I’ve found some resources helpful for interpreting this often confusing book which is full of unusual symbolism and ancient cultural references. (“your hair is like a flock of goats descending from mount Gilead… your nose like the tower of Lebanon which faces towards Damascus” and such things that are incredibly meaningful and spiritually significant, but a little hard to understand right away) My study has included the materials of some who’ve done much more scholarly exploration, but it has been mostly prayerful and drawing on my own present communion and history with the author. Although there is a wealth of scholarly writings out there on Song of Solomon, it defeats the purpose of such a thing to overemphasize a scouring of the earth for all the opinions of man’s intellect to the neglect of communion with the one being theorized of. We either find him within, or we will never find him anywhere. Finding him within is what needs to stay central and to be emphasized, or we might as well do something else. I share what I’ve found because it has become heart fulfilling and life changing.
Mike Bickle has spent decades emphasizing the study of Song of Solomon, as a response to a clear call from God to make it a core message of his, and he has made his audio materials on the subject, along with his much more in-depth several hundreds of pages of written notes fully available to the public on the web. I really felt Holy Spirit’s presence strongly when I started getting into those notes, and I found the info in them very helpful. I also found Brian Simmons (missionary, pastor, and bible translator of “the passion translation”) to have insightful, well presented, impacting messages on the subject available online, free to the public as well. (on youtube) My take will be different, but I recommend those sources highly. Different catholic mystics got into this subject heavily also and recorded some of what they found. I didn’t find what I got into there as helpful.
Some today have teachings on SOS which emphasize the natural relationship between man and wife, which is great, but that is more of a surface level of the meaning. In this writing which ancient rabbi’s have called the holy of holies of all scripture, my aim is to get to the spiritual core which sexuality and romance between the genders are only a sign and shadow of. On one level, SOS is a story of a love affair between King Solomon and a common maiden, on a deeper level though, it is a picture of Christ and his bride.
Many truths and revelations and experiences are beneficial, but a few are central and essential. This unveiling of the heart to heart reality between Christ and his bride is central and essential, maybe even as much so as the revelation of the cross and resurrection, yet it is not commonly explored beyond the surface. It is one thing to say statements like “it’s all about love,” or “God is love,” but another to actually start to get what that love looks like. I hope, my journey of learning what that love looks like will help you on yours.
You may have noticed that SOS contains explicit sexual references, the kind that you wouldn’t be allowed to explain publicly in most churches. While that’s great, and it is a testimony that God isn’t prudish, and is something that may help us to become more comfortable in our own skin with our sexuality, it isn’t the emphasis of this study. Even those passages in the book which allude to physical sex acts also contain a whole different direction of symbolism and meaning which applies powerfully to our relationship with God, who is a spirit, and who we don’t have physical sexual relations with. We are created to relate to and be deeply fulfilled with him on the heart level in such a way that physical sexuality is, as said before, only a sign and shadow of. It is created intentionally as a good thing in itself, but also as a sign pointing to that perfect spiritual reality which is meant to fulfill our hearts with God, and the heart of God with us.
I’ve made the distinction very clear because some people do have physically sexual encounters with spirits, and some of these people think that’s Jesus. Those are incubus and succubus spirits and the like, it’s definitely not Jesus. He said that in the resurrection, we become like the angels of God who neither marry nor are given in marriage. So, in that reality in heaven, when we see him more fully as he is and we more fully become like him, physical sexuality passes away even though the aspects of the heart involved in it don’t. Physical sex is only for this mortal life. Physical sexuality is good and is a sign of the spiritual reality, and engages aspects of our deeper selves which are also engaged in the spiritual reality with God, but I’m being sure to put the disclaimer in there so that things aren’t taken in a strange way and so that nobody can say I encouraged them to have erotic encounters with something that they think is “Jesus.”
The sexuality in SOS, spiritual and natural, are in both cases, a powerful fuel for a pure life; one that is deeply fulfilled at the heart level in God due to the spiritual side and which doesn’t need cheap substitutes to fill the void. It is also one that views the physical side of our sexuality in a healthy way, not as something inherently dirty or shameful. Those other views can lead to a spiral of self-hatred, repression, abuse, and back again, instead of seeing things in the light and living in the light as a result. This leads to more purity, not less purity. I wonder if the reality in SOS could even be the most empowering source of self control available to us in this area, yet that isn’t my emphasis here. I’m focusing on the spiritual relationship, not behavior management or marriage tips. Song of Solomon is meant to empower us in a broader sense, to live more and more enraptured with God and spiritually centered in all areas, not only in the area of our sexuality.
Going forward, I’m looking to explore the heart of SOS, mostly verse by verse, and I’m going to draw from other places in scripture for support. I’m going to interpret these OT passages in light of Jesus Christ and his good news, as we see being done throughout the NT with many OT passages. In these verses are found many of the most impacting truths that I’ve stumbled upon anywhere. They are foundational, essential, yet mysterious and oftentimes neglected or completely missing.
This is not something to read for mere intellectual understanding, only to leave it there and move on to another subject. The revealed heart of God in SOS needs to be marinated in over time consistently. I continue to go back to SOS to meditate on these things, and my eyes are continually opened to new aspects. I can write down meanings of verses, but that is only a doorway, not the banquet itself, the value is in this becoming transformational rather than merely informational, as you yourself go through the doorway and into the substance it leads to, and come back again and again and again until it becomes such a part of you that you never leave.
Many truths and revelations and experiences are beneficial, but a few are central and essential. This unveiling of the heart to heart reality between Christ and his bride is central and essential, maybe even as much so as the revelation of the cross and resurrection, yet it is not commonly explored beyond the surface. It is one thing to say statements like “it’s all about love,” or “God is love,” but another to actually start to get what that love looks like. I hope, my journey of learning what that love looks like will help you on yours.
You may have noticed that SOS contains explicit sexual references, the kind that you wouldn’t be allowed to explain publicly in most churches. While that’s great, and it is a testimony that God isn’t prudish, and is something that may help us to become more comfortable in our own skin with our sexuality, it isn’t the emphasis of this study. Even those passages in the book which allude to physical sex acts also contain a whole different direction of symbolism and meaning which applies powerfully to our relationship with God, who is a spirit, and who we don’t have physical sexual relations with. We are created to relate to and be deeply fulfilled with him on the heart level in such a way that physical sexuality is, as said before, only a sign and shadow of. It is created intentionally as a good thing in itself, but also as a sign pointing to that perfect spiritual reality which is meant to fulfill our hearts with God, and the heart of God with us.
I’ve made the distinction very clear because some people do have physically sexual encounters with spirits, and some of these people think that’s Jesus. Those are incubus and succubus spirits and the like, it’s definitely not Jesus. He said that in the resurrection, we become like the angels of God who neither marry nor are given in marriage. So, in that reality in heaven, when we see him more fully as he is and we more fully become like him, physical sexuality passes away even though the aspects of the heart involved in it don’t. Physical sex is only for this mortal life. Physical sexuality is good and is a sign of the spiritual reality, and engages aspects of our deeper selves which are also engaged in the spiritual reality with God, but I’m being sure to put the disclaimer in there so that things aren’t taken in a strange way and so that nobody can say I encouraged them to have erotic encounters with something that they think is “Jesus.”
The sexuality in SOS, spiritual and natural, are in both cases, a powerful fuel for a pure life; one that is deeply fulfilled at the heart level in God due to the spiritual side and which doesn’t need cheap substitutes to fill the void. It is also one that views the physical side of our sexuality in a healthy way, not as something inherently dirty or shameful. Those other views can lead to a spiral of self-hatred, repression, abuse, and back again, instead of seeing things in the light and living in the light as a result. This leads to more purity, not less purity. I wonder if the reality in SOS could even be the most empowering source of self control available to us in this area, yet that isn’t my emphasis here. I’m focusing on the spiritual relationship, not behavior management or marriage tips. Song of Solomon is meant to empower us in a broader sense, to live more and more enraptured with God and spiritually centered in all areas, not only in the area of our sexuality.
Going forward, I’m looking to explore the heart of SOS, mostly verse by verse, and I’m going to draw from other places in scripture for support. I’m going to interpret these OT passages in light of Jesus Christ and his good news, as we see being done throughout the NT with many OT passages. In these verses are found many of the most impacting truths that I’ve stumbled upon anywhere. They are foundational, essential, yet mysterious and oftentimes neglected or completely missing.
This is not something to read for mere intellectual understanding, only to leave it there and move on to another subject. The revealed heart of God in SOS needs to be marinated in over time consistently. I continue to go back to SOS to meditate on these things, and my eyes are continually opened to new aspects. I can write down meanings of verses, but that is only a doorway, not the banquet itself, the value is in this becoming transformational rather than merely informational, as you yourself go through the doorway and into the substance it leads to, and come back again and again and again until it becomes such a part of you that you never leave.
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