The Song Of Solomon 3.3-5

“Have you seen my beloved?”

Scarcely had I passed them by
when I found my beloved!
I held onto him tightly and would not let him go
until I brought him to my mother’s house,
to the bedroom chamber of the one who conceived me.

I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields:
“Do not awaken or arouse love until it pleases!”

(The Song Of Solomon 3.3-5, NET)

Doing anything she can to find him, she enlists the help of others (v.3). Then, finding him (v.4a) we see the joy of their coming together, very preemptive of John 20.16-17:

“I held onto him tightly and would not let him go…”

The passion and the desire are not consummated there and then, however. The lover is, in this dreamlike state (cf. v.5), still cognisant of and committed to the proper path for their relationship:

“…I brought him to my mother’s house,
to the bedroom chamberof the one who conceived me.”

David Guzik writes:

“The fact that it is in the house of her mother shows that she expected it to be when they were in fact married, and not as a pre-marital sexual rendezvous.”

It can be all too easy to get wrapped up in our desires and passions and as a consequences find ourselves straying from how the Lord desires that we live. His directions for your life are there for your good, for your protection. Take, for example, just two studies and their findings on indulging our sexual desires immediately and freely:

• Having multiple sexual partners is shown to increase propensity for substance abuse ¹.
• Having sex bonds us to the other person and, “…when we bond then break, bond then break, we damage our capacity to bond strongly to the next person.” ²

God’s guide on sex is that, just like here in The Song Of Solomon 3.3-5, it belongs within the bond of marriage.

If that has not been happening for you, read yesterday’s piece for an encouragement of how to get back on track.

¹ – Ramrakha et. al, 2013

² – Magers, 2020