Song of Solomon - Recap and 2023 Beginnings

This is the Truth Network. Hidden Treasures of the Song of Songs, which is Solomon's. So today is our first podcast in 2023.

How exciting! And I need to tell you that I wanted to do sort of a recap on the Song of Solomon and what it had to do with statutes, which are so important to me and I think to all of us as we studied the 119th Psalm, we could see King David's heart was just longing to understand these statutes and how to keep them. And so that was kind of why we, you know, the purpose of going into the Song of Solomon to begin with. So I wanted to recap that a bit before we move on, but I do want to share with you also that we, or God led me that the next place in our quest for the statutes is in the book of Habakkuk. And as we enter into that journey, which I found fascinating because again, I just asked God, where are we going after the Song of Solomon? He was very clear that he wanted me to go to Habakkuk, which first made no sense to me.

I'm like, really? That didn't seem to line up with what I was thinking at all. Such a different book than the Song of Solomon or the 119th Psalm. And very short, but nonetheless, and the idea is that, of course, he wants me to take that into my heart and he wants me to memorize that. And so as I began to open up that page and to whet your appetite a bit for the book of Habakkuk, you know that, and it fits well into what we're going to talk about today, that my quest, since he had me memorized the 119th Psalm, and if you quote the 119th Psalm many times, you're going to see, you know, that understanding these statutes and even, you know, in the top section at the end, it says my heart will utter praise when I've learned my statutes.

So, you know, I'm really hoping to continue on that quest, which I'm sure we'll never completely get there, as it seemed King David didn't, but it's really fun, the journey. And so I couldn't help but note as the idea of statutes is two letters, which again, fits well into what we're going to talk about today with the Song of Solomon, the letter het, which we've talked about many times is the eighth letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It's the miracle letter from my standpoint, in that eight days, Jesus was circumcised and also, you know, the temple was cleansed and eight days before he was transfigured on the mountain of transfiguration and eight days, which you can see that passage in Luke and in the book of John, you can see that it was eight days before Thomas got to stick his hand in his side, et cetera.

And so that eight, and from my standpoint, his resurrection was on the eighth day after his triumphal entry. And so, you know, very cool, all those things have to do with the letter het and coming joined to him in marriage. And so when you look at the word Habakkuk, you know, and I should say that the word statute is two letters. It's a het, which we just talked about and a kuf. And that kuf has to do with proximity.

It's really, really a neat letter. And again, I couldn't urge you enough to go to the kuf section of the 119th Psalm and study that. But as you do, you're going to see that it has to do with being close to God and the closer to God that you get, the more holy you get. And that fits in extremely well with what we're going to talk about in the Song of Solomon here in a minute. But also before we get there, I just want to point out that, you know, it seems like the Song of Solomon being that it was eight chapters and, you know, which was really the reason that originally went into it was really to grasp the het more clearly. And interestingly, as we'll explain in a minute, we'll get the kuf a little bit more clearly too. But before I get there, I want to mention that the book of Habakkuk, Habakkuk has a whole host of kufs in it.

It starts with a het, and then it has a bet, and then it has a kuf, and then it has a vav and another kuf. In other words, the letters that make up the word statute are very evident in Habakkuk's name. And clearly the word itself means a sort of a God-hook into your bosom, okay? And I can kind of see where Habakkuk needed that based on what he was experiencing in his life, and I bet you need it too. And so as we continue our question to statutes, we will be moving on to the book of Habakkuk next, but it'll be a couple days before we get there because my wife is having knee surgery tomorrow, so as you could be praying for her, but I'm gonna be out for a couple days and I should start the podcast back up again on Friday morning.

It was my prayer that that would happen. Anyway, to talk about what we're going to talk about today, which is where we ended up in the Song of Solomon, you know, is that last verse just kind of back to this review of the of the entire book and something I wanted to just kind of recap, was that, you know, make haste my love and be like a roe or a young heart on the mountain of spices is this idea that spices is bashim. In other words, a bet, which means house in so many different ways.

It also means understanding and it means a door to an extent in that the door of the bet is always open for hospitality. And then shim. And that shim is a shin and a mem, the shin being, you know, that idea of fire and the mem being the idea of water in so many different ways. It's the word name in Hebrew, but it is also the word to appoint. Okay. So when God appointed the statutes, if you go into Exodus 15, I think it's 26, you'll see that God appointed these statutes and the way he appointed them was with a shin and a mem.

Okay. And so when it says basham, he's essentially, it's the house of identity, as we talked about that, that was we grow closer to God through this head. In other words, as we grow in our union and abiding with him, which I believe the whole book of the song of Solomon is understanding that we were appointed as the shulamite.

We are appointed as the bride. We're appointed to the one who found favor even more so to the one who finds shalom is in fact, the shulamite because he appointed us as his bride, which is a shulamite, which means shalom, which, you know, very cool. The word Jerusalem itself is Yerusham, Yerusham, you know, is that idea of, of the awe of shalom, you know, that, that, that interestingly that when you put that together, what had happened was that you might remember McKizzledec or however you want to say that word, I struggle with it.

He was the king of Salem or shalom, right? And then Abraham, the way Jerusalem's made up, it's made up of a compound of what happened, you know, with Abraham and McKizzledec. In other words, when, when, when Abraham went to offer Isaac, it says that the Lord will provide, and it has to do with Yireh, that, that idea of fear and awe. And so they took the Yireh that what, what Isaiah, what Abraham said as God provided the ram for him, and that, that idea of Yireh and put it with shalom is how you get the word Jerusalem.

And the idea is like almost that, that the awe of the fact that somehow we're going to be made complete, which is really, really cool. But the thing I don't want you to, anybody to miss is the word beloved, which is used throughout the Song of Solomon. When she says my well beloved, oh, so many different times, that word is dalet, vav, dalet.

Okay. And it is the same thing as the name David. It's a dalet, vav, dalet. And the idea there is the letter dalet is a door, but it is also very much humility because humility is the door with which, you know, that you become the beloved obviously. But, but that dalet is, is, is obviously a big part of what King David was, is this servant, right? It's a loving, loyal servant. And then between the two dalets, there is a vav, which means that this is a servant that's hooked to heaven.

And it's in delighting because the vav has to do with the light. It has to do with being hooked to heaven and has to do with being upright and right. And that would mean growing closer to God in so many different ways. But the idea of a servant is the idea of putting God first or putting the master first.

Okay. And interestingly, Jesus was that, and that he always put his father first in everything that he did. And he is the beloved in so many different ways because he serves us.

In fact, I was at dinner last night with Dr. Carson, who does walk in the word, just a wonderful, wonderful man. And he was talking about how Jesus after the resurrection, right? After he's become made King of the world and all the other stuff that he served the disciples breakfast, but he gave, you know, Peter fish to eat after Peter denied him three times. In other words, Jesus was serving then, and he always is serving because he is the beloved.

And it has so much to do with that. Well, as you get this idea and the Jews definitely teach this idea of Biddle of us becoming less and him becoming more and King David certainly was that, and that, you know, in the, I think it's the 22nd Psalm where he refers to himself as a worm. Of course, that's a crimson worm, but the idea of, I become less, he becomes more is obviously what John the Baptist did as well. But it's interesting that it's really more that to me, as I study this and clarify it, it is more about the glory is all about him. In other words, but we become actually, as we come into our identity and the pointed person he appointed us to be, we become more ourselves than ever. In other words, we get to step into our true identity as we get closer to God in this idea of the hook them and the idea of this hat, we become one. And then as we move with the cuff, with the cuff, as close as possible, we become more Holy. But as you become more Holy, it becomes less about us and more about him. You become more yourself because at the end of the dollar, you know, section of the 119 Psalm, it says, I'll run in the path of by commandments with our largest, my heart. In other words, once you make me all that, you know, once I get to this point of closeness with you, you're going to make me what I was meant to be, which is all that I can be. But that person, that that is someone that gives all the glory to Jesus.

In other words, never photobombed Jesus. The beauty of who you are is for him, right? That's the idea of the, of our identity as King David became closer and closer and closer to God. The story became less about David and more about God and more about his people as he became King, you know, it was all about the people he was serving, not about him and all about God who ultimately he was serving and not about him. And this is where we see, this is the recap of the Song of Solomon.

You might say, Robbie, why are you talking to all that? It was the Song of Solomon. Okay. Well, here's what we learned through the Song of Solomon is the graduation there in the second chapter where she says that my beloved is mine and I am his, he grazes among the lilies, right? That's putting herself first in that one.

Okay. But then in the third chapter, but then in the sixth chapter, she says, I am my beloved and my beloved is mine. He grazes among the lilies. And then when you get to the seventh chapter, you get the final graduation of this concept where all of a sudden she's out of the picture altogether. And she said, I am my beloved and his desire is for me. In other words, the story becomes all about Jesus. Now she is asking him at the end to be on the mountain of spices, where we can all be what we were meant to be, which is to bring glory to God. So the one thing I wanted to just kind of, as I was recapping the Song of Solomon with today is what God was showing me with this is this idea is that we grow in our relationship and we're able to abide more in the vine. And of course we all, obviously the Song of Solomon is so much about Jesus's 15th chapter of the book of John, right? Abiding in him. And as we can get to this place of abiding in him, the story becomes less and less about us and more and more about him, which grows us both in being able to bear more fruit because apart from me, you can do nothing, but also into us becoming more of who we really are too. And it's really, really cool that the mountain of spices is a place where we can truly be all that we are in our identity in service, in the larger story to Christ. It really is a marvelous, amazing picture that God has been painting through the Song of Solomon. And as we move on our quest through this to the book of Habakkuk, and we've studied the heads backwards and forwards clearly, and now let's move on to further study what God has for us with Habakkuk.