Song of Solomon 2:14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
16 My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.
We know from Scripture that the devil is a murderer from the beginning. He hates God and is seeking to destroy Him in any way possible. He attacked Job and tried to destroy him. He hoped that Job would accept the evil counsel of his wife and curse God and die. Job had a good testimony with God and men. The devil tried to destroy that but failed.
The Bible tells us that a marriage ordained by God will be a beautiful thing. He directed king Solomon to write about the intimacy and the sweetness of a godly marriage. Solomon could not really write about this from experience, since he had many, many wives. His personal life was a mess. However, that personal failure did not change the fact that a godly marriage is a beautiful thing.
God told man to leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife. Jesus referred back to that same command in Matthew 19. Marriage is designed by God to be much more than the opportunity for a man and a woman to enjoy one another’s company in many ways, although that is a blessing for the man and the woman. God designed marriage to be a picture of the relationship He designed for His Son and His bride, the true local church/saint. We understand that not everyone in a local church is necessarily saved. Church membership is important but church membership does not save. Church membership is for the redeemed, but we know the devil likes to destroy anything that God designs. He cannot destroy it, but he can certainly interfere with God’s design. Of course that interference is only allowed because God wants man to choose to follow Him and know His peace and blessing. God does not force anyone to follow Him.
A good parent will understand that a spoiled child may be “loyal” as long as he/she gets what he wants. A good parent wants his child to love him because it is the right thing to do and he expresses his love in a sincere manner.
In our text, God continued to guide Solomon in the writing of the godly marriage relationship. The speaker in verse 14 is the groom. He compared his bride to a dove. A dove is a gentle bird. It is not a predator. God sometimes used the dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
The dove finds shelter in the cleft of the rock. It can hide in the secret places of the stairs due to its colouring. Solomon wanted to see the countenance of his “dove”, his bride. He wanted to hear her sweet voice. Her voice and her appearance were “comely” to him. She was suitable and beautiful to Him.
Certainly true saints are suitable and beautiful to the Lord. He makes them so. There is no beauty in man apart from knowing the Lord. All the makeup and jewelry cannot dress up a woman to be acceptable to the Lord. We know that Jezebel tried her best to look impressive to the people, but Jehu was not impressed by her looks. He commanded that they throw her down to the ground from her palace window. Her body was splattered on the ground below and then trampled by horses. The dogs ate her up and them deposited her remains in the field.
That is not God’s design for His bride. Jesus Christ shed His blood to make it possible for sinners to be saved and to be adopted into the eternal family of God. That is a beautiful thing.
In verses 15-17 the bride answers back to her groom. She wants him to come and take her. She knows that the foxes are known to spoil the vine. She knows if he takes her with him, she would spoil his hunting abilities. He would be preoccupied with her and that was alright with her. Obviously he would not mind that type of “spoiling” either. She spoke of the tender grapes as part of her enticement to him.
In verse 17 we see that she did not want this beautiful relationship to end. She wanted it to last indefinitely. That is the case between true believers and Christ. We know that the relationship between Jesus Christ and His church cannot be severed. It can be troubled by sin in the saint, but it can never be severed. The true child of God loves his Saviour and wants to be careful not to make a mess of the gift that God has given him.
That is the case in a true child of God. So many false professions exist and too often we close the Word of God and take the testimony of false professors as the “Gospel” truth. True saints need to reflect the goodness of God to man.
Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
God provides the ability for His child to be a blessing to others. There needs to be a distinct difference between a true child of God and the world. That will be true for the true child of God. The true Church will remind its members of the importance of faithfulness to their master — Jesus Christ. The local pastor is not the master. He is the messenger sent from God to remind the saints of the blessings they have in Christ Jesus.
The Song of Solomon has been abused often to incite lust and to make a mockery of what God provides. However, we have the Word of God. We know that God would never cause anyone to sin. We know that His blessings are unique and cannot be manufactured, no matter how hard a person tries. There are marriages that seem to do well for a time, as long as the money is there and health is good. We also know that we do not see all there is to see in this life. Where will that marriage end? Where does that man and woman end up.
Be sure you have a relationship that is pleasing to the Lord and that has His blessing upon it. Be sure you are truly His child and that you are learning more about the sweetness of being in Christ and you are living in anticipation of being in heaven with the Lord one day soon.
I heard a mother trying to describe to a young child, what goes on in heaven. She stated that the child’s father was in heaven building a home for them. The Bible says Jesus built the mansions in heaven. Children can have many questions, but it is better to give them the truth rather than some mythology. According to the Bible, true saints are praising God in heaven. That is their task day and night. They never grow tired of that because there is no time in heaven. No one in heaven will ever want something else to do besides glorify God.
There will be no need for the wild music that is supposed to be “worship” music. In heaven all is peace and joy. It is a beautiful place that is described to us in our book, but the typology is not the real thing. It is what we need to get us going in the right direction once we are saved. There is much beauty and blessing in being a part of a true local church where the love of God is shared by the saints.
Pastor Bartel
