Published by David’s love for the Lord was painfully intense. There were such deep and strong desires and longings, such an aching of the soul that he felt that he was inwardly fainting. He was not looking for strategy, although there is a time for that. He was not looking for a healing or deliverance, and there is a time for that as well. He was looking for presence, for nearness, for intimacy. To feel the nearness of His breath.
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) wrote 86 sermons on the Song of Solomon. He said, ‘the anointing of grace alone can teach a man this Song of songs; experience alone can make him understand it.’ This is not a song to be studied as such, but to be experienced. Love for Jesus becomes, through the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, the strongest passion that can sway the human heart.
What are the kisses of His mouth? Bernard explains: ‘The kisses of His mouth are the infillings of the Holy Spirit.’ Whenever God is pouring out His Holy Spirit, a number of things are happening to the bride. She is being healed and inwardly empowered; He is opening up the hidden things in her heart, and she is being aroused. Bernard goes on to say, ‘…the proof that the soul has received the kiss of the Spouse is that she conceives and brings forth souls to His love.
Over these last years, God has been touching and kissing a frigid, frightened and fruitless Bride, who finds it hard to get close to Him. She rationalises her actions, her lack of intimate passion by referring to the workload, the responsibilities, and the care of the children. I have heard it said that you can be a wonderful mother and a terrific housewife, but a lousy wife. The same can be said of us spiritually. It is all to do with relationship. This must come first surely.
The verse continues: ‘For your love is better than wine.’ The word ‘love’ is in the plural, and can be translated ‘love-making’. The LXX translate the Heb word DOD as ‘breasts’. Again, Bernard writes, ‘This holy kiss has such potency that by it, as soon as she receives it, the Bride conceives, and her breasts swell and fill with milk in witness…the breasts at which you nurture the little ones, those you beget, are better, that is more necessary that the wine of contemplation. Do not insist too much on the kiss of contemplation, because the breasts of preaching are better.’
Intimacy is not just pleasurable; it is for purpose.
