Song Of Songs (or Song of Solomon)

The Song of Songs is a love dialogue between a man (King Solomon) and a woman. We will take a brief overview of the book.... and when you are old enough.... you can read it more in depth.

 The author of this book is King Solomon..... probably written early in his reign.

 The purpose of this book is to show that God is not only interested in who we fall in love with, He initiates it and blesses it. God is love (1John 4:8)

Song of Songs is the story of a young couple. It begins with dating(courtship), then the wedding, the wedding night and finally the marriage. Many believe it is a picture of God and his love for the church.

 The plot and storyline of this book is this: It is a drama about the relationship between two people in love. The story is very romantic. The man uses many comparisons in nature to describe and compliment his bride-to-be and then his bride. He describes her sixteen times using, fruit, trees and flowers. Then he describes her eleven times using animals. (Some of the beautiful compliments he paid her would not really be compliments today. Like for instance: Chapter 4 verse 1: "your hair falls in waves like a flock of goats") 

The story continues when Solomon, a wealthy shepherd meets a country girl. They fall in love and he asks her to marry him. She has to decide if being a queen is something she really would desire for her life. Finally she agrees, and the wealthy shepherd sends a wedding procession to escort her.

 The second half of the book is about their married life and the many problems and temptations they encounter.

 The Song of Songs is a beautiful book that teaches us many things. For instance: God's plan for us is to wait to be married before we sleep with someone of the opposite sex. "Do not awaken love till the time is right." 2:7 Also, if we face hard times or temptation, we don't have to do it alone. The end of Song of Songs describes how the woman's brothers came along side of her and helped her through a difficult time. Are you struggling? look for support. Are you not struggling? look for someone who is and support them. Finally, Loving others sometimes means looking past their faults and mistakes. Jesus loves us in all our failures, sins and mistakes. It's called unconditional love. Or "agape" love in Greek. Imagine if Jesus only loved us when we were doing right? I know for myself... he would be loving me for only a few minutes a day. Love others like Jesus loves. It's not easy.... but it is right.

Ecclesiastes Part 1 (Chapters 1-6)

  Well we have reached the 21st book of the Bible, Ecclesiastes. In Hebrew, the word ecclesiastes means to preach. It was written about 975 years before Jesus was born, by King Solomon.  It was written near the end of King Solomon's reign as king of Israel. If you remember from our journey through the Book of 1 Kings, he was given great wisdom at the beginning of his reign. But now, at the end of his regime he has accumulated years of experience. He has written down his observations in this book.... and it may not be what you'd expect.
 Have you ever won a game that you are playing with one or more of your friends? It feels good, right? At that moment you feel the rush of victorious joy, but a few hours later, it doesn't much matter who won. You have to play and win again to feel that same feeling. Then, if you win every time, even that feeling wears down nothing. Why is that? Well King Solomon, the wisest and richest man ever, tackles that very question plus a few more. And who better than the man who could have anything, do anything or command anything to share his quest for "the meaning of life."
 Basically the book of Ecclesiastes talks about the frustrations, futility and unanswered questions of life, then the teacher (King Solomon) wraps it all up in the very last paragraph by encouraging us to live a God-centered life. We will go through the first six chapters in this post and the last six chapters in the next post. I just wanted to let you know ahead of time that there is a light at the end of the eccliasastical tunnel.:)
 The teacher begins the book and chapter 1 by saying that everything is meaningless. He points out the monotony of nature, instead of God's incredible creation (Psalm 95:4-5). Then he points out how useless it is for men to work, instead of how work is a God-ordained blessing (John 5:17) He ends the first chapter talking about how being wise and searching for wisdom amounts to nothing.When God clearly says that wisdom is a gift from Him to glorify Him (James 3:17)
 In chapter 2, the teacher starts off by saying that enjoying life and laughter is totally futile. He built parks and vineyards and large houses, but it was all just a waste of time and resources. But God says in his word that He has made this day, everything good in it is a gift, and we should rejoice in it.(James1:17) (Psalm118:24) Then in chapter 2 he also repeats the fact that wisdom and work are meaningless.
 Chapter 3 starts off with a beautiful poem (it was even made into a song by the Byrds in 1965) then the teacher continues by acknowledging God's purpose and living our lives in the light of eternity.

1For everything there is a season,

a time for every activity under heaven.

2A time to be born and a time to die.

A time to plant and a time to harvest.

3A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to tear down and a time to build up.

4A time to cry and a time to laugh.

A time to grieve and a time to dance.

5A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.

A time to embrace and a time to turn away.

6A time to search and a time to quit searching.

A time to keep and a time to throw away.

7A time to tear and a time to mend.

A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

8A time to love and a time to hate.

A time for war and a time for peace.

9What do people really get for all their hard work? 10I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. 11Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. 12So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. 13And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

14And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. 15What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.

  Then the teacher returns to the negative script and talks about how life is not fair. Well he is right about that. Sin is in our world. Bad things happen to good people, but God promises to never leave our side.(Deuteronomy 31:8)

   The teacher continues about the unfairness of life in Chapter 4, Then he adds a positive side note. He says that two people together can get more done together than they can seperately. If one falls, the other is there to help him get up. If a man falls alone, he is in trouble. Then he states the fact that three are even better. "A chord of three strands is not easily broken." (vs. 11) Then as a king, he says that he sees the futility of political power. God tells us to pray for our leaders and that He has placed them there for His purpose.(Romans 13:1)

  Chapter 5 begins with an exhortation to approach God with reverence. And if we make any promises to God, keep them, and keep them as quickly as possible. For it is better to say nothing, than to make a promise to Him and not keep it.(vs 5) He finishes up the chapter talking about how useless it is to be wealthy. God talks about money a lot in the Bible. Wealth is not useless and money is not bad according to God. Wealthy people who give to bring God glory can bless so many people.(Matthew 6:21) But we don't have to be wealthy to give. God can use a little to accomplish much. And it doesn't just have to be money. It could be our time and our talents as well.

 In chapter 6 the teacher talks some more about being rich verses being poor. He says that t both rich and poor get sick and they both die, the only difference is that the rich man leaves more behind that he never got the chance to enjoy. God tells us through Paul to be content whether rich or poor because God gives us the strength to live a fulfilled life in Him. (Philippians 4:12-13)

          Thanks to Phil Vischer (creator of Veggie Tales) for this clip from whatsinthebible.com

The book of Psalms

We can't illustrate every Psalm, so we are going to pick a few to draw and give an overview of the whole book by asking questions, and answering them.

 (1)Who wrote the Book of Psalms?
 The Book of Psalms was written by Moses, King David, Heman, Ethan, King Solomon, Asaph and the son's of Korah. So a lot of people were involved. Although King David wrote almost half of the Psalms.... and there are a few that we don't know who wrote them. What is nice is that, a lot of the Psalms give the author and a brief story of what was happening, and the significance of each one.

(2) How many years did it take to write the Book of Psalms?
 Believe it or not, Psalms was written over a span of nearly1000 years! From 1440 B.C. (during the time of Moses) to 586 B.C. The Psalms cover most of Israels history. (While they were in Egypt, when they escaped into the wilderness, and during the reign of their judges and kings, until the time of their captivity by the Babylonians.

(3) What is the purpose of the Book of Psalms?
 In the New testament, Psalms is referred to many times. It was and is considered a book of wisdom, teaching about God and getting to know God personally. It was actually written in song form. So, many of the Psalms read like poems, with stanzas, alliteration and rhyming. However, since they were translated from Jewish, they lost some of their rhythm.

(4) How are the Psalms applicable to me?
 The Book of Psalms are so full of prayers for many situations. We can read the Psalms from our own perspective and pray them back to God. (By the way, He loves when we pray His words back to Him) The Psalms express a wide range of emotions, from Joy, hope, trust, gratitude and praise, to despair, fear, and sorrow. We can use the Psalms to pray, worship, confess and praise God.

So as we mentioned in question/answer #3, Psalms teach us. What are some of the things that we
can learn from the Book of Psalms.
(A) It's OK to express how we feel to God, whether positive or negative.
(B) God cares for each of us. The Psalms reinforce our understanding of His love.
(C) The Psalms teach us that serving God and doing right is worth it.
(D) Some Psalms like Psalm 22 point to the coming of Jesus. So we can trust them.
(E) We learn what God desires from us in prayer and worship.

                                               PSALM 23
                                          a Psalm of David

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Even tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your rod and staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. .

Solomon Takes a Wrong Turn (1Kings 10-16)

 King Solomon became well known for his wisdom and his wealth. Kings and queens from all over would come to see these things for themselves. Once the Queen of Sheba came for a visit. "I heard all these stories about your wealth and wisdom." She exclaimed. "But you are even wiser and wealthier than I ever imagined."

 King Solomon was so rich, that even his drinking cups were made of gold! He also built up a huge force of Chariots and horses. Solomon had 1,400 chariots and over over 12,000 horses!

 The problem with having all this stuff, is that we tend to lose focus on what is important (namely God, others and eternity), and Solomon fell into the same trap. Not only did he amass large quantities of everything, he also began marrying many women. Most of them were from other countries and worshipped other Gods. God's clear instruction was not to marry foreign women because the women would lead their husbands to worship their gods. But Solomon had lost his focus. God became very angry with Solomon for his heart had turned away from Him. God appeared to Solomon twice to warn him about not obeying His commands, and now Solomon was doing exactly what God had told him not to do.

 Being away from God left a big empty space in Solomon's heart. He tried to fill it with possessions, women, parties, reading and many other worldly things... but he discovered that nothing can fill the place in our hearts that is meant for only God to fill. Solomon even wrote a book about all he had done in his life looking for fulfillment. It is found in the Bible. It is called the book of Ecclesiastes.
He finishes up the book of Ecclesiastes with this conclusion: "Obey God, for this is the duty of every person. God will judge all we do, even in secret, whether good or bad." Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

 Solomon died when he was sixty years old. His son Rehoboam became king. But because of Solomon's disobedience, the peace that Israel enjoyed for forty years was about to come to an end. Rehoboam got rid of his father's counselors and surrounded himself with advisers that were not very smart. They told him to be the strictest and toughest king that Israel had so far. So when the Israelites approached Rehoboam and asked him to lighten their harsh labor demand and reduce their heavy tax burden, he told them that the taxes would be even higher, and the labor more harsh!

 One of Solomon's labor leaders was named Jeroboam. He had been replaced by the new king with a man named Adoniram. But the people stood with Jeroboam and rebelled against the new king. The people made Jeroboam their new king. This split Israel. Now they had two kings. Rehoboam ruled over the southern kingdom which consisted the tribe, Judah. Jeroboam ruled over all the rest of the tribes in the north.

 Remember that God promised David that he would always have a descendant on the throne. Well He kept His promise. David's grandson Rehoboam ruled in Judah 18 years. During his reign, Judah drifted farther from God. Jeroboam was even worse! He made golden calves for the people to worship! Doesn't that sound familiar? Moses' brother, Aaron did the same thing when the Israelites got impatient waiting for Moses to come back down the mountain in Exodus 32.
 The next several chapters list the kings of the northern kingdom and the kings of the southern kingdom. Most of the kings didn't do what was right in God's eyes and there was a constant civil war between the two kingdoms. However, a king named Asa, a descendant of David, did what was right in God's eyes and Judah began to return to the one true God during his and his son Jehosaphat's rule.

 Solomon's sin had repercussions on all of Israel. Do we consider how our sin will affect others? We cannot foresee what the consequences will be, but we can know that the promises of God are true. Obedience to God's rules is not meant to rob us of our fun. It is meant to protect us and to fulfill our exciting purpose which God has prepared for us long before we were even born. If we fill our hearts with the things of God and not with things of this world, our lives will be amazing and exciting!

Solomon Becomes King of Israel (1Kings1)

 As we get into the book of 1Kings, we find that David is getting old. He is sickly and cannot even stand, so he rules over Israel from his bed. Everyone knew that David did not have much longer to live, including his son, Adonijah. Adonijah was next in line for the throne according to birth order, but Israel was not like other nations. God appointed the next king, not birth order. But Adonijah didn't see it that way. He got 50 men together and some horses and chariots to escort him around. He figured if he looked like a king and acted like a king.... the throne would be his for the taking. He recruited a few of David's top officials including Joab, his top military leader and Abiathar, the leading priest. They agreed to support Adonijah in his bid to become king even though David had promised the throne to Solomon. Joab and Abiathar thought about what was best for them and not about God's will.

 We do that all the time, don't we? I know that is is God's will for me to forgive, but I want to hang on to that feeling I have toward someone that has hurt me. But God's will is ultimately for our own good, and He knows that forgiving is the key to setting our mind and our hearts free.

 Well Nathan the prophet, (Remember him? He confronted David about his sin with Bathsheba.) heard about Adonijah's plan to become king and told Solomon's mother, Bathsheba about it. He told her that she must tell David right away because Adonijah had already made sacrifices and was throwing a huge banquet to honor himself as king. Nathan told Bathsheba to go to David's bedside and tell him about Adonijah, then he said that he would come in and confirm the story so that David would have no doubt that it was true.
 So Bathsheba went in and asked David. "I beg your pardon my lord, but didn't you promise me that my son Solomon would succeed you as king?  (1Chronicles 22:5-9) It appears that Adonijah has not even waited for your blessing. He has declared himself king, and is having a great feast right now as we speak."
 Then Nathan came in and asked the king, "Have you appointed Adonijah as the next king without consulting any of your trusted advisors? He has already exalted himself as the next king!"

From his bed David declared to Bathsheba, "As surely as the Lord lives, your son Solomon will sit on the throne!" Then He said to Nathan, Zadok the priest and Benaiah, "Quick, gather up my officials. Take Solomon down to Gihon Spring. Let him ride my royal mule for the journey. When you get there, anoint him with oil, blow the trumpet and shout 'Long live King Solomon!' Then when you return with him, Solomon will sit on the throne."
 The 3 men did as David had asked. They anointed Solomon, blew the trumpets and shouted "Long live king Solomon." Then there was a great parade back to the castle. The people were all shouting, playing flutes and making a joyful ruckus.
 When Adonijah and Joab heard all the noise, they were confused. Just then the son of Abiathar, the priest who supported Adonijah, came running up to them in the middle of their feast..
 "I hope you have good news for us so we can continue celebrating." Joab said.
 "No, in fact it is troubling news for Adonijah and all who have supported him. King David has just made Solomon king. The loud roars that you heard were all the people cheering as they paraded back to the palace where Solomon is now sitting on the throne!"
 When all who were celebrating with Adonijah heard the news, they were afraid for their lives. They all got out of there as fast as they could, because the new king could have anyone executed. Adonijah feared for his life especially. He ran to the sacred tent and grabbed ahold the horns of the altar. (This was a holy place and Adonijah hoped that king Solomon would respect that and not have him killed). Word soon reached Solomon that Adonijah was pleading for his life in the sacred tent. Solomon sent one of his men to the tent to assure Adonijah that as long as he was loyal to the king, he would not be harmed. Adonijah went to the temple, threw himself at the feet of king Solomon and thanked him for his mercy.

Nathan Confronts David About His Sin (2 Samuel 12)

  Last time we saw how David messed up....big time! So God sent his prophet, Nathan, to confront King David about the bad choices he made. Remember Nathan? He was the prophet that told David that he would not be the one to build the temple of God. This time, Nathan has come to tell David a story. The object of this story is to make David think, and take a look at himself. Here is the story that was told to David by the prophet Nathan.

  There were two men in a certain town. One was rich and one was poor. The rich man owned many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but a little lamb that he had worked hard to buy. He raised that little lamb and it grew up with his children. The little lamb ate from the man's own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing a lamb from his own flocks for food, he took the poor man's lamb, killed it and served it to his guest.
 When Nathan finished his story, David jumped up. He was so mad! He said "Any man that would do that, deserves to die. He should repay the poor man four lambs for killing his and having no pity."
 Nathan pointed at David and said. "YOU ARE THAT MAN! The God of Israel says, " David, David, David, I anointed you king of Israel and I saved you from Saul on more than one occasion!  And I would have given you much, much more. Why have you done this horrible thing? From now on, you will have many family troubles. Some of them even ending in death."
 When Nathan finished speaking, David cried out and confessed to Nathan, "Yes, yes, yes! I have sinned against the Lord!
  "Well, the good news is that the Lord has forgiven you." Nathan said. "There will be death in your family, but it will not be you. The Lord still has many plans for you." Nathan continued, "Do you see what a horrible thing this is against God? Now the enemies of God will have great opportunity to despise and blaspheme Him!"

 Do we ever think about how our actions reflect on God? Other people are watching us. If we profess to be followers of Jesus, why do our actions say just the opposite? If someone was thinking of following Jesus, our actions could point them toward Jesus or away from Him. If our actions point to God, then we are glorifying Him.... and that is what He wants.

 After Nathan returned home, David and Bathsheba's baby got very sick. David prayed, laid on the bare floor and went without food for seven days, asking God to heal him.... but the baby died. David's men were afraid to tell him about his son, but David could tell by the looks on their faces. David got up, washed his face and ate. His men were confused and asked him, " While your son was sick, you cried and refused to eat. But now that the baby has died, you stopped mourning and are eating again."
 David answered, "I fasted and prayed while the baby was alive. I was hoping that God would be merciful and let the child live, but since he has died, why should I continue to fast? I can't bring him back to life. But one day, I will see him again in heaven."

 It is so hard when someone dies. We feel sad because we won't be able to see them anymore. But we will.... in heaven. It's OK to be sad for a while, then God wants us to get back to what He put us on this earth to do. David knew his purpose.

  Then David went home and comforted Bathsheba. Soon she became pregnant again and gave birth to another son. They named him Solomon. (the next king of Israel)