2025-01-31A
A. THE LITTLE SISTER
THE GROOM AND BRIDE: 8:8 We have a little sister who has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister on this day when she is asked? 9 If she is a wall, we will build upon her a battlement of silver; and if she is a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.
Their conversation continues on the subject of love. They agree on its wonder, but how should its principle be applied? They try to find an answer by comparing the love affair between the heavenly Bridegroom and his Bride to the familiar phenomenon of a girl developing towards womanhood but not yet having come of age. She is already beautiful and eye-catching, but her body has not yet developed into that of a woman ready to be given away in marriage.
A rich man spots her and offers a bride price to her parents or guardian. He is a prominent and respected leader among his people. Although perhaps not handsome, he will offer the girl a safe and stable home in which to conceive and raise a family. Is it customary in their culture to consummate such marriages? Should they, as guardians, succumb and let her go, or refuse: that is the question?
“Absolutely not,” both answer! She should be allowed to reach puberty so that she can decide for herself who she wants to give her heart to.
What about a spiritual bride? We are all surrounded by rising children and young people, some of whom are our own. They are faced, not only with the choice of an earthly life partner but, even more, with the choice of an eternal Heartmate. There are many earthly agents of evil who make an offer for her soul, her heart. None of them is honorable or has her welfare in mind. This worries us who care. Let us consider what can be done.
If she were inanimate door opening in a wall, it would have been easy: just close it up by nailing it shut with a cedar plank that won’t rot. If she were an inanimate wall, build a formidable overhanging ledge around the top so no one can climb up and over it. Problem solved.
But now she is a human being with the God-given right to choose for herself between good and evil, between God and the enemy of God and man. All her human guardians can do, must do, is to set her on the path leading to the the right choice. From an early age they must train her to walk in the footsteps of the Good Shepherd even though she cannot yet percieve Him.
Train a child according to the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).
Let the guardian himself walk in the footsteps of the Shepherd, the tracks of righteousness. This applies to all guardians: Grandfathers, Grandmothers, Fathers, Mothers, Brothers, Sisters, Teachers, Employers and Friends; everyone has, somewhere, a “little sister” to whom he has an obligation. By walking in the visible footsteps of his teacher, following his example, his protégé (“little sister”) will automatically learn along which route the Shepherd’s path through life winds. The learner will thus come to know the landmarks of the heavenly path.
If I follow the wrong footsteps, I deceive my “little sister” like the father who had to learn that his son had located him in the pub by following his footsteps through the snow. Paul was not ashamed of the footsteps he had made throughout life, and invited others to walk in them:
Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ (1Cor 11:1).
Secondly, we can build a silver lining around our children’s lives by educating them in Scripture, helping them to store away texts, stories, and passages of the Word in their memories, and to walk in obedience to them.
The words of the LORD are pure words, silver tried in a crucible of earth, purified seven times (Ps 12:7).
Unwanted suitors will stay far away from walls of life that are wreathed with this silver and gold. The Scriptures are also the pre-saved person’s Guardian and God-given disciplinarian, bringing him to Christ.
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, kept in custody until the faith which should afterwards be revealed. The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith (Gal. 3:23,24).
Thirdly, we can protect the “younger sister,” especially if she is your own child, by “nailing the door of her life shut with a plank” for now. That sounds very harsh, even if it is an expensive cedar plank. Few children today will let their parents impose such restrictions on their lives. Moreover, they are encouraged by those who supposedly know better, to reject all authority and take control of their lives, to give in to their own desires, long before they have reached spiritual puberty.
However, the parent or guardian is not helpless because God has equipped them with powerful weapons to win their loved ones to Him.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
Firstly, there are the personally tested weapons of faith and prayer. Secondly, it is sometimes possible to temporarily protect the person with a “cedar board before his doorway” by involving him with you in wholesome hobbies, sports, or other entertainment. Some parents succeed in building a sweet bond with their children in this way, but – it takes sacrifice, the parent at times taking on the form of a servant.
And, never lose sight of the goal: it is not about the temporary measure, but to lead the person to become, in due time, by his own choice, a spiritual Bride of the Prince. This process may take a long time because some people become so entangled in the temptations of this world that they only reach spiritual puberty and are ready to take this glorious step at fifty or sixty, after much pain for themselves and for others. Sometimes this happens after the guardian himself has already gone to heaven.
B. THE BRIDE IS NOW AN ADULT, CALM AND HAS SURRENDERED HER AFFAIRS TO HER GROOM.
THE BRIDE: 8:10a I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.
The Bridegroom and Bride’s meaningful conversation, firstly about the nature of Love and, secondly, about how to help others enter into a loving relationship with the Son, is over for the time being and the Bride steps back and considers herself in the light of what has been said. She gratefully discovers that she has developed spiritually much since her sun-scorched days of sin. Her life has grown, brick by brick, into a formidable wall of faith.
… those who, because of use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Heb 5:14).
As a woman’s upper body develops to maturity, she is able to have fulfillment with her spouse and provide in the needs of the children she bears. Likewise, the spiritual Bride’s capacity to love God and humanity flourishes. She perseveres daily in sanctification by turning her back on all wordly temptations crossing het path. There are now no other lovers for her, except her Bridegroom.
THE BRIDE: 8:10b … : then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.
He reads her heart and knows that she has found peace, that the fierceness of the fight against evil has subsided.
THE BRIDE: 8:11 Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit. 12 My vineyard, mine, is here before me; the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon, and two hundred for those who keep its fruit.
Baal-Hamon is not mentioned anywhere else in the Word. Let us think of it as “the furthest corner of Solomon’s kingdom”. He also had a vineyard there. So also, the Heavenly Bridegroom owns heart gardens wherever there are people; throughout the whole earth.
The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein (Ps 24:1).
Let us first figure out the meaning of the 1000 shekels of silver. Abimelech paid Abraham 1000 shekels of silver (the full estimated value) as compensation for abusing his wife, Sarah (Gen 20:16). Samson killed 1000 Philistines (considered to be the full justified number) with a donkey’s jawbone in revenge for the harm and injustice they had done to his people, Israel (Judges 15:15,16). After the reign of terror of the anti-Christ, he will be punished for 1000 years (seen as fair punishment for the injustice and pain he inflicted on God’s people) while they will have peace and prosperity on earth for that period (Revelation 20:2 ff.). We can therefore see the number of 1000 shekels of silver in this text as fair compensation for the use of the garden.
Now we come to the message of the text under discussion. The Lord placed his first garden, Paradise, in the care of Adam and Eve to cultivate and guard. They were not obliged to give up any of the fruit to Him because everything that was His, was also theirs to enjoy. They had only to devote themselves to Him in obedience.
After their fall, however, they were banished from the garden to the world outside where they had to earn their bread in the sweat of their brow. Man would never be able to pay his spiritual debt from the produce of his hands. He would henceforth, forever, be a sojourner on God’s earth. He would never again possess an inch of it forever; only for as long as he lived.
The Bride, however, received her garden back for free, based on the price her Groom paid for it on Golgotha (She actually received a better garden, a heart garden from Him). She is not under obligation, like the labourers, to pay the 1000 shekels for it. Because of the bond of love between them, however, she dedicates the full yield (1000 shekels) to him just the same. Man labours all his life only for the temporary benefit of being able to use the earth, but at the end of his life he leaves everything behind and has no place to settle down afterwards, how tragic and senseless for those who do not obtain a heart garden in heaven.
And what about the 200 shekels? This is for the Bride’s earthly material needs. The infrastructure on earth must be maintained for the Bride’s sake, but will perish with the world at the end of time.
C. THE BRIDE PRAYS FOR OTHERS BUT ALSO PRAYS FOR HERSELF
THE BRIDE: 8:13 You who dwell in the gardens, friends, listen to your voice; let me hear it.
The Bride knows where the Groom is normally found: in the gardens of his Brides. They are the apple of his eye and the focus of his attention. For them He prays.
I have revealed Your name to the men whom You gave to Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things, whatever You have given Me, are from You. For I have given to them the Words which You gave Me, and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from You. And they have believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. (John 17;6-9).
She hears His prayer for those comprising His Bride but also sees the multitude of people out there who can be counted as friendly, because they have not yet explicitly chosen against Him. They listen to His voice and are considering His offer of forgiveness and rebirth. Therefore, she intercedes for them; she pleads with Him to make His voice heard by His Spirit because there are many such people out there who listen to His voice.
Then she finally prays for herself: Just don’t forget me: Oh, my Beloved, even if You are sometimes so far away that I cannot distinguish the words of Your mouth, at least let me hear the sound of Your voice.
D. THE GROOM’S FINAL WORDS TO HIS BELOVED
THE GROOM: 8:14 Flee, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of spices.
He speaks the last word. Until He comes to take her to be with Him forever in His heavenly home, she must do two things:
- Firstly, she must flee from the evil that will, until the last moment, try to rob her of her Brideship. She must stay away from the mountain of the lions.
- Secondly, she must remember that she is special, like the deer and the gazelle. They are larger and more powerful than all the other buck species and run with ease between the balm beds and up the mountain slope. Likewise she must use and enjoy her freedom in Christ every moment.
~~~~~~~~~~
AT THAT CLIMAX, THE SONG OF LOVE CLOSES.
We trust that you have enjoyed these study guides and have been able to put it to use in the development of your spiritual life. We will appreciate your comments in this regard. Your comments will not be published, nor will your email address be used for any purpose other than to acknowledge receipt of your letter and, if necessary, to respond.
~~~~~~~~~~