Song of Solomon 1:1-17: A Mare Among Pharaoh's Chariots

The Song of Solomon is a book that can make people blush. It opens at the threshold of the bridal chamber with a woman desiring to be kissed by her husband. The forward poetic language doesn't hold back as the first chapter unfolds to reveal the God-pleasing intimacy between husband and wife. So why is this book in the Bible? For that, and for more than that. Through Solomon, God reveals something of the love He has for His Church in Christ, a bridegroom for His bride. You hear it by the end of chapter one, where a field hand with a sunburn and angry brothers is told by her bridegroom that she is the most beautiful among women, before she has changed one thing about herself.  The Rev. Jacob Hercamp, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Noblesville, IN, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Song of Solomon 1:1-17.  To learn more about Christ Lutheran, visit clc-in.org. The Song of Solomon is a book of love poetry, a bride and her bridegroom singing to each other across eight chapters. God's people have sung it since Solomon's day, and Jewish congregations still read it at Passover. The Church has heard in it the voice of Christ and His bride, and Luther quoted the Song in The Freedom of a Christian to describe what happens when Christ takes a sinner as His own. Paul was working the same ground in Ephesians five, where he set marriage beside Christ and the Church and called it a great mystery.  This series works through the whole book verse by verse, from the kiss in chapter one to the seal on the heart in chapter eight. We hear what it says about the body, about desire, and about the marriage God instituted in the garden. We also ask where Christ is in it, since the Church has long heard in these songs the voice of the Bridegroom who gave His life for His bride. Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: [email protected].