SOS 1:15 How beautiful you are, my darling, How beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves. vs 16 How handsome you are, my beloved, and so pleasant! Indeed our couch is luxuriant! vs 17 The beams of our houses are cedars, Our rafters, cypresses.
SOS 1:15-17 close out chapter one with the Lover and Beloved expressing admiration for one another.
In addition the Beloved seems astonished at how pleasant the Lover is. Is it because her brothers were not pleasant? Was it because they were angry and harsh with her and demanding? Does this pleasant behavior from the Lover surprise her? Was she beginning to think that all men were harsh and demanding? Did she feel that if her own brothers, those of her own blood were harsh, then surely a prince would be as bad or worse because of his exalted position?
He was not harsh. He did not send her out into the scorching sun to do his bidding. He did not send her out to labor in his field. He welcomed her into the chambers of his own home and had her recline at his table and eat his food. No wonder she thought the couch luxuriant. No wonder she loved the beams and rafters of his house that sheltered from the harsh sun and the harsh treatment of her own family. She loved the food and shelter of his home, food and shelter that he shared with her freely.
She felt more at home with him than in her own home.
On an allegorical note. Some women live with pretty harsh men. (and I know it also goes the other way, but I'm talking to women who can think outside the box and don't mind the allegorical side to SOS. ;)) Sometimes women come to false conclusion that God views them the way the men in their lives view them. It is a blessed change when a woman realizes that God loves her soul just as much as He loves a man's. And God loves her in ways the men in her life cannot even touch. God has the fruit of the Spirit working in Him toward her, love, patience, kindness, gentleness, peace, goodness, (etc) even as the men around her are impatient, judgemental, sarcastic, harsh, and unkind.
Also in the spirit of I Corinthians 13 she finds out that God is patient, God is kind and is not envious. He doesn't brag and is not arrogant. He does not act unbecomingly and doesn't always seek His own way. He's not provoked nor does He take into account a wrong suffered. He does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. He bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. God's love never fails.
God's love is a far cry from the love of men who are arrogant, brag, seek their own way, are easily provoked, and take into account every wrong suffered.
P.S. Men who are tired of the harsh nature of the people (men and women) around them can also bask in the wondrous knowledge of a God who loves as I described above. Looking at the allegorical nature of SOS isn't as disgusting as MSJ tries to paint it out to be. It has real emotional and spiritual benefits for both genders.
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