Coming Up Out of the Wilderness

SONG OF SOLOMON 8:5

Leaning upon her Beloved

Who is this coming up from the wilderness,

Leaning upon her beloved?

I awakened you under the apple tree.

There your mother brought you forth;

There she who bore you brought you forth.

Song of Solomon 8:5, NKJV

The language of marriage

This is the language of marriage. The King has taken his bride and brought her back toward home. She is coming up out of the dry, barren places, leaning fully upon her Beloved.

It is a picture of the Church, the Bride of Christ, no longer independent or self-sufficient, but resting her whole weight upon Him.

What the Hebrew is doing

The Hebrew helps us feel the verse. “Who is this coming up” is mi zot olah — someone rising.

She comes from the wilderness. In Blue Letter Bible that is two pieces: from (H4480 min) and the wilderness (H4057 midbar). The form in the verse is hammidbar — “the wilderness,” the dry and unsown place.

Then comes the key word: mithrappeqet (H7514). Blue Letter Bible lists the root as H7514 rāpaq. It is used only here in all of Scripture. It means to lean, to cling, to support your weight on someone else.

She is the one leaning. The strength she leans on is His, not hers.

I think of an ultra run race. Out on a long, empty stretch a runner is badly hurt. They can still put one foot down, but they cannot carry themselves to the next checkpoint. If I meet them, they do not stand proud and say, “I will finish this in my own strength.” They also do not lie down and wait to be dragged like a sack. They put their weight on me.

The key word is mithrappeqet. She is the one who leans, and He is the one who holds her. Her will is not in her own power. It is in the clinging. Every step is now taken with Him, and not apart from Him.

As the verse says, she was far from saying she was ill; the verse shows she was dependent—a very different reality. The wilderness empties her of self-reliance, so that love may teach her where her strength now lives. She isn’t collapsing because her physical body has failed her, but it is because she has stopped trying to carry herself and is choosing to cling on to Him.

The wilderness in Song of Solomon 8:5 is that long dry stretch. The Bride is coming up, but she is not self-sufficient any more. She leans on her Beloved all the way to the next place of life — under the apple tree. If she tries to shake free and run on her own again, she is back in the dry place. If she rests her whole weight on Him, she will reach home.

On the trail I can only get someone to a checkpoint. He can get His Bride all the way home.

Blue Letter Bible notes for 8:5

Who is this coming up  —  mi zot olah

from  —  min  (H4480)

the wilderness  —  hammidbar; root midbar  (H4057)

leaning  —  mithrappeqet  (H7514)  to lean, cling, rest your weight

upon her beloved  —  al dodah  (H1730)

I awakened you  —  orartika  (H5782)  to stir, arouse, wake

under the apple tree  —  tachat hattappuach  (H8598)

Under the apple tree

Then the Song takes us under the apple tree. “I awakened you under the apple tree. There your mother brought you forth.”

The apple tree is home ground. It is the place of her beginning, where her mother travailed and gave her life.

It is also the place of awakening. The Hebrew orartika means to stir, to arouse, to wake up.

In the Song that awakening is the stirring of marital love. She is no longer only a daughter in her mother’s house. Love has been awakened. The bride has become a wife.

The in-between place

So the wilderness is that in-between place after we have left the old life, yet before we are walking in close, daily dependence upon Jesus.

Many of us have been delivered, but we are still trying to stand on our own. When the Bride does that, the salt loses its savour and the light grows dim. A nation then drifts into confusion and open godlessness.

The next two verses tell us why this leaning is not weakness.

“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death… Many waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it” (Song of Solomon 8:6–7).

The Bride can rest her weight on Him because this love will not let her go.

What we lean on

The wilderness is dry. So people lean on something. The only question is what.

You can see it on the streets of Glasgow. Drugs are a false beloved. They promise a way out of the pain. They cannot carry anyone home. The city makes room for that trade in the doorways. At the same time, the public preaching of Christ is pushed aside. There is little respect left for the Word of God in the open air.

It was not always like this.

There is an old prayer over Glasgow: “Lord, let Glasgow flourish through the preaching of Thy word and praising Thy name.” They shortened it later to “Let Glasgow flourish.” But the first prayer told the truth. This city was meant to stand by the Word, not by her own strength.

Once that was more than a motto. Crowds came to hear Jesus. They preached on Glasgow Green. Moody and Sankey filled the halls. Billy Graham stood in the Kelvin Hall, and tens of thousands came. The church had a voice. The Gospel was not a private hobby.

Then the established church began to lean on herself. She wanted to keep up with the times. She lost her nerve about the Scriptures. She spoke less about being born again. In 1968 she changed the ordained ministry to fit the age. In 2022 she voted to allow ministers to conduct same-sex marriages. Membership fell. Buildings closed. The salt lost its savour.

Now the national church has little influence. People do not tremble at her words. They hardly listen. And in the gap, other things rush in. Drugs on the street. Confusion in the culture.

Some look to the Catholic Church. Some look to the Eastern Orthodox. They want something old and solid. I understand that hunger. But candles and tradition are not the Beloved. You can sit in a beautiful building and still be in the wilderness if you are not leaning on Jesus Himself —> His cross —> His blood—> His living Word.

Idolatry is not only a needle in a close. It is anything, like alcohol, food, porn that we rest our weight on instead of Him. Our own strength. Our image. Our busyness. Even church, if church is not Jesus.

When we try to carry ourselves, we are still in the dry place, this is where the streets show it in public. Half-hearted seeking shows it in private.

Sighing, seeking, and first love

In Ezekiel 9:4 the Lord marks those who sigh and cry over the wrong done in the land. That sigh is not weakness. It is love that still cares.

And He promises in Jeremiah 29:13, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

You do not need a perfect life to start. Life gets loud. School. Work. Family. Phones. Tired hearts. Seeking can go thin, and prayer can go cold. The Lord already knows. He is not looking for a polished Bride with a quiet timetable.

He meets the honest heart that turns toward Him with whatever strength it has today. Even saying, “Lord, my seeking has been half-hearted,” is the beginning of seeking Him with the heart you have right now.

He is still calling His Bride out of the dry places. Back under the apple tree. Back to first love. Back to leaning on Him, day by day, while mercy is still being offered.

Mercy still triumphs

Come up out of the wilderness.

Lean upon your Beloved.

Seek Him with all your heart.

He will be found.