The UmBlog

Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs are the last two books in the poetic section of the Old Testament. Compared to all the other huge gobs of Bible reading I'm doing in the mega-Lenten-reading-plan, these two were a dainty morsel. I did a series on the Song of Songs back in 2008 . In this series though, I'm taking a cloud view, instead of every blade of grass view from back then. I'm going all "meta" now. In the big picture, I really like the placement of these two books next to each other. Ecclesiastes is a downer. It asks, what's the purpose of our lives? Why bother trying? Don't the lazy scoundrel and the brilliant leader end up in the same place, the grave? I think he gets somewhat Zen in the end, suggesting it's best to be in the present. Enjoy right now, and Zen would say the "enjoy" part is still a problem. The writer, who has lived successfully and hedonistically , says that the desire for wealth is never quenched. As Carnegie said, th...

If you keep your radio station and MP3 collection to just "positive, family" music you might not know that many songs compare love to chemically induced states. Lately, on our long drives to and from grandma's my family listens to the "scan" station. We experience a wide diversity of music, We introduce the kids to songs we know from the 70's and 80's and they tell us what they like from their world. Tonight I heard for the first time Kesha 's, " Your love is my drug ." Since I wrote last week about our common pursuit for the transcendent , some choose drugs, some choose love, some choose religion, some get Jesus, I was interested in her version. Her lyrics mention things like, Because your love, your love, your love, is my drug Your love your love your love I said your love, your love, your love, is my drug Your love your love your love I don't care what people say The rush is worth the price I pay I get so high when you're with m...

I have a friend who pastors a church in Connecticut named Eric Stillman. I like his blog. I also made a comment there this week about sex and the church . I also really really enjoyed Guy Muse's post on The most ignored words of Jesus , so much that I had to give him an attaboy. Andrew, the Tall Skinny Kiwi, has great thoughts on debt, recessions, school loans, ministry freedom, and Larry Burkett, to which I chimed in on the bible college response to expensive theological training.

I have jumped ahead to chapter 7 of the Song of Songs and am still using the NET for the English translation. I have included their subsection headings in bold type. See  the series so far . In the previous blog post in this series I concluded that Beloved is now pregnant, but the passion hasn't ebbed between the two. The Lover to His Beloved: 7:7 Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like clusters of grapes. 7:8 I want to climb the palm tree, and take hold of its fruit stalks. May your breasts be like the clusters of grapes, and may the fragrance of your breath be like apricots! 7:9 May your mouth be like the best wine, flowing smoothly for my beloved, gliding gently over our lips as we sleep together. The background information provided in the NET notes are extremely helpful for those of us far removed from Ancient Near East culture. For example, even Homer compared a beautiful woman to a palm tree . In my interpretive slant, that of assuming she is pregnant,...

I am jumping ahead to chapter 7 of the Song of Songs and using the NET for the English translation. This is the series so far . It’s not a perfect translation, they don’t exist, and in fact I will disagree with a translation choice in the first verse here, but I really like their honest translation notes which reveal their limitations and the choices they had to pick from. I also appreciate their attempt to update the language to the more current vernacular. They consider their translation open source and appreciate input from other translators and interpreters. Not unlike a few commentators I see the progression of this epic poem as a lifetime of love with snapshots from different periods in the relationship. I don’t believe this is one week or month of passion but glimpses at the courtship, the wedding, the honeymoon, the fights and starting here at 7 and finishing in 8, the natural outcome of such passion. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carri...

I preached yesterday in my home church, Calvary Chapel Southeastern Connecticut . My text was Song of Songs 2. The audio file is available as well as a picture from our wedding reception in 1994.

Review the text here . See my previous thoughts on 2: 1-3 , 4-7 , 8-17 , . "Among the thorns" – he wore a crown of such "Sweet fruit" – Jesus enjoys the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He says we can only bear fruit as we remain in him and none without him. "Banquet Hall or vineyard" – our conversion "Two hands" – fully committed to him and not looking backwards with longing to what we left "Don’t force love" – don’t try to be Billy Graham, be who he made you to be. Finish first grade before moving onto college. "Through the lattice" – we see imperfectly, but we will see perfectly (1 Corinthians 13) "Let me see your face" – our plea with Jesus "Catch the foxes" – if it causes you to sin, cut it off "Until the dawn arrives" – don’t give up. It may be dark, but it will become light. It may be Friday, but Sunday is coming. This is the season of Lent. But wait, those are mostly her lines. In th...

As has become my habit lately, I am looking at this epic love poem out of order. I wanted to jump to another unique part of this poem. Much of the adorations in this poem are focused on the external features of each other. In this section, the 2nd half of chapter 3 Beloved expresses her appreciation for her Lover’s accomplishments. The NET is not certain who the speaker is here but I see these as Beloved’s lines. The setting could be a wedding, since there seems to be a great deal of pomp and circumstance. 3:6 Who is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, like a fragrant billow of myrrh and frankincense, every kind of fragrant powder of the traveling merchants? Solomon knows how to make an entrance as expected in royalty. He arrives from a distance, making a trail of dust, but dust that is mingled with some really good smells. Perhaps back then sensitivities and allergies to perfumes were not a common problem and there was no such issue as wearing too much of them. I’m ...

I’m jumping ahead to the most bizarre aspect of the epic love poem. It starts with passion that becomes miscommunication which leads to violence against Beloved but ends in adoration of Lover. As usual I am using the NET and the italics are their suggested speaker identities. I’ll keep my comments short interspersed but make a controversial suggestion after the reader sees the context. The Lover to His Beloved: 5:1 I have entered my garden, O my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my balsam spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk! The Poet to the Couple: Eat, friends, and drink! Drink freely, O lovers! This follows the standard tone of this poem. Farming metaphors for physical intimacy. Their passion is unbridled. Their freedom to each other is at its maximum. The Beloved about Her Lover: 5:2 I was asleep, but my mind was dreaming. Listen! My lover is knocking at the door! The Lover to His Beloved: “Open for me, my sister, my ...

This is a continuation of the Song of Songs series . This is a look at 4:1-7, Lover sings Beloved a wedding night song. I will get back to chapter 3, but Valentine's Day is getting closer and I wanted to cut to the chase. Italics indicate the NET Bible assumption of who is talking. All Bible quotes from the NET . The Lover to His Beloved: 4:1 Oh, you are beautiful, my darling! Oh, you are beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are like doves. Your hair is like a flock of female goats descending from Mount Gilead. I have been to a couple weddings during which the groom sings a song to the bride. It is simultaneously impressive and awkward for me. It’s awkward because the bride starts crying and I’m a New Englander who is uncomfortable with such public displays of emotional intimacy. Here in New England we won’t greet anyone until we’ve seen them over a year and can no longer ascribe it to coincidence. Someone we see that much must live around here and is not a tourist. It’s a sa...

This is a continuation of the Song of Songs series . This is a look at 2:8-17, Lover takes Beloved with him on spring break for physical and emotional love making. Italics indicate the NET Bible assumption of who is talking. All Bible quotes from the NET . The Beloved about Her Lover: 2:8 Listen! My lover is approaching! Look! Here he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills! 2:9 My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look! There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the window, peering through the lattice. In the previous verse Beloved warns the maidens not to awaken love until it so desires. It seems that Lover has desired and is coming to visit. There is a sound he makes that excites her. It probably isn’t a gastro-intestinal sound either. Perhaps it is the sound of his royal chariot. He is undeterred by the obstacles that hinder his goal of her company. She has waited for him and he comes to find her at full throttle. As mentioned earlier, gazelles ...

This is a continuation of the Song of Songs series . This is a look at 2:4-7, Beloved's amazing time with Lover and her exhortation to the maidens of Jerusalem. Italics indicate the NET Bible assumption of who is talking. All Bible quotes from the NET . The Beloved about Her Lover: 2:4 He brought me into the banquet hall, and he looked at me lovingly. Lover is at work in his romancing. "Banquet hall" is a translation option. As the NET Bible notes a literal translation is “house if wine.” Now “house of wine” can refer to a vineyard. Back in 1:14 she referred to the vineyards in the oasis of En Gedi and this location has provided a source of the recent foliage and flower poetry. Thus, perhaps, we are not at a new location but still in the vineyard. She could be saying, “He brought me to the vineyard…” which fits in with the metaphorical activity before these verses and the explicit activity forthcoming. Regardless of location her husband is gazing at her with love. The tr...

This is a continuation of the Song of Songs series. This is a look at 2:1-3, a short interchange between Beloved and her Lover. The entire series can be found here . Italics indicate the NET Bible assumption of who is talking. All Bible quotes from the NET . The previous verses left them laying together intimately under the cedars. As she adores the nature around them she notices the flowers… The Beloved to Her Lover: 2:1 I am a meadow flower from Sharon, a lily from the valleys. Remember her self-confidence? She believes her Lover’s compliments and abides in them. Yet she doesn’t overshoot and step into vanity. She considers herself one flower among a meadow. Not that a flower is any less beautiful because it keeps company with a million others. Sharon is a well watered area and vegetation including flower meadows would be found there. The NET Bible notes a proposal for the sole member of the lily family that grows in Palestine, Israel’s chamomile. There is a neat photography blog ca...