My Beloved is Mine and I am His!

Song of Songs 2:8-17

   The Shulamite

8 The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes
Leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills.

9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Behold, he stands behind our wall;
He is looking through the windows,
Gazing through the lattice.

10 My beloved spoke, and said to me:
"Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away.
11 For lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.

12 The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove
Is heard in our land.

13 The fig tree puts forth her green figs,
And the vines with the tender grapes
Give a good smell.
Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away!

14 "O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
In the secret places of the cliff,
Let me see your face,
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet,
And your face is lovely."

   Her Brothers

15 Catch us the foxes,
The little foxes that spoil the vines,
For our vines have tender grapes.

   The Shulamite

16 My beloved is mine, and I am his.
He feeds his flock among the lilies.

(To Her Beloved)

17 Until the day breaks
And the shadows flee away,
Turn, my beloved,
And be like a gazelle
Or a young stag
Upon the mountains of Bether.

This love song continues with the Shulamite woman anticipating her beloved husband to be racing toward her over the mountain obstacles to be with her.  He skips over them like an agile gazelle or deer whose sure footing and elegant speed bring him to her house to gaze lovingly at her through the window.  This is a picture of our Beloved coming in power and grace to look for us, to pursue us with no obstacles able to slow or stop Him from seeing the beauty He made in us as in His image.  The woman pictured here heard her beloved say the words, “rise up and come away” with him, just as our Beloved calls us to follow Him now and into eternity.  His voice is as the lover of our souls and is most uplifting in our hearts and minds when we hear Him by the Spirit through the words of the scriptures as He opens them to us and we behold Him (Luke 24:32)!  He also reminds us that the cold winters of unbelief in the darkness apart from Him are past, that it is as Spring a time to sing joyful praises and see the fruitfulness come forth from our hearts and hands to His praise and honor and glory.  This aroma of life (2 Corinthians 2:16) cause us to rise and follow just as the good smell of the fig trees and grape vines of her beloved did for the Shulamite woman.  The call to follow from her beloved is a call from our Beloved as well, as a dove nestled in a crag on a hidden cliff who longs to see His face and hear His voice as he does ours.  His voice is truly sweet and His countenance lovely, and this is how He sees us as His bride to be!  The interesting call from her brothers is to stop the foxes from destroying the tender grape vines, an allegory of sorts to the fruit being damaged by the evil one and also to the grapes kept for the outpouring of God’s wrath on sinners who reject His Christ at the final judgment (Revelation 14:18-19).  The cry of the Shulamite should then be as our own saying that our Beloved is ours and we are his.  He feeds us in pleasant places of grace and keeps us safe on His vine until the end.  We call to Him as she did for His swift return (Revelation 22:20).  As we then hear His voice let us continually say my Beloved is mine and I am His!