First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

A book that is traditionally read at Pesach is Shir HaShirim "The

Song of Songs" (meaning "the best of all possible songs").

There are several reasons why Shliach Sha'ul is correct when he

interprets the book as making reference to the Moshiach and his

wedding banquet with his people. In Eph. 5:25-27, Shliach Sha'ul

says, "Husbands, love your wives." The Song of Songs contains

love poems and refers to the son of Dovid's Chatunah "wedding")

in 3:11. King Shlomo here, the son of Dovid, is not the ultimate

One who brings peace. One greater than Shlomo is here, the rose

of Sharon, the lily of the Valley (2:1), the fairest of ten

thousand (5:10). And He does have a bride who is faithful to his

covenant with her. She is the people of G-d. He is her king

(1:2-4,12) and her shepherd (1:7-8). Shliach Sha'ul says,

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Moshiach loved his people and

gave himself up for her in order to make her holy by cleansing

her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present her

to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of

the kind--yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish." On

the same theme, Song of Songs says (4:7), "you are altogether

beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. And the son of

Dovid's covenant bride is called (tahm-mah-TEE) "my perfect one"

(5:2; 6:9). It says, Look! "Who is that coming up from the

wilderness...leaning upon her beloved" (8:5)? And the answer is,

the people of G-d, for they were married in the wilderness, they

became wedlock in covenant marriage with the L-rd at Mt. Sinai,

and the Pesach is the wedding banquet, celebrating the covenant.

I Cor. 10:4 says that the beloved Rock they leaned on in the

Exodus wilderness was Moshiach. For I Cor. 5:7 says, "Moshiach,

our Pesach Lamb, has been sacrificed."

But to keep the bridal garments clean, we need to clean out the

old yeast (I Cor. 5:7). We need to catch the proud little foxes

that spoil the vineyard of our love relationship with the

Moshiach (2:15). We need to seek him, while he may be found. Song

of Shl. 3:l says, "Upon my bed at night I sought him whom my soul

loves." "With great delight" He wants you to sit in his shadow

(2:3) today. He wants you to be faint with love for Him (2:5)

today. Look, it says, who is this making His appearance like the

dawn, terrible as an army with banners (6:10)? Look, He is

coming, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills

(2:8). Even tonight he is standing at the wall you have built to

shut him out. A garden locked is your soul (4:12). But tonight

He is gazing into the windows of your inner most being. I'm

talking about Ha'arye Y'huda the Lion of Judah, the One to whom

the nations belong, the harvester of the world. He is standing

even now on His threshing floor, and you are Ruth lying at his

feet. "Kiss the Son, (Nahsh-koo bar), lest He be angry and you

perish in the way. Happy are all who take refuge in Him (Ps.

2:12). He is the "desired of all nations" (Hag. 2:7). He is

altogether desirable (Song of Shl. 5:16). He is saying to you in

love tonight, "Arise and come. G-d wants to make a Spring visit

to your soul. "For now the winter is past, the rain is over and

gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has

come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The

fig tree puts forth its figs (are not the Jewish people beginning

to turn to Him?), and the vines are in blossom; they give forth

fragrance." The Moshiach is saying to your soul tonight, "Arise,

beloved, come." (See 2:10b-13.) By His death He paid the

bride-price and purchased us for Himself, for His very own

(8:12). Now He wants to set a seal on our hearts forever (3:6).

By His resurrection, He proved that his "love is as strong as

death" (8:6). Right now you are a wall. He wants you to become

a door he can enter. It's time to turn from self and yield to

Him. Holy Covenant love requires that. Any bride can tell you.

But a bride must be clean and dressed in white especially at

Pesach time. If we come to Him confessing our need to be cleansed

by Him, we will be able to say, 'I am my beloved's and he is

mine" (6:3). "He brought me to the banqueting table, and his

banner over me is love" (2:4).

The Ruach Hakodesh wants to awaken love in your heart for the

Moshiach of Israel tonight. You must open to him and let him

ravish your soul. Although editors have tried to format this

love song as a drama, their attempts have not been persuasive.

Therefore, ignore any dramatic personae supplied in your Bible.

These are not in the Hebrew. We must let the Bible interpret

itself. This is where G-d affirms erotic romantic love in

marriage. Because marriage itself is a mystery, it echoes on a

human level the relationship between the Moshiach and his people.

For just as the old humanity was made male and female, so the new

humanity is made Moshiach and his bride.

Chapter 2:7 is a refrain. See 3:5 and 8:4. The significance of

this refrain seems to be that love must be allowed to grow

naturally, in its own time. It is not to be rushed or forced or

given an artificial stimulus. Promiscuous modern "dating" is

unscriptural and dangerous, like quick-chicken hormones, discos,

raunchy rhythm music and low cut necklines. Look at 3:4. Being

married is belonging to someone more indissolubly (Matthew 19:6;

Genesis 2:18) than one's own parents. This is a mystery, beyond

all comprehension, the way of a man with a virgin, that a man

leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife and

they become one body

The Brit

Chadasha Scriptures stands for the equality of women (Gal.

3:28;p I Cor. 7:4; 11:11-12), although this doctrine does not

obviate the hierarchy of function in the body of the L-rd and in

the family, where women and children do not L-rd it over men,

though women can hold offices and can speak for the L-rd as

prophetesses.

Look at 6:8-9. Like election, erotic romantic marital love is

selective, unique, personal and mysterious (why this girl and no

other?) It is likely that this poetry was used in the context of

weddings. Look at 7:1-7. The poetic imagery is oriental and

culture-bound. Just as one man can't see what another man sees

in his wife, so it is with cultural divergences in language, ways

of perceiving, customs, etc. That's why the gift of Shliach is

important. Those who have the cross-cultural gift to go to a

particular people-group can see beauty and worth in that

culture, whereas those without this gift cannot see the same

beauty and worth in that particular culture.

Look at 8:1. Loved ones long to be together--they are one flesh

and erotic love is the glue to hold them together in holy

matrimony for the sake of the children. See Malachi 2:15. Song

of Shl. 8:10-11 is a polemic against polygamy and its barter

mentality where the shared spouse becomes an object for loan. See

8:6. G-d is a furious cuckold with tender reconcilling heavenly

love in the one hand and furious betrayed love in the other. (See

notes on Hosea).

See Isaiah 7:14 notes on Song of Sol. 6:8.

SONG OF SONGS 6:8

There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and virgins without

number.