Song of Solomon
Equality within relationships Throughout this beautiful love song there are many themes to be traced but perhaps one of the most epic… is the way in which both the bride and groom have input into the relationship and neither is given a place above the other in any way. They are truly two becoming one… together united for mutual benefit as each is fed by the others’ love – submission, sacrifice, initiation, affirmation, humility, patience, commitment, and boldness. This song is an absolutely beautiful picture of what God desires marriage to be… a relationship where each person finds identity and value not in the other person… but because of the other person completing them before God.
Genesis 2.23-24 “‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.’
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh”
This theme is quite apparent throughout this book… especially as it is emphasized multiple times that each belongs to the other… “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine”. These words were truth to this couple and God shows in this song that his deep desire for marriage relationships is that they would be restored to the state in which he first created man and woman. Woman was given as a blessing to complete man, and woman finds herself equally alone without man.
In the times when this book was written Israel was quite the patriarchal society. Women were seen as property and polygamy was culturally acceptable and common. This seems like it would just be harsh on women but the reality is that men were missing out because of it also. Men thought that having power meant life for them… where God sees things very differently. This is the reality for these people… that God says what they think is good isn’t. Women are to be equal with men… not just to be used by them as they desire. The problem is that women are designed to complete men just as men are designed to complete women… two are to become one and are to act in this unity. This couple in the Song of Solomon found what God truly desired and the blessing they were to each other is more than just hopeless romanticism… it is a reality that God offers for all. Israel would see this and realize the stark contrast it is to the way in which many of them live and have to reckon what they think of it. The reality though is that the fall has corrupted what God had in mind for the marriage relationship… God offers more than what they have settled for if they would simply dare to believe that God knows what is best.
Today the situation looks differently but the reality of disunity within marriage relationships is every bit as prevalent. The divorce rate is obscenely high not because commitment is an issue but because marriages aren’t what God desires them to be. There are walls between husband and wife… there is communication lacking… for there are two separate entities acting where there should be one. When people get married today they are in it for what they can get out of it… failing to realize that they are actually dying to themselves to make a new united entity… 2 becoming 1. The reality that what is best for the couple is best for each is thrown out the window as each individual still thinks that they want what they alone desire. This is the issue… this truth speaks straight into the selfishness that husbands and wives are living in today in this present culture. God intended this marriage relationship to be a beautiful gift… and while challenging in a sense it is given to be a priceless gift to bring joy and holiness as 2 becoming 1 brings completion and security and value to individuals who will never find value in and of themselves.
