When was the last sermon you heard that quoted from the Song of Solomon? Thought so. While it may be a bit difficult to fit into the Standard Sunday Sermon, we here are tough, fearless, and know how to completely avoid the matter at hand…
Turns out, the Song of Solomon is packed with little verses that hint at everyday life in Biblical times. For Bible geeks like Yours Truly, it’s a trove of wonderful little gems.
Since we made a reference to teeth, let’s check out Song of Solomon 4:2 and 6:6:
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.
Not only is it a surprise to see this, but it’s startling to see it’s so important that it’s said twice. The young man is praising his sweetheart’s beauty, and in describing all her lovely-parts, says, “Each tooth has its twin; not one of them is alone.” In that day, a teenager having a full set of teeth was a thing to marvel at (twice!)
We don’t think about it, but in Biblical movies, the makeup artists never consider blacking-out some of the actors’ teeth, no matter how hard they try for accuracy, elsewhere. After all, missing teeth tend to detract from those beautiful close-up shots.
Dentistry had a whole different meaning back then. On one side, the small amount of sugars in their diets helped. Unfortunately, grinding their grain between stones put enough grit into their bread to wear away lots of tooth enamel. People lost teeth.
It was a different world, and today, we have much to be thankful for.
