Song Of Songs
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Song of Solomon 2:3-6:
Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods, So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down in his shade with great delight, And his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, And his banner over me was love. Sustain me with cakes of raisins, Refresh me with apples, For I am lovesick. His left hand is under my head, And his right hand embraces me. |
After she has said these things, she praises the accurate archer because he has directed his arrow straight at her, for she says, I have been wounded by love. By these words she signifies the arrow that lies deep in her heart. But the archer who discharges the arrow is love. From Holy Scripture, however, we have learned that God is love (cf. 1 John 4:8, 16), and he discharges his own chosen arrow (cf. Isa 49:2)—the Only Begotten God—at those who are being saved, having smeared over the triple point of the barb with the Spirit of life (the barb is faith), so that, in the person in whom it is planted, it may introduce the archer together with the arrow, as the Lord says: “I and my Father will come and make our dwelling with him” (John 14:23). See, then, the soul that has been exalted through the divine ascents sees in herself the sweet arrow of love by which she is wounded and makes boast of such a blow by saying, I have been wounded by love. -St Gregory of Nyssa
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Ron Toonstra
Understanding God’s purpose for us in sex helps us both to set proper boundaries and to embrace what God permits. At creation, God's designs his image-bearers as embodied and sexual beings, and he creates marriage as the context for sexual expression. God establishes marriage as a covenant relationship that both unites as one flesh and forsakes all others (Genesis 1). Furthermore, Paul writes in Ephesians 5:32 that the relationship between husband and wife mirrors that of Christ and the church--marriage reflects the glory of Christ’s covenant-love for his bride. Marital sex, then, is a way we may glorify Christ by experiencing the joy of covenant intimacy. The pleasure of sex points us to the ultimate reality of our relationship with Jesus.
The Old Testament book Song of Songs gives fuller expression to what this looks like. This lengthy and sexually graphic poem describes what sex can be between husband and wife when it points to Christ. Because some of the metaphors are admittedly strange, the message can be missed (I’m pretty sure I’ve never told my wife that her nose looks like the Tower of Lebanon). But with careful reading, the sensuality of this book begins to emerge. In the pages of this book, we find the woman admiring her husband’s erection (5:14), and her husband delighting in his wife as she becomes sexually aroused (7:2). It is clear that God’s intention for sex is our sensual enjoyment of one another. The two lovers enjoy one another with all their senses, and they embrace the delight of sexual pleasure – including (quite likely) oral sex (2:3-6).
This means at least that God intends sex to be sensual, playful, and exciting. Sex isn’t just for procreation or physical release – it’s a way that we enjoy the bodies that God created. And that can allow us the freedom to explore a variety of sexual activity. However, other factors must be considered.............Some sexual activities may not be explicitly forbidden in the bible, but are nonetheless unwise. Any sexual activity that puts you or your spouse at risk of injury or illness would be unwise. Anal sex, for example, exposes a person to significant risk – risk of infection and risk of damaging tissue. Sending explicit pictures of one another carries the risk of the images falling into the wrong hands. As we consider what is and is not acceptable in our marriage bed, we must weigh the wisdom of what we wish to try – even if it is not explicitly forbidden by God.
--Rob Toonstra; Family Fire; Is this Allowed? Guidelines for Christian Sex 1.1.16
The Old Testament book Song of Songs gives fuller expression to what this looks like. This lengthy and sexually graphic poem describes what sex can be between husband and wife when it points to Christ. Because some of the metaphors are admittedly strange, the message can be missed (I’m pretty sure I’ve never told my wife that her nose looks like the Tower of Lebanon). But with careful reading, the sensuality of this book begins to emerge. In the pages of this book, we find the woman admiring her husband’s erection (5:14), and her husband delighting in his wife as she becomes sexually aroused (7:2). It is clear that God’s intention for sex is our sensual enjoyment of one another. The two lovers enjoy one another with all their senses, and they embrace the delight of sexual pleasure – including (quite likely) oral sex (2:3-6).
This means at least that God intends sex to be sensual, playful, and exciting. Sex isn’t just for procreation or physical release – it’s a way that we enjoy the bodies that God created. And that can allow us the freedom to explore a variety of sexual activity. However, other factors must be considered.............Some sexual activities may not be explicitly forbidden in the bible, but are nonetheless unwise. Any sexual activity that puts you or your spouse at risk of injury or illness would be unwise. Anal sex, for example, exposes a person to significant risk – risk of infection and risk of damaging tissue. Sending explicit pictures of one another carries the risk of the images falling into the wrong hands. As we consider what is and is not acceptable in our marriage bed, we must weigh the wisdom of what we wish to try – even if it is not explicitly forbidden by God.
--Rob Toonstra; Family Fire; Is this Allowed? Guidelines for Christian Sex 1.1.16
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Song of Solomon 3:1-8:
By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. 2 I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. 3 The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? 4 It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. 5 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. 6 Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? 7 Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. 8 They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. |
God comes into the soul, and correspondingly the soul is brought into God. For she says, “My beloved is mine, and I am his. He does his pasturing among the lilies and transfers human life from the realm of shadowy images to the truth of that which is.” You see to what a height she has climbed, this soul that, in accordance with the prophetic word, is going “from strength to strength” (Ps 83:8): she seems to attain the hope of the very highest good. For what is higher than to be in the One who is the object of desire and to receive the object of desire within oneself? But in this situation too she bewails the fact that she is needy for the Good. As one who does not yet have what is present to her desire, she is perplexed and dissatisfied, and she broadcasts this perplexity of her soul in her story, describing in her account how she found the one she sought. --St Gregory of Nyssa
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Song of Solomon 5:2:
I Sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night |
The bridegroom in this scene represents Jesus. The bride hears him knock but she is in bed. She loves the bridegroom, but she is too tired to get up and open the door to him.
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Solomon 5:16:
His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend. O daughters of Jerusalem |
Your lover should be your friend.
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“Thou That Dwellest in the Gardens” by C. H. Spurgeon (Morning and Evening, October 30, Evening)
“Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.” (Song of Solomon 8:13)
My sweet Lord Jesus remembers well the garden of Gethsemane, and although he has left that garden, he now dwells in the garden of his church: there he unbosoms himself to those who keep his blessed company. That voice of love with which he speaks to his beloved is more musical than the harps of heaven. There is a depth of melodious love within it which leaves all human music far behind. Ten of thousands on earth, and millions above, are indulged with its harmonious accents. Some whom I well know, and whom I greatly envy, are at this moment hearkening to the beloved voice. O that I were a partaker of their joys! It is true some of these are poor, others bedridden, and some near the gates of death, but O my Lord, I would cheerfully starve with them, pine with them, or die with them, if I might but hear thy voice. Once I did hear it often, but I have grieved thy Spirit. Return unto me in compassion, and once again say unto me, “I am thy salvation.” No other voice can content me; I know thy voice, and cannot be deceived by another, let me hear it, I pray thee. I know not what thou wilt say, neither do I make any condition, O my Beloved, do but let me hear thee speak, and if it be a rebuke I will bless thee for it. Perhaps to cleanse my dull ear may need an operation very grievous to the flesh, but let it cost what it may I turn not from the one consuming desire, cause me to hear thy voice. Bore my ear afresh; pierce my ear with thy harshest notes, only do not permit me to continue deaf to thy calls. Tonight, Lord, grant thine unworthy one his desire, for I am thine, and thou hast bought me with thy blood. Thou hast opened mine eye to see thee, and the sight has saved me. Lord, open thou mine ear. I have read thy heart, now let me hear thy lips.
“Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.” (Song of Solomon 8:13)
My sweet Lord Jesus remembers well the garden of Gethsemane, and although he has left that garden, he now dwells in the garden of his church: there he unbosoms himself to those who keep his blessed company. That voice of love with which he speaks to his beloved is more musical than the harps of heaven. There is a depth of melodious love within it which leaves all human music far behind. Ten of thousands on earth, and millions above, are indulged with its harmonious accents. Some whom I well know, and whom I greatly envy, are at this moment hearkening to the beloved voice. O that I were a partaker of their joys! It is true some of these are poor, others bedridden, and some near the gates of death, but O my Lord, I would cheerfully starve with them, pine with them, or die with them, if I might but hear thy voice. Once I did hear it often, but I have grieved thy Spirit. Return unto me in compassion, and once again say unto me, “I am thy salvation.” No other voice can content me; I know thy voice, and cannot be deceived by another, let me hear it, I pray thee. I know not what thou wilt say, neither do I make any condition, O my Beloved, do but let me hear thee speak, and if it be a rebuke I will bless thee for it. Perhaps to cleanse my dull ear may need an operation very grievous to the flesh, but let it cost what it may I turn not from the one consuming desire, cause me to hear thy voice. Bore my ear afresh; pierce my ear with thy harshest notes, only do not permit me to continue deaf to thy calls. Tonight, Lord, grant thine unworthy one his desire, for I am thine, and thou hast bought me with thy blood. Thou hast opened mine eye to see thee, and the sight has saved me. Lord, open thou mine ear. I have read thy heart, now let me hear thy lips.