True Love's Joy Series

Intro

• Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon) was written by King Solomon & its name is taken from the first verse in the book, "Solomon's Finest Song."

• 1 Kings 4:32 - "Solomon composed 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005." - of the 1,005, this is his finest

• It is well known that King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines; 1,000 women in his life. How could he truly write about the perfect expression of love in marriage?

• Some believe Solomon wrote the Song of Solomon in his youth, the books of Proverbs in middle age, & the book of Ecclesiastes when he was old.

• Did he always follow everything in Proverbs? No

• When you look at the great people in the Bible you can see that God always calls and uses people, despite their failures, for His glory.

• The song truly is a love song in which every groom is King Solomon and every bride is a princess.

• The Song is poetry and should be taken symbolically, not historically.

• Song of Songs is classified as wisdom literature because it not only celebrates love, it also teaches love.

• So many times the Bible gives warnings and condemnations about sex; it addresses the abuses of sexual intimacy quite a bit.

• Song of Songs is not a series of warnings and consequences about the abuse of sex, however it is a celebration of love expressed rightly in marriage.

• During our study of the book of Song of Songs, we will see different aspects of true love.

• Today, we will see that true love's joy is expressed in our #1 Excitement for Each Other, #2 Praise for Each Other and #3 Companionship With Each Other.

• Prayer

#1 Excitement For Each Other

• Song of Songs 1:1-8

• Remember, Song of Songs is actually a song. It is comprised of three parts: Man, Woman and Chorus. If you have some letters out beside the verses in your Bible, that is why.

• The song doesn't actually start until verse two where it abruptly starts with sudden excitement on the woman's part.

• She desires his kisses because just like wine, she imagines that they will be exhilarating and intoxicating at the same time.

• The comparison to wine continues in the second part of verse 2 where she states that his love, his caresses, is more delightful than wine.

• His love excites her senses, more than wine & more than perfume. (3a)

• Even the very mention of his name brings her delight. (3b)

• Because she has caught his eye over the others, she considers herself to be the luckiest woman in the world. She is his chosen one! (3c)

• Her desire is for him to hurry up and take her to his chambers; anticipation of their wedding night. (4)

• She calls him king, but remember, this is her king, not literally King Solomon; much of this book is symbolic.

• The chorus of women, her friends, now join in on the second part of verse 4 to celebrate the love that they have for one another; Obvious

• In fact, from verse 3c and 4 we can see that the chorus of ladies actually swooned over him.

• In contrast to her king that was actually swooned over by this chorus of ladies, she feels embarrassed and defensive about her own looks.

• Why? Because she is "dark like the tents of Kedar" because the "sun had gazed on her" when her brothers made her work the vineyards; she felt that she neglected her vineyard, her body, for the sake of this one.

• In this society, light skin was more attractive than dark skin because dark skin meant that you were part of the laboring class.

• By being a part of this class, she would have faced social prejudices, not racial ones.

• On one hand, she was "black like the tents of Kedar" which were blackened from exposure to the sun but on the other hand she was as "lovely as the curtains of Solomon."

• She wasn't a pampered beauty of the upper class, and though she was hardened from working in the elements, she was beautiful.

• She looks to her suitor as a source of rest; She simply just wanted to be with him. (7)

• He welcomes her presence and is happy for her to be with him.

• When true love develops between a man and a woman, a genuine excitement for each other is birthed.

• Remember back to when you first fell in love, you couldn't be around him/her enough.

• You didn't care if he/she was from the upper class or lower class, it did not matter because that was who you were in love with.