I guess if we are honest we find this book very difficult to read. It is clearly talking about the mutual attraction, including sexual attraction, of two people, yet is also an allegory of the relationship between God and His people. Sex is such an area of sin, and most associations of sex are with sin, so we find it very difficult to consider it as something pure, and even more so as something representing the relationship between Christ and the church. This is the very reason that the devil has targeted sex so persistently. It is also why we need to claim it back. Note above all that their desire for each other includes physical attraction and delight, but includes much more than this. In our society sex is often treated as purely physical, this is one source of all the problems we have.
Some of you will remember a chorus based on verse 4. God's banner over us is love, and it is not a hidden love. At the same time His love is gentle. "Do not arouse love until it so desires", sound advice.
God delights in us. The winter is past. Sin has ravaged our lives, but Christ comes to put them together again.
Verse 15 is another well known verse from this chapter. Vineyards is probably a metaphor for her beauty. There are foxes that seek to damage our beauty.
The beloved delights in her lover, and he delights in her. We need to appreciate that God delights in us, for we are His workmanship.
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