God’s Word for You
Song of Solomon 5:1 Encouragement
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, May 25, 2024
The Husband Speaks
5:1 I have come into my garden, my sister, O bride.
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey.
I have drunk my wine and my milk.
We should perhaps ignore that there is a chapter division here. This passage follows the previous section without any break. In the verse before this, the wife invited her husband: “Let my lover come into his garden and taste its choice fruits” (4:16). Now he simply restates what she said. This concludes the central part of the Song; they have enjoyed one another’s love. It is not only their wedding night, it is every time that they enjoy one another’s love. It is the intimate part of their marriage.
In sixteen (Hebrew) words, the husband says “my” eight times. She is his, and he is hers. He describes what is hers that is also what is his, he is clearly describing their sexual intimacy. He uses simple and elegant words; nothing crude. There is nothing here to make anyone blush, nor anything that might appear in the language of the worldly, like so much filth for no reason at all. He repeats the words that have already described her body: garden, honeycomb. All of the other terms, myrrh, spice, honey, wine and milk, are euphemisms for their love and lovemaking.
It isn’t hard to apply this to the life of faith and the mystic union between Christ and the church, but we must remember the proper order of things, or we wil be led down a path of false theology. When the bride, the church, invites the groom to enjoy the garden, we see the prayers of believers asking God to bless their work; everything that they do in response to his love and forgiveness. But be careful to turn a deaf ear to the shouts we so often hear from false teachers, who call out, “Invite God into your heart!” This is a fine thing to say for someone who is already a Christian, but it isn’t a description of conversion; this isn’t how anyone comes to faith. Apart from faith, apart from Christ, we can do nothing (John 15:5). It is not the unbeliever that invites Christ in, but his Bride, the church. For where there is faith, there is the beginning of the fruit of faith, which includes obedience to his law, love of his gospel, and glory given to God with all of our thoughts, words, and actions.
The Friends Speak (?)
Eat, friends, and drink!
Be intoxicated with lovemaking!
Who is speaking? There is no bold or obvious indication in the text apart from the words themselves, and so we must consider carefully: Would the husband or wife invite others into their marriage by saying, “Eat, friends, and drink in love with us!” This is a conversation about love and the marriage bed, after all, and not simply a host and hostess being polite to visitors. No, this cannot be either the husband or wife speaking in the Song, but someone else speaking. In fact, it must be someone speaking only to the husband and wife. There are two or three possibilities. It might be God himself blessing their marriage. Certainly God consecrated marriage and his desire is that each man would have his own wife, and that each woman would have her own husband. It is also just possible that it might be the author of the Song, intruding into his own poem. But it is more likely that some friends of the couple are meant, especially when we apply this to marriage in general and to Christ and the church.
In marriage, these words are the way that friends and family encourage the couple, bless them, and pray for them. This happens especially on their wedding day and perhaps on their anniversary if they make the day known to others. My mother-in-law, who is now with the Lord in heaven, used to call my wife and me on our anniversary every year to wish us well and say a prayer for us. Hers was always a beautiful example of celebrating marriage and encouraging her children for her whole life.
When we apply this explanation of encouragement and joyfulness to Christ and the church, we think of those times when someone else does something well in the service of Christ. We celebrate our church volunteers, our teachers, and others in public. I try to remember to encourage parents and offer a prayer of thanks for their work giving glory to God when they bring their children to be baptized and also when their children are examined for confirmation, and other times. It is a good deed in itself to praise another Christian for their good deeds, done in love, happily serving our Savior. Remember John’s words to the church: “Dear friends, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you” (3 John 1:5). And again: “It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us” (2 John 1:4).
Pray for the marriages of the people you love. Encourage the Christians in your life as they live to serve Jesus. Take your example from them. And if God has made you an example for someone else, humbly accept that responsibility and do your best, being unafraid to admit your faults, and always trusting in Jesus for every good thing.
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.