Song of Solomon 8

Song of Solomon 8:1

THE VERY BROTHER"My brother, that sucked the breast of my mother" refers, of course, to a brother born of the same mother, implying the nearest possible relationship. It is this kind of a brother the Lord Jesus has become to us"For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham" (Heb_2:16), becoming flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. “I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.” A great many true believers are afraid or ashamed to openly confess that they love Christ. Oh, my friend, don’t say you love Him if you don’t, but if your life reveals that you do love Him, folk will not despise you for speaking of it.

Song of Solomon 8:2

“I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.” Stuart has well said, “It is our part to give Christ the best entertainment in our power, to spare nothing on him, to gather all of him and present all to him, that is choicest and best. But the full reference of these words is to the final ‘marriage of the Lamb when his wife shall have made herself ready,’ and when Christ ‘shall drink the fruit of the vine new with her in his Father’s kingdom.’”

Song of Solomon 8:5

THE RELYING WEAKNESS OF LOVE"Leaning upon her beloved." The final stage of the true believer’s life is characterized by weakness, by dependence, and by love. In youth we “…mount[ed] up with wings as eagles …” (Isa_40:31) when His banner over us was love. In manhood we ran without being weariedeven when (as Stuart says) we sought Him sorrowing through the streets of Jerusalembut in our declining years we are more apt to lean heavily upon Him in childlike trust. And when we finally recognize our utter dependence upon Christ and the truth of His statement that without Him we can do nothing, then He can use our service.

Song of Solomon 8:6

“For love is strong as death.” Death, with all its terrors, was the price of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ to lost men, but it did not deter HimHe loved us and gave Himself for us, enduring the cross and despising the shame. Also death has been ten thousand times before the bride of the slain Lamb, and she “…loved not [her life] …unto the death” (Rev_12:11); for “…neither death, nor life …shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom_8:38-39). “Jealousy is cruel as the grave"the all devouring grave knows no pity. Stuart reminds us that it was jealousy cruel as the grave that moved Elijah, who was very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, to slay the prophets of Baal at the brook Kishon and let not one escape. And “it was jealousy that stirred Paul to utter the righteous and holy, yet tremendous curse’if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.’ This jealousy, with its grave-like cruelty, our protesting and suffering forefathers knew better than we; and it produced a remarkable but noble mingling of ardent love to Jesus with tenderness of conscience and manly boldness, which made little account either of their lives or those of others, when placed in competition with the honour of the Lord Jesus Christ.” “The coals thereof are coals of fire.” This reminds us of the love that burned in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ when He said, “…The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (Joh_2:17). Stuart adds: “Ascending to the right hand of the Father, he kindled within the hearts of his disciples the same divine fire that burned within himself; sending down the Holy Ghost to rest upon them as flames or tongues of fire: and the fire of love burned more mightily within them, than the visible flames that encircled their heads.”

Song of Solomon 8:7

“Many waters cannot quench love.” Oh, how many times we have failed Him; yet our repeated failures have not quenched His love, nor has it been drowned by the floods of our sins. “If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.” The word contemned means to be loathed, despised. God is not asking for our money or our service; He is asking for our love. If we don’t love Him, He despises the so-called Christian work we try to do and the money we put in the offering plate.

Song of Solomon 8:8

THE LITTLE SISTERThe “little sister” is, many Bible teachers feel, symbolic of the church of the Gentiles. “What shall we do for our sister?” was the thorny question in the early church. Acts 15 records the Council at Jerusalem which was convened to resolve the conflict between the Gentile converts and the Hebrew converts who had no intention of giving up the Mosaic system. “In the day when she shall be spoken for.” Well, who would speak for her? Nobody would want her. Gentiles were outcasts. But the day came when this sister was spoken for by the great Bridegroom of the church who called her to Himself. My friend, He did not choose us because we were attractive, but because He saw our lost condition and loved us. Now that the “little sister” is accepted by Christ, what kind of reception will she get from the elder sister?

Song of Solomon 8:9

“If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver.” Since the Gentiles were being accepted by God, they were being “…builded together [with the Hebrew Christians] for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph_2:22). The Jewish church faced the question: what should be built on it? Circumcision, ceremonies, different rites and ordinancesyokes which neither the Hebrew fathers nor children were able to bear? James expressed the feeling of the elder sister: “…my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God” (Act_15:19). The council agreed not to force Gentile believers into the Mosaic system, but to accept them as they were and do everything possible to build them up in the faith.

Song of Solomon 8:10

This is the rejoicing of the “little sister.” When the gentile church received the good news of the council’s decision, “…they rejoiced for the consolation” (Act_15:31). Recognized now as a wall in God’s temple, they greatly rejoiced in the privilege. “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph_2:19-22). “My breasts like towers"the little sister, symbolic of the gentile church, soon nourished many sons and daughters with the sincere milk of the Word. The gentile church grew with amazing rapidity so that the little sister now has become both more beautiful and more honored than the elder. There is a missionary message in this parable of the little sister. You and I need to recognize that the little sister included all nations in our day. In many parts of the world there are folk who have never responded to the call of the Bridegroom simply because they have not heard His voice. And “…how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom_10:14).

Song of Solomon 8:11

THE TRANSFER OF THE VINEYARD"Solomon had a vineyard.” Solomon is symbolic of Christ. The bride, which is the united church of Jews and Gentiles, tells the story of the vineyard. First it was under the charge of its original keepers, the nation of Israel, and next it was committed to her own care. It is the same parable that Jesus told in Mat_21:33-46 about a certain householder who planted a vineyard, put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, then rented it out to vinegrowers while he went on a long journey. At harvest time he sent his servants to receive the produce, and they were beaten or killed. Finally he sent his own son. “But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.

And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?” (Mat_21:38-40). The answer is that he will come and destroy the husbandmen and will give the vineyard to others.

Song of Solomon 8:12

“Those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred"they are to be paid for their work. “Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel” (1Co_9:14). “Thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand,” promising, unlike her predecessor, that full revenue shall be the Lord’s; yet she tends it with her whole heart as if it were her own"my vineyard, which is mine, is before me.” Historically the early church kept the vineyard just that way. But, unfortunately, the church in our day presents a different picture. Oh that you and I, as members of the bride of Christ, will be faithful in the portion of the vineyard God has allotted to our care!

Song of Solomon 8:14

The bride is saying to the Lord of the vineyard, “Return!” Over in the Book of Revelation the last thing she says is, “…Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev_22:20). My friend, I don’t believe you can honestly say that unless you know Him, unless you love Him, and unless you make Him known. Can you look up and say, “Come, Lord Jesus, I want you to come”? Paul said that God will give a crown to those who love His appearing. And to love His appearing means to love Himeven as a bride eagerly anticipates and prepares for the coming of the bridegroom, her beloved. Let us conclude this marvelous Song of Solomon with the lines of Herbert: Come, Lord, my head doth burn, my heart is sick, While thou dost ever, ever stay: Thy long deferrings wound me to the quick, My spirit gaspeth night and day. O show thyself to me, Or take me up to thee! Yet if thou stayest still, why must I stay? My God, what is this world to me? This world of woe? hence all ye clouds, away! Away! I must get up and see. O show thyself to me, Or take me up to thee! We talk of harvest; there are no such things, But when we leave our corn and hay. There is no fruitful year, but that which brings The last and loved, though dreadful, day. O show thyself to me, Or take me up to thee!