Awakening Love (Song of Solomon)
January 5, 2020
Relax as we enjoy a love story that is 3,000 years old. It was considered in its day to be the song of all songs, and it is attributed to King Solomon like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. This love story is about a woman falling in love with a man with her heart and emotions and going through the process of awakening her love to the point of being physically open and vulnerable to him after they are married. The refrain that we will find repeated throughout the book is, "I adjure you , O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
Introduction (1:2-6)
Our story begins with the woman confessing her crush to her friends, the daughters of Jerusalem. She tells them all about how she wants him to kiss her and pursue her.
Song of Solomon 1:2--4 (ESV) --- 2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine; 3 your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you. 4 Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will exult and rejoice in you; we will extol your love more than wine; rightly do they love you.
The friends responded by saying that she is very lovely also and that she is greatly loved. To which she responds with a low view of herself. She is not self-absorbed. She is confident enough to voice her feelings to her friends, but she looks at herself with humility, seeing all of her flaws. Apparently, she is tanned because she helped her brothers with their vineyards. (Being tanned is not desirable in those days).
Progression 1 - Love Ignited (1:7-2:7)
In verse 7, she asks the man she is in love with where he pastures his flock. She wants to visit him at work, and she adds to that, "For why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions." He responds by calling her the most beautiful woman and telling her how to find him. Then, he calls her a "mare among Pharaoh's chariots." The Egyptians would use a tactic of driving a mare before the chariots of their enemies to distract the horses. She is a distraction from his work, but a welcomed one.
It is interesting to note here that the woman makes the first move to let her feelings be known in a subtle way. She makes an offer to him, and he receives it.
In verse 11, the friends set the woman up to spend time with the man, and their first interaction lasts from 1:12-2:2. To summarize, He calls her beautiful, and she calls him beautiful. Then, she says that she is just a common flower in the valley. He responds by saying that she is a lily among thorns. Then, 2:3 begins her relay of events to her friends. She tells them about how lovely he was to her and how they kissed. The language in verse 3 is important. We will often see fruits and spices used as a figurative language to refer to kissing and intimacy.
The woman says that she is sick with love and tells her friends to bring her some nourishment to help her recover. This is the end of the opening scene when their first encounter and spending time together results in feelings of love on both sides. The last verse in this progression is the refrain, "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases." (2:7). She wants to take it slow, and she doesn't want her friends to tempt her to go beyond what is appropriate with him.
Progression 2 - Love Controlled (2:8-3:5)
This sets up a test for the young woman. The next progression begins with the woman seeing her beloved coming. He is standing behind a wall and looking through the lattice. This is emblematic of the wall that she has set up to keep from going too far too soon. In Proverbs 7:6, the wicked adulteress is looking through the windows and lattice for the simple to see if she can entice him to sin. Solomon is likely playing off of that Proverb.
In verse 10-14, the man entices her to come away with him and to be alone with her. He tells there that the fruit is ripe and that the time for them to enjoy one another has come. She responds in verse 15 very abruptly by saying, "Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil our vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom." She skillfully deflects his advances and puts him to work in her vineyard. In verses 16-17, she says that he is hers and she is his.
In Chapter 3, she is seeking him and does not find him. She finds watchmen, and they seem to help her calm down her desires. These watchmen play a role like the daughters of Jerusalem. They seem to be preventing anything devious from happening. But she finds him soon after and holds on to him. She does not want to let him go. So she brings him to her mother's house so that everything could be set up for him to propose.
Progression 3 - Marriage/ Drunk With Love (3:6-5:1)
In 3:6, we are taken to the arrival of the man. This picture is the opposite of a wedding scene we would see today. Instead of the bride coming down the aisle adorned for her husband. The groom is coming from his homeland with all sorts of things that are impressive. Verse 11 clearly says that he is dressed for his wedding day. His words shower his bride with complements from head to toe. The language is foreign to us because of the cultural differences, but all of these objects would have had great significance in those days. The one that I think is important to understand future figures is in verse 3, "Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate." This is referring to her lips as sweet as pomegranate fruit.
In verse 7, he says, "You are altogether beautiful, my bride; there is no flaw in you." He is a great romantic and can complement her because he has spent the time to think these things through. Now at this point, we have to make a decision. Are they married or not? The picture was of a groom coming in on his wedding day, but the focus is more so on how great he is and how happy he seems to be with her. So is that telling us about the marriage in the story or just giving us an image of his entrance now that they are betrothed? The way the rest of the story goes makes it hard for me to see them married since the battle for sexual purity continues. It seems that she is just using a picture of being like Solomon in all of his glory.
In verse 8, he calls for her to come down from Lebanon and the peak of Amana, Senir, and Hermon. He wants her to come away from the dens of lions, and the mountains of leopards. He sees her as living in the unreachable heights, and he wants her to come down to within his reach. This is speaking about her resistance to intimacy. She has been prudent, and he is inviting her to come to him and open up to him.
Song of Solomon 4:9--12 (ESV) --- 9 You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. 10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice! 11 Your lips drip nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. 12 A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed.
He sees her as a locked garden that he has not been able to explore yet fully. Verses 13-15, are full of figures that express his desire to know her more intimately. She responds in verse 16 by calling for love to awaken. She seems to give in to the passion, and she wants him to come and enjoy himself. Then, he says that he has prepared for love by covering himself in scent and eating honey to taste sweet for her in 5:1. This progression ends with an altered refrain. The friends are excited and encourage them to enjoy their young love that has awakened. But the story does not end there. It does not say, "They lived happily ever after." If they aren't married, this is a problem. The friends weren't supposed to stir up or awaken love before it pleases. They were supposed to help her put on the brakes!
Progression 4 - Struggling To Open The Door (5:2-6:13)
The fourth scene in this story begins with her being asleep again, but her heart is awake. This is an odd way to describe her. Then, her beloved is knocking at the door. She questions whether she should do this in verse 3. He puts his hand to the latch, and she is thrilled. But something happens, and he suddenly leaves before she can bring herself to let him in. She heard him about to come into her room, and she was excited. But he does not open. She gets up and looks out the door and finds that he was not there. It seems that he is stronger than we thought.
She realizes that she needs to find her beloved again. She starts searching for him, and she is worried about him. In verse 7, the watchmen found her, and this time they beat her, bruised her, and took away her veil. This seems like an odd event in the story unless we understand her to be unmarried and doing something that was forbidden. Notice a key phrase, "Those watchmen of the walls." A wall is contrasted to a door in this story. The last time she encountered the watchmen, they helped her remain chaste and pure because her wall was up. Now she needed the watchmen to help her keep the wall protected and to keep the door from opening too soon.
The daughters of Jerusalem have increased her desire and led her into this. So in verse 8, she says, "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love." She hates what she has done to him in rejecting him. Now she wants to be reconciled. To this, the friends ask her what she loves about her husband. She describes her beloved from head to toe. In the end, she says, "This is my beloved, and this is my friend." She remembers how she feels about him and how she is physically attracted to him. But she also recalled that their relationship is about more than just physical intimacy; they are friends who are going through life together.
She finds him in his garden preparing to go to his "bride" again, and he immediately tells her that she is too beautiful for him. He compliments her, and he tells her that his feelings for her overwhelm him. He seems to feel bad for forcing the issue too soon. He also reassures her that he sees her as the only one for him (6:4-9). In verse 10, he sees her looking down. She seems to be embarrassed or depressed about how she has acted, so he tries to lift her spirits and complement her some more.
She responds in verse 11-13 by explaining her struggle to be intimate. She wants to be in good standing with her family. Her friends call for her to return to them, and he is jealous because he wants to spend more time with her.
Progression 5 - Better With Age (7:1-8:4)
In Chapter 7, he describes her from toes to head using much of the same images as before. Why did he change directions? He transitions from talking about her as a pomegranate tree to a palm tree. He recognizes that she is much taller than he previously thought. He wants to climb the palm tree and eat of its fruit. This is obviously a sensual image, but it also shows that he is willing to put in the work required to win her love and intimate affection. He says that her mouth is like the best wine.
To this, she responds in verse 9 by saying that he will be welcomed and come and drink at that time. It will go down smoothly for him because she belongs to him, and he desires her. In verses 11-12, he asks her to go to the vineyards again and see if the fruits are in bloom. The vineyards are a favorite spot for them to be alone and eat fruit so that they taste sweet to one another when they kiss.
In Chapter 8, she wishes she could kiss him openly like a brother. It seems that she has gained control once again of her passions. She wants to be with him, but she knows that they must wait until the time is right. This section ends with the refrain, "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases."
Conclusion (8:5-14)
Verse 5 has the daughters of Jerusalem, noticing that the two of them are closer than ever. They have overcome the temptations together, and now they are ready to be married. She asks him to set his seal upon her heart and arm that they might never be separated until death. They have something that money cannot buy.
Verses 8-9, give advice to brothers. They want to know how to protect their sisters from the advances of men. Solomon essentially says, "If she is a wall, build a strong battlement around her. If she is a door, seal her off so that none may enter before it is time." He revisits the door/wall imagery to explain how this book should be used.
Verses 10-14 explain everything. She was a wall, and because of that, her man found peace. He knew that she would be faithful and able to resist future temptations when they come, and that gave him peace. If she were a door, he would always be worried. It ends with a picture of marriage. He can call on her, and she has something great to offer him.
Why is this in the Bible?
Many people have struggled with what this book is about and why it is in the Bible at all. But the way that I see this book makes it a perfect complement to the book of Proverbs. In Proverbs, Solomon is telling his son how to make wise choices and avoid temptations to wickedness. In Song of Songs, Solomon is speaking to his daughter more poetically the value of remaining sexually pure until marriage and avoiding temptation. So why is it here? This book addresses one of the most challenging tests that humans experience, sexual urges. It helps us see the value of growing out of these desires and becoming mature about the proper place of sex in our lives.
Sexual immorality is rampant in our society. It cheapens marital love and takes away from what God had designed in the garden to be a good thing. God joined man and woman together and gave them sex so that they could be one with each other and provide a certain amount of fulfillment with one another. Men have abused this blessing continually and ruined it, but Solomon helps us see its proper place.
In the New Testament, we see that marriage is to be held in honor by all, and the marriage bed is to remain undefiled (Heb 13:4). We also understand that the body was not created for sexual immorality (1 Cor 6:13). Defiling sexual relations ruins the gift that God has given to the married couple. We are meant to glorify God with our body because our spirit has been united with his. Sexual immorality tarnishes God's glory. In 1 Cor 7, Paul says that husbands and wives are supposed to use their bodies to serve one another and to spend time giving pleasure to one another while also remaining devoted to the Lord.
Paul praises those who are not married for finding fulfillment in the Lord as he has. They can be wholly concerned in the will of the Lord instead of focusing on the needs of a spouse.
God Loves Us
The picture of this book is of a man wooing a woman and of a woman remaining holy and pure for the man until the wedding day. Many have taken this story and made it an allegory because they don't understand what it is about. I think that once we understand what this is about, we can see the relationship that we have as the bride of Christ more clearly. Ephesians 5 shows us that Jesus is the perfect bridegroom, cleansing us and showering us with love. We must resist the urges to become unholy, and we must be a pure and chaste bride for him, prepared for the wedding day. He is cleansing us and helping us to be what we are supposed to be.