May 23
Reading: Song of Solomon 7
1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals,
O noble daughter!
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
the work of a master hand.
2 Your navel is a rounded bowl
that never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a heap of wheat,
encircled with lilies.
3 Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are pools in Heshbon,
by the gate of Bath-rabbim.
Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon,
which looks toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like Carmel,
and your flowing locks are like purple;
a king is held captive in the tresses.
6 How beautiful and pleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights!
7 Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like its clusters.
8 I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,
9 and your mouth like the best wine.
It goes down smoothly for my beloved,
gliding over lips and teeth.
10 I am my beloved’s,
and his desire is for me.
11 Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields
and lodge in the villages;
12 let us go out early to the vineyards
and see whether the vines have budded,
whether the grape blossoms have opened
and the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
13 The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
new as well as old,
which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.
There is no chapter like this in the Bible. It is filled with the desires of lovers and their lovemaking. It is a picture of “the two shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24) It is consummation of marriage. The first nine verses are the words of the husband to his wife. Verses 10-13 are the words of his wife in response.
We already know from chapter 1 that she is dark, sunburnt, and is a laborer in the fields. But he finds her beautiful. He says so in detail in this chapter. Men, you ought to read verses 1-9 of this chapter to your wife in the bedroom. This is what these verses are for.
God has made your wife with a longing to be loved, and a longing to be found attractive in every aspect. Moreover, God wants you to appreciate His handiwork in her. It is not unspiritual or unrighteous for you to find your wife hot and sexy and to tell her so, in many different and romantic ways. This is what an obedient husband does. This is what a loving husband does. This is what a husband does if he has eyes to see who God has given to him.
Men, if you will make this a habit, you will find that verse 10 will be the result. It is a sense of belonging and contentment in your wife. She will know that she is loved. Proverbs 12:14 says, “A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his words.”
It is important to see that Jesus Christ, our bridegroom, loves us and makes us beautiful with His words.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. Ephesians 5:25-27