Despite Solomon’s advance, the heart of the Shulamite maiden is firmly set on her beloved shepherd up north. So, in Song 4:16 she wishfully expresses her yearning for him. She says to herself, “Awake, O north wind, and come, wind of the south; make my garden breathe out fragrance, let its spices be wafted abroad. May my beloved come into his garden and eat its choice fruits!” Mistaking that expression as an invitation to him, Solomon boldly responds in Song 5:1. He is buoyed by just imagining having an intimacy with her. As he visualizes that moment of intimacy with her, he compares it to gathering spices in the garden and eating honey, wine, and milk. He is sure that having intimacy with her will be deeply satisfying. In joy, he then calls on those present at his celebration to share his joy.
Despite Solomon’s advances and verbal adulation, the Shulamite’s mind is set on her beloved. She turns her thought to her beloved and visualizes, imagines and recollects the time he came for her. She may be with Solomon in person, but her affection is for her beloved. Instead of concentrating on the love Solomon is offering to her, her thoughts wander and drifted to her beloved up north. Lost in her imagination, she pictures and envisions the voice of her beloved calling out to her. In Song 3:1-4, we saw how she did not respond immediately to her beloved beckoning and soon lost him for he had moved on. Fortunately, she woke up to her senses and went seeking for him frantically and eventually found him after much effort.
This time around, in verse 2, she recalls how the beloved came seeking her, drenched by the dew of the night. He is described as coming to her and knocking at her door in the early hours of the morning. She fondly recalls the endearing terms her beloved used to address her. Firstly, he calls her “my sister.” In this term, he is treating her as his equal. His desire for her is more than a sexual advance but a deep abiding relationship. In addressing her as my darling he wants her to know how dear she is to him and how deeply he feels for her. In referring to her as “my dove,” he sees her as simple, peaceful, pure, and lovely. And the term, “my perfect one,” he sees in her perfect devotion and uncompromising trust.
The beloved is like our Lord who comes seeking to have an intimate time with us and to bless us with His dew of the morning. Like the Shulamite maiden, we are capable of finding excuses to leave Him unattended at the door. In verse 3, her excuse is: “I have taken off my dress, how can I put it on again? I have washed my feet, how can I dirty them again?” She cites inconvenience as an excuse for not responding immediately to her beloved. Let us not find any reason to make our Lord wait for an intimate moment with us. We must learn to respond immediately to His beckoning.
Like the beloved of the Shulamite, our Lord also loves to spend time with us. But he will not forcefully push His way in. He would rather we respond to Him willingly. His hand may be on the doorknob of our heart, but we must be the one who will open up to Him from the inside. If we don’t do so, He will not insist. This is precisely what verse 4 describes for us. The beloved shepherd seeks to come in by putting “his hand by the hole of the door….”
But by the time the Shulamite’s heart is stirred to respond, it was already a tad too late. Her beloved has left. What remains is the lingering scent of his presence. Poetically, we see this narrated in verse 5. She says, “I arose to open to her love, and my hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.” Her beloved is no longer there. By the time she is stirred and moved to respond, all that remained is the lingering echoes of his voice. In desperation, she goes in search for him and couldn’t find him. She franticly calls out to him but he did not answer. Even though it was late at night, she went out searching for him. However, her search this time is not as fortunate as the precious time described in Song 3:3. This time the watchmen whom she came across did not deal with her as kindly. She was badly treated and wounded and to escape their harshness, she left her shawl behind.
This recollection was certainly painful for the Shulamite. She did not respond immediately to her lover. Regret for how she had left him in the cold, she tried to make amends but it was a tad too late. She did not get to see him again for now she is at the palace of Solomon far away from him whom her soul loves. She regrets not making the time to express her love for him. Her hope of reuniting with her shepherd is gone forever.
An opportunity lost is an opportunity gone. Every moment in life is a good time to connect with the Lord. The excuse people often make is that they have more important assignments in life to do for that moment. They reckon that they will have more time for the Lord when those assignments are done. If we will not pause to connect with the Lord, there is always a reason not to do so. What can be more important in life than to find time for the Lord. Remember, we are urged to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all else we need will be added to us. Heed the call of Psalm 95:7-8a, “For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts….”
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