READING FOR JULY 9, 2025: SONG OF SONGS 5, 1 THESSALONIANS 4, PSALM 66:13-20 SONG OF SONGS 5 This chapter begins with the man apparently approaching his beloved’s residence from a time of gathering and interaction with others. The woman describes her state as being asleep but with heart that is awake. This could mean she was alert mentally but too tired physically to react quickly or very possibly she was asleep but having a vivid dream.
In whichever state she was in, she heard her beloved knocking and his voice asking to let him in. (Of course, he said it much more poetically than that.) She implies that she has made herself ready for sleep and doesn’t want to change her plans now. She then perceives he reaches longingly through a door opening. This gesture of persistence on his part seems to melt her heart. So, she got up, with perfumed hands, to unbolt the door.
To her dismay, she found that by this time he was gone. She had dithered too long and missed the moment with her beloved. She left her residence to search for him in vain. In fact, the watchmen out and about at night mistreated her. Then she pleads with her friends, the daughters of Jerusalem, to tell her what they will say to her beloved should they see him. She confesses to them that she is lovesick.
They respond by asking what kind of guy is he that would make her want to know what they would say. This makes one wonder how our husband or wife would portray us if someone were to ask him or her to describe us. Sad to say, this writer’s wife could not use the descriptive terms this woman uses without violating the ninth commandment not to bear false witness. In the height of her romantic feelings and with the vision of youth, she spews out all the highest superlatives she can conceive to describe his appearance, concluding that he is “wholly desirable.”
Some readers throughout the history of the church have looked at this book of the Bible as mostly an allegory of our loving relationship with God. This might not do justice to the gift of human sexuality that God created and pronounced “very good.” Yet, this chapter may have been what Jesus had in mind with his plea to the Church of Laodicea: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Rev.3:20). As the woman used superlatives to describe her beloved, notice how Jesus, the church’s groom and greater beloved, is described: A Son of Man, [Jesus] dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance” (Rev. 1:13-16).
READING FOR JULY 9, 2025 CONTINUED: 1 THESSELONIANS 4, PSALM 66:13-20 1 THESSALONIANS 4 Paul told the Thessalonian church to be pure sexually. He said, otherwise they are rejecting God’s instructions, not man’s (vs 8). God the Son’s instruction around A.D. 30 is exactly the same that God the Father gave many thousands of years before: “At the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Matt. 19:4-6). SEEMS CLEAR ENOUGH.
It appears that Paul was getting some questions asking if believers who die miss out when Jesus returns. Here’s a summary of his response from this letter and 2 Corinthians:
- When we die, we leave our earthly bodies, and our souls are present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6-8).
- When Jesus descends from heaven to earth, first those who already physically died will have their resurrected bodies united with the souls.
- Then those who didn’t die physically will join those with resurrected bodies to meet Jesus in the air.
PSALM 66:13-20 As we have read, the Psalmist often gets into extremely dangerous situations. It seems during one of these he made a vow to God if God would rescue him. Now the Psalmist is resolved to make good on his vow. Have we ever said to God, “If You do this, I will do A, B, C?” If so, we should do A, B, C. In the Psalmist’s case, he went beyond the minimum, sacrificing the fat portions of a variety of animals. Then he went even beyond that. He called over folks to tell them everything God did for him.
He concludes with something like a logical syllogism but showing God’s mercy beyond logic:
Premise 1. God doesn’t listen to those with sin in their hearts; and
Premise 2. God heard the Psalmist’s prayers; Therefore,
Conclusion. God extended His mercy to the Psalmist even though he is a sinner (instead of what we would expect: the Psalmist had no sin).
