Dr. Rodney Plunket

In the song we just sang (“I Come to the Garden Alone”) a garden is a place of fellowship between Jesus and a believer.  We want to look this morning at a book of the Bible that views a garden as a place of deep love between a man and a woman.

The biblical book I am referring to has caused considerable confusion for both Jews and Christians.  This book is called the Song of Songs or the Song of Solomon.

Most people are not sure what to do with this book.  It does not fit neatly into the category of church literature, nor does it fit neatly into any other religious category.  Consequently, most people just ignore this book.  That is typically what we do when something is mysterious and does not fit into a nice, neat box; we just ignore it.  So what are we supposed to do with this book?  This morning I will offer my answer to this question.

The reason that the Song of Songs has been so controversial is because it is about the sexual relationship between a man and a woman.  Not only is it about that sexual relationship, it is also about the joy and the pure pleasure that two people experience as a direct result of their sexual relationship.  Song of Songs talks about the desire that a man has for his woman and, more prominently in this book, the desire that a woman has for her man.  This poses a very big problem for many of us because we tend to think that God would not put a book in the Bible that has sex and the pleasure of it as its main focus.

However, back of that sentiment is the false assumption that sex is somehow inherently evil or, if not evil, at least not good.  Some Christians have said, out loud, statements like, ‘Sex is an evil necessity good only for procreation.  If it is enjoyed, it is sinful.’  When sex is viewed in such a negative way it has to be assumed that the book of Song of Songs really must be about something else.  It just seems to be about sex, but it’s not really.  And so Christian and Jewish thinkers allegorized the book until it came to say something that it did not say and came to mean something that it did not mean and never was intended to mean.

Sisters and brothers, it is very important that we know that there is nothing inside this book nor in any other biblical book that would suggest it is about anything other than what it appears to be about.  This book appears to be a book about two people who rejoice in their love and sexual relationship, and I believe that is exactly what it is intended to be about.  This brings up a very intriguing question:  Why did God choose to put a book that is about sex in the Bible?

One key to this puzzle lies in the superscription to the book which reads “The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.”  Some of you might have “Solomon’s song of songs.”  We have generally assumed that this superscription means that Solomon actually wrote this book.  We assume this because that is the way we think of authorship.  If his or her name is on it, then it belongs to him or her, and he or she must have written it.  However, the Israelites and those who lived in the Ancient Near East did not look at authorship quite as we do.

I think that Solomon’s name on the book is not intended to tell us that Solomon wrote the book.  I believe that issue is, at best, a secondary issue.  What I think is significant here is what Solomon’s name represents.  He was the great wise man.  To the Jews, he was the epitome of wisdom.  He was the quintessential symbol of what it means to be wise.  He is also identified with two other books of wisdom in the canon.  I think the significance of Solomon’s name on this book is to let us know that this book fits in the same category that Proverbs and Ecclesiastes fit into.  It is the same kind of literature; it is wisdom literature.  In the same way that law is identified with Moses and the Psalms are identified with David, so it is with Solomon and the writings that bear his name; they are understood to be in the genre of wisdom literature.

Understanding this will have a profound effect on how you read and interpret the book.  The reason is that Israelite wisdom “sought to understand through reflection the nature of the world of human experience in relation to divine reality” [repeat].  In the same way that Proverbs views human experience in terms of how to live a godly life and in the same way that Ecclesiastes is an attempt to understand the whole of human experience, in that same way Song of Songs seeks to explore and rejoice in what is perhaps the most vivid of all human experiences––the sexual union of man and woman.

And not only does this book rejoice and celebrate this most intimate of experiences, it also seeks to restore something that has gone wrong.  Notice the image of the garden that is called to mind in Song 4:12-5:1.  Turn to that section and follow along as I read.  Song of Songs 4:12ff.

A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked, a fountain sealed.  Your channel is an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices—a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon.

Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind!  Blow upon my garden that its fragrance may be wafted abroad.  Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.

I come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I gather my myrrh with my spice, I eat my honeycomb with my honey, I drink my wine with my milk.

Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love.

Now this is not the only section of the book that makes much of garden imagery.  The whole book is replete with images of woods, gardens, and animals.  I believe that this garden imagery is there to remind the reader of another garden called Eden.  In Genesis 2 we have the story of Adam, placed in a garden to tend and care for it.  In verse 22 God makes Adam a companion, a woman.  Chapter 2 ends with a perfect vision of sexual relationship:  “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”  However, in chapter 3 the love story goes awry.  Adam and his wife sin, and the result of their sin is that they are ashamed of their nakedness and they hide themselves from each other.  The Song of Songs is the redemption of this story.  It is a return to the pre-fall view of sex as it was intended to be––without inhibition and without shame between a husband and a wife who are true companions.

What I believe is that Song of Songs provides a very theological statement about sex.  I believe it is in our Bibles as a message from God to remind us that sex is a wonderful and beautiful aspect of our humanity.  God created it for man and for woman, and it was created for their pleasure as long as it takes place in the proper relationship of husband and wife.

If ever there were a society that needed this message it is ours.  We live in a society that idolizes sex in any form or fashion.  The message of the Song of Songs, sitting as it does in a collection of books about commitment and loyalty, is that sex is good in the proper relationship between one man and one woman for as long as they live.  We live in a world where the love story of Genesis 3 is still going wrong.  Our world needs a wake up call about sex.  Our world needs the Song of Songs to bring them back to the pre-fall perfection of sex as it was intended.

The church needs to hear this message as well.  We must not teach our children that sex is wrong and evil.  The Song of Songs says to our young people that sex is something wonderful and special that they wouldn’t want to spoil.  We must convey a message of sexual bliss in marriage, a message that actually strengthens our young people’s efforts to remain pure.

Sisters and brothers, we need to embrace the Song of Songs for what it is.  We need to teach it and read it and treat it as God’s word, just like the rest of the Bible.  I believe that it holds the message of one way that we can go back to the garden of Eden and have the perfection that God created for us––the perfection of committed, physical union between a husband and a wife.

We want to share a special song now.  The words to it are in your worship handout.  This song expresses the commitment that is to exist between a husband and a wife.  Please follow along as David and our worship team bless us with this beautiful piece of music.

In Ephesians 5:31-32 the Apostle Paul writes, “‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’  This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church.”  What we see here is that the kind of close and powerful union between a husband and a wife is like the close relationship between Christ and the church.  That kind of saving union between Christ and His people can be yours this morning.  If you need to be joined to Jesus, please come now as we stand and sing.

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