A SONG FOR LOVERS

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible…. 

Canticles 8:6-7  NKJV

⁶ Set me as a seal upon your heart,
As a seal upon your arm;
For love is as strong as death,
Jealousy as cruel as the grave;
Its flames are flames of fire,
A most vehement flame.

⁷ Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.
If a man would give for love
All the wealth of his house,
It would be utterly despised. 

A writer on the Song of Solomon says this Scripture has more different interpretations than any other in the Old Testament.  Of these, I am familiar with only three.

There is the older understanding that it is a love poem of Christ and His bride, the church.  There are very few internal facts that support this.  And there are far too many that are strong arguments against it.  This does not have a lot of support today. 

Again, some would have this to be a love poem Solomon wrote to the young woman who was brought to David in his last days.  The identification of this lovely young woman can be found in I Kings 1:2-4 ² Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young woman, a virgin, be sought for our lord the king, and let her stand before the king, and let her care for him; and let her lie in your bosom, that our lord the king may be warm.” ³ So they sought for a lovely young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. ⁴ The young woman was very lovely; and she cared for the king, and served him; but the king did not know her.  Here again there are too few reasons to recommend it and far more which discourage the literalism this requires and is not found in the Canticles. 

The third view is that this is an inspired love poem written to Christian lovers for encouragement and directions in courtship and marriage.

I am deeply indebted to Craig Glickman and his commentary, A Song For Lovers, for the help he gave me in understanding this beautiful and extremely important love poem.

I am including a free translation of the verses listed for today, page 150-151.

“O, my darling lover, make me your most precious possession held securely in your arms, held close to your heart.  True love is as strong and irreversible as the onward march of death.  True love never ceases to care, and it would no more give up the beloved than the grave would give up the dead.      

The fires of true love can never be quenched because the source of its flame is God himself.  Even were a river of rushing water to pass over it, the flame would yet shine forth.  Of all the gifts in the world, this priceless love is the most precious and possessed only by those to whom it is freely given.  For no man could purchase it with money, even the richest man in the world.” 

This poetic picture of true love between a man and a woman is without doubt worthy of our closest interest and understanding.

1.       The seal is to deny all other interest and completion.  It encloses the deepest internal commitment and the broadest external interest.  These are to be the bounds of true love.  It is to be held in the heart and respected in all of life’s social activity.

2.      Its straight and protective interest are for all of life.  Death is not the end.  It is the far limits of its circumference.  The strength of love extends through the problems of youth and the dullness of age.  Death is its true limit.

3.      The flame of the Lord as the intent of the Hebrew is as the NKJV has translated it, “a most vehement flame”.  The meaning here is that there is no hotter flame than this.  It is a consuming interest for those who experience it.  This is to complete the thought of the preceding clause.  Its boundary in time is all of life; its boundary in quality is as a consuming fire.

4.      Love knows no real discouragement.  Just as water may retard a vehement flame but cannot quench it, so the vicissitudes of life may furnish discouragements to lovers they do not change the fact of their affection. 

But this description is not satisfied until it is understood that this affection described is not one you “fall out of”.  The description given to this point guarantees the mutual interest is more than lust.

5.       The conclusion of the description points up the fact that some have always thought of love commercially and it assures the reader this is as far from true as can be imagined.  All the wealth of a wealthy person cannot purchase this affection. 

I once heard this illustration:

“There are four things money cannot buy:  a baby’s smile, a good man’s friendship, a good woman’s love, the grace of God”.  Amen