SS 6: She's Special

Song of Solomon 6:3 "I am my lover's and my lover is mine; he browses among the lilies."

This is a couple that has given themselves completely over to the other. What a concept. And since she is the lily among the thorns, I read this as him looking her over, loving her. His one lily. He describes the large numbers of women available to him, but this, this one girl who tends a vineyard, an inauspicious peasant girl, this is the one he wants to be with, and devote his time and energy to. That seems like quite the measure of devotion on his part.

Every part of her body is beautiful to him. What a lovely way to describe the physical attraction of your loved one.

SS 1: We Meet the Couple

Song of Solomon 1:2 "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—for your love is more delightful than wine. "

Song of Solomon is underway. The love book. The book you should read if you are trying to hook up with someone of the opposite sex, or a king or a vineyard girl.

The language is pretty intense here, not bothering to hide or use euphemisms. He is a king in search of true love. She is a laborer who tends her brothers' vineyards. Not exactly a match made in heaven at first sight. And she, though she is falling in love with the king, appears to be very self conscious of her dark skin. This is a characteristic presumably not congruent with the typical royal woman of the king's court. He wouldn't typically want someone from the laboring class. But it didn't matter. She's beautiful, and is speaking to him as though she sincerely wants to be with him, and not just because he is royalty.

Sweeter than perfume, more delightful than wine, this is the language used by the two to describe how they feel about the other. He doesn't try to mask that he is drawn by her beauty. But it isn't like, "Yo, you're hot, lets get in bed." He offers descriptions with specific examples: a mare in Pharaoh's chariot squad. He is a cluster of henna blossoms. Her eyes are like doves.

Then he describes their house, cedar and firs. They don't live in some ghetto mud hut or a tent.

Ps. 48: God's Eternal Beauty

Psalm 48:2 "It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King."

God is eternally strong, and also eternally...eternal. Which blows my mind like nothing I have ever tried to figure out. Sit there for a second, and ponder eternity. A state of never ending. Its equally as befuddling as it is horrifying. Its impossible to figure out, because its not our nature. You live, then you die.

But anyway. I had to consider the words of this chapter. Not much is made of the beauty of God to this point. Creation, beautiful. Women, beautiful. The tabernacle, the temple, beautiful. But here God is described as beautiful. An invisible God is beautiful. This is beyond appearance. Incredible that with just the presence of God, a place becomes beautiful. It assumes that character. The mountain, the city of God, beautiful because of the presence of God. If God is in you...