“It is a far, far better thing that I do than I have ever done. It Is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”

“After all, tomorrow is another day.”

“He loved Big Brother.”

“Now at last they were being Chapter One of the greatest story which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever, in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

“He drew a deep breath. ‘Well, I’m back,’ he said.”

The final lines of a book matter. The opening lines set the tone and direction for the everything that follows, but the closing lines are what linger in our minds whenever we put the book down.

The same is true as we come to the conclusion of the Bible’s greatest song, the Song of Songs. We have climbed the literary mountain that the Song gives us, ascending the emotional summit in 5:1 and descending down the theological heart of the poem with last week’s text. We now come to the very end of the Song. Here we are at the base of the mountain, where we can look back on the entire journey and prepare to take its words with us into our next journey.

At first glance, these closing lines may not be how we would expect the Song to end. But they are, of course, precisely what the Holy Spirit inspired. And my hope is that we will see clearly just how fitting these final words are.

Given the chiastic structure of the poem, the end mirrors the beginning. 1:2-4 opened with four themes that have carried throughout the book: desire, integrity, royalty, and community. Those same themes are replayed here, but now in somewhat reverse order. These verses begin with community, move into integrity and royalty, and conclude with desire. These unfold in three sections. First, in verses 8-10, the community inquires how to help their little sister keep the refrain’s charge to not awaken love until it pleases. Second, the bride gives us one final contrast between her love and Solomon’s counterfeit love. Finally, the Song concludes with one final dialogue between the bride and her beloved.

THE COMMUNAL WORK OF GUARDING PURITY // VERSES 8-10

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?

The first question that should come our mind is: who is speaking here? The ESV marks them as the OTHERS. But as we have noted before, the Hebrew has no designations. They are probably either the daughters of Jerusalem or perhaps a young girl’s older brothers, which would mirror the mention of the bride’s brothers at the beginning of the poem.

Either way, the ambiguity is a strength, not a weakness, because the words here should apply to all of us broadly. Male or female, there is a shared responsibility to guard and encourage purity in those who are younger.

The little sister here is clearly not yet ready for marriage. She is not physically mature yet. But even so, they are still asking, What shall we do for her on the day when she is spoken for? They are thinking ahead and preparing for that day in advance.

That ought to be a word of instruction to us. Too often, preparation for relationships and purity only begins, if at all, in the teenage years. But this passage gives us a different pattern. Preparation should begin before physical maturity, not after. Now, this requires wisdom because we certainly do not want to awaken anything before its time.

But they likely know that while she is physically still a girl, she will soon become a young woman, and they ask, “What do we now to prepare her well?”

Their answer comes in the form of a metaphor:

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.

The imagery seems clear enough. A wall is strong and impenetrable. A door, on the other hand, is an entrance that is easily opened.

If she demonstrates enough wisdom and self-control to be like a wall, then they will adorn her. Silver is one of the most brilliant and valuable metals. They will honor her and celebrate her. They will gladly show her off to potential suitors and praise her to the broader community. They will do their best to highlight her attractiveness, both physical and spiritual.

But if she lacks self-control and is like a door, then they will protect her from her own foolishness. Cedar has already been mentioned in the Song for its might and strength. They will restrain and guard her.

In other words, if she exercises wisdom, their role will be to highlight and showcase her wisdom. But if she is given to foolishness, their role will be to guard her from her own destructive choices.

In verse 10, the bride, whom they seem to be asking for advice, speaks. She indirectly affirms their plan by speaking of herself with the same metaphor. She says:

I was a wall,
and my breasts were like towers.

The woman had already lived through the day that the community is anticipating for their little sister. When her breasts had fully developed, she was not a door but a wall. She was beautiful and desirable, but she was also secure and self-controlled. She lived according to the refrain of the book. She did not awaken love until it pleased.

And when it did please, she says, Then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace.

Her self-control did not hinder love; it prepared her for it. It led to her having a relationship of peace.

Indeed, notice that she speaks of her beloved, presumably when he first noticed her, and he saw her as one who finds peace. This fits with what we have already seen since her friends called her the Shulamite or the peaceful one.

Now, peace in Hebrew is significantly more rich in meaning that simply being free from conflict or in a state of tranquility. Those ideas are certainly included, but shalom means wholeness, completeness. It is the opposite of being fractured and anxious.

He saw one who finds peace. And that is a deeply attractive trait.

A person who is desperate for a relationship will certainly find one… or several. But those relationships are never healthy. Why? If you can’t find peace single, you certainly won’t find peace through a relationship with another sinner like yourself. Relationships are challenging enough for those who are wise and mature; they are destructive to fools.

Ironically, this means that a person is most ready to enter a romantic relationship whenever they are at peace with not being in a romantic relationship. But why is that kind of personal peace attractive? Because, at least in part, it communicates that they are not looking for another person to fix them. As romantic as the phrase “you complete me” is, it puts a weight on another person that no human being can bear.

But that was not the woman of the Song. She was like a wall. She was secure, understanding the purity that both God and the community around her expected. Because of that, when her beloved first saw her, he one who had found peace.

This, then, is her personal testimony to purity. She was at peace before her beloved saw her, and now they are both at peace together. That is the pattern.

I think it worth mentioning that Douglas O’Donnell draws out five points of protection from these verses for helping young people guard their purity: family, peers, community, self-resolve, and knowledge. Regarding knowledge, O’Donnell makes a point that applies to this whole study:

The Song of Songs is not a textbook on sex per se, but it is a book of knowledge. It does talk about the human body, the pleasures of intimacy, and the purity that ought to surround such pleasures. It teaches us that topics such as the facts of life, the birds and the bees, or whatever you want to call it are godly topics. God does not blush over the word breast. You might, but he doesn’t. So when children grow up in the church and never hear about such things from their parents, godly siblings, pastors, youth workers, children’s workers, if they never hear the word s-e-x in c-h-u-r-c-h, let me ask you, where will they hear it? What knowledge are they getting and from whom?

Those are questions worth considering. Because, while purity has never been easy, our sexually saturated culture makes purity especially difficult. They need all five places of support: family, peers, community, personal conviction, and clear, biblical teaching.

SOLOMON’ VINEYARD // VERSES 11-12

The woman now considers Solomon for the final time:

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.

Solomon’s vineyard is vast. Each worker that he sends to it brings in a thousand pieces of silver. That is royal abundance on an unimaginable scale. And it is probably a metaphor. Remember that vineyards in the Song have poetically represented the body of the woman. Thus, this is most likely a figurative way of speaking about Solomon’s harem of wives and concubines.

Indeed, Solomon’s harem was so large that we can easily imagine him employing a multitude of workers to care for them all. His relationship with all of his wives and concubines was mediated through his workers. Though they may have been wives of the king of Israel, how much access to him did they really have?

But notice the intimacy of the Song’s couple:

My vineyard, my very own, is before me;
you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

If this is the woman speaking, it is a fitting parallel with earlier in the poem, where was self-conscious about her body, saying sadly, “My own vineyard I have not kept.” But now there is peace and security. She understands her worth and her value in the eyes of the only one who truly matters to her: her beloved. She is his only one, his darling and his dove.

That is why she says that Solomon can keep his thousand women. They have what the mighty king cannot understand. They have the treasure that no amount of money can buy. They have the peace of God and the peace of one another.

She is now resting in the praise that her husband has spoken.

This point is perhaps even more relevant today than it was when the Song was first written. After all, in ancient Israel, there were plenty of opportunities for immorality, but today we carry devices in our pockets that offer us digital harems beyond Solomon’s imagination. Thus, for young women, the competition for a young man’s attention is no longer against the women around them. It is now against digital women that may not even be real.

Tragically, many young women respond to that pressure by giving themselves away for a moment of a man’s attention. But a woman who knows that she is made in the image of God, redeemed by Christ, and surrounded by a brothers and sisters who affirm her worth does not need to lower herself to win the approval of what Scripture rightly calls worthless men. It is far better to be single and at peace in Christ alone than to give oneself away.

Again, the world, both today and in Solomon’s day, tells us that sex, money, fame, and power will make us happy. Scripture says otherwise. The good life is not achieved through seizing what we want but through receiving with thanksgiving what God has already given.

The Song goes back to that lesson again at the end because it is a lesson that we continuously need to hear. If the wisest of all men fell for this lie, we ought to take care, lest we do the same.

LET ME HEAR IT // VERSES 13-14

Now, the beloved speaks for the final time:

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

He is clearly speaking to his bride. They have been in the gardens this entire poem. And she has had her companions close at hand throughout the Song as well. And they certainly listen for her voice. They call her the peaceful one. They desire to be in her presence. They seek her counsel. Remember that their marriage has never been lived out in a vacuum.

And he loves that about her. He delights that she is a woman whose wisdom other women seek. She is a woman worth hearing.

But now he says, in effect, “I know your friends want to hear you, but now it’s my turn.”

Throughout the Song, his language has become more and more intense, to the point that his previous words in 7:6-9 were far from subtle. But now, he simply wants to hear her voice.

And her response?

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

She takes his tender invitation and intensifies it. This takes us back to earlier points of the poem. She again describes him as a gazelle or young stag, which are swift, strong, and vigorous, especially in spring. The mountains of spices brings together two images of the bride. In 2:17, she was the cleft mountains, and in 4:16-5:1, she was his garden of spices.

The Song ends where it began: with desire and joyful pursuit. Like the opening of the poem, this is an invitation to intimacy. But this time the Song leaves it open, and that is intentional.

While this is still desire, it is not static desire. The opening line was raw eros: “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine.” Now at the end of the poem, the desire is still present, but it is deeper.

Of course, there is real beauty to the passion at the beginning of a relationship. But that beauty is largely found in the potential, in the imagined future.

But then there is the desire that has been forged through living life together. When you walk together on mountaintops and within the valleys, through the mundane and the emergencies, when you have wept together, laughed together, and sometimes both at once, when you’ve endured trials and the death of dreams together, and after all that, you still desire each other. That is still eros, but it is rooted down into agape. That is a love that springs from the very flame of Yahweh. And it is a particular kind of beauty.

It is also worth noting that these final lines are the picture of the kind of marriage that we all should want.

What does he want from her in the end? To hear her voice. He wants to listen to her.

What does she want from him in the end? To be with him. She wants intimacy with him.

Isn’t that, at a very basic level, what husbands and wives want from each other? We spend endless time and energy analyzing what makes marriages work or fail, but sometimes the best answer is the simplest. Wives want their husbands to listen to them. More accurately, they want their husbands to want to listen to them, to truly hear them and value their thoughts and heart.

Husbands want their wives to desire. Again, more accurately, they want their wives to want to desire them, to delight in them and find them attractive and desirable.

Of course, that is not the full picture. There are plenty of nuances and complexities still. But often, isn’t that where the root of the tension lies?

He wants to hear her.

She wants to be with him.

And that is where the song leaves us.

It may feel surprisingly quiet, but that’s the point. Their marriage is not perfect. No marriage will be. But their love and desire for one another still stands. They still want each other. And that is what all marriages should aim for.

The Song avoids giving us a grand THE END because this life doesn’t give us a big kiss, an opportunity to look at the camera, and then watch the credits roll. No, the greatest romances don’t have neat and tidy endings (nor beginnings or middles, for that matter!); they keep going. Consider the whole Song as being Chapter One of the far bigger story being told.

In that sense, the Song is also passing the story onto us. Will we continue to sing the Bible’s greatest Song on our own? What will we do with what we have observed and learned? If married, will we pursue our spouse with joy, as both the beloved and the bride have done here? If single, will we guard purity and set our eyes upon Jesus our great Beloved?

COME, LORD JESUS

Indeed, for the final time, let us consider our text again in light of Christ and His bride. So, how do these final lines of the poem point to Christ?

We can turn to the middle verses first and remind ourselves that Christ Himself is the greater Solomon. At his best, Solomon represents the very height of human wisdom (indeed, a wisdom given by God Himself). But still he fell into sin. He pursued the values of the world. Because he was the peak of human potential, his sin also represents the inevitability of human failure.

Like Solomon, we fail. Even at our best.

That is why we need a greater king than Solomon, One who does not fail or sin. Jesus is that king. He is the very wisdom of God made manifest to us, as He came to secure our redemption through His death and resurrection. Indeed, while the Old Testament is full of God’s servant whom He sent to His people, Christ worked our salvation Himself. His own vineyard was before Him, and He came down and dwelt among us in order to deliver us Himself.

But though we are already redeemed, notice also that this passage leaves us with an invitation that has not yet been fulfilled. The bride says, “Come.” But the response of the beloved is left out.

Interestingly, Scripture ends the same way. In the Book of Revelation, Jesus declares, “Surely, I am coming soon.” And John leads us in saying, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”

That is where we live.

Christ has come. He has already accomplished our salvation. He has defeated our sin through His sacrificial death upon the cross. He has risen from the dead, triumphing over the grave. He is now ascended to heaven and seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

And now we wait.

The victory is won. The kingdom of God has come into the world. But the war still continues for a little while longer. The kingdom has yet to come in all its fullness, but we wait with great desire for its coming.

And how should we wait for Christ’s return?

We should be like a wall, not a door. We should not be blown about by every wind of doctrine but stand firm in the evil day, putting on the whole armor of God. You see, sexual purity is not separate from spiritual purity. Both are deeply connected, which is why Scripture often compares idolatry to adultery.

Just as we are all called to be firm and resolute in sexual purity, we are also called to stand firm in spiritual purity. In both, the world throws countless temptations our way, so we must stand like a battlement, resting in the peace of Christ.

One of the beautiful tensions within Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians is that Paul tells us to stand firm for battle chapter 6 but says that we are seated with Christ in chapter 2. Which is it? Are we seated or standing?

The answer is yes. In this life, we are standing, engaged in battle. But spiritually, we are already seated with Christ in the presence of the Father. He is the sure and steadfast anchor of our souls, securing us to heaven.

And it is from that place of rest and peace that we find the strength to stand. Indeed, it is that kind of security that gave Paul the peace to declare, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

Do you know that kind of peace?

Resting in Christ is the only way to maintain both sexual and spiritual purity.

And what of the final verses. The beloved says, “Let me hear your voice.” Those are Christ’s words to us as well. Yes, we have fellowship with one another, and that is a beautiful gift. But Christ desires to hear from us.

Since we speak to Christ in prayer, let me ask: what does your prayer life look like?

If you are like me, you probably feel a great degree of guilt at that question because you don’t pray as much or as fervently as you’d like. And I do not aim to add to that guilt. Guilt alone only crushes rather than corrects.

Indeed, the great problem is that we often view prayer as a task to complete rather than as an opportunity to speak to our Beloved. Within that lens, we should hear Scripture’s invitation to pray as Jesus saying that He longs to hear our voice, to know our heart, thoughts, burdens, and hopes. Of course, as God, He already knows those things, but as the One who redeemed us with His own blood, He still says, “Let me hear your voice.”

And as we wait for His coming, our answer should be the same as the bride’s:

Make haste, my Beloved.

Come, Lord Jesus. Come swiftly, in all Your might, with Your eyes ablaze with the flame of Yahweh. Make all things new. Bring the fullness of the new creation. Let New Jerusalem, the eternal garden-city descend to earth. Let the wilderness finally give way to paradise. Let winter pass away once and for all. Bring, at last, the everlasting spring. Dwell with us, and we with You, for knowing You, our Beloved, is eternal life. Amen.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• In the sermon, a “wall” represents wisdom and self-control, while a “door” represents a lack of boundaries. In our current culture, what makes it difficult for a young person to be a “wall”? How can we as a community make being a “wall” seem attractive and honorable rather than just restrictive?
• The text asks, “What shall we do for our sister?” Who are the “little sisters and brothers” in your life (biological or spiritual)? What are some practical ways we can begin “building battlements of silver” (supporting and honoring their purity) before they reach the “day they are spoken for”?
• The bride says she found peace (shalom) before her beloved saw her. Why is it so dangerous to enter a relationship expecting another person to “complete” you or fix your anxieties? How does resting in Christ’s shalom change the way we approach dating or marriage?
• Why is a small, personal “vineyard” (one exclusive relationship) infinitely more valuable than Solomon’s “thousand” (unlimited but impersonal options)?
• Why is it encouraging to think of the Song of Songs (and our own marriages) as “Chapter One” rather than a closed book? How does this change your perspective on the seasons of “valleys” or “wilderness” in your life?
• If even the wisest man in history (Solomon) failed to find satisfaction in sex and power, what does that tell us about our own “pursuit of happiness”? How does Jesus being the “Greater Solomon” provide a better hope for us?
• If we view prayer not as a “task to complete” but as Jesus saying, “Let me hear your voice,” how does that change your motivation to pray this week?
• The Song ends with “Make haste,” and the Bible ends with “Come, Lord Jesus.” In what areas of your life right now are you most longing for the “wilderness to finally give way to paradise”?