God’s Word for You
Song of Solomon 5:8 The daughters of Jerusalem
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, June 8, 2024
8 Daughters of Jerusalem,
Swear an oath to me,
if you find my beloved—
What will you tell him?—
that I am faint with love.
The daughters of Jerusalem are mentioned seven times in the Song, and in four of these, the bride is calling on them to take an oath. As we apply the “daughters of Jerusalem” into marriage and again into the spiritual message, which is the mystic union of Christ and his Church, the daughters of Jerusalem occupy nearly the same place. It is here that, in modern terms, the Venn diagram of the interpretations has an overlapping part: The daughters are the women (or members) of the church and also the friends of the wife in a marriage. They are the bride’s neighbors and friends, as well as her physical sisters. To them she shares her news, her joys, and so on, such as we see in Ruth 4:14-17 after the baby arrives.
Remember that the wife, for whatever reason, did not respond when her husband knocked on her door. She refused to get up out of bed and let him in. Now she has changed her mind. Having run out into the night, she was found and was beaten by the night watchmen, and now she calls out to her friends.
The call has three parts after the oath. First, the beginning of the request: “If you find my beloved.” In the poem, is she still being held by the watchmen? Is she crying out to her friends as they haul her away? No—she was already beaten and bruised by them; they have left her hurting and sobbing. So in the poem, she is simply too wounded to continue her search. As she stumbles, hobbles, or crawls back home, she asks her friends…
“What will you tell him?” the friends ask. This is a little question in the middle of her question, but the poet makes it clear that they are wondering what to say, and perhaps even she is not sure. This is because the final line is not completely certain. Either she means to say:
1, “I am faint with love” and therefore she thinks this will draw him back to her.
2, “I am faint with love?” (a question), and she doesn’t think he will believe her since the last time they spoke she was “faint with laziness” and if she really was so much in love then she wouldn’t have complained about having to grab a robe and get her feet dirty while she unlocked the door.
3, “I am faith with love” is her way of excusing her weakness, so that he will not fly into a rage over her blood and bruises on account of what the watchmen did to her.
This last possibility recalls Jesus’ first words from the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). The first suggestion lines up best with the ways of human marriage, when one spouse apologizes to the other and by way of apology also suggests that intimacy would be a good way to reaffirm their love and affection. As I have said before: The marital side of being “faint with love” is the humility and gratefulness any spouse feels when confronted with the shortcomings of other marriages, and being delighted with joys of one’s own marriage. “He knows me, and he still loves me!” “She knows me, and she forgives my faults!” “We are devoted to each other.”
We return now to the purpose of the daughters of Jerusalem. Both in marriage and in the church they are our friends and companions. They rejoice with our happiness: “We rejoice and we are happy for you! We praise your love more than we praise wine” (Song 1:4). Such is the true obedience to the Sixth Commandment when it comes to the marriages of others: We support their marriage and even praise it; we remind them that their marriage conforms to the will of God and that he loves their love and their union.
Our friends also correct us when we stumble into sin and error. If we have poor (that is, bad or unhelpful) friends, they are no help at all, such as Haman’s friends who told him to build the gallows he himself would later be killed upon (Esther 5:14). But if they are good friends, advisors who have our best interests at heart, then we can help and encourage one another: “This is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!” (Philippians 4:1). A true friend will point out our mistakes with love: “Rebuke a person with understanding, and he will gain knowledge” (Proverbs 19:25). God’s goal is always what is best for us. He says through his prophet: “Surely you will fear me and accept correction” (Zephaniah 3:7). What God has taught through his word and through his miraculous works, we repeat to one another and remind one another. We teach, rebuke, correct, and train one another so that we will be sound in our faith (Titus 1:13). In the Christian life, “the fear of God brings with it faith and humility of heart, so that we have reverence for the majesty of the Lord. ‘Correction’ always involves external behavior, that we behave among ourselves honorably without offending our brothers, that we live temperately, that we serve one another in love” (Luther, Lectures on Zephaniah).
When God gives us friends and especially parents and a Christian spouse who are not afraid to give us teaching and correcting in our lives, we are truly blessed. May we always look to Jesus for forgiveness and everlasting life, and may we always help one another in this lifetime as we are led to our heavenly home.
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.