Chapters 4&5

Act 3. In this chapter it is very difficult to extract a lot of wonderful Bible principles from what Solomon has to say, because Solomon is the villain of this piece and he is trying to win the Shulamite woman.

Verse 1 — “Behold, thou art fair.” The word ‘fair’ isn’t fair at all, it is ‘very beautiful.’

Points on a wolf

1. A wolf will always compliment. Some compliments are genuine, some are not. Watch our for the guy that over-compliments. There is also the guy that never compliments at all. Both of them are bad news. Over complimenting is dishonest; no complimenting is introversion, self-centredness.

2. He uses a possessive pronoun. Solomon calls the Shulamite woman “my love.” She isn’t his love at all. She belongs to the shepherd lover. Only the shepherd lover has a right to call her “my love.” A wolf is always possessive of what he doesn’t possess.

“behold thou art fair — he repeats it. He has to go over it again. Who is he convincing? The repetition means he is over complimenting. He is doing this because he takes the viewpoint of a wolf that a woman is going to go for a guy who makes the right noises, that tells her what she wants to hear. Just because someone tells you what you want to hear, don’t buy it.

“Thou hast doves eyes within thy locks” — he is saying in effect that her face has great symmetry. A wolf always knows how to compliment a woman so that she is vulnerable. The doves eyes is a part of that picture.

“thy hair is like a flock of goats, that appear from Mount Gilead” — goats often have dark hair, and on a mountainside when you see a flock there is a great beauty, a contrast in colour. In other words, she has beautiful colour in her hair. He is actually mentioning her colour when he talks about a flock of goats.

Verse 2 — in the ancient world dentistry was very poor. If a woman lost her teeth or one or two of them it was a very serious thing. They had a very crude type of dentistry, they had plugs. Sometimes they were wooden plugs. Notice the things that were complimented, the things that in the ancient world were meaningful. A woman who had all of her teeth was considered beautiful, and that is all he is saying. “Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep shorn, which came up from the washing.” In other words, these sheep are washed, they are clean, they are white.

“of which every one beareth twins, and none is barren among them.” She has all of her teeth and she has a perfect bite. So you can begin to see as far as we have gone that this woman is truly beautiful.

Verse 3 — “Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet.” The principle here is the natural colour, not the shape of the lips; “and thy speech is comely” — she is not just a doll, she actually talks. And when you can talk to Solomon and carry on a conversation at his level that means she is smart. Here is a woman with whom he can carry on a conversation.

“thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate within thy locks” — pomegranates have a very beautiful symmetry when you open them. It has very beautiful contrasts between the white and the red. Again, this is colouring and bone structure.

Verse 4 — “Your neck is like the tower of David builded” — she has a beautiful neck, she has symmetry in her neck. That is what is described here. A beautiful neck means a beautiful body — “for an armory, on which there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.” In other words, the tower of David had beautiful symmetry, it also had the shields around it. Anything she wears around her neck is beautiful.

Verse 5 — “Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.” Immediately he goes from the neck to the breasts to indicate that the beauty of the neck reveals the beauty of the body.

It is all right for ladies to be complimented, provided it does not make them vulnerable to the wrong person. A woman heavily complimented within a short space of time is vulnerable to the complimentor, or he is the right man and she responds to the complimentor. But in this case it is the wrong man. Solomon is an expert at making women vulnerable. He is not a good lover. Just because a man knows how to talk to a woman it doesn’t mean he is a good lover. A woman always has to ask herself, What is he after? Is it something for himself or something for her?

You are protected by Bible doctrine. Chapter 4 is designed to protect a woman and to give her discernment. A woman is vulnerable and she never sees the expert complimentor in his true perspective. She is so busy being stimulated by what he says about her that she fails to take a good look.

Verse 6 — she has found her right man and therefore all she has to do is reflect on her right man. She says, “Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will go up to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.” The mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense are the wonderful memories in her right lobe and in her frame of reference. She has had glorious experiences with her shepherd lover and therefore when Solomon is making his pitch she is protected by bringing into memory centre the fragrance of her shepherd lover. This is protection by the fragrance of memories.

While this is dealing with the general principle of right man, right woman there are also some spiritual applications. On the other side of the frame of reference is a place for doctrine. That doctrine brought into the memory centre is the first principle of occupation with the person of Christ. Occupation with Christ changes your whole life. The whole purpose of the communion table is the fragrance of memory of Jesus Christ, the fragrance of memory of God’s grace.

In the English language the word ‘ego’ is definitely misused. It is derived from the first person singular Latin pronoun. The noun actually means that man is considered from the standpoint of the union of his soul and body. In other words, man is alive, he is conscious of individual distinction. It does not have any sort of evil connotation. Ego is a bona fide, normal word describing every person. Ego simply means you are alive and a soul is in your body. That is all ego means. People misuse the word in connection with pride but ego does not have a pride connotation. Ego does not apply to Solomon in this passage, except to say that Solomon is alive.

There are several other words that we need to understand. The first is ‘egocentric’ which is a compound adjective in the English and it means regarding everything in its relationship to self. It means to be self-centred. This adjective does apply to Solomon in this passage. Egocentric has a bad connotation — being selfish. The next word is ‘egoism,’ the noun. It means excessive love or thought of self. It generally connotes operation over think. This noun also applies to Solomon. Then there is ‘egotism,’ a noun referring to the practice of referring overmuch to one’s self. It is synonymous to conceit. This also applies to Solomon. Then we will simply use the word ‘pride’ which denotes the mental attitude sin and is a synonym in variance with the three others mentioned. Really, the English word that describes Solomon here is the word ‘egoism.’ Pride is the mental attitude sin of self-esteem. It is excessive delight in one’s mentality, one’s achievements, one’s possessions, or one’s status in life.

Verse 7 — “Thou art.” There is no verb here at all. The word is “You completely beautiful.” The word “all” means ‘completely.’ From that description it is a little difficult to realise that Solomon is practising egoism at this point, the mental attitude of pride expressed in this way because he is talking about someone else. The word ‘fair’ is the strongest Hebrew word for beautiful, japhah.

“my love” — now we begin to see his egoism creeping into the picture; “no spot in thee” refers simply to the complexion alone, it refers to the fact that there is nothing wrong with her soul in any way. There is nothing obnoxious about here is what it really means. She is not an obnoxious person. Solomon is really saying here that her soul and her body match in beauty.

Verse 8 — the word for ‘spouse’ occurs quite frequently throughout this passage. The Hebrew word is kalah and translated ‘spouse’ it means bride. This is really the centre of Solomon’s egoism. His pride gives him a false self-confidence and a false self-esteem. His egotism causes him to constantly ascribe to himself irresistibility as far as women are concerned. This, again, is one of the principles with regard to the wolf.

At the beginning of verse 8 we have the words “My bride,” not my spouse. Already he assumes that she is going to swoon and say ‘I will.’

Verse 9 — “Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my bride.”

Verse 10 — “How fair is thy love, my sister, my bride!”

Verse 11 — “Thy lips, O my bride, drop as the honeycomb.”

Verse 12 — “A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride.”

Chapter 5:1 — “I am come into my garden, my sister, my bride.”

He calls her ‘bride’ not because she is going to accept but because he assumes that she cannot help but accept him. That is the problem here. He assumes that he is irresistible. He basis this on the fact that he has been irresistible on numerous encounters with women and he assumes that all women are crazy about him. Of course, this is idiocy — also dangerous. For a man to assume this is to put himself into a dream world and divorce himself from reality.

In verses 8 to the end of the chapter most of the speaking is accomplished by Solomon. His objective is to win this woman. Probably this is as close as Solomon ever came to the right man, right woman relationship. We cannot say that the Shulamite woman was his right woman because Solomon blew that right out. His promiscuity, his harem, just completely destroyed any possibility of the right man, right woman relationship. By so doing he destroyed the whole principle that God has designed. But we can say that the Shulamite woman is the kind of a woman that would have been Solomon’s right woman had Solomon simply followed the biblical principles of waiting on the Lord.

Verse 8 — Solomon begins to express his confidence in winning this woman. “Come with me from Lebanon, my bride.” In other words, he begins to describe the honeymoon. He tells her how beautiful she is, he assumes she is going to accept him, and therefore he tells her that they are going to go to a beautiful mountain resort.

“look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.” There are five beautiful views in central Palestine and Solomon has a lodge in every one of them, and they are going to spend their honeymoon in five lodges in the mountains. He doesn’t consult the woman at all. He is simply going to do what he wants to do, and immediately you begin to notice something: no capacity for love. There is no attempt on the part of Solomon to determine what she would enjoy.

Verse 9 — he explains why he is going to marry her. “Thou hast ravished my heart” — all one word in the Hebrew. It means to rob the heart. The Hebrew verb is labab. The heart is the right lobe. This woman more than any woman that Solomon has ever seen fulfils Solomon’s standards. He is an expert from the standpoint of the physical aspects of the woman and this woman fulfills everything that he has ever wanted in a woman. Labab really means here to fulfil every norm and standard Solomon ever had about a woman.

The word ‘sister’ simply means that she is a woman. The word ‘bride’ is the expression of his egotism. He repeats the phrase and says that she has done it with “one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.” She does it by the way she looks — her eyes, her physical makeup. The chain of the neck refers to the style of her dress, it pleases him.

Verse 10 — “How fair is thy love, my sister, my bride!” He anticipates her responding to him. He doesn’t realise that he has actually given her nothing to which to respond. He thinks that just because he is standing there, Solomon in all of his glory, that she is going to swoon.

“How much better is thy love than wine!” What he is saying in effect — he is probably drinking wine at the time — is that he would like to switch from wine to her.

“The smell of thine ointments than all spices.” She has a nice smell and the people of the ancient world were much more aware of this than we are.

Verse 11 — “Thy lips, O my bride, drop as the honeycomb.” He is now thinking about initiating some love action; “honey and milk are under thy tongue” — prosperity. This also explains the kiss. They kissed in the ancient world with the tongue.

“and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon” — he is a mountain man. Everything reminds him of the mountains. Lebanon refers to the mountains.

Verse 12 — “A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride.” This refers to her virginity. The garden means that her body has not been taken by any man; “a spring shut up.” In other words, a spring enclosed. No one has ever got to this place to drink water is the analogy; “a fountain sealed” — Why is she that way? She is that way because she is waiting for her right man. Operation faith-rest technique in category #2 love is the principle. This is one of the great areas of faith-rest. In her case she has already met her right man, the shepherd lover. But had she not met him the principle would be exactly the same.

Verse 13 — Solomon now becomes very passionate. Without any response from her he has worked himself up into a lather. “Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphor, with spikenard.” Half of this verse deals with things he likes to eat and half of it deals with things he likes to smell. Both are connected here with passion.

Verse 15 — “A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.” So he considers her the greatest thing that he is ever going to have relationship with.

Verse 16 — the Shulamite woman replies. Between verses 15 & 16 she pushes him away. You can just see her turning her head to the side and saying, “Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south; blow upon my garden that its spices may flow out.” These are the things she has described in his passion in vv. 14 & 15. Cool this guy off!

Then she thinks of her right man, even though Solomon is trying to embrace her she has no interest in Solomon at all. “Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits” — she wants only her right man. The principle of verse 16: Woman has free will and every woman must exercise her free will in faith-resting the right man. The Shulamite woman has this volition and negative volition says no to Solomon and positive volition says yes to the shepherd lover. This is her volition in action, her free will is intact. What isn’t freely given isn’t worth having.

Chapter 5:1 — Solomon is not deterred. “I am come into my garden, my sister, my bride.” He is telling her he is about to make another pass. “I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.” Notice that even though he is on short acquaintance with her he is now ready to embrace.

“I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk.”

And now the daughters of Jerusalem are anxious for them to embrace and to get on with the wedding. “Eat, O friends. Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.” In other words, they want her to accept Solomon. So here is a great danger. All of these other girls think she is great. Many time a woman will go for a man because everyone else is going for him. The daughters of Jerusalem go for Solomon.

Verse 2 — the Shulamite woman again. “I sleep.” She was dreaming of an experience with her shepherd lover, and here is the fragrance of memory brought on by Solomon using the word ‘myrrh.’ In other words, the right man protects the right man from her memory. So memory centre brings out this experience and this becomes her protection at this point.

“but my heart [right lobe] waketh.” This is a way of describing a dream or simply a recollection. This is not dreaming in the sense of being asleep and dreaming, it the fact that she was asleep and she woke up thinking about her lover.

“The voice of my beloved” — she is tone oriented, she responds to one voice and that is the voice of her shepherd lover; “that knocketh” — he came to the door of her home.

“Open to me, my sister, my love” — he does not call her his bride, he calls her his love: right man, right woman. He called her “my dove” — symmetry; “my undefiled” — this is the norms and standards in her right lobe; “for my head is filled with dew, and my locks from the drops of the night” — it was raining outside.

Verse 3 — I have put off [taken off] my coat [robe]; how shall I put it on?” It is an excuse. She thinks about the time that the shepherd lover came to her late at night, knocked at her window, and she started making excuses. Why does a woman make excuses? a) Because she is not interested; b) Simply because of inconvenience. Apparently she wanted to go to bed, and she recalls that. Her shepherd lover had come at an inopportune time. She was inconvenienced by his coming. These are excuses she is making.

“I have washed my feet” — she has entered the house permanently; “how shall I defile them?” If she goes out again she will have to wash her feet.

Verse 4 — then he shows some of his male aggressiveness. She describes her shepherd lover. “My beloved put his hand by the hole of the door” — what he did was he put his hand in the latch of the window. The word ‘door’ doesn’t occur; “and my bowels were moved for him” — literally, ‘my passions were aroused for him.’ The Hebrew word is mea and it actually refers to being ‘turned on’ by him. All he did was rattle the window.

Verse 5 — he just tuned around and walked off. He respected her volition. More than that, he didn’t like the tone, there was no response there so he turned and walked away. There was no response to Solomon but Solomon hangs on. This is what triggered her whole recollection. Her shepherd lover never acted that way. When she made all of these idiotic excuses because she was inconvenienced he just rattled the window and walked off. That really shook her up. That is her right man walking away.

“I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands drooped with myrrh [she is very excited]; and my fingers of sweet-smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.” This is a window lock.

Verse 6 — “I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone.” He had withdrawn himself, he made the decision.

Her attitude: “My soul failed” — it is not simply her body which is aroused at the thought of his presence, it is her soul that fails. She was heartbroken; “when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.” She called out the window for him.

Verse 7 — notice she now puts her robe back on and she also goes out into the night. “The watchmen that went about the city found me [police officers]; “they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the wall took away my veil from me” — it was so late they assumed that she was a prostitute, a prostitute was never permitted to wear a veil, and she was a lady wearing a veil. They mistook her for a prostitute, that’s all. They were punishing her as a prostitute and they took off her veil and slapped her. There is a principle here: She suffered because she put off her right man. ‘It’s not a convenient time to see you, I’m already in for the night.’ As a result, when he did the manly thing he walked away. Then she wanted him immediately. She then went after him and suffered.

Verse 8 — now she turns to make an application or two to the daughters of Jerusalem. “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem.” She doesn’t continue the story.

“if ye find my beloved [my right man, my shepherd lover], that ye tell him, that I am sick with love.” Notice the key is found in the middle of verse 6, “my soul faileth.” Why did her soul fail? All of a sudden there was this aching in the soul, this terrible gap that only the right man can fulfil. Remember that soul love precedes physical love. Soul love is the key to right man, right woman. In her soul he is there, she can’t get away from him because he is in her soul. And because he walked away from her it completely tore her up. Right now she is in that same situation again. Here is the analogy. The police officer who took off her veil and slapped her is exactly like Solomon. Solomon is slapping her with words. He is trying, as it were, to make a prostitute out of her because if she marries Solomon she has a lifetime job — prostitute to one man. He is not her right man. She is saying in effect from this, I would only suffer and suffer and suffer by marrying the wrong man; and I am not going to do it.

Verse 9 — the daughters of Jerusalem have asked a question. “O thou fairest among women?” She is not only beautiful but ‘fairest’ means that she is animated. We have seen her occupation with her shepherd lover in the previous verses.

“What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?” They were asking a question which is very important. What is the difference between one attractive man and another attractive man? This is really the impact of the question. The daughters of Jerusalem are saying in effect is — and this is a trap for girls who especially are frustrated in love — that any port in a storm is generally the attitude that is developed with both male and female. In principle, one of the worst things that can happen is to think that anyone will do. Many a person has wrecked his own category #2 potentiality with this particular attitude.

Verse 10 — the Shulamite woman, going through verse 16, describes her right man. What makes him different? Everything that is given in verses 10-16 in her mind makes him different from all other men.

“My beloved is white and ruddy” — he is white, which means he has a certain colour of skin. He is a Jew, is Semitic, and he has good circulation [ruddy] and has been out in the sun. So do all the other shepherds with whom he operates. So thus far she hasn’t described anything that is different, except this: he is in her soul and all of the other tan and ruddy shepherds with a white skin are not in her soul.

“the chiefest among ten thousand” — there are at least ten thousand other shepherds but there is only one shepherd as far as she is concerned.

Verse 11 — “His head is like the most fine gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven” — the difficulty appears to be that he has black hair but his head in like fine gold. He has dark hair, and when it says his head is as most fine gold it means he has a well-shaped head. Fine gold was stored in such a way as to be very attractive. This doesn’t mean he has a gold head, “as” most fine gold sets up an analogy even though ‘as’ does not occur in the original.

Verse 12 — “His eyes are the eyes of doves by the rivers of water” means he not only has great beauty but when she she’s him his animation leads to reflected beauty. He has great symmetry in her eyes and also great animation and in her presence.

“washed with milk and fitly set” — this is all symmetry.

Verse 13 — “His cheeks are like a bed of spices.” He has a good natural fragrance; “his lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh” — he evidently great when it comes to kissing her. She enjoys his kisses. The sweet-smelling myrrh is the effect of his kiss upon her.

Verse 14 — “His hands are as gold rings set with beryl” — he apparently has very attractive hands which catch the eye; “his belly” should be ‘his body’; “is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires” — in other words he has a very beautiful body.

Verse 15 — “His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold,” he also has good legs; “his face is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.” This doesn’t mean he has a face like a forest, it means that when you look at a large forest it is very impressive, and that is the idea here. He has a face that impresses.

Verse 16 — “His mouth is most sweet.” This is what he utters. Category #2 love is talking, expressing what is in the soul. When the right man and the right woman are in each other’s souls they can get around to expressing it in words.

“he is altogether lovely” — this is a summary of the shepherd lover; “This [This one, literally] is my beloved, this one is my friend [loved friend].”