Song of Solomon: Week 8 The Art of Conflict, Part 2

This part deals with turning conflict into intimacy and joy.  Some key issues in dealing with problems in any relationship are how to listen and how to handle different types of people.  We are like two blocks of granite each barely seeing and knowing more than just the faint highlight of the other.  Marriage allows the two blocks to have friction on each other.  As this continues to happen, each person is revealed more and more.  Marriage without conflict would be superficial and stale, but with friction, the most beautiful statue of two people can be created.

Song of Solomon chapter 5: 1-9; 6: 1-13

“My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, Outstanding among ten thousand.11 “His head is like gold, pure gold; His locks are like clusters of dates And black as a raven. 12 “His eyes are like doves Beside streams of water, Bathed in milk, And reposed in their setting.13 “His cheeks are like a bed of balsam, Banks of sweet-scented herbs; His lips are lilies Dripping with liquid myrrh. 14 “His hands are rods of gold Set with beryl; His abdomen is carved ivory Inlaid with sapphires. 15 “His legs are pillars of alabaster Set on pedestals of pure gold; His appearance is like Lebanon Choice as the cedars.16 “His mouth is full of sweetness. And he is wholly desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.”

“Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, That we may seek him with you?”2 “My beloved has gone down to his garden, To the beds of balsam,To pasture his flock in the gardens And gather lilies. 3 “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine, He who pastures his flock among the lilies.”

4 “You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling, As lovely as Jerusalem, As awesome as an army with banners. 5 “Turn your eyes away from me, For they have confused me; Your hair is like a flock of goats That have descended from Gilead. 6 

“Your teeth are like a flock of ewes Which have come up from their washing, All of which bear twins, And not one among them has lost her young.7 “Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate Behind your veil. 8 “There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, And maidens without number; 9 But my dove, my perfect one, is unique: She is her mother’s only daughter; She is the pure child of the one who bore her.  The maidens saw her and called her blessed, The queens and the concubines also, and they praised her, saying,10 ‘Who is this that grows like the dawn, As beautiful as the full moon,

As pure as the sun, As awesome as an army with banners?’

11 “I went down to the orchard of nut trees To see the blossoms of the valley, To see whether the vine had budded Or the pomegranates had bloomed.12 “Before I was aware, my soul set me Over the chariots of my noble people.”

13 “Come back, come back, O Shulammite; Come back, come back, that we may gaze at you!” “Why should you gaze at the Shulammite, as at the dance of the two companies?

Key thought

“Before you get straight with your mate, get straight with your Maker.”

Memory Verse

“Enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life which he has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life, and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun.”