By Michael C. Mack
1. How did you do over the past week at seeing, listening to, noticing, and knowing others around you?
2. What expression of love do you prefer to receive from others?
Ask two people to read aloud Song of Songs 1:15; 4:1-15 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Then ask a third person to briefly summarize the passages.
3. What do the metaphors and similes in these passages tell you about how the man thought and felt about his wife?
4. Note the senses (sight, touch, smell, taste) involved in the man’s descriptions and which ones are used more often. What do you learn about the man (and perhaps men in general) from these descriptions (especially as compared to the woman’s descriptions from the previous lesson)?
5. What do his names for her tell you about his relationship with her?
6. Some Bible commentators suggest the man’s words in this Song illustrate the love of Jesus, the Bridegroom (see Luke 5:34-35; John 3:27-30; Ephesians 5:25-33), for us. What can you learn about the Lord’s love from these passages?
7. Look again at Song of Songs 4:12. What do the three phases—“a garden locked up,” “a spring enclosed,” and “a sealed fountain”—tell you about the man and woman’s exclusive commitment to each other—and to the sanctity of marriage between a man and woman?
8. How will you seek to love others more like the husband in these passages (and like the Bridegroom Jesus)?
9. Based on our study and discussion, complete the sentence: “I will . . .”
10 . If God were to talk with you like the man speaks to and about his wife, what might he say to you?
For Next Week: Read and reflect on Song of Songs 1:4b-8; 3:1-11. You can also read next week’s supplemental texts as well as the Study and Application sections as part of your personal study.
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