Song of Songs 8


  • 8:1–After inviting Him deeper into her garden for the sake of giving Him caresses and delicacies, she yearns to be closer to Him. Her desire for Him to be her brother is a cry to have the most similar nature to Christ’s as possible. This is our destiny, our call to fulfill glorifying God. Jesus is the firstborn of many brothers and sisters, which is in the context of us being predestined to be conformed into His image (Romans 8:29). In  eternity we will be made completely like Him (1 John 3:2). Psalm 17:15 prays, “But I will see your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied with your presence.” She longs to be in the presence of Christ at all times where she does not have to hide her affection for Him before others. It is a cry for the secret place of intimacy to be 24/7; Revelation gives many pictures of deep, abiding corporate worship before the throne!
  • 8:2–The mother in this book refers to the Spirit. We are reborn by the Spirit through God’s love and grace.
  • 8:4–This is another moment of rich experience with the Lord that she asks to not be stirred away from. 
  • 8:5–This is the second time we see the phrase, “Who is this coming up from the wilderness…?” The first instance was in 3:6 where she finally answered His call to come away, she experienced the cross and looked much more like Him in truer union. This question in 3:6 showcases her leaving behind a life of wandering, faithlessness, and fickleness. 
    • This second time the question is asked: the “wilderness” does not symbolize wandering but rather the physical earth. The context of chapter 8 is her longing to be in eternity with Jesus as her brother where she can be intimate and love Him at all times. This love cannot happen until our flesh is completely done away with and we no longer live under the influence of the world and satan. This desire is expressed in Psalm 17:14 (right before what we quoted above): “With your hand, LORD, save me from men, from men of the world whose portion is in this life…”
    • Maturity in the Lord is marked by greater and greater dependence (leaning) on Him. 
    • We connected 6:13 to Jacob wrestling with the Lord. This is the last thing anyone in the Song sees because she is taken away to the secret place. 8:5 is the first thing people see after 6:13. She is reappearing with a limp like Jacob. The heart we can ask for is to want the Lord’s blessing, for His sake, not our own. That we value the Lord’s life going forth in us more than we want our own life. Pray to have such fortitude in your spirit like Jacob did to not let go until he was blessed, even in the midst of his own pain. We want our flesh to be weak and our spirits to be strong!
  • Who speaks in 8:5b is controversial. It reads, “I awakened you under the apricot tree. There your mother conceived you; there she conceived and gave you birth.” It seems to be that Christ would be the One to awaken her where she was conceived and born again by the Spirit, not the other way around. The only other reference to the apricot tree is in 2:3, with Christ being the apricot tree (the tree that produces fruit) among all the other trees of the forest. In other words, He Himself is the tree of life; it is in feeding from Christ that we live! She delights to sit in His shade and His fruit is sweet. So in this verse, it makes sense to interpret the apricot tree again as being Christ’s life that is sweet and delightful to us. How amazing is it that Christ is reminding her at this point in her journey of where she began: in His life, delight and affection by His Spirit.
  • 8:6a-- she is crying out for the Lord to keep her: both in His love and affection (heart) and in His strength (arm). She now knows that their relationship depends on His power and love to preserve their intimacy, not on hers. Her best affections cannot be trusted or relied upon.
  • 8:6b–In the physical realm, nothing is stronger than death. There is absolutely no returning from it. This is the strength of Christ’s love: nothing, absolutely nothing, will stop it, hinder it, change it, or take you away from it (Romans 8:32, 38-9). God is a jealous God (Exodus 34:14). His jealousy is as unrelenting as Sheol. Once someone arrives in hell (Sheol), the torture does not relent. It does not matter anything about who you were in your life like age, socioeconomic status, popularity, etc. It’s wrath will burn against you for the rest of time. This is how fierce God’s jealousy is for His children: He will come after you until all your idols are destroyed and He has full access and reign over your entire being. He wants you, He is jealous for you and He will do anything to consume your heart (James 4:5; Hebrews 12:29).
  • 8:7–No hardship, no persecution, nothing in this life can overcome love. God’s love is ultimate and highest and can be received in any circumstance (1 Corinthians 13:13; Phil 4:12-13). We cannot earn or buy love, this is the beauty of the gospel: Jesus wants our being, our heart (Isaiah 55:1-3).
  • 8:12–What a huge gift that the Lord has helped her to tend to her own vineyard (1:6). Tending to vineyards is a gift from God that comes with restored relationship with Him (Jeremiah 31:2-5). The bride gives back to Solomon out of love and also to those who contributed to helping her vineyard flourish.

  • 8:13–The “you” is feminine in the Hebrew, meaning the Groom is speaking to His bride.

  • 8:14–This response reveals maturity and victory since 2:14-15. Her cry is wanting Jesus to return so she can dwell with Him forever on His holy mountain (Jeremiah 31:5). Does your heart long for such deep intimacy that cannot be had on this earth but only in eternity with Christ?