Today in God's Word—August 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
August 25, Song of Solomon 8
If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.
-Song of Solomon 8:7
Our school was expelling a young man who was failing in a couple of classes I taught. The boy and his wealthy father came into the headmaster’s office and sat in chairs across the desk from the school’s leader. The atmosphere was tense. After introductions, the man opened his checkbook and laid it on the desk. He asked, “How much is it going to take to make this little problem go away?” This happened a long time ago, and I do not remember the boy’s offense that created the situation. But I clearly remember the headmaster’s response to the man’s offer: “Sir, you do not have enough money to make this go away.” If the father or the son thought that whatever they wanted could be bought, they were mistaken.
Whether Song of Solomon was written about Solomon or by the king himself, it ends with Solomon in an unusual situation. For once, the man who possessed and did whatever his heart desired did not get what (or in this case, who) he wanted. The Shulamite maiden turned down the great king’s proposal of marriage. She was not swayed by Solomon’s wealth or power. She would not become another of his many wives. She loved her shepherd, and nothing the king had to offer could overcome her great love.
The Shulamite and the shepherd were deeply in love. But they could not express their affection for one another in public. That’s the sense in which the woman wished that her shepherd was her brother. Public displays of appropriate fraternal affection were acceptable. But affectionate gestures and actions toward others were not. She wished for her beloved to come back home. She imagined the warm romantic time they would spend together when he returned and they could be alone at home. She wanted her life with him there in the place where she grew up. She did not want to be
taken away to Jerusalem and Solomon's harem.
She wanted to be the seal on her lover's heart, to keep it from being given to another. She wanted to be the seal on his arm, to restrain him from embracing another. Her love was as strong as death itself, and her jealousy for her man's love was fierce and flaming. Her love was a fire that could not be extinguished, even by a torrential flood. Her love for the shepherd was priceless; it could not be bought.
The woman's family protected their sister's innocence and purity from the time she was a little girl until the present. Now as a mature young woman, she remained chaste to be a gift for her husband.
Solomon owned vast amounts of property. On some of it, he planted vineyards. Of course others did the actual work in the vineyard, and the king collected the choice fruit and the revenue from sales of the produce. But the woman did not possess anything like Solomon's vineyards. She had only her pure body as her vineyard she kept for her beloved. Solomon could possess and keep all the other vineyards he wanted. But he could not have hers.
The song ends with the shepherd anxiously listening for the call of his beautiful bride-to-be. She responds, inviting him to hurry and come to be with her. Does that ending remind you of another ending, perhaps the end of the book of Revelation and the entire Bible? The Lord Jesus promises his people, “Surely I am coming soon.” And John replies for all of us who eagerly await his return, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”
Some readers probably question what this song has to do with the rest of the Bible's content. If we read it as an allegory, it is a beautiful illustration of the power, value and enduring nature of God's love and holy jealousy for his people. It also depicts the love they give to God in return. If it is only included as a treatise on love’s power, purity and perseverance, it teaches a lesson much needed in our culture today.
I don't know exactly how you see the contents of this book. I encourage you to be, as Paul wrote about another matter, "fully convinced” in your own mind." Even if you only see it as a romance celebrating the triumph of true love over challenges and obstacles, I hope you can hear the echoes of God's great love for you, and want to give your whole-hearted love and devotion to him.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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