Skip to main content

Song of Songs 8:11-12 Who is this really about? Day 123

As we finish wisdom literature and move on to prophetic, I hope you have been challenged by this unique style and the perspective of God that it brings.  It is certainly humbling to have truth that is hard to understand.  I think the prophetic will continue this process.

Blessings,

Jeff

Now that we are at the end of the book, I finally read the intro notes from the ESV study Bible.  "As noted above, perhaps no book in the biblical canon has had a greater diversity of interpretative strategies." Each of these strategies have difficulties.  The line taken by the ESV comments is that Solomon is not the husband of the Shulammite.  The couple are the unnamed shepherd and shepherdess. In her dream, Solomon is something like an idealized knight is shining armor.  It seems to me that this is most reasonable method.  This relatively poor couple are the "proper expression of human sexuality", not Solomon and his harem.  In this method, the marriage of the couple is consummated in chapter 8.  These two verses are a contrast between the value of Solomon's physical vineyards and the Shulamite's vineyard.  

To me, one of the benefits of this strategy  is that wealth and power are not the prerequisites for "proper expression of human sexuality".  The physical trappings of a royal litter and vineyards are not required for a fulfilling marriage.  In fact, it is the "common people" who best demonstrate the "one man - one woman - one lifetime" model.

So whichever way you understand this intriguing book, give some consideration to the other strategies.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2 Chronicles 33:7-9 Thoughts on Davidic covenant - Day 362

Good morning faithful readers, The finish line is in sight!!!  One of the themes of scripture is that God is a covenant keeping God.  There are many between God and man. Adam, Noah, David are examples.  Covenants are more than promises.  They are made between a superior and inferior with conditions for each side and blessing and penalties based on keeping the conditions.  These are covenants of works which fallen man was unable to keep.  Thanks be to God that the Father made a covenant of grace with Christ, the second Adam, which he fully kept. Blessings, Jeff The promise in v8 was made to David when he had planned to build the temple and God promised to build him a house forever. (2 Sam 7:10).  Seems like there are only two possibilities about Manasseh's disobedience.  Either he knew of this covenant that God had made with his 13th great grandfather and chose to disregard it, or he didn't know of it and was unaware of the penalty.  Let's con...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 30:16-20 Hearts set to seek the Lord - Day 359

Good morning fellow members of the household of God, After writing the devotional, I am thinking about the Passover as a household event.  In ancient Israel, the physical household of man was covered by the blood of the lamb.  Now, it is the spiritual household of God that is covered by the blood of the Lamb. Blessings, Jeff The account of the greatest celebration of Passover since time of Solomon (v 26).   Observations: One of the things that made this one great is participation of some of the tribes from the northern kingdom.  Israel was a united kingdom and Solomon and now toward the end of the northern kingdom, there is at least a semblance of being united. God allows some exemptions: Who offers the sacrifice:  The original Passover was a family by family sacrifice of a lamb.  However in  Deuteronomy 16:5-6 this changed to a centralized location once they entered the promised land.  (You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 35:23-26 Lament for the last good king - Day 364

Good morning fellow exiles and pilgrims, One more day of devotions.  We are indeed exiles and pilgrims in this world as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  The 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks can serve as a reminder that this world is not our home. Blessings, Jeff The lamentations for Josiah written by Jeremiah.  However, the book of Lamentations does not include any reference to Josiah as they are focused on the fall of Jerusalem.  While these lost lamentations were "made the rule" there are only 4 more kings and none of them were good like Josiah and none died in Jerusalem.  The phrase "to this day" generally refers to the time of the author (post exile).  Taken together, it may be that these laments were for the last good king and during the exile the people were longing for the next good king. Zerubbabel in a way was the next good king as temple and Jerusalem were rebuilt. But Jesus truly was the next king and He...
Post a Comment
Read more