“He brought me to the banqueting house,
And his banner over me was love.” Song of Solomon 2:4

The Song of Solomon is the Father’s favorite song, it is the “song of songs” (1:1). We understand the book to be a discussion of what love should be between a man and a woman. For singles, the admonition is to be godly until the right person comes along. To the married, it teaches how to have an everlasting love. The verse for the devotion is taken from one of the responses from the Shulamite woman when she first started showing interest in Solomon and his interest in her. The provision that Solomon made for her and the love with which he did it is what this woman is describing to the daughters of Jerusalem.

“He has introduced her to the place where he royally entertains his friends. Well knowing that she, poor and sunburnt maiden, does not properly belong to such a place, and would rather escape away from it, he relieves her from her fear and bashfulness, for he covers her with his fear-inspiring, awful, and thus surely protecting banner, and this banner, which he waves over her, and under which she is well concealed, is love.” Keil and Delitzsch

While we know that this book is not about Christ and the church, how can we not think about the way Jesus treats us? “And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God” (Revelation 19:6-9).

The marriage supper of the Lamb is a feast only for those that have put their trust in the Lord. He has given us a place of honor in which new do not deserve, “So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do” (Luke 17:10).

The banner or standard is the rallying-point and the guide of the individual soldier. The Shulamite woman, taken from a lowly station to new scenes of splendor, finds support and safety in the attachment of her beloved. 

The Christian will do well to learn the standard Jesus has for us, love. After having rescued us from the enemy, our victorious captain seats us at the banquet under a banner inscribed with His name, love, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). His love conquered us to Himself; it marks to what country we belong, heaven, and in what we most glory…the cross of Jesus Christ, through which we triumph, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37).  

The banner of love was over the beloved woman, as the banner of the love of Christ is over us. Compare the phrase “over me,” with the idea expressed by Moses, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you, and will say, ‘Destroy!” (Deuteronomy 33:27). God keeps His people safe in His love. 

This picture of a woman’s love for her eventual husband teaches us a great lesson about the love of Christ for each of us. Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice for sin, taking us from a place of low estate and giving us a place at the heavenly table. He did this through love, which is now our the banner we are under and the concept that we rally around.

By: Justin Odom