Post-honeymoon: Remnant brought to Full Repentance
Song of Solomon 5 – 6
Song of Solomon 5 – 6
Post-honeymoon Period. Often in the lives of married couples – although not always – there is a little difficulty after the honeymoon, whether it be a few days or a few months later. The difficulty arises often due to selfishness that one or both parties had did not know was really there. Sometimes a coldness comes in, and there is a need for restoration.
Part 6: The Repentence of Love (5:2-16)
the work of repentance corresponds to the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 23. Unlike the ten tribes who were out of the land, the two tribes were present and responsible for the murder of the Messiah. Their voice was heard, “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” They need to look on his pierces hands and side, own their blood-guiltiness, and “they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for an only son.”
Wife: The Tale of How Her Affections Broke Down (vv.2-7)
2 I slept, but my heart was awake. The voice of my beloved! he knocketh: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, mine undefiled; For my head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night. v.2 She was “sleeping” (though her heart was awake), he was knocking. As a nation, the Jews need to review their history. It is a long history of rebellion and idolatry while Jehovah was patient. The Jews have been “lying in bed” for 2500 years (Lo-Ammi) in ritualism and lukewarmness. When the Lord came to their door (1st coming) they did not rise to answer the knock. Often we grow cold toward the Lord and need to be restored. It starts with sleepiness in our souls, worldliness comes in. We know we should reach out to the Lord when he knocks, but ritualism and lukewarmness keep us complacent.
3 — I have put off my tunic, how should I put it on? I have washed my feet, how should I pollute them? — v.3 there are two reasons for her lack of response:
- Lukewarmness – I have put off my coat
- Ritualism – I have washed my feet
4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door; And my bowels yearned for him. v.4 She sees his hand by the holes in the door and her heart is touched. the Jews look on him whom they pierced, the sight of his hand stirs their hearts, as The sight of the suffering Savior (hands pierced) touches the hearts of every believer.
5 I rose up to open to my beloved; And my hands dropped with myrrh, And my fingers with liquid myrrh, Upon the handles of the lock. v.5 she arises, but doesn’t immediately find him. instead she finds his scent that he has left on the door latch. The bitterness of the myrrh suggests the reality of the sufferings through which He went. this thoughts stirr her heart even more deeply.
6 I opened to my beloved; But my beloved had withdrawn himself; he was gone: My soul went forth when he spoke. I sought him, but I found him not; I called him, but he gave me no answer. v.6 the lord has withdrawin himself. The work will have to be deep, when they rise they don’t find him immediately. They will have to seek him to find him (they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for an only son). for Christians, Communion isn’t always restored instantly when we repent, although the Lord is always with us, even to the ends of the earth.
7 The watchmen that went about the city found me; They smote me, they wounded me; The keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. v.7 The watchmen find her, take away her veil, and wound her. The jews will experience anguish of soul as they review their blood-guiltiness. The Watchmen (the Word of God) searches our hearts, and exposes us.
A Message Given to the Daughters of Jerusalem (v.8)
8 I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved, … What will ye tell him? — That I am sick of love. v.8 The surrounding nations look on as the Jews come to national repentance.
The Jews Confess Jesus as Messiah (5:9-16). An important day will be when they confess Jesus as their Messiah. The nations will be astonished at them. Kings “shall shut their mouths at him”, many will be astonished at him; why? Because his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men. They will be shocked that Jesus is the man that will be the great King of Kings. And so the restored Jews will confess him as theirs; altogether lovely.
Daughters: What is so Special About Your Husband? (v.9)
9 What is thy beloved more than another beloved, Thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, That thou dost so charge us? v.9 They ask her what is so special about her beloved. The god-fearing nations question the faithful Jews about ‘their Messiah. When we are seeking the Lord, our friends don’t always understand why we set everything aside for him. The Lord allows these challenges to come to us, to test the reality of our confession, to see how deep the repentance has gone.
Wife: She Describes Her Husband’s Virtues and Loveliness (vv.10-16)
10 My beloved is white and ruddy, The chiefest among ten thousand. 11 His head is as the finest gold; His locks are flowing, black as the raven; 12 His eyes are like doves by the water-brooks, Washed with milk, fitly set; 13 His cheeks are as a bed of spices, raised beds of sweet plants; His lips lilies, dropping liquid myrrh. 14 His hands gold rings, set with the chrysolite; His belly is bright ivory, overlaid with sapphires; 15 His legs, pillars of marble, set upon bases of fine gold: His bearing as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars; 16 His mouth is most sweet: Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, yea, this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. vv.10-16 She remembers her husband, and declares him to be altogether lovely. The Jews happily confess him as theirs, and declare to them that he is altogether lovely. she passes the test! The work of repentance was fully accomplished. We love nothing more than when we have an opportunity to talk about our Lord!
Israel’s race shall now behold Thee
Full of grace and majesty;
Though they set at nought and sold Thee,
Pierced and nailed Thee to the tree,
Now in glory
Shall their great Messiah see.
Part 7: The Restoration of Love (Song. 6)
The result of full repentance is restoration. A restored soul has a deeper relationship with the restorer than before… this will be true of the Jews when they have fully repented for crucifying the Lord. And, it will true of us once the work of restoration is complete in our hearts. One of the things we learn is that our standing before God is unchangeably the same. A result is that we give the Lord the first place in our lives.
Daughters/Wife: The Search for her Husband (vv.1-3)
CHAPTER 6
1 Whither is thy beloved gone, Thou fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside? And we will seek him with thee. 2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, To feed in the gardens and to gather lilies. 3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: He feedeth his flock among the lilies. vv.1-3 The search for her beloved. Her confidence in their relationship. She knows him and knows where to find him. Once the work of repentance is complete, the Jews receive a deeper confidence in their relationship to Jehovah. As much as our state may change due to our unfaithfulness, our standing is always the same.
Husband: Describes Her as Beautiful and Undefiled, One of a Kind (vv.4-10)
4 Thou art fair, my love, as Tirzah, Comely as Jerusalem, Terrible as troops with banners: 5 Turn away thine eyes from me, For they overcome me. Thy hair is as a flock of goats On the slopes of Gilead. 6 Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep Which go up from the washing; Which have all borne twins, And none is barren among them. 7 As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples Behind thy veil. 8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, And virgins without number: 9 My dove, mine undefiled, is but one; She is the only one of her mother, She is the choice one of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and they called her blessed; The queens and the concubines, and they praised her. 10 Who is she that looketh forth as the dawn, Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, Terrible as troops with banners? vv.4-10 He describes her as beautiful and undefiled, one of a kind. Through the work of Calvary, the Lord can view the remnant as undefiled and pure. When repentance is real, there is nothing between us and the Lord.
Husband: His Willing People at Once Yield to Him the Place of Victory and Glory (vv.11-12)
11 I went down into the garden of nuts, To see the verdure of the valley, To see whether the vine budded, Whether the pomegranates blossomed. 12 Before I was aware, My soul set me upon the chariots of my willing people. vv.11-12 The King’s is set upon the chariots of his willing people. His willing people at once yield to Him the place of victory and glory. the Lord will be exalted by his people, quite the opposite of his rejection at his first coming.
Husband: Calls on the Wife to Return, Two Camps (Judah and Israel) (v.13)
13 Return, return, O Shulamite; Return, return, that we may look upon thee. — What would ye look upon in the Shulamite? — As it were the dance of two camps. v.13 the work of repentance in the Jewish remnant being complete, the Lord now calls all Israel to return. The two camps are Judah (two tribes) and Israel (ten tribes), now united.