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SOLOMON.S13
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Study No. 13.
SONG OF SOLOMON
TRANSFORMED BY LOVE cont. - Chapter 6:3 - 6:13
Shulamith's reminiscence reveals two fundamental attitudes
helpful for the resolution of her declension. She first speaks
of her husband physically stimulating and increasing her desire
for him. She then thinks of the protective care and security he
has provided as her shepherd.
She emphasizes that she belongs to Him before she claims anything
of Him. "I am my beloved's, and He is mine". The order is
reversed from chapter 2:6 where she selfishly claimed that He
existed for her benefit first.
No sooner does she make this assertion of her love for Him and
re-ordered priorities than the King appears and speaks to her for
the first time since He withdrew Himself (5:6).
6:4 - "Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as
Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners."
The descriptions of the King by the Bride and her self-effacement
since chapter 3:4 are expressions of her commitment to the King.
She is beholding Him and in doing so is changed into His likeness
- cp 2 Cor.3:18.
The temporary retreat from Lebanon was not because of her
selfishness and rebellion as in chapter 2, but because of her
inability to cope with the demands of His spiritual ministry.
She had reacted and retreated rather than rebelled.
Her recovery has been brought about by glorifying the King to
others and as a result she is totally transformed. The King's
first words to her since she failed to respond to Him in Chapter
5:2, are "You are beautiful O my love." He has never used this
description of her before. He has called her "fair", "the
fairest among women", and "comely", but never "beautiful". There
is a beauty gained in repentance and restoration that delights
the King.
The King likens the Bride's beauty to three things.
a) Beautiful as Tirzah - This was formerly one of the ancient
Kings of Canaan's royal city. It has been transformed into
Solomon's northern capital, and was the place of his
residential palace there. It was transformed from its
previous state by the presence of the King. He compares her
beauty to the place of His abode and indicates how that
beauty has been brought about. The Church is only beautiful
as it is Christ's dwelling place. We are the Temple of God.
A Holy Place relationship is our destiny.
b) Comely as Jerusalem - Besides also being a place where
Solomon dwelt Jerusalem was the capital of His Government.
The Bride has been restored to total immediate and
unquestioning obedience to the King (cp 5:3), and is now
under His rule. His laws are in her heart and mind (Heb.
8:10).
c) Terrible as an army with banners - The restoration of His
presence (Tirzah) and His Government (Jerusalem) result in
the recovery of the ministry the King had led her into on
Lebanon. Already she has been attempting to bring change to
others, but now there is a full realization of what the King
intends their relationship to accomplish. It is not just to
bless her, but to prepare her and qualify her for the
ministry Christ came to do. Luke 19:10, 1 John 3:8.
She is called to spiritual warfare and to enter into the
overthrow of Satan with her Lord. Note Gen. 3:15 cp Romans
16:20.
As an "army with banners" we see a further manifestation of
the Lord in her. He revealed Himself to Israel as Jehovah
Nissi - "the Lord our banner" (Ex. 17) in the battle with
Amalek.
6:5(a) - "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome
me:"
Her re-established fixed field focus seen in Chapter 5:10-16 has
made an impact on the King, even as the insistent prayer of Jacob
prevailed with God and produced a change of status with both God
and man - Gen. 32:24-32.
6:5(b) - "Thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from
Gilead. Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up
from the washing, whereof everyone beareth twins, and
there is not one barren among them. As a piece of a
pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks."
The King re-iterates His description of the Bride from Chapter
4:1-2. He goes back before Lebanon (4:8) to show that He has not
changed His opinion of her, and to encourage her to go on. She
has not lost what she had before. Her ministry has been
recovered. The King is more intent on her achieving His purpose
in her life and ministry than in condemning her for her weakness
and failure.
a) Her hair, like a flock of goats, speaks of her consecration
and the sacrificial way in which this consecration is
effected in her life, and is associated with the Nazarite
vow. While the King does not condemn her, she feels the need
to re-consecrate herself to His will, whatever the cost.
This act is part of the impact she has on Him.
b) She is also assimilating His word again. "Your teeth... none
of them is barren". It was His word in her which produced
such changes in her previous recovery and resulted in her
going with Him to Lebanon where she entered into His ministry
against the power of darkness for the first time.
c) Her potential is once again showing - "a piece of pomegranate
within your locks". The consecration of a re-iterated vow
(her hair) reveals the life (pomegranate seeds) and the
possibilities that exist in her now.
The King is emphasizing that these things are basic to her
ongoing relationship with Him and should never be discarded or
despised. She will always need to be consecrated to His will,
she will always need His word, and she will never successfully
produce anything unless it is out of resurrection life.
6:8 - 9 - "There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines,
and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled is
but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the
choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw
her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the
concubines and they praised her."
The King immediately proceeds to declare the special status of
the Bride as compared to those who have opted for a lesser level
of relationship. In chapter 5:9 the Bride had been asked by the
Daughters of Jerusalem for a reason for the fervour of her
commitment to the King. What was so unique about Him that
nothing else could interest her? It was her answers to this
query which had resulted in the restoration of His presence and
her return to His "Lebanon ministry". She had declared that He
was the chiefest among ten thousand. His response to her love
and loyalty is to define her uniqueness also. She is no longer
just the "fairest among women" in a general sense. The King
begins to show how advanced she is in her seeking after Him.
a) "Threescore Queens" - In an Eastern Culture the King kept a
harem in which there were many women that he was married to.
Solomon was no exception, having hundreds of wives and
concubines. Some of these were political marriages arranged
by neighbouring Kings to ensure peace with Solomon by
marrying one of their daughters to him. 2 Chron. 8:11.
These were his queens who symbolize a certain category of
relationship.
A queen is one who has a legal position and various legal
rights because of her origins. Others may merely be
concubines, but the queen asserts her elevated status to gain
privileges. However, in this Eastern culture it was not
necessary for there to be a love relationship with the King.
This status was guaranteed by two things.
i) Her previous status as a princess - daughter of a foreign
and perhaps an enemy King.
ii) Her marriage which elevated her to queenly status.
These things generated a state in which she was a receiver
rather than a giver. By the sheer fact of birth she was in a
position to be blessed whether she cultivated her
relationship with the King or not.
In fact they are often selfishly motivated, using their
privilege of birth to demand their "rights". This motivation
is an expression that they are not fully separated from their
first origins as daughters of heathen Kings (John 8:44),
where they learned to demand the satisfaction of their needs
because of their exalted position.
b) "Fourscore concubines" - These are they who have only an
occasional relationship with the King. They are those who
were called to share a unique place with Him but in many
cases they failed to live up to expectations. Their weak
response to the King, the level of their ardour or a lack of
personal preparation caused them to enter into the harem as
those whose future was secure, but who might never be close
to the King again.
c) Virgins without number" - This group symbolises those who
have never been drawn to a deep and intimate love with the
King. They are the daughters of Jerusalem (cp v. 9). They
admire the King and appreciate what He has done - Note 1:3.
The Bride has been attempting to draw them to the King and
they have been impressed with the great development in her
and call her "the fairest among women". So far, however,
they have not yielded themselves unreservedly to the King's
will.
d) "The Bride is one" - The King knows the difference between
those who use Him and those who love Him for Himself alone.
The fact that the Bride is "one" does not speak of an
exclusive state available only to a minority, but to the fact
that not many press in to develop a deep love relationship
with the King.
i) The King declares that she is undefiled - the act of
giving ourselves to the King has in itself a cleansing
effect. There is the expulsive power of a new affection
that causes other interests and distractions to be
sacrificed in order to draw close to Him.
ii) She is His dove - In this state of total consecration to
the King's will there is a release of the Holy Spirit
that is more than a momentary anointing. It is instead
the fulness of a Spirit-filled life. Acts 5:31 says
that "He has given His Holy Spirit to them that obey
Him".
iii) She is the only one of her mother. Jerusalem, which is
from above, is the mother of us all - although the King
recognizes that there are many in His Kingdom who honour
and even love Him to a degree, the Bride relationship is
the "choice" one. Jesus said, "Many are called, but few
are chosen" - Matt. 22:14.
iv) She is a tremendous example to the virgins, concubines
and queens. They all admire her and see in her the
practical outworking of an unreserved love for the King.
They never blessed her or praised her when she was
demanding her rights or preserving her own blessings in
chapter 2, but in giving her all she receives not only
the love and admiration of the King, but also the joy of
drawing the less committed ones. The King's
commendation of her in reference to the inferior state
of the queens, concubines and virgins shows that the
full release of His blessing is only given out of
response to our love for Christ. There is a special
state of God's favour for those who do not draw back.
Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and
sent them away, but he gave His all to Isaac - who was
the only one born of his mother - Gen. 25:5-6.
6:10 - "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the
moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with
banners?"
i) Her vision is as the morning. New light or revelation of
the King's purpose is available to her as the new morning
brings new light to a darkened world. Uncertainty is gone.
She knows what He wants of her. This is the mature state
spoken of in Eph. 5:17, and 1 Cor. 14:20.
ii) "Fair as the moon" - speaks of her being able to reflect the
King's character as the moon reflects the sun's light. When
they see her they see the actions and attitudes of the King.
iii) But she is more than a mere reflector. "She is clear as the
sun". The actual and absolute life and light of the Son of
God is in the Bride. She is no mere copy. The spiritual
changes in her are real and dynamic. She has a self-
generating power as the sun does, rather than only a surface
effect as the moon has. The power of the King's life in the
Bride is making her to be a life generator instead of merely
pointing the way to life.
iv) It is the combination of these qualities which prepare the
Bride and qualify her for her reason for being. She is now
"terrible as an army with banners". Her high calling to go
with the King to Lebanon (4:8) is fully restored. The
preparation to qualify her to be received by the King
(Esther 2:17), was enabled to overthrow the strategy of the
enemy - Haman, and to conduct effective warfare that brought
total release to all her people.
6:11 - "I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of
the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and
the pomegranates budded."
a) The Bride takes up the narration again and refers to "nuts"
for the first time. In fact there is only one other
reference in the whole Bible to nuts (Gen. 43:11, where they
were to be present for Joseph - a very clear type of Christ).
The nuts speak of a new level of the Word of God - the fruit
is nourishing but is only obtained after the hard shell of
the nut is broken. Previously the Word of God was as milk
under her tongue (4:11), but now through the growth in her
relationship with the King she is enabled to progress to a
new and more difficult, but also more sustaining, dimension
of the Word. This is the level of strong meat which the
"virgins", the immature, cannot eat - 1 Cor. 3:1, Heb. 5:12-
14.
b) "To see whether the vine flourished" - The Bride is now
interested in things which the King had brought before her
previously (2:13, 15). The vines are the source of the Holy
Spirit, ie. wine.
The marvellous thing about the ministry of the Holy Spirit to
us is that there is no ultimate state and no level of
limitation. He has come in abundant measure and at various
stages of our growth in grace there is a new release or a new
dimension of the Holy Spirit. It is like Ezekiel's river
(Ezek. 47) which gets deeper and broader everywhere it flows.
c) "Pomegranates budded" - Previously the King had said that her
temples were like a piece of pomegranate (4:3), ie. it was
cut open revealing the seeds or potential in it. Now these
pomegranates are budding. Her potential is being realised.
There is actual growth and real progress is being made by the
Bride. Her spiritual life is no longer a fancy or a farce.
The final restoration of the Bride's relationship with the King
has resulted in a new vision and perception of spiritual things,
a new release of the King's glory and dynamic life in her, an
overthrow of the enemy, a new dimension of the Word of God, a new
release of the Holy Spirit, and real growth in grace.
6:12 - "Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of
Amminadib."
The King had been aware of the significant changes in the Bride,
and so had the queens, concubines, and virgins. Now in seeing
the "budding of the pomegranates", the Bride also realizes the
dramatic alteration in her motives, desires and her state. She
says, "Before I was aware (of it), my soul made me like the
chariots of Amminadib". Without realizing what was taking place
the Bride suddenly finds herself fulfilling the King's will. She
had been unconscious of the major change taking place in her, but
now recognizes that her heart is totally altered. The "chariots
of Amminadib" is more correctly translated "my people of a
willing heart". This is the crux of her relationship. It is not
based on external practices, but on true heart desire for the
King. Note Is. 29:13 - "this people honour me with their lips,
but they have removed their heart from me." Amminadib was one of
those who restored the Ark of the Covenant to its rightful place
in the heart of the nation of Israel. He helped to bring it to
Zion. He was one of the six Levites who carried it on their
shoulders from the house of Obed-Edom - Note 1 Chron. 15:10-15.
The chariots speak of her swift progress made in this willing
state.
6:13 - "Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may
look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it
were the company of two armies."
a) The Daughters of Jerusalem are speaking again. The last time
they had spoken (6:1) they were confused about the absence of
the King and realised that her loss was compounded for them.
Now they observe the tremendous changes in her through her
restoration and find the King revealed in her life.
This is the first time in the whole Song that the term
"Shulamite" has been used. It means "the peaceful one", or
the "pacified one". The name Solomon means "peaceful". The
Bride is manifesting the character of the King "as clear as
the sun". Not only is it obvious to others that she is now
like her Lord, but they are helped to discover Him for
themselves by seeing Him in her.
b) The King now takes up this request of the Daughters of
Jerusalem, "What will you see in the Shulamite? As it were
the company of two armies." (Note the question of the
daughters of Jerusalem to the Bride in 5:9.)
The phrase "two armies" refers to "Mahanaim" in Genesis 32:2,
and the word "company" means "dance".
This passage refers to the absolute victory of the Church. These
two armies were revealed at the time of Jacob's restoration to
God and the change in his nature and name. Just as the Shulamite
is used for the first time at this point of massive change in her
life and relationship with the King, so Jacob's name was changed
to Israel - "as a prince you have power with God and man".
The Daughters of Jerusalem see in the Bride the same
characteristics as in the King. They see in her victorious and
rejoicing.
Spiritual warfare is the climax of their song. It is the purpose
of the Bride's relationship with the King, and He has been
attempting to bring her to it since chapter 2:8-10. For a time
she responded in chapter 4:8, but now in this final restoration
she has taken it up permanently and is terrible as an army with
banners.
This process of entering into the King's ministry again, which
began in chapter 5:10, culminates in chapter 6:13. She is never
rebuked by the King again, since she started to seek Him with all
her heart.
Spiritual warfare, or the King's ministry, is the dividing line
between maturity and immaturity. She is now as "Tirzah",
"Jerusalem", and "Mahanaim". This is the state of permanent
change. She never retreats again.
END of STUDY THIRTEEN
