Scripture: "How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, And the fragrance of your oils Than all kinds of spices! Song of Songs 4:10 (NASB)Observation: Both bride and groom describe their lover’s beauty with exuberant praise (vv. 1–15; 5:10–16; 6:4–10; 7:1–9), similar to the praise songs in modern rural Syrian weddings.
Scripture: (Exo 34:12-16 NKJV) "Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. {13} "But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images {14} '(for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose
Scripture: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21
Scripture: For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NKJV)Observation: Ancient mirrors were made of polished brass or other metals. The contrast is between the inadequate knowledge of an object gained by seeing it reflected in
Scripture: “For I hate divorce!” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.” Malachi 2:16 (NLT)Observation: Malachi indicates that marriage is much more than a civil contract and that it involves a permanent covenant
Scripture: This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. . . 17 These things I command you, that you love one another. John 15:12,17 (NKJV)Observation: This was the new feature of it. Christ’s love to His people in giving His life a ransom for them was altogether new, and consequently as a Model and
Scripture: Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. Romans 14:19 (NKJV)Observation: Jewish people often spoke of the perfect future time of God’s kingdom (see 1 Cor 6:9), when the Spirit would be made available and all people would be at peace with one another (Rom 14:17). For Paul,
Scripture: Then you shall say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" ' Luke 22:11 (NKJV)Observation: Anyone with a two-story home, the second of which contained a “large” upper room, would be considered well-to-do. This family presumably resided in the Upper City
Scripture: "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.' " Luke 10:27 (NKJV)Observation: With all thy heart. Lit., out of thy whole heart. The heart, not only as the seat of the affections, but as the centre of our
Scripture: So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts. Zechariah 4:6 (NKJV)Observation: As the lamps burned continually, supplied with oil from a source (the living olive trees) which man did not make, so Zerubbabel need not be
