Pastor Nate continues our study through the Bible in the book of Song of Solomon.
[00:00:01] You are listening to the through the Bible's studio series with Pastor Nate Holdridge.
[00:00:06] Join us as we continue our study through the Old Testament book, Song of Solomon.
[00:00:12] Here's Nate.
[00:00:13] Well as we turn to song of Solomon chapter 1, we left off at the end of verse 11, moving on into
[00:00:21] verse 12 and the thought that really comes to my mind because here we are in this section where the
[00:00:26] love and interest between Solomon and this young woman is growing.
[00:00:32] And in this courtship period of time, they're love for one another is deepening.
[00:00:39] And I think the thought in my mind is simply that I know that we're a culture that loves
[00:00:44] to hear about love at first sight stories.
[00:00:48] But what you see here is something that is very powerful because it is growing and
[00:00:53] surging type and quality of love and it's a beautiful thing to watch and to observe.
[00:01:00] Now we're going to go today all the way through chapter 2, verse 7.
[00:01:04] And in the verses that are to come there is much that sounds at first glance sensual or erotic.
[00:01:12] But the events of the text aren't explicit even though there's a desire that is definitely
[00:01:20] building between these two. They're holding faster their integrity. They're able to confess
[00:01:24] their desires to the appropriate people and to themselves within their own private thoughts being
[00:01:31] recorded for us here on the pages of Scripture. But they do not cross that line into sexual intimacy
[00:01:40] and fulfillment before the night of their marriage. Now the first section really begins with
[00:01:48] the woman speaking and she in verse 12 says, well the king was on his couch. My
[00:01:54] Nard gave forth its fragrance. And so what she means there in verse 12 by the king being on
[00:02:00] his couch it's an image there. He's at home on his bed. He's sleeping at his house. And while
[00:02:09] he is she's at her home and she apparently is having this day dream dream in her sleep about him
[00:02:19] as she lies upon her bed. She's just there alone with her thoughts thinking about him. And
[00:02:27] she's kind of head over heels in love with this man. She's becoming more convinced as time goes on.
[00:02:36] And the way that she describes it is beautiful. Nard was a valuable and rare and exotic
[00:02:43] ointment in that era. And for a woman to take that into release it meant that she was releasing
[00:02:51] something of great value. And so she's saying, I'm releasing there's this thing that's happening to me
[00:02:58] where I am letting go. And I'm ready to give my love to this man. Those of us of course familiar with
[00:03:05] the New Testament, likely recognized Nard from the life of Jesus when Mary the sister of Lazarus
[00:03:13] anointed Jesus' body with Nard in the house of Simon and preparation for his burial. It was a
[00:03:22] beautiful act of worship that caused no small controversy especially in the mind of Judas Iskaryat.
[00:03:30] But the whole concept of the giving away of Nard or the releasing of Nard is that when you
[00:03:35] release it, you cannot get it back. It's something that's very valuable that you make a decision
[00:03:41] to give away. And she is there lying on her bed saying, there is something very valuable to me
[00:03:48] that I lying on my bed just thinking about this man, I am ready to give myself to him.
[00:03:57] And I think that the pouring out of fragrant oil is a beautiful image of what it means to give
[00:04:04] your heart to someone. Because when you pour out your heart to someone, when you give your body
[00:04:09] to someone, when you share your soul with someone, you cannot retrieve those moments, those experiences
[00:04:16] back. And so she went into this guardedly, but now she's beginning to open her heart and is convinced
[00:04:24] now that she's ready to release herself to this man. This is one of the reasons why pre-marital
[00:04:31] sexual experiences are so dangerous to a relationship. When people engage each other sexually
[00:04:39] physically, intimately before the wedding night, when they do that, they no longer are able to think
[00:04:46] clearly about who it is that they're dealing with. And so she is preparing herself. She's
[00:04:52] longing for that moment and make me almost stake. This is not just a sentimental desire. There is
[00:04:59] a bit of sensuous desire with this woman. She's longing for this man and waiting for the appropriate
[00:05:06] moment to express her physical desire for him. She goes on in verse 13 to say,
[00:05:13] my beloved is to me, a sachet of mure that lies between my breasts. Now, notice first of all
[00:05:22] the little pet name that she'll give to Solomon. She'll use it 27 times in this book when she
[00:05:30] speaks of him or to him and it's the name my beloved, just a beautiful little name. So they're
[00:05:38] growing in their intimacy, naming each other in that kind of way. And she says, he's like a sachet of mure
[00:05:44] that lies between my breasts. Now in that day, some women could afford the luxury of this little
[00:05:51] perfume pouch that would sort of hang from their neck like a necklace and they would fill that
[00:05:57] pouch with fragrant objects like mure. You put that in there and there would be this aroma
[00:06:05] that surrounded this woman kind of an ancient perfume that she was wearing. And so she's saying
[00:06:13] that not that he's literally there between her breasts at this moment, oh, that will come in the
[00:06:19] song of Solomon. But that to her, just the thoughts of him are fragrant. There's this beautiful
[00:06:28] thing that's happening and to her thoughts of him are like that beautiful smelling fragrant mure
[00:06:37] that would hang there in that satchel around her neck. And so what you're seeing here is that as time
[00:06:44] goes on in their relationship, he is growing sweeter and sweeter in her mind's eye. Now this
[00:06:53] is interesting because so often what people will do when they come together and begin to investigate
[00:07:00] whether they should be married or not. So often what people will do is they'll enjoy those early days
[00:07:07] of infatuation and then as the romance progresses and as conversations intensify and as you really
[00:07:16] get to know the other person to a much deeper level and degree. A lot of times the relationship
[00:07:24] will sort of go downhill. And the reason is because you're not a good match for each other, but sometimes
[00:07:33] what people will do is they'll think back to those first couple of weeks or months or so of real
[00:07:39] infatuation and the fun and all of that and just think to themselves, well, you know we just got
[00:07:45] to stick with it because that's the potential. No, for her in her relationship with Solomon,
[00:07:52] the joy of the thought of him only intensified over time. Listen, before you say I do,
[00:08:00] you have an opportunity to walk away. You have an opportunity to say, nope, this isn't the right
[00:08:07] fit for me. It would be better to remain in a single state devoted to the Lord obedient to the Lord
[00:08:15] than to be in a situation or to be in a marriage that is overly difficult. Now if you're in an
[00:08:23] overly difficult marriage, you're to continue on and you're walk with the Lord and to continue on
[00:08:28] in that marriage and bring honor and glory to him in that way. But before you're married,
[00:08:34] you have a level of freedom as what I'm trying to say. And for her, her desire over time intensified.
[00:08:42] So this is a beautiful thing. And what you're seeing here is that her desire for him was a mutual
[00:08:50] thing. He expressed it to her and she is now expressing it to him. Notice the other beautiful
[00:08:57] compliment that she gives to Solomon in verse 14. She says, my beloved is to me a cluster
[00:09:03] of Hannah Blossom's in the vineyards of Anne Getty. Now Anne Getty is a beautiful or wasa beautiful
[00:09:11] desert oasis and southern Israel. And so what she's saying is that to her, Solomon was like a desert oasis.
[00:09:21] You know, you go down there into southern Israel and it's a very dry climate that dead sea down
[00:09:26] there and everything. But you get to Anne Getty, you find these little streams and it can be a very
[00:09:32] refreshing thing. And so for her, she's saying, you know, in a dry and weary land, you are refreshing.
[00:09:42] His love was refreshing to her, not a tiring or draining relationship. And again, I think that's an
[00:09:50] important thing for especially young couples who are thinking about getting into marriage
[00:09:55] and are investigating a certain person. It's very important that you stop and consider and wonder,
[00:10:01] is this edifying? Is this refreshing me? Is this person bringing life to me? Or would I really
[00:10:10] describe this relationship in an opposite kind of way? Is this kind of a desert experience
[00:10:16] filled with dryness that I am in? You want there to be a refreshing state that comes as a result
[00:10:24] of your relationship. Now, in verse 15, Solomon speaks to the girl and he says, behold,
[00:10:33] you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are dust. Now, first of all, just
[00:10:44] the fact that Solomon responds to her so swiftly in this song, it tells us quite clearly that they
[00:10:51] are using their words very well in their relationship. And it's almost like they get into this
[00:10:57] little battle of complementing one another and we'll see that as we progress through this particular
[00:11:04] text, but they're using their words to edify and to build up one another. So often, in a marriage,
[00:11:12] a couple will use their words to harm rather than to help. They'll use their words to bring pain
[00:11:18] and to declare little points and try to manipulate. Here, that's not the case for Solomon.
[00:11:26] He continues to bless his future bride. Notice as well that he says to her twice, you are beautiful.
[00:11:34] He'd already said it. He says it again twice. Your beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful.
[00:11:40] It's a go-to line of Solomon. I think it's just good to note, repeated compliments are not a
[00:11:48] bad idea. He just continues that line of compliment for his bride, your beautiful. But he gets very
[00:11:55] specific when he says in verse 15, your eyes are as doves. Now, again, his compliments are generally
[00:12:03] very appropriate for this season of their life. They're not yet married. He's not going to
[00:12:10] complement the other features of her body, but he does compliment her neck and her face. And
[00:12:17] here he compliments her eyes. He says, your eyes are doves. Now, when you look into
[00:12:22] literature from around that time and the rest of the Old Testament, it's clear that doves
[00:12:27] were noted for their cleanliness, their tranquility, their peace. And so some would say that a bride
[00:12:35] with eyes of a dove is a bride who has beautiful character, peaceful character, clean character.
[00:12:47] And so what Solomon is saying is not only do I see your external beauty, but you're the whole
[00:12:54] package. I see that you are a person of inner integrity. And of course, a man of God should not
[00:13:02] overlook this and a woman of God should not overlook this in her life. Peter and writing to
[00:13:09] wives in first Peter chapter 3 said to the wives that they ought to be subject to their husbands,
[00:13:17] so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be one without a word, without a word,
[00:13:22] without a word being spoken. They would be one by the conduct of their wives. When they see
[00:13:28] Peter said, you're respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be merely external,
[00:13:36] the braiding of the hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or clothing you wear, but let your
[00:13:41] adorning be a hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit,
[00:13:50] which in God's sight is very precious. So Peter here outlines inner beauty. She has a
[00:13:58] respectful and pure conduct. She has imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.
[00:14:06] The hidden person of the heart, Peter writes. And Solomon looked at this woman and he realized,
[00:14:15] that's what I'm dealing with. I'm dealing with a woman who has taken her walk with God
[00:14:20] very seriously. I'm dealing with a woman of the word. I'm dealing with a woman of the woman
[00:14:24] of prayer. I'm dealing with a woman who's devoted to the Lord and he saw that about her and he
[00:14:30] compliments her for it. Now, verse 16, it appears that the conversation shifts back to the woman.
[00:14:39] It is a song so there are times where there's a little debate as to who is speaking,
[00:14:44] but I'm going to take this as the woman speaking in verse 16. It says, behold, you are beautiful,
[00:14:51] my beloved, truly delightful. Our couch is green. The beams of our house are cedar.
[00:14:59] Our rafters are pine. Notice that she confesses about him. She's saying, you're not only
[00:15:07] physically attractive to me, but she says you're truly delightful. In other words, she saw him and she just
[00:15:16] thought, you not only do you have great appearance. You also have an incredible personality.
[00:15:25] Listen, it's important to have personality attraction. You can have someone that you are physically
[00:15:31] attracted to and spiritually attracted to, but it is important to as well have a attraction to their
[00:15:42] personality. You know, what do they like and how do they operate? What makes them tick?
[00:15:48] And often I think many people have observed over time that when it comes to personalities,
[00:15:55] opposites will attract. It's not a mandate from scripture by any stretch of the imagination,
[00:16:01] but it's often just a human observation. Now here she's saying, I am seeing your personality. It's
[00:16:10] more than just what she saw, it's what she experienced. This is a delight, just knowing you,
[00:16:16] being in a relationship with you. They had fun together, they could laugh together,
[00:16:20] they had great camaraderie together. They had a friendship together, just an incredible
[00:16:28] element to their lives. And I think that so often in marriage, one of the elements that is for God and
[00:16:33] is the friendship. And to remember that ought to be cultivated, that that ought to be experienced.
[00:16:41] And then of course, as children come along and then as children depart, friendship during the
[00:16:46] duration must be defended. Now she also seems to speak about their home. Kind of at first glance,
[00:16:55] she says, our couch is green, the beams of our house are cedar, our rafters are pine. What does
[00:17:01] that mean? It sounds like some pretty progressive interior design or decoration. But what she's
[00:17:09] doing here is she's saying, we're spending a lot of time outside. We don't spend a lot of time
[00:17:16] inside the house yet. We're not yet married. We haven't yet built a home. So we don't have a couch
[00:17:23] together. We don't have a house together. We don't have rafters. Our couch is green. Our house
[00:17:31] is cedar. Our rafters are pine. Now I'm not oblivious. I understand that it's just as easy
[00:17:41] to sin outside as it is inside. But I think in one sense, it is probably easier to hold
[00:17:49] fast to your integrity, while you're as a dating couple or according couple by being outside
[00:17:56] in the light. That would suggest daytime a little bit more than nighttime. It would suggest
[00:18:02] outdoors a little bit more than indoors. It would suggest innocence because you're kind of
[00:18:09] reading things that remind us perhaps even of the garden of Eden and the innocence that was there.
[00:18:15] But I think probably the best way to see this is we're seeing something that's in the light.
[00:18:20] They spent time cultivating their love in the light and I think that it's true that love grows
[00:18:28] in a place of innocence. Love grows in the light. So many have fallen prey to spending time
[00:18:38] in inappropriate places without any accountability. Listen, walk in the light. Be in the light.
[00:18:45] I think a young man or a woman but a young man especially a man who's leading a relationship towards
[00:18:53] marriage. He should lead well to avoid sexual temptation. Don't put the burden upon the woman.
[00:19:00] Take responsibility yourself. Say no we aren't going to spend time alone in your
[00:19:07] apartment. It's just not what we're going to do because it's an environment that leads us
[00:19:12] to a place of temptation. So just a beautiful thing there. She says, you know we're spending
[00:19:18] all this time outside in the light. Now in verse 1 of chapter 2 she talks about herself and she
[00:19:26] says I'm a rose of Sharon a Lily of the Values. Now this is interesting because previously
[00:19:34] she was embarrassed about her looks earlier in chapter 1. She was ashamed of her tan or her son
[00:19:40] burn as a result of working out in the fields. And here her perspective seems to have shifted
[00:19:47] a little bit. We would assume as a result of the compliments of Solomon, the perspective of
[00:19:54] Solomon. And so she says now I'm a rose of Sharon. I'm a Lily of the Values. Now when she says that
[00:20:01] I think it's important to understand that she really isn't boasting at all. These are words
[00:20:07] that are used for common flowers. So she's sort of admitting like I realize that this man
[00:20:15] sees me as beautiful but there's no pride, there's no arrogance. She just simply has a healthy,
[00:20:23] self view about herself. I think in large part due to the love that is coming from
[00:20:30] Solomon. And so she confesses this about herself. Solomon however response and says as a Lily among
[00:20:39] Brambles, so is my love among the young women. So he responds and he plays off of her words.
[00:20:46] He takes it little further and he says yeah that's right you're just a flower. You're the only
[00:20:51] flower among a bunch of Brambles. He just giving her life with his words. He is elevating
[00:20:58] her and again we're seeing this couple just outdoing one another with praise for one another. And so
[00:21:06] of course questioning our own hearts and asking the question what kind of words am I using
[00:21:12] with my spouse if I'm a married person? And so the life imparting dialogue that's coming from
[00:21:18] Solomon to his bride. Now she says in verse 3, as an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
[00:21:27] so is my beloved among the young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow and his fruit was
[00:21:34] sweet to my taste. So she keeps the compliments rolling. She has another little image here. They
[00:21:42] are full of imagery. It's very poetic. It's a song. It's just magnificent but the way she describes
[00:21:49] him is as an apple tree among the trees of the forest. Now this would be in one sense surprising.
[00:21:57] You know like just an element of surprise saying, Solomon you totally caught me off guard. I was
[00:22:04] just kind of cruising through life and then boom there you were and you know everyone else is
[00:22:12] just one way but you oh there's just something different about you. Now she says apple tree which is
[00:22:21] often used the word apple often used as a generic word for fruit. And so in one sense we could
[00:22:29] see this as a way for her to communicate your love to me is so health-giving. It's so nutritious.
[00:22:40] It's so satisfying. There's just something wonderful about what is coming my direction from you.
[00:22:49] And then she goes on to say not only am I satisfied you know some people thought in that era.
[00:22:55] Well if you have a fruit tree you're not going to get me shade or if you have a tree that
[00:22:59] gives shade you're not going to get me fruit. She says I got both. I got the fruit and I got the shade.
[00:23:06] I just got to delight and sit in his shadow. What does this say? I think this speaks of safety,
[00:23:15] safety. Refuge she felt protected by this man. She felt defended by this man. Remember for her shade is a
[00:23:27] very big deal. Her mother's son said forced her to work out in the field. This is a very big deal
[00:23:34] to this woman. And so she's saying of him you know around you I don't feel in danger.
[00:23:42] I don't feel nervous. I don't feel frightened. I feel comfortable. I feel protected. I feel at ease.
[00:23:53] I feel safe around you and I think it's so important that a woman especially would feel safe
[00:24:01] around the man that she's going to spend the rest of her life with. Be sure to watch his life.
[00:24:08] Observe his life before marriage. Don't be duped into a marriage with a brutal man. Look for the
[00:24:17] signs that would show you that he is such. She observes him and says no they're safety to you. And then she
[00:24:24] says his fruit was sweet to my taste. This indicates that they're getting to know each other. Just the more I
[00:24:33] know about you the more satisfied I am his fruit was sweet to my taste. And as I mentioned already
[00:24:40] the moment a couple engages sexually before marriage their knowledge of one another really cannot
[00:24:49] deepen. So take your time to learn about one another and by all means if you are married continue
[00:24:57] to take time to learn about one another. She says in verse four he brought me to the bank
[00:25:04] wedding house and his banner over me was love. You know she is announcing something here that's
[00:25:13] pretty fascinating. There's kind of a military concept about it. The military banners that would hang
[00:25:20] would be easily seen by the troops as they marched. And what she's announcing is look when we go to
[00:25:26] dinner it's obvious to everyone he just lets it all be visible that his love is real. His banner
[00:25:36] over me was love. He wasn't saying that he loved me personally and then publicly saying that I'm
[00:25:46] just his friend or something like that. No he was living a life this was visible. Love listen don't
[00:25:53] buy it for a moment when a man or a woman says and confesses their undying love for you.
[00:26:01] Love isn't just an emotion. Love is a decision. It needs to be seen. It needs to be visible.
[00:26:09] It needs to be obvious. The love of God is what compelled the cross. And so there's action that's
[00:26:16] connected. And so she is saying I'm watching this action all over the place he's not just saying
[00:26:24] that he loves me but he's living the life just a beautiful thing. Here at verse 5 she's so overwhelmed
[00:26:32] that she says sustain me with raisins, refresh me with apples for I am sick with love. His left hand
[00:26:42] is under my head his right hand embraces me. At this point the woman is faint with love. She is getting
[00:26:51] knocked out by the potential of this relationship with Solomon and she needs some strength
[00:26:57] them in. She needs some food. She needs some raisins. She needs some apples. Some people even think
[00:27:03] that that fruit has a little bit of like a sensual overtone attached to it that she's acknowledging
[00:27:10] a growing sexual desire for this man. And I think at this point she's looking at her friends like
[00:27:17] you gotta help me out. I am so fallen for this man it's not our wedding day yet. You got to keep
[00:27:25] a girl in check. And again this desire is not negative. This is a good desire. Sometimes a
[00:27:34] young person will say oh I just wish God would take that desire away from man. The reality is no
[00:27:40] you don't. You don't want God to take the sexual drive and desire away from you but you want to
[00:27:48] steward it well. And it seems to me as if this woman is turning now to her friends and saying
[00:27:53] you gotta help me out. I'm even wishing and longing for his embrace that he would hold me. You
[00:28:00] gotta be with me. You gotta hold me accountable. You gotta keep me in the light. She pleads with them
[00:28:08] in verse 7 as we close our study today and says I adure you odotters of Jerusalem by the gazelles
[00:28:16] or the does of the field that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. She finds an animal
[00:28:26] in nature. The gazelles, the does of the field, very easily startled you know and can easily be
[00:28:35] agitated. She's kind of saying like look that's a little bit what love is like. You gotta be so careful
[00:28:43] around it because you do not want to stir it up or awaken it until it pleases. It is a powerful
[00:28:51] thing. Unfortunately, so many people sometimes even without their own will being involved are
[00:28:59] awakened sexually way before the time. Pornography, early dating back into you know middle school
[00:29:08] junior height years, overly romantic, prongs and prom nights and lack of parental involvement
[00:29:16] and the grotesque stuff that's accessible on the internet, the abuse sexually of children. So many
[00:29:25] of these things cause a sexual experience to happen before the proper time. She's saying don't
[00:29:34] agitate that until it pleases, do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. You know the desire
[00:29:42] for sexual touch is like a fire. You've gotta keep it going with the proper boundaries and appropriate
[00:29:50] fuel. And the second it goes outside of those boundaries, it's in a dangerous place for it is a powerful
[00:29:57] thing and so we go to God's word for the boundaries to live lives that are circumspect and honoring
[00:30:05] him but the growth, the surging nature of the love of these two. I hope that this encourages your own
[00:30:11] heart God bless you and amen. Thank you for listening, for additional resources and teachings
[00:30:20] or to contact us please visit us at neaholverage.org