With verse 8 of chapter 2, we begin the second cycle of this Song, where we will see many repeats of similar feelings and actions from the first cycle. This cycle begins with another scene of togetherness in the country, away from civilization as the lover invites his beloved to go with him. It is safe to say that verses 8 and 9 are the beloved girls in continued anticipation for the arrival of her man, while verses 10-14 is the lover’s urgent invitation to his beloved girl.
In our text today we hear,
“Listen! My beloved! Behold, he is coming, Climbing on the mountains, Leaping on the hills! My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he is standing behind our wall, He is looking through the windows, “He is peering through the lattice.”
He is the original man who said that he would climb any mountain to seek the love of his woman. He comes to her bounding in exciting pursuit of her intimacy and she exclaims that she hears him approaching and is equally stirred by his arrival. He is like a wild animal leaping and running to get to her. But every love story has its obstacles. Distance, walls, windows, lattice, etc. We get to choose how we overcome these obstacles to find the one that we love. When we begin this section the girl seems to be pictured in her home anticipating the time when her lover will come and take her away. She mentions “our” wall which is most likely a reference to her mother and stepbrothers. With words of great excitement, she exclaims that he is on his way. Sometimes the city life, norms of society, and the hustle and bustle can be overwhelming. She wants to go away with her lover to a place that is suitable for their love. She seems to feel trapped in the home as we see the mention of the “wall”, the “window”, and the “lattice”. She will need to leave the home and step out into the newfound securities of her lover. This is certainly a lesson echoed from the first marriage recorded in the Bible (Gen 2:24). We leave home to be joined to our spouse for life. He is pursuing her, “behind” the wall, “looking through” the windows and “peering through” the lattice. It is as if he is going around her house trying to find a way to free her from what she described as a form of slavery earlier in the book. Keeping in mind that this is probably only an expression of her heartfelt desires, we should not see this as a literal event, but rather an emotional reality in the way that they feel about each other. There seem to be barriers to their feelings being fully expressed in actions of love. This may also show the desire of the lover to catch a glance at his bride to be. He is not peeping on her, but she wants to be seen. Limitations such as timing or restraints like the distraction of those that stand in the way of our relationship with the one that we love can often be challenging. The desire to leave home is often there when we discover someone that we want to spend our life with each day. The urge to escape the wall, go beyond the window, and exist outside the lattice will be an experience for every love relationship. Your wall, window, and lattice might be represented by something totally different than the next person in love. It could be the timing of love. It could be that you feel like you have to take care of some goal or accomplishment prior to being ready to leave home and pursue love. For some, it could truly be a less than desirable situation at home, where there will truly be a sense of freedom once they are swept away by a lover. In either case, we must act with patience and be willing to withhold our desire to leave, until the perfect moment when we are certain that it is fitting for us to go off and start a home of our own with someone that our soul loves deeply. The ideal situation would be that we leave without burning any bridges or closing any doors permanently. We maintain and respect the boundaries that were set up for us that kept us sheltered from the outside world in those developmental stages of our youth. We will all feel the call of the journey of love, but we cannot forget the importance of the barriers that prepared our hearts for the longings of love outside of the home of our upbringing. SPIRITUAL APPLICATION: We are put here on earth and our Maker desires that we would be wooed by His love and would come away with Him. He pursues us and we are asked to hear His call and come out to be with Him. He is near and looking eagerly for our breakthrough where we overcome the barriers that stand in the way of our desire to accept a relationship with Him and we are free from these setbacks to only love Him. We will always remember the places that we have been in our past, but we don't live there anymore. We are scaling any wall to get to Him. The walls of our lives could be family members that don't want to seek the Lord, and yet we still pursue Him. The lock on the window could be a sin holding us back and once we are tired of being bound, we decide to break free and take His hand. The lattice could be the obstacles of our former experiences that we must be willing to overcome in order to feel prepared to make the dash for the open arms of our loving Lord. This will apply to each one of us differently, based on our life experiences. Just envision the Lord like an excited gazelle or young stag going to any length and joyously seeking a relationship with you. Will you be ready for His coming? Will you be excited to hear the trumpet sound for His arrival? Review the specific hurdles that separate you from Him and breakaway by committing to Him. QUESTIONS: 1. Ask yourself, what walls, windows, or lattice are before you as you pursue a love relationship with a lover in this life?
2. What similar obstacles have you allowed to stand in the way of your pursuing a relationship with the Lord?
3. Why do you think it is important to consider how we depart our past life when seeking love?
4. Barriers to love can increase desire. How does this apply to both our physical love relationships?
5. Regarding barriers, how does our separation from the Lord increase our desire for our spiritual love relationship with the Divine?