“Just as the Book of Proverbs sets forth wisdom the
Believing Remnant will need in the ‘last days’ as they walk in the midst of terrible wickedness, Song
of Solomon sets forth the relationship of the Shulamite woman, who is a picture
of the Believer in Israel, and how she is being seduced away from waiting for
her Beloved by the apostate religion that’s consumed Israel,” explains Richard Jordan.
“At
the end of Solomon’s ministry he becomes a type of the Seducer; the ‘666 Man.’ There's this whole course of Israel where they start well but are seduced away,
and in spite of what they know to the contrary, wind up in rebellion against
God. The Song of Solomon is written from that perspective and it’s a love song.
“What
you have is this Shulamite woman whose Beloved has gone away, but he's told her he’s coming back. In the meantime, King Solomon comes to her and, on
two occasions, seeks to seduce her and draw her away from faithfulness and
chastity to her Beloved. He's inviting her to come and join him and let him lavish upon her his
riches, his wealth.
“We
study through II Peter and I, II, III John and Jude about this seduction policy
the Adversary has against the ‘little flock,’ and sometime we think of the
persecution but forget how strong it is to be seduced.
“There’s
going to wealth beyond imagination that’s offered to Israel, just like Solomon
offers to this woman. In chapter 1, he takes her into his palace. In the second
attempt, he actually takes her into his bedroom.
"He just lavishes gifts on her to make her succumb, to appeal to her, but she does the one thing that the Believing Remnant is going to have to do in the ‘last days’ to stay faithful in the face of it all and this woman does it in spades.”
"He just lavishes gifts on her to make her succumb, to appeal to her, but she does the one thing that the Believing Remnant is going to have to do in the ‘last days’ to stay faithful in the face of it all and this woman does it in spades.”
*****
In
her 1916 exposition on the Song of Solomon, Cora MacIlravy, in examining
chapter 7:10-13 (starting with, “I am my Beloved’s; and His desire is toward
me"), writes,
“We
have been bought with a price, not with silver nor gold, but with the precious
blood as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, even the Blood of Christ.
Very close must we approach unto Him, with all our hearts must we yield to Him
at every step, if we would apprehend that His desire is toward us. God would
have us abiding in this place.
“
. . . No tongue can describe the joy and rejoicing that fills the soul that has
really come to the Lord and tasted the uttermost salvation; into whose heart
and life the Lord has come and taken full possession, taking up His abode there
that He may work out His will in the life.
“There
was a time when we did not want the Lord, when He had no beauty that we should
desire Him, and we could see no form of comeliness in Him. As soon as we really
accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour, our hearts rejoice that: ‘My Beloved is
mine and I am His’ (ch. 2:16); our first joy is in the consciousness that He is
ours.
"There is such satisfaction in knowing that He is ours in as real a way as
though there were none else to claim Him and His love; although we know and
rejoice that He is the Lord and Saviour of all other believers. And we not only
rejoice that He is ours, but we rejoice that we belong to Him. We rest down in
the satisfaction of claiming Him for our own, and we draw on His protection and
working on our behalf.
“This
is our first joy; and the joy of belonging to Him comes as the next precious
thought. As we go on with the Lord, the relation between us grows more
intimate; our love is drawn out because of Himself rather than because of what
He does for us, and because of our possession of Him; and our hearts cry out: ‘I
am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine’ (ch. 6:3).
"We begin to see that we have
given ourselves to the Lord to be forever His. That He has not only given
Himself to us, but that He requires from us yieldedness and separation, with
the consciousness that we are no longer our own, but we have been bought with a
price. Only this attitude can bring us under His control so that His purpose
can be carried out and His name glorified.
“
. . . It is when we have been dealt with, and when we have passed through hard
things; it is when, through some dealing with God, our responsibility toward
Him breaks more fully upon our understanding, that the fact that we are His,
also begins to fill our spiritual horizon.
“We
are seeing more clearly that through Jesus Christ has bought us with His blood,
and has given Himself to us, it is God’s supreme purpose that we shall be given
over to Him. He has stretched forth His hand and laid it upon us, His is
separating us from the world, and we begin to enter into the precious work of
God in making us His own possession. These two passages (ch. 2:16; 6:3) set
forth the first two steps in the life of communion between the soul and God.
“It
is after the bride has been caught up into an abiding place of communion with
the Lord, ‘Among the chariots’ of the Prince; and those about her have seen the
glory of the Lord resting upon her; it is when they have seen the martyr’s
crown upon her head and have beheld her eyes with Heaven’s peace and depth
reflected in them, that she says: ‘I am my Beloved’s; His desire is toward me.’
“
. . . Much of the time in our spiritual babyhood, we have girded ourselves and
have gone where we desired; we have not yet apprehended what it means to take
up our cross and follow after Him; we have not yielded to Him, the Crucified,
that He may take out of us every movement of our own desires. We do not yet
discern that we are girding ourselves and going withersoever we will, and that
if we join the blest company of the bride of the Lamb, our own girding must
forever cease, and His girding must begin and go on until He decides all things
for us, and we have no way nor say in our lives.
“
. . .We begin to realize that we belong to Him, as His constraining love and
hands are stretched out and laid upon us until we have decreased and He has
increased.
“We
enter into the rest and satisfaction of belonging to Him, and we begin to taste
the sweetness of suffering for His sake.”
*****
Here
is another passage from MacIlravy’s book, looking specifically at Song of
Solomon 2:3 (“As the apple tree among the trees of
the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with
great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste”):
“The word, ‘apple,’ in this place, means orange, pomegranate,
citron, as well as apple, and is applied to this entire family of fruit trees.
Though one searched through all the forests of earth, he would not find one
fruit tree; and though one searches through the whole forest of humanity, there
is not one tree that can bear any fruit excepting that which is poisonous and
bitter. ‘There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved,’ excepting the Name of Jesus. Before the bride found the one fruitful
Tree, Christ, she searched throughout the forest, seeking life, seeking food,
seeking fruit; but upon no tree, did she find anything but leaves. . .
“Weary and worn, discouraged and hungry, she went from forest to
forest, from tree to tree. She looked for peace, but she found it not; she
looked for happiness, but she found it not; she looked for the ‘Daysman’ among
the forest of men, but she found none. Neither in man’s theories and teaching,
nor in their philosophy did she find peace. Neither in her own works nor in
those of other did she find rest. How she traveled and looked for salvation and
could not find it.
“At last, by the guidance and grace of God, she came to Him who is
the only ‘Apple Tree’ in the whole forest of humanity; the Tree upon which all
kinds of fruit grow. She came and tasted and found the Lord was good. She has
partaken of the fruit of the Tree of life; she has found fruit, refreshing and
sweet, both nourishing as food and satisfying to thirst . . .
“This is the tree that was in the bosom of the Father throughout
eternal ages. This is the Tree that was planted on earth when Jesus hung on the
Cross of Calvary; and God planted It here that we might have access to It, and
upon It we find all we need . . .
“The bride is not standing
under His shadow, which would show a lack of respect and permanency; but she
has sat down under His shadow, which
shows uninterrupted abiding in Him, and feeding upon Him. It is when she has
been drawn near enough to experience a close touch with Him, not only at times,
but a continual communion and abiding in Him, that she partakes of His precious
fruit and is refreshed in her soul by deep draughts of life more abundant. She
need fear no foe if she remains under His shadow for in that place, and there
alone, she is safe. There she finds food, shelter and all she needs . . .
“It is when the bride dwells in the secret place of the Most High,
that she abides under the shadow of the Almighty. It is when sitting under His
shadow, that she finds delight; it is when she takes refuge in Him, that she is
hidden away from the enemy, from the plottings of men, from the strife of
tongues, from the heat of the day. It is a wonderful thing to make the shadow
of the Almighty our dwelling place. It is a wonderful experience to sit down
under His shadow, and let Him be our shade on our right hand, our Covert from
the heat of the day, our Rock in a weary land, our High Tower and our Fortress
. . .
“He is the beautiful Rose of Sharon, which gladdens and beautifies
every desert and wilderness, which refreshes us in the times of our greatest
trials and suffering for His sake. He is the Lily of the Valleys, which is the
purest, the most fragrant and yet the humblest among the flowers. But He is not
only the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valleys, He is the only fruitful
tree among the trees of the forest. He is the source of all beauty, and the
Storehouse of all fragrance, purity and humility, He is the only supple of all
food and nourishment, He is the only Fountain of living water, He is the Water
of life. He is the shade upon our right hand, we sit down under His shadow with
great delight and His fruit is sweet to our taste.”
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