February 2017
The Song of Solomon
February Dates to Note:
MEETING WILL BE HELD:
Date:
___________________ Time: ____________________________________________
Place: ______________________________________________________________________
Person to Contact with Questions: ________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION TO SONG OF SOLOMON:
Monday, February 6, 7:00 p.m., Room 482-86, Minneapolis Campus
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BEFORE YOUR SMALL GROUP MEETING
1. Read Song of Solomon.
a) We suggest you read through Theme and Purpose on page 4 and “Who or What
Is . . . ? on page 5 before you begin your reading.
b) Use the “To Guide Your Reading” section on pages 6 - 8 to help you think through
what you read, paying particular attention to the questions in boldface.
c) If possible, attend or listen online to Pastor Cornils’ presentation on Song of
Solomon.
2. Read and recite this month’s memory verse often! It is:
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. – Song of Solomon 8:7a
Our goal and prayer is that you will walk away from each study having had at least one
important insight that informs your faith and your knowledge of God’s Word. In other
words, we hope you will discover a “message” just for you!
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AT YOUR SMALL GROUP MEETING
Welcome
Welcome to the February meeting of your Living the Message Bible discovery group. In order to
keep to your agreed-upon time frame, place a clock where it is clearly visible or ask someone to
be “timekeeper” and let the group know when 15 minutes remain for discussion and closing.
Opening Prayer
Pause to quiet your hearts and minds with a few moments of silent prayer. Then have someone
open with his or her own prayer or pray the following together:
Dear God, you do say through your beloved Son: Blessed are they who hear God’s word. O
how inexpressible wonderful and great your goodness and patience. O God, grant all of us your
grace and enlighten us with your truth. Praise, honor and thanks be to you. Amen. – Martin
Luther
This Month’s Memory Verse
Recite this month’s memory verse (including the book, chapter, and verse) together as a group.
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. – Song of Solomon 8:7a
Getting Under Way
Share a favorite love story from film or literature or real life. Tell why this story is so memorable
for you and what it taught you about love.
Setting the Scene
Before beginning discussion, invite your small group facilitator and anyone else who attended or
listened to Pastor Cornils’ introduction to Song of Solomon to share what they learned.
Discuss Together
Go to “To Guide Your Reading” on pages 6 – 8. Discuss together the questions in boldface
and/or others of the questions that particularly struck members of your group. Remember, a
good discussion on fewer questions is better than rushing through all the questions. If you wish,
ask if any of the questions (boldface or not) were of particular interest to someone and begin
there.
Following your discussion, go to “For Next Month” on the next page for reminders about
your next meeting and closing prayer.
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FOR NEXT MONTH
Our next meeting will be in March:
Date:
___________________ Time: ____________________________________________
Place: ______________________________________________________________________
Person to Contact with Questions: ________________________________________________
March’s Reading Assignment: Deuteronomy
March’s Memory Verse:
For there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him you search for him with all your
heart and soul. Deuteronomy 4: 29
Save the date! Pastor’s Introduction to Deuteronomy with Pastor Drew Bakken.
Monday, March 6, 7:00 p.m., Gronseth Fellowship Hall, West Campus
CLOSING PRAYER
Gather requests for prayers, encouraging both things for which God’s help and guidance is
needed and things for which people are grateful. If someone is comfortable doing so, ask that
person to pray aloud a prayer bringing these concerns to God, or take time for silent prayer
during which these concerns can be brought to God. End with a prayer of your own, by reciting
the Lord’s Prayer, or by praying the following together:
Dear God, who am I that my soul is named the bride of God, and the Son of God its bridegroom.
Since you want it so, O be praised and thanked in all eternity. – Martin Luther
FOLLOWING YOUR SMALL GROUP MEETING
Ponder
Death sweeps everything away. It yields to no one, and once you are in its power you cannot
escape. So with love: It takes control of your life, and like a gigantic fire, it cannot be doused.
Love must be treated with the greatest caution and respect.
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Song of Solomon Theme and Purpose
Martin Luther: [This] book is a song of praise, in which Solomon praises God for obedience, as
for a gift of God. For where God is not the householder and ruler, there is neither obedience nor
peace in any station of life; but where there is obedience and good rule, there God dwells, and
kisses and embraces His dear bride with His Word, which is the kiss of His lips.
– Preface to the Old Testament
Like Luther, scholars for centuries have interpreted the Song of Solomon as an allegory
depicting God's love for Israel (in Jewish communities) or of Christ's love for the church and for
individual believers (in Christian communities). Such a reading has given it meaning for
countless generations of Jews and Christians, which reminds us that the biblical texts function
as living word in a variety of times, cultures, and unexpected ways.
Modern scholarship, on the other hand, argues that it also is important to read it as what it
appears to be: poetry celebrating human love and sexuality, which biblical faith regards as good
gifts of God in creation. The Song takes unbridled delight in the bonds of love, even while
recognizing the pains and turmoil they can bring along the way toward their fulfillment.
Taking the latter of the two views above, the Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs [1:1]) should
be read as a unified collection of poetry on the theme of human love, following the relationship
of a man and a woman from courtship and onward. As such, it praises the glories and delights
of love between a man and a woman, an element of God's good creation. The delights of love
have always and everywhere found their highest expression in poetry, which is how the Song of
Songs must be read. It uses language that is vivid, imaginative, unguarded, and ecstatic in its
depiction of the most personal and intimate of human relationships. Read as such, it is a
euphoric expression of human experience, which in itself reflects the generous gifts of the
Creator.
The question of how the Song of Solomon found a place in the biblical canon, for either Jews or
Christians, is likely to occur almost immediately to any thoughtful reader. Read on its own terms
as love poetry, rather than through the lenses of tradition, it stands as a frankly secular poem,
depicting the deepening affections and passions between two very young lovers. There is no
mention of God and there are no explicit theological themes. The Song's invocation of Solomon,
however, does suggest a connection with Israel's wisdom tradition, material that typically deals
with issues of human life and conduct in this world.
Though ascribed to Solomon the king, like the Psalms and Proverbs, there is no way of verifying
its authorship. The language suggests to some that the final form of the Song of Solomon was
attained in the fourth or third century B.C.E. Other interpreters have argued, however, that the
Song may, indeed, have originated during the Solomonic era.
Content on this page draws primarily from www.enterthebible.org’s summary and overview of Song of Solomon,
written by Fred Gaiser, Professor of Old Testament and David Stewart, Director of Library Services at Luther
Seminary, and is used with permission.
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Who or What Is . . . ?
Creation, love, sexuality, and God. Although the Song of Solomon nowhere speaks directly of
God, its inclusion as part of the Bible's wisdom literature makes clear that it understands human
love and sexuality as gifts of the Creator to be enjoyed by God's human creatures. Twentiethcentury theologian Karl Barth describes vividly the Bible's surprising delight in "the eros for
which there is no…shame," both in Genesis 2 and in the Song: "The Song of Songs is one long
description of the rapture, the unquenchable yearning and the restless willingness and
readiness, with which both partners in this covenant [their relationship with God the Creator]
hasten towards an encounter….God the Lord and sexual eros…are brought into close
relationship….The authors of Gen. 2 and the Song of Songs speak of man and woman as they
do because they know that the broken covenant is still for God the unbroken covenant, intact
and fulfilled on both sides" (Church Dogmatics III/1, pages 313-315).
In other words, in its daring and provocative praise of love and sexuality, the Song of Solomon
celebrates the relationship between man and woman under God as God intends it and as God
still sees it: as pure and innocent, even in all its full physical sensuality--a sense that, despite all
difficulties, human lovers can still sometimes experience and enjoy.
Garden and other nature images. The Song's frequent use of images from nature, including
several explicit references to a "garden," is bound to remind readers of the Genesis story of the
Garden of Eden. The poet wants to transport the audience back to a time of innocence: a world
of harmony among man and woman and God, a time of sexuality without shame.
Love and death. According to the Song, "love is strong as death" (8:6). That is, love, like death,
is an elemental force beyond human control, a power that humans cannot escape. Human
language gets something right when it speaks of "falling" in love. That does not mean, of
course, that love and death are outside the realm of divine concern or of human ethics; but it
does give readers pause in any attempt to trivialize or to "master" too easily the human
experience of love and sexuality.
Marriage, human and divine. The Bible uses marriage frequently and vividly as a metaphor to
describe the divine-human relationship (Isaiah 54:5; 62:5; Romans 7:4; Ephesians 5:22-23;
Revelation 19:7-9; etc.). The themes of delight and celebration of love that course through the
Song of Solomon do not require allegory to be read as reflecting the love of God for God's
people.
Sexuality and intimacy. In recent years, similarities or parallels have been noted between the
harmony between man and woman in Eden (Genesis 2) and in the Song of Songs. The closely
related themes of intimacy and exclusivity also come into play in this book--intimacy between
human lovers and in the tenderness of God's love towards humanity; exclusivity as
possessiveness, anger, and jealousy when vows or promises are broken.
Content on this page is quoted from www.enterthebible.org’s summary and overview of Song of Solomon, written by
Fred Gaiser, Professor of Old Testament and David Stewart, Director of Library Services at Luther Seminary, and is
used with permission.
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To Guide Your Reading
Use the following questions to guide your reading and personal reflection, jotting down your
thoughts in the space between each question. For those who wish, we have suggested a twoweek schedule to help you in your reading and reflection.
Questions in boldface are the ones we suggest you consider at your small group
meeting. Groups are free, however, to focus on whatever questions are of most interest and
concern to the group. Let the Spirit lead!
WEEK 1 – Song of Solomon 1:1 – 3:5
The young woman and young man introduce themselves with descriptions of their longing for
one another. The woman is beckoned by the voice of her beloved, and she declares her love
and allegiance to him, rising from her bed to seek the one "whom my soul loves"
1. Chapter 1 of the book speaks of the joys and dangers of attraction in the early
stages of love. What would you say some of these joys and dangers are? How can
shared faith be of help?
2. In 2:24, the call to “arise” and “come away” recalls Genesis 2:24, which speaks of a man
leaving his father and mother and clinging to his wife. Both people in a marriage are
called into a new relationship and place. As the initial euphoria lessens and the day-today demands of life pull at couples, it can take effort to maintain a deep closeness, deal
with conflict, take each other’s priorities seriously, compromise, act selflessly, be as
attentive, or admit wrong-doing. Loving relationships between friends and family take
similar work. In what ways is this similar to or different from relationship with God?
3. The new season of spring into which the lovers are called is described in language that
has become familiar in Christian wedding services: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and
come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on
the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our
land" (2:10-13). When have you experienced in your life or faith a time of “winter being
past,“ “rain” being over and gone, “flowers” appearing, and the desire to sing? What
brought you through the “winter”?
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WEEK 2 – Song of Solomon 3:6 – 6:3
This section begins with the woman envisioning a royal wedding procession, most likely her own
“dream wedding” (3:6-11). We then hear the young man vividly and poetically describing his
beloved (4:1 – 5:1). Hearing his voice, the young woman goes to seek him, but is detained by
city sentinels, or watchmen, who perhaps saw her running through the dark streets at night and
thought she was a prostitute. After being released, we hear her describing the one she loves to
her friends as they wonder where he has gone (5:2 – 6:3).
1. In this section and elsewhere, we come across imagery that may surprise us. Most
men probably would not win points telling a woman today that her hair is “like a
flock of goats” (4:1) or her teeth “like a flock of shorn ewes” (4:2). Even images
from nature often do not translate well between cultures or eras. Which images in
the book so far have you found most meaningful? Confusing? Humorous? Do any
describe an aspect of your relationship with God or questions about God?
2. Relationships can be harder to maintain than to begin. In 5:2-16, what do you think is
happening? Is the young wife being ignored? Feeling doubt over her husband’s
continued love for her? Immature? What advice would you give her? What advice would
you give to someone who felt God was “ignoring” him or had doubts about God’s love for
him? What role does maturity play in relationships—and in faith?
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WEEK 3 – Song of Solomon 6:4 – 8:14
The man returns to a loving description of his beloved, his "only one." She, in turn, seeks him in
her fantasy (6:4-13). A dialogue then takes place in which the two lovers declare their longing,
love, commitment, and passion for each other (7:1-8:7). As the section ends, the woman has
reconciled with her brothers and the two lovers once again declare their love (8:8-14).
1. In reading 7:1-13, we are reminded that while it can be easy to mistake physical
attraction for love, true love takes time, acceptance, forgiveness, honor, attentiveness,
communication, honesty, forgiveness, deep commitment, and more! It does not just
happen. But in the end, true love does stand the test of time. Have you known couples
whose love has “stood the test of time”? As much as one can know from the “outside
looking in,” what do you think encouraged or allowed them to make the relationship
stronger instead of letting it fall apart during the inevitable storms of life?
2. Song of Solomon 8:6-7, finds the woman yearning for a “seal” that will protect against
forces that might harm or tear away at the love she shares with her lover. To what
degree do you think it is true that “love is as strong as death” and/or that “many waters
cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it”? How do these phrases reflect ways in
which God in Christ has loved us?
3. In A Testament to Freedom, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:
…The sole purpose of happiness as well as unhappiness, poverty as well as
wealth, honor as well as disgrace, living at home or abroad, living and dying is to
love all the more strongly, purely, fully. It is the one thing beyond all distinctions,
before all distinctions, in all distinctions. “Love is as strong as death” (Song of
Songs 8:6).
In what ways might Bonhoeffer’s words summarize not only the importance of
love in general, but also Christ’s love for the church and/or the Christian love we
are called to show to others?
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