Often times as I write on the Song of Songs I will use both the lower and upper case in the same sentence.  Small letters and big capitals with the same word.  For example him/Him or messiah/Messiah or king/King or husband/husband, beloved/Beloved or lover/Lover etc.

Why do I do this?

Quick Answer:  Because the principle truth or idea is applicable to Israel’s relationship with God, Solomon to his wife, Christ’s love to the Church.   The text teaches a truth about love.  That truth can be applied across the board.  The bride/Bride desires to receive God’s love over and over again through a mediator/Mediator, husband/Husband, king/King.  Song 1:2-4, Song 8:6

8744379 – dancing wedding couple at a park on a sunny day

So if I say, “The bride/Bride truly loved her husband/Husband.”

What I mean by that is that the literal female woman in the song loved her husband Solomon.  Yet since every marriage that has true love from God in the hearts of the spouse it is also true that the Bride of Jesus Christ truly loves her Heavenly Husband, Jesus Christ.

1. The bride truly loved her husband.  (A woman loving a man)
2. The bride truly loved her Husband.  (A believing woman loving Jesus Christ)
3. The Bride truly loved her Husband.  The Bride of the son of God truly loved God in the person of the coming messiah/Messiah or Jesus Christ.

All are true.  The text is teaching the first truth on a spousal level.  Yet as I’m writing I see something similar and would like you to see an analogy so I write in both small caps and large caps so that you could see the analogy better.  The idea is the same.  Namely, that of a bride loving her husband.  Love in marriage.  The bride loves the husband.  

The bride by her actions proves her love to her husband/Husband.  In this statement I’m pointing out that when a woman loves her husband she is also showing love to God her Husband because God commands the wife to love her husband, therefore any act of love towards her earthly husband is an act of love to her Heavenly One.

husband/Husband, Christ/Jesus Christ, the Messiah/The Messiah, bride/Bride, Son of God verses Jesus Christ, his/His

husband/Husband=  The principal truth in the text that is similar is that of the idea of a husband or his role.  When I use the small letter “h” I mean Solomon or any  earthly husband depending on the context.   When I use the capital “H” I either mean God or YHWH as He calls Himself the Husband of Israel.  Or I usually more often am talking about Jesus Christ the Heavenly Husband of His Bride.

There is also a union of the bride/Bride with a pre-incarnate form of Jesus Christ similar to a true Israelites union in love to The Angel, in the rock 1 Cor. 10:2-4 or The Angel in  Ex. 23:20-21.          So in some sense both Solomon and his bride are united in love to a pre-incarnate form of Jesus Christ but I will more than likely not talk in this sense.  Speaking to the nation of Israel God says,

She felt separated from her husband/Husband.

Our sins separate us from God and man.  Isaiah 59:2.  Notice in 5:1 they are together but in 5:2 they are apart for her sin made it feel like he was gone, she couldn’t sense his/His love when she was in sin.  They are one in one sense and in another she can feel separation from her husband/Husband.

The text in Solomon’s song of songs  is Solomon NOT Jesus.  The text says Solomon and means Solomon not God.  But you can argue from Solomon to Jesus when seeing a similarity and make an analogy.  Solomon was a type of Christ.  Love in Marriage illustrates Jesus Christ’s love to the Church.  Therefore marriage or the union of a man and woman illustrates many aspects of a believers union with Jesus Christ.  That union many puritans called the “Mystical union”.

The text is the bride of Solomon.  Not  the Bride of Jesus Christ by allegory.  

Israel’s Messiah was of the same nature as God.  Ex. 23:20-21

The Angel with God’s Name in Him was to “bring” “guard” and “command and they were to listen”  Ex.  23:20-21 and “go ahead” of Israel. 23:22.

Israel was to listen and obey this Angel that had the name Jehovah in Him.  Anyone you are supposed to obey is the authority over you.  Solomon was to be obey like a king and The Angel was to be obeyed as the King of kings.  The Angel was their Authority for He God’s Name in Him.

God in the 2nd person of Trinity, their Messiah, was their Husband and acted like it.  Isaiah 54:5-6

1.  When you can argue from the lesser Christ to the greater Christ, lesser husband to the Greater.  Particularly in his/His skill to love his/His wife/Wife.  Matt. 12:42. The wisdom and skill Solomon had to love his wife was great Song 8:6  but Christ wisdom, love and grace is greater.

You can argue from the lesser to the Greater Christ but you can say the text is directly talking about Jesus.  You will miss the point of the text and also be committing exegetical suicide.  If you see me replacing Jesus Christ for Solomon it is not because the text is talking about Jesus but that you can argue from the lesser husband to the Greater Husband Christ form the text.  If you read Jesus into the text and say the Song of Songs this is Eisegesis not exegesis.  This is a technical distinction for those who know how to make a difference.  I am not reading something into the text that is not there but knowing another truth somewhere in Scripture I am seeing an analogy.  I use an  exegetical hermeneutic as best as I can to find the idea or principle in the text.  Then you can apply the truth to human marriage and then by way of similarity compare the idea or principle of love to our spiritual union with Christ our Heavenly King, Shepherd, Beloved etc. depending on which context you are in.

messiah/Messiah   christ/Christ

Meaning that the application of the principle truth in the text can be used for application in a human marriage and also application for our Spiritual union with God through Christ in love.  The text teaches an idea or truth,  that truth can be applied in understand how a husband ought to love his wife so as to teach the husband a lesson because the the greatest type of Christ alive did nothing wrong in the Song therefore he is the example.   Love to God in the heart of the believer irresistibly  compels them to desire oneness through union and communion with the greatest messiah/Messiah.

You can’t take God out of the picture and read the Song of Songs “under the sun” or it will become meaningless.

I write in both the upper/Upper and lower case sometimes because the basic idea or truth I am trying to communicate is also a principle truth in the life of a believer in Christ.

There are similar principles of love at work in both a husband/Husband and wife/Bride with “the very Flame of the Lord” in them and Christ’s love at work in believers. way two become one in Solomon’s marriage  are similar to Christ’s union with believers.

And I intentionally use the word believers in the above sentence rather than use the word Shulamite because Shulamite is to specific to both person and period of time.  Generally the principle idea or truth is always true.  and if a text is trying to communicate a principle then all must be reduced to principles and Shulamite is to specific and believer is broader and therefore the application of the principle truth or idea reaches all believers.  Truth is universal.  Provided similarities are kept in context the principle idea of Solomon’s love to his bride will be true also in some ways very similar and in some ways very different from Christ’s love to each believer.  Since we are made in the image of God there are things similar about God and us.

When wanting to see the analogies you have to think of the principle idea trying to be communicated in the Song of Songs.

In this context the principle idea of “a believer” will be placed in the stead of Shulamite in this context.   Believer communicates faith.   The idea of a Lover communicates emotion.    the truth of Christ love to the individual believer encompasses all time.  So in the analogy Solomon is the lesser Christ and the Shulamite represents every believer.  I use believer because the principle idea that Christ died for all believers in the coming Christ in the OT.  And all believers in the NT believing in the Christ that came from God, put on flesh, lived a perfect sinless life and bore the sins of many.  So I say “certain truths in Solomon’s marriage are similar to Christ’s union with believers”  Our hearts will resinate with hers!  Somewhere in the text your heart and hers will be more one in agreement with in mind or emotion.  Do you feel what she feels?  Can you heighten those feelings?

Solomon/Christ is skilled at bringing peace everywhere as he ruled from Jerusalem.

The people were transformed by seeing the glory of God reflected in Solomon’s/Christ’s marriage.

Analogies and metaphors help us out, they help our weak minds ability to comprehend Spiritual Truths better.  Nicodemus needed to understand the physical truth about the souls rebirth, so Jesus Jesus you must be born again.  Think of being physically born once and you lived a certain life and then you are born again and live a different life.  Now if nicodemus had an old life and gave if up to live for Jesus then Nicodemus would have known that he was living a new life.   Those who are born again know the new different life and that those who have a new life in Christ, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

My point is that in order for us to understand unseen spiritual truths, types, illustrations and metaphors are used to bring to light some spiritual truth that mere explanation will not do justice to the truth trying to be communicated.

Words and ideas are means to an end.  God/Solomon had a specific truth or idea He wanted us to understand, love and delight in.  God wants us to understand what it is like to experience His Love!!   The best setting for this experience is that of a courtship, marriage and ends with the Bride yearning for her beloved’s/Beloved’s return.

So above I just used beloved and Beloved in the same sentence.  What I mean is in the Song of Songs beloved would mean Solomon.  Do not mistake beloved for God.  Solomon is not God or Jesus in the Song of Songs.  Solomon is the lesser Christ Matt. 14:42  Herein is the spiritual meaning everyone wants to understand in the  Song of Songs.  If you just replace Christ Jesus for Solomon and understand the idea of the text  then you will benefit.  But you miss the point Scripture is trying to make!!  Matt. 12:42 argues that a “greater than Solomon is here.”  Greater in Wisdom, Love and Grace etc.  We are supposed to argue from the lesser christ, Solomon to the Greater Christ Jesus.  In this way Christ is understood better and loved, valued and delighted in more!!!  Isn’t this what you want!!  You want to Love God/Christ more!  This is why Im so in love with the Song of Songs, it shows me God’s love by reflection.   Solomon’s love was perfect to his wife in the Song.  Christ’s love is greater!!  Eternal, immutable, infinite and more delightful than any other experience!

My point is that even though I write him/Him doesn’t mean I am saying that in the Bible in the Song of Song “him” is not Solomon but Christ.  Im not saying you can take Solomon out and put Christ there, many people wrongly do so in my opinion.  The better way to exposit the text is to take the text as a human marriage between two believers with the “Flame of God” Song 8:6  in them.  Solomon was a lesser husband, lover and king than Christ our heavenly Bridegroom and Husband.  The Greatest Lover and King of kings!!

So here is me going on and on with different truths in the Song of Songs that are similar in Solomon’s marriage to his wife analogous to Christ’s saving and sanctifying love to each individual believer.

How can we safely jump from seeing an illustration of love in a human marriage and draw comparisons with Christ and the individual believer properly?

Having the illustration helps our weak minds to understand the spiritual realm better. Jesus said to Nicodemous that he needed an outward earthy illustration in order to understand spiritual rebirth.   Love can be illustrated in a wife submitting to her husband like a queen submits to her king.  And when she obeyed she was obeying her king/King.  Both Solomon and God she obeyed.  God wants her to obey her husband.  So when she listens to Solomon she is obeying God at the same time.  So I say in Song 1:8 “She is obeying her king/King.”  She is harnessed to Pharaohs chariot.  She existed to do the will of the Pharaoh, the one in authority.  She was submitting quite fast and fearlessly so Solomon/Christ compliments her beauty.  He was dazzled by her actions.  What was so awe inspiring about her that she gets such an honorable praise likened to “the swiftest most fearless mare harnessed to Pharaoh’s chariot.”  This isn’t any old horse.  Had he compared her to a horse harnessed to a plow, then this would communicate him adoring seeing her work hard for her king.

Examples

Example 1

Song of Songs 1:2-3  “Let him kiss me with the kisses of your lips for you love is more delightful than wine.”

She has tasted the sweetness and delights of God’s love and her fire burns hotter in her soul for the one/One she loves. Song 8:6   This experiencing his/His love to me is more delightful than any other experience more delightful than wine.

Example 2

Song of Songs 1:6 “Do not stare at me because I am dark (sunburnt), darkened by the sun.”

Example 3  Out of “Catch for us the foxes“

“The vineyards are shared by the two.  They both have a stake in their vineyards blooming.  Catch for us.  US.  Us is plural.  The catching of the foxes is for the benefit of both of them.  Ignorance, insincerity,  spiritual pride etc are evil foxes that will keep their vineyards  from blossoming.   He gets what he wants which is a closer relationship with her.  And she gets what she wants which is a closer more intimate relationship with him/Him in his/His chambers.”  God/Christ would want her to catch the foxes.  Solomon would want her to catch the Foxes.  Therefore I write Solomon/Christ wanted her to catch the evil foxes.

The idea of Song 1:2-4 is that The Bride has experienced the kings love and wants more of it in the most intimate of places, his chambers.

The Christian has also experienced the Love of King Jesus by understanding who He is and what He has done for us and now we want to be closer to God, nearer, we desire the strictest union with God, So also Christ our Lord and Savior desires us to be untied to Him in the strictest way possible,  “Let them be one, as We are One.” John 17  So her desire is for the closest most intimate relationship with the one/One she loves.  And here the one/One is put there because the woman in the Song desires both, she desires close intimacy Song 1:2, 1:7 with the one her heart loves, for love desires the strictest union with the object of its affection.

Arguing from the lesser to the greater type.  How much more so ought we to desire intimacy with Christ!  The idea of desiring intimacy with your lover/Lover is a natural principle desire flowing out of the very Flame of the Lord.

Interesting how the bride desires further intimacy in Song 1:2-4 and still desires to be closer Song 1:7,   they enjoy one another excellencies, she beautifully gets persecuted for his sake for greater enjoyment of each other’s love.  Then He shows up all wanting to get totally sincere and open’s his heart out to you calling you to a closer more intimate relationship with himself.   He gave all kinds of motives for doing so and then calls us closer again by further degree’s of repentance,  Our lover being both authoritatively sweet saying “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one”  she has fallen and he calls her to arise!  Arise out of sinful habits, she now recognizes that certain sins keep her from enjoying his/His presence, sin separates but she wants the stricter union.  Her inability to catch the evil foxes was what ruined the intimacy of their union. she asks for his/His help in Song 2:15  “Catch for us the foxes the little foxes that are ruining our vineyard our vineyards that are in bloom.”

She is asking Solomon to do his part in making sure their relationship stays blossoming.  He promised to make her more holy and beautiful in Song 1:11 and now she is asking him to do what he promised but using blossoming vineyards as a beautiful analogy

Knowing all your past and current sins and feeling guilty and condemned has only brought you further from the one/One you love.  Its in this context that she says “Catch for us the foxes…”

Example 4  “Dark am I, yet lovely.”    The point is that one thing about her is not attractive and another thing is attractive.  If you said her outer appearance was both black and lovely.  Then the point is still the same.  In one sense she is dark and unattractive and in another sense she is lovely, attractive and beautiful.

This is the confession of the bride to be.  Dark am I, yet lovely.  In one sense she is dark and in another sense she see’s and knows there is a loveliness about herself that she delights in.  Her delight was in holiness wherever she found it.  Her lover/Lover was most holy.  His/his holiness adorns him/Him.  Both are true the earthly marriage is but a illustration of the spiritual union of the souls of Christ and each individual believer.

The bride in the Song is a natural born enemy to the king/King who sat on the “throne of the LORD”  2 Chron. 9:8

So how do we go from Solomon to Christ?

Solomon is not Christ, Solomon was a Christ, a Messiah, but not The Messiah.  Solomon was a type of Jesus Christ.

Solomon possessed unmeasurable wisdom yet when Christ appeared He said “a greater than Solomon is here”  Matt. 12:42   We get to Christ not by taking Solomons name out and putting Jesus there, but by arguing from the lesser to the greater.  Solomon loved his wife but Christ’s love to His bride, is greater.   How much more so is Christ.  Solomon loved his bride.  Christ loved His bride.  But how much more so does Christ love his bride.  If we can see how much wisdom and love is on display in Solomon’s love to his bride then we can more easily get a clearer idea of our Bridegrooms wisdom and love for us when we argue from the lesser to the greater Lover.   Or something like.   The bride fearlessly and swiftly pursued a closer more intimate relationship with Solomon because his “name” was like perfume.   How much more so ought we to pursue Christ!  He has a Name above all Names!  LORD of lords.  We do have fears of punishment when we sin and sin again, but this is due to learning the Christian life and what to do when feeling guilty, look to the cross and think of Jesus suffer the Wrath of God you deserve.  If you believe this when feeling guilty then you will have no fear of punishment.  Believer will not be fast and fearless when fearing punishment from God.  1 John 4

“We never could have any notion what understanding or volition, love or hatred are, either in created spirits or in God, if we had never experienced what understanding and volition, love and hatred, are in our own minds. Knowing what they are by consciousness, we can add degrees, and deny limits, and remove changeableness and other imperfections, and ascribe them to God. Which is the only way we come to be capable of conceiving of any thing in the Deity.” JE

Every believing husband is a type of Christ.  No matter what time frame you were born from Adam to the end of time all husbands were, are and will be a type of Christ.  You want to see the Love of Jesus to His bride, look to the most godly husband you know and you will see a husband loving his wife as Christ loved the church.  Man is the authority in the marriage and woman is cursed to usurp that role, the born again woman will get better and better at her submission to her husband and her husband will also grow better at love, forgiveness, communication, leadership, friend, etc.  So do we usurp Christ’s reign in our hearts when we get selfish, yet Christ forgives and never stops loving us because He paid the penalty for our sin and He is our Bridegroom.

Often times as I write I will capitalize Husband, King, Shepherd etc.  This is when both ideas are true, rather than rewrite the same sentence.  Both ideas are true.  One true idea taught directly from the Song and another taught somewhere else.  For example.   It is true that the bride desired to experience her kings love in marriage over and over again because his love was better than wine.  Song 1:2-4.   Now the same is true for our relationship with God through Christ.   We are the bride of Christ.   We desired to experience our Kings Love in a Spiritual Union over and over again because His love is more delightful than any other delightful experience/wine.  My latter example of Christ’s love to the Church being more delightful than any other experience doesn’t come directly in the Song.  We have to argue from the lesser messiah to the greater Messiah.  Matt. 12:42  Rather than go through the whole process of explaining how Im not reading into the text Christ where he is not.   Yes Christ is not in the Song of Songs but the greatest type of Christ is, Solomon.  So we argue that if she desired Solomon so much because of his character, how much more so ought we to desire Christ because of His Greater Character.  We can say how much more so.   Christ is Greater.  Solomon is in the Song, but Christ said a Greater than Solomon is here.   A Greater King, Greater Shepherd, Greater Priest, Greater Beloved, Greater Friend, Greater Husband of our souls!  So I might say the bride desired to experience her husbands/Husbands love because it was more delightful than wine.  Both statements are true wether you are talking about husband Solomon or Husband Christ, both are true.  The Song teaches of Solomon little h for husband so that we can learn more about the Greater Husband Christ and his love to His Bride, the Church.