Song of Solomon

 The Song of Solomon:

Preface:  The Song of Solomon has been called a ‘mystery’ book.  Even some Christians have been quick to dismiss it as a frivolous entry into the canon of scripture.  That’s really insulting. That suggest that God is frivolous in His Word. Woe to the those that dismiss even one iota of God’s Word.  Still, others have dismissed that the Song of Solomon has anything to do with the Church or the Rapture. “The Church didn’t exist when it was written, therefore it wasn’t written about the Church”.   Didn’t God lay out His plan of Redemption BEFORE the foundation of the World? Hasn’t God always known about the Bride of Christ? Doesn’t it say in the Word itself:

“It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” - Prov. 25:2

DIdn’t Jesus speak in parables so that only those of God’s Spirit would understand of what He spoke?  The Song of Solomon is a parable/allegory.  It is a allegory about the Church, Israel and Redemption.  It begins at the Age of Grace. It discusses the two groups that shall be saved - the Bride of Christ (the Shulamite maiden) and the Jews (the Daughters of Jerusalem).  The Beloved is our Beloved Lord Jesus and culminates in the Shulamite returning with Her Beloved. It is by far the greatest love story ever told and also one awesome parable!

Chapter 1

The Banquet - The Shulamite (Gentile Bride)

-> Compare to Matt. 22:1-14 and Luke 14: 15-24

It is very obvious that the Lord was talking about how the Jews rejected Jesus (refused to come to the banquet) and so the Father (the King) sent an army and destroyed and burned the city (Diaspora) and sent out servants to invite everyone they saw (Age of Grace).  However, take a close look at verses 11-14 in Matthew.

11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12 He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

13 “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  (See: Matt. 8:10-12; Luke 13:27-29; also - Matthew 13:42, Matthew 13:50, Matthew 22:13, Matthew 24:51, and Matthew 25:30)

14 “For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

Look closely at verse 4 - “The king has brought me into his chambers”  - This is clearly a reference to the Bride of Christ (King of Kings) and the rapture.  Directly after this line the DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM (the Jews) say:

“We will be glad and rejoice in you.  We will remember your love more than wine”

It is more than reasonable to assume that after the Rapture, those jews that recognize the Lord will also recognize that it was Christians (The Shulamite Bride) which were redeemed and taken into the ‘king’s chambers’.  Obviously, the remnant of the Jews that God will save will also be glad and rejoice about the Rapture - (‘We will remember you love more than wine’) because it proves God’s faithful love to His people.  How do we know it’s the Jews saying this to the Beloved (an obvious reference to Jesus) because the Shulamite Bride (Bride of Christ) says to her Beloved:  “Rightly do they love you”

Chapter 2

Contains probably the most recognized description of the Rapture:

“The voice of my kinsman! ((As in Kinsman Redeemer)) behold, he comes leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.

9My kinsman is like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of Baethel: behold, he is behind our wall, looking through the windows, peeping through the lattices.

10My kinsman answers, and says to me, Rise up, come, my companion, my fair one.

11For, behold, the winter is past, the rain is gone, it has departed.

12The flowers are seen in the land; the time of pruning has arrived; the voice of the turtle-dove has been heard in our land.

13The fig-tree has put forth its young figs, the vines put forth the tender grape, they yield a smell: arise, come, my companion, my fair one, my dove; yea, come.”

Hopefully, as has been pointed out elsewhere, this again points to the early harvest season for grapes (mid-late July)  - as Israel has and is likened to a grape vine - once again, the Lord has given us a clue as to what time of the year He will call for us!

Another clue that this is about the Rapture is verse 14 - the Shulamite says to her Beloved:

“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock (Jesus), In the secret places of the cliff, Let me see your face, Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely”

Was there ever a dove associated with Jesus?  Yes. In fact both in Jewish tradition and Christianity - the dove is specifically associated with the Messiah.   It is no coincidence that doves are associated with peace - because Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Also the Holy Spirit, in the shape of a dove, alighted upon the Lord at His Baptism.  (See: Matt. 3:16; Luke 3:22)  Doves also symbolize life - which is fitting since Jesus is ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life’.

Now we need to look at Psalm 27:5 - “For in the day of trouble (Jacob’s Trouble, the DoTL) He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock.”

Now look at another instance directly connected to God showing mercy and His Glory!

“18 And he (Moses) said, “Please, show me Your glory.”

Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.”  

Here we can see that the Shulamite says: ‘Let me see your face” (Much like Moses asked to see God’s Glory) and she also says:  ‘Let me hear your voice’.  In verse 20, God says that ‘no man shall see Me and live’ - which indicates that if the Shulamite is asking to see Her Beloved’s face and hear His voice then she lives in expectation that:  

“Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.”  - 1 John 3:2

This concept is backed up by the Shulamite’s next line in verse 16: “My beloved in mine, and I am his!  He feeds his flock among the lilies”  What does the line: “He feeds his flock among the lilies” mean?  Let’s glance back at verse 2 where the Beloved says: ‘Like a lily among thorns, So is my love among the daughters (of Jerusalem).’  

So;  ‘He feeds his flock among the lilies’ is a double reference to the Bride of Christ; specifically, the early church that consisted entirely of Jews (‘Like a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters (of Jerusalem)).  The Lord used the early Church to write the New Testament which in conjunction with the Old Testament (ergo the complete Word of God) the Lord has used to ‘feed his flock’ (The Church through the Age of Grace).

But how do we know?  Look at the next stanza:

(The Shulamite to her Beloved):

Until the day (DoTL) breaks

And the shadows flee away,

Turn, my beloved,

And be like a gazelle

Or a young stag

Upon the Mountains of Bether(a)

The footnote denoted after Bether reads: ‘literally, ‘separation’  So the definition of Bether means separation.  So, the verse can read thusly:

‘Until the day of the Lord comes,

And the shadows flee away,

Turn, my beloved,

And be like a gazelle

Or a young stag

Upon the mountains of separation’

When read that way - we can see it talks about the time the Lord from when the Lord ascended on high into Glory until He returns for His Bride on the Day of the Lord.  While not spiritually separated from the Lord, we (the Bride) was/is physically separate from Him.

But!! How do we know?

Look at Chapter 3 - ‘A troubled night’

The very first thing we can deduce from this chapter is that the first five verses talk about the Shulamite maiden seeking her beloved in the night.  God has hid His face from Israel after they rejected HIs Son. Since God is the Light of the World, the darkness represents Israel (and by extension) the world being in a spiritual darkness.

The Shulamite decides to get up from her bed (those spiritually asleep) and goes about the city searching for her Beloved.  She asks the ‘watchmen’ (hint, hint - Ezekiel 33:1-11) ‘Have you seen the one I love?’  And no sooner does she ask than she ‘finds’ the one she loves.  Note Matt. 7:7-8:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds;and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

She then says:  ‘When I found the one I love, I held him and would not let him go.’

Starting with verse 6 we see references to Christ’s (The Beloved) return for His Bride.  How do we know?

Verse 6: “...Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense..” - These are two of the three gifts the Wise Men brought.

Verse 7:  “Behold, it is Solomon’s Couch”  Okay, the word couch is Strong’s H4296 it is a place of reclining, usually at a feast.  Given the lavish description of it along with the fact the couch comes with 60 valiant, armed men who are ready for battle - we can safely assume that a more accurate translation would be a litter more accurately (as described in verse 9) a ‘palanquin’  Which was a covered litter, designed for the carrying of royalty.   

(An example of a palanquin being carried on the shoulders of men:  photo source)

And while the Lord comes for us in the Clouds, we also know that the Lord fights against Gog and destroys him ‘on that day’.  The Lord ‘rides the clouds’ as only the King can. The metaphor is not lost.

Look closely at verse 11:  “Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon with the crown … On the day of his wedding, the day of the gladness of his heart”

What is Jesus’ gladness?  We can find that answer in Psalm 45:7 and Heb. 12:2

“You love righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.”

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  

The Church!  The redeemed Bride!  The ones He gave Himself for so that we might be redeemed and saved and have eternal life in Him!  The Church is the whole reason why He went to the Cross! So He could redeem mankind and destroy the wicked in its place.   

This fact is reinforced in Chapter 4 - when the Beloved is the only one talking until verse 16.  You will notice that the Beloved now refers to the Shulamite maiden as ‘my sister, my spouse’ (x3) and ‘my spouse’ (x2).  Now, the Lord is obviously not talking about incest to understand why He refers to His Bride as His ‘sister, spouse’ - we only need to look at Romans 8:29:

“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters”

Also it is worth noting verse 7:

“You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you”  compare that to Eph. 5: 25-27:

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might [g]sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

**Con't Below**

Behold, I tell you a mystery:  We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed- in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. - 1 Corinthians 15:51-52