| INTO THE WILDERNESS |
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| 6 Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant? |
| Song 3:6 Who is this who comes up from the wilderness – the Woman, the saints, find Christ in the wilderness. The Woman is nourished for time, times, and a half a time, away from the presence of the Serpent (Rev 12:14). |
| 7 Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage! Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel. 8 They all handle the sword, and are expert in war. Every man has his sword on his thigh, because of fear in the night. |
| Song 3:7 Behold it is Solomon’s palanquin – here, the carriage, or palanquin of Solomon is described. When the Israelites went into the wilderness after escaping from Egypt, Christ was carried in the Ark of Covenant. Similar to a Palanquin, it was carried by way of two poles, one on each side. the mighty men of Israel – they must be mighty men to endure the persecution; “they overcame by the blood of the lamb, and the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Rev 12:11). Song 3:8 Because of fear in the night – John prophesied the persecution of the saints in this time period, in Rev 12:13. |
| 9 King Solomon made himself a carriage of the wood of Lebanon. 10 He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, the middle of it being paved with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem. 11 Go out, you daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother has crowned him, in the day of his weddings, in the day of the gladness of his heart. |
| Song 3:9 its midst being paved with love – the love of Christ continues in the wilderness; the love of Christ reaches not only to the true Bride, but to all who seek him, all the virgins. Song 3:11 In the Day of His Weddings – also translated as “the Day of His Espousal” – the Engagement or Wedding Day, was described in Song 2:4. |
| Chapter 4 Lover 1 Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is as a flock of goats, that descend from Mount Gilead. 2 Your teeth are like a newly shorn flock, which have come up from the washing, where every one of them has twins. None is bereaved among them. 3 Your lips are like scarlet thread. Your mouth is lovely. Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil. 4 Your neck is like David’s tower built for an armory, on which a thousand shields hang, all the shields of the mighty men. 5 Your two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies. 6 Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense. 7 You are all beautiful, my love. There is no spot in you. 8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards. 9 You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck. 10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, the fragrance of your perfumes than all kinds of spices! 11 Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon. 12 My sister, my bride, is a locked up garden; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain. 13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits, henna with spikenard plants, 14 spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices, 15 a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, flowing streams from Lebanon. |
| Song 4:12 A locked up garden, a fountain sealed – meaning the evidence of the holy spirit (the spirit of God) has been taken away, but the Spirit of Christ continues to work in the garden, to nourish the Woman, the Saints. |
| Beloved 16 Awake, north wind, and come, you south! Blow on my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and taste his precious fruits. |
| Song 4:16 Awake north wind – the Spirit of Christ continues to nurture the garden, “the North and South Wind.” The Hebrew word for “wind” and “spirit” are identical, RUAH. Blow on my garden – that it may produce the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). |
| Chapter 5 Lover 1 I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. |
| Song 5:1 I have drunk my wine with my milk – the end of this section. This is the historically recognized natural break that completes the five songs of the Song of Songs. A new section begins when the Bride is awakened. |
