Song 2:5 “Sustain me with raisin cakes,
Refresh me with apples,
Because I am lovesick.
J. R. Hedinger (†1704) was on his deathbed overpowered with such a stream of heavenly delight that he cried: “Oh, how good is the Lord! Oh, how sweet is Thy love, my Jesus! Oh, what a sweetness! I am not worthy of it, my Lord! Let me alone; let me alone!” What a great example of a Love-Sick heart to the last breath.
In 2Samuel 6:19, raisin cakes were one of the things David distributed to all the multitude who came to celebrate the Ark that carried God’s presence being brought back to Jerusalem, and established in the Tent of David. David danced through the streets as the Presence was restored. The raisin cakes were believed to stimulate affections among the surrounding pagan nations. David gave out the cakes to say to God’s people that their First-Love has re-established His manifest presence in their midst, and that their deepest affections for Him can come alive. This word that means Raisin cakes,” comes from the Hebrew root word “fire,” maybe because they were cooked over a fire, but the meaning here is obvious; His manifest presence in a person, or a people keeps their heart ablaze in affections for Him.
Apples speak of His Grace-Love. The Hebrew root word for apple in this verse is “breathe, blow.” Each new revelation, and encounter of His delightful relentless love, breathes new life and refreshing to our souls.
To the Love-Sick, The Satisfied hunger all the more. Because she is emerging as one of the Love-Sick, she is crying out that He will continue to sustain her with an ever increasing experience of His manifest presence, and that He will keep breathing new, refreshing revelation, and encounters of His love into her heart.