Song of Solomon
Chapter 8
SS 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.
Jesus is our brother, joint heir with Him.
Romans 8:29, NLT: “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
We are actually called brothers because of this unity, this conformity, this union with Christ. We are brothers by likeness, not just legally, but by likeness to his image.
Hebrews 2:11 For both He who [a]sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,(brothers and sisters)
SS 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.
Recall that in the dream sequence of 3:1-4, prior to their wedding and during the time of boundaries and limitations in the courtship, Shulamite longed to bring Solomon “into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.”
She repeats this here. Why? She longs for the time that she was conceived, the feeling, the ecstasy of the born-again/ knowing a born from above spirit knowledge and experience.
She has not lost her 1st, chief love. Instead, she acknowledges her 1st love.
(To the Daughters of Jerusalem)
SS 8:3 His left hand is under my head, And his right hand embraces me.
The Bride verbalizes Solomon’s ability to satisfy her. He knows exactly how she receives love. The picture is beautiful because it is the perfect combination of security and intimacy. God provides this for you. In holding you close in protection while seeking to satisfy your every need.
SS 8:4 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, Do not stir up nor awaken love Until it pleases.
To live for God is to live your life in the constant effort to try to please him through acts of service and striving to gain His affirmation. To live from God is to realize that you already possess His approval and His complete affirmation. You rest in the fact that He made you acceptable in His sight and you find rest in Him.
To the praise of the glory of his grace, in which he has made us accepted in the beloved. Eph. 1:6
Love Renewed in Lebanon
A Relative
SS 8:5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? I awakened you under the apple tree. There your mother brought you forth; There she who bore you brought you forth.
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved…” Song of Solomon 8:5
The passion of my heart is to be able to say, “Yes, Lord,” regardless of the situation, circumstance, or challenge. It is essential to recognize and yield to the workmanship of God within if we are to grow in our walk with the Lord. A deeper relationship with the Lord is available, but it requires a trust and submission to the Lord in the daily circumstances of our lives.
Walking in a place of submission involves receiving our calling and the understanding that He has given us, then not becoming possessive of it, but saying, “Lord, I submit all of this back to You.” The door will then open for us to hear more and be led further.
Abraham knew that he had heard from God. He had been told to take his son, Isaac, up the mount and sacrifice him. If Abraham had not been open to hearing further, he may not have noticed the lamb in the thicket that the Lord provided as a substitute sacrifice. Abraham’s attitude of submissive dependence enabled him to enter the fullness of the Lord’s plan, which he understood only in part at that time.
Jesus is the potter, and we are the clay. We are in the process of becoming that which He sees us to be. We already are in the Spirit. He is all–knowing; He knows the end from the beginning. Therefore, we must trust Him fully, regardless of what our perception or thought might be at any particular moment in our lives.
There have been many times of “adjustment” in my own life. A teachable spirit that loves the Lord and continues to trust and submit, will bring us through to the full intention and purpose of our Lord—His highest and best in our lives. We must always maintain a stance of submission to the Lord, knowing that we need the continued leading and guidance of His Holy Spirit.
The Song of Solomon is a story of submission. There is an awakening to the love song of the Lord that brings an initial hunger for Him. From that initial hunger comes a continued hunger, which opens the door for the inward working of the Lord. The Bride does not turn aside from seeking the one she loves (Jesus/Yeshua), regardless of any difficulty she faces or solace offered by others. Because of her continued poise of spirit toward the Lord, she finds Him.
The Shulamite to Her Beloved
SS 8:6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, Jealousy as [a]cruel as [b]the grave; Its flames are flames of fire, [c]A most vehement flame.
A signet or seal was an engraved stone used to show ownership by stamping an impression on soft clay or wax. The stone was worn on a necklace or bracelet and was so valuable that the owner would always wear it or have it near at hand. Thus, what Shulamite expresses here is her desire to be like Solomon’s signet, an object practically identified with its owner. We especially see here that while the Song may be misunderstood as primarily focused on their intimacy, pleasures they enjoy display the quality of their love, their bond and the intimacy between them.
Jealousy, flames of fire have this meaning.
The term qinah translated jealousy does not here denote the negative emotion that occurs when we fear someone taking something we have. Rather, it can denote the positive side of love in action and can be translated as “zeal” or passion (2 Kings 10:16, 19:31, Psalm 119:139).
God is a jealous God. Ex. 34:14
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:2, “I feel a divine jealousy for you.” In what way was Paul “jealous”? Very simply, he sought for the church to be fully devoted to Christ. His “jealousy” should be understood as a “guarding” of their relationship with God. Paul wanted the Corinthians to abandon the pursuit of anything that distracted from worshiping the Lord.
Fire- Their love is all consuming of their relationship, for the coals thereof are coals of fire, which has a most vehement flame. The consuming fire of the sort of love shared by Shulamite/Bride and Solomon/Bridegroom cannot be doused, for many waters cannot quench love.
Heb. 12:29 For our God is indeed a devouring/consuming fire. NET
In general, fire represents God’s radiant glory as an aspect of His holiness (cf. Genesis 15:17–18; Deuteronomy 4:24; Judges 13:18–20; Hebrews 12:29) Fire is used often as a symbol of holiness and often equates the idea of God’s presence with God’s holiness.
SS 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, Nor can the floods drown it. If a man would give for love All the wealth of his house, It would be utterly despised.
The love of the Bride to Christ is inextinguishable and insuperable, by the many waters and floods of wicked and ungodly men; neither by their flattery and fair promises; nor by their cruel edicts, force and persecution; by neither can they withdraw the love of the Bride from the Bridegroom.
Song of Solomon 8:7 (MSG) Flood waters can’t drown love, torrents of rain can’t put it out. Love can’t be bought, love can’t be sold – it’s not to be found in the marketplace.
Phil 3:3 Yes doubtless, that I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ( Yeshua Ha’Masiach): for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
The Shulamite’s Brothers
SS 8:8 We have a little sister, And she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister In the day when she is spoken for?
We will be lifted into a higher level of personal relationship with the Lord in which we can share with Him in the outworking of His redemptive purposes. We have progressed from working for the Lord, to working with Him. Only now could we (His Bride) say to the Lord:
“We have a little sister, and she has no breasts (she is spiritually immature): what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?
Now the Lord can further instruct us in order to prepare us to function with Him in this higher level of a cooperative relationship with Him. He responded and said:
SS 8:9 If she is a wall, We will build upon her A battlement of silver; And if she is a door, We will enclose her With boards of cedar.
“If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.” Song of Solomon 8:9
Being a “wall” means that her spiritual experience is established on a firm foundation. Therefore, she can be brought into a higher level of spiritual substance and integrity (a palace of silver).
But if she is a swinging door (spiritually unstable, sometimes in and at other times, out), her spirituality must be protected (enclosed in boards of cedar).
Now that her vision has become single, the Lord is ready to lead her on:
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world to our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.
“For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” I Corinthians 2:7-12
The Heavenly Bridegroom, the Lord of all creation, stood alone, outside of all that He desired, patiently waiting for her to notice Him. He longed for her fellowship as He looked through the windows, gazing upon her in such a way that she could see His eyes. Finally, His patience met its reward. She saw Him and felt the intensity of His desire to be with her. All else faded as she responded to this and invited Him to come into the “room” of her spiritual experience.
Immediately, He came within (His manifest presence) and began to teach her concerning the way of entrance into this new realm of spiritual life that He so desired for her. Then He invited her to come with Him into His chambers that she might begin to experience this new relationship of an abiding communion with Him.
The Shulamite
SS 8:10 I am a wall, And my breasts like towers; Then I became in his eyes As one who found peace.
Thanks to her brothers’ efforts, she was a wall, protective of her purity. She is no longer the “little sister…[with] no breasts” but fully grown with the breasts of a woman and not a child, fully mature. Because of her beauty and purity, she was in His (Bridegroom’s) eyes as one that found favor.
Jesus came to announce a new thing. Luke 4:9 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD. Literally meaning I have come to proclaim favor.
SS 8:11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon; He leased the vineyard to keepers; Everyone was to bring for its fruit A thousand silver coins.
We know that Solomon let out or leased the vineyard to keepers, meaning those who would maintain the vineyard to produce its fruit. The rental price for the fruit was 1,000 pieces of silver.
Abimelech gave Abraham 1000 pieces of silver in compensation for acting inappropriately towards Abraham’s wife, Sarah. In scripture, the term “thousand,” when in reference to time, is always used symbolically. It represents any predetermined time that God chooses. This is Kairos time of the Lord, the redeemed time of the Lord. This is the Bride’s time, the set time of God.
(To Solomon/Bridegroom)
SS 8:12 My own vineyard is before me. You, O Solomon, may have a thousand, And those who tend its fruit two hundred.
Now that she is no longer a child (immature) under her brothers’ care, unlike the literal vineyard, her vineyard (her spirit, the kingdom of God) is wholly her own to maintain and to share the fruit .
She can totally express her love to the Bridegroom with her voice.
The Beloved
SS 8:13 You who dwell in the gardens, The companions listen for your voice—Let me hear it!
Gardens are beautiful/scenic places on earth. The Bridegroom is saying , “Let me hear your voice!”
The Shulamite
SS 8:14 Make[d] haste, my beloved, And be like a gazelle Or a young stag On the mountains of spices.
Solomon/Bridegroom calls to her that dwells in the gardens and advises her that the companions hearken to hear her voice, and he asks that she cause Him to hear her voice. Recall that in 2:14, Solomon asked to hear her voice: “let me hear your voice; for sweet is your voice, and your countenance is comely.” He made that invitation to her in the context of their separation (she was “in the clefts of the rock”). Now there are no boundaries.
Shulamite invites him to make haste, my beloved, and be you like to a roe or gazelle or to a young heart or stag upon the mountains of spices. She is now mature and thus, the Song closes with Shulamite’s invitation to Solomon to totally consume her.
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SCENE X – They are United Forevermore
Son 7:11 -8:14
She runs to her Beloved Shepherd and is His forevermore. She now rests in His love. His left hand should be under my head and His right hand should embrace me. (Contrast with 2:6) Tells Him to make haste my beloved upon the Mountains of Spices. (Ref. SCENE VII)
(7:11) Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.
(7:12) Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.
(7:13) The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.
(8:1) Oh that you were as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find you without, I would kiss you; yes, I should not be despised.
(8:2) I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.
(8:3) His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.
(8:4) I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.
She is betrothed!
Any man with a daughter of age will recognize this next scene. We’ve all seen our little girl all grown up coming up the driveway with her boyfriend interlocked so closely they can barely walk. Or remember yourself with your first love.
(8:5) Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. (See Eze 16:4-8)
(8:6) Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
(8:7) Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.
A seal is set upon her heart, the seal of the Holy Spirit. (2Cor 1:22)
Love is as strong as death and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.
Reference: Romans 8:35-39
35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written, For your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Bride’s brothers express concern whether she is yet of age and whether or not she has been chaste.
(8:8) We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?
(8:9) If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.
The Bride lets them know without a doubt.
(8:10) I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favor.
(8:11) Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; everyone for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.
(8:12) My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, Oh Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
Final words of love between Christ and His Bride
.
(8:13) You that dwells in the gardens, the companions hearken to your voice: cause me to hear it
(8:14) Make haste, my beloved, and be you like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.
Discussion questions C-8:
1. The Shulamite speaks eloquently of the power of love in 8:6-7, but what is love as she uses the term?
2. Why do you think the Song ends the way it does?
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They are finally united! She tells Solomon he can keep his vineyard, she has her own! Christ says, the others listen to you (the Church), let me hear from you also (prayers, praise, worship/ communion) She replies, be about your Father’s business on the Mountains of Spices.
Conclusion:
If we read through the entire love story in the Song of Solomon, we see the story of a young woman and her true love of a Shepherd, the Bridegroom, who adores her and treats her with love, patience and tenderness. He loves her deeply and waits for her to realize it and come to her senses. As the Bridegroom and Bride we see, The Bride drawn from the world toward the Bridegroom in intimate communion and becoming mature until she says;
Ephesians 5:26-27 That he might sanctify and cleanse it (His wife, the Church, the Bride) with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
A Bride Adorned and has made herself ready! Rev. 19:7
“Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.” Revelation 19:6 NASB
For your enjoyment:
https://www.youtube.c45214om/watch?v=S0Ke8p93QRk
Prophecy about the Bride and the Next Move of God
The next move of the Spirit will be birthed out of this place of intimacy with God, with the overshadowing of God’s Spirit in our lives. Psalm 91 declares “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” The shadow of God is the place where His glory covers our lives. It’s a place of refuge and protection from all the plots of the evil one. It’s also the place where God infuses His strength and life into us. The Bride is arising out of that place!
In Genesis 1:2-3 there is a creative force and life released under the hovering of the Holy Spirit in Creation. Under the shadow of the Spirit there is creative power and authority released to bring order out of chaos and light out of darkness. It was under the shadow of the Holy Spirit that God spoke creation into existence. When we are under His shadow there is a creative power released in us and through us to declare into existence those things that God desires to manifest in the earth.
In Luke 1:31, 35-38, it was under the overshadowing of the Spirit that Mary became pregnant with the Christ child. What was impossible became possible. The supernatural became natural. The key to Mary receiving the impartation she received from God, to carry the seed of the greatest move of the Spirit in history, the birth of the Son of God, was her simple act of agreement. Her response to the Lord was “Let it be done unto me according to your word.” In verse 45 it says “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” God SAYS HE needs our agreement and simple faith to receive the fullness of all He wants to give us.
As the presence of the Holy Spirit overshadows His church in this hour, there is coming an impartation to carry the seed of the next move of God. The secret place of intimacy with the Lord is vitally important to receiving the fullness of all He wants to birth in the earth. It will be out of this place of abiding under His shadow that the creative force and power of His Spirit will be released in our lives, including the move of extraordinary signs, wonders and miracles. This demonstration of God’s power through His people will be a direct result of the time spent in the secret place, under the shadow of His glory. We must guard our time with God and guard the seed He places in us. Out of the secret place of intimacy will come the release of life and power to see the glory of God cover the face of the earth! THE BRIDE IS ARISING!!
THE END!! OR THE BEGINNING!!