A Bruised Saint Seeking Rest from Jesus (Song 1:5-8)

In verse 4, the lady had been brought into the king’s chambers in fulfilment of her desire to be with him and experience his love. A change has now occurred because we can see from verse 8 that he has gone to be with his flocks of sheep, and she is encouraged to go where they are in order to meet up again with him. She is sad that he is gone and she explains her feelings in verse 5 and 6 to her friends, here called the daughters of Jerusalem. Then in verse 7, she speaks to the absent king about their separation. So we have conversation (vv. 5-6), aspiration (v. 7) and direction (v. 8). It is not difficult to see how those three features apply to the relationship between Jesus and his people.

Conversation (vv. 5-6)

The conversation includes a description of herself and an explanation for her appearance. In the description, she says that she is very dark, but comely, at the same time. Indeed, she is as dark as the curtains she has seen in the palace of Solomon, or as dark as the skins used for tents in Kedar. What does she mean?

Various suggestions have been given. One is that she is referring to her place of birth, which was different from that of the daughters of Jerusalem. If this is the meaning, she is saying that her dark skin indicates that she came from another country. Of course, if we think of Christians meeting together, and each telling one another his or her story, it would be right to say that our origins are in a different country from the heavenly one. So those who hold to this idea say that the lady is describing Christian conversion.

A second suggestion is to regard the two descriptions as kind of contradictory, that from a Christian point of view she is describing a conflict within a believer, such as when the flesh opposes the spirit. So when she says she is black, she is referring to her sin, and when she says that she is comely, she is saying that grace has also made her beautiful. And those who make this suggestion would argue that the woman when she says that she has failed to keep her own vineyard she is confessing something for which she was to blame. Yet she does not blame herself for this in the song. So I would say we need to look for another suggestion as to what she means.

The third suggestion is that her dark skin was caused by forced labour, and labour that took place when the sun was at its hottest. It would be unusual for a person to work at such a time – it would be customary to have a siesta when it was very hot. Instead, she says that she was forced to work, which points to cruelty, and that she was forced to work by her brothers, which points to lack of love.

The lady’s words indicate that she has been forced to be somewhere she did not want to be. Why would she not want to be in the vineyards of her brothers? Because of what normally took place in them. In addition to being places of hard work, they were also locations where people would gather together and talk about the matters that were of interest to them. But she wanted to be somewhere where she could think about the king.

Her words are a complaint, but not a confession. The complaint is that other duties have compelled her not to be in her own place, in her own vineyard, where she could have thoughts of the king. Instead she has been forced to conform to the priorities of others who don’t share her desires even if they are related to her, and working in the sun has affected her. Yet she is not backsliding because she has retained her beauty.

What is there in such situations that would make a believer comely? We should know because it is an aspect of life that we cannot avoid. After all, we know that often we cannot get to Christian events because of other legitimate duties. Here are some suggestions?

First, although she is compelled by others to engage in such activities, she remains determined to find the king. Second, she remains dedicated to him even although his presence is not as real as at other times. Third, she is marked by submission to his providence. Fourth, she wants sympathy and not condemnation from the daughters of Jerusalem.

That last point is very important. She says to them, ‘Do not gaze upon me. I was not able to avoid what happened to me.’ Sometimes, Christians can be very quick to jump to conclusions without knowing why something has happened to another Christian. Here she says, ‘Do you want to know what my heart’s desire is?’ It is to meet the king, which she proceeds to describe in verse 7.

Aspiration (v. 7)

One has said that our aspirations give better evidence of our spiritual temperature than do our attainments. It is obvious from the poem that the daughters of Jerusalem at that moment don’t have any problems, but we should ask if they had the aspirations of the lady. I think they did, because they commend her in verse 8. But we can consider some of the details of her prayer.

First, she wants to hear his voice – this can be deduced from her strong cry, ‘Tell me.’ She wants the king to come where she is and speak to her heart. This is always a good sign in a believer, to hear the voice of the King.

Second, she tells him that she loves him – ‘you who my soul loves.’ Her experience with her brothers has not dampened the strong affection she has in her heart for the king. When she refers to her soul, she is not saying that she has a secret love for him. Instead, she is saying that she has a strong love for him, a love that involves everything within her. It is like saying, ‘Jesus, I love you with all my heart.’

Third, she wants to be where he and his flock are together, to be where he pastures them. There is a wrong idea around which is that personal devotions are more important that corporate gatherings. Normally they are not. It is better to be with Jesus when he meets with his people than to have a personal meeting where they are absent. The Bible nowhere encourages isolationism as a Christian virtue. Usually, a reluctance to meet with the flock is a sign of backsliding.

Fourth, she wants to experience rest from the king. She wants to know where he causes flock to rest at noon. We should note the contrast here between the king and her brothers. The brothers had forced her to work in the heat of the sun. The king provides rest in the shade. Of course, we know that the rest that Jesus provides is himself, and various pictures of him in that capacity appear throughout the song (for example, he is the apple tree).

Fifth, she wants him to bring about a situation in which she would no longer have to wear a veil when she is with his flocks. She wants to hide the consequences of her problem from her fellow believers. The veil hides the fact that the sun has made her black. Even although the situation had not been caused by her, she did not want it to become a distraction for others. She longed to be in a place where her difficult experiences would be over and she could enjoy the rest provided by the king for all his people.

Direction (v. 8)

There is disagreement about who is speaking in verse 8, with some assuming that it is the king. I think this is unlikely because he is no longer in her presence. So I would suggest that it is the daughters of Jerusalem who are speaking, and in the analogy they are her companions, her fellow believers. Further evidence is that the lady is called the ‘most beautiful among women’ twice more in the Song, and the ones who call her by this description are the daughters of Jerusalem (5:9; 6:1). So what we have here is fellow believers giving advice to a believer who has lost contact with the king.

Here we are told that the lady is a shepherdess. There was nothing unbecoming about a person of rank looking after animals. Indeed, at that time, having them would be a sign that the owner was wealthy. When Job’s riches are listed, among them are his flocks and herds. So when we are told that she has kids, we are being informed that she is a woman of substance.

We should first note their opinion of her. The rest regard her as very beautiful. This statement is in line with what she had assumed about herself when she said that she was dark but comely. She had been afraid that her time in the vineyards of other people had affected her beauty, but the daughters of Jerusalem assure her that in a way her beauty has been enhanced. And in this we have an example of how we are to regard one another as we walk together in the Christian life. When we look at one another, do we see the beauty of grace, because if we do not, there is something wrong with our vision?

The daughters proceed to give advice in response to the prayer that was made by the lady to get to the presence of the king. We might assume that it would be presumption to try and do such a thing. Yet it is often the case that the Lord uses his people to answer the prayers of a believer, and the way that they usually do so is to speak out of their own experience.

The advice that they give to her is not to go into isolation. We might have thought that they would suggest that she should go by herself and try and find him. No doubt, there are times when a solitary search can be useful. But there is little evidence in the Bible for the benefits of a monastic type of spirituality. The daughters here unite in saying to their friend that she should go and meet with other believers. After all, Jesus has promised to be where two or three meet in his name.

Sometimes we find ourselves in situations in which we think the best thing to do is avoid other believers until we can sort out the issue that has been causing us problems. That is not wise. Going to where other believers are is usually the way to get solutions for our difficulties.

The daughters describe how she can find where to go. She is to walk in the tracks of the flock. Tracks in the desert are usually easy to follow, and the implication in their advice is that spiritual tracks will be visible for her. The tracks will lead to the tents of the shepherds, to those who are looking after the flock. I suppose we can deduce that the tracks are steps taken to the means of grace, which is what I would say is meant by the tents of the shepherds.

Shepherds would usually place their tents near supplies of fresh water because there would be plenty pasture and refreshment there. Here we have a picture of church life, where the sheep of Jesus are led to spiritual refreshment by his shepherds. Of course, the illustration is not referring to mere physical gathering in a building – it is possible for sheep to gather in a church building and not be anywhere near the water of life. It is obvious from the illustration that there is ample refreshment, so if sheep come away thirsty they have not been to the right place.

One assumes that the lady did this because the poem ends with this verse. The next poem in the book takes place in a house, so the composer has moved on to describe another kind of spiritual experience. So the challenge for us is to ask if we are encouraging one another to go to the shepherds’ tents.