On the Song of Songs: Part 5, Reflections (Solomon as Prophet)


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On the Song of Songs: Part 5, Reflections (Solomon as Prophet)

This evening I am going to do something different. Having completed our presentation of the Song of Songs, there are still further observations which we can make, and which we should make, regarding the Song in general, and especially the impact of its interpretation on various other Scriptures from Genesis through the New Testament. While we have explained or alluded to some of these aspects of the Song throughout our commentary, it may be useful to have them all in summary, and also so that we may expand on some of them to a much greater degree, further probing the depths of their meanings.

The wisdom of Solomon is evidently far greater than many men may even have the ability to perceive. The Song of Songs is not a mere love song, although it is often dismissed as such. Both Jews and Churches have offered allegorical explanations of the Song which suit themsleves, and they all fail. In opposition to them all, but similarly to the claims of some, we would assert that the Song is an allegory representing the love which Yahweh God has for the children of Israel, and the love which the children of Israel, both individually and collectively, should have for Yahweh their God, as they are His Bride, and He Himself has promised to betroth them both once again and forever. I refer primarily to Hosea chapter 2: “19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.” That promise being made to Israel in the Assyrian captivities, the betrothal is certainly fulfilled in Christ. So at the same time, the Song offers some prophecy concerning Christ, which only Christians, and not Jews, can even begin to understand.

While offering this allegory, the Song presents poetic descriptions of the ideal physical characteristics of our White Adamic race, descriptions of the ideals of beauty perfected in the Creation of Yahweh, which were written in a way that for three thousand years have permitted the Song to remain in Scripture while it has evaded all of the censorship of the enemies of God who have persistently infiltrated both the scribal and priestly classes of ancient Jerusalem and of modern Christianity throughout all of that time. Through these descriptions we can know who the Adamic man is, and what Solomon perceived to be the very likeness of his God. Not that God is visible, but His likeness is expressed in Christ, and it was also expressed in Adam.

Furthermore, the Song explains the meanings of the metaphors contained in the allegories employing trees and fruit in Genesis chapter 3, and therefore it enables us to determine precisely what had caused the fall of Adam in a manner that puts to shame all of the contentions raised throughout the ages by innumerable prevaricators. Then, taking that understanding further into Scripture, it also helps to explain the allegories describing trees and fruit which are found in the New Testament, and it can help the reader of Scripture to connect them to the Genesis account in an appropriate manner. The Song further presents an aspect of the substance and purpose of Christ with several veiled Messianic prophecies which are so profound, that once they are realized they cannot be mistaken, and once they are understood they cannot be forgotten.

Therefore the Song is a blueprint for the children of Israel to understand some of the aspects of their relationship with their God which presages many concepts that are later presented by Christ Himself in the Gospel and in His Revelation. So in reflecting upon our commentary on the Song, we though it fitting, or even necessary, to go back and once again examine these aspects of Solomon’s poem, its prophecies and its relationship to the Gospel, the purpose and the ministry of Christ.

Here we will begin with what we have already discussed at the greatest length, which are the allegories that describe the eating of trees and fruit as euphemisms for sexual intercourse. Doing this, except for a few notes we shall rely on the language of the King James Version even if we have already provided better, or at least alternative translations of the meanings of some passages, words or phrases.

In Song chapter 1, the Bride describes her lover sitting at his table as her own bodily scent fills the air and she confesses that his odor is appealing to her. Then where she further says that “he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts”, it is evident that the table is actually a metaphor for the bride herself, and she compares her lover to camphire or asphalt in the vineyards, something which can burn intensely in a place where one may not expect to find it. Then as she attests to her lover’s appeal she begins to speak of their bed and its surroundings before she describes herself with flowery metaphors, where it is evident that the vineyard is also an allegory for the Bride herself. The meaning of the allegory where camphire is mentioned draws a picture of the Bride as a vineyard, and her Husband is burning within her as they engage in their love-making.

This is further illustrated where in Song chapter 2 the Bride declares that her husband had brought her to a “banqueting house”, which is also a metaphor since it is there that she becomes exhausted from love-making, and she describes herself lying in close embrace with her lover, and he falls asleep. As he sleeps, the Bride goes to address the Chorus, admonishing them not to awaken him. During that same act of love-making, in verse 3 of chapter 2, the Bride declares that “3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.” Having spoken those words in the context of a romantic liaison, we must assert that this language explains the allegories of Genesis chapter 3 where we read:

“1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

“As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.” Later, in Song chapter 4, the Husband declares that “12 A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. 13 Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, 14 Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices….” So in response to that, the Bride extends an invitation and she says: “Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.” In the opening verses of chapter 5, the love-making which came from that invitation is described in very much the same manner.

At the beginning of Song chapter 6, where the Husband had been away but has once again come to his Bride, she describes his arrival by saying “2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 3 I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.” Then after the husband describes the beauty of the Bride into chapter 7, he says “6 How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! 7 This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes [or dates]. 8 I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs [or fruit-stalks] thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples…” Where the Bride responds, she once again describes herself as fruits laid up in reserve for her husband.

So we must assert that just as this Song of Songs uses trees and the eating of fruit to represent people and sexual activities, so did Moses when he wrote those words in Genesis chapter 3. To this we also compared language found in the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh, which almost certainly predated the time of Abraham himself, and with which Moses was certainly familiar. There we saw a harlot’s nakedness described as her ripeness, as a piece of fruit, associated with an act of love-making. Some other translations of the epic translated the word for ripeness as sex, thereby losing the idiom but conveying the meaning. So to repeat the examples from Gilgamesh, first the title character told a hunter what would happen once a harlot was introduced to his rival Enkidu: “She shall pull off her clothing, laying bare her ripeness. As soon as he sees her, he will draw near to her…” Then once the hunter complied, we read that “The lass freed her breasts, bared her bosom, And he possessed her ripeness. She was not bashful as she welcomed his ardor. She laid aside her cloth and he rested upon her… She treated him, the savage, to a woman’s task, As his love was drawn unto her.” Putting this passage alongside that of Genesis chapter 3 and the relevant passages which we mention here from the Song, there should be no doubt as to the usage of the metaphors as euphemisms for sexual relations in all three works of literature.

Not all prophecies are visions of the future. The Biblical concept of prophecy also includes the ability to interpret the Word of God, or the ability to reveal hidden or secret things which are not publicly known to men. But some prophecy reveals things which happened in the past. In Isaiah chapter 41 Yahweh God challenges the children of Israel concerning their idols, and He says “22 Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. 23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.”

One prophecy of Christ in the Revelation reveals the origin of the serpent of Genesis chapter 3, where it says: “7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” The phrase “that old serpent” being a direct reference to the serpent of Genesis chapter 3, with this we can understand both the identity of the serpent of Eden, and the substance of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil which the serpent represents.

Then, with an understanding of the allegories and metaphors provided here in the Song, we can further understand that Adam and Eve were punished for participating in illicit sexual activities with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which represents the race of the fallen angels. This is not a fantastic leap, as in Genesis chapter 6, we see much more explicit references to that same thing, and the descendants of Adam still had only one law for which they could be punished, which is the prohibition warning that they would die if they ate of the fruit of that tree. Adam and Eve were not barred from having sexual relations with one another, since in Genesis chapter 1 they were told to “be fruitful and multiply”. But fornication, which is race-mixing, is the eating of illicit fruit and the act of being fruitful with the wrong tree, the only tree from which Adam and Eve were commanded not to partake. Because men have not learned this lesson, they are partaking from that same tree once again today, and in much greater quantities than they had even in Genesis chapter 6. Christ had warned that at His return, it would be “as it was in the days of Noah”, and here we are.

That is because with His Gospel, men should have understood the allegories of Genesis chapter 3, and acted accordingly, since He also had explained them. John the Baptist came preaching the Truth of God, demanding that men repent, and challenging them on the basis that if they could not repent, as we read in Matthew chapter 3, “10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” Once it is realized that Judaea was a multiracial province, that there were at least as many Edomites among its citizens and rulers as there were Israelites, only then may John’s words be understood. For that reason he had said that the axe is laid to the root of the trees, not to their branches. So Christ had proclaimed in Matthew chapter 15: “13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” In the Wisdom of Solomon, in chapter 3, the same author as this Song makes a similar attestation and says: “16 As for the children of adulterers, they shall not come to their perfection, and the seed of an unrighteous bed shall be rooted out.” Then a little further on, in chapter 4: “3 But the multiplying brood of the ungodly shall not thrive, nor take deep rooting from bastard slips, nor lay any fast foundation. 4 For though they flourish in branches for a time; yet standing not last, they shall be shaken with the wind, and through the force of winds they shall be rooted out. 5 The imperfect branches shall be broken off, their fruit unprofitable, not ripe to eat, yea, meet for nothing. 6 For children begotten of unlawful beds are witnesses of wickedness against their parents in their trial.”

So in Revelation chapter 2, Yahshua Christ speaks of fornicators and promises to kill their children, “21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. 22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.” As He said, “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.”

Examining the text of the Creation account in Genesis chapter 1, Yahweh did not create anything which was bad. But from these Scriptures and others, such as Paul’s comparison of sons and bastards in Hebrews chapter 12, or the parable of the net in Matthew chapter 13, we see that there are men which are bad, and lineages of men which are bad, and which are therefore destined for the proverbial Lake of Fire. The goat nations of Matthew chapter 25, entire nations of presumed people, are destined for the “everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels”, according to the words of Christ Himself. But a good tree cannot produce bad fruit.

Because the purpose of the Gospel is to divide the Wheat and the Tares, so that men may distinguish what is of God, and what is not, and so that men may separate themselves from what is not of God, Christ had further assured, as it is in Luke chapter 6, that: “43 … a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.” Christ made a similar statement but in a different context in Matthew chapter 12, where He spoke of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and challenged men to “33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.” Then turning to the men who challenged Him, he associated them with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil where He said: “34 O generation [race] of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

Our purpose here is not to make a full study of these issues, as we have often already done that, but only to demonstrate that these parables of trees and fruit in the Gospel, as well as where they appear in the Revelation, are explaining the origins of men and prophesying of their destinies in relation to those origins. One is either planted by God, or one is a corruption of the Devil. In the end, where the City of God is described in Revelation chapter 22, there is only one tree remaining which represents men, and the fruits of that tree represent the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. Since the names of those same twelve tribes are on the gates of that city, it is apparent that one shall not enter into it unless one’s origins are in that same tree. So the allegories of the Song help to establish the veracity of our interpretation of Genesis chapter 3, and our conclusions concerning many of the parables and the Revelation of Christ and the similar allegories employing fruit and trees found in the New Testament. In His parables, Christ was not using allegories concerning trees and fruit coincidentally, but rather He was choosing His words intentionally, and using those metaphors in accordance with their use in the Old Testament Scriptures.

Now moving on to other aspects of the Song, we hope to explain how it illustrates the purpose of Christ as bridegroom. So when we discussed chapter 6, we encountered the following verses, but did not offer as full a commentary as we may have, where the Husband is depicted as saying: “8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. 9 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.”

Now we shall address an aspect of this more fully, where in our commentary we had said only that out of other possibilities, Solomon may have been “making an allusion to the number of his own wives and concubines” or “referring to the wives and concubines of other kings”. But there we neglected to interpret this statement from the perspective of the Song being an allegory for the relationship between Yahweh God and the children of Israel. Now, if we imagine the mother of nations to be Eve, the mother of all living, and of the Adamic nations of Genesis chapter 10 only Abraham was called, and only the children of Israel were chosen, then we see that of all Adamic nations, Yahweh God considers Israel as a nation to be His “undefiledone; … the only one of her mother, … the choice one of her that bare her.” Therefore with this statement He as the King is distinguishing Israel from all other nations. This also reflects the promises that Abraham would inherit the earth and therefore Israel would be the only nation of all other nations. So we read in Deuteronomy chapter 14: “2 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.”

Likewise when the children of Israel had sinned and were put off in captivity, we read in Jeremiah chapter 2: “32 Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.” For that same reason we read in Isaiah chapter 50, in reference to Israel: “1 Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.” It may be argued that Judah was not divorced at this time, however the announcement of Judah’s divorce comes later, in Ezekiel chapter 23 where it is addressing Jerusalem in comparison with Samaria and it is declared that “31 Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand. 32 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much. 33 Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.” But as we have already read from Hosea chapter 2, in spite of the divroce of Israel, which includes Judah as well, Yahweh had promised to betroth Israel once again in the future, and at that time to betroth Israel forever. For the fulfillment of these prophecies, Christ had professed, as it is in Matthew chapter 15, that “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

So at the manifestation of Christ, when shortly after He had been baptized by John, the disciples of John the Baptist inquired about Him, as it is recorded in John chapter 3 we read: “28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.” Later, Christ Himself had professed to being the Bridegroom, as it is recorded in all three synoptic gospels, but here we will read it as it is found in Luke chapter 5: “33 And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? 34 And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.” In Revelation chapters 21 and 22, the children of Israel are described as a City of God descending from heaven, “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”, and then in union with Christ as “the Spirit and the bride” in the closing verses of the book.

So the Gospel is meant to divide the Wheat from the Tares, and it continues to do so. In the time of Christ the parable was a reference to those in Judaea and its environs who were truly Israelties as opposed to those who had their origins with the devil, as Christ Himself explained in Matthew chapter 13. However from the Song of Solomon, we also know the physical characteristics of the Bride, and since she is the only one chosen out of all others, we cannot expect her physical appearance to change, or to differ from what Solomon himself had described.

But first, in Song chapter 5 the Bride is depicted as describing her Husband, and she says, in part: “10 My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. 11 His head is as the most fine gold… 13 His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. 14 His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. 15 His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.” Therefore, as we have already explained at length, there should be no doubt that the Husband is described as being a White man, and the Hebrew word translated as ruddy is adam, the same Hebrew word which gives us the name Adam, and it describes something which is ruddy as it is derived from the word dam, which is the Hebrew word for blood.

So later, in Song chapter 7, the Husband describes the Bride, where we read in part: “2 Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies…. 4 Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.” So, as we have also already discussed at length, it is indisputable that the Bride is also a White woman, just like her husband the King is a White man. This befits the declaration of Adam in Genesis chapter 2 which defines the proper marriage, where he had been shown all of the creatures of the Creation of God and found no suitable wife, so Yahweh God had made a wife for him, from his own flesh, and we read: “23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Both the Husband and the Bride of the Song, having flesh like marble and ivory and having the ruddy appearance of flowers, were also of the same flesh.

Now we shall return to those aspects of the Song which relate to the purpose of the ministry of Christ. Doing that, first we shall discuss how the Song instructs Christians to consider their God, through its illustrations in the episodes describing the longingand searching of the Bride for the Husband, how she responds to her desire to seek Him, and what happens to her when she is hesitant to find Him.

In the narrative of the Song, we never really get to know anything about the Bride apart from her love for her Husband. In addition to that, but apart from the descriptions of her physical appearance, we only know that she was a pharaoh’s daughter. So she had come out of Egypt to marry her King just as the children of Israel were taken out of Egypt and were married to Yahweh their King. After that, in all of the words of the Bride herself she is only doting on and loving her Husband while she is with him, or expressing her longing for him in his absence. This aspect of the Song is representative of the ideal attitude which the children of Israel should have in respect of Yahweh their God.

One such episode is found in Song chapter 3:, where the Bride says “1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. 2 I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. 3 The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? 4 It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.”

Once it is realized that the children of Israel are the Bride of Yahweh their God, and that Christ is the Bridegroom, only then can we understand this episode, since in the ancient world a literal queen would never be permitted to depart from her estate and roam the streets of the city alone at night. So as we remarked in our commentary, from our modern perspective, if we insist on interpreting this literally, the Bride seeking to find, to control and to bring the Husband to her mother’s house may thereby be perceived as a rebellious feminist. So while the ancient children of Israel had also acted, in other ways, as rebellious feminists, this passage should not be interpreted literally.

Once the Husband is recognized as a type for Christ, represented by His Word, and the Bride represents the people of Israel as a Nation, then seeking and finding Christ and bringing Him into their allegorical homes they are doing well. So a few verses later and at the very end of the chapter the Husband comes to her before the daughters of Jerusalem, and she says to them: “11 Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.” Here, Solomon being a type for Christ Himself, he is then depicted as addressing the Bride and begins to describe her beauty, as chapter 4 opens with the words “Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair…” and he expresses his love for his Bride by proclaiming “9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. 10 How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!” He said these things upon the Bride having recognized Him not as husband or lover, but as King.

Therefore we see that where the Bride had sought out the Husband and took Him to herself, for that the Bride was rewarded by receiving the love and devotion of her Husband in return. But in contrast, where there is another episode of her longing illustrated in Song chapter 5, and this also cannot be interpreted literally, we read where she says “ 2 I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying , Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.” Then the Bride is reluctant and says: “ 3 I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? 4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door , and my bowels were moved for him. 5 I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.”

It is not a coincidence, that passage evokes the words of Yahshua Christ in the Revelation, in chapter 3 where He said in the message to the church of the Laodiceans: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” But here the Bride was hesitant to open. She really did not want to get dressed again after being in bed. That is found where we read her thoughts in verse 3 where she said “ 3 I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” So for that reason, her experience here is quite different than what we saw in the earlier chapter where she had actively sought her Husband, where we continue and read: “ 6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. 7 The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. 8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.”

So here, in spite of the elusiveness of the Husband, which was the apparent result of her own hesitation, the Bride expresses humility, and regardless of the troubles she suffered when she could not find Him, as He hid himself from her, she nevertheless expresses her love for Him. Then the Chorus asks the Bride, as if tempting her to take another lover: “9 What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women?” But the Bride would not consider another lover, and at that point through to the end of the chapter she instead extols the virtues of her Husband beginning with the words “10 My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.” For that, the Husband ultimately came to her once again, and expressed her beauty and His love for her, in chapter 6 of the Song.

The illustrations where the Bride is always longing for the Husband in His absence, once we truly understand that they portray an ideal in the relationship of the children of Israel to their God, also echo sentiments which are found in the Psalms, in the Gospel, and in the epistles of Paul. For example, we read in the 63rd Psalm: “6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. 7 Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.” Then in the 119th Psalm, expressing a theme which the Psalm repeats several times: “10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. 11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. 12 Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes. 13 With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. 14 I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. 16 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.”

Likewise, in a time of anticipated trouble, we read in the Gospel accounts, in Matthew chapter 26 in the words of Christ to His disciples: “41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Then in Luke chapter 22: “46 And [He] said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” Then in Revelation chapter 3, in the message to the church at Philadelphia, a word which means brotherly love, because they rejected those who claim to be Jews but who are really devils Christ said: “10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” For that same reason we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 10: “3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.”

So Christians must learn from these illustrations, that to seek Christ actively as well as through prayer and obedience to Him, is to have His love and His attention. But to hesitate is to invite chastisement, although with repentance one may once again have His love and attention at a later time. Then, as the Bride sought after her husband and He came to her, she was able to announce Him to the people and said: “11 Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.” Similarly, we read concerning the upright as opposed to sinners, in Isaiah chapter 33: “13 Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. 14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Evidently the sinners were reluctant to recognize their judgment. So continuing it speaks of the righteous: “15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; 16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. 17 Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.”

Now, in the final chapter of the Song, we may see that it is not even sufficient for the Bride to have her lover as her Kinsman, her Husband and her King. Rather, she also desires Him as a brother, as having been born from the same mother, and neither may this be interpreted literally. It would make no sense at all, for a Bride to desire her Husband as a brother, as an infant, from her same mother, and even if such a thing could happen, he could no longer be her lover. This is found in the opening verses of chapter 8, where the Bride is depicted as addressing the Husband following another episode of love-making: “ 1 O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised. 2 I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.”

As we have already explained, the Hebrew, Latin and Greek versions of verse 1 all contain a verb, to give, which is ignored in English translations of the Masoretic Text and in the English of Brenton’s Septuagint. Therefore, the first clause of the verse should read, after both the Hebrew and the Greek: “Who might give you as a brother…” The Douay-Rheims translation of the Latin Vulgate correctly reflects the verb, where it reads: “Who shall give thee to me for my brother, sucking the breasts of my mother, that I may find thee without, and kiss thee, and now no man may despise me?” From the Masoretic Text, Young’s Literal Translation is not perfect, as it has make rather than give, but it also correctly reflects the meaning where it reads “Who doth make thee as a brother to me, Sucking the breasts of my mother? I find thee without, I kiss thee, Yea, they do not despise me…” There is a Literal Standard Version which is similar to Young’s, but Smith’s Literal Translation is even better: “Who will give thee as a brother to me, sucking the breasts of my mother? I shall find thee without, I shall kiss thee; also they shall not despise me.” None of the many other translations of the Hebrew or Greek are satisfactory, although some other Aramaic or Latin versions do reflect the verb appropriately (using BibleHub as our source).

Notice that the Bride did not want her Husband, given as her brother, to be instructed. Rather, the Bride used a past tense form of the word for instruct in reference to herself. The Bride may be perceived as describing how dear her lover is to her. But once we realize that these words of the Bride cannot possibly be made true in a literal manner, and we turn to the theme of the Song, which is an allegory of the relationship between Yahweh God and the children of Israel, and then we see that the Bride, which is Israel as a nation, did indeed receive her Husband, her God and her King as an infant son. So once that is understood, something which only Christians can possibly understand, it is further evident that Solomon was indeed a prophet.

Yahshua Christ, who is Yahweh God incarnate, was manifest in the flesh and therefore became the “first born among many brethren”, as Paul of Tarsus had described Him in Romans chapter 8. Then in Hebrews chapter 2 Paul attests that Yahweh God Himself had given Himself to Israel as a brother of the same mother, which is the nation, where we read, as it is in the Christogenea New Testament: “16 For surely not that of messengers has He taken upon Himself, but He has taken upon Himself of the offspring of Abraham, 17 from which He was obliged in all respects to become like the brethren, that He would be a compassionate and faithful high priest of the things pertaining to Yahweh to make a propitiation for the failures of the people.” Christ was given by God to be a brother of the Bride, having sucked the breasts of her mother in the form of Mary, but here the mother is representative of the nation as a whole.

Aside from the explanations of Paul, Solomon’s words here, where the Bride wants to kiss without shame her Husband and King, if he could be given to her as her infant brother, evokes the words of his own father, David, in the 2nd Psalm: “6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. 7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. 8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. 9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. 10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”

Then perhaps two hundred years after Solomon, we see a relevant prophecy in Isaiah chapter 9 which promises the fulfillment of what Solomon had written here: “6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. 8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.” So in the Revelation of Christ, we read in chapter 12 a depiction of Israel as a woman with a man child, in part where it says: “ 1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered… 5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”

Our final expression from the Song may indicate how Christians should “kiss the Son”, where in its penultimate verse we read in the words of the Bride: “ 13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it .” So the Bride wants to hear the same voice to which the companions of the Husband are obedient, as she attests that they hearken to his voice. As Christ Himself had expressed in John chapter 15, which we have already discussed briefly in relation to this passage, where He was addressing His disciples He told them: “14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”

For very much the same reason, Abraham was also called a “friend” of God. This concept first appears in Scripture even before the time of Isaiah, in the days of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, where we read in a plea to God made in 2 Chronicles chapter 20: “7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?” Then it is repeated in Isaiah chapter 41: “8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.” The apostle James explains this in the 2nd chapter of his epistle: “23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.”

However James was speaking of the obedience which resulted from Abraham’s having believed God, so we shall read a wider portion of the same passage: “21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.” Faith is not merely a profession of belief, but rather, it is a call to action predicated upon what one believes, and if one professes to believe Christ, the least one must do is to keep His commandments. So in Genesis chapter 26, Yahweh explains to Isaac why he was receiving the promises made to Abraham, and said: “4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; 5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

So it is here also in the Song, that if we endeavor to be the companions of Christ, we must hearken to His voice. Thus He Himself had said, in John chapter 14: “21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” If one hesitates, it is evident here that much suffering may precede any reward that one can possibly ever anticipate.

Now I may say that this commentary on the Song of Songs is complete, but the depth of the work itself may quickly prove me wrong. Solomon was with all certainly the wisest of men, as well as a prophet of God. The Song is not to be taken lightly.

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