Song of Songs 6:4-7:10

The Final Temptations

Introduction

Reformed hermeneutics

Scripture interpret Scripture

Allowing Hebrew words to speak for themselves

Examples

Song of Solomon 1:7 “Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon; for why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flocks of your companions?”

Wanders, not veils

Song of Solomon 3:6 “What is that coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?”

Smoke not same as Lord’s manifestation in Exodus

Cloud is used, associated with Lord’s presence in Exod

Here, smoke = judgment

2 person personal pronouns w/ Solomon

3 person personal pronouns w/ Shulamite

3-fold temptation used by Solomon

4:1-5:1

6:4-13

7:1-9

Similar to Christ’s temptations in the wilderness

Three-fold

Appeal to his humanity

Matthew 4 comparisons

Christ’s temptation to worldly desires

Food

Departing from the Lord

Kingdom

Wealth

Hebrews 4:14–16 “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Confidence in Christ when the Church is tempted

Main points

the Shulamite’s pending departure (6.4-12)

the Shulamite’s final victory (6:13-7:10)

the Shulamite’s pending departure (6.4-1)

Repeat of previous attempt, yet different

v. 4

Tirzah = Northern

Jersualem = Southern

Proof of Solomonic authorship

He reigned during beginning of kingdom split (Rehoboam)

Testifying to her beauty over entirety of kingdom

v. 4 and v. 10 form “inclusio”, same speaker throughout

Word used for “awesome”

Related to fear/terrifying

Genesis 15:12 “As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.”

Exodus 15:16 “Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.”

Joshua 2:9 “and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.”

Presumption of translators to use positive

Never used in OT positively

Solomon relating her strength and resilience in resisting

Dreadful strength in her resilience

She is a fearful, impenetrable army

Imagine an Army surrounding city

v. 5

“They overwhlem me”

Word “overwhelm”

Confusing, storm-like assault

Her dedication is overwhelming to Solomon in a negative sense

Note

Must either take confidence in text itself or a position

BHS is clear on what is being communicated

Other commentators

Assume Solomon, after leaving her in bed alone, is making up for it

He feels slighted and now wooing her

vv. 6-7

Continuation of tempation

v. 8

Hamilton, “we should not allow our knowledge of the historical context to control our understanding of SofS 6:8-9”

Question: Why?

Difficult to explain away “concubines”

Every instance is related to physical concubines

Hamilton assumes since it is poetry, it cannot relate to a true event

Israel’s history is repeated often in poetry

Psalm 18… Song of Moses … etc.

“Virgins” relates back to Song of Solomon 1:3 “your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you.”

Another pointer to harem reality

v. 10

Solomon’s reflection on her resisting once again

“Fearful, impenetrable army”

Book ends of temptation

Like a garden locked

Song of Solomon 4:12 “A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed.”

No indication of change in speaker

Charge on 3PV is difficult to figure out who is speaking

Why is this not the case here?

“looks down from above”

heavenly perspective of woman’s resistance

Psalm 14:2 “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.”

Exodus 14:24 “And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic,”

Related to resistance, trials

“Dawn”

Reflection of following darkness

Genesis 32:24 “And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.”

“Moon”

Glory of the Lord

Isaiah 24:23 “Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders.”

Everlasting light

Isaiah 30:26 “Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.”

Recognition of coming out of the darkness

Same refrain of Shulamite

Song of Solomon 2:17 “Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains.”

Song of Solomon 4:6 “Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go away to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.”

Song of Solomon 4:16 “Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.”

Resisting temptation in these instances

Representative of characteristics of the Church when she also resists temptation

Revelation 2:2–4 ““ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”

Revelation 2:8–11 ““And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. “ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’”

Of Pergamum Revelation 2:17 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’”

Revelation 2:24–29 “But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Of Philadelphia, Revelation 3:11–13 “I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Constance call of Christ for Church to endure temptations

We are similarly tempted as Christ

Tempted to depart from Lord

Tempted to bed with the world

Tempted to feed our lusts, desires, over that of Christ

Constance call of Christ for marriages to endure temptations

Tempted to depart from spouse in difficulties

Tempted to wander away

Tempted to fine “greener pastures” which are full of death

Greener pasture may be full of poison ivy and stinging nettle

vv. 11-12

Shulamite’s response

Budding = place related to her beloved

Green couch

Edenic paradise

Call of beloved

Song of Solomon 2:12–13 “The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.”

v. 12, Hebrew word “to know” not “aware”

Before I was known

Sexual purity, waiting for beloved

Lit. “I will not know him [Solomon]” (no word “before” in text)

“my soul/desire I have placed/set”

She has made up her mind on shepherd

Rel back to Song of Solomon 3:1 “On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not.”

Song of Solomon 5:6 “I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.”

Specific individual, not Solomon

“chariots of my kinsmen, a prince”

Admittedly difficult to translate

Chariot = war chariot

She’s gone to war against temptation

Ref to “banners”

Impenetrable army

Kinsmen

Possibly related to her own people, her beloved, Engedi

Application

Going to war against temptation

Killing sin lest it kill you

Remembering your true love, Christ

Remembering your true love, your spouse

the Shulamite’s final victory (6:13-7:10)

Evident who they are speaking to

Why would DoJ want her to return?

Why would Solomon want her to return?

She’s expressed her devotion to her true beloved in 5.10-6:3

Obvious it is not Solomon

v. 1

4 imperatives

Follows she has made up her mind

Last ditch effort for her to return

Ask her to hear from them one more time

Surely this third temptation will lead her back

Other interpretations

Assume she left her husband due to miscommunication

How does this paint marriage positively?

Asks more questions than it answers.

“dance between two armies”

Difficult to translate again

Seems to be a victory dance

1 Samuel 21:11 “And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?””

1 Samuel 29:5 “Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?””

“two armies”

Word for “Mahaniam”

Well known place in valley, just like her hometown

Explains victory

7.1

Related back to physical qualities, her body

All physical

Unlike beloved longing to hear her

Heavy use of “hapax legommenon” (words used only once)

11 total, 20% of SofS used here

Importance of loan words from other cultures

Love poetry Solomon would have been accustomed

Cannot assert meaning of words (allegorically) since they are only found here

vv. 2-9a

Attributing more physical calls to her beauty

Allegorical runs rampant with their meanings

Heap of wheat = fertility, harvest, for example

Hamilton on v. 8

Palm tree = same word for Tamar

Solomon is “righting the wrong” of Judah and Amnon’s sins (Gen 38; 2 Sam 16)

It is not about Solomon historically w/r/t concubines/virgins, cannot be historical

But here it is okay

Inconsistent application

9a., wrongly attributes to woman (why is inconsistency okay with other views?)

No reason for her to start with “and your mouth like the best wine”

v. 9b

Reversal of what Solomon has said

He wants her to partake of his wine (kissing)

She says it goes down only for her beloved

“it goes down”

Masculine PTC related to beloved

“gliding over the teeth” (fn on ESV)

Hard to directly translate

related to sleeping

Alternate translation

“For my beloved is walking according to uprightness, causing the lips (reference to speech) of sleepers to speak”

Very important translational point

Why speaking/sleepers used?

Fits context!

Idea of awakening from darkness

Song of Solomon 2:16–17 “My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies. Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains.”

Song of Solomon 4:6 “Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go away to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.”

Song of Solomon 4:16 “Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.”

She attaches his “voice” (lips) to that which is sweet

Song of Solomon 2:8 “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.”

Song of Solomon 5:2 “I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.””

Song of Solomon 5:16 “His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.”

He uses it in Song of Solomon 2:14 “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”

Solomon never attributes awakening with voice of woman

v. 10

Full circle biblical theology of marriage covenant

Along with temptation/desire

“I am my beloved’s”

Dedication to that particular person

Again, 3 person pronoun

Why not “I am yours?”

“desire”

Only used 3x in OT

Very important

Here

Genesis 3:16 “To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.””

Genesis 4:7 “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.””

Rel to Gen 3.16 .

Curse is related to woman desiring to be head of household

Very prevalent in culture

Feminism

Egalitarianism

Prevalent in church culture

RCC, bride is head over Christ

Her response is aligning with biblical principles

Refusal to be swayed by curse of the Fall

Rel to Gen 4.7.

Sin sets its desire over us

Sin/temptation had its desire for her

She took heed of God’s Word

Application

Christlike characteristics

Temptation, desire, resisting

James 4:7–8 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

Full circle

Overcame three-fold temptation

Christ overcame three-fold temptation

We can overcome temptation in Christ

Christological interpretation in 3PV