BRIDE’S REPLY TO THE KING’S GREETING
Shulamite expresses her Delight in her Beloved.
While the King sitteth at his table,
My spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.
A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me;
He shall lie all night (or, which remains) betwixt my breasts.
My Beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphor
In the vineyards of Engedi.
The King’s commendation and assurance of love reciprocated by the Bride. The language of the 12th verse—‘while the King sitteth,’ &c., either the declaration of a fact, expressive of her delight in the King, and the joy his presence afforded her; or a resolution as to what she would do for his honour. Regarded as the latter, it corresponds with the King’s last words. Solomon promises ornaments of gold and silver. Shulamite can only bring her spikenard; which, however, shall not be wanting in order to do him honour and express her love. Historically and literally realized in the life of Jesus, when the woman that was a sinner brought her alabaster box of ointment to anoint His feet in the Pharisee’s house; and when Mary, the sister of Lazarus, performed a similar service with her costly spikenard in the house of Simon the leper (Luke 7:37-38; John 12:3; Matthew 26:6-7).
In regard to the RESOLUTION, notice—
I. The OCCASION to which it refers. ‘While the King sitteth at his table’ (or, ‘in his circle [of guests]’). Observe, in reference to—
The King at His Table.
1. The person referred to. ‘The King.’ So Shulamite speaks of her Beloved, and the believer of his Lord. Christ a King. Imports his dignity as God and his office as Redeemer. Christ a King both by Divine right and Divine appointment. A King in virtue of his Divine nature as Son of God; and in virtue of His mediatorial undertaking as Son of Man. In His twofold nature as God-man, and in His mediatorial character as Redeemer, Christ is God’s King; King of Zion; King of Saints; Head over all things to His Church. Sits at the Father’s right hand upon His Father’s throne, ‘angels and authorities and powers being made subject, to Him.’ The King and Lord of glory. Rules and reigns over both the Church and the world as King of Kings and Lord of Lords,—‘Prince of the Kings of the earth.’ In a lower, literal, and subordinate, though important sense, the ‘King of the Jews,’ heir to the throne of his father David. The language of the text emphatic. Christ not only a King, but ‘the King.’ The Church’s own and only King. ‘The great and only Potentate.’ In Christ, ‘love brings the majesty of the Creator down to the misery of the creature.’ Observe—The Church recognizes and acknowledges Christ as King, and as the King. Even in the closest and most endearing fellowship, His dignity and the reverence due to him as King not forgotten. True enjoyment of His fellowship accompanied with an impression on the heart as to His royal character and dignity. Such fellowship thus distinguished from what is spurious, imaginary, fanatical. Nearness to Christ fitted to exalt our views of Him and increase our reverence towards Him. The seraphim in His presence veil their faces and their feet with their wings. The Prophet, beholding His glory in the temple, exclaims: Woe is me; for I am undone, &c.; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts (Isaiah 6:1-5; John 12:45). John, the beloved disciple, in like circumstances ‘fell at His feet as dead’ (Revelation 1:17). Nathanael’s adoring testimony at the beginning of the Gospel history—‘Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.’ Thomas’s, at its close,—‘My Lord and My God.’ The sentiment of the Church well expressed in Ambrose’s celebrated hymn,—‘Thou art the King of glory, O Christ’ The title in the text indicative of—
(1) The condescension of Christ in admitting sinful men to his fellowship. Subjects seldom admitted to the table of their sovereign. Mephibosheth amazed at David’s condescension in giving ‘a dead dog’ like him a place at his table. Christ not only admits to His intimate fellowship His own creatures, but creatures who have debased and polluted themselves with sin, and have been in active and open rebellion against Him.
(2) The honour and blessedness of believers. Each believer not only admitted into the King’s presence, but admitted there as the King’s Bride and Beloved. Compared with this, the highest earthly honour and position as worthless as the fallen leaf of autumn. This privilege the believer’s guarantee of all he needs for time and eternity.
(3) The believer’s duty and responsibility. If Christ be our King, we are to confess, follow, obey, serve, honour, and trust in Him as such. The believer to aim at shewing himself at, all times and in all places, both by word and deed, the faithful subject of Christ his King.
2. The King’s place. ‘Sitteth at his table.’ Observe—
(1) Christ has a table. Has a table in heaven. A celestial banquet prepared by Him for all the saved. Abraham seen afar off by the rich man in hell, sitting at that table with Lazarus reclining on His bosom. Hereafter follows the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, when His ‘Bride hath made herself ready’ (Revelation 19:9). Has also a table on earth. This that referred to in the text. The earthly rather than the heavenly experience of believers described in the Song. So the New Testament speaks of the Lord’s, i.e., Christ’s table, and ‘the Lord’s Supper’ (1 Corinthians 10:21; 1 Corinthians 11:20). One of the many connecting links between the Song of Solomon and the New Testament. The King’s ‘Table’ on earth the ordinances of the Gospel, and especially their central part—
The Lord’s Supper.
This ordinance expressed in the Scripture as a Table, not an altar. The Lord’s Supper a Feast, after and upon a sacrifice offered up more than eighteen centuries ago, not the sacrifice itself. The Table in the Lord’s Supper the King’s Table. The King (i.) appointed it; (ii.) provides it; (iii.) presides at it. The Table not man’s but the Lord’s; hence for all who love and belong to the Lord, and only such. Hence, also, His Table to be only what He Himself directs and prescribes. Man’s grievous sin in converting His Table into what Christ could no longer recognize as such. The Table appointed by the King for the refreshment, comfort, and strengthening of His Church in the wilderness. The provisions the King’s own; while the outward, visible, and symbolical materials are, according to His appointment, provided by the Church. The provisions nothing less than Himself. Christ as crucified for us, fed upon by faith in the Supper, as exhibited under the symbols of bread and wine. His flesh, or Himself as the incarnate and crucified Redeemer, the true meat; and His blood as shed for the remission of our sins, the true drink of the soul. Christ the bread of life, to be constantly, as well as in the Supper, fed upon by faith. He that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you (John 6:35-58; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29). Christ spiritually fed on by believers, as the Lamb Slain, as the typical lamb was carnally eaten by Israel in the Feast of the Passover. The King’s Table thus richly furnished. Man eats more than angels’ food. The Table on earth preparatory to the Table in heaven, the marriage supper of the Lamb.
(2) Christ sits at His Table. The King’s Table not only appointed and provided, but presided at by the King. When the disciples prepared the last Passover and first Lord’s Supper, Jesus ‘sat down with the twelve.’ Jesus sits at His own Table (Matthew 18:20). Is there for His own sake, delighting in the fellowship of His loving and believing people. ‘I will come in to him and sup with him.’ More especially, however, for their sake. Affords them quiet fellowship and intimate communion with Himself. Hence, the preciousness of the Lord’s Table to believers. He is there Himself, not as changed into, or necessarily connected with, the bread and wine; but as revealing Himself graciously and spiritually to the souls of His people. Is there, not only as the provisions, but as the presiding Head; not merely as their crucified Redeemer, but as their living and loving Bridegroom. The King’s Table precious, but more precious the presence of the King Himself. Feeding on Him, as exhibited in the bread and wine, believers have life; realizing his living and loving presence, they have life more abundantly Believers at the Lord’s Table not only feed on Christ, but have fellowship with Christ. He speaks peace and comfort to their heart. They speak their petitions and desires into His ear. The King sits at His Table—(i.) To see that the guests want nothing; (ii.) To give them a loving welcome; (iii.) To gladden them with His presence and smile; (iv.) To receive their petitions; (v.) To bless the provision to their souls.
3. The time the King is at His Table. ‘While the King sitteth,’ &c. The King not always sitting at His Table. Only now and then, and that for but a limited period. That period often short. Christ at His Table in the upper room at Jerusalem at most for two or three hours. Seasons of special communion in general neither very frequent nor long continued. When the risen Saviour manifested Himself as such to the two disciples at Emmaus, he immediately ‘vanished out of their sight.’ Such the conditions under which the Lord’s Table is spread on earth. Too often the causes of abridged communion in ourselves. Hence
(1) earnest prayer to be made, that while the Table is spread the King Himself may be present at it, and present all the time that it is so.
(2) Special care to be taken that there be nothing in us or by us to cause the time of His presence to be abridged.
(3) Diligent improvement to be made of His presence while it continues. The King’s golden sceptre being held out, believers to be ready with their petitions (Esther 5:2-3).
II. The RESOLUTION itself. ‘My spikenard sendeth (or hath sent) forth the smell thereof.’ Spikenard, a fragrant liquid produced from a lowly shrub of that name. Wont to be poured on the head of guests at table (Luke 7:46; Mark 14:3). This, and other perfumes, often carried about by Oriental ladies on their person. Shulamite had her’s in order to shew her devotion to her beloved—to do him honour, and to minister to his pleasure and refreshment. Her spikenard to give forth its fragrance only while the King reclined at his table or in the circle of his friends, when she should lovingly pour it on his head or even on his feet. Perhaps her language figuratively expressive of the effect the King’s presence had on her affections, in calling them into lively and ardent exercise. Her own love the sweetest spikenard to the King. Observe in regard to
The Believer’s Spikenard.
1. The believer has spikenard. A spiritual as well as a material spikenard. The soul or spirit capable of being pleased and regaled as well as the senses. Spiritual spikenard, that in an individual or in the Church at large, which is most pleasing and delightful to God, to Christ, and to holy souls. Such the fruits and graces of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, &c. (Galatians 5:22). Holy and spiritual affections exhibited in corresponding actions God’s delight (Psalms 37:23). The Philippians’ gifts to Paul, ‘an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing to God’ (Philippians 4:18). Believers’ prayers as incense (Psalms 141:2). These graces and virtues present more or less in every regenerate soul. The spikenard for the Lord’s table more especially—
(1) Faith in Jesus, as the Lamb slain;
(2) love to Jesus, kindled by the display of His dying love to us;
(3) Joy in Him as our God and Saviour, our husband and friend;
(4) Repentance and godly sorrow for the sins that caused Him to suffer;
(5) Self-dedication—‘O Lord, I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant and the son of Thine handmaid; Thou hast loosed my bonds’ (Psalms 116:16).
(6) Holy resolution, to live by His grace a life of obedience and devotedness to His service. These graces and their lively exercise agreeable to Christ as most fragrant perfume. Costly and precious as the work of the Spirit and the result of the Saviour’s own suffering and death. Symbolized in the frankincense and myrrh presented by the wise men to the new-born King, as well as in the spikenard poured on His head and feet by the hands of those whom He had saved.
2. The believer’s desire that his spikenard give forth its fragrance. Not sufficient that the spikenard is present. Of little use while still only kept close in the vessel. When Mary broke the box, the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. The graces of the Spirit to be not only in our souls, but in lively exercise. Hence the need of the prayer: ‘Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; and blow upon my garden (the garden of Christ in my soul), that the spices thereof may flow out’ (chap. Song of Solomon 4:16).
(3) His desire in order that Christ may receive both honour and delight. The object of the women who poured their spikenard on His head and feet. The desire of the loving believer that all he is and has, feels and does, be for the honour and gratification of his Saviour. The very spikenard all the King’s own, and ours only by his kind and kingly favour; therefore to be for the King’s own enjoyment. We have given Him the vinegar and gall to drink for our sakes; meet, therefore, we should give Him the fragrant spikenard of His own grace. Not only the spikenard itself His; but the emission of its fragrance due to His own presence. His manifested gracious presence like the gentle breeze that passes over the beds of spices, and causes them to exhale their sweets. Raises a cloud of sweet incense from the believer’s renewed heart. Sitting with Christ, we obtain something of Christ in our spirit and walk. The bride breathes no fragrance but what she imbibes from her beloved. The clay vessel scented by the perfume that fills it. Christ the sun that dissolves the spikenard and extracts its odour. His presence at the table, that which brought forth the fragrance of the women’s ointment. The believer’s graces at the King’s table do not so much impart sweetness to the King, as His presence there imparts sweetness to those graces. Hence, in relation to the Lord’s Table, the duty of believers—
(1) To have lofty views of Christ as ‘the King’;
(2) To think much of the King’s condescension and love, and of their high privilege in being permitted to occupy a place at His table;
(3) To pray earnestly that He may be pleased to be graciously present and to manifest Himself there to their souls;
(4) To see that there is nothing in themselves to hinder this;
(5) To be concerned that there be the Spirit’s graces to please and entertain Him;
(6) To seek that those graces be in full and lively exercise.
Song of Solomon 1:11-12, the Bride’s commendation of her beloved, and her declaration of her love. ‘A bundle (or bag) of myrrh is my well beloved unto me; he shall lie all night’ (or, ‘which remaineth’) &c. Observe how the Bride speaks of the King, ‘my well-beloved.’ So believers of Christ Jesus, the beloved of every believing soul. ‘Whom having not seen ye love.’ Christ’s gifts precious to the believers; but more precious Himself. Love the first and the last thing required by Christ of His people. The object of His greatest desire, and that for which He gave Himself. When well with the believer, no question with himself as to his love to Christ. ‘Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.’ Ardent love its own certificate.—Christ commended in the text under a two-fold comparison:—
I. A ‘Bundle of Myrrh.’ Myrrh a fragrant gum exuding from a tree growing in Eastern countries, employed for imparting fragrance to the person, and often for that purpose carried by Eastern females in the bosom (chap. Song of Solomon 3:6; Esther 2:12; Psalms 45:8). One of the chief spices in the East, and used in the composition of the Holy Anointing Oil (Exodus 30:23; Exodus 30:34). Christ a
Bundle of Myrrh.
1. In Himself. Includes in Himself all sweetness and fragrance. In Him a combination of all charms and excellencies. The totality of all graces and virtues resident in His person. Himself the concentration of all loveliness and sweetness. In Him a fragrance that fills heaven with delight. His person, names, titles, attributes, words and works, such as ought to diffuse joy in every sinner’s heart, and actually do so wherever they are known. Not half the sweetness that is in Jesus enjoyed even by those best acquainted with Him on earth. Yet in that which is enjoyed, a joy unspeakable and full of glory.
2. To the Believer. ‘Unto me.’ The language—
(1) Of knowledge and apprehension. The believer’s happiness to be made to apprehend the excellence and sweetness that is in Jesus. Christ revealed to him and in him by the Father. His eyes opened and anointed by the Spirit to ‘see that Just One.’ Made by faith to behold the King in His beauty. Enabled to testify from experience—‘Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into Thy lips.’ ‘We beheld His glory.’ Whatever He is to others, to them He is a bundle of myrrh. To them that believe, He is precious.
(2) Of choice and appropriation. Christ chosen and appropriated by the believer as his ‘bundle of myrrh’—his joy and treasure. Others choose the finite and fading creature for their ‘bundle of myrrh,’ which perishes in the using. Believers, with Mary, choose Christ. First chosen by Him, they next choose Him. Their choice and appropriation of Him vindicated in the words of the Bride—‘He shall lie all night (or simply’—which remains) betwixt my breasts.’ The reference rather to the bundle of myrrh than to the beloved himself, though indicating the bride’s feelings and purpose regarding him. Like the bag of myrrh that remained constantly in the bosom, he should have the most intimate place in the affections of her heart. The believer’s earnest desire and resolution to have Christ ever near him and ever with him—to enjoy His uninterrupted communion, to satisfy the longings of his soul with His presence and love, and never to part with Him. His desire expressed in the hymn:
“Abide with me from morn till eve;
For without Thee I cannot live.”
Christ appropriated not as a dress to be put on and off again, but as a perfume to be carried in the bosom day and night. The present world a night to believers (Romans 13:12). His personal coming brings the day. Himself the Bright and Morning Star. His spiritual manifested presence gives songs in the night. His presence and smile our bundle of myrrh. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace (John 16:33). Christians to be Christ-bearers. Not merely to wear His name but Himself. Not to carry a crucifix, or picture of Him on our person, but His living presence in our heart. That presence the secret of the believer’s fragrance. The bag of myrrh in the bosom perfumed the whole person. The Spirit and life sweet and savoury, only as far as we have Christ in us and with us.
II. A ‘cluster of camphor.’ Camphor, or more properly cypress, or henna, an Oriental plant whose fragrant flowers grow in clusters. The spikes or sprigs of it carried about by Eastern females for the fragrance. Engedi, with its vineyards, near the western shores of the Dead Sea, and famous for its aromatic herbs, the place where the best cypresses grew. Christ not only to believers as fragrant cypress, but a cluster of it; not merely a cluster of cypress, but of the best and most fragrant cypress to be found,—cypress in the vineyards of Engedi. In Christ a concentration of all graces and virtues, all sweetness and excellence. Abraham’s faith, Moses’ meekness, Job’s patience, David’s devotion, Solomon’s wisdom, Paul’s zeal, and John’s love, all united in Jesus in fullest perfection and concentrated strength. Christ in the world and in the Church like a cluster of cypress in the vineyard of Engedi. Whatever of excellence or sweetness found there, infinitely short of what is in Him. Nature lovely; Christ infinitively lovelier. Some men and women, especially believing ones, charming and attractive both in their spirit and their person. Christ incomparably fairer and more attractive than the children of men. Divine ordinances sweet and refreshing; Christ infinitely more so; and ordinances only sweet as Christ Himself is in them