8
📚O that you were like a brother to me,who nursed at the breasts of my mother!
When I found you outside,
I would kiss you.
Yes, I would not be despised.
8:1 In this fallen world those who love Christ and are loved by Him often become an object of scorn and hatred to godless men (John 15:18-21; 16:33; 1 Pet 4:12-16). The bride here wishes that circumstances were different. But has she forgotten the bridegroom’s words in Song 4:9-10, 12; 5:1-2 – where he calls her “sister” five times?⚜
2 📚I would lead you, and bring you into
my mother’s house, who instructed me.
I would have you drink spiced wine
from the juice of my pomegranate.
8:2 Song 7:13. A heart that wants to give is the surest mark of love.⚜
3 📚His left hand would be under my head,
and his right hand would embrace me.
4 📚I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
not to arouse or awaken my love,
until he pleases.
Friends
5 📚Who is this who comes up from the desert 📖,
leaning on her beloved?
Bride
I awakened you under the apple tree.
There your mother brought you forth.
There she who bore you brought
you forth.
Love’s strength
6 📚Set me like a seal 📖 over your heart,
like a seal on your arm.
For love is strong as death 📖;
Jealousy 📖 is severe as the grave 📖;
its coals are coals of fire,
with a very fierce flame.
7 📚Many waters cannot quench love,
nor can the floods drown it.
If a man were to give all the wealth
of his house for love,
it would be utterly despised.
8:7 God’s love is such a fire that the mightiest floods can not quench the tiniest spark of it. There is nothing on earth that remotely approaches it in value. It is also supreme among all spiritual graces and virtues (1 Cor 13).⚜
Love’s concern
Friends
8 📚We have a little sister, and she has
no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister in
the day when she is spoken for?
9 📚If she is a wall, we will build a
palace of silver on her,
and if she is a door, we will enclose
her with panels of cedar.
8:8-9 The speakers here may be the “friends”, the daughters of Jerusalem, or the “brothers” mentioned in Song 1:6. The spiritual meaning would be the same in any case. Some commentators think the little sister indicates the New Testament church. Some think she represents any persons who are not yet converted to Christ but who will be. A wall is for the purpose of keeping out that which should be outside. A door is to let in those who are prepared to come inside.⚜
Bride
10 📚I am a wall, and my breasts are
like towers.
Then I was in his eyes like one who
found peace.
11 📚Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-Hamon.
He let out the vineyard to caretakers.
For its fruit each one was to bring a
thousand pieces of silver.
12 📚My vineyard, which is mine, is before me.
The thousand shekels are 📖for you,
O Solomon, and two hundred for
Those who watch over its fruit.
8:10-12 She already is what her little sister may become – mature and able to enter into the marriage relationship. She is no longer under the control of her brothers (Song 1:6). The language of verses 11,12 bring to mind the parables of the Lord Jesus about vineyards (Matt 20:1-16; 21:33-40), and speaks to us of the responsibility of Christians as tenants in God’s vineyard.⚜
Love’s longing
Bridegroom
13 📚O you who dwell in the gardens,
companions listen to your voice.
8:13 This is the last request of the bridegroom in this book.⚜
cause me to hear it.
Bride
14 📚Hurry, my beloved, and be like a
gazelle or a young stag on the
mountains of spices.