Sun, 30 April, 2006: Today’s Bible readings.

Song of Solomon 5:10-16

¹⁰ My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
distinguished among ten thousand.
¹¹ His head is the finest gold;
his locks are wavy,
black as a raven.
¹² His eyes are like doves
beside streams of water,
bathed in milk,
sitting beside a full pool.
¹³ His cheeks are like beds of spices,
mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His lips are lilies,
dripping liquid myrrh.
¹⁴ His arms are rods of gold,
set with jewels.
His body is polished ivory,
bedecked with sapphires.
¹⁵ His legs are alabaster columns,
set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
choice as the cedars.
¹⁶ His mouth is most sweet,
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.

Once a gain, I confess my trouble with understanding the spiritual meaning of this book. I took a quick look at Matthew Henry’s allegorical explanation of this chapter, and I just am not satisfied with it. The chapter begins with the man knocking on the door, and the woman initially refusing to get out of bed and open the door for him. She then changes her mind and goes and opens the door, but finds he has gone. She then goes outside looking for him and gets beaten up.

Matthew Henry tells us that this is how a person initially resists God’s grace and refuses to come to Him for salvation. But then God changes their nature, and they come to Him. But, then Matthew Henry warns us not to delay in responding to God’s call, because if we do, it could be too late. We could open to find He has gone. And, in delaying to obey God, we are likely to face His just punishment.

This can’t all be right, for if this is an illustration of God’s irresistible grace, why doesn’t the now repentant sinner find that grace when they open the door, but instead get beaten up? I don’t understand.

So instead, I’ll deal with the second half of the chapter. The woman praises her lover to those around her.

What do we learn from this?

Again, taking this as an illustration of Christ and the church, the role of the church is to praise our Master and Lord. As the woman praises her lover, we are to point out all that we love about God.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Paul has told us that marriage is a picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church, so this interpretation of Song of Songs hopefully isn’t too much of a stretch.