of puzzling long and hard over a passage of Scripture when suddenly, the Lord blesses you with its meaning. I certainly puzzled long and hard about these verses from the Song of Solomon, and I have an idea what they may mean.

We see the bride looking over the land to see whether it is blossoming. Suddenly, before she is aware of it, she is among the chariots of the prince who is surely none other than her husband. If we take the Song to be about the king as the husband of his people (the bride), then we can see how significant the concept of the land is. The land in which the people of God lived in the Old Testament was closely bound up with the people themselves. Of course, this is still the case in the New Testament. Let’s not under-materialize the promises. It is clearly the expectation of the Prophets in the Old Testament when they looked forward to the Restoration from the exile (see e.g. Isaiah xxxv.1-10) that the land in which they dwell will be made fruitful and prosperous again, the curse of the Fall will be removed which ultimately finds its fulfilment in the coming of Christ. Before you stone me for preaching a prosperity gospel, let me qualify that. We had a foregleam of this when Christ first came - he healed the sick, he raised the dead, he turned water into wine - but of course his kingdom at the moment is in its “mustard-seed” form. It is hidden. The wheat grows with the tares. But when he returns, the land which the people of God will inherit - no less than the whole earth - will be completely renewed. In these verses of the Song, then, do we not see a type of the church eagerly anticipating the Restoration that will be brought about (cf. Canticles ii.10-15), looking forward to the “refructification” of the land? As the church waits, suddenly, without warning, the Lord is there, her prince and her husband. This would certainly fit what follows, in which the bridegroom’s description of the bride is far more consummatory that what has come before. This would make sense as we approach the end of the Song. There is definitely New Testament teaching that can act as a “control” to this interpretation - the Parable of the Ten Virgins, for example: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matthew xxv.13)

Church as Banqueting House

Consider the following verses from Canticles ii:

“As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my beloved among the young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste,
He brought me into his banqueting house,
and his banner of me was love.
Sustain me with raisins;
refresh me with apples,
for I am sick with love.”

The theme in these verses seems to be how the bridegroom supplies sweet food to his bride. Indeed, she yearns for him to supply her with more food: raisins and apples. Kings of Israel did lay on feasts for the people: when the Ark of the Covenant was returned to Israel, David sent the people home with bread, meat and raisin cakes. This is certainly the same “shape” as the Lord Jesus’ relationship with the church. He sustains his people with the spiritual food of his word, which is “sweeter than honey” and his people do yearn for that word - at least they ought to: Peter commands his readers to “crave pure spiritual milk” after the manner of a newborn infant. Where does the Lord Jesus do this? Well, the bridegroom in the Song has in his love brought his bride into the banqueting house where they feast. Could this find its antitype in the inclusion of believers in the church (not in the building sense, unlike a terrible notice on the doors of the horrifically overpriced cathedral church of St. Paul)? In his love for his elect, the Lord Jesus died in their place on the cross. When they are saved, they are brought into the church, which is God’s house. Peter writes:

“As you come to him [the Lord Jesus], a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house.” (I Peter ii.4-5)”

When our local congregations, er, congregate, perhaps we need to be conscious that we are going to a feast, wherein God feeds us by his word from those who preach, as well as from our other brothers and sisters in Christ as we minister the word to one another, allowing it to “dwell in us richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in our hearts to God.” (Colossians iii.16) If this is the case, these should be joyous and glad occasions, filled with much anticipation concerning what God is going to say to us. These should be times of celebration as we remember Christ’s love demonstrated so fully in his death on the cross (there is no place for unenthusiastic singing!). Clearly believers don’t cease to be “the church” when we disperse and the Lord Jesus feeds us apart from its gatherings - through the daily reading of and meditation upon Scripture, which is, after all, his Word to his people, and as God’s people speak the word to one another when they meet on other occasions. We are, in that sense, forever in our King’s banqueting hall. Nevertheless, I wonder if this should be especially true of our Lord’s Day (and midweek) meetings which are corporate expressions of our true status as people redeemed from slavery to sin and assembled to hear and respond to God’s law.

Canticles i.1-4

I have been reading Luke for a little while, so to freshen things up, I have turned to the Song of Solomon. I am new to this book, so help would be appreciated! I like the idea that the Song is about the relationship between king and people (a view propounded by Luther), since the relationship of God’s king to his people seems to be one of husband and bride (I Chronicles xi.1, cf Genesis ii.23). It is thus typical of the relationship between Jesus, the Christ, and his church, the New Testament covenant people of God. It is as the king of God’s people that he is their husband and we are his bride. I am indebted (again!) to Matthew Mason’s ‘blog http://motherkirk.blogspot.com/ : see “King as husband”) which I have thought about and consider to be right. I’m not quite going down the allegorical route otherwise you get all sorts of weird and wonderful things: the two breasts of v. 13 become the two covenants with Christ the fragrant myrrh between them, which is a nice idea, but I don’t think it’s there. Going down the controlled typological route takes the Song seriously as poetry written during the time of Solomon stimulated by real historical circumstances, whilst still seeing the shape of the relationship between Christ and his Church. After all, Solomon is a type of Christ.

The following seems to be a refrain in the Song:

“I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.”

This seems to divide the song up into five sections: i.1-ii.7, ii.8-iii.5, iii.6-v.8, v.9-viii.4, viii.5-end. If anyone else has any other good ideas, I’d like to hear them.

The fact that this is the “Song of Songs”, the greatest of songs (cf. “Holy of Holies”) suggests that this is about more than mere physical love. Some of the activity would be frankly immoral if it were. This is an innovation. Do we dismiss centuries of understanding of this text for modern liberal scholarship? The early church saw it as being about Christ. So did the Reformers. So did the Puritans. So did Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers. So did Ryle (see “A Garden Enclosed” in The Upper Room). Psalm xlv has been helpfully described by Matthew Henry as a “key” to the Song. The language is similar, dealing with anointings, oil, beauty, daughters and virgins, and Hebrews i sees this being fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. It is on this basis that we can say that the Song is a type of the relationship between Christ and the Church.

Here are some thoughts on verses two to four.

The bride longs for the love of the king. She recognizes that this love is better than wine. She would much rather experience the husband’s love than these mere physical pleasures. His very presence is a delight - he is fragrant and his name is a delight. Because of this, virgins love him. The bride asks him to draw her after him - he is the one who must lead - and they run together. They have a destination to which they must quickly hasten - the king’s chambers. See also ii.4, where the bride is brought to the banqueting house.

This is typical of the love that the church should have for Christ. We recognize, do we not, that being a recipient of his love is greater than the pleasures and delights of this world. The Apostle Paul could say, after dismissing his fleshly confidence as loss for the sake of Christ, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” His name is a delight to us. He is the one who draws us after him, and the means by which he does this is his cross - John xii.32. The Christian life is a race: we press on to get to our destination. This destination is the new heavens and the new earth. Jesus said that he went to prepare a place for his disciples and that he would return to take them there. If this is the same as ii.4 - the banqueting house - then we can see parallels with the marriage supper in Revelation xix. And the response that this evokes: praise and rejoicing, rejoicing in the greatness of Christ’s love. Because of eschatological tension, Christians have been brought into the king’s chambers - we’re seated with Christ in the heavenlies - but we’re also awaiting the final consummation - we’re not actually there yet. However, because we know that it is secure, we can say in an anticipatory sense that we have been brought into the king’s chambers and his banqueting house.

I hope this is controlled typology, with the fulfilment in Christ having the same “shape” (as it were) that the Song has.

Some useful resources on the Interweb:

http://eword.gospelcom.net/comments/song/geneva/song1.htm
http://eword.gospelcom.net/comments/song/gill/song1.htm