Song of Solomon
Chapter 2
In the last several verses of chapter two we will talk a lot
about the seasons of the year. These verses will mainly talk about winter and spring.
I’m sure each of us has heard at least one comparison between the changing of
seasons and the Christian life. Just like there are four seasons to the year,
there are four seasons to the Christian life.
Let’s take a minute and see these seasons, or the changes
this couple has gone through.
Summer
The summer is the hottest part of the year. This would be the
time when she first moved into the palace. In the Christian life this is the
time when we are first saved.
When she first gets to the palace they are talking about
flowers, or harvest season. No matter what time of year you are saved, that is
harvest time in your life. Your life is the harvest. Things are exciting. New
life, new love and new living have come your way. So it was with this couple.
Fall
After the summer comes the fall. After she talked about the
flowers, she began to talk about trees. The thing that make my part, east
Tennessee, of the country so beautiful in the fall are the trees. People will
travel from all around to see the leaves on the trees.
Fall is beautiful at first because things are bright and
colorful. The reason that the leaves change however is because they are dying.
After they turn orange and red, they turn brown and fall off.
This happens to all of us. There comes a time in our lives
when cold wind blows, we grow cold on God and we begin to dry up spiritually.
Maybe we become cold and critical of others. We dry up on the inside.
This happens in a marriage as well. We can lie and say that
we have been on a honeymoon for 50 years, but that simply is not true. Each of
us experience times when things are not as “warm” as they used to be. This
begins to happen in our happy couple in the scriptures.
Winter
Of course winter follows fall. Have you ever been to the
point in your life where everything just seems dead? You may not realize it but
you are in the winter season of your life. “This Sunday school is just so dead
lately.” “This church is just so dead.” Some of us even begin to wander if the
sun will ever shine in our lives again. We long for the warmth of the
relationship we once had.
I’m afraid that too many give up in those times. They abandon
God, the church and their bible.
In our society one in two marriages ends in divorce. In the
hard times of a marriage many are just simply giving up. They decide there is
no use to go on.
I want to encourage you. If you are in the winter part of
your life, just hold on, spring is coming. The flowers will bloom again in your
life if you will just hold on.
Obviously this woman is in the winter part of her life. Their
marriage is going through the winter. From these next verses it seems that she
has gone back down to the vineyard. I don’t know why. Maybe she went to check
on her family. Maybe she only meant to stay a few days. But hours have turned
to days and days turn into months.
This woman stays at the vineyard so long that she begins to
get used to being away from Solomon. She is sleeping in her old bed. In fact
that is where we find her in verse eight. She has learned that she can get
along without him, but we will see that he cannot get along with her.
When you read verse 8 this woman is lying in her bed when she
hears something that she has not heard in some time. She hears the voice of her
beloved. Notice what she says in this verse. “He cometh leaping
upon the mountains.”
Mountains divide people. These mountains are a wonderful picture
of the things that separate us. Maybe we are separated from God. Maybe we are
separated from our spouse.
Whatever it is that is separating her and her beloved must be
big in her eyes. She describes them as “mountains.”
I want you to notice that the things separating them are mountains in her eyes,
but they are not a problem for her beloved. He comes “leaping” on the mountains.
Each of us has been in this winter part of our life. We have
grown cold on God. We have grown cold in our marriage. In those times we look
and say, “There are just too many problems.” “There is just too much standing
between us.” Please keep in mind that the things that look like mountains to
you, God will come leaping on. Nothing
is too big for God!
Do you remember the story of the disciples on the water? The
wind and waves were over their head. They just knew they were going to be
consumed by this storm. Just when they think they are going down Jesus comes
walking on the water. The waves that were over their heads were under His feet.
In verse 9 Solomon has come to look for her. She has heard
his voice, now she sees him. She can’t see him good at first because he is
behind the wall, but he moves closer.
Then he presses his face up to the glass. He peeps at her
from behind the lattice. Here she is, away from her love, in the winter of her
life, but he does not forget about her. He comes looking for her. In fact he
was willing to come all the way back down to the vineyard to find her.
Sometimes God has to go a long way to find us. In fact there
have been times when he had to come all the way back to the place where he
first saved us. But he is willing to do that in order to bring us back home.
In verses 10 through 13 Solomon speaks to her. He tells her
to rise up. She has been in the vineyard for way to long. It was time to come
back home.
Notice that he does not fuss at her. He had every right to
point his finger and confront her. He could have said, “I have saved you. Taken
you away from this place and moved you into my palace. I loved you and this is
how you repay me.” Instead he says “Rise up, my love, my fair one,
and come away.”
I also want you to notice that while her feelings may have
changed, his feelings have not changed. He is still using the same words he
used in chapter one.
How about
you today? Today may be the last day of winter in your life. Today could be the
day that God allows the flowers to bloom in your life again. Maybe you are cold
spiritually. Maybe your marriage has grown cold. God could come leaping on the
mountains in your life today. Today could be the day he says:
“Rise
up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain
is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of
birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;”
Solomon warns in verse 15 about the small foxes. Although
their relationship is back together, they must set up safe guards so this does
not happen again. The foxes are the things that come into our lives and spoil
our relationships.
When a relationship is just becoming fruitful again we must
be careful. At this turning point it is easy for something to come along and
spoil all that has been accomplished. Notice that many times it is a small
thing that has to be guarded against. A fox is a small animal, but it will ruin
a vine.
In our relationship with God and in our marriage we have to
put up guards. Maybe today you restore your relationship with God. Maybe you
and your spouse restore your marriage. Be careful because a little thing will
want to creep in and destroy that new fruit.
The chapter ends with a wonderful statement and a terrible
mistake. She is now able to say something that she has not been able to say in
some time. “My beloved is mine, and I am his:” That is a
wonderful statement.
She also makes a terrible mistake. This mistake will take us
into chapter three. In my next blog I will explain the mistake and the result
of making the mistake.
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