April 2, 2011

Song of Songs 7
“I’m just a girl who can’t say no. I’m in a terrible fix. I always say, ‘C’mon lets go,’ just when I oughta say, ‘Nix.’ Perhaps you recognize the lyrics from Addo Annie’s solo from the play Oklahoma. It would seem that Solomon was a guy who wouldn’t take no, and the Shulamite was girl who wouldn’t say, “Yes.”
Solomon is indeed persistent in his desire to seduce the Shulamite. This is more of the direction in which we spoke yesterday. He continues to speak of her beauty in 7:1-9. He is sexually charged and desires to consummate his advances. He gives many metaphors of her beauty which would be understood by any resident of Israel of Solomon’s day but which are rather curious to us. Some of the metaphors we understand, and others take some digging. However, it is clear that the speaker is declaring the beauty of the Shulamite.
Finally upon hearing that the roof of her mouth is like the best wine, the Shulamite has had enough. She turns the phrase back on Solomon. That wine is only smooth for her beloved! She belongs only to her Beloved and His desire is for her. She is saying in effect, “Back off Solomon there is only one man for me, and you are not him!”
At verse eleven, she realizes that her beloved has arrived and now addresses Him. She calls out to him for them to quickly exit and find the fields where they can be betrothed and their togetherness consummated. The Shulamite has succeeded in resisting the advances of Solomon. Now she may enjoy her beloved.
Do we resist the advances of the world as she does? The world is constantly seeking to seduce us with its boast of our beauty and how only we can satisfy its lusts. Are we a girl who can’t say, ”No?” When the world says that our “Cheeks are like cream and its gotta have cream or die,” how will we possibly keep from being seduced? Only by remembering the glory of our Beloved, only by remembering that we belong to him, only by remembering that His desire is for us. That is His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john