Song of Solomon 1:7-8: Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest [thy flock] to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds ‘tents.
A soulmate is usually defined as a deep and natural affinity that may involve similarity, love, romance, friendship, intimacy, sexuality, sexual activity, spirituality or compatibility and trust. In our modern era we say that there is a personal chemistry between two people. Movie directors and critics are looking for that personal chemistry between actors. A casting director will observe a man and woman reading a part together to determine if he feels the couple have a chemistry together. In order to make the romance believable to the viewing public the actors must show a chemistry. Two men or two woman playing a role together as law enforcement officers or even comedians, must show a chemistry between each other to make the drama real or the comedy humorous.
Even outside the movie and television industry, the business world, military and even in research the human resource department or manager seeks to pair people together on a project that show a chemistry together. My study partner and I share a chemistry such that we study the passages of Scripture together and then write up a study that we post online or put into a book. I often say Laura is Bentorah and I am Chaim as our studies are often the result of a team effort.
In ancient times there was the belief among the Jews that marriages are made in heaven. In the Talmud Sotah 2a and Sanhedrin 22a it speaks of a soul mate where forty days before a child is born its mate is determined. The Yiddish term is used when one is saying that they are seeking Mr. Right or Ms. Right is the word bashert which means destiny. Children who are raised in a home that has a strong marriage will observe the way their parents look at each other, they will observe the change in their voices when speaking with each other and the special way they speak to each other and they will wonder if they will also find that special one.
Judaism teaches that a soul’s heavenly source has male and female halves which are incarnated into the word as a man and a woman. The incarnation of the two may not necessarily occur simultaneously. So only when a man and woman are righteous do they attain the privilege to meet and wed their real soulmate.
Until marriage a man is said to be half a soul. When a man marries the three levels of his soul, the nephesh, the ruach and neshama, are joined with his wife and they become one being with one joint spiritual structure. In this relationship each spouse will find a spiritual fulfillment when their lives are conducted in purity
Now the sages teach that one may by divine decree be unable to find a compatible mate. That does not mean that the decree may not change. They should then continue to search for a mate. But in the meantime he or she will find friends or companions who are compatible and can help to bring them to this spiritual fulfillment even if they do not wed. Eventually the decree may change and God may grant to them a marriage partner.
Yesterday in our Jots and Tittles my study partner shared a personal revelation about Song of Solomon 1:7-8 concerning this personal chemistry and the word yada’ found here in Song of Solomon 1:7-8. My study partner put it this way, if one feels this chemistry with someone it is an indicator that God may have a specific purpose in their relationship. One must be careful not to focus on this as an indication of marriage. It may just be that the intentions are for God to give that person a spiritual or practical fulfillment or that you are supposed to learn something through that relationship.
That is just a little background to the passage in Song of Solomon 1:7-8. What is happening in this passage is a poor, peasant girl who is betrothed to another poor peasant shepherd. Yet she is in love with Solomon, a king. The caveat is that the king is in love with her. The noble women who felt they had the right to be married to the king were not happy that his affections were directed toward this peasant woman and they are basically asking, “What makes you think you have a right to be in love with the king?” The idea of the flocks and feeding it a poetic say of asking: “Do you have special knowledge of the kings heart, so special that it makes you his soul mate? You see a soul mate tends to understand and know things about their partner that others do not.
Note that the Shulamite woman says: Thou whom my soul loveth. The word for soul is nephesh which is the same word used in Jewish literature for a soul mate. The Shulamite woman is not saying she has a right to marry the king because she loves him and he loves her, he is declaring that he is her soul mate. Solomon may have had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, I mean how would the Shulamite woman compete with that. She would be number one with him because she was his soul mate, his true companion.
Now what we have in this book of the Song of Solomon is a picture of us and our relationship with God. We are that simple little peasant woman in love with a King. How dare we think we have right to be that number one with our King. Yet, we do when Jesus died on the cross he made it possible for us to have a pure heart. Because of that pure heart the three levels of our soul, the nephesh, ruach and neshamah become one with God, God becomes our soul mate and we His. As Christians we are not familiar with that third aspect of our being. We know about the rauch part of us that which we render as spirit and are joined with the Spirit of God when we are born again. Then there is the nephesh which we render as our soul, that which is often in conflict with our spirit. But the Jews have a third level called the neshama which they say only Jews have. Actually, I believe through Jesus Christ we also have that. Because only God’s soul mate can have that. Neshamah is our spirit and the Spirit of God joined together.
Before someone accepts Jesus as their Savior they have a body, nephesh (soul) and ruach (spirit) After we accept Jesus as our Savior we have a body, nephesh (soul), ruach and one more element is added a neshamah a spirit joined with the Spirit of God. Where ever He is so are we and when we die, if His Spirit is in heaven then that is where our Sprit will be. I know one place His Spirit does not dwell and that is hell. We may be that poor peasant woman but when our spirit is joined with the Spirit of God we become soul mates and it doesn’t matter what class of society we belong to or what our nationality or race may be, we are still his soul mate.
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