How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
The love of Christ to his Church, and the love of the Church to Christ in return, are the whole subject of this song. And here the Lord Jesus declares how precious, her love is in his sight. The Church had said of the love of Jesus, in the former part of this song, that it was better than wine. Song of Solomon 1:2. And here the Lord condescends to make use of the same comparison in allusion to her's. Pause, Reader, and remark how gracious the Lord is? I would pause again and again over the passage, and ask, how is it possible that the love of a poor worthless worm, such as I am, can be at all graceful, much less are highly esteemed in Jesus's sight? Surely the whole must result from the love of Christ as it is in himself, and by a communication imparting a fragrancy beyond that of spices.