Song of Solomon aka Song of Songs
I wrote a book with a modernized paraphrase of S of S. It has 500 FOOTNOTES relating it to the church. Can be used privately, in a classroom, or as a beautiful wedding gift. Look for it on Amazon, Walmart, and other book sellers.
Ecclesiastes 3:11
There is a God-shaped emptiness in the hearts of all mankind.
Psalm 18:24-26 – Proverb 1:18 – Proverb1:26-32 – Proverb3:34 – Proverb 8:36 – Proverb 11:27 – Matthew 7:2
What we do to others eventually backfires onto us. It’s all through the Bible.
This chapter reminds us of how Jacob had betrayed his brother and was given the blessing of being ruler instead. This chapter recalls the story of Jacob’s descendants who became slaves in Egypt. God had freed them from their slavery but…
1 – …the former slaves kept the mentality of complaining slaves. They betrayed God and gave credit for their freedom to a golden calf. So, over 40 years of wandering in the wilderness with no country of their own, they all died. (Generation 1)
2- …the children of the former slaves betrayed God after he gave them a land to settle in; they gave credit to false gods . So the children of the slave children down to their grandchildren all died. (Generation 2-4)
3- – Therefore, God took away the throne of Jacob’s oldest son by his favorite wife – Joseph & Ephriam – and gave it to Judah, the oldest responsible son of Jacob’s hated wife – Judah. (generation 5)
When sometimes David doubted God even existed (it happens to everyone sometimes), he debated with himself. His heart comforted his soul.
And he answers his own doubts::
This is a beautiful psalm and Christians today sing the first part of it: “As a dear pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God.”
Did you recognize how Jesus repeated David from the cross? “My God, why have you forsake me?” But Jesus never asked a question he did not know the answer to. Just before he died, Jesus said “God, I’m coming home.”
The term “boil” comes from a Hebrew word meaning to boil, to burn. Job’s diseases was a form of LEPROSY called ELEPHANTIASIS NOSTRAS VERRUCOSA, a marked and strongly developed form of leprosy. This disease creates an intense heat, a burning and crusty ulcerous swelling, night mares, a low ghost-like voice. It is leprosy in its most terrible form, taking its name from the appearance of the body, which is covered with a knotty, cancerous bark like the hide of an elephant. Job was so deformed by his disease, his friends did not recognize him.
No! Job himself had wanted to die. The Hebrew verb used by Job’s wife (that has been translated as “curse”) is BARAK and is used over 325 times in the Old Testament. It is most often translated BLESS. This is the meaning of barak in the words of Satan to God about Job: “You have blessed [baraked] the work of his hands.” She was telling him what many have told their loving spouses throughout the centuries: “You are suffering so much. If it’s God’s will, it’s okay to die. I will be okay.”
No! Satan is a spirit being. God gave dominion of the physical realm to Adam, to mankind. The only way for Satan to have authority is if man gives him his authority or if God does. Satan is the god of this world. How? We enslave ourselves to Satan when we sin.
God has given Satan domain over unbelievers only. Believers are no longer under the rule of Satan. Unbelievers, on the other hand, are caught “in the snare of the devil”, lie in the “power of the evil one”, and are in bondage to Satan.
Satan is the accuser of Christians. Satan had to get special permission from God to afflict Job. What was the outcome? Job’s faith grew.
Isaiah 14:4-16 – Job 1:16 – Job 38:7 – Daniel 5:30-31 – Luke 10:17-18 – Revelation 12:7-17 – Revelation 2:8 – Revelation 22:16
