Tuesday, January 5, 2016

“The Most Beautiful Bride” Adult Sunday School Lesson


International Sunday School Lesson
For Sunday January 10, 2016

Purpose: To honor responsibly and faithfully God’s gift of romantic love

Bible Lesson: Song of Songs 6:4-12

Background: John 10:1-11; Song of Songs

Key Verse: My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the darling of her mother, flawless to her that bore her. (Song of Songs 6:9)

Song of Songs 6:4-12 (CEB)
(4) You are as beautiful, my dearest, as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, formidable as those lofty sights. (5) Turn your eyes away from me, for they overwhelm me! Your hair is like a flock of goats as they stream down from Gilead. (6) Your teeth are like a flock of ewes as they come up from the washing pool— all of them perfectly matched, not one of them lacks its twin. (7) Like a slice of pomegranate is the curve of your face behind the veil of your hair. (8) There may be sixty queens and eighty secondary wives, young women beyond counting, (9) but my dove, my perfect one, is one of a kind. To her mother she’s the only one, radiant to the one who bore her. Young women see her and declare her fortunate; queens and secondary wives praise her. (10) Who is this, gazing down like the morning star, beautiful as the full moon, radiant as the sun, formidable as those lofty sights? (11) To the nut grove I went down to look upon the fresh growth in the valley, to see whether the vine was in flower, whether the pomegranates had bloomed. (12) I hardly knew myself; she had set me in an official’s chariot!


Some Thoughts by Burgess Walter

In my 50 years or so as a Sunday School teacher I have never had a lesson from Song of Songs or Song of Solomon as we used to call it. It is an unusual book for Holy Writ, since God’s name does not appear anywhere. Most scholars believe it was written by Solomon or about Solomon.
Since Solomon was known to be the husband of 700 wives and 300 “secondary wives,” or concubines (1 Kings 11:3), perhaps it was thought that this king knew a thing or two about male/female relationships! And since I have only had one wife for 59 years, I am not sure I qualify, according to that standard.

So my thought is this, love between a man and women is hardly describable. The writer uses many metaphors and symbols but when it happens you know it.

Unfortunately, most of the love we read about or see in movies and TV is more infatuation or lust, than love, or is more ergos than agape.

One thing I know, we talk about God’s love, but none of our love can compare to God’s love. Only God can love the way that he does. Man’s love for a woman is both devotion, awe, mystery, forgiving, trusting, patience, compromise, and passion.

My suggestion is read the text and glean what you will from it and then consider how you would write your song of songs.

You can make it about God and the Church or God and his Son, or about the human bonding of two people. But don’t be so bold to think you can love like God, because you can’t

Several hymns come to mind, but you could also say “You Light up My Life” or “O’ How I Love Jesus”



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