“You are altogether beautiful, my darling, and there is no blemish in you. 8 “Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, may you come with me from Lebanon. Journey down from the summit of Amana, from the summit of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards. 9 “You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride; you have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes, with a single strand of your necklace. (Song of Solomon 4:7-9 NASB1995)
Song of Solomon 4:8 is the first of eight verses in the Bible which contains the word “leopard[s].” As an analogy for the sake of discussion, in this article I shall assume that “leopards” represent a “beast of the field” or “wild beast” which represent self-hatred. Leopards are ravenous creatures that are covered in spots. Biblically, spots typically represent stains, blemishes, faults, imperfections, or things that are wrong with a person.
Given the understanding that the “Song of Solomon” is filled with divine revelation about the way that God the Son (Jesus) interacts with His people (for whom He died and who have been reconciled to God), the good news is that Jesus tells His beloved bride that “there is no blemish in you.” (Song of Solomon 4:7b).
The word “spot” appears 18 times in the Old Testament and 3 times in the New Testament (NASB1995). The first time the word “spot” appears in the New Testament is in Ephesians 5:27. In context, the passage also describes what the godly (non-narcissistic) version of loving oneself looks like, for it says that “he who loves his wife loves himself.”
A godly husband demonstrates this mandate by the way that the he cherishes, nourishes, protects, delights in, leads, gives himself for, loves, teaches, fights for, covers (removing shame), defends (removing lying accusations), and makes his wife a better, healthier, wiser, more prosperous person who knows her inestimable worth.
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.”
–Ephesians 5:25-33 NASB1995 [emphasis mine]
“If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” (1 Peter 1:17-19 NASB1995)
The blood that Jesus shed for His church removes guilt, shame, accusation, condemnation, fear, bitterness, and whatever hinders love (see Ephesians 1:4-7; Colossians 1:21-23; 1 John 1:7-9). When we are made perfect in God’s love, then fear, guilt, and shame have no more place to live in a person’s mindset (see 1 John 4:18).
What do mountains represent throughout the Bible? Sometimes mountains can represent various mindsets where various beasts (belief systems) and birds (thoughts and words) make their home. These mountains (wrong mindsets) can be removed by what the Bible calls “faith” (see 1 Corinthians 13:2; Matthew 17:19-21; 21:20-22; Mark 11:22-24; Psalm 30:7).
“Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, may you come with me from Lebanon. Journey down from the summit of Amana, from the summit of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.” (Song of Solomon 4:8 NASB1995)
For those who have committed to learn from Jesus in every area of their lives, it is written “that we do not struggle against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, powers, rulers of this dark world, and spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly realms” (see Ephesians 6:12, my paraphrase).
In other words, we struggle with sins, mindsets, and attitudes that oppose us and want to keep us pinned down and ineffective in life. (see 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Hebrews 12:1-4). One of those mindsets or “principalities” against whom we may wrestle or struggle is the spirit of self-hatred.
Our spiritual opposition comes through “temptation” as invisible spirit beings lie to us (see Matthew 6:13; 26:41; John 8:44; 1 Corinthians 10:13, 20). Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, if we are not discerning, then we may agree with those lies and act contrary to God’s instructions. As happened with Adam and Eve, whenever we act in unbelief and disobedience, we invite in those same results of guilt, shame, fear, blame-shifting, accusation, and death (see Genesis 3; 2 Corinthians 11:3-4).
“For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine. 12 If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all it contains.” (Psalm 50:10-12 NASB1995)
God knows where every mindset and thought of self-hatred is hidden within our hearts and minds. Nothing is hidden from His sight, but is naked and exposed before His eyes (see Hebrews 4:12-13). What then is Jesus saying to His bride when He invites her to come with Him on a journey from the “dens of lions” and from “the mountains of leopards?” He is inviting her on a journey to deal with every accusing thought and feeling that is not from Him.
If lions represent accusing spirits and leopards represent the spirit of self-hatred (or shame), then Jesus is inviting us on a journey to trample upon such beasts. Because Jesus died and rose from the dead, He has restored our dignity, worth, value, purpose, destiny, honor, and innocence in God’s sight.
Because of our sin, we had fallen captive to guilt, shame, and fear, just as Adam and Eve experienced in Genesis 3 when they breached God’s trust and betrayed Him. Guilt, shame, accusation, and fear then had dominion over us and has passed down to us from generation to generation.
But God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). In Christ Jesus, our power and authority to trample on accusing and bitter thoughts is restored. Now once more we can reign in life through Jesus Christ, exercising dominion over every spiritual entity that lies to us (accusation, bitterness, guilt, shame, fear, etc.) See Genesis 1:26-28; Psalm 91:13; Romans 5:17; 6:12-14.
Jesus is inviting us on a journey to defeat self-hatred and the baggage that comes with it. Physiologically, is it possible that self-hatred can even attack the physical body in the form of autoimmune disease? Just as leopards stealthily attack their prey, when one attacks themselves through self-hatred, could their own body (white corpuscles) have become programmed to attack various glands or organs of one’s own body?
Many were even born with autoimmune diseases. However, Jesus invites us all on a journey to have all guilt, shame, anxiety, and condemnation that has been lurking inside us and that has passed through our gene[ration]s removed by the power of His love that He demonstrated at the cross and His resurrection from the dead.
That is our only hope for freedom as we learn to trust God on this journey to become filled with all the fullness of God. As we learn from God to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves, then our nature and personality becomes one with His identity of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, humility, and self-control. For more information about my personal journey through hypothyroidism, see “You Don’t Need to Be Fixed; You Need to Be Loved.”
Disease is like a scorpion that paralyzes us through fear. Jesus was lashed with a whip called “the scorpion” so that we might be healed by His stripes from that scourging. If Jesus defeated fear and pain, then only through a complete surrender to His love in trust can fear be removed from our mindsets.
Only through a deeper connection to Him in love can fear be removed from our lives as we become perfected in God’s love (see 1 John 4:18). Then we shall finally walk in His power and authority to trample upon serpents (lies, bitterness, shame, etc.) and scorpions (fear, fear-induced disease, and death).
For more information on this subject, see my blog post “Spiritual Zoology 101: Serpents and Scorpions.”
To learn more about how the “good news” of God can transform you through a [deeper] relationship with God, see “Four Spiritual Laws for Healing a Broken Heart.”