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Song of Solomon, Part 4 – Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

Song of Solomon 2:1-7

[Study Aired November 19, 2022]

“Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD” (Psa 150:1-6)

Chapter two of the Song of Solomon continues to express the Bride’s passion for her Lord.

Son 2:1 I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
Son 2:2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
Son 2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
Son 2:4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
Son 2:5 Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
Son 2:6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
Son 2:7 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

In the second part of the Introduction, it was noted that Solomon, who represents Christ, speaks on behalf of his Bride as though she is speaking in the third person. The Shulamite speaks glowingly of herself and is far from being conceited and speaking above what is written, for she knows that her words are her fiancé’s ~ Christ will not be yoked to an unbeliever.

Son 2:1  I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
Son 2:2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

Roses are world-renowned for their classic beauty and scent; they are deep-rooted and hardy. While Solomon depicts his Bride as “the rose of Sharon”, roses only feature twice in scripture (Song of Solomon and Isaiah). On both occasions, their location suggests a lonely plain, a savannah wilderness. Also, the following scripture speaks of Israel in the flesh and spiritual Israel as Sharon being that lonely plain. The fruits of their works do not compare to the spiritual blossoming of the rose and lily reserved in relative isolation for her Lord.

Isa 35:1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. 

Isa 33:9 The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon [H8289] is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

Sharon [H8289] 1. plain, level n pr loc Sharon = a plain. 2. the district lies between the mountains of central Palestine and the Mediterranean Sea north of Joppa. 3. a district on the east of Jordan around Gilead and Bashan. [Carmel is a fertile land east of the Jordan and inhabited by the half-tribe of Manasseh, and regardless of her fruit of good works, they are shaken off]

A rose in such lonesome places reminds me of abandoned outback homesteads with the only remains of a crumbling stone chimney and nearby, the bright beauty of a single rose gaily blooming in the neglect for almost nobody to notice. Similarly, there is the wonderment of a solitary apple tree thriving in a freakish environment. Yet, the Shulamite similarly is likened to a cheerful [H7797] lily equally remote because access is blocked by witless thorns, her sisters (“daughters”), preserving her virginity and contrasting beauty. Though dead in their works, they unconsciously serve her, the Temple.

Thorns represent the deceitfulness of riches. As we painfully were, the Shulamite’s sisters are rich in their many genuinely good works in Babylonian Christianity. They are not given to see the Bride symbolised by a lonely rose, apple tree, or access-hindered lily. They are separated by their thorny lies of false doctrines they flippantly regard as inconsequential and fall out of season to rot in the field. With a multitude of teachers, they are always seeking and never finding, whereas the Bride precisely knows what she has been given.

2Ti 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 
2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

Eze 2:6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers [H5621 – prickle] and thorns [H5544, definition H5541] be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

Thorns H5541 are a classic example of meaning for our former lightness in taking the Lord’s word in vain ~ being saved and tossing aside having to die daily, whose lying works have stings in their tails, bear thorns and are burned in a crackling fire.

– Original: סלה
– Transliteration: Calah
– Phonetic: saw-law’
– Definition: 
to make light of, toss aside 
(Qal) to make light of
(Piel) to flout, reject
to weigh, balance
(Pual) to be weighed

– Origin: a primitive root
– TWOT entry: 1502,1503
– Part(s) of speech: Verb
– Strong’s: A primitive root; to hang up that is weigh or (figuratively) contemn: – tread down (under foot) value.

See also ‘Scorpions’. (Mat 13:22, Jer 4:3) [Strong’s #873 – akantha]. A disability [Strong’s #4647 – skolops]

Isa 33:10 Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. 
Isa 33:11 Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. 
Isa 33:12 And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. 

Heb 6:8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

Son 2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

No matter where the future daughters of Israel reside, be they in the mountains of Abram, the plains of Lot or the vast reaches of Babylon, none match the magnificence of the Shulamite; she is blooming alone and hidden from the world’s sight in plain sight. Outwardly, to the blind eyes of Babylon, she has no comeliness; she is broken, suffering and dishevelled. Yet, to our Lord, she is His spiritually elegant delight. He only sees her transformed beauty that, like him in the purity of God’s spirit, nobody in the flesh can look upon and live.

Col 3:3 For ye are dead, [KJV] and you have a secret life with Christ in God. (BBE)

Continuing…

Son 2:4 He brought me to the banqueting [H3196] house, and his banner over me was love.
Son 2:5 Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

Solomon in the flesh reflecting Christ in spirit are her shadows of sweet delight, and Christ’s word is initially bitter in her mouth. Still, it has become an unusual sweetness craved to make her “sick of [with] love” ~ intoxicated with the headiness of love. Indeed, her life in the flesh is dead, and she anticipates being lifted into the heavenly place with her Lord for the marriage feast. The entire Song expresses intoxicating love in vivid dreams for the surety of the purchased possession (Eph 1:3-14).

Interestingly, the “banqueting house” equates to the nature of festivity and permanent peace and clearly relates to Christ stating at the Passover that he wouldn’t drink of the vine again until the spiritual “supper” in his Kingdom, the marriage banquet (Mat 26:26 -29). Her final resting place is in her Lord’s bosom, in his house, the inner sanctuary of the holy of holies, her ark of pure love those without the Temple nobody else can touch, let alone see.

[H3196] Banqueting 
iteration: Yayin
– Phonetic: yah’-yin
– Definition: – wine
– Origin: from an unused root meaning to effervesce [ferment, fizz, sparkle, bubble, enthuse]
– TWOT entry: 864
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine 

– Strong’s: From an unused root meaning to effervesce;
wine (as fermented); by implication intoxication: – banqueting wine wine [-bibber].

Of course, the Bride in her flesh has learned to be physically and spiritually sober, and the full understanding of her Lord and husband is now a reality. Her pain of walking in the fiery coals filling up from behind the same afflictions as her husband is gone; she is about to be birthed a new creation. Now in the fullness of eternal spirit with the glorious beauty of both Esther’s submissive dignity and Rachel’s bright eyes, she is festive, pretty, and a stunning delight of righteousness to her Groom. She is the apple of His eye.

Banners (H1714 – standard; to look, behold) are flags or standards signifying to what country or state the company belongs. The banner over the Shulamite proclaims the Lord’s ownership of his purchased possession, to which she gladly and wholeheartedly submits.

Son 2:5 Stay me with flagons [H809], comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

Spiritually, bread, strong meat and wine are all necessary for growth. Wine in flagons is especially used for festive occasions, as did David celebrating the return of the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem. Often flagons are associated with raisin or date cakes that are condensed by being pressed. The high fructose content in the cakes preserves them for long distant travel without deterioration and, as does honey, provides the body with instant energy and a spiritually bright mind (1Sa 14:27 – Jonathan dipped his lance or rod’s end in honey and ate).

2Sa 6:19 And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, [wheaten bread] and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon [H809] of wine. So all the people departed every one to his house.

The Bride is resting upon her Lord with the typically bright and unbridled enthusiasm of a beautiful young woman that is likewise intoxicating to the Groom ~ they are sick with love.

Christ’s first miracle was to convert water into wine (Joh 2:1-11), and the occasion was a wedding feast that in the flesh directly points to the anticipated wedding banquet in the Song of Solomon and, spiritually, the marriage of the Lamb.

Mat 26:29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

For the Bride, the fiery wrath of God is gone, and the paradox of wine’s positive meaning merges with the festivities.

Wine (H3631 – fiery wine of God’s wrath; and effervesce – bubbly)

For the last part of verse 5, Strong’s derivative of the meaning of apples is H5301 and the Hebrew word:

– Original: נפח
– Transliteration: Naphach
– Phonetic: naw-fakh’
– Definition:
to breathe, blow, sniff at, seethe, give up or lose (life)
(Qal) to breathe, blow
(Pual) to be blown
(Hiphil) to cause to breathe out

The Shulamite and her Lord are in a loving embrace, and the breath of his life-giving word is breathing on her and she on him as they exchange His word with kisses that are better than wine. She says:

Son 2:6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.

The spirit they now share was in the flesh, a type of downpayment the Lord gave Adam’s physical life and now the Bride of Christ, is one spirit in Him which He figuratively breathed into her in a consummative embrace. In that physical position of an enflamed loving embrace, her Lord breathes the spiritual breath of life that a deer (roe, hart or hind) she typifies and pants (H6165 – to long for; pant after) for the full measure of His spirit. Her panting labour pains and memories of bringing forth the good fruit of His spirit are gone, and she is about to reap what her Lord has and is now sowing; the full measure of His spirit within her. In suspense, she is “sick of love”; the memories of her travails in the flesh will be gone with cries and panting of consummative joy.

Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed [H5301] into his nostrils the breath [H5397] of life; and man became a living soul.

The primary point in the following verse is that a travailing woman pants (panteth H6165 – 1. (Qal) to long for, pant after) in the positive for the joy her labours have concluded. Her Lord’s breath in the loving embrace is synonymous with breathing (“breathed”) and panting the breath of life in Adam and now her spiritually!

Isa 42:14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; [H3205 – 1. to bear, bring forth, beget, gender, travail a. (Qal) 1. to bear, bring forth. 1a b. of childbirth 1a c. of distress (simile) 1a] I will destroy and devour at once. 

Psa 42:1 To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth [H6165] after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

Breathed H5301 – simply, to breathe, blow, sniff at, seethe, give up or lose (life).

Breath H5397
– Original: נשׁמה
– Transliteration: N@shamah
– Phonetic: nesh-aw-maw’
– Definition: 
breath, spirit
breath (of God)
breath (of man)
every breathing thing
spirit (of man)
– Origin: from H5395 [from the same root meaning of Breath H5397 – 1. to pant
(Qal) to pant 1. of a woman in travail or labour]
– TWOT entry: 1433a
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Feminine 

– Strong’s: From H5395; a puff that is wind angry or vital breath divine inspiration intellect or (concretely) an animal: – blast (that) breath (-eth) inspiration soul spirit. 

Total KJV Occurrences: 24

The term “breath” (H5397) of life God gave Adam relates to Him having “Breathed” (H5301), the beginnings of his travail, and relates to the “spirit” (H7307) and soul in man to bring forth the New Adam

Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, [H7307] to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Isa 57:16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls [H5397 – 1. breath, spirit a. breath (of God) b. breath (of man) c. every breathing thing d. spirit (of man)] which I have made. 

Zec 12:1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit [H7307] of man within him. 

Spirit H7307
– Original: רוּח
– Transliteration: Ruwach
– Phonetic: roo’-akh
– Definition:
wind, breath, mind, spirit
breath
wind
of heaven
quarter (of wind), side
breath of air
air, gas
vain, empty thing
spirit (as that which breathes quickly in animation or agitation)
spirit, animation, vivacity, vigour
courage
temper, anger
impatience, patience
spirit, disposition (as troubled, bitter, discontented)
disposition (of various kinds), unaccountable or uncontrollable impulse
prophetic spirit
spirit (of the living, breathing being in man and animals)
as gift, preserved by God, God’s spirit, departing at death, disembodied being
spirit (as seat of emotion)
desire
sorrow, trouble
spirit
as seat or organ of mental acts
rarely of the will
as seat especially of moral character
Spirit of God
as inspiring ecstatic state of prophecy
as impelling prophet to utter instruction or warning
imparting warlike energy and executive and administrative power
as endowing men with various gifts
as energy of life

– Origin: from H7306
– TWOT entry: 2131a
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Feminine 
– Strong’s: From H7306; wind; by resemblance breath that is a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively life anger unsubstantiality; by extension a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions): – air anger blast breath X cool courage mind X quarter X side spirit ([-ual]) tempest X vain ([whirl-]) wind (-y). 

Total KJV Occurrences: 378

The Bride and her Lord are one breath of the spirit of eternal life in each other’s embrace.

1Co 6:17 But he that is joined [G2853 – to glue together; join oneself to; cleave] unto the Lord is one spirit.

Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 

1Co 6:16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. 

Eph 2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

Eph 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.

The final verse for this study finishes with the Shulamite’s internal soliloquy. She sternly commands her sisters of Old Jerusalem within to withstand their propensity to be like a deer, wild ass in their season or swift dromedary, that cannot resist a majestic stag or equivalent male’s rutting call. (Jer 2:23-24)

Son 2:7 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. 

The roes of the field relate to the masculine as with the outward majestic glory of rams, stags and bucks (H6643) whose swollen (H6638) spiritually hedonistic ways match the equally libertine hind’s (H355 female; doe) lustful eyes. As with Rachel’s immense patience in waiting for Jacob, she does not allow her love to be fully aroused until her wedding day. Her elegantly and subtly expressed physique behind equally appealing dress points to her heart and not overtly to her breasts. With dreadfully deep sobriety, she internally reminds herself to focus on her Lord and not be cajoled by her sisters in Old Jerusalem to prematurely and sensually feast until her Lord pleases.

In previous Song of Solomon studies, female breasts elegantly dominate the initial arousal of feminine tenderness and the spiritual epicentre of a beautiful heart. She knows her sisters’ love in Babylon is polluted and symbolised haughtily by their exaggeratedly pushed-up (H7736 – swollen) breasts designed to catch the eye of attentive males. As the roes and bucks are likewise swollen in their self-righteous majesty, so are the hind’s hearts sensationally depicted by breasts defiantly taking centre stage and immediately awakening concupiscent love. Both parties become the waste of rotten fruit.

The accompanying verse speaks of Israel’s unfaithfulness and her heart symbolically portrayed by impudently exaggerated breasts:

Hos 2:2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts. [H7699]

H7699 and its derivative H7736 Strongs meaning,
– Original: שׁוּד
– Transliteration: Shuwd
– Phonetic: shood
– Definition:

(Qal) to ruin, destroy, spoil, devastate
– Origin: a primitive root
– TWOT entry: 2331
– Part(s) of speech: Verb 
– Strong’s: A primitive root; properly to swell up that is figuratively (by implication of insolence) to devastate: – waste.

Total KJV Occurrences: 1 
wasteth, 1
Psa_91:6

There is a stark contrast between the Shulamite sisters of Old Jerusalem’s heart displayed by the spiritual scent of their arousals between their breasts, compared to the Bride’s holy heart anointed with the glorious scent of pure myrrh.

Son 1:13 A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts. 

The Bride is not conceited for the honour her Lord has bestowed on her; the King says,

Psa 45:8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. 
Psa 45:9 Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.

The Bride has left her father and mother and will devotedly cleave to her husband.

Psa 45:10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; 
Psa 45:11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.

The next verse reminds us of Babylonian Christianity, which says they are Jews but do lie and shall bow down before her.

Psa 45:12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour. 
Psa 45:13 The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. 
Psa 45:14 She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. 
Psa 45:15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king’s palace. 
Psa 45:16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
Psa 45:17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.

In remembering the Eighth-day, with those verses indelibly written in her heart, she, with quickened breath, painfully (“sick of love”) yet gladly restrains her arousal until He pleases.

At the Lord’s hand, next week we will review Song of Solomon 2:8-17.