The Song of Songs: The Greatest Song Ever
The opening words of the twenty-second book in our Bibles are “The song of songs.” This is a Hebrew construction that is found throughout the Scriptures, for example, “a servant of servants” (Gen. 9:25), “the heaven of heavens” (Deut. 10:14), “God of gods” (17), “vanity of vanities” (Ecc. 1:2), “King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords” (Rev. 19:16), holy of holies, and, of course, song of songs.
It is a Hebrew way of stating the superlative. In English, we express gradation like this: “This is a great song” (where “great” is an adjective) and “This song is greater than that song” (where “greater” is a comparative adjective) and “This song is the greatest song” (where “greatest” is a superlative adjective). However, in Hebrew, there is no equivalent of “-est” at the end of a word to indicate the superlative. Instead, Hebrew speaks of the “song of songs” in order to indicate that it is “the greatest song.” Moreover, it is emphatic in Song of Solomon 1:1, for it does not speak of “a song of songs” (whatever that would mean) but “the song of songs.”
The Bible’s twenty-second book is the greatest scriptural song. It is greater than the song in Exodus 15 after the crossing of the Red Sea, the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32, the song of Deborah in Judges 5, the song of the vineyard in Isaiah 5 and the song of Habakkuk in Habakkuk 3. It is greater than any other song composed by Solomon, including Psalms 72 and 127, and any of his other 1,005 songs (I Kings 4:32).
The Song of Songs is greater than any of the 150 God-breathed Psalms, including the songs of degrees (Ps. 120-134), which were sung by pilgrims as they journeyed to the feasts in Jerusalem; Psalm 23, the shepherd song; and your own personal favourite. Though God’s people are commanded to sing the Psalms (Ps. 95:2; Col. 3:16; James 5:13), the Song of Solomon is for us a ballad, that is, a song or poem that is not supposed to be sung outwardly. It is, as it were, to be sung in the heart!
The Song of Songs is also greater than all secular songs, whether the lyrics are inoffensive or sinful, promoting rebellion, lust or pride, etc. I am not here speaking about tunes, for we have no inspired tunes for the Song of Solomon or any biblical song.
But are you claiming,” some might ask, “that the Song of Songs is a greater song than that sung by the angels at the creation of the earth (Job 38:4-7) or those now sung by the saints in heaven or those that will be sung in the new heavens and the new earth?” No. I am asserting that the Canticle of Canticles is the greatest song ever, greater than every other religious or secular song, every other inspired or non-inspired song, and every song in every country and language in this world—past, present and future (until Christ’s bodily return).
All this serves, first, to educate God’s people about the excellence of the Song of Solomon, for many will respond, “I never realized this for I have to say that I haven’t really done much with this book, though not through malice but neglect.” Second, this should excite us to learn about and read the Song of Songs, to stretch us spiritually and help us in our devotional lives as the redeemed children of God. Rev. Stewart
Are Images of Christ Acceptable?
This month’s question has to do with pictures and other representations of Jesus: “The second commandment forbids the making of any graven image or likeness of God. But how do we prove that it is sinful to make a visual representation of Jesus Christ—whether in a painting, drawing, film or icon—even if it is not used in formal worship? Some argue that, since Jesus took on human flesh, it is permissible to depict Him visually. Others claim that, so long as the image is not being bowed to or adored, it is not a violation of the second commandment. But is this true? Is the mere act of portraying the incarnate Son of God in art not itself a violation, since He is one Person with two natures and the divine cannot be pictured? How do we respond to those who say, ‘We are not worshipping the image, so it’s not idolatry’? Does the absence of overt worship make such images acceptable?”
Many Christian bookstores contain videos, crucifixes, pictures, statues and other such representations. Most Bibles and Bible story books include pictures of Jesus. The question is especially pertinent given the many movies and musicals that have been produced of Jesus over the past years, such as, Son of God, The Chosen, The Nativity Story, The Passion of Christ, some of them produced by Christian organizations and others by the unbelieving film industry for the money they garner. The older musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, and the movie, Life of Brian, are outrageously blasphemous (it makes me shudder even to write the names of these abominations).
The majority of professing Christians do not think twice about the representations of Jesus and many churches show these so-called “Christian” movies to their members. Christian homes and churches have an abundance of such representations and most Christians, if asked, would say that they are “helpful.” Roman Catholicism, as most know, has no problem with such representations and encourages them, believing that they are for the “edification of the faithful.”
Until more modern times Protestantism has rejected any use of such images. The Westminster Larger Catechism says, for example, “The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all devising, counselling, commanding, using, and anywise approving, any religious worship not instituted by God himself; tolerating a false religion; the making any representation of God, of all, or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever” (A. 109).
There are a number of reasons why any pictures or other representations of Jesus should be abhorred. First, the objection that they are not worshipped is specious. Why else do people have them? Those who use them may not bow to them or adore them but, if they are used as helps to faith or reminders of who and what Jesus is, then the excuse for using them is no different from the Roman Catholic excuse that they can be used for the “edification of the faithful.”
They also replace the Word of God as the way in which we are to know God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. That is a denial of the sufficiency of Scripture, that the Bible contains everything we need for faith and life. The Heidelberg Catechism’s statement is to the point: “we must not pretend to be wiser than God, who will have His people taught, not by dumb images, but by the lively preaching of His Word” (A. 98).
Second, these images are all lies. This writer has never seen a picture of Jesus that does not portray Him with some or all of the following: long hair, blond hair, shaven or with a trimmed beard, a halo, Caucasian features (including light skin), very feminine characteristics or features adapted from the Shroud of Turin (itself a lie). If it is a crucifixion scene, there is a cloth draped over His midsection (part of His shame and reproach was that He was crucified naked; John 19:23).
We do not know what He actually looked like but we do know that He was a Jew, not a western European. He could not have had long hair or a trimmed beard, or been shaven, since then He would have been breaking the law (Lev. 19:27; I Cor. 11:14-16). Only Nazarites were allowed to grow their hair long and Jesus was not a Nazarite (Luke 7:33-34). A recovering leper was allowed to shave his beard (Lev. 14:9) but no one else. There was nothing, certainly not a halo, to distinguish Him from His fellow Jews. To portray Him as anything but a Jew is wrong; to portray Him as a lawbreaker is blasphemous; to portray Him with a halo is a denial of Philippians 2:6-8.
Images of Christ are a commentary on decadent modern Christianity, which sets aside the Word of God and refuses to be ruled by it, will not put away unbiblical practices and elevates feelings above truth. Such Christianity is easily led astray, has no witness and will be judged by God.
As important as this is, it is not the most important objection to representations of Jesus. Because Jesus is God, since images of God are wrong, images of Jesus are also. The excuse that Jesus was made like us in all things except sin, holds no water, since even in our flesh He was personally the Son of God. No image can portray that. Such images, are not only lies but blasphemy.
Scripture says, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). He is the One “whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting” (I Tim. 6:16). The injunction of Deuteronomy 4:15-19 remains in effect for us, therefore, “Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.”
It is not enough, however, to see that images of God Himself or of God incarnate are wrong and to find them abhorrent. We must also take to heart all that this implies about Scripture and its sufficiency. That is the chief point here.
The great problem with evangelicalism today is that the Word of God takes second place to filling churches, meeting people’s emotional needs, feelings, selfishness, being entertained and wanting to be happy instead of desiring God. Few wish to put any effort into the church membership, relationships or living a Christian life. Worship is unbiblical, little attention is paid to the Bible’s teaching regarding Christian living, divorce and broken homes are more often than not the rule, materialism and the love of pleasure dominate the lives of professing Christians, and the church and the preaching are neglected or set aside. Football and other sports are more important than the Word of God. Catching up on sleep or going on a holiday is more important on Sunday than worship. Faithful exposition of the Word of God is boring, does not hold the attention of the young (or older) folk, does not stir people’s feelings and is not practical enough, which usually means that it does not provide a quick fix for people’s problems.
The Word of God is so neglected that many Christians have never read the Bible from cover to cover, cannot find the books of the Bible without looking in the index (and then still have difficulty), do not know the fundamental doctrines of God’s Word and of the Christian faith, and cannot give an account of their actions or words except to say that so and so said it was acceptable.
The Word of God ought to be part of family worship every day and part of personal devotions as well. Bibles ought to wear out rather than collect dust. God’s people ought to have read the whole Bible not once but many times, even the laws and the genealogies. They ought to test every matter of practice and every teaching by the Word of God. Otherwise the inspiration and sufficiency of Scripture mean nothing. Otherwise II Timothy 3:16-17 is just words on paper: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
God’s Word, not graven images, must be our light, our hope, our peace and our joy. It, not lying pictures and images, must be our guide and teacher. Jesus said to the Jews and to us, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). They alone are able to make us “wise unto salvation through faith” in Him (II Tim. 3:15). Rev. Ron Hanko
