Day 887: Song Of Solomon 6- Awesome As An Army

Where has your beloved gone,
    O most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
    that we may seek him with you?
Together in the Garden of Love
She
2 My beloved has gone down to his garden
    to the beds of spices,
to graze in the gardens
    and to gather lilies.
3 I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine;
    he grazes among the lilies.
Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other
He
4 You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,
    lovely as Jerusalem,
    awesome as an army with banners.
5 Turn away your eyes from me,
    for they overwhelm me--
Your hair is like a flock of goats
    leaping down the slopes of Gilead.
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
    that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins;
    not one among them has lost its young.
7 Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
    behind your veil.
8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,
    and virgins without number.
9 My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,
    the only one of her mother,
    pure to her who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    the queens and concubines also, and they praised her.
10 “Who is this who looks down like the dawn,
    beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
    awesome as an army with banners?”
She
11 I went down to the nut orchard
    to look at the blossoms of the valley,
to see whether the vines had budded,
    whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
12 Before I was aware, my desire set me
    among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince.
Others
13  Return, return, O Shulammite,
    return, return, that we may look upon you.
He
Why should you look upon the Shulammite,
    as upon a dance before two armies?
 
Meditation
God wants you to know the power of His love, His desire for relationship with you and delight in you!
 
This celebration of beauty and belovedness is the third of four descriptive poems in Song of Solomon. Distinctive here is the celebration of the beloved’s superior beauty. The bride’s beauty is unique, commanding the beauty of others- sixty queens, eighty concubines, and countless young women who all will join the celebration of the bride’s beauty. Emphasized through repetition, the beloved’s beauty is “awesome as an army with banners” (4, 10). The overpowering sight of the bride’s beauty is joyful as it is fearful, so great that it shakes to the core (5).
 
The beloved’s beauty is further celebrated: compared to the sun and moon and the daily awe of dawn. Morning comes after every night. The budding and blossoming of spring returns after every winter. The desire and delight of love are stronger than both.
 
God’s love for you brings light to the dark and spring to your winter, thawing hearts and bringing hope. Revealed in the work of Jesus, God’s desire for you and delight in you is the most powerful force in all creation and all of history. God’s joy over you is greater than the suffering Jesus endured for you (Hebrews 12:1) and His delight in you defeated even death that He may be with you eternally.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What imagery of celebration of the bride’s beauty stands out to you the most? Why?
 
-Do you know the desire and delight of God’s love for you as the most powerful force in all the earth? Why or why not?
 
-The work of Jesus proves it! God delights in you and desires you. Where do you need to surrender to this love? Be specific.
 
Key Verse
4 You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.