Springs and Fountains

Song of Songs 4:12-15 - You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain. Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices. You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon.

Proverbs 5:20 - Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife?

Jeremiah 6:20 - What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me."

Isaiah 58:11 - The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Conclusions:

• Garden is a place of sensual delights
• Locked up, enclosed and sealed are metaphors for the fact that she keeps herself exclusively for her husband
• Springs and fountains are sources of refreshment; metaphors for the beloved as a consenting, consummating partner
• In light of the sheer joy found within the bonds of marriage and the utter ruin outside it, why would you pursue other partners?
• The attitude of one's heart and the manner of one's life are far more important than the ritual of sacrifice
• A spring whose waters never fail is the living water that Jesus gives

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Conclusions derived from NIV Study Bible