Double-handed
Song of Solomon 2:5-8
Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
Now before you accuse me of pulling rabbits out of a doctrinal hat, I do not keep rabbits. Nor do I even have a hat. The little Song is lovesick for her beloved. Is it any wonder that for this reason Adam chose to follow Eve rather than be separated from her forever in Genesis 3:12. It is also for this reason that a man of Genesis 2:24 will leave his father and mother to join unto his wife. The Song, if she really loves him, will also do for her Solomon. She had already drunk the wine at the hand of the Lord. Now it seems she is asking for more. You know how once a drunk person gets started, they must be cut off by the bartender? The Song is reeling from this cup at the Lord's hands. It is a heavy cup indeed which made the nation's drunk thereof as in Jeremiah 51:7. The issue here is that God also loves his creation he has made. Good or bad, all of history has been about the love story between God and man. Since Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord, something would soon happen. Sure, God could have cursed Solomon for his sin and been done. But then there would not have been a man left standing in Israel at the time according to 1 Kings 2:4. For this reason, God raised up for Solomon a couple of enemies to pester him. How many of you know that when you do something it often affects a lot more people than you intended. These situations take God's grace to turn around. There is a little-known story told in 1 Kings 11:14-22 about the enemies God gave him. I am not sure it applies here; but still, I will tell it anyway.
His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
Matthew 6:3 points out that your left hand should not know what your right is doing. While that may indeed apply to giving, here the Song says that even Solomon's hands do two different things. One embraces her while the other supports her head. I almost feel like Solomon cannot decide which to do whether to support or to hold. Sure, we are given each other "to have and to hold from this day forward." However, there is another danger here of being the double minded man referred to in James 1:8. I also promised a story which ought to tell much but reveal little except to the wise. This is the Song and Solomon's story to tell; I would not dare take away this opportunity for all the world. 1 Kings 11 tells of a young boy named Hadad who came from the line of Edomite royalty. When the Israelites came, he escaped from the slaughter of all the men together with a few officials which served King David. Together, they made their way to Egypt where Pharoah looked favorably upon them. So well were they looked after, that Pharoah gave Hadad a house, food, land, and his own wife's sister. This woman's name was Genubath who was raised in the palace as one of Pharoah's children. When he heard that King David had died, Hadad insisted on returning to his own country against Pharoah's better judgment. There, he became a pest and a trial for King Solomon who had also married the daughter of Pharoah as told in 1 Kings 11:1. You might be wondering how he caused such trouble by doing nothing. Simply put the name Hadad means clamor, blacksmith, rain, and thunder god, or simply Ba'al depending on which culture you traveled among. So much did other cultures revere him that future kings of this region called themselves after the name Benhadad in his honor. Yet here we see both Solomon's right and left hands turned towards a holding purpose. See, he is the God of the turnaround. This is why you must be patient with the process. It also takes some time for him to bring about your Jedidiah, Beloved of God. It takes some time to turn clamor into rejoicing. It takes time to change a yourself god into a himself God.
I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
The life of David had devastating consequences for all affected by it, particularly his sons. His is a shining example of how your sin does not just affect you as these things often do. It spills into the lives of everyone around you. So also, the Israelites found in Exodus 15:23-24 that the waters of Marah could not be drunk for their bitterness. I know, we are not speaking of David anymore in this text. Now it is all about his son Solomon. See now how profoundly the sins of the father affected his son seen in Exodus 34:7. Imagine being married to someone like this. Some of you do not have to imagine because you already are. Then life gets in the way, and you start having marital troubles but cannot figure out why. The problem with going to see counselors is that they themselves cannot help you without honesty and vulnerability. Fear not, however; your spouse, this book, and the Lord should have you covered. Solomon needed to try not for himself but for his Song also; in some measure she was dealing with these issues also. I know sometimes it is like reading therapy notes without seeing the whole picture. Just bear with Solomon and his Song. Better days are coming. Here we see her admonishing the daughters of the city not to awaken her love. Sometimes you might come into situations not knowing what other people are dealing with. Then you wonder why you are getting a strong reaction. This is why Psalm 2:12 says to "kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish by the way." Knowing all you do now, can you see why the Song asks the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up Solomon. They might not like what wakes.
The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
Yet even if the daughters do wake him and he comes in like some wild thing, the Song still loves him. Some of us have an idea of what we are supposed to be. I came to tell you that God loves you where you are even under the fig tree as Nathaniel of John 1:48 or leaping on the mountains like some wild animal. You know, faith will either move those mountains of difficulty as in Matthew 17:20 or help you to stand upon them. He loves you enough to call you from where you are at. He does not let you stay broke or unequally yoked. But when God calls you, you will never be the same again. Even if your own enemy is yourself or someone that looks just like you, God can change that thing. Sometimes you cannot see the whole picture of what is going on with someone until the Lord reveals it. This is why some people can hear a disorder in their speech before they ever see it. Even so, God might just let them tell you what the problem is. It is not always our place to know where someone has been nor always what is wrong. I know some women who like dating certain men because they are strong, solid, and say little. I believe "the redeemed of the Lord" should say so in Psalm 107:2. Then we will be a nation of say-so people as unto the Lord. This is why when the Lord calls you it takes some time for the following to happen. But some of us are still imperfect. Somebody shout, 'he's still working on me.' Whether in the house or the wilderness, the Song's Solomon is always for her.