A garden is a place a beauty, beauty that is growing more beautiful. It is a place where life in its quietness and subtlety slowly unfolds itself to the eyes of it’s beholder. Christ here in Song of Solomon 5:1 is the beholder, and his garden brings Him exceeding joy. It is a garden of souls, a garden of capacities, a garden of the consciousnesses of many individuals. It shows the end of the Law unto righteousness, it is the end of one dispensation and the beginning of another. It conveys the thought of an amazing resurrection, a rebirth, having gone through death, but now alive.
‘Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, beloved ones! ” Song of Solomon 5:2
Luke 19:10 reveals, ” For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.’
The initiating words proceed from the Savior, first, ‘Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, beloved ones! ” and then, “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. “From a realm of mysterious origin appears the invitation. Open your door! Reminiscent of the church of Laodicea:
” Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. ” Revelation 3:20 reveals the inquiry.
Again in Matthew chapter 11 we find another invitation ,”come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Question? Is this irresistible grace? Is the invitation resistible?
It must be resistible or the free volition of every man can be questioned. This free volition of man presents another mystery. In the Gospels a man said “yes” and yet never followed through. Another man said “no” but then obeyed.
Back to our story in song of Solomon.
“I sleep, but my heart waketh.”
A song says it well, “like waking up from the longest dream…how real it seems.” O Friends, our salvation is a transfer of two reals, “kingdoms” if you will; ‘Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” Colossians 1:13
But comes a shocking objection by the initiated one, “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? “Song 5:3
I will take liberty here to explain an allegory, in keeping with the thought of God’s initiation to souls. In essence, the half-asleep person is saying, “You have caught me at a time when my defenses are down.” “You are challenging my very concept of life and I am not ready to answer.” Both my identity and my activity are not prepared for answers now.
Nevertheless, she says, “my bowels are moved. ” ( verse 4) I am being drawn by love. A responder at core, God has touched a nerve in her.
But next, rising up, she flung on perfumes, a woman’s attraction enhancer. In the Palace of the King a worthy woman as Esther, submitted to (.., six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors, and with other things for the purifying of the women;) Women and perfume go together as in Proverbs 7:17 (the adulterer.) The more we cover ourselves with attractiveness, the less interested is God.
“but my beloved had withdrawn himself”
“My soul went forth when he spoke. I sought him, but I found him not; I called him, but he gave me no answer. “verse 6
God will always meet us on His terms and on His turf. When we want to dictate the conditions, we may find that He has withdrawn. In the case of our beloved friend of Song 5, seems she was then smitten of her watchmen, (verse 7), the watchmen of her life-concept — perhaps her conscience which guards that concept. Folks we cannot find a True God in a humanly manufactured concept. That world view is flawed including it’s god.
“I am sick of love.” She cries. Disappointed, distraught, still longing and kicking herself for being so “in the way,” she is asked to explain her special lover. 7 verses of description concludes with:
“all of him desirable, This is my beloved, and this my friend.” verse 16 YLT
Not of this world is this lover, His love is unconditional and founded in His own self-sacrificing nature. None can merit it, none can earn it. None are desirable to Him excepting His own love’s seeking. He bids her to “come away.” chapter 2:13
love ya
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