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!

The Admiration, Dreams & Fears of the Shulamite

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Chapter 2 of Song of Solomon starts off with the Lily of the Valley and the Rose of Sharon which contrary to its use in modern Christian circles is actually in reference to the Shulamite, Solomon’s bride, and is therefore representative of the church rather than Christ. Also, these flowers are not outstanding in beauty nor is the “rose” an actual rose – they were common wild crocus and meadow-saffron. In fact, it was due to their humble and common beauty that they were used as an illustration!

As the chapter progresses, it moves chiastically between the actual wedding feast, back to the time of their betrothal and finishes with Solomon coming to retrieve his bride for their celebratory wedding feast.

Like most of the Song of Solomon, nearly the entire chapter is from the Shulamite’s perspective. She moves from the heights of amorous admiration for her newly wed husband, to the celebration of their union in their wedding feast, to her dreams and fears during the “winter” of their separation during their betrothal to the excitement of the coming of her groom and his clear delight in her.

All of this so perfectly illustrates the various times, events and aspects of our union with Christ. There is much to learn and reconcile our hearts to in relation to the intimacy of this union, that it rejoices the heart as much as it challenges our understanding of “piety”.

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Solomon Songs

Let the Love Songs begin!

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Now before we get started tonight, I want you to remember a few of the things we covered in our overview of this book.

First off, there are 5 players on the field:
• The Beloved who we believe to be Solomon
• The Shulamite who is his lover/bride
• The maidens/bride’s maids
• The family, friends and valiant men of Solomon and
• The brothers of the Shulamite bride.

There will be shifts in the dialogue from one speaker to another throughout. These will be announced. These lead-ins are NOT original to the text and are therefore not inspired NOR authoritative. A good 90%+ of them are, however, agreed upon by most people. This is because the content makes it rather clear.

This book is NOT for the faint of heart. It uses very blatant and clear sexual references in which both lovers express their longings and desires without shame.

As we read, it will be important – imperative really – that we do not lose sight of what this love story is illustrative of. This is inspired by God to reveal through human marital love, what Jesus desires with His bride.

The narrative in this book is characterized by a conversational style that alternates between dialogues and poetic reflections.

Also remember that this book is NOT in chronological order which will become immediately apparent in the first 7 verses alone.

Finally, the development of the Song of Solomon follows the Chiastic structure I explained last week.

As the curtain opens on this book, we begin with the couple already married and therefore the setting is Solomon’s palace – as it is throughout the entire book.

By the time we reach verse 5, the Shulamite woman is remembering a particularly frustrating portion of her courtship to Solomon when she still did not know his
true identity as king. She was overly tanned due to working the family vineyard and is talking about this to her maidens.

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Intro Solomon Song

Intro to… Solomon’s Love Song

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Tonight we are taking a somewhat “deep dive”introduction into the Song of Solomon.

The Song of Solomon is among those books of scripture classified as wisdom – poetic literature. Its structure is complex and unique in all of scripture. The development of the story is NOT linear and unless you understand the literary structure you are likely to miss a great deal of what is going on in this book.

There are only 8 chapters and 5 characters. There is of course the shepherd/king who we assume to be Solomon himself. There is the object of his affections known formally only as “the shulammite”. Then there are three theatrical “choruses” who interact with the main characters throughout the narrative. These are the “daughters of Jerusalem” (the bride’s maids), Solomon’s friends (or attendants), and the Shulammite’s brothers.

Nearly the entire story actually takes place in Solomon’s Palace where “flashbacks” to their time of courtship leading to marriage takes place.

Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of the story is written from the 1st person perspective of “the Shulammite” woman, rather than from the main protagonist whom we assume is King Solomon.

All together this is a very interesting book in terms of layout, story telling, story development and spiritual imagery.

Of course, being an inspired book, the main person being revealed is actually Jesus and the Shulammite represents the church – His bride. The choruses represent the church, the angels and the ministers of the New Covenant whose job is to present the church as a chaste bride to her Bridegroom.

Other than the book of Job, this is the most detailed book introduction in our entire trek ‘Thru the Bible’ so far, but I believe it was both necessary and beneficial.

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Bathsheba Solomon Proverbs 31

A Mother’s counsel to a Prince… marry well!

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This is the final chapter of the book of Proverbs as well as its fourth and final division.

Chapter 31 was written by King Lemuel which most likely was a lovingly familial name for Solomon, perhaps given by Bathsheba his mother.

This chapter is divided into two parts with greater emphasis given to the most important topic:

• Advice for kings and rulers to follow
• A description of a godly, virtuous woman who fears God and honors her husband.

These, too, seem to speak to Solomon’s authorship since he was a king who received godly advice regarding ruling. Additionally, he unwisely allowed his heart to be carried off by pagan women and so he knew something about the value and need of a godly wife.

The importance of a God fearing wife who possesses godly character cannot be overstated for ANY man, but all the more for a King!

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Proverbs 30 Agur Paul job

Where Agur’s wisdom, Job’s correction & Paul’s letter to Rome intersect

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This chapter is itself the 3rd major division within the greater book of Proverbs. It is written by Agur, a man unknown in scripture who like Balaam of Beor may very well have been a non-Israelite prophet of God.

Agur begins by a self-effacing statement regarding his own wisdom apart from God.

He then offers a list of five statements which are presented in a way which brings God’s correction and confrontation with Job irresistibly to mind.

This list includes the most clear and pointed reference to the incarnate Messiah in the entire book of Proverbs, calling Him the Holy One, speaking of Him as the son of God and asking who would ascend to bring Him down, or descent to bring Him back up. These words are also quoted by Paul in Romans 10 and his reference material may have been both Agur’s proverb and Moses’ statement in Deuteronomy 30:12–14.

The rest of this proverb uses God’s wisdom and ways seen in His creation to highlight things which are insatiable, mysterious, possess social order, wisdom and majesty.

All of this too is very similar to the confrontation of God with Job in Job 38-41.

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