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July 10 - Song of Solomon 8 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:11
  Hello friends, it's Sean here. And it's Yvonne for the last
• 0:16
  time today. Unless I can convince you to
• 0:20
  come and do feminine voices every time we have a different
• 0:24
  story, I doubt whether that's going to happen.
• 0:26
  Yeah, no, she's shaking her head saying that she's done.
• 0:30
  But today, today is the last day reading the book of the Song of
• 0:34
  Solomon. And it has been a strange
• 0:37
  interlude. And today is particularly
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  strange with language and with concepts that to our modern ears
• 0:43
  are going to sound truly bizarre.
• 0:45
  But. But this is poetry 3000 years
• 0:49
  old, written when the world was very different, where the things
• 0:53
  that you got up to with your family members, some were quite
• 0:56
  different from what would seem societally acceptable today.
• 0:58
  So we're just going to take it with a great big dash of ancient
• 1:03
  Near Eastern salt. Is that a thing?
• 1:06
  We're going to make it a thing today.
• 1:07
  And I am going to read not just the the part of the young man,
• 1:11
  but also the young woman's brothers.
• 1:14
  So at some point, you're going to hear me talk about my sister.
• 1:18
  That's me, the brothers. That's not me, the the young
• 1:20
  man. Just for clarity.
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  Otherwise, it gets even weirder. But here we are to finish off
• 1:26
  this book of poetry from 3000 years ago, coming to you today
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  as we read together Song of Songs Chapter 8.
• 1:48
  Oh, I wish you were my brother who nursed at my mother's
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  breasts. Then I could kiss you no matter
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  who was watching, and no one would criticise me.
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  I would bring you to my childhood home and there you
• 2:01
  would teach me. I would give you spiced wine to
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  drink, my sweet pomegranate wine.
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  Your left arm would be under my head, and your right arm would
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  embrace me. Promise me, O women of
• 2:16
  Jerusalem, not to awaken love until the time is right.
• 2:22
  Who is this? Sweeping in from the desert,
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  leaning on her lover, I aroused you under the apple tree where
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  your mother gave you birth. We're in great pain.
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  She delivered you. Place me like a seal over your
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  heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death,
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  it's jealousy as enduring as the grave.
• 2:48
  Love flashes like fire, the brightest kind of flame.
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  Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers drown it.
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  If a man tried to buy love with all his wealth, his offer would
• 3:02
  be utterly scorned. We have a little sister too
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  young to have breasts. What will we do for our sister
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  if someone asks to marry her? If she is a virgin like a wall,
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  we will protect her with a silver tower, but if she is
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  promiscuous like a swinging door, we will block her door
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  with a cedar bar. I was a virgin like a wall.
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  Now my breasts are like towers. When my lover looks at me, he is
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  delighted with what he sees. Solomon has a vineyard at
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  Balhamon, which he leases out to tenant farmers.
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  Each of them pays 1000 pieces of silver for harvesting its fruit.
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  But my vineyard is mine to give, and Solomon need not pay 1000
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  pieces of silver, but I will give 200 pieces to those who
• 4:00
  care for its vines. Oh, my darling, lingering in the
• 4:05
  gardens, your companions are fortunate to hear your voice.
• 4:09
  Let me hear it too. Come away, my love, be like a
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  gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.
• 4:28
  I thank you, Lord, for your love for us, love which is not just
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  an emotion, not just an experience, but it is your very
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  character and who you are. And so beautifully you inspire
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  the author to write these words that love flashes like fire.
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  Your love is the brightest kind of flame.
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  Many waters cannot quench your love.
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  Norcan rivers drown it. Our Lord, your love is decadent
• 5:02
  and wonderful. It is over the top and it is
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  more than we can possibly contain, but we receive it
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  gratefully. Thank you for this love that you
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  give us, and thank you for the way that you show us this love
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  through giving us your Son, Jesus.
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  We are just so grateful, so grateful for your love, your
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  companionship, and all that you are for us.
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  So we open our hearts back to you with our love, and we pray
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  all of this in the name of Jesus, Amen.