Song of Solomon Chapter 5 "The Shepherd Offers Assistance, Her Faithfulness." This Bible
Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's
transcription/ location is provided by http://www.theseason.org Song of Solomon 5:1 "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honey comb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." Today it should be quite easy to understand what this verse is talking about. The commercial world uses these spices and fragrances to lure you into buying their products. They show you how you can draw the love of your life to you, by wearing these sweet smelling perfumes, and scents, and by their use bring your love under your control. By taking this analogy and applying it to our spiritual life, The Shepherd wants His Shulamite wife to be fresh and clear in understanding, for He wants there to be no doubt in her mind in her love for Him. If you are one of God's elect then you know that God's Word is true and speaks from the heart, as He is in this book of Solomon. This is the simplicity which Christ taught when He walked the earth, using natural things to explain spiritual hidden truths, kept secret from the foundations of this world age. He taught in parables so only those with eyes to see and ears to hear with understanding would know the meanings. This is the equivalent to the second advent, which has not taken place yet, but it is given in that tense. This is the Shepherd speaking to the girl, telling of the time when they are together, when they are overheard by the daughters of Jerusalem, who speak up and say excitingly, "O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." It sounds a little crude that outsiders would speak up, and encourage them in their love toward each other. However, both in the physical and the spiritual sense men and women like to become involved in advising when they see a genunine love affair. Understand that the waiting will be long, and from that long wait she grows deep into her daydreaming and desire that the time for their reunion would come. Song of Solomon 5:2 "I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night," She almost has lost touch with reality as she longs for her Shepherd lover, and she says here; that even when she sleeps, her mind is continuing to long for Him. She hears His voice as if He were there with her, calling her "His sister [in reference to a family member], my love, my dove, and my undefiled." Underline undefiled, for this Shulamite girl, the elect of God will be undefiled at His return. She knows Her Shepherd, who is the Word, and there is no way that she will be deceived to take the false one, the Antichrist Satan at his coming at the sixth trump. She is saying that she has walked long and her hair is wet with the dew of the night, those locks of her hair are even dripping with droplets as the moisture falls. Song of Solomon 5:3 "I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?" What she is saying is, I am already in bed and have undressed for the night, and how can I quickly dress again. I have cleaned my feet for the night, how shall I soil them again.? She is dreaming this to the point that it is almost becoming a reality. This is as it is with us, as we pray and meditate continually on His Word, as we fall asleep at night, and rise in the morning. Song of Solomon 5:4 "My beloved put on his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him." This is in reference to the doors of old, where you opened the door by reaching through, and triggered the latch from the inside. She is thinking of her Shepherd love entering her home, and the mere thought of Him being there moves her heart [bowels]. She is love sick. When we think of Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd shedding His blood for our sins, our love for Him should be as strong as this love sick Shulamite girl for her Shepherd love. That price that was paid counts us a pure as this wife in the eyes of the Father. Song of Solomon 5:5 "I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock." When she thought she heard Him arrive she arose to open the door for Him, her hands sweat with the sweet smelling odors of myrrh. She rushed in the night to open the door, and put her sweet smelling hands on the handles of the lock on the door. Song of Solomon 5:6 "I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer." When she opened the door, she awoke and realized that it was only a dream, for her beloved Shepherd was not there, He was gone. It seemed like her heart stopped, when she stood there in the empty door well, she sought after him and called out for Him, but he wasn't there. How many times have you called out to the Lord, and you heard no answer? How many times have you felt the presence of the Holy Spirit of God, to the state of a dream, and bathed yourself in His Spirit to the point that you never wanted to leave; only to be awaken to the reality of the problems of the the world around you? This is what has happened to the Shulamite girl as she desires to be with her Shepherd love. There is nothing wrong with this, for it is to let us know that we can never hide from the reality around us. However, when we have this beautiful thought and time with our Savior through the Spirit, and we awake to the cold reality of this world. Does that mean that the love for Him has stopped? No, the love then flowers even stronger, for it gives us the strength to face the reality that is in our lives. Though He is gone, the reality that we face daily seems to diminish, and the time passes quicker as the hope and vision of His coming grows clearer and more bearable. The thought is still there, as is the love that my Shepherd still watches over me. Song of Solomon 5:7 "The watchman that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil form me." The "watchman" wonders what is this girl doing out here in the dark of the night. They took her and beat on her, and bruised her, and they took the veil from her. At this time in Solomon's day, to take the veil from a woman on a public street, was an insult, much like calling her a harlot. Remember back to the last verse, where in her dream she saw her lover arriving at the door, and she sprang from her bed in excitment and reached the door and opened it, only to find no one there. She went through that door, and out into the street looking for Him, and there in the street was the watchman of the city that grabbed her, hit her, and wounded her. Then he took her veil to humiliate her publically. Are you starting to see the picture of what God is trying to tell us? When you go through your personal experiences whereby the Spirit of God bathes you with His love, you will reach the height of pleasure with the love of our Savior. Then when enter into the streets of reality of what this world is, this is what the world will think of you. When you tell someone of the wonderful time you had with the Lord, they think you are nuts. They will ridicule and beat on you verbally to a point of disgrace. However, you know that the Love of God is real and true, and any insult that they could give can't harm you, because what they say just doesn't matter to you. You understand that they don't know your Shepherd's love, and there is nothing that you will allow to come between you and our Lord. Even though the veil is gone, and the world knows of your love for Him, it doesn't take away from that love one degree, but it even strengthens it. Remember this is an analogy, a story that uses this Shepherd and His love for the Shulamite girl, to represent the love story that God has for His true elect, those that know and love Him, and would let no form of deception and tribulation come between them. Song of Solomon 5:8 "I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love." The Shulamite girl is telling these daughters of Jerusalem that if they find her Shepherd lover, to tell Him that she is love sick. She is a witness here to others of her love of the great Shepherd, even to the daughters of Jerusalem. And the daughters answer her here. Song of Solomon 5:9 "What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women: what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?" They want to know why her beloved is so different than the love of other people. What is so special about Him that no one else can take His place? They even want to know why you even spoke of Him to them. Then she gives her answer to those daughters of the court, that could not be faithful to a single lover. Song of Solomon 5:10 "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among the thousand." Song of Solomon 5:11 "His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven." Song of Solomon 5:12 "His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set." "As the eyes of the doves by the rivers of waters", reflect the inner image just as the eyes of a person reflects the very image of the soul. The love that is in the soul is reflected through ones eyes, and you in turn look at every thing and event in the world in a different light. Song of Solomon 5:13 "His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh." Make a note of the food that this Shepherd ate to bring forth to bring forth the fragrance, the honey, milk and a drop of wine. Song of Solomon 5:14 "His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory, overlaid with sapphires." Better translating this into English, His fingers are like rods of gold. Song of Solomon 5:15 "His legs are a pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars." You can see the strength that she can see in this One. Speaking of the countenance being as the cedars of Lebanon, we are reminded of how God referred to himself in Hosea 14:8; "...I am a great fir tree." For this speaks of her eternal love for Him, and the Shepherd as the give of eternal life. Song of Solomon 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." This Shulamite girl was not afraid of telling these daughter of Jerusalem, the daughters of the court that spiritually are not fixed on any one man, that they do not know the difference. She is telling them that there is a difference, and she knows it for a fact, because she knows the Word. She was honest and innocent in her facing the harsh realities of the world, but even while she was being bruised by the world, she told them of Her love for her Shepherd, and His inseparable love for her. Regardless of the persecution that was given to her, she let it be known that there was none other like Him. This is an analogy, or story using the love of a girl, the Shulamite girl and her lover the Shepherd who shares that love equally for her. Through this story we can relate the love that Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd has for His bride and wife, and the love of that wife, the elect, and the bride [those that come to Him by their own free will in repentance] has for Him.
Home .~ Plough .~ Seeds .~ Vine .~ Potter .~ Seasons .~ Sonshine .~ Rain .~ Field |