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Song of Songs 7:1-9
King to Bride
7:1 How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O prince’s daughter.
The curves of your thighs are like ornaments,
The work of the hands of an artist.
2 Your navel is a rounded goblet never lacking mixed wine.
Your abdomen is a stack of wheat enclosed with lilies.
3 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of gazelle.
4 Your neck is like a tower of ivory.
Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon
By the gate of the populous city.
Your nose is like a tower in Lebanon keeping watch
over Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you as Carmel,
And the flowing locks of your head are like purple threads.
The king is held captive by your tresses.
6 How beautiful and how pleasant you are-love in (your)
exquisite delights.
7 This your stature is comparable to a palm tree,
and your breasts to its clusters.
8 I say, “I will climb the palm tree;
I will take hold of its fruit stalks;
Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine
and the fragrance of your breath like apples
9 and your mouth like the best wine,
Bride (to King)
going down smoothly for my beloved,
flowing gently through the lips of the sleeping ones.
New Season of Spring – Deeper Level of Love
- As we know well our Creator God has instituted marriage between a male and a female. God did not intend a misery between a husband and a wife in any Christian marriage. As a matter of fact, it is very rare for a married couple to really grow in their love for one another, to experience a deeper and richer love as the seasons pass from one to the next. It seems that genuine excitement and appreciation for each other soon gives way to boring tolerance of a situation without remedy. To the contrary of what ordinary marriage is, any Christian marriage is really designed and supposed to become better with age. No husband is better than king Solomon in this Song of Songs. Solomon says in Proverbs 5:18-19, “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth. 19 As a loving hind and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; Be exhilarated always with her love.” He gave such wise advice for any husband, and he himself heeds to his own advice in the Song of Songs. The new spring of his romance brought a marriage that was deeper and richer in every conceivable aspect of their relationship – in their lovemaking, in their live conversation, in all their experiences together.
- In this Song, 7:1-8:4, can we see in the very tender lovemaking we are bringing glory to God? Indeed, they are doing so in the way that any of God’s stewards bring glory to God, by obediently living as God intended. King Solomon and his wife are obeying God in their marriage life by being very much in love and very expressive of that love. There is a time to embrace (Ecclesiastes 3:5), so with this couple, there is a time and place for love, and when it is given, it should be as tender and as meaningful as theirs.
- In 7:1-9, we see a repeated yet more intimate and detailed account of lovemaking between king Solomon and his wife than that of their wedding night. King Solomon first recounts the praise (7:1-7); then he notes the king’s declaration of what he shall do (7:8-9a). And then we see the response of his wife in 7:9b. Thus, we can easily compare the two nights and see what changes may have taken place in their relationship.
- One of the things we notice is that the king’s praise is much more sensual and intimate. It reflects a greater knowledge of the physical beauty of his wife. King Solomon starts at the bottom of her feet and praises her to the top of her head. First, he compliments the loveliness of her feet, then the curves of her thighs including her hips, and then he compares her navel to a rounded glass never lacking mixed wine, then her abdomen to a stack of wheat enclosed with lilies as if he is saying that her navel and stomach are giving him a joyful and satisfying feast meal. Next, king Solomon describes his natural desire to caress the breasts of his wife, then her neck as her noble dignity exemplified in her posture and her neck’s artistic smoothness created by her Creator.
- When king Solomon looks into the eyes of his wife, they are peaceful and gentle like the peaceful pools of spring water by the busy gate of the famous royal city of Sihon king of the Amorites, nowadays Jordan. Her eyes give the weary king Solomon in her chamber after his long day’s work. Then, he describes her nose as her exemplified noble and strong character. Yet the most beautiful aspect of his wife is her lovely face. It crowns her as Mt. Carmel crowns the land. At the top of the rich soiled land, Mt. Carmel is as if it looks over its rich land. So her face is beautiful and impressive atop her wholesome figure as if it is a lovely crown on his lovely queen’s head. Then he describes her luxurious hair, as it looks as elegant as the queen’s hair. Her hair drapes around king Solomon as if it captures him as her captive. On their wedding night, king Solomon praised seven aspects of the beauty of his bride, now he gives a total of ten aspects of the beauty of his wife. Thus, we know king Solomon has grown his more intimate knowledge of his wife in all conceivable ways through his first year of the marriage life.
- The marriage life of this couple deepens and becomes bolder the more days go by, as it should. In 7:6-7, king Solomon is bolder and freer in his description of his lovemaking to his wife than the wedding night. And the response of his wife to his lovemaking attitude is also freer and bolder as well (7:9b) It is a quite natural and normal progress in any married couples. But in Solomon’s case, we see his familiarity with his wife’s figure brings definitely more intimate and satisfying love and affection without any slight glimpse of disrespect and contempt. Indeed, the all too familiar expression “familiarity breeds contempt” is quite often so true among many married couples. But in this Song of Songs, king Solomon testifies a biblical truth that any godly couple has an almost unlimited way of growing on their love and respect for each other during their whole married life until the death parts them.
- On their wedding night, king Solomon and his bride were more or less focused on the sexual consummation as a sign of their love for each other. But in 7:1-9, we see the effect of their sexual consummation is their closeness to each other while they fall asleep in each other’s arms. As they fall asleep the last kiss lingers in each other’s minds like the exquisite aftertaste of the best wine. (7:8b-9) What an enchanting picture of the sleeping couple! Their sexual expression of love truly serves its purpose in their marriage life. In his case, the more they enjoy their sex life, the more it nourishes their marriage life not breeding any slight chances of contempt on each other. Sadly though, slowly developing and breeding is a plague of devaluating and denigrating one another, so prevalent among many ordinary married couples throughout ages.
- Thus far in this chapter seven, we have seen the growth of their ideal marriage in many ways. In the sensuous more knowledgeable praise, the bolder initiation and more passionate description of his caresses, in the smoother more natural response of his wife, and in the fulfillment of the enriching purposes of sex- in all these ways 7:1-9 have demonstrated a progression in the maturity of their marriage relationship together. There is no trace of less godliness in their sexually progressed marriage life rather we find a growth of mutual care, tender love and respect for each other in their mutual familiarity of each other.
Questions to Ponder with Prayers
- What could be considered romantic from your point of view in your relationships whether married or unmarried?
- What can be your description of an ideal date with your loved one?
- In your relationship, how can you overcome such a symptom as “familiarity breeds contempt” when it appears?
