Songs2

Of course this poem or song wasn't written with chapter numbers and verse numbers, they have been added. Verse 8 might have been a better place to start chapter 2, for it starts off a new series of pictures. In the first chapter she had gone looking for him, now he comes looking for her. Later (3:1-) she will look for him again.

In this next scene she is at home in the country or on the edge of it. She hears his voice, she looks out and she sees him bounding down the hillside towards the house, looking for her. He reminds her of a young, sure-footed gazelle, or a strong young stag. He arrives outside and peers in looking for her. He calls to her to come out with her.

How can this apply to us and Jesus? Isn't Jesus always with us (Heb 13:5b, Mt 28:20b)? Yes but the awareness of his presence varies. Sometimes he makes his presence clearly felt. He comes by his Spirit and makes us aware of his presence. He calls us by the Spirit. We hear, look at, and catch a sense of his desire to come close. He draws near and calls us to come aside. To know his presence in this way often means we have to put aside the things of the world that would impose on us. The key point in this passage is that he comes to us, he draws near to us (in our awareness) and calls us to come to him, to come in awareness that he is there and wants to talk. Will we listen, will we pause, will we come and commune with him?

D. Prayer Suggestion:

Oh Lord, help me to be sensitive to your wonderful presence, help to catch the call of your voice. I want to be with you.

Chapter: SONGS 2

Passage: SONGS 2:11-13

A. Find Out:

1. What has happened? v.11

2. What sign is there of that? v.12a

3. What season has come? v.12b

4. What is heard? v.12c

5. What other signs confirm this? v.13a

6. So what does he again encourage her to do? v.13b

B. Think:

1. Why was it now a time for going out and about?

2. Of what, do you think, is singing a sign?

3. Why was it good to be out and about?

C. Comment:

She has watched her lover come and now he speaks, calling her to come out with her. Why? Because it's a good time to be out; the bad weather has gone and new life is springing up everywhere. Flowers appear and as new life comes, the heart is lightened and that is reflected by a song on the lips. We tend to be a more restrained society that has mass music provided for it, but in the rural culture, singing is always part of life, especially when the heart is lifted up, and spring is a particular time for that. As they went out and about, doves could be heard, early fruit seen, and blossom on other plants, everything says this is a time of new life, a time when love springs forth.

There are phases or seasons in the kingdom of God , and in our lives. There are times when it seems like winter and all is still or dying within us, it seems. But then suddenly, it seems, the Spirit is moving and new life gushes forth. When the signs are there that he is moving, it is imperative that we join in. The girl could have stayed in and missed the beauty of spring, missed the wonder of her lover's love. When the Spirit of God starts moving, we can remain lethargic, indifferent, still caught up in the affairs of the world, and if we do that, we miss out on the wonder of His love as He pours it forth.

D. Prayer Suggestion:

Oh Lord, help me to be sensitive to the seasons in your kingdom, help me to respond when you start moving.

Chapter: SONGS 2

Passage: SONGS 2:14-15

A. Find Out:

1. How does he see her? v.14a

2. What does her first ask her to do? v.14b

3. What does he then ask her to do? v.15a

4. What do they do? v.15b

5. What is the state of their “vineyards”? v.15c

B. Think:

1. What is his yearning in v.14?

2. What do you think the reference to foxes means?

3. At what stage is their love?

C. Comment:

Verse 14 is really just a continuation of the man's call to the girl (so don't be put off by any sub-heading above it). He has been calling her within the house to come out and come away with him. He says she's like a beautiful dove on a rocky hillside which cannot be seen. Make yourself known to me, is what he is saying.

Now, what about “catch the foxes”. The young foxes would damage the vines and have to be driven out. The older foxes would eat the grapes when they are formed. He says their “vineyards”, their feelings for each other (?) are in bloom; it is the early days of their love that is blossoming but not yet bringing forth fruit. So, he says, don't let anything come in that will damage our growing love, deal with anything early on that might harm the growth of our love, don't let anything spoil it.

We have in this passage, therefore, the yearning of the man for the girl, for her to come to him, for her to deal with anything that might stop their love developing.

If we take this as allegory, pointing to facets of our spiritual life, we must see it as Jesus calling to us to come out of our hiding place to be with him and to deal with any little things in our lives that would spoil or hinder our relationship with him.

D. Prayer Suggestion:

Oh Lord, help me to put aside the “domestic chores” and to come to you, help me to deal with the small things that hinder me.

Chapter: SONGS 2/3

Passage: SONGS 2:16 - 3:5

A. Find Out:

1. Where is he and until when? v.16,17a

2. What does she want him to do? v.17b

3. How long did she wait, where? v.1

4. What did she eventually decide to do? v.2

5. Who did she encounter in her search? v.3

6. When did she find her love and what did she do with him? v.4

B. Think:

1. What occupation had her lover had (see back to 1;7,8)

2. So where had he been?

3. What does the first part of chapter 3 tell us about her?

C. Comment:

Verses 16 & 17 are difficult to comprehend and commentators vary immensely, unless we see them as the run in to chapter 3. Should the chapter have started at v.16? Her young man is away, still guarding the sheep at night in the valleys (see v.1 with v.16). [The alternative approach to these two verses sees them as describing him spending the night with her until she sends him away in the morning, but that makes the follow on in chapter 3 difficult].

She longs for him to come to her. In the previous scene it had been his yearning for her. Now it is her yearning for him. From her bed by the window she looks out for signs of him coming to her. Eventually she can wait no longer. With a sense of desperation she gets up and goes out to look for him. She encounters the watchmen of the town, patrolling the streets. She asks them if they had seen her lover but apparently not. But scarcely has she left them when she meets him and almost drags him back to her home.

The picture here, spiritually, is of the Christian who just yearns to encounter Jesus, who can't put up with just waiting any longer, but who cries out and goes and seeks him, whatever it may cost. This is the yearning so often that precedes revival.

D. Prayer Suggestion:

Oh Lord, please come, please send your Spirit. We can't wait any more. We are desperate for you. Come to our house, we need you!

Chapter: SONGS 3

Passage: SONGS 3:6-11

A. Find Out:

1. How is Solomon first described? v.6

2. Who accompanies him? v.7,8

3. What is his carriage like? v.9,10

4. What are the people exhorted to do? v.11a

5. How is Solomon adorned? v.11b

B. Think:

1. How do you think this passage reads in contrast to what has gone before in the Song so far?

2. What do you think that says about the people of the Song?

C. Comment:

One minute we are in a love song about a young, apparently simple-living couple, the next we are in a narrative describing the pomp and majesty of Solomon. Why?

Perhaps it is just that to accentuate the contrast. Perhaps this narrative is being used to highlight even more clearly the simplicity of the love of this couple. Perhaps the man of this couple was Solomon, perhaps as a youth. We are reminded in this passage that Solomon was very rich and affluent (see 1 Kings 10:23) and that when he travelled he had a glorious coach and travelled with the biggest and best body guard possible. When he travelled it was worth going out to see as he rode with this escort and crowned with the kings crown.

Yes the verses of the song are in such contrast to this. They speak simply about the simple love of this young couple. They spend time in the woods alone, not on affairs of state but on affairs of the heart. The young man looked after sheep, not after a nation, and he walked or ran everywhere, instead of being driven in a state coach. If Solomon wrote this Song, perhaps he wrote it to recapture the wonder of his first love, the love that he had known when he was a youth without the responsibilities of State.

D. Prayer Suggestion:

Oh Lord, may my love for you be simple but powerful, unfettered by the cares of the world. Stir in me again the love I had at first, when I first met you.

RECAP - "Seeking One Another" - Songs 2-3

SUMMARY :

In this second group of 5 studies we have seen:

- Her lover coming looking for her

- His words of encouragement to come out

- Her yearnings for him in the night

- Her desire that pushes her to go and find him

- The contrasting picture of Solomon coming

COMMENT:

If we see this second set of Studies as Act 2 then it has 3 scenes. Perhaps we might imagine them better on a TV screen than on the stage of a playhouse. Act 2, scene 1 is the girl in her house and her lover coming down the hillside to take her out with words of encouragement. Act 2, scene 2 is the girl alone at night dreaming of her lover. Eventually she can stand it no longer and has to get up and go and search for him. Eventually she finds him and takes him to her home. In Act 2, scene 3, we cut to a news-cast to see the royal procession, a stark contrast to all that has gone before.

LESSONS?

Again we'll consider how this pictures something of our relationship with Jesus. First in scene 1, he comes to woo us out from out place of security in our home, the place of our dwelling. He wants us to travel with him (Mt 4:19,20). In scene 2, having experienced something of him, we find a growing desire to know him even more, a desire that eventually says, “I must seek him and find him!” (Phil 3:8). Scene 3 makes us realise the beauty and simplicity of this relationship which is not based on worldly things (1 Cor 1:27)

PRAY:

Thank you, Lord, for the simplicity and wonder of your love for me. Lord, I want to know you more and more.

PART 3 : "Appreciation of Beauty and a Fragrant Garden"

This next Part is mostly taken up with the descriptions of the girl by the man, which then moves into the description of her as a garden and her response to that.