Song of Solomon Part 9

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

Song of Solomon

Part 9

"An Hour of Testing (cont’d)"

We ended last time with the Shulamite having endured an all-out campaign of seduction on the part of Solomon. In spite of the tempters strongest efforts, the Shulamite remained resolute in her loyalty to the shepherd, her beloved.

This was a new experience for Solomon. He had fawned and flattered. He had drawn from his deepest resources to win her over. It had gone on and on.

Only once had the Shulamite been able to interrupt him long enough to tell him it was all an accident. She had never intended to put herself where he could tamper with her.

But now it was her turn. The tempter had stopped at last and had no more to say. The appeal to flattery was over. Now we will see the application of firmness in the Shulamites fidelity:

As we look at her words, we will see the very essence of resisting temptation successfully. What the Shulamite does, we must do. It is exactly what Jesus did when the devil tempted Him in the wilderness.

When Satan attacked Jesus with three temptations, the Lord answered by quoting the written Word. Thwarted by the Lord’s firmness and fidelity, the tempter crept away, baffled and defeated.

Similarly, Solomon from this point on left the Shulamite alone. Never again will his voice be raised again in this book. Let’s see, then, how the Shulamite did it.

To all of the eloquence of the tempter, the Shulamite has but one reply:

7:10 “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.”

That was that! She essentially says, “Now then, sir, will you please go away? My affections are pledged elsewhere. My shepherd loves me and I love him. Case closed.”

And notice: She says that the shepherd’s desire is for her. She didn’t say that her desire was for the shepherd, but that his desire was for her.

That put the relationship on a higher, more unassailable ground. “Take it up with my shepherd,” she says. “Take him on, not me!” In saying this, she gave the battle into the shepherd’s hands.

That is how you handle temptation! All we need say to the Tempter is, “There’s my Beloved; there’s my Shepherd, go and take the matter up with Him, for His desire is toward me!”

Once her thoughts are finally freed from Solomon’s flatteries and able to fix on the shepherd, the Shulamite expresses the longings of her heart. First, she wanted to be with him:

7:11 “Come, my beloved…”

“Come, my beloved.” Come and take me away from this perfumed, painted, and polluted court of Solomon. Come and take me away to be with you.”

And she also wanted to flee with her beloved:

7:11b “...Let us go forth to the field; let us lodge in the villages.”

But she didn’t just want to flee. She had somewhere to go. She wanted to go with him into the field, the villages, and the vineyards. In other words, she wanted to go with him to the places where she had labored so diligently in the past, before she was taken away by Solomon.

It is common for a couple that are falling in love to want to take each other to the places where they grew up, went to school, once attended church, and so on.

We want to take those we love to the special landmark places of our past. The Shulamite wants to do just that. She wants to share the important moments of her life with the shepherd.

In verse 12 she says she has somewhat to give to him:

7:12 “Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has budded, whether the grape blossoms are open, and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love.”

One translator renders this, “There I will give caresses of love.” Another one renders it, “There I will give you my endearments.” She is talking about marriage vows after which their love would be consummated.

And she also offered to him the fruit of her life:

7:13 “The mandrakes give off a fragrance, and at our gates are pleasant fruits, all manner, new and old, which I have laid up for you, my beloved.”

In the ancient East, mandrakes were considered love apples. Notice that she says, in lieu of her wedding day, she has been storing up things “new and old” for her beloved. Her love for him had been there for a long time.

Now what about us, the church, what can we give the Lord? He has everything, right? He is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and is very God. What can we possibly give to Him that He doesn’t have?

We can give Him two things that He will prize beyond any other gifts: we can give Him the fervor our love and fruit of our life. On that great Day when we see Him face to face, we can say,

“Lord, I didn’t lose my first love for you. It burns brighter than ever. And here is the fruit of my life, I lived it for you and to your glory.”

Then next in chapter 8:1-3, the Shulamite tells him what she wished. She wished first that she could shout her love for him publically without being despised:

8:1 “Oh that you were like my brother, who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I should find you outside, I would kiss you; I would not be despised.”

In that day, strict social conventions kept a bride and groom apart. It would have been improper for her to express her love for the shepherd openly like she wished. But if he were her brother, she could have done so.

And isn’t it true of us as well? How often we would blurt out in public our love for the Lord, but the world would not understand it, and it would not, in many settings, be acceptable.

Isn’t it strange that our society has no problem with the loudest expressions of fanaticism if it relates to sports? We can yell, shout, and cheer, wave our arms and dance a jig if our team wins. But not so when it comes to the Lord!

Then, too, she wanted to share her love for him privately without being disgraced. In other words, she wished that they were married.

8:2 “I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother, she who used to instruct me. I would cause you to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate.”

Again, in that day, to take a man home or even so much as to her mother’s house would have been an unthinkable liberty. And then to give him spiced wine would have been out of the question. The Shulamite wished that the marriage day would hasten so that society would no longer be able to intrude between her and him.

Furthermore, she wished that she could show her love for him passionately without being defiled:

8:3 “His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me.”

What the Shulamite wanted was totally proper within the bonds of marriage. She was looking beyond the moment to the future, when all restraints would be removed forever.

There is a place of love for the Lord Jesus Christ where these very emotions are experienced. Has our longing for the Lord at times simply welled up in almost inexpressible longing and desire for Him?

Have we ever felt like trampling on every social restraint and shouting aloud, “Jesus, I love You!” Has the longing for the consummation of all things in glory at times become overwhelming?

Paul expressed just such a feeling in a letter to the Philippian church:

“If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but for your sakes, it is better that I continue to live” (Phil.1:22-24).

And at the close of John’s Revelation, we hear the cry of the bride of Christ: “The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let the one who hears say, "Come!" Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life” (Rev.22:17).

As the Shulamite went on and on with her words of love for the shepherd, Solomon must have been standing in the shadows eating his heart out!

So what does he do? Having failed to woo her himself, he sends the court women to try once more incite desire in her for him. The Shulamite turns and repudiates them, and all that they stood for—fully, finally, and forever.

8:4 “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases.” The court women are told to leave her alone and to stop seeking to divert her love for the shepherd to Solomon.

Again, I’m reminded that we are up against a very persistent tempter. He never gives up. He might suddenly assume a low profile, but his agents are ever working for him.

And any expression of love on our part about our Great Shepherd will most certainly be followed by a fresh attempt by the tempter to bring about a fall.

We are headed to the close next time where we will see “AN HOUR OF TRIUMPH!”