Meditation – Why is there love poetry in the Bible?
(Studies in the Song of Solomon #2)
by Isaac Overton
Why is there love poetry in the Bible? The normal reformed thing to do early on in a study on Song of Solomon is to explain the various different theories on how to read this book. Is it metaphorical? Is it typological? Is it designed for marriage instruction and has no symbolic significance at all? I’m not going to do that right now. You can do that if you like, and it will probably be useful and beneficial, all you need to do is go and pick up some solid commentaries. It strikes me as somehow wrong, however, to start exploring this book by giving a lecture on the exegetical principles of interpreting the Song of Solomon. I say that because this is a book of passion and desire. It is a book designed to quicken our pulse and teach us to understand something about God’s love.
So… why is there love poetry in the Bible? In our first study I made the point that God has made “the universe as a beautiful book before our eyes, in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God”. Applying this principle to Song of Songs, we can say that sexual love is a letter from God designed to make us ponder the invisible things of God. Let me say that again. Sexual love is a letter from God, for us, designed to make us ponder the invisible things of God. That is why there is love poetry in the Bible! The next question, then, is how does this make us to ponder the invisible things of God?
In the big picture, the broadest possible sense, let me lay out the foundational principle. Here it is: marriage is a symbol of God with us. There are many ways I could prove this statement, but I’m going to take us to the most obvious and clear one, let’s take a look at Ephesians 5:31-32: ““Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” Paul is making precisely our point here – marriage is a symbol of God with us. More specifically, marriage is a symbol of the union between Christ and his bride the Church. This is what marriage itself is really all about. This principle is also on display in the Old Testament prophets. The whole book of Hosea, for example, functions on the basis of this symbol as Israel is described as an adulteress, who is unfaithful to God. Marriage is a symbol of God with us.
Now building on this, let me say one more thing here as well: marriage is a symbol of the goal of creation. There is a reason why this book is called the song of songs. It is the preeminent song, the song above all songs. It is the song of Christ’s love for his bride whom he died to save.
What higher purpose could there be than to know and love God? What higher calling is there except to delight in his presence? King David expresses this clearly in Psalm 16: “...in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” There is a reason why the Bible starts with a marriage (between Adam and Eve) and then ends with a marriage (between Christ and his bride the Church). There’s also a reason why there’s a marriage in the middle of the Bible, in the Song of Solomon. Christ performed his first miracle at a marriage. Marriage is a metaphor for the meaning of life – even our union with Christ.
For this reason, as the Song of Songs takes this central metaphor as its subject, this is a love song that draws us in to the very purpose of our existence: our eternal union with Christ. This glorious song belongs to God’s people whether married or single. For our single folk, it calls you to be fully devoted to Christ in your singleness. Probably one question that single people might ask as they read the Song of Songs is: How is this book relevant to me? And perhaps even as we reflect on marriage as a metaphor for our union with Christ we might think: “Doesn’t that kind of sideline single people?” And of course the answer is “no”, it doesn’t! Marriage between a man and woman in this life is the symbol, the shadow. The union between God and his people – that is the reality, and that reality applies to all of God’s people – single or married. In this sense, the primary application of Song of Songs is for the whole people of God, not just for those who are married.
The insight and application of the Song of Songs to human marriage is secondary, as the shadow of marriage itself is secondary to the primary union between God and his people. And so if you’re single, by all means – pursue the shadow to the glory of God if that is your desire. But it is no sin to skip the shadow on the road to the eternal reality and in many ways, the gift of singleness provides opportunity to live a life of more focused on devotion to your heavenly husband. Are you using your singleness to the glory of God? Or are you using it for self-indulgence? We live in a culture of self-indulgence, and many temptations face us and call us to live for self. Devote your singleness to Christ. Seek to devote your whole heart to knowing, loving, and serving him.
For those of us who are married, the same call applies – we are to live devoted lives to Christ. But we also have the call to let the shadow of our marriages reflect the grand reality behind them. God’s goal for marriage is not our self-fulfilment. Contrary to the ideas currently circulating in our culture and even in our own hearts. We need to truly understand this. Man’s chief end is not to glorify self, satisfy self, or to obtain sexual fulfilment. Man’s chief end is to glorify God – and that means we are called to image God. We are called to reflect God. When it comes to our marriage, our shadow marriages ought to reflect the original, the union between God and his people, between Christ and the Church.
Now I don’t know about you, but if you’re like me, then probably this makes you feel uncomfortable when you reflect on your marriage. You start to realise that your calling as a husband (or as a wife) is to reflect Christ’s love for his bride, and immediately you start counting up your innumerable failures. Your selfishness as a husband, your stubbornness, your apathy, your anger and lust, and your passive ways. As a wife perhaps you realise that your calling is to perfectly reflect the submission, devotion, love, and reverence of the Church toward Christ... and you’ve got a husband who’s not like Christ. And you’ve got a heart that dislikes submission (especially since your husband can be such an oaf at times). He doesn’t make submission easy!
Our marriages are fractured failures compared to what they’re supposed to reflect. And yet – here it is – God’s calling us to pursue this vision for our marriages. Perhaps we can take as encouragement the fact that God used Solomon to write this poem. Solomon, with his hundreds of wives, was not exactly an exemplary husband. And yet God was pleased to use him in his brokenness to write this poem. Perhaps also in his grace he may be pleased to use our frail, fallen marriages to tell another story of his grace. And so take heart as you seek to conform your marriage – as a husband or wife – to the glorious reality of Christ’s union to his bride.
SDG.