Song 7:11-12 | KingComments | STEP | The bride is now aware of the special love of the groom. Earlier she said: “My beloved is mine, and I am his” ( ). That is at the beginning of her relationship of love. What she has received is in the foreground. In it we hear what is important for the newly converted, what he has received: forgiveness of sins, eternal life. A little later the bride says: “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” ( ). She has grown in her relationship with her beloved. Here it is no longer in the foreground that he is hers, but that she is his. This can also be seen in the growth of someone who has been converted. Then it is no longer in the first place that the Lord Jesus is his, but that he belongs to the Lord Jesus, that he is His property ( ). What still is important is what he has received: the Beloved is also his. In we now have before us, she says: “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.” Here it is all about who the bride is to the groom. In the spiritual growth of the believer then the stage has been reached that it is especially important who he is for Him. Then the awareness that His thoughts and desires go out to us gives us the greatest joy. The proof of spiritual maturity is that the heart is no longer focused on one’s own happiness, but on the happiness or joy of the Other. This will also apply to Jerusalem in the future. The Lord Jesus delivers the city and He takes her to be His bride. She will become aware that His desire is for her. This awareness is overwhelming and gives the certainty of the inviolability of the new relationship. As long as our love for Him is the basis of our feelings, there is often uncertainty about the relationship with Him. The awareness that Christ loves us puts an end to all uncertainty about it. Now that the bride has come to rest in her relationship with the groom, she wants to go out with him ( ). Now she does everything together with him. In she says “let us” four times. As a practical point, I would like to make the following remark. It is important in marriage to keep in mind that men and women have and do everything together. This applies not only when they are together, but also when they are not together. When the man is at work and talking about the children, you can hear him talk about ‘my children’, while they are ‘our children’, the children both of his wife and of him. The bride takes the initiative and says to the groom to go with her. She wants to “go out into the country” with him and “spend the night in the villages” with him. Herein we can see the desire to make others familiar with the love that is between them, so that the blessing of love can also be enjoyed in all places on earth where it is still night. Going into the country means going to work with a view to the harvest. It is not about ‘her’ field, ‘her’ work, but about others. It concerns the whole country of the Lord’s interests. They “go out”. The bride leaves her ‘comfort zone’ and goes in search of people who long to hear of their love. Similarly, if we live in a close bond of love with the Lord Jesus, we will leave our ‘comfort zone’ to tell people in the world about our love for Him and His love for us. That does not necessarily mean that we go to far away areas. Leaving our ‘comfort zone’ means that we take a clear stand toward the world about our relationship with the Lord Jesus, about Who He is for us. That happens in “the country”, that is where we do our daily work. It will be seen in the way we do our work and also in the way we talk about Him. We can do our work in a way that nobody notices us being a Christian. Then we avoid negative reactions and other inconveniences. But that is not what the believer who is full of the love of Christ does. Whoever is full of the love of Christ is controlled by that love to tell others about it ( ). We may do the work of an evangelist in daily life in daily activities. Staying the night in the villages determines us that after work in the country we take time for rest. Villages speak of a peaceful environment. The hectic city life is lacking there. During the rest there is time for fellowship with the Lord. This is necessary before the next day comes with new activities.

‏ Song of Solomon 7:11-12

Go out with the Beloved

The bride is now aware of the special love of the groom. Earlier she said: “My beloved is mine, and I am his” (Song 2:16a). That is at the beginning of her relationship of love. What she has received is in the foreground. In it we hear what is important for the newly converted, what he has received: forgiveness of sins, eternal life.

A little later the bride says: “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (Song 6:3a). She has grown in her relationship with her beloved. Here it is no longer in the foreground that he is hers, but that she is his. This can also be seen in the growth of someone who has been converted. Then it is no longer in the first place that the Lord Jesus is his, but that he belongs to the Lord Jesus, that he is His property (Rom 14:7-8). What still is important is what he has received: the Beloved is also his.

In Song 7:10 we now have before us, she says: “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.” Here it is all about who the bride is to the groom. In the spiritual growth of the believer then the stage has been reached that it is especially important who he is for Him. Then the awareness that His thoughts and desires go out to us gives us the greatest joy. The proof of spiritual maturity is that the heart is no longer focused on one’s own happiness, but on the happiness or joy of the Other.

This will also apply to Jerusalem in the future. The Lord Jesus delivers the city and He takes her to be His bride. She will become aware that His desire is for her. This awareness is overwhelming and gives the certainty of the inviolability of the new relationship. As long as our love for Him is the basis of our feelings, there is often uncertainty about the relationship with Him. The awareness that Christ loves us puts an end to all uncertainty about it.

Now that the bride has come to rest in her relationship with the groom, she wants to go out with him (Song 7:11). Now she does everything together with him. In Song 7:11-12 she says “let us” four times. As a practical point, I would like to make the following remark. It is important in marriage to keep in mind that men and women have and do everything together. This applies not only when they are together, but also when they are not together. When the man is at work and talking about the children, you can hear him talk about ‘my children’, while they are ‘our children’, the children both of his wife and of him.

The bride takes the initiative and says to the groom to go with her. She wants to “go out into the country” with him and “spend the night in the villages” with him. Herein we can see the desire to make others familiar with the love that is between them, so that the blessing of love can also be enjoyed in all places on earth where it is still night.

Going into the country means going to work with a view to the harvest. It is not about ‘her’ field, ‘her’ work, but about others. It concerns the whole country of the Lord’s interests. They “go out”. The bride leaves her ‘comfort zone’ and goes in search of people who long to hear of their love. Similarly, if we live in a close bond of love with the Lord Jesus, we will leave our ‘comfort zone’ to tell people in the world about our love for Him and His love for us.

That does not necessarily mean that we go to far away areas. Leaving our ‘comfort zone’ means that we take a clear stand toward the world about our relationship with the Lord Jesus, about Who He is for us. That happens in “the country”, that is where we do our daily work. It will be seen in the way we do our work and also in the way we talk about Him.

We can do our work in a way that nobody notices us being a Christian. Then we avoid negative reactions and other inconveniences. But that is not what the believer who is full of the love of Christ does. Whoever is full of the love of Christ is controlled by that love to tell others about it (2Cor 5:14a). We may do the work of an evangelist in daily life in daily activities.

Staying the night in the villages determines us that after work in the country we take time for rest. Villages speak of a peaceful environment. The hectic city life is lacking there. During the rest there is time for fellowship with the Lord. This is necessary before the next day comes with new activities.

Fresh and Old Fruits

In Song 7:12 follows the third “let us”. After the night we do not sleep in. The bride wants to “rise early [and go] to the vineyards”. Here we can think of a service in the midst of God’s people. The vineyard is a picture of Israel, where God has done everything to make it fruitful (Isa 5:1-7). There are several ‘vineyards’ here. We can apply this to all work that happens for the Lord with the intention that He may receive fruit from it.

The vineyard is the area of care, of attention to the fruit. For that care and attention, the mind of a shepherd is necessary. In the beginning of the book Song of Songs the bride spoke about her ‘own vineyard’ (Song 1:6). This indicates that everyone has his own area, which is given to him by the Lord Jesus to work there for Him. In Song of Songs 1 she says that she has not guarded her own vineyard. But she has learned in the meantime and now she can go out to other vineyards to discover fruit there.

The application is about people who do not yet have an insight into the glorious connection between God and His people. If we know and enjoy them ourselves, we want to tell others who are in churches and groups that know nothing about that. For example, that woman who had been visiting a particular church for fifty years and said that she had never heard a sermon about the rapture of the church. Or someone who said she had never heard about the true meaning of marriage as a picture of Christ and the church.

The Lord’s purpose for us is to be so busy for Him in our own area that it makes Him happy. The vineyard speaks of joy. We can think of our families, the local church and society. These are all areas where we have a responsibility. In all these areas we may testify of our connection with the Lord Jesus and the joy He finds when we are doing everything for Him.

When we realize that, we will look “whether the vine has budded [and its] blossoms have opened” that is, whether new life is coming and the first signs of that new life are already visible. Shepherds in the church will take care to ensure that in the lives of young people there is a promise of a dedicated, Spirit-led life which the Lord Jesus rejoices in.

We will be careful in the local church to see if there are such promising young people who grow up to the glory of God (cf. Song 6:11). This is to help them in their spiritual growth, so that they can reach maturity. “Let us see” means that there is spiritual vision. It may also be about believers who have been weak for a while in their being a Christian, but now show signs of renewed interest in the things of the Lord.

There will also be a focus on “[whether] the pomegranates have bloomed”. As noted in an earlier consideration of the pomegranate (Song 4:3), this fruit indicates a fullness of life because of the many seeds it contains. Each seed is juicy, sweet and red. The joy of which the vineyard speaks is part of the fruit of the Spirit. But there are more parts of that (Gal 5:22-23). It is about the fullness of the fruit of the Spirit becoming visible in our lives. That is what caring for the believers is all about.

The whole action of the bride shows that she is delivered from her self-centeredness. She wants to give Him her love. This is the result of the connection with Him and being busy for Him and with Him in His work. Then He is the center of all life with all its activities. This gives rise to a desire to let others share in it.

True service is not the result of obligations or because there is no one else to do the work, but of being engaged with Christ. If we are drawn to others, are concerned about their spiritual growth and want to be helpful in this, we give our love to the Lord Jesus. For the believer, life is not just about giving and taking, but only giving. God is the Giving God, and we may imitate Him therein.

Rachel, in her superstition, used “mandrakes” (‘love apples’) (Song 7:13) in her relationship with Jacob, because she believed it would relieve her of her barrenness (Gen 30:14-16). There is no such superstition with the bride. She mentions “the mandrakes” because of their fragrance. It points out that her relationship with the groom is profound and spreads a fragrance that anyone can smell.

The true, profound, mutual love between the Messiah and Jerusalem is a matter that provides others with “all choice [fruits]”. These fruits hang over the doors of the house of the groom and the bride. The house of Israel has doors through which people can enter the city. In the kingdom of peace, a visit to the city yields a ‘food package’ of all kinds of delicious fruits.

These are not, in the first place, literally edible fruits, but they are the fruits that the Spirit works and through which everyone is richly blessed. There is no greater blessing in a family imaginable than when its members live together in harmony and do everything in their power to make life as pleasant as possible. That will characterize the city.

What is enjoyed in the city, consists of “both new and old” fruits. It is about new experiences, such as the bride has gained in the recent great tribulation. These are also experiences the city has gained in the past from the faithfulness of God. These are the fruits that Jerusalem has saved up for Him and offers Him when He comes to her. We may also save up our experiences for Him and offer them to Him when we are with Him. He will ask us about it (Mt 25:19-23).

The new experiences are connected with the old experiences the fathers have gained in their lives with LORD. They are old and new things (cf. Mt 13:52). Even old truths have to be made true over and over again. It must all come from a living relationship with Him.

Because of what we experience, old truths that we did know, acquire their true meaning through our experiences or deeper study of the Word. Then they will shine all the more. We see that meaning and radiance because we discover Him in His Word. If we seek Him, He cannot “escape notice” (Mk 7:24).