Chapter 22
The Song of Solomon
I Am His and He is
Mine
In many respects, this is the most precious and most
refreshing of the Books of Inspiration. This is altogether a book about
fellowship and communion with Christ. It is not in any sense to be interpreted
literally. It is an allegory, a spiritual dialogue between Christ, our heavenly
Bridegroom, and the church, his Bride.
John Gill wrote, “The whole
Song is figurative and allegorical; expressing, in a variety of lively
metaphors, the love, union, and communion between Christ and his church;
setting forth the several different frames, cases, and circumstances of
believers in this life. There is no case, no circumstance, no spiritual
condition which we may be in, regarding our relationship to Christ, which is
not expressed in this sacred Song of Love”
C. H. Spurgeon said, “This
Book stands like the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and no man shall
ever be able to pluck its fruit, and eat thereof, until first he has been
brought by Christ past the sword of the cherubim, and led to rejoice in the
love which hath delivered him from death. The Song of Solomon is only to be
comprehended by men whose standing is within the veil. The outer court
worshippers, and even those who only enter the court of the priests, think the
Book a very strange one; but they who come very near Christ can often see in
this Song of Solomon the only expression which their love to their Lord
desires.”
The Song of Solomon is set in the Scriptures in direct
contrast to Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes shows us the emptiness of life without
Christ. The Song of Solomon shows us the fulness of life in Christ.
Ecclesiastes expounds the first part of our Lord’s statement to the Samaritan
woman—“Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.” The Song of Solomon expounds the second
part of his statement to her—“Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst.”
This is a Book full of Christ. Here he is presented not only
as our God, our Redeemer, our Savior, and our King, but in the most intimate
character and personal relationship imaginable—our Bridegroom, our Beloved!
Here we see the Son of God in marriage union with his elect.
This sweet, precious, intimate song of love begins with the
church, Christ’s chosen, beloved bride speaking to him, expressing her desire
for intimacy with him (1:2-4, 7).
"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is
better than wine. Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as
ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. Draw me, we will run
after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and
rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love
thee…"Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou
makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside
by the flocks of thy companions?"
Husband and Wife
The
highest, strongest affection known to humanity is the love of a husband and
wife. Our Savior spoke of this devotion when he said, ''For this cause shall a
man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall
be one flesh'' (Matt. 19:5). When we understand the teaching of the Holy Spirit
in Ephesians 5:22-32—that the union of a husband and wife is an earthly
illustration of the heavenly relationship between Christ and his church—the
Song of Solomon takes on a new meaning. We see that the love of Christ for his
church and the church for him is portrayed through the love of a man for his
wife and of the wife for her husband. The Song of Solomon is intimate, even
passionate, because it is all about the love life of Christ and his church for
each other.
The love of a man for his wife is set
before us throughout the Scriptures as a type and picture of Christ’s love for
his church (Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Rachel, Boaz and Ruth,
Hosea and Gomer). Paul said to the Corinthian saints, “I have
espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as chaste virgin to Christ.”
The Lord Jesus Christ loves his people, everlastingly,
immutably, and unconditionally. And all who are born of God, all who know his
Son, love him. To know him is to love him. We do not love him like we should.
We do not love him as we would. And we do not love him as we shall. But we do
love him (1 Cor. 16:22; 1 John 4:19).
Christ loves us perfectly; and we want to love him perfectly.
His love for us is without variation; but our love for him is not. Our love for
him (Let us blush with shame to acknowledge it; but acknowledge it we must.)
varies greatly. We have been forgiven much and we love much; but our love is
sometimes (Must honesty force us to say, “often”?) grows cold. The Song of
Solomon shows us in pictures, with which every believer becomes familiar by
personal experience, of how our Beloved keeps us in his love.
Redemption
The Song of Solomon does
not mention the word redemption or portray it in any way. Yet, redemption is
clearly at the very heart of the relationship portrayed in this love song. In
the fifth verse of the first chapter, the bride confesses both what she is by
nature and what she is in Christ. —"I am black, but comely, O ye
daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of
Solomon."
She says, “I am as black as the goat hair tents of Kedar.”
Blackness within and blackness without, in heart and in deed, is our nature.
But in Christ every believer is as comely (as beautiful and magnificent) as the
curtains of Solomon’s temple. This beauty is not natural to us and was not in
any way achieved by us. It is the beauty of redemption and grace. Our
righteousnesses are but filthy rags; but Christ has clothed us with the robe of
his righteousness (Ezek. 16:6-14).
“O
my dove, thou art in the clefts of the rock” (2:14),
the Beloved
says to his bride. Hidden in the cleft Rock of Ages, “crucified with Christ.” Being crucified with Christ, we are
dead to the law that would condemn us, and the world that would allure us away
from him.
“Behold,
thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair” (4:1)
is our Savior’s
constantly reiterated assurance to us. He tells us again and again, “Thou art all fair, my love; there is no
spot in thee” (4:7). He does not simply say, “Soon you
shall be fair and one day there shall be no spot in you.” He says, “Thou art
all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.” “For Christ also loved the
church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the
washing of water by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be
holy, and without blemish” (Eph.
5:25, 27).
"And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by
wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through
death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight"
(Col. 1:21-22). This is talking about what Christ has done. It refers to the
present state of God’s saints in this world. In Christ we are both justified
and sanctified, clothed with his spotless righteousness, in which we are
perfectly comely, all fair, and without spot.
“My Beloved”
Throughout this song,
Christ is spoken of as “my Beloved.” His majesty, beauty, excellence, and
supremacy are described in a variety of ways. “He is the Rose of Sharon and the
Lily of the Valleys” (2:1-2). The
Rose of Sharon is a beautiful, fragrant, white rose. The Lily of the Valleys is
a wild flower of the buttercup family, with showy flowers of brightest crimson
color. The white rose of Sharon suggests our Lord’s spotless, sinless
character. The crimson lily of the valleys suggests his blood shed for us.
“As
the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. I
sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my
taste” (2:3). The apple tree, as it is set before us in
Scripture, seems to be an emblem of Christ, the Tree of Life. It (He) provides
us with shade from the heat of the sun (2:3), sweet fruit (2:3), and delightful
fragrance (7:8). In response to the question, “What is thy beloved more than
another beloved?” the bride answers…
"My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.
His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.
His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk,
and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips
like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of
fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is
most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my
friend, O daughters of Jerusalem" (5:9-16).
Compare this with John’s vision of Christ in
Revelation 1:9-18.
Deepening Love
As we read the Song of Solomon, though there are
acknowledged struggles, we see the bride’s love deepening with experience. So
it is with us. Through our experience of grace, as we grow in the grace and
knowledge of Christ, our love for him deepens. The more we enjoy sweet
communion with Christ, the more we grow in love and devotion to him.
Twice in these chapters,
that communion is interrupted for a season. But the interruptions only make us
know our need of him more fully, and graciously compel us to seek him ardently.
These seasons when our Savior hides his face are either the result of our own
declensions or times of trial, by which our Beloved wisely and graciously makes
himself the more precious to us.
What we want is for Christ
himself to embrace us and make his love for us known to us (1:2-3). We are
fully aware that we will never seek him, except he draws us. We will never
embrace him, except he embraces us (1:4). That is how it was in our first
experience of grace, when the Son of God first wed our hearts to him; and that
is the way it is now. Everything depends upon him (2:4-6).
The place where communion is found is in the assembly of his saints,
that place where our Savior feeds his flocks, and causes them to rest (1:7). As
we seek him, in his house, by the guidance of his watchmen (faithful gospel
preachers), we find him, find him for ourselves and bring him into our mother’s
house (the assembly of the saints) with us (3:1-4).
Chapter 5 (vv. 1-8) describes a scene all to familiar.
The lessons of that chapter are too important to merely mention. Pause briefly
to consider them. The Lord Jesus speaks in verse 1. —"I am come into my
garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have
eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O
friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.” Then the Bride responds…
“I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my
beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my
undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the
night. I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet;
how shall I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door,
and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands
dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles
of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and
was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him;
I called him, but he gave me no answer. The watchmen that went about the city
found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my
veil from me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my
beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love."
There is within each of us a terrible tendency to
become neglectful, indifferent, and lukewarm towards the Lord Jesus Christ.
This common, sinful tendency of our nature must be marked, acknowledged, and
avoided.
Prone to wander, Lord, I
feel it,
Prone to leave the God I
love:
Here’s my heart, Oh, take
and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts
above.
Here is a very common sin.
—“I sleep.” The wise virgins often
sleep with the foolish. Far too often this is the bad effect great privileges
have upon our sinful hearts. When we indulge ourselves in carnal ease and
security, our hearts become cold, neglectful, drowsy, and indifferent. Prayer
becomes a burden. Devotion languishes. Worship sinks to nothing more than
bodily exercise. Zeal dies.
Here is a hopeful sign.
—“But my heart waketh.” It is a
hopeful sign that there is grace in the heart when the heart struggles against
that horrid, sinful sluggishness to which we are so prone. Ours is not the
sleep of death. There is life within, struggling, struggling hard against sin
(Rom. 7:14-22).
Here is a very loving and
tender call. —“It is the voice of my Beloved.” All is not gone. Though my heart sleeps so foolishly, yet Christ
is my Beloved. Though my love is so fickle, so shameful, and so unworthy of
him, I do love him. And what is more, I still hear his voice and know his
voice.
The Lord Jesus Christ
tenderly knocks to awaken us to come and open to Him (Rev. 3:20). By his Word,
by his providence, and by his Spirit, the Son of God knocks at the heart’s door
of his beloved, because he will not be spurned by the object of his love. He
will not leave his own; neither will he let his own leave him. He has betrothed
us unto himself forever (Hos. 2:19).
He not only knocks for
entrance. Our beloved Redeemer graciously calls us, wooing us to himself by his
grace. Whose voice is it? “It is the
voice of my Beloved that knocketh.”
Who is he calling? “My Sister!”
“My Love!” My Dove!” “My Undefiled!”
What does he call for? “Open to
me.” Why is he calling? “My head is filled with dew, and my locks
with the drops of the night”, the
night of his agony in Gethsemane, in the judgment hall, when he was crowned
with thorns, piercing his brow.
Here is a most ungrateful
excuse. —"I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my
feet; how shall I defile them?" (v. 3). Because of her carnal ease, she
refused the Lord’s gracious invitation to communion. She did not want to
trouble herself, and she did not want to be troubled, not even by him! Her
heart was so cold that she preferred her ease to the fellowship of Christ. Let
us be honest. We are often so wrapped up in worldly care and carnal ease that
we become almost, if not altogether, indifferent to our Lord Jesus Christ!
But our Lord is gracious
still. Our Redeemer’s love cannot be quenched. He is longsuffering, patient,
and gracious to his people, even in our most sinful rejection and denial of
him. Here is a picture of our Savior’s persevering, effectual grace. —"My
beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for
him" (v. 4). It is written, "Thy people shall be willing in the day
of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou
hast the dew of thy youth" (Ps. 110:3). How our hearts rejoice to
know that Christ will not leave his people to themselves. As the hymn writer
put it, “He will never, never leave us, nor will let us quite leave Him!” His
grace is effectual. His grace is persevering. His grace is irresistible. His
grace is preserving. Yes, his grace is indestructible! He knocks; but we are so
cold, so indifferent, so hard that we would never open to Him.
Here is a sad picture of the
loving chastisement our neglect and indifference brings upon us. —"I rose
up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with
sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but
my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I
sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me;
the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me" (vv. 5-7; Isa.
54:9-10). Thank God for faithful watchmen who will not allow us to hide behind
any veil, excusing our indifference and sin, but faithfully expose us to
ourselves and point us to Christ for mercy and grace!
Here is one last hope.
—"I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye
tell him, that I am sick of love" (v. 8). She could not find Christ for
herself, so she employed the help and assistance of the Lord’s people. Cherish
the precious fellowship of Christ. Let nothing rob you of your rich privilege.
Do nothing to drive him away (Eph. 4:30). But when you have grieved the Spirit
of God, when the Lord Jesus hides his face from you, do not despair. It is not
because he has ceased to cherish you (1 John 2:1-2), but because he cherishes
you so much that he is determined to make you pine for him. Are you sick of
love? Does your soul long for fresh tokens of Christ’s love to you? When your
soul languishes, child of God, when sin robs you of Christ’s manifest presence
and sweet communion, as soon as he calls, open to him. “Today, if ye will hear his voice harden not your heart.” Go back to the cross. Confess your
sinful negligence. Go on seeking him. Trust Him still (2 Sam. 23:5; Lam.
3:18-33). We will find our Beloved right where we left him, in his garden (his
church, gathering his lilies) (6:2).
Return, O Son of God return!
Come knock again upon my
door.
Dear Savior, my Beloved,
return.
Possess me and depart no
more!
Assurance
Though
we are fickle, weak and wavering, our marriage to Christ is firm. “He hateth
putting away.” Our communion is sometimes broken; but our union is
indestructible. Why? The union is all his doing, not ours. It depends
altogether upon him, not at all upon us. We can, therefore, say with
confidence, “I am his and he is mine.”
“My
Beloved is mine, and I am his” (2:16). Here the Bride
speaks of her possession in Christ and his possession of her. He is mine
because he has given himself for me and to me. I am his because I have been
bought with his blood and called by his grace, and because I have given myself
to him. “I am my Beloved’s, and my
Beloved is mine” (6:3). Here
the thought of his ownership of her seems to hold the chief place. “Ye are not
your own. Ye are bought with a price.” “I am my Beloved, and his desire is
toward me” (7:10). Here his ownership
of and devotion to her swallows up every other thought. I am his, but more—“His
desire is toward me!”
The apostle Paul tells us in
Ephesians 1 that Christ is the inheritance of his church; and we are the
inheritance of Christ. “In (Christ)
we have obtained an inheritance” (v.
11); and we are “the riches of the
glory of his inheritance in the saints” (v. 18).
His Garden
“A garden enclosed is my
sister, my spouse; a well shut up, a fountain sealed” (4:12).
Here our Lord gives us an idea of his inheritance in the saints. It is a quiet
spot where he delights to dwell, enclosed for his use, full of all manner of
precious fruits and flowers.
Our prayer must
ever be that God the Holy Spirit, the Wind of heaven, will blow upon his garden
and that the Lord Jesus will come into his garden, as we gather to worship him.
—"Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the
spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his
pleasant fruits" (4:16).—"I am come into my garden, my sister, my
spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink
abundantly, O beloved" (5:1).
The church is his garden,
but he shares the fruits of his garden with his chosen friends. “Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink
abundantly, O beloved.” Christ
promised both to bless Abraham’s seed and to make his seed a blessing.
The sealed fountain in the
midst of the garden is first for the Master’s use, for he says, “Give me to drink;” but it flows out to others. “A fountain of gardens, a well of living
waters, and streams from Lebanon” (4:15).
—“Whoso drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” The
soul’s thirst quenched at the Fountain. —“The water that I shall give him shall
be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life.” Here
is an unfailing supply in the soul of every believer. —But there is
more. “He that believeth on me, out of
him shall flow rivers of living water,” “streams from Lebanon,” flowing through the believer to thirsty
souls.
Chapter 8
As the Song of Songs, this
blessed song of love, closes we have several instructive words. Here is a
picture of the believer’s life of faith in this world—"Who is this that
cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under
the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth
that bare thee" (v. 5). Here is a description of Christ’s love for us.
—“Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is
strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of
fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither
can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for
love, it would utterly be contemned” (vv. 6-7). Here is our Savior
calling for us to constantly call upon him—“Thou that dwellest in the gardens,
the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it” (v. 13; Heb.
4:16). Here is the longing of our souls. —“Make haste, my beloved, and be thou
like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices” (v. 14; Rev.
22:20).