Let us turn to God's Word in
that 8th chapter, the last chapter in the Song of Solomon, and I
want to direct your attention for a while to the words that
we find at the beginning of verse 5. In the Song of Solomon, chapter
8, the first part of verse 5, Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved, we observe how that
the text is in the form of a question. Who is this? The first thing then we must
establish is just who the person spoken of is. And when we come
to this book, the Song of Solomon, It is not always easy to ascertain
the personage being spoken of. It is, of course, a remarkable
part of Holy Scripture. It speaks of Solomon and his
bride, his beloved. It speaks of all that is best
all that is pure in that most intimate of all human relationships
the love of a man for his wife and the love of the woman for
her husband but more than that it's a spiritual book it speaks
also of the Lord Jesus Christ himself as I trust we shall observe
as we proceed tonight and such is the union between Christ and
his bride, Christ and his church, Christ and the individual believer
so close is that union that it shouldn't surprise us that when
we come to read such a book as this sometimes we're not sure
is it Solomon that's being spoken of or is it Solomon's beloved
that's being spoken of? The book speaks of union and
it speaks of communion between Christ and the believer. Now we have the question here
in this particular text. Who is this? Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness leaning upon her beloved? and I would assert that
this is none other than the Bride. And ultimately, of course, if
it is the Bride, it is the Church. The Bride, the Lamb's Wife, as
we read in Revelation chapter 21. And we can observe a number
of marks or characteristics of the particular person who is
being spoken of here. The person and the posture of
this person tells us something about this particular individual. It is the believer that is being
spoken of because the language that is employed is the language
of faith. She leans, she leans upon her
beloved. And isn't faith one of the real
marks of those who are truly the children of God? those who
are real members of that one true Church. The mark of the
Christian is that he lives the life of faith. His trust is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we come to the New Testament
and we have those various epistles written by the apostles and so
often, of course, we find Paul, for example, writing to particular
churches. And who are those who constitute
the churches? They are those who have come
to faith. They are believers. But not all of the epistles are
addressed to specific churches. We also have those letters which
are general epistles. letters that are addressed to
all the churches. And for example there, in the
opening part of the second general epistle of Peter, in the opening
verse we read these words, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle
of Jesus Christ to them who have obtained like precious faith
with us. through the righteousness of
God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Peter is writing to the churches,
he's writing to believers. And this is how he addresses
them. They have obtained light, precious faith with us, they
are believers. This is the marketing of the
true child of God. And he says in his first epistle,
unto you therefore which believe, he is precious. or their faith
is precious because their faith has to do with one who is a precious
saving. Now, that faith, that true faith,
that saving faith, that justifying faith that centers in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ is a faith that is rooted and
grounded in law. We're familiar, I'm sure, with
the 13th chapter of the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians
where he speaks of charity or Christian love and when we come
to the end of that chapter remember what Paul says now abide us faith,
hope, charity the greatest of these is charity or true faith
it is rooted and it is grounded in love and what we have here
in the Song of Solomon is a love song it is a love song and as
I said it speaks of all that is best all that is dignified,
all that is purified in human love and that most intimate relationship
of a man and his wife and so as we've also said there are
those verses, statements, and sometimes we think, who is it
that's being spoken of here? Besides these words in chapter
8, if we go back to chapter 3, we find a very similar verse
there in the middle of chapter 3, verse 6. Who is this that
cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed
with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchants?
When we look at that third chapter, it is quite evident that the
chapter is very much taken up with Solomon. By night on my
bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought him but I found
him not. And then at verse 7, Behold his
bed which is Solomon's and so forth. It seems to be Solomon
that is being spoken of throughout that particular chapter. Well,
is it Solomon that is referred to also in verse 6? Well, when we consult the commentators
we discover that none of them say it's Solomon, and yet in
the context it would seem to be Solomon. But they all assert
there that the reference is to Solomon's bride. All that intimacy
you see of the relationship that is between Solomon and his beloved. And it's here said before us
that he's a wonderful type of the love that the Lord Jesus
Christ has for his people, the love that he has for his bride,
for the church, for the individual believer. And the language, the
language is so rich, the figures are so wonderful, are they not?
Many might read the book and feel that it's unbecoming. Some
would say it's improper to read such a book in the public place. But we have to recognize here
that this is part of the Word of God, is it not? And Paul writing
to Titus can say unto the pure, All things are pure, but unto
them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. but even their
mind and their conscience is defiled. We have to come then
and look at these things with those pure eyes that only the
Lord God Himself can supply. If we're going to understand
the wonderful language that is being employed throughout the
Song of Solomon as he speaks of the loving relationship and
the intimate relationship between Christ and the believer. As I said, before our public
reading of Scripture, we are told that there are 1,005 songs
of Solomon. In 1 Kings chapter 4 and verse
32. 1,005 songs. But this is the
song of songs. This is the one song of Solomon
that is more than his composition. This is the Word of God. Solomon wrote these words under
that gracious inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And so it should
not surprise us to see that there is a deeper
spiritual significance to the words, as we've already said.
It is speaking really of Christ, and it's speaking of the Church
of Christ. That's the deeper spiritual meaning
that we have here. And we have the authority of
the New Testament to say such a thing, do we not? When we come
to the New Testament epistles. Remember how the Apostle Paul
writes in Ephesians chapter 5, it's a very practical chapter,
chapter 5, he is giving exhortation and instruction as to how believers
are to conduct themselves and how they are to behave themselves
in their various responsibilities in life. And there he speaks
of the duties of the husbands and the wives. It's a passage
that's often read at a wedding ceremony. But look at the language
that Paul uses as he speaks of that relationship. He says, Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for it. that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the work, that he might present
it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife Lovatt
himself. Here you see we have that same
intimacy. The man and the woman are one,
they are one flesh. This is what we read at the end
of Genesis chapter 2, is it not, where we see that there was not
a helpmate that could be found for Adam and so God causes a
sleep to fall upon him and he takes of his rib and he creates
the woman and he brings the woman to the man and they become one flesh. All
the intimacy. But you see what Paul is saying
here. Here is the husband's responsibility is to love his wife. And how
is he to love his wife with the same love that Christ loved the
church? And how is the wife to love her husband then? Well, she is to be submissive
to him as the church must be submissive to the Lord Jesus
Christ. But Paul says this is a great
mystery. but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Here is
the authority whereby we can understand the Song of Solomon
as speaking of the relationship ultimately between Christ and
the Church, or Christ and the believer. We say it from what
Paul is saying there in the New Testament. We interpret this
Old Testament book in the light of that fuller revelation that
we have in the New Testament, and we remember how the Lord
Jesus Christ himself declared that he is to be found in all
the Scriptures. Search the Scriptures. He says,
"...in them ye think that ye have life." Now, it's not surprising
to discover that Isaac Watts wrote a paraphrase on part of
this 8th chapter of the Song of Solomon. Watts, of course,
paraphrased the Psalms. He also wrote a number of hymns,
but there are also those that we sing that are paraphrases
of other parts of scripture and number 92 is really a paraphrase
of this 8th chapter and see how Watts interprets it and I assert
that he is right in what he is saying here. Who is this fair
one in distress that travels from this wilderness, impressed
with sorrows and with sins, on her beloved Lord she leans? This is the spouse of Christ
our God, bought with the treasures of His blood, and her request
and her complaint is but the voice of every saint. O let my name engrave and stand
both on thy heart and on thy hand, seal me upon thy arm, and
wear thy pledge of love forever there. He's paraphrasing, is
he not? Look at the context of our text,
who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon
her beloved? I raise thee up unto the apple
tree, there thy mother brought thee forth, there she brought
thee forth that bare thee. Set me as a sail upon thine heart,
as a sail upon thine arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy
as cruel as the grave, the coals thereof are coals of fire, which
hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love
and soul." Read through that 92nd hymn in the book and compare
it with the language that we have here in verse 5 following. This text then tonight, who is
the individual that is being spoken of? It is the Church. That Church that is made up of
Christian believers. those who are men and women of
faith. Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? But there are a
number of characteristics that we can see concerning this particular
person. It's the believer, yes, but also
it is one who has known something of barrenness. From whence does
this person come? She cometh up from the wilderness.
Oh, the wilderness, it's a desert place. It's a barren place. And we observe that the question
is repeated, as we've said. The beginning of this fifth verse
in chapter 8 is identical to what we have at the beginning
of verse 6 in chapter 3, this repetition. Who is this that
cometh up from the wilderness, and where we have repetition
in the Word of God, we know that that's significant, because God's
words are weighty words, and no word of Scripture is wasted.
The beauty of our authorized version, of course, is the literalness
of the rendering. We believe in that Plenary, that
verbal inspiration of Holy Scripture. Every word of God is pure. And
so when God repeats Himself, and we are wise to take account,
here is one that comes out of the wilderness. Where is it that
God finds His people? Well, the children of Israel
in the Old Testament, are they not a typical people? Isn't Israel
a type? of the true Church of God. When
we come to the end of Deuteronomy, in chapter 32, that song of Moses,
the man of God, look at what Moses says there in verse 10
concerning Israel. He found him in a desert land. And in the wise howling wilderness
he led him about He instructed him, He kept him as the apple
of His eye. Where does the Lord God find
His people? He finds them in a wilderness,
in a desolate place. What do we mean by that? Well,
God makes a sinner to feel what his sad condition is. Makes him to feel what this poor,
sin-cursed world is. makes him to feel what he is
in himself, in his own nature, in his fallen nature. And he
is made there to cry out to God, is he not? And we see it so many
times in the language of the Samis. How does the Samis cry
out to God? There in the 102nd Psalm he says,
I am like a pelican of the wilderness. I am like an owl of the desert,
I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop. Here are those,
you see, who are made to feel something of their condition,
and they feel that they're like no one else. There's no one like
me. They feel themselves so often
to be so far off from God. This is how God deals with sinners,
when he brings a sinner to the end of himself. He teaches that
poor soul that his heart is nothing but a barren heath, that there
is nothing profitable or fruitful within it. He's nothing but a
sinner. And yet this is where God calls
His people and He ministers to such. Oh, and how graciously,
how graciously God deals with these characters as He brings
them out of themselves and out of that waste, howling wilderness. Again, the language of the Prophet
Isaiah. He says in chapter 43, And verse
20, the beast of the field shall unemerge, the dragons and the
owls, because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in
the desert to give drink to my people, my chosen. All these poor souls. What does
he say again in chapter 35? The wilderness and the solitary
place shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice
and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and
rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be
given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall
see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. It
goes on, the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of
the deaf shall be unstopped, then shall the lame man leapers
and heart, and the tongue of the dumb sing, for in the wilderness
shall waters break out, and streams in the desert, and the parched
ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. in the habitation of dragons,
where each lay chubby grass with reeds and rushes." All this character,
you see, that we're considering here in the text tonight, this
is that one who is being brought out of that barren place, this
is that one who is being brought into all the comfort that is
found only in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the believer,
delivered from all that waste, barren, howling wilderness. But then one more characteristic
that we can bring out, and that is the fact that often this particular
individual might be bewildered. Might be bewildered. You see,
the wilderness is such a perplexing place. It's so easy, is it not,
to lose one's way, to wander out of the right path. And isn't this often what happens
when God is pleased to take a certain person in hand and begin to instruct
them and to show them something of themselves? What is God's
great purpose? It is to bring that poor soul
to see that the only way of salvation is in Christ. And yet so often,
they wander into some by-path. They try to make a way for themselves. They might wander into the path
of morality. To think, you see, that all by
seeking to improve themselves, by endeavouring to live a better
sort of life, trying to do good deeds, that they make themselves. more acceptable unto God or some
might turn to the path of religion and imagine that well if I seek
to attend diligently the services of God's house if I attempt to
perform those duties that I read of in the word of God but it's
always looking to themselves all the time and they're not
to look to themselves who is this that cometh out of the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved. What does the Lord Jesus say?
I am the Word, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. And we sang it just now. Come
hither soul, says Christ. Come hither soul, I am the Word. And we're not to be diverted
from that, but to be brought to recognize that there is but
one way. And it is by entering in at that
straight gate and walking in that narrow way. All but how
God proves His children. As I said, the children of Israel
are atypical people. And we see them there in Deuteronomy
on the very borders of the Promised Land. And what does God say to
them after 40 years of wanderings in the wilderness. In Deuteronomy
8 he says, Thou shalt remember all the ways which the Lord thy
God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble
thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether
thou wouldest keep his commandments or no, and he humbled thee, and
suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manner which thou
knewest not, neither did thy fathers know that he might make
thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. All we can remember, all that
way wherein the Lord is leading us, we're to take stock, we're
to look to ourselves, so often we are bewildered and we are
prone to wonder again we sang it did we not in our opening
hymn prone to wonder Lord I feel it or do we feel it have followed
how we find so often that we're bewildered we're not really unlike
that person that's spoken of in the 107th Psalm I know it's
a different figure here we have the believer coming out of the
wilderness, and there in the psalm of course we see the same
character doing business in great waters. But the principle in
each place is the same. There in the psalm Verse 23, we read, They that
go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters,
these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep.
For He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth
up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven,
they go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because
of trouble. They reel, to and fro, and stagger
like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Here is the
mariner, you see, so bewildered, so perplexed, staggering to and
fro. It's just the same as that one
who has been in a barren wilderness, losing his path. The psalmist
says, then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he
bringeth them out. of their distresses. This is
what God will bring us to in His dealings. Who is this that
cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved? But we sought to identify just
who it is that's being spoken of. And I say again that the
language belongs to the Christian. He speaks of the Bride of Christ,
the Church, the individual believer who has found himself in that
barren place, who has often been so confused and bewildered. But
let us look at the posture as this person is delivered. Now,
the significant word, the important word, of course, in the text
is that verb, to lead. Here's the active word. Who is
this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her
Beloved?" Always in this, friends, the posture of faith. The language of faith. The psalmist
says, Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and
He shall bring it to pass. Psalm 37 and verse 5. Now the
margin gives us an alternative. The margin tells us that the
Hebrew there in the first clause is literally, roll thy way. It's translated in the text,
commit thy way. But the margin says, roll thy
way upon the Lord's. Trust also in him. Now, those
are parallel statements. As you know, that parallelism
is one of the peculiarities of Hebrew poetry. And so we have
the same truth. stated in slightly different
ways. To trust in the Lord is to roll
thy soul upon the Lord. You see the Hebrew language,
it's so much a language that speaks more in those concrete
terms, almost in terms of pictures. And here we see what it is to
trust, it's to roll the soul, It's to lean and to lay heart
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, when we consider the
posture of this particular person that's being spoken of, we can
learn a number of things with regards to the faith of this
person. And let me mention just three
aspects of their faith. First of all, here is confidence. You lean upon something because
you trust that it's going to support you. No point leaning
upon something that will give way under your own weight. You
have confidence that what you're leaning on will prove to be a
substantial support. So here is confidence. The wise
man says in the Proverbs, trust in the Lord with all thy heart
and lean not upon thine own understanding. And that's what it is, you see.
Trusting in the Lord. Not leaning to ourselves. Not
looking to ourselves. Looking away from ourselves.
Isn't that what faith does? Faith looks away from self. Away from our own thoughts, our
own ideas, our own works. Our faith is likened to the activity
of the eye. The scripture says, God speaking
to sinners says, look unto me and be beside all the ends of
the earth for I am God and there is none else. And when Paul,
writing in the Hebrews, reminds them of faith, he says they are
to be looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
or to look yourself. The eye looks away from himself.
We never see our face, do we? We never see our eye. We can
look at our hands, we can look at every part of our body, but
we can't really look at our eye or our face. We see it in a reflection
when we look in the mirror, but the eye you see is always looking
away from self. And that's what we're to do.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not upon thine own
understanding. Oh, how this one you see is leaning
upon her Beloved. And we are to do that. We're
to look to Him. And we're to trust in Him in
every situation, even when all is darkness round about us. That word at the end of Isaiah
50, who is among you, that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice
of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light,
let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay himself upon
his God. Oh friends, do we know that when
we're made to feel so much what we are, our weakness, our sinful
weakness, All we can do is stay ourselves upon our God. We have
confidence in Him. We have to trust in Him. But as we see the confidence
of faith here, so also we see the companionship or the fellowship
of faith. Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved? Oh, there's a closeness
here, is there not? Here are friends. How can two
walk together except they be agreed?" asks Amos in his book. How can two walk together except
they be agreed? These two are together. Oh, there's
closeness, there's intimacy here. And as I said, this is really
the great theme of the Song of Solomon. It speaks of union and
communion. Union and communion between Christ
and his church. And we see it, do we not? We
see it in the New Testament, what it is to know that companionship. Remember the beloved disciple,
John? We're told how at the last supper
there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus
loved. That was John. how intimate John
was with the Lord Jesus Christ. He was leaning, he was so close
to him. And John lived many years, he
died an old man. It was probably almost 50 years
after the crucifixion and the resurrection and the ascension
of the Lord Jesus Christ that John was writing his epistles
in the book of the Revelation. And in that period, half a century,
there were various heresies that had already arisen in the church,
and there were those, and we've said it before, there were those
who denied the person of Christ, they either denied the truth
of his deity, they said he wasn't really God, but there were others
who denied the truth of his humanity, and they said he wasn't a real
man, he was just a phantom. But John knew different. And
so how does he write when he comes to address believers in
his first epistle, that which was from the beginning, which
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life. He knew the reality of Christ's
human nature. He had lent upon the Lord's bosom,
just like this one that we read of here in our text tonight. And who is being leaned upon?
Why, it's the Beloved. Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved? And this is a name that is used
many times here in the song concerning the bridegroom, concerning Solomon,
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter 2 And verse 16, My
Beloved is Mine and I am His. He feedeth among the lilies. Again in chapter 5 verse 9, What is
thy Beloved more than another Beloved? Are thou fairest among
women? What is thy Beloved more than another Beloved that thou
dost so charge us? And then the answer Wonderful
description! Oh, the language, the beauty
of the figure that you is, my beloved, is white and ruddy,
the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine
gold, his locks are bushed and black as a raven, his eyes are
the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, and so on. Oh, language fails, you see,
as she seeks to describe something of the beauty of this One who
is our Beloved. And then we have it again in
chapter 6 and verse 3, I am my Beloved's and my Beloved is mine. He feedeth among the living. Who is this Beloved? It is none
other, of course, than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Isn't this
one of the names that is given to Him in Scripture? When we see him there, as he's
about to commence his public ministry, remember how he submits
to John's baptism, the baptism of repentance. He has no sin
to repent of, but he comes and identifies himself with those
who are receiving that baptism. And as he is baptized, the heavens
open and the Spirit descends in the form of a dove. and the
father speaks those words from heaven this is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased and then again later we see those
three favoured disciples Peter and James and John in the Mount
of Transfiguration and they see through the veil of the Lord's
human nature They see beyond His state of humiliation here
upon the earth, they see something of the glories of His deity,
how His garment is white and glistering. And then again the
voice that comes from heaven, this is my Beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased, hear ye, hear ye. Oh, the voice of my Beloved,
the voice of my beloved. How the Lord Jesus is that one
who is pleased to come and to speak to his people. But here
we see the church leaning upon him. The intimacy
of the relationship, that leaning of faith. Think of the faith of Abraham.
Abraham is the father of all them that believe it in us. And we are told Abraham believed
in God and he was called the friend of God. The friend of
God. This intimacy, it speaks of friendship,
companionship. This is what the believer is
favoured with. Our fellowship is with the Father
and with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, it's life eternal
to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent. Yes, here we see confidence,
here we see companionship, friendship, fellowship, and then finally
here we also see deliverance. Deliverance. The coming up. The coming out of. In the text
it says she cometh up from the wilderness. In chapter 3 and
verse 6 it says she cometh out of the wilderness. How is it
that she is delivered? Well, she is only delivered as
she comes to Christ. Ultimately it must come to that.
There has to be that coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
a vital thing. Oh, that's a vital thing. Not
enough to know and to feel our hearts to be a barren heath?
To feel our hearts, because of sin, to be a waste, howling wilderness? Not enough to know I'm a sinner?
I need to know One who is the Saviour of sinners. There must
be a coming to that One. And what does He say? He that
cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall
never thirst. One and the same, you see, coming
is equivalent to believing. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. But how does one come? It's not
a physical coming. It's a spiritual coming. It's
the coming of prayer, is it not? And that's what we see really
in chapter 3. There in that third chapter, Verse 6, "...who is this that
cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed
with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchants."
Oh, what is this, friends? Is it not faith? Is it not the
prayer of faith that we see here? The psalmist says, "...let my
prayer be set before thee as incense." that the lifting up
of my hands was the evening sacrifice. There in the tabernacle and subsequently
in the temple, in the holy place, they set the altar of incense. And now as the incense was burned
upon the altar so, it would fill the holy place. That smoke that is ever ascending,
it speaks of prayer. In Revelation chapter 5 and verse
8 we read of golden vials, full of odors, which are the prayers
of the saints. Again, in that same book of the
Revelation in chapter 8, and there in verses 3 and 4 we see
the figure amplified as it were, John says, verse 3 in chapter
8, Another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden
censer. And there was given unto him
much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of
all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of
the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. This is how we come. There we
have a wonderful type of figure of prayer. This is how we come
out of the wilderness, this is how we come to Christ, by prayer. Or we have to call upon Him,
we have to cry to Him. And we can cry, can we not, in
those simple prayers that are so often recorded in Scripture,
Lord, help me, Lord, save me. We don't have to multiply words.
We simply come and We seek Him, we call upon Him that He would
yet draw near and deliver us and bring us out of the wilderness
that we feel in our old fallen nature, the wilderness that is
all about us in this wicked world. Ought to be those then who would
come in that way, that blessed way of faith. Who is this that
cometh up from the wilderness, leaning, upon her beloved, and
then to make that request that we see at verse 6, and to say
to him, set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine
arm, for love is strong as death. The Lord grant his blessing on
his word.