Reflections on Love and Song of Solomon

These were my notes for a lesson on Song of Solomon last week.   I post these because perhaps they can help someone.

I should say here that I am a conservative evangelical with a high view of Scripture, but not always the party line view.  I believe it should be interpreted in its grammatical-historical context.  I am not strict on eschatologically but very strict on others, especially when it's a question of syncretism, dualism, or modalism.

 

There are two basic interpretations to Song of Solomon:

(a)    More or less true story in poetic form about one of Solomon’s love affairs, celebrating the beauty of the man-woman romantic, filial (friendship, affection), and sexual relationship.

(b)   Allegorical about God and Israel or God and the church

If it’s the first one, why is it in the Bible?  Was this just another conquest for him, or something earlier in his life.  Solomon is in the story, because of references to kingship.  Some have interpreted it as a love triangle; she has a true love but Solomon is pursuing her and tempting her.  She is a natural woman, not a member of the courtly world.

So, why would all this talk of sexuality be in the Bible?

If it’s the second one, about a spiritual relationship, why so much sexual talk?

I lean toward some version of the first one, but I think the quarterly really oversimplifies.  I don’t believe in reading the Bible allegorically.  Perhaps, like Ecclesiastes, it is about how Solomon, who has everything, wants a simpler and more faithful life.

What it does teach is that the physical body is to be enjoyed, not hated.  It is anti-dualism and anti-gnosticism. 

Additionally, God’s covenant name is not mentioned directly. 

All that said, I’m going to build on the concept of love. 

8:6-7:  Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD.

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised. 

Poetically, this is saying that love beats out death, physical catastrophe, and material possessions.

The Hebrew word for love here is not complex like the Greek words.  It just means affection, and Strong’s concordance says “in a good or bad way.”  Another website translates it as

Top of Form

to love, like, adore, desire, be fond of , to fall in love, be loved, liked, to cause to love

Bottom of Form

How is love as strong as death?

Is jealousy a good or bad thing?

If I asked you to define yourself, you would probably list nouns and adjectives.  Would you use verbs, actions?  Maybe.  Theologians and Bible students describe God with lists of adjectives, usually, and one of those is God is love (I John 4:7)  or God is loving.  But I want to turn it around.  Instead of trying to define God by using the word love, we should define the word love by understanding God.  

Let’s turn to I John 4:7 ff.  I John combines three pillars of the Christian life:  love, doctrinal truth, and obedience, and they are not to be separated

1.      Love is an attribute of God; therefore, it is to be taken seriously and not thought of lightly

2.      It is not a feeling but neither is it divorced from feeling.  Emotional is part of it, but not the totality of it.  If there is no feeling, it’s just duty.  If it’s all feeling, there’s no stability.  Huma emotion is grounded in our bodies as well as our minds.  The ancient world used the phrase “bowels of mercy,” which sound funny to us, but think about it.  When we are moved emotionally it’s not just our heart that has sensations, but other parts.  I was thinking about my two students this week and my heart was compressed but so were my nerve endings and my stomach.  I was nauseous, for example. 

3.      It is about the other person, not us—sort of.  It is about the long-term good of the other person as well as our own (love your neighbor as yourself; do unto others as you would have them do unto you.)

4.      Love is the surest sign of our Christian faith. 

5.      Love is something we grow  into.  II Peter 1:5-8

6.      Love is an action and virtue fulfilled in us by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 6)

7.      Love is stronger than the negative forces of our world—fear (I John 4;18). 

8.      Love determines acts of charity.  I John 3:16.

9.      Love is eternal. 

10.  Love gives meaning to our actions.  I Corinthians 13.  This is a soft pillow to rest on, it’s a measuring stick for when we use the word “love,” but it is more.  It is about life in the body.  Let’s look at it.

a.       Context:  Previous chapter

b.      Verses 1-3:  age of worship, age of knowledge, age of causes.  Where does love fit into it?

c.       Verses 4-7.  Actions, not qualities

d.      8-10.  Love is the eternal quality of the universe because God is love.

e.       11-2. The incomplete nature of how we live now.

f.       13-14:1:  Reframe your thinking to see love as the characteristic of God that binds it all together.