Song of Songs 8:1-14 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
A NOTE FOR PARENTS AND KIDS: Given the nature of today’s topic, we would advise parents to review this GAME sharing first before your kids do and then decide whether your kids should see it. Kids, if you are reading this, please ask your parent or guardian to review this GAME sharing first before you read it and ask your parent or guardian if they think you should read it now or wait until you’re older.
Today’s passage is Song of Songs 8:1-14. I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
Song of Songs 8:1 (NIV)
1 If only you were to me like a brother, who was nursed at my mother’s breasts! Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.
2 I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house– she who has taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates.
On verses 1-2: Why does the wife wish that her husband was her brother so that “if I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me” (v1)? Keep in mind in the ancient middle east where Song of Songs was written, public displays of affection were frowned upon. Interestingly a woman kissing a man in public was acceptable if that man was her father, brother or other male relative, but not so if he was her husband. According to some commentators, “my mother’s house” and “my pomegranates” in verse 2 are to be taken as references to the girl’s sexual organs.
What can we learn from this? Often when two people love one another, it is natural for them to want to be affectionate with one another both in private and in public. Whether it’s your spouse, your kids, your parents, your relatives or your Saviour Jesus, don’t be ashamed of the one you love.
Song of Songs 8:3-4 (NIV)
3 His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me.
4 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.
On verses 3-4: The girl had spoken these words before as an unmarried woman (2:6-7; 3:5). But now as a happily married woman, she can testify to the power and truth of those words, that it is good not to “awaken love until it so desires”. God’s design for marriage and sex is truly the best.
Song of Songs 8:5 (NIV)
5 Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover?
On verse 5a: Before in Song of Songs 3:6, the chorus of girls asked, “Who is this coming up from the desert” and their focus was the guy. Now the chorus asks the same question but their focus in asking is on the girl, on the one “leaning on her lover”.
What can we learn from this? When a woman is happy and secure in her relationship with her husband, others can’t help but notice.
Song of Songs 8:5 (NIV)
5…Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who was in labor gave you birth.
On verse 5b: Notice here that the wife is speaking about her effect on her husband — “Under the apple tree I roused you”. She’s talking about her power as a wife to bring her husband to life. She even compares that power to the power her husband’s mother exercised by giving birth to him years ago. It’s as if she is saying, “Just as your mom conceived you and gave birth to you, so I’m responsible for making you feel reborn.”
In other words, through marriage the wife has become more aware of the power that she has over her husband. But we will also see in the verses that follow that the wife plans to use that power not as a weapon against her husband or as a means to control him. Rather she plans to use it for his good and for the good of their marriage.
On verses 6-7: Here the wife is confident in who she is and the power that she has, confident in who her husband is and in the love that they share. She feels like together with her husband they are an unstoppable force, that their “love is as strong as death”, burning “like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame” (v6). She believes that theirs is a love that “many waters cannot quench” and that rivers cannot wash away (v7a). She considers their love more precious than all the money in the world (v7b).
What can we learn from this? There is something about loving and being loved that makes a person feel like they can overcome anything. That is the power of love. Because God has poured His love into our hearts, we should often have a hopeful, can do attitude when it comes to life. That’s why Jesus, confident in God’s love, could say, “Anything is possible for Him who believes” (Mark 9:23). That’s why Paul, confident in God’s love, could say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). That’s why David, confident in God’s love, could say, “With your help I can advance against a troop. With my God I can scale a wall.” (Psalm 18:28-29). It’s because God made us to experience loving Him and being loved by Him, and the power that comes from that kind of relationship.
Song of Songs 8:8-9 (NIV)
8 We have a young sister, and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar.
On verses 8-9: What is going on in these verses? It is perhaps best to understand these verses as a flashback: the wife flashes back to when she was just a young girl coming of age and was being protected by her older brothers who were responsible for her. When they say, “What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for?” (v8) they mean, “How will we treat her on the day she is ready to get engaged?” “If she is a wall”, meaning if she is careful about not giving her heart and body away too quickly to others, then her older brothers will praise her, honour her and respect her decisions (“build towers of silver on her” – v9). However, “if she is a door”, meaning if she swings open for any man who knocks, her brothers “will enclose her with panels of cedar” (v9b) – that is, they will be especially careful to restrict her.
Song of Songs 8:10-12 (NIV)
10 I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. Thus I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment.
11 Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon; he let out his vineyard to tenants. Each was to bring for its fruit a thousand shekels of silver.
12 But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.
On verses 10-12: Continuing with the flashback that began in verses 8-9, the girl remembers her response to her protective brothers. When she says in verse 10, “I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers”, it means that she has been careful not to give herself away so easily to anybody and has protected her virginity for her husband.
Verses 11 and 12 are what many scholars consider to be the story of how the guy and girl first met. Apparently the guy owned a vineyard (v11) and rented it out to tenants. According to the Bible Knowledge Commentary, “Each tenant was to grow enough grapes to make 1,000 shekels (about 25 pounds) of silver for the landowner. And each tenant would receive 200 shekels (about 5 pounds) of silver as his wages.” It was in this context that the guy meets the girl, who was probably working in the vineyard for her brothers (1:6). Playing off the vineyard imagery, the girl says that she herself chose to give her “vineyard” completely to the guy (v12).
What can we learn from this?
1. As much as we may have people watching over us and protecting us, we are responsible for the choices we make when it comes to love and relationships.
2. Notice that this flashback about the lovers’ beginning happens at the very end of the Song of Songs. Why put a flashback about the beginning at the very end? See the last point in this GAME sharing below for an answer.
Song of Songs 8:13-14 (NIV)
13 You who dwell in the gardens with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice!
14 Come away, my lover, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice-laden mountains.
On verses 13-14: While the girl is reminiscing about their love story with her friends, the guy calls out for her (v13). The girl responds by running to her husband with tender intimacy in mind (v14). Song of Songs
What can we learn from this? When you think you’re at the end of love, go back to the beginning. Put another way, sometimes the way to maintain or rekindle love between a husband and a wife is to remember your love story and how the both of you met in the first place.
So in your marriage, make it a point to reminisce about good memories. Watch your wedding video, look at past photos, and re-read old letters. Reminiscing about old memories can help you make new ones.
The same goes for your relationship with God. To fuel passion today and hope for tomorrow, think about how God found you and showed you His love in the past. Sometimes we lose sight of who we are when we forget where we came from.
Father, thank You that there is nothing more powerful than love. Thank You for Your love that makes me strong, and that empowers every relationship in my life where You are the king. Just like You did before, but even more so now, come fill me today with Your love today. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
This brings our look at Song of Songs to a close. It’s probably up there in terms of being one of the most difficult books in the Bible to understand, but praise God for the powerful and practical lessons we can learn about marriage, love, sex and even our relationship with Jesus through it. I can encourage you to look back at the most important lessons you learned and keep them near Song of Songs in your Bible. That way every time you turn to Song of Songs you can remind yourself and share with others how God spoke to you through this book.
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