What Does the Imagery in Song of Songs Portray?

     It's evident that the Song of Songs is a love story. The imagery and romantic expressions are  beautiful. Without the help of the Life-Study of Song of Songs, I never would have seen that this story also portrays God's deep love for man. God had to lay aside His splendor to become a man to win our affections. In the same way, King Solomon had to lay aside his grandeur to court the country girl in this story.


    In the first chapter of the Life-Study of Song of Songs Witness Lee states that this book leads us through the progressive experience of an individual believer's loving fellowship with Christ. Then in the second chapter he says that the lover's journey of transformation begins with her being attracted and drawn by Solomon's love. What I see here is what brings us on in our spiritual journey always seems to be the Lord's love.

      How the seeker's journey parallels our own spiritual transformation is brought out on page 9 of chapter 2:

In 1:2-4a we see that the lover of Christ yearned for Christ, sought Him, and was attracted by His love and drawn by Him in His sweetness to run after Him.....In Song of Songs 1:4b-8 the Beloved answered His lover's yearning and seeking and brought her into the inner chamber (her spirit) to have intimate fellowship. That fellowship led the lover of Christ to enter into the church life, signified by the flock (v. 8; John 10:16). After the lovers of Christ enter into the church life, they begin to be transformed by the Holy Spirit....The church life is a very important means used by the Holy Spirit to transform us....The lover of Christ is transformed by the remaking of the Spirit (S.S. 1;9-16a; 2:1-3a)....This Spirit is actually God Himself doing the work of transformation by remaking us (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Song of Songs. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1995, Print). 

    I saw while reading this that the Spirit is also bringing me through all the stages  portrayed in this book.  In the beginning Solomon's lover is likened to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots (1:9) so naturally strong, and then after that she's a lily with dove's eyes (1:15).  She's a lily trusting God like the Lord brings out in Matthew, and she has  a single heart because dove's can only look at one thing at a time.

      A few other striking landmarks of her transformation occur later in chapter 3 when Solomon calls her a palanquin, a means to carry her Beloved. Wherever we go, we bring the Lord to people.  Then in chapter 4 he calls her an enclosed garden that grows precious spices only for His satisfaction. I like to garden, and so I can easily understand the imagery here. We're the  Lord's garden, and He delights to prune and cultivate our hearts so that He can grow within us. 

     But the seeker's transformation isn't done.  After further transformation Solomon likens his beloved to his palace at Tirzah and Jerusalem (6:4a). This makes me think about how the Lord likens the believers to His spiritual habitation.  After this she becomes an army with banners (6:4b). This reminds me of how the church is also considered as the warrior in Ephesians 6.

     After this long journey Solomon calls his lover Shulamite in 6:13. Witness Lee brings out in this Life-Study that Shulamite is the feminine form of Solomon, and it means that after all the stages of her transformation, she is now his duplication. Wow!  That's exactly the picture revealed in Revelation where the believers are now revealed as the bride of the Christ!! I hope you can take the time to read these Life-Studies on line.     



Posts on the Books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, & Song of Songs

How Do You Read the Book of Proverbs?
Why Did God Put Eternity in Man's Heart in Ecclesiastes 3:11?

Family Brunch Favorite - Blueberry GF Coffee Cake

    Our family likes to do brunches because you can showcase so many delicious combinations of foods.  Normally we go with a baked egg dish, bacon and sausage, coffee cake and muffins, and yogurt parfaits.  This past winter I was on the list for a gluten free alternative.  I went with a coffee cake that came from one of my daughter's home ec recipes from the '90s.

     This blueberry coffee cake was easy to make gluten free.  With all gluten free baking I've found out that a lot hinges on the types of flours you use.  This combination came out not too dry or off tasting which can easily happen when you're using GF flours.  I could tell it was a hit when I found the pan with just a few pieces in it!  Of course who can resist blueberries in anything.  They made each bite moist and delicious!  

 Blueberry Coffee Cake

1.  In a medium-sized bowl mix together:
 1 1/2 cups of gluten free flour (I went with 1/2 cup of sorghum, rice, and tapioca flours), 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.

2.  In your mixer bowl put:
(1)  1/4 cup of butter or coconut oil (that's what I used)
(2) 3/4 cup of yogurt (I used almond probiotic drink with 2 teaspoons of tapioca flour because my son is dairy free, and it came out great still).
(3) 1 large egg or 2 small and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
(4)  Beat for 30 seconds with electric mixer.
.
3.  Prepare pan:  Grease a round layer cake pan.
(1)  Spoon the cake batter into the prepared pan.
(2)  Scatter blueberries across the top.

4.  Make streusel topping - In a small mixing bowl put:
(1)  1/3 cup of brown sugar (I always put a little bit less.)
(2)  1/4 cup of rice flour, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
(3)  Optional:  Chop 2 tablespoons of walnuts.
(4)  3 tablespoons of butter
(5)  Mix all ingredients until crumbly. Scatter over the top of the coffee cake.

5.  Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Breads & Coffee Cakes: 
Gluten free & Low-fat Banana Bread    (From my daughter-in-law's family reunion cookbook)
Celebrate Fall With Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread  (A friend's recipe)
Delicious Gluten Free Zucchini Bread (From my Heritage School Cookbook)
My Favorite Gluten Free Cranberry Nut Bread  (From my daughter-in-law's family cookbook)
Claudia's Blueberry Coffee Cake (Made Gluten Free!)   (From a former neighbor)
Here's a Zucchini Bread with a Hawaiian Twist! Gluten Free Pineapple Zucchini Bread (From my Syre School Cookbook)
Dot's Old Fashioned Pumpkin Bread   (From my father's friend)

Why Did God Put Eternity in Man's Heart in Ecclesiastes 3:11?

     At first glance the book of Ecclesiastes might be a bit discouraging.  Like where was Solomon going with all his complaints about human life?  He was a king who had more wealth, more splendor, and more wisdom than any king then or since. So it could look a bit baffling why he said that everything is vanity of vanities.
 
     I learned when I read the Life-Study of Ecclesiastes that Solomon wrote this book after returning from falling away from God. Surely God let him go to the heights of success and pleasure and then to the depths of emptiness so he could write this book with full conviction. I found Witness Lee's explanation of the central thought of Ecclesiastes on page 2 of chapter 1 especially helpful:

Man was created by God with the highest and most noble purpose, that is, to express Him in the resemblance of Him in His life, nature, and expression. But God's enemy, Satan the devil, came in to inject himself as sin into the man created by God for His purpose.  Through this fall of man, man and all the created things that had been committed by God to his dominion were brought into the slavery of corruption, made subject to vanity (Rom. 8:20-21). Thus, the human life in the corrupted world also became a vanity, a chasing after wind. The writer Solomon had fully realized this and stressed this to the uttermost in his description. Yet he was not fully disappointed in this, but rather he instructed men that there is a way to get out of this vanity, that is, to come back to God and take God as man's everything, redemption, life, wealth, enjoyment, pleasure, and satisfaction, that man still may be used by God to fulfill His original purpose in man for the fulfillment of His eternal economy (Eccl. 12:13-14) (Lee, Witness. Life-Study of Ecclesiastes. Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry, 1995, Print).

I caught this snowflake studded web on my deck this week.

    What I see here is in every kind of human experience that Solomon lists in Ecclesiastes, he's pointing out that although you may enjoy every kind of pleasure under the sun, it cannot fully satisfy you. 

   And this Life-Study points out that it cannot satisfy you because of the way God created you. Solomon touches this in Ecclesiastes 3:11: He has made everything beautiful in its own time; also He has put eternity in their heart, yet so that man does not find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.  

My footnote on this verse references the Amplified Bible's translation of this verse which is really good!  Listen to this:  "...He has planted eternity in men's heart and mind [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun, but only God, can satisfy],...."  This is actually the God-shaped vacuum spoken of by the famous mathematician Pascal.  Here is a short video put out by Bibles for America that talks about Solomon and this verse in Ecclesiastes: https://biblesforamerica.org/videos/the-meaning-of-life-and-mans-third-part/



Posts on the Books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, & Song of Songs

How Do You Read the Book of Proverbs?
Why Did God Put Eternity in Man's Heart in Ecclesiastes 3:11?
What Does the Imagery in the Song of Songs Portray?