This song begins with the bride in a suitable position and condition to be forever in her Bridegroom’s presence (Col. 1:12-1312Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: (Colossians 1:12‑13)). Sin is not mentioned. It has gone as far away as the East is from the West, no more to be remembered by God. It no longer affects the bride’s conscience or hinders her joy. Later, we shall read of correction and repentance, but only because of lassitude and coldness —not gross sin. The Bridegroom finds His delight in His people, His bride, whom He has redeemed at the cost of His life.
She loves Him for His love to her and sacrifice for her. She cost Him all that He had as man (Matt. 13:4646Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. (Matthew 13:46)). She is at His side, mystically, here in the world, and face to face with Him in heaven. He set His love upon her (Prov. 8) and proved His love for her (at the cross), before she ever became His.
While she loves Him, there is something lacking in her understanding and enjoyment of His love, something she has not laid hold of. To learn, she must pass through the experiences of the wilderness. First she learns: “My Beloved is mine, and I am His: He feedeth among the lilies” (ch. 2:16). Later she learns: “I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine: He feedeth among the lilies” (ch. 6:3). Finally she discovers her whole position: “I am my Beloved’s, and His desire is toward me” (ch. 7:10). This growth in spiritual intelligence comes as the Holy Spirit opens to her this blessed truth step by step.
Before the Bridegroom comes, the bride’s soul is at rest, for she has learned the truth practically. When He comes, she is consciously, completely and willingly in His hands. This is what she felt that she lacked, but did not realize it. So she continues to grow, until the Holy Spirit’s work in her is complete and she is one with her Bridegroom.
While the bride has a sense of complacency, yet she desires to have what she feels is still lacking in herself. So she says, “Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth: for Thy love is better than wine.” She is conscious of being in a condition that does not completely satisfy. The kisses of His mouth are not just kisses of affection: they show His deep love for her, but they also bring His Person before her.
The bride loves the Bridegroom. She knows He loves her, and she wants His full affection. (See chapter 8.) She wants to know His love in some more intimate way; it is something she feels but does not yet understand. What she seeks is not the love of pity nor of filial affection (which is always there), but the intimate joy of seeing His love continually on display for her and to her.
She wants the Bridegroom Himself. He is in heaven; she wants to be with Him there. Meanwhile, she learns heavenly joys while still on earth. She adds, “For Thy love is better than wine.” If He is everything to her, she will give up all earthly joys (wine) in order to have Him.
“Thine ointments savor sweetly.” We need spiritual ointments, the holy Word of God supplied to our hearts and consciences daily, to drive away unwanted thoughts and sorrows. “Thy name is as ointment poured forth.” His name answers all things for the believer. What can soothe the heart in a more blessed way than His name, and all that it means? Prayer and communion cause it to be poured forth.
“Therefore do the virgins love Thee.” His name means everything to her, because she has been kept from defilement. “Draw me, we will run after Thee.” No one can run after the Lord Jesus, either for life or for communion, unless the Holy Spirit guides and draws, so she says, “Draw me.”
What rich joys we find while meditating upon the Lord Himself. We find the chamber that He has brought us into is full of the things that adorn the Father’s house. It is filled with joy and with the fragrance of the Bridegroom’s love. In it we enjoy the King’s blessed authority over us. Being separated from all that cannot enter His chamber, the Bridegroom alone is before the heart. It is a time when His love is felt, not just known. There is no pretension there — “they love Thee uprightly.”
“I am black . . . as the tents of Kedar.” Being pitched close together, the roofs of Arab tents look like a sea of black. Not only has the bride been reveling in first love in His chamber, but now she sees what she is naturally — not what she has done in the past, for that is gone forever. Having a new life in Christ, she says, “But comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the . . . curtains of Solomon.” This she learned in his chamber — behind the curtains.
“Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: . . . they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept” (vs. 6). Had she been so busy doing things for others, like Martha of Luke 10, that she had neglected her own vineyard? (She had not sat at the feet of Jesus.) If the vineyard is not cultured, there will be no grapes, and so no wine. This wine is a picture of heavenly joy. So God gives us lessons and teaches us what is needed to produce fruit for him.
I attended a funeral of a beloved brother, well taught in God’s Word, whose several children had gone off into the world. A close friend of his spoke at the funeral. His text was, “They made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.” He spoke of how one could be helping others with the Scriptures and neglect his own children. Some of us, who were there and reminded of our own failure, were touched.
“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 [one not settled with God’s people]?”
“If thou know not, O thou fairest [most beautiful] among women.” This is something new; she who was black has gained in the sight of the Bridegroom. Let our minds rest on spiritual graces, not natural things. “Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.” What is the flock? The Word of God recognizes only one. What confusion to see so many flocks of men. The one flock is the assembly of those who belong to Christ. It may be scattered, but it is still the flock.
God’s intention is for all to be together, displaying the oneness of the body. In spite of the scattering, there will still be a remnant gathered as God has intended, where Christ can be in the midst of those gathered to His name. It is a place of both joy and discipline. No moral or doctrinal evil is allowed within, where He is in the midst. In the flock each is responsible not to allow evil to go unjudged.
The bride is learning most precious truths; she learns that she is a part of His flock. What a discovery, for only the sheep of the flock will be with Him in heaven. She is instructed, “Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock.” Is it not better to remain with the flock than to be a wanderer? We must watch our own footsteps that we not stray from the flock. And how careful we should be lest we stumble one of the flock, causing them to wander.
“Feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.” She learns about the shepherds’ tents — the overseers in the assembly. Thus she learns subjection to authority in the midst of the flock.
The Bridegroom says, “I compare thee, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.” Only a flick of the reins and the steed responds quickly. Should it not be so if we love the Lord? Should we not be ready when He speaks? The soul in communion does not refuse to listen to the tenderest expression of the Bridegroom’s love and wishes. Service to Him becomes happy, even in the midst of self-denial and weakness. Let us remember what He has done for us and that we are bound for heaven.
Every daily duty has its place and must be taken care of. But the bride looks through the lattice, knowing that things here are merely passing. Christ’s things are supreme; all others are secondary. Do we look through the lattice (ch. 2:9)?
“Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver” (ch. 1:10-11). All these heavenly graces seen in the bride are formed from occupation with the Bridegroom. Shall we not appear in a coming day in His beauty?
“While the King is at His table, my spikenard sendeth forth its fragrance.” In John 12:33Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. (John 12:3), Mary never spoke one word, but the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Could it be that more praise and worship arises at His table from the sisters who, though being there, are silent? This is worship from the heart, and the Holy Spirit causes it to rise to Christ and the Father.
Do we worship at the King’s table? The word king speaks of authority. Do we dare approach Him at any other table but His? As we remember what our Lord has done for us in giving His body and shedding His blood, the Holy Spirit produces worship in us, a sweet perfume to our Bridegroom. But remember, the Holy Spirit is only free to encourage such worship where there is no unjudged evil.
Spikenard can only be found where there is questionable safety. The seeker must go down over the mountain cliffs on a rope. When he has found the rare spikenard, he retrieves the part containing the fragrance, the nard from between the spikes.
Does it not cost us something to worship the Lord? Naturally the worship meeting is on Lord’s Day. Do we add His day — the Lord’s Day — to our six days? Or do we set His day aside for only one purpose, to be engaged with Himself ? He is sitting at His table on that day, waiting for our spikenard of rich perfume, of which He alone is worthy. This is the greatest honor and privilege we have in His absence, and the least sought. Shall I then ignore my Saviour who suffered so much for me, or shall I bring my spikenard to add to the fragrance at His table? Do we treat His visit on Lord’s Day, or any other assembly meeting, with light esteem, even when we know that He has promised to be in the midst? “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)).
“A bundle of myrrh is my Beloved unto me; He shall pass the night [the long night until daybreak] between my breasts.” The word breast speaks of affection. Through the dark night of this present world, is the Bridegroom the center of our affections? This should be our desire.
The bride says, “My Beloved is unto me a cluster of henna-flowers in the vineyards of Engedi.” When King David was fleeing for his life and hiding from Saul, no doubt he hid in the vineyards of Engedi. The white henna-flowers that grew there, with their outstanding fragrance, remind the bride of her Bridegroom and His love as she passes through one trial after another.
The Bridegroom answers, “Behold, thou art fair, My love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes.” The “one pearl” in Matthew 13 reminds us that no two pearls are alike. The bride is a pearl of great price. Her value was not known until Christ died, selling all that He had to buy her. That is why the bride is spoken of as the “fairest,” and his repetition of the fact suggests to us that there is not another like her. She has doves’ eyes, which are turned in the direction in which her mate has gone. Patiently she waits as one who, like the dove, can see afar off, expecting His return.
“Behold, thou art fair, my Beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green.” Not only is the Person of the Bridegroom and His intimacy with His bride before us, but also the rest and green pastures that correspond to our circumstances. His presence makes circumstances just right for us, and pleasant.
The bride makes the precious discovery that what the Bridegroom has is also hers, so she calls His possessions our bed, our house, our galleries. The discovery in the soul that we are brought unto Himself to share in all that He has is such a consoling blessing for our hearts. This is what the bride is beginning to learn.
There is no veiled language between the Bridegroom and the bride in these conversations. The Holy Spirit leads her redeemed soul step by step into a greater intelligence of the fullness that she has in Christ.
As we meditate upon His love for us, does this not bring special joy to His heart. Christ came to His beloved brethren of Israel, but, like Joseph of old, He was rejected, cast into the pit, suffering shame and humiliation. But God, like Pharaoh did to Joseph, has raised the Lord Jesus to the place of honor and given Him a bride. Joseph’s wife Asenath bears two sons — Manasseh and Ephraim. Their names tell us what we mean to Christ while His earthly people are estranged from Him. “Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
Today in heaven Christ has us in the thoughts and affections of His heart, while the Holy Spirit, the other comforter, is with us on earth. Here our eternal joy of communion begins. Here we make progress in divine things as Solomon’s song shows. In heaven there will be no progress. All there will be full, complete and final.
In heaven will be joy untold for all, but that is not what we have in this song of songs: it is growth in the soul’s intelligence and fellowship with the Bridegroom as new truths are learned day by day, at times through painful lessons and circumstances. Communion must spring from intelligence in the soul in divine things, otherwise it will be just natural fervor, temporarily enjoyed.
Christ and His saints enjoy the love of kindred relationship; she is bone of His bones and flesh of His flesh. The natural affection between them has a glory of its own. It warrants the deepest intimacies, full ease in going out and coming in — not deemed intrusive, but appropriate and comely. The heart may indulge itself without check or shame.
Have we a vision of eternity with Christ and of the joys that this world will never know and could never give? To understand this song and the heart of Christ, we must remember that Christ’s delight is in all of His saints as one bride. It is not limited to a select few.
Awake, dear soul. My prospect is eternity with a God who loves me, who became man to be with me, who has made me eternally His, and who promises our eternal joy together. Forever, O my soul, forever; could I for a moment compare the present with eternity?