Song of Songs - Chapter 2

In Chapter 2, the maiden encounters some things that challenge her faith.  The Lord is wanting to draw her (you) out of the secret place and into new adventures with Him.

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Hello, everyone, and welcome back once again to Jeff's Bible Track. In this episode, we will look at chapter two of Solomon's Song of Songs. And my sincere hope is that during this season, a desire will be awakened within you to go deeper, wider, higher, basically every dimension available in your relationship with your Savior and friend, the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's get to it. And I'll warn you I have a little bit of congestion on my vocal cords, and I'm trying to get rid of it, but um I may be struggling with it a little bit during this episode. So I appreciate your patience. I know only doctors have patience, right? And not the rest of us. Okay. In the last verse of chapter one, the king said to the Shulamite maiden, The beams of our house are cedars, our rafters are firs. Cedars and firs were the most important kinds of wood in the king's house. They were the most worthy building materials in the construction of God's dwelling place on earth. And since you are in Christ, you are his house. The things he's building into your life make you worthy for him to dwell inside of you. Now I made the comment in the last episode that knowing this should do wonders for your self-image and your self-respect. When you get a chance, look in the mirror and say to yourself, God is building an awesome house for himself in me. Indeed. Next, the maiden speaks in chapter two and verse one. I love this section here. She says, I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. Now songwriters have long assumed that this was the king speaking, and therefore under that assumption, Jesus calls himself the rose of Sharon. But this is not the case. This is the maiden speaking here. The thing that informs us who is speaking is the use of the Hebrew pronouns in the Hebrew text, either male or female. In this verse, they are female. It's the maiden speaking. The rose of Sharon, or lily of the valley, were common, ordinary wildflowers that lay all along the valley floors under the brush. Now we have a bush in our front yard called a rose of Sharon, but I can't see that particular plant growing on the desert valley floor. But my wife says there are different varieties with the same name. So the maiden is saying of herself, what am I that you would pay attention to me? I'm like a common wildflower. His response is in verse two. Listen to what he says. Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the maidens. Listen, even a common ordinary wildflower looks beautiful nestled among wild, ugly thorns. And so as she looks negatively at herself, as we tend to do, he says, In a world of thorns, you look like a lovely flower to me. There was something about her that made her stand out. You remember there were a thousand women in Solomon's household. There was an inner circle of disciples, twelve chosen, three stood out, but one was especially loved by Jesus. You know, this is a good place to emphasize the fact that God chose you in the same way Solomon chose the Shulamite maiden. Father God looks throughout the world, seeking those who will make a perfect bride for his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember what Jesus said in John 6.44, he said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them. In 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 13 and 14, Paul says, and this is from the Passion Translation, we always have to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, for you are dearly loved by the Lord. He proved it by choosing you from the beginning for salvation through the Spirit, who set you apart for holiness and through your belief in the truth. Awesome. But while God chose us, we have some choices to make as well. There are Christians who draw closer to Jesus than the average believer, because they choose to. And Jesus responds to those Christians. You remember James 4 8. It says, Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. It's our move. The maiden speaks in verses 3 through 7. The king had just said to her, like a lily among thorns is my darling among them among the maidens. And she replies, Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my lover among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste. He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love. Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me. Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field, do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires. There's a lot here, so let's go through it verse by verse. She says first, like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my lover among the young men. Now picture in your mind, if you will, a bunch of green trees, similar to those you'd find in the Pacific Northwest. And right smack dab in the middle of the center of all this greenery is an apple tree. And that tree, along with its fruit, stands out like a sore thumb in the midst of all the similar greenery. Well, this is how the king, the Lord Jesus, appears to the maiden among the young men, quote unquote. The young men represent the things, excuse me, which captures the heart's affection. They are the things which become ruler over our inward life in place of Jesus. It is the place to which the heart of man is drawn rather than to the Lord. But Jesus to her is like an apple tree among all those things in life. This again speaks of her single eye, eyes that are only for Jesus. Because in almost every place where the word apple appears in the Word of God, it's in this phrase, the apple of my eye. This was how God referred to Israel. The nation of Israel was the apple of his eye. He had a single eye toward his chosen people, the children of Abraham, his friend. And now she calls him an apple tree among all the other fruitless trees of the forest, because anything else that would capture our heart besides Christ is fruitless. She says, I delight to sit in his shade. This word delight could be translated rapture. In other words, sitting in his shade represents a tremendous lifting up of spirit. An ecstatic delight in his presence. She goes on to say his fruit is sweet to my taste. This signifies those things which his life, death, and resurrection life have obtained for us, such things as righteousness, sanctification, peace, the descent of the Holy Spirit, and so forth. Each time we as believers get a taste of these things, there's a spiritual sweetness to them. Excuse me. It's one thing to sniff something, it's another to taste and eat. You see, at this moment she has realized that there is no other person nor anything in all the world that is equal to him, and no one or thing can displace him from her eyes and her heart. You know, within churches there may be little groups that say, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, which is carnal. But for this maiden, the Lord himself, now fills her vision. And notice the progression of her movements so far. In chapter one and verse four, she's running after him. In chapter one and verse eight, she's following after him. In chapter one, verses twelve to fourteen, she's sitting down at his table. In chapter one, verses sixteen and seventeen, she's resting in his place of rest. And in chapter two and verse three, it is clearly said that she has sat down and is actually enjoying his presence. In verse four, she says, He has taken me to the banquet hall. The term banquet hall could read house of wine and suggest a place of joy and gladness. She is brought by the king into it. And this is the second time she has been brought by him into an experience with him. In chapter one and verse four, she said that he has brought me into his chambers, which is a deeper experience of the cross, where she first began to make spiritual progress in her quest for more of him. And now the banquet hall experience is where she begins to feel the joyfulness of his presence. She says, His banner over me is love. This is a love relationship with Jesus. His banner of love over our lives shows that we walk with him, live with him, or live for him, serve him, witness for him because of our love for Jesus. This is something that's missing from cult witnesses who come to your door. In verse 5, she said, Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. We're talking about intense spiritual feeling here. She's so overwhelmed with spiritual joy and ecstasy that she cries out for strength because she can hardly stand it. She's lovesick. She's exhausted with happiness. Next, she says in verse 6, His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me. The idea here is that of the protection and support of his love. He literally has to support and strengthen her just so she can bear the love with which he embraces her. And finally, in verse 7, she says, Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field, do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires. The Hebrew of that last sentence is, do not bear or unveil love until it's right. This charge occurs three times in the song and is rather difficult to unlock and understand. If read in the natural, it would be easy to understand. Don't get too intimate until the time is right. In other words, you don't have total intimacy with a man or a woman until it's right, and that's in marriage. But what does it mean spiritually? Not to press in and be close to Jesus until it seems right? No, that doesn't sound right. I think the answer is that we'll never experience the fullness of a love relationship with Jesus until we have the capacity to appreciate him. You see, it's after she became aware of his fragrance, his table, his rest, and his fruits that she gives this charge to the other maidens. And to me, this charge is a charge to us to get into the Word of God. For it's there that we learn of the beauty of Jesus, the table he's spread before us, the rest he has provided for us, and the benefits and blessings provided for us. And as we learn of these in his word, love will be stirred up, aroused, and awakened for Jesus. One person said this don't be flippant or irreverent in your love for Jesus. Let the Word of God awaken it. Now this actually concludes the first major section of this song. And to summarize, the maiden sees the value of the cross, but not the full reality of the life of the resurrection, nor the power of it. She sees the danger of overindulging in the inner life with Jesus, but leaving others out. Submission to the cross and real dedication are unknown to her because she hasn't been proven, tested, and hasn't had to take up her cross yet. She realizes only how precious the Lord has been to her. She's only been on the receiving end of the Lord's labors for her, but she hasn't allowed the Lord to claim the fruits of his labor in her. In other words, she has the Lord, but the Lord has not yet gained all of her. This first section could be called Christ for Me. I am not yet completely for Christ. And I guess you could say about the next section we're going to cover, the honeymoon is over. The maiden or the bride continues speaking in verses eight and nine, and I quote, Listen, my lover, look, here he comes leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look and listen to the next sentence. There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice. So far nothing has been said about her sins or shortcomings, yet it's at this point that new steps need to be taken by the maiden, and therefore us, since she represents us in this song, in her or our experience with the king. There are a couple of things that have come to her attention in the passage I read. The first is the power of resurrection life. The king is seen leaping and bounding over the hills and mountains. Now, hills and mountains in the Word of God represent difficulties and hindrances. And the fact that he comes leaping and bounding over them shows that there's nothing so high or so formidable to hinder and prevent his approach to her. Jesus is the risen Lord. Christ is risen. He has triumphed over every difficulty and hindrance. They are things of the past. Jesus is alive at the beginning of a new day in which all obstructions are under his feet. He has leaped over death, hell, and the grave. All hindrances are removed. So the Lord here is manifesting the power of his resurrection life, moving with speed and agility and approaching her in a living way. She didn't really see this in the first chapter. She did notice that her affections wanted to run swiftly to seek him, but his leaping and bounding on the mountains and hills she didn't understand yet. So the Lord now instructs her in this. Now, since she's been close and intimate with him, it's not difficult for her to recognize his voice, but there is now a very obvious hindrance to their moving together. There is a wall. This wall closes the bride in and the Lord out. She doesn't even seem to realize that this thing could be harmful to their fellowship. So it's not, in her mind, it's not my wall, but it's our wall, implying that they both made it. The wall to her is something to enclose them in together and shut the world and all that belongs to it out. Within this very enclosure, she had experienced many days of joy and gladness with the king. All of this pictures the Christian who is too ingrown, who constantly seeks the Lord only within himself or herself. This maiden could totally ignore her environment, such things as people, brothers, sisters, daily duties, even trials. She knew only of the sweetness of communion, but little about power for service or the fierce struggle of spiritual warfare. When Peter was on the mountaintop, he wanted to make three tabernacles and just stay there. This was at the Mount of Transfiguration. In the sweetness of the ecstatic mountaintop experience, he forgot the multitude down below who were sinners in need of cleansing, healing, and deliverance. In the same way, this maiden had built within herself a tabernacle, where she enjoyed the Lord and his presence for herself, but had no desire to touch other lives. This had created a wall, and reality, in reality it was her wall, not theirs. This does not mean he has left her or you, but notice he's standing rather than sitting in the place of rest. He's ready to move into action. Sitting leads to rest. Standing leads to activity again. The Lord is standing outside that wall, and his desire is to move and lead his loved one to new places other than just that enclosure. He's demonstrating his resurrection power to her, the leaping and bounding. Therefore, he cannot be imprisoned behind her wall. He wants to move out. Now she must not just hold on to the Lord in her little enclosure, but must allow the Lord to lead and guide her out from there. She must not just lay hold of him by her own strength, but allow him to lead her. Part of the Reason for delivering her from her little enclosure is that the Lord wants to prove His presence is with her no matter what environment she's in. God wants us to be aware of His power and His presence at all times and in all places. Andrew Murray said this: the Lord's presence should not only be a reality in your prayers, but a reality in the factory. And truer words were never spoken. So the first thing that has come to her attention here in verses eight and nine is the power of resurrection life. The second thing is the bountifulness of resurrection life. Listen to verses 10 to 13, and I quote, My lover spoke and said to me, Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth, the season of singing has come and cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit. The blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. Again, the Lord is calling her out of the safety of her enclosure. People who spend all their time closed up with Jesus are often troubled when they go out into the world. It robs them of peace. From now on, the Lord wants us with him as he leaps and bounds on the mountains and hills. We don't just experience his presence and power in the prayer closet, but everywhere. In verses 11 to 13, she sees everything in a different light. Excuse me. Before, when she left her enclosure, it was rainy, cold, and dreary. It was troublesome for her to go out into the world. Now she steps outside with the joy and power of the Holy Spirit and sees everything differently. She notices the beauty of the flowers, the singing of the birds, the fruit on the trees, the smell of the vines. When you can walk with Jesus outside the prayer closet, you will see people and things in a whole different way. That is the bountifulness of resurrection life. Also, fruit and fragrance will begin to issue from the Christian. The king speaks next in verses 14 and 15. My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face. Let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom. In the previous verses, we saw a balance between fellowship with Jesus in the secret place and taking his presence with us into the world. Here we have a balance between fellowship with Jesus in the secret place and purifying our lives so that the presence of God in our life won't be veiled or hidden behind sinful talk and activity. In verse 14a, we have an obvious reference to an event in the life of Moses in Exodus 33. The background of this account is similar to the maiden's experience in the Song of Songs. Moses was spending up to 40 days and nights in God's presence alone. God was calling him down off the mountain to go and lead Israel. Moses knew how to fellowship with God. You remember he spoke with God as a man speaks with his friend, but he didn't relish the thought of going down to those stiff-necked Israelites below. He wanted some assurance that God's presence would go with him. Ultimately, God sets up a situation where he will hide Moses in the cleft, which is a hollow area or indentation of a rock while God passed by in all his glory. So here in the Song of Songs, we have a call to come up on the mountain, as Moses did, enter this into the secret place of the Most High, in the recesses of the mountainside, to see the glory of God and converse with him as friend to friend. In the rest of verse 14, the king says, Show me your face. Let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. Here the Lord begins to draw his bride into his intimate presence in order to satisfy his own heart. He wants the fruit of her lips. Why should we ever feel ashamed, embarrassed, or afraid to enter his presence alone? He wants to hear us there. He wants to see us there. He loves us more than we'll ever fully know or appreciate until we're in his literal presence in heaven. Verse 15 is one of the more famous verses in the Song of Songs. He says, Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom. In other places, the people of God are called the Lord's vineyard. And we're told to catch the little foxes that ruin the vineyard. And what are the little foxes? Well, they are every little hint of the old life. Bad habits. The continual looking back to the old life. They're not terrible sins, they are little foxes, after all. Ecclesiastes ten in verse one says as dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweigh wisdom and honor. The little foxes are those little things that haunt us and make us feel defeated as a Christian. Jesus says, catch, seize, put away those things, because our vineyard is in bloom and it must reach completion, and it must reach the goal and the prize. Some companion verses to this passage are Hebrews 12 1, which says, Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. And 2 Corinthians 7 and verse 1. Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. You know, something that would be extremely valuable to you at this point in our study is some good old-fashioned self-examination or self-reflection. Ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate to you what the little foxes are, and then take action to eliminate them. I like that. Illuminate and eliminate. So from the Lord's words here, he wants to see our face in his presence. He wants to hear our voice, the fruit of our lips, in his presence. And he wants us to cast off everything that hinders us from running, leaping, and bounding in life. The bride or the maiden finishes up chapter two with verses sixteen and seventeen. She says, My lover is mine and I am his. And there is one thing that's brought her tremendous satisfaction, and that is that her lover is hers. This is crystal clear. He loves her dearly. She also knows that she belongs to him. She says he is mine and I am his. But he is still not the center of her attraction. She is the center of attraction to herself. What she said here in verse sixteen is very true, but is a little beside the point. The point is not whether what she said is true or not, but did she hear what he said? Did she arise and respond to his voice when he said, Come away with me outside the chambers? She knew what the king wanted from her, but she just couldn't forget all that the king was to her personally. She persisted in being the center of attention or attraction instead of realizing that her Lord is the center of all things. All that was important to her was that she was the object of his love. Now, I am certainly not saying that this is unimportant. It starts there. Then God wants us to grow to another phase. In the second half of verse 16, she said, He browses among the lilies. Now, this is really wonderful. I would never take away from the fact that Jesus moves among the lilies. Remember, the lilies are those people with pure and dedicated hearts toward the Lord. In Revelation 1 and 2, Jesus is seen walking among the lampstands, which represent the churches just like the lilies do. Praise God that Jesus walks among the churches and browses among the lilies. They are the planting of the Lord Himself, His workmanship, His masterpiece. But while this is great, her attitude is this. I'm his lily, so the Lord really loves me in a special way. I have the Lord Himself to attend me, and I am fully satisfied. Now some would say this is the danger of maturing Christians. She's still emphasizing what he is to her. Her attention is still on herself, the special object of his love. And judging by her own remarks, she was not responding to what he was calling forth from her. She could tell by the look on his face that he was not totally pleased with her. So notice what she says in verse 17. Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn, my lover. You know, it could easily say, Turn around and come back. Turn, my lover, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the rugged hills. She recognizes there is a problem in their relationship. She knows the sound of his voice. She knows the call of the cross. She knows the demands of the overcoming life. She knows the importance of displaying the power of the resurrection. But here's the problem. She is not prepared to go outside with him. She wants him to come and stay with her in the enclosure. You see, she's been in the same place for two chapters. In chapter one and verse four, she said, Take me away with you, let us hurry. The king has brought me into his chambers. Unquote. And the fact is, she's still there. The king has stood and made ready to lead her out on the mountains and hills. But she says, You go, I'll stay. Come back when you've made Christians out of the whole world. She's going to wait for another day. In verse 17a, it says, until the day breaks. She's waiting for another day for him to come back to her. But she isn't budging. She says, Turn, my lover, and go skip on the mountains. Turn suggests a couple of things. That she's falling behind in pursuing his will. And two, that she's not refusing his presence. She just wants him behind her wall for her own comfort when he gets done with whatever he's going off to do. She was only after emotion and feelings in her walk with the Lord, but she was failing to go out and leap over the hills with him. She's learned something here. She is not necessarily where the Lord is. Up until now, the only place she could enjoy his presence was within the enclosure of her feelings. This was the best and only place to enjoy the Lord. She didn't realize she could experience God's presence everywhere she went. He was calling her out of the enclosure and she knew it, but she had no desire to go. She didn't realize the weight of being separated from his presence until he decided to come back. There is an alternate rendering of the last line of verse 17. My NIV says on the rugged hills, but a footnote says it could read on the hills of Bether. Bether means separation, and that's what exists between her and her Lord. All she could say was some nonchalant remark like come back soon. She doesn't even ask him for strength so she can go with him. She'd rather try to force him back into her little enclosure. The results were different than expected. He left. And because she didn't go with him, which is what he wanted, she lost the feeling of his presence. Here's the nugget in all of this. If we don't move with him in his will, he'll go on without us. And we may not feel the Lord like we once did. When his will is thwarted by our lack of response, we may lose the sense of his presence in our life. We need a new encounter with him outside of the prayer closet. In the maiden's case, the Lord withdrew the sense of his presence from her in order to bring about a fresh attraction for him and to draw her out in search of him. This is her first desire to become involved in his will rather than wanting to conform him to her will. On that note, that concludes chapter two. In chapter three, we will continue the maiden's speech, which takes up the whole chapter. I'm looking forward to it. So until then, God bless you.