My Bones

Lamentations 1:10-16 - The enemy laid hands on all her treasures; she saw pagan nations enter her sanctuary—those you had forbidden to enter your assembly. All her people groan as they search for bread; they barter their treasures for food to keep themselves alive. "Look, O LORD, and consider, for I am despised." "Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me, that the LORD brought on me in the day of his fierce anger? "From on high he sent fire, sent it down into my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long. "My sins have been bound into a yoke; by his hands they were woven together. They have come upon my neck and the Lord has sapped my strength. He has handed me over to those I cannot withstand. "The Lord has rejected all the warriors in my midst; he has summoned an army against me to crush my young men. In his winepress the Lord has trampled the Virgin Daughter of Judah. "This is why I weep and my eyes overflow with tears. No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed."

Jeremiah 20:9 - But if I say, "I will not mention him or speak any more in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.

Ecclesiastes 4:1 - Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed—and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors—and they have no comforter.

Jeremiah 9:1 - Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.

Application:

• Is His Word in my heart like a fire?
• Do I just pass by those who are suffering?
• Do I weep for those over whom the enemy has prevailed?

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

How?!

Lamentations 1:1-4 - How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave. Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is none to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies. After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile. She dwells among the nations; she finds no resting place. All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of her distress. The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she is in bitter anguish.

Isaiah 1:21 - See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her—but now murderers!

Jeremiah 3:1 - "If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers—would you now return to me?" declares the LORD.

Joel 1:14 - Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.

Conclusions:

• "How" expresses a mixture of shock and despair
• The Hebrew underlying "deserted lies" is translated "sat alone"
• The prophet sat alone; in Lamentations 1:1 his beloved city does the same
• The city is Jerusalem
• The Hebrew is the same for both full and great
• The Hebrew for slave is forced labor
• Jerusalem has been an unfaithful wife to the Lord
• By following idols and foreign gods she has become a harlot in a spiritual sense
• Divorce and remarriage on a widespread scale defiles not only the participants but also the land in which they live
• Fasting, required on the Day of Atonement and also practiced in times of calamity, was a sign of penitence and humility
• The Bible speaks against outward signs that do not reflect a corresponding inward belief or attitude.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Many Waters

Song of Songs: 7:13-8:14 - The mandrakes send out their fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, both new and old, that I have stored up for you, my lover. If only you were to me like a brother, who was nursed at my mother's breasts! Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me. I would lead you and bring you to my mother's house—she who has taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates. His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me. Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires. Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover? Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who was in labor gave you birth. Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned. We have a young sister, and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for? If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar. I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. Thus I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment. Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon; he let out his vineyard to tenants. Each was to bring for its fruit a thousand shekels of silver. But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit. You who dwell in the gardens with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice! Come away, my lover, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice-laden mountains.

Conclusions:

• "Love is…grave…It burns…flame…many waters…away" characterize marital love as the strongest, most unyielding and invincible force in human experience
• As the grave will not give up the dead, so love will not surrender the loved one
• The Hebrew expression for mighty flame conveys the idea of a most intense flame, hinting that it has been kindled by the Lord
• Many waters suggest not only the ocean depths but also the primeval waters that the people of the ancient Near East regarded as a permanent threat to the world
• "If one…scorned" declares loves unsurpassed worth

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Only Daughter

Song of Songs 6:4-7:1 - You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, majestic as troops with banners. Turn your eyes from me; they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing. Each has its twin, not one of them is alone. Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate. Sixty queens there may be, and eighty concubines, and virgins beyond number; but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the only daughter of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her. The maidens saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines praised her. Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession? I went down to the grove of nut trees to look at the new growth in the valley, to see if the vines had budded or the pomegranates were in bloom. Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people. Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, that we may gaze on you! Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance of Mahanaim? How beautiful your sandaled feet, O prince's daughter! Your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of a craftsman's hands.

Genesis 22:2 - Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

Conclusions:

• Song of Songs seems like a good study for newlyweds.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Chrysolite

Song of Songs 5:10-6:3 - My lover is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand. His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven. His eyes are like doves by the water streams, washed in milk, mounted like jewels. His cheeks are like beds of spice yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh. His arms are rods of gold set with chrysolite. His body is like polished ivory decorated with sapphires. His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars. His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely. This is my lover, this my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Where has your lover gone, most beautiful of women? Which way did your lover turn, that we may look for him with you? My lover has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies. I am my lover's and my lover is mine; he browses among the lilies.

Ezekiel 1:16 - This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like chrysolite, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel.

Song of Songs 2:16 - My lover is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies.

Conclusions:

• The lover and the beloved belong to each other exclusively in a relationship that allows no intrusion
• Does my relationship with my wife disallow any intrusions other than my God?
• Can I do the things necessary to have my wife perceive me this way after over 20 years of marriage?...hmmmmmmmm…

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Springs and Fountains

Song of Songs 4:12-15 - You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain. Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices. You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon.

Proverbs 5:20 - Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife?

Jeremiah 6:20 - What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me."

Isaiah 58:11 - The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Conclusions:

• Garden is a place of sensual delights
• Locked up, enclosed and sealed are metaphors for the fact that she keeps herself exclusively for her husband
• Springs and fountains are sources of refreshment; metaphors for the beloved as a consenting, consummating partner
• In light of the sheer joy found within the bonds of marriage and the utter ruin outside it, why would you pursue other partners?
• The attitude of one's heart and the manner of one's life are far more important than the ritual of sacrifice
• A spring whose waters never fail is the living water that Jesus gives

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Myrrh

Song of Songs 1:11-2:4 - We will make you earrings of gold, studded with silver. While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. My lover is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts. My lover is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi. How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves. How handsome you are, my lover! Oh, how charming! And our bed is verdant. The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are firs. I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the maidens. Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my lover among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste. He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love.

Matthew 2:1-2 - After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

Conclusions:

• My perfume is nard, an aromatic oil extracted from the roots of a perennial herb that grows in India
• Myrrh is an aromatic gum exuding from the bark of a balsom tree that grows in Arabia, Ethiopia and India
• Myrrh was commonly used as an alluring feminine perfume
• Myrrh was also used to perfume royal nuptial robes
• The Magi brought myrrh to the young Jesus as a gift fit for a king
• Myrrh was an ingredient in the holy anointing oil
• People of all nations acknowledged Jesus as King of the Jews and came to worship Him as Lord

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Love

Song of Songs 1:1-10 - Solomon's Song of Songs. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—for your love is more delightful than wine. Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you! Take me away with you—let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers. We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. How right they are to adore you! Dark am I, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon. Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother's sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards; my own vineyard I have neglected. Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends? If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds. I liken you, my darling, to a mare harnessed to one of the chariots of Pharaoh. Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels.

Song of Songs 8:6 - Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.

Ecclesiastes 7:1 - A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth.

Conclusions:

• Song of Songs means greatest of songs
• Solomon wrote 1005 songs
• Love means expressions of love--caresses, embraces and consummation
• The lover and the beloved both describe each other as more delightful than wine
• Seals were precious to their owners, as personal as their names
• As the grave will not give up their dead, so love will not surrender the loved one
• The Hebrew for mighty flame conveys the idea of a most intense flame, hinting that it has been kindled by the Lord
• Perfumes are aromatic spices and gums blended in cosmetic oil
• The very mention of the lover's name fills the air as with a pleasant aroma
• The Hebrew words for name and perfume sound alike
• The Christian has ample reason to say the day of death is better than the day of birth
• The Teacher's point in Ecclesiastes 7:1 is valid, namely, that happy times generally teach us less than hard times

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Iniquities Into The Depths Of The Sea

Micah 7:19-20 - You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago.

Jeremiah 31:34 - No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

Isaiah 38:17 - Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.

Deuteronomy 7:8 - But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Luke 1:54-55 - He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."

Galatians 3:10,21,28 - All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."… Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law…There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Conclusions:

• When the Lord has done His new work, there will no longer be among His people those who are ignorant of Him and His will for human lives
• God not only puts our sins out of sight, He also puts them out of reach, out of mind and out of existence
• All believers are ultimately included in the promise to Abraham
• The covenant of love stems from God's love for His people, based on His character and embodied in His covenant; it does not stem from the numerical greatness of the people or any virtue of theirs
• God's blessing has never been earned, but has always been freely given
• The reason the law is not opposed to the promise is that, although in itself it cannot save, it serves to reveal sin, which alienates God from man, and to show the need for the salvation that the promise offers

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Who Is A God Like You?

Micah 7:15-18 - "As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show them my wonders." Nations will see and be ashamed, deprived of all their power. They will lay their hands on their mouths and their ears will become deaf. They will lick dust like a snake, like creatures that crawl on the ground. They will come trembling out of their dens; they will turn in fear to the LORD our God and will be afraid of you. Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.

1 Samuel 2:2 - "There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

Joel 2:32 - And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.

Exodus 15:11 - "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD ? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

Conclusions:

• It is possible that Micah 7:15-17 constitutes a prayer that God will show His wonders again as in the exodus, that the nations will see and be ashamed, and that they will turn to the Lord in fear
• When the nations see God's power at the Messiah's coming, they will be amazed
• Lick dust like a snake is a picture of defeat
• Micah 7:18-20 is the conclusion for the whole book of Micah
• Who is a God like you is perhaps a pun on Micah's name (Micah means Who is like the Lord?)
• Rock is a metaphor to depict the strength and stability of the God of Israel as the unfailing source of security for His people
• Calls on the name of the Lord means worships God and prays to Him
• Saved means delivered from the wrath of God's judgment
• In Joel 2:32, perhaps Joel is recalling the Lord's covenant with David
• The Lord, who tolerates no rivals, has defeated all the gods of Egypt and their worshipers.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

onclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Eat But Not Satisfied

Micah 6:11-16 - Shall I acquit a man with dishonest scales, with a bag of false weights? Her rich men are violent; her people are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully. Therefore, I have begun to destroy you, to ruin you because of your sins. You will eat but not be satisfied; your stomach will still be empty. You will store up but save nothing, because what you save I will give to the sword. You will plant but not harvest; you will press olives but not use the oil on yourselves, you will crush grapes but not drink the wine. You have observed the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab's house, and you have followed their traditions. Therefore I will give you over to ruin and your people to derision; you will bear the scorn of the nations."

Hosea 4:10-12 - "They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in prostitution but not increase, because they have deserted the LORD to give themselves to prostitution, to old wine and new, which take away the understanding of my people. They consult a wooden idol and are answered by a stick of wood. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God.

Zephaniah 1:13 - Their wealth will be plundered, their houses demolished. They will build houses but not live in them; they will plant vineyards but not drink the wine.

1 Kings 16:30 - Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him.

Jeremiah 25:9 - I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon," declares the LORD, "and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin.

Conclusions:

• Instead of giving themselves to the Lord, the priests in Hosea gave themselves over to prostitution
• The assets of those who have become wealthy through dishonesty will be exposed and plundered
• Doing evil in the sight of the Lord results in ruin and derision
• Evil in the sight of the Lord includes cheating, lying, deceit

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Obedience

Micah 6:5-6 - My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD." With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Numbers 25:1-2 - While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in…immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods.

Psalm 40:6-7 - Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced; burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. Then I said, "Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll.

Psalm 51:17 - The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

1 Samuel 15:22 - But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

Hosea 6:6 - For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Conclusions:

• Shittim is another name for the region of Israel's staging for the conquest of Canaan; it was across the Jordan river opposite the ancient city of Jericho
• Israel's engagement in the fertility rites of Baal involved not only the evil of immorality
• It was also a breach of covenant with the Lord, a worship of the gods of the land and a foretaste of the people's ruin in the unfolding of their history
• The thought of Micah 6:6 is also expressed in 1 Samuel
• Micah does not deny the desirability of sacrifices but shows that it does no good to offer them without obedience
• More important than sacrifices and offerings is obedience, especially to God's moral law--i.e., the ten basic commands of His covenant
• Pierced probably refers to the sign by which a servant pledged lifelong service to his beloved master
• If, however, pierced is translated opened, it refers to ears made able and eager to hear God's law

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Their Peace

Micah 5:5 - And he will be their peace. When the Assyrian invades our land and marches through our fortresses, we will raise against him seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men.

Isaiah 9:6 - For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Luke 2:14 - "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Colossians 1:19-20 - For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Conclusions:

• Christ is our peace
• He is WONDERFUL, MIGHTY, and EVERLASTING
• He is GLORIOUS
• We have peace with our God because of Christ's death on the cross
• All things dwell in Him and are reconciled to Him

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible

Strong, Majestic, Great

Micah 5:3-4 - Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.

Ezekiel 34:11,23 - " 'For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them…I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd.

Isaiah 52:13 - See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

Luke 1:32-33 - He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

Conclusions:

• HE is strong.
• HE is majestic
• HE is great
• HE is wise
• HE is exalted
• HIS kingdom will never end

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible