Reading for Today:

• Song of Solomon 1:1 Chapter 1 1 The Song of songs, which is Solomon's. –2:17
• Psalms 104:1-9 Chapter 104 1 Bless Jehovah, O my soul. O Jehovah my God, thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honor and majesty: 2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment; Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain; 3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; Who maketh the clouds his chariot; Who walketh upon the wings of the wind; 4 Who maketh winds his messengers; Flames of fire his ministers; 5 Who laid the foundations of the earth, That it should not be moved for ever. 6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a vesture; The waters stood above the mountains. 7 At thy rebuke they fled; At the voice of thy thunder they hasted away 8 (The mountains rose, the valleys sank down) Unto the place which thou hadst founded for them. 9 Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; That they turn not again to cover the earth.
• Proverbs 24:15-16 15 Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous; Destroy not his resting-place: 16 For a righteous man falleth seven times, and riseth up again; But the wicked are overthrown by calamity.
• 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 17 But in giving you this charge, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and I partly believe it. 19 For there must be also factions among you, that they that are approved may be made manifest among you. 20 When therefore ye assemble yourselves together, it is not possible to eat the Lord's supper: 21 for in your eating each one taketh before `other' his own supper; and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22 What, have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and put them to shame that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you? In this I praise you not. 23 For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; 24 and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink `it', in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord's death till he come. 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body. 30 For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep. 31 But if we discerned ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. 33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, wait one for another. 34 If any man is hungry, let him eat at home; that your coming together be not unto judgment. And the rest will I set in order whensoever I come.

Notes:

Song of Solomon 2:7 I charge you. This refrain, which is repeated before the wedding (3:5) and also afterward (8:4), explicitly expresses the Shulamite’s commitment to a chaste life before and during marriage. She invites accountability to the daughters of Jerusalem.

Psalms 104:4 4 Who maketh winds his messengers; Flames of fire his ministers; spirits…flame of fire. Hebrews 1:7 7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels winds, And his ministers a flame a fire: attributes these characteristics to angels describing their swiftness and destructiveness, as God’s instruments of judgment.

1 Corinthians 11:17 17 But in giving you this charge, I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better but for the worse. –34 The early church love feasts (Jude 12) usually closed with observance of the Lord’s Supper. The worldly, carnal church at Corinth had turned those sacred meals into gluttonous, drunken revelries. Beyond that, wealthy believers brought ample food and drink for themselves but refused to share, letting their poorer brethren go away hungry (v. 21).

1 Corinthians 11:27 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. , 29 in an unworthy manner. I.e., ritualistically, indifferently, with an unrepentant heart, a spirit of bitterness, or any other ungodly attitude.

1 Corinthians 11:30 30 For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep. sleep. I.e., are dead. The offense was so serious that God put the worst offenders to death, an extreme but effective form of church purification ( Luke 13:1 Chapter 13 1 Now there were some present at that very season who told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. –5; Acts 5:1 Chapter 5 1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, –11; 1 John 5:16 16 If any man see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and `God' will give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: not concerning this do I say that he should make request. ).

DAY 1: What is the central theme of the Song of Solomon?

Solomon, who reigned over the united kingdom 40 years (971–931 B.C.), appears 7 times by name in this book (1:1, 5; 3:7, 9, 11; 8:11, 12). In view of his writing skills, musical giftedness (1 Kin. 4:32), and the authorial, not dedicatory, sense of 1:1, this piece of Scripture could have been penned at any time during Solomon’s reign. Knowing that this portion of Scripture comprises one song by one author, it is best taken as a unified piece of poetic, Wisdom literature rather than a series of love poems without a common theme or author.

Two people dominate this true-life, dramatic love song. Solomon, whose kingship is mentioned 5 times (1:4, 12; 3:9, 11; 7:5), appears as “the beloved.” The Shulamite maiden (6:13) remains obscure; most likely she was a resident of Shunem, 3 miles north of Jezreel in lower Galilee. Some suggest she is Pharaoh’s daughter (1 Kin. 3:1), although the Song provides no evidence for this conclusion. Others favor Abishag, the Shunammite who cared for King David (1 Kin. 1:1–4, 15). An unknown maiden from Shunem, whose family had possibly been employed by Solomon (8:11), seems most reasonable. She would have been Solomon’s first wife (Eccl. 9:9), before he sinned by adding 699 other wives and 300 concubines (1 Kin. 11:3).

In contrast to the two distorted extremes of ascetic abstinence and lustful perversion outside of marriage, Solomon’s ancient love song exalts the purity of marital affection and romance. It parallels and enhances other portions of Scripture which portray God’s plan for marriage, including the beauty and sanctity of sexual intimacy between husband and wife. The Song rightfully stands alongside other classic Scripture passages which expand on this theme (Gen. 2:24; Ps. 45; Prov. 5:15–23; 1 Cor. 7:1–5; 13:1–8; Eph. 5:18–33; Col. 3:18, 19; 1 Pet. 3:1–7). Hebrews 13:4 4 `Let' marriage `be' had in honor among all, and `let' the bed `be' undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge. captures the heart of this song: “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”

From The MacArthur Daily Bible Copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson Bibles, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc, Nashville, TN 37214, www.thomasnelson.com.

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