GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
SONG OF SOLOMON 6:11
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Either the husband or the wife speaks:
11 I went down to the grove of nut trees
to look at the blossoms of the valley,
to see whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates were in bloom.
Before this point, the husband has been the one who traveled to the vineyard to pick and enjoy the fruit (2:13; 2:15; 4:12-15; 5:1). After this, the bride speaks as the owner of the vineyard (7:12-13; 8:12). Which of them, then, is speaking here? Did he give her the garden as a wedding present, or is he simply the only one who gets to enjoy its delights? We should be careful not to let assumptions about the interpretation dictate the identity of the Song’s details.
The speaker travels to the garden and desires to see how things are going. It must be spring, since blossoms and buds are anticipated. In the Hebrew calendar, Nisan was the month of “blossoms,” their first month (Esther 3:7), corresponsing to our March.
Just what is a “grove of nut trees?” It would seem to be a grove of walnut trees, since “pisactio” is a different term in Hebrew (Genesis 43:11), and other nut varieties (almonds, and so on) also have their own terms. Walnut trees can grow very tall, rivalling oaks and elms. Walnut blossoms can be very beautiful, hanging down in some cases like clusters of grapes, but made of pretty white flowers that shiver and sway in the breeze. Grape vine blossoms usually consist of five petals, often red or purple. Pomegranate blossoms are larger, usually reddish orange, and have six petals. As with apples and other fruits, these blossoms close up and swell with water to become the fruit of the tree.
In a marriage, the couple takes care of their garden just as they tend their field, or shop, or livestock, or other business. They inspect this garden in the springtime to see that the plants are healthy and that they will produce the fruit and the nuts that they would expect. It is time to prune, if necessary, and time to bind up or help faltering shoots and blossoms.
Spiritually, Luther focuses his attention on the difficulty of growing nuts. He compares it with the challenge of spiritual studies. “Meditation is, indeed, the supreme, most effective, and most succinct form of instruction” (LW 11:23). Together, prayer, study, and trials or difficulties make a theologian, but these things also benefit a marriage. The church prays together, studies the word of God together, and faces challenges and opposition together.
The typical Christian reader will probably be drawn to the memory of Christ looking for figs when they were not yet in season during Holy Week (Mark 11:13-14). In that case, the lesson was for Christians to be prepared even when the season does not seem right; that God looks for good and faithful living at all times. But that can’t really be the same message here. Let us take the general message of the text, which is looking for new growth, from the perspective of Christ, and then of the church his bride.
When Christ inspects the garden looking for new growth, he can be looking for an increase of knowledge in his people. Are they studying his holy word? Are they faithful in worship and in meditation around the holy Scriptures? Even if their progress seems new, or small, it is the heart that he looks to, not other things (1 Samuel 16:7). Or, could this be the Lord checking in to see that his people are inviting more and more to hear the gospel? Are we faithful with our task of going into the world to carry the gospel and sacraments to all nations? Are we being faithful with what we have, even if it doesn’t seem to be much (Luke 19:18-19)?
When God’s people inspect the garden of God’s delights, we look for insights into the Holy Scriptures that we might never have noticed before. Generations in the past learned and forgot more than they passed down; are we faithful in our study? We must not sit back, content that our meager knowledge of the Scriptures is all that there is to learn. If it is popular in our circle to study the short books, or the epistles only, then we have neglected the longer books, Moses and the prophets! God forbid that we shun part of his word only because the text is more than five or six pages in length. Have we studied our Catechism faithfully? Do we know what we have confessed as a church in our great Confessions, and why? What were the errors that they warn about? What were the vital truths that they defend? Do not let us forget, O Lord! “Be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them” (Deuteronomy 4:9).
Whichever of these ways we take the passage, it is clear that God wants us to study and learn from his Scriptures. Let the study of his holy word be a pursuit that lasts for the rest of your life, to his glory, and to your eternal good.
“The fear of the Lord is like a garden of blessing, and covers a man better than any glory.”
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Song of Solomon 6:11 The study of the garden