THE FOREVERNESS OF TOGETHERNESS – Song of Solomon 8:5-7
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on March 14, 2018 under PM Bible Study |
PM Bible Study Group; March 14, 2018 from Song of Solomon 6:1-10
Theme: Our love for Jesus is mature when we desire it to be as eternal and intense as He desires for it to be.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
As we have progressed our way through this wonderful ‘photo album’ of love between the Shulamite woman her her royal husband Solomon, we have been discovering a picture of the love the church is to have for the Savior—and indeed, the love each one of us individually should share with Him.
The development of that love has been pictured to us in this book as growing through many trials and tests—and on the part of the Shulamite, through some occasional lapses and times of repentance and renewal. It was no easy thing for a young, labor-worn farm girl to come to terms with the fact that she was the beloved of the king, or that he had adorned her with glory in order that he might take the greatest possible delight in her. And neither is it easy for you and me to come to terms with the fact that we have been made the beloved of the Son of God, and that He has shared His glory with us in order that He might delight in us throughout eternity. But as this book has shown us along the way, our Savior’s love for us never diminishes; and that He graciously brings us along into a greater awareness of the eternality of His love for us.
As we come closer to the end of this ‘photo album’, we now come to a section that illustrates to us how the bride herself is coming to terms with the majesty of Solomon’s love for her. As we see in this new division—a division we might call “The Foreverness of Togetherness”—she begins to respond to that love with an intensity of commitment that she had not shown before. As the years role along, she is maturing in her love for her bridegroom. And in that maturing love, she illustrates to us how our love for Jesus is mature when we desire it to be as eternal and intense as He desires it to be.
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Now; this ‘division’ begins with someone seeing her, and beholding how she relates to Solomon. Just who it is that is speaking at the beginning of verse 5 is a matter of some debate. Some have suggested that it is a relative speaking—since it seems that they return to the place of her growing up (see 7:11-13). But since they make a frequent appearance in this book—and often speak of the relationship between the Shulamite and her husband—it may be best to see these initial words as spoken by the ‘daughters of Jerusalem’ (1:4; 2:11; 5:1, 9; 6:1).
The scene opens with the beautiful sight of the woman leaning against her beloved—a picture of deep and settled affection. It’s here that they speak; and we see …
I. HOW SHE HERSELF IS CHARACTERIZED (v. 5a).
They ask;
Who is this coming up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved? (v. 5a).
Those who see this as ‘relatives’ would suggest that they were surprised to see this woman that they knew formerly as a mere farm girl now leaning against the arm of the glorious king—as if they can hardly believe their eyes. But if we see this as the ‘daughters of Jerusalem’, we would see it as an affirmation of delight and joy and approval. We can find a similar expression from them in 3:6 with regard to the king in his glory, and in 6:10 as they adored the beauty of his bride. If, as we have suggested several times, the ‘daughters’ represent the Holy Spirit, then we would see in this the pleasure that the Holy Spirit takes in seeing our love for the Son of God. It is, after all, His delight to turn our attention to the Son of God and to prepare us for His pleasure.
Notice that she is ‘coming up from the wilderness’. To the Jewish reader, this might call to mind how the Lord led His people through the wilderness of old—refining them through trials until they learned to depend upon Him before entering the land of promise. But as individual believers, we might see in this a picture of how our Lord has brought us through many trials and difficulties to train us and teach us of His love and care. It’s interesting to note that, when Solomon appeared on his wedding day to take her to himself, he too was said to be coming up from the wilderness (3:6). As Paul taught us, “all things work together for good to those who love God …” (Romans 8:28). He even uses the trials of life to wean us away from lesser things, and to teach us to put Him first in our hearts. He Himself even tasted of them (see Matthew 4:1-11; Hebrews 4:15).
A good question to ask ourselves is whether or not the trials and troubles of life—the wilderness experiences—result in proving who we truly are. Are we turned away from Him as a result of such trials and tests? Or do they cause us to lean all the more upon Him?—proving that we are truly His beloved bride? The speaker in this verse declares that the bride is found “leaning upon her beloved”. She has rested her all upon Him—depending upon Him, clinging to Him, resting on Him. As someone has once pointed out, we don’t simply find the Shulamite leaning against her beloved’s ‘arm’; but rather leaning upon ‘him’—the whole of his person—leaning upon all of who he is.
May it be found that, after the troubles and trials of life—after the trips through the wilderness—we are found coming up from the wilderness leaning dependently and glad-heartedly upon the full person of Jesus Christ, our “all” (Colossians 3:11); “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted” (Hebrews 4:18).
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Now; the question of who it is that speaks at the beginning of verse 5 is difficult to answer. But even more difficult is who it is that speaks from then on. The words we find are spoken in the first person to someone else in the second person. But who is speaking to whom? Our various translations of the Bible interpret the speaker differently—and those differences affect how the words that are said are to be interpreted.
A helpful guide in this is the gender of the one spoken to. Because the speaker’s words are spoken in the original language to someone else who is in the male gender, it seems that the Shulamite is speaking to her bridegroom. And based on that interpretation, let’s note …
II. HOW SHE SPEAKS OF HER BELOVED (v. 5b).
One commentator has suggested that the words of the first speaker in verse 5 (the daughters of Jerusalem) are still in view; as if they were observing her words as they saw her; and as if they were saying, “Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?—who is saying …” And then they quote her as they hear her say to her beloved,
I awakened you under the apple tree.
She has spoken of “awakening” before. In 2:7, she said, “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the does of the field, do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases.” She said a similar thing in 3:6; and even most recently in the preceding verse, in 8:4. But now, she does not hesitate to ‘awaken’ love. She is fully welcoming of it with all her heart.
And notice where she ‘awakened’ him. It is “under the apple tree”. She has mentioned the ‘apple tree’ before too. We find it spoken of back in 2:3; where she was beginning to become taken by his love; and said,
Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods,
So is my beloved among the sons.
I sat down in his shade with great delight,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste (2:3).
The apple tree is a symbol of her delight in her husband. In 2:5, she was swooning and said, “Sustain me with cakes of raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am lovesick.” And in a moment of great intimacy, he told her that the fragrance of her breath was “like apples …” (7:8); suggesting that he delighted in her delight in him. So here—with the daughters of Jerusalem listening in—she expresses how she had so fully delighted in him that she has given herself over to him in love with full abandon.
What a picture of mature love for our Savior! Our love for Him is where it should be when we are no longer hesitant to embrace His love for us fully, and to glad to give our all for Him—to, as it were, ‘awaken’ love finally; and say, “Lord Jesus, let Your love for me be fully embraced by me! Let my love for You be unrestrained in return!”
Remembering the ‘apple tree’—the place of her delight in her bridegroom, the Shulamite says these curious words;
There your mother brought you forth;
There she who bore you brought you forth.
It may be that this is spoken of with regard to a very particular and important ‘apple tree’ to Solomon. It may be that the shade of this particular tree was a special place where his mother—King David’s bride Bathsheba—nurtured him and taught him and raised him. Bathsheba became David’s bride through very grievous circumstances. He had committed adultery with Bathsheba, and then had her husband put to death when she became pregnant with David’s child. In judgment from God, they lost the son that she bore to him. Solomon however was born to David and Bathsheba as an act of God’s grace—after God had pardon David’s sin. Solomon’s birth was a comfort to both David and to Bathsheba; and we’re told in the Bible that she and David called him by a special nickname “Jedidiah”; which means “Beloved of the LORD” (see 2 Samuel 12:7).
It may be that it was there, under the shade of this special ‘apple tree’ that the Shulmaite embraced the love of Solomon fully and affirmed her delight in him—remembering that his birth was an act of grace from God. And may we not see in this the maturing of our own love for Jesus when we embrace Him as grace from God to us—and take our place under the shade of His love as ‘the Beloved of the Lord’—who was born into this world for our salvation?
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Having spoken of her bridegroom in this way, note then …
III. WHAT SHE DESIRES FROM HIM (v. 6a).
She says,
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
As a seal upon your arm …
Did you ever see the Norman Rockwell painting of the sailor at the tattoo shop? He was having a name of his newest girl tattooed to his arm—but above her name were about five or six others with the name crossed out by the tattoo artist! The Shulamite is asking for her name, as it were, to be permanently taken by Solomon as a seal. But it’s not as if he’ll ever cross her name out in order to add another. Neither will our Lord ever remove us from as a seal upon Himself.
Note that she first asks that he would set her as a seal upon his heart. This is a symbolic way of saying, “Take me permanently as your own in the affection of your deepest being.” But she asks for more—even asking that she be a seal upon his arm; which would suggest, “Take me permanently into the protection and active care of your affection!” Not only does she want to be first in his heart, but also in his action.
And that’s what the Lord Jesus does for us. He not only gladly receives us as His own, but He puts His love for us into action—caring for us, protecting us, defending us, carrying us, providing for us. He delights to be our everything. And when our love for Him is where it should be, we desire also what He desires. We also delight in Him as our everything.
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And so, in a maturing love for her beloved, she desires to be Solomon’s everything—and for him to be everything to her. And in asking that she be made a seal upon his heart and upon his arm, finally, note …
IV. WHAT REASONS SHE GIVES FOR HER REQUEST (vv. 6b-7).
It’s because of the love she has grown to have for him. Note how she describes this love. She says …
A. Her love for him is strong.
She declares;
For love is as strong as death …
Would this mean that she is willing to lay down her life for her beloved—and that he would be willing to lay down his life for her? Certainly this is true of our Lord—who demonstrated His love for us in that He laid down His life for us (Romans 5:6). When our love for Jesus is mature, we are prepared to lay down our all—even our very lives—for Him and His cause. How much more, then, would we be willing to live for Him!
B. Her love for him is exclusive.
She next says,
Jealousy as cruel as the grave …
We ought not to think of ‘jealousy’ only as a bad thing. Jealously is proper when love is rightly exclusive. The word ‘cruel’ can be understood to mean ‘harsh’ or ‘hard’. True love is as decisive in the exclusivity of its object as the grave (or “Sheol”). Jesus Himself is properly and rightly jealous for our love—and is unwilling to share our full devotion with another. And if we love Him as we should, we will oppose and fight against anything that would contend for having Him as our first love (Revelation 2:4). We would never allow ourselves to be drawn from Him.
C. Her love for him is passionate.
She tells speaks of her love for him and says,
Its flames are flames of fire …
One of the characteristics of fire is that it is hot. Is our love for Jesus intense? Is it ‘hot’, and not just ‘lukewarm’? Another characteristic is that it spreads. Is our love for Jesus growing—spreading to all areas of our life? Do others pick up on it and desire to have a relationship with Him too?
D. Her love for him is all-consuming.
Still speaking of this ‘burning love’, she says that it is …
A most vehement flame.
The literal meaning of this is that it is ‘a flame of YAH’—a shortened form of YAHWEY, the most sacred name of God. This perhaps speaks of a love so powerful that it doesn’t have its origin in her own heart. It is a love from God Himself. Truly this would be the case with our Lord Jesus; since we only love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). But it may be a way of expressing the all-consuming nature of this love. When our love for Jesus is what it should be, it consumes all else; and becomes the love that colors everything else in our lives. Traces of our love for Him can be seen in all that we do and say.
E. Her love for him is unquenchable.
She adds further,
Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.
Her love for her beloved is such that nothing can destroy it. There may be circumstances in her life that had threatened that love at times, but those things could not destroy it. In the same way, our love for Jesus is where it should be—fully matured—when nothing can conquer it or diminish it. Trials may come, but they cannot put out our love. The unbelieving world itself may rage against it and the devil himself may rail against it, but such ‘floods’ cannot persuade us away from Him.
F. Her love for him is greater than all loves.
Finally, we note that she says,
If a man would give for love
All the wealth of his house,
It would be utterly despised.
The picture here is of a man who is wealthy—who has what we might call ‘a great house’ that is filled with riches and treasures. She is saying that her love for Jesus is so great that if she were a rich man, and were offered to give up the great house and its riches in exchange for the love she shares for Solomon, she would laugh at the offer! And as our love for Jesus matures—when it is where it should be—it would be like His love for us. He gave up all that He had, and left the glory of heaven, in order to give His life for us on the cross (Philippians 2:5-8).
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What a picture this is to us of the intensity of love we should have for Jesus now! Do we lean upon Him as our all—just as He offers to be our everything? Do we take delight in Him—resting, as it were, under the shade of Him who is the Beloved of the Father? Do we long for Him to set us as a seal upon His heart and His arm—just as He now bears the prints of the nails upon His hands for us? Do we find our love for Him to be strong?—exclusive?—fervent?—all-consuming?—unquenchable?—greater than all other loves?
May I suggest a good model by which to measure our love for Jesus? Is it like His own for us? If not, then we have more growing to do. Because as this passage illustrates to us, our love for Jesus is truly mature—truly where it should be—when we are at the place where we desire that love to be as eternal and intense as He desires it to be.
EA
