Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.
The bride sits at the King's table under His banner of love, and the joy proves too much for her. Her cry is strange at first: she asks for more of the very thing that has overwhelmed her.
"Sick with love" — overflow, not weariness
To a modern ear, "sick with love" sounds like disgust. The sense here runs the other way. One writer explains the phrase, the food on the table, and what happens when the feasting stops:
Elberfeld CommentarySometimes we say, I am sick of it, meaning that we don't want anything more to do with it. But here the meaning is just the opposite. She feasts under His banner of love on the good things He has prepared for her. Her heart overflows. Her love for Him burns with such an eager flame that she is sick with love. Only one thing can hold her up now, and sustain, refresh and comfort her: the flagons of wine, or raisin cakes, and the apples from His banqueting table. Remember that He Himself is the apple tree (see v. 3). Then we can understand that the apples are the sweet fruits of His love for us. The wine, or raisin, is the symbol of fellowship and the joy that flows from it... When someone truly loves Him, a break in his communion with Him makes him sick and miserable. So does failing to feast on the good things His love has provided for us.
More than the vessel can hold
Her cry for support admits she has reached her limit. One writer says some gifts of God are larger than the person receiving them:
Hamilton SmithThe ecstasy of the house of wine is more than the Bride can sustain. There are spiritual experiences too deep for these weak vessels of clay. Was it not like this for the Apostle when he was caught up into the third heaven? He heard unspeakable words, not possible to utter. Such experiences may seldom be the common lot of the Christian life. But at times the Lord gives His people such an overwhelming sense of His love that we have to cry out. A dying saint once used words like these: "Lord, hold Your hand; it is enough, Your servant is a clay vessel and can hold no more."
An old verse puts the paradox in a line: "The love, the love that I speak of works wonders in the soul; for when I'm whole it makes me sick, when sick it makes me whole." (Andrew Miller)
The cure is more of the same
She asks for the same food that laid her low to revive her. That is not a contradiction, because this food works unlike any other:
Andrew MillerFeeding on Christ never satiates the soul. While it satisfies to the full, it whets the appetite. And the Lord's delight is to give more abundantly. "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." He alone can satisfy the desires of the heart and of the mind.
Her cry does not go unanswered: "This is the answer to the bride's call for sustaining power. The banner of love is over her, and the arms of love are around her." (Hamilton Smith)
Nothing else will sustain
If only His love can hold her up, then losing touch with Him costs something real. The warning here is about ordinary busy days, not rare heights:
Elberfeld CommentaryNothing can make up for lack of fellowship with the Lord and daily feeding upon Him and His Word. It is the only thing that can sustain us in our daily life for Him, and keep our souls refreshed. In the hurry and flurry of our daily lives, we must always be on our guard lest we lose contact with Him. It is so easy to let the busy activities of the day crowd out our communion with Him.
One writer warns that this height of enjoyment does not last: "this state of high spiritual enjoyment is only occasional. As a rule, we do not reach it in a moment. We cannot turn all at once from enjoying earthly things to enjoying heavenly things like this." (Andrew Miller)
Messiah and His people
These are the bride's words. One writer names the two lovers of the song, and says her past makes the reunion sweeter:
William KellyClearly the Song of Songs reveals the mutual affection between the Messiah and the Israel of God as no other book does. And this will taste sweeter to the people of God when the Holy Spirit brings them to judge their once wandering affections... But her restoration to the Messiah will be all the deeper when she discovers His faithful love, despite her shameless unfaithfulness to such a lover.
Summary
- Love feasts. She is at His table, under His banner, eating fruit from the apple tree — and that tree is Christ Himself.
- Love overwhelms. "Sick with love" is not distaste but overflow; the clay vessel cannot hold what He pours in.
- Love cries. She asks for more of what floored her. Feeding on Christ satisfies, and still sharpens the appetite.
- Love answers. He answers her call for sustaining power — the banner of love above her, the arms of love around her.
- Love keeps. Daily fellowship is the one thing that sustains. Let the day's rush crowd it out, and nothing makes up for it.