The Heart of God

While reading through the Scriptures in the Song of Solomon, it occurred to me that the center, the heart, if you will, of the Bible, is not in the Psalms, it’s the Song of Songs. First, the general understanding of this little book is that it’s about love and marriage, but the New Testament is clear that marriage is but a model for the relationship between God and His people. There is a lot of poetic language, here, which seems to be used in a dualistic fashion, letting us know that something of deeper meaning and significance is just waiting for us to dig in.

Enigmatic wordplays show the relationship of the Great King with His Bride, who are His people. The first example, that I’d like to expand on, is where the young woman of the relationship seeks to extract a promise from the women of Jerusalem “by the gazelles and wild does of the field” to not “stir up love until the appropriate time.” Gazelles is “Tseva’oth” the same as “hosts” in Lord of hosts, and wild does is “ayloth hasedah”, which is very similar to “El Shaddai.” Who is she really referring to, here? Another more striking example, of this dualism, is where the young man says that his darling is as “awe inspiring” as “an army with banners”, also translatable as “bannered hosts”. These same bannered hosts are used in 6:10, and developed even more, by saying she “shines like the dawn” is as “ beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun” and, again “as the bannered hosts of heaven.” (He is telling her He sees stars in her eyes!) This story of love is in the middle of His book.

The sun, moon, and stars, is a theme retrieved from Genesis (the beginning), from Joseph’s dream, and Joseph’s father, Jacob (now known as Israel) is very clear that the heavenly bodies, in the dream, refer to him, his wife, and his other sons. Clearly, the nation, which is Israel, is the people of the Great King! He is known, as a husband is to his wife, by those who know His Name (Psalm 91), are called by Him, and are called by His Name!

The last book to invoke the image of the woman, who is “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars”, is Revelation, which is the Revelation of JESUS CHRIST! (The end). This same woman, of the great sign in heaven, gives birth to a son which is whisked up to heaven! The son is to rule the earth with an iron scepter.

But wait! There’s more! The otherworldly language continues, and gets deeper!

In this romantic story, which is the Song, the young woman and lover of the King, is a separate character from the “young women of Jerusalem” and even the “guards who go about the city”. They call her the “Shulammite.” She is of “indiscriminate “ heritage, and dark skinned, not of Israeli blood. Thus the comment to the women of Jerusalem, “Why are you looking at the Shulamitte, as you look at the dance of the two camps?” The two camps is “Mahanaim” and is where Jacob and Esau’s reconciliation took place, but in this story, the reconciliation comes after one important event, that being her being whisked away, first, in the chariot of her prince, and among “the chariots of my noble people.”

She speaks of her King like this, “I belong to my love, and His desire is for me.” (7:10) This same phrasing is used in Psalm 45, of the great King, who is also God, as advice to the bride. Along with her, there are the presence of the “honored women”, king’s daughters and concubines, in both passages. She says, of Him, to the daughters of Jerusalem, “The Voice of my Beloved! He is coming! He calls me to come away!” (2:7-10)

These phrases and linguistic dances, speak of a wedding and a prior “theft” of the bride, where the promised bridegroom steals his bride away to her new home, only to re-emerge later, to the “dance and music” of the two parties of the wedding celebration! The Song of Songs is about the Rapture and the grand reconciliation of the two peoples of the King! To “not stir up love until the appropriate time” means not to bring The Great King back until the appointed time! The Great King has appointed times for His appearances with His people.