September 11 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

Song of Solomon 2:

¹I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
²As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
³As 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, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
⁴He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
⁵Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
⁶His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
⁷I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
⁸The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
⁹My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.
¹⁰My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
¹¹For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
¹²The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
¹³The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
¹⁴O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
¹⁵Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
¹⁶My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
¹⁷Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

Devotional:

After what was said yesterday we must hasten to make a clarifying comment. We have seen throughout Scripture that God uses imagery to reveal His truth and that one of His favorite images is marriage. Old and New Testament alike speak of God as the husband and His people as the wife. When His people are unfaithful God rebukes them for going a-whoring after strange gods and playing the harlot. We are all familiar with Paul's striking words concerning Christ and the church placed parallel to his comments concerning the husband and wife. In Revelation John tells us that there will one day be the marriage supper of the Lamb!

When we are objecting to the fanciful interpretation of the Song of Solomon we are not denying this parallel between the earthly marriage and the heavenly marriage. It is a very precious experience to contemplate the love between the Saviour and His Bride while we read this poem.

In Scripture we must note, however, that there are often two applications: first, the immediate one, and second, the spiritual or prophetic one. The problem with a purely allegorical interpretation is that the immediate application is lost. This song is, immediately, a love song. It is an idyllic picture of the man-woman relationship. What it shows in the immediate sense is the progress of love and its delights. While it is oriental in style, it is timeless and we can look at it today without any embarrassment which must hastily be covered up with detailed allegory.

The second or prophetic and spiritual application of this book certainly points forward to the relationship between Christ and the church His beloved. As we read we can contemplate the ineffable delight in the presence of the loved one. We marvel at the love of God for us. We find in exquisite expression the love we have for Himits longing, its intensity, its certainty, its joy!

Indeed, 'His banner over me was love' (2:4b). In our marriage we experience just enough of what this means to help us understand its higher application! Thank You, God.