Dear Friends,
Probably one of the most generally neglected books in the whole of the Bible is The Song of Solomon. The reason for the neglect is, no doubt, to be partially found in the failure to decide just what “kind” of a book the Song of Solomon is, and just what it is supposed to be saying to us as the believing people of God in our own day. May we just make the subject of our letter for this time, then, a brief outline of the background and meaning of Solomon's Song, and a turning of our eyes to one of the greenest pastures in the whole of the Scriptures?
The great Puritan John Flavel describes the Song of Solomon as, “A crystal stream of pure spiritual love , gliding sweetly betwixt two pleasant banks – Christ and the Church.” So it is. There are two main characters in the book, the “beloved”, and the “spouse,” sometimes referred to as “the Shulamite”, or as “my love”. On the surface, the “beloved” of the song is Solomon himself, and the “spouse” is that young Shulamite woman whom Solomon has betrothed to himself. The songs that “glide sweetly” between them constitute the words of the book, and they are the expressions of their deeply-rooted devotion to one another – the “beloved's” devotion never failing or waning, but the devotion of the “spouse” very often ebbing as well as flowing. But, “a greater than Solomon is here,” so that those expressions of devotion become as John Flavel says, “a crystal stream of pure spiritual love,” and the “two pleasant banks” that those words glide between are not just simply King Solomon and his bride, but King Immanuel and His Spiritual Bride – the Church – for the Church is the Bride of Christ.
Essential to the understanding of the Song of Solomon is some kind of a background against which to set the book; and for this purpose, it is good to remember the customs and procedures that surrounded a Hebrew marriage. The first thing that took place was the “betrothal” of the young bride to her bridegroom. This took place when the father of the bride gave his daughter in marriage to the bridegroom and when the bridegroom paid a “dowry” for “the hand” of his young bride. There then followed a time of separation called “the interval.” During this time, the bridegroom returned to his father's house, and the bride remained in her own home, preparing herself for marriage, until that day when her beloved would come for her with a great procession of his friends, and would convey her back to his father's house where the wedding feast was spread and enjoyed for a period of seven days.
How vivid that background! Has the Church of Christ – Christ's Bride – not been “betrothed” to her heavenly Husband in the Covenant of grace from time immemorial? Was it not that very fact that Christ rehearsed before His disciples in the upper room when He prayed to His Father in the great High Priestly prayer – “Thine they were, and thou gavest them me”? Indeed, it was; as Paul reminded the Church at Corinth, she was “betrothed to Christ as a chaste virgin,” and should labour to remember such a great blessing in her soul. With regards to the payment of the “dowry”, could anything be more precious that the fact that this has been paid with crimson coin drawn from the Heavenly Bridegroom's very veins?
“From heaven He came and sought her,
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.”
There is no more outstanding truth in the whole of the Bible than the fact that the Church of God is purchased with “his own blood” in the person of “the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” So precious is the church to God – because she is to be “to the praise of the glory of his grace” – that He would only redeem her and betroth her to Himself with “his own blood”, and nothing or no one else is under that enormous dowry price, but the Bride for whom Christ bled! We are now in the “interval” of the old Hebrew marriage: our Bridegroom has returned to His Father's home above, and we are left in our “house of clay” for the time being. During this time, there is much “preparation” on hand if we know the sanctifying work of God's Holy Spirit in our lives. And then, one day, a day which the Father has set in His own purposes, the cry will go up, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh,” and Christ shall appear “with clouds descending.” Then, will come the “wedding feast” for all the ransomed church of God. Then, she will be “adorned as a bride” to meet her Husband and that eternal union will never be broken, for it is what “God has joined together.”
Such is the union, then, that the Song of Solomon is pointing us to; and we may read that book, reading far beneath that earthly love that is set forth there in the devotion of Solomon and his bride, to that heavenly and “spiritual love;” which is meant to flow between Christ and the Church. It is therefore, well called, “the Song of Songs, which is Solomon's.”
Again, on the surface, it is the greatest of all the songs that Solomon ever wrote. It is the one which he himself has entitled in that way, and this is because it speaks of the young Shulamite whom he has chosen above all others – although here is little in her for any to see – “What will ye see in the Shulamite?” she herself asks of him. But, again, “A greater than Solomon is here,” for, in heavenly language, it is the song of the King of kings. He, too, has chosen a bride out of this world of sin and unbelief; He has done it for the glory of His own name and mercy, for, indeed, there is nothing to be seen in this Shulamite who, by nature, is as “black as the tents of Kedar,” and who must often say of herself, “They made me the keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept.” Yet, this same “peasant maid” will one day occupy the great King's banqueting house where His banner over her will be perpetual love. How much, then, should this “Song of songs” be upon her lips? The Bible itself is “The Book of Books,” for it is the one Book which speaks of our soul's salvation. We may well think of that prayer of Christ in John 17 as “The Prayer of prayers,” for how much a prayer of our salvation that prayer was? “Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they behold my glory.” And so, this Song of Solomon's is well entitled, “The Song of Songs,” for it is the song of our salvation. As Solomon forsook the courts of his palace to seek out his bride who was going to be the subject of his song of songs, so our Lord Jesus Christ came forth, “Out of the Ivory Palaces, into this world of woe,” to “seek and to save that which was lost.”
Who else could, or should, sing such a song as this, as those who are redeemed with “the precious blood of Christ”? In “comparing earthly things with earthly,” it is the song of Solomon and his spouse; but in “comparing heavenly things with heavenly,” it is nothing less than the very psalm of Christ and His Church. In this “song” the unbeliever has no part, until it is placed within their mouths as “a new song”, when the old heart of unbelief is taken away and a “heart of flesh” implanted. Like the love of Solomon's bride, of course, the believer's love very often ebbs and flows. But, as we are shown the love of the bridegroom as ever steadfast, so we may gladly remember that the love of our heavenly Bridegroom – a million times more – “endures unchanging on.” This song can be our “song in the night.”
Yours sincerely,
W. J. Seaton
This Page Title – Song of Solomon – a neglected book. The Pastor's letter (June-July 1975) The Wicket Gate Magazine "A Continuing Witness". Internet Edition number 113 – placed on line March 2015 Wicket Gate contact address – Mr Cliff Westcombe cw@wicketgate.co.uk If you wish to be notified when each new edition goes on line please send an e-mail to the above address Magazine web address – www.wicketgate.co.uk |