Please remain standing for the reading of God's holy and inerrant word from Song of Songs, chapter six, verse four, through chapter seven, verse 10. Hear now the words of the one and only living and true God. You are beautiful as Tirza, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners. Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that have come up from the washing. All of them bear twins. Not one among them has lost its young. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. There are 60 queens and 80 concubines and virgins without number. My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the only one of her mother pure to her who bore her. The young women saw her and called her blessed. The queens and the concubines also, they praised her. Who is this who looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as an army with banners? I went down to the nut orchard to look at the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the vines had budded, whether the pomegranates were in bloom. Before I was aware, my desire set me among the chariots of my kinsmen, a prince. Return, return, O Shulamite. Return, return, that we may look upon you. Why should you look upon the shulamite as upon a dance before two armies? How beautiful are your feet and sandals, O noble daughter. Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand. Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat encircled with lilies. Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. Your neck is like an ivory tower, your eyes are pools in Heshbon by the gates of Bath-Rabim. Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus. Your head crowns you like caramel. and your flowing locks are like purple. A king is held captive in the tresses. How beautiful and pleasant you are, oh one, with all your delights. Your stature is like a palm tree and your breasts are like its clusters. I say I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its fruit. Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine and scent of your breath like apples. and your mouth like the best wine. It goes down smoothly before my beloved, gliding over the lips and teeth. I am my beloved, and his desire is for me. The grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our Lord stands forever. Let us pray. Father, open our eyes. Give us ears to hear, eyes to see, and a heart to obey your word. We ask this in Christ's holy name. Amen. You may be seated. Well, we're nearly there. Next Sunday will be our conclusion of Song of Songs. I recognize it's been quite difficult to work through, but I've been encouraged by many of you who have attended the sermon review group and who have asked hard questions. It gave me an opportunity to look deeper into the scriptures. And oddly enough, it made me even more convinced of the particular view that's been preached And one of the things I've been trying to do, and oddly enough, we actually talked about this in Sunday school, and it was not my intention or plan to line this up appropriately as an introduction, but one of the things I've been trying to highlight is to draw out from the text itself the Hebrew nuances, not to undercut the work of many godly men who have worked on translations and translation committees, but to kind of bring out its essence and its fuller meaning to the best of my ability. And in that, I've been trying to apply what the Westminster Standards say, that we use scripture to interpret scripture. And so in some of those passages that seem a bit ambiguous or unknown, I've made it my goal to look at places where those are much more clear and clearly represented and to actually bring those concepts into the text rather than kind of establishing a view and then building around it. One of the examples, as you probably remember from our first work through, was chapter one, verse seven. And the ESV even has a note. She asks, why should I be like one who veils herself? The word for veil can also be used as wander. And typically, if you use the verb to veil, there's usually the noun, or there is always the noun veil associated with it, which is why I brought out the wander meaning, at least from the ESV, because we've looked at it through the lens of her being in the harem complex, this idea of wandering, wilderness wandering, so on and so forth. Likewise, we saw in Song of Songs chapter three, Verse 6, with the first arrival of Solomon, this quote that comes up, what is that coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke? And tried to emphasize as well that the smoke here is not the same as the Lord's presence as is often associated in the book of Exodus. It's actually the word cloud that's used, different word, completely different word in Hebrew, that's used with the Lord's presence, his cloud, his glory, his Shekinah glory. Here in that passage in particular, smoke is always related to judgment, at least from the prophets and other places in the Old Testament. So again, we've drawn out by implication by looking where the text is much more clear in those passages like Joel, where he uses smoke and the day of the Lord and the wrath of the Lord to actually bring out in full what was being communicated. Likewise, in the text, we've looked at the way in which Solomon specifically, when talking of his bride or the Shulamite woman, uses second-person personal pronouns like you, whereas she uses third-person personal pronouns referring to her beloved, again referring to somebody else who isn't there. If you're talking about a different person rather than the person who's standing there, it does indicate that there's not the same person that's being discussed. And so this last bit of Song of Songs, we actually come full circle and this is the last two temptations that the Shulamite woman will undergo. The first temptation was from chapter 4 verse 1 to chapter 5 verse 1, and then we have two more temptations in chapter 6 verse 4 through 13 and chapter 7 verses 1 through 9. And it's quite similar, isn't it, how the Hebrew Bible often uses a work of threes to emphasize certain points. And we've been looking at this, obviously, through a particular lens, and I recognize that, but the woman being in her own form of wilderness wandering away from her true beloved in the harem complex of Solomon, which we're given insight in Esther chapter two. She is also given a threefold temptation, three different temptations, which are also quite similar in the same way the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted in three distinct ways, but also very similar. Christ's own temptation was for worldly desires. It was for food. It was to depart from the Lord, to no longer trust in his father. It was for a kingdom. It was for wealth. It was for all these great things that Satan enticed him with. The same temptations that Adam was tempted with and Eve in the garden. The lust of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride of life. And so when we think about that idea of temptation and the way in which Jesus Christ has overcome it, and we look at it through the lens of the way in which the Shulamite woman is being exalted as following from Proverbs 31 and Ruth, which identify and show us what a godly woman looks like, we also see the comparisons of Jesus Christ and his own temptation as we ourselves, the church in exile, are tempted. Hebrews 4, 14 through 16 tells us we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, who let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The church needs to place her confidence in Christ alone, even during temptation. And so we'll look at this expression of the Shulamites' temptation just under two points this morning. First, the Shulamites' pending departure in chapter 6, verses 4 through 12, the Shulamites' pending departure. And then finally, and we'll actually elaborate on the second point next Sunday, the Shulamites' final victory in chapter 6, verse 13 through chapter 7, Verse 2. So let's look first at the Shulamites pending departure in chapter 6 verses 4 through 12. Now this is actually very much a repeat of what Solomon had already attempted in chapter 4. It's nearly word for word minus a few different alterations to it. And with that, we actually, oddly enough, kind of get another glimpse at a proof for that Solomon is the one who actually wrote Song of Songs. You see he mentions two cities, Tirzah and Jerusalem. Now often the Israelites would use places like Dan to Beersheba to reference the entire kingdom. And so in the same way Solomon is assessing her beauty is that which encompasses the entire kingdom. But with that, we know that Solomon himself reigned or at least began to leave his thrown to his son Rehoboam as the kingdom itself split into the northern and the southern kingdoms. So this actually gives us a little bit of a better kind of place marker on when in Solomon's life this would have been written, which would have been very much during the time of his plurality of wives and concubines. Again, he's testifying to her beauty over the entirety of the kingdom. And verses four and 10 actually in this passage kind of form what is known as an occlusio. Basically you can think of them as like bookends to a shelf. You have a row of books lined up on a shelf and it's what holds all those books together. That's how we know that Solomon is speaking here is it's kind of holding itself up as he speaks and repeats himself in this. Now, as usual, I'm going to attempt to draw out some of the words that kind of have lost us in our own understanding, especially with the English. And the first is how he says that she is awesome as an army with banners. When we think of awesome, we think of it in very much positive terms. As many of you know, one of my favorite hymns is How Sweet and Awesome is the Place, but really the original title was How Sweet and Awful, meaning, not in the negative sense, but awe-inspiring. It's related to the fear of the Lord. That's what's being communicated here. It's related to fear, and being terrified, not so much that she's super cool and awesome and a great person to hang out with. Rather, it's reference to the Lord and to his wrath, to his presence. We see this in Genesis 15, 12. As the sun was going down, a steep sleep fell on Abram, and behold, dreadful, or awesome, and great darkness fell upon him. Later, in Exodus 15, 16, we're told terror and dread, or awe, the word that's used here for awesome, fall upon them because of the greatness of your arm. They are still as a stone till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased. And later, Joshua, records in Joshua 2.9, I know that the Lord has given you the land as we think about the spies entering into Jericho and that the fear of you has fallen upon us and that all inhabitants of the land melt away Again, there's a presumption just in our own vernacular, and there's nothing particularly wrong with it, but we think awesome is a positive word being used. Rather, what Solomon is doing, at least in the view and in what I think the text is speaking to us, is that Solomon is relating her own resilience in resisting him as that which is dreadful. It's a fearful thing for him. She is a fearful, impenetrable army, essentially, is what is being communicated by the text as an army with banners. You can think about the awe, the fear that a nation would have as they're sitting in their own walled city and an army is completely encompassing and surrounding them, it would have been a fearful thing. They would have known what is to come with that pending conquest. Likewise, to kind of further elaborate upon that idea of what Solomon is getting at, he speaks of her eyes as that which overwhelm me. Now the word overwhelm, again, not to be used in a positive connotation, but it's a bit difficult to translate, but it's more of like a sense of being confused, like he can't quite pin his finger on her eyes. It also has this idea of like a storm-like assault or something, again, tying in that dread and awe sense that what has been already communicated. And so with those in mind alone, again, allowing the text to speak for itself, it seems as though he's speaking of her own dedication and resisting him in the first temptation, that it's overwhelming to Solomon in a negative sense. And so then he continues in the same way that he's tried before. He even says to turn your eyes away from me. I'm sure many of you who are children can probably relate when you do something very bad that you shouldn't do, and your mom or your dad, for me it was my mother, she had to give you that one look, and that one look of terror, you knew exactly what was going on, that you were about to be punished. It's kind of that idea that's being drawn out here, that look has a fear and a dread, and it's overwhelming to Solomon. Again, it's not taken in a positive light. And so in my belief, or at least in the text, the Hebrew Bible is speaking clearly or at least communicating to us. what is going on here in the passage. Other commentators, and we looked at it a bit last week with the second dream narrative, they assume that Solomon now is kind of making up for leaving her or abandoning her during their night of consummation. He feels slighted because she rejected him and so now he's trying to woo her or win her back. Again, Those are probably well-established, and I respect those brothers who hold to that. But again, it's not painting marriage in a particularly positive light. It's using, as we looked at last week, sex as a weapon, where the man is getting defeated and just walking out and abandoning his beloved. And now he's trying to make things work between them. Verses six through seven, we see just the continuation of this temptation. I'm not going to dive into all the different words. You know what you use and cheeks and pomegranates all look like and mean. It's very straightforward, nothing complex. But where I wanted to focus in on is verses 8 through 9. I've used this previously as a demonstration that this is evidence for the time in which Solomon had many wives, many queens, many concubines, as the scriptures tell us that he did have. And in fact, we actually get more of an elaboration of this in the text. So you can kind of see that we've pinpointed when Solomon could have potentially written this. Again, we don't have a date stamped on it, unfortunately, but it's at least during some time in which the kingdom was either split or going to be split and post his time of being led astray by the women that he was with. Now, one commentator, he says this of this passage, which I find a bit concerning, he says, we should not allow our knowledge or the historical context of Solomon to control our understanding of verse 8 through 9. And again, my question in response would be, why not? There's no reason to not understand it in that light. The words even used, the word concubine, for example, is specifically relating to Solomon's concubines or the other concubines who were associated with other patriarchs or men of the scriptures. It's very difficult to kind of pull away from what the text is clearly explaining to us. And so this commentator then assumes that since it is poetry, that it can't actually relate to a true event. Now remember that because I'm going to touch on that here in a moment when he relates poetry to a real and true event. Likewise, we should all know we've been singing Psalm 18 this entire month, and we should know that poetry in Hebrew often communicates to us historical facts. And so think about the song of Moses or Psalm 18, David's victory. He's retelling, they're retelling in a poetic sense, the history of how the Lord has redeemed him. So there's no reason to say, well, because it's poetry, it can't be something historical. That's a false dichotomy. Those are two things you can't hold up. Poetry very much works in different ways. It also is very expressive of different things. We're not going to say that Psalm 23 was specifically about David yanking a sheep through the valley of the shadow of death. We understand what the implications are referring to, but there are instances in the Hebrew Bible where there is a retelling of Israel's history. Likewise, he says there are virgins without number, very evident in knowledge of the ancient Near East and their time of harems and kingly establishments, especially as we've looked at that in light of Esther chapter two. This actually relates all the way back to chapter one, verse three. You remember the daughters of Jerusalem are trying to essentially catechize or begin that form of temptation to the Shulamite woman. And they say, there are virgins who love you. So jump in on it, right? Be part of this harem complex. There's plenty of virgins who are waiting and lined up for Solomon. In verse 10, though, we actually have kind of another, again, we're combining verses 4 and 10 into kind of one main theme, one main unit of speech. And both again are referring to the exact same thing. Solomon is reflecting on her resistance once again. He's attributing this awesome as an army with banners back to that dreadful fear of an impending army about to assault a castle or a city. And this book ends this first or the second temptation. And it's very similar to the way in which Solomon himself perceived the Shulamite woman. He said in chapter four, verse 12, a garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed. We know that Song of Songs uses double meanings, double entendre, euphemism, whatever you want to call it. And the garden is very much associated with virginity or sexual purity. And so here in verse 12 of chapter four, He's referring to her being closed off. And in verses four and verse 10, he's also showing that she is a closed off impenetrable army. He can't break into her consciousness. He can't break that bond that she has with her dear beloved. Again, there's no indication here that there's a change of speaker in verses four through 10. Many of your Bibles have that outlined well. But Solomon elaborates and he says, who is this who looks down like the dawn? He uses the word moon, he uses the word sun. Again, this looking down from dawn or like dawn is a heavenly perspective of the woman's perspective, of her own perspective or her resistance. We see this in Psalm 14 too, the Lord looks down from heaven, again it's that heavenly perspective. He looks down on the children of man to see if there is anyone who understands God. Exodus 14, 24, in the morning, watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic. It's this relation that she has to a heavenly perspective of this resisting the temptation. Once again, she's resisted it once, and she continues to resist it. Dawn, moon, and sun also come back to what has already been communicated by the Shulamite woman previously. The reflection of dawn is that which follows darkness. You remember that Jacob wrestled with the man until dawn had finally broken. Moon is often a reflection of the glory of the Lord. Isaiah 24, 23, then the moon will be confounded and the sun is shamed. The Lord of hosts reigns. on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. There's this idea of having everlasting light that she is referring to. And again, this resistance that she's had toward temptation is a recognition of her coming out of the darkness. What has she said previously? She gives us three little epithets of this is what I'm trying to communicate to you. In chapter 2, verse 17, as the beloved goes away, she says, until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on the cleft of the mountains. In chapter 4 verse 6, until the day breathes and the shadows flee. Chapter 4 verse 16, awake oh north wind and come oh south wind, blow upon my garden. Both of these, all of these are referring to her averting that temptation. The until the day breathes is very much associated with the Lord coming in wrath upon Adam and Eve when they had sinned in the garden from Genesis chapter 3. And she's equivocating her experience in the harem complex to that which is dark. She's waiting for the light to come. And in respect, Solomon himself is seeing from a heavenly perspective, a wisdom perspective, that she is the one who is like the dawn. She is breaking forth from that tribulation and that temptation. And really, again, as we've seen the comparisons between the marks of the true beloved, her true shepherd, and her as the bride, as the woman who he's betrothed to, we see just how this relates to Christ and his church, how we are exiled, we are in the world, we are not with our God yet, and we still must resist temptation. And she is resisting that very temptation. And in fact, this is the very thing that Jesus often commends many of the other churches as he writes to them in the book of Revelation. Revelation 2, 2 through 4, he commends the churches, I know your works, your toil, your patient endurance. and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and found them to be false. Jesus says, I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake. We see how the church is supposed to resist the world's temptation and the Lord is glorified in that later. to the church of Smyrna, Jesus says. I know your tribulations and your poverty and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested. And for 10 days, you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says. to the churches. You, O Church, are to resist temptation, to resist the world's temptation. We see this of the church at Pergamum as well in Revelation 2 verse 17. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it. Satan, or excuse me, Jesus, likewise reflects to the church at Thyatira, reflecting upon the deeds of Satan and trying to infiltrate the church, the temptation of the church. And he says, hold fast until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end to him I will give authority over the nations and he will rule them with an iron rod as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my father and I will give him the morning star of Philadelphia. In chapter three, verses 11 through 13, Christ says, I am coming soon. Hold fast, resist temptation. Don't be tempted by the world. Are you seeing Christ's own admonition to the church itself? He says, hold fast so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it. And I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of God, the new Jerusalem. which comes down out of heaven. There's a constant call for Christians to endure temptations, to endure those worldly affections, the same temptations and trials that Christ himself went through in his own wilderness wandering without food, without water. And as the author of Hebrews says, since he was tempted in every way yet without sin, we can so confidently draw near to that savior, that Christ, that Messiah, the one who has conquered. And the church is likewise similarly tempted by the wiles of Satan. I mean, the temptations here of Solomon are very similar to the temptations that everyone faces, the promise of life, the promise of wealth, the promise of happiness. And we are often tempted to depart from the Lord. The world likes that temptation, to pull you away from the Lord. We're tempted to essentially bed with the world, to be in communion, to be in covenant with the world and what it requires, what it wants. The world wants to tempt us and wants to feed us lies and falsehood that we may continue in sin. But there's a constant call for Christ who tells us endure, endure, endure, endure the hardships, endure the trials. And if you hold fast, you will be crowned. Likewise, there's a constant call of Christ for marriages to endure temptation. I'm not taking away the fact that this is obviously pointing us to Christ and his relationship to the church, but we know that this has implications on marriages as well. We're often tempted by the world to depart from our spouse with those difficulties. We're tempted to wander away. There's a temptation to find greener pastures, but there's never a greener pastures apart from the Lord. Yeah, the pasture might be green, but it might be full of stinging nettle and poison ivy. It might look appealing and like that's where you need to go, but it will kill you. That's what the world wants from you, to pull you away from Christ, to pull you away from your spouse, to break covenant with spouse and with the Lord. What's the Shulamites response in all of that? Verses 11 through 12, she again responds with an eerily similar format, referring to what we've kind of seen as this idyllic, Edenic paradise. She's always referring to that which is green or that which is natural, not that which is artificial or man-built, but that which is genuine, natural, authentic. And likewise, this is the same call that the beloved issues to her in chapter two, verses 12 through 13. He says, the flowers appear on the earth. The time of singing has come and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs and the vines are in blossom. They give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. In verse 12, As she articulates this, the ESV says, she says, before I was aware. Now, this is a bit of a tricky passage, but just bear with me. We know what the word to know means in both Hebrew and Greek often. It's not just a kind of mental ascent to knowledge, but especially in Hebrew, it means an intimate knowledge. a genuine knowledge. Adam knew his wife and she bore a son. It's that type of intimacy. And so she's not necessarily saying, I was not aware, but she's saying before I was known, but before that act had occurred to me, She had never entered into any type of sexual intimacy with Solomon. She says, before I was known, before that had happened, again, speaking to her, waiting for the beloved. And literally she says, I will not know him in the text. So it's not before, but it's, I will not know him. Again, referring more than likely to Solomon. But at the same time, what does she say? She flips the script. She says, my soul or my desire, I have set or I have placed. She has made up her mind that she's devoted to her shepherd. Back in the first dream narrative in chapter three, verse one, she says, on my bed by night, I sought him who my soul loves. I sought him, but found him not. Chapter five, verse six, open to me my beloved, but my beloved had turned in God. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not. I called him, but gave him, but he gave no answer. Again, there's a specific individual who's being identified. There's never a relation to Solomon or to the person who she is standing before. Likewise, the phrase chariots of my kinsmen, a prince, is again very difficult to translate, very difficult to bring out. And so the chariot here is a reference, again, we've been thinking of impenetrable army, resilience, it's actually a war chariot, and it refers to the one who's going out in war, going out to battle against the temptation. Again, she references banners once again, an impenetrable army. She uses kinsmen, possibly, again, relating back to her beloved, who's from En Gedi, back to that place, that idyllic place where she truly belonged. How do we see this applied to our own lives? Where do we see this come forth? We see this how we ourselves need to go to war against sin. What does John Owen famously say? Be killing sin, lest it be killing you. But we need to fight against the will of the flesh, the desire of the heart, the desire of our eyes. And we have to remember our true love. If you're in the covenant of marriage, your true love is your spouse, but your truest love is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's the one who you turn to when you are tempted, when you feel like you must endeavor and go into that sinful action, because he is the only one who draws you and brings you out. He's the only savior. He's the only one. Now, I'm leaving the word my desire here for a second, because we're going to pick up on it back as we go to chapter seven, verse 10. But just again, keep that in mind as we look through the rest of it. Again, we've seen this temptation and we come now to our second or our final point, the Shulamites final victory, her final victory. We're not sure if Solomon is speaking in verse 13, I do think that they are right in saying others, and I would say or caveat the others, is probably the daughters of Jerusalem. But a few questions that we need to ask ourselves. First, why would the daughters of Jerusalem want her to return? What indication has there been thus far if Solomon is talking to his wife, or as the ESV has a title, Solomon and his bride delight in each other, why is there this call for her to return if she is not try to wander or to go away. Why would Solomon not be the one speaking and wanting her to return? Again, she has already expressed her true love and her true devotion to her beloved in chapter five, verse 10 through chapter six, verse three. There were a couple breaks by the daughters of Jerusalem. And again, it's obvious that that's not Solomon. Third person, my beloved, he, he, he, he. Not you, who she would be standing with, but he. And the daughters of Jerusalem give four imperatives. Return, imperative, not a request, but a command. Return, return, return, return, come back, don't leave. Come back to the temptation. This really follows that she has now made up her mind. And we'll see this next week, that she has made up her mind, right? It's really this last ditch effort to have her return, to come back. And they ask her to hear from her one more time, to hear just one more time, give us one more chance, and we'll be able to convince you. And this is why it's so distinct that the language that Solomon uses in this last temptation is remarkably different than what he has already implemented previously. Now, as we've tried to be fair, at least bring up other interpretations, again, they assume that she has left her husband due to some miscommunication in this text. they're calling her to return. So either she had used sex as a weapon to not let her husband into the bedchamber, or he got defeated and left and ran away. And now he's wooed her, but she's decided for some reason, though the text isn't clear, for some reason to just haul off and leave him. And now this is his third attempt. I'm trying to woo her, trying to bring her back. I'm trying to win her back. Again, is this painting marriage in any positive light? I mean, should you be fighting and waiting for your spouse to return if they've gone astray? Of course, but there's no indication that she has, in fact, departed if that view is the prevalent view. It asks more questions than it answers. Now, Solomon says, or at least we're given a hint that it's either him or the daughters of Jerusalem. or quote, this dance between two armies. Again, very difficult to translate. All commentators find this very challenging. But the word that's used here for dance is often accompanied by a victory dance. We see it often of David. You remember, David was actually often extolled for his combat prowess over that of Saul. And they say, the servants of Achish say to David, or say of David in 1 Samuel 21 11, is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances? Saul has struck down his thousands and David his ten thousands. It's this idea of a victory like dance. And the two armies here, again, you probably have a note in your translation. that it might be a reference to the city Mahanaim. Now it's probably more on the lines of Mahanaim. This was a well-known city in Israel that was a place suited in a valley. And valleys are very popular areas in the Middle East. There's water, there's lush greenery. And so it's more than likely another implicit reference of her victory over this temptation as in her hometown, the place that reminds her of her beloved, that fertile area. And in chapter 7, verse 1, through the end of Solomon's final temptation, we see him once again using physical qualities to call her into him. Again, unlike the beloved who wants to hear her voice or to see her or to remember and long for her, He's focusing in on her physical beauty. Now, there's a heavy use in this passage alone of Hebrew words that are only found one time in the Old Testament. Now, it actually makes up about 20% of the one-time use words in Song of Songs. Now, there's a very important thing to draw from this. Hebrew often used what's known as loan words, or they would borrow words from other cultures. And since we know that Solomon himself was very wise and he had lots of trade and merchants, he was very much involved in different cultures, that he would have been very familiar with these different uses of these words. And love poetry, likewise, from the Egyptians, from the Assyrians, from the Babylonians, had a very similar theme to them in using those words. Now, why do I say that? It's because we cannot, with certainty, in an allegorical sense at least, assert any meaning of these words because they're not elsewhere used. They're assumed. Essentially, they're Assyrian words that are trying to be Christianized or allegorized to now make it mean something else. We just can't do that. There's no certainty in that. They're only used one time. And the allegorical approach and other approaches really run rampant with their different meanings of what all of this could possibly refer to. You can read them on your own, there's a plethora of them. The heap of wheat, for example, is supposed to be a reference to, and there's a variance within that as well, either her fertility, or it's a reference to harvest, or other things that bring about some idea of cultivation, But what I want to home in on here is on verse eight. And remember how I mentioned the commentator who said that we can't attribute anything historical to poetry. We have to kind of leave those aside. So we can't incorporate Solomon's lifestyle into Song of Songs. Now in verse eight, Solomon says, I will climb the palm tree. Now the word palm tree is also the same word that is used for Tamar. And we know of two Tamars in the Bible in Genesis 38 and 2 Samuel 16. Now, in the view of this individual, he says that essentially what Solomon is doing is he is righting the wrong of Judah and Amnon's sin. He's using this historical event to now show that he is the more idyllic version of what Israel should be or could have been. But if it is not about Solomon's back in the previous chapter, verse six, or chapter six, verse eight, if that can't be attributed to Solomon, historical Solomon, with regard to his concubines or his virgins, how is it okay here to implement that as a historical event? It's inconsistent with the application, and it's really not quite clear that this is even a reference to Tamar herself. But again, we have to be careful of how we are approaching the text. And again, my aim and my goal throughout all of this has been to make you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love Jesus Christ as your bridegroom all the more. Secondly, for those who are married or who are seeking to be married, to have your marriage strengthened as we see it through the lens of the scriptures. And I do believe this shows us what a marriage should look like. Rock solid, white hot, resisting temptation, enduring hardship. My goal is not to circumvent the work of comment or of translators or committees or anything like that. But my goal and what I am tasked to do for all of you here is to draw out to the best of my ability the words as they are written in the original languages and show you as scripture interprets scripture to bring those out in the full. And so that's why we need to just be careful to not take a very vanilla glance over the way in which our translators have interpreted these, but to be students of the Bible, to love the scriptures, and to dig deep, and to search, and to seek, and to go back and be like the Bereans, and to test those against scripture themselves. Now, verse nine, the first little bit of verse nine kind of alters whether or not who is speaking, depending on which translation you have, essentially Solomon ends with, your mouth is like the best wine. But there is a translation, or a translation, there is a transition, again, that the woman here is speaking in the rest of verse nine. She says, it goes down smoothly, but what does she say? For my beloved. If Solomon is right there with her, why would she not attribute to him it goes down smoothly for you? if he's standing there. Again, she's always using a reference to somebody else, to another individual. And really what he's trying to get at here is he wants to partake or her to partake of his wine, which is a reference to kissing. And she says it only goes down smoothly for her beloved. Now, It goes down is a participle, and it's masculine, which means it's referring to the beloved himself, not a reference to Solomon, because my beloved is the person whom she's hoping that it goes down with. Again, gliding over the teeth, there's a footnote on the ESV for how that can also be translated. Again, it's difficult to directly translate, and I'm admitting that. it's related to sleeping. And so we could say that an alternate translation is for my beloved is walking according to uprightness. The idea of goes down smoothly is the same word Sadiq, which is translated as righteousness in Hebrew or uprightness. For my beloved is walking according to uprightness, causing the lips, which is a reference to speech, causing the lips of sleepers to speak. Let me read it again. For my beloved is walking according to uprightness, causing the lips of sleepers to speak. Now this is a very important translational note. And again, you can see in the Septuagint, the Syriac, the Vulgate, the Hebrew, it says causing the lips of sleepers to speak, at least in the ESV in its little footnote. Why speaking? Why sleepers being used? Again, it fits the context of what we have already been looking through with regard to the Shulamite woman wanting to be away from this time of darkness, wanting to hear the voice of her beloved. Song of Songs, chapter two, 16 through 17. My beloved is mine and I am his. And he grazes among the lilies until the day breathes and the shadows flee, referring to that wrath-like instance, the shadows flee, the nighttime, the darkness going away. The sleep time going away, no longer being involved in it. And likewise, she attaches his voice by using the word lips to that which is sweet. And we've seen how both her and the beloved himself refer to one another's voice. She says in Song of Songs, chapter two, verse eight, the voice of my beloved, behold, he comes leaping and bounding amongst the hills. Verse two of chapter five, you remember the dream narrative. And she says, a sound, it's my beloved knocking. She hears his voice. She awakens from that sleep. In verse 16 of chapter five, his mouth is most sweet and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, oh, daughters of Jerusalem. He likewise uses it of her in chapter two, verse 14. He says, oh, my dove in the clefts of the rock and the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely. Solomon never attributes either awakening or sleeping or voice of the woman in any of his attempts to woo her. Again, there's distinct individuals at play, and she's always referencing this other individual, the shepherd whom she's truly devoted to, who she truly loves and adores. And verse 10 brings us full circle into what has already been communicated. It gives us a biblical theology of the marriage covenant. I am my beloved's and his desire is for me. Again, I am my beloved's, dedication to that particular person. Why not? I am yours, my beloved. But no, I am my beloved's, another individual. This desire, though, is where I really want to focus in on because it's very important. It's used only three times in the Old Testament. Here, obviously, but two others in Genesis. Genesis 3.16, one of the curses to the woman. I will surely multiply your pain and childbirthing and pain. You shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you. And later in Genesis 4, 7, the Lord speaks, if you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you. but you must rule over it. In Genesis 3, 16, we see how the curse is related for the woman desiring to usurp the way that God has structured the family life, the husband as the head and the woman in subjection to the husband. It's very prevalent in our own culture. Think about feminism and worldlism, egalitarianism, all these ways in which women have tried to usurp the natural biblical order. It's very prevalent in church culture as well. We see it in the Roman Catholic Church, where the bride, the church itself, is the head over top of Christ often. But her response is she's aligning with these biblical principles. She's refusing to be swayed by the curse of the fall. She's setting her own desire. His desire is for me. My desire isn't over you as the curse would have it, but your desire is over me. In Genesis 4-7, we see how sin is related to setting its own desire for us or over us. Sin and temptation has had its desire for her, but she really took heed to the word of God, she knew what God's word says. And rather than usurping her own authority or going contrary to the word of God, she acknowledges the mutual affection that she has for her own beloved and her desire is not over him, but his desire is over her. Again, aligning this up into what a biblical marriage looks like. And we really, again, see many Christ-like characteristics coming forth in the idea and the themes of temptation, desire, resisting, all of these things that Christ has shown us throughout his time here, his ministry on earth. And we're reminded of the promises that when we do resist temptation, God is with us. James 4, 7 through 8, submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil. and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." Again, we've seen things kind of come full circle as we begin to conclude next week on Song of Songs. Just as Christ himself overcame this threefold temptation, the woman here, the Shulamite woman, overcomes this threefold temptation. And with that, though, with the way by which our union of Christ unites us to him through the power of the Spirit, he has enabled us and given us the precedence to overcome any temptation that is thrown our way. And he always gives us an opportunity for escape. He never throws us without the tools to overcome it. He's given us his spirit. You are the temple of God, Paul says in Corinthians. And so we must resist them to this temptation and not only resist it in the church life, but also resist it in our personal lives as well. to submit ourselves unto God and to take confidence that he alone will draw us out of such temptation and will glorify us and hold us until the end. And with that, let us go to him in prayer. Lord God in heaven, again, we thank you for the truth of your word. And Father, we recognize that there are many difficult challenges in your word, but I pray, oh Lord, that you would encourage us through the power of your spirit Despite many of the differing views on Song of Songs, that we would hold fast to your principles, your truth, that we would recognize our place as the bride of Christ, Lord, and that we look forward to that day that you have set before us, the trajectory you have us on. though we are pilgrims and exiles on this world, that you have set a place before us. Lord, when the new heavens and the new earth come, that you have set a place where the bride will be with you, O Lord, where you set that wonderful feast, where no longer will there be temptation, no longer will there be tribulation, no sickness, no disease, no death, no more mourning, but we will see you in all your glory. Father, help us to overcome only by your power. We ask this in Christ's name, amen.