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