Song of Solomon 8
EasyEnglishSong of Solomon 8:1
The Beautiful Woman behind the Veil An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (1200 word vocabulary) on the Song of Songs www.easyenglish.info Sarah Ruth This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.
Words in boxes are comments on the text.
Tap the * before a word to show an explanation.
Chapter 8 Woman v1 I want you to be like a brother who drank at my mother’s breasts!
I want us to be like a brother and sister.
So, if I found you outside, I would kiss you.
And nobody would think about me as a bad person.
v2 I would lead you to my mother’s house.
I would bring you to the mother who has taught me.
I would give to you *wine with *spices to drink.
I would give to you my *pomegranate drink that tastes lovely.
The man and his wife are with other people again. With other people present, the woman wants to be with him as a sister might be. Then it would not be wrong to kiss him. People in the same *family could kiss each other when other people were present. Other people would not be surprised to see this.
In other chapters of this book, *pomegranates mean the sides of the face. Maybe it would be a kiss on his face. Perhaps she wants other people in her husband’s *family to kiss her in that way too.
When she is not with other people, she wants to kiss her husband in a different way. She speaks again about her mother’s house. Perhaps she is thinking about a safe place. Or she may be thinking about when she was a child at home. Perhaps she saw her mother with her baby brother. The boy drank her mother’s milk. So the word *pomegranates here might mean the woman’s breasts. She can be near to her husband and he can enjoy her body. Woman v3 His left arm is under my head and his right arm draws me near to him.
v4 *Daughters of Jerusalem,
please do not cause someone to feel love for another person;
not until he or she wants to.
I am saying this because I really mean it.
I *beg you not to do it.
The writer may be telling us something else. The woman may not have enjoyed a father’s love. It seems that she no longer has a father. So her brothers have told her what she should do. But they do not seem to have loved her. She still needs someone like a father or an older brother to love her.
She wants her husband to be like a loving brother to her. She sometimes needs the man to love her like this. The man and his wife are standing together. The man has his hand at the back of her head. His other hand holds her near to him. This is how a person would hold a child near. It causes her to feel safe. She remembers when they first touched each other under the trees. There they were lying down. The man’s arm was under her head. His other arm was holding her near.
But the woman does not want to continue in this way. She does not really want to think about her husband as her brother.
The woman repeats what she had said. People need to be careful when they love someone. A marriage can be the result when we love someone. Maybe here she is thinking about that. When a man and a woman marry each other, they need to think about other people in the *families too. Some people in the *families may not completely accept them. Friends v5a Someone is coming up from the dry, empty place with the man who loves her!
Her head is against the man’s shoulder. Woman v5b Under the apple tree, I woke you.
There your life started in your mother’s body.
There your mother was in pain during your birth.
The man and his wife are walking together. His arm is round her and her head is on his shoulder. She is not old or ill. But she is showing that she wants the man to help her in her life. She wants him to make her stronger in her *spirit.
She felt like this when they were first resting together under the trees. He knew that he loved her. And he wanted to keep her safe. It was like a father’s love to his child. His father’s love brought his father and mother together. And so he was born. It is best that a man always loves his wife like this. She feels strong and she can love her children like that too. Woman v6 Draw me near to you like a *seal over your heart.
Put me like a *seal over your arm.
Keep me there always because love is as strong as death.
A dead person in a hole in the ground never comes out alive again.
A man who loves his wife will never let another man take her away from him.
And I do not want you to love another woman.
Love burns like a red-hot fire.
It burns like the hottest part of a large fire.
v7 Lots of water cannot put it out.
Rivers cannot carry it away.
A rich man might give everything that he has to buy someone’s love.
But people would tell him that he was very silly!
A man might put a *seal in something and hang it round his neck. So it would lie over his heart. Or he might wear it over his arm or on his finger. The woman is happy that she is her husband’s woman. That is what she is saying. She wants people to know that they are together always. She wants people to think about her when they think about her husband.
When we think about the word ‘*heart’, we think about love. And we think about how we feel pleasure. The woman wants her husband to love her always. The woman never wants to leave the man. The woman wants to lie down, like the *seal, over her husband’s heart. Her head and her body will not be there all the time. But she is telling us that she will love him always. Perhaps, too, that is what she means.
If a husband loves his wife, he will not want to give her to another person. He will not want another person to love her in the same way that he loves her. This is also true for the wife. She will not leave her husband if she loves him. She will not want her husband to go away. She does not want him to love another person. If he does this, she will be very angry. Nothing can destroy love like this. It will never go away.
Love wants to keep another person safe. For example, a father wants to keep his child from danger. Parents do not want to sell their children if they love them. Nobody can say that love has a certain value. It is worth a lot more than a rich person’s money. Love is very strong. It will not have an end. Woman v8 My brothers had said:
‘We have a younger sister.
Her breasts have not yet grown.
What will we do on her behalf when it is the time for her to marry?’
The woman is remembering when she was a girl. The woman’s brothers had talked about her then. There would be a time when she would be older. And then she would be able to marry. The brothers did not know what she would be like at that future time. They did not know what help she would need. Woman v9 My friends said:
‘If she is a wall, we will build *towers out of *silver on her.
If she is a door, we will put boards of *cedar wood over her.’
A wall is strong and it is not easy for someone to move it. A young woman may feel strong, that is, sure in her mind like this. She sometimes speaks with authority. She may not want to do some things. And nobody can cause her to do those things. Nobody can change her mind easily. She will be safe when there are many men near her. If the woman is like this, the friends will make her beautiful. Then it will be easy for men to see her among the other women.
But she may be like a door. A door is not as strong as a wall. It is easy for people to move a door. The young woman may be a person who is often afraid. People may always tell her what she should do. They may not be kind to her. If she is like this, the friends will keep her safe. They will hide her if there are cruel men near. Woman v10 I am a wall.
My breasts are like *towers.
So, to him, I have become like someone who gives pleasure to him.
She is no longer a girl. She has grown into a woman. While the woman speaks, she stands up straight. This shows that she is sure in her mind. She has the man as a friend. He has helped her *spirit to grow. She now seems completely like a lady.
The man likes to see her like this. When she is happy, sure and not afraid, he feels good and happy too. Woman v11 King Solomon had a *vineyard in Baal Hamon.
People could come and they could pay 11 *kilos of *silver for its fruit.
v12 But my own *vineyard is mine. It is a gift to you, my king.
The 11 *kilos of *silver are for you, my Solomon.
I give 2 *kilos of *silver to those who watch over its fruit.
Baal Hamon may be the place where the *vineyard was. Or perhaps it only means the rich country where Solomon was king. 11 *kilos is the same as 24 pounds and 2 *kilos is the same as 4 pounds. The numbers are not important.
Solomon lent his *vineyard to other people. They could eat the fruit. They paid him money for this. The woman says that her body (*vineyard) is hers. She is offering her body to her husband. But it is not the man’s body. He cannot demand sex with her.
She means that her husband can enjoy her body, but not for money. He can keep his money. She gives her body to him freely. She will not refuse this because she loves him. She will pay those who help to keep her body beautiful. For example, those people who cut her hair to make it prettier. Or those who brush her hair so that it shines. This is what she means. Man v13 You have been in the garden with your friends for a long time.
Let me hear your voice! Woman v14 You love me. Come away.
Be like a *gazelle or like a young *deer on the mountains that are full of *spice.
The woman is not asking the man to leave her. She does not want him to go to the mountains, as before. She says ‘Come’. She wants to be alone with the man. She wants to enjoy sex with her husband. So she suggests that they both leave the friends. She wants her husband to enjoy her again. He feels a lot of pleasure when he runs on the hills. She wants him to feel pleasure like that when he is enjoying her. They can have *fun together.
What is love? In English, there is only one word for ‘love’. But the fact is that the word ‘love’ can mean many different things. There are many kinds of love.
The story in the Song of Songs is about the special love that a man shows to his woman. It is a very large and good, strong love. The woman also loves the man a lot. They love each other so much that they decide to marry. Now they are husband and wife. So now, the man and his wife can enjoy sex. This is one way that they show their love for each other.
There are other kinds of love. These kinds of love do not include sex in any way, but the love can still be large. People can show love to each other in several ways. There is love that parents show to their children. There is also love that brothers and sisters show to each other, for example. There is also, sometimes, love that friends show to each other. There is love when someone is kind to another person. So it is possible even to show love to a stranger. Love in the Bible The Bible describes love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-6.
‘If I love, I will be very patient. I will be kind. I will not want to be like other people so much that I get angry with them. I will not tell people how good I am. I will not think that I am better than other people. If I love, I will always be polite. I will think about what other people want. I will not think only about what I myself want. I will not get angry quickly. And I will not always remember the wrong things that other people have done to me. If I love, I will not be happy about bad things. But instead, I will be happy about things that are right and true.’
All love like this is good. It comes from one person, that is, from God himself. We love people because he first loved us. This is what we read in the Bible in 1 John 4:19.
We can read more from the Bible. In that way, we can learn how God loves all people.
For example, in Genesis, the first book in the *Old Testament, we read about how God made a beautiful world. Then he started to be a good friend to people. God wanted a *family to love. He wanted that *family to tell everyone in the world about him and about his love to people. So he chose to be a friend to Abraham and to his *family.
After many years, the *family became a very large group of people. At first, other people were kind to them. But then they did not have a good time. They became slaves and those in authority were cruel to them.
God did not forget this group of people. In the next book of the *Old Testament, Exodus, we read about a man called Moses. God helped Moses to save these people. He led them away from the people who were cruel to them.
In the *New Testament, we read about a young woman called Mary. God was kind to her. He told her that she would have a special child. She should call him Jesus. She said ‘Yes’ to God and she accepted his words. She did what God wanted her to do. She was Jesus’ mother and she watched over him.
Jesus became a man. And Mary was surprised to see how Jesus lived. We can read about Mary and Jesus in the first 4 books of the *New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Jesus loved people. In the same way, God loves us.
We cannot see God. But people have met Jesus. He lived on this earth 2000 years ago. People saw him and they knew him for a long time. As a man, he was like us in many ways. Jesus was like a good brother and a good friend to many people.
Colossians 1:19 in the Bible tells us that God put all of himself in Jesus. God’s nature is in Jesus. So the man Jesus, that people saw, is the same as God. Jesus shows to us the God that we cannot see. Read Colossians 1:15. Today, we can read about Jesus in the Bible. He is the same as the God that we read about in the Bible.
The 5th book of the *New Testament is called Acts. Jesus was not on the earth any longer. But we read how God helped his friends. They travelled to different places to tell other people about God’s love. God was with them and he helped them. God was with them all the time. He loved them and they loved him.
In the last books of the *New Testament we read about how God wants all of his people to live. He wants us to be like Mary. He wants us to say ‘Yes’ to him. He wants us to obey him. He also wants us to be sure in our minds because he is with us. He will help us. What the Song of Songs teaches us about love When the woman was young, her life was not good. Her brothers were not good friends to her. She may not have known her father at all. Or perhaps he was not a good father. He may have been a good man but perhaps he did not have a lot of interest in her. We do not know if she was happy as a child. Perhaps often she felt very tired. Maybe the woman thought about herself only as a servant rather than as a happy young woman. This was a bad thought. She does not seem to have had a lot of *fun.
People like this may not know how to understand their life. They may not understand how God made them to live. So they understand God in a way that is not completely right. They may not understand what God is like. They may think about God as a cruel person rather than as a kind person. They may not believe what people have told them about God. They may have some false ideas about God in their minds.
They may not even believe that there is a God. Or they may think about God as someone who does not have any interest in them at all. They may believe that there is a God. But they may think, ‘God has not done what he promised to do.’ They think that he has forgotten them. So they feel sad.
They may not hope any longer in anything. Even if they are good people, other people may not *respect them. So, they will feel loss. They may no longer watch over their bodies in a proper way. They do not love themselves very much.
A person like this may meet a person who will help them to understand love. He or she may find someone who is kind. That kind person may help them and may become a friend. We see how the man in the story helps the woman. She now has what she wants. She has a man to help her and to love her. She now hopes again. Good things may help to cause pleasure for her again. Sometimes a person may meet a special friend and they may marry. But then the person does not do what he or she has promised to do. There are problems and trouble. So he or she needs even more help from someone else.
The Bible teaches us that God has made men and women to be like him in some ways. Read Genesis 1:27. So men and women can show God’s love to other people. But men sometimes show love to people in different ways from the ways that women show love to people.
We will now explain the part above, ‘Love in the Bible’, as we think about the love in the Song:-
God has made the world. He made many beautiful things. In country places, we see rivers, mountains, birds and flowers. He made colour. We like to see these beautiful things. God also made fruit and *spices that taste good. He made flowers and *incense that have lovely smells. He made hard things, for example, rock. He made soft things, for example, little animals. We like to touch these things. He made music and birds’ songs. We like to hear these sounds. God wants to show us all these things. He wants us to enjoy them all.
A woman is like God in this way. She likes beautiful things. She wants to show them to us. She likes to make pretty things. She likes to make lovely food that tastes good. It has a lovely smell. She puts it on the table so that it is lovely to look at. A woman likes to wear beautiful clothes and ear-rings. She likes to make her home pretty too. These are ways that she shows her love to people.
The Bible tells us many things about God when it tells us about Abraham. One of those things is that God wants to know people well. He wants to be their friend. He wants to talk to them. He wants to listen carefully to them. He wants people to tell him about how they really feel. He wants to be with his people all the time. A woman is like this. She wants to talk to people and to listen to them. She wants people to talk to her. She needs people to listen to her. She would like people to have an interest in her. She wants people to find out what she is like.
In the love story, the woman wants her man to know her well. Men usually think that women are difficult to understand. But women are not problems that men have to understand with their minds! They are secrets that men can explore. It can be *fun to discover a woman’s nature because lovely surprises are hiding in a woman! There is something beautiful and valuable in women. People can find that but they have to continue to look for it.
In the same way, it is difficult for men and women to understand God. The fact is that it is impossible to understand him completely. Men and women must continue to look to find out what God is like. God is hiding in Jesus. God is not hiding so that we cannot find him. We can enjoy it when we discover him. That is why he is hiding in Jesus. Read Romans 16:25 and read Colossians 2:2-3.
A man may show love in a different way. He likes to do things and to explore. He may like sport or athletics. He likes adventure. He wants to meet a woman so that they can both enjoy an adventure. So too, God wants to do things for his people. He wants them today to have an adventure with him. He wants them to explore his nature. He wants them to enjoy their life with him.
A good man wants to help a woman who is in trouble. He wants a beautiful woman to save. The man in Song of Songs saves the woman. He takes her away from a difficult life of work with no *fun. He gives to her a new life of pleasure and adventure with him. She now seems a different woman and stronger in her *spirit. Sometimes a man will have to fight for his woman. God wants to fight for the people that he loves. He speaks on their behalf. He wants to save them from anyone who causes trouble for them. He wants to save them from danger.
Once a year, there is an event called Passover. This event helps people to remember the time when the events in Exodus happened. God saved the group of people from those who had been cruel to them. Moses led them out of the country where they had been slaves. At Passover, someone reads Song of Songs. The listeners then think about the man who saved the woman. They remember how he took her away from her difficult life. Then she had a new life with him. That is why someone reads Song of Songs.
The man in the Song of Songs looks for the woman. He wants her. He wants them to be together always. She also wants to be with the man. She finds him because she looks for him too.
So God looks for us. At any time that we want to come to God, we can do that. He wants us to come to him today. He is so powerful that he can do anything. But he does not use that so that we cannot choose what to do. He waits for us to be ready. We can find the God of the Bible if we read the Bible. If we ask God, he will help us to find him. God’s love God’s love to us is very special. It is certainly stronger and better than any other love. He loves us in a different way from the way that people often love each other. We have done wrong things. But God still loves us. We may not love God or we may only love him a little. But God does not change in the way that he loves us. We may not obey God. But he still loves us.
God is not male or female. He does not have a body, only a *spirit. So we cannot see him. God made the world and he made our *spirits too. Wrong things have come into the world since then. They have made the world a bad place. So people are sad. And when bad events happen to us, our *spirits are not good. We feel sad or angry when we might feel happy.
God’s love is the greatest and strongest of all love. He loves us in the way described in Song of Songs 8:6-7.
Other parts of the Bible tell us how much God loves us. The Bible tells us what he has done to show his love to us. God wants to know each person in a special way. He prepares to meet us. He wants us to know him. He wants to be with us.
He wants us to talk to him about our troubles. He wants us to say ‘Yes’ to him always. Then after that, we will find out about God even more.
We can enjoy our new life with God. We can be happy that we know God. We will feel pleasure even when we still have some troubles in this life. Our pleasure will continue.
We can enjoy God with our *spirits. We *worship God when we sing to him. We can tell him how great he is. We *worship God when we thank him. In the Bible, God teaches us how we should live. When we live like that, we *worship him. This is how we can show our love to God. When we *worship God, we give pleasure to him. In many places, the Bible teaches us how we can love God.
The last book of the *New Testament is called Revelation. Here we learn about *heaven. We learn what *worship will be like there. In *heaven, we will *worship God with our *spirits in a better way than before. We will enjoy even more pleasure there and we will give more pleasure to God. In *heaven, we will know God as he knows us. There we will always enjoy God completely.
© 1997-2012, Wycliffe Associates (UK)
This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words).
March 2012
Visit our website: www.easyenglish.info
var w3 = new Array;w3[0]=’<b%3Ewine</b%3E ~ a drink that has alcohol in it. People make it from grapes.