O my darling companion, I see you! I see you
as my mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
Song 1:9
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A few days ago I hinted that “heated incidents” of confusion, division, disarray, etc. may have something to do with today’s post, and requested help recalling examples from the Bible. Thank you for the comments that came in. I was at first surprised, and then intrigued, at the amount of them from the book of Acts! This is significant, and I think the reason might become more clear at the end here.
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First, it is my opinion that Song 1:9 above is a continuation of ‘the message’ that Solomon sent to the Shulamite in response to her desire to be with Him. He begins the note with the metaphors of sheep and shepherding in 1:8 to instruct her how to find him. Now, by likening her to a horse and more specifically ‘his mare,’ he is giving her courage in the journey.
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Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting?
It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength, and charges into the fray.
It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; it does not shy away from the sword.
The quiver of arrows rattles against its side, along with the flashing spear and lance.
In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground; it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds. At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’ It catches the scent of battle from afar,
the shout of commanders and the battle cry.
~Job 39:19-25
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The offense of being His mare
I’ve been noticing something. Translations water down so many verses of the Song. It is grievous how religion comes up with so many strategies to make God’s Bride “more fit” for heaven by stripping her of her controversy. In 1:9 for example, a couple of versions try to pass off “my mare” as a “company of horses,” when clearly the Hebrew word is a female horse. But of course that’s the problem! Often for a variety of suggestive details, a comparison of a woman to a mare or filly in literature was a provocative one, besides that horses in general were often associated in ancient times with a pagan, extravagant lifestyle as well.
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But it may be that the controversy of this ‘mare’ lies more with who she is seen among – Pharaoh’s chariots – particularly when Egyptian ones were touted to be drawn not by a mare or mares, but by stallions hitched in pairs.
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The “heat” of controversy
Solomon was a king with an unprecedented taste for everything equine, especially from Egypt. He also amassed 1,400 chariots and kept them in something called “chariot cities,” 2 Chronicles 1:14. Perhaps part of the reason Solomon likened the Shulamite to his “mare among chariots” was to hint that she rendezvous with him at a shepherd camp outside the nearest chariot city.
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But there may be more! A very famous war was known at that time, inscribed on an Egyptian tomb wall of the Pharaoh Thutmosis III at Qadesh. It featured an example of a crafty military strategy of releasing a mare in heat into the midst of a cavalry of chariots. I don’t think we need to expound the visual of stallions catching her scent and the ensuing chaos. Some things are challenging to tame even with reigns and whips, but with the yokes in particular, rather than helping to control the excited horses, would actually work against them in the confusion!
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Jesus Christ, the Bride’s passion
Does this story shed more light into all those “heated incidents” in the book of Acts? When young, the Bride of Christ was in the passion of “first love” and her heart hadn’t grown cold yet by religious mixture and the cares of this world. When Peter and John stood on trial, it was observed by the religious leaders that “they had been with Jesus,” Acts 4:13. The Kingdom of God is an intimate one. The kingdom of this world fears it, and the kingdom of darkness hates it. Returning to your “first love” and following the heart of God with others who have the same passion will put you into volatile territory with possible strong reactions. It is not a journey for the faint of heart!
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A Message of Courage from the King (for those who have ears to hear)
My Bride,
In coming out of the wilderness to possess My Kingdom with Me, take Courage!
Directed by the Reigns of My indwelling Spirit You bring on Your shoulders
Truth into lies, Love into fear, and Freedom into bondage.
Be not discouraged at the confused and tumultuous uprisings to Your presence.
The enemy is chained and limited! The battle is Mine, and the victory is sure.
See what I see! See what I see from My vantage point!
For What I see, is My reality – and it is Yours.
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“O my Darling Companion, I see you as My Mare…”
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YES!!! Let us all be this ravishing mare in full heat! Let our scent cause havoc among the skill-fully arrayed chariots of Babylon! Come let’s be bold… we’ve got something no ‘stallion’ can withstand! A beauty this world has never seen… and this scent all creation longs for to smell!
Unbridled passion, is passion that runs without wisdom of Love.
His bride, Lover, or mare must respond to the reigns of His indwelling Spirit.
To do so will place us in situations where we are led us to express Truth where lies are established, to Love those trapped in fear, to free the captivities. All of this is a direct attack upon fear. Fear is no match for Truth.
“See what I see! See what I see from My vantage point!
For what I see is My reality, and it is Yours.”
Truth is ‘earth-shattering’, and His ‘mare’ is led to fulfill His ministry of reconciliation, to proclaim the realiety of His Love
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor”
Wow! We are truly the Bride of Christ and we long to be reunited with Him both now and forevermore. Let the dance, the relationship proceed in the full romance and power of HIS undying love.
Thank you Pam, for another great post!
Oh the passion of the first love, the courage and the boldness of it, nothing can stand on the way ” When He had made a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, ” Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise”.
The Lord Jesus knows what first love is, He burned with that love for His Father, and His house. In return nothing will satisfy Him, nothing but first love! And He gets the desire of His heart in Her who is ” My mare”.
Great insight Pam!
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”
May we all take on the stigma of being His mare among Pharaoh’s chariots, always reaching for the eternal prize set before us!
My heart is just over flowing with so many thoughts as there is so very much being revealed here in His beautiful song of love to us. One thing that stands out is that it is in the heat of our first love when loosed upon the stallions of this world ,that we see all matter of warfare break loose and it is by the strong stallions of religion when confronted with the scent of true spiritual passion , that truth is seen as lies , love brings fear, and freedom is seen as bondage by those who think they know God and they want to overtake ,control ,quench and even destroy those who burn with desire and love for their Lord . As I reflected on this I remember in the first years of my unbridled zeal ,that a very churched person said to me, ” wait a few more years and you will not have the same zeal. ” this thought has never left me, but now I see it as a battle move of the stallions of religion to quench my zeal and my heart cry is to again renew that spiritual mare in my passion of my first love . Pam your insights are such a blessing ! Keep strong in the heat of the battle my love.
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I am so blessed to know how this blessed you! The desire of stallions for ‘domination’ (i.e. to be on top) is a very poignant visual for what His mare may encounter at the “shepherd’s camp!” I so appreciate your sharing this insight here. P.S. I love you!
Beautiful!
Goodness!! The Lord has shown you so much in this one little verse. Thank you for these insights. And some great comments. Like the mare in heat among the opposition, we too, as His Body, have an unfair advantage. It is just like our Jesus to have every angle covered. This study has become my new favorite Song & very dear to my heart.
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Dear Shelby, your timing was perfect in reading this post at this time. Revisiting it again with all the comments has given me a fresh dose of en-COURAGE-ment that was needed.:) Thank you for blessing me.
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Check out this beautiful post about the same verse, from a friend who also writes on the Song of Songs! https://shammahsfield.com/vineyard-days-a-company-of-horses
i love it – using it as my watsap id