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SIT UNDER THE APPLE TREE
Song of Songs is a love story between the bride and bridegroom.
And full of metaphors and symbols.
Song of Songs 2:3 tpt
The Shulamite
My beloved is to me the most fragrant apple tree
he stands above the sons of men. ( or the trees of the forest )
SITTING UNDER HIS GRACE SHADOW,
I blossom in his shade,
enjoying the sweet taste of his pleasant, delicious fruit,
resting with delight where his glory never fades.
Let’s look more deeper about this verse:
1 God in this verse symbolize as an apple tree, the most fragrant.
Very interesting symbol. ( very rare in the Old Testament mentions about apple, some verses yes.
But mostly we heard fig, raisin, grapes, watermelon, pomegranate, persimmon).
There is a saying about apple: eat an apple a day keep you away from a doctor.
It’s mean apple is a very healthy fruit, bring every nutrition that our body need.
There are some interesting knowledge about apple tree:
🍎Apple tree produce apples every year, and they produce a lot, it can produce more than 100 kg per year.
🍏 Apples grow just about anywhere. Every area have their own kind of apples. Fuji apples from Japan and China. Red delicious apples from America, apples Rockit and pink lady from New Zealand.
🍎 Low maintenance, taking care of apple tree is super easy.
Psalmist said God is easy to please.
🍏 Produce at an early age, two years.
🍎 Pollination is simple. Need another apple tree for the process of pollination. Only need two apple tree to be fruitful.
And fragrant…..so God has a specific fragrant, like in Psalm 23:5 tpt anoint me with the fragrance of the Holy Spirit.
God has a specific smell or fragrance.
If you wanna go out, you spray perfume right? If the next day you wanna go out again you will spray perfume again. You won’t say; ah yesterday I already did it. So I don’t need to spray again, you want to save the perfume.
The perfume we use yesterday, might still smell a bit today but it won’t as good as the first time you just spray it. ( There are kind of perfume: eau do perfume, eau do toilette, eau do cologne)
You need to spray every time you go out, so you always smell good.
Not depending on yesterday perfume.
BUT
God is always fragrance, always.
But we need fresh fragrance every day….take His fragrance every day, it’s free and overflowing.
It’s bring courage, life and confidence like when you spray your perfume.
If you lack of confidence, take His fragrance.
2 The most fragrant apple tree. Means there are many fragrant apple tree out there. This is talking about the Shulamite relationship with her beloved.
So, must be many men outside that the appearance like an apple tree and could be fragrant too but fake one .
This is symbolic meaning, so is not talking about men as male but our focus, our attention, our goal in like, things that we depending on.
Mention very clear he stands above the sons of men or in other translation the trees of the forest. So it’s clear this is not about a
3 Sitting under his grace shadow.
The Shulamite is sitting under the shadow of the apple tree.
To be sited under the shadow of a tree or any shadow, we have to be near the tree right? If the tree is here and you sit far away or sit at the wrong side of the shadow you can’t be under the shadow.
How far we can sit under the apple tree? As close as possible, so it’s written under the apple tree…very close. We can only sit as far as the shadow is.
If it’s too far maybe we could be in different shadow.
Stay close under the apple tree is the most safe place for our soul.
The shadow is moving depending on the sun.
But God’s shadow never moved. We don’t need to chase after God, I mean where is God today? Where is His presence now? He is always there, He is with you and in you and upon you.
James 1:17 NASB
Every good thing and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
4 The Shulamite wanna say that we need to sit near God, at the right place where the shadow is.
It’s not just a shadow it’s GRACE shadow.
Grace is we get what we don’t deserve.
We have to sit under the apple tree, under the shadow because His grace is there. We are sheltered by His grace.
In Psalm said under the shadow of the valley of death means you are have to walk through it and moved to grace shadow, under the apple tree.
Still God’s grace is there with you, you just keep moving.
5 Next we blossom in his shade.
We are fruitful, our destiny or purpose of life being fulfilled, like bud of flower the main purpose is to be blossom.
Maybe we are timid, shy, no skill/talent, don’t know the calling, the gift.
We will blossom in Him.
6 if we are sitting under the apple tree. We are not only sheltered and blossom but enjoying the fruit, the goodness of God. Taste His goodness and kindness.
7 And we can rest in Him. Resting with delight, happy, joy.
Under the apple tree is where his glory always and never fade.
People say I want to be in his glory then sit under the apple tree.
8 Fragrant, if we in the room long enough where fragrant is when we came out we will smell like the fragrant.
Example: if you’re in the smoking room, first when you go in you will smell the smoke very strong but after you’re in there quiet a while you won’t smell it again. But you go out every one can smell in your clothe and skin the cigarette smell.
I put sample of perfume in my purse so all my money will smell fragrant.
Song of Songs 2:4 tpt
Suddenly, he transported me into his house of wine
he looked upon me with his unrelenting love divine.
I take this as drunk with love, drunk in the spirit, drunk of his love.
New revelations keep coming. He open up new things to us, His secrets.
His love is divine divine not lust.
Song of Songs 2:5 tpt
Revive me with your raisin cakes.
Refresh me again with your apples.
Help me and hold me, for I am lovesick!
I am longing for more
Yet how could I take more?
If you asking those questions. I’m longing for more. Yet how could I take more? How I can be refresh?
Sit under the apple tree and eat the delicious fruit.
Raisin cake, raisin made from grape right?
New anointing, new revelation will revive our soul again and again.
If we live a Christian life and never get any revelation what a dull and boring life.
Song of Songs 8:5 tpt
The bridegroom King
Who is this one? Look at her now!
She arises out of her desert, clinging to her beloved.
When I awakened you under the apple tree,
as you were feasting upon me,
I awakened your innermost being with the travail of birth
as you long for more of me.
Sitting under the apple tree changes us from inside out.
Totally change us.
Even the bridegroom King said, who is this one? Look at her now! Drastic change has happened to her.
What change will bring us: arise out of her desert, arise from her downfall, arise from the dryness of her soul, spirit, financial, out of her struggle etc.
The most important things arise not with our own strength but clinging to her beloved = God.
God awaken us again from inside out with travail birth.
Yes Jesus died on the cross for us, He suffered for us as us to make us born again.
Long for him more.
He will awaken you again and again. In this life are many challenges. Every time we long for Him, He always faithful to awaken us again and again.
Proverbs 24:16 tpt
For the lovers of God may suffer adversity and stumble seven times, but they will continue to rise over and over again.
Song of Songs 7:8 NKJV
The beloved
….The fragrance of your breath like apples
From our mouth fragrance comes out. Words of love, encouragement, edifying, exhortations, comfort, support, forgiveness etc.
Song of Songs 7:13 tpt
The Shulamite bride
The love apples are in bloom, sending forth their fragrance of spring.
The rarest fruits are found at our door
the new as well as the old.
I have stored them for you, my lover friend!
In here we read many plurals.
Apples, our, them.
For me is like persuading each of us to sit under the apple tree. Because the love are in bloom. Sending forth their fragrance of spring, flower season. Sound like; common this love and glory and sweet taste of God not for our self. But sending forth= spread the good news of His love.
The rarest fruit.
The word of God said at the end time love of many is growing cold. So love is rarest fruit but is near our door. Door speaking of heart.
Love of God is in our hear. Our heart is the door means ready to go out.
Old love can speak about what God’s has done in our life, testimonies.
New love that’s what we experience now at the present moment.
Both old and new is for our friends or others.
So no excuse, we can’t say I have nothing to share about God’s love .
Once I heard from a movie: Someone took me. Anything is possible as long as someone watch my back.
Yes, He took us as His children and He always watch our back.
Proverbs 25:11 NKJV
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in setting of silver.
In tpt translation:
Winsome words spoken at just the right time are appealing as apples gilded in gold and surrounded with silver. ( speak wisdom, words of encouragement at the right time to bless others ).
Joel 1:12 NKJV
The vine has dried up, ( oil-anointing, new wine, no revelation, no joy )
And the fig tree has withered: (nutritious, joy – the fig fruit is shape like heart)
The palm tree also, ( oil-anointing, shelter, oasis, resting place, joy )
And the apple tree ( wisdom of God, love, joy )
All the trees of the field are withered;
Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.
( Sit under the apple tree bring JOY)
Psalm 91:1 tpt
When you sit enthroned under the shadow of Shaddai, when you are hidden in the strength of God most High.
V2 He’s the hope that holds me and the Stronghold to shelter me, the only God for me and my great confidence.
V9 When we live our lives within the shadow of God most High, our secret hiding place, we will be always shielded from harm.
How then could evil prevail against us or disease infect us?
His grace shadow=shadow of Shaddai.
Ruth2:12 tpt
May Yahwe reward you for your sacrifices, and because of what you’ve done, may you have a full and rich reward from Yahwe, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to find shelter!
John 14:27 tpt
I leave the gift of peace with you—my peace. Not the kind of fragile peace given by the word, but my perfect peace. Don’t yield to fear or be troubled in your hearts —instead, be courageous!
Proverbs 7:2 NKJV
Keep my commands and live, and my law as the apple of your eye.
Psalm 17:8 NKJV
Keep me as the apple of Your eye;
Hide me under the shadow of Your wings
Deutronomy 32: 10 NKJV The song of Moses
He found him in a desert land
And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;
He encircled him. He instructed him.
He kept him as the apple of His eye.
( protection, we are important, we are loved )
Zechariah 2:8 NKJV
For thus say the Lord of hosts: “He sent me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.
( protection, we are important, we are loved ).
REST
Philippians 3:13 I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this; however I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead.
Be a good branches, just eat and drink, abide ( rest ) and you will bear fruit.
How can my life is not fruitful?
A tree has limited amount of resources and energy to give to each branches.
If there are too many branches, to many things we want to do, to many goals, to many kind of ministries, to many ambitions then the amount of resources, energy you have must be divided between those and it’s tiring. And seems you not see any progress, fruit and make you stress, disappoint or even blame yourself, o I have no talent, I’m not good enough even can blame God for not bless you, prosperous or make you successful.
To many things can make you unfruitful. It will drain you.
God, Abba Father is the gardener. He will prune the unnecessary things, He will lift up above the ground the important things, so you become fruitful.
The pruning process takes on the appearance of loss. So in this life we will experience what appears to be loss. Something taken in your life, they will appear as losses for you.
But they not. The purpose of pruning is not to harm you but the opposite. It’s make you bear fruit.
If you experience losses, they will not be for your harm, Every loss will be redeemed.
From the beginning we are created to bring forth fruit.
F
From my heart 2 ur heart 