Janice Burton Supporter Lay Servant, Family Life Mentor

Humans were created in the image of God, something unique and beautiful. The Song of Solomon is about love, not necessarily sex and romance as the world thinks of it. God created marriage, and it is a beautiful thing to honor and enjoy each other’s spirit, mind, and bodies.

May 06 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Danny Hickman Supporter Believer in The Gospel Of Jesus Christ

First this: The Song of Songs is allegorical, as are many other bible stories. It's a word picture of God's love for His bride, the church. That's the easy-to-explain view of why it's in the bible. My opinion isn't that easy to digest, and this is only my opinion. 

I had the same question when I discovered this often omitted "book" of the bible. Why, I asked myself, did God give us this to ponder? It sounds like a romance novel. 

It begins (a young woman is said to be speaking) "Kiss me and kiss me again, for your love is sweeter than wine. How fragrant is your cologne; your name is like its spreading fragrance. No wonder the young women love you." (Song 1:1,2)

That doesn't make me think of God and the church, or God and the people of Israel. When I read that I think of what it is to be young and either in love, or looking to be. I believe God intends for us to mentally go where we naturally go in our minds when we read this poem. The young woman says (Song 3:1,2) "One night as I lay in bed, I yearned for my lover. I yearned for him, but he did not come. So I said to myself 'I will get up and roam the city, searching in all its streets and squares. I will search for the one I love.' When she finally found him she "caught and held him tightly, then brought him to [her] mother's house, into [her] mother's bed, where [she] was conceived" (Song 3:4).

That's plain enough for me. At least a portion of this poem is about what it is to be young and sexually active. If it was describing "romance," as I've often heard, then it would be a lot milder in tone than what I see here. To romance someone, according to dictionary.com, is to "woo" them, to "seek the favor, affection, or love of, especially with a view of marriage." That, in my opinion, is what the church wants this poem to be: a depiction of what God is interested in with us; a marriage. 

That's not what comes to mind when I read the Song of Songs 1-8.
And I'm not sure God wants us to make that mental leap. It might be that he wants to ease our minds a bit about our prudish behavior in the matter of sex. Yes, sex. I believe God wants us to tamp down our puritanical, uptight sentiments and attitudes about sex. How did we get this way?

[Adam] replied, "I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked" (Genesis 3:10). Ever since that episode we've been spiritually broken in a way that nakedness will forever reflect. 

Sex seems dirty, sorta.. It can't be, God made us to be sexual beings. Sexual contact between a male and a female is His idea. It was designed to be enjoyable, pleasurable, and all the rest. It's also a touchy subject to speak about. Why? We didn't come up with this naughty practice, if that's a good characterization of how many in society view it. We were told to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:38). In other words "breed and enlarge."

That's why I believe this poem, the Song of Songs, was given to us in the Scriptures. Would we view it the same if it was said to be written by King Solomon but was not part of the canon of the Bible? I don't think we would. I think believers would have a more squeamish view of it. That's why I think it's there: to give us a different view of sex than what we can actually have without God's help. We naturally have misgivings about sex.. We get used to it for a while, if we have a healthy lifestyle, but the awkwardness will return if you live long enough. And it doesn't ever completely disappear, even when you're in the throes of what the man and woman in the poem is going through. 

I've heard this poem rendered as God's manner of looking at lovemaking. I don't know about all that. I think He wants us to know that it wasn't designed to be what we view it to be. This might be an attempt to be a cure for the way we think about it. I don't know if it has worked. It hasn't for me.

August 08 2019 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht Supporter ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church

We could ask why not. After all, God created sex. The romance was his idea. The fact that sin has distorted sex should not make us forget that sexual intimacy is God's gift to us--to be enjoyed when it is used as he intends.

Kissing as an expression of love
(Song of Solomon 1:2. See also Genesis 29:11; Song of Solomon 8:1; and 1 Peter 5:14).

In Song of Solomon 1:2 the expression, "May he kiss me" means this: the woman begins her song by expressing her desire for physical love. While kissing was used in greetings and as a sign of respect (Gen 29:13; 1 Sam 10:1), it was also used to express romantic love (Prov 7:13).

your love is better than wine The Hebrew word used here for love, dod -- דּוֹד, most likely indicates sexual love (Prov 7:18; Ezek 23:17). The woman describes her lover as more pleasing and intoxicating than wine.

of his mouth —marking the tenderest affection.

February 02 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report