The Song of Solomon 5

There are times when we have such spectacular or wrenching things happening to us in our lives that we seriously wonder if there is some chance that these things are actually dreams. If the events are unbelievably pleasant we hope that we will never wake up. If they are too horrifying to face we beg that they are just all-too-realistic nightmares that could not possibly be true. The fifth chapter of this book seems to have something of both.

Throughout the poem it is difficult to sort dream from reality. This is a different world then we live in, yet physical and wonderful. The timing of events is hard to pin down, but the feelings are to be experienced as the drama unfolds before the reader.

The previous chapter ended with the invitation of the bride to "come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits." In this chapter we begin with the king acting upon this invitation as he says, "I came to my garden, my sister, my bride." Is this the bride's dream? If it is, there are other people in it. This is not a secret love undertaken in private. There are others who are witnesses to this marriage who urge, "Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!"

The fact that the bride announces "I slept" suggests that all of this is a dream. The first part of the dream is an encounter between the man and the woman with very sensuous and sexual language, yet in a moment he is suddenly not there. She seeks him and he is not found. She asks the watchmen of Jerusalem concerning him but they abuse her and beat her! Would they have dared to do such a thing if her husband had been nearby?

Yet she is not concerned about her bruises in this dream sequence. All she wants is him. She describes him to the daughters of Jerusalem. As she has been appreciated for the specific details of her physical beauty, now she extols his head, his hair, his eyes, his cheeks, his lips, his arms, his chest, his legs, and his mouth. She admires him and she wants him.

The love of a husband and wife is to be mutual, even in physical attraction and appreciation. This love is not some detached out-of-body experience of souls that rejoice in one another. We do thank God for the minds and the souls of our life partners, but there is no need to divide body and soul here as if the body were a bad thing. A wife should enjoy the body of her husband, just as she knows that he enjoys her body.

We again remember that not everyone will have this exact desire since some will not be called to this kind of relationship. Furthermore, many women who have this desire will never find the men that they have been praying for. But all who know Jesus, have a great man, and will have him forever. In our nightmares we imagine that he has left us. We think that he will not be there to protect us, and that others will be able to destroy us. But the one who has purchased us with his own blood will not leave us. We will one day enjoy such stable permanence of faithful love that we will know without even the slightest doubt that we are completely safe from harm forever. Perhaps some of the horrors that we may face in this world of sin enable us to appreciate the stability of perfect love that we will enjoy forever with our Lord.

Together with the bride of this poem, we rejoice in the Lord! He is our great God in every detail. There is nothing lacking in Him. He has the excellent beauty of perfect holiness forever.