A Visit from the King (Song 2:8-17)

Song of Solomon 2:8-17 is a poem in itself. The setting is that the king has been absent, perhaps on royal duty. She has been living in an enclosed house probably provided by him. He is described as being far away, having to travel over mountains to reach the location of his love (v. 8). When he arrives, he addresses her with loving words, asking her to come away with him because the summer has arrived (vv. 9-13). Their time together is short however, and soon he has to go away again (vv. 14-16). The woman then records her longing for his next visit (v. 17).

His approach (v. 8)

As the woman describes the approach of the king, she hears his voice even although there are mountains between them. This must mean that he has a strong voice and that she has good hearing. Not only is his voice strong, but he has incredible energy. Mountains and hills are unable to hinder the speed at which he travels to her. She cannot get to him, but he can get easily to her.

How does this relate to the Christian life? The mountains and the hills are providences, perhaps caused by our sins. To us, they may seem like barriers, but for the King they are the roads over which he travels to get to us. The important detail is that we hear his voice in these providences. And the place where we hear his voice is in his Word. So here we have a command saying to listen to the voice of the King whatever our circumstances because we know that they are not a barrier to him.

His arrival (v. 9)

She likens the king to a young deer, perhaps looking over a wall. He is depicted as looking into her house, trying to see in which room she is. The point seems to be that he places himself where he can be seen easily by her. And she has noticed him. When we think of Jesus and his people, it is the case that he wants us to see him. Therefore, he makes it easy for us to do so. He reveals himself in the means of grace. They are not just about us seeking him, they are also him wanting fellowship with us.

His appeal (vv. 10-13)

The king speaks to her and says that since it is now the summertime they can go away together. They had been unable to be together during the winter. Perhaps heavy rains had made it impossible for the king to get there. Nevertheless, the rains were necessary in order to produce the beautiful countryside described in verses 12-13. During that time, she has been in the house the king provided for her.

Jesus wants to be with his people. Sometimes they go through winter experiences. They can be caused by sin, but at other times they can be caused by difficult providences. Yet the point that we can note is that the winter has not made her unattractive. The house was the protection he provided and in it, through times of difficulty, she had continued to retain her beauty. And he delights to tell her that he thinks she is beautiful.

In a spiritual sense we are being reminded that in the experience of the Christian there can be the equivalents of winter and there can be the equivalents of summer. What was the woman doing during the period of winter? She was ensuring that she would still have her beauty when the time of summer came. And that is what Christians are to do when things may seem to be going wrong, when things happen that they don’t like, and when the Saviour does not seem to be close to announcing the arrival of summer.

What are summer experiences like? Verses 12 and 13 indicate they are very enjoyable (singing), peaceful (turtledove), fruitful (figs) and fragrantly refreshing. I suppose some could have incredible summer experiences. Here are some.

Set times of prayer

One is Jonathan Edwards and this is how he described it: ‘Once, as I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk in divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view that was for me extraordinary…. I saw the glory of the Son of God, as Mediator between God and man, and his wonderful, great, full, pure and sweet grace and love, and meek and gentle condescension. This grace that appeared so calm and sweet, appeared also great above the heavens. The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thought and conception — which continued, as near as I can judge, about an hour. This kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears, and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of soul to be, what I know not otherwise how to express, emptied and annihilated. I wanted to lie in the dust, and to be full of Christ alone; to love him with a holy and pure love; to trust in him, to live upon him, to serve and follow him, and to be perfectly sanctified and made pure with a divine and heavenly purity.’

David Sandeman was a Free Church minister and missionary in the nineteenth century. In his diary he mentions times when he thought he was at a distance from Jesus and also times when he was near. One such occasion was when he was in Torquay for a break with friends but found himself alone. He wrote: ‘Not left alone, for I trust the Master joined me. He drew near in that word, “if it were not so, I would have told you’ (John 14:2). There is a sweet mystery, as well as a great majesty, in this friendship.’ On another occasion, he found himself in France in 1859, where he may not have been able to find a church on the particular Sunday he mentions: ‘Continued in prayer until half-past four this morning. A blessed Sabbath to my soul; never almost had such continuous reading and meditation on the word of God, and on the glory of the saints above when they shall see God face to face. Surely mine eyes have seen something of the Great King this day. The meditation of Him was exceeding precious to my sin-wearied soul. Let me thus learn once more, how God is ready to bless time set apart for special seeking of His face, and considering our ways before Him.’

Those experiences are amazing and we may not attain to them. Yet we could say that there are summer days when the sunshine experience is not as warm as what they had, but which are a lot warmer than the days of winter.

Why don’t we experience them? The answer may be that we don’t take Jesus up on his invitation expressed in verse 13: ‘Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.’

Apart no longer (vv. 14-16)

It looks to me as if the king and the woman are now together. We could divide this section as (a) the desire of the king, (b) the danger of the foxes and (c) the delight of the woman. It is not hard to see how they describe fellowship with Jesus.

The desire of the king illustrates the desire of Jesus. His words in verse 14 tell that he knows what we are (doves), where we are (clefts), and what we are in his estimation (lovely to look at and sweet to hear). When he says that the woman is a dove, he uses a name he has used previously. It describes purity, peacefulness and penitence.

Doves made their nests in clefts of a rock and often they were barren places. Jesus knows that his people have to live in such places in his providence, but he assures them that his eye is on them. They might imagine that the barrenness is a reason for silence, such as we are enduring in our country today. But to those living in such places, Jesus has words of great encouragement.

In saying that her face is lovely the king is saying that in his eyes she was beautiful. When we link those words to Jesus we realise that he is the best judge of true beauty. She may not have thought so, and often believers cannot understand how they can be beautiful. They are because it is the beauty of grace. Each of them has the beauty of the dove – peaceful, pure and penitent. And because they have those blessings they are able to speak appropriately to him.

Then there is the danger of the foxes (v. 15). It is difficult to know who is speaking here. I suspect it is the woman and her companions and they ask the king to deal with the foxes because the damage the vineyards. It is obvious that they need help in catching them. Foxes are crafty. Spiritual foxes are very crafty. A feature of them is that they seem so small and not dangerous. But they destroy the fruit. A couple of small sins can create havoc in a believer’s life. Ask the King to deal with them immediately.

And then we have a beautiful picture of the king and the woman content together. I think that is what is pictured by the king, like a deer, grazing in a field of lilies. And Christians should be content because Jesus is content with them. Jesus, we might say, was not content with having innumerable galaxies in space, but he will be content with innumerable sinners saved by grace. They are his because the Father gave them to him and they are his because he purchased them. And he is theirs by covenant promise, and by an eternal union. Content with Jesus is a beautiful mark of a Christian and a sign that they are enjoying the summer.

Anticipation of further meetings (v. 17)

In the poem, the king has to go away and leave the woman, but he must have indicated that he would return and see her again. Based on that promise, she expresses her longing for that future meeting (v. 17). Until then, it will seem like night-time. That is a picture of the Christian life, moving from one experience of Jesus to the next.

We could even illustrate that by thinking of occasions of the Lord’s Supper. One takes place, we met with Jesus, and then the occasion is over. But we anticipate the next one, and after it the next one. Each Lord’s Day should be such a set of experiences. We should have met with him last Sunday, but it came to a close, and now we anticipate next Sunday.

Of course, each of those visits are foretastes of the arrival of heaven in our experience. There is coming an occasion with Jesus that will never end. Instead it will be continuous and developing as we experience his grace in ways that we cannot in this world. So while we long for the next foretaste, we should also long for the meeting that will never end.