God’s Word for You
Song of Solomon 4:8-10 He loves our faith
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, May 4, 2024
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride.
Come down with me from Lebanon.
Descend from the peak of Amana,
from the peak of Senir and Hermon,
from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.
In David’s time, the people who were likely (in his mind) to be the next threat for Israel were the Assyrians, who would come down from the north. He was right. The mountains depicted here are the two ridges of peaks that run down the length of Lebanon to the northwest, the mountains in the far northeast that feed the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and the central peak in the north: Mount Hermon. “Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir” (Deuteronomy 3:9).
The reader does well to remember to apply the Song to the relationship between Christ and the church. This is what Paul does when he applies “You are beautiful” (Song 4:7) to the church in Ephesians 5:27, “that he might present the church to himself in glory, without spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, that she might be holy and blameless.” It is the church that is presented to Christ in glory, all beautiful, without any spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind. Christ had done this himself, for himself, to his own glory and through his own love and compassion.
Therefore, the invitation to “come with me” down from the dangerous mountain peaks of the north, where lions and leopards have their dens, is not difficult at all to understand. The historical David fought off lions with his sling and other weapons. “I went after it, struck it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its mane, struck it, and killed it” (1 Samuel 17:34-35). Our greater, spiritual David, who is Christ, faces spiritual enemies on our behalf, and rescues us with his own spiritual weapons: the law and the gospel.
As we apply these words simply to human marriage, the point is still clear, and no interpretive gymnastics are necessary: A married couple needs to get away together from time to time. They need time alone to simply be a married couple. We might say that they need to “work on their marriage,” but that implies things that are not in the text and might not be necessary in every marriage. Time alone together is simply a good thing. Let’s get away from the stresses of the world for a while.
9 You have made my heart beat fast, my sister, my bride;
you have made my heart beat fast with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.
10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much better is your love than wine,
and the scent of your perfume is better than any spice!
The bride is nicknamed “my sister” more than once in the Song. The Hebrew verb lavav is based on the noun lev, “heart.” One of the many facets of the versatile piel verb stem is sometimes to carry an ordinary noun into use as a verb. This is called a denominative, such as when clouds “cloud up” (Genesis 9:14), or a person dabbling in witchcraft “brings clouds” (becomes a fortune teller, Jeremiah 27:9). Here, sight of the bride makes the husband’s heart beat harder or faster, a common lyric in love songs and in love poetry. There is an unimportant question as to whether he means to say “with just one of your eyes,” or “with one glance / look of your eyes.” It is parallel with “one jewel of your necklace,” so whichever way we take the first line, the point is clear. His heart races when he sees her, any part of her.
References to love or kisses being “sweeter than wine” are not hard to find in music or poetry even today (Jimmie Rodgers; the Beatles). The verse stands on its own without needing any explanation for marital love. But consider what it says about Christ’s passion for his church, the love he has for the world (John 3:16). The love that Christ desires from us is faith. Faith is what makes our Savior’s heart go pitter-pat; our faith is beautiful to our Savior. Better than any earthly delicacy is the faith of the Christian. Better than any spice from field or forest is the perfume of the Christian’s heartfelt trust. “Jesus cried out, ‘When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me’” (John 12:44).
When we add verse 8 back into the mixture here with verse 9-10, we understand the proverb of Sirach: “I would rather dwell with a lion and a dragon than dwell with an adulterous wife. The wickedness of such a wife changes her appearance, and darkens her face like that of a bear” (Sirach 25:15-17). But “a good wife is the crown of her husband” (Proverbs 12:4). And Paul rightly asks: “What is the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?” (1 Thessalonians 2:19). The faith that God desires from us is faith in his gospel promises. Without the gospel, without God’s promise, there can’t really be any actual faith; there is only imagination or superstition. When we grasp Jesus’ promises and trust them: the forgiveness of our sins, the promise of the resurrection, and of life forever in heaven, as well as God’s compassion and care for us while we wait for these things here below, then we have faith indeed. We appropriate for ourselves all of the things God has promised. “Faith is that my whole heart takes to itself this treasure,” as our confession says. When we trust in Jesus for these things, it is impossible to look to anyone or anything else for them. “The righteous will live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). Christ loves our faith: Truly, it is sweeter than wine.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.