Solomon turns on his charm for the Shulamite, expressing his delights for her. He is still seeking to change her affection towards him. In Song 7:6 he told her, “How beautiful and how delightful you are, my love, with all your charms!” Again, we see him resorting to flattery, telling her how fascinated he is by her. He praises her stature saying that she is like a palm tree. This is a reference to her elegance. And her “breasts are like a cluster” of grapes, succulent, delicious and refreshing. Song 7:8-9 graphically describe his desire for her. He tells her that her breasts and her lips are so inviting and he feels strongly aroused. He is even prepared to go through great heights to obtain her affection and have intimacy with her. Like King Solomon enticing the Shulamite, the world with its appeal is also audaciously enticing us.
However, our hearts must be fixed on Jesus like the heart of the Shulamite that is fixed in love with her beloved shepherd. She only has one love and he is none other than her beloved shepherd. So, she interrupted Solomon’s flattery by telling him that her lips may taste like best wine, but they are only reserved for her beloved. That’s what she meant by saying that “It goes down smoothly for my beloved, flowing gently through the lips of those who fall asleep.” And like wine that induces sleep in those who partake of it, so also her lips like best wine will provide complete rest for her beloved.
So deeply in love with her beloved that she expresses her deep love for him and is confident that he loves her too. So, she exclaims saying, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.” She is outrightly rejecting the advances of Solomon and is certain that none could separate her from her beloved. Then in her fantasy, she invites her beloved to follow her in an excursion of the countryside. To her, the country greenery is anytime better than Tirzah or Jerusalem, the twin beauties of Israel. In the quietness of the country, she could then walk and walk with her beloved. She even imagines the time of harvest. The vines have budded and the pomegranates blossomed. She longs to give her love to the beloved as they take the excursion in the country. And there she will feed him with fruits both new and old that she has saved for him. She even wishes for a deep relationship like one has with a brother, so that she could have the freedom to express her love without feeling or being condemned. If he is her brother that she would be able to bring him into her mother’s house and treat him with pomegranate juice. Oh, how she longs for his embrace and said, “Let his left hand be under my head, and his right hand embrace me.” Once again, she adjures the daughters of Jerusalem not to interrupt her from loving her beloved. Her love for him is so strong and true that she does not want to be interrupted until she pleases.
We must fix our love on Jesus our beloved. When He is our sole love, we will offer only the very best to Him. We will then seek to spend time with Him to walk and talk in the garden with Him. When we truly love God there is no sacrifice too great that we will not offer to Him. And when we truly love Him, true devotion will undergird our decision in life and strengthen our submission to Him.
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