It is “that aspect of love in which love also does not give up what it claims” (Robert Jenson). Once someone goes into the grave, the grave doesn’t yield him back up. Jealousy here refers to a relentless and exclusive passion and attachment. The word “flame” has a suffix “Yah” that some take to mean merely “powerful.” But it is a short form of the name Yahweh, and the NASB rightly translates this as “flame of Yah.” The fire of love that burns as strong as death, that is as hard as the grave, is the flame of Yah’s love. The last line of verse 6 reinforces this, though it doesn’t come out in many translations. It’s Yahweh’s love that overcomes the Canaanite deities of death, the grave, the chaos waters. The contest of love and death, love and the grave, is not merely a contest of two powers, but a battle of gods. “Mot” or “Death” is the god that did battle with Baal Sheol is the grave, but also the underworld “flame” translates “Reseph,” the Canaanite god of pestilence. The obstacles to love, the enemies of love, come from Canaanite religion. Though this also says something about the power of human love and passion, it is finally about the love of Yahweh. Love is as strong as the grave, Solomon adds, comparing love to a fire that not even water can quench. Yahweh has Israel on His arm, a promise that He will devote all His strength, all the power of His love, on behalf of His bride. Yahweh has Israel on His heart she is at the center of His purposes, His desires, His plans. So, too, Yahweh’s heart and arm belong to His bride. The Bridegroom’s arm, like his heart, belongs to the Bride. Song 7:5), arm because the arm symbolizes strength – the strength of Yahweh’s arm stretched out against Egypt (Exodus 6:6 15:16 Deuteronomy 4:34 5:15 26:8), the strength of the everlasting arms that defend Israel (Deuteronomy 33:17), the strength of the hosts of Yahweh (cf. Heart because the Bridegroom’s heart is captivated by the bride (cf. He has freely decided, freely chosen and elected, that He will not be God without His Bride, that He will not be God except by being the Divine Bridegroom of Israel. He is so fully devoted to her that she owns Him. Yahweh has so committed Himself to His bride, that His identity and hers are bound up together. But the seal image highlights the Bride’s ownership of her Husband: Thus also the Israel’s ownership of Yahweh. Of course there is mutual ownership: I am my beloved’s, my beloved is mine. To say that the Bridegroom wears the bride as a seal is to say that the Bride stamps her name on him.
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