Reading for Today:

• Song of Solomon 5:1 Chapter 5 1 I am come into my garden, my sister, `my' bride: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends; Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. –6:13
• Psalms 104:24-30 24 O Jehovah, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all: The earth is full of thy riches. 25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide, Wherein are things creeping innumerable, Both small and great beasts. 26 There go the ships; There is leviathan, whom thou hast formed to play therein. 27 These wait all for thee, That thou mayest give them their food in due season. 28 Thou givest unto them, they gather; Thou openest thy hand, they are satisfied with good. 29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled; Thou takest away their breath, they die, And return to their dust. 30 Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created; And thou renewest the face of the ground.
• Proverbs 24:19-20 19 Fret not thyself because of evil-doers; Neither be thou envious at the wicked: 20 For there shall be no reward to the evil man; The lamp of the wicked shall be put out.
• 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Chapter 13 1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have `the gift of' prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And if I bestow all my goods to feed `the poor', and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Love suffereth long, `and' is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; 6 rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; 7 beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Love never faileth: but whether `there be' prophecies, they shall be done away; whether `there be' tongues, they shall cease; whether `there be' knowledge, it shall be done away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; 10 but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known. 13 But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Notes:

Song of Solomon 5:1 Chapter 5 1 I am come into my garden, my sister, `my' bride: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends; Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. I have. While the guests feasted, the couple consummated their marriage (Gen. 29:23; Deut. 22:13–21) and Solomon announced the blessing (Gen. 2:25). Eat, O friends! Given the intimate and private nature of sexual union, it seems difficult to understand anyone but God speaking these words (Prov. 5:21). This is the divine affirmation of sexual love between husband and wife as holy and beautiful.

1 Corinthians 13:1 Chapter 13 1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. –13 Spiritual gifts were present in Corinth (1:7); right doctrine was even in place (11:2); but love was absent. This led to the quarrels and exhibitions of selfishness and pride that plagued the church—notably in the area of spiritual gifts. Instead of selfishly and jealously desiring showy gifts which they don’t have, believers should pursue the greatest thing of all—love for one another. This chapter is considered by many the greatest literary passage ever penned by Paul. It is central to his earnestly dealing with spiritual gifts (chaps. 12–14), because after discussing the endowment of gifts (chap. 12) and before presenting the function of gifts (chap. 14), he addresses the attitude necessary in all ministry in the church (chap. 13).

1 Corinthians 13:1 Chapter 13 1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. tongues of men. That this gift was actual languages is established in Acts 2:4 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. –12, affirmed in this text by Paul’s calling it “of men”—clearly a reference to human language. This was the gift which the Corinthians prized so highly, abused so greatly, and counterfeited so disastrously. God gave the ability to speak in a language not known to the speaker, as a sign with limited function (14:1–33). tongues…of angels. The apostle was writing in general hypothetical terms. There is no biblical teaching of any special angelic language that people could learn to speak. love. Self-giving love that is more concerned with giving than receiving ( John 3:16 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. ; 14:1;Matt. 5:44, 45; John 13:1 Chapter 13 1 Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto his Father, having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end. , 34, 35; 15:9; Rom. 5:10; Eph. 2:4–7; Phil. 2:2; Col. 3:14; Heb. 10:24). Without love, no matter how linguistically gifted one is to speak his own language, other languages, or even (hypothetically) the speech of angels, his speech is noise only. In New Testament times, rites honoring the pagan deities Cybele, Bacchus, and Dionysius included ecstatic noises accompanied by gongs, cymbals, and trumpets. Unless the speech of the Corinthians was done in love, it was no better than the gibberish of pagan ritual.

1 Corinthians 13:4 4 Love suffereth long, `and' is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, –7 In the previous comments (vv. 1–3), the focus is on the emptiness produced when love is absent from ministry. In these verses, the fullness of love is described, in each case by what love does. Love is action, not abstraction. Positively, love is patient with people and gracious to them with generosity. Negatively, love never envies, or brags, or is arrogant, since that is the opposite of selfless service to others. Never rude or overbearing, love never wants its own way, is not irritated or angered in personal offense, and finds no pleasure in someone else’s sin, even the sin of an enemy. On the positive side again, love is devoted to truth in everything. With regard to “all things” within God’s righteous and gracious will, love protects, believes, hopes, and endures what others reject.

DAY 3: What about interpretations of Song of Solomon that allergorize it to mean God’s love for Israel or Christ’s love for the church?

The Song has suffered strained interpretations over the centuries by those who use the “allegorical” method of interpretation, claiming that this song has no actual historical basis, but rather that it depicts God’s love for Israel and/or Christ’s love for the church. The misleading idea from hymnology that Christ is the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys results from this method (2:1). The “typological” variation admits the historical reality, but concludes that it ultimately pictures Christ’s bridegroom love for His bride the church.

A more satisfying way to approach Solomon’s Song is to take it at face value and interpret it in the normal historical sense, understanding the frequent use of poetic imagery to depict reality. To do so understands that Solomon recounts phases of his relationship with the Shulamite: 1) his own days of courtship, 2) the early days of his first marriage, followed by 3) the maturing of this royal couple through the good and bad days of life. The Song of Solomon expands on the ancient marriage instructions of Genesis 2:24 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. , thus providing spiritual music for a lifetime of marital harmony. It is given by God to demonstrate His intention for the romance and loveliness of marriage, the most precious of human relations and “the grace of life” (1 Pet. 3:7).

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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