Song of Solomon 8:1 O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.
2 I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.
3 His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.
4 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.
5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.
6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.
At this time of year most people are so distracted by a festival first introduced into “Christianity” by the Catholics. The Bible warns against learning the way of the heathen. The Pharisees were famous for taking parts of the Scriptures and developing a false doctrine on it. They corrupted God’s law for the sabbath. They corrupted God’s purpose for the Temple and the offerings. They corrupted the priesthood as well.
Today most professing Christians have accepted the Catholic/world’s false views of the birth of Jesus Christ. Even in the Independent Baptist camp there is the excuse that this is a time when strangers will come to listen to a cantata or watch a play and they will even try to slip the Gospel into all of it. If we honestly study the Scriptures, and if the Holy Spirit is guiding us in our studies, it should be clear that what we have accepted causes great confusion.
There is nothing wrong with family gatherings at any time. It is not a sin to buy gifts for others either. Most people buy gifts for their loved ones for their birthday. There is also nothing wrong with reading and preaching on the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. His coming in the flesh was essential to His suffering and dying on the cross of Calvary. It is a blessing to truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.
The Bible warns us against loving the world, or the things in the world. The love of God does not compete with the love for the world. The love of God must take precedence and in fact replace the love for the world.
The book of the Song of Solomon describes true love. It describes true love between a married man and his wife. It uses that illustration to show the deep love that Jesus Christ has for His body, His bride, true born again Christians. That love is a pure love that goes much deeper than any other love.
God directed Solomon to use some very descriptive language to help us to see His great love for man.
I remember in Bible school, the instructor we had when we were studying this book, had no idea what it was talking about. He found some weird pictures that showed literally what Solomon spoke of with words. That instructor did a great disservice to the holiness of God and His Word. I am thankful that God protected me from going down the road that man wanted to lead us on. That instructor had already shown us he did not respect God. He used the NIV in his life and studies. That was a very popular corruption of God’s Word at that time. Since then, most have “graduated” to other corruptions of God’s Word. It is easy to understand how those who subject themselves to corruptions, would accept the worldliness of this season. It is difficult to understand how those who say they hold to the Word of God, refuse to let the Word of God show them the importance of doctrinal and moral purity in all aspects of life.
Chapter 8 of our text begins with the bride speaking softly and tenderly to her groom. She wishes she had grown up with him in the same household. Not as a brother and sister, but just being in close proximity to one another. She spoke of how her brother sucked on the breasts of her mother. She loved the intimacy she had discovered in her relationship with her groom, and wished she had known that earlier in life. Once again, we see the purity that there is in a God-fearing relationship. The world likes to distort purity and turn it into pornography. Many men and women are caught up in pornography. The devil would like to excite the lusts in men and women even with such a pure book as this. However, no one will shake their finger at God and accuse Him of inciting such evil thoughts in their minds. It is only when people reject God and allow the “god of this world” to corrupt them, that they come away with evil thoughts.
The bride continued to speak of how she would bring her groom to her mother’s house and that her mother would instruct her as to how to treat her groom. She would be taught how to feed him and how to give him that sweet “wine” (grape juice) and the juice of the pomegranate.
In verse 3 there is further language speaking of that union that is made after marriage. Those who short change themselves and want intimacy before they get married, miss out on the blessing that God designed marriage to be.
In verse 4 we again see how this bride is protecting her groom. In her position as the king’s wife, she would have maidens. They were called the daughters of Jerusalem. We know from Scripture that Solomon’s first wife was an Egyptian. It is possible that there were daughters of Jerusalem who were jealous of her and they may have wanted Solomon for themselves. He must have been an attractive man because he was able to lure seven hundred wives to his side and three hundred concubines. Immoral women would be happy to be on the arm of a prosperous king, even if it was not a very secure arm.
In verses 5-7 the groom is speaking of his bride. She is clinging to him, not as a nuisance but again in that intimacy that is found in true love. Yes, the groom would have work to do, but there is a time after the marriage, where the groom and the bride step back from the busyness of life, just to get to know one another. We call that the honeymoon. Some are short and some are longer. That is to be determined by the couple. That is the time to get to become intimate with your spouse. Our society has twisted that and much of the intimacy takes place before the marriage, and many couples are corrupted but do not end up getting married. Marriage is not designed to be like the buying of a car or of trying out a horse. Marriage is designed by God and He knows that if we follow His lead, the marriage will be sweet and strong for the lifetime of the couple. Sometimes death comes early, and sometimes a couple has many years together. The important factor is to be sure that you are building your marriage on Christ.
In verse 7 we read that many waters cannot quench love. True love is more than a feeling. True love does not grow cold. A godly couple does not run out of love for one another. Their love is the love of God and it is an everlasting love that builds and grows stronger over time.
Many marriages pledge to remain faithful through sickness and in health and in poverty or in wealth, but then things change and they do not keep their vows. Then they break up and find someone else and make similar vows. If the vows can be broken once, what is to stop them from being broken a second time?
True love will face challenges. However, many waters cannot quench love. The floods cannot drown out true love. True love is not based on circumstances. It is a gift from God. It cannot be bought. It is not taken for granted either. As we see in this book, a godly marriage involves active involvement on the part of both people. It involves a surrender to God first of all and then being led by Him on a daily basis. It works. God says it does. No amount of human argument can negate that fact.
God protects marriage by warning, that breaking it off and trying to start over is against His will. God does not want people to be hurt through unfaithfulness. He has put safeguards in place to make a marriage work. It will be just as sweet as Solomon and his bride described it in this book, if it is built on Christ.
God told the nation of Israel to choose life:
Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
It is a choice we must make in life. It is a worthy choice.
Pastor Bartel
