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Stones Hill Community Church
The Song of Solomon
The Song of Solomon celebrates romance as something good, joyful, and God-given. This book is about King Solomon and his peasant girlfriend who eventually became his bride. It flows through all the typical phases of a relationship. You're going to see this couple go from attraction to what we would call dating, to courting, to the wedding, to the honeymoon, to a fight because that's how life is. They fight after the verse on the honeymoon! They make up and then at the end, once they get past all the conflict, they go to a deepening of the relationship. Welcome to the Song of Solomon!
Locations & Times
Ligonier, IN
151 W Stones Hill Rd, Ligonier, IN 46767, USA
Saturday 8:00 PM
MESSAGE TEXT
Song of Solomon 4:1-16 - 5:1 | Part 1
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INTRODUCTION
The Song of Solomon expresses all the joys of a relationship – from attraction to dating to the wedding and to the honeymoon – which is where we find ourselves today. In this passage, Solomon takes us back to Eden. Solomon will use the analogy of a garden to describe his bride’s presence and body.
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The passage that we’re looking at today is when Solomon and his bride are finally in the bridal chamber where they have all the time they need. And Solomon is just going to take his time describing his beautiful bride using delicate imagery that preserves dignity and purity, even when the honeymoon is being portrayed[1]Solomon does most of the speaking in Song of Solomon 4:1-16. Solomon puts on a master class, not just on how to approach the honeymoon, but how to pull the weeds in the garden of our marriages and relationships.
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DOMINANT IMAGE
The term for “garden” (gan) occurs in our passage for the first time in 4:12. In the Song of Songs, the picture of a “garden” is used seven times (4:12, 15, 16; 5:1; 6:2, 11; 8:13).[1] However, it will recur another seven times, four of which are in this context (4:15, 16 [2×]; 5:1; 6:2 [2×]; 8:13).[2]A marriage is like a walled, cultivated garden—what is intentionally planted, protected, and nurtured becomes a place of beauty, life, and shared delight. Most people don’t decide to have a bad marriage. They just… stop tending it. No one walks into an overgrown backyard and says, “Wow—look how naturally this flourished.” Neglect grows things too. Just not what we want. Tend the Garden! This is probably the leading motif of this love song.
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MAIN POINTS
Song of Solomon 4:1-5:2
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Move 1: Walk the Garden (vv. 1–7) “Let’s take our time…”
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Move 2: Build the Wall (not between but around the relationship) (vv. 8–12)“You’re totally safe…”
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Move 3: Enjoy the Fruit (vv. 13–15) “This will never get old…”
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Move 4: Invite, Don’t Force (v. 16-5:1) “Now is the time…”
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CONCLUSION
Application: Marriages, our bodies, our sexuality needs tended to. These things don’t usually fall apart because of one dramatic moment—they slowly overgrow through quiet neglect. What we see Solomon doing in Song of Solomon 4 is called “Tending the Garden.” What would it mean for you to tend the garden today? What would it look like to tend the garden this week—on purpose?
*
Invitation: Picture two gardens: One is overgrown, dry, unprotected. The gate is hanging off the hinges. Anything can wander in, and nothing good can stay alive for long. The other is alive—enclosed, watered, fragrant, inviting. Same soil. Different attention. And if you’re thinking, “We’re not in the good garden right now… we’re in the weeds,” hear this: gardens can be restored. The Song doesn’t just echo Eden—it points beyond it. Because the God who says over marriage, “This is good,” is also the God who redeems what sin has damaged. So don’t leave here with guilt—leave with a shovel.And if all you have the strength for is this: then let it be this—invite the Lord into the garden. Because when God breathes on a place, fragrance returns. When God brings living water, dry ground doesn’t get the last word. So church, take heart: tended gardens grow—but so do restored gardens. And the God who authored love is able to teach love again.
Song of Solomon 4:1-16 - 5:1 | Part 1
*
INTRODUCTION
The Song of Solomon expresses all the joys of a relationship – from attraction to dating to the wedding and to the honeymoon – which is where we find ourselves today. In this passage, Solomon takes us back to Eden. Solomon will use the analogy of a garden to describe his bride’s presence and body.
*
The passage that we’re looking at today is when Solomon and his bride are finally in the bridal chamber where they have all the time they need. And Solomon is just going to take his time describing his beautiful bride using delicate imagery that preserves dignity and purity, even when the honeymoon is being portrayed[1]Solomon does most of the speaking in Song of Solomon 4:1-16. Solomon puts on a master class, not just on how to approach the honeymoon, but how to pull the weeds in the garden of our marriages and relationships.
*
DOMINANT IMAGE
The term for “garden” (gan) occurs in our passage for the first time in 4:12. In the Song of Songs, the picture of a “garden” is used seven times (4:12, 15, 16; 5:1; 6:2, 11; 8:13).[1] However, it will recur another seven times, four of which are in this context (4:15, 16 [2×]; 5:1; 6:2 [2×]; 8:13).[2]A marriage is like a walled, cultivated garden—what is intentionally planted, protected, and nurtured becomes a place of beauty, life, and shared delight. Most people don’t decide to have a bad marriage. They just… stop tending it. No one walks into an overgrown backyard and says, “Wow—look how naturally this flourished.” Neglect grows things too. Just not what we want. Tend the Garden! This is probably the leading motif of this love song.
*
MAIN POINTS
Song of Solomon 4:1-5:2
*
Move 1: Walk the Garden (vv. 1–7) “Let’s take our time…”
*
Move 2: Build the Wall (not between but around the relationship) (vv. 8–12)“You’re totally safe…”
*
Move 3: Enjoy the Fruit (vv. 13–15) “This will never get old…”
*
Move 4: Invite, Don’t Force (v. 16-5:1) “Now is the time…”
*
CONCLUSION
Application: Marriages, our bodies, our sexuality needs tended to. These things don’t usually fall apart because of one dramatic moment—they slowly overgrow through quiet neglect. What we see Solomon doing in Song of Solomon 4 is called “Tending the Garden.” What would it mean for you to tend the garden today? What would it look like to tend the garden this week—on purpose?
*
Invitation: Picture two gardens: One is overgrown, dry, unprotected. The gate is hanging off the hinges. Anything can wander in, and nothing good can stay alive for long. The other is alive—enclosed, watered, fragrant, inviting. Same soil. Different attention. And if you’re thinking, “We’re not in the good garden right now… we’re in the weeds,” hear this: gardens can be restored. The Song doesn’t just echo Eden—it points beyond it. Because the God who says over marriage, “This is good,” is also the God who redeems what sin has damaged. So don’t leave here with guilt—leave with a shovel.And if all you have the strength for is this: then let it be this—invite the Lord into the garden. Because when God breathes on a place, fragrance returns. When God brings living water, dry ground doesn’t get the last word. So church, take heart: tended gardens grow—but so do restored gardens. And the God who authored love is able to teach love again.