Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / July 3 - Song of Solomon 4

Transcript

July 3 - Song of Solomon 4 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:12
  Hello friends. It's Sean here.
• 0:14
  It's Thursday. It's the 3rd of July 2025.
• 0:19
  Which, OK, I hope you're sitting down because this is amazing. 40
• 0:23
  years ago today sounds like a long time ago, right?
• 0:28
  Is when Back to the Future was first released. 40 years.
• 0:33
  Wow, what a cracker. If you haven't seen Back to the
• 0:36
  Future, you should stop this podcast right now.
• 0:39
  No, don't do that. You should enjoy that film.
• 0:41
  It's a great one. In fact, it's a great trilogy
• 0:44
  following Marty McFly and Doc and all those adventures in and
• 0:48
  out of time travel. But Speaking of time travel, we
• 0:51
  are going to do a little bit more time travel.
• 0:53
  Today might not be 40 years ago, but we are going to travel back
• 0:58
  about 3000 years to win this poetry.
• 1:02
  They reckon this poetry was probably written around 1000 BC.
• 1:06
  So that's some old love poetry, ladies and gentlemen.
• 1:09
  And if yesterday was all about the young woman reading to the
• 1:13
  young man, today is all about the young man reading to the
• 1:17
  young woman. Evon, you get most of today off.
• 1:19
  You'll just chime in at the end. How's that?
• 1:22
  Sounds terrific. Excellent.
• 1:25
  Well, all of that said, today will bring us up to the halfway
• 1:29
  mark of this beautiful book, which means with a bit of
• 1:32
  proverbs on Fridays, we're halfway through and we'll wrap
• 1:36
  it up next week. So in the meantime, how about
• 1:40
  let's continue reading this beautiful ancient love poem from
• 1:44
  Song of Solomon chapter 4. You are beautiful, my darling,
• 2:01
  beautiful beyond words. Your eyes are like doves behind
• 2:05
  your veil. Your hair falls in waves, like a
• 2:10
  flock of goats winding down the slopes of Gilead.
• 2:14
  Your teeth are as white as sheep, recently shorn and
• 2:17
  freshly washed. Your smile is flawless, each
• 2:22
  tooth matched with its twin. Your lips are like scarlet
• 2:26
  ribbon. Your mouth is inviting.
• 2:30
  Your cheeks are like rosy pomegranates behind your veil.
• 2:34
  Your neck is as beautiful as the Tower of David jewelled with the
• 2:39
  Shields of 1000 heroes. Your breasts are like 2 fawns,
• 2:45
  twin fawns of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.
• 2:49
  Before the dawn breezes blow and the night shadows flee, I'll
• 2:54
  hurry to the Mountain of Myrrh and to the Hill of Frankincense.
• 2:59
  You are all together beautiful, my darling, beautiful in every
• 3:03
  way. Come with me from Lebanon, my
• 3:07
  bride. Come with me from Lebanon.
• 3:10
  Come down from Mount Amana, from the peaks of Senna and Herman,
• 3:16
  where the lions have their dens and leopards live among the
• 3:20
  hills. You have captured my heart, my
• 3:24
  treasure, my bride. You hold it hostage with one
• 3:29
  glance of your eyes, with a single jewel of your necklace.
• 3:34
  Your love delights me, my treasure, my bride.
• 3:39
  Your love is better than wine, your perfume more fragrant than
• 3:44
  spices. Your lips are as sweet as
• 3:47
  nectar, my bride. Honey and milk are under your
• 3:51
  tongue. Your clothes are scented like
• 3:54
  the Cedars of Lebanon. You are my private garden, my
• 3:59
  treasure, my bride. A secluded spring, a hidden
• 4:05
  fountain, your thighs shelter a paradise of pomegranates with
• 4:10
  rare spices, henna with nard, nard and saffron, fragrant
• 4:16
  calamus and cinnamon with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh
• 4:21
  and aloes, and every other lovely spice.
• 4:25
  You are a garden fountain, A well of fresh water streaming
• 4:31
  down from Lebanon's mountains. Awake north wind rise up S wind
• 4:39
  blow on my garden and spread its fragrance all around.
• 4:44
  Come into your garden, my love, taste its finest fruits.
• 5:01
  Lord, thank you for family. Thank you that in these little
• 5:07
  groups that we get to have a taste of what it's like to have
• 5:11
  this unconditional love and this acceptance as part of a nuclear
• 5:15
  family. And Lord, as wonderful as family
• 5:20
  is, Lord, I know that family doesn't come without hardship.
• 5:22
  And for many of us, family is a place of hurt and a place of
• 5:26
  unrealized potential. But Lord, you are a God of
• 5:31
  restoration and wholeness. So Lord, where there has been
• 5:35
  hurt in our families, Lord, I just pray for your presence,
• 5:39
  your presence of love, your wholeness, the peace that you
• 5:44
  can bring us despite the circumstances that we're in.
• 5:49
  And Lord, thank you for the wholeness that good relationship
• 5:53
  can bring, that it can complete us and our shortfalls can be
• 5:58
  complemented by the strengths of those around us.
• 6:03
  And Lord, no relationship more wonderful than our relationship
• 6:07
  with you. We're in our weakness.
• 6:10
  We are indeed strong because of you.
• 6:16
  Thank you for your perfect love that you offer us, and thank you
• 6:19
  for this poetry that speaks of such love in the human context.
• 6:25
  We just lift up our love as perfect as we have to offer it.
• 6:30
  We lift it to you. And we do love you with all of
• 6:34
  our heart. I pray all of this in that
• 6:37
  precious name of Jesus, Amen.