Song of Songs

This Sunday we are starting a new sermon series in the Song of Songs, with its celebration of sexual intimacy within marriage and how it foreshadows God’s love to us in Jesus Christ.

It is not the easiest of books to understand with one commentator calling it ‘the most obscure book of the Old Testament’. But given the peer pressure teenagers are under in the UK to start having sex at 16 ¹; given children are now exposed to pornography as young as seven in this country ²; given long-term British couples are having less sex than ever before ³; and given the confusion around sexuality in the Church of England with the recent ‘Living in Love and Faith’ resource, it is to our loss if we ignore the one book of the Bible, which celebrates the wonder of sexual intimacy and how it fits into God’s good purposes for His world.

So, with that in mind, here are four interpretative pointers to help us navigate this most beautiful and passionate of Bible books:

It is important to recognise that this entire book of the Bible is a song (1:1a). It is called the Song of Songs. In other words, its genre is not law, not prophecy, not narrative, not apocalyptic, not a letter. It is a God-inspired love song. So it should be read as such and preached as such. Whether that means Pete and I will be warming up our vocal cords for some singing in our sermons, you will have to wait and see! But it does mean this book of the Bible wants to engage all our senses as we hear the ‘He’ and ‘She’ of the song express their love for each other.

So, look on King Solomon in all his glory (3:10). See the gazelles bounding over the hills (2:8). Smell the sachet of myrrh (1:13), the spices (4:13), the fragrance of perfume (1:3). Taste the wine (1:2), the apples (2:3), the honey (5:1). Hear the cooing of doves (2:11) and the voice of love (2:14). Touch the pillars of marble (5:15). And try to feel the strength of the mighty flames of blazing love (8:6).

Let this song capture your heart and imagination.

The song starts with a strong desire from the bride for her beloved to ‘kiss me with the kisses of his mouth … and let the king bring me into his chambers,’ which should not leave too much to the imagination about what this song is about. This is about marital love – ‘the deeply rooted urges of physical attraction, mutual love and sexual consummation between a man and a woman’. ⁴

With all the bad rap that the church gets about its attitude to sex, there is nothing prudish here. ‘How beautiful you are, my darling’ (1:15), ‘How handsome you are my beloved!’ (1:16) ‘His right hand embraces me’ (2:6). ‘Your breasts are like two fawns’ (7:3), ‘Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choice fruits’ (4:16), and so on!

For parents who have children with them in the Sunday services ⁵, you can think of this book as having a PG rating and so you might want to read through the passages first and talk with your children about it before and afterwards. But don’t be ashamed. God wants our children to be getting their sex education from him first and not the lastest Cardi B song or Netflix series. So let me encourage you to take that opportunity with this sermon series and teach your children about the wonder, beauty and sacredness of sexual love between a man and a woman within the bounds of marriage.