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. Join us as we continue our study through the Old Testament book, Song of Solomon. Here's Nate
[00:00:14] Well today in Song of Solomon we are in the final section right before the couple, Solomon and his bride come together as one flesh in marriage at the end of chapter 3
[00:00:30] And so this section, the middle of chapter 2, all the way to the middle of chapter 3, basically operates as two poems that make up this entire section.
[00:00:42] The first poem begins in verse 8 and it starts with the voice of the woman. In fact both of these poems are entirely, her voice although a large portion of this poem is her quoting the voice of her beloved of her man of Solomon
[00:01:02] So she begins in verse 8 and she says the voice of my beloved, behold he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. Now many people think that when she says the voice of my beloved that it's indicative of a long silence in between the last scene and this scene
[00:01:26] What this would indicate to us of course is that they have entered into a very serious time in their relationship. Maybe there were some issues that needed to be worked out
[00:01:38] Maybe there was just time and space that was given to really come to full certainty about the potential of a future marriage. And so she now is celebrating his arrival and celebrating his voice. Again this reminds us and refreshes us in the concept of the power of the voice of the man in the life of the woman.
[00:02:06] And so often a woman will become confident and be given great self-worth by believing the voice of a good man speaking into her heart speaking into her life. Probably what you have here is the pre-engagement window in this couple's relationship.
[00:02:28] And they're kind of in that engaged to be engaged era or season and both of them are walking step and step together. And for Solomon there is no obstacle that is too great to get to his future bride. He's leaping over the mountains, he's bounding over the hills.
[00:02:51] And I'm sure many a man can look back and recall those moments of courtship and interest and when things were really moving forward just the willingness to do whatever it took to see your girl.
[00:03:07] And so that's what Solomon is doing. And now he goes to her home and it says in verse 9 she says, She's just kind of comparing the way that he arrives with these incredible animals that are able to overcome mountains with some kind of
[00:03:36] things to do with the way that he arrives with these incredible animals that are able to overcome mountains with such ease.
[00:03:48] And she's just praising I think just something physical about her man, you know little boys love to be told you know you're so strong and look at what you can do and little boys love to talk about how fast they are and stuff like that.
[00:04:06] And grown men love that kind of talk as well. And so Solomon he's listening to her saying basically you're a stud, you know, do you work out you know kind of thing and just is just is something that a man needs to hear.
[00:04:24] And he's encouraged any woman when you come into that relationship with a man just find manly things to praise him about and for now she also says about Solomon that when he arrived at her home.
[00:04:39] He actually didn't go into the house it says behold there he stands behind our wall gazing through the windows looking through the lattice he's there behind the family wall now this isn't some kind of awkward stalker mode that Solomon has entered into no on the contrary Solomon is being very respectful.
[00:05:02] He understands his appropriate boundary and I think that this is a great representation of a couple of things here first of all Solomon on the outside looking in understood his boundaries.
[00:05:16] You know the Bible teaches that when a husband and wife come together the two actually become one flesh the man and the woman leave their father and mother the man especially leaves and is joined to his wife.
[00:05:34] And so I think in one sense Solomon understands listen I'm not a part of that family yet. I am on the outside looking in I want to keep my appropriate boundaries and protect the relationships that you are in at this time for I am not yet a part of this family.
[00:05:54] I think also it would speak to us concerning Solomon just simply watching her manner of life you know I've heard it said before that past performance is the best predictor of future performance.
[00:06:09] And when you watch the way that a potential mate treats their mother and their father you really learn a lot about the way that they are going to be with you.
[00:06:21] And so Solomon here he's just watching her operate and I think that he became impressed with what he was seeing but he watches her manner of life. Now in verse 10 she goes on and she begins to quote Solomon she says my beloved speaks and says to me,
[00:06:41] I rise my love and of course we remember this beautiful little title that Solomon used for his future bride my love. He says, a rise my love my beautiful one and come away for behold the winter is past the rain is over and gone.
[00:06:57] The flower appears on the earth the time of singing has come and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs and the vines are in blossom they give forth fragrance, a rise my love my beautiful one and come away.
[00:07:14] Now this statement from Solomon begins with and ends with the same exact phrase, a rise my love my beautiful one and come away and sandwiched in between those two statements is a description from Solomon about the spring.
[00:07:34] Just the beauty of the season that they were in out there in the countryside. So let's think about this first of all he gives a twofold invitation to this woman to come away.
[00:07:48] I think in one sense Solomon understood the value of and desired to spend quality time with his future bride. You know come away let's go for a walk let's go through the fields let's check out the beauty let's just spend time in each other's presence.
[00:08:08] But I think that in another sense Solomon is in full understanding of the way that his woman would work you see so often for men the romantic experience is something that is such a quick in the moment experience.
[00:08:26] So often times for men intimacy or maybe I should just say sexual activity is not a highly emotional or connected kind of experience.
[00:08:39] God however is calling us to intimacy and I believe that Solomon understood that he understood that there's more to appropriate for play than just something physical very briefly.
[00:08:55] He understood that there needed to be relational connection in life together affection throughout the day listening to his bride time with his bride.
[00:09:09] And so I think here at least on one hand we can see the way in which Solomon understood how his future bride was working and of course he's not ready to be intimate yet. At this moment but the day is fast approaching.
[00:09:29] Now in Solomon's description to her of the season he says the winter is passed and then has all of these beautiful descriptions that tell us that it's the spring time in the land that they are in.
[00:09:45] And because it's so elaborate it seems like Solomon is doing more than just emphasizing the beauty of the setting that they're in. I think that he was also describing their relationship. They might have endured some difficult days in preparing themselves for this decision to become husband and wife.
[00:10:09] And perhaps they've gone through those difficult days. They've gone through the time of inspection. They determined that they belong together and he's saying hey we made it through that season and here we are in this beautiful season. God has blessed us and they determined that they belong together.
[00:10:31] I think additionally it is or should be obvious to us that relationships will like the seasons go through various seasons in life.
[00:10:44] And here Solomon is saying we're in the spring time everything feels fresh and new and alive we've gone through the winter but it makes the spring all the sweeter.
[00:10:57] I think that it would be wise for us to say to ourselves and to understand that we have to prepare for various seasons within a marriage. You have to prepare for those seasons. You have to prepare for the seasons of darkness and difficulty, the seasons of trial.
[00:11:15] You have to prepare for that. And you have to, I think additionally, build your relationship on more than just spring time. You know, you can't build your relationship on initial attraction and excitement. That's usually something that it just isn't going to last.
[00:11:38] A husband and wife aren't going to 30 years down the line have the same kind of response that they had to one another the first moment they laid eyes upon one another. No, there will be an acclamation that comes to one another.
[00:11:53] Then a deepening commitment in their love to one another probably a more true love that begins to flow after that. And then finally in those last days of life there is the potential of having the truest and realist love that could exist in the entirety of the marriage.
[00:12:15] So preparing yourself for the various seasons within a marriage. Now Solomon continues this speech to his woman by saying in verse 14, Oh, my dove in the clef of the rock in the crannies of the cliff. Let me see your face.
[00:12:33] Let me hear your voice for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely. So Solomon here he's calling her and he's basically calling his little dove out of her hiding place.
[00:12:49] You know, he's kind of saying to her, you're there like a little dove in the clef of the rock come out. You know, be with me. Let me hear your voice. Your voice is sweet. Your face is lovely.
[00:13:01] And I think what he's inviting her to is into a deeper level of openness together. You know, and necessary ingredient of a growing relationship is openness with one another. And this comes once there is safety and security and you know, real confidence about the relationship.
[00:13:23] But it's there in that place that you can begin to share things that on the first date you just wouldn't share. Talking about concerns and fears and weaknesses, struggles, past failures, histories, sicknesses, Collings upon your life.
[00:13:45] These are things that begin to flow as the relationship deep and send an openness is cultivated between this future couple together.
[00:13:54] I remember with Christina and I was we were in this season of our lives before we were married just sharing with her about so many things in my life.
[00:14:05] And you know, really vulnerable stuff sharing about sin that I'd committed in the past that by the grace of God Jesus had forgiven me of.
[00:14:14] But that she needed to be aware of in her own mind and heart calling that I'd sense the Lord was putting upon my life and in my life. And so the importance of opening up your heart and sharing these things.
[00:14:30] You do not want to say I do enter into marriage and then begin the process of opening up your heart and sharing various elements of your life. You don't want to surprise anyone in that time.
[00:14:43] And so to open up your heart and Solomon seems to be pleading with his girl to do just that, come out my little dove from your hiding place and spend time with me. He says to her, let me hear your voice.
[00:14:58] This is fascinating to me because I think it shows us that Solomon, he wanted to listen to his woman speak and open her heart to him. And so many men don't really enjoy the process of listening but the beautiful thing is our Lord listens to us.
[00:15:19] He hears our cry, he pulls it out of us if he has to. And listening of course or communication is crucial within a marriage.
[00:15:31] I think one of the things that's difficult for a man is to come to terms with the reality or perhaps to overcome the intimidation that comes. By understanding that men and women they do things differently and praise God we do things differently by the design of God himself.
[00:15:51] So it's important for a man not to be intimidated by that because so often a woman will be better at communication than we are. And then secondly, it's important for us to make sure during communication that we just listen that we listen to her voice like Solomon said.
[00:16:10] We don't feel compelled to always offer a solution to what it is that she's sharing. And as we're listening, it's good for us to listen to the details.
[00:16:21] I know that for me I like to just get straight to the point but so many women love to share the details.
[00:16:29] My bride loves to share the details and just to soak up those details and to listen to not just facts but to listen also to feelings is so important for a man to do. He just says to this woman let me hear your voice.
[00:16:46] Now verse 15 is captivated the imaginations of interpreters for years and it's a beautiful statement. It says this catch the foxes for us. The little foxes that spoiled the vineyards for our vineyards are in blossom.
[00:17:02] Now there is a little bit of debate or I don't know if it's debate but confusion at least as to who is speaking. It's difficult to know who's talking because you have the woman speaking but quoting Solomon.
[00:17:18] So the question is is she going back now and using her own words or is this the quotation of Solomon. And then the other question is who is being spoken to?
[00:17:30] Is the woman speaking to Solomon or Solomon speaking to the woman or are one of them speaking to the crowds that are around or the friends that are there, the daughters of Jerusalem?
[00:17:42] I don't know that I know the answer, I tend to take it as if it's the woman speaking to Solomon. But the request or the command is very simple. Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoiled the vineyards for our vineyards are in blossom.
[00:18:01] Now it would seem that this is more than some kind of physical command to catch actual foxes and an actual vineyard. No, it seems that she's saying our relationship, our vineyard is in blossom.
[00:18:17] Yet there are these little foxes that have gone into the vineyard and are spoiling the vineyard. Catch those little foxes for us and protect our relationship protect our vineyard.
[00:18:32] Now I take this as her saying there are little issues within our relationship that have the potential to cause big problems. And so Solomon, please take care of these little issues that can lead to bigger problems.
[00:18:53] And I think it's important to apply this in a few different ways. First of all we should make sure that we are not oblivious to the problems that are inevitable in a relationship.
[00:19:08] Oftentimes in a relationship you have one person who sees the glass half full and one person that sees the glass half empty.
[00:19:16] You have one person that usually sees more problems than actually exist, but oftentimes a couple can easily move on in their relationship without dealing with some of those smaller issues that need to be addressed.
[00:19:34] But a lot of times it's just simply in factuation gets the best of them they're so overcome by it that they forget to deal with the problems inside of the relationship. The reality is that in any relationship it is two sinners coming together.
[00:19:50] So we must prepare ourselves to deal with the problems that we as sinners bring into the relationship. Another application is to know that it is better to deal with problems when they are small.
[00:20:08] This seems to be an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure kind of philosophy. These are little things. So she's saying listen, you know while they're little let's deal with them while they're in their infancy.
[00:20:25] Let's deal with them let's nip this in the bud. So these aren't massive predators like violence or abuse or marriage to a non-believer or something like that. No, these are little foxes. What might some of these little foxes be in our modern era?
[00:20:45] Well I broke down a few of them for us to consider together perhaps communication issues. Perhaps working out role responsibilities. So many people come together in marriage and they don't talk about what their roles will be after they actually get married.
[00:21:02] How do they view what the wife is to do and what the husband is to do? The handling of finances, you know, how are we going to combine our finances and how are we going to operate together and establish a budget and all of that?
[00:21:18] An understanding about their sexual relationship. What is that about? What is it for? And to, you know, obviously before the marriage there's only so far that you'll go and talking about this. But after marriage to continually open up your heart and talk about your sexual relationship together.
[00:21:39] Challenges within the family, various family members or relational hurdles that need to be overcome. Trials that will come into a marriage.
[00:21:50] Trust level, perhaps a couple gave in to uncontrolled desire and now there's condemning guilt that has come over them to deal with that appropriately to seek avenues of confession and coming into the light and letting Jesus redeem you.
[00:22:08] Jellacy that comes into your heart selfishness, pride which refuses to let one person acknowledge their fault to another. Perhaps an unforgiving spirit. These are great things to address in this era or season of the relationship.
[00:22:26] But these little foxes they can do big damage and they must be dealt with. And that's why she says, catch the foxes for us. There's an actual aggressive getting after it and catching these foxes.
[00:22:42] Now she says in verse 16, my beloved is mine and I am his. He grases among the lilies.
[00:22:50] Until the day breeds and the shadows flee turn my beloved be like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains. Now this is a very sensuous thing that she is saying to him, I don't think there's any other way around it.
[00:23:04] She's basically longing for that all night guiltless, safe, romantic, physical, sexual experience with this man. She wants something that's an all night affair until the day breeds and the shadows flee.
[00:23:21] And she's inviting him to kind of traips upon her body like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains.
[00:23:28] So you know that the wedding is very close because the desire here for them is very intense. Now she says something really beautiful in verse 16, she says, my beloved is mine and I am his.
[00:23:44] I think that what you're seeing there is that there's a mutual possession or ownership that this couple has for one another.
[00:23:54] And you know in so many relationships, there's two takers or one giver and one taker but a biblical model is that of having two givers, two people who are laying down their lives for one another.
[00:24:10] And so she says that about their relationship, I am his and he is mine. Now in verse 1 of chapter 3, all the way through verse 5, there's a dream that she experiences will look at it briefly.
[00:24:26] She says on my bed by night, I saw him whom I so loves. I saw him but found him not. And so very close to their wedding day she begins now having this nightmare that she's lost Solomon that she's lost her lover.
[00:24:42] She's worried even in the subconscious about her relationship. This is a very normal fear and so the woman fearing the loss of this relationship in her dream, she says I will rise now and go about the city and the streets and in the squares.
[00:25:02] And I will seek him whom my soul loves. I saw him but found him not. The watchman found me as they went about the city. Have you seen him? Am I so loved she said scarcely had I passed by them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother's house and into the chamber of her who conceived me.
[00:25:27] So she goes around the city at night looking for Solomon in her dream. She even asks the men who guarded the city but they either didn't answer or they didn't know or she barely gave them a chance to respond.
[00:25:41] But eventually she found him. She found him. Maybe this is her waking up from her dream but she found him and she announces after finding him I will not let him go until I bring him to my mother's house and into the chamber of her who conceived me. Now there are a few different ways that people have viewed this statement from the woman again. This is poetry. It's difficult to know exactly what she's saying.
[00:26:09] Most people confess that she's not wanting anything illicit or inappropriate in their relationship. And that what this is is a desire for consummation but only at the right time.
[00:26:22] Some people think that when she says I want to bring him into my mother's house the chamber of her who conceived me that she's just simply assuming her place in the onward march of life.
[00:26:35] As her mother occupied one generation earlier so just sort of saying hey my mother had this role years before and now I have this role and just taking it with great dignity.
[00:26:48] Some people think that she's inviting him to come home and meet mom meet the family. That's a great concept.
[00:26:59] And then some people think that when she says I want to bring him into my mother's house the chamber of her who conceived me that literally this means I want to bring him into my mother house or the chamber that makes babies so to speak if you take it that literally.
[00:27:17] So a request for a time of intimacy which of course for this couple was yet future that's why she says in verse five I adjourned you.
[00:27:27] Oh daughters of Jerusalem by the gazelles or the doves of the field that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
[00:27:37] And so this marks the end of the courtship setting the wedding is now on and the desire will only grow for that intimacy as the marriage approaches that's why she gives this warning I'm warning you do not awaken love until it pleases.
[00:27:56] I think this speaks to any of us who is nearing that moment of marriage the word of God is speaking to you be careful in those days.
[00:28:07] Don't let yourself get too physical make it to the finish line and you will be richly rewarded for so doing God bless you and amen. Thank you for listening for additional resources and teachings or to contact us. Please visit us at name.