For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, as with studies elsewhere, each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read on the main Bible page.

The main male and female speakers (identified primarily on the basis of the gender of the relevant Hebrew forms) are indicated by the captions He and She respectively. The words of others are marked Friends. In some instances the divisions and their captions are debatable.[NIV text]

Passage:  8:1-4

1 If only you were to me like a brother,
    who was nursed at my mother’s breasts!
Then, if I found you outside,
    I would kiss you,
    and no one would despise me.
2 I would lead you
    and bring you to my mother’s house—
    she who has taught me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
    the nectar of my pomegranates.
3 His left arm is under my head
    and his right arm embraces me.
4 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you:
    Do not arouse or awaken love
    until it so desires.

A. Find Out

• 1. Who does she wish her lover was like? v.1a,b
• 2. Why? v.1c,d
• 3. Where would she take him? v.2a
• 4. And what would she do? v.2b
• 5. What does she imagine him doing? v.3
• 6. What does she exhort the others not to do? v.4

B. Think:

• 1. What does she reveal about what others think of her here?
• 2. What is her imagined answer to this?
• 3. How do people “despise” us showing affection for Jesus?

C. Comment:

At this point the girl is aware of what others think of her. In Jewish society there were strong rules of propriety and open public physical expression of love by those who were not married would have been frowned upon.  Yet for her now, so in love is she with this man, that it seems natural for her to want to express her love with a kiss. If she had been his brother, she mused, it would be all right. When she met him she could kiss him as sister to brother without comment. She could take him home without comment and give him food and drink, and there he could hold her and embrace her and kiss her without restraint.

What is the spiritual lesson here?  Surely it must be about being free to express our love for Jesus. English people are known for their restraint but that is not a common feature around the world. So often we are more concerned about what other people might think about us and that restrains our expression of love.  So many churches have a form of worship that is almost expressionless, emotionless and cold. That is not expressing love for Jesus. Love is expressed in word and in action and in feelings. perhaps we need to ask the Lord to release our feelings and then our inhibitions.

D. Prayer Suggestion:

Oh Lord, I love you. Please help me be freer in expressing that love. Release my emotions, release my feel, my hands, my mouth.

Passage:  8:5-7

Friends

5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness
    leaning on her beloved?

She

Under the apple tree I roused you;
    there your mother conceived you,
    there she who was in labor gave you birth.
6 Place me like a seal over your heart,
    like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
    its jealousy[q] unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
    like a mighty flame.
7 Many waters cannot quench love;
    rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
    all the wealth of one’s house for love,
    it would be utterly scorned.

A. Find Out

• 1. What do the friends now see her doing? v.5a
• 2. What had happened under the apple tree? v.5b,c
• 3. What does she ask of him? v.6a
• 4. What does she say about love? v.6b,c,7

B. Think:

• 1. What is being conveyed in v.5a?
• 2. How is there almost a sense of tradition in v.5b,c?
• 3. What characteristics of love are given in what follows?

C. Comment:

They say TV is made up of lots of sound bites, quick glimpses, few-seconds of a shot then move on. That’s what we have here. The “friends” or chorus give us a quick shot of the couple coming from the desert back to civilisation.  She leans on him and he leads her back. Spiritually at least, here is a potent picture. Jesus brings us back from the dry places as we lean upon him. Meditate on that picture.

Back in familiar places there is an apple tree in the garden, where their love had come to fullness, as had that of his mother before him. There is a sense of history or ongoingness about this. Places often create a repeat of history. Watch for this as you travel around.

Then she asks to be placed like a seal over his heart or on his arm. In those times the picture of a loved one might be engraved on a jewel that as either hung over the heart or strapped on the arm, rather like a woman today might wear a pendant with a photo in it. It says, keep me close by you, remember me in some way when I’m not with you, don’t forget me.

Then comes a torrent of descriptions about love. First, it’s strong and sure; second, is righteously jealous; third, it blazes like a fire that cannot be put out; fourth, it is beyond all value, nothing compares with it.  How amazing is this thing love that we take so much for granted, that has become devalued in our society.

D. Prayer Suggestion:

Oh Lord, forgive us that we have so devalued love and simply equate it with sex. Thank you that it is so much more!

Passage:  8:8-10

Friends

8 We have a little sister,
    and her breasts are not yet grown.
What shall we do for our sister
    on the day she is spoken for?
9 If she is a wall,
    we will build towers of silver on her.
If she is a door,
    we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

She

10 I am a wall,
    and my breasts are like towers.
Thus I have become in his eyes
    like one bringing contentment.

A. Find Out

• 1. How is the younger sister described? v.8a
• 2. What is the question that arises? v.8b
• 3. What will they do if she is like what? v.9a,b
• 4. Alternatively what will they do if she is what? v.9c,d
• 5. How does the girl describe herself? v.10a
• 6. What effect does she have on her lover? v.10b

B. Think:

• 1. What, in terms of size is the difference between a wall and a door?
• 2. What might this suggest about what they say of the sister?
• 3. How might that affect what they suggest for her?

C. Comment:

Commentators struggle over this book and particularly over these verses. What we suggest therefore is only tentative. It seems it is the friends or “chorus” that now draw attention to a younger girl. The emphasis so far has been on the beauty and attributes of the woman who is the lover of the man and so they raise the question, almost to contrast the wonder of her beauty, what hope is there for a younger immature, not yet fully formed woman. How could we prepare her for the day when she is spoken for in marriage?

This is when they then start using obscure picture language. If this song was a stage production we might imagine that the set at this point is outside the walls of the city or the walls of a palace or great house. The walls would stretch up tall and set into the wall would be a small door (small by comparison at least). That would suggest they are saying, if she develops tall and willowy (v.9a) or if she is short and stocky (v.9c) they we will do different things for her. “Towers of silver” indicate her being adorned with beautiful jewellery while “panels of cedar” indicate general clothing that would enhance her otherwise rather ordinary figure. The woman in the song acknowledges she is tall and well-endowed and as such brings much blessing to her lover.

D. Prayer Suggestion:

Lord, thank you that we are each different and beautiful in your sight. Adorn me with your grace I pray.

Passage:  8:11-14

11 Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon;
    he let out his vineyard to tenants.
Each was to bring for its fruit
    a thousand shekels of silver.
12 But my own vineyard is mine to give;
    the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,
    and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.

He

13 You who dwell in the gardens
    with friends in attendance,
    let me hear your voice!

She

14 Come away, my beloved,
    and be like a gazelle
or like a young stag
    on the spice-laden mountains.

A. Find Out

• 1. What did Solomon have? v.11a
• 2. What did he do with it? v.11b,c
• 3. But what was she able to say? v.12a
• 4. And what did she want to do? v.12b,c
• 5. What are his final words? v.13
• 6. What are her final words? v.14

B. Think:

• 1. What point is she making in verses 11 & 12?
• 2. What do his final words convey?
• 3. What do her final words convey?

C. Comment:

She gives us an encapsulated picture to convey an important truth. She tells us that Solomon had a vineyard that he let out to tenants and they had to pay him rent.  He was the owner and they had this duty to pay him.  By contrast she has her own vineyard, it belongs to her, for her to do with as she will. She is under no obligation to do anything with it, but she chooses to give the fruit of it, the money earned from it to Solomon. Some money she will give to those who tend the fruit for her; that is their due payment, but the rest she earns from her vineyard she will give to him.

It is as if she says, what is mine is yours, I hold nothing back. The truth here is that in their relationship although she is independent she chooses to make all that she has accessible to him, her lover.  It is a powerful challenge, that in such committed relationships, is  there nothing between us as husband and wife, or saved and Saviour. As a spouse do we keep things separate from our partner? As a Christian do we hold back things from Jesus? it should not be so.

As the poem ends they each make a last cry. For him it is “Although you have a life to live with others around you, make sure we still communicate”. Don’t let’s loose that. For her it is, “Don’t get caught up in your duties, come away with me, stay youthful”

D. Prayer Suggestion:

Lord, all I have is yours. Bless it and use it as you will. Lord, keep me close to you. Deepen our relationship together.