V.5:1 - “I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk.
Others
Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!
She
2 I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.”
3 I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them?
4 My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me.
5 I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh,
on the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke.
I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.
7 The watchmen found me as they went about in the city; they beat me, they bruised me, they took away my veil, those watchmen of the walls.
8 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love.
Others
9What is your beloved more than another beloved, O most beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us? V.5:10-16
The Bride Praises Her Beloved
She
10 My beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand.
11 His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk, sitting beside a full pool.
13 His cheeks are like beds of spices, mounds of sweet-smelling herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh.
14 His arms are rods of gold, set with jewels. His body is polished ivory, bedecked with sapphires
15 His legs are alabaster columns, set on bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.
16 His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
V.5:1 – “I came to my garden, my sister, my bride”
A. The full ownership of the Beloved starts now.
B. This is the turning point in her progression of maturity in this love song. The Beloved is greatly enjoying His Bride. He begins to enjoy His inheritance. The Bride’s inheritance in the Beloved is the first four chapters. The second four chapters are His Inheritance in the Bride.
C. This is a season of the nearness of God for her. This is the opposite of her experience in V.3:1-3
D. The Beloved answers her prayer from V.4:16, where she asks Him to come and eat. In V. 5, He sends the north wind to take full possession of her life as His inheritance. He is going to prove His full ownership of her.
1. Nine times, the Beloved is depicting His ownership of her life. He says "My," depicting His ownership of her life and ministry: My garden, My sister, My spouse, My myrrh, My spice, My honeycomb, My honey; My wine, My milk.
V.5:1b -"I gathered my myrrh with my spice"
A. "myrrh" - speaks of embracing the Cross.
B. “spice” speaks of the grace of God experienced in her life. The blessings from His garden that the Beloved gathers for Himself.
V.5:1c - "I ate my honeycomb with my honey"
A. This honey speaks of delightful food that the Beloved may feast on from her life.
V.5:1d – “I drank my wine with my milk”
A. Wine is for celebration, and milk is for strength. The Beloved celebrates her maturity and is delighted by it. He is celebrating the love that the Bride has for Him.
1. The Beloved wants the church to enjoy the fruitfulness of mature Christians.
V.5:1e,f,g - "Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!
A. "Eat"-We deeply lack a dimension of grace until we eat and drink of it from other Christians.
B. "Friends!” - These beloved friends are other Christians.
C. "Drink” - We strengthen and nourish one another with the grace God gives us as individual members.
Summary—The five different activities that the Beloved does in 5:1: He gathers the myrrh, eats the honeycomb, and drinks, and then invites them to join Him, but He suffered alone in the Garden of Gethsemane. This sixth revelation of Jesus begins the second four chapters of eight. The first four chapters focus on the Bride's inheritance in the Beloved.
The second four chapters emphasize the Beloved’s inheritance in the Bride. The reality that she belongs to Him preoccupies her heart. Our spiritual foundation includes both emphases. What grips her heart is the fact that she belongs to Him. She begins to view her life through the lens of the pleasure she brings Him. Her pleasure is enhanced in living for His pleasure. Her greatest pleasure is found in doing all the will of God.
1. She is being invited to join the Beloved in the fellowship of His sufferings. She responds in instant obedience (5:3-5). First, Jesus tests her faith by withdrawing His manifest presence from her heart (5:6).
2. The Beloved tests her faith by allowing the spiritual authorities to wound her unjustly. This results in her place of function and fellowship in the church being temporarily taken from her (5:7). She responds in love and humility (5:8).
Between V.5:1 and V.5:2, there is a time-lapse. The wonderful experiences she and her Beloved received in the Garden needed time to be savored. A few days later, the Beloved knocks on the door of her heart once again. But this time, it is for a different reason. He knew that she no longer had a problem going with Him, for she had gone with Him to Amana, Hermon, and Shenir. It was now time to test her commitment on the mount of Myrrh and the hill of Frankincense to see if she would go with Him even at an inconvenient time!
V.5:2a – “I slept”
A. "I slept" speaks of being in a place of rest with confidence in the Beloved. She is sleeping in the sense of being completely at peace because she believes that He is safe. How blessed to be "awake" without the need to be revived from spiritual dullness (Ephesians 5:14).
B. This could be a dream – God speaks to our spirits that get excited before our flesh has time to come under submission! The way of the Cross is not easy! Romans 7:15 is a painful reality. Romans 8 is the only way out of this - walking according to His Spirit, empowered by His Spirit.
1. For the rest of verse two, we see the Beloved continue to affirm the Bride in her pain at seeing her indifference and apathy. Again, He calls her 'my dove,' 'my perfect one.” This is how He treats us in our indifference and apathy as we struggle to follow Him.
V.5:2b - “But my heart was awake”
A. Her heart is fully awake to spiritual things. In V.4:6, she prayed, “I will go to the mountain of myrrh.” In V.4:16, she prayed, “Blow O north winds!” In these prayers, she commits herself to embracing the cross. She says, “The north winds can touch me, but I trust Him.” In that sense, she is asleep, but her heart is fully awake. She is walking in obedience without any conscious area of compromise.
1. A sovereign intervention calling her to new depths in the Holy Spirit
V.5:2c – “A sound! My beloved is knocking”
A. He knocks on the door of her heart in answer to her prayer for the north winds (4:16). The knock refers to the initiative God takes to bring us forward in new dimensions of the Spirit. He knocks when He desires to bring us through a new door in the Spirit.
“I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name (Revelation 3:8).
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. (Revelation 3:20)
B. The knock brings us to the communion table. This is also His knock to send the bitter north wind.
1. He knocks, and we open the door, which speaks of entering a new door or a new sphere in God.
2. God's knock sometimes may be gentle and quiet, yet on other occasions, it is forceful and loud.
3. God's knock is a demonstration of His care and desire to bring us forward the Spirit. His knock sometimes brings us into hardship, but it is still a good knock. It ultimately brings us into deeper communion with the Holy Spirit.
4. The purpose of knocking is to draw our hearts into a new opening for the Beloved rather than a new opening of circumstances.
C. She is sensitive to His voice and the inward promptings of the Holy Spirit. It is His voice again, as in V.2:8. The voice of the Beloved is drawing her to come to a new season, a new place in the grace of God.
1. Jesus is to reveal Himself again as her Beloved.
2. The greatest motivation the Beloved can use to sway us is to make known to us that it is "for Him." He is taking her for Himself as in V.5:1.
“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10)
V.5:2d - “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one”
A. The Beloved uses the pronoun "My" four times. He describes her in four different ways. He calls her “My sister, My love, My dove, My perfect one”.
1. “My sister" to signify His identification with her humanity (Hebrews 2:16-18).
2. "My love" reminds her of His extravagant love for her. ‘Grace motivation’ is being motivated by love and gratitude instead of fear and judgment.
3. My dove" speaks of her gentle, guileless nature. Dove's eyes speak of singleness of mind that is focused on Him (V.4:1). In V.5:2, He says, "you are My dove, My perfect one." She is in full submission to God.
4. "My perfect one" – This is a statement of her intentions to perfectly obey God as completely as she knows. “Perfect” can be translated as “mature”. She has mature obedience. My perfect one could be translated as “the one whose heart response is totally towards Him.”
B. The Beloved wants us to open to Him so that our hearts would grow in love. To endure hardship is a sweet and powerful reality.
C. To open to Him may end up with fewer people responding in a positive way to us, but it is for Him.
D. She experiences the "rest of faith."
V.5.2e - “for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.”
A. “Dew” = Anointing (see Psalm 133:3),
B. “Drops of the night” = anointing in dark times.
1. During these dark times of indifference and apathy, the Beloved always comes to us with great anointing ('the anointing breaks the yoke' - Isaiah 10:27) and authority ('head'). If we're desperate for Him, He will come with anointing into our lives to empower us for the job ahead (Acts 1:8).
C. The Beloved calls her to open her heart to new depths in the Holy Spirit.
1. Even though the Bride is crying out to follow Him (even through great cost and sacrifice), she finds her flesh gets in the way!
2. The Beloved comes to her as One from the garden of Gethsemane.
V.5:3a - " I had put off my garment”
A. Ready for bed (sleep) - not prepared to go out.
B. The Bride is in the place of maturity and obedience.
C. She feels she's not ready. We can grow cold to His advances (He continually comes to knock on the doors of our lives for us to open to Him.
V.5:3b -"How could I put it on again?”
A. The daily cleansing of our lives.
V.5:3c - "I have bathed my feet"
A. She is not willing to dirty her feet by going out to work.
1. Her excuses are that:
a. She is not ready.
b. She has no authority and cover.
c. She's not ready to take the Gospel of peace to others.
B. This is a reference to her deeds as contrasted to His deeds.
1. We are covered with His robe of righteousness, whereas our garments (robe) are filthy rags (Zechariah 3:1-5; Isaiah 64:6; 61:10).
C. Our feet get dirty through our contact with the fallen world in our endeavors to serve God.
1. Jesus told Peter that he was clean, however he still needed his feet cleansed (John 13:6-14). Peter said, “Wash all of me!” and He said, “No, just your feet.” In other words, the washing of the feet means a fresh cleansing from spiritual defilement.
D. She refused to defile her feet through compromise.
V.5:3d - "How can I soil them?"
A. This was not a statement of her refusal to obey Him but a commitment to avoid defilement. He called her perfect or undefiled in 5:2.
B. God's grace is released on her heart.
V.5:4a - "My Beloved put His hand to the latch"
A. “His hand” refers to the grace of God. This refers to a release of grace upon her by the hand of God. The hand of God on the Antioch church spoke of His great grace (Acts 11:21-23).
1. Her Beloved is resting His hand on her. She is not in compromise, but the hand of God is wooing her at that very moment.
2. God's hand of grace causes her heart to yearn with desire and love for Him.
B. The “latch” of the door speaks of the door of her heart. The heart is the everlasting door that opens to the King (Psalm. 24:7). The hand of God is upon the lock of her heart.
C. He does not accept her excuses and keeps knocking!! The Beloved loves us too much and is very persistent. Our hearts will continue to yearn for Him only if we take steps to follow Him, or else our hearts will grow cold and fall asleep alongside ourselves!!
V.5:4b - "my heart was thrilled within me.”
A. It takes God's help for us to love Him.
1. Psalm 110:3 teaches us that God's power in manifestation produces the desire for obedience in God's people.
B. She instantly responds by opening the door to Him.
V.5:5a: - “I arose to open to my beloved”
A. 'I arose” - She finally arises not to open the door for herself but for her beloved - we must do it all for Him, and then we will see the anointing come!
B. The Beloved has been persistently asking her to arise! It's no use having a heart burning with God's purposes and not being prepared to take practical steps to follow Him and let Him accomplish His will in your life (Ephesians 2:10).
V.5:5b - “and my hands dripped with myrrh”
A. Only as we step out on what we feel He's saying to us will the anointing come! We must respond to His leading, which we sense in our spirits against the opposing feelings of our flesh.
V.5:6 – “I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.”
A. She opens the door.... but He is not there to congratulate her! If He were there, she probably would have pulled Him into the house with her. He again separates Himself to draw her out even further. This is the second time the Beloved has left her. The first time was to draw her into obedience. This time is to test her because of her obedience and desire for Him.
B. Sometimes, when we step out to do the Will of God, we feel an initial surge of anointing, but then He seems so far away! The temptation is to draw back, but our hearts must long even more for Him. We must seek Him with all our hearts even when there seems to be no answer.
C. "My Beloved" - The greatest desire of her life in the early stages of love was to feel the presence of the Beloved. This was a very surprising experience for her. She didn’t anticipate this. In V.2:3-6, she only wanted to experience the presence of God. But now, He hides His face from her. She knows that Jesus' inheritance is a mature bride. Now, she deeply wants to love Him as a bride in mature obedience.
D. She testifies that she obeys Him.
1. This is the second time she is saying emphatically, “I have opened to Him. I rose to open.” She is telling again how, in V.5, she arose to obey His request from 5:2 to open the door. She has fully opened her heart to embrace Him and the north winds.
2. She is saying, “I'm in it for You. I want the north winds. I know You are wearing the garments of Gethsemane. My hands, like Yours, are dripped with myrrh. Everything is yours.”
E. Her instant response of obedience
1. Her heart leaped up in a response of obedience. There was no resistance. When He invited her to come, she came immediately.
2. The Beloved spoke to her in V.2, saying, "Open for Me." When He speaks, He is revealing Himself in a fresh way to His people. In this instance, He revealed Himself as one whose hair was covered with the drops of night.
F. The Beloved suddenly withdraws His manifest presence
1. This test could not be cut short by more urgent seeking. She doubled her prayer life. Prayer and fasting weren’t going to remove this difficulty because it was not initiated by the devil but by God. It wasn’t caused by sin. Seeking didn’t solve the problem as in V.2 when she arose and sought the Beloved, and the presence came back. But here, she arose and sought Him, and no presence came. It is because He wants to bring her, like Job, into a deeper place of equal-yoked intimacy. Her pain is becoming evident as she continues to seek Him and call on Him, yet to no avail.
2. This is a sovereign act of God. He is withdrawing His manifest presence to test her. His manifest presence is withheld; however, He never leaves us. But the discernable feeling of His presence leaves us. We love to feel the passion of God in our spirit to feel passion for Him and passion from Him. Feeling loved by God and feeling love for God is the most powerful passion and pleasure available to the human makeup, but it is now gone.
3. This is not a chastisement for sin as in V.3:1-2, nor an attack of the devil. Rather, it is a God-ordained test because of her desire for full maturity, as prayed in V.4:16.
"I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. (Job 42:5)
4. Job was walking in righteousness when he was afflicted. God had a unique task for him. He wanted to reveal Himself to Job in a most intimate way.
5. God had a desire to bring the most righteous man on Earth, Job, into a deep intimacy beyond any one of his peers. The Beloved allowed the testing of his faith. There is a place in God’s economy where He hides Himself when you're obedient.
6. God sometimes hides His face from the righteous soul to draw out the yearning of their heart. Sometimes, He hides His face to reveal what's in the deep parts of one's spirit or to reveal the motive of obedience.
7. He wants an equally yoked Bride that says, “Not my will but Thy will. When I don't feel it, I will obey You.” That is the equal yoke part of obedience.
V.5:7a – “The watchmen”
A. The “watchmen” speak of spiritual authority.
B. Leaders who have been given a divine mandate to keep its walls so as to protect its people. They opened and shut the gates in the wall to determine who could come and go to the city. They also stood on top of the wall to see who was approaching the city. This high position resulted in their prominence because everyone could see them on the wall. These keepers and the watchman are the same.
V.5:7b - "Found me"
A. They were seeking her out with a pre-determined agenda to strike her.
V.5:7c - "As they went about the city"
A. They would leave no stone unturned in searching for her. They traveled throughout the entire city, which speaks of the whole corporate church. They were seeking anything from anyone, anywhere throughout the whole church, to discredit her.
V.5:7d - "They beat me"
A. She is charged as a heretic. They publish the report that she is evil, dangerous, and false. She is rejected and unjustly persecuted by the authorities. She is significantly mistreated by the more prominent members, the keepers and the watchman who struck her instead of protecting her.
V.5:7e - "They bruised me"
A. She is not only struck unjustly, but they struck so as to "bruise" her. They wound her because there was a genuine relationship before the attack. A stranger can strike by publishing false accusations, but only a friend can deeply wound.
1. Wounded in the house of friends is part of the divine pattern that Jesus submitted to. These wounds sometimes come as unjust attacks from an old friend who becomes enemies (Psalm 55:12-21).
V.5:7f - "they took away my veil"
A. "My veil" - speaks of her spiritual covering. It is a sign of being rightly related to spiritual authority. This stage of powerful love is born in the Bride's heart after she has endured much pain and has made a decision to sacrifice all to follow her beloved. He has withdrawn his presence, and those who should have helped her have hurt her! But we see her saying to the Daughters of Jerusalem (those not awakened to fervency) in effect :
V.5:8a - "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem”
A. Her humility is seen in her commitment to be faithful to both the Beloved and His Body.
1. We can be patient with the Body when we know it is the Lord's glory and joy. If all we see is imperfect human beings, we'll resist Body life.
2. If we see the Lord as the Head of the Body, then we must know that we are retreating in bitter isolation. Her humility is manifest here.
3. When the Beloved sees this beautiful response in us, even when we are walking in the midst of the fiery test, He exclaims' "Yes! Yes! That's the heart of My Bride!".
V.5:8b - “if you find my beloved,"
A. She is lovesick for the Beloved instead of offended at Him for withdrawing His presence and allowing her to be so severely mistreated (Matthew 11:6).
V.5:8c – “that you tell Him I am sick with love "
A. She is saying, "I'm not offended or mad that He withdrew and let it happen.”
B. She maintains her love for Him through the recent season of testing and is not offended by Him.
C. She is not saying “the Judge of my soul.” She is saying, “My Beloved.” She maintains the position of a lover of God in the midst of the most severe testing.
D. There are seasons of testing where it is difficult to say, “my Beloved.” Rather, it is easier to complain, “My heart is hurt. I don’t trust You anymore.” In her first confession, she starts right off by stating where she is at, “My beloved.” There is no offense in her heart. She has this spiritual reality. She postures her soul in this way. She is not offended or stumbling over Him.
"And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." (Matthew 11:6)
1. In other words, the one that is not offended at me when I don’t do what they think I should do. She is blessed because she is not stumbling.
2. Instead, our relationship with God can become wounded in the sense that we become offended at God because we cannot see that everything works together for good.
3. God wants us to open our spirit to Him in the midst of trials without being guarded toward Him. If our trust in Him is wounded in a trial, then our relationship with God becomes wounded. The devil is called the accuser. He lies to us about God’s power, love, and wisdom.
V.5:9a - “What is your beloved”
A. The Bride’s first answer to “What is your beloved?” is His majestic splendor. They did not ask "who" your beloved is because they already knew His name. He was to them a way to get to heaven. Many Christians know the Beloved enough to be saved, but His majestic splendor is unknown to them.
B. This is one of the most powerful descriptions of Jesus and one of the most outstanding expressions of worship in the Word of God. This is the one time in the SONG where she worships the King. It is a magnificent, poetic unveiling of the splendor of Jesus. She is giving us the key of what she understood and why she could be lovesick when everything was going wrong.
C. She feels that she is unable to enjoy her inheritance on Earth. This inheritance is V.1:4, "Draw me and let us run together." In other words, to be able to feel God and then to serve Him. She can't do either. Her inheritance seems to be lost. All of her promises seem to have vanished right before her eyes. In reality, it is not lost at all. She stands here naked before God.
D. The daughters had "other beloveds" in their lives, such things as money, pleasure, prominence, and the comfort zone. They actually loved these things more than they loved Him. They are saying, what is He more than all the other loves of life that He has so gripped you?” We mature as He becomes the first Beloved of our soul. Our goal is to make Jesus the prominent Beloved in our lives. He doesn’t mind that we love other people and things. He wants to be first. He wants the first commandment to be in first place.
1. The spiritually dull, passive daughters of Jerusalem ask the mature bride another question. They asked her several questions throughout the SONG. The issue that provoked the daughters was the Bride's deep love for the Beloved more than her wisdom or her giftedness. It was the passion of her heart. The daughters ask her because she just said, “Tell Him I'm lovesick. Help me find Him.” They didn’t say, “You are so wise and so anointed.”
2. What they saw was the lovesick heart that adorned her and made her beautiful. It says in Revelation 21:2 that the Father is going to adorn the city of the Bride of Christ for her Husband. The Father adorns us for the Beloved. The way He does it is by putting His love in our hearts for Him. We are adorned and made beautiful by love, even more than wisdom or power, which are helpful, but the lovesickness is what they saw in her that made her beautiful. They inquire with the question, “What is your beloved more than another?” They are a little taken back by her earnestness.
3. They saw the Beloved as the one she loved insatiably. The daughters are perplexed and amazed by her response of being lovesick (V.5:8). They see her affection for Him and conclude she must know something that they didn’t know.
4. It was not a casual question but one that truly concerned them, and that is the beginning of fervency being awakened in the daughters as they see spiritual reality in the fervent Bride. We can see the sincerity of their question because, in 6:1, they asked the follow-up question of how they can know the Beloved as she does.
V.5:9b - "O beautiful among women"
A. We see the deep respect the daughters have for the Bride. They see her as the most beautiful. They see her as beautiful in her devotion, godliness, and purity. This is in stark contrast to how the leaders (the watchmen) view the Bride.
B. The fragrant aroma of the knowledge of God emanated from the Bride to create hunger in one group (the daughters) and offense in the others (the watchmen) (See 2 Corinthians 2:15-16).
1. The controversy created by the watchman does not cause the daughters to reject the Bride. They saw such maturity and godly virtue that they did not receive the accusations of the jealous watchmen. Sometimes, the newest Christians, who have sincerity and an open spirit, can see more clearly than the older, bitter, jealous leaders.
V.5:9c - "That you thus adjure us?"
A. The charge was from V.5:8 to help her find the Beloved. What do you know that we don't know?” What have you seen in Him? You are the most beautiful woman on the Earth, with the most beautiful heart. They see that she has been adorned with lovesickness for the Beloved.
V.5:10a – “My beloved”
A. She calls Him “my Beloved” which reveals that her relationship with Him is not wounded. It is not a small thing that she starts with, “my Beloved.” She has already had the victory.
V.5:10b - “is radiant and ruddy.”
A. “radiant" - The idea is that the Beloved is stunning and dazzling to her, being brilliant in His loveliness or radiant in His splendor, abounding with unapproachable light that dwells around His throne.
2. He possesses brilliant splendor and yet has complete balance and perfect health in His inward qualities. In the fullest sense of the word, He is the only whole person who ever walked the Earth. He has the perfect balance in every attribute.
B. “ruddy” - Ruddy means a red complexion. King David was ruddy in appearance. This spoke of his reddish hair and reddish complexion. When somebody is healthy on the inside, their cheeks are rosy, and their appearance appears healthy. David’s ruddy complexion indicated that he possessed internal health.
1. The combination of everything inside of Beloved’s personality is healthy. The combination of Jesus’ attributes is in spiritual balance. She is saying, “All of His attributes are working together in harmony.”
a. The point emphasized is His perfectly balanced personality, making Him incomparable to all others. For example, Jesus has a perfect balance of mercy and judgment.
b. He is not ruddy because of the perfect unity of all His parts. But He is balanced because of His absence of parts. He possesses each of His attributes 100%. He is 100% righteous and 100% merciful. It is the "absence of parts" that distinguishes Him.
C. The Beloved’s glory is so unique because He combined both divine and human attributes. He is the only one in Heaven or on Earth who has at the same time the fullness of humanity and the fullness of deity. God the Father is not like that; neither are the angels nor any apostles. He is the only one. He stands unique. There’s no other person that will ever exist, and that is the full combination of both, except for Him. He is in His own category.
D. His beauty springs forth from the balance of the two. He is both the lion and the lamb at the same time. He perfectly expresses all elements of His personality without any contradiction. He serves in the meekness of a lamb, and He roars in the authority of a lion. We are limited human beings. We cannot be the lion and the lamb at the same time. His capacity is infinite. He perfectly expresses both as He gives His heart to His Bride.
V.5:10c - "distinguished among ten thousand"
A. “distinguished" means a "banner that distinguishes."
1. He is "distinguished as a banner among a multitude."
2. He is the One that stands out among the masses.
3. He is the center of attention as a large banner (flag) in a marching army.
4. He is incomparably superior to all people.
5. He is so excellent. He could be instantly distinguished from all the others in the created order.
6. He is the one carrying the banner that you can instantly recognize in a crowd. It would take no discernment to figure out He is the greatest of them all.
B. “ten thousand” means incomparable greatness.
1. The number 10,000 is not to be understood as literal. It means an extremely large number. Chief among 10,000 is a metaphor saying He is the greatest of all. He has no rival. Nobody else could compare to Him is the point. God has given Him the preeminence above all things.
“And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” (Colossians 1:18)
OVERVIEW
A. The young Bride in the midst of the ultimate twe-fold test (V.5:6-7) gives one of the most powerful descriptions of Jesus and one of the most outstanding expressions of worship in the Word of God. This is the one time in the SONG where she pours herself out in worship to the King. It is a magnificent, poetic unveiling of the splendor of Christ Jesus.
This is written in poetic language so that we could ever reach new depths of understanding.
1. This passage of Scripture is meant to equip our souls to worship God in times of testing effectively.
2. The Holy Spirit speaks in parables and poetically in order to give more to the hungry. The Scripture interprets the Scriptures so as to provide a guide for this parabolic language.
"Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. "And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: `Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.' (Matthew 13:13-15)
3. The daughters asked, “how could you worship Him under such duress?” This gives us the knowledge she possessed that equipped her to worship God. Knowledge of these ten attributes stabilizes us in the midst of the storms of life or the "dark night of the soul."
a. This is the knowledge of Jesus' beauty that empowered her to be an extravagant worshipper under severe testing. Once we see such Divine beauty, then we can never draw back from Him.
4. She responds to her season of testing in perfect obedience with the heart cry, "Jesus is dazzling and chief among 10,000," instead of being offended by God.
5. It is normal for the immature Christian to be easily offended. Many find it easy to be preoccupied with feeling that God mistreats them. She is focused on His majestic beauty instead of being preoccupied with her pressures.
6. The Bride teaches others to be preoccupied with the splendor of His beauty. She overcomes her self-focus as she offers this mature expression of worship
7. These are the primary statements that she spoke back to God with understanding in her heart as "confessions of faith" to strengthen her heart during the severe trial of V. 5:6-7.
8. She is fully able to give an in-depth answer as to why He is her consuming love. She is fully capable of speaking from her heart with depth of insight. Our prayer is, “Holy Spirit, enlarge our capacity to receive from You”
9. In V.5:10 and V.5:16 we see an overview of this description - All of Him is desirable - He is Fair (lit: radiant, bright) and ruddy (from 'adam' - perfect humanity), chief (lit: 'fish') among 10,000. Above all, He is now her FRIEND!
When all these descriptions of the Beloved become a reality in our own experience with Him, then we will truly enter the powerful love stage in our pilgrimage of love....
B. In the midst of severe testing, the Bride gives one of the most extravagant human love responses in the Scripture. After Jesus breaks the silence, He provides one of the most extravagant divine love responses in the Scripture
C. She responds in perfect obedience with the heart cry, "Jesus is dazzling and chief among 10,000." Instead of being offended by God, she responds as a lovesick bride as she describes the majestic splendor of Christ Jesus (V.5:10-16).
1. His head – His sovereign leadership overall
2. His locks – His dedication to God and the Church
3. His eyes – His infinite knowledge, wisdom, understanding, discernment
4. His cheeks – His diverse emotional makeup
5. His lips – His word
6. His hands – His divine activity
7. His body – His tender compassion
8. His legs – His walk and administration of His purposes
9. His countenance – His impartation to His people
10. His mouth – Intimacy with Him
11. He's altogether lovely – His comprehensive beauty
12. "...my Beloved...my Friend”
D. We see that the Bride’s main desire is to do her beloved's will. She herself goes to the harvest field (V.6:11) and even calls Him to come with her (V.7:11-13), which is an amazing turnaround in her heart. Powerful love has exploded in her life, and it only grows stronger. But this powerful love is born out of much pain and trials. It's the same in our lives. When we come to the same point as the Bride here, of loving Him and telling others about this love even in the midst of great pain and suffering, where He seems so distant, then we've entered into Powerful Love.
d. We are limited in how close we can get to Him because our spiritual capacity to receive is so limited. He is unapproachable in the sense that our human capacity is so small that we cannot yet receive the fullness of God.
The Holy Spirit wants to enlarge our capacity so that God is more approachable to the ones He so dearly loves. So that He can give more of Himself to us
E. Jesus is the most majestic, indescribably lovely Person that the human heart can behold. Seeing His soul-satisfying beauty is the greatest source of holy passion.
1. The full beauty of the Beloved is incomprehensible. It is impossible to fully comprehend or communicate His beauty with the limitation of the five natural senses. The Holy Spirit uses the word "like" when referring to Jesus' splendor because nothing is adequately comparable to it. The three main metaphors in creation depicting the splendor of Christ Jesus are the mountains, the sky, and the sea.
2. Any metaphor used is inadequate and significantly deficient in conveying the beauty of the Beloved. His beauty far exceeds any metaphor used by the Holy Spirit from the naturally created order.
3. The Beloved has no rivalry in the affections of people who think accurately of Him. He is so compelling in His beauty that even when He draws back His Presence, those who have seen even dim, brief glimpses of His splendor are loyal to Him through the desert seasons (V.5:6).
F. The natural mind does not easily discern the specifics of His beauty. The depths of God are communicated by the Holy Spirit to spiritually hungry people.
“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received…the Spirit…that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things …the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:10-14)
1. There is nothing more vital to the soul of a Christians= than to discern the depths of God's personality more fully. The Bride used the revelation of God's personality as a means to awaken others to maturity.
2. The Holy Spirit arranged this meeting with the daughters so she could witness the Beloved in depth. This caused her to refocus her soul on His indescribable beauty, which reinforced her affection for Him. This occasion to speak of the Beloved brought pleasure to her soul in the midst of great trial and affliction. A heart that enjoys the Beloved is significantly protected against offense towards God and added temptation.
F. The splendor of the Beloved brings significant pleasure and delight through meditation. This is why David said in Psalm 145:5, "I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works."
G. The Bride describes the Beloved using the imagery of the Temple with gold, precious stones, ivory, and the cedars of Lebanon. The Holy Spirit depicts the majesty of Jesus in the Temple language.
1. The Holy Spirit uses these metaphors in other parts of Scripture so that we can be helpful to interpret them according to His intention. The Holy Spirit is describing the beauty of the Beloved’s personality, not His physical features. The context of this passage is His Excellency as being "above all other beloved's."(V. 5:9)
V.5:11a – “His head is the finest gold.”
A. The ‘head’ is the most prominent part of the body. It is that sets the direction. The head speaks of two different things.
1. It speaks of His Father.
2. it speaks of His sovereignty.
“But I want you to know that…the head of Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3)
1. The ‘head’ of Jesus is God the Father and His relationship to the Father.
2. The ‘head’ can speak of the Trinity. This also implies the relationship of the Trinity in perfect affection and unity.
3. Jesus' sovereignty speaks of His headship of His kingdom. It means that He would have sovereignty over the whole world.
B. "Gold" speaks of divine nature or deity. It is a material of the highest value and quality. Therefore, the streets of the eternal city are made of gold (Revelation 21:1).
1. It is more than gold; it is “finest gold.” It is a rare kind of gold. Only a very small percentage of gold was the finest gold. It was refined in an expensive, very intricate process. Finest gold means the highest superlative.
2. His relation to His head, God the Father, is of the finest quality imaginable.
3. The Beloved’s leadership is valuable to His people. She said, “His leadership is so excellent, it is of the finest gold imaginable. It is perfectly, divinely inspired wisdom.”
4. The eternal city is made secure and happy because of the excellency of His golden headship. She has no more fitting illustration of Jesus' headship than "finest gold."
5. Total power corrupts the human arena. A person with total power will eventually be corrupted by it. However, total authority does not corrupt the Beloved because His head is the finest gold. Nothing that can be added to His leadership. It cannot be improved.
V.5:11b – “His locks are wavy, black as a raven”
A. His hair speaks of His dedication to God and to His people.
1. NIV translates "His locks" as "His hair." The hair speaks of the Nazarite vow of dedication. The Nazarite vow of consecration forbids the cutting of one's hair.
a. Samson and the prophet Samuel made a Nazarite vow. They could not cut their hair.
b. When Samson cut his hair, it meant that he violated his dedication to God.
c. Hair enhances the beauty of one's head. Jesus' dedication enhances His beauty to God and to His people.
2. NIV translates "Wavy" hair as "bushy" hair. She understands Jesus has thick and wavy hair. Bushy or wavy hair is thick.
a. Thick, wavy hair is the hair of a young man in the prime of life, as contrasted to an old man whose hair has lost its vitality and fullness. Baldness is the opposite of wavy hair.
b. She understands His dedication as wavy hair full of vigor. His dedication to God and the church is vigorous. God does not have bad moods. We never have to be concerned if it is a good time to approach God. Children want to know if their parents are in a good mood before they approach them.
3. Ravens have black hair in contrast to the gray hair of old men. Black hair speaks of His youthful, energetic zeal, which is the opposite of decay and lack of vigor.
a. His dedication to us is eternally vigorous. Jesus forever flourishes as in His prime. His youthfulness and vigilant dedication continue forever.
b. Jesus' hair is also described as white, which speaks of eternity or of His eternal nature (Rev. 1:12). The Father's head is also described as white (Daniel 7:9).
“the Ancient of Days was seated; his garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire” (Daniel 7:9)
V.5.11c – “His locks are wavy”
A. "Wavy" hair is the hair of a young man in the prime of life, as contrasted to an old man whose thinning hair has lost its vitality and fullness, and speaks of His dedication to God and His people.
B. His dedication to us is eternally vigorous. Jesus forever flourishes as in His prime. His youthfulness and vigilant dedication continue forever.
C. The hair of the Beloved is also described as white, which speaks of eternity or of His eternal nature (Revelation 1:12). The Father's head is also described as white (Daniel 7:9). the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire” (Daniel 7:9).
V.5.11d - "Black as a raven"
A. Black hair speaks of His youthful, energetic zeal in contrast to the gray hair of old men. His consecration to God is eternally vigorous.
B. She responds to her season of testing in perfect obedience with the heart cry instead of being offended by God.
C. It is normal for the immature Christian to be easily offended. Many find it easy to be preoccupied with feeling that God mistreats them. The Bride is focused on His majestic beauty instead of being preoccupied with her pressures and teaches others to be preoccupied with it as well. She overcomes her self-focus as she offers this mature expression of worship
D. Three purposes are accomplished in this passage.
1. She answers the maiden’s question in V. 5:9, which heals and strengthens her soul under pressure.
2. She is moving the heart of God the whole time, even though she doesn’t feel anything. She is answering the maidens, her heart’s being healed, and she is moving the heart of the Beloved in a way she has no idea until He breaks the silence in the next session and begins to speak to her after the great test.
3. The Beauty of the Beloved is incomprehensible and fully impossible to communicate with the limitation of the five natural senses. The Holy Spirit uses the word "like" when referring to Jesus' splendor because nothing is adequately comparable to it.
E. The Beloved has no rivalry in the affections of people who think accurately of Him. He is so compelling in His beauty that even when He draws back His Presence, those who have seen even dim, brief glimpses of His splendor are loyal to Him through the desert seasons.
F. The natural mind does not easily discern the specifics of the Beloved’s beauty. The depths of God are communicated by the Holy Spirit to spiritually hungry people. “
“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:10-14)
1. The splendor of the Beloved brings significant pleasure and delight through prayer and meditation (Psalm 145:5 - "I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works.")
2. The Bride is describing the Beloved using the imagery of the temple with gold, precious
stones, ivory and the cedars of Lebanon and the human body, which were symbols that people of her day would have been familiar with.
G. This is her second confession when His presence was lifted from her. She knows that He has not changed the way He feels. She says, “Impossible. His dedication is black and wavy. He is fully energetic.” That is what she would say to her own soul as well as she said to the daughters of Jerusalem. The Beloved Himself heard her, and it moved His heart. She would not receive the accusations that He was no longer dedicated to her in the way that He said
V.5:12a - "His eyes are like doves”
A. This speaks of singleness of vision (V.1:15; 4:1) and the waters where the doves bathed themselves and became clean. They go by the water by the rivers and beak themselves. Doves are cleaned by the rivers after washing (bathing) themselves. His eye’s view things through the cleanness of His heart.
1. Eyes speak of the ability to see or discern and speak of His omniscience, which means knowing everything in perfect knowledge and wisdom. His eye’s view things through the cleanness of His heart.
2. The Beloved has total clarity and fullness of insight into every dark secret. Everything is totally clear and discernible to Him. This is speaking of the waters where the doves bathed themselves and became clean.
V.5:12b – “bathed in milk, sitting beside a full pool.”
A. His eyes are like doves “bathed in milk.”
B. Milk means pure, white, and clean. This speaks of the purity of His discernment because of its simplicity and the innocence of childlikeness. He is not childish, but He can be infinitely complex yet have the simplicity and innocence of childlikeness.
V.5:13a – “His cheeks are like beds of spices”
A. “His cheeks” reflect the countenance of the face, which reveals His emotional makeup. The cheeks enable us to discern whether a person has joy or sadness and are the windows to His emotions, which are sweet, like scented herbs as fragrant spices. His affections are fragrant and refreshing to those who can discern His personality.
B. When you meet a person, you can tell by the cheeks if they are mad, sad, or glad. It reveals the internal emotional state of a person unless, of course, they are hiding it.
C. Jesus’ emotional life is like the garden beds of beautiful fragrant spices.
V.5:13b – “mounds of sweet-smelling herbs”
A. As a garden filled with delightful fragrances, so is the condition of the Beloved’s emotional life.
B. The delights of God are abundant and diverse as banks of sweet-smelling herbs (spices), which speaks of the extravagant fragrance in the Beloved's affections. His cheeks are not just like beds of spices; they are like banks and heaps of scented herbs. It is an extravagant amount and diverse in all different types of scented herbs. His affections are fragrant and refreshing to our souls as long as we can discern them.
C. The emotional makeup of the Beloved is filled with passion, delight, and longing for you. He also has a passion for the Father, His creation, holiness, kingdom, truth, angels, etc.
V.5:13c - “His lips are lilies.”
A. His lips speak of the power of His words. This is the fifth attribute she is talking about. There are two different features of the lips that are highlighted.
1. They are sweet and satisfying. Lilies speak of fragrance, innocence, and purity. The affirmations of the Beloved are tender and sweet like a lily. The words of most people are harsh, undermining, and filled with anger.
V.5:13d – “dripping liquid myrrh.”
A. His words are sweet and pure, like lilies. The Beloved’s words contain myrrh, which refers to exhortations to embrace death to self.
B. "Dripping" - Dripping refers to consistent, small quantities that eventually lead to abundance. For example, a bee hive that drips honey eventually fills the entire jar with an abundance of honey.
C. "Liquid myrrh" - The phrase "dripping liquid myrrh" is also used in V.5:5, saying the Bride's hands drip with liquid myrrh, which is a burial spice that speaks of suffering and embracing death to self. There is nobody who speaks with the kind of tenderness and kindness as the Beloved. Yet, at the same time, He is at total war against that which hinders our life growing in love. He speaks directly to areas that need correction.
V5.14a - "His arms are rods of gold set with jewels”
A. This refers to His activities and the way He accomplishes His work skillfully in doing everything good with perfect power. He is omnipotent, possessing the ability to accomplish anything He pleases, both in the natural creation and in the spiritual realm.
B. Speaks of divine character in the accomplishing of His work. Gold often speaks of the divine character and wisdom. All His work is accomplished with the strength of godliness and purity. The works of the Beloved in our lives, throughout all history, in natural creation and spiritual creation, are skillful and filled with divine power, purity, and wisdom.
V.5:14b - "His body"
A. “His Body” speaks of tender compassion. The Hebrew word used here communicates the idea of yearning or compassion. We find it here in these passages where it says, “Where are the yearnings of your heart?” It is the same word as “His body,” “His belly,” or “His deep tender compassion.”
V.5:14c - “is polished ivory”
A. Ivory is clean and white, yet expensive because it is rare. Carved and polished ivory is even more unique. His compassion and patience are described as rare and expensive, like ivory. Carved ivory is but a dim shadow of the uniqueness of the compassion of God.
V.5:14d – “bedecked with sapphires”
A. "Bedecked" - Mounting inlaid jewels, like sapphire stones, in ivory takes great skill, creativity, and precision. He has great discernment in the administration of His compassion (Philippians 1:9,10). He possesses a skillful mercy that brings us to purity and wisdom. This mercy is not unsanctified but one that has godly fruit. The Beloved’s compassion is not arbitrary or random, but it is skillfully manifest like ivory inlaid with sapphires.
B. "Sapphires" - A stone in Aaron's breastplate and the foundation of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:19). The way sapphires are used in God's design reveals the extent of their beauty and how precious the stone is.
C. The compassion of God is very lovely to look upon, as ivory inlaid with sapphires would be. The Beloved has great tender compassion, but He also has the skill of putting the sapphires in the ivory. God's affections are pure, rare, precious, and creative. Nothing reveals His beauty like His tender kindness to fallen people. Sometimes, His love does not appear to our darkened minds as ivory inlaid with sapphires. The Bride had a Holy Spirit-given ability to see the compassion of the Beloved and mercy in a greater measure. This gave her new passion and confidence in spite of her failures.
V.5:15a - "His legs”
A. "Legs" - speak of the way to walk forward in order to fulfill one's purposes. Psalm 147:10 says the Beloved takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. Man's legs speak of his strength to fulfill his activities.
1. The Beloved’s Walk is signified here or the way in which He fulfills His purposes. It is the administration of how He proceeds forth in His sovereign will.
V.5:15b – “are alabaster columns”
A. Columns speak of strength, orderliness, and beauty. Alabaster/Marble is a strong and permanent building material. It is a beautiful type of rock. His strong legs are like marble (rock) which cannot be manipulated or overpowered. They are sure and can be counted on. Moses said, "He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice (Deuteronomy 32:4).
1. God’s ways are strong, lovely, permanent, established, and orderly, and they do not fail or vacillate. He does not waiver. Revelation 2:19 says His feet are like fine brass, similar to feet like marble.
V.5:15c – “set on bases of gold.”
A. Gold speaks of divine character. Fine gold is the most pure and valuable because it has been refined by fire. These pillars are set on the base of most fine gold. The ways and the activity of God are portrayed as set on refined gold (divine character). The Beloved's way in the midst of His people is always refined like pure gold. His ways are true (Revelation 15:3). All the paths of the Lord are truth (Psalm 25:10).
V.5:15c – “His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars”
A. His appearance speaks of His impartation to His people. David prayed, “Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us.” This is a prayer that the Lord would intervene by imparting His discernible manifestations of Himself to His people. The appearance of God shining on us means He imparts His manifest favor to us and on us.
V.5:15d - “His appearance”
A. It speaks of the impartation of God to His people. David prayed, "Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us" (Psalm 4:6). This prayer is for a "discernible impartation" of God's light to shine upon His people. This is a prayer that God would intervene with the impartation of discernible manifestations of Himself to His people.
V.5:15e - "is Like Lebanon"
A. It speaks of being pleasing and strong. Lebanon is symbolic of that which is glorious, stately, and honorable.
V.5:15f - "choice as the cedars"
A. Cedars are tall, strong trees with excellent fragrance (V.4:11). The pleasure and power that come from the countenance of God are as strong and excellent as the cedars.
B. God’s plans are executed with strength, dignity, and order. They have endurance. They do not fail under pressure. How He proceeds forth or administrates His sovereign will is like pillars of marble. When God shines His countenance on your heart, He is imparting His manifest Presence. There is nothing more satisfying and pleasurable to the human makeup than the release of the countenance of God on the soul.
V5:16a – “His mouth”
A. His mouth is first defined at the very beginning of the SONG. “Let me know the kisses of His mouth” speaks of the communication of the deepest and most intimate things that He has. The lips speak of His word to us but in the language of the SONG. The mouth is initially defined as related to the kisses, the giving of the deepest things that God has. This statement parallels her earlier cry in 1:2, where she asks for kisses from the mouth because "His love is better than wine."
B. Also speaks of intimate communication as in "the kisses of the mouth" (V.1:2) and not the kisses of the lips (V.1:2). His mouth is distinct from His words as signified by His lips (V.5:13). Intimacy is associated with the mouth, which is the vehicle of kissing. His mouth is very distinct from His words throughout the SONG. The mouth speaks of the kisses of the mouth, and the desire for spiritual intimacy is associated with the mouth.
V5:16b - "is most sweet"
A. This is the tenth and final attribute that she is extolling here. Nothing delights her soul more than intimacy with the Beloved, who wants to enlarge our capacity to receive more of Himself. This is a statement that her desire for intimacy with Him is greater than everything else.
V.5:16c - "This is my Beloved"
A. She is filled with love and overflowing gladness and has presented Him as the glorious answer to their question. In essence, she says, this is the One that you asked about, and I have described Him for you. You can now see why I am not offended by Him in times of difficulty. She ends it with “my beloved” like she began it with “my beloved.” “I am not offended. I love Him.”
V.5:16d - "And this is my friend"
A. He is not only infinitely magnificent as the sovereign God, but He condescends to embrace us as friends (John 15:14).
B. Blessed is the person whose friend is the Beloved. The relationship between “my beloved” and “my friend” is never unrelated to relational realities. They always go together, friend and beloved. She said, “He is my husband, He is my lover, and He is my good friend.”
C. She speaks of Him with great passion, urgency, and feeling.
V.5:16e -"Oh Daughters!”
A. She is speaking of Him with great passion, urgency, and feeling. There is a deep feeling. This is not a casual thing. There is a deep, heartfelt urgency being expressed. She does not point out their carnality. There is no condemnation or accusation in this approach. Their lack of dedication has not offended the Bride. She uses the Beloved Himself to capture them rather than rebuke them. Her method was to reveal Him to them.
V.5:16f -"of Jerusalem!"
A. The daughters asked her a question (5:9), and she completed her answer from V.5:10-16. This is the answer she gave to them when they asked her a question in V.5.9, and she has now completed her answer. She offers this beautiful exposé of the loveliness of the Beloved, and that is her strategy to awaken the daughters.
B. There’s nothing that delights the soul more than intimacy with the Beloved. The most immediate response to His countenance shining on the soul is to desire the kisses of His mouth. The more a person feels the countenance of God on their soul, the more they desire the sweet kisses of His mouth. The sweetness of the Beloved is communicated to our hearts, which is the most powerful experience we can have. There is nothing more powerfully penetrating than when God allows us to see even a dim view of Himself. There's nothing more pleasurable than when the Spirit releases the revelation of God to our spirit.
