In the Hebrew Bible, the Song of Solomon is called the “Song of Songs” or, “The best of songs.” This book “celebrates the dignity and purity of human love . . . It came to us in this world of sin, where lust and passion are on every hand, where fierce temptations assail us and try to turn us aside from the God-given standard of marriage. And it reminds us, in particularly beautiful fashion, how pure and noble love is.”

The great love expressed in the Song of Solomon is between a man and his bride, in this case, Solomon, and a woman from the town of Shulam in northern Palestine. The book is presented very much like a play, divided into scenes.

Scene I - The bride is brought to the chambers of the King’s banqueting house. A chorus is sung by the “damsels of Jerusalem” and Solomon and the woman praise each other’s beauty (1:1 - 2:8).
Scene 2 - The bride’s dream of her husband to be (2:9 - 3:5).
Scene 3 - The marriage (3:6 - 5:10).
Scene 4 - The marriage festival (5:2 - 8:4).
Scene 5 - The couple visit the former home of the bride (8:5-14).

Historically, Christians have been somewhat reluctant to discuss the role of intimacy between men and women, but the Song of Solomon is a very intimate book. In an effort to avoid the issue, the book has been misinterpreted as referring to the love Jesus has for the Church – this despite the fact that the book is not cited anywhere in the New Testament. Some of our hymns are based on this interpretation (eg. “Jesus Rose of Sharon” and “I have Found a Friend in Jesus”).

Four points are worth noting here from this book:

First, when it comes to couple relationships, sex is an important aspect. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s the way God intended for things to work. But God has placed certain boundaries on the sexual. It is foolish for people to believe that couples forming and nurturing their relationships will not have sexual thoughts and feelings. The Song of Solomon reminds us that God has known this, planned it that way and has spoken to the issue. Faithful people will pay attention to what God has said and keep within the boundaries of what God has said is proper.

Second, you will notice in the Song of Solomon that “looks” play an important role in the attraction between the sexes – both to men and women. It is important that after marriage, both husband and wife understand that, and seek remain attractive to their spouse.

Third, though looks are important, husbands and wives see one another differently from the way they see others. The woman of Shulam did not think she was as pretty or as cultured compared to the queens of Solomon’s harem (1:5-6). But Solomon saw her with different eyes. In every successful marriage, the wife must know from her husband that he sees her differently from the way he sees other women – different even from the way she sees herself – and that he loves what he sees in her. The wife views her husband differently from the way she views other men – and she loves what she sees in him.

Finally, notice that Solomon and his bride communicate to each other their appreciation for one another. In modern relationships, pride often gets in the way of doing this, but successful marriages as God intended are relationships where husbands and wives continually communicate how they value how they feel about each another to each other, and they do so in positive ways.

“That’s got to be the most depressing book of the Bible. Just read it: ‘Meaningless, meaningless . . . utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless’ And that’s just the first two verses!”

My friend was talking about Ecclesiastes of course.

But Ecclesiastes was not intended to be depressing. It was intended to be a sobering look at life. Listening to WTOP (a D.C. news radio station) one morning I heard a news segment on how much banks charge in fees. A young girl complained that she over-drew her account by $5 and the bank charged her $25. She said: “It’s as if they are sucking the money from our accounts.” I thought: “You knew that going in young lady. You are the one over-drawing your account. You only have yourself to blame.”

Not very compassionate of me, right? (Actually, I do feel for her. The charges are excessive. But the charges are not compulsory. You don’t have to overdraw your account. It was still her own fault.)

Life is not always compassionate (though I am grateful for the compassion that is there). There are hard lessons that must be learned. Don’t balance your checkbook? You have only yourself to blame for overdrafts. Too much junk food and couch time? Only yourself to blame for poor health. Don’t like school and won’t go or study? Only yourself to blame for the meager job opportunities available to you. Too lazy or uncaring to tend to your appearance or practice personal hygiene? No wonder you don’t have friends – only yourself to blame.

These are just some of the stark realities of life. You can learn them the hard way, or you can learn them from others who learned them the hard way and passed along lessons learned. In Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, Solomon candidly passes on the wisdom of life – wisdom he says he personally made it his aim to discover by experience (ie. the hard way).

While Proverbs passes on nuggets of wisdom, Ecclesiastes does that and looks at the big picture. As you read it, underline the recurring phrase “under the sun” (27 times in 12 chapters). It means “in this life.”. What should be our main focus in this life?

The book flows as follows:
I) A statement: None of life’s normal pursuits are of lasting significance 1:1-11
II) Solomon’s experiments to see if that statement is true. He tries to find fulfillment in knowledge, fun, escape, work, personal purity, and philanthropy. None of these work.1:12 - 2:26.
III) On the other hand, he says, there is a time for everything in life. Live and find enjoyment in whatever moment God has given you, keeping in mind that one of those moments is an appointment with God to give an account for how you lived your life. 3:1 - 6:12
IV) Life is full of harsh realities. Face them wisely in full view of God 7:1- 11:10.
V) Because old age (and the inability to make changes) and death is coming for us all, and then the judgment of God. 12:1- 14.

Nothing we do, that stays here, “under the sun” is of lasting significance. What is of lasting significance is how we live in preparation for the time when we are no longer “under the sun,” but in the presence of God. Jesus put it this way: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21).

“Well done is better than well said.”

“God helps those who help themselves.”

“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

These are but a few of our “American proverbs,” all of which came, at least through, if not from, Benjamin Franklin.

Every culture has its proverbs. From Babylon during the days of Abraham we have the following: “Build like a Lord, live like a slave. Build like a slave, live like a Lord.” From Egypt we have this one: “A petitioner likes attention to his words better than the fulfilling of that for which he came . . . a good hearing is a soothing of the heart.”

The culture of Israel in the Old Testament was no different. Solomon himself was said to have spoken three thousand proverbs, and over 300 of them are specifically to be found in the book of Proverbs, part of what is called the “wisdom literature” of the Old Testament. The book of Proverbs has more parallels with ancient literature than any other book in the Bible.

Proverbs has little organizational structure, but may be outlined as follows:

I) Title and aim of the book. 1:1-7
II) The importance of wisdom. 1:8 - 9:18
III) Proverbs of Solomon (374 two liners) 10:1 - 22:16
IV) Sayings of other wise men 22:17 - 24:22
V) Hezekiah’s collection of Solomon’s proverbs chapters 25 - 29
VI) Wisdom from the wise man Agur - chapter 30
VII) Wisdom from King Lemuel 31:1-9
VIII) The Woman of Noble character 31:10-31

Wisdom has to do with “how” we live our lives in order to be successful. Proverbs are wise rules of conduct. They are not “guarantees.” Our proverb, “early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” is a good rule to follow, but not a guarantee. Some labor from dawn to dusk, destroy their health, and never become “wealthy.” But on the other hand, “go to bed late, get up late,” is a prescription for disaster.

Since they are not guarantees, they should not be read or treated as laws. Thus the parent who “trains up his child in the way he should go” can expect that his child will live accordingly. But that is not a guarantee. If a child turns from the wise path later in life, it should not serve as an indictment against his parents. On the other hand, of course, the parent who offers no guidance for his child can fairly well expect him to turn out poorly.

Proverbs offers direction for daily manners, work, sex, family life, friendship, and our relationship with God. These particular proverbs are important because they come to us by the approval of God and as such, provide us not with earthly wisdom, but heavenly.

The longest book of the Bible is the book of Psalms. It is the most cited Old Testament book by New Testament writers (but Isaiah runs a close second). Walter Bruggemann has written: “In season and out of season, generation after generation, faithful women and men turn to the Psalms as a most helpful resource for conversation with God about things that matter most.” He divides the Psalms into three categories:

1) Psalms of “orientation.” I call these “good time psalms,” expressions of the heart when times are going well.

2) Psalms of “disorientation.” These are the “bad times psalms,” expressions of the heart when things are not going well. There is hurt, separation, suffering, and death. Life is ragged. The largest number of psalms are of this type (wonder why that is?).

3) Psalms of “reorientation,” which I call “turn around psalms.” Things have been going poorly, but life has changed and is now headed in a new and better direction.

Of all the Psalms, perhaps none has provided Christians with as much difficulty as those called the “Imprecatory Psalms.” These are prayers that ask God to do horrible things to other people. The most notable are Psalms 55,59,69,79,109,137. How could a person of God ask God to “let death take my enemies by surprise”or make their eyes “darkened so they cannot see and their backs bent forever”? Is it really appropriate for us to pray: “Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name”?

We are much more comfortable with Jesus’ and Stephen’s prayer for their enemies: “Do not hold this sin against them.”

While we would like to pray Jesus’ prayer, and while it is surely more in keeping with his command to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:43ff), it is nevertheless true that there are times justice seems so trampled on that the imprecatory psalms more accurately reflect the feelings of our heart. The book of Psalms is God’s word to us that whatever we feel about ourselves, about others, and even about God, none of those feelings are new nor unique to us. Great people of God have felt them too. And when they had those feelings, good or bad, joyful or sad, convicted or confused, they didn’t take matters into their own hands. They took their feelings to God. As much as anything else, the book of Psalms provides us with the vocabulary to unburden our heart and approach God in any season of life.

In the 4th century A.D., Ambrose, a preacher and Elder of the church in Milan, Italy, wrote: “Although all scripture breathes the grace of God, yet sweeter than all the others is the book of Psalms. History instructs, the Law teaches, Prophecy announces, rebukes, chastens, and morality persuades. But in the book of Psalms, we have the fruit of these – and a kind of medicine for the salvation of men.” More near our own time, Walter Bruggemann (whom we mentioned earlier) has written: “The Psalms draw our entire life under the rule of God, where everything may be submitted to the God of the gospel.”

The book of Psalms is sometimes called the “Hebrew Song Book.” With its 150 chapters, it is the longest single body of literature in the Old Testament. Unlike other books of the Bible, each chapter of the Psalms is an independent literary unit and the whole is a compilation of Poetry that spans a thousands years. Though most of the poems were written by Israel’s greatest king, David, other poems were written by Moses, Solomon, Asaph (who was in charge of the music of the tabernacle in David’s day), the sons of Korah (guardians of the temple gates) and some rather obscure fellows like Jeduthun and Heman.

The book of Psalms is divided into five “books,” each one ending with praise to God:

1) Book 1 - Psalm 1-41, ending with “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.

2) Book 2 - Psalms 42-72, ending with “Praise be to the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.

3) Book 3 - Psalms 73 - 89, ending with “Praise be to the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.”

4) Book 4 - Psalms 90 - 106, ending with “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lord.

5) Book 5 - Psalms 107 - 150, ending with an entire Psalm of praise.

116 of the Psalms have headings. We do not know if these headings were on the original manuscripts, but the headings appear in all the manuscripts we have. The headings tell who wrote the psalm, sometimes its occasion, and sometimes the tune it was to be sung to. Unfortunately, the tunes are now lost to us.

In the book of Psalms there is some repetition. Psalm 14 is repeated in Psalm 53. Psalm 57 is repeated in Psalm 108. Psalm 40 is repeated in Psalm 70. Why the repetition? I do not know. We know that these were not the only pieces of poetry written by Old Testament people. Solomon himself wrote a thousand and five songs. David likely wrote many more than those catalogued in the book of Psalms. It may well be that the five books of psalms we have represent five collections of psalms. Just as today, different editions of hymn books contain different collections, and some repetitions, so that may be equally true with the Psalms.

In the 16th century, John Calvin wrote: “I have been wont to call this book, not inappropriately, an anatomy of all parts of the soul; for there is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious that is not here represented in a mirror.”

Can it possibly be that it has been five months since I added to this blog? Where did the time go? I will try to do better. On we go with our look at the books of the Bible.

If not the oldest book in the Bible, Job certainly reaches back to the earliest of times - to the days of Abraham or before. The book tells the story of man named “Job” whose fortunes went from great to abysmal virtually overnight simply because of a conflict between Satan and God. The story of Job is set at a time when a family’s patriarch offered sacrifices on behalf of his children. Job is not listed in any of the genealogies of Abraham’s descendants and therefore he is not a part of Israel. He is from the land of “Uz,” a place whose geographical location is unknown.

Despite not being a Jew and of unknown origin, the story of Job’s faith is a treasure of Jewish literature. He is considered in the Old Testament to be one of three most righteous people (Daniel and Noah being the other two - cf. Ezekiel 14:14,20).

Chapters 1-3 set the stage for the story and introduce us to all the players but one. Job is a righteous man, well-blessed by God with everything a man can desire: wealth, respect in the community, family, and a close relationship with God. He is “the greatest man among all the people of the East.” God brags to Satan: “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
It sounds more like a taunt to Satan. Satan replies: ‘Sure he’s good. Why shouldn’t he be? You’ve bought his goodness with all your blessings. Take them away, and he will curse you to your face.’

And so the conflict begins. God allows Satan to strip Job of everything - including his dignity. Job doesn’t know that he’s become a pawn in a holy war. He’s just confused that such awful things have happened. Despite then however, and despite encouragement from his wife to turn from God. Job remains true. He said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Three of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar come to provide support, and the condition they find him in leaves them speechless - at least at first. For Job’s part, he wishes he had never been born.

Chapters 4-31 contain three rounds of speeches where each of Job’s friends speak, trying to put things into perspective. Job replies to each of them. Eliaphaz urges him to put his trust in God, but Job replies that God is the reason he is in this mess. Bildad and Zophar both reply that it’s not God’s fault, but Job’s. All three of the friends subscribe to the world view that if something bad happens to you, it must be your fault. Job believes the same thing, but he does not see where this is his fault. He concludes that God must have attacked him.

In Chapters 32-37 a new much younger character, Elihu appears. He is upset the others have not convinced Job all this is not God’s fault. He maintains that sometimes bad things happen so that God can speak to our lives. Job does not reply to Elihu.

Then God Himself takes the stage. In two speeches (Chapters 38-41), He says first, that there are some things humans cannot know. Second, because their knowledge is limited, they should be slow to blame God for everything that happens.

The book ends (chapter 42) with God restoring everything Job lost.

Job’s friends never prayed for Job. They never encouraged him. They never comforted him. Job felt badly toward God, but he never turned from Him. Even if, for some unknown reason, God was attacking him, Job’s only hope was still in God. To turn from the only one who could deliver him would have been foolish.

Will a person serve God for nothing? The book of Job says the righteous man will do exactly that. When you are going through a difficult time, there is something more important than why all that is happening to you. It is more important to entrust your life to the one who knows everything and who has assured us, one way or another, he will deliver us. That's what Jesus did. “During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission” (Hebrews 5:7).

When Israel left Egypt during the Exodus, God eventually brought them to the Plains of Moab, just east of the Jordan river. There Moses, in five presentations preserved for us in Deuteronomy, urged the People of God to be faithful to the Lord. In fact, Deuteronomy 28 contains some of the harshest language to be found in the Bible for unfaithfulness. If Israel did not obey, God said they would be cursed everywhere they went. They would feel crushed by both earth and sky, and God would afflict them with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind (vss. 28, 34). A foreign nation would invade them and carry them to a land far away. God would ruin them, destroy them and scatter them.

The promised blessings and cursings were to be inscribed on monuments located in the center of the land - but Israel failed to pay attention to them. In 605 B.C., the Babylonians invaded Israel and carried off many in the royal family as hostages (like Daniel). In 597 B.C., the Babylonians returned to carry off more of them (Ezekiel was among this group). In 586 B.C., the Babylonians returned for the final time to destroy Jerusalem and carry off the remaining citizenry.

But even in God’s harshest language, He never promised His people would be totally wiped out. The expectation was that God would allow some to survive. Ezra and Nehemiah recount the story of the rebuilding of the nation of Israel by survivors of the Babylonian exile. The period extends from 539 B.C. to 433 B.C. and between the stories of Ezra and Nehemiah, the story of Esther takes place. Ezra and Nehemiah tell us about those who returned to Judea. Esther tells us about those who remained behind.

One of the enduring themes of the Old Testament is the high position Israel enjoyed just because she was the people of God. Whoever criticized or hurt the people of God - even if they deserved it - suffered for it. Israel was the “apple” of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8) and no one touched her without suffering retribution.. You see this protection and exalted status in the story of Esther.

There are four main characters in this story. Xerxes is the great Persian King who, while a military master, was pretty inept as a human being. In a drunken stupor he made a poor decision that caused trouble between he and his wife. Then he listened to poor advisors and divorced his wife and began to look for another.

The second character is Haman, a descendant of Agag, king of the Amalekites, constant enemies of Israel. Haman had become an important man in the Persian empire, and he determined to use his position to exterminate the Jews.

The third character is Mordecai, a good Jew who takes his cousin Esther into his home and raises her when her parents die. Mordecai has the good fortune to be at the right place at the right time to foil an assassination attempt against Xerxes.

The fourth character is Esther, a young woman whose character and personality won the hearts of everyone who met her. When the King went looking for a new wife, Esther was one of the ones brought to him. Because of the strong anti-Jewish sentiment in Persia, Mordecai had insisted Esther keep her Jewish identity a secret.

The story of Esther is the story of how a most unlikely person (a Jewish orphan) becomes the queen of Persia and foils a plot, hatched by the second most powerful man in the world, to exterminate the people of God. It provides for us the background to the Jewish festival of “Purim” that commemorates the event.

One of the amazing things about this book is the absence of God. He is nowhere mentioned. But no one familiar with the literature of the Old Testament can fail to see the similarity between this story and the stories of Joseph and Moses where God often works in ordinary ways through ordinary folk to protect the people He loves.