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THE PLEASURE OF LOVE!

The Friday edition of the East Valley/Scottsdale Tribune listed “10 Things to Do This Weekend.” The list included:
– The 14th annual Festival of the West with music, cowboy poetry, a chuckwagon cookoff, as well as a tribute to John Wayne.
– The Chicago in AZ Festival featuring Chicago-inspired music & food at one end of Fifth Avenue in Scottsdale and the same thing at the other end but with an Arizona twist.
– A Talent Show featuring the most talented seniors in Chandler and Gilbert performing in a variety show.
– An Aircraft Rally featuring the One-Eighth Air Force Radio Controlled Scale Model Aircraft Fly-In at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
&
– A Big Band Dance where we are encouraged to dress in our favorite World War II-era fashions or military uniforms.
This list didn’t include attending a sports event, professional or otherwise, seeing a movie, taking a chance at one of the too-many casinos, enjoying the wilderness, or even playing an innocent game of dominos. In our pleasure-saturated world the writer of “10 Things to Do This Weekend” limited herself to those events peculiar to this weekend. She could’ve easily listed 101 pleasure-filled things to do this weekend.

If you had been the writer, what would you put on the list after listing the half-dozen items peculiar to this weekend? What ordinary things might you do on the weekend in which you find pleasure? An enjoyable weekend may include:
– an early morning or late evening hike.
– a non-fast food lunch with good friends.
– reading a good novel followed by a nap.

Pleasure! When we think of a pleasure-filled weekend we think in terms of places to go and events to attend. We seldom think of pleasure in terms of simply enjoying the company of someone who loves us. We seldom think of it in terms of being refreshed by simply being with good friends. But there is pleasure, real pleasure, to be found in being loved and in being with those you love.
I think this was where Jesus found his pleasure. When Jesus and his disciples ate the Passover supper he obviously had a lot of things on his mind, the betrayal of Judas, the scattering of the sheep, and the agony of the cross. But at the end of the Passover Supper we’re told:
When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
This must have been a refreshing moment for Jesus, a simple pleasure that encouraged his heart. Encouraged him at that moment in history when he set his face toward the cross.
It is this simple pleasure of one’s company that we find in the Song of Songs. It is the pleasure the Shulammite girl finds in being with Solomon and vice-versa. It is the sense of pleasure that is found when we are loved by another and when we are expressing love. In Song of Songs 2:1 - 2 we read:
I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
Like a lily among thorns
is my darling (companion) among the maidens.
“I am the rose of Sharon, and a lily of the valleys.” Generally we apply these words to Christ. We speak of him as the Rose of Sharon and we sometimes sing, “He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star.” But here the Shulammite girl applies them to herself.
In continuing the duet that began in v. 9 of chapter 1, the girl may simply be being modest as she describes herself as a rose of Sharon and/or as a lily of the valleys. Sharon is the low -lying coastal area south of Mount Carmel and the rose of Sharon is not what we could call a rose. The only other place this Hebrew word for “rose” is used is in Isaiah 35:1 where it is translated as crocus – a plant having grasslike leaves and variously colored flowers. On the plain of Sharon, these were commonplace flowers. So the girl may be saying that she is rather ordinary.
But the Isaiah passage, though written years later, suggest otherwise. It reads:
The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus (rose), it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.
So I suspect, though the girl was probably modest, that she was starting to see herself as the king saw her. He had already told her, in v. 15 of chapter 1, that she was “beautiful.” In taking pleasure in his estimate of her, she saw herself as a rose of Sharon and and as a lily of the valley.

But he replies that she is like a lily among thorns compared to the other maidens. Compared to her beauty all others are but briars and brambles. It is not simply that she is “a lily” but the lily of the valley. In the verses that follow, it is clear that she enjoyed receiving his praise of her beauty. You see, when others see us as beautiful, as special, then we start seeing ourselves the same way. In a very real sense, the Shulammite’s beauty was the possession and expression of Solomon’s love for her.
Now look at vv. 3 - 6 and note the pleasure the Shulammite girl had in simply sitting in Solomon’s shade. We read:
Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my lover among the young men.
I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love.
His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me.
While most commentators agree that this cannot be our modern apple tree, which wasn’t, and isn’t, native to Israel, botanical accuracy is irrelevant to the scene. Here the girl not only basked in the security of her lover, she found pleasure in being with him and in being embraced by him.

The security here is certainly not that of financial security, though Solomon had little to worry about in this area, nor is it simply the security of a protective husband, though Solomon was probably protective of her. Here, in these verses, it is the security of feeling completely safe with each other.

Solomon had no fear of thorns in regards to the girl. She was soft, not simply physically, but emotionally. Likewise, the girl felt safe. For like an apple tree Solomon not only provided shade and refreshment, he provided an oasis away from everyday life.
What this means for us is that the two felt safe enough with each other to be themselves. They didn’t have to guard their words; for their words were automatically guarded by their love for each other. How about the relationships in our life? Do others feel comfortable around us? Does love guard our words? Do our words go through our heart before they proceed out of our mouth?
It is interesting to note that she compares this pleasure of his presence to finding a wild apple tree in an uncultivated woodland. When, by mere chance, you find such a tree it is an occasion for spontaneous happiness. Invariably, you and those with you, stop and enjoy its fruit. So Solomon was not simply the girl’s comfort zone, he was her source of spontaneous happiness!
Matthew Henry, commenting on Genesis 2:21 - 25, put it this way:
The woman was made of a rib, out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.
All of this, this comfort zone underneath the apple tree, is the perfect context for intimacy. Among friends, it is the intimacy of sharing our lives with each other. It is laughing and crying with one another. Among lovers, it is the intimacy of embracing one another physically. It is the holding of hands. It is enjoying his or her kisses. It is the pleasure of sexual intercourse. It is the passionate side of love. It is the love that the Shulammite girl was ready for as she basked in the shade of Solomon’s love for her.
So here we have two individuals, two lovers, who found pleasure in each other. Sometimes, it is the simple pleasures of life that are the deepest. We find these simple pleasures not in the events we go to or the places we go but in God’s world and in our friendships.

We find simple and deep pleasure in:
– the beauty of a flower or a sunset.
– the smile or laughter of another.
– the touch of a friend, the embrace of a lover.

Finally, I want you to note v. 7. It reads:
Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.

In the intimacy of the setting, the girl had been aroused and she was faint with love and desire. She was in the strong arms of her lover and perhaps allowed his right hand to caress her and explore her body. But instinctively, the girl knew that true love has its own pace. She has heard of girls being date raped and knew it wasn’t prompted by love. So the charge to those who seemed to be directing the pace was: “Don’t try to make the actions of love start until love desires it to happen.”

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