Song of Songs 8:11-12 NASB
11 “Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; He entrusted the vineyard to caretakers. Each one was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.
12 “My very own vineyard is at l my disposal; The thousand shekels are for you, Solomon, And two hundred are for those who take care of its fruit.” …
Song of Songs 8:13-14 NASB
13 “O you who sit in the gardens, My companions are listening for your voice- Let me hear it!” 14 14 “Hurry, my beloved, And be like a gazelle or a young stag p On the mountains of spices.” …
In the song of Solomon, Vineyards speak of a person’s own spiritual life; their spiritual heart condition. And when he says in verse 11 that He (Solomon, who is a type of Jesus) has entrusted the vineyard to caretakers, it is just poetic language saying each one of us has a realm of responsibility concerning our own heart condition and walk with the Lord. The Christian life is all by grace of course, and grace works through faith at the beginning and all the way through our lives as believers until we see Jesus face-to-face. In Ephesians 3, Paul talks about stewarding the grace of God, and when I talk about being a caretaker of our own vineyard, I am just simply saying that we are each called to steward well the grace of God that overflows in us. Remember, grace has a face, (Jesus) and when I talk about the grace of God, I am talking about all that Jesus is, as a gift in us, to us, and for us. A vineyard that has been stewarded well should bring forth fruit. John 15:16 says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain…” The fruit of his life in us and his ministry through us is the expected consequence of being “in Christ.” There is a divine inflow that transforms us within, and divine outflow that transforms others within our sphere of influence, that makes up the fruitfulness of a vineyard that has been stewarded well.
I love the Shulumite’s heart that is expressed in verse 12, because she doesn’t want to just bring forth what’s expected of her as a steward of the life of Christ. Instead, she wants to to cultivate and manifest excess. She makes this amazing statement; “My very own vineyard is at my disposal.” She has tolerated no compromise in her heart and therefore there aren’t any restraints attached to her walk that would limit her from living wholeheartedly for Jesus. She is going after more than what’s expected. She is going after excess, in her heart response to Jesus, and the fruitfulness of fullness that excess brings.
Verses 13 and 14 gives such a glorious example of the Shulumite successive heart for radical fruitfulness. Solomon, in verse 13, says that he and the host of heaven or listening for the voice of those who were stewarding vineyards. He says “LET ME HEAR IT!” He is longing to hear those who been entrusted with the relationship with him to cry out to him for the experience and the manifestation of “the more,” and it is interesting that the one voice that cries out “Hurry my beloved,” is the one that was already bringing excess. The more he satisfies your hunger for him, the hungrier you get for more. When you taste the Lord and see how good he is, it just makes you hungry for more. This is her heart cry! Even though she was already experiencing and manifesting excess, she is crying out for the manifestation of more, and there’s a holy urgency about her cry. HURRY my Beloved.
I pray even now for you and me that we would have the same heart passion of the Shulumite, to long to live beyond the expected, and instead live a life wasted in excess for Jesus.