Song of Songs 2:3 -Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed – Robert H. Schuller

Hidden Treasures of the Song of Songs, which is Solomon's.

Well, we get to dig into some apples today. Yes, we are in our quest to understand the statutes of the 119 Psalms, but also to dig into the Song of Songs. This beautiful, wonderful love story between Jesus and his people. And so we are in the second chapter, and today we are on verse three. So as the bride has described herself and then the Jesus character described her back, now she goes back to describing him. And what an amazing description she gives us as she says in verse three, So as, you know, he compared her to the daughters, she compares him to the sons.

And the fascinating thing just on the onset is the contrast, right? That she compared herself to a lily of the valleys, you know, and we talked about that even Sharon was down in a lower elevation that even swamps at points. You know, that that's where that was where the apple trees in that area. I don't know if you've ever studied apple trees, but I did a little bit. And the original apple trees were up on the mountains and apples to this day grow more frequently in mountainous regions. And so we went from down in the valley to up on the mountain and we went from a flower, a beautiful flower to an actual tree. And we went from, you know, just the idea of beauty.

But now we're getting fruit and all sorts of beautiful fruit and we're also getting shade. So the contrast is spectacular. And the thing you'll note I've noted through the whole song of songs is he was the Holy Spirit through Solomon was a master of contrast. And so the fact that he uses a tree here or that she describes him as a tree is spectacular when you think about how important a tree is. Number one, it has that Zadik, which talks about righteousness and trees being at right angles. And we know that it was wood that made the ark and it was wood that made the ark of the covenant. And we know that Jesus was crucified on a tree. And so so many things are connected to this idea of a tree.

And clearly here, that's what she uses. And she even talks about the trees of the wood that have all the trees. You know, he is that tree. Well, you know, a lot of people talk about the tree of life, which, again, is something I don't think we should miss here, that she clearly is giving us all these pictures as she's describing this and would be the most beautiful tree in the garden. And then, you know, what she does with it is just unbelievable. So it's obviously a beautiful tree and is among all the sons.

But then she sat down under the shade with great delight. OK, well, believe me, this idea of covering is all about what Jesus does. Right. He covers us with his blood. And it's a consistent theme throughout the whole, you know, scripture is Jesus has you covered.

You know, be surety for my servant for good, as we talked about in the hundred nineteen song, whether it's financially or emotionally or however you look at Jesus. Shade is a gigantic part of who he is and the beauty of that particular tree. And of course, you know, then it gets into his fruit. And, you know, certainly the fruits are unbelievable when it comes to our relationship with Jesus. And the beauty of that fruit is that inside of every apple, there are seeds that give you the same kind of tree. And so, you know, the imagery could not be more spectacular. But I guess the question, you know, is I've recently heard a podcast, Stacey Eldridge. Talked about this amazing prayer that she had where Jesus had her in a garden, had her lay up against a tree and then put his hand on her heart and prayed for. You know, all that that goes on in that imagery of trees is is it goes back clearly to the garden of where are we going to get our life?

Right. Where where are we going to get our life and are we going to get it from the tree of life or are we going to get it from the tree of knowledge? And even as you study these things, you know, so often, undoubtedly, somehow or another, I'm trying to study the word for knowledge rather than for life. So I think about my own life and I know that that Solomon did a whole lot about under the sun and sun. And so the idea of this shade, you know, I don't think we should miss at all that in that area, you know, to get out from underneath the sun is to keep from getting dark. And that is we labor under the sun. This is, you know, these are all things that that we have a tendency to do, even if we're laboring when we're studying the word of God. But I think about how Jesus was my shade, you know, in his own way. He delivered me from the work that I used to do in order to get ahead, that that work under the sun where, you know, you're just laboring to try to prove that you're something or try to, you know, make your place in the world or to feel like you are somebody.

How are all that works? I certainly was in that in the car business, never felt like, you know, just being a salesman was enough. I needed to be a manager, then I needed to be a general manager, then I needed to be an owner. And all those things were what I served, right?

They were my God. And Jesus came in and I mean, through a process, it didn't happen overnight. He began this tree that would grow into this unbelievable shade. And the more that I ate of the fruit of that tree, the more it built that idea that to get out me out from underneath the sun to where when he finally relieved me from, you know, of pursuing all those things, I pursued all those years and was able to sit in that delight of his shade and realize that we could just have this relationship.

And eat of the fruit of that which he was giving me with my own family, with my friends, with all the communities that I have the delight to be with. You know, each of those has in it a seed for another apple tree and another apple tree that could provide shade for the next person that needs it so desperately to help them get out of the sun, just like the Shulamite woman had become dark because her mother's children were angry with her. You know, here's our opportunity as we eat of this particular fruit. It has that seed if we share it. And as we share it with our communities, to me, you know, we're like Johnny Appleseed. We're spreading those trees all over the place. I love this verse. I love the contrast. And I'm going to chew on this particular apple for the rest of the day. Thank you for listening. Thank you.