23rd April 2026

23rd April 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Song of Solomon 8v11-12) 


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


By this stage you are well aware that I have not presented Solomon as the hero of the Song. I'm certainly not the first to come up with this perspective but it is one that I grew convinced of as I studied the Song of Solomon last summer. There are various reasons for my stance but the main argument that I found very persuasive comes in today's two verses. They say "Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver. My vineyard, my very own, is before me; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred."


It is my view that these are the words of the Shulammite and they are scathingly critical of Solomon. She said that Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon which, if a place, either didn't exist or has been lost. However, if we consider the meaning of Baal-hamon then we realise that the Shulammite was playing with words. Baal-hamon means "Lord of a multitude" and so Solomon didn't live there but he actually was the Baal-hamon. The wise King who became foolish had the means to buy a multitude of women - he would give their families a thousand pieces of silver and the keepers of his hareem would each be paid a further two hundred. So if Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines he was looking at a bill of one million pieces of silver for his women alone and that's before he paid for their keepers and their upkeep.


This was and remains an extraordinary cost that the King willingly paid because he did not keep himself from anything that his heart desired (Ecclesiastes 2v8). The Shulammite on the other hand did not rent out her vineyard, her body was her own and the only one she wanted to give it to was the Shepherd. She had turned down Solomon's advances and told the King in no uncertain terms that he could keep his money (8v12), she found his lifestyle wanting.


There is a famous photo of a man called August Landmesser who refused to offer the Nazi salute when a party official visited his factory. Landmesser's wife was Jewish and so he stood with his arms folded in a crowd of hundreds of people saluting their leader. Landmesser would not survive the Second World War but he kept his integrity in the midst of a submissive generation.


Brothers and sisters, the world we find ourselves in does not agree with the Biblical sexual ethic. We are seen as old fashioned dinosaurs who wish that we had been born in the reserved conservative air of Victorian Britain. It's not true. The gift of physical intercourse is one from God and it is to be celebrated and enjoyed within the confines of the marriage bed. We don't live in Solomon's day or that of Queen Victoria but the choice before us remains the same - will we salute Baal-hamon, the Lord of a multitude or will we heed the call of Jesus Christ, the Lord of lords?


"Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." (1 Corinthians 6v18-20).


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q49 Which is the second commandment? The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me: and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
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