Call it a fox. Big or small. Whatever is ruining the happiness, closeness and good of the relationship is compared to an enemy fox. He wants a closer relationship and so does he, yet there where foxes that were hindering the relationship from blossoming. Due to their true love to each other both of them wanted the foxes caught. She expresses her love to him and desire for him to do his part in catching the foxes in her words,
“Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that are ruining our vineyard our vineyards that are in bloom. “Solomon’s song of songs 2:15
The Song never really mentions exactly what the issues were at the time. They had issues but they delt with them already. She had trials of her love but has passed every time and was compared to a blossoming lily among thorns.
Differing eating habits.
I saw this verse today and remembered that she was a pig eating Gentile and he was a cosher eating Jew. Imagine these two going to a restaurant. Their opposite eating habits may hinder the relationship.
The whole chapter of Romans 14 was written for this very reason! How do true believers with differing eating habits get along and live at peace.
14 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. 2 One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. 3 The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
5 One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. 7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; 8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me,
And every tongue shall give praise to God.”
12 So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way. 14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15 For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; 17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. 20 Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. 21 It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. 22 The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.” Romans 14:1-23
If Solomon was wise, then I suppose he would have figured some way of making it work because there was a gulf felt between them and she wanted him to be skilled like a gazelle on mountain tops and bridge the gap being felt due to their deferring eating habits. She loves him but she is a pig eating born-again Gentile and He is a cosher Jew. What are they to do? What should they do according to Paul?
If there is one who thinks they can eat all things, then this one shouldn’t pass judgement on the other. In our case the pig eating Gentile would think she could eat all things; she wasn’t a Jew under the law. The dietary laws were for Jews. Therefore, she may believe in her heart that she could eat all things. So maybe when Solomon was not around, she would eat pork chops.
Ut, oh.
Now maybe Solomon finds out that the born-again Gentile slave girl that he is truly in love with ate pork chops when he wasn’t around. Solomon grew up loving God and following the statutes of David. “Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.” 1 Kings 3:3
Solomon would believe it to be sin if he ate pig. Seeing a Jew eat pig would have made Solomon very sorrowful because then he would see them disobeying God and sinning. Pig is forbidden by God to be eaten by a Jew. A Jew being anyone among the house of Israel.
Deuteronomy, Chapter 14:8-10:
And the pig, because it has a split hoof, but does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You shall neither eat of their flesh nor touch their carcass.
HHHHMMMM. What do you think? How can this work?
I’m wondering if Solomon would be tempted to think that she was unclean by eating the pig. Would God require a born-again Gentile to obey God’s specific precepts for the Jews, or was it God’s intent for any believer in YHWH whether Jew or Gentile to be under all God’s laws.
Would a Gentile have to submit to all the rules?
If she was a captive, then these rules apply.
10When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand, and you take them captive, if you see a beautiful woman among them, and you desire her and want to take her as your wife, then you shall bring her into your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, and put aside the clothing of her captivity.
After she has lived in your house a full month and mourned her father and mother, you may have relations with her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.” Dt. 21.
Advice to Gentiles about food.
“But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.” Acts 21:25.
According to this it seems that at least some of the dietary laws would apply to our faith filled Gentile.
So, the king of peace would then ask his wife to follow some laws so that there could be peace between him and her. Her having to submit to his authority in the relationship which was guided by wisdom and the Word of God. Wisdom would dictate behavior that would promote peace.
Her nickname was “Shulamite” 6:13 meaning peace. She was nicknamed a woman of peace. A peacemaker. After she made peace with the daughters of Jerusalem and other Jews and helped bring peace among nations by proclaiming God’s name to those in the wilderness alongside Solomon.
So, imagine a true believer in YHWH, yet Gentile background. Now obeying Jewish laws for the sake of peace and unity among all.
If she were to hang onto the baggage of her past life, eating pig then it would have more than likely caused division and disharmony rather than a sense of being one. Some things other than just a true faith and love was needed. Not for salvation but for the sake of love and peace.
The Jews would have been constantly thinking she was unclean by her eating pig that was sacrificed to idols.
The stigma that came with her eating pig was too much for her to be able to continue doing it so she would need to stop for the good and harmony of the whole congregation. Her eating pig would hinder her relationship with the holy virgin daughters of Jerusalem as well.
Solomon to his wife, “Yes, it’s true and I am convinced that nothing is unclean in and of itself for out of the heart comes evil not what goes in the mouth. But for the sake of peace and unity, could you please abstain from eating pig sacrificed to idols. Other’s need to get the sense that you belong.”
and Romans 14:16
“Do not let what is good for you be spoken of as evil.” Why, the daughters of Jerusalem would think she was doing evil by eating pig sacrificed to idols. This was pagan worship, not the eating of pig, but rather pig sacrificed to idols. Which is why God told Peter to eat the pig, because nothing wrong with that if your motive is to please God and give thanks.
In this scenario I am assuming the daughters of Jerusalem to be the weaker sisters because they were staring down at her in Song 1:5. They are the ones judging her who ought not to.
Would the promises that God gave to Israel now apply to Solomon’s Gentile wife?
I’m wondering if two people of differing cultures could have apposing traditions that may cause division. Yet, if the two were truly Christians, then how would they work it out?
One would have to submit to some if not all the traditions of the other in order to keep peace. When in Rome be like a Roman.
She would have to know that eating pig is not was evil is but that evil is what comes out of the heart. If what comes out of the heart is a desire to please Him and you eat it whatever it is giving thanks to God then your motive is pure. If you think following the law pleases the Lord then both have the same pure heart with good motives. Just doing the opposite outward motion of the body. One eating pig and the other not eating pig.
Imagine Solomon teaching his wife what Paul taught the born again Gentiles in Rome about things pertaining to keeping the peace and unity among both Jews and Gentile believers.
In our love poem she is the one wanting acceptance into the Jewish fellowship, therefore wisdom would dictate her changing for their sake preferring them more important than herself.
Clearly her being a Gentile would come with all kinds of other baggage and foxes that may hinder the peace and harmonious union. Like her wrong idea of God. What she thought was right and wrong would need changing.
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