WWUTT 1789 You Are Altogether Beautiful (Song of Songs 4:1-16)

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The Lord sees us as lovely, not because of anything that we have done, but because He has clothed us in His righteousness, as He has forgiven us.

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So we must show this grace to one another, when we understand the text. This is

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When We Understand The Text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and a

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Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's Pastor Gabe. Thank you,

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Becky, and greetings, everyone. In our study of the Song of Songs, we are up to Chapter 4.

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If you want to open a Bible and join with me there, a reminder that we are in the wedding party right now, or this is the wedding that's happening.

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This started midway through Chapter 3, verses 6 through 11, with the woman describing the groom coming to her, and she saw him as being as majestic as Solomon himself.

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Now we're going to hear from the man. In Chapter 4, verses 1 through 15, and that's what I'm going to read, starting off here.

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Now I want to remind you, before I get to this, that the words that we're going to hear are symbolic of something.

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These are not pictures, like the man is not painting a picture for us as to what his bride looks like, because otherwise that's going to be a really funny image.

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Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes. Your lips are like a scarlet thread.

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Your neck is like the Tower of David. Not terribly complimentary if he's talking about her appearance, but each one of these things is rather symbolic of something.

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It means something. So we'll go back through this and understand each one of these symbols, but let me begin by reading our text.

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This is the word of the Lord from Song of Songs, Chapter 4, verses 1 through 15.

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Behold, you are beautiful, my darling. Behold, you are beautiful.

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Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats that have leapt down from Mount Gilead.

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Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes which have come up from their washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost her young.

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Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate behind your veil.

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Your neck is like the Tower of David, built with rows of stones on which are hung one thousand shields, all the small shields of the mighty men.

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Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies.

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Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go my way to the mountain of Myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.

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You are altogether beautiful, my darling, and there is no blemish in you. Come with me from Lebanon, my bride.

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May you come with me from Lebanon, journey down from the top of Ammanah, from the top of Sinir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.

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You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride. You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes, with a single strand of your necklace.

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How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride. How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils, than all kinds of spices.

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Your lips, my bride, drip honey from the comb. Honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

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A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a rock garden locked, a spring sealed up.

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Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with choice fruits, henna with nard plants, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices.

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You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water, and streams flowing from Lebanon.

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From here we have one more line from the woman at the end of chapter 4, verse 16.

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Then at the beginning of chapter 5, the man speaks again. At the conclusion of verse 1, there's another little thing there that's probably not the man speaking.

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If I have enough time, if we get to that, I'll say something about it. We'll see how far we get. Coming back to the start of chapter 4, the man says, behold, you are beautiful, my darling.

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Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves. We've heard exactly that line before.

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It was in chapter 1, verse 15. But remember the context there. The woman had been working outside.

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She did not think that she was beautiful. The man is saying, yes, you are. I want to see you. You're beautiful to me, my darling.

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Your eyes are like doves. What did the dove represent there? The dove represents gentleness, and to say your eyes are like doves is as though to say you are pleasing to my eyes.

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You're gentle to my eyes. You're easy on the eyes is the Western world way we might phrase that now.

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He says the same line again, start of chapter 4, but the context is different. Now she has beautified herself.

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She is in her wedding gown because he goes on to say your eyes are like doves behind your veil.

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So she is really beautified herself for this occasion. She is as lovely in appearance as she's ever been.

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And yet the man's description of her is the same beautiful, my darling, to demonstrate that his affection for her is not dependent upon how she looks.

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He certainly does think that she is beautiful to his eyes, but what makes her most lovely to him is what's inside her heart, her good works, her godly character.

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Those are the things that draw him to her the most. He thinks she's beautiful when she's been working all day.

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He thinks she's beautiful when she's dressed in her best. Your hair is like a flock of goats, he goes on to say that have leapt down from Mount Gilead.

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Now, remember, the symbols are not painting a picture for us here. They represent or they mean something there.

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There is meaning behind this. So what is your hair is like a flock of goats? Well, first of all, to mention that sheep were generally white and goats were generally black, especially those goats that would have been pastured on Mount Gilead.

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So there probably is something, some connection to her appearance here. She probably has black hair, hence why he would make the reference that your hair is like a flock of goats.

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But again, this isn't strictly saying something about her appearance. The goats that were herded on Mount Gilead were of a very silky black fur that would even shimmer in the sunlight.

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If you were to look at a flock of them from a distance, they would it would be kind of like they would glisten.

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And it was very captivating to the eyes. So he's saying that about her, that she's captivating to his eyes, but also the fact that the goats have leapt down from Mount Gilead means that they've been well taken care of.

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But the time of their grazing is over. It's now time for them to be shorn. So this is a reference to the fact that now she's coming to him and she will belong to him right here on their wedding day.

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Now, the next reference that we have are the next metaphor also goes along with shearing, but now they have been sheared.

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So this is verse two. Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes which have come up from their washing, all of which bear twins and not one of them has lost her young.

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Now, there is something a lot more visual here. He's just simply saying you have a lovely smile and you have all your teeth.

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That's really it. So the flock of newly born ewes, they have been washed, they bear twins.

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So you have a top row and a bottom row and not not one among them has lost her young.

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So they're all there. That's that's really the compliment he's saying about her smile. Verse three.

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Your lips are like a scarlet thread and your mouth is lovely. Your temples are like a slice of pomegranate behind your veil.

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Now, lips like a scarlet thread. That's probably self -explanatory, right? What color is scarlet? It's red.

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So your lips are red, but he's admiring that mouth and he wants that mouth.

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He wants to kiss her. He goes on to say your temples are like a slice of pomegranate behind your veil.

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Now, a pomegranate was not just a good succulent fruit. It was also an ornamental fruit.

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I don't know if you remember the description of Solomon's temple, but there were carvings of pomegranates inside the temple and up around the oh, what do you call the tops of the columns?

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I think it's just a capital. Isn't that what they call it? So up in the carvings along the capitals, there would be engravings of pomegranates.

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So this is an ornamental fruit. For that reason, he describes her temples as being like pomegranates, but not just pomegranates, like a slice of a pomegranate.

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You ever sliced open a pomegranate? It's full of color. There's all kinds of color on the inside.

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And so this is a reference to not just the fact that that there's probably, you know, like a blushing of the bride behind her veil.

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And that would be the reference to the temples. It's not really, you know, those that side of your head just behind your eyes.

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It's the it's the high cheeks. So she's blushing, but also that her beauty is on the inside.

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Hence the reference to a slice of a pomegranate. Your neck is like the

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Tower of David, built with rows of stones on which are hung one thousand shields, all the small shields of the mighty men.

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There's a lot of neat things going on with each one of these references. But ultimately, what he's saying about her is that she's perfect.

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He goes from examining her cheeks or her temples being like pomegranates. That kind of is descriptive of the entire beauty of her face and goes from there to her neck, which is symbolic of grace, like you would think of a ballerina as being graceful.

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And that's what he thinks of his bride, who's standing with perfect posture and a straight neck.

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So your neck is like the Tower of David, David being the greatest king, that tower being such a such an important landmark built with rows of stones, each stone perfectly placed, meticulously aligned.

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So, again, describing about how graceful she is on which are hung one thousand shields, the number thousand often used just to describe a very large number, all the small shields of the mighty men.

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So you're talking about the the greatest of the soldiers that are in Israel. All of that to say, you're perfect.

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You're just amazing. Consider in Ezekiel twenty seven, Ezekiel is mourning over the fall of Tyree.

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But first he describes how beautiful Tyree is or Tyre. You might describe it or might pronounce it

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Tyre. Anyway, in verse eleven, he says, the sons of Arvad and your military force were on your walls all around and the gameteam were in your towers.

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They hung their small shields on your walls all around. They perfected your beauty.

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So a wall standing by itself is is just a wall, you hang shields from it, and it's a demonstration of military might.

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It's beautiful to the one who loves the strength that would be depicted in that kind of might.

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And so this is the way that the man sees his woman. She's perfect.

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She's just put together beautifully. Well, she's very graceful, but he's very gentle with her, even though he describes her as her neck as being like a

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Tower of David with the shields of the mighty men hung upon its walls. Yet the next metaphor kind of depicts how tender he is with her.

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Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle which feed among the lilies.

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Now, again, this is their wedding day. This is not in the bedroom here. This is at the wedding.

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And he's examining his bride from the top down. We started with hair. We examined her smile, complimented the beauty of her face, her neck and now her breasts and describes them as like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.

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He described her as being like a gazelle earlier. Do you remember that? This was in chapter two, verse seven, where he said to to the woman's maidens, he says,

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I call you to solemnly swear, oh, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field that you do not arouse or awaken my love until she pleases.

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And once again, as I described it there, a hunter who's hunting for gazelles is not going to go running into the field screaming.

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They're all going to run away. He's going to come up very carefully, very slowly and tenderly.

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And that's why he describes her breasts that way, because he's being very tender with her just because she has this grace that he describes as being like an armed tower doesn't mean that he's going to treat her like one of the boys.

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No, this is this is a woman whose breasts are like two fawns. And I'm going to be delicate with her, which feed among the lilies.

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Remember what we said about lilies earlier? It's not the finest flower. It's actually the common flower. But this woman is is beyond the lilies.

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She's like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies. So she is much more than common to him.

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Verse six, until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.

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She does smell very lovely to him. And he knows that being with her and lying with her means that whatever fragrance she's been adorned with will also be on him.

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And so hence the hence saying that until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I'm going to go my way to the mountain of myrrh.

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Meaning that he's going to go away with her to their bed. The wedding portion is over, and now he's beckoning her to come with him.

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So verse seven, you are altogether beautiful, my darling, and there is no blemish in you.

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That's really the summary of everything we just heard described in verses one through six.

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There's no blemish in you. Come with me from Lebanon, my bride. May you come with me from Lebanon.

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Journey down from the top of Amana, from the top of Suneer and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.

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He's describing a perilous journey here, as though to say, do you know what we've had to go through to get to this place that we're in?

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We have been through we've gone from the highest of heights. We fought off wild beasts. We have resisted temptation.

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We have honored the Lord. And now we've come to this place with us together, and now it's time for us.

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And we do this in beauty and in innocence and purity and love. This man and this woman together, where the two will become one flesh.

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You have made my heartbeat faster, my sister, my bride. Now, that reference to sister in Hebrew, it's just to demonstrate the closeness that he has with her.

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She is, in fact, closer to him. Then a sister. But that reference to sister is is to say that we are family.

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You've made my heartbeat faster with a single glance of your eyes, with a single strand of your necklace.

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Remember, what does the neck represent? It's gracefulness. So with just a single bead from your necklace, with all the graces and perfections you are adorned with, my heart is enraptured.

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How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride? How much better is your love than wine and the fragrance of your oils than all kinds of spices?

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Wine represents abundance. And there is there is more of her. He feels like he has received more than even the the vats that are overflowing with new wine.

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The fragrance of your oils than all kinds of spices, her aroma is very pleasing to him.

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But also the beauty of her character is what that represents. Verse 11, your lips, my bride, drip honey from the comb.

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So this is not just describing her lips itself, although he definitely wants to kiss her. He wants to taste her.

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But it's the words that she says that are so lovely and pleasing to him.

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Your lips drip honey from the comb. So it's not just the lips themselves. It's what comes from the lips.

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Honey and milk are under your tongue. And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

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A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked, a spring sealed up.

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In other words, this woman has been kept pure. She has been kept for me. No one can unlock her, but I can.

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She will open her door to me. Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, henna with Nard plants.

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He's just continuing to compliment everything about her here. Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates.

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It's as though to say everything about you. It's just amazing the way you gesture, the way you move your laugh, everything.

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I'm following you. Where are we going? I'm going to go where you go. Verse 14, Nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices.

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And again, this is not saying here that she just smells really nice. What have we read about these fragrances as we've been in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs?

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The fragrances are representative of character. So just everything about her, her entire person to him is lovely and attractive and captivating.

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You are a garden spring. Verse 15. She's just going to continue to produce for him things that are refreshing and amazing.

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A well of fresh water and streams flowing from Lebanon. There's just no end to how amazing you are.

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Now, that's the end of the voice of the groom in verse 16.

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The bride says, awake, oh, north wind and come wind of the south.

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Make my garden breathe out fragrance. Let its spices flow forth.

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May my beloved come into his garden and eat its choice fruits.

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This is the woman saying it is time. And without telling him, like she's not saying to him, make love to me.

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But with this reference to, oh, north wind come wind of the south. It's as though I just want him to get it.

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I just want him to know that this is time for us, that he take me in my arms and that we consummate our union.

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And that's what happens here at the end of chapter four. It's actually not described for us.

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I know a lot of people think that about Song of Songs. Like this is very erotic poetry, right? We're supposed to be seeing the act of sex described in all of these terms that, you know, little kids wouldn't understand.

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But us adults would get it. No, we actually don't. It is so sacred and so blessed an experience, so private a thing between a man and a woman, between a husband and his wife, that it's not even described for us here in the poetry.

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We get all of the moments right up to the point and then that's it. And then we just know that two have become one flesh.

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This husband and his wife are now one. And then in chapter five, verse one, this is the man responding after they have made love.

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I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have picked my myrrh along with my balsam.

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I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk.

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Now, a lot of people will say, then these next two lines at the conclusion of verse five are still the groom speaking, eat friends, drink and imbibe deeply.

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Oh, lovers. But I don't think so. I don't think that that's the groom speaking there.

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Why would he say that? Why would he just, you know, say to the wedding party, hey, all y 'all enjoy this, too.

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And that that's silly. That doesn't even make any sense. So what is this? There's two possibilities.

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This line, eat friends, drink and imbibe deeply. Oh, lovers, this could be the voice of the wedding party once again, right?

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The the maidens who have helped the bride beautify herself and get ready for this day.

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So they're blessing them as they go off. But if the reference of the man is that we have now savored and enjoyed one another, if that's if that's what he's saying in chapter five, verse one, then it doesn't seem like the others would say to them, go and enjoy each other when they already have.

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Everything the man says is in past tense. I have come. I have picked. I have eaten. I have drunk.

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So here's my theory about these words. Eat friends, drink and imbibe deeply. Oh, lovers, here's my theory.

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This is just Gabe speaking here. I don't know that I could back this up with anything, but here's my theory. This is the blessing of God.

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Now, we don't know for sure that the voice comes from the others like we assume those things. There isn't it's not written like a play where it's like, okay, now the man speaks.

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Now it's the woman's turn. And now here are the others. It's not written in that way. We assume this is the voice of the groom.

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This is the voice of the bride. This is the voice of the bridal party or their company or their friends or whatever it is.

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We just assume that. So these words here are not the groom, the bride or the company.

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It's the blessing of God saying to this couple who has waited to consummate their love until their wedding day.

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This is God saying, eat friends, drink and imbibe deeply.

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Oh, lovers, giving his blessing to those who honor the

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Lord with their bodies who have even honored each other's bodies, keeping one another pure until the time was right, according to the standards that God has set, not according to our own desires, but in a desire to honor

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God. And so God's blessing upon this union is to eat and be filled with it imbibe deeply.

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Oh, lovers, let me do some practical application here as we finish up the lesson today.

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Coming back to chapter four, verse seven, the groom says to his bride, you are all together beautiful, my darling, and there is no blemish in you.

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When I have done premarital counseling, I have said to the groom, when your bride comes down the aisle to you dressed in white, she is pure and there is nothing in her past, no blemish that you are going to hold against her.

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You remember this picture on your wedding day because you need to exercise this throughout your marriage.

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If ever you wrong one another, you work it out, you forgive and you continue on. And there is no blemish between the two of you.

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This is the way our Lord deals with us. Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again for our justification.

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Whoever believes in him is washed clean of all our uncleanness is.

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And we are made righteous, clothed with his righteous garments. He sees us as pure.

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The father looks upon us with the same love and affection that he has for his own son.

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And as God has done this for us, so we must do this for one another. The Lord has forgiven us our sins.

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He counts our sins against us no more. So we need to with each other in our marriages, in church, in our other relationships.

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If one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you.

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So you must also forgive as Paul says in Colossians chapter three. And so may we exercise this grace of God with one another in Jesus name.

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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

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.com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

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and let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.