Verse 3:5 is a warning to young women:
(to the young women of
Jerusalem) Heed my warning:
By the gazelles and deer of the
field,
I charge you not to excite your love until it is ready.
Don’t stir a fire in
your heart too soon, until it is ready to be satisfied.
This is a simple
warning not to get caught in romance too early. We look at relationships today
and try to apply these same warnings today and often not consider the ages.
Most women then became wives in their early teens where today the “accepted”
age range is between 19 and 30. We tend to freak out at marriages younger than
16 and usually have the guy arrested. At the same time women are tending to
become active at a younger age so this warning needs to be listened to for
today.
Verse 4:5 needs to
be addressed since it talks about boobs:
Your breasts are like two fawns,
twin gazelles grazing in a
meadow of lilies.
I read this and still don’t understand why it was included
in the Bible. Considering Jewish tradition made it such that a young man could
not read this Song until they were 30 tells me there is a reason. Maybe this is
a personal love song that was never meant to be shared with others. I read this
and roll my eyes more than anything else. I guess I have been jaded over the
years.
Verse 4:12 has me wondering:
You are a locked garden, my sister,
my bride, open only to me;
a spring closed up tight, a
sealed fountain.
Often people read this and they assume it condones
incest. In reality it is showing the intimate relationship between a husband
and wife, they become “blood” relations. It’s no different than the “church”
calling each other “sister” and “brother” at church. There is no “blood”
relationship except through that of Jesus.