Song of Solomon 6:1-13 – Part 11, Together in the Garden of Love Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

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Song of Solomon 6:1-13 – Part 11, Together in the Garden of Love Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

[Study Aired January 21, 2023]

“… thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. (2Sa 1:26)

We continue the Song of Solomon – Part 11 in the third person with the daughters of Jerusalem’s fascination with the short-term veneration of their sister, the Shulamite’s election of high honor. They do not realize that their shared joy will be turned bitter 2,500 + years later at an indeterminate date of Christ’s return.

Son 6:1 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee. 

Together in the Garden of Love

Son 6:2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 
Son 6:3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. 

Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

Son 6:4 Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.
Son 6:5 Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead. 
Son 6:6 Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them. 
Son 6:7 As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.
Son 6:8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.
Son 6:9 My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.
Son 6:10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners? 
Son 6:11 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded. 
Son 6:12 Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib. 
Son 6:13 Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.

There are shocking spiritual correlations in the first verse of chapter 6.

Son 6:1 Whither [H575 ~ Hebrew an – “where”] is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.

Christ is espoused to one wife, the younger, much smaller and last “army” of the two. (Rom 9:12-13) The daughters of Jerusalem unconsciously initiate the early stages of imagining that they too will share in the Groom’s love (“… that we may seek him with thee”), duplicated much later by Babylonian Christianity stating, that they, too, have a husband. They are yet to tragically realize that they are the rich man looking across the chasm separating them from Lazarus with no part in the First Resurrection.

Luk 16:19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
Luk 16:20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 
Luk 16:21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
Luk 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 
Luk 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 
Luk 16:24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
Luk 16:25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Luk 16:26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Rev 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. (see all of Rev 18).

Gen 19:5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. 

Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Of course, the Shulamite wasn’t remotely concerned about where her beloved had gone; she precisely knew that He was in her spirit, and she was in His. The 1,000 daughters of old Jerusalem, Solomon’s court, were indeed Egypt and Sodom. They were unwittingly blinded, as were the men of Sodom and equally witless for their fiery trials on the Eighth Day.

Son 6:2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 

To goatish Sodom today, verse 2 evokes the only nature they know. That accord feeds their raunchy natural appetites for that verse’s imagery; they are not given to see any spiritual applications, nor do they wish to enquire. To them, scripture is to be viewed plainly, even when poetically written; that is how it is understood. Nothing will dissuade them from that sensual focus on the flesh.

Even while giving life to torrid imaginations, the sanctity and unity of agreement in marital acts are uniquely between a husband and wife, especially if their actions authentically glorify Christ in their hearts. The Body of Christ is joyfully aware of more direct and vivid imagery in chapter 7 of unashamed love-making that single folk are adept at mitigating its potential rulership in their hearts through long and detailed tarrying upon its ‘wine’ (Pro 23:29-30).

Heb 13:4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

The marriage bed is defiled by illicit sex and lingering upon sexual activities that don’t accentuate Christ. If it was a crime to think about sex, then the Song of Solomon wouldn’t have been included in scripture. The spirit of intent for what we do with our thoughts condemns us.

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Suppose a married couple are the inheritors of flavourless intimacies, perhaps through parents or their former thunder and lightning sermons in Babylon, and it has trampled any Shulamite inquisitiveness. In that case, it is between them and the Lord. The spirit resulting from the couple’s interactions is what counts, not creative sexual callisthenics. However, remember that the Shulamite, in all purity in the “natural”, doesn’t half-step her righteous lust for her Lord. ALL aspects of her every action reflect the vital spiritual content that doesn’t cause the negative effects of drunkenness from wine ~ for the major part, this is why her Lord’s love is better than wine! With no thought for an apology, she wholeheartedly gives herself to her Lord!

Rom 14:13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. 
Rom 14:14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 
Rom 14:15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died [It is only whoremongering and adulterous actions that would grieve the spirit for their doctrinally connected fornications].
Rom 14:16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of: 
Rom 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 
Rom 14:18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
Rom 14:19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another [If you have faith in your actions in marriage, have it to yourselves].
Rom 14:20 For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
Rom 14:21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak [Normally, anything that happens in a marriage’s bedroom is between the husband, wife and God, and thus shouldn’t give occasion for another to stumble; especially since we do not uncover another’s nakedness, specifically spiritually].
Rom 14:22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth. 
Rom 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Col 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek [Mat 6:33] those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Subsequently, from those scriptures, Son 6:2 shouldn’t be a killjoy to a husband and wife’s intimacies! To the Shulamite, they amplify her arousal!

Son 6:2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

We know that the first “garden” [H1588] conceived is the Garden of Eden.

Gen 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden [1588] eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The lurid imaginations in the natural, hold great significance since the Bride’s righteous fruit makes her the Bride of Christ and is a result of her God-given “fenced” virginity from first being found in the field in her blood all the way to her being the Bride. 

The deliberate ironic tragedy in the natural is that sin in spirit was hers while in Eden, the Garden that became fenced which she represents. 

The Garden of Eden held within it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. Our Lord is the first instance of a ‘man’ going down to his garden. He went down to his garden ‘panting’ in vain for his creation’s righteousness.

Gen 3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 
Gen 3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

Gen 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Gen 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

That garden of Old Jerusalem and Israel in the wilderness, Christ’s first wife, was fenced off from the tree of life just as everyone in Israel other than the high priest was fenced off from the holy of holies. The Shulamite, the heavenly Jerusalem above, brings forth the fruit of her spiritual womb through delightedly wrestling face-to-face in spiritual union with the Lord, the tree of life. She no longer sees her face-to-face through a glass, darkly but has excitedly become the mirror of her Lord; he in her and she in Him.

Peniel means “face of God” (H6439). Jacob, upon wrestling all night with God, says in:

Gen 32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: [H6439] for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Jacob set the path of Israel painfully in us to eventually see Christ as he is, face-to-face with Shulamite enthusiasm. At first, the derivative of H6439 is H6437 and means to “turn toward [darkness or light] or to look back”, which was Israel’s harlot ways.  In our former ways we sullenly turn toward our Lord following chastisement and soon after turn away when all is working our way wonderfully.

In previous SOS studies, we have reviewed the meaning of spices and, to some degree, lilies, yet “… to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies” is to be exquisitely joyful in shared kisses because of the Hebrew origin of “lilies” is H7797 and means to “exult, rejoice; be cheerful”. The young Shulamite woman is us feeding on our Lord’s sweet-scented word.

Son 6:3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. 

Son 1:7  Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

This is a major part of my feeding the flock; though speaking about deciphering tongues, my part also is discerning deceit:

1Co 14:24  But if all prophesy, and there come in one unbelieving or unlearned, he is reproved by all, he is judged by all;
1Co 14:25 the secrets of his heart are made manifest; and so he will fall down on his face and worship God, declaring that God is among you indeed.

While not claiming to have been inspired to tease out every spiritual understanding in the Song of Solomon, chapter 5, I hesitate to say, for the most part the entire book doesn’t appear to present startlingly new revelations. As I’ve insinuated in its previous studies, the Shulamite frequently speaks in the third person from the standpoint of her assured election above her sisters of physical Jerusalem. From her humble God-given eminence, she often “charges” them with moral (spiritual) cautions. Her sisters in Jerusalem today are Egypt, Sodom and Babylon, and are not yet alerted to the shocking difference between them and her. Her passionate praises for her beloved in the verses to be studied (Son 5:10-16) are only spiritually understood by her and her Husband.

All stops are out, and nobody more enthusiastically believes every word than the Shulamite as she adventurously praises her Lord.

So, we continue with Shulamite’s “primary theme” of protracted and enthusiastic anticipation for her wedding since (Lord willing) every joint hearing this study is Her.

Son 5:10  My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. 
Son 5:11 His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. 
Son 5:12 His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. 
Son 5:13 His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. 
Son 5:14 His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. 
Son 5:15 His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. 
Son 5:16 His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. 

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