Song of Song 8:1 page 482
Poem 19
8:1-4
She
Song 8:1-4
If only you were to me like a brother,
who was nursed at my mother's breasts!
Then, if I found you outside,
I would kiss you,
and no one would despise me.
2I would lead you
and bring you to my mother's house-she who has taught me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
the nectar of my pomegranates.
3His left arm is under my head
and his right arm embraces me.
4Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.

Song of a woman passionately in love with a man – perhaps in a secret courtship


Early on in their relationship when public displays of affection would be shameful
... odd but she wishes she could relate to him like a brother
She then fantasizes what it will be like someday when they are able to enjoy
intimacy together
...but then the crucial line of the song...
She
4Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.


this is a repeated theme – the 3rd time it shows up in the collection
She (or song writer) is speaking to the community (young women)...please
promise me something...
o don’t rush this thing – don’t force it

o
o
Don’t stir up love until you are ready
Do not take love, sex and intimacy lightly!!
Why? Isn’t love, sex and intimacy a natural thing? It makes the world go ‘round? Right?
This song suggests – yes it is natural and powerful and because of that please take
care not to jump in until the right time – when you are prepared to be married.
We have seen over the past 3 weeks clearly just how demanding love, fidelity and
sexuality really is...
How about a quick review of what we’ve learned:
Healthy sexuality, love and fidelity in relationships are as much on the mind of
God as prayer, justice, mercy, and spiritual growth.
God is totally serious about this stuff so much that he inspired its composition and
insertion into the canon of scripture. So take as great a care with it as you would your
spiritual growth.
Intimacy is designed by God to be intoxicating
He
Song 4:10
How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much more pleasing is your love than wine,
God designed sexuality to be so total in its impact so erotic, so dangerously exotic and
intoxicating that it is dangerous outside the safety of marriage
Good character is the foundation of intimacy
She
Song 1:3
...your name is like perfume poured out.
No wonder the maidens love you!
Name refers to character ...your integrity and moral fiber will be the foundation of your
intimacy and love.
Intimacy is a process not a product
Sex cannot be going through the motions...Healthy sexuality is a holistic process...an all
day affair (beginning with kind acts and kind words)
We must raise the “banner” over our spouse
She
Song 2:4
He has taken me to the banquet hall,
and his banner over me is love.
I will go to war for you and with you. I will defend this relationship!
Little Foxes must be caught
He
Song 2:15
Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
our vineyards that are in bloom.
Some “little foxes” that destroy relationships:
Impatience, Harshness, Quick temper, Holding grudges, Lying , Shame
The point – love, intimacy, and fidelity are demanding – don’t rush into it until you are
ready to face its rigors. And if you are in it – married – face the fact that you have work
to do to make it all that it can be.
Poem 20
8:5-7
The defining poem in the collection. The most powerful in the book. And the most
quoted. It is a perspective on the nature of love itself
Song 8:5-7
Friends
Who is this coming up from the desert
leaning on her lover?
She
Under the apple tree I roused you;
there your mother conceived you,
there she who was in labor gave you birth.
6Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
7Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of his house for love,
it would be utterly scorned.
The poem opens with the community looking into the distance and seeing the couple
coming toward them in obvious love.
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
I love how the community has been woven into this collection of songs...reminds
us how crucial we all are to one another’s love and intimacy
The community of faith has to get over its squeamishness with supporting and
protecting the love, fidelity and intimacy of one another.
o By the time the community engages with a broken marriage it is usually
too late.
o If you sense distance btw. Your married friends get on it.
o If they need support – give it (baby sit?)
o If you think something is going on – confront it!
o If it is going well – praise it!
If this were a movie, the camera would zoom in and we get to eavesdrop on the
couple’s conversation:
She
Under the apple tree I roused you;
there your mother conceived you,
there she who was in labor gave you birth.

apple tree – apples metaphor for intimacy and erotic (don’t sit under the apple
tree with anyone else but me!”)
6Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
A seal was an impression made by a stamp into clay that would be a sign of ownership.

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It is another form of “banner”...or radical identification with him or her
Make me your heart seal – let me know I am the only one for you!
And then we get some of the most powerful words in the whole collection...
She
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame
7Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away.
. If one were to give
all the wealth of his house for love,
it would be utterly scorned.
Now I do not want to over interpret this. It is poetry that is to be felt and taken in not
scrutinized and analyzed
But...there are several ways this might be interpreted:

o
o
death, grave, fire (plague), and waters = pagan gods
 love is stronger than any gods of this earth
or simply true love is stronger than the most powerful forces on this
planet...death, fire, flood, wealth
the point once again – God designed love, and intimacy to be potent and demanding.
This wonderful poem should make us step back and do some analysis of the level of
intensity of our love for each other.
Does your love have this sense of desperation and passion?
If not – why not and can it return? Are you willing to do what it takes to restore it to this
level of potency?
Now, this would be the perfect ending – wouldn’t it? But it isn’t...the last 3 seem
anticlimactic but maybe not...
Poem 23
8:13-14
Song 8:13-14 (NIV)
He
You who dwell in the gardens
with friends in attendance,
let me hear your voice!
She
Come away, my lover,
and be like a gazelle
or like a young stag
on the spice-laden mountains.
What we have in closing is like a good movie...the camera pans away from the couple
under the apple tree – Poem 20...to a young man trying to get the attention of a young
woman who has caught his eye
Hey you among all the other girls...you are kinda cute – can we talk?
She – sure – young gazelle – come away with me ...let’s see where love takes us!
And so the anthology ends with young passion ready to blossom – a young couple
ready to begin the process of a lifetime...to begin working on the wonders of love and
intimacy and fidelity...just as God designed.