Solomon's Song 8

Chapter Overview

What happens in Solomon's Song 8

The final chapter brings the poem to its powerful conclusion. The bride wishes she could show her love openly. The poem reaches its climax with one of the most famous statements about love in all of Scripture, declaring that love is as strong as death and that nothing can put it out.

Scripture

The Bride Wishes for Open Love

Study note

The bride wishes her beloved were like a brother so she could show affection to him in public without anyone looking down on her. In the ancient world, a woman could kiss a family member in public, but showing love to a romantic partner in public was not accepted. She longs to bring him to her mother's house and share spiced wine and pomegranate juice. The mention of the mother's house ties back to chapter 3, where she brought him there after finding him. She gives the final repetition of the refrain asking the daughters of Jerusalem not to force love before its time.

1 I wish I could treat you like a brother, someone who nursed at my own mother's side. Then I could kiss you out in the open and nobody would say a word against it. O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.

2 I would bring you into my mother's house, the place where she taught me everything. I would give you spiced wine to drink and the fresh juice of my own pomegranates. I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.

3 His left hand would rest gently under my head, and his right arm would pull me close. His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me.

4 Promise me, daughters of Jerusalem, that you will not force love or try to wake it before it is ready. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.

The Power of Love

Study note

Someone sees the couple coming up from the wilderness together. The bride is leaning on her beloved, an image of trust and closeness. The apple tree mentioned may connect to the garden imagery throughout the poem. Then comes the climax of the entire book: the bride asks to be placed as a seal on his heart and arm. A seal was a person's most prized possession, used to mark ownership and identity. Love is declared to be as strong as death, and passion as unyielding as the grave. Its flame is like a blazing fire that comes from God himself. No flood can drown it, and no amount of wealth can buy it. This is the great truth at the center of the poem.

5 Who is this woman walking up from the wilderness, leaning lovingly on her beloved? It was under the apple tree that I first stirred your love, in the very place where your mother brought you into the world. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.

6 Wear me like a seal pressed over your heart, like a seal bound to your arm. Love is as fierce and unstoppable as death, and its burning passion is as relentless as the grave. Its fire blazes with an intensity that comes from God himself. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.

7 Oceans of water could never drown out love, and rivers could never sweep it away. If someone tried to trade their entire fortune for love, they would be laughed at and completely rejected. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

The Bride's Brothers Speak

Study note

The bride's brothers speak about their young sister. They want to know what they should do for her when the day comes that a man asks to marry her. If she is like a wall, standing firm and strong in her character, they will honor her with silver. If she is like a door that swings open easily, they will protect her with boards of cedar. The bride responds with confidence: she is a wall, strong and complete, and in the eyes of her beloved she has found true favor and peace.

8 Our sister is still young and has not yet grown up. What are we going to do for her when the time comes for someone to ask for her hand? We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

9 If she proves to be strong and steady like a wall, we will honor her by building a silver tower on her. If she is vulnerable like an open door, we will protect her with strong panels of cedar. If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.

10 I am strong like a wall, and I have grown into completeness. In his eyes, I have become someone who brings deep peace and contentment. I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.

Solomon's Vineyard and the Final Call

Study note

The poem closes with an image of Solomon's vineyard at Baal-hamon, which he rented out to keepers. Each keeper owed a thousand pieces of silver for the fruit. But the bride says her own vineyard, meaning herself and her love, belongs to her alone. She freely gives it to Solomon while the keepers receive their share. The bridegroom asks to hear her voice one last time, and the bride calls out for him to hurry to her, like a gazelle or young deer on the mountains of spices. The poem ends as it began, with longing, love, and an invitation to come closer.

11 Solomon owned a vineyard at Baal-hamon. He leased it to tenants, and each one owed a thousand pieces of silver for the harvest. Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

12 But my own vineyard belongs to me, and it is mine to give. You can have the thousand pieces, Solomon, and two hundred go to the workers who tend the fruit. My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.

13 You who spend your time in the gardens, our friends are all around, listening for the sound of your voice. Please let me hear it. Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.

14 Come quickly, my beloved! Race to me like a gazelle or a young deer bounding across the mountains of spices. Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

Key Themes

Themes in Solomon's Song 8

Love as strong as death and unquenchable by any forceLove cannot be purchased -- it must be freely givenThe value of purity and strength of characterThe eternal, divine nature of true love

Prophetic Connections

How this chapter points to Christ

Song of Solomon 6-7 Ephesians 5:25-32

The declaration that love is as strong as death and burns with the flame of God foreshadows Christ's love for the church -- a love so powerful it conquered death itself and cannot be quenched by any opposition.

Song of Solomon 6-7 Romans 8:35-39

The unquenchable, unbreakable nature of love described here is echoed by Paul's declaration that nothing -- neither death, nor life, nor any power -- can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Song of Solomon 6 1 John 4:8

The Song's claim that love's flame comes from God Himself aligns with John's foundational declaration that God is love -- the ultimate source of the unquenchable fire described in this passage.

Apply This Today

Living Solomon's Song 8

The climax of the Song declares that love is as strong as death, its flame comes from God Himself, and no flood can drown it. This is not sentimental poetry -- it is a statement about the deepest reality in the universe. No amount of money can buy real love, and no force can extinguish it. The love worth having is the love that is freely given, faithfully kept, and divinely empowered.

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