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CONNIE: Looking for advice about love? Have you looked in the Bible? How about the Bible's love song--Song of Solomon. Join us today as we open the Bible's most romantic book!

Giving God’s trumpet a Certain Sound for more than 70 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Hello, I’m Connie Jeffery,

LONNIE: and I’m Lonnie Melashenko.

CONNIE: Lonnie, Song of Solomon is a fascinating book, isn't it--far different from anything else in the Bible.

LONNIE: It certainly is, and throughout history, some people have questioned why it is even included in Scripture--some consider it a bit too graphic in its descriptions of physical beauty and love. But as we look at it today, I hope we can leave those sorts of sentiments behind and view it for what it is-a book that is included in our Bibles with the approval of the Holy Spirit.

CONNIE: That's a good point, Lonnie. And viewed from that angle, there is much that the book can teach us--especially about God's view of romantic love, or perhaps we could say "family love"--love between a married man and woman.

LONNIE: To help us open up this book and learn from it, we've invited a married couple to share with us. Ron and Karen Flowers are well known as family life specialists, and a few years ago they worked together in writing a book about The Song of Solomon called Love Aflame. Ken Wade spoke with them.

KEN: Ron and Karen Flowers, I really want to welcome you to our program today. I enjoyed getting into your book about Song of Solomon, “Love a Flame”, and I just wanted to ask you, you wrote together, and that can be a little bit of a challenge, can’t it, working together on a book?

RON: Yeah, it sure can.

KAREN: We’re very different people.

RON: But it came out in the end. Our different writing styles kind of blended and we traded stuff back and forth until we got it how we wanted.

KEN: And you’re still married after all this?

KAREN: Yes, indeed.

KEN: That’s great. Well listen, as we look at the book of Song of Solomon. I wanted to call on you folks because you are family life specialists, and as we look at this book, tell me what exactly is this book? Is it an allegory? Is it a true story? Is it a description of what love should be, or what is it?

RON: Well, if you look at face value it’s a description of a relationship, between two very human people, a man and a woman falling in love and getting married. It talks about the intensity of their love relationship for each other; it seems like we have to understand that first before we can use it as an illustration, or anything else.

KEN: So it does have some illustrative purpose, I suppose, of a relationship with God…

KAREN: But you know you can’t understand those illustrations unless you understand human love first.

KEN: Very much like what we often say that you can’t talk to a person about the love of God as their father, if they have never had a loving father.

RON: Clearly the Bible describes a relationship between God and human beings as a marital relationship. So we do know that we can go that direction with it, but we want to first understand also that God gives us instruction on how to do marriage humanly, so we can understand His relationship with us.

KEN: So by and large this is actually a love song, maybe a song that was sung at weddings and that sort of thing, to remind people of the joy of romantic love, which in itself is a gift from God. It’s something that God has given to us to give us joy in life, isn’t it?

RON: Absolutely!

KAREN: Yes!

KEN: Now, it’s almost an ecstatic kind of love, maybe could I say…

RON: …Maybe idealized?

KEN: Yeah, an idealized kind of love. Can this kind of relationship that is described here, can that be enduring?

KAREN: Well, you know one of the things that’s encouraging about the Song of Solomon is, there are some passages where you get a window into the fact that this relationship between these two people is not without its conflict, not without its moments of misunderstanding. Particularly I’m thinking of the night when he comes to her door and she’s in bed and she doesn’t get up, and then she loses him and can’t find him. So there’s a lot of stress and a lot of concern, and you can see behind the scenes into problems that they confronted.

KEN: That it’s not purely idealized, that they go through some times of struggle, too. So the book isn’t just about the beginnings of love, it’s about an enduring relationship. How does love grow?

RON: Certainly in the Song of Songs you have love described in four aspects, and just romantic love, you have a friendship love where she says, this is my beloved and this is my friend, and he uses terms that refer to her as my dear friend. You have that level of love which is commitment, or unconditional acceptance of another person…

KAREN: My beloved is mine, and I am his.

RON: and she talks about love lasting that floods can’t wash away, fire can’t take it away. So you have a holistic look at love, and I think the ways which love grows is that, you come to understand how to love; you love the other person, as you would like to be loved…

KAREN: The building blocks of affirmation and time together, saying I love you, committing one’s self of attentiveness, even to things like the setting, you notice he takes her to beautiful places where he shares his love with her. He compliments her, not in ways that I understand, but in ways that she obviously liked.

KEN: Yeah, about the goats coming down off the hill, and stuff. Is this the Bible,s main venture into describing romantic love?

RON: Well, probably this is one of the best expressions of what we call romantic love. But in Proverbs also you have some pretty graphic descriptions of love, and enjoyment of one another’s bodies. Certainly in the New Testament the apostle Paul talks about men and women having a mutual experience, sharing one another’s bodies with each other, and marriage as being an honored thing.

KEN: Well that is one of the great things, I think about the Bible is the balance, that God understands how He made us doesn’t He?

KAREN: Yes.

KEN: That there is that need for acceptance, and love, and partnership in life.

KAREN: And when He was done He said, “It’s very good”, and He hasn’t changed His mind.

KEN: Well He hasn’t, and I think Song of Solomon might be a good book for us to read together with our spouses from time to time, to remind us of what God’s high aspiration is for us.

RON: Take some quiet time and read it by candlelight with a little soft music in the background.

Ken: Alright!

KAREN: Maybe a Martinellis.

KEN: Well yes, very good. Well thanks, Ron and Karen. I really appreciate your insights into this book.

RON: Thank you for having us.

KAREN: Ok, Ken, it was fun.

CONNIE: Thanks, Ron, Karen, and Ken for helping us get an overview of what the book of Song of Solomon is about--especially for those insights into romantic love and enduring love.

LONNIE: You know, Connie, Ron and Karen have done a great job of taking this biblical love song and drawing out the things we can learn from it and making them practical. One of the things they point out at the beginning of their book Love Aflame is that the book is not just an allegory about Christ's love for His church, or man's love for God.

CONNIE: That's right. It is a real love song, focusing on one of God's gifts to us--the ability to fall in love and devote ourselves totally to our beloved.

LONNIE: I like the way you put that--love is a gift from God. It's because of His great love for us that we are given the ability to love others--a point that's made in our first song today, "My Savior's Love," sung by the Loma Linda Men's Chorus.

CONNIE: That song, from the Loma Linda Men's Chorus, captures the essence of love as revealed in Jesus.

LONNIE: The love of God--which is the root and source of all human love. Music has always been an important part of our ministry here at Voice of Prophecy, and if you'd like to know more about the music or musicians heard on our broadcast, the place to go is our web page at VOP.COM.

CONNIE: And that's not all you'll find there. Jeffrie, our webmaster, has been working hard, always adding new things, and right now he's putting up transcripts of our programs dating back over the past four years.

LONNIE: There are also audio files that you can listen to--both our daily 15-minute broadcasts and our weekend broadcasts are available for listening to via the worldwide web anytime, anywhere.

CONNIE: Today as we look at the book of Song of Solomon, we've actually dug back into our archives and found a series of sermons that H. M. S. Richards Jr.,

LONNIE: My predecessor as director-speaker of Voice of Prophecy,

CONNIE: wrote on the book a few years ago.

LONNIE: This series of sermons is powerful--it's a great look at the book of Song of Solomon. In fact, we liked what we found in the book so well, that we've included portions of it in the message that I'll be sharing in a moment.

CONNIE: But of course we couldn't include everything. So, if you like what you hear today, we know you'll enjoy reading "the rest of the story." So, we're offering the book A Song for Lovers as our gift to our listeners today.

LONNIE: Connie, if I may, let me say just a word of explanation about the gifts we offer on our broadcast. Some people may wonder why we give things away instead of offering them for a price as many broadcast ministries do. What's in it for us? Are we trying to collect a lot of names and addresses from our listeners so we can send them letters appealing for money all the time? In a word, No. That's not our purpose at all, and that's not what we do with those names. We offer items that expand on the day's topic, as a service to listeners--and we want them to have it whether or not they are able to send a gift with their request. Please, feel free to contact us at any time and rest assured that you won't find yourself on a mailing list to get a lot of appeals or junk mail.

CONNIE: That's right. We love hearing from you, and you can rest assured that we won't bombard you with mail in return, and we'll never share your name or address with other organizations either.

Write to Voice of Prophecy, Box 53055, Los Angeles, 90053. Again: Box 53055, Los Angeles, 90053, or in Canada, use this address: Box 2127, Oshawa, Ontario L1H 7V4.

LONNIE: If you'd like to receive the gift of the day, be sure to request A Song for Lovers by HMS Richards, Jr. It's a great little book that delves into the all-important topic of love in a very enlightening way.

CONNIE: You can also request the book by calling us at 1-800-872-0055. The call is toll-free from anywhere in the US or Canada. The number again is 1-800-872-0055.

LONNIE: Remember, we'd love to hear from you today.

CONNIE: And Lonnie, we'd love to hear from you, too. Share your message, "Song of Solomon--God's Love Song.

Song of Solomon--God's Love Song

Song of Solomon is a book about love--the beauty and sacredness of natural love. Listen to this from Chapter 7:

“What a magnificent girl you are! How beautiful are your feet in sandals. The curve of your thighs is like the work of an artist.... Your braided hair shines like the finest satin. . . .. How pretty you are, how beautiful; how complete the delights of your love” (Song of Solomon 7:1, 5b, 6, TEV).

These are verses about natural beauty—physical beauty, if you will.

Since this poem is 3,000 years old, its language is sometimes strange to our ears. For example, in chapter 4, Solomon praises the girl’s hair in these words:

“Your hair dances like a flock of goats bounding down the hills of Gilead” (Verse 1, TEV).

At first glance, that doesn’t sound like much of a compliment. How would you like to have someone compare your hair to a flock of goats?

But think of it this way: Imagine a quiet evening. Across the valley, a flock of goats is drifting down the hillside, moving together, flowing like a gentle stream into the valley below. The peacefulness of the scene reminds Solomon of his lover’s hair—restful, flowing, soft.

In chapter 5, the girl responds to these expressions of love.

“My lover is handsome and strong; he is one in ten thousand. His face is bronzed and smooth; his hair is wavy, black as a raven.... He is majestic, like the Lebanon Mountains, with their towering cedars. . . . everything about him enchants me” (Song of Solomon 5:10, 11, 15b, 16a, TEV).

There’s a message in these verses, so graphic in their description of physical beauty. Natural love is a good thing. The unnatural thing is to ignore the beauty of your partner.

Beauty and the ability to appreciate it are gifts from God!

Unfortunately though, the devil has cheapened this expression of beauty. As C. S. Lewis put it.

“You can get a large audience together for a strip-tease act, that is, to watch a girl undress on the stage. Now suppose you came to a country where you could fill a theater by bringing a covered plate onto the stage and then slowly lifting the cover so as to let everyone see, just before the lights went out, that it contained a mutton chop or a bit of bacon, would you not think that in that country something had gone wrong with the appetite for food?” (Mere Christianity, Book 3, Chapter 5).

Natural love and greedy lust are two different things. Two radically different things.

The Song of Solomon is about love, not lust. When two lovers know their love is a gift from God, when they know their relationship is sacred, they can look at each other and say, “your beauty is perfect. I love you just the way you are—just because you’re you.”

This refrain appears over and over in this wonderful love song. In chapter 4, the king describes his lover’s beauty for many verses, beginning with her feet and ending with her hair. Then he concludes:

“How beautiful you are, my love; how perfect you are!” (Song of Solomon 4:7, TEV).

That's how true love sees its object. True love isn't blind. But it looks for and finds the best in its beloved.

True love is natural, and it's also romantic. Perhaps that sounds strange to you. Why should we say that love is romantic? Isn’t romanticism just a cheap variety of genuine love?

Not necessarily. True romantic love isn’t a gift from Hollywood; it’s a gift from God. It takes the physical side of love and consecrates it with mutual respect and devotion.

One reason I appreciate romantic love is found right here in the Song of Solomon. See if you don’t agree with me, that these verses have a romantic glow about them. I’m reading from chapter 4:

“The look in your eyes, my sweetheart and bride, and the necklace you are wearing have stolen my heart. Your love delights me, my sweetheart and bride. Your love is better than wine; your perfume more fragrant than any spice” (Song of Solomon 4:9, 10, TEV).

If you’re a wife, wouldn’t you like to hear words like that from your husband now and then?

Here’s another verse from the poem. This time the young woman is speaking:

“Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me (Song of Solomon 2:5, 6, NIV).

Of course, there’s more to love than romance.

As C. S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity:

“Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. . . . It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. . . . Who could bear to live in that excitement for even five years?”

The romantic feelings get a relationship started. But a quieter love keeps it going. Sparks are good at getting fires started; but it’s the glowing embers that keep the fire warm.

And there's another aspect of true love I'd like to turn to now: True love is Redemptive.

Early in the Song of Solomon, the young girl says she feels unworthy of the king’s love. I’m quoting from chapter 1, now, from the Good News Bible:

“Don ‘t look down on me because of my color, because the sun has tanned me. My brothers were angry with me and made me work in the vineyard. I had no time to care for myself” (Song of Solomon 1:6, TEV).

The young girl feels inadequate. She’s had to work out in the vineyards every day, and hasn’t been able to take care of herself. So her message to the king is clear. I’m not worthy of your love. I’m not lovable.

But the king pays no attention to these protests. He responds by saying,

“Your hair is beautiful upon your cheeks and falls along your neck like jewels... . How beautiful you are, my love; how your eyes shine with love!” (Song of Solomon 1:10, 15, TEV).

The girl didn’t feel beautiful; but to the king, she was beautiful.

Redemptive love is like God’s love for us.

Can you think of a better example of love than the cross of Jesus? Look at the cross from God’s perspective. He created perfect human beings. But they all sinned, and sin leads to death. So God faced a problem. How could he offer eternal life to sinners who deserved death?

His solution was to offer the death of Jesus as a substitute for the death of every other person who ever lived!

Now that’s love! Redemptive love. Love extended to people who not only feel unworthy, but are unworthy of such great love and sacrifice.

Redemptive love reaches out, touches, and changes lives.

Well, there's much more we could say about this little book Song of Solomon and what it teaches us about love, but I won't take the time just now. Why not get it out and read it yourself, and remember, it's a picture of human love, but also of the way that God looks at--and loves--You!

CONNIE: That's redemptive love--the kind of love revealed on the cross, and also in the book we're looking at today, Song of Solomon. And that was a duet taken from the CD "Step Into the Water," by the Melashenko Family Singers. The duet featured the voices of Lonnie and Joedy Melashenko.

LONNIE: That's right, Connie. It's a powerful song about the love of God that Joedy and I really enjoy singing.

CONNIE: Redemptive love is just one aspect of love that is covered in the book A Song for Lovers, written by HMS Richards, Jr. In this little book, Pastor Richards walks us through five aspects of love that are revealed in the Song of Solomon: Love is Natural, Love is Romantic, Love is Redemptive, Love is Exclusive, and Love is Strong.

LONNIE: Love is a powerful topic--a powerful force--in our world. Romance novels sell by the million’s, and almost every movie and television program has some sort of romantic angle to keep viewers interested in the story line. But this book looks at love from a biblical perspective.