Song of Solomon 2

The Explanation

The Song of Solomon is one of the strangest books in the Bible, and one of the most beautiful. There are no laws in it, no battles, no miracles. There is no sermon. There are two people who are in love, and they take turns saying out loud how wonderful they find each other. That is the whole book.

In chapter 2 the young woman speaks first. She calls herself "a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys," a simple wildflower from the fields. He answers that among all the other girls she is like a lily standing in a patch of thorns. You cannot help seeing her.

Then she talks about him. Imagine a hot afternoon and a bare hillside with scrubby trees. Then, suddenly, an apple tree, with real shade and real fruit. That is what he is like to her: "I sat down under his shadow with great delight, his fruit was sweet to my taste." She feels safe with him. She says he brought her into a great hall where a feast was going on, and over her head he raised a banner, like a flag an army carries so everyone can see whose side you are on. His flag says one word: love.

She is almost dizzy with it. "Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples; for I am faint with love." Then in verse 7 she turns to her friends, the daughters of Jerusalem, and says something serious: do not stir up love, do not wake it, until it wants to wake by itself. Love has its own time. You should not hurry it.

In verse 8 you can hear him coming. She recognizes his voice before she sees him. He comes over the hills the way a young deer runs, fast and light, jumping. He reaches the wall of her house and looks in through the window, peering through the wooden lattice. And then he calls to her to come outside, because winter is finished. The rain has stopped. Flowers are opening everywhere, birds are singing, the fig tree is filling with fruit, the grapevines smell sweet. Come out, he says. Come with me.

He calls her his dove, hiding in the cracks of the rock. Let me see your face, he says. Let me hear your voice. Then, briefly, something practical: catch the little foxes, because foxes sneak into the vineyards and ruin the blossom before it can ever become grapes. Small animals, big damage.

The chapter ends with a line the two of them could both sign: "My beloved is mine, and I am his."

What Does This Mean?

God put a love song in His Bible. That already says something. Some people think God only cares about rules and sin and church. But God made human bodies, and springtime, and figs, and the feeling of being crazy about someone. He is not embarrassed about it. He wrote it down and kept it.

There is also a warning in the middle of all that happiness, in verse 7. Do not wake love before it is ready. Being in love is powerful, and powerful things need time and care, not rushing. That is God's wisdom, not old-fashioned strictness.

And the foxes matter. The vineyard is not destroyed by an army. It is spoiled by small creatures nobody notices. Little things can ruin something beautiful, in a friendship, in a family, in your own heart.

The Common Thread

For hundreds of years, believers have read this book twice. Once as what it plainly is, a song between two people who love each other. And once as a picture of something bigger: God loves His people like that. Not politely. Not from a distance.

Look again at verse 8. He is the one who comes. He runs over the hills. He does not wait until she is perfect; he calls her out of her hiding place in the rock and says her face is lovely and her voice is sweet. Later in the Bible, Jesus is the one who comes looking for people. He goes after the one lost sheep. He calls people by name and says, follow me. And his banner over you is love.

I will be honest: the Bible never says straight out that this book is about Jesus. So this is a picture, not a proof. But it is a picture that fits.

For You

Here is something to try. God says your voice is sweet to Him and He wants to hear it. So talk to Him about ordinary things this week, not only the emergencies.

And go fox hunting. Ask yourself what small thing is spoiling something good in your life. A habit of lying just a little. Leaving one person out. Grumbling. Catch the little ones now, while the vines are still blossoming.

Talk About It

Why do you think God chose to put a love song in the Bible instead of leaving it out?

What is one "little fox" that could sneak into your friendships, and how would you catch it?

Praying Together

Lord, thank you that you are not far away and cold, but that you come looking for us. Thank you that your flag over us says love. Help us to hear your voice, and to catch the small things that spoil what is good. Amen.