The key verse of Solomon’s best love song
What is the key verse of Solomon’s song of songs?
6 Put me like a seal over your heart,
Like a seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
Jealousy is as severe as Sheol;
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
The very flame of Yah.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor will rivers overflow it;
If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love,
It would be utterly despised.” Solomon’s song of songs 8:6-7 LSB.
The key verse holds Solomon’s intent in writing the love poem. Six characteristics or Doctrine’s of love are described. Everything prior to Song 8:6-7 leads up to it.
Solomon’s intent in writing this love poem.
How many of you have ever wanted to know what “love is” ? If you don’t have some sort of intellectual knowledge of what love is then it is more difficult to see it in action. From the key verse, Song 8:6-7 we learn what the Bible teaches about love in the context of unition.
The reason Solomon wrote this love poem was so that we could get a right idea of what love is. He does this first by description or describing love’s unrelenting power, it’s limitless jealousy, it’s analogy, it’s Source, it’s matchless durability and inestimable value Song 8:6-7.
Understanding the 6 characteristics of love in Song 8:6.
Once we know these various aspects of love then we can see them illustrated in her request to be on his heart and arm 8:6. (And also illustrated, manifested, exercised or pictured in their courtship, proposal, engagement and marriage.)
Doctrines of love. Doctrines of love in 8:6 1 Love has unrelenting power to unite hearts and lives 2 Love’s jealousy for the good and happiness of the beloved is without limits or is insatiable 3 Love is like a flame 4 Love comes from YHWH 5 Love is unquenchable 8:7 6 Love is priceless 8:7
These verses are the only place in the Love Poem where doctrine shows up. (I don’t know if you could say Song 1:2 has doctrine in it “love is better than wine”. What is a doctrine of love? A doctrine of love is what the Bible teaches about love.
“Love is strong as death” 8:6. Love has power to unite as death has power to separate. Love has an unrelenting power to work in the hearts of true lovers to make them one and cause them to act as one. The strictness of their union is similar to how our immaterial heart and physical arm are one or soul and body are one and act like it. So that when we see a couple acting as one, we know that it was God’s love that did it 8:6 ! If we see the two doing things that are of a bonding nature we then know that it is love drawing them together.
This is what the key verse of Solomon’s song of songs is all about.
The key verse is the most important of the whole love song. Miss the meaning and doctrines of love in the key verse and you will struggle to a proper understanding of what love is. Thus, you will not hear and taste the best tunes of the whole song of songs because love is, was and always will be the theme of Solomon’s love poem.
Everything prior to Song 8:6-7 leads up to it. Thus every verse, every section and every chapter is one step closer to a complete oneness as it is seen in the most important verse of the whole love poem.
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Not only do you have to get the key verse right to understand how the holy fire of love is manifesting itself through out the whole poem but you have to understand it right in itself Song 8:6-7, it’s section (the end of the poem) and it’s relation to the whole book.
First things first. What is clear? We start with what is clear in order to understand the key verse.
1 This is only place where any doctrine shows up. 2 The woman is speaking. 3 They are one in every way. 4 Love was, is and always will be the bonding agent “for”. 5 The text comes in the conclusion portion of the poem. 6 “for” love is… It is because of the love in her heart that she is asking him to put her on his heart and arm.
1 This is the only place in the whole love poem where doctrine shows up. Doctrines of love. Doctrine is what the Bible teaches. Song 8:6-7 is what the Bible teaches about love.
2 The woman is speaking. Naamah is the one asking Solomon to set her upon his heart and arm.
3 They are one in every way. On it’s own it sure looks like the fire in her heart burnt away all selfishness and they are one in every way. The analogy of a seal is because she is in full possession of him and him of her, they belong to each other as a seal shows ownership.
4 The fire of love in their hearts brought them to this point. Col. 3:14 with Song 8:6-7 and every section of the poem understood as a progression of oneness with love being the bond of perfectness.
5. The text, Song 8:6-7, comes in the conclusion portion of the love poem. There are four sections separated by the same words. The first section is the dating or courtship phase 1:2-2:7, the second is engagement 2:8-3:5, the wedding and married life 3:6-8:4, the conclusion 8:5-8:14. The more immediate context of this verse is sometime after being married. They have known each other for a while, their love has been growing, the level of intimacy has deepened to great depths, they were of one mind, having the same spirit, faith and God.
In each section their feelings for each other are roused. When a priceless love is roused by God so it’s its unquenchable strength and intense holy jealousy that feels like a fire. We need only ask as we read the poem does this sound like his or her love is roused? It’s fairly easy to see that they are on fire for each other through out their dating, engagement and marriage, minus a portion where her love sleeps in Chapter 5.
Since love is the bond and each section will illustrate for us a portion of their relationship where the two got closer. Then we can conclude that to some degree and some manner the 6 characteristics of love would manifest themselves to us.
How does this verse relate to all the rest? Marriage is about love and oneness. Having first meeting each other at Solomon’s first anointing the bonding of hearts began. The power of love to bond their hearts to completion did not fail from beginning to end. Their jealousy for God’s glory and each other’s could was intense like the fire of hell from beginning to end. The source of their unquenchable and priceless flame of love was YHWH from beginning to end. Song 8:6-7.
There are 7 characteristic of love that Naamah and Solomon’s experienced every step of the way of their union. 1 Love has strength. 2 Love has an intense jealousy. 3 Affectionate Love has flashes. 4 Love has an analogy. 5 Love is from YHWH. 6 Love is unquenchable. 7 Love is priceless.
The love poem doesn’t record everything the couple did but it does record all the most important parts. Naamah and Solomon chose the portions of their dating, engage and marriage that brought them closer to be the content of the love poem. The meeting, the moments, conversations, actions, thoughts and feelings that bonded them together are here from beginning to end for us to learn what love is.
What she is asking him is as a result of everything that has happened thus far in their growing relationship. They have been getting closer and closer from the beginning. Physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally they have been getting closer and closer to the point that they were one in every way therefore she was able to say, “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon you arm for love is…” strong to draw us closer and the intense jealousy I feel for your good and happiness is like an unrelenting, unquenchable and priceless flame from YHWH.
And so also as the body and soul can’t be separated by any human power so also the information in a letter with the kings seal upon it cant be separated except by the one it is addressed to.
Knowing these 6 characteristics of love will help us get a better understanding of it intellectually and where we see them manifested will also help us. 1 So where do we see loves power to draw them together on display? 2 Where do we see an intense holy jealousy on display in their dating, engagement and marriage? 3 Where could we use the analogy of fire or a flame to help us understand what they are feeling? 4 Make sure to give credit to God as the source of their love. 5 What waters of opposition do we see that didn’t quench their fire? 6 Where do we see their love having an inestimable value?
When love is roused in her, her desire for a closer more intimate physical relationship if inflamed. When her love is roused a desire to get closer is roused as well. Song 1:2
When her love is roused then fear of harm is cast out. 1:9
Unquenchable. Not putting limits on the degree of love experienced kept the bond from losing it’s grip. Song 5:1
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