Song of Songs 2:1- The Deep Longing of Valleys

This is the Truth Network. Chapter two says, I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. Well, this verse has its challenges.

I'm just going to tell you, because believe it or not, there's very, very little commentary found. Rashi just says, yep, that's indeed a rose. And Matthew Henry, interestingly, felt like that was actually Christ describing himself, as though, although the more I studied it, the more I came to the conclusion that clearly were feminine nouns. And I believe that this was her describing herself, the bride.

And it makes sense to me in all sorts of ways. The more I studied these words, I will tell you that, you know, when you look at the words, Rose and Sharon and Lily and Valley, like to me, therein lies the real value of the verse, like, oh, my goodness. And just, you know, on a real simple level, these are flowers.

And what are flowers? They're feminine very much. And they need.

Right. They're looking for love. They're looking. They're ready to be fertilized so that they can be fruitful. And therein that would be the beginning of the house, which is kind of where I feel like this is headed in the idea of, you know, the second chapter being a bet. But nonetheless, as we look at these words, the word rose in Hebrew is spectacular from the standpoint of looking at the Hebrew letters.

And oh, my goodness, if you take that to the miracle verses of the hundred nineteen Psalm, you know, just absolutely spectacular. So, you know, just to give you this was how I translated the word rose was a marriage house because it starts with a hat, which is that our first letter in the in the idea of statutes, the hook of the hat is the first letter in those as well. And it's the first letter in the word rose and then a bet, which is house, which is what we feel like this section's about. So, you know, it's kind of like a marriage house and then it's got a zaddy, which would make it a righteous marriage house. And then a lamed, which would be a house that is seeking, you know, the heart that is reaching out for God. And then a tav, which you may know is is is like saying the end or the truth, you know, because we'll know the truth in the end. So what a true marriage house is righteously looking is beautiful.

And then the idea of Sharon is just a shin and a race and above and a nun. And so just the Reader's Digest version of those letters is this burning sort of refining head that is that is is has great faith. It's it's what the that final nun at the end of that, it says that there's great faith in this particular burning, in this particular, you know, fire that is refining. So you get this rose that's being refined in faith and it's really a beautiful picture of a flower. Right.

That is looking for just the right B, so to speak. And then you get to the word Lily, which looks very much like rejoice, which is a shin and above and a shin, which means rejoice. And then again, a final nun, which means in great faith. So here you have this flower that's rejoicing because it's getting ready.

Right. To find the pollen that it needs in order to be fruitful, which will only be Christ. But here's where finally I searched in search to see what all this meant. And it was kind of interesting that when it came to the word valleys, that word is very much plural in Hebrew. And so when you say a lily of the valley, I didn't want it saying it's saying a lily of the valleys. And so the more I studied that word, the more I realized that you could translate it valleys, but I would probably a lily of the depths. And so like this is a deep, deep desire to rejoice in faith.

I mean, this is a it's in the depths that this particular flower is. And the more I thought about these flowers, the more I could see the depth of what this is, that there's that this desire for Christ comes from a deep, deep, deep place. I've told you the story before about, you know, when I began to see his face and all of a sudden something deep inside me was just screaming, screaming, screaming. Well, just even this morning, as we go seeking him, I hope you do that in the mornings.

Maybe you're doing that now as you're listening to this podcast. You go seeking, seeking and you're trying to understand and you're trying to find why this particular verse or why this sentence is significant or why this word is significant. And so, you know, you begin to flower from my standpoint. You're you're you're anticipating, you know, God coming and showing you through the Holy Spirit, through your dove eyes, something spectacular.

Well, you know, for me this morning, I really I spent nearly two hours just studying these words and still felt pretty empty and kept on going on wild goose changes until all of a sudden I came to this word valleys. And when I realized that it was here, that these things were down in the depths, then all of a sudden I could see how much flowers are seeking. That the whole reason that they flower is they are looking for Jesus, right, they're looking for a way to be fruitful and apart from me, you can do nothing. And so this idea of, you know, in his presence is fullness of joy. The lily, right, since it's rejoicing is saying, you know, that it's faith is that it's going to be in his presence. You see that rejoice with the with the with the idea of this final nun on the end of it is this faith that I'm going to be rejoicing.

And the only way that's going to happen is when he shows up. And so no wonder she is flowered, right? She's put on all her makeup, done whatever it is that she does to make herself feel beautiful and and and anxiously awaiting her beloved so that she can be fruitful. And then and this is just a beautiful picture as she describes herself as a rose of Sharon, as a lily of the valley. And I hope as you are preparing yourself for Christ, that that comes from a really deep place with you as well. And I thank you for listening.