Song of Solomon 7

Song of Solomon 7:1-13

Tender words of intimate loveSon_7:1-13“How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman. Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies. Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins. Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus. Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries. How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!

This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes. I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples; And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak. I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. 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. 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.” In this seventh chapter of the Song of Solomon the Lord Jesus Christ gives us a very tender, intimate, and loving description of his love and esteem for his bride, the church. He tells us, in the most intimate terms, that he both loves us and takes delight in us (Son 7:1-9). Then, in Son 7:10-13 the bride, the church, expresses her love for Christ. She tells him how that she loves him, delights in him, and greatly desires to be in communion and fellowship with him. The intimate language of this chapter to carnal and self-righteous men will probably be both confusing and offensive. But, to those who know the love of Christ and whose hearts are truly in love with the Son of God, this seventh chapter of The Song Of Loves is both delightful and precious. Commenting on this passage, Matthew Henry said, “Such mutual esteem and endearment there is between Christ and believers. And what is heaven but an everlasting interchanging of loves between the holy God and holy souls!” Husbands and wives These expressions of love are between Christ and his church. They must be understood allegorically, in a spiritual sense. Yet, we have here a pattern and example of that love and tenderness which should characterize every home. The Holy Spirit here gives us a pattern of love for husbands and wives. In Ephesians 5:22-32, the apostle Paul makes it very clear that the relationship of a husband and wife, if it is what it should be, is a picture of the relationship between Christ and his church. Believing men and women ought to work at making their homes palaces of love and happiness for the glory of Christ. Marriage was ordained and established by God for the propagation of the race and for the happiness of man (Genesis 2:18). Our Lord Jesus Christ showed his approval for marriage when he attended the wedding in Cana and provided wine for the guests. By his presence, our Lord honored and sanctified the marriage (John 2). Marriage is honorable for all men (Hebrews 13:4). We must not look upon marriage as a carnal thing. And we should not look upon the conjugal privileges of husbands and wives as something evil or distasteful. Paul says that - “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled.” Men and women need to get over their silly, prudish ideas about marriage (1 Corinthians 7:1-5). The relationship of a husband and wife should be a picture of the relationship of Christ and his church. They are no longer two, but one. They are to live together in mutual, self-sacrificing love. The husband is to love, protect, and provide for his wife. The wife is to love, reverence, submit to, and obey her husband. Christ and his church Here, in the Song of Solomon chapter 7, we have tender words of intimate love between Christ and his church; and they give us a picture of that love which should characterize the husband-wife relationship. We will go through this chapter giving very briefly its interpretation, showing the love and esteem Christ has for his church and the love and esteem believers have for Christ. Then I will draw some applications, which I hope will be helpful for us as husbands and wives. We should seek to follow our Lord and seek his glory in our homes. Christ speaks In Son 7:1-9, we hear the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to his church in tender, loving, thoughtful, and endearing terms. Notice the title the Son of God gives to his church—“O Prince’s Daughter.” The Lord himself is “the Prince of the kings of the earth.” He is “the Prince of Glory” and “the Prince of Peace”. He calls us his daughter. We are the Prince’s daughter by birth. We are born from above, begotten of God. We are his workmanship. We bear the image of the King of kings. We are the Prince’s daughter by marriage. Christ, the Son of God, has betrothed us to himself, making us the Prince’s daughter, the very children of God. As the prince’s daughter, we have been made heirs of the Prince of the kings of the earth. Our Lord here describes the beauty of his church in his own eyes (Son 7:1-5). In our own eyes we see that there is nothing beautiful in us. Our souls are like the company of two warring armies. We are humbled with a sense of our sin, our shame, and our worthlessness. We are not worthy of such love as his. But Christ himself here speaks to us, sinful though we are, to express his love, assuring us that he loves us and delights in us. These tender, loving words are thoughtful and endearing. The church had defiled herself. She needed to be assured of his love. So our thoughtful Redeemer assures us that his love has not changed. In Christ we are perfect, and he declares that we are. The Lord looks his bride over from head to foot, and describes her as having a tenfold beauty in his eyes, a beauty which no one else could have in his eyes. “How beautiful are thy feet with shoes.”— He has set our feet free and adorned them with the gospel of peace to walk in liberty. “The joints of thy thighs are like jewels.”— The principles that strengthen us and determine how we walk through this world, like the knee and hip joints, are as jewels in his sight They are principles of faith and love toward him for the glory of God. They are produced in us by God the Holy Spirit, as “the work of the hands of a cunning workman” (Ephesians 2:10). “Thy navel is like a round goblet.”— Perhaps, as some suggest, the reference here is not to the “navel” itself, but to a jewel worn to cover it, that it refers to “the clothing of wrought gold” (Psalms 45:13), representing the beautiful robe of Christ’s righteousness with which his church is adorned. Perhaps the word refers to the navel itself, symbolizing the fulness of life that is ours in Christ. It is compared to a cup full of wine, refreshing and invigorating. It is well shaped and full of life, not uncut, bleeding, and loathsome, like it was when he found us (Ezekiel 16:4). The fear of the Lord is said to be “health to the navel” (Proverbs 3:8). “Thy belly is like a heap of wheat, set about with lilies.”—The wheat refers to fruitfulness (Galatians 5:22-23). The flowers refer to beauty and pleasantness. “Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.”—This refers to the Word of God, the Old and New Testaments, like twins, they are in perfect agreement, showing forth the riches, the glory, and the grace of Christ (1 Peter 2:2). “Thy neck is a tower of ivory.”—The faith of God’s elect, by which we are joined to Christ our Head, is both strong and precious. “Thine eyes like the fish pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim.”—Eyes of repentance and faith, of love and devotion, of sincerity and truth. The eyes that weep over sin are as beautiful fountains in the eyes of Christ. “Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.”—This speaks of the boldness and courage of the church in facing her enemies and in the cause of Christ. “Thine Head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine Head like purple.”—Christ our Head is exalted above the earth and reigns as King over all the earth. A woman’s beauty is in her head, and the hair of her head is her glory. Even so, Christ our Head is our great Glory and Beauty. Our glory is altogether in Christ’s blood atonement and royal exaltation as our Savior. The church’s hair “may be said to be like ‘purple’ because of their royal dignity, being made kings unto God by Christ, and because of their being washed in the purple blood of Christ.” (John Gill) We have no beauty except what we have in and from him. And his greatest beauty is seen in his agony at the cross, when his hair was dyed crimson and purple. In Son 7:5-9, our Lord tells us of the complacency, satisfaction, and delight he has in his church. —“The king is held in the galleries” (Son 7:5). Imagine that! The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the God of Glory is so ravished by the beauty of his church, the beauty he has bestowed upon and wrought in her, that he is held at a stand by the sight of her! The Lord Jesus Christ has so adorned us and made us so beautiful in his sight that he delights in us (Ezekiel 16:13-14). Our great Savior delights in the beauty of his people - His Righteousness (Son 7:6-7). The Lord of Glory delights in the company of his people (Son 7:8). Christ Jesus, our great God, delights in the prayers and praises of his people (Son 7:9). The church speaks In Son 7:10-13, we see that the church, all believing hearts, are overcome by the love of Christ. The love of Christ, once it is revealed and known, is an irresistible love. Does Christ so love me? Then, surely I shall love him (1 John 4:19). In these verses, the church, the bride, acknowledges five things that I hope as you read them you, too, can honestly acknowledge. First, she acknowledges that she belongs to Christ (Son 7:10). —“I am my beloved’s.” We belong to him by his own eternal choice of us in electing love (John 15:16). We are his by special purchase (Ephesians 5:25-27). We belong to our Savior by the commit of personal faith, because we freely give ourselves to him (Mark 8:35). And we belong to the Son of God by the consecration of love to him (1 John 4:19). Second, she expresses, to his praise and glory, that she is confident of his love for her. —“His desire is toward me!” He desires our salvation so much that it was the joy set before him, for which he endured the cross. His heart’s desire is that we may be with him where he is and that we may know the love wherewith he has loved us (John 17:23-24). Third, she acknowledges a desire to be with him, in his company, and in his fellowship (Son 7:11).—“Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.”

“Thou, O Christ, art all I want, More than all in Thee I find.”

Fourth, she acknowledges a desire to know the true condition of her own soul (Son 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.” Fifth, she acknowledges her love and devotion for Christ (Son 7:12-13). —“There will I give thee my loves. 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.” She promises him her love. She promises him herself. All that she is and all that she has she holds in love for him and gives to him. Lessons There are lessons here for both husbands and wives. Love needs no law. It is a law unto itself. Love needs no motive. It is a motive unto itself. If you love your wife, you want to please her and do her good. You need no commandment in that regard. If you love your husband, you want to please him and honor him. Love needs no law or motivation beyond itself. But even love needs instruction. And here our Lord gives us some instructions in love, by way of his own example. By his example, our Lord gives husbands some clear instructions about loving their wives. Let every believing husband imitate the Son of God in faithfulness to, thoughtfulness of, and giving honor to his wife. Happy is that woman whose husband seeks to imitate the Lord Jesus in intimate tenderness, affection, and devotion (Ephesians 5:32). The spouse here stands as an example of the love women should show to their husbands. Let every believing wife reverence her husband (Son 7:10), find satisfaction with and in her husband (Son 7:11), and submit to her husband (Son 7:12). Happy is that man whose wife gives herself and her love to him (Son 7:12), and desires to please him (Son 7:13). Let us safely rest in our Savior’s love. Lets us keep our hearts in the love of Christ. Let us imitate the love of Christ in our homes.

Song of Solomon 7:10-13

“Come, my beloved”Son 7:10-13“I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. 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. 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.” Matthew Henry, wrote, “These are the words of the spouse, the church, the believing soul, in answer to the kind expressions of Christ’s love in the preceding verses.” The church had been without the fellowship of Christ for some time now. He had not neglected her; but she had neglected him. His heart had not been cold toward her; but her heart had been cold toward him. He had done her no evil; but she had done him much evil. He had not forsaken her; but she had, for a while, forsaken him. He came to reveal himself, to show his love and grace. He knocked at her door, called to her, and tugged at her heart. But, through her coldness of heart, slothfulness, sin, and desire for ease, she refused him. She withdrew her heart from him, so he withdrew from her the sense of his presence. Though he was always with her, and would never forsake her, she was not aware of his presence. The sweet manifestation of his love and grace and power were gone (Son 5:2-3). Even when the Lord hid his face from her and caused her to pass through so much trouble, he acted in love. Her best interest was upon his heart. His purpose was her good. He would prove her love. He was proving her faith. He was making himself more and more precious to her. He was showing her herself, her emptiness, her barrenness, her need of him. Blessed trial! No sooner had the Lord withdrawn his manifest presence from her, than she realized her shameful neglect and sin. She arose and sought him. Her soul was grieved. Her heart ached with longings for him. She passed through many painful afflictions and trials that were hard to bear. But she continued to love him and to trust him. Her soul was like two armies warring against one another, the one in league with sin, the other in love with Christ. But she continued to seek her Beloved (Son 5:4-8). Is this the condition you are in? How often we bring ourselves into this low condition.

“My soul through many changes goes. His love no variation knows!”

At last, the Lord graciously revealed himself to her again. He assured her of his love and grace. He assured her that his heart had not changed. And he promised her that he would come to her again. He said, “I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples” (Son 7:8-9). He said, I will come to you again and make myself known unto you. Then, you shall be fruitful. Your soul shall be refreshed. This promise filled her soul with hope. And this is how she responded to him. – “Come, my Beloved.”

“Enter our hearts, Redeemer blest, Enter, Thou ever-honored Guest; Enter, and make our hearts Thine own, Thy house, Thy temple, and Thy throne.

And stay, not only for a night, To bless us with a transient sight; But with us dwell, through time – and then In heaven for evermore – Amen.” A blessed assurance of love Here is a blessed assurance of love. “I am my Beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.” Here we see faith taking Christ at his Word. He told her of his love for and his interest in her. He told her that she belonged to him and only to him. And she believed him. Her heart was made to rejoice in her relation to Christ and her interest in him. In his name she will boast all the day long (Jeremiah 9:23-24). Does your heart enjoy such an assurance of Christ’s love? If you are a sinner trusting Christ alone, you may be sure of this – You are his, and his desire is toward you! If you love Christ, and your desire is toward him, you may be sure of this – He loves you, and his desire is toward you! “I am my Beloved’s” With these words, the believing soul acknowledges that all she is and all she has belongs to Christ and comes from Christ. And she here makes a voluntary surrender of all to him again. As she received all from him, she devotes all to him. “I am my Beloved’s,” not my own. “Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price” The Lord Jesus Christ is our Lord. We belong to him. We are his property. We are his by his own eternal choice (John 15:16). We are his by legal purchase (Titus 2:14). We are his by divine gift (John 6:37-39). And we are his by voluntary surrender. Faith in Christ is nothing less than a voluntary surrender of myself to his dominion (Luke 14:25-33). May the Lord graciously give us continual, constant devotion to him. We want more than occasional spasms of devotion. We want continued, unbroken devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. “His desire is toward me.” As a faithful husband’s desire is toward his wife, so that in all things he seeks her happiness, comfort, and welfare, so Christ’s desire is toward his church. His desire is toward me only - All that the Lord does, he does for his elect. His desire is toward me from eternity. His desire is toward me at all times. This is why he came into the world. – “His desire is toward me.” Before conversion, after conversion, at all times and forever, “His desire is toward me.” Christ’s desire toward his own elect will never be fully satisfied until he has them all with him in glory. As a tender husband, the desire of the Lord’s heart is toward his people. He sympathizes with us in all our distresses. He protects us in all our dangers. And he provides for us all that we need for time and eternity. An earnest desire In Son 7:11-12, the spouse expresses an earnest desire for her Beloved. His desire is toward me; and my desire is toward him. “Come, my Beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards.” Perhaps, you think, “The Lord assures us that we are his and that he will never leave us nor forsake us. That being the case, such an expression is out of order.” Not so. Is it out of order for a wife, assured by the experience of her husband’s faithful love and devotion, to constantly yearn for his approving smile? Of course not. Such yearnings are inspired by the confidence of love rising from its experience. Do you long for Christ? Tell him so. “Come, my Beloved.” Let us walk together, that I may receive counsel and instruction from you. Come, comfort my heart, refresh my soul, and revive my spirit. Our Lord walked with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus; and as he talked with them, their hearts burned within them. That experience made them want him all the more. Immediately, they went to the place where they hope to find him, the assembly of his church at Jerusalem (Luke 24:32-36; Matthew 18:20). There they found him. Having received fresh tokens of his love and fresh assurances of her interest in him, the spouse wanted a better acquaintance with him. She pressed towards “the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.” Oh, that I may know him, was her cry (Philippians 3:10). We want to know our Savior doctrinally, experimentally, growingly in the fellowship of his suffering and in the power of his resurrection, being made conformable to him in his death. She wanted to enjoy personal, private communion with Christ. She wanted to get alone with him. “Come, my Beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.” If we would enjoy the fellowship of Christ, we must lay aside the cares and amusements of this world, avoiding everything that would take our hearts away from him (1 Corinthians 7:35; Colossians 3:1-3). If we would enjoy fellowship with Christ, if we would know him, we must get alone with him. Did our Lord not say, “When we pray, enter into thy closet, and shut the door”? But, as Matthew Henry put it, “A believer is never less alone than when he is alone with Christ.” She was willing to rise early to be with her Lord. She considered it neither trouble nor sacrifice, but a great privilege to do so. She says, “Let us get up early to the vineyards.” C. H. Spurgeon, commenting on this text, wrote, “This is put here as the very type and symbol of an earnest and vigorous service for Christ.” It intimates this – If we would enjoy the fellowship and company of Christ, we must be diligent; we must take advantage of our opportunities to hear from, commune with, and worship him. There is nothing particularly excellent, or noble, or spiritual about rising before dawn, but, if we would spend our days with Christ, we must begin our days with Christ. Seek him early; and seek him diligently. She would be content in any place, under any circumstances, if she could enjoy the presence of Christ with her. What does it take to make us happy and content? Here we see one who was content to take her lodging in the villages, in the huts of the poor, if only Christ would be with her.

“Prisons would palaces prove, If Jesus would dwell with me there!”

Knowing that earthly comfort and luxury had once nearly stolen her heart, she was willing to make any sacrifice to have her Beloved Savior’s presence. Nothing can satisfy a believing soul but Christ. And nothing can destroy the peace, contentment, and satisfaction of a believer who enjoys the presence and fellowship of Christ.

“All that my soul has tried Left but a dismal void; Jesus has satisfied, Jesus is mine!”

When we so desire Christ that we desire nothing but Christ, we shall have Christ (Psalms 73:25). Examination In Son 7:12, the bride, the believing soul, willingly submits to examination by her Beloved. She says, “Let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth.” One reason she desires the presence of Christ is that she may know the state and condition of her own soul (Psalms 139:23-24). Our souls are our vineyards. It is our responsibility to keep our vineyards, not our neighbors’ vineyards, but our own, to look after them and examine them. Someone has suggested that the vine is faith, the tender grape hope, and the pomegranates love and joy. In the examination of our souls, it is always wise to take Christ along. His presence will make the vine to flourish, the tender grape to appear, and the pomegranates to bud forth. As the returning of the sun revives our gardens, the returning of Christ’s manifest presence revives our souls. It is to Christ himself that we must appeal for our comfort and assurance, praying like David, “Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.” If he sees the vine of faith flourishing, the tender grape of hope appearing, and the pomegranates of love and joy budding, if we can appeal to him, like Peter, “Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee,” if his Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God, that is enough. Promised love In Son 7:12-13, we hear the bride, whose heart has been revived by Christ, making a sincere promise of love to him. “There,” from the depths of my heart and my innermost soul, “will I give thee my loves.” 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.” Oh, for grace to give the Lord Jesus Christ all the love of our hearts, so that there is no room left, and nothing left, to give to any rival! This is the sure result of our Lord’s reviving presence. When Christ comes and makes himself known to his people, our love and devotion to him is renewed. Love for Christ must be our motive and our governing principle in all things. “The love of Christ constraineth us.” He looks beyond our words, and our actions, to the attitude of our hearts. “All through these verses the spouse acts with reference to her Beloved. It is for him that she goes forth into the field, for the sake of his company, and the quiet enjoyment of his love, she would lodge in the villages; and all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which are stored within her gates she declares to be laid up for her Beloved. Love, then, is the fittest and most powerful motive to holy service” (C. H. Spurgeon). This love has about it certain evident peculiarities. It is a love which realizes the person of the Beloved. The church is strong when the Lord Jesus Christ is real to her. Jesus Christ is not a mere historical person to us, who once lived and died. He is a real person, living today in our midst. He walks among the golden candlesticks, and resides in our souls. Our love for Christ arises from an assurance of his love for us (1 John 4:19). It is not possible for us to love Christ unless we are made to know that he loves us. When I know that his desire is toward me, then my desire shall be toward him. Love for Christ leads us to hold all things in joint possession with him. Love is the mother of devotion, sacrifice, and self-denial. Love for Christ causes the believer to give himself and all that he has to Christ. Love does not have divided properties. Such is the love of Christ for us that he gave all that he had for us and gives all that he is and has to us. He could not bear to have anything, not even his throne, that should be altogether for himself. He stripped himself naked to clothe us. Then, he gave us his breath to be our life, and his blood to be our health. Every ransomed soul ought to have such love for Christ that he could sing…

“If I might make some reserve, And duty did not call; I love my Lord with zeal so great, That I would give Him all.”

Let us more and more have all things in common with our Lord. We are joint-heirs with Christ. All that he has is ours. Let all that we have be his. Our talents, our time, our abilities, our possessions, all are his, rightfully his. Let us constantly live in the awareness that those things we call “ours” are really his. He has only put them into our hands that we might serve him with them, and serve him with the enjoyment of them. Love for Christ leads us to go afield in serving him. Love for Christ says, “What more can I do for him?” It is never satisfied with old fruits, it must always bring forth new service for him. Let us bring out everything for him, use it for him, and count it our highest honor that he will accept that which we bring to him. This love grows and flourishes in the fellowship and communion of Christ. I am afraid that we are far too cold in our love for our altogether lovely Christ, because we live at a distance from him. Oh, may God enable us to live in constant, habitual fellowship and communion with our Savior. This one thing is needful to promote and sustain revival in our souls. If we have abounding love for Christ, we shall prosper under terrible disadvantages; but if we do not have this love, we have lost the great secret of happiness, peace, and usefulness. Let this be our unceasing prayer and hearts’ desire – “Come, my Beloved!”