Exalting Jesus in Song of Songs

Dr. Daniel L. Akin, David Platt, Dr. Daniel L. Akin, Tony Merida, David Platt, Dr. Daniel L. Akin, Tony Merida

• Publisher: Holman Reference
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9780805496772
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

Exalting Jesus in Song of Songs is one volume in Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series. This series affirms that the Bible is a Christ-centered book, containing a unified story of redemptive history of which Jesus is the hero. It's presented as sermons, divided into chapters that conclude with a "Reflect & Discuss" section, making this series ideal for small group study, personal devotion, and even sermon preparation. It's not academic but rather presents an easy-reading, practical and friendly commentary. The series is projected to be 48 volumes.

How to Begin a Divine Love Story

Song of Songs 1:1-4

Main Idea: The Song of Songs paints a picture of marital love that reflects the love that instructs us in God’s good design and points us to our faithful Shepherd-King, Jesus.

I. Being Passionate for Your Mate Is a Good Thing (1:1-3).

A. What do you feel about your mate (1:1-3)?

B. What do others say about your mate (1:3)?

II. Desiring Intimacy with Your Mate Is a Good Thing (1:4).

A. Do you enjoy spending time with your mate?

B. Do you value your mate for who he or she is?

The second-century rabbi Akiba ben Joseph said, “All the ages are not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel; for all the Writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies” (Danby, Mishnah, 782). The rabbi was talking about a book we find in the Bible called “The Song of Solomon” or “The Song of Songs,” an eight-chapter, 117-verse love song.

Few books have fascinated humans more than this one. God is never mentioned directly, if at all, in this book (but see 8:6). In this regard it is like the book of Esther. It also is never quoted directly in either of the Old or New Testaments. Its Latin title is “Canticles,” which means “songs.” It was one of the five megilloth (meaning scrolls) read annually by the Hebrew people at Passover (along with Ruth, Esther, Ecclesiastes, and Lamentations). It was penned by King Solomon, Israel’s wisest king, who reigned ca. 971–931 BC over the united kingdoms of Israel and Judah. First Kings 4:32 says, “Solomon composed 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005.” Yet of all the songs he wrote, the Song of Songs was his best.

A couple of major questions confront us as we prepare to mine this treasure trove of divine truth. First, how do we interpret this love poem? Second, how do we explain Solomon as the author of a song that extols marital monogamy and fidelity when 1 Kings 11:3 says, “He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines, and they turned his heart away from the Lord.” Let’s take these two questions in reverse order, starting with the question of Solomon’s promiscuous lifestyle.

Some believe the book is about Solomon or written to Solomon. On this view he is not the author. It may even be a critique of his sinful decisions in the area of marriage. Others believe Solomon wrote Song of Songs as a young man, his contribution to Proverbs as a middle age man, and Ecclesiastes as an old man. If this is true, and it is certainly possible, then Song of Songs is historical poetry about his first and truest love. However, I think it more likely that Solomon penned Song of Songs (probably later in life) as the ideal, as a poetic picture of what God intended marriage to be. It could even be a song of confession and repentance for his sins of adultery and polygamy. If this is true, then the song looks back to Genesis 1–2 and the beautiful love, harmony, and joy Adam and Eve experienced before sin entered the world and messed up everything (cf. Gen 3). It also anticipates the redeemed marriage relationship depicted in Ephesians 5:21-33. Douglas O’Donnell sums up well what I think is going on:

The Song is a song that Adam could have sung in the garden when Eve arose miraculously from his side; and it remains a song that we can and should sing in the bedroom, the church and the marketplace of ideas. (Song, 20)

This understanding of the Song, I believe, helps us answer the first question: How should we interpret the Song? This clarity comes from understanding that Song of Songs is not a random collection of Syrian, Egyptian, or Canaanite cultic liturgies. It is not a drama with various acts or scenes, attractive as this view is. Nor is it an anthology of disconnected songs praising the bliss of human sexual love between a man and woman. There is unity and even progression in the Song too obvious to ignore. No, it is best understood as a theological and lyrical masterpiece that shows what marriage ought to be. However, and this is important, we must not stop with the natural reading of the text. We should complete the interpretive process and recognize that, as poetry, the Song was intended to evoke multiple emotions, feelings, and understandings. By way of analogy, it is easy to see how the bride and bridegroom in this Song portray to us God and Israel, Christ and His church, the Savior and His people. Jim Hamilton points us in a good direction when he says, “The Song is about Israel’s shepherd King, a descendant of David, who is treated as an ideal Israelite enjoying an ideal bride in a lush garden where the effects of the fall are reversed” (“Messianic,” 331). And Dennis Kinlaw fleshes out even more fully where God, the divine author of the Bible, intended to take us:

The use of the marriage metaphor to describe the relationship of God to his people is almost universal in Scripture. From the time that God chose Israel to be his own in the Sinai Desert, the covenant was pictured in terms of a marriage. Idolatry was equated with adultery (Exod 34:10-17). Yahweh is a jealous God. Monogamous marriage is the norm for depicting the covenant relationship throughout Scripture, climaxing with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. God has chosen a bride.

[However], we tend to review the covenant-marriage relationship as an example of how human, created, historical realities can be used analogically to explain eternal truths. Thus human marriage is the original referent, and the union of God with his people is seen as the union of a loving husband and wife. . . .

In reality there is much in Scripture to suggest that we should reverse this line of thought. Otherwise the union of Christ with his bride is a good copy of a bad original. The reality is, as Bromiley insists, that earthly marriage, as it is now lived, is “a bad copy of a good original.” The original referent is not human marriage. It is God’s elect love, first to Israel and then to the church.

If divine love is the pattern for marriage, then there must be something pedagogical and eschatological about marriage. It is an earthly institution that in itself images something greater than itself. (Kinlaw, “Song,” 1208)

Kinlaw is right. This earthly institution and this Song point us to a Bridegroom-King whose name is Jesus, a bridegroom who “loved the church [His bride] and gave Himself for her” (Eph 5:25). It should not surprise us that the Song of Songs is messianic and christological. After all, Jesus Himself said of the Scriptures in John 5:39, “They testify about Me.” This, then, would include the Song of Songs. It anticipates the joys of salvation realized when we enter the chambers of redemption provided by this King (Song 1:4).

So as we walk through this carefully crafted love poem, we will see how it addresses the gift of marriage as it was intended by our great God. We will raise points of practical application so that we might more perfectly put into practice what we learn. But then we will conclude each study by asking, “What do I see, feel, hear, and glean...