Song of Solomon 8:6

8:5-7 The Jewish church came up from the wilderness, supported by Divine power and favour. The Christian church was raised from a low, desolate condition, by the grace of Christ relied on. Believers, by the power of grace, are brought up from the wilderness. A sinful state is a wilderness in which there is no true comfort; it is a wandering, wanting state: There is no coming out of this wilderness, but leaning on Christ as our Beloved, by faith; not leaning to our own understanding, nor trusting in any righteousness of our own; but in the strength of him, who is the Lord our Righteousness. The words of the church to Christ which follow, entreat an abiding place in his love, and protection by his power. Set me as a seal upon thine heart; let me always have a place in thine heart; let me have an impression of love upon thine heart. Of this the soul would be assured, and without a sense thereof no rest is to be found. Those who truly love Christ, are jealous of every thing that would draw them from him; especially of themselves, lest they should do any thing to provoke him to withdraw from them. If we love Christ, the fear of coming short of his love, or the temptations to forsake him, will be most painful to us. No waters can quench Christ's love to us, nor any floods drown it. Let nothing abate our love to him. Nor will life, and all its comforts, entice a believer from loving Christ.

Song of Solomon 8:6-7 . Set me as a seal upon thy heart — These are undoubtedly the words of the bride. The sense is, Let thy mind and heart be constantly set upon me. Solomon seems to allude to the engraven tablets which were frequently worn upon the breast, and to the signet on a man’s arm or hand, which they prized at a more than ordinary rate, and which were continually in their sight. For love — My love to thee, whence this desire proceeds, is strong as death — Which conquers every living thing, and cannot be resisted or vanquished. Jealousy — Or, zeal: my ardent love to thee, is cruel as the grave — Hebrew, קשׁה , is hard, grievous, and terrible, and sometimes ready to overwhelm me, and swallow me up; therefore have pity upon me, and do not leave me. The coals thereof are coals of fire. It burns and melts my heart like fire. Many waters cannot quench love — My love to thee cannot be taken off, either by terrors and afflictions, which are commonly signified in Scripture by waters and floods, or by temptations and allurements. Therefore, give me thyself, without whom, and in comparison of whom, I despise all other persons and things.

(6) Seal. —See Jeremiah 22:24 ; Haggai 2:23 , &c. A symbol of something especially dear and precious. Jealousy.—Strong passion, from a word meaning to be red with flame; not in a bad sense, as the parallelism shows:— “Strong as death is love, Inexorable as Sheol is ardent passion.” Grave.—Heb. sheôl. Perhaps, as in the LXX., Hades, with its figurative gates and bars (Psalm 6:5, Note). Coals.—Heb. resheph; in Psalm 78:48, hot thunderbolts (comp. Habakkuk 3:5); in Job 5:7, sparks; Marg., sons of the burning; Deuteronomy 32:24, burning heat of the burning fever of the plague. A most vehement flame.—Literally, a flame of Jah, the only place where a sacred name occurs in the book, and here, as in the Authorised Version, adverbially, to express something superlatively great and strong. Southey’s lines are a faint echo of this:— “But love is indestructible, Its holy flame for ever burneth, From heaven it came, to heaven returneth.”

The bride says this as she clings to his arm and rests her head upon his bosom. Compare John 13:23 ; John 21:20 . This brief dialogue corresponds to the longer one Cant. 4:7-5:1, on the day of their espousals. Allegorical interpreters find a fulfillment of this in the close of the present dispensation, the restoration of Israel to the land of promise, and the manifestation of Messiah to His ancient people there, or His Second Advent to the Church. The Targum makes Sol 8:6 a prayer of Israel restored to the holy land that they may never again be carried into captivity, and Sol 8:7 the Lord's answering assurance that Israel henceforth is safe. Compare Isaiah 65:24 ; Isaiah 62:3-4 . Songs 8:6 The key-note of the poem.

It forms the Old Testament counterpart to Paul's panegyric 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 under the New. (a) Love is here regarded as an universal power, an elemental principle of all true being, alone able to cope with the two eternal foes of God and man, Death and his kingdom. "For strong as death is love, Tenacious as Sheol is jealousy." "Jealousy" is here another term for "love," expressing the inexorable force and ardor of this affection, which can neither yield nor share possession of its object, and is identified in the mind of the sacred writer with divine or true life. (b) He goes on to describe it as an all-pervading Fire, kindled by the Eternal One, and partaking of His essence: "Its brands are brands of fire, A lightning-flash from Jah." Compare Deuteronomy 4:24. (c) This divine principle is next represented as overcoming in its might all opposing agencies whatsoever, symbolized by water. (d) From all which it follows that love, even as a human affection, must be reverenced, and dealt with so as not to be bought by aught of different nature; the attempt to do this awakening only scorn.

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: these are undoubtedly the words of the bride. The sense is, Let thy mind and thy heart be constantly set upon me, let me be engraven upon the tables of thine heart. He seems to allude to the engraven tablets which are frequently worn upon the breast, and to the signet on a man’s arm or hand, which men prize at a more than ordinary rate, as appears from Jeremiah 22:24 Haggai 2:23 , and which are continually in their sight. For love, my love to thee, from whence this desire proceeds, is strong as death; which conquers every living thing, and cannot be resisted nor vanquished. Jealousy, or zeal ; my ardent love to thee, which also fills me with fears and jealousies, lest thou shouldst bestow thine affections upon others, and cool in thy love to me, or withdraw thy love from me; for true believers are subject to these passions. Cruel, Heb. hard; grievous and terrible , and sometimes ready to overwhelm me, and swallow me up; and therefore have pity upon me, and do not leave me. Are coals of fire; it burns and melts my heart like fire.

6. Implying approaching absence of the Bridegroom. seal—having her name and likeness engraven on it. His Holy Priesthood also in heaven (Ex 28:6-12, 15-30; Heb 4:14); "his heart" there answering to "thine heart" here, and "two shoulders" to "arm." (Compare Jer 22:24, with Hag 2:23). But the Holy Ghost (Eph 1:13, 14). As in So 8:5, she was "leaning" on Him, that is, her arm on His arm, her head on His bosom; so she prays now that before they part, her impression may be engraven both on His heart and His arm, answering to His love and His power (Ps 77:15; see Ge 38:18; Isa 62:3). love is strong as death—(Ac 21:13; Ro 8:35-39; Re 12:11). This their love unto death flows from His (Joh 10:15; 15:13). jealousy … the grave—Zealous love, jealous of all that would come between the soul and Jesus Christ (1Ki 19:10; Ps 106:30, 31; Lu 9:60; 14:26; 1Co 16:22). cruel—rather, "unyielding" hard, as the grave will not let go those whom it once holds (Joh 10:28). a most vehement flame—literally, "the fire-flame of Jehovah" (Ps 80:16; Isa 6:6). Nowhere else is God's name found in the Song. The zeal that burnt in Jesus Christ (Ps 69:9; Lu 12:49, 50) kindled in His followers (Ac 2:3; Ro 15:30; Php 2:17).

6 . As seals are not impressed upon the heart, nor upon the arm, we must understand here the ring seals which were bound round the neck with a cord ( Genesis 38:18 ) and carried in the bosom, or which were worn on the finger ( Jeremiah 22:24 ). This last passage interprets the bride’s request. She wishes to be united in the closest way with her lover, and to be valued as his most precious possessions were valued. Cp. Haggai 2:23 . Budde, perhaps rightly, would put for the second châthôm =‘seal,’ some word like tsâmîdh , signifying a bracelet. Cp. Tennyson’s Miller’s Daughter , where the lover longs to be a jewel in his lady’s ear: “It is the miller’s daughter, And she is grown so dear, so dear, That I would be the jewel, That trembles in her ear.” strong as death ] Love is as irresistible as death, which none can escape. jealousy is cruel as the grave ] Jealousy is as unrelenting as Sheol, the place of the dead, from which none can ever escape; cp. Proverbs 27:20 . The meaning is that love and jealousy have irresistible power over those whom they bring under their sway. Her reference to jealousy would seem to shew that she fears the effect of her love upon herself, if he should not join himself indissolubly with her. the coals thereof are coals of fire ] R.V. The flashes thereof are flashes of fire .

Love glows and burns in the heart like flame. a most vehement flame ] Heb. shalhebheth yâh, a flame of Jah , i.e. a flame of supernatural power, one that is kindled and cherished by God. Ewald with fair probability suggests that we should read, its flames are flames of Jah . For the thought compare Browning’s Any Wife to any Husband , “It would not be because my eye grew dim Thou couldst not find the love there, thanks to Him Who never is dishonoured in the spark He gave us from his fire of fires, and bade Remember whence it sprang, nor be afraid While that burns on, though all the rest grow dark.”

Verses 6, 7. - Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the flashes thereof are flashes of fire, a very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it; if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, he would be utterly contemned. Is this to be regarded as the reply of the bride to the tender allusion of her husband to their first love; or is it, as some think, only the first words which belong to the bride, while the rest of the two verses are a kind of chorus echoing her loving appeal, and bringing the general action of the poem to a conclusion? It is difficult to decide this, and the meaning is not affected either way. Perhaps, however, it is best to take it as spoken by the bride, who continues her address to the end of the eighth verse. She is full of joy in the return of perfect confidence; she prays that the full tide of affection may never cease to flow, that there be no ebbing of that happy feeling in which she now delights; and then sings the praise of love itself, as though a prelude of praise to a long and eternal peace. The seal is the signet ring, chotham , from a root "to impress" It was sometimes carried by a string on the breast, and would, therefore, be near the heart (see Genesis 38:18 ). It was sometimes worn on the hand (see Jeremiah 22:24 ; and cf. Genesis 41:42 ; Esther 3:12 ).