Song of Solomon 7:8  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;
9  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.
10  I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.
11  Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.
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: there will I give thee my loves.
13  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.

The groom here continues his amazement with his bride. He has described her in vivid terms and now he talks further of how he wants to draw near to her in intimacy. The description here is of God’s design for the marriage bed alone. King David broke that special place with Bathsheba. He had her husband murdered to try to cover his sin. He learned he was unable to cover it and he finally confessed it and sought God’s forgiveness.
Solomon broke his vows many times, and died a miserable man as the result of that infidelity. God designed marriage to be something special that was reserved only for a faithful husband and wife. Thousands of men and women have sought that special place but have not found it because they refused to follow God’s design. It is not possible to know the blessing of the Lord by cheating.
Solomon wrote of the smell of the brides nose as “like apples”. If you walk into a warehouse where freshly picked apples are stored naturally, the smell is wonderful. We do not find that smell today very often because most apples are chemically stored. That ruins that wonderful aroma that God designed for the apples. The same is true with much of the food we consume today. The same is true for relationships that God designed to be sweet and exhilarating. The same is true for the salvation and the blessing of walking with the Lord after salvation, for many.
When people accept the perversions as truth, and accept the CCM music that permeates most churches today and the immodesty that is on full display, there is no way to know the blessing of the Lord as He designed it. Sadly, many people have settled for this fraudulent religion and they even get angry when the truth is taught. Why would a person take offence to the truth when each person will stand before the Lord soon?
We need to remember that the religious elite took great offence to Jesus for exposing them. They came to hate Him and could not wait until they could kill Him. They did not realize that He is the eternal Son of God and while they could kill the flesh, they could not kill the soul. Jesus Christ rose again from the dead and He is alive and seated on the right hand of His Father in glory. Hatred for the truth does not make it go away. Hatred for the truth only hurts the hater.
God directed Solomon to write about the blessing of submitting to His will. That blessing is there in marriage, and more importantly, it is there in spiritual life.
In verse 9 Solomon spoke further of the intimacy between him and his bride. The roof of the mouth is something we do not normally see or feel. The description here is of the blessing that there is in pure intimacy.
In verse 10 the bride speaks of her relationship to her groom. There is a sweet and pure relationship when people submit to God’s way. It is wise to read and submit to God’s Word before we act on our emotions. The fall of man changed everything. It is still possible to know the blessings of the Lord, but it requires humility. It requires the importance of walking carefully and humbly with the Lord.
In verse 11 the bride knew her husband wanted to go and visit his gardens. She suggested they go together and they could spend the night in one of his cottages in the villages. Solomon had the opportunity to do things many men cannot do. It is not a right to have a cottage to get away to. It is not a right to travel to different places. It is not even necessary to have a get away. I know that my wife and I used to like to get away for a week or two. We even invested in a camper for a time to be able to travel and have our “cottage” with us as we travelled. We enjoyed those times.
However, times have changed for us and we are quite content to remain home and enjoy one another’s company. We do not need variety. We enjoy family and friends, but we have a different view of life now. We need to learn to be content with what God gives us. It seems that the Lord is preparing us more for that eternal home that is just ahead.
In our text we read that the bride wanted to get up early and test the vineyard. She wanted to experience the blessings of the vineyard. More importantly she wanted to continue to experience the thrills of the intimacy of marriage.
Solomon and his bride had a beautiful thing here. It would not be long before they would lose that. That was Solomon’s doing. We do not read that she was unfaithful to him, but we certainly know he was unfaithful to her. He ruined something that both of them had experienced for a short time.
God is so gracious and He gave us His Word. We can read It and we can have a great blessing in submitting to what He says. Once we spoil what He has given, we cannot get it back. Adam and Eve learned that the hard way. Noah learned it the hard way. Many others did likewise. We can be thankful that God is a holy God and He is also a God of forgiveness. We must also understand that His forgiveness is not there as a license for us to sin. It is there because He knows we will sin. He gives us very clear instructions regarding how His forgiveness can be received.
Let us slow down and make sure we are submitting to His authority so that we can know His blessings.
Pastor Bartel