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LOVE – IT CAN HAPPEN!

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Paul told Timothy, and tells us, that all of Scripture is useful. As evangelicals, as men and women who passionately believe in the authority and inerrancy of the Bible, we believe that all of Scripture is indeed useful. Doctrinally, it tells us what is right. It tells us the truth about ourselves, about the enemy, and about God. It lays down the commands and principles for right living.
Realistically, its Author working through various writers knows enough about you and I to tell us when we are wrong and what we need to do to make the necessary corrections. And the Holy Spirit does all this for the expressed purpose of producing a man or woman who doesn’t simply hear the message but becomes the message in word and deed. And so we believe that all of Scripture is useful to this end of righteous living.
All of Scripture? What about the book of Ecclesiastes? What about a verse like Ecclesiastes 10:19? It reads:
A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes life merry, but money is the answer to everything.
Here is one of those verses that we’d rather our non-evangelical friends not read. It’s a verse that, on first blush, makes Scripture look bad. First, it has an air of cynicism about it and it just isn’t true. Second, it is not in line with the rest of the Script. I mean, if you ever hear a series on what the Bible has to say about money, I can assure you that this verse will not be showcased!
Most of us, however, have come to terms with the book of Ecclesiastes. We understand it’s a commentary on Jesus’ words - “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul.” We understand that Solomon, based on his own experiences, is telling us that if we expect to find a sense of fulfillment in the things of this world we will be disappointed. Yes, many believe that “money is the answer to everything” but, as Solomon found out, they are wrong.
While most of us have come to grips with the book of Ecclesiastes, there is another book counted among the “wisdom” literature of the Old Testament that has nagged the community of believers since day one. It is the Song of Songs, or what we sometimes call the Song of Solomon.
If a manuscript of this little book were found detached from any biblical context it would simply be considered a secular love song. Perhaps, those who discovered it would even see it as a secular love song well suited for MTV! I mean, if an archeologist (which is just one crackpot looking for another) stumbled on this song tucked away in a cracked pot he or she would have little reason to think that it was a “biblical” manuscript.
After all, other than having Solomon’s name mentioned a half-dozen times the book appears to have no historical or religious significance to the nation of Israel. There is no mention of the covenant or the Temple. And, much like the book of Esther, it doesn’t even refer to God.
Yes, some argue that the name of God can be found in the sixth verse of the eighth chapter. The verse reads:
“ Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.”
The Jerusalem Bible translates the last phrase as “a flame of Yahweh himself,” since the Hebrew word does contain the short form of the divine name, i. e. yah. But, other scholars feel that it is a stretch to translate the Hebrew word salhebetyah in such a manner simply for the sake of including God’s name in the text. The NIV translators and others are probably correct is simply translating the word as a “mighty flame.”
Because of the erotic nature of the material, because the book is void of religious reference, because it appears to have no historical value, and because God’s name can only sort-of-be-found in one verse, its inclusion in Scripture was debated during the first century and has been questioned since that time.
In fact, some believe that it was only the last minute efforts of a Rabbi Aqiba at the Council of Jamnia in 90 A. D. that kept the book in the Old Testament. He stood up and said,
“ The whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel. All of the writings are holy and the Song of Songs is the holy of holies.”
Here was a man who knew how to categorize Scripture. He said all the writings are holy. That is, he said that books like Job, Ruth, Esther, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Psalms, and the Song of Songs are all holy books. But of all of them, the Song of Songs is the holiest of the holy. His eloquent and energetic defense of the book on that day evidently swayed the Council enough to keep the book as part of the Old Testament.
Whether Solomon composed the song or it was composed by an unknown song writer about Solomon is a debated topic. What is not debated, at least not seriously debated, is that the song has two main characters. They are Solomon, the king of Israel, and a young girl called “the Shulammite.”
Both are unlikely candidates for love. Solomon’s father had committed adultery with his mother, Bathsheba, and had murdered her husband so as to take her as his wife. Afterward, his father maintained other wives whom he had often married for political reasons. He also kept a harem for sexual pleasure. As you can imagine, Solomon’s early education in regards to being “in- love” was anything but healthy. He knew more about lust by the time he was of age than anyone else on the block.
Then, in the first days of his reign, he learned the value of power rather quickly. He learned that the kingdom could be held together by the use and/or abuse of power. First off, he quickly settled the score with some who had taken advantage of his aging father. He killed off all possible rivals to the throne.
Second, taking a few lessons from his father it wasn’t long before he forged political alliances through marriages to foreign women. And, as kings tend to do, he gathered together hundreds of young women solely for his personal pleasure. And, for a time he probably enjoyed his harem, his building projects, and his scholarly activities.
But somewhere, probably in the middle of Ecclesiastes, he discovered that he was lonely. Yes, he was surrounded by people. Yes, he could have any young girl he wanted day or night. Yes, he had plenty of projects to keep him out of trouble. And yes, he had more than enough money to do whatever he wanted to do in life.
But, without actually being in love, he was a lonely man. He had learned that happiness from his selfish lifestyle was an illusion. He was well aware of the fact that his power could not coerce love and his wealth could not buy it. He was no average Joe, and yet all of his “advantages” could not secure for him the one thing he longed for in life.
Then you have the Shulammite. Perhaps the most biographical verses we have of her is found in the fifth & sixth verse of chapter one. We read,
“ Dark, am I, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon.
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.”
Beneath the dust, beneath the odor of someone who had been working outside all day, beneath the thread bare clothing, beneath the dried out skin, we evidently have a lovely young lady.
But notice the phrase “my mother’s sons.” It’s possible, and I am only guessing, that these were half-brothers. If so, this was a blended family where her mother’s sons found the oldest daughter, perhaps the only daughter of this mother and her former husband, to be an easy target.
They found it easy to verbally and physically abuse her. Granted, there is no evidence that they struck her. But, they did push her out the door and compelled her to take care of not only the vineyards but the flock of sheep. This kept her busy from sunrise to sunset. They kept her so busy that she didn’t have time to take care of herself.
So here we have a very successful king who had everything he could possibly want with the exception of true love. He had it all, and yet he was lonely. On the other hand, we have a girl who had less than nothing. Her whole day was managed by her angry brothers, or half-brothers, who cared nothing about her. Her existence consisted of nothing but hard toilsome work and exhausting sleep. She had no time to call her own, and certainly no time to take care of herself. In her condition, she was as unlovable as any woman we see on the streets today.
And yet, the Song of Songs celebrates the love that found these two unlikely candidates. The one was too busy to recognize love even if it slapped him in the face. The other too beaten down and too exhausted to receive it. Somehow, love broke through all the clutter in their lives, all the busyness, all the barriers, and captured their hearts. And if it can happen to these two, it can happen to anyone. Love happens.

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