21st March 2026

21st March 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Song of Solomon 2v7, 3v5 & 8v4)


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


The Shulammite adjured those around her that they shouldn't stir up or awaken love until it was ready. I've read that the adjuration should actually be considered as a curse, something akin to "If anyone stirs up love before it is ready, let that person be cursed." This is serious business and it shows that the Shulammite didn't want Solomon's love, she didn't want the life of a concubine and she didn't want to turn her back on her one true love. This righteous woman was prepared to wait for love and not to embrace the wisdom of the world and she warned those who sought to force her the other way.


In our day and age we are constantly told that physical intimacy is meaningless and just a bit of fun. There is no point in waiting and sex should be enjoyed by anyone at anytime without any reservation and I think we see the rotten outcome of this when it comes to abortion. It never ceases to amaze me that in the UK abortion is seen as a non-negotiable  "good." The Americans to their credit have considered their stance on abortion and a recent Supreme Court decision changed the landscape there dramatically. Here in the UK it is hard to imagine the topic ever being debated again - we want our sexual freedom and we want to be free from any consequences.


The Shulammite's adjuration is therefore an incredibly important word for 2026. All she had to do to have a life of safety and leisure was to sleep with Solomon a few times. She was a woman who was forced by her brothers to work in the vineyards, there is no mention of her father and I think it is reasonable to assume that her life was quite hard. Even so, she longed for her beloved and not the false intimacy of Solomon's hareem. Tremper Longman III helpfully states that we shouldn't arouse love until we are ready to meet its rigors, both physical and emotional, "Love is not a passing fling but rather a demanding and exhausting relationship." No wonder then did the Shulammite urge the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up love before it was ready lest they be cursed.


But why did the woman urge her friends to swear by the gazelles and does? Why didn't she call upon God Himself (He doesn't really get mentioned in the Song)? I've read that the Hebrew for gazelles and does sounds quite like swearing by the Lord of Hosts of by God Almighty. Others have said that in Solomon's books men and women are sometimes compared to gazelles and does (2v7 & Proverbs 5v19). Perhaps as James M. Hamilton Jr. suggests we are supposed to think of the sure footed swiftness of these animals as we too flee temptation or maybe it is a reminder that we are not animals and should not act impulsively when it comes to love.


Brothers and sisters, true love is worth waiting on and so too is the enjoyment of physical intimacy. Teach this to your children and impress upon them the need to protect their hearts. The world says "hurry up and get with the program" whilst the Word urges caution, seriousness and a willingness to wait. Long ago the Apostle Paul rebuked the sexually free Corinthians amongst whom there were step-sons who were having sex with their step-mothers (1 Corinthians 5v1). Paul's wisdom was sharp and clear - we are to flee sexual immorality and glorify God in our bodies (1 Corinthians 6v18-20). May we heed Paul and the Shulammite - I adjure you, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q21 Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect? The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, for ever.
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