The Happy Couple Return To Jerusalem In Full Harmony.
General question.
“Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, Leaning on her beloved?”
The Beloved speaks to his bride.
“Under the apple-tree I aroused you, There your mother was in birth pains with you, There she was in birth pains who brought you forth.”
By comparison with Song of Solomon 3:6 which similarly opens with the words ‘Who is this who comes up from the wilderness?', verse 5 would seem to indicate a return to Jerusalem. But now she comes, not as his new bride, but as one who has been taught. Nevertheless she still leans on her beloved. For however much instruction she has received, her dependence is still totally on Him.
And as they return her beloved reminds her that he had ‘aroused her' under the apple tree. It was from that that she was to gain her strength. It was under that apple tree that her mother had first begun to experience the birth pains that would result in her being born. The idea is that being under the apple tree had a special significance and there is therefore a sense in which by his act of love he has brought her to a new birth (compare Isaiah 55:10-11).
In Song of Solomon 2:3 we were told that the apple tree was in fact her beloved under whose shadow she took great delight, and whose fruit was sweet to her taste. Thus the apple tree is the source of all her blessings from her beloved. It is from him that she receives all.
We too as we return to face the world after being alone with Him must recognize that we must constantly lean upon His arm, and must look to the strength and life gained from Him while we were ‘under the apple tree', the place of new birth and renewal, to enable us in what lies ahead. We too are His beloved wife and can be sure of His care and provision for us.
His New Wife Asks Him To Mark Her As A Seal On His Heart And Arm.
The new WIFE now calls on her beloved to mark her as a seal on his heart and on his arm. She wants him to have a permanent reminder that she is his. For the seal is a stamp of ownership, and she wants the stamp of his ownership of her to be in his heart, and in everything that he does. She wants nothing ever to come between them again. We are then told why she wants to be sealed on his heart and arm. It is because of the strength and power of love, which is the very flame of God (Yah) Himself. Thus it must be preserved at all costs.
This reference to God, the only such reference in the song, may well be seen as drawing attention to the whole significance of the song. In the end the love that has been described throughout the song is to be seen as revealing the very flame that is in the heart of God as He too looks with love and jealousy on His people (Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:14) a love that cannot be destroyed or bought. In this way the writer himself parallels the love of God with this love between bridegroom and bride.