Thy Strong Word — Song of Solomon 8:1-14: Under the Apple Tree

The Song ends where Genesis began, under a tree in a garden with two people who are not ashamed. Solomon points us to Revelation 22, Eden restored, and the New Heavens and the New Earth. Love is as strong as death, Solomon writes, and it is the flame of the LORD Himself, which many waters cannot quench. Then brothers appear, worrying over a little sister too young to be spoken for, and they decide that if she is a wall, meaning she has kept herself pure, they will crown her in silver, and if she is a door, meaning she has not, they will board her up in cedar and put a stop to it. Faithfulness is not only a promise between husband and wife, but also the call to every Christian to be loyal to Christ and Him alone.

The Rev. Donald Stein, pastor of St. Andrews Lutheran Church in Rockton, IL, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Song of Solomon 8:1-14.

To learn more about St. Andrews Lutheran, visit standrewrockton.com.

The Song of Solomon is a book of love poetry, a bride and her bridegroom singing to each other across eight chapters. God’s people have sung it since Solomon’s day, and Jewish congregations still read it at Passover. The Church has heard in it the voice of Christ and His bride, and Luther quoted the Song in The Freedom of a Christian to describe what happens when Christ takes a sinner as His own. Paul was working the same ground in Ephesians five, where he set marriage beside Christ and the Church and called it a great mystery.

This series works through the whole book verse by verse, from the kiss in chapter one to the seal on the heart in chapter eight. We hear what it says about the body, about desire, and about the marriage God instituted in the garden. We also ask where Christ is in it, since the Church has long heard in these songs the voice of the Bridegroom who gave His life for His bride.

Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

Thy Strong Word is graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. Through the mission gifts of people like you, LHF translates, publishes, distributes and introduces books that are Bible-based, Christ-centered and Reformation-driven. Learn more at lhfmissions.org.

Song of Solomon 8:1-14

Longing for Her Beloved

[1] Oh that you were like a brother to me

who nursed at my mother’s breasts!

If I found you outside, I would kiss you,

and none would despise me.

[2] I would lead you and bring you

into the house of my mother—

she who used to teach me.

I would give you spiced wine to drink,

the juice of my pomegranate.

[3] His left hand is under my head,

and his right hand embraces me!

[4] I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

that you not stir up or awaken love

until it pleases.

[5] Who is that coming up from the wilderness,

leaning on her beloved?

Under the apple tree I awakened you.

There your mother was in labor with you;

there she who bore you was in labor.

[6] 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.

[7] 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.

Final Advice

Others

[8] We have a little sister,

and she has no breasts.

What shall we do for our sister

on the day when she is spoken for?

[9] If she is a wall,

we will build on her a battlement of silver,

but if she is a door,

we will enclose her with boards of cedar.

She

[10] I was a wall,

and my breasts were like towers;

then I was in his eyes

as one who finds peace.

[11] Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;

he let out the vineyard to keepers;

each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

[12] My vineyard, my very own, is before me;

you, O Solomon, may have the thousand,

and the keepers of the fruit two hundred.

[13] O you who dwell in the gardens,

with companions listening for your voice;

let me hear it.

She

[14] Make haste, my beloved,

and be like a gazelle

or a young stag

on the mountains of spices.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Rev. Dr. Phil Booe

Native North Carolinian Rev. Dr. Phil Booe serves pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, and host of Thy Strong Word on KFUO Radio. His parishioners probably think he can’t teach Bible study without a mug of coffee in his hand, and he’ll always be happy to eat a plate of sushi. When he’s not shepherding his flock or teaching on the radio, you might find him watching bad movies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and especially binging RiffTrax and MST3K episodes. Some day he’d love to travel to the Lutheran homeland in Germany, but for now he spends time in Minnesota with his wife, son, daughter, and cat, and looks forward to Holy Week every year.