Song of Songs

Reading Song of Songs (or, Song of Solomon) with folks from Saint Matthew this past week, it struck me how repeatedly the Bible conveys the beauty of sexual intimacy in a marriage between a man and a woman. 

Such oneness in the flesh is seen in the Bible as a gift from God to  husbands and wives. Even Jesus sees marriage between husband and wife as the only, appropriate, and beautiful place for the gift of sexual intimacy to happen. 

Yet some church bodies, including my own, seem to think that they know better than God about when and with whom people should have sexual intimacy. It's sad and ridiculous.

Of course, such presumption on the part of believers who should know better is nothing new. Solomon, traditionally thought to be the author of Song of Songs, himself violated God's will for human sexuality which God had revealed to him. This only goes to show how important is for people of faith to not be harshly judgmental, but constantly pursuing a life style of "daily repentance and renewal," turning each day to God for the help to live faithfully.

This Just In: I AM a Dork

My dorkiness was confirmed today (once again) by the fact that I was psyched to rip into the package containing the latest volume in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. There had been a delay of several months since the publication of the last book and in an email to me about two months ago, a spokesperson for the company wasn't certain when the next installment would be released. He assured me that, as a subscriber to the series of books, the next volume would be sent to me as soon as the ink dried. So, it came as a happy surprise for me to see it in my mailbox today.

Of course...ahem...my excitement may have been deepened by the fact that a note on the packaging indicated that the new book's subject is the Old Testament book, Song of Solomon (aka: Song of Songs), a sometimes saucy celebration of the marital love enjoyed by husband and wife.

Whenever I read or think about Song of Solomon, I remember the episode of M*A*S*H in which Father Mulcahy, visiting the wounded and sick, comes upon a soldier reading the Bible intently. Delighted, Mulcahy asks the young man what book of the Bible he's reading. The soldier says, "Song of Solomon." Mulcahy grabs the Bible from him and says that it might be a bit too much for him to read right then.

But, back to my dorkiness. Anybody who is serious about understanding Scriptures will be well helped by all the commentaries in the Brazos series. I own all the volumes published so far and each one has deepened my understanding of the Biblical books covered and helped me in thinking about their theological, practical application. I've been especially helped (so far) by Stanley Hauerwas' volume on Matthew, Risto Saarinen's on The Pastoral Epistles and Philemon and Jude, and David L. Stubbs' work on Numbers.