Song of Solomon 8:4–5

This charge occurs several times in the song. I think it is the perfect answer to those who suppose the song is just many little songs put together with no particular order. Not so. There is perfect order, and not only continuity but progress. You will find this charge three times: in chapter 2, in chapter 3, and again in the last chapter, chapter 8. So the order is clearly designed.

We looked at this charge in our meditations on Song 2:7. The same charge occurs in Song 8:4. Each time it appears, the coming of the Lord follows at once. In chapter 2:7 it is the revelation of Himself... In Song 3:5 it is the Messiah coming in royal procession, as the true Solomon, crowned King of Israel by the heart of the nation... In chapter 8:4 we see the bride leaving the wilderness united to Him. This is marked progress.

Here, in chapters 3:5 and 8:4, the word is not the one used in verse 2 and elsewhere, but ha-havah (the love). If it were ray-ah (love, or companion), the word would have to be "she". But the feminine form of the verb depends on ahavah, so the sense must decide the question. I am disposed to think the English version right. The beloved One rests in His love.

Or it could read "until she pleases". It seems more likely that the spouse is the one resting in peace in her bridegroom's embrace, while He watches in love so that nothing disturbs her.

She draws attention to her desire that nothing should disturb Him — that He should rest in that love which He designed for her. It is a sweet and wonderful thought that the Lord means to rest in His love for Jerusalem... And about whom does He use that expression? Not about us, but about Jerusalem. You will find this clearly enough in Zephaniah 3.

Chapter 8 stands by itself, and seems to me to sum up the principles of the whole book. ... The loved one shows her deep affection, and the Beloved wants her to rest in His love and enjoy it as long as she will, with nothing to disturb her.

After a final charge to the daughters of Jerusalem, there is a fresh vision of the bride coming up out of the wilderness leaning upon her beloved. Long ago the people came up out of it too, and God showed wonders of goodness and power. But it was all in vain. They did not lean on Jehovah or His Christ, but on self and law. For sinful people — and that is what they were — self and law can only mean death and condemnation. Far different will it be when the generation to come emerges from it leaning upon the beloved.

The roes and the hinds are the most easily startled creatures in the field. Their hearing is so sharp that a distant sound of danger will alarm them. We should all be that sensitive to the faintest approach of anything that would interfere with our walk and communion with the Lord. We should be just as alert to anything that would turn us aside from practical holiness and complete devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The bride comes out of the wilderness leaning upon the arm of her Beloved, and the daughters of Jerusalem ask, "Who is this?" In the fourth song the bride had sought and found the Bridegroom. In the fifth song she had held sweet and secret communion with Him. But now, at last, she stands before the whole world in His company, and in dependence upon Him. The wilderness wanderings lie behind her; the glory shines before her.

Is He now only "like columns of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of a merchant" (Song 3:6)? No. There is another object. It is now "Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?" Here we see that it is not now the Bridegroom. She has a vision of herself — of herself united to the Bridegroom. Before, it was more His coming to her, or for her.

Long ago the people had come up out of it, and God showed wonders of goodness and power. But it was all in vain. They did not lean on the Lord or His Christ. They leaned on self and law, and for sinful man — which is what they were — that can only mean death and condemnation. It will be far different when the generation to come comes out of the wilderness leaning upon the beloved. What brings about so great a change? "Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labor with you." Christ is meant by that tree. It is His to awaken her from her long sleep and give her the life that alone lives to God.

We wander and fall, but grace brings us up out of our wanderings leaning upon Christ, just as the bride leans on her beloved. We fall, like Peter, because we lean on our own love for Christ. In tender grace He lifts us up and brings us to lean on His great love for us... Pride makes it hard to own our nothingness and His fulness, our weakness and His strength, and so to find all our resources in Him... "Leaning" is weakness clinging to strength. John leaned on Jesus' breast (John 13:23), and that is leaning on the love of One in whom all fulness dwells.

Look back over our past life. In every time of failure, straying or defeat, we were not leaning upon Him. The secret of all failure in the Christian's life can be traced to this. He has never failed anyone who leans upon Him.

Christ is the apple tree, and grace is our mother. We owe our very existence as Christians to the sovereign grace of God... We are born again through His grace that has worked in our hearts in connection with Christ. No sinner can ever be saved until he flees to Christ for refuge. "There she who bore you was in labor." There under His shadow grace brought us forth and made us new creatures in Christ Jesus.

Now the bride depends happily on the Bridegroom's love. She must never forget that she owes the Beloved every blessing she has, from the moment she was brought forth in weakness... Take a wandering believer brought back to fellowship and open service. Take wandering Israel brought back to glory on earth. Take a ruined and scattered church shown in perfect heavenly glory. All will owe their position to the sovereign grace of the Lord that awakened us, brought us out of our degradation, and joined us to Himself.