Song of Solomon

I have preached in the S of S probably 3 times through 10 years here. But I use it for premarital counseling when we talk about physical relationships within marriage.

My answer to the 3rd question is "Yes" :laugh: I think it is both a true story and a story of God's love.

 

We're actually going through it during Children's church.





















(seriously, I use it in the settings Tom described, as well as the final part of our dating series we do...the portion which we split up the genders)

 

Agreed :thumbs:

 

I always used to think of Song of Solomon as this like love story and then the last time I studied it I saw it, thanks to the Holy Spirit, in a whole new light as a testimony of God's love to us, but I think I had to be truly ready to see it like that before I could.

 

It is a great book for counsel and it show us Christ's love for the Church.

 

I read it to my wife when I want to get amorous....

Nothing like telling her her teeth look like goats to make her want to kiss me!

 

Wow, not many people get the real story.

To answer the OP, I preach it as I would any other verses in the Bible. I reference it a lot when I'm preaching on Love. Like Superwoman said, it really is the best love story ever told.

 

You romantic stud... :wavey:

 

I don't preach much, though when I have, I haven't preached on the Song of Solomon. I don't think it is terribly appropriate for a pre-teen audience.

I can't recall one. However, my Sunday School class is currently studying the book.

I believe it is intended to interpreted in a very practical, straightforward way. It is an oriental (as in, Middle Eastern) opera presenting an intimate relationship (including numerous sexual descriptions) between a man and woman.

I think we can see God's love for us manifested in the way a bridegroom yearns for his bride, but I do not primarily interpret the book that way.

 

Isn't the bride the Church and the bridegroom Christ? If so then the book is precisely about God' love for us?

I also don't know about an opera. I thought it was more of a play but you could be right.

 

I don't make that the guiding principle of interpretation though. It seems to literally be about a man and woman. I tend to interpret literally unless the text tells me to interpret it otherwise.

I don't believe that thinking of it as a play is bad at all. The reason I think of it as an opera is that there seems to be a chorus singing/speaking to the lovers as a third party, much like a chorus would in an opera.

Plus, the book is known as "The Song of Solomon" or "The Song of Songs", so I tend to think of it in passionate musical terms.

 

Logical... :thumbs:

 

I have preached on it several times, probably once every 2 years or so.

Both. There is a real literal story here of two lovers but in their relationship we see a picture of Christ's love for the church, God's love for Israel, and His love for us. At least one reason we need to take our marriage relationships so seriously is that they are designed to picture our relationship with God. When we mess that up with divorce and adultery we destroy that picture.

I think Opera is a good description of SoS. It is poetic in its nature. To me the keys to understanding SoS are to first look at the entire book. Don't isolate single verses or take things out of context. The second key is to understand that the events of the book are not chronological but conversational. As this couple shares the memories of their courtship and marriage they skip around some. To me it is almost like they are saying, "remember this?" and then "yea, but do you remember this?"

It is a beautiful part of God's word.

When I preach on SoS I usually include a statement of my goals in the introduction. They are usually something like:

 

Excellent...

 

I led a Ladies Bible Study class a few years ago, and Song of Solomon was part of the curriculum. It was challenging, to say the least. I agree with those of you who believe it's about a real man and woman, but a picture of Christ and the Church. The best book I have ever read on SoS was Watchman Nee's book called Song of Songs. Excellent book!