Song Of Solomon 2:1-7 - Homiletics

Converse of the bridegroom and the bride continued.

I. THE VOICE OF THE BRIDE .

1 . The rose of Sharon. They were sitting, it seems, in a forest glade at the foot of some lofty cedar, sheltered by its embowering branches; beneath was their grassy seat, bright with many flowers. The bride feels that she is as one of those fair flowers in the bridegroom's eyes. "I am the rose of Sharon," she says, in her artless acceptance of the bridegroom's loving approval. We cannot identify the flower called here and in Isaiah 35:1 , the rose. Our rose, we are told, was brought from Persia long after the time of Solomon; it is first mentioned in the Apocrypha (Ecclus. 24:14; 39:13; 50:8). The rose of the canonical Scriptures may be, as many have thought, the narcissus, which is very common in the Plain of Sharon, and is still the favourite flower of the inhabitants. The word "Sharon" may mean simply "a plain;" but, as it has the article, it probably stands here for the famous Plain of Sharon, so celebrated in ancient times for its fertility and beauty. The bride is like a lowly flower of the field, not majestic like those lofty cedars, but yet lovely in the bridegroom's sight. The Christian is humble of heart; he is helpless and short-lived as a flower. "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass." But because Christ hath loved him and died for him, he knows that he is dear to his Saviour.

2 . The lily of the valleys. Here, too, there is an uncertainty. The word rendered "lily" ( shushan, the name of the famous Persian city, the "Shushan the palace" of the Book of Esther) is used of many bright-coloured flowers, We infer from So Isaiah 5:13 that this lily was red; hence some writers identify it with the scarlet anemone, which is very abundant all over Palestine. Solomon's bride compares herself to the lily; but even Solomon himself, the Lord said, "in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these." The Lord bids us "consider the lilies." When we look up to the heaven, to the vast distances, the enormous magnitude of the heavenly bodies, in their ordered movements, we think, as the psalmist thought, "Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him?" But when we consider the lilies, we see that he who framed the universe in its vastness regards things small and humble. The delicate pencilling, the gorgeous colouring of the flowers of the field, the complicated structure of many of them, the arrangements, for instance, for fertilization, show a wisdom, an exact accommodation of means to ends, as astonishing as the celestial mechanism; a great and loving care, too, for us men, in providing us not only with the necessaries of life, but also with objects of rare and exquisite loveliness, to give us pure and innocent pleasures, to teach us lessons of truthfulness. He who thus clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, will surely clothe us, though, alas! we are of little faith. The bride is as one of these flowers, frail as they are; she trusts in the bridegroom's care. The Christian must learn to cast all his anxiety upon God. He careth for us.

II. THE REPLY OF THE BRIDEGROOM . The king takes up the words of the bride. She is to him as a lily; other maidens, when compared with her, are but as thorns in the bridegroom's eyes. Alas! there are tares in the Lord's field, barren fig trees in his garden. They are as thorns; his chosen are as lilies. The thorns set forth by contrast the beauty of the lily; the deformity of sin brings into sharper contrast the beauty of holiness. But whatever beauty the Christian soul possesses comes only from the Bridegroom's gift; he gives it. In his infinite love he condescends to be pleased with that which is truly his, not ours; we hope to be "found in him, not having our own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith" ( Philippians 3:9 ).

III. THE GRATITUDE OF THE BRIDE .

1 . The excellence of the bridegroom. He had compared the bride to a lily among thorns; she compares him to an apple tree among the trees of the wood. As the apple tree with its sweet fruit and its fragrant smell excels the barren trees of the wood, so the bridegroom excels all other men in the eyes of the bride. It is uncertain what the tappuach, called in our version "apple tree," really is; it has been identified by different writers with the quince, the citron, or the orange. It is enough for our purpose to know that it excels the trees of the wood, that its foliage gives a pleasant shade, that its fruit is sweet and fragrant and possesses certain restorative properties. The fact that it is five times mentioned in the Book of Joshua ( Joshua 12:17 ; Joshua 15:34 , Joshua 15:53 ; Joshua 16:8 ; Joshua 17:7 ) in connection with the name of various towns or fountains, Beth Tappuach or En Tappuach, shows that in the old times it must have been widely cultivated and greatly valued. It excels other trees; so does the beloved excel all other men in the estimate of the bride. Christ is very dear to the Christian soul. He is the Treasure hid in the field, the Pearl of great price; those who have found him and known him by a real spiritual knowledge count other objects of human desire as nothing worth in comparison with him. "What things were gain to me," says St. Paul, "those I counted loss for Christ;" and again, "I do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him."

2 . The bride ' s delight in him. The tappuach offered a pleasant shade; the bride delighted in it; she sat down beneath its bower of foliage; its fruit was sweet to her taste. We think of the holy women who stood by the cross of Jesus ( John 19:25 ). The shadow under which the Church finds rest must be the shadow of the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ is to the believer "a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat;" "the shadow of a great rock in a weary land" ( Isaiah 25:4 ; Isaiah 32:2 ). He bids the weary and heavy laden to come to him that they may find rest—rest for their souls. There is no other true and abiding rest for these restless, dissatisfied souls of ours, but only the rest which he giveth—rest in the Lord. But it was the agony and bloody sweat, the bitter cross and passion, which made the Lord Jesus what he is to the believer; it is the exceeding great love of our Master and only Saviour manifested forth in that sacred suffering; it is the blessed atonement for the sins of the world wrought once for all through the virtue of the precious blood;—it is this which makes the Saviour's cross a place of rest and refreshment for the weary soul, which causes the Christian to take delight in the shadow of the cross rather than in any form of earthly joy; hence the words of St. Paul, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" ( Galatians 6:14 ). As St. Paul gloried in the cross, so the bride delighted in the shadow of the beloved. "In his shadow I delighted, and I sat down," is the literal rendering of the Hebrew words. It is delight in the Saviour's love which draws the penitent to the cross; as the Lord said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." The Lord's love draws the penitent soul burdened with the sense of sin; the cross is to such a soul like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land; there only is a sure refuge from the heat and turmoil of the world, from the cares and the manifold temptations of this life. Therefore the Christian sits down beneath it, taking the cross for his portion, meditating much on the Saviour's cross, seeking to live ever nearer and nearer to it, within the inner depths of its awful shadow, and finding there a deep and holy peace which the world can neither give nor take away. Under the shadow of the cross we learn ourselves to take up the cross, and to follow after Christ; there we learn that in patient self-denials practised in the faith of Christ there is a spiritual delight, a joy severe indeed, but far more abiding, far more precious, than any joy this world can give. There we learn what St. Paul means when he says, "We glory in tribulations also" ( Romans 5:3 ); what St. James means when he says, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." For "his fruit is sweet to the taste." The soul that sits under the shadow of the cross of Christ feeds upon Christ, in spiritual conmmnion with him, and in the blessed sacrament which he ordained, and finds in that holy food a Divine sweetness, which wholly passes every form of earthly delight. But it is only they who sit under the shadow, who live very near to Christ in daily bearing of the cross, in patient continuance in well doing, who can realize that blessed sweetness; they "by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" ( Hebrews 5:14 ); they know that Christ is the Bread of life, that his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed; their earnest, persevering prayer is, "Lord, evermore give us this bread."

3 . Her remembrance of his love. "He brought me to the banqueting house," she says; literally, "to the house of wine." The bride passes from metaphor to facts. The bridegroom is no longer a fair and fruitful tree; he is once more the King of Israel who sought and loved the lowly maiden; she recounts her past experience of his love. He had brought her, humble as she was, into his palace, into the banqueting house. The literal translation brings to our thoughts the Lord's words, "I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom" ( Matthew 26:29 ). It is he who must bring his people into his banqueting house; it is his presence manifested to faith which makes the holy communion what it is to the believer. He gives us then the wine that maketh glad the heart of man, when he saith, "Drink ye all of it: for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under his table; but when he brings us thither, when we come led by the Spirit, drawn by the constraining love of Christ, then we know that it is his banqueting house, the house to which he calls his guests, where he seats them at his own board. "With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." There he bids us drink: "Drink ye all of it;" we all need that cup, for it is the cup of the new covenant. When we take it in faith and love, the new covenant, the covenant of grace, is confirmed to us afresh; for he gives us the blood that was shed for the remission of sins, the blood that cleanseth from all sin those who walk in the light. But we must ask him to bring us; without him we can do nothing. If we approach without him, without his grace and guidance, without faith in him, we shall bring no blessing away with us, but only the judgment of those who discern not the Lord's body ( 1 Corinthians 11:29 ). The banqueting house of the King of Israel was signalized by the royal banner, the standard which had often led to the battle the warriors of Israel. That standard was the centre round which the king's followers were wont to flock, to guard him in the hour of peril, to honour him with their attendance in the time of peace. But what drew the bride thither was the love of the bridegroom; that was the banner which was beautiful in her eyes, which was over her. The banner of the cross goeth onwards before the followers of the Lord; it is the centre round which they press, which is ever drawing them nearer and nearer. The banner which draws Christians to the blessed sacrament is the love of Christ. The banner tells of battle and of victory. We are told that after the conflict between Israel and Amalek in Rephidim, when the victory was won through the sustained persevering prayer of Moses, "Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi: for he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation" ( Exodus 17:15 , Exodus 17:16 ). Moses said, "Jehovah is my Banner;" the bride says, "His banner over me is love." The Hebrew words, indeed, are different, but the thought is similar. Jehovah will have war against the enemies of his people. "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him" ( Isaiah 59:19 ). The Lord is his people's banner, their rallying point, the centre round which they range themselves in the hour of danger, when trials and temptations thicken, and the fiery darts of the wicked one are most frequent and most deadly. The banner is the Lord himself—his presence, his love. But as the standards round which our troops have fought are cherished and honoured, and reverently preserved in our cathedrals; so the royal banner which had led the soldiers of the cross to victory floats over the banqueting house of the King. It is the token of his presence. He is there with his faithful ones; he receives them to his board; his banner is love. His love, which was their strength in the day of conflict, is the joy of their souls in the blessed hour of holy communion with their Lord. But the words run, "His banner over me was love;" "The Lord is my Banner." We seem to see here a foreshadowing of those very precious words of Holy Scripture, "The Son of God loved me, and gave himself for me. " The love of the Lord Jesus Christ is a personal, an individual love. "The Lord knoweth them that are his;" he knows them one and all. His banner is over each of them as he brings them into his banqueting house, as he draws them ever nearer to himself; and that banner is love. That unutterable love is their defence in times of danger, their joy and delight in seasons of spiritual enjoyment. Their earnest effort is so to lift up their hearts unto the Lord that they "may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." The banqueting house to which he brings the faithful here is the ante-room of the true presence chamber of the King. "Here we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: here we know in part; but then shall we know even as also we are known." That banqueting house is the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. There also his banner, which is love, will be over his elected saints. But it will no longer lead them to the battle, to hard and difficult struggles; it will tell of victory and glory, and of the unveiled presence of the King. Heart of man cannot tell what is the joy of those who in that banqueting house sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Then the bride shall be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, the fine linen which is the righteousness of saints ( Revelation 19:8 ). Then each true soldier of the cross, who with that banner floating over him has fought the good fight of faith, shall see that banner in all its glorious beauty, and sit beneath it very near the King; for it is written, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."

4 . The bride ' s longing. She is sick of love. The joy of the bridegroom's love is too great and overwhelming; she is fainting in delight too sweet for her powers. She asks for restoratives, "cakes of raisins" (as the word seems to mean, not "flagons") and other fruits which were supposed to possess strengthening or reviving powers. When the Christian comes into the very presence of the King, he is oppressed with the deep sense of his own unworthiness, his own cold unloving heart, and the King's awful holiness and adorable, incomprehensible love; he needs the support of the fruit of the Spirit; he needs to be strengthened with all might by the Spirit in the inner man. When God reveals his great love to us, it makes us feel all the more the depth of our ingratitude, the coldness, the hardness, of this stony heart of ours.

"O Love Divine, how sweet thou art!

When shall I find my willing heart

All taken up by thee?

I thirst, I faint, I die to prove

The greatness of redeeming love,

The love of Christ to me."

The bride longs for yet tenderer tokens of affection. Perhaps the words of verse 6 would be better rendered as a wish or prayer, as in So 8:3, where they occur again: "Oh that his left hand were under my head, and his right hand should embrace me!" The Christian longs to be drawn ever closer into the Lord's embrace; he longs to lie in spirit, as the beloved apostle once actually lay, "on the breast of Jesus." Especially he hopes and prays to be supported in those tender, those protecting arms, when he must pass through the dark valley of the shadow of death; then it will be sweet to feel that "the eternal God is thy Refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms" ( Deuteronomy 33:27 ). "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord," in his presence, in his embrace. But if we would have the holy comfort of that dear embrace in our dying hour, we must try to live "in the Lord" now, to walk with him all our days, to cling to him with the embrace of faith. The Hebrew verb "embrace" is that from which the name of the Prophet Habakkuk, the prophet of faith, is derived. He longed for the Lord's coming; he ever watched to see what the Lord would say to him; he had learned to rejoice in the Lord in the midst of great distress; he taught us the holy lesson which St. Paul so earnestly presses upon us, "The just shall live by his faith." Such holy souls, being justified by faith, shall have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

5 . The bride ' s charge to the chorus. There is an error in the old version of this thrice-repeated charge (So Habakkuk 2:7 ; Habakkuk 3:5 ; 8:4). The bride is not cautioning the chorus not to awake her love, the bridegroom; she is adjuring (the literal translation) them not to awaken love, that is, the emotion, the affection, of love till it please, till it rise spontaneously in the heart. Hence the adjuration by the gazelles and the hinds of the field. They are gentle, timid creatures. Such is love true and pure; it is retiring; it shrinks away from observation; it is a sacred thing, between the lover and the beloved. The bride longs for the bridegroom's love, but the daughters of Jerusalem must not try to excite it; it is more delicate, more maidenly, to wait till love pleases to stir itself, till it springs up spontaneously in the heart of the beloved. The relations of the soul with Christ are very sacred; they may be mentioned only to the like-minded, and even that with a certain awe and reserve. And there are communings of the heart with the heavenly Bridegroom which may be divulged to none, not even to the nearest and dearest. And we must wait in patience for the Bridegroom. If for a time we cannot see him, or discern the tokens of his love, we must wait for his good time. "The vision is yet for an appointed time," wrote the prophet of faith; "at the end … it will surely come, it will not tarry" ( Habakkuk 2:3 ). God's people must not be impatient; they must trust; they must believe that "he who hath begun a good work in them will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" ( Philippians 1:6 ); that he will at last "fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power" ( 2 Thessalonians 1:11 ).