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