For love is as strong as death. – Song of Solomon 8:6 NKJV

When you read of love in the Bible where do you typically go? The classic love (charity) chapter is quite often read at weddings, 1 Corinthians 13, which describes love as being patient and kind etc. The power of love as described here is in its endurance: ”Love…bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails”.  And the chapter closes concluding that love is the most powerful attribute a Christian can have – “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love”.

In the Song of Solomon, a.k.a. Song of Songs, king Solomon states that true love  is as strong as death. Quite odd to equate love with death, but here is the point. Consider the power and finality of death, what mortal man can overcome it? Outside of God, there is no one on this earth that can stop or reverse death. Therefore, if we carry perfect and true love, there is no one on this earth who can overcome us. Just the opposite is true: by our love we can overcome any obstacle life can bring our way. The troubled marriage, the broken family, the dysfunctional church, the Godless life, the persecuted saint, the fearful life, or whatever. If we can focus on the object of our love – God, spouse, family, church, country, etc. – and understand that love is as strong as death, meaning there is no one that can break it, then we will have true power, the power that comes from God. Perfect love casts out all fear.

If you are going through trying times, know this, that the love of God can overcome every hardship and disappointment. For all who are born of God have this power at their disposal.

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.  Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” - 1 John 5: 4-5

If faith is our victory, and love is greater than faith, imagine what love can bring our way.

Is today’s quote Bible or Not? And if so, who is the woman that is more precious than rubies and to be desired more than anything else?

“She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.”

Yes, this quote is a verse from the Bible, Proverbs 3:15 (NKJV), but it is not referring to a literal woman. The Book of Proverbs is one of the “wisdom books” of the Bible, and as as a matter of fact the word “wisdom” occurs 54 times in Proverbs. Chapter 3 is no different in exhorting the reader on how important it is to gain wisdom.

The Book of Proverbs is attributed to King Solomon, the son of David, and within the pages of this book of the Bible he often personifies wisdom as a woman. Such is the case here, and with a little editorial liberty we have:

“Wisdom is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with it.” – Proverbs 3:15

King Solomon was considered to be the wisest man to ever live. Perhaps that’s why he made wisdom a dominant theme of his writings. More than that, he uses the metaphor of a man’s passion for a woman as he taught his son these proverbs. Surely, a young man knows what it feels like to have passion for the woman of his desire. Solomon wants us to have a passion for wisdom greater than any other drive in our lives, because he knows it will lead us to the truth and Word of God. Maybe we should listen.

In today’s world the truth of this wisdom quote is overlooked, and in many cases considered foolish. Just take a look at our politicians, who multiply words like rabbits yet actually say and do very little. Many seem to believe that by saying much, they could persuade the public that they are full of knowledge and wisdom. No, I’m not getting on a political soapbox, just making a point that age old wisdom tends to be lost in our day and time.

“Do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in a few.”

Is this wise proverb Bible or not? This quote is attributed to Pythagoras, a man who lived during the 6th century BC and is known today mostly for his contributions to the field of mathemetics. Anyone who has taken high school math has probably painstakingly learned the Pythagorean Theorem. What’s not commonly known about Pythagoras is that he was a philospher who started his own religion.

His quote about saying “a great deal in few words” is wisdom that still holds true today, and not disimilar with the teachings of King Solomon who pre-dated Pythagoras by approximately 400 years. In the Bible book of Proverbs we see:

A fool’s voice is known by multitude of words. – Ecclesiastes 5:3 KJV

We see then that wisdom is wisdom, regardless of where it comes from, and we can test the truth of it in the pages of the Bible. So, today, think before you speak and make your words count.