Song Of Solomon 6:4-9 - Homiletics

The bridegroom's praise of the bride.

I. RENEWED ENUMERATION OF HER GRACES .

1 . General praise of her beauty. Her beauty is compared to the beauty of Tirzah or Jerusalem. She is beautiful as Tirzah, which word means "grace" or "beauty;" comely as Jerusalem, the habitation or foundation of peace. The bridegroom mentions Tirzah as well as Jerusalem, which seems to imply that the song was written before the division of the kingdom. The bride is beautiful as Tirzah was to the inhabitants of Northern Palestine—a fair city in a fertile country, deriving its name from the attractive graces of the surrounding scenery. She is comely as Jerusalem was to every loyal Israelite. "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King;" "Walk about Zion," the psalmist continues, "and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following" ( Psalms 48:2 , Psalms 48:12 , Psalms 48:13 ). Zion was to the Israelites "the perfection of beauty" ( Psalms 50:2 ; Lamentations 2:15 ). The exiles in the days of the Captivity sang in plaintive strains, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy" ( Psalms 137:5 , Psalms 137:6 ). The great delight in returning from their long captivity wan to think, "Our feet shall stand in thy gates, O Jerusalem." "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem," they would say: "they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces" ( Psalms 122:2 , Psalms 122:6 , Psalms 122:7 ). And what Jerusalem was to the Israelites, that the Church is to the heavenly Bridegroom. Her salvation was "the joy set before him," for which "he endured the cross, despising the shame" ( Hebrews 12:2 ). He tells her towers; for "the Lord knoweth them that are his." He knows every living stone of the spiritual temple, the Church, which he hath built upon theRock of ages. He never forgets her. He intercedes for her, and is preparing a place for her, that hereafter "the nations of them which are saved may walk in the light of her" ( Revelation 21:24 ). He prays now for her peace, and giveth her his peace—"the peace of God, which passeth all understanding." She is beautiful with the reflection of his perfect beauty, He will cleanse and purify her, and at the last present her to himself a glorious Church. And if the Church is fair in the Bridegroom's eyes, so in a degree is each converted and sanctified soul; in each such soul he sees something of that beauty of holiness which comes from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God. For they who love him, and seek to live in that fellowship which is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, must, while they "behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, be changed into the same image from glory to glory" ( 2 Corinthians 3:18 ). And if the dear Lord is pleased with the poor holiness of his people, how earnestly we ought to strive to purge ourselves from all pollution of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God! Earthly beauty is but a poor endowment; it soon fades and passes away. The inner beauty of a holy soul abides and increases continually, and is very precious and sacred; for such fair souls, washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, shall see the King in his beauty, and dwell in the light of the golden city.

2 . She is terrible as an army with banners. The bride is beautiful not only for her attractive gentleness; she has a queenly dignity that could repel any presumptuous advances. The beauty of the Church is a severe beauty, like the martial beauty of a bannered host. For, indeed, the Church is an army, the army of the living God; the banner of the cross shines in the van, advancing ever forward.

"The royal banners forward go,

The cross shines forth in mystic glow."

That bannered host is terrible to the enemy. "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness" ( Ephesians 6:12 ).

"They march unseen,

That sacred band, in serried ranks arrayed,

Each cheering on his brother to the fight.

The Spirit sword flashes in each right hand;

The shield of faith protects each steadfast breast;

The red cross banner glitters in their van,

As they press ever forwards; breathing all

The selfsame prayer, the selfsame

Presence high Abiding in each heart, the selfsame hope,

The glory crown in heaven, sustaining all."

Each Christian soul has its place in that vast army; each is a sworn soldier of the cross; each such soul is terrible to the enemy, because Christ is the strength of his people, and they are more than conquerors through him who loved them.

"Satan trembles when he sees

The humblest saint upon his knees."

Then we must pray for grace to follow the banner of the cross with loyal heart and steadfast purpose, that our service may be acceptable to the Captain of our salvation, and pleasing in his sight, as a bannered host marshalled and ordered, as each noble warrior well equipped and disciplined, is a sight that gives pleasure and joyful pride to the commander.

3 . The bridegroom repeats the praises of So Mark 4:1-6 . But first he says, "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me." He had praised her eyes again and again; they were as doves. Now he says, in the tenderness of a great love, "they have overcome me." We may compare the Lord's gracious wonder at the faith of the centurion ( Luke 7:9 ). He condescended to "marvel at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." The bridegroom goes on to praise the various features of the bride's beauty, he had done so already in the love of their first espousals. His affection continues unabated; he repeats the same praises in the same words. The heavenly Bridegroom loves his bride the Church with "an everlasting love" ( Jeremiah 31:3 ). The terms of affection which are bestowed in the Old Testament upon the ancient Jewish Church are repeated in the New Testament, and applied to the Christian Church, the Israel of God. Thus St. Peter ( 1 Peter 2:9 ) calls Christians "a chosen generation;" the same title is given in the Prophet Isaiah ( Isaiah 43:20 ) to the Jewish people. St. Peter calls Christians "a royal priesthood;" in Exodus 19:6 the Israelites are called "a kingdom of priests". St. Peter calls Christians "a holy nation;" the same thing is said of the Israelites in Exodus 19:6 . St. Peter describes Christians as "a peculiar people;" his words represent Deuteronomy 7:6 , translated in our old version "a special people," in the new version, "a peculiar people." He applies to the Christian Church the words which the Prophet Hosea had used of the Jews, "Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy" ( 1 Peter 2:10 ; Hosea 2:23 ). The Lord Jesus loves his Church with a love that changes not. Almost at the beginning of the New Testament stands the holy promise, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins;" and almost at the end we read the blessed words, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Each faithful Christian may trust his Saviour's love, for it is written, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee;" and again, "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" ( Philippians 1:6 ).

II. COMPARISON OF THE BRIDE WITH OTHERS .

1 . They are many. David had had sixteen wives. Solomon had early followed that unhappy example; already he had, it seems, "three score queens, and four score concubines." He had transgressed the commandment of Deuteronomy 17:17 , where it is said of any future king, "Neither shall he multiply wives unto himself, that his heart turn not away." Solomon, alas! broke the commandment of God, and incurred the awful peril denounced against disobedience. "He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods" ( 1 Kings 11:3 , 1 Kings 11:4 ). Now he was young but even in his youth the evil desire was strong within him. His love for the pure country maiden might have saved him; for a time, perhaps, it did check his sensual passions. But, alas! if it was so, the evil spirit that had been cast out soon returned, and brought with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and the last state was worse than the first ( Matthew 12:43-45 ).

2 . She is one alone, "One is she, my dove, my undefiled; one is she to her mother; the choice one is she to her that bare her." Such is the literal rendering of the touching words. The bride was an only daughter; she was the joy and darling of her mother. The good daughter makes a good wife. She was the bridegroom's dove, his undefiled one, stud she stood alone in his affections; no other came near to her. So good was she and so lovely in character as well as in person, that even those who might hate been expected to regard her with envy praised her and called her blessed. The luxurious monarch seems to have a glimpse of the blessedness of purity; he seems almost to feel that "to love one maiden and to cleave to her" is the ideal of human love. Alas! "his goodness was as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it passed away" ( Hosea 6:4 ) The evil spirit of sensuality returned. When he was old, his wives turned away his heart; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and built high places for the worship of idols in the hill that is before Jerusalem ( 1 Kings 11:4 , 1 Kings 11:6 , 1 Kings 11:7 ). How earnestly we ought to strive to retain in our souls those happy feelings, those aspirations after purity and holiness which God sends from time to time, like angels' visits, into our hearts! They can only be fixed and wrought into our characters by immediate action. In themselves they are transitory, and rapidly pass away. But hold them firm, make them the basis of real effort, the beginning and occasion of the healthy discipline of self-denial,—then God will help us to keep them alive in our souls; the little seed will grow till it becomes a great tree; the little leaven will spread through the whole life with its quickening powers. Very precious are those moments of holy emotion; very solemn, too, for they involve a great responsibility. To let them go is perilous exceedingly, to use them aright brings a priceless blessing.