Journey Though the Song | Part 15: Lets Kiss and Make Up
What does love look like after the hurt has been healed? In Episode 15 of Journey Through the Song, Sam and Debbie explore a powerful moment in the Song of Solomon where connection is not just restored—but deepened. As affection, desire, and confidence grow, this episode reveals how God’s design for love can move a relationship beyond recovery into something even stronger and more meaningful. (Song 6:13-7:10)
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RELATIONSHIP REALITIES: https://relationship-realities.captivate.fm/listen
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Transcript
Welcome to the Fortifying youg Family podcast.
Speaker A:It can be daunting to navigate through an anti marriage and family culture.
Speaker A:Our teacher will expound biblical principles to help fortify our families and keep these sacred institutions strong.
Speaker A:And now, here's this week's teaching from Sam Wood.
Speaker B:Well, welcome back to our journey through the Song of Solomon.
Speaker B:We're finishing chapter seven, getting into the beginning of chapter eight.
Speaker B:Last session, we left them together and Solomon had forgiven her.
Speaker B:We went over some really biblical principles of forgiveness.
Speaker B:And they're just so exciting to see how that he was able to forgive her.
Speaker B:And it reminds us again of the grace of God and how he has forgiven us.
Speaker B:And she was kind of, I think, blown away by it.
Speaker B:And so, you know, as we look at her response to his forgiveness, she was hoping, I'm sure, certainly that he would forgive her, but probably thought, well, he might reprimand me.
Speaker B:And I think it was just mind blowing to her.
Speaker C:She was nervous.
Speaker B:She was, I think she was very anxious, very nervous, as you would be in that situation.
Speaker B:But in verses 11 and 12, she describes his forgiveness as being rewarded with a ride and a royal chariot.
Speaker B:That's a wonderful metaphor to use there.
Speaker B:The way he forgave her was so beyond her comprehension for someone who had been selfish and someone who had actually mistreated the king, that she was just blown away.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And, you know, because of the way Solomon so lovingly responded to her attempt at reconciliation, she comes to this amazing conclusion.
Speaker C:She says, I am my beloved's.
Speaker C:I mean, that's a lot of security.
Speaker C:And she could be confident that he really did love her and that he genuinely forgave her.
Speaker C:And she was ready.
Speaker C:She was ready to move on.
Speaker C:She knew he was ready to move on also.
Speaker B:And again, it just reminds us of the beautiful picture of the forgiveness that we have in Jesus Christ.
Speaker B:His forgiveness is so beyond our comprehension.
Speaker B:No matter how wicked we are, no matter how much we sin against us, against him and others, he loves us the same way he did when we got saved.
Speaker B:And he doesn't hold our sin against us, but he receives us back to himself with a heart that celebrates, just like the prodigal Father with the prodigal Son.
Speaker B:Return to him.
Speaker B:So how else does Solomon respond to her?
Speaker B:And in verse 13, it's interesting, he says this.
Speaker B:Return, return, O Shulamite.
Speaker B:Return, return that we may look upon thee.
Speaker B:And in addressing her in this verse is the first time that he uses a name for her, that is, calls her Shulamite.
Speaker B:Now, that's interesting, because Some commentators believe that this is either her name, since it's a feminine version of his name, Solomon, or refers to the location where she's actually from.
Speaker B:It also could refer to the word in Hebrew, shalom, which means peace or wholeness.
Speaker B:Or Solomon is saying, hey, you're the one who belongs to me, and you're perfect for me, and you bring me peace, and you bring me wholeness.
Speaker B:And when he says return, return, the Hebrew word there can mean turn around, turn around, turn around.
Speaker B:So Solomon sees her as a perfect one for him who brings him peace and wholeness.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker B:And he's asking her, will you just turn around and around and around so I can gaze at how beautiful you are?
Speaker B:And he continues by saying this.
Speaker B:What will we see in the Shulamite, as it were, the company of two armies?
Speaker B:And that's a very interesting verse and very strange verse.
Speaker B:But according to Philip Reichen, the husband, Solomon is comparing his wife to the dancing women who celebrate military victories in ancient Israel.
Speaker B:All attention and all eyes are given to the victory dance for the celebration.
Speaker B:Now, they've just experienced victory over marital conflict.
Speaker B:So his eyes are intensely focused on her, and it's not surprising he would say that, no.
Speaker C:So she starts dancing for her husband.
Speaker C:It's a victory dance that's most likely pretty erotic, but it's sacred.
Speaker C:Totally biblical.
Speaker C:But her new actions here, the dancing, communicate that she's changed her attitude, and she was using her sexuality and her femininity for the enjoyment, for the pleasure of her husband.
Speaker C:And she's confident and she's purposefully alluring and enticing, you know.
Speaker B:And as we move into chapter seven, it's interesting to note that now the relationship is restored, it's reconciled.
Speaker B:He didn't have any inhibitions about describing her whole body previously.
Speaker B:He intentionally omitted, if you remember, any references to her lips and her body below her neck, because their fight had been over sexual intimacy.
Speaker C:I think this was pretty wise of him because at that point he wanted to prove his desire for reconciliation and that he cared about her as a whole person.
Speaker C:He cared about the relationship.
Speaker C:And at that point, sex was not the issue for the reconciliation.
Speaker B:But, you know, now he feels liberated since they reconciled, to speak very frankly and specifically about every aspect of his wife's beauty.
Speaker B:And he starts in verse seven, he says, how beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O princess daughter, you know.
Speaker B:And from this description that follows, it appears that she has.
Speaker B:It really appears.
Speaker B:She has no clothes on apart from the sandals or shoes he mentions.
Speaker B:And the word feet is a word that normally means feet that are in motion.
Speaker B:So, as you said, she's likely dancing before him in a very erotic dance without any clothes on.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:And let me say, ladies are very formidable when they're naked.
Speaker C:But the comments that Solomon makes increases his wife's confidence and they actually cultivate romance.
Speaker C:It's a beautifully romantic way for a husband to speak to his wife.
Speaker B:Now, he didn't finish because he moves from her feet to.
Speaker B:He says in verse, the end of verse one, the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.
Speaker B:So as he moves from her feet to describing the curvature of her thighs, he declares that her body is a work of a master craftsman.
Speaker B:He says, you're a divine masterpiece of God.
Speaker B:Your beauty is so great.
Speaker C:And, you know, it reminds me of how when we present our marriage conference, you always explain the words from Genesis 2:22.
Speaker C:It says, and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman and brought her unto the man.
Speaker C:And you explained that word made means to artistically build or fashion.
Speaker C:So Solomon is actually reinforcing the truth that God artistically and fashions a woman for the pleasure of man.
Speaker C:We ladies were designed by God to stimulate and ravish husbands.
Speaker C:And I think this is delightful that God designed the marriage bond and bodies in such a precious but a connective way.
Speaker C:Our bodies are a gift from God, boy.
Speaker B:They are, and we should never, ever forget that.
Speaker B:He moves on up and he says, thy navel is like a round goblet, which warneth not liquor.
Speaker B:Now, most of the time, if you were to tell your wife she has a navel like around goblet, she probably wouldn't like that so much.
Speaker B:But the original word for navel can be translated as navel or vagina.
Speaker B:In fact, Ian Dukit says this is probably a discrete euphemism for the lower part of her abdomen.
Speaker B:And comparing it to a cup of wine alludes to the intoxicating pleasures that this area of her anatomy contains for her lover.
Speaker B:Then he moves to her belly, says, thy belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies.
Speaker C:This sounds like a real insult, ladies, but it isn't.
Speaker B:It is, you know, in here.
Speaker B:Most likely refers to her womb, which in those days was preferred to be.
Speaker B:Now, listen, ladies.
Speaker B:Rounded instead of flat.
Speaker B:A lot of ladies get excited about that.
Speaker B:I have to have a flat stomach.
Speaker B:No, in those days, it was preferred to be more rounded.
Speaker B:And it suggests the blessings also of fertility.
Speaker B:He is indirectly saying that he is open to God's gift of children.
Speaker B:Then he keeps moving upper body.
Speaker B:And he says, thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.
Speaker B:Now, he has said this before.
Speaker B:Nothing in his admiration for her has changed because he said this several times before.
Speaker B:He's just saying, honey, my feelings towards you haven't changed a bit.
Speaker C:That's right.
Speaker C:And you know, when he compares her breasts to twin fawns, this is another reference to fertility.
Speaker C:And the descriptions of her belly and her breasts probably suggest that her sensuality here is overlapping with the possibility of fertility.
Speaker C:So it's like twofold here.
Speaker B:Now, next, he moves to five elements of her upper body.
Speaker B:He says, thy neck is like a tower of ivory.
Speaker B:What he's saying there is, she's dignified, encourages herself with a confident, erect posture.
Speaker B:And then he says, thine eyes are like fishbowls and hashbones by the gates of Bathraban.
Speaker B:And the pools in Heshbon were where the priests purified themselves.
Speaker B:So when he gazed into her eyes, he saw purity.
Speaker B:He saw no uncleanness at all.
Speaker B:And then he moves from her eyes to her nose.
Speaker B:He says, thy nose is a tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.
Speaker B:And I often tell guys, if we go with us in a conference, you know, your wife probably gonna get turned down if you tell her she's got a nose overlooking Lexington, Kentucky, you know, but this was very beautiful in the symbolism of what he's saying.
Speaker B:Damascus was the seat of Assyria, an enemy of Israel.
Speaker B:She looks confidently down on all dangers, is what he's saying.
Speaker B:We believe Solomon saw his wife as someone who was alert to things that might bring trouble to him.
Speaker B:And as king, that was very important.
Speaker B:She was a wife that looked out for her husband.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And you notice, too, Solomon isn't just pointing out physical features.
Speaker C:He's including character traits that he admires.
Speaker C:Exactly why she is important to him.
Speaker C:And she's more than a beautiful body to him.
Speaker C:He admires her person, and he proves to her that she's valuable to him.
Speaker B:But he hadn't finished.
Speaker B:He moves to her head.
Speaker B:He says, thine head upon thee is like caramel, and the hair of thine head like purple.
Speaker B:Now, Mount Carmel is a majestic mountain range and is known to be one of the most beautiful places on the earth.
Speaker B:And the point of comparison is that her head crowns her body.
Speaker B:Just as majestic, Mount Carmel rests over all the landscape all around it, rising above its majestic and fertile beauty and calling her hair purple, says it's not just beautiful, but it denotes royalty.
Speaker B:You're royally beautiful.
Speaker B:You're the king's wife now.
Speaker B:He concludes with this really powerful statement.
Speaker B:He says, the king held in the galleries.
Speaker B:After observing her feet all the way up her body, all the way to the top of her head, he says, listen, your beauty enslaves me.
Speaker B:The most powerful man in the world.
Speaker B:The king says that he is held captive.
Speaker B:He's held in bonds.
Speaker B:He's enslaved by the beauty of his wife.
Speaker C:Awesome.
Speaker C:You know, they just work through this.
Speaker C:Rejection, loneliness, conflict.
Speaker C:But through all that, he can say, the king is held captive.
Speaker C:And.
Speaker C:And this just shows that God's plan is that wives captivate their husbands or their kings with their love.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And, you know, all the praise now transitions from praising to taking action.
Speaker B:Now it's time for action.
Speaker B:Solomon says in verse six, he says, okay, baby, how fair and how pleasant aren't you for oh, love for delights.
Speaker B:And notice here again that God wants us to understand that he designed sexual intimacy between a husband and wife for delights or to be extremely pleasurable.
Speaker B:And God isn't embarrassed about that.
Speaker B:He says this many times.
Speaker B:We've seen this over and over again.
Speaker B:And Solomon continues by saying this, this, thy stature is like a palm tree and thy breast to clusters of grapes.
Speaker B:I said, I'll go up the palm tree.
Speaker B:I'll take hold of the boughs thereof.
Speaker B:Now, the trunk of a palm tree is slender and it's very flexible.
Speaker B:It sways gracefully in the breeze.
Speaker B:And you can imagine that maybe as she is dancing in front of him, she's probably swaying in front of him.
Speaker B:So it reminds him of these slender palm trees.
Speaker B:And to look at clusters of dates makes you want to taste them.
Speaker B:What he's saying is, I desire to kiss your breast.
Speaker B:Also, the palm tree has separate male and female trees, which is very interesting.
Speaker B:And since ancient times, people would take blooms from the male tree and climb up the female tree.
Speaker B:They would tie the blooms to the branches in order to fertilize it.
Speaker B:So to climb the palm tree means to fertilize it.
Speaker B:He is poetically declaring that his desire is increasing.
Speaker B:He wants to make love to his wife.
Speaker B:So in verse eight, he says, now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, the smell of thy nose like apples, and the roof of our mouth like the best wine.
Speaker B:Now, he's obviously caressing her at this point.
Speaker B:He's kissing her.
Speaker B:And as a result, he says, her kisses are better than wine, or your kisses are better than a big party or a feast.
Speaker C:And as she joins in this kissing with him, you know, where it says, in the roof of thy mouth, like the best wine.
Speaker C:She joins in and she says, yeah, that best wine for my beloved that goeth down sweetly, that wine that goes down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.
Speaker C:And what it seems to be saying here is, those kisses, they're for you.
Speaker C:And the kisses, they glide smoothly over my lips and my teeth.
Speaker C:I have to speak, too.
Speaker C:I have to declare my pleasure.
Speaker C:Not just you, but I have to agree with all this.
Speaker C:And notice she isn't trying to stop him from talking about her body, but she encourages his pursuit, you know, and.
Speaker B:She's not having silent sex with him either.
Speaker B:She's talking back to him.
Speaker B:And notice again, the couple both are referring to sex as a celebration.
Speaker B:Wine is a reference, as I said a while ago, to a feast, a party.
Speaker B:And all the scenes are involved in this great celebration of sexual intimacy in marriage.
Speaker B:Because Solomon speaks with specific admiration, his wife begins to see herself through his eyes, and she starts to believe what he's actually saying.
Speaker B:We see that their physical intimacy follows their verbal intimacy.
Speaker B:And again, that's so, so important, especially for guys to understand.
Speaker B:You need to praise your wife.
Speaker B:You need to take time with your wife, be slow with your wife.
Speaker B:We see this example many times in the Song of Solomon, where he takes his time praising her, then moves from praise to physical intimacy.
Speaker C:And the conversation is explicit.
Speaker C:It's sexual and it's stimulating, you know.
Speaker B:The song is termed, you know, as we think of it from a solo to a duet, where the bride comes to this conclusion.
Speaker B:She says, I am my beloved and his desire is toward me.
Speaker C:And to me that shows confidence.
Speaker C:She's confident in her ability to please him sexually.
Speaker C:The word desire, it's used in Genesis 4.
Speaker C:7, Of an animal prepared to devour its prey.
Speaker C:So Solomon wants to consume this woman of delight, and she's thrilled with it.
Speaker C:She is thrilled that Solomon desires her.
Speaker C:And she purposefully stimulates her king.
Speaker C:And she was proud of it.
Speaker C:She knows she holds him captive, that they belong to each other.
Speaker C:They're not separate lives and agendas that are just living together.
Speaker C:This is something that they are moving towards together.
Speaker C:So, ladies, celebrate your intimacy and be available, not inhibited.
Speaker C:And you can be aggressive and bold, just like she is.
Speaker C:Clear your mind of distractions, especially petty irritations.
Speaker C:And then you can concentrate on the gift that God has given you.
Speaker C:And you'll find that the passionate act of love causes you to forget conflict because it forces you just to enjoy each other.
Speaker C:And remember how much you actually love each other.
Speaker C:So I guess we could say physical intimacy increases confidence in your relationship.
Speaker C:And I found this quote, and it's by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.
Speaker C:He wrote the book Kosher Sex.
Speaker B:What a title.
Speaker B:I know.
Speaker C:And this is what he says.
Speaker C:The one thing that brings a marriage back on track after a fight is the raw sexual attraction that brought the couple together initially to remind them of their love for each other.
Speaker C:When a couple declares to kiss and make up and once again become one flesh, they are making a very important statement.
Speaker C:Statement that essentially there's nothing fundamentally wrong with their relationship.
Speaker A:Thank you for joining the Fortifying youg Family podcast.
Speaker A:And if you feel encouraged by today's teaching, give us a follow so we can invite you back and share us on your socials so more marriages and families can be strengthened and fortified through the truths of God's word.
Speaker A:Remember, fortifying your family starts with a strong belief in God's Word.
