‘Beauty’ (Song of songs 6:4-8:4)

 

What do you think about human beauty? 

We all want to be beautiful.  But sometimes we don’t feel very beautiful.  Like the girl in this song we can lament our bodily imperfections—such as her sun-kissed skin—and that we have not looked after our vineyard.

We know beauty is fleeting (Proverbs 31:30) and that the Christian is to prioritise the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight (1 Peter 3:3-4). Yet the Bible is not blind to human beauty.  The Old Testament mentions the great beauty of women such as Sarah, the wife of Abraham, and Rebekah, the wife of Isaac.

We might think of very beautiful people as vain and shallow.  Beautiful people can be exclusive in their friendships and self-obsessed.  This is highlighted in a culture that is pre-occupied with celebrities. 

We are warned not to desire the beauty of the adulterous woman (Proverbs 6:25).

Human beauty is like a cut rose, explains Douglas O’Donnell—its splendour is fading and it is surrounded by thorns, and so is to be admired but treated with care.

Beauty is a significant theme in the Song of songs.  The word ‘beauty’ occurs sixteen times, four of which are in this morning’s reading.  So, as we approach this text, we will ask what we can learn about beauty and how beauty points to Jesus.

1.      See the unique beauty in people (6:4-9) 

Everyone wants to believe that they are beautiful and everybody has some trace of beauty in them.  It is good for a husband to tell his wife in what ways he finds her attractive.  It is good for a wife to tell her husband why she is drawn to him.  Our husband in these verses has no problem in praising his wife.  Some men would rather die than praise their wife, and so the joy is robbed from their marriage.  Again, he talks of her hair and teeth, and her temples (which may mean the whole side of her face) being bright and fresh like the halves of a pomegranate.

Notice that he sees her as unique (6:8-9).  In his eyes there is no other woman like her.  Remember that your spouse is to be your standard of beauty.  One of the ways to protect your heart against adulterous thoughts is to see the beauty of the one you are married to.  We need to see that beauty with grace and not demand perfection. 

When I was first married I used to look at other couples who seemed to get on better than we did, and I was discontent.  I am not sure what has changed, but now I am just happy to be married to Caroline even with our imperfections.

2.       Beauty is to be celebrated appropriately (6:10-7:13)

The girl’s friends join in in praising her beauty.  They refer to her as the Shulamite.  What does that mean?  Shulamite might refer to a place called Shulam.  It is the female form of Solomon.  I like the fact that the root of this name is ‘Shalom’—peace.  Matched to her physical beauty is the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.  In the last chapter she declares, 'I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment' (8:10).  It literally is, 'I have become in his eyes like one bringing shalom.'  Be someone who fosters peace in your relationships!    

Her husband praises the parts of her body that, in that culture, would have only been his to see —her navel, waist and breasts.  We need to be appropriate in how we celebrate human beauty.  The human heart can quickly move from admiration to lust.  He talks about them enjoying the intimacy of sex.  The writer of Hebrews teaches us that, ‘marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral’ (Hebrews 13:4).  If you flirt with someone else’s spouse you are dishonouring their marriage and acting with the heart of an adulterer.  If you are pursuing sex outside marriage you are in danger of the judgement of God.

3.      Beauty is to be treated with care (8:1-4)

‘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’ (8:1).  That culture forbade physical displays of affection, even between husband and a wife.  Although a brother could kiss his sister in public.  She wishes that he was like a brother whom she could kiss in public.  See the strong desires that are attached to human beauty.  That is why, for the third time, she says to her single friends, ‘do not arouse are awaken love until it so desires’ (8:4).

Remember that physical beauty is like a cut rose—its splendour is fading and it is surrounded by thorns.  Be careful!  All this talk of romantic love may awaken strong feelings if you are single.  It may awaken feelings of pain and discontent if you are living in a marriage that is cold.  Bring it all to Jesus—the great lover of our souls.  Jesus, the only one who can bring true peace and contentment.

Conclusion—Jesus, the creator of beauty

In Romans the apostle Paul teaches that the whole of creation reveals the power and nature of God (Romans 1:19-20).  We also know that all things have been created by Jesus.  One of the reasons I could never be an atheist is that it is hard to believe that all this beauty simply evolved without any designer.  What an incredible God our God is that he could create an eye or a mouth and not just make them functional but also make them beautiful!

Yet when Jesus stepped into his creation we read that he had no beauty that we should desire him (Isaiah 53:2).  His earthly beauty was all on the inside.  In fact, on the cross he was so disfigured that people turned their faces away from him.  He lost his beauty so that we might be made beautiful in him. 

Now he endows his people with splendour (Isaiah 60:9).  He may have given us some physical beauty, but there are no limits to the inner beauty he wants to create in us.  Then one day he will return, we will see him in all his eternal beauty and he will give us immortal bodies that will have a splendour that will never fade.  No longer will our beauty be like a cut rose surrounded by thorns.