SONG OF SONGS 3
We may even, after such a call of love, go to bed as in chapter 3: 1. This implies a deliberate settling down in our own circumstances. You may ask, Is it possible for a true lover of Christ to behave like that? Yes, it is, or we should not have it thus strikingly brought before us in the Holy Scriptures. And do not our hearts know how possible it is? And yet, so strange and complex are the workings of the heart, there is a seeking Him even on the bed which is the evidence of how His call of love has been disregarded. It was an unlikely — we might say, an impossible — place to seek Him with any hope of success, but she says twice over, “I sought him”. She has to add sorrowfully, “But I found him not”. It is to be noticed that this period of fruitless seeking is not a very brief one, for she says, “in the nights I sought him” shewing that this experience extended over some time. But such an experience is the governmental consequence of neglecting the voice of the Beloved, and being found where His love would never have had us to be. It is because we have not responded to His seeking that He does not now respond to ours. The whole position is abnormal, and He would have us to feel that it is so. As long as we remain on our bed we shall never find Him. One may manifest a considerable degree of indifference to His love in the way of being reluctant to move with Him, and yet there may be a desire that He should be with [p. 58] as in our conditions, and give us the comfort of His love there. I am afraid that there is much seeking of the Lord that is not of higher quality than that, and we cannot wonder if it is fruitless. His love is very sensitive, and He also considers with infinite wisdom what our love needs in the way of correction, that it may be purified from elements that are neither worthy of Him nor of His spouse.
The first evidence of true revival is when she says, “I will rise now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the broadways will I seek him whom my sod loveth”. How different this from being in His chambers, and in His house of wine! Still it shews that she is arousing herself to increased diligence of heart, and this is something. But the streets and broadways of the city were not the place to find Him. She has again to say, “I sought him, but I found him not”. Her love, not being regulated by His voice and leading, and moved by its own sense of loss rather than by the constraint of His love, brought her into circumstances which were quite unsuitable to His spouse. The watchmen that went about the city found her. A woman abroad at night was not orderly, whatever her motives might be, and she came under the scrutiny of the watchmen as being in a questionable position. In normal conditions they would never have found her; it was their business to keep a lookout for evil-doers and enemies — for those who would disturb the peace of the city. The very fact that she came under their notice at all was a reproach and rebuke to her. They did not at this time say or do anything to her, but she was found by them as one who was not enjoying the [p. 59] company and support of her Beloved. Her question, “Have ye seen him whom my soul loveth?” exposed her to them as one who had lost Him. Distance between the heart and Christ exposes itself to those who have a watchman’s eye in many and obvious ways, though true love may be there. It is a serious matter when those who are responsible for the maintenance of order amongst the people of God have their attention called to us. However little they might say or do, the mere fact that one had come under their notice would be a deep exercise to a tender conscience. If our ways are such that godly persons are concerned about us, that should be enough to bring home to us that there is something unsuitable. They ought not to need to use severe measures with us. Indeed, I do not think the watchmen would ever be severe the first time they find us. It is later in the book, and following upon continued disregard of the most touching appeal of love, that the watchmen use severe measures. See chapter 5. The sharper forms of discipline are reserved for those who refuse to benefit by milder admonition. To be found by the watchmen is a warning that should be heeded.
The scripture before us would suggest that the Beloved had taken account of the fact that there was some revival in the heart of the spouse, and He would graciously answer it, after allowing her in His faithfulness to experience the painful result of her lukewarmness towards Him. It would also suggest that being found by the watchmen had not been without some effect. For she says, “Scarcely had I passed from them, when I found him whom my soul c loveth”. It is a peculiarly gracious act of His love when the sense of nearness, and of conscious possession of Him, is restored after being lost through lack of response to His love. It gives a deep and tender sense of the fidelity of His love which is enhanced by the conviction that it has not been appreciated or answered to in any right degree on our side. There is an intensity and vigour about her affections now which has not appeared before. “I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me”. In the first section of the book it is He who brings her into His chambers. This is the most intimate place of nearness to Him, and it corresponds with His thoughts in regard to her, But in that connection there is not quite the call for energy on her side. And it is to be noted that through her lack of response to Him, and all the exercises and experiences which were occasioned thereby, there is developed an energy to hold Him which has not marked her before. We can pass through no exercise more humbling than that which is occasioned by the discovery that we have been unresponsive to the love of Christ. This goes far deeper into the real condition of the heart than any outward failure. No breakdown in the walk could be so serious in the estimation of a true lover of Christ as a state of heart unresponsive to Him. But the distress of losing Him thus, the anguish of heart passed through in those dark nights when He is sought without being found, result, through the overruling of almighty divine love, in the development of an energy of apprehension which was not present before.
[p. 61] And all that we know of Him, and possess of Him, k recognised more deeply than before to be purely of sovereign favour and mercy. I take it that this is the force of her bringing Him into her mother’s house. The spouse has derived her very origin from the system of divine grace; Jerusalem above is her mother; and in bringing Him into her mother’s house she indicates that she holds and possesses Him now in a true sense of grace. She has learned herself, and the possibilities that attach to her affections — untrustworthy even when true — and she is now fully conscious that she can only possess Him as a matter of absolute grace.
We have noticed that in the second section of this book — that is from chapter 2: 8 down to chapter 3: 5 — there are experiences on the part of the spouse which are humbling. She loses the King’s company through a lack of response to Him, and she has to seek Him, and for a considerable period she does not find Him. She comes under the notice of the watchmen, but, in result, after a painful experience she finds Him and brings Him into her mother’s house. She gets a very deep sense that all is of grace. Her very lack of response to Him, and His favour in giving Himself back to her after her failure gives her a profound sense that all is of grace. I suppose we have all to go through experiences that bring that home to us. We have a sense in a general kind of way that all is of grace; we were brought forth under that principle, and we acknowledge it as being the only principle of blessing, but we have often to go through experiences that make it a very real thing to us that no merit or deserving attaches to us. And the Lord uses an experience like that to develop an [p. 62] energy of affection in our souls that may not, have been there before. So we find in the cud of this section that there is an energy in the spouse — she holds Him and will not let Him go — that has not been manifested before, we might say that has not been called for before.
It has pleased God in His wisdom to give us valuable instruction in this form. Each of these first two sections ends with a charge that her Love is not to be disturbed. That is a normal exercise; when we are in the enjoyment of nearness and intimacy with the Lord, the dominant desire of the heart is that nothing shall interfere with it. I suppose we have all known moments of happiness in which we have felt a real dread lest anything should come in that would disturb it. That is a normal exercise of love.
In returning to a sense that all is of pure grace we get revival, and the third section in the book, from chapter 3: 6 down to chapter 5: 1, is a history of revival. And therefore in this section there is no failure contemplated in the spouse, and the King expresses His appreciation of her beauty in detail, which He had not done before.
The lessons we learn in connection with actual failure in walk are not nearly so searching and humbling as those which arise from the inward discovery that our hearts have failed to respond to the love of Christ, The one is external and perhaps more public, but the other arises from the consciousness of a decline which is only known to ourselves and to the Lover of our souls. Such is the exercise of the second section of this book. There is decline in her affections. It comes into evidence, but the real [p. 63] secret is decline within: that is where all decline begins. In addressing Ephesus in the Revelation, the Lord says, You have not failed outwardly; you are a beautiful assembly; you are preserving order, you are faithful, you are doing everything right outwardly, but you have left your first love. He raises an exercise of very fine texture. I suppose we all know it well; the sorrow of feeling that our hearts are not as responsive to the love of Christ as they might be — as they ought to be! But then that very exercise is used to intensify the energy of our souls to be possessed of Him; the spouse lays hold of Him and will not let Him go. She has more energy now than when she was sitting under His shadow. How wonderful God’s ways are! And she gets the sense that all is of grace. So she brings Him into her mother’s house. That is where she was born, under the system of grace. Now she brings Him there; it is as much as to say, I have found out enough about my own heart to be convinced that all must be of grace. A beautiful picture, and we all know how to interpret it; every believer has the key to it in his or her own history.
Through special divine favour the apostles were preserved, so that there is nothing to shew that they ever declined in affection for the Lord. They were preserved by the special grace of the Lord, but as soon as the responsible history of the church began symptoms of decline became manifest.
What happened in regard to Israel has happened in regard to the church. But there will be revival for Israel, and there is now revival for the church. “Come and let us return unto Jehovah: for he hath [p. 64] torn, ad he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before his face; and we shall know, — we shall follow on to know Jehovah; his going forth is assured as the morning dawn; and he will come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain which watereth the earth” (Hosea 6: 1 - 3). We are living in a time of revival; the greatest revival that ever was is going on now, and it ought to be a time of revival with every one of us. It is characteristic of the time, and what causes revival is a sense of grace. A sense of failure on our side but of grace on the divine side. The Reformation was brought about that way; there was a great sense of the failure of the church, but a renewed sense of grace, so that people began to wake up to the character of the dispensation, to know that all was of grace, and by faith. And there was a return to grace in the revival of the last century; it was brought about by a deep sense of failure in the church, but a return to grace — a return to the thoughts of God. The thoughts of God are thoughts of grace; we come back to our mother’s house — and we hold Christ there; and then there is true revival.
I believe that, as a matter of fact, we being what we are, we only learn grace in proportion to our sense of the weakness and failure that is with us. It is an extraordinary thing that God uses our very weakness to strengthen us. It is very precious; do not you think Peter clung to the Lord ever after his experience of his own weakness in a way that he had never done before? Peter was a true lover and in one sense he did cling to the Lord, but he did not [p. 65] cling tight enough! But ever after, when he had Found out his own weakness, how he must have clung to the Lord with great tenacity! We wan: that tenacity of love to hold Him and not let Him go. We cannot get on a moment without Him; we must hold Him fast. Being affectionately possessed of Him is the secret of revival.
This is a very happy section of the book because there is no failure in it, all is of grace, and the thoughts of the love of Christ concerning His spouse come into fuller expression than before. His object in it all is that she may come with Him in response to His love, and we see a greater response here than in the section that precedes or the one that follows. It indicates a time of revival when He gets something of what His heart looks for. Revival would be a meaningless word if there had not been decline. Revival means that there has been a low state, but now there has been a lifting up, a restoration to the proper activities of love.
Now we get a wonderful unfolding of divine thoughts. We see the saints according to grace. In verse 6 that is what comes before us; and then we see certain things connected with Solomon — that is, typically, Christ — His couch, and His chariot or palanquin, and His crown — indicating the way in which the affections of His people are able to regard Him. This is all the fruit of grace. As having returned to a true appreciation of Christ the full fruit of grace can appear. This does not say that there may not be decline from it again, because there is in the next section. After the most blessed revival we may come down again, and yet the Lord in His [p. 66] faithful love can use that to teach us something that we need to learn.
The spouse is seen here as coming up from the wilderness. The wilderness is the place where grace is learned. God redeemed His people out of Egypt, and bore them on eagles’ wings, and brought them to Himself. Their time in the wilderness on the divine side was a time of the learning of grace. What an education in grace they got there! Not only God’s ways in grace in relation to what came out in them — though these were wonderful indeed — but how He identified them with His tabernacle, the whole glorious system of which was founded upon the grace of redemption.
It is noticeable that we do not get here any description of the personal features of the spouse, nor of the detail of her beauty such as we get later on in chapters 4 and 7, but she is described as coming up out of the wilderness “like pillars of smoke”. That is, she is invested with a fragrance that has been brought out under the action of fire. “Smoke” clearly indicates that. She is “like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant”.
From Exodus 25 God’s people were privileged to learn His grace in connection with the system that He set up in their midst. He set up a wonderful system typical of Christ and of glory, and one of the most characteristic features of that system was the ascending of the smoke from the altar. “Pillars of smoke” would have some reference, I think, to the sweet-odour offerings — the burnt-offering, the oblation, the peace-offering, also the frankincense and [p. 67] other fragrant spices which were continually sending up their fragrance from the altars. They all spoke of sweet odour and precious fragrance that was brought out by the action of fire; they spoke of the death of Christ in its sweet odour aspect. God’s intent in having fragrant odour brought before Him on the brazen altar and on the golden altar was that His people were to be identified with it, and it was to be identified with them. That was the divine thought. And here the spouse is viewed as coming up from the wilderness, and bringing nothing with her but the sweet fragrance of Christ.
Viewed according to the thoughts of grace that is how the saints come out of the wilderness. They come out with no evidence of anything but that they are identified in the mind of God, and in the grace of God, with all the sweet odour that came out under the action of fire when Christ went into death. It is not here that He died to remove what was offensive. We may find that aspect of His death in the Psalms and in the Prophets, but we must not expect to find it in the Song of Songs. Here it is His death in its sweet fragrance — a perfection of obedience and devotedness that stood every test, and that, under the action of fire, yielded the odour of full satisfaction and delight to God, and this in order that the saints might be identified with its fragrance and value eternally. All is theirs as free gift in grace.
How good to remember that it is that or nothing! We cannot really have any mixture. As to acceptance and fragrance, it is, and must be, wholly Christ. The assembly is that glorious company which is at [p. 68] the present time invested with all the worth of Christ’s precious offering of Himself. It is our privilege to come up from the wilderness carrying nothing with us but the sweet odour of Christ. It is so actually when a saint departs to be with Him. There may be a complication of exercises down to the last moment of the believer’s history here, but one second after the saint has departed nothing remains but Christ, and what is of Christ. How precious to think of it! But then the joy of it need not be deferred until the moment of departure. It is to be known now as our acceptance through grace. We are blessed now according to the thoughts of the love of God, and the love of God has come out in the wonderful fact that Christ has died for us. The result of this is that we are bound up with the fragrance that ascended when He went into death. That is how we come out of the wilderness.
The spouse comes up out of the wilderness twice in this book. She comes up here in all the fragrance that arises from the altar. But in the eighth chapter she comes up leaning upon her Beloved; she has His priestly support. These are two things that are made known to us in the wilderness — the altar, the death of Christ in all its amazing results for time and eternity; and the Priest for succour and support. We are not only in the fragrance of the death of Christ, but we have a living Priest to lean upon who can conduct us into everything that is the fruit of divine love and divine purpose. How blessed to come up out of the wilderness thus!
In an atmosphere of love we do not dwell on what has been removed, but on all that has been brought [p. 69] in, and that makes an immense difference. God would have us to apprehend the death of Christ in its sweet savour. Then we shall understand the “pillars of smoke”. The thoughts of grace are infinitely great, People say often of God’s great thoughts that they are not up to them! But that is not the real difficulty. What they need to see is that we are so utterly ruined in Adam that nothing but the death of Christ will meet the case. He has died to remove what we were, but also to bring in the fragrance of all that He is, that we may come up in all its value and acceptability. We cannot get, lower than the death of Christ; it is the true measure of our state and need; but through that death grace sets us up in the fragrance of the myrrh and frankincense and all powders of the merchant.
Ephesians is a wonderful epistle of grace; it is filled with the actings and fruit of grace. “The glory of his grace”, “the riches of his grace”, “the surpassing riches of his grace”. When we come into the region of grace it is just a question of Christ and nothing but Christ. To abide there is to be supremely happy.
When we have seen the spouse in that character the Spirit goes on to speak, in verses 7 - 11, of Christ as the Object of His peoples’ affections. The spouse, as such, does not appear in these verses, though they form a preface to wonderful utterances of the King’s love to her in chapter 4. The things before us here are peculiarly His own. His couch, His palanquin, and His crown are things which pertain to Christ, and they raise the question as to how we stand affectionately in relation to them. Grace, truly [p. 70] received, would put us in affectionate relation to His couch, His palanquin, and His crown.
The speaker in verses 6 - 11 is not made known. The speaker is hidden so that our attention may be concentrated on what is spoken. I do not doubt that it is the voice of the Spirit apart from the other speakers whose utterances are brought before us in the Song. It is a striking parenthesis in the book.
The first thing we are called to contemplate is Solomon’s couch. It is His resting place by night, and it is seen here as surrounded by a bodyguard of the mighty of Israel. It indicates that Christ has a place where He can rest securely down here in the presence of all that is hostile through the night. We know well that He has a place of rest on high; Jehovah has said to Him, “Sit at my right hand, until I put thine enemies as footstool of thy feet” (Psalm 110: 1). We have not to guard Him there; no hostile power can come near Him there; but He has a place down here where He has to be defended by faithful men who are experts in war. His resting place here is guarded by faithful affections. There are those who are prepared to bear the brunt of any attack upon Him. We often think of Him as protecting us, and where should we be without His protection? But here it is another side, and the fact that His couch is guarded “because of alarm in the nights” shews that the present time is in view, and not millennial conditions. It is in the presence of foes, and in the time of espousals; the marriage has not come yet. It applies peculiarly to the present time. Purity in the affections towards Christ, and fidelity to Him in the face of all that is [p. 71] adverse, can only be maintained in a militant spirit. We are to stand, sword in hand, to meet any alarm in the night.
Think of the Lord entrusting Himself to the guardianship of His faithful lovers! He has a place here where He is defended from every hostile attack. What honour is put upon the assembly as having such a sacred trust! Everything that is of value to God will be surrendered if we do not defend the Person of Christ. That is the thought connected with His couch. His Person is to be defended at all cost; every assault of the enemy is to be met with unflinching courage, and “the mighty of Israel” are to be prepared to bear the brunt of the conflict if anything threatens His Person. The Person of Christ is the priceless treasure of the assembly, and every attack of the enemy is in some way against it. It is good to think that there are thousands of saints on earth at the present moment who would rather die than give way to any influence that is contrary to the truth of His Person. The real test of a standing or falling church is how she acts in relation to the Person of Christ. We are here to defend Him at all cost, and mighty men come to light in doing so.
There never was a time when the enemy was more busy raising alarm in the night. On all hands the truth of Christ’s Person is being assailed, and He is being unclothed of the glory that attaches to Him, We have to stand shoulder to shoulder, sword in hand, against it all. We may be sure that as the enemy tries to rob Him of His glory, the Spirit of God will ever be lifting up a standard by magnifying [p. 72] and increasing that glory in the estimation of those who love Him. I trust we all covet to have the honour from God of being permitted to defend Him in a scene and at a time when He is the object of attack. This is the attitude of every faithful lover.
“King Solomon made himself a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon. Its pillars he made of silver, its support of gold, its seat of purple; the midst thereof was paved with love by the daughters of Jerusalem”. This would clearly set forth the Lord as providing for His own movements amongst His people. It is to be noted that He does not provide a chariot, which would run upon wheels, but a palanquin, which is carried by its bearers. The Lord’s movements, as thus typified, are not independent of His saints; He moves as carried by their affectionate fidelity. It reminds us of how the ark was carried by the Kohathites in all its movements, and of how sad was the result when the divine order was departed from. The Lord is not quiescent at the present time; He moves amongst His people, but not independently of their affections and service. If we recognise that there are movements of the Lord it becomes of great importance to discern them, and to give our whole-hearted support to them. The character and style of His movements are set forth figuratively in the palanquin which King Solomon made, and by considering it we learn how to distinguish His movements from merely human activities. We learn, too, that to bear such a palanquin, and the One who rides in it, is a service of most exalted character. For the bearers would surely be required to correspond in apparel and dignity with what they carry.
[p. 73] All the movements of Christ are of a character which is worthy of Him. The cedars and cypresses of Lebanon had a great place in the building of the temple, and it is said of the city of Jehovah in a coming day, “The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the cypress, pine, and box-tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary” (Isaiah 9: 13). So that “the wood of Lebanon” is a figure of what has excellence and elevation, and of what has exalted character morally. The movements of Christ ever have that character; there can never be anything low or mean about them, never anything that is on the level of the natural or carnal man. And those who carry Him have to be in keeping with that. Paul calls attention, particularly in 2 Corinthians, to the fact that he was personally in correspondence with the ministry which he carried. His teaching was in Christ, but his ways were also in Christ, and Timothy was on the same line because Paul could say that Timothy being amongst them would remind them of his ways in Christ. What we say often fails to have weight because we are personally not in accord with it. When that is the case we are not really giving support to the movements of Christ. He moves according to the elevation of His own great and holy thoughts.
Then “its pillars he made of silver”. The grace of redemption will never fail to accompany and adorn the present movements of Christ. He never forgets what has been effected by His own precious death; His movements always bring into view the value and result of redemption; He ever regards His people in that light. If there are movements that proceed [p. 74] on the line that those who belong to Christ are still of the world, or are in the flesh, or under law, we may be sure that they are not the movement’s of Christ. His people can never be to Him other than redeemed ones, taken out of the world to be for the pleasure of God in the power and value of His own death. This will ever be made prominent as He moves amongst His saints. The full and precious character of that redemption which has been effected through His blood, and which subsists in the power of His Person, will be ever made increasingly glorious as His royal progress continues. It is an unfailing accompaniment of His movements.
Then if the “pillars” of the palanquin are of silver its “support” is of gold. There are features of divine glory and love about the movements of Christ; they are all in keeping with the new covenant which is marked by surpassing and subsisting glory (see 2 Corinthians 3). If attention is called to things which are purely of God — things which are the outcome of His love, and according to His purpose — we may feel assured that the Lord is in movement. His glory is that He is the Mediator of the new covenant, and the Image of God, When He is hailed as Blessed, because coming in the Name of Jehovah, how happy will be the portion of those who carry Him, and of those who behold Him! In a coming day His royal glory will be borne in testimony by His faithful remnant, and His movements will be again, as they were in the days of His flesh, amongst those “beloved on account of the fathers”. But now He is in movement in all His glory, known in a spiritual way, amongst His loved saints of the assembly.
[p. 75] May we know how to carry Him thus for His pleasure!
This involves entire personal subjection to His authority as Lord, the thought of which is conveyed figuratively by the seat of His palanquin being “of purple”. In mockery the soldiers put a crown and a purple robe on Him, but the “purple” in a true and divine sense marks all His movements. They always preserve His authority and call for subjection. The Lord’s movements are often criticised as if men could pass a judgment on them, but they represent His authority, and they cannot be disregarded with impunity. Only those who are purposed in heart to maintain the rights of Christ, and to be subject to His authority as Lord, can carry Him suitably.
Then, finally, “The midst thereof was paved with love by the daughters of Jerusalem”. The Lord delights to have the affections of His people with Him in all His movements; indeed He will not move without those affections. The true “daughters of Jerusalem” find pleasure in furnishing a pavement of love; they anticipate what is required, like the woman who “beforehand” anointed His body for burial, or like those who went before Him and strewed their garments on the way as He entered Jerusalem as Zion’s King. He loves to have His way prepared, and His palanquin paved with love. I believe that whenever the Lord is about to move, He touches the hearts of His saints in a peculiar way so that there is a pavement provided; they make ready for His movements. How highly favoured are those who have the honour to serve Him thus! Think of the remnant in Luke 1 - Luke 2 in connection with His [p. 76] coming into the world! and that other remnant in Acts 1 who awaited the promise of the Father! Their affections made ready for His movements; the pavement of love was there. And so will it be in connection with that great movement when He will descend from heaven to catch up His saints to meet Him in the air! The affections of His bride will be so active that all will be in readiness for Him. Even then He will move as borne upon His people’s love, in response to the bridal call for Him to “Come”! And if it is so in relation to His greatest and most wondrous movements, we may be sure it is so in relation to His spiritual movements amongst His saints from time to time. I believe the pavement of love has ever to be furnished, and the “daughters of Jerusalem” have the peculiar favour of being allowed to furnish it. Would not all our hearts covet to serve His pleasure in this way? Who would wish to be unprepared and unsympathetic with His movements? Through distance from Him it is sadly possible to regard His movements with distrust, and to miss the happiness of being in accord with them. May it rather be that our hearts, as spiritually alert, may know how to provide the pavement of love, so that all is ready on our part for His next movement, whatever it may be!
In chapter 6: 12 there is a somewhat similar thought. He can say, “My soul set me upon the chariots of my willing people”. But there the thought is of how easily and quickly His people’s affections will move to carry Him; they will be “chariots” whose wheels will run swiftly. But His “palanquin” rather suggests that each is prepared to bear in [p. 77] personal labour the burden involved in giving support to His movements. The “chariots” would speak of the alacrity of love on the part of a willing people, but the “palanquin” would impress upon us that to support His movements there must be a “labour of love” to which we have to put our shoulders.
The Lord will move in love and glory amongst His people to the end, and He would have us identified with His movements, SO that in moving HC has the comfort of knowing that our affections are in accord with Him. He is not at all minded to move without us. What dignity and honour, as well as sweet privilege of love, does this confer upon us! In moving He presents Himself amongst His people; He gives prominence to certain things; He brings in what is needed to give colour and character to His testimony at any particular time. It is good that we should provide a pavement of love for Him, and be ready to carry Him in all His movements.
Then in verse 11 the “daughters of Zion” are called to go forth to behold king Solomon crowned in the day of His espousals. “Daughters of Jerusalem” would be, I think, a more general term, as indicating those brought forth by grace, but “daughters of Zion” would suggest the principle of sovereignty as giving a special place, like that accorded to the 144,000 in Revelation 14. To be born in Zion implies special and sovereign favour. (Psalm 87) I cannot but regard it as special favour to be called to go forth to see the true King Solomon as crowned by His mother in the day of His espousals. This is a view of Christ which is very distinctive and precious. For the crown here is not the crown of the kingdom,
[p. 78] not the crown of millennial glory, but the glory which attaches to Him as pledged in faithful love to His spouse, It is not that the marriage is consummated, but the gladness of His heart is great in being espoused to His bride. What a day it will be when His mother Israel understands the joy of His love in entering into a bond with an elect company given to Him by His Father to be His spouse! A day is coming when she will crown Him as having this joy. And at the present time His saints may take up a three-fold privilege which is suggested by this verse. It may be ours in one aspect to crown Him; in another aspect to behold Him crowned; and in a third and most blessed aspect to know that we form part of that chaste virgin to whom He is espoused in changeless love.
God would have us to enter into “the gladness of his heart”. It is not our side that is presented here, but the joy of Christ in being espoused — a joy which He has at the present moment. It means much to Him. When Paul speaks of the saints as being espoused as a chaste virgin to Christ he is thinking of their being suitable to Him. But here it is His side, and it is a peculiar divine favour to be called to behold Him thus. I think we should be intensely interested not only in what may be regarded as the general blessings of divine grace, but in the specialities which love delights to confer. Manifestations are specialities; they are not granted to all believers, but given under certain conditions as special favour. And it is peculiar favour to know the present joy of Christ in being espoused to His bride. This glory being His, He will ever be faithful to the bond He [p. 79] has entered into. He is definitely pledged and committed, and His affections move without restraint towards those whom He loves, and with whom it is His joy to stand in a bond that can never be severed.
It may be noticed that we do not get any detailed description of her beauty in His eyes until after this, nor is she actually called the spouse until the next chapter. But the espousals having been celebrated He is now free to speak and act towards her according to the engagement into which He has entered. It is an immense privilege to contemplate Him as crowned in this peculiar and affectionate way. It is a very precious view of Christ.