Song of Solomon 3:9,10

King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.

Solomon’s chariot

I. Solomon was a type of Jesus Christ.

1. In his offices he represented Jesus.

(1) He was, as you know full well, a king, and a very notable king, richer and wiser and more glorious than any of the kings of the earth. And what shall we say of Jesus, who, even when He was here in flesh and humiliation, was still a King? Now that He is exalted at the right hand of God, He seems to be yet more kingly; but He is destined to sit upon a still nobler throne, and to wield a still wider influence.

(2) But Solomon, in this passage, and, indeed, throughout this wonderful book, is seen as a bridegroom. Herein also he represents Jesus Christ. Christ, as the Head of the Church, calls us His precious and beloved bride. All He has we have. “All that is Mine is thine,” says Jesus, and the bonds that bind us to Him neither life, nor death, nor earth, nor hell, can ever break, or even stretch. Blessed be the name of Him who, while He is not ashamed to call us brethren, admits His people into still closer relationship, and calls them collectively, “My sister, My spouse”!

(3) Moreover, Solomon was distinguished as a great temple builder. Jesus Christ is the architect and builder of the Temple that shall never fade away. Solomon’s temple has long ago crumbled into dust, and its successors have passed away, but Jesus Christ has been engaged from all eternity erecting a Temple which abides, which will outlive the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds, which will shine in greater splendour as the everlasting ages come and go. He is at once the architect and the builder of it; He is also the foundation-stone, and the chief corner-stone of it.

2. But there are certain qualities that distinguished the king that shine resplendent in the King of kings.

(1) Solomon was the wisest of men; he was wise enough originally to ask for wisdom. Then God gave him not only wisdom, but riches and honour and power. But oh, how wise is Jesus! In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge, and He is made unto us wisdom.

(2) If Solomon was wealthy, what shall we say of the Christ of God? The treasures of Solomon’s house, and the abundance of his table amazed all who visited his court, but think of the abundance of the wealth and fulness of Jesus Christ. He is the possessor of all things, He is God’s own Son and Heir.

(3) How glorious Solomon was, though indeed Christ said of the lilies that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Yet it must be admitted that Solomon’s court was magnificent. Oriental splendour was at its grandest in his case, but oh, how Jesus outshines him, not with the same sort of glory, but with the glory that excelleth, the glory of His grace, the beauty of His holiness, the grandeur of His goodness! If the lilies outvied and excelled Solomon in all his glory, what shall be said of Jesus, who is at once the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys, the chiefest among ten thousand and the altogether lovely?

II. The king’s chariot is a type of Christ’s covenant, and of the Gospel of the Grace of God. It was not a chariot really, but rather a travelling couch or palanquin, in which the king himself and his spouse were seated. It was the place of rest, in which these twain reclined at ease, while they came up from the wilderness towards the great and glorious city. Now such is the covenant to us.

1. Now notice concerning this so-called chariot that Solomon himself made it. “King Solomon made himself a chariot.” I do not mean that the royal hands were actually engaged in its construction--we can hardly suppose that--but he gave instructions for its construction, perhaps personally superintended the making of it I do say however, of the covenant of the Lord our God, that He Himself prepared it. As Noah built the ark, so God Himself has arranged the terms of the covenant. He Himself has signed it; Jesus Himself has sealed it with His own precious blood. Christ has built this chariot for Himself to ride in. You may be sure it is well and truly built, then; I have not the slightest fear in trusting myself on board that travelling couch, for I shall share it with Jesus.

2. Notice the materials of its construction. This royal litter is said to have been of cedar--“the wood of Lebanon.” That is the finest of all the woods, the most lasting and the most fragrant. It is as if to say that the covenant which God has made with Jesus Christ on behalf of all who love Him and trust Him, is a covenant that lasts, and which, while it lasts, is full of joy and fragrance. “He made pillars thereof of silver.” This represented Divine holiness and infinite purity. I notice that the floor or basis was of gold. It was constructed of this imperishable and unchangeable metal, because it was intended to set forth the immutable purpose and the unchanging decree of the infallible God. Over all was a purple canopy, with equally royal curtains hanging by the sides screening from the too-hot sun. Ah, here is sovereign grace, here is atoning blood: here is the doctrine of the substitution, for we can look through these purple curtains, even towards the sun of God’s holiness, and find the exceeding brightness bearable because Jesus Christ, the Day’s-Man, has come between us and Him. It was paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem, or, as some think, the chariot was lined and upholstered with embroidered work, so that the daughters of Jerusalem should be glad at sight of it, and the bride herself be filled with joy.

3. What is the purpose of this covenant, and of this Gospel of His grace? A parallel purpose to that of Solomon’s chariot. “Whereby believers are carried to heaven,” says Cruden. The spouse shares the triumph to Zion as well as in it, while the daughters of Jerusalem go out to meet the cavalcade, and to share the joy. (T. Spurgeon.)

The saint’s palanquin

It seems no part of the mind of the Spirit that we should take this description to pieces, and try to allegorize the several parts. The intention is to represent to us the fact that the believer is carried onward to heaven in a conveyance as costly and glorious as that here described; that the materials are of the richest, choicest, most durable character; that the midst is paved or tessellated with love. The provision made, the means provided for bringing us to glory, are of a rare and splendid nature. After exhausting the things most valuable among men, making the pillars silver, the railing gold, the seat or couch purple, he adopts a feature in the description entirely new, and says the midst is curiously wrought with something more precious than silver or gold, even with love itself--showing that the saint, while thus passing through the wilderness between this world and heaven, between our state of guilt and our state of glory, is in a palanquin of the most costly make, borne up in the hands of angels, surrounded by an armed angelic guard, and reclining on a soft couch beautiful as purple, the most costly colour, with the midst of the litter formed of love--the many acts of Divine love from Father, Son and Holy Spirit, there combining underneath us like the different pieces in a beautiful mosaic, tessellated pavement. In the spirit of this passage, those who wait on the Lord are said to renew their strength; and He will give His angels charge concerning such, to bear them up in their hands, lest at any time they dash their foot against a stone (Isaiah 40:31; Psalms 91:12). (G. Burrowes.)