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Song of Solomon
Secrets To
Wondrous Passion
Psalm 71:14-24 Saved and Singing
14.But I will always hope, and will add to all of Your praise.15.My mouth will tell about Your righteousness, and of Your salvation all day, though I don’t know its full measure.16.I will come with the mighty acts of the Lord Yahweh. I will make mention of Your righteousness, even of Yours alone.17.God, You have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared Your wondrous works.18.Yes, even when I am old and gray-haired, God, don’t forsake me, until I have declared Your strength to the next generation, Your might to everyone who is to come.19.Your righteousness also, God, reaches to the heavens; You have done great things. God, who is like You?20.You, who have shown us many and bitter troubles, You will let me live. You will bring us up again from the depths of the earth.21.Increase my honor, and comfort me again.22.I will also praise You with the harp for Your faithfulness, my God. I sing praises to You with the lyre, Holy One of Israel.23.My lips shall shout for joy ! My soul, which You have redeemed, sings praises to You!24.My tongue will also talk about Your righteousness all day long, for they are disappointed, and they are confounded, who want to harm me."Observation
71:14-24.The situation looks desperate, yet David expresses hope in God (and asks Him to hurry). David vows to tell of God's righteousness as He delivers and saves him. He doesn't know the full measure of what God will do, but will praise Him for what he does know and has experienced. God has caused him to understand Him from his youth, and David looks forward to continuing to praise God to the next generation so they can know Him. God's glory and might extend beyond just helping His people. He also disciplines and revives them, and rewards them. The last verses might have been written after the deliverance he sought, as God has acted in redeeming him from his enemies, and disappointed those who wanted to harm him. Thus the redeemed declare His righteous praise.
Application
Never abandon hope in a righteous and faithful God; He rescues His people who call to Him, so they can praise Him. Start singing...
Prayer
Mighty and Faithful God, You are righteous in all Your ways, and totally worthy of my trust and praise; help me proclaim Your praises to future generations, so they too can experience Your righteousness. Thanks. Amen.
Proverbs 18:17-21 Relationships Need Words to Live
17.“He who pleads his cause first seems right; until another comes and questions him.18.The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.19.A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city; and disputes are like the bars of a castle.20.A man’s stomach is satisfied with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.21.Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.“Observations
18:17-19.A triplet on relationships, and a couplet on speech go together, since it's impossible to have a real relationship without relating verbally. As every parent and judge knows, one needs to get both sides of the story to reconstruct reality. Learning how to ask the right questions is a skill worth developing. My favorite question is “why?”. Understanding motives (what moves people to an action) is key for discovering value systems and the heart of most issues. Flipping a coin (lot), letting God decide might be useful for settling a dispute, but not at the expense of abdicating God's requirement for justice. Offenses among imperfect creatures are inevitable, so knowing how to resolve difficulties is essential. Unresolved grievances lead to distance and bitterness and a ruptured relationship, separated by the bars of sin. If you want to repair a relationship, humble yourself and try these words: “God has convicted me of how wrong I was in sinning against you; I've sought His forgiveness, and now I'm seeking yours: Will your forgive me for...?” It is important for the other person to hear you confess (agree/speak the same thing) specifically what you've done that is wrong, so they know you won't (or don't want to) do it again, and will take steps to prevent it from recurring. Otherwise bars need to be set up to prevent further injury.
18:20-21.
Words have consequences. We live in world created by a word. A word will cause it to melt. The right words can restore life to a relationship, resulting in both nourishment/ -edification and satisfaction-pleasure. The wrong words can bring distance and death. Verse 20 repeats the verb “satisfied” (in the Imperfect) to emphasize the ongoing pleasure that can result from the right words in a relationship. Stomach is more than a receptacle for food, it is also used as the center of appetites and emotion sometimes (Job 32:18; 40:16; Ps 17:14; Pr 20:27). Words go beyond inner satisfaction to the saving or destroying on one's life and that of others. Use them wisely. A critical parent or spouse who slashes at another's worth or value with sharp unjust words can leave lifelong scars (which God can heal).
Mt 12:36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
Application
Do your words help or hurt your relationships? Try using the “forgiveness phraseology” (in italics in Observations above) on a failing relationship and see what happens (it couldn't hurt anything except your pride).
Prayer
God, may my words mirror Yours, and give life to others and to my relationships; and may my relationships reflect the unity You desire in Your children. I might need some supernatural help with this, so stay tuned. Thanks. Amen.
Song of Solomon - Secrets To Wondrous Passion
This Song of Songs celebrates the wondrous passion of love, and tells the readers how to achieve it. Any nonsense about the Song being about God's love for His people or the Church is just that. God does use illustrations and allegories to describe His love for His people, but they usually take a paragraph or two. The Song clearly describes the romantic relationship between Solomon [Lover] and his Beloved, possibly Abishag (1 King 1), erotically and explicitly, yet poetically. We'll keep it family friendly, and highlight the specific applications to both singles and marrieds. The path to a happily ever ending starts while one is single.
To correctly understand and interpret the book inductively, one looks at the imagery, then determines which possible meanings fit the context. Deductively, one could understand the principles for passionate relationships, and then see if there's any material which matches up with those precepts, but that's a poor way to do Bible study and theology, leading to subjective bias and misinterpretation.
The translators have put the [speaker] in brackets, based upon the gender and number of the Hebrew word forms, but aren't inspired. The chorus [Friends] serve a didactic purpose, to emphasize or provide a foil for a point (like "Don't waken love until the proper time").
The Song describes the progression (courtship, wedding, maturation) and various hindrances to a wondrously passionate relationship, and are equally applicable to a great friendship, sans the erotic elements. The overall structure of the Song is chiastic, with the center element being the consummation of the relationship, bracketed by the two dream sequences, which in turn are bracketed by developmental aspects of love, bookended by reflections of home (in the king's court and at home). You can find more correspondence on your own. The defining statement of marriage in Genesis 2:24 has three aspects: “leaving” (the “intellectual” social and legal declaration of intent to have the relationship, leaving behind the single life); “cleaving” (the emotional bonding, like that of two pieces of paper being glued together so that one can't be separated from the other with them both being ripped apart) and “one flesh” (the development of physical intimacy where one plus one equals one). All good enduring physical relationships are built on a pure friendship, which is noted in the comments.
Song of Solomon 1 Longing for Love
1."The Song of songs, which is Solomon's.2.[Beloved] Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for your love is better than wine.3.Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured forth, therefore the virgins love you.4.Take me away with you. Let us hurry. May the king bring me into his rooms. [Friends] We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will praise your love more than wine! [Beloved] They are right to love you.5.I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar's tents, like Solomon's curtains.6.Don't stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. My own vineyard (person), I had to neglect.7.Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you graze your flock, where you rest them at noon; For why should I be as one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions?8.[Lover] If you don't know, most beautiful among women, follow the tracks of the sheep. Graze your young goats beside the shepherds' tents.9.I have compared you, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh's chariots.10.Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels.11.[Friends] We will make you earrings of gold, with studs of silver.12.[Beloved] While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.13.My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, that lies between my breasts.14.My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.15.[Lover] Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves.16.[Beloved] Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant; and our couch is verdant.17.[Lover] The beams of our house are cedars. Our rafters are firs."Observation
1:1-17.In this courtship phase of the relationship, there is mutual admiration and attraction, and longing. But the relationship is hindered by her poor self image, because she is darkened by the sun in which she had to work. Her self-doubts are overcome by the affirmation of the Lover (Solomon), whose praise overcomes her “friend's” detractions.
Application
Self-worth and value are found in being pleasing to God and experiencing His pleasure and praise. Anything else is hollow.
Prayer
God, thanks that You delight in Your servants, and that I can be pleasing in Your sight, and not care what anyone else thinks. Amen.
Song of Solomon 2 Flame or Fire?
1."[Beloved] I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.2.[Lover] As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.3.[Beloved] 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, his fruit was sweet to my taste.4.He brought me to the banquet hall. His banner over me is love.5.Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples; For I am faint with love.6.His left hand is under my head. His right hand embraces me.7.I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it will delight/be pleasing.8.The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills.9.My beloved is like a roe or a young hart. Behold, he stands behind our wall! He looks in at the windows. He glances through the lattice.10.My beloved spoke, and said to me, "Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.11.For, behold, the winter is past. The rain is over and gone.12.The flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.13.The fig tree ripens her green figs. The vines are in blossom. They give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away."14.[Lover] My dove in the clefts of the rock, In the hiding places of the mountainside, Let me see your face. Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.15.Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom.16.[Beloved] My beloved is mine, and I am his. He browses among the lilies.17.Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of Bether."Observation
2:1-15.Brain scans reveal that when women are shown a picture of their lover or baby, the rational parts of the brain shut down. So if you're a gal, trust the advice and counsel of those who know you, and want your best interest (love); the odds are that you're not thinking rationally.
This is a key to living happily ever after, and is repeated again in 3:7, and emphasized at the end. The last verb is a Qal Imperfect, which indicates future, ongoing action. There is an appropriate time to open the damper and stoke the flames, and the initial stages of a relationship is time for guarding one's heart, not pouring gasoline on it.
Love is like a fire, which if started at the wrong time, without proper safeguards (commitment) consumes those who start it, and eventually burns out. Emotion based relationships are like gasoline, it can start a flame with a bang, singeing those nearby, and then dies out. Love is not something that can be forced, but is built, and needs the proper fuel (loyal commitment to other-centered self-sacrifice) to keep burning bright and passionately. Fire contained in a fireplace is wonderful and useful. Without safeguards, it burns down the house. Let love sleep until the proper time. Adam was asleep (in the will of God) when God brought Eve to him.
The lover initiates the relationship at the proper time, and comes for his beloved. Usually the beloved subtly indicates her interest/availability for a relationship, by encouraging interest. Sometimes the shy/reserved need extra encouragement, but usually restraint is more appropriate. The other major principle of courtship is to not defraud the other person, promising what you don't intend to deliver, while using them to meet your need for worth, value or pleasure (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8).
The little foxes are those things that can spoil the relationship (insecurity, selfishness, no self-denial/control, ego, misunderstanding, non-communication, lack of steadfast commitment, etc.), against which both parties need to be vigilant, and remove the source of them. The lover takes the lead in resolving and removing the foxes. See the sermon Marriage: Feast or Famine on Truthbase.net for the tasks necessary for marriage to be a feast.
Application
Don't start things you can't finish, and wait until God says “Go”.
PS
You can't know the subjective will of God (like who you should marry) if you're not doing the objective will clearly outlined in Scripture. If you're wholeheartedly seeking God's will, according to His word, it's impossible to miss it.
Prayer
God, help me guard my heart, trusting You to give what's best, when it's best. Amen.
Song of Solomon 3 Doubts
1."[Beloved] By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn't find him.2.I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn't find him.3.The watchmen who go about the city found me; "Have you seen him whom my soul loves?"4.I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, into the room of her who conceived me.5.I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it will delight/be pleasing.6.Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant?7.Behold, it is Solomon's carriage! Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel.8.They all handle the sword, and are expert in war. Every man has his sword on his thigh, because of fear in the night.9.King Solomon made himself a carriage of the wood of Lebanon.10.He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, its midst being paved with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem.11.Go forth, you daughters of Zion, and see king Solomon, with the crown with which his mother has crowned him, in the day of his weddings, in the day of the gladness of his heart."Observation
3:1-11.Insecurity about the relationship gives the Beloved a bad dream. Having a great relationship with God, trusting that He meets all your needs, not only provides security but lays the foundation for a great marriage. The major key is repeated. Don't waken love or passion before it's appropriate.
Solomon comes to get his bride.
Application
Looking to a finite person to meet all your needs is folly. Looking to an infinite God who has boundless grace and resources (and who can create whatever you need) is far wiser. Otherwise, you'll be disappointed.
Prayer
God, thanks that You are utterly sufficient for all my needs, and will bring about Your perfect will in my life as I depend upon You. Amen.
Song of Solomon 4 Passion and Purity
1."[Lover] Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is as a flock of goats, that descend from Mount Gilead.2.Your teeth are like a newly shorn flock, which have come up from the washing, where every one of them has twins. None is bereaved among them.3.Your lips are like scarlet thread. Your mouth is lovely. Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.4.Your neck is like David's tower built for an armory, whereon a thousand shields hang, all the shields of the mighty men.5.Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies.6.Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense.7.You are all beautiful, my love. There is no spot in you.8.Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.9.You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.10.How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine! The fragrance of your perfumes than all kinds of spices!11.Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon.12.A locked up garden is my sister, my bride; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.13.Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits: henna with spikenard plants,14.spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,15.a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, flowing streams from Lebanon.16.[Beloved] Awake, north wind; and come, you south! Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and taste his precious fruits."Observation
4:1-16.Solomon is quite smitten by the physical, emotional, and spiritual beauty of his beloved. He praises not just her physical beauty, but her love (other-centeredness) He calls her not just his bride, but his sister, underscoring the friendship. She has also kept herself pure, and not given favors, nor pieces of her heart to others. She views herself as his garden.
Application
Someone who gives parts of themselves away to a number of lovers, has less to give to the one they marry.
Prayer
Lord, help me keep my heart and body pure, regardless of my marital status. Amen.
Song of Solomon 5 Trouble in Paradise
1."[Lover] I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. [Friends] Eat, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved.2.[Beloved] I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night."3.I have taken off my robe. Indeed, must I put it on? I have washed my feet. Indeed, must I soil them?4.My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening. My heart pounded for him.5.I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock.6.I opened to my beloved; but my beloved left; and had gone away. My heart went out when he spoke. I looked for him, but I didn't find him. I called him, but he didn't answer.7.The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.8.I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love.9.[Friends] How is your beloved better than another beloved, you fairest among women? How is your beloved better than another beloved, that you do so adjure us?10.[Beloved] My beloved is white and ruddy. The best among ten thousand.11.His head is like the purest gold. His hair is bushy, black as a raven.12.His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, washed with milk, mounted like jewels.13.His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.14.His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl. His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires.15.His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.16.His mouth is sweetness; yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem."Observation
5:1-16.The lovers consummate their relationship and fully enjoy each other. In a dream, the Beloved fails to respond to her Lover until it is too late, and suffers anguish. The rejection causes pain and separation. Reflecting on the desirability of her Lover, she resolves to look for him (next chapter).
Application
The essence of love is sacrificing yourself for doing what is in the best interest of another. Self-sacrifice is rarely convenient.
Prayer
God, You are the great giver; thanks for giving Yourself and your grace to me; help me give myself to benefit others. Amen.
Song of Solomon 6 Paradise Restored
1."[Friends] Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?2.[Beloved] My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.3.I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. He browses among the lilies,4.[Lover] You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.5.Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats, that lie along the side of Gilead.6.Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, which have come up from the washing; of which every one has twins; none is bereaved among them.7.Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.8.There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and virgins without number.9.My dove, my perfect one, is unique. She is her mother's only daughter. She is the favorite one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed; the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.10.Who is she who looks forth as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners?11.[Beloved] I went down into the nut tree grove, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower.12.Without realizing it, my desire set me with my royal people's chariots.13.[Friends] Return, return, Shulammite! Return, return, that we may gaze at you. [Lover] Why do you desire to gaze at the Shulammite, as at the dance of Mahanaim?"Observation
6:1-13.It appears that Solomon has dealt with her rejection (reluctant acceptance) by finding comfort in his other wives and concubines. Yet the Beloved affirms their commitment to each other in verse 3. Her seeking of Solomon paid off; he sees her multifaceted uniqueness and is again attracted to her. Her receptivity and responsiveness effect reconciliation.
Application
If both parties take responsibility to reconcile the relationship, happiness is rapid.
Prayer
God, keep me from being bitter or resentful in my relationship, so that I may experience the joy and delight You intend. Amen.
Song of Solomon 7 Mutual Appreciation
1."[Lover] How beautiful are your feet in sandals, prince's daughter! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skillful workman.2.Your body is like a round goblet, no mixed wine is wanting. Your waist is like a heap of wheat, set about with lilies.3.Your two breasts are like two fawns, that are twins of a roe.4.Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bathrabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus.5.Your head on you is like Carmel. The hair of your head like purple. The king is held captive in its tresses.6.How beautiful and how pleasant you are, love, for delights!7.This, your stature, is like a palm tree, your breasts like its fruit.8.I said, "I will climb up into the palm tree. I will take hold of its fruit." Let your breasts be like clusters of the vine, the smell of your breath like apples,9.[Beloved] Your mouth like the best wine, that goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding through the lips of those who are asleep.10.I am my beloved's. His desire is toward me.11.Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field. Let us lodge in the villages.12.Let's go early up to the vineyards. Let's see whether the vine has budded, its blossom is open, and the pomegranates are in flower. There I will give you my love.13.The mandrakes give forth fragrance. At our doors are all kinds of precious fruits, new and old, which I have stored up for you, my beloved."Observation
7:1-13.The Lover's eyes catch sight of his Beloved, starting with her strappy sandals, and he works his way up. She responds to his appreciation with new and old delights.
Application
Expressing appreciation builds a relationships to new heights.
Prayer
God, thanks that in Your goodness, You created the capacity for delight, and the means for fulfilling it. Amen.
Song of Solomon 8 Purity and Commitment Yields Passion
1."[Beloved] Oh that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yes, and no one would despise me.2.I would lead you, bringing you into my mother's house, who would instruct me. I would have you drink spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate.3.His left hand would be under my head. His right hand would embrace me.4.I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it will delight/be pleasing.5.[Friends] Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I aroused you. There your mother conceived you. There she was in labor and bore you.6.Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yahweh.7.Many waters can't quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned.8.[Friends] We have a little sister. She has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is to be spoken for?9.If she is a wall, we will build on her a turret of silver. if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.10.[Beloved] I am a wall, and my breasts like towers, then I was in his eyes like one who found completeness/favor.11.Solomon had a vineyard at Baal Hamon. He leased out the vineyard to keepers. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.12.My own vineyard is before me. The thousand are for you, Solomon; two hundred for those who tend its fruit.13.[Lover] You who dwell in the gardens, with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice!14.[Beloved] Come away, my beloved! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices!"Observation
8:1-13.The secret to passion is purity, not waking love until it pleases. This theme is repeated at the end of the chapter.
The commitment to the relationship (seal) is what enables it to withstand the flood of problems that would seek to destroy it. Money can't buy you love, it is built through mutual commitment. Since marriage is reflective of the wisdom and unity of God (Ephesians 5), it's one of those things Satan seeks to destroy (even before it starts).
The book ends with a flashback to the Beloved's brothers, asking what they should do for their little sister until she matures to a marriageable age. If she is a wall, keeping visitors or violators to her garden out (pure and chaste), they will honor her with silver adornments. If she is a door, providing easy access to passers-by, they will have to restrict her to protect her.
She affirms that she is a wall, and as a result found favor and complete bliss in the relationship with her Beloved. In return for her brother's protection of her vineyard, which she gave to Solomon, her brothers should be doubly honored. The Beloved and her Lover ride off into the sunset.
Application
Happily ever after starts with purity and is sealed with commitment.
Prayer
God, thanks for Your instruction on how to get the most pleasure out of Your creation. Amen.
Digging Deeper
God in a nutshell: God created marriage and sex to be an intoxicating pleasure. He gives what's best when it's best, and intends that those rightly related to Him and each other (the righteous) reap blessings He created. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, there is a time for everything, and that would include the awaking of love.Us in a nutshell: We can only experience God's best if we do what's best, and trust Him with the rest. Wondrous passion is not automatic, but requires effort to align our desires and actions with God's will. Waking love before the proper time is not the way to live happily ever after, but winds up burning people. An unwillingness to eliminate the little foxes, such as insecurity, selfishness, and an inadequate relationship with God, doesn't yield delight either. A commitment to forgive, communicate, accommodate, and appreciate, builds and feeds the fires of passion.