Song of Songs 8:6-7a
Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away.

Up till this point, the Song of Songs (also known as the Song of Solomon) has created a dialogue between Beloved and Lover which reads a lot like flirtation to modern readers. However, the verses above give a new dimension to the conversation; suddenly, it doesn’t read like flirtation purely for its own interests, but a delicate dance leading to the ideal marriage (the “seal” on the lover’s heart), where “love is as strong as death,” a God-kindled fire unquenchable by anything earthly.

This is where this whole book of Scripture has been leading–that flirtation and courtship are not mere ends in and of themselves, but ideally lead to a love blessed and sanctified by God. It gives new meaning to the words of the Beloved and the Lover, showing that this has been God leading them closer together in spirit, and not just them saying gushy things to each other. In short, it shows us the character of a Godly relationship; it isn’t without passion or fire, and it isn’t boring. Rather the opposite–the Beloved and Lover look forward to a life spent continually cherishing and delighting in each other, and God has just such a relationship planned for each of us.

(See my earlier post on this passage, which digs into the symbolism representing God’s relationship to humanity!)

Song of Songs 8:6-7a
Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away.

In Song of Songs, a Biblical love song of 8 short, poetic chapters, the above verses appear as the speech of the Beloved, a young woman, speaking to her Lover. Yet these verses are not just depicting human romantic love, but love in its totality–the unconditional, divine love that God has for each human on this earth.

Think about that for a moment. He loves us all so much and so strongly that He sent Jesus (God in flesh) to pay the sin debt we never could, so that we could be reconnected with Him. Love “strong as death,” as “unyielding as the grave,” unquenchable and unmovable as a “seal,” marks each one of us, even before we are Christian. God loves us even as we flounder around and make mistake after mistake, sinning all the while.

The best part? That same love can save us from sin, can put that “seal” on our hearts so that we know we are saved. That unsurpassed love can transform us, make us want to live a fulfilled Christian life instead of the empty, drifting life we had led before. The personal seal of Jesus, placed there by a simple choice on our part, can help us feel that encompassing love and see it work in our lives. What a love song, indeed!