Song of Solomon 8:4-6

The Voice

⁴    (to the young women of Jerusalem) Heed my warning:
        I charge you not to excite your love until it is ready.
    Don’t stir a fire in your heart too soon, until it is ready to be satisfied.

Three times in this most beautiful song (2:7; 3:5; 8:4), the female lover encourages her friends not to stoke the fires of passion until the proper time. This is wise instruction because unbridled passion can be very satisfying or quite destructive. The woman is presumably reminding the royal harem of this proverb to hold off on sexual intimacy. The “young women of Jerusalem” is probably a reference to the concubines of the king and how they, like most women, want to experience true and lasting intimacy. The difficulty is that these women may only know one night with the king and have their dreams of deep relationship go unrequited.

⁵Young Women of Jerusalem: Who is this woman coming up from the desert,
leaning on her love?

Her: Under the apple tree I roused your love for me,
        in the place where your mother conceived you,
        in the place where she gave birth to you.
⁶    Set me as a seal over your heart;
        wear me as an emblem on your arm
    For love is as strong as death,
        and jealousy is as relentless as the grave.
    Love flares up like a blazing fire, a very ardent flame.