Song of Solomon 4:1-16

This is a chapter which is, perhaps, more adapted for private meditation than for rending in public. Nevertheless, as this is a communion season, and I trust that the most of us are partakers of the life of God, I could not resist reading it this evening. It is a love-song, the song of the loves of Jesus. As he sets forth the beauties and charms of his Church, may the like beauties and charms be found in every one of us through the grace which he imparts to us by his Spirit! May we, as parts of his mystical body, be fair and lovely in his esteem because he has bestowed upon us so much of his own loveliness! Let us walk so carefully with God that there may be nothing to put even a spot upon our garments, or to defile our grace-given comeliness.

Song of Solomon 4:1. Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair;

«Twice fair, first, through being washed in my blood, and next, through being sanctified by my Spirit!»

Song of Solomon 4:1. Thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks:

Jesus prizes the love of his people which flashes forth from their eyes as they look upon him. The good works of his people, like the locks of hair which are the beauty and glory of the female form, are the beauty of the Church, and of every individual believer. It is a beautiful thing to have the eyes of faith glistening between the locks of our good works to the praise and glory of God.

Song of Solomon 4:1. Thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.

O my soul, see that thou dost have many such acceptable works of faith and labours of love!

Song of Solomon 4:2. Thy teeth

Those parts of our spiritual being with which we feed upon Christ, and masticate and assimilate the Word: «Thy teeth «

Song of Solomon 4:2. Are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.

We should seek so to feed upon the Word as to become fruitful by it. If we spiritually feed upon the flesh of Christ, we shall afterwards be the means of bringing forth an abundant harvest of holiness to his praise and honour.

Song of Solomon 4:3. Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,

And well they may be, for what is there for the believer to talk about but the scarlet of the Saviour's blood, that matchless bath in which we are washed whiter than snow? My mouth, be thou filled with the praises of the Lord, that my lips may be like a thread of scarlet!

Song of Solomon 4:3. And thy speech is comely:

There is always a comeliness in that conversation which is full of Christ so, beloved, let your conversation ever be such as becometh the gospel of Christ; but that cannot be the case unless there is much of Christ in it.

Song of Solomon 4:3. Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.

Those parts of us with which we think upon God's Word should ever be surrounded by good works. Doctrines in the head, without holiness in the life, are of no service, but when the temples are covered with the locks of righteousness, then are they like a piece of a pomegranate, acceptable both to God and men.

Song of Solomon 4:4. Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury,

And what is this but our faith? Does not the neck join the body to the head, and is not faith that connecting link by which we are united to Christ? Oh, for that faith which is like the tower of David builded for an armoury! It is sure to be assaulted, let it, therefore, be firmly founded, and fully armed.

Song of Solomon 4:4. Whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.

They hung up their bucklers in memory of their triumphs. Read the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is a record of the victories of faith. The promises of God are also like these bucklers which are hung up in the armoury; let us be so familiar with them that we shall have them ready for use in every emergency.

Song of Solomon 4:5. Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.

The ordinances of God's house are very delightful to Christ, and to his people too; and, consequently, that part of our spiritual being which seeks to feed others, and specially to nourish the young believer, is very precious in Christ's esteem. When he has finished the description of his Church, Christ says:

Song of Solomon 4:6. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.

Our Beloved has gone away from us until the day of his reappearing, until the night of his Church's anxiety is over, and the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings Jesus has gone from earth, but where is he? He has gone to intercede for us before the throne of his Father above; he has gone to where there are mountains of myrrh. Think, beloved, of the sweet perfume that ever arises from his one great sacrifice for sins; well may he compare it to a mountain of myrrh and to a hill of frankincense.

Song of Solomon 4:7. Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

Drink that truth in, Christian. If ever there was a honeycomb full of virgin honey, it is here. Though in thyself thou art defiled, yet in the eye of Jesus, looked upon as covered with his righteousness, «thou art all fair;» nay, more, «there is no spot in thee.» Thou art as dear to him as though thou hadst never sinned, yea, in his sight, thou appearest without a single fault, he has so cleansed thee in his precious blood that «there is no spot in thee.»

Song of Solomon 4:8. Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

My heart, leave thou the world, leave its sweet places, though Lebanon be full of fragrance, leave it. Leave the world's high places; though the top of Amana may seem to reach to heaven, leave even that to have communion with thy Lord. «Come out from among them, and be ye separate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.» The best spots in the world are to you, O Spouse of Christ, but lions' dens and mountains of leopards. You are always in danger while you consort with worldlings, you are ever in peril while you are entangled with the world; so come away from Lebanon, from Amana, from Shenir and Hermon; leave everything for your Lord.

Song of Solomon 4:9. Thou hast ravished my heart,

I think the Septuagint reads it, «Thou hast unhearted me,» as if Christ's people had taken away his heart, so that it was all theirs, and not his any longer. «Thou hast ravished my heart,»

Song of Solomon 4:9. My sister my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

The eye of love, and the neck of faith with its chain, hold captive the heart of Christ.

«So dear, so very dear to Christ,

Dearer I cannot be;

The love wherewith God loves his sons,

Such is Christ's love to me.»

Oh, what a miracle of mercy it is that Christ himself should be unhearted by such foul and loathsome creatures as we were, yet he loved us so that he would have us; and having determined to do so, he put a beauty upon us that is really now worthy of his love. I speak advisedly, for the righteousness of Christ and the sanctification of the Spirit have in them something really so fair that Christ does not now love that which is unworthy of his love, that righteousness which he has himself wrought in us now rightly claims his affection.

Song of Solomon 4:10. How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse!

Hearest thou that, O Spouse of Christ? Thy love is often very cold, and very feeble, and even at the best it is not what thou wouldst have it to be, nor what it ought to be; yet Jesus values it highly, and says, «How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! «

Song of Solomon 4:10. How much better is thy love than wine!

Yet he knows what the best wine is like, for he is one day to drink it new with us in his Father's kingdom, yet he says that the love of his people is much better than wine, yes, even than that wine.

Song of Solomon 4:10. And the smell of thine ointments than all spices!

You know that he has the smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia upon his garments when he comes out of the ivory palaces, yet he considers that his people's graces are sweeter than all the spices that ever grew.

Song of Solomon 4:11. Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Oh, that my heart were like that at this moment! Jesus, shut the gates, and shut out the world, and every wandering, wayward, sinful thought; then shut thyself in my heart, and walk thou in it as in a garden that is walled around, into which no intruders dare enter!

Song of Solomon 4:13. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:

Oh, that this were fully true of us, that all our thoughts, and words, and notions, which are like the fruits of the garden, were as full of spices of heavenly fragrance as Jesus here declares that he thinks them to be! Yet, alas! how little we do for him, though he sets such store by our little that he regards it as much.

Song of Solomon 4:15. A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.

Such should the whole Church and each individual believer be. O my soul, be thou not only shut up for Christ, but be thou when the time comes, opened to do good to all the world! Oh, that I might be like a well of living waters in my speech at all times; and that you, my beloved brethren and sisters in Christ, whenever you are dealing with others, might be a well of living waters to every thirsty soul! Speak of Jesus wherever you go; talk of Jesus whenever you can. You have been shut up, and Christ has been in you; now be opened to give forth to others what he has given you.

The chapter concludes with a delightful prayer; let us each one pray it:

Song of Solomon 4:16. 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.

The Church here, you see, desires to feel two opposite winds. Though it should be the rough north wind of affliction that blows upon her, if it will but make her spices flow, she will be glad; but if it be the soft south wind of blessed and hallowed fellowship with her Lord, she is equally pleased, for what she longs after is that her Lord may take delight in her.