The Song Of Solomon - Chapter 8 - Longing For Her Beloved + Conclusion Series

V.8:1 O that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me.

2 I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother - she who used to teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate.

3 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me!

4 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.

5 Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labor with you; there she who bore you was in labor.

6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, Jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.

7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.

Final Advice

Others

8 We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for? 9 if she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver, but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

She

10 I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace.

11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

12 My vineyard, my very own, is before me; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

He

13 O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice;

let me hear it.

She

14 Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.

OVERVIEW:

The Bride in perfect union and communion with her Beloved, ministers to her younger, spiritually immature sister. As the Bride and her Beloved come up out of the wilderness, she leans completely on Him for strength and guidance. One of the most sacred moments in the life of the Bride comes when the Beloved asks her to set Him as a seal upon her heart and her arm. The Beloved entrusts her with His vineyard, her personal one, as He leaves to minister in other vineyards. There is no hurt but just a longing for Him to return to her very quickly. The SONG ends with the Mountain of spices instead of the mountains of Bether (division). There is perfect harmony between the Beloved and His wonderful Bride.

V8:1a,b – “O that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you”

A. She is speaking this in the form of a prayer. She longs to show her loyalty and affection to Him in public boldly.

1. She wishes that the Beloved was like her brother. It was improper to express public affection to members of the opposite sex who were not in the immediate family. A young woman of that time in history could be more "familiar in public" with her brother than her fiancé. They could give no public display of affection unless it were with a family member

2. Even after being promised marriage, they still couldn't hold hands in public. However, she could hold hands in public with her brother.

B. She longs to be more intimate with the Beloved, even when out in the public place. She has the boldness of the Holy Spirit breaking into her life to show her full partnership with Jesus.

C. A brother who nursed at her mother's breasts spoke of a full brother instead of a half-brother. Children from the same mother are meant here as contrasted to children with one father but different mothers.

1. In ancient times, a man who had several wives usually had many children. These siblings with a different mother were often rivals in the same household instead of friendly.

2. She is referring to a full-blood brother. In other words, an intimate brother.

3. She is saying, “I wish you were like my full blood brother because then I would express anything I wanted to, but as it is, I have to hold myself back”.

4. She recognizes the necessity to be restrained in aspects of her romance with Jesus