IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

The Love Most Strong and Perfect

Date: Jul. 12, 2023

Passage

SongofSongs 7:10-8:14

10   I am my beloved’s,
    and his desire is for me.

The Bride Gives Her Love

11   Come, my beloved,
    let us go out into the fields
    and lodge in the villages;
12   let us go out early to the vineyards
    and see whether the vines have budded,
  whether the grape blossoms have opened
    and the pomegranates are in bloom.
  There I will give you my love.
13   The mandrakes give forth fragrance,
    and beside our doors are all choice fruits,
  new as well as old,
    which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

Longing for Her Beloved

8:1   Oh that you were like a brother to me
    who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
  If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
    and none would despise me.
2   I would lead you and bring you
    into the house of my mother—
    she who used to teach me.
  I would give you spiced wine to drink,
    the juice of my pomegranate.
3   His left hand is under my head,
    and his right hand embraces me!
4   I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
    that you not stir up or awaken love
    until it pleases.
5   Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
    leaning on her beloved?
  Under the apple tree I awakened you.
  There your mother was in labor with you;
    there she who bore you was in labor.
6   Set me as a seal upon your heart,
    as a seal upon your arm,
  for love is strong as death,
    jealousy is fierce as the grave.
  Its flashes are flashes of fire,
    the very flame of the LORD.
7   Many waters cannot quench love,
    neither can floods drown it.
  If a man offered for love
    all the wealth of his house,
    he would be utterly despised.

Final Advice

Others

8   We have a little sister,
    and she has no breasts.
  What shall we do for our sister
    on the day when she is spoken for?
9   If she is a wall,
    we will build on her a battlement of silver,
  but if she is a door,
    we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

She

10   I was a wall,
    and my breasts were like towers;
  then I was in his eyes
    as one who finds peace.
11   Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
    he let out the vineyard to keepers;
    each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
12   My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
    you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
    and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

He

13   O you who dwell in the gardens,
    with companions listening for your voice;
    let me hear it.

She

14   Make haste, my beloved,
    and be like a gazelle
  or a young stag
    on the mountains of spices.

Daily Bread

Key Verse: SongofSongs 7:8:6

I say I will climb the palm tree
and lay hold of its fruit.
Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine,
and the scent of your breath like apples,

As the Shulamite woman has become one with the king as his wedded wife, she feels secure knowing that the king desires her. She boldly invites the king to come to her sacred place to be alone together (13). Now that she has experienced the perfect love relationship with the king, she wishes they had been together sooner (8:1). The woman and the king are united and secure. Yet, they continue to express their longing to hear each other’s voice and see their beloved sight (8:13,14).

The woman wants to seal the king’s heart and describes their love as ‘strong as death’ (8:6). In her complete devotion and trust in her husband, she is eager to share even a small possession of hers with him (8:11,12).

God has repeatedly described himself as a ‘jealous God’ (Ex 20:5). Therefore, he desires our undivided hearts. Yet, he had indeed shown love as strong as death when he came down to the world to die on the cross to save and bring us back to life. This is the perfect unity in love we experience in Christ.

Prayer: Prayer: Father, thank you for letting me experience your amazing love. You have saved me from the power of death through your love. Help me remain in you and always have the strength to devote myself to you completely. I delight in your words. Please sust

One Word: One Word: His love is perfect.

Daily Bread

God Stills the Conflict

Psalm 76:1-12

Key Verse: 76:6

At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
both rider and horse lay stunned.

Read More

Intro Daily