Winter Has Gone Series

Text: Songs of Solomon 2:10-13

Theme: Blessing blossoms up

Introduction to SS:

Song of Songs also known as Song of Solomon indicates that while King Solomon reigned the united Kingdom of Israel approx. 1000 BC, he wrote many songs, poems, proverbs, and sayings. The whole book has three characters of He, She, and others. This bride was a working-class woman of Shulamite ancestry (6:13, 1 Kings 3:1). Solomon remembered his FIRST LOVE with her and wrote about that sacred love after his polygamy with other princesses (Ref: fourpointschurch.com). The title ‘the Song of Songs,’ denotes its superior excellence, according to the Hebrew idiom, ‘King of Kings’, and ‘Lord of Lords’.

This book has caused a lot of debate over the years due to its secular language of love. The debate ended after Rabbi Akiba said, "The whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the Scriptures are holy, but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies" -Mishnah Yadayim 3:5 (ref: workingpreacher.org). The Judaic and Christian scholars wanted to interpret it as an allegory to show the relationship of Israel and Yahweh, and the Church and Christ respectively. The interpreters have also looked to prophetic, wisdom, and apocalyptic passages of Scripture, as well as, to ancient Egyptian and Babylonian love songs, traditional Semitic wedding songs, and songs related to ancient Mesopotamian fertility religions’ (ref: biblica.com).

ORIGEN (185 AD) and JEROME inform that Jews prohibited to read this book until they attain thirty years of age. Of course, it certainly needs spiritual maturity to understand the holy mystery of love allegorically articulated. (ref: biblestudytools.com). This book does not mention a single word about God.

Song of Songs has the themes of hardship, beauty, diligence, pleasure, passion, family, and joy (ref: theologyofwork.org). It has a poetic expression of romantic love between a young man, and a young woman in ancient Israel. The boy was a shepherd (1:7), and the girl was a shepherdess (1:8). The comparisons are figurative rather than literal.

The text selected for this Sunday begins with the man speaks to his love: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come." This text celebrates the mutuality and fidelity of one another. We will learn three mystic meanings and teaching from them.

Winter is Past rain has gone

Seasons of singing has begun

Blossoms of Fragrance Spreads

1. Winter is Past, and rain has gone:

Rain brings rejoicing yet frightening. A heavy downpour can bring down gigantic trees and rooftops, quickly the creeks swell, and rivers overflow, mudslides down the mountains, and floods fill the valleys. Hurricanes batter the coastal areas, and tornadoes devastate the plains.

Lightning flashes like a dagger, stabbing the earth, and thunder cracks the ground (ref:Kathrynarmstrong.wordpress.com).

This STANZA begins and ends with the same refrain, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me.” (Song of Songs 2:10, 13). The bride reports the invitation of the beloved that she should come forth with him into the open field, there is a scene of verdure and beauty, and mirth and mutual affection. In this book, God uses a picture of human love to convey to our dull minds, our dead hearts, our distorted affections, and our diseased wills to know His bounty love (ref: ttb.org).

The winter may mean our life years passed in ignorance and sin, unfruitful and miserable, or by storms and tempests that accompanied our conviction of guilt and danger. Even the unripe fruits of holiness are pleasant unto Him whose grace has produced them. Christ invites the new convert to arise from sloth, and despondency and to leave sin and worldly vanities, for union and communion with him (Mathew Henry).

The Rain: It could be understood and interpreted as, of worldly tribulations, past and gone, they shall not destroy us nor hurt Church. But, does her much good, both by multiplying her members, and increasing her graces; and promoting her eternal happiness. It could be a referral to spiritual troubles arising in the minds and consciences of sinners, from a deep sense of the guilt of sin, the justice and wrath of God, and the sentence and curse of the law; all of which made them afraid to come unto God, and desirous to run away from him. But, Christ removed this worst impediment. God is ready to be reconciled, and therefore cast off all discouragements and excuses, and come unto Christ (Matthew Poole).

Wesley writes: The winter refers to Spiritual troubles arising from a deep sense of the guilt of sin, the wrath of God, the curse of the law; all which made them afraid to come unto God. According to Gill Exposition: The winter is past, the rain is over and gone refer to a season of the year which keeps persons within doors, makes going abroad unsafe, unpleasant, and uncomfortable; very unfit for traveling, roads bad, rivers impassable, and journeying very difficult.