Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Grace in the Song

Song of Soloman 5:2 -8:4 is probably the longest single unit in the book. It's definitely the most beautiful. 

5:2-6:2 sees the bride resist her groom. He comes to door, He knocks, He calls. Her response? My feet are too clean to be dirtied, i'm too warm in my bed to be roused. When she finally gets up He's gone. Nowhere to be found. This complacency eventually stirs in her new feelings of passion and love for her beloved. New passions, new affections. Indeed Christ is distinguished among ten thousand men! (5:10) 

The in 6:3, the focus changes. The groom comes to the garden, to His bride. How will he respond to her rejection? How will He behave towards her? What will His response be to the bride who has finally roused herself?

All of grace. The covenant is still present (6:2), and the groom describes his bride as like Tizrah, like Jerusalem, like an army, He is overwhelmed by her. This is all of grace, this is all the initiative of the groom, this is all his heart being expressed towards his lovely, and loved, yet complacent and lazy bride. His love for her right now is about him, not about her. In fact, He is so gracious that he even uses the same terms to describe her as he had done previously. Goats, ewes and pomegranates...Again all of grace, all of him. And he goes even further in 7:1-9. This is beautiful.

And what of the bride? She is drawn in. She responds. She longs for a deeper, longer intimacy with him. (8:1-2). This last part, from 6:11-8:4 is forward looking. The brides comes to see if the garden is in bloom (6:11) she longs for this time of blossoming perfection in the perfect place with her perfect, gracious groom. 

So do we.

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