Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day two hundred and ninety 5.
Immersed in Song of Songs.
When we fall in love, we desperately want to express what we feel.
In such times.
We often look to songs and poems written by others to help us
say what we would like to say.
Almost all cultures have a treasury of love songs that people draw upon.
To declare their love to one another.
The cultures of the Middle East, including that of Ancient Israel, were no exception.
A collection of these love songs has been preserved for us.
In the Song of Songs, it contains song lyrics that like the Psalms have
been preserved from earlier times to help people celebrate their devotion
and delight in another person.
A traditional heading to the book identifies Solomon as
the writer of these songs.
And at one point they described the splendor of his wedding.
For this reason, the book is sometimes called The Song of Solomon.
The author is not otherwise identified in the poems themselves, but read as a whole.
The collection follows the courtship and marriage of a young man and woman.
It presents a series of romantic conversations between them, punctuated
by observations from the young women of Jerusalem, probably the bride's friends.
It's important to appreciate that in traditional Hebrew culture, as in many
other world cultures, brides and grooms are often portrayed and sometimes
even dressed as queens and kings.
So it may actually be this practice that is reflected in such lyrics as come out to
see King Solomon young women of Jerusalem.
He wears the crown his mother gave him on his wedding day, his most joyous day.
This allusion to the wedding couple as a king and queen in a
garden reminds us of the first couple of the Bible, Adam and Eve.
We recall that humans are God's appointed rulers of creation,
and God himself delights in the goodness of physical, sensual love.
Our joy is a reflection of God's own joy in his creatures, using richly evocative
symbolism drawn from the natural world.
These songs portray the beauties of the human body and the splendors of human love
as glorious aspects of God's creation.
No book in the Bible uses the imagery of poetry more densely and
elaborately than the Song of Songs.
And this celebration of love gives us a sense that even as we await God's
renewal of all things in his new garden, Some aspects of our present life already
anticipate the joys that are to come,
the Song of Songs.
This is Solomon's Song of Songs, more wonderful than any other.
Kiss me and Kiss me again for your love is sweeter than wine.
How pleasing is your fragrance?
Your name is like the spreading fragrance of scented oils.
No wonder all the young women love you.
Take me with you.
Come let's run.
The king has brought me into his bedroom.
How happy we are for you.
Oh, king, we praise your love even more than wine, how
right they are to adore you.
I am dark, but beautiful.
Oh women of Jerusalem, dark as the tense of Keter Dark.
As the curtains of Solomon's tents don't stare at me because I am dark.
The sun has darkened my skin.
My brothers were angry with me.
They forced me to care for their vineyards, so I couldn't care
for myself, my own vineyard.
Tell me my love.
Where are you leading your flock today?
Where will you rest your sheep at noon For?
Why should I wander like a prostitute among your friends and their flocks?
If you don't know, oh, most beautiful woman, follow the trail
of my flock and graze your young goats by the shepherd's tents.
You are as exciting, my darling as a mayor among pharaoh's stallions.
How lovely are your cheeks?
Your earrings set them a fire.
How lovely is your neck?
Enhanced by a string of jewels we will make for you.
Earrings of gold and beads of silver.
The king is lying on his couch.
Enchanted by the fragrance of my perfume.
My lover is like a sachet of merr lying between my breasts.
He is like a bouquet of sweet hena blossoms from the vineyards of Indi.
How beautiful you are, my darling.
How beautiful Your eyes are like doves.
You are so handsome.
My love pleasing beyond words.
The soft grass is our bed fragrant cedar branches are the beams of our house and
pleasant smelling furs are the rafters.
I am the spring crocus blooming on the Sharon Plain.
The Lilly of the valley like a Lilly among thistles is my darling.
Among young women, like the finest apple tree in the orchard is my lover Among
other young men, I sit in his delightful shade and taste his delicious fruit.
Hes escorts me to the banquet hall.
It's obvious how much he loves me.
Strengthen me with raisin cakes.
Refresh me with apples for I am weak with love.
His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me.
Promise me, oh, women of Jerusalem by the Gazelle's and wild dear.
Not to awaken love until the time is right.
Ah, I hear my lover coming.
He is leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
My lover is like a swift gazelle or a young stag look.
There he is behind the wall, looking through the window, peering into the room.
My lover said to me, rise up my darling.
Come away with me.
My fair one.
Look, the winter is passed and the rains are over and gone.
The flowers are springing up.
The season of singing birds has come and the cooing of turtle doves fills the air.
The fig trees are forming young fruit and the fragrant grape vines are blossoming.
Rise up my darling.
Come away with me.
My fair one.
My dove is hiding behind the rocks.
Behind an outcrop on the cliff.
Let me see your face.
Let me hear your voice.
For your voice is pleasant and your face is lovely.
Catch all the foxes, those little foxes before they ruin the vineyard of
love for the grapevines or blossoming.
My lover is mine and I am his.
He browses among the lilies.
Before the dawn breezes blow and the night shadows flee returned
to me, my love like a gazelle or a young stag on the rugged mountains.
One night as I lay in bed, I yearned for my lover.
I yearned for him, but he did not come.
So I said to myself, I will get up and roam the city, searching
in all its streets and squares.
I will search for the one I love.
So I searched everywhere, but did not find him.
The watchmen stopped me as they made their rounds, and I asked,
have you seen the one I love?
Then scarcely had I left them.
When I found my love, I called and held him tightly.
Then I brought him to my mother's house, into my mother's bed
where I had been conceived.
Promise me, oh, women of Jerusalem by the Gazelle's and Wild dear, not to
awaken love until the time is right.
Who is this sweeping in from the wilderness, like a cloud of smoke?
Who is it fragrant with?
Merr and frankincense in every kind of spice.
Look, it is Solomon's carriage surrounded by 60 heroic men,
the best of Israel's soldiers.
They are all skilled swordsmen experienced warriors.
Each wears a sword on his thigh, ready to defend the king
against an attack in the night.
King Solomon's carriage is built of wood imported from Lebanon.
Its post are silver.
It's canopy gold.
Its cushions are purple.
It was decorated with love by the young women of Jerusalem.
Come out to see King Solomon young women of Jerusalem.
He wears the crown his mother gave him on his wedding day, his most joyous day.
This concludes today's reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.