Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Radiating Faith, the Ministry Subseries on the Couple Nukes podcast where I review scripture, preach solo sermons, and I will in the future be doing book reviews written by faith-based authors who have either been on couple of nukes or other books that I think are super insightful and are in alignment with the scripture itself.
Not every book that claims to be of the faith is truly of the faith, so always have a spirit of discernment when you're going through those. In fact, of the writing and reading of many books, there will be no end to quote. The wise teacher often accredited it as King Solomon. That's a paraphrase from the end of Ecclesiastes, and that is actually a great segue.
That was an unplanned great segue 'cause my show is not scripted into King Solomon because we are actually gonna be going over his work today. I say we because I am here with. Imani Macklemore. You may have seen her on previous episodes. If not, she is a close friend and coworker of mine, also in a creative space, may be starting a podcast one day.
She does graphic design, and I have asked her here to help me in this sermon because this is a Herman best served, not solo. That is because though I don't really, I guess I wouldn't say I don't support Valentine's Day. There's plenty of reasons to be against it. Plenty of reasons to say, oh, I guess this is cool.
But in the spirit of love, everyone is talking about love. Everyone has their heart decorations out, all the colors of love. I figured being pink and red. I figured that we should go over the Song of Songs, the Song of Solomon, known by both names and I, I guess I'll start by saying, Imani, are you familiar with this at all?
Have you ever heard of it? No. All right, perfect. That makes it even better. All righty. Now, the first thing is, why is it in the Bible? Now, a lot of you are probably asking who do know of it, why would be in the Bible? And if you haven't, you'd say, well, why would people question if it's in the Bible? That is because it is a love poem.
It is a love poem that was as accredited to King Solomon. And so a lot of people were like, why is this in the Bible? I don't get it. And there are a couple different reasons, and we're gonna start with one thing is it's a little more, for lack of better word, essential, it's, it's very passionate in its romance.
And the Bible describes love in a lot of ways. It gives us a blueprint for it, right? We see that most people know. And Monte, I'm sure you're familiar as well, love is patient. Love is kind. It does not boast or brag. It does not envy, you know, it. Does X, Y, Z, A, B, C, right? Mm-hmm. Most people are familiar with that or love, like Christ did.
And there is a lot of, a lot of people put Christian Love into this small box or bubble saying that when you are loving too passionately or in so and so way that it's not Christian Love, that it's evil or that it's lust. And there's a huge difference between love and lust. But what the Bible shows is that, you know, in the courtship of marriage, you know, in marriage love can be a passionate, fruitful thing and it can be longing in something good when it's in alignment with the faith.
And so I think that's really important. You know, there's a, there's so much villainization of love as lust in. A lot of these Christian mindsets that is just wrong. And so that is one of the most important things. And then also, it's just considered the greatest love poem of all time. According to the scripture, this would be, God has said that this is the greatest love poem of all time.
'cause a lot of people will say, well, king Solomon wrote it and he put it in the Bible. And he was like, yeah, this is some good stuff. Right? Whoever wrote this, I mean, whoever wrote this must have done a great job. Right? But here's the thing. What it says in the Bible in Timothy chapter three, verse 16, is that all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
So if all scripture is God, breathe, and you know the word was God, and you know God had the word, then this means that God considers this the greatest love poem of all time. This is the one he chose to share with us. And that's not to say that he hasn't shared other great. Poetry about love through faith-based writers and, and even, you know, non-believers who have made some great poetry about love, but this is specifically God breathed.
And a lot of people, I'm sure you are wondering like how does the determination for what is God breathed happen? And that can be a tricky, controversial question, to be honest in the sense that, and I might not, I don't know if you know this, but even within Christian denominations, some of them have different Bibles, not just by translations, but some of them have books in the Bible that aren't in other denominations, Bibles, that makes sense.
Like there are removed books from the Bible. Uh, the Book of Enoch, the Apocrypha Maccabees, some of these are not in every denomination's Bible. Mm. Is that why there's, correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while since. I have known the Bible. So iga, I guess a little bit of a what? A little bit of a history.
I was born and raised Catholic, but then my mother decided to go into baptism and then she, well, she decided to hop from one religion to another. But that's a whole different story. That's a story for a Tuesday. Not this Tuesday or the next Tuesday, but a Tuesday, nonetheless. But I would say, basically what I'm saying is like, from what you're saying from different books, it doesn't have the same thing I was trying to say, like, I'm assuming that's why there's different versions of the Bible, or am I wrong?
I'm trying to learn all this again. Well, I suppose, you know, there's, there's different translations and there's different versions of the same translation. So you could have a, a copy of the Bible that has some of these. Books and there are, you can buy a version of the Bible that has all the excluded versions and people say, well, how did those versions get excluded?
And you can research, there's a long history about this that, you know, is not about that, but really it goes into, you know, there was the, like the, the historical accounts we have in the Bible right now, they are considered canon, you know, and if any of you are in a gaming or anime or you know, TV series or entertainment, uh, industry, you know that, that word canon is used in that industry as well, which means it's like considered a true main storyline.
Non canon stuff is, is typically like, it was cool, but it didn't really happen, you know, and you look at, like, they say that you can research, you know, this episode isn't about that, but you can research heavily why some of the books were removed from the Bible. Now I am actually in the process of getting and gathering all those books and reading them myself, because here's why I think personally, I don't trust anyone but God, and I believe God will gimme a spirit of discernment on whether or not those things were true.
I think that certain governments and religious organizations have motives to remove certain things from the Bible, and so I'm gonna read them, especially the Book of Enoch. I think, you know, a lot of people say, oh, Enoch is too apocalyptic. It's fictional. Enoch is only mentioned once in the whole Bible.
It says he walked good with God, with brought great pleasure to, to He, he, he did good in in sight of the Lord, so to speak, and God took him whole body into heaven. Like he disappeared. Like God literally just took him off of the earth. He did not die according to most Bible, you know, historical accounts.
And so it's interesting that this whole book that this guy wrote. Was removed, this guy who got taken up into heaven, which only not many people did. You know, Elijah did. And there are theories, there's debate that Moses, his body was taken full into heaven because of the book of Jude. If you read a historical account of Jude, you know the devil in Archangel Michael fight over the body of Moses and Wis disappeared, if I'm not mistaken.
Fast forward, people are like, well, why? Well, what's the reason then if it's, if it's too apocalyptic? Well, the Book of Enoch talks about fallen angels making love to human women and creating the giants, you know? And so I think that was removed on purpose, and I, I, I think it's true. I haven't read it yet, you know, so I'll, I'll get back to everyone on that.
But, you know, I definitely believe in the, the Bible. Other parts of the Bible talk about the Nephilim. AKA, the giants, and there are so many historical proofs of this in architecture, in, you know, archeological findings and literature. But anyway, we're talking about Love Today. And the Song of Songs Off also is important because of the representation of women.
A woman who speaks and initiates love and this, a lot of people say the Bible is misogynistic. And you know, there are a lot of powerful women in the Bible who take action. And this is, you know, where the woman has power and speaks and initiates love. And a lot of society has always been, uh, you know, women can't initiate love or have to play a certain role.
So we're gonna get into how women are represented in this greatest love poem. Also, again, that. You know, I importantly, there's a time and place for, you know, your desires and it is a framework of loyalty, patience, and dignity. And it's wisdom literature, not a how to manual. So again, it's a poem and so we gotta keep that in mind and there's a lot of takeaways and we'll get into those at the end.
Now, the reason that Imani is here is because it is a dual part poem where there is a man and a woman and there are actually different parts. And so we're gonna get into reading those parts. Imani and I are not lovers. We are just reading these assigned roles to break it up, to make it more distinguishable for y'all between who is saying what.
And we are going to be reading from the new international version of the Bible. So if you can only listen to the King James version, I'm sorry, but this is just the easiest to read and most universal. So we are going to be getting. Solomon's Song of Songs, which I just want to mention as well, that the songs of songs is a Hebrew superlative, and the title means the greatest song, the Ultimate Song, you know?
So that's again, like I said, God said, this is the greatest love poem. It stands at the pinnacle of love poetry in accordance to God. And so that is important. And we'll get into some Hebrew words later on because I love getting into the Hebrew as well as the takeaways. And then Imani and I will be stopping at the end of each individual page to do some commentary as well.
And then we'll be going over the whole thing at the end. So we'll get into it right now. Imani, take us away, please. All right. So it says, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. Ooh. Okay. So already we already. Got a good start for your love is more delightful than wine. Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes.
Your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the young women love you. Take me away with you. Let us hurry. Let the king bring me into his chambers. And then the friends altogether say We re rejoice and delight in you. In you. We will praise your love more than one than. And then it also says how right they are to adore you.
Dark. Am I yet? Lovely darks of Jerusalem. Dark. Dark, like the tense of Keter Keter ke not forgive me. Okay. Like the tent curtains of Solomon do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother's sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vine yards, my own vine yard.
I had to neglect. Tell me you whom I love, where you graze your flock, and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veed woman beside the flocks of your friends? And then the friends say, if you do not know most beautiful women follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds.
And then he says, I liken you, my darling, to a mare among pharaoh's chariots horses. Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels. We'll make you earrings of gold studded with silver. And she says, while the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. My beloved is to me, a statute of mirror resting between my breast.
My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vinyards of in Getty. Am I pronouncing that right? Please forgive me if I'm pronouncing theros wrong. How beautiful you are. Am I dir? Oh, how beautiful your eyes are doves. And she says, how handsome you are, my beloved. Oh, how charming. And our bed is verdant.
The beams of our house are cedars. Our rafters are furs. Now, like I said, this is a great start. I ain't gonna lie. What you see is you see again that mutual connection, right? So they compliment each other. You know, it is just, is just as important for women to compliment their men as men, to compliment women.
And I think, at least what I've observed in modern day society is a lot of compliments towards women and not as many towards men. Some men feeling like being complimented, uh, feminizes them, or depending on the words used, and maybe some women are afraid to compliment men. And I think we definitely see that.
And it's become un, unfortunately. You know, it, it has become so dangerous to compliment anyone as well with just how assumptive and accusing people are
overall. I do like this, this is very poetic, obviously, as a poem, but I do love the choices of words because it is a perfect blend of sensuality and sexuality. If that, if that makes sense. Pretty much this is the best way to compliment each other while still remaining, I guess respectful in a way, but I like this so far, this is really sweet, right?
And you look at, you know, a lot of comparisons to wine and perfume being some of the fanciest and most expensive things at the time, during that time. And I like also that the, the friends are, are supportive. You know, I think nowadays there's so much turmoil in friend groups when it comes to relationships, but that's because a lot of people are getting into toxic relationships and very one-sided relationships, which I think is so important about, you know, this showing that love needs to be, uh, both sides.
You know, I had a lot of friends confront me in my youth about pursuing one sided relationships. Relationships that were one way. And people used to say, love is a two way street, and if you're going down a one way street, you know you're wrong. Because what happens is you, I mean, you end up burnt out, you know, unrequited, love chasing, constantly pursuing someone who doesn't chase or give back.
You end up burnt out or just completely losing yourself, you know? So we'll continue on here. I, I really like the. You are a mayor among pharaoh's chariot horses, uh, because pharaoh's horses would've been the best of the best of those horses.
Okay, in starting off, she says, I am a rose of Sharon, a lilia of the valleys like a Lilia mung thorns is my darling. Among the young women like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade and his fruit is sweet to my taste. Let him lead me to the banquet hall and let his banner over me.
Be love, strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples for I am faint with love. His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me. Daughters of Jerusalem. I charge you by the gazelle's and by the doze of the field. Do not arouse or awaken love until it's so desires. Listen, my beloved look.
Here he comes, leaving across the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young Sta stag look. There he stands beyond our behind our wall. Gazing through the be gazing through the windows. Peering through the lattice. My beloved spoke and said to me, arise my darling, my beautiful one.
Come with me. See, the winter is passed. The rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth. The season of singing has come. The cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit. The blossoming vines spread their fragrance arise. Come my darling, my beautiful one. Come with me. My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountain side.
Show me your face. Let me hear your voice. For your voice is sweet and your face is lovely. Catch for us. The foxes. The little foxes that ruin the vineyards are vineyards that are in bloom. My beloved is mine and I am his. He browses among the lilies until the day breaks in the shadows flea, turn my beloved and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the rugged hills.
Now, one of the things I like, a couple points, you know, he says that she's a lily among thorns and she says he's an apple tree among regular trees. And so you see that. How your partner stands out to you, you know, among all these other people. So I think that uniqueness of like how much more attracted they are to you, and you know, when you're truly in love and in a relationship with someone, you know, its supposed to be that you only see them or that they stand out so much more to you, you know, that you could find them in a crowded room or that, you know, other women wouldn't look beautiful to you or other men wouldn't look as handsome to you.
You know, like nothing could compare. And then you look at, I think this part is so important right here where it says, where's the line? I find it, his left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me. And again, so many people have put Christianity or living in accordance to the scripture, into such a, you know, anti physical contact bubble because of.
You know, the temptations of lust, which are very powerful and out there it's the, it's number one thing destroying this world after pride. And you look at this and it's like, a lot of people joke like, oh, if you're a Christian, uh, you know, you're, the most you can do is hold a hand or maybe hold a finger.
Otherwise that's too much. And I'm not encouraging a lot of physical contact before marriage. But this shows like, this is a time in the Bible where they're talking about, you know, that close intimacy that isn't necessarily sex, but it's just physical embrace. So I think that's important because it's not something you see in a lot of the Bible.
It's not something you really hear in faith-based communities. And I think, and to piggyback on that, when it comes to the word intimacy, and I think society really doesn't truly understand the meaning of the word. They've equated it with just sex. Exactly. And I think that's why in today's society, we are so filled with lust that we forget that intimacy is not about sex at all.
It's about there's, there's many ways to be intimate without it being sex or sexual. And of course, obviously this poem proves it. And yes, there's physical touch involved, but again, people confuse it or mix it with sex. But no, you can embrace your partner, you can cuddle, you can hold hands. There's many ways to be intimate.
Even just saying things such as this poem, just saying sweet things to each other. And I think because so many people are having premarital sex in hooking up or having sex on the first date, that is one of the peaks of intimacy. And so when you start there, everything else doesn't have as much meaning.
You know, compared to if you build up that intimacy, you build up towards that deeper connection. So I think that's part of the thing too that has really ruined intimacy. And again, pornographic content, numbing the mind. Like that's why pornography is a gateway sin and a lot of people who are addicted to it, we'll watch more and more extreme or immoral or disturbing things because they, they get numb to it, including, you know, that emotional side.
And so, moving on to the third chapter, I think this is still the woman. Lemme see. Yes. So we are in chapter three. Okay. All night long on my bed, I looked for the one my heart loves. I looked for him but did not find him. I will get up now and go about the city through its streets and squares. I'll search for the one my heart loves.
So I looked for him but did not find him. The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. Have you seen the one my heart loves scarcely. I had passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother's house, to the room of the one who conceived me.
Daughters of Jerusalem. I charge you by the gazelle's and by the dough of the field. Do not arouse or awaken love until it's so desires. Who is this coming up from? The wilderness, like a column of smoke perfumed with merr in incense made from all the spices of the merchant Look. It is Solomon's carriage escorted by 60 warriors in the Nobless of Israel.
All of them wearing the sword, all experienced in battle, each with his sword at his side, prepared for the terrors of the night. King Solomon made for himself the carriage. He made it of wood from Lebanon, a post he made of silver, its base of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple. Its interior inlaid with love.
Daughters of Jerusalem. Come out and look. Your daughters of Zion look on King Solomon wearing a crown. The crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced.
So I really like do not arouse or awaken love until it's so desires. I was just about to say, I've been noticing it's been repeated, right? And I think that goes into the whole Bible talks about timing and I think that it's so important, you know, to a lot of people, rush love or you know, chase at your love when the timing is not right, whether it is with the right person because you.
Had the right person in the wrong time, or the wrong person in the right time, or the wrong person in the wrong time, you know? So I, you know, to me it is so interesting though, and I, I don't want to take away from the credibility, the poem, but you look at this last line, and I, I had to think to myself, it says, look on King Solomon wearing a crown, the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced, king Solomon had a thousand women, hundreds of wives.
So when it says the day of his wedding, him, was that his first wife or was it a wife? You know, it's, it's interesting, and it's in, in general, and I don't wanna say King Solomon didn't know about love because of. What he did in his life. And if you know what that is, you understand that he had, you know, all these women in concubines, all these wives, hundreds of them, hundreds, like actual hundreds of them, that is the historical number recorded.
A lot of them were for political alliances, right? And a lot of them were pagan women who brought their evil worship in into the world and destroyed it. And as soon as King Solomon's reign was over, you know, everything kind of fell apart for the people of God. But I wonder, you know, if this is, I would assume it's referring to his first wife, and I wonder if that's the only one he ever truly loved.
Now, regardless of King Solomon's, you know, life choices later on. We know that everything he wrote was absolutely amazing because God gave him wisdom, not just any wisdom. He said, never before has there been anyone like you and never after you will there be anyone like you. You know, you will be the wisest person to have ever existed in all of humanity.
And so we know that his writing is impeccable. And we also know that what it means too is that what he wrote didn't match what he lived. But this is what we should follow because this is what God is saying. But I can't help but wonder from just a curious standpoint if it, if King Solomon's first wife was the only one he he truly loved or not.
And that's only, only God knows that answer, you know, or King Solomon if I could ask him. But I do think that's, that's interesting, you know? But one of the points too is it says on the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced. It implies that it is of equal importance, or even more important than the day that God gave him wisdom.
The day he built the temple, the day, uh, any, any other day, it's a day. His heart rejoiced and King Solomon accomplished some amazing things that were well worth rejoicing. And so to have this up there on par with them or, or rather than I think emphasizes, you know, the, the how important love is. And I, I think it's so important too, because a lot of people make the wedding all about the woman, which I, I agree.
You know, women are very important. They're God's greatest gift to mankind, and we are to cherish them and provide for them more than anything other than God himself. But I think it's important to know, like you're like on Solomon's wedding day, his heart rejoiced as a man. He rejoiced in it. I think it's important that.
We make weddings and marriage something super important and special to men as well. And I'm not saying we don't do that, but I think there's a lot of men or, and a lot of mindsets out there that just say, it's just another day to a man or they, when you look at weddings, you, you can even tell even through the planning and going through all the events, it's mainly focused on the woman because we always say like, oh, this is her day.
It's the bride's day. Like that's why we have so many rules like, Hey, don't wear white because then you're taking attention from the bride. But no one really. Puts focus on the groom. Like shouldn't he be happy? Like this is his day too. Both pe it's a celebration of both parties being becoming one.
Exactly. So why is it mainly focused on the woman instead of both the groom and the bride? And I, I guess that's a question we may never get the answer to, but what I really like about this poem so far is that, and I think this is one of the many things we in today's society don't understand, there's appreciation for both parties.
It's not, like you said, it's not one sided and it's patient, it's not quick. It's taking the time to notice what each person love about each other. And that's what I really like. And today we don. Do that. We don't even appreciate the good things that we have. Everything is fast paced, everything is lustful, right?
We don't even know what love is anymore. People are spoiled. You know, they're being raised with so much, and they're ungrateful. And two other things in this chapter alone, you look at repeatedly, I mean, I see it four or five times here. She calls him the one my heart loves, not the one my, you know, what loves or my, my that, my logic and brain loves the one my heart loves.
You know, the, and I, I, I, I had to take a deeper dive at what the Hebrew says for that. If it's heart as in the, the spirit and the heart, which is super important, right? That spiritual alignment. And I think one of the things that starts in this chapter that we're gonna be talking about at the end is it begins a period of separation.
He's gone and she's looking for him. And we need to talk about separation and distance, which we'll get into more as we continue to unpack the poem.
So this is starting now. Chapter four. How beautiful You are my D darling. Oh, how beautiful. Your eyes behind your veil are doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from the hills of Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of sheep, just shorn coming up from the washing. Each has its twin. Not one of them is alone.
She has all her teeth. That's good. Your lips. I just had to say, you know, your lips are like a scarlet ribbon. Your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate. Your neck is like the tower of David built with courses of stone on it hangs a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors.
Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies. Until the day breaks in the shadows f flee. I will go to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of incense. You are all together. Beautiful. My darling. There is no flaw on you. Come with me from Lebanon, my bride come with me from Lebanon, descend from the crest of Amana, from the top of center, the summit of Herman, from the lion's, dens, and the mountain haunts of leopards.
You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride. You have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one Juul of your necklace. How delightful is your love? My sister, my bride. How much more pleasing is your love than wine and the fragrance of your perfume? More than any spice, your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb.
My bride, milk and honey are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. You are a garden locked up. My sister, my bride. You are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain. Your plants are an ad orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits with henna and nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon with every kind of incense tree.
With myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices. You are a garden fountain. A well flowing water streaming down from Lebanon. And she says, awake north wind and come south Wind Blow on my garden, that it's fragrance may spread everywhere. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste his choice. Fruits. Now I just want to bring up for everyone who's pondering over the my sister, my bride part, we gotta go to contextual language and poetic language.
So you look at the Hebrew. The Hebrew for my sister is ti and the bride is Kala. Now the my sister phrase here functions like my beloved, my dearest, my intimate companion. It's meant to mirror familial closeness, you know? So you gotta know, it's about that tender, closeness, and affection, familiarity.
Whereas the bride, you know, partners up with that covenant romance. So again, it's ancient love, poetry terminology, and not ancestral. It is marital. I just wanna make that clear for anyone who was not tracking. Now I like, you know, he's complimenting her Allah, you know, all the, all the different parts of her, which I think is important and it's a lot of poetic language and we are just gonna continue to go into it.
Chapter five, I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my mirror with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey. I have drunk my wine and my milk. Then their friends say, eat friends and drink. Drink your fill of love. And she says, I slept but my heart was awake. Listen, my beloved is knocking.
Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night. I have taken off my robe. Must I put it on again? I have washed my feet. Must I soil them again? My beloved thrust his hand through the latch opening. My heart began to pound for him.
I arose to open for my beloved and my hands dred with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt. I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had left. He was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer. The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city.
They beat me, they bruised me. They took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls. Daughters of Jerusalem. I charge you if you find my beloved. What will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love and the friends say. How is your beloved better than others? Most beautiful of women. How is your beloved better than others that you so charge us?
And she says, my beloved is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among 10,000. His head is purest gold. His hair is wavy and black. Ra, his eyes are like doves by the water streams washed in milk mounted like jewels. His cheeks are like beds of spice yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies, dripping with myrrh.
His arms are rods of gold set with to pass. His body is like polished ivory. Decorate it with lapis, lly, lapis. Leslie. Leslie, uh, minecrafter. His legs are pillars of marbles set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon choice at. It's Cedars. His mouth is sweetness itself. He's altogether lovely.
This is my beloved. This is my friend Daughters of Jerusalem with chapter five. We have some of the conflict, which is important because love is not a smooth ride. Even biblical love isn't without its issues In a fallen world, even in the garden, you know, Adam and Eve's relationship was tested because of the slander or the deceiver, the one who dwells among the dirt and slithers that old surf.
And Satan, you know, Adam failed to step up and lead and take the punishment as to why Jesus had to come down and everything Jesus does if you haven't researched this is basically the reverse of the garden from, from the material of the cross to so much of it that you can research. It's, it's really mind blowing if you look at those sermons.
That being said, you know, you look at, there's gonna be conflict in relationship. Sometimes moments of hesitation can cause missed opportunities. Uh, sometimes we are chasing after an aching, and I, I think, you know, one thing that you could take away from this symbolically is how it can feel to you have a partner who's not communicating, which is a huge, huge, huge issue in a lot of relationships, which is lack of communication, which is you feel like you're chasing after and looking all over for this person who's not there because they're not responding.
They're not communicating how they feel. And so I think it's really important, you know, and I, I love that what we see here. Is the, the friends kind of make her defend herself. Like, how is your beloved better than others? Most beautiful women, right? So they elevate her and they're kind of like unintentionally, well, they're kind of disparaging him.
By elevating her, you know, that you sow charge us, right? And what this does is sets up the opportunity for the writer to express through the women's perspective, from the woman's perspective, all of her compliments for him. So it shows that she's just as attracted to him. You know, she looks at his features and feels about them just as he had about hers in the previous chapter.
So again, that emphasis on mutual, mutual, passionate, affection and admiration. And love. And loyalty, right? And that too, you know, because she doesn't, right? Because when did they question her? When he's gone. Right, right. So it's like, where's to put it in modern day terms? Where's your man's at? You know? And like, he ain't even all that.
Like, you're so beautiful, queen, why don't you just go get someone else? And she, and she backs her man up, which we have seen some people not do. Of course. See, it's like I said, appreciation of each other,
even in the midst of our, our flaws or distance or our struggles. Because he calls her flawless one. That is true. He said, you're without flaw. And we're gonna get into the sixth chapter here, starting off with the Friends again, which this kind of shows sometimes your friends, I mean, a, a lot of times they mean well, right.
You know, they're just trying to make sure that you're being treated right. But sometimes friends are just. Gossipers and Slanderers and they're just poking the fire. You know, or your biggest haters in modern terms because a lot of people keep their friends close, but their enemies closer. Sad but true.
And so the friends say, where has your beloved gone? Most beautiful women, which way did your beloved turn the, that we may look for him with you. So here we see support. Hmm. After like they kind of right slandered a little bit, but she says, my beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices to browse in the gardens and gather into gather lilies.
I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine. He browses among the lilies. And they said that once before that I, you know, I am his and, and you know, he is mine and vice versa. So I love that emphasis on the, they are each other's and he. You are as beautiful as Za, my darling, as lovely as Jerusalem, as majestic as troops with banners.
Turn your eyes for me. They overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing. Each has its twin. Not one of them is missing. Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate. 60 queens. There may be and 80 concubines and virgins beyond number.
But my dove, my perfect one is unique. The only daughter of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her, the young women saw her and called her, blessed the queens, and concubines praised her. Then the friends say, who is this? That appears like the dawn fares the moon, bright as the sun majestic as the stars in procession.
And then he says. I went down to the grove of nut trees to look at the new growth in the valley to see if the vines had butted or the pomegranates were in bloom before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people. And then a friend say, come back. Come back. Oh, Shulamite, come back.
Come back. That we may gaze on you. And he says, why would you gaze on the Shulamite as on the dance of Mahan Name? Mahan name. Let's see.
And so looking at this again, that mutual emphasis on, on, I'm the beloved and the beloved is mine. He re compliments her, which I think is important too. You know, a lot of people let their passion die out. They stop buying the flowers, doing the dates, doing the compliments. And this shows like emphasis on this.
And I again. Like we mentioned earlier with the Lilly among thorns in the apple tree. Among the forest, you look at 60 queens, there may be 80 concubines and virgins beyond number. And we all know that. You know, Queens are powerful and and beautiful. We know that concubines are very tempting and beautiful, and we know that virgins are especially attractive to men.
And so you look at all these, but he says, but my dove, my perfect one is unique. And so I think that is just amazing. But if you're dating a woman with sisters, don't say she's the favorite of the one who bore her. You might get in trouble. Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's favoritism right there. Right. But did you have any comments about this?
What I like is that at first the friends were hesitant about. You know, the woman, you know, praising her man, they're like, mm, I mean, I, I understand, but girl like, you sure. But then once they see him, they're like, oh, okay, okay. We, we see why she praises him. Well, it's not even that they knew him from the very beginning of the, of the historical account.
I think it's just that, you know, you begin to question people's characters. We all do it. Mm-hmm. And I think your friends are the first people to do that because they have less bias than you. Mm-hmm. And sometimes it's a good thing 'cause they see red flags. And for those of you who don't know, that is, you know, just like flaws or warning signs that you don't.
But yeah. You know, I, I think it's, it's amazing that, you know, he doubles down on the compliments and that the friends Yeah. I mean they describe, describe appears like the dawn Paris, the moon, bright as the sun. You know, and those are the strongest lights that God made. Moving on to seven. We're almost at the end here, and he says, how beautiful your sanded feet, oh, Prince's daughter, your graceful legs are like jewels, the work of an artist's hands.
Your navel is a rounded goblet that never lacks blended wine. Your waist is a mound of wheat encircled by lilies. Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle. Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are the pool of hesson by the gate of bath. Robin, your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus.
Your head crowns. You like Mount Carmel. Your hair is like royal tapestry. The king is held captive by its tresses. How beautiful you are and how pleasing my love with your delights. Your stature is like that of the palm and your breasts like clusters of fruit. I said, I will climb the palm tree. I will take hold of its fruits.
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes on the vine, the fragrance of your breath, like apples in your mouth, like the best wine. And she replies with May the wine go straight to my beloved flowing gently over lips and teeth. I belong to my beloved and his desire is for me. Come my beloved. Let us go to the countryside.
Let us spend the night in the villages. Let us go early in the viners to see if the vines have butted, if their blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates are in bloom there, I will give you my love. The man Drakes send out their fragrance and at our door is every delicacy, both new and old that I have stored up for you, my beloved.
And again, you see, you know, she says right here, I belong to my beloved. And his desire is for me, again, that desire being almost a Christian taboo word, desire being again, equated to sex or essential. And it can be, and again, within the, the confines of a spiritually aligned marriage, is that God wants us to have that intimacy.
So I, I like that she says, I belong to my beloved and his desires for me. And I like the, the flow here. He says, and your mouth like the best wine. And she says, may the wine go straight to my beloved. You know that he is talking about, you know, how, how she is, and, and she says, and I'm yours. Basically. It's what they're saying here, like, I like how she goes.
She turns it around instantly back, back toward him. So we see that love being circulated. And I, I think that's amazing and, and just all the imagery and poetry here is so great. And I think we, we've really lost that. You know, I feel like people, we just have like a set list of go-to words. When it comes to compliments.
Not, first of all, not many men write poetry anymore because it's been feminized and toxic masculinity, not biblical masculinity. Toxic masculinity has pushed for men not to be poets. Even though the greatest men in the Bible were poets. And because of that, you know, we've lost language like this. What we have is people say, you're beautiful.
Your, you are pretty, you're this, and every generation we get new words and they've gotten weirder and stranger and dumber, you know, like very, I won't repeat the Gen Z and gen Alpha words for what is good looking, but they're not poetic. Most of them are actually sexualized, you know. Or silly, like right now to say like, you know, that's your woman, or That's the woman we like, they say, that's ball.
I've never even heard that. Yeah. I'm, I'm being said ball. BAL. Like, oh, that's ball. Like, really ball. Come on. I've, I've heard she's a dime, you know, back, back when I was in seventh grade, but I was thinking more like, she's a badie. She's bad. You know, you look at that compared to what he's saying here, you know, like your waist is a mound of wheat, encircled by lilies.
Your naval is a round goblet that never lacks blended wine. You know, your graceful legs are like jewels. The work of an artist hands, you know, it's so much more deaf in imagery. And what I think it shows too is time consideration in detail, not just in the writing of the poetry itself and in the thought behind the compli.
But like I have truly looked at you, not just like a up and down, like, dang she bad. Like a, I have studied like how beautiful you are because I am so drawn to you. Appreciation of beauty. Right. And now we are in the last, I believe it is the last chapter here, and I believe this is you. I just gotta make sure.
Yeah. All right. So take us away for the final chapter. Okay. As it continues in chapter eight. If only you were to me like a brother who was nursed at my mother's breast, then if I found you outside, I would kiss you and know it would despise me. I would lead you and bring you to my mother's house. She who has taught me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink the nectar of my pomegranates. His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me. Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you do not arouse or awaken love until it's so desires again, emphasis on there, you know, it, the, the Bible repeats a lot of stuff, and that is for emphasis and importance, you know, and that's with any piece of literature, you know?
And so this historical account is no different. And again, I wanna clarify when it says to, if only you were like to me, a brother who was nursed at my mother's breast, what that means again is like, I wish you were here my whole life, like from the womb, like, you know, in that, in the house growing up together, right?
Because a lot of us, I mean, I, I could tell you from my experiences of love, like, I, I wish I met you sooner. You know, I wish I'd known this person sooner before, you know, like, I guess for me it was, I wish I met this person sooner to, so I didn't have to go through all those bad relationships. But it's not just that like, I wish I had this level of.
Rejoicing in happiness that only love can bring earlier in my life. You know, there's, I, especially some of y'all who have been, whether it's bad relationships or a period of singleness, you know, you are wishing that you had loved her in all that time. But we also know that there again, is a right place for love and that God has things timed out certain way, that there are seasons of singleness and, and trial on purpose.
We know that bad relationships are the result of the fallen world and sin, not a lack of timing from God or anything. But again, I think this is something we can relate to. You know, like, I wish you were here from day one. Like, I love you. You're my partner for life and I wish you were here from day one.
And so again, it's not ancestral for anyone reading this in, in modern language, you know, this is contextual, poetic language. And then the friends respond to her saying. Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved, and she says, under the apple tree, I roused you there. Your mother conceived you there.
She who was in labor gave you birth. Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death. It's jealousy, unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love. Rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one's house for love, it would be utterly scorned.
And then friends say, we have a little sister and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister on the day she has spoken for? If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar and she says, I am a wall and my breasts are like towers.
Thus I have become. In his eyes, like one bringing contentment. Solomon had a vinyard and ball hammon. He let out his vinyard to tenants. Each was to bring for its fruit, a thousand shekels of silver. But my own vayard is mine to give that thousand shekels are for you Solomon and 200 are for those who tend, its fruit.
You who dwell in the gardens with friends in attendance. Let me hear your voice. Come away, my beloved and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice laden mountains. And to just break down that one passage, the we have a little sister and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister on the day she's spoken for?
If she's a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. If she's a door, we will enclose over panels this, either, this poetic language is speaking to if there is a, a woman who you know. Once she is ready to be married or she's being courted, it talks about their role in taking care of her. And I think that's important too.
'cause we've talked already about the role of friends and family and this emphasizes like we need to help protect people because love can be a, a gateway or a temptation to, you know, make vulnerable decisions or not spiritually aligned decisions or rush love. We've talked about timing and discernment a lot, and I think it's part of our role as people of faith to hold each other accountable and to make sure we make the right decisions.
Either way, this is the ending of the poem. So before we get into the takeaways, which we've covered most of them throughout the poem itself, but Amani, what are your overall digestion and thoughts on this? Pretty much this is like, I don't know if anyone knows about the Adams family, but this, the yearning between the two.
The love, the appreciation, the patience, the loyalty. This all reminds me of, you know, Morticia and Gomez Adams, like they're the perfect couple. Like they, you can, and you can see that. I know it's not biblical, but that's what it reminds me of because you see it within, just within their marriage, a happy couple.
They love each other, they adore each other, they respect each other, they appreciate each other, especially when it comes to love. And then they have a beautiful family. Very weird, very kooky. But that's what this reminds me of. But all this to say, this is actually the very first time I've heard of this poem.
I've heard people talk about it, but this is the very first time that I have actually read it. Like word for word. And this is, this is really sweet. I think this poem can be hard to digest, for lack of better words for a lot of people in the sense of, you're talking about like even in the modern day examples of ideal couples or couples that are, you know, we call them power couples or couples that work so well and where that can create desire or admiration.
It also can create the harboring of envy in our hearts. You know, and I know there are a lot of people who have read the song of songs, the Song of Solomon, and you know, said, why not me? Lord, I've tried chasing after this. I want this. You're not giving it to me. Why aren't you giving it to me? What have I done to not earn this, to not deserve this?
I have been a good person. I have done the good work. I have tried so hard. I have worked on myself. I have waited, I have tried all these different men and women, Lord, and I have tried and tried and tried. And so I think it can be difficult to read this and, and not be envious, especially if you've never had someone talk to you the way that these lovers talk to each other.
And I, I just wanna say, you know, I think it's, I important to not envy this, uh, but to strive for this and to implement this into your relationship if you aren't already. And I think, you know, just like how a lot of people use Proverbs 31 as a standard, this is also a standard. And I think this is a standard often overlooked because so many people focus on the love is patient, love is kind.
And it's like that gives us a list of attributes. This gives us actual imagery and implementation. We see people actually living it. And so I think it's really powerful. And you look at, again, we talked about love is meant to be cultivated, not rushed. We saw multiple times she said, don't awaken love until it's ready.
You know? So I think that's really important, especially in, as you called it earlier, mania. As you mentioned, our our, we want instant results. Society in our, we want it now. Society, you know, attraction isn't the enemy, but people using it is, I think again, the difference between love and lust. And we see. A lot of intense imagery, a lot of talks about even what people would consider central areas, the waist, the bosom, you know, the lips.
They talk about kissing and, and you know, physical contact, but it's personal honoring and relationship relational rather than sexualizing. You know, again, we already talked about that, but I think with how, you know, porn saturated, and it's not just about porno graphic content. 'cause I know so many people will say, I don't watch porn, or, or kids aren't watching porn.
They are, average age of exposure is eight to nine years old. By the way, as of the, you know, studies that I've seen in which it could, it could be younger nowadays with how people, I mean, children are literally crawling out of the womb, being pushed outta the womb and grabbing onto, you know, a tablet. So.
And that's the scary part, is it's not just about pornographic websites anymore, pornography, it is about social media. There is what we call, what we could call, for lack of better words, borderline porn or basically porn. You know, even a, there, there's a clip of family guy with Peter Griffin and Brian. And Brian says, Peter, that's not a meme, that's porn.
You know, because so many of these jokes online or sexual jokes, so many of the images we see are sexualized. There may not be nudity, but pornography isn't just pure nudity, it is extreme sexualization. And we see that, we see, especially with women more than men, you know, just because of the nature of, of, of, you know, 'cause a lot of women are more, they like to read about.
Sexual encounters and think about it. Now, there are women who do, uh, have pornographic addictions, but men are very visual. They like to, to see that. And that's why you see a lot more women who are sexualized on social media, showing off different outfits and stuff. And because of that, you see so much lust in, you see that desire isn't a loving desire, but a lustful desire.
And so desire without dignity becomes destruction. And did you have any commentary on that? Yeah, it's like I said, just to piggyback on what he said, I how the man compliments his woman in the poem, yes, it's desirable, but it's appreciation of her beauty, of her physical beauty versus today how people would say it.
They would say it in the most vulgar, crass way of saying it is. Like, oh, your butt's really huge. And they proceed to say, you know, the most dirtiest thing they want to do to it. Vice versa with all other parts of her body. And that's why in some of these men believe like, oh, that's how I'm gonna get a woman's attention.
That's how I'm gonna be able to get, you know, this type of love. Which, no, that's not, that's how the increasing of what we like to call situation ships because we lead with lust instead of with love. Well, and we've equated, uh, you know, your sexual performance or abilities to beauty, right? Nowadays, it's like you're not beautiful if you are very busty or if you can't do X, y, z sexual act or dress a, b, c sexually, like it has become where, you know, sexualization equals beauty rather than sexualization is a result of beauty.
Um, in, in a, again, a way with dignity that is personal and honoring, you know, and again, I think that goes to like, I think the key word there is personal as well. You know, I think so much of, like we said earlier, intimacy and sexualization has become so public, you know, like, I mean, that's what pornography is, is like, it's someone else watching other people's intimacy and lust depending on, on what it is.
You know? So that's, that's just crazy. And, you know, just talking about healthy love, like we mentioned, it includes absence, conflict repair, and pursuit. Looking at how they have the missed moment, how there's the separation, the searching at night. And at one point the Watchmen beat and Bruiser, you know, and I feel like that's kind of symbolic to some of the.
Obstacles along the way, you know, 'cause earlier the watchmen were helping her. You could look at it a lot of different ways with, when it comes to symbolic poetry, you look at if the Watchmen beat in Bruiser earlier, the Watchman helped her find him. They said, yeah, he is right over there. We'll help you find him.
They now, they beat in Bruiser. And I wonder if it almost speaks to other people are gonna give up on your lover and your search and they're even gonna attack you for it. Uh, but you have to continue on your own, which we kind of mentioned earlier with the friends. Mm-hmm. I think the watchmen are another symbol of the difficulties you will have to face during that, those periods of separation and conflict.
Another thing I want to point out, what you said about, you know, with kids being exposed to social media so early, a huge issue with that is they learn this type of stuff so already. At such a young age, they're not even learning healthy love, they're just learning lust. And then that just, and then they teach it to their kids and so on and so forth.
It's like a generation of lust. It, it's, and what you see on social media, the thing is, and this is what's really sad, it's not that there are people that show healthy love. There are, but it's not as popular compared to the lust because that's what attracts a lot of people. It's pretty much like the news almost.
You don't hear any good news because that's not what sells. That's not what sells. No one wants to hear good news. No people wanna hear drama. People wanna hear this, just like, unfortunately. And this is not just with social media, but even music, sex sells. Right? And it goes back to actually what I was saying earlier about the har harboring envious feelings, which is a lonely person doesn't wanna watch.
Or consume content about healthy love because it makes them feel lonely or envious or angry. Whereas if they consume pornographic content, they can get that temporary physical high and feel, I guess not alone, feel like they're participating. And so I think that's the thing. People like don't want to consume that content because it can be, again, creating those feelings of enviness and, and jealousy.
And then, you know, I want to mention again that the Woman's voice matters. We've talked about that quite a bit and I think it's really awesome because this is one of the few times in the Bible where we see, like it explicitly says the, the woman is saying this. And again, we've got great examples of women in the Bible from Esther and Ruth, or two of the main ones.
They actually have their own historical accounts. And there are plenty of other women in the Bible who have helped out, people who have done great things, who have led great things. And so a lot of people assume that the Bible of silence is women. There is huge controversy over whether women, whether or not women should be allowed to preach.
But I think one of the important things is this shows the role in the relationship. And again, that covenant love is exclusive and protective. You know, it's strong, it's undrivable and it's not easily, you know, destroyed it's permanence, not just passion. Even though there is a lot of passion. And I wanna get into the some Hebrew, uh, education because I think that's really awesome just to learn new words that, you know, we won't pronounce right?
But love the broad affection and devotion word used here a lot is aha hava. And then. There's also doden, or do, which often carries caresses love making our intimacies. And a lot of the English translations flatten this. So what that means is like the Hebrew words have more physicalness to them than the English words do in certain parts of the text.
And so I, I just want you to keep that in mind, which already this was a pretty physical book, especially compared to the rest of the historical accounts of the Bible. And then I like this, the, the words, you know, it's just interesting to learn other words, which is my companion, my beloved for the feminine is Raya, I think.
I don't know. You know, Raya. And then for the beloved masculine, it's Dodi or Doda, and they reinforce relationship, not. Objectification, which I think a lot of modern words, objectify, you know, women or, and then, and like you mentioned, music I haven't even touched, dare I say the, the rap industry. Again, rap as a genre is not evil.
It is a majority of lyricists are evil with what they put out. I listen to a lot of faith-based rap. There's rap out there about mental health, about suicide, right? Every genre has good lyricists and evil lyricists and one of the most intense lines in the whole poem, which, you know, we didn't comment on, I did mark it down in the back of my head when we read it, which was love is strong as death.
And you know, death is, go ahead, Imani. Say what death is isn't intended. I him. Inevitable death is inevitable. You know? Inevitable. Yes. Yeah. And so, in other words, it's an immovable, unstoppable force. In fact, in the, in the whole Bible, of course, death is just a turning point in the Bible. But again, it's something that has got almost every human in existence except for ones that God specifically selected.
Right? So, death as, if I'm not mistaken, in Ecclesiastes, again by King Solomon, uh, who is accredited as writing it, you know, I, I believe he calls it a great equalizer because everyone, you know, meets death. He says, better to go to the house of mourning than to a, to a wedding. You know, because death is, is the Fay of everyone.
And so when you say love is as strong as death, I mean, death is so powerful. It takes life. I mean, death kills the vessel that God made for us. We exist in a spiritual, spiritual form, but right. God made this vessel for us and death kills. And that's not to say death is more powerful than God. Jesus Christ stepped on the head of death and conquered it, but that shows how powerful death is, that Jesus conquered it.
Right? N none of us are as powerful as he is. And so real covenant love isn't fragile. You know, like it is as strong as death. So that's a really intense statement there. And I think there's so much imagery in here about gardens and forests, and you think about it a a lot of where they lived wasn't so abundant.
There was plenty of times where the people, you know, that world of King Solomon's people, their ancestors were traveling through deserts. You know, we're going through terrible places. This is a time where gardens especially look throughout biblical imagery and the historical count, you know, goes back to where it started into abundance and cultivation, right?
The, the Garden of Eden, it shows. Healthy life, you know? And like even if you look at modern gardens, 'cause when I think of the Garden of Eden, you know, it is like a paradise, you know, overflowing with, it's the perfect temperature, the water, the, the, the, the juiciness and the size of the fruits and the, the vegetables and the trees and, you know, just not a lot of bugs biting you.
You know, it's like perfect. Whereas even if you look at modern gardens and orchards and vineyards in Italy, right? They're beautiful. So I, I think that's amazing. And again, you know, that's, that's everything I wanted to cover with this. Like I said, in the spirit of Valentine's Day, not celebrating Valentine's Day, but uh, with everyone talking about love, I wanted to use it as an excuse for lack of better words to, you know, capture the attention and bring it in on, on this sermon one on.
One of the historical accounts of the Bible. That's probably one of the most overlooked. You know, I feel like most people outside of those of us who like to read the word and study it, whether believer or not believer, uh, haven't heard of it. Like you mentioned, not hearing of it. So I wanted to bring, you know, awareness to a historical account that is not often read and one that is very beautiful.
And so as we wrap up here, did you have any closing thoughts? Um, well I will definitely stock up on MER and Pomegranates, right? But overall, this is a change of pace of how love is supposed to be and how love is supposed to be cherished. Because unfortunately, with my generation and the younger generation, we don't hear about this.
We don't see any of this. So. This has been a change of pace, especially in the spirit of Valentine's Day. This is actually just pretty much perfect. But all I can say is that I hope and pray for a love like this to meet me and for everyone else. Everyone deserves to be loved like this. Dating applications in a description below.
No, just kidding. But I think it's great too. You know, so many people checkmate to all the people who say the Old Testament doesn't have love. The Old Testament is death and violence. This is, you know, part of the Old Testament, and it's beautiful. You know, it's, it's amazing. You know, Jesus was a great example of love and he showed that, but love existed before Jesus Christ.
And there are some people who don't believe that, but it did. And my call to action for everyone would be, if you are in a relationship, whatever point you're at, I would challenge you to compliment your lover in a unique way. You know, go beyond that beautiful or pretty, or as Imani says, you ball. Or whatever, whatever you said earlier, and actually, you know, compliment or, or write them a poem if you wanna go all the way, you know, but that's my call to action, or whoever it is in your life that you love.
The way that these lovers loved, make sure they know that, show that appreciation, that mutual covenant appreciation, and God bless all y'all.
