Daily Devotion

The Ideal Marriage

-SONG OF SOLOMON 1:5-8

Key Verse:

"Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept" (Song of Solomon 1:6).

Although King Solomon had many women in his life (700 wives and 300 concubines), the opening passage in Song of Solomon indicates that he had a powerful affection for only one, the dark-skinned Shunamite woman. David's son makes emotional and irresistible overtures to let the woman know that she would remain his sole object of attention in preference to the other members of the harem in the palace. But the woman insists on the sanctity between a man and a woman: it should be one man to one woman. This mega-theme of the Song of Solomon is a foreshadow of the New Testament. Jesus Christ refers to how marriage was from creation: "...He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh" (Matthew 19:4,5). Also Apostle Paul, moved by the Holy Ghost, writes in Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it". A strong train of thought in the Song of Solomon is directed against polygamy.The devotion which a man can offer in marriage is only to one spouse. It cannot be shared among concubines or wives. Most women who go into polygamous homes are lured by money and empty promises of a so-called blissful future. They fall for short-lived prosperity that does not go beyond this world. Polyandry (marriage of a woman to more than one man), is also not the answer.A marital relationship not based on pure and sacrificial love would flounder. Marital love should not be constructed in external considerations as superficial beauty contrived by makeup, wealth, position and materialism "for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth" (Luke 12:15). Even so, our union with Christ must be holy and righteous, from all polygamist intrusions.

Thought for the day: Chastity is the qualification that qualifies 

Christ's glorious Church

Bible Reading in one Year: ISAIAH 22 - 25