Most of the Song of Solomon is joyous, upbeat love. How could two people be more deliriously happy with each other?
But there is one of the "songs" that is sung in the minor key. It has been said that the path of true love is never smooth. The love of these two is strained to near the breaking point in the drama of chapter five. (As we study we must remember that the "two" are Christ and His bride-to-be; their path to the "marriage of the Lamb" has been rocky!)
It's not the Bridegroom who has been fickle; sorry, it's the "girl." He has "chosen" her, "elected" her; His love has been steady. Their courtship has led them to the point of commitment, what we would call "the engagement." He is "ready" for "the marriage," long delayed. In chapter five He has come to her in a time of world history when He especially needs her to stand by His side as a "help meet." There is a denouement to the crisis of the ages when the Lamb of God who rides His white horse into the final battle of time needs His bride, His one true church, to cooperate with Him as only nuptial love can do. But is her love nuptial? Sadly, no; the story tells how she callously enjoys her selfish comfort, leaving Him knocking, knocking, vainly on her door.
The story is told in chapter 5:2-7. Finally she realizes she has repulsed Him and belatedly gets up to let Him in, only to discover that His divine patience after years of delay, has been strained too far; and He is "gone." The story of her search for Him in the dark streets of the city is pathetic. Decades of prayer and fasting for a renewal of "the latter rain" and "the loud cry" power have not as yet healed the wound in the relationship.
But … He still loves "her." Why not choose a new "bride"? Revelation 19 says the same one will repent and "make herself ready," because His love is not fickle. That, incidentally, is our only hope.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 18, 2006.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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