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The Gift of Sex

Song of Solomon 7

The use of the superlative was common in ancient literature: Nebuchadnezzar was "king of kings" (Ezekiel 26:7), Yahweh was "God of gods and Lord of lords" (Deuteronomy 10:17), and Christ will return as "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (Revelation 19:16). "Song of Songs" begs the question: What is the subject of the greatest of all songs? It is no surprise that the greatest song is a tribute to the ultimate expression of human physical and emotional experience: marital love and sexuality.

Nor is it a surprise that interpreters through the ages have attempted to define the subject of Song of Songs as anything but human love and sexuality! It is far too frank and graphic to be written in a book inspired by God. Some have said it is about God's love for humanity. Others have said it is about Christ's love for the Church, a foreshadowing of Paul's metaphor in Ephesians 5:22-33. But such suggestions seek to divert the reader from the very gift the book recognizes and extols: the gift of human sexuality expressed within the bonds of marriage.

Song of Solomon is not about love and sex—it is about love and sex between husband and wife. The book is a love poem describing the courtship, conflicts, and consummation inherit as marital love matures and finds its expression in faithful commitment. Genesis 2:24 says that a man and his wife shall become one flesh," a reality affirmed by Jesus Christ (Matthew 19:4-6). While the unity suggested by "one flesh" encompasses more than just physical union, it certainly does not exclude it. The fact that pleasure creates desire is at the very heart of God's command to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28).

Rather than draw a curtain and hide human sexuality, Song of Songs places it in the context for which it was designed: the intimate, generous, and creative pleasures between husband and wife.

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