14th April 2026

14th April 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Solomon 6v4-7v10) 


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


If I have understood the Song of Solomon correctly then in the third scene Solomon arrived from the wilderness to take the Shulammite as his new bride. He tried to woo her with smooth words and flattery with the daughters of Jerusalem also encouraging her to move on from her obsession with her beloved. The pressure on the Shulammite was great and even as she fell asleep her dream told her that her beloved was beyond her reach. What was she going to do?


When the morning came the Shulammite was still far from her beloved and Solomon was still outside the hareem calling her to his love carriage. The King told the Shulammite once more that she was beautiful, as beautiful as Jerusalem and as awesome as a mighty army (6v4). Indeed as far as he was concerned out of all the women he had ever loved she was the best. There were sixty queens and eighty concubines but she was the perfect one and his only one (6v8-9). I'm not sure how the daughters of Jerusalem felt when hearing this but perhaps it wasn't the first time that Solomon had told a woman she was his favourite.


The Shulammite wasn't swept away by the King's seduction but instead her reply hinted at how she found herself in the hareem in the first place. She was in the valley enjoying the beauty of nature when suddenly she found herself amongst the chariots of a prince (6v11-12). Was the Shulammite reminding the King that she was there against her will? Had Solomon's men swept her away to present her to their King? Whatever we are supposed to think about these verses the Shulammite has heard enough and she started to turn away from Solomon and life in the hareem. 


If the Song of Solomon was a play on a stage the Shulammite would be slowly but surely fading from view. How do we know? Because the daughters of Jerusalem begin to call upon her to return to them. They said "Return, return, O Shulammite, return, return, that we may look upon you." (6v13). But she doesn't listen. She has heard all that Solomon has had to say and she chooses her beloved.


It isn't desperately clear who answers the daughters of Jerusalem but I wonder if it is her beloved who rebukes the women saying "Why should you look upon the Shulammite, as upon a dance before two armies?" (6v13b). In plain terms he reminds them that his love is not a show to be watched, not a painting to be viewed and not a notch to be added to a bedpost. It seems that she hears her beloved's voice and chooses to go to him.


Even so, Solomon tried one last time to convince her. He spoke of her feet, thighs, navel, neck and breasts (7v1-9). The King wanted this woman and she was about to slip through his fingers. But the Shulammite wouldn't be turned and as she left to find her beloved she reminded Solomon "I am my beloved's, and his desire is for me." (7v10).


It is never easy to go against the grain and never straightforward to make a choice that everyone else thinks madness. Yet, the Shulammite did exactly that and gives us encouragement to refuse the seductive calls of this world. I'm reminded of Eric Liddell who refused to compete at the 1924 Olympics on a Sunday. His stance was seen as madness but he took great encouragement from a message passed to him which read "In the old book it says: 'He that honours me I will honour.' (1 Samuel 2v30) Wishing you the best of success always."


Brothers and sisters, honour Christ even when everyone thinks you are mad. May His call silence the world's seductive voice.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q41 Where is the moral law summarily comprehended? The moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments.
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