Song of Songs 6-8

“Set me as a seal upon your heart, 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” (8:6).  Poets have always written about the exclusive and “life and death” nature of romantic love.  Even in ancient times (with polygamy and multiple royal concubines), the natural human desire was to be “first and only” in the heart of the beloved.  

“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” (6:3).  The depth and power of the marriage covenant points us beyond ourselves to the “the very flame of the Lord”: the sacrificial, eternal love of our Creator.