Gender and Sex III - Song of Love ...

Thursday, Feb 25, 2010. The bible has a sincere sense for love. Its idea of love is quite broad. It knows love between fathers and children, between brothers and sisters, between man and woman and between God and mankind. Today, we look into the song of love, Songs 1,1:

1 Solomon’s Song of Songs. 2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth — for your love is more delightful than wine. 3 Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you! 4 Take me away with you—let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers.

We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine.

How right they are to adore you! 5 Dark am I, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon. 6 Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother’s sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards; my own vineyard I have neglected. 7 Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends? […] (Songs 1: 1 ff)

Desire and Longing

The song of songs speaks of desire and longing. We long for those who we love. We want to be with them. We want to spend time with them. We want to do them good. Desire is nothing bad, if the setup is good. God has created mankind as man and woman. A man should find a woman to love, a woman should find a man to love.

Beauty and Pleasure

Beauty is described in the bible. Here, in the song of songs, beauty is very physical: “Dark am I, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem”. Physical beauty can be inspiring and encouraging. Beauty can be wonderful!

Love is better than wine. It is more delightful than wine. It beats all other pleasures. It can and will fill us with satisfaction, with deep pleasure. Sometimes love will be hot and fast moving. Sometimes it will be calm and steady. Yet always it is wonderful - a gift of the Lord mirroring his own love and his own presence here on earth in the relationship between a man and a woman. ... more texts