PM Sept 23rd Song 1

September 23^rd

Song of Solomon 1

1: The song of songs, which is Solomon's. 2: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. 3: Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. 4: Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. 5: I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. 6: Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept. 7: Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? 8: If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents. 9: I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots. 10: Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. 11: We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver. 12: While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof. 13: A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts. 14: My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi. 15: Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes. 16: Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green. 17: The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.

Song of Solomon 2

1: I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. 2: As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. 3: As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. 4: He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. 5: Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. 6: His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. 7: I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. 8: The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. 9: My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice. 10: My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. 11: For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; 12: The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; 13: The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. 14: O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. 15: Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. 16: My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. 17: Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

Song of Solomon 3

1: By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. 2: I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. 3: The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? 4: It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. 5: I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. 6: Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? 7: Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. 8: They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. 9: King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon. 10: He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem. 11: Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

Today we are reading the first three chapters of the Song of Solomon. This little Book written either by Solomon or for Solomon was a love story. Describing a family living in Shulem consisting of a widowed mother, several sons and a young daughter brought up on a mixed farm of crops and sheep. Her brothers took special care to look after her. The young daughter was a shepherdess and while out one day she sheltered under a tree from the noonday sun. There she met a beautiful shepherd boy who she later was betrothed to. (1v7 2v16 6v3) One morning in the Spring the boy invited the daughter to accompany her into a field, but the brothers hearing of this sent her into the vineyards. (2v15) The daughter told the boy that she loved him and her brothers would be unable to dissolve her love. (2v16) She asked him to meet her in the evening (3v1) and when he did not appear she thought something bad had happened to him. So she went in search for him (3v2) and found him (3v4) They were only able to see each other in the evenings as they were both busy at work in the day. On one occasion when she entered into a garden she accidently came into the presence of King Solomon (6v11, 12) He happened to be on a summer visit to the area (6v6-11) He was struck by her beauty and took her to his tent (1v2-4) and his servant prepared her for him (1v5-8) He tried to allure her but without success. (v6-11) When she was released from Solomon she tried to find her beloved boy (1v12-2v7) But Solomon arranged for her to be taken to his city in the hope of dazzling her with his wealth. (3v1-11) But she was not impressed and her young boy followed in search of her. (4v1-5) He managed to meet her and she was ready to leave the city for her home (4v6) Her lover was delighted in her faithfulness (4v7-16) and as their love was demonstrated to each other that a number of the ladies in court were impressed. (6v1) The King still wanted her and looked for an opportunity to win her. (6v4-7v9) He tried all sorts of promises but she remained faithful to her love (7v10-8v4) in the end the king was defeated and the daughter and her boy were allowed to return home (8v5-14) On their way home they visited the tree under which they had first met and renewed their devotion to each other. (8v5-7) When she arrived home her brothers praised her for her fidelity. (8v8-9) Developed from EWBullingers Companion Bible An outline could be...

A. The daughter taken to the Kings Palace

B. The daughter and her beloved together

C. The daughter and her beloved apart

B. The daughter and her beloved together

C. The daughter and her beloved apart

A. The daughter taken home from the Kings Palace

Chapter 1v1-11 is a introduction to the main characters of the book. The story begins with Solomon who has the young daughter in his palace being prepared for him. And Solomon sings a song of devotion to her beauty. But she replies with a longing for her lost shepherd. She is answered by her court ladies that she is sun burnt but beautiful. In the end Solomon admires her devotion to her poor shepherd boy. From 1v12-2v7 we read of her meeting with the shepherd boy in the tents of Solomon. They renew their vows to each other. He says of her ‘Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes’. She answers him saying, ‘Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green. Their only home is the open air – he says, ‘The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir’. He calls her ‘a lily among thorns’. Then she answers him v3-7. She describes him as a fruitful apple (Probably the Apricot) among the trees of the wood. She sits in his shade and this meeting is like a banquet of joy and the banner over her is his love for her. She says keep me here with the joy of fruitfulness and feed me with the apricots because I am love sick for you - hold me in your arms. Then she says to the kings attendants, do not entice me to another man. Then from 2v7 – 3v5 we find that they are parted. She is still in the royal court and she speaks to the women attendants of her love. First she tells them of her first meeting with the young shepherd boy. She said he came skipping on the mountains. She says he is like a young deer and he came and looked at me from behind the wall and from the windows. Then he called her saying rise up and run away with me. Its spring time the birds sing and everything is bursting into blossom. He called to her saying let me see you and hear your voice. She tells them of her devotion saying, ‘He belongs to me and I belong to him’. All through the night she thinks of him. Then in Chapter 3 she tells how that the watchmen hindered her in finding her loved one. She searches for him but cannot find him. When she found him she would not let him go until she had introduced him to her mother. Then she says do not wake him now that I have found him. In ch 3v6 - 5v1 we have the daughter and her love brought together again. This is the procession of Solomon’s court going up to Jerusalem. The inhabitants of the city see the procession coming. They ask the Rhetorical question - who is this? When of course they all know the answer. They see his dust trail and they smell the perfume. They see his carriage and his bodyguard. They see his amazing Chariot made of cedar, silver, gold and purple. They see the palm branches strewn on his road. They hear the invitation to the young women to come and dance in joy at his arrival. The love story continues tomorrow.