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Reading Song of Songs 6:11-7:9 where the wife goes to her husband, who so affectionately welcomes and desires her, and describes her from the feet to her head. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
In the Song of Songs, the husband sees his wife as pure and holds no wrongs against her. And so it is with Christ and his church. He has purified us and holds no wrongs against us when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.
Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the Song of Songs, still in Chapter 6. Last week we ended in kind of an awkward spot, but this closing section of Chapter 6 really goes better with Chapter 7.
So I'm going to start with reading the response from the bride in verses 11 and 12, and then the response of the company of others, or her maidens, and then what the husband says midway through verse 13, and that closes out Chapter 6.
Then we'll pick up from there in a moment with the rest of what the husband has to say. But let's begin with this part of the text so far. So the woman says, beginning in verse 11, I went down to the garden of nut trees to see the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the vine had flourished or the pomegranates had bloomed.
I did not know it, but my soul set me among the chariots of my noble people. And then her maidens reply, Come back, come back, O Shulamite, come back, come back, that we may behold you. And then the husband responds, Why should you behold the Shulamite, as at the dance of the two companies?
And that's where Chapter 6 concludes. So to give you some context, so we know what the woman is responding to here in Chapter 6, verse 11, remember that back in Chapter 5, she had a nightmare. Her husband came to her and desired her, but she did not respond to his advances.
And so he left the door and went away. And when she finally was aroused to respond to him, he wasn't there. So suddenly she's concerned that he's gone away to try to find satisfaction somewhere else. She puts on her shawl and goes into the city where she's abused by the watchman on the wall.
And this is symbolic of her conscience, making her feel guilty. The man doesn't have the kind of a character where he's going to go find satisfaction somewhere else. But she and her insecurity is afraid that's what's happened.
So she asks her friends to help her find him. And her friends say, Well, he's your husband. Why don't you tell him how you actually feel about him? Or they say this in a way as though to say, what does he look like that we may help you?
But it's it's their response to say he's your husband. You please him. And then she describes her husband with the affection that she gives there at the end of Chapter five. And then the others say, well, where is your beloved gone?
Where is he turned that we may seek him with you? And then she says that he's gone to work. So that's the kind of character he has. He did not find satisfaction in his wife, so he went to work instead.
A man of integrity that still provides for his family. So then the husband responds. And this is what we read last week. Chapter six, verses four through ten. And his response, much like what he said to his bride on their wedding day.
So even though she did not respond when he wanted her, he still says to her, you're still beautiful to me. You are as beautiful to me as you were on our wedding day. And so after his description of her, as he repeats his affection for her, what we have here that we just read in verses 11 and 12 is her response to that.
She says, I went down to the garden of nut trees to see the blossoms of the valley. Now, one of the challenging things about this particular section, just these few verses that close out chapter six, there are actually variations of this particular section.
The Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, has something written here in verse 11 that is not in the oldest Hebrew manuscripts. Any English translation of the Bible that you have has been translated from Hebrew, not the Greek Septuagint.
So it leads one to believe that whoever the translators were of the Septuagint may have relied upon a manuscript that we don't have record of. But there's a statement here in verse 11 in which she says that she gave her breast to her husband.
Now, we didn't read that there. So there was something in the Greek text, apparently, that we don't have in the oldest Hebrew. We're going to rely on the oldest Hebrew, though, because those would be the closest to the original manuscripts.
So this statement that we have in verse 11 is I went down to the garden of nut trees to see the blossoms of the valley to see whether the vine had flourished or the pomegranates had bloomed. Now, this is a very poetic way of her saying that I went to go give myself to my husband to see if he still had an interest in a desire of me.
It's just a poetic way of saying that, which therefore, when we see that variation that's in the Septuagint, I went and I gave my breast to him as though to say I gave my body to him. It's in keeping with what we're reading here in verse 11.
But like I said, a variation that we don't have record of in Hebrew. So where she says I went down to the garden of nut trees, why nut trees like we've not had nut trees mentioned anywhere else in Song of Songs?
Well, you think of a nut as being a hard shell. And then, of course, the soft edible portion is on the inside. So if this is indeed something poetic in which she's saying, I'm going to go give myself to my husband, then perhaps you can understand the metaphor.
And it's connected even with the fruit later on in the in the verse to see the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the vine had flourished or the pomegranates had bloomed. So, again, she's going to see if her husband still desires her.
Now, consider this next verse, verse 12. She says, I did not know it, but my soul set me among the chariots of my noble people. What she's saying here is I didn't realize it, but I really want him, too, and she wants him quickly.
Now, let's let's find one another and enjoy each other. Hence why she has found herself among the chariots of my noble people. She's going to him quickly. So the others call out and reply in verse 13.
Come back, come back, O Shulamite, come back, come back that we may behold you. Now, there are still some scholars that will argue about the meaning of Shulamite. Some will say, well, it's more correctly understood as Shunamite or a woman of Shunam.
But there are others that would say, now, if that were the case, then she would have been called Shunamite and not Shulamite. So then there's confusion as to what Shulamite actually refers to. But we know that this is a woman who is a shepherdess.
She was a common woman. And this being a common man, because, of course, where have we seen him working? He works among the sheep and the goats. She idealizes him as Solomon. But this is not actually King Solomon.
If you have not heard the introduction yet to Song of Songs, I would encourage you to go back there and listen to that. So the company of her maidens, her friends, are saying, come back, come back that we may behold you.
Now, remember, the last time they spoke was at the beginning of chapter six. So we have their response bookends this chapter at the beginning and at the end. At the beginning, they say, we'll go help you find him.
And then in verse 13, when she's going to go find him herself, they say, come back that we may behold you. It's almost like the friends saying, no, let's do this together or or let's spend time together is really what they're asking.
It could be then that their objective is not really to go help her find her significant other, but to keep her from him, maybe not intentionally, but unintentionally, because we want to go out and have fun.
Let's go have fun together. Let's remember the days that we spent time together. But then the husband steps in and responds. End of chapter six. Why should you behold the Shulamite? Why should you behold the Shulamite?
She belongs to me. She doesn't belong to her friends or even to her family anymore. We have created a new family together. The two have become one flesh. So why should you behold the Shulamite as at the dance of the two companies?
Another way that's translated is as at the at the dance of the two armies. Two armies have come to a treaty with one another and then they celebrate their peace treaty. But in this case, the reference is actually to their wedding.
The two of them have come together. Even their families have been joined together through this particular union. So why do you get to behold her as the way that you did at our wedding? She's mine. I'm the one that gets to behold her.
So now the husband continues on in chapter seven, verses one through nine, describing his bride again. Now, I'm going to read all the way through the text, all the way through verse nine, and then we'll go back and consider what we've read.
So beginning in verse one, the husband says, how beautiful are your feet in sandals? Oh, noble's daughter, the curves of your thighs are like ornaments, the work of the hands of an artist. Your navel is like a round basin which never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is like a heap of wheat encircled with lilies. Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. Your neck is like a tower of ivory. Your eyes like the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bathrabeam.
Your nose is like the Tower of Lebanon, which faces toward Damascus. Your head crowns you like Carmel, and the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads. The king is captivated by your tresses.
How beautiful and how pleasant you are, my love, with all your pleasures. Your stature is like a palm tree and your breasts are like its clusters. I said I will climb the palm tree. I will seize its fruit stalks.
Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine and the fragrance of your breath like apples and your mouth like the best wine. Now, that's not all of verse nine, her response actually begins halfway through verse nine, if we got enough time, we'll get to that.
But let's consider what it is that we've read in what he says to his bride here. Is there anything in particular that you noticed about it? Previously, when the man has described his wife, we've had two other occasions where he's described her and he described her from her head to her feet from the top down.
This time he's starting with the feet. Chapter seven, verse one. How beautiful are your feet in sandals? Oh, Noble's daughter. So why the difference in direction? Why have we changed direction here? There could be a couple of reasons for this.
Number one, it could be because they're laying down. So starting with the feet could be symbolic of the fact that they are laying with one another. So the top of her is no longer the top of her head. It's the way that she is laying down, which would make sense, too, when you consider that he describes her nose is like a tower a little bit later on.
That might be an unusual compliment in our modern day Western world thinking. But if they're laying down and her nose is up, then that would make a little more sense. So that could be one reason. A second reason is this.
This time she has come to her husband. Every other time he came to her, but this time she's come to him. And so the first thing he compliments is the part of her that has carried her to him, that has brought her to him.
I was reading from one commentator about the Hebrew in this particular verse. What's not in view here is explicitly her feet, but her steps. So the way she walks. Remember how I said earlier, a lot of these descriptors are not necessarily or exclusively with regards to appearance, the way she describes him or the way he describes her.
But it could be something symbolic of their character. So when you think of her steps, how beautiful the way you walk in sandals. Oh, noble's daughter. So a person of high regard of important stature.
How beautiful the way you walk, the way you live your life. You are upright and good. Now, that's particularly relevant when you consider that this is coming off of a spell where she has felt very guilty because she did not respond to her husband when he desired her.
So this statement here, especially starting with her feet and working up, it's as though to say to her, I'm I'm not holding any ill will against you. I don't see any sin in you in the way that you have behaved.
I'm not holding this against you. How beautiful your feet. I'm glad you came. I am glad you're here. We are together. That's what I wanted in the first place, though it may not have happened as soon as I wanted it to.
Here we are. And the man has no bitterness toward her. Another reason why he may start with her feet, the curves of your thighs are like ornaments, the work of the hands of an artist. So, again, we're starting low and he's looking up her body and complimenting her as he goes.
Also, the fact that he starts low and works up there, there's almost a sense of bowing. So where she might think that she might have to humble herself before him, it's rather he whose head is low and compliments her from the feet up as though to humble himself before her.
Remember, previously he said to her, turn your eyes away from me. That was back in chapter six, verse five. Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overwhelmed me. He feels weak around her, like he's not even worthy, but she has chosen me and she desires me.
So there is a certain humility in that sense as well. As we start off chapter seven with him looking low and working up the curves of your thighs are like ornaments. That's that's a feature that is explicit to a woman, right?
Or exclusive to a woman, a man doesn't have good curves, but a woman's curves in her thighs, in her hips. If you remember back to when she felt like she was being beat up by her conscience, it was back in chapter five or seven.
The watchmen who go about in the city found me. They struck me and wounded me. The guardsmen of the walls took away my shawl from me. So the shawl was a sign of of something feminine. It covered her modesty.
Now, here where she's with her husband, she has disrobed and it's not immodest to give her body to him. And so talking about her hips and her thighs, something that is a feature on a woman and saying to her how beautiful she is.
So, again, she doesn't feel like she she's not being weighed down. Rather, she is not being plagued by this guilty conscience in the way that he is so wonderfully and thoughtfully complimenting her. The curves of your thighs like ornaments, which would be like jewels set in their setting.
So it's as though to say you are expertly put together. Hence the next line, the work of the hands of an artist. Praise God that he has made you so lovely. Verse two, the navel is like a round basin which never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is like a heap of wheat encircled with lilies. So we go from the curvature form of her thighs to where, you know, in the in the form of a woman and the figure of a woman, it curves in. And so now you have the description of her belly or of her navel.
Now, what is in view here is not the belly button, although that's what you think. Right. He's describing her belly button. How sweet. In what way does he describe it? What is it filled with? Your navel is like a round basin which never lacks mixed wine.
What does mixed wine signify? A fruitful and abundant harvest. So what is he really describing about her belly? That she can bear children. And that is something that he desires with her, that they can start a family together.
And that is one of the purposes of this union, that they could bear offspring. And so hence the descriptions there, your navel like a round basin which never lacks wine, your belly like a heap of wheat.
Again, an abundant harvest encircled with lilies. Now, if you had a heap of wheat that's encircled with lilies, what do you see around the wheat? You don't see the wheat. You see the lilies that encircle it.
So it's almost like he's describing her with a gown on. So these things belong to me, the navel and the belly. That's like a heap of wheat, but they're modestly covered. No one gets the privilege of enjoying these things but me.
And this goes back to remember the description of where she said that she was meeting her love in the garden of nut trees, in the place where the pomegranates had blossomed. So you have that shell on the outside, but on the inside is where you enjoy the succulent fruit.
And so these two people are covered among others. But with each other, they get to enjoy one another. So going on into verse three, he says, your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. This is a description he's used two other times before, and it's the same application here.
Just as you don't run into a field shouting at fawns, they'll go running away. But rather, you approach them gently. And so that's the way that he treats his bride. He approaches her gently and delicately as she is the weaker vessel.
Verse four, your neck is like a tower of ivory. He's described her neck before, but it is the symbol of her grace, not just the way that she moves, but even the graciousness of her character. Your eyes are like the pools of Heshbon, which were very a very nourishing place to go and bathe.
And next, he says, your nose is like the Tower of Lebanon, which faces toward Damascus. Now, this is somewhat like the reference to her cheeks. Being as pomegranates earlier, the reference to the cheeks was just talking about the whole face.
And so her nose being the same as it's the center of her face, he's talking about her face. And notice that that comes right after he talked about her eyes. Your eyes are like pools, your nose like the Tower of Lebanon.
Well, what's the purpose of the tower? It's to be a watchtower, right? So he goes from the eyes to the nose and it's as though to say that you are watchful and wise, that you are discerning. He's complimenting something about her character.
And when you think back even to her neck being like a tower of ivory, well, what color is ivory? It's white, which is always a color of purity. So he's talking about how pure she is in her judgments, especially when you consider your noses like the Tower of Lebanon, which faces toward Damascus.
You're fixed in a particular direction. And that speaks well of her moral compass. So, again, that she doesn't feel guilty because of the rejection that she had given to him earlier. He is not questioning anything about her judgment.
He is not holding anything against her at all. He desires this woman. He recognizes that she desires him. So let us spend time with one another in that we're not going to be dwelling upon who hurt whom and whatever else.
Let's just enjoy one another. And he sees her as pure, holding nothing against her and even complimenting that her judgments are wise and good. Verse five, your head crowns you like Carmel or Carmel, whichever way that you want to mention that, want to pronounce that.
And the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads. The king is captivated by your tresses. Here we've gotten to the top of her head now as he's examining her from the bottom up and he loves everything about her.
Your head is is even like a crown. She described his head as having a crown as though he were someone royal. And so he says the same about her also. Remember, the last time that he described her, he said that she was the envy of queens.
Now, I think that there's a particular application to that. A Christ application, which I'll get to in just a moment. But let me finish up his description of her. So he says in verse six, how beautiful and how pleasant you are, my love with all your pleasures.
Now, of course, a lot of these things that he describes of her are symbolic of different things, not just visual, but even something about her character. But men are still very visual creatures. And so he certainly loves her appearance.
He loves her femininity. And so how pleasant she is to him. And he loves everything about her, not just her character, but even her body. And there is nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with a husband desiring his wife's body, nor a wife desiring her husband's body.
This is where you enjoy that. This is where you get to enjoy. That is together in marriage and do so safely and with modesty, without any guilt or hindrance that would prevent the two of you from pleasuring in one another.
Verse seven, your stature is like a palm tree and your breasts are like it's clusters. We do get sexual here in how he says that he desires her body. So going on in verse eight, I said I will climb the palm tree.
I will seize its fruit stalks. Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine and the fragrance of your breath like apples and your mouth like the best wine. So as they enjoy and pleasure in one another, as she sighs in the midst of that pleasure, he can hear from her that she is satisfied.
So it's not just about his pleasure. It's about their pleasure together. So I read to you again, Proverbs five verses 18 and 19, let your fountain be blessed and be glad in the wife of your youth as a loving hind and a graceful doe.
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times. Be intoxicated always with her love. And the last statement here, the last sentence is verse nine. Your mouth is like the best wine. So God has blessed me with an overabundance of goodness in this wife that he has given to me.
That is what's being expressed here by the husband. Now, as I said before, there is an immediate application with this as it regards to a husband and a wife. I think that I've made that application. Let's make a Christ application.
Let me go back to the part where he says your head crowns you like Carmel and the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads. The king is captivated by your tresses. Now, remember, as he has said of her, that she's the envy even of queens.
How is the church described in first Peter chapter two? But we are a royal priesthood and a holy nation. So we are kings and queens in the kingdom of God. We have been crowned with honor and glory as well, not because there's something inherently worthy about us, but because we are sons and daughters of God.
We are sons and daughters of the king. And so we likewise have have gained entrance into this kingdom and become fellow heirs with him of all that the son of God gets. So we receive as well as fellow heirs with him.
And we've been called priests unto the king and even kings and queens ourselves. And it is not because we were born this way. It's because we're born again this way, born again into the kingdom of God.
So we might become the envy even of the rulers of this world. They only get the small little territory that they get to claim for the small time that they rule. But we who are with Christ will get to reign forever.
So turn from your sin to the Lord Jesus Christ, he who clothes us with his righteousness and sees us as lovely and as beautiful as this husband sees his bride. How are we as the church to be fruitful and multiply?
But we are to go out with the gospel of Christ to the world so that they, too, may hear the goodness of God that has been demonstrated in his son, whom he gave to be an atoning sacrifice by his death on the cross.
And through his resurrection from the grave, we have been justified that we might also be raised with him and reign with him forever in his eternal kingdom. He has made us lovely. So, my friends, as part of his church that is being sanctified by the washing of water with the word that's in Ephesians chapter five, may we not hold wrongs against one another, but we desire to build each other up as we walk this path of holiness until the day of Christ's return.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the good things that we have read here. May we understand the application as it pertains to marriage between a husband and a wife. But we also understand the application as it pertains between Christ and his church, how we serve you, how you see us, and how we are also to go out into the world with the message of the gospel.
We might glean such truths even from the book of the Song of Songs. May we desire to glorify our God and enjoy you forever, finding our satisfaction in Christ. It is in his precious name that we pray.
Amen.
This has been When We Understand the Text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.
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