SONG OF SONGS 1
This book does not bring before us the first movements of the work of God in the soul. The first exercises of a creature who has sinned against God are in the conscience. Conviction of sin and repentance must have their place; the answer to Job’s question, “How can man be just with God?” must be found. The forgiveness of sins and justification in Christ are great necessities. But these primary questions are not raised in this book; they are supposed to have been raised, and settled in a divine way. And the very way in which these moral questions have been settled for those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ has given us the knowledge of God as moving according to His own nature, that is in love. “God commends his love to us, in that, we being still sinners, Christ has died for us”. There was an immense depth of need on our part, but on God’s part a movement of love in that Christ, His beloved Son, has died for us. In the light of this we make the wondrous discovery that God is love, and, that being so, He can only be satisfied with love on the part of His loved creature. God is known to us as set forth in a blessed Man, His beloved Son, who in love has gone into death for us, and who is now, as risen and exalted, the King of glory. A Divine Person is brought before us in this book as The King,
[p. 2] as the true Solomon who is, typically, the King of glory. But the Spirit of God, who has brought out His glory in many and varied ways throughout the Holy Scriptures, engages our hearts with Him in this incomparable book as a Lover. He is seen here as manifesting His love to those who appreciate it, and to whom it is more precious than all else. He is God’s Anointed; all divine and kingly rights are His; but He is known here as a personal Lover, and as having come into Manhood to be appreciated and responded to in ardent affection.
The inspired title of this book, The Song of Songs, indicates its surpassing excellence, in contrast with the “vanity of vanities” which could alone be experienced in the world “under the sun”. Solomon’s songs were “a thousand and five”; he was conversant with every subject of song, as he was with all trees and living creatures (1 Kings 4: 32 - 34), but this song has been selected as of greater value than all the others. No subject could be greater or sweeter than the love of Christ, and those responsive movements which it awakens in the hearts of those who know it. To have the personal enjoyment of the love of Christ transcends all other joys. The principle of selection marks the whole of Scripture; not everything that saints, or servants of God, or even the Son of God, said or did, has been recorded, but all that was adequate to make known the mind and heart of God. And this song has been selected by the Spirit of God as of supreme worth because it delineates in a figurative way the affections that are in the heart of Christ towards His own, and the affections which have place in their hearts towards Him.
[p. 3] The love of Christ is a precious reality. The Spirit would never allow us to lose sight of His greatness and majesty — He is the King, the supreme One, in this book — but He would impress our hearts with a sweet and tender sense of His love. He was once here in humiliation and suffering and death for us, and He has now gone on high as the exalted and glorified One; He is “the Lord of glory”, but He loves each one of us with a real and personal love. We can ask with confidence, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ... But in all these things we more than conquer through him that has loved us” (Romans 8: 35 - 37). God would put the assurance of that in our hearts by His Spirit. Then Paul could say, “For the love of the Christ constrains us, having judged this: that one died for all, then all have died; and he died for all, that they who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who died for them and has been raised” (2 Corinthians 5: 14, 15). As held in the embrace of the love of Christ we arrive at the judgment that it is due to Him that we should live to Him, not only in service but in affection. This is not a matter of mere sentiment, but of sober and considered judgment; it is a well weighed and deliberate conviction. And we should approach “The Song of Songs” in the light of this. The theme of the “Song” is such a consciousness of the love of Christ that the heart lives to Him. We shall find, indeed, that there are deviations from that blessed state, which have to be the subject of movements of recovery, but the true normal state of heart, as presented in the first section [p. 4] of the book, is one of full and glowing response to His known love, and of restfulness and rapture in that love.
We all profess to have the light of the love of Christ, and I trust there is a real, even if feeble, sense of it in our hearts. Now it would be strange if we knew about the love of Christ, and did not desire to have some personal token of it! The Song begins with this. “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth”. There is desire for the direct and personal expression of His love, some evidence of it that shall be, like the name written on the white stone (Revelation 2: 17), known only to the one who receives it. Such an intimacy is to be sought and enjoyed in reality. It is an experience corresponding with the Lord’s own words in John 14: 21: “He that loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him”. One feels humbled by the consciousness that one knows so little of personal intimacy with Christ. Such men as John and Paul knew what it was to be in nearness to Him with not a shade of reserve to cloud the consciousness of His love, and thousands of saints through the centuries have known it in their measure, and it is open to us to know it too. If we have to own that we have not known much of it in the past, it is open to us now if we have hearts to appreciate it.
The tokens of His love are asked for on the ground that they are valued. “For thy love is better than wine”. When His love is valued more than all earthly or natural joys its manifestations will be given, If that is our estimation of it we shall get “the kisses of his mouth”. Orpah kissed Naomi but left her,
[p. 5] and Jonathan kissed David but parted from him. Those were farewell kisses, but the Lord’s kisses are the pledge of a faithful and unchanging love.
There is a nearness to Him in His circumstances in the first section of this book, ending at the seventh verse of chapter 2, that does not appear in the rest of the book. “The king hath brought me into his chambers” (chapter 1: 4);”while the king is at his table” (chapter 1: 12);”He hath brought me to the house of wine” (chapter 2: 4). We find in this section a satisfaction and restfulness in nearness to Him which is not found later on. The experiences that follow are more varied, more mixed in character, and they lie in different scenes. They are all deeply instructive, but they do not come up to what we have in the first section. I believe we have in the first section the love of Christ in its preciousness and satisfying power, as known, if we may so say, in His circumstances; and the affections of His own are seen as in full appreciation of, and response to, His love. So that the mutual relations between Christ and His loved ones are pictured here as in normal, or spiritual, conditions. The spouse is here marked by pure, unflagging, and fervent affection, and she is seen as occupying the best place which the King’s love could give her in His own chambers and at His table. The affectionate relations between them are normal, and just what they should be to satisfy love. In the rest of the book there are experiences and exercises which are consequent upon a different state of things. From chapter 2: 8 to 3: 3, the spouse is not seen in His chambers, but as found in conditions where He has to seek her, or where she has to seek Him, and there are evidences [p. 6] of waning affection on her part, from which she has to be recovered through experiences which are not happy. This is seen also in chapter 5: 2 - 8. In those parts of the book desire is more prominent than satisfaction. But the first section brings before us in, a figurative way normal and spiritual conditions. It is God’s way to begin by setting forth things according to the height and perfection of His own thoughts, though He may afterwards have to shew us how prone we are to deviate from them. The Psalms often begin by giving the goal to be reached, and then describe the way which may have to be traversed in order to reach it. What a height of blessing is brought before us in Ephesians 1 and 2 and yet He has afterwards to tell us not to steal, or tell lies, or use filthy language! But God loves to begin at the full height of His own thoughts; there is power and leverage in them to elevate us, and to preserve us from defection. Chapter 1 - 2: 7 is suggestive of first love. As we know the love of Christ, and respond to it, and love one another as He has loved us, there is love which is first in quality, and not merely in time; it is a quality of love which cannot be surpassed. If we see what is spiritual, and normal according to God’s mind, we have a divine standard by which defection or departure can be judged and adjusted.
There are reasons given in verse 3 why the virgins love Him. His ointments savour sweetly, and His Name is an ointment poured forth. I think verse 3 is perhaps the most important verse in the book, as giving the secret of the love for Christ which is found in virgin hearts, that is, hearts uncorrupted by the influences of the world. Such hearts can appreciate [p. 7] the sweet savour of His ointments, and the fragrance of His Name. It is to be noted that this is the only mention of His Name in the book. How often is it found in Scripture that the key hangs, as might be said, at the door; the first few verses of a book give a clue to its contents. His Name is something more than His kingly office, something more than all the graces and moral perfections which were manifest in Him; it is Himself — His personal renown and greatness. We may admire different qualities in a friend, but it is the Person to whom they attach whom we love. His Name conveys all that He is in Himself, and if we do not know who He is we cannot rightly estimate the qualities and features and excellencies which may be seen in Him, and on which this book dwells with such a wealth and variety of figurative detail.
The Gospel of Matthew corresponds with the Song of Songs, for it presents Christ as the King, and His moral perfections are delineated there, particularly in the Beatitudes, but before the Evangelist speaks of Him as the King, or of His moral beauty and worth, he brings before us His Name. His Name is greater than any office which He fills; it is greater than the human excellencies and graces which shone forth in Him. It gives lustre, and character, and fragrance to every perfection that was seen in Him. “Thou shalt call his name Jesus” — Jehovah the Saviour — “for he shall save his people” — Jehovah’s people — “from their sins” (Matthew 1: 21). Then again, “They shall call his name Emmanuel, which is, being interpreted, God with us” (verse 23). The Evangelists tell us what He did, and what He said, but it is who
[p. 8] He is that gives fragrance to it all. Think of the Almighty, the I AM, the Jehovah of the Old Testament coming into Manhood, and doing the acts and speaking the words recorded in the Gospels! That is the amazing reality. “Thy name is an ointment poured forth: therefore do the virgins love thee”. There was a fragrance of God present in grace in all His movements, and in every circumstance, and it was discerned by hearts purified by faith. His acts and His words would prompt us to ask, who is He? What is His Name? He is Jehovah, Emmanuel, before whom seraphim covered their faces, “And one called to the other and said, Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6: l-3). His Name gives infinite divine fragrance to all that He said and did. His ointments savoured sweetly to the woman of Luke 7, and to the Syrophenician of Mark 7. It is said in the latter case that He entered into a house and would not have anyone know it. But, it is added, “he could not be hid”. There was a heart there that scented the fragrance of His ointments, even though He might be, as it were, hiding Himself from her. God had visited His people in grace, in forgiveness, in delivering power, and the ointment was “poured forth”; its fragrance was wafted abroad, and lovers were attracted by it. Every human grace was there of gentleness, kindness, meekness, lowliness, forbearance, but what gave richest and sweetest fragrance to it all was that it was “a life divine below”. The King in Psalm 45 is addressed as “O God”. Then He is seen as anointed in Manhood, with fragrant odours on all His garments. If the King of Psalm 45 and the Song of Songs were [p. 9] merely Man He would have no title to attract or claim the love of all virgin hearts, but as Emmanuel He is entitled to a love which would be purely idolatrous if bestowed upon a creature. The quality of that love is supremely elevated because of the greatness of the Person loved. It is a reverential adoring affection that never loses the sense of who He is.
The thought of ointments and fragrant spices and sweet odours suggested in this book and in other parts of Scripture as connected with Christ, and also with His saints, reminds us that the sense of smell has its spiritual counterpart as well as the other senses. There are characteristics of Christ which can only be appreciated in this way; they are not to be discerned by seeing or hearing or feeling or tasting, but by scent. This is a distinct quality of spiritual apprehension clearly recognised in Scripture. It is said of the Lord in Isaiah 11: 3 “And his delight (literally scent: see margin of New Translation) will be in the fear of Jehovah”. There was an ability with Him to perceive the odour of all that was in accord with the fear of Jehovah; He pursued that as a dog will follow up the scent of his master. It is most important that we should have this spiritual faculty unimpaired. As natural men we had keen perceptions of what was agreeable to us; we followed up the scent of things that appealed to us. Now we have this faculty in a renewed way by the grace and work of God, and it is also developed under His disciplinary ways. For we are told of Moab that he “hath been at ease from his youth, and hath settled on his lees; he hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore [p. 10] his taste hath remained in him, and his scent is not changed” (Jeremiah 48:11). It is a calamity not to have our scent changed, to have no ability to perceive the sweet odour of those ointments whose savour is so attractive to virgin hearts. “The virgins” are marked by capacity to discern the precious fragrance of Christ, and it causes them to love Him. It is hearts uncorrupted by the world whose affections are awakened and moved in this way; they can scent the sweetness and fragrance of the Beloved. Mary of Bethany had scented it, and it called forth in response the devotion expressed by her costly ointment being put upon His feet. It indicated her appreciation of His ointments, and the love awakened by them in her heart. The greatness of the Person of Christ, the holy fragrance of His Name, is perceived by a capacity given of God, but which is found as “chaste virgin” conditions are maintained. As we are preserved in simplicity as to Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2-3) we perceive that He is entitled to affections such as are due to God alone, but which He attracts to Himself by the grace and love revealed in Him as Man.
The second and third verses are the basis of the book. They shew that the Lord has pleasure in giving personal tokens of His love, and that His love is better than all earthly or natural joy. They also shew what a supreme claim He has to the affections of His own, and how He presents Himself in wondrous grace so as to win the love of virgin hearts. All this will be as true for the Jewish remnant as it is for us, and it is as true for us as it will be for them.
The effect of this is that there is desire to be drawn after Him. “Draw me, we will run after thee!” And [p. 11] no sooner has she said this than she can add, “The king hath brought me into his chambers”. She is there in the most intimate nearness at once. We see here in figure how the Lord will act where there are virgin affections set upon Himself, and uncorrupted by the influences of the world. He would bring us at once to the assembly as His guest-chamber, or, we might say, His bride-chamber, where our occupation is to be glad and rejoice in Him, and to remember (or celebrate) His love more than wine. We see here how quickly the most intimate privileges that love can desire are accorded to those who are prepared to appreciate them. Upright love finds a short cut to assembly privilege. It is said of the virgins, “They love thee uprightly” (verse 4). There are no mixed motives in their hearts. They are such as Paul had in his mind when he said, “Grace with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruption” (Ephesians 6:24). To such the enjoyment of the love of Christ in His assembly is freely accorded, and this is the highest point contemplated in the Song. It may be that the experiences of many of us correspond more with what comes later in the book, but it is good to see the normal activities of love, and there is no divine reason why the youngest believer should not move according to them, and have the joy that is spoken of here. God’s way would be to bring us at once under the influence of the love of Christ, and to keep us under that influence all the time.
The “daughters of Jerusalem” form, in this Song, a class by themselves. They represent lovers of Christ, for they pave His palanquin with love (chapter 3: 10); but they are on less intimate terms with Him,
[p. 12] and less intelligent in the thoughts of His love, than is suitable to the spouse, But they are interested persons, and they are repeatedly addressed by the spouse with reference to her Beloved, and in several instances they speak to her, or about her. It is important, and deeply interesting, to see that affection for Christ has its gradations. It would be a mistake to suppose that all saints love the Lord with equal fervour. Indeed the Lord speaks of one as having loved “much”, and He refers to another as loving “little”. Then the different figures used of the saints in the New Testament suggest different measures or qualities of love. The assembly is spoken of as the bride or the wife of Christ, but other figures are used which are less intimate. We may think of the saints as “sons of the bride-chamber”, or as virgins who go forth to meet the Bridegroom, or as espoused as a chaste virgin to Christ, but the love which characterises those relations is not quite that of the bride or wife.
In Revelation 22: 17 the bride is identified with the Spirit in saying, Come. That is, I believe, the only instance in the New Testament of the bride’s voice being heard. That one word, “Come”, sums up all her desire. But then there is a further word. “And let him that hears say, Come”. It indicates that there may be believers whose hearts are not yet in concert with the Spirit and the bride. They have not the expectant fervour of affection, or the full response to Christ which marks the bride. But they are near enough to hear what she says, and they are called upon to say, Come! The Spirit will not leave them silent; He incites them to join the bride in saying, Come! The one who hears has not the same [p. 13] spring of affection as the bride, though, as having an ear, he is evidently a true saint. And this is almost exactly the position of the “daughters of Jerusalem” in the Song. They have ears to hear what the spouse says, and she is free to speak to them of her exercises, and of the beauties of the King, and they are affected by what she says, so that the last word which they say to her about the Beloved is, “We will seek him with thee” (chapter 6: 1). The result of what she had said about Him was that they came into accord with her.
It is to be doubted whether there are very many whose hearts are in the full responsive affection to Christ that is proper to His spouse, but it is a mercy to be even “daughters of Jerusalem”, who have ears to hear what the spouse says, and who are affected by what she says. One may say that the first question raised by reading the Song of Songs would be, Am I a lover of Christ? And if I can answer uprightly that I am, the next question raised would be, What kind of a lover am I? Do I love much or little? Is the quality of my love that which suits the spouse, or is it such as might be found in daughters of Jerusalem? Can I speak to Him directly as having bridal affection in my heart? Or am I one of those who only hear, perhaps with some measure of true appreciation, what others say to Him, or about Him? These are questions which are definitely suggested by Scripture, and it is wholesome to face them. While we must ever bear in mind that it is God’s thought to bring us to the fullest and highest quality of love that will minister joy to the heart of Christ. He is worthy of the full affection which His spouse can give Him; it [p. 14] is indeed, due to Him that He should have it, though it may be that such an affection has not yet been developed or matured in our hearts. We have been called, according to love’s blessed purpose, to be part of the bride, but we have to be brought by the Spirit’s work into the affections and intelligence of the bride before this wondrous relation to Christ means much to us. It would be sad to know that we were of the bride, and yet not be concerned about the state of heart that is suitable to the bride. The work of God would ever be to intensify our affection for Christ, and to elevate it in quality, so that, in the true devotion of the bride, we might say, Come!
John, in the bosom of the Lord, would represent the nearness of intimacy and confidence that is proper to the bride, while Peter was more in the position of a daughter of Jerusalem. He had to make a sign to the one who was nearer than himself, and he got mediately what John got immediately from the Lord. To be espoused to Christ is not the same as being united to Him. Until a relationship is entered upon there cannot be the affections proper to it. J.B.S. constantly brought before us that God’s intent was to bring us to the consciousness of union; his ministry always led to that point. We should progress more rapidly if we were more responsive to the love of Christ in the measure in which we already know it.
The book of Ruth shows how one can be brought from a place of distance into the blessedness of union. Boaz became everything to Ruth that her heart desired, and she became all to him that he desired. But, as we notice in reading that book, Ruth was attracted in the first place by what she saw of God in [p. 15] Naomi. She was drawn by the features she discerned in one who was deeply humbled under the government and discipline of God. And that corresponds with the way the spouse speaks of herself to the daughters of Jerusalem: “I am black, but comely”.
The Lord is deeply concerned about the state of our affections, and the quality of our love for Him. One might have the love of a forgiven sinner (Luke 7) without having affections suitable to the bride. The Lord knows better than we do how much we love Him, and He knows the quality of our love as well as its strength. He felt the waning affection of the assembly in Ephesus, notwithstanding their works and labour and endurance, and much faithfulness, and even suffering for His Name’s sake.
In addressing the daughters of Jerusalem the spouse speaks in a different strain from that which she had employed in addressing the King. She is now speaking to those who are not in the same place of nearness to Him as herself, and who have not the same intelligence. And she speaks to them, not exactly of the state of her affections, but of the condition in which she appears before their eyes. It is the present condition and circumstances of the spouse described to persons who are interested, but who have not the spiritual intelligence of the spouse, and who need to understand what they see. Such an explanation would not be given to careless persons; it is not offered to the world, but to “daughters of Jerusalem”.
I would suggest that in saying, “I am black, but comely”, she is not referring to her condition by nature, but to the character and effect of God’s dealings with her. Along with the sweet ministry of the love [p. 16] of Christ to our hearts there are ways of God which have the effect of reducing and humbling us in our condition here. And the one is as essential as the other. Nothing is more marked in Scripture than the humbling character of God’s ways with those whom He blesses. The remnant in a coming day will go through very deep exercise, as we may learn from the Psalms and other parts of Scripture, but a comeliness that is acceptable to God will be developed through that exercise. The “princess” in the Lamentations is disciplined under the government of God in view of moral formation that will make her suitable to be the spouse of the Song. She has been under the “burning heat” (James 1: 11) which withers what is of the flesh. So the spouse in saying, “I am black” is conscious that the dealings of God have left their humbling mark on her, and that others can see it also. All the ways of God tend to make us little in our own eyes, and often in the eyes of others also, but they promote the formation of spiritual features. Chastening yields afterwards the peaceful fruit of righteousness, and spiritual comeliness is the result. In that way blackness and comeliness go together — the tents of Kedar and the curtains of Solomon. To the natural eye to be black would be to be unattractive, but features of moral beauty are secured by the process which reduces us naturally.
Paul in writing his first epistle to the Corinthians does not enlarge upon his personal exercises. They were hardly then in a condition to appreciate them. But when he wrote the second epistle he gave great prominence to the severe discipline which he had gone through. See chapters 4, 6, 12. It had all tended [p. 17] to make him unattractive naturally, and to reduce him, but in result spiritual features came into expression. The light affliction worked in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory. And what humbled him before others as well as in his own eyes was really a spiritual gain. It was all very much in the spirit of “I am black, but comely”. His adversary could say that his presence in the body was weak, and his speech naught, but in weakness the power of the Christ dwelt upon him. And he could commend the Galatians that they did not slight nor reject with contempt his temptation which was in his flesh, but that they had received him as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. If the blackness was there, and might have been a cause of contempt, the comeliness was there also, and it attracted their hearts as being the beauty of God’s Anointed, “as Christ Jesus”. God’s disciplinary and governmental ways are reducing and humbling, but they displace that which is not suitable to the bride, and they make for spiritual comeliness. The features of the bride are developed under conditions of that kind, so that it is made manifest that her comeliness is of a spiritual order; it is of the grace and power of Christ.
I doubt whether such qualities as subjection, meekness and lowliness are ever developed without souls going through much discipline. I understand that the word for meekness in Hebrew is the same word as is used for being afflicted, which would suggest that meekness is acquired under affliction, and it is very “comely” in saints. Moses was the meekest man, but it had taken many years of discipline to bring it about. The comeliness and beauty which mark the [p. 18] bride are the result, on one side, of the influence of the love of Christ, and on the other they are the effect of the disciplinary ways of God. What reduces us, and makes us unimportant in our own eyes, makes room for the grace of Christ.
We have been told that a pearl is formed as the result of a bit of something getting into the shell of the oyster which is a source of trial, but the activities which its presence produces result in it being covered by a beautiful substance. The graces of Christ as seen in the saints are developed as the fruit of many exercises brought about as we learn humbling lessons under the hand of God. “The curtains of Solomon” would be needlework of a very fine order, the product of skill patiently exercised. If, on the one hand, we are taken into favour in the Beloved, it is also true, on the other, that the moral beauty of saints has to be acquired through the diligent working out of spiritual exercises. We cannot put it on like a coat, for it consists in what we are inwardly through spiritual formation. It is not merely an outward conduct that is without reproach before the world, or in the eyes of the brethren, but a beauty attaching to the hidden man of the heart which is acceptable in the eyes of the true Solomon. No one judges of moral beauty so accurately as He does.
Then “My mother’s children were angry with me” brings out another character of exercise through which the spouse has had to pass, and this is specially painful as being on the part of her kindred. It is surprising in one way, but it is true, that the desire to be near the Lord, and to enjoy His love, often calls forth bitter feeling on the part of true [p. 19] believers. No heresy has been more spoken against than a practical desire on the part of saints to be in separation to the Lord.
Persons may pass from one sect to another without much feeling being aroused, but if the true affections of the spouse begin to be manifested, and there is a desire to be wholly for the Lord’s pleasure, in separation from all that is not of Himself, her “mother’s children” become angry. They would have her to be occupied in keeping vineyards which yield something for them rather than in keeping her own vineyard wholly for His pleasure. Indeed, almost any manner of so-called Christian work is thought to be more useful and necessary than to keep our own vineyard exclusively for the pleasure of Christ. The separate path and the holy associations that are suitable to the spouse will never commend themselves to the carnal mind. We ought not to expect the approval of the unspiritual, though we should be desirous to have the commendation of the spiritual. If spiritual persons disapprove of our course it is a serious exercise; it is most likely, in such a case, that we are wrong.
It is as one disciplined by faithful love, and conscious, too, of diverting influences at work, that the spouse turns again to the One whom her soul loves. But she turns to Him now in shepherd character. She recognises that He has a flock which He feeds, and to which He gives rest, and to be with Him and His flock is her great desire. She does not wish to be roving beside the flocks of His companions. She has not succumbed to the efforts of her mother’s children to hinder or divert her, and she now turns [p. 20] to her eternal Lover that He may tell her how to distinguish between His flock and the flocks of His companions. Her heart perceives a more subtle danger. It is not now a question of those who are in manifest opposition to Him, or to her; the flocks are not looked at here as the flocks of bad men, or even of men who are His rivals; they are the flocks of His companions. She has a fine sense of discrimination. Some might feel that to be beside the flocks of His companions was a good place, and quite near enough! How many are content to be beside the flock of some earnest and devoted servant of Christ. That is a good place surely, but it is clearly suggested by the enquiry of the spouse that there is a better place. Her exercise was not to miss the best that was available. For her there is only one flock that is supremely attractive, and that is the flock which He tends and leads and feeds. Do we covet to know the precious reality of a place where He feeds His flock, and makes it to rest? Do we in our hearts know how to contrast that with the flocks of His companions! Or have we thought that they are all really alike, and that there is little or nothing to choose between them? To the heart of the spouse to be roving beside the flocks of His companions would be to miss His company, and His leading and feeding. To her this would be great loss, and she felt assured that it would he a loss from which His love would shield her. Even His companions may become a distraction from Himself, and, however excellent they may be, they are to be shunned if they detain us from that unique place where He feeds His flock, and makes it to rest.
We have noticed that the bride’s enquiry in verse 7 is as to where the royal Shepherd feeds His flock. She has a sense of how that place surpasses in excellence the flocks of His companions; she desires to be exclusively for Him, and to be near to Him where His direct and personal shepherd care can be known. Down to this point she has been the speaker, and she has given expression to affections and desires which indicate the state of her heart as towards Him. She is marked off from all others by the fervour and intensity of her soul’s love for Him. So that she has truly the character in His estimation of being “fairest among women”. It is a feature in this book which we do well to notice that the King does not speak of the beauty which He sees in her until it has manifested itself. It is her capacity to appreciate His excellence and peerless worth that makes her attractive to Him. And His expressions of love follow upon the expression of hers. The love of Christ as presented in this book is not a sovereign love which flows out of its own fulness irrespective of the condition or moral state of the object loved, but it is a discriminating love which is attracted by lovable features in its object. Such is the love of Christ for the assembly; He can say, “Behold thou art fair, my love”; “For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely” (chapter 1: 15; 2: 14). The woman in Luke 7 as being repentant, and attracted by the forgiving grace she had perceived in her blessed Creditor, and loving Him much, had features very comely in His eyes, though hers was the moral beauty of a forgiven sinner rather than that proper to the bride. The features of the bride are seen more clearly,
[p. 22] in a typical way, in Abigail who was “of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance”, and of whom David could say, “Blessed be thy discernment” (1 Samuel 25). There was that in her which was worthy of David’s love; and the Spirit would indicate that the remnant typified in the spouse of the Song has features which call forth the love of Christ, and the assembly, too, has such features. One has no difficulty in seeking to apply the language of the Song to saints of the assembly, because the love of Christ as known by the assembly is certainly not less than His love as the remnant will know it, nor should our response to it be less fervent than theirs. And I have no doubt this book was intended by the Holy Spirit, to have special value for us, as setting forth in a striking way the affections which are proper to saints who know the love of Christ, and as shewing what those who have such affections are in the estimation of His love. We must add, too, that it warns us of influences that tend to imperil the purity and fervour of our affections, and this is often much needed. I believe that Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus because they had lovable features, and that John had such features also, so that he was specially “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. All such features are developed as we appreciate Christ and His love.
The shepherd character in which the Lord is seen here carries our thoughts to John 10. We have not here the thought of His standing between us and the foe, but of His feeding His flock and making it to rest. He does, indeed, in faithful love meet the wolf, but He does so because He will have His flock not only in security but in perfect satisfaction and repose. He came that His sheep “might have life, and might have it abundantly”; He gives them life eternal. The “green pastures” and “still waters” of Psalm 23: 2 shew where He leads and feeds His flock, and His lovers seek to be found there. Why should we turn aside, even to the flocks of His companions, when perfect satisfaction can be found where He feeds His flock? It is certain that the true satisfaction of His lovers cannot be found anywhere else. If He sees that we desire to be there He will bid us “Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock”. He intimates that there is a need for movement, and also of discernment as to what are “the footsteps of the flock”, for we may gather from this answer that the footsteps of the flock indicate where the Shepherd is. Where the sheep are moving under His direction and leading it can be perceived by those who in affection desire to know where He feeds His flock. The footsteps of the flock in John 10 were led out of the Jewish fold, and the Shepherd will never lead His sheep into anything that has the character of a fold. It is now “one flock, one shepherd”. The Hebrew believers were called to “go forth to him without the camp” (Hebrews 13: 13), and in the midst of a profession that is largely characterised by unrighteousness the Shepherd leads “in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake”,
He says, “My sheep hear my voice”; they are marked by the spirit of obedience, but it is obedience that involves movement “they follow me”. If we See persons withdrawing from iniquity, separating themselves from vessels to dishonour, and pursuing righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call [p. 24] upon the Lord out of a pure heart, we may be assured that we see some of the footsteps of the flock. But it is such as have the characteristics of the “fairest among women” who can discern those footsteps. We have noticed that she could discriminate between His flock and the flocks even of His companions. It needs spirituality to do this. The Shepherd would not tell us to go forth by the footsteps of the flock, and then leave us in uncertainty as to what those footsteps are. There is always sufficient evidence to make this manifest, but it needs spiritual discernment. Sometimes we may see saints going together up to a certain point, and then parting company and going different ways. Such a breach raises seriously a question as to where “the footsteps of the flock” really are. The truth itself would not divide saints; it would ever tend to unify them. Nor could we think that the One who said, “There shall be one flock, one shepherd”, would lead His sheep in divergent paths. If what should be “one flock” divides there must be some influence at work other than His leading. But it is “the spiritual” who “discerns all things”; therefore it must be our first concern to see that we are spiritual ourselves. There are no marks by which, we can find where the Shepherd feeds His flock without having our own eyes anointed with eye-salve. But one thing is certain, that the footsteps of the flock are in the paths of righteousness; the flock is composed of those who love the Lord and keep His commandments. And the food supply is a great test; where the Shepherd feeds His flock there will be no lack. A great many people today know where there is [p. 25] spiritual food to be had, but for one reason or another they do not go there; this becomes really a test of love.
Then the “fairest among women” has a flock too, which He tells her to feed beside the shepherds’ booths. She has taken character from the One whom her soul loves, and is engaged in the same kind of service of love. And “the shepherds’ booths” would suggest that those who love Him become, in their measure, shepherds also, and care for His flock. Peter was one who did so, having learned his own weakness, and the tender grace and care of the Shepherd for himself.
To go forth by the footsteps of the flock requires not only affection, but energy and power to overcome hostile influences. And this is set forth in the military figure to which He now compares His love. She is like “a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots” (verse 9). If pure affections are to be preserved there must be power to meet what is adverse. God gives strength to the horse, so that he goes forth without fear to meet the armed host (see Job 39: 19 - 25). In a coming day the Lord Jesus Christ will come forth on a white horse to judge and make war in righteousness, and the armies which are in heaven will follow Him upon white horses, clad in white, pure, fine linen (Revelation 19: 11 - 14). This is anticipated as the saints go forth in moral power to overcome what is adverse to God and to His Anointed. To move in the paths of righteousness involves conflict, but there is power for it as saints are “strong in the Lord, and in the might of his strength” (Ephesians 6: 10). “A steed in Pharaoh’s chariots” would obviously refer to what people speak of as the church militant. In this character it is most important that we should rightly express the One on whose behalf we go forth to war. A steed in Pharaoh’s chariots would be so adorned as to give a right impression of the wealth and power of Pharaoh. So that for conflict we need to “put on the panoply of God”, and then the enemy’s power will be met in such a way that divine strength is brought into evidence and not human weakness. We have known beloved servants of God who have had to face much conflict, but it brought out their spiritual strength, and victories were won. Paul was a great warrior in the Lord’s host, and he has told us the kind of weapons he used, and how effective they were. “We do not war according to flesh. For the arms of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful according to God to the overthrow of strongholds; overthrowing reasonings and every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God, and leading captive every thought into the obedience of the Christ” (2 Corinthians 10: 3 - 5).
The spouse is referred to more than once in this book as going forth in battle array. She is “terrible as troops with banners” (chapter 6: 4, 10). If we are not prepared to meet our spiritual foes in this militant character we shall inevitably surrender something that is due to Christ, and something that is essential to the preservation of purity in our affections.
The gifts in Ephesians 4: 8 - 12 are presented as being the fruit of the military prowess of Christ. “Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive, and has given gifts to men”. The gifts are [p. 27] the token and proof that Christ is victorious, and in a moral sense nothing can stand before them. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers move in the power of Christ victorious and ascended, and the work of the ministry goes on, and is effective, in the face of all that is adverse. Souls are converted, and the body of Christ is edified, and this in the very presence of every hostile power.
There is great danger of manifesting what is of the flesh when we are engaged in conflict if we are not with God in it. And to do so gives the enemy an advantage. It is important to note what has been referred to in connection with the armies in heaven. They are “clad in white, pure, fine linen”, and such raiment as this, in a figurative sense, is suitable to those who fight the Lord’s battles now. So the spouse as compared to “a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots” has comeliness and ornaments (see verses 10, 11) in which gold and silver are prominent, which represent what is divine in character and according to grace. We get such a word as, “In meekness setting right those who oppose” (2 Timothy 2: 25). Even in conflict we are to be adorned with qualities that are worthy of God, and of the Lord. In “We will make thee bead-rows of gold with studs of silver” there may be a suggestion of activities on the part of the Father and the Holy Spirit as well as of Christ, bringing about gracious adornments which are a testimony to what God is even at a time when His people are in spiritual warfare. The enemy has to be met, but he is met in a way that bears witness to the true character of God, and to the grace of the dispensation.
[p. 28] In verse 12 we pass into other surroundings. It is not now the Shepherd and His flock, nor preparedness for conflict, but we find ourselves in the royal palace where “the king is at his table”. Scripture has given us a great impression of the abundance with which Solomon’s table was furnished. “And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal, ten fatted oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and fallow deer, and fatted fowl”. This wealthy provision was made “for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon’s table” (1 Kings 4:22,23; 1 Kings 4:27). “The food of his table” was one of the things which deeply affected the Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10). And here “the king is at his table”; not only is there a wealthy provision, but all is graced by His presence; He is there to personally entertain His guests. The most wondrous things are made available to satisfy “all the desire” (Deuteronomy 12: 20) of our souls. The fine flour and the meal provided for Solomon’s table would typify the Lord Jesus as found here in perfect, holy Manhood, like the fine flour of the oblation in Leviticus 2. And the different animals would speak of Him as having gone into death that He might become food for us, and the substance of our communion together. There would be something of peace-offering character about these animals, though not regarded quite as offered to God on the altar, but rather as the food of the King’s table. The death of Christ has wondrous sacrificial value Godward, but it is also “spiritual food” for saints, in partaking of which we have communion together. “The Lord’s table” signifies what He provides to be the subject of the communion of His saints. It carries with it the thought of communion in all that His death has made available for us. The man of the world has no taste for the things on that table, for they are all of a spiritual order, but they are most attractive to the lovers of the Lord Jesus.
But what is before us here is that “the king is at his table”, and the spouse’s appreciation of Him as seated at such a table. It is Himself that she has before her. The rich furnishing of His table is directly connected with the One whose table it is; it is He who engages every heart. It is not blessings, or the satisfaction of soul desires, or even the communion of those who sit at the table, but the fact that “the king is at his table”, that causes her spikenard to send forth its fragrance. The blessing and the communion are very sweet, but it is when He gets His place in our hearts in relation to it all that the fragrance is sent forth. It is not only that we have a cup and a table that are wholly different in character from every other cup and table, but they have to our hearts a most powerful appeal as being “THE LORD’S cup” and “THE LORD’S table”. The fellowship never gets its true and exalted character until our hearts connect it livingly with Him. He presides at His table, and administrates His bounty there; it is a large and wide thought. When we apprehend the Lord as in that position our spikenard sends forth its fragrance. This would not be confined to the times when the saints are convened in assembly, though it might be specially realised as thus together. But it would seem to be an apprehension [p. 30] of the Lord as having His place in relation to all that constitutes the christian fellowship. His distinguished and pre-eminent place in relation to it all engages the heart, and this causes fragrance to be sent forth. The assembly’s “spikenard” is the holy fragrance of Christ sent forth from myriads of hearts as they apprehend and appreciate His glorious place as supreme in the administration of all that fruit of divine love which constitutes today the substance of the communion of saints. He could not be thus known without intense desire being awakened to assemble with those who likewise know Him. The apprehension of HIS place in relation to the fellowship binds our hearts together as apart from all that is of the world, and this is true all the time, and not only when together in meetings. But this precious bond manifests its reality by saints assembling themselves together whenever opportunity affords, and particularly to eat the Lord’s supper.
The King at His table indicates the supremacy of the Lord in administering to His loved ones, as their common portion and joy, all that He has brought in through becoming Man and going into death. How could we affectionately apprehend Him thus without the fragrance of His Name and Person going forth from our hearts?
Solomon’s table will have its antitype in the King’s table at which His disciples will eat and drink in His kingdom (Luke 22: 30), but there is that which answers to it at the present time. The Lord’s table is contrasted in 1 Corinthians 10 with the table of demons. It conveys the thought of a communion which is spiritually satisfying, and which is in marked [p. 31] contrast with everything in the world which appeals to the lusts of men. It is furnished with spiritual good as established in Christ, and made available for us through His death. As partakers of the Lord’s table we participate in a joy and satisfaction that lies completely outside the whole course of things in the world. The saints are thus unified in mind and affection as having spiritual joys in common, and they are separated by the character of their joys from this present evil world. People who have interests in common, even in the world, delight to come together, and there is no bond there that is comparable to the bond which links together those who are partakers of the Lord’s table.
But what is prominent in this Scripture is not the wealth of the provision on the King’s table, nor the communion of those who partake of it, but the wonderful Person whose table it is. To see Him in relation to it, as supreme in the administration of divine wealth of blessing, awakens deep appreciation in the hearts of those who love Him, so that their spikenard sends forth its fragrance, as the woman’s did when she broke her alabaster flask of costly nard, and poured it out upon Him. If we see Him thus how jealous shall we be about having any links or associations with what is under the influence of evil! It will lead us to seek to maintain holy conditions. He is not yet publicly at His table in His kingdom, but in the affections of His saints He is known as having a table now of which they are partakers. The Song refers to a knowledge of Him, and an intimacy with Him in affection, which may be enjoyed before the kingdom is publicly manifested. It does not [p. 32] refer to millennial conditions, but to intimacies which will be entered into by the remnant before the Lord actually appears. It describes what may be known spiritually before He comes, and hence the experiences are in close analogy with what is open to His lovers today. So the book ends with, “Haste, my beloved”! His coming is still the great object of desire. But in the meantime as being partakers of His table we participate spiritually in things which will be introduced publicly when He comes.
“Thou dost make us taste the blessing
Soon to fill a world of bliss”.
There is power in this to separate us entirely from this present evil world, and to secure our affections for Him who is at His table. This would prepare us to eat His supper rightly and affectionately.
Verse 13 is more intimate and personal than verse 12. “A bundle of myrrh is my beloved unto me; he shall pass the night between my breasts”. The King at His table is a more general thought, but “a bundle of myrrh” between the breasts indicates how He is cherished in the privacy of personal affection. He lies in the affections of His bride, in all the fragrance of His suffering love, through the night of His reproach and rejection here. This represents the state of heart in which His supper would be truly appreciated. “Myrrh” is connected in Scripture with a suffering Christ. Wine mingled with myrrh was offered to Him at the place of His crucifixion (Mark 15: 23), and Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes to prepare His body for burial (John 19: 39).
[p. 33] I am sure we need to cherish more the affectionate appreciation of a suffering Christ — suffering as moving in a way of infinite love. We may often hear of Him, and even speak of Him thus, but how we need to open our bosom, as it were, to cherish Him more ardently in this precious character! Nothing else will subdue and soften like this. No public or administrative glory which He has, or will have, could touch and move the heart like the sorrows which His love has endured, and through which it has expressed itself to us. Those who know Him as King of glory in the millennial day will never forget that His kingly title was once written on the cross. Nothing would so rebuke and displace every thought of self-will or self-pleasing as the contemplation of a suffering Christ. It has an effect more profound and subduing than anything else.
The Lord’s supper is for the remembrance of Him as the One who suffered in love to reach an end which could be reached in no other way. His body was devoted, at all cost of suffering, to the will of God, and to the saints, the assembly, and to Israel. And His blood was poured out, His life given, that divine love might be known. His love to each individual saint, and to the assembly, is known by what He suffered in the devotion of His love. Contemplating the greatness of the blessings He has secured, or the glory into which He has entered, does not so deeply touch the heart as to ponder the way of suffering love which He has traversed. The blessings secured are infinitely great, but deeper and sweeter is the love that suffered to secure them. How it will touch the hearts of the remnant of Israel, after going through [p. 34] accumulated and almost overwhelming sufferings themselves under the government of God, to find that their Messiah — God’s Anointed — has identified Himself in love with their suffering position! In love He has borne their griefs and carried their sorrows as well as being wounded for their transgressions. That Emmanuel, Jehovah the Saviour, the righteous One should suffer in love to secure His people for blessing, and for association with Himself is most deeply touching. That it should be said of Him, “Himself took our infirmities, and bore our diseases” (Matthew 8: 17) is in blessed keeping with His ways of old, concerning which it is written, “In all their affliction he was afflicted” (Isaiah 63: 9). How the Spirit of Christ has enlarged upon this precious theme! Pointing out and testifying before of the sufferings which belonged to Christ! When that testimony is received, through God’s gracious working in the suffering remnant, how they will love their long-rejected Messiah! He will become their Beloved, and He will lie as a bundle of myrrh between their breasts. The day will not yet have dawned, it will be still night for them as it is now for us; but through the night He will be cherished in their hearts as a priceless and fragrant Treasure.
But is He not known to us in the same fragrance of suffering love! Do we not know and love Him as the “Man of sorrows”? Has He not for our sakes become poor, and made known the intensity of His love by giving His body and pouring out His precious blood for us? Has He not sorrowed and suffered also, that He might be able to sympathise with us in sorrow and suffering? Even as to bodily infirmities He bore in His spirit the full weight of all that He [p. 35] removed by His power, It was part of the suffering way which His love took. But how sweet to remember that He went that way that He might bring us into the most intimate association with Himself. The spouse has a sense of this, and it leads her to cherish Him as a bundle of myrrh between her breasts. She is consciously near to Him, and has a deep sense that His love has suffered immeasurably that He might have her there. It is not only that He has made atonement; He has done that perfectly, and she knows it, and is in the peace of knowing it. But He has suffered that she might have the nearest and most intimate place of association with Him, and that she might know and enjoy His love in that place.
It is the privilege of the saints as they eat the Lord’s supper to call Him to mind as the One who went even into death that we might know His love in the most intimate way. He did bear our sins, blessed be His Name, but if we are thinking of that we are not occupied with what was before His heart when He did so. He went that way that He might have us for Himself, and for the pleasure of God, in the eternal nearness of known love. The spouse has entered into this, and appreciated it, so that she can cherish the thought of His suffering love in relation to its own blessed thoughts. He went that way that she might become possessed of Him, and that He might possess her, for her complete satisfaction and for His.
What a comfort to the heart of Christ that the sufferings of His love should be cherished between our breasts all through the night of His absence [p. 36] and rejection here! Indeed, His suffering love will have a place throughout eternity in the hearts of the redeemed.
“With Thee in garments white,
Lord Jesus, we shall walk;
And spotless in that heavenly light,
Of all Thy sufferings talk”.
The bundle of myrrh will never lose its fragrance When the night is passed He will be cherished still, and through God’s eternal day.
It is good to think of the Lord’s suffering love, not from our side as needy sinners, but from His side in relation to all the thoughts of divine love. It is from that side that it is contemplated by the bride. His love went a certain way that it might reach a certain end, and that end was that we might be in the most intimate nearness to Him in His own circumstances, if we may so say, where love has its unhindered flow without a thought of sins or sin to divert from Him. The passover typified how by the death of Christ God would take His people out of the world to be for His pleasure. It was the way of His love, for “When Israel was a child then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son” (Hosea 11: 1). But redemption for God’s pleasure was through the suffering of the Lamb, It was effected by suffering love, that in result love might be restful in the full blessing of its objects. The Lamb was manifested that love’s eternal purpose might be carried out. See 1 Peter 1: 19 - 21.
In eating the Lord’s supper we call to mind the One who went to such depths that He might bring about, what was before the heart of God and before [p. 37] His own heart. That was, that we should know His love and the love of God, and appreciate it, and reciprocate it, as brought into the most blessed nearness to Him. I am sure the Spirit of God would lead us to that side of things as we think of Christ as a bundle of myrrh between the breasts of those who love Him. If He brings these precious realities before us let us ponder them, and pray over them, that all this may be more truly known as experimental in our souls. To cherish Christ’s suffering love would prepare us for suffering here. We should not look for honour or ease in a scene where we are called to be companions of a suffering Christ.
Verse 14 brings before us another precious thought. “My beloved is unto me a cluster of henna-flowers in the vineyards of Engedi”. I understand that women in the East carry these flowers as an adornment. Cherishing the Lord as known in suffering love — as we call Him to mind in His supper — would prepare us to carry Him as our distinguishing ornament here. We should go out from His supper feeling that we have no other adornment; nor do we want any other. We do not want to be adorned in an outward way for the world, but to express Christ for the delight of the heart of God. “In that day there shall be a sprout of Jehovah for beauty and glory, and the fruit of the earth for excellency and for ornament for those that are escaped of Israel” (Isaiah 4: 2). Another kindred passage is “In that day will Jehovah of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the remnant of his people” (Isaiah 28: 6). The only decoration that we have in a spiritual sense is to carry a little bit of Christ and bring it into evidence. I believe Christ as “a cluster of henna-flowers” is what comes into evidence publicly as the result of having Him secretly between our breasts as the “bundle of myrrh”. Paul’s earnest expectation and hope was that Christ might be magnified in his body. If I can in deed, or word, or spirit give expression to some feature of Christ instead of displaying what is of the flesh or nature I am truly ornamented in a divine sense. And we shall only be truly happy as we do so. If I bring myself into evidence I am only sowing seeds of sorrow. But the henna-flowers are found in the vineyards. As Christ is brought into evidence there is true spiritual joy.
Then in verse 15 the King speaks again — a response called forth by the utterances of the spouse in verses 12 - 14. We have noticed before that in this book He does not express His love until she has expressed hers. It is not the gospel side of things; it is not, “We love because he first loved us”, but rather, “I love them that love me”. Affectionate features appear in the spouse, spiritual features, and then He answers in a way that shews how He appreciates what He sees in her. So He says here, “Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair: thine eyes are doves”. The first time He spoke it was to direct her way to “the footsteps of the flock”, and to shew that He took account of her as having ability to face every foe. But now it is what she is to Him. She is “fair”, and the particular feature of her fairness which He mentions is that her eyes are doves. She has spiritual perceptions, and that makes her very attractive to Him. She has given expression to the place which her Beloved has in her heart, and it is this which [p. 39] makes her so fair in His eyes. Our beauty under the eye of Christ consists in our appreciation of Him. It is that which marks His saints off from all others. “He says to them, But ye, who do ye say that I am? And Simon Peter answering said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15,16). It was this, we know, that called forth His special blessing; it was the fruit of a revelation which His Father had made. It evidenced that Peter was a bit of spiritual material for His assembly.
In answer to the King’s brief but precious utterance in verse 15 the spouse responds in the language of verses 16, 17 and verse 1 of chapter 2. Her conditions and circumstances are those of most intimate nearness, though what she says directly of Him is in few words: “Behold thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant”. She does not enlarge upon His manifold perfections in speaking to Him, though she does afterwards in speaking to others about Him. It is striking that her language is more restrained when she is speaking to Him in the enjoyment of nearness and intimacy in suited conditions than when she has lost His company. She is more effusive, we might say, when she has less joy. I dare say there is something in this that our hearts may know how to interpret!
He is “fair” and “pleasant”, and her heart is filled with what she shares with Him. “Our bed”, “our houses”, “our rafters”. There is restfulness with Him in suitable conditions — a nearness of association which is not found after the first section of the book, In chapter 3:1 she speaks of “my bed”, and in chapter 5 she is evidently on her bed, but how [p. 40] different is her condition there from what it is when she can say “our bed”! In chapter 3:7 we read of “his couch, Solomon’s own”, but there is no hint of any one sharing it with Him. But here she can say “our bed is green”; it is typically a restful association with Him here — for green is the colour that beautifies the earth — rather than what is distinctively heavenly. It suggests a restfulness of intimacy and mutual affection enjoyed within a house where “beams” and “rafters” are suitable to association with Him. They are “our beams”, “our rafters”. The fact that the cedar and the cypress were used in building the temple conveys the thought that these trees represent what is suitable to God. We should gather from 1 Kings 4: 33 that the cedar is pre-eminent among the trees; it is marked in other scriptures by excellence and goodliness. The cypress is contrasted with the thorn in Isaiah 55:13 as characterising millennial conditions, and in Isaiah 60: 13 it appears as part of the beauty and glory of Jehovah’s sanctuary. So that beams and rafters of cedar and cypress would indicate that intimacy with Christ can only be enjoyed under conditions that are morally elevated and excellent, and that are in keeping with God’s holiness and glory. Everything is upheld in a manner that is worthy of the Beloved and of His cherished bride. It is under such conditions that the mutual affections of Christ and His saints can be restfully enjoyed.
It is as in such associations as these that she can say, “I am a narcissus of Sharon, a lily of the valleys”. She is conscious that there is nothing in her to disturb the restfulness of His love. She has the beauty that could be set forth in the choicest of flowers.
[p. 41] She is consciously divested of all deformity and unsuitability. She has all beauty in the appreciation of Him, for He lives in her affections and is her beauty. Christ is everything for divine delight, and if He dwells in our hearts by faith His beauty and worth is ours. Peter says, “To you therefore who believe is the preciousness” (1 Peter 2: 7). All the preciousness of Christ is to us that we may be consciously enriched by it, invested with it. There is thus no disparity between Christ and the bride, for He is her glory, joy and beauty; she possesses no other beauty, nor desires any other. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has graced us in the Beloved, He has brought us in His boundless favour to know His Beloved, and to hold Him in our affections as the One in whom we are graced. No perfection of beauty or purity is lacking there, and the bride, with her heart filled with it, can say, “I am a narcissus of Sharon, a lily of the valleys”.