By Marriage is the highest earthly expression of love between two people. The most superlative of all Solomon’s songs, was inspired by God Himself and occupies eight chapters in our Bibles.
In the final chapter a monument is raised in honour of marital love.
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
Song of Solomon 8:6-7
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the LORD.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
he would be utterly despised.
The imagery is rich, and worthy of some contemplation.
The seal: The seal is a picture of guaranteed preservation through cherished ownership. Marriage is a covenant to love with guaranteed persistence because you are your spouse’s cherished possession.
In a way like death: Just like death takes hold of one and never lets go, so marital love has an intense and exclusive passion for each other that will never let go.
The very flame of the LORD: The intensity of marital love is a glorious mixture of ecstatic passion and intense actions of love.
Floods: Marital love is unquenchable. Even the worst of chaotic life events cannot overcome the love of a husband for his wife, and a wife for her husband.
Offered wealth: It is only a simpleton who will value financial abundance over that of a love for one’s spouse.
If you are in any way like me, you might look at these pictures in Scripture attempting to do justice to marital love and think it all to be a bit idealistic, perhaps even unrealistic and naive. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Scripture is always accurate, and its portrayal of true marital love is to be the pursuit of every married man and woman. If you will restore your love for your spouse to what God has designed it to be, you too will be able to pen words like these. In fact, communicate to your spouse this kind of resolve to love!
As Solomon did here: Make marriage sing again!