Category Archives: – Thru the Bible Series

We began this series on January 11, 2017 and continues to this day.

It chronicles our ongoing trek through the Bible beginning in Genesis, though our trek has not followed a 100% traditional order.

We have attempted to keep books whose contents are related in time, as much together as possible with some noteworth exceptions.

The specific chapters covered are NOT usually part of the title of each post making specific scriptures a little tricky to find by a simple “search”.

To compensate for that we have a page dedicated to this series which lists each of the scriptures we’ve covered so far as a link. It is our hope that this will help aid you in your studies….God Bless!

Solomon Ecclesiastes 2

Wise insights… Narcissistic conclusions

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Chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes begins to uncover Solomon’s state of mind and being.

His own account in the chapter is that his wisdom remained with him even throughout his lascivious pursuits. Borrowing this assumption as true, we learn much. Solomon made clear and keen insights into life, but his conclusions were largely run through his lens of selfish ambition and desires which led to his being literally repulsed by what he perceived as injustice since he alone would not be the sole benefactor of his work and life endeavors.

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Solomon Ecclesiastes vain fleeting

Solomon’s initial thoughts… Vain of just Fleeting?

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As we open the book of Ecclesiastes, we once again tack down Solomon as the author whether he was the one who compiled it into a “book” or whether it this was done at a later date.

We then spent some time with the word ‘Vanity’ which has a fundamentally different meaning in the Hebrew, but which is most often translated as ‘vanity’. We explored the other relevant nuances of the word which will help us as we continue through the book since in only 12 chapters it is mentioned 38x’s.

Finally we talked about Solomon’s outlook on life as being both fleeting and in the end meaningless. But this was largely both due to the way in which he largely wasted his life on godless pursuits and the fact that this was written in his older age looking back over those choices with regret.

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Introduction Ecclesiastes

Introduction to Ecclesiastes

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This introduction is intended to provide an overview of the book, including the:
• Title
• Time Period
• Author
• Key words and phrases
• Purpose
• Solomon’s goals and method
• Key steps in the progression of the book
• Conclusion

One primary key to the book is understanding that in clear distinction to the rest of humanity, Solomon was “gifted” wisdom and as such it could not be lost or forfeited. The results in Ecclesiastes being a very valuable book indeed. For though Solomon lived a good portion of his life in futile pursuits which affected his take away of the things he learned, his wisdom still enabled him to see clearly what was happening as a result of his choices.

“So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.” – Ecc. 2:9

This places Solomon in perhaps, one of the most unique positions of anyone in all of human history, save Jesus Himself! It also gives a transcendence to the value of his insights which otherwise would have been distorted through the deceptiveness of sin.

We noticed that there were two directions this book was taking. Solomon’s purpose in writing and God’s purpose in having Solomon write it – which were two very different reasons indeed, but which merge at the end of the book into one very concise and simple statement!

We are approaching this book of Ecclesiastes from the perspective that it is an entire inspired book which is dedicated to expanding on the lesson of the manna, which is that,
“Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word which PROCEEDS out of the mouth of God.” – Deut. 8:3

Possessing a knowledge of these things BEFORE diving into this book will prepare the reader to be properly oriented to the direction and purpose of the book so as to take away from our studies as much as possible. The most important thing being a better understanding of God in Christ and our relation to Him in trust as is the force and focus of all scripture!

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Come Beloved Rapture Solomon

Come away My Beloved

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This last chapter chiastically connects largely with chapter 1 visiting their initial courtship as well as the difficulties the Shulamite had with her brothers.

It is completely or nearly completely (depending on how you view some verses) from the bride’s perspective.

Arguably the most famous phrase in the entire book of Song of Solomon is found in this chapter going like this”

“Set me like a seal upon your heart, like a signet on your arm. For love is as strong as death, passion is as unrelenting as the grave. Its flames burst forth, it is a blazing flame!  

Many waters cannot quench love; floodwaters cannot overflow it. If someone were to offer all his possessions to buy love, the offer would be utterly despised.”

This is a passionate portrayal of the love between Solomon and his bride as well as that which exists between Christ and His bride.

We wrapped up the chapter by observing the tight connection between it’s last few verses and those from Jesus to the church at the end of Revelation. The heart cry of both Holy Spirit and the bride is “Come” to which Jesus replies, “Behold I am coming suddenly.”

This is where we derived the title for this message – “Come away My Beloved”!

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Captivating Song Solomon

Captivating

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Chapter 7 is largely yet another wasf – a praising of the physical body of the Shulamite employing the use of vivid imagery – most of which is in fact largely time sensitive and culturally dependent. One thing is clear, these two are entirely captivated by each other!

This is the 4th wasf of the entire book.

Three in total are from Solomon to the Shulamite at various stages of their relationship from courtship to marriage. Song of Solomon is Chiastic in structure and so even though these ending chapters are folding back in on, and revisiting key points from the beginning of the narrative, it does so through the now familiar lens of having already been wed. As such, even though none of the descriptions of Solomon to the Shulamite were altogether “PG” material, this last one borders on an “R” rating.

It is important towards understanding the Song of Solomon to realize that it is written almost entirely from the Bride’s perspective. Solomon is depicted as praising her beauty 3 times to her face. While the Shulamite only praises Solomon’s handsomeness once and that was to her maidens – not to Solomon.

One of the takeaways of this is the fact that – just like our relationship with God, He is very verbal of His love, devotion and desire for us and while we do in fact praise His attributes as well, we tend to do so more to others as we commune with our siblings in Christ or in our testimony of Him before the world. Also, while we do in fact delight in Him, our greatest joy comes from His delighting in us. It is our pleasure to exist for His pleasure and in this way human relationships between the sexes mirror this reality – and such was the design of God.

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