Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant?
Parallel Translations
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Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant?
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Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?
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Who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?
Cross-references (22)
Passages linked to Song of Solomon 3:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Song of Solomon 8:5 Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I aroused you. There your mother conceived you. There she was in labor and bore you.
- Song of Solomon 1:13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, that lies between my breasts.
- Song of Solomon 4:6 Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense.
- Revelation 12:14 Two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, so that she might be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
- Deuteronomy 8:2 You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
- Song of Solomon 1:3 Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured out, therefore the virgins love you.
- Song of Solomon 4:12-14 My sister, my bride, is a locked up garden; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain. Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits, henna with spikenard plants, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree; myrrh and aloes, with all the best spices,
- Song of Solomon 5:5 I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock.
- Song of Solomon 5:13 His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
- Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
- Jeremiah 2:2 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
- Jeremiah 31:2 Yahweh says, “The people who survive the sword found favor in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.”
- Joel 2:29-31 And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit. I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.
- Revelation 12:6 The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that there they may nourish her one thousand two hundred sixty days.
- Exodus 13:21-22 Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night: the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, didn’t depart from before the people.
- Exodus 30:34 Yahweh said to Moses, “Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense. There shall be an equal weight of each.
- Matthew 2:11 They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
- Acts 2:18-21 Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days, I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the sky above, and signs on the earth beneath: blood, and fire, and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. It will be that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
- 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place. For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved and in those who perish: to the one a stench from death to death, to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
- Philippians 4:18 But I have all things and abound. I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, a sweet-smelling fragrance, an acceptable and well-pleasing sacrifice to God.
- Colossians 3:1-2 If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.
- Revelation 5:8 Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain This is referred to the Church of Israel, which…
This is referred to the Church of Israel, which was led by the wilderness forty years.
Hebrew, powder.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Son 3:6 Who [is] this that cometh out of…
Son 3:6 Who [is] this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?
Ver. 6. Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness?] "Who is this?" say the angels, those friends of the bridegroom, as some will have it, admiring the Church’s high expressions, and continual ascensions in her affection to Christ. But I rather think it is the voice of the bridegroom himself, ravished with the beauty and sweetness of his spouse, and wondering at his own comeliness put upon her; as well he may, for quantum mutatur ab illa. {a} Such a change he hath wrought in her, as never was known in any. {Eze 16:6-14} Moses married an Ethiopian woman, and could not change her hue. David married a scornful dame, a mocking Michal, and could not mend her conditions. Job’s wife continued to be, as it is said of Helena, after the Trojan troubles caused by her, η παλαι γυνη, the same woman still - no changeling she: but the Church and all her genuine children are strangely altered and metamorphosed - as the apostle’s word is {Rom 12:2, μεταμορφουσθε} - and this change is not moral, formal, merely mental, temporal, partial, but spiritual, real, universal, both in respect of subject and object; for it is an entire change of the whole man, from the whole service of Satan to the living and true God, in sincere obedience to the whole law, the whole course of his life throughout. A change so conspicuous and so stupendous, that not only strangers take notice of it, ξενιζονται, strange at it, {1Pe 4:4} and marvel much at the matter, saying, Who is this? {Mat 21:10} What is come to the man of late, that now it is, Ego non sum? But Christ himself stands wondering at his own work, as he did once in Nathanael, "Behold an Israelite indeed" {Joh 1:47} - an Ishmaelite by nature, but an Israelite by grace, as Gether, {1Ch 7:17 2Sa 17:3} and as before that in Araunah, that famous Jebusite. {2Sa 24:18 Zec 9:7}
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That cometh out of the wilderness,] scil., Of this world, fitly called a wilderness, for the paucity of good people in it - the wilderness of Judea, where John preached was so called, because but thinly inhabited - and plenty of bears and boars, lions and leopards, and other wild creatures, whereunto wicked men for their savageness are commonly compared in Scripture. This ascending of the Church out of the world, as Israel did out of Egypt, and their orderly marching through the wilderness into the promised inheritance is worthily called a wonderful separation. {Exo 33:16} And as that angel that appeared to Manoah, by ascending up in the flame of the altar, is said to do wondrously, {Jdg 13:19-20} so do the saints by their daily devotions, as so many pillars of smoke, elationibus fumi, aspiring to eternity, and coming up, as Cornelius’s prayers and alms did, "for a memorial before God." {Act 10:4} And albeit their best performances are as smoke, black and sooty in regard to infirmities and imperfections, yet they have a principle in them to carry them upward; they have also the high priest of the New Testament, not to present them only, but to perfume and scent them, as it is here, with myrrh and frankincense, and sweetest powders of the spice merchant - that is, with the merit and mediation of his own most precious passion, {Heb 9:24} those sweet odours poured as out of vials into the prayers of saints, {Rev 5:8; Rev 8:4} and so making both them and their services acceptable to his Father. And as he promised, {Joh 12:32} that "being lifted up" himself by the cross to the kingdom, he would "draw all his to him"; so we see it fulfilled in the saints, those heavenly eagles, soaring out of sight - lowly in their speeches, lofty in their actions, but especially in their affections carried above all earthly objects, {Col 3:2} and not content till they are gotten home to heaven; their commoration is here, their conversation above. These heavenly stars, though seen sometimes in a puddle, though they reflect there, yet they have their situation in heaven. These birds of paradise, though they may touch happily upon earth, yet they are mostly upon the wing, and those outward comforts and creatures are to them but scalae et alae, "wings, and wind in their wings," {Zec 5:9} to carry them upward. Let shallow men wonder at worldly things, as the disciples did at the huge and fair stones of the temple; {Mat 24:1-3} let them be nailed fast to the earth, as Sisera was by Jael; let them ever bow downward, as that woman in the gospel that had a spirit of infirmity; let them grovel and go upon their bellies and feed upon earth, as the serpent. {Gen 3:14} The saints are of another alloy; their "civil conversation (πολιτευμα) is in heaven," {Php 3:20} their political bent, aim, and fetch is for heaven; they are immortalitatis candidati, as the ancients called Enoch and Elias; they do paradisum mente deambulare, as Jerome bids the young hermit take a turn ever and anon in paradise, and after some serious thoughts of that blessed place they break out as Monica, Augustine’s mother did, into a Quid hic facio? What make I here? why hasten I not home to mine own country? They send up many pious ejaculations, many holy sallies, and as it were egressions of soul, many a humble, joyful, and thankful heart to God. Mittunt preces et lachrymas cordis legatos, as he saith, pillars of prayers, volleys of hearty wishes they send up continually, laying up treasure in heaven, and thinking long of the time or ere they get thither.
{a} Virg.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Who is this? the persons speaking seem to be…
Who is this? the persons speaking seem to be the daughters of Jerusalem, who, upon occasion of the bride’s speech to them, make this reply; or the friends of the Bridegroom. The person spoken of is the spouse or bride.
That cometh out of the wilderness; from the country, which, in comparison of cities, is oft called a wilderness, as Isa 42:11; Luk 1:80; 3:2, and elsewhere, from whence we little expected to see so beautiful and glorious a bride to come, such persons being usually bred in courts or noble cities. This phrase implies that believers were, and were to be, called out of the world, which for its barrenness, and disorder, and replenishment with wild beasts, may fitly be compared to a wilderness; and not only out of the Holy Land, which was as the garden of God, but also out of the Gentile world, which in prophetical writings is frequently described under the notion of a
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wilderness, as Isa 35:1; 43:19,20. Withal he seems to allude to the people of Israel, which to the wonder and astonishment of all those parts came up out of the wilderness into Canaan.
Pillars of smoke; to which the church may not unfitly be compared, partly for its excellent order and comely proportions; partly, for its direct and constant motion towards heaven; and partly, to imply that though she was really and inwardly glorious, yet she was outwardly obscure and despicable in the eyes of the world. Possibly the words may rendered thus, as with (which particle is very frequently understood, as hath been showed in divers foregoing texts)
pillars, or a pillar, (for the plural number is oft put for the singular,)
of smoke. And so the sense may be either,
1. Being conducted out of the wilderness as by a pillar of smoke going before them, as the Israelites were led through the wilderness to Canaan by a pillar of cloud and fire, Exo 13:21,22. Or rather,
2. Attended with many prayers and praises, and other holy performances, which are perpetually ascending from her and offered by her unto God. So he alludes to those pillars of smoke which all the day long ascended from those numerous sacrifices which were offered in the temple, which also was a type of the prayers of the saints offered by Christ unto his Father, as may be gathered from Rev 8:3-5. But this I only propose.
Perfumed: this doth not belong to the pillars, as appears by the difference of the numbers in the Hebrew words, the pillars being plural, and this word singular; but to the person, to wit, the spouse, who is said to be thus perfumed, partly, for her good name or renown, which is compared to perfumes, Ecc 7:1; partly, for her excellent virtues and religious services, which are pleasant and acceptable to God, and to angels, and to men; and partly, for the merits and graces of Christ, which are a sweet savour to God, Eph 5:2, and wherewith she is enriched and beautified.
Powders of the merchant; which are fetched by the merchants from Arabia, or other remote parts of the world, for the use of perfuming.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Who - The persons speaking seem to be the…
Who - The persons speaking seem to be the daughters of Jerusalem, who upon occasion of the bride's speech to them, make this reply. The person spoken of is the spouse. Wilderness - Believers were to be called, not only out of the holy land, which was as the garden of God, but also out of the Gentile-world, which in prophetical writings is frequently described under the notion of a wilderness. Pillars - Being conducted out of the wilderness as by a pillar of smoak going before them, as the Israelites were led through the wilderness to Canaan, by a pillar of cloud and fire. Perfumed - The spouse is said to be thus perfumed, for her excellent virtues and religious services which are pleasant and acceptable to God, and for the merits and graces of Christ, which are a sweet savour to God, wherewith she is enriched and beautified. Of merchants - Which are fetched by the merchants from Arabia, or other remote parts.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. Who is this that cometh out of…
Verse 6. Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness] Going to Egypt was called descending or going down, coming from it was termed coming up. The bride, having risen, goes after her spouse to the country, and the clouds of incense arising from her palanquin seemed like pillars of smoke; and the appearance was altogether so splendid as to attract the admiration of her own women, who converse about her splendour, excellence, &c., and then take occasion to describe Solomon's nuptial bed and chariot. Some think that it is the bridegroom who is spoken of here.
With this verse the third night is supposed to end.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Son 3:6. Who is this, &c. — The persons…
Son 3:6. Who is this, &c. — The persons speaking seem to be the daughters of Jerusalem, who, upon occasion of the bride’s speech to them, make this reply. The person spoken of is the spouse: that cometh out of the wilderness — Believers were to be called, not only out of the holy land, which was as the garden of God, but also out of the Gentile world, which, in prophetical writings, is frequently described under the notion of a wilderness: like pillars of smoke — Being conducted out of the wilderness as by a pillar of smoke going before them, as the Israelites were led through the wilderness to Canaan, by a pillar of cloud and fire: perfumed with myrrh — The spouse is said to be thus perfumed, for her excellent virtues and religious services, which are pleasant and acceptable to God, and for the merits and graces of Christ, which are a sweet savour to God, wherewith she is enriched and beautified: with all the powders of the merchants — Which are fetched by the merchants from Arabia, or other remote parts.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The principal and central action of the Song; the…
The principal and central action of the Song; the bride’s entry into the city of David, and her marriage there with the king. Jewish interpreters regard this part of the poem as symbolizing the “first” entrance of the Church of the Old Testament into the land of promise, and her spiritual espousals, and communion with the King of kings, through the erection of Solomon’s Temple and the institution of its acceptable worship. Christian fathers, in a like spirit, make most things here refer to the espousals of the Church with Christ in the Passion and Resurrection, or the communion of Christian souls with Him in meditation thereon.
Son 3:6-11
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Two or more citizens of Jerusalem, or the chorus of youths, companions of the bridegroom, describe the magnificent appearance of the bride borne in a royal litter, and then that of the king in festive joy wearing a nuptial crown.
Son 3:6
“wilderness” is here pasture-land in contrast with the cultivated districts and garden-enclosures round the city. Compare Jer 23:10; Joe 2:22; Isa 42:11; Psa 65:12.
Pillars of smoke - Here an image of delight and pleasure. Frankincense and other perfumes are burned in such abundance round the bridal equipage that the whole procession appears from the distance to be one of moving wreaths and columns of smoke.
All powders of the merchant - Every kind of spice forming an article of commerce.
Son 3:7
Bed - Probably the royal litter or palanquin in which the bride is borne, surrounded by his own body-guard consisting of sixty mighties of the mighty men of Israel.
Son 3:8
Because of fear in the night - i. e., Against night alarms. Compare Psa 91:5.
Son 3:9, Son 3:10
A stately bed hath king Solomon made for himself of woods (or trees) of the Lebanon. The word rendered “bed” occurs nowhere else in Scripture, and is of doubtful etymology and meaning. It may denote here
(1) the bride’s car or litter; or
(2) a more magnificent vehicle provided for her reception on her entrance into the city, and in which perhaps the king goes forth to meet her.
It has been made under Solomon’s own directions of the costliest woods (ceda and pine) of the Lebanon; it is furnished with “pillars of silver” supporting a “baldachin” or “canopy of gold” (not “bottom” as in the King James Version), and with “a seat (not ‘covering’) of purple cushions,” while “its interior is paved with (mosaic work, or tapestry of) love from (not ‘for’) the daughters of Jerusalem;” the meaning being that this part of the adornment is a gift of love, whereby the female chorus have testified their goodwill to the bride, and their desire to gratify the king.
Son 3:11
Daughters of Zion - So called here to distinguish them from the bride’s companions, who are always addressed by her as “daughters of Jerusalem.”
His mother - Bathsheba 1Ki 1:11. This is the last mention of her in sacred history.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Who. The female companions of the spouse, (Calmet) or…
Who. The female companions of the spouse, (Calmet) or the bridegroom’s friends, (Menochius) admire her at a distance, chap. vi. 9., and viii. 5. (Calmet) --- The converted Gentiles change the desert of the world into a paradise, by their good works, which ascend like a perfume. (St. Gregory) They admire their own conversion, and proclaim that we must fight for heaven, (Worthington) and adore Christ, the God-man; imitating all his virtues, (Haydock) and preaching his gospel. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 6. Who is this that cometh, etc. — The…
6. Who is this that cometh, etc. — The scene of action now changes. The royal pavilion, in which the king and his court were enjoying the pleasure of a country sojourn, is exchanged for the capital and its palace. The division opens with the return of the royal train to the city.
From the most conspicuous theme presented in this division, it may be called the Vision of Love, but this title would not apply to every thing herein contained.
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The speakers at first are citizens along the principal street of the city. Perfumes have always been burned at the head of processions in the East. They seem to be used, as we use music, to give eclat, that is, dignity and impressiveness, to the occasion.
Out of the wilderness — Better, From the fields, the open country.
Powders — That is, aromatics. The trade of perfumery is an important one to this day in the East, requiring large capital. Palestine furnishes some articles of perfumery, Arabia more, while some choice aromatics come from India. To collect, convey, and make sale of all these, was a large and distinct business.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. Who is this that cometh out] In the…
6. Who is this that cometh out] In the Heb. as it stands, this is feminine, and the participles coming up and perfumed are in agreement with it. Hence many hold that the verse is spoken of a woman, either of a princess whom Solomon, even in the midst of his wooing of the Shulammite, is about to marry, or of the Shulammite, who is seen approaching Jerusalem with Solomon as her husband in a bridal procession. But it need not necessarily be so. This may be taken as neuter, the fem. often representing the neuter, as there is no special neuter form in Heb. In that case the translation here would be literally ‘Who is that which cometh up?’ This is strictly parallel to Esau’s question to Jacob, Gen_33:8, “Who is all this camp?” i.e. ‘Who are the human beings in it?’ (Cp. Davidson, Heb. Synt. § 8, R. 1, and Ewald, Heb. Synt. E. T. p. 196.) This view is more in accord with the following words: for, obviously, the procession is too remote to permit of the spectators who speak here knowing that any lady in it is perfumed with myrrh, &c. It must, therefore, be the thing seen, not any person, which is perfumed. The idea is that something surrounded with incense, naturally supposed to be perfumed, is approaching. “The pomp is like that of a procession before which the censer of frankincense is swung” (Del.). Son_3:7 tells us that this is the miṭṭâh of Solomon.
out of the wilderness] i.e. from the pasture lands as distinct from the cultivated lands. This is quite unintelligible on Budde’s hypothesis. Cp. Appendix ii, § 9.
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like pillars of smoke] This expression strengthens the view taken of the last clause. This which is like pillars of smoke cannot be a person, but must be a litter or procession which is overhung by, or surrounded with, columns of smoke. The word for columns tîmǎrôth occurs again in the O.T. only in Joe_2:30 (Heb., 3:3). The LXX translate it by στελέχη, ‘trunks’ of smoke, evidently connecting the word with tâmâr, ‘a palm tree,’ to which a rising column of smoke has a great resemblance. It spreads out only at the top of the column-like stem, like a palm tree above its trunk. More probably, however, it is derived from a verb yâmar = ’âmar, the original meaning of which was ‘to rise high.’
perfumed] Lit. incensed, i.e. having incense burnt before it. The couch or litter, or the procession, is having perfume burnt before it, viz. myrrh and frankincense. For the former cp. ch. Son_1:13, and for the latter Tristram, Nat. Hist. p. 355. Frankincense is the gum of a tree which grows in the hill country of India, the Boswellia serrata of botanists. Probably it came to Palestine through Arabia, cp. Isa_60:6. The resin is obtained by simply slitting the bark.
with all powders of the merchant] i.e. with all the aromatic preparations which the wandering merchants brought from foreign lands.
Chap. Son_3:6-11. The King’s Return
King Solomon must be supposed to be coming from Jerusalem, to the royal residence in the North where the Shulammite is, or to be returning thither after an absence. Apparently he comes in special splendour, seeking to overawe her thereby. She notices the approaching train, and asks what it may be, Son_3:6. In the remaining verses a watchman or attendant tells her that it is the litter of Solomon surrounded by his guards, Son_3:7-8. He then describes the litter, Son_3:9-10, while in Son_3:11 he exhorts the court ladies to go forth to see the king in all his splendour, crowned as he was by his mother in the day of his espousals. In Son_3:6 the speaker might be a spectator or the watchman, but the fact that in every one of the lyrics hitherto the Shulammite has spoken leads us to suppose that she is the speaker here.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (6) Who is this that cometh.—The dramatic feeling is…
(6) Who is this that cometh.—The dramatic feeling is decidedly shown in the passage introduced by this verse, but we still regard it as a scene passing only in the theatre of the fancy, introduced by the poet in his Epithalamium, partly from his sympathy with all newly-wedded people, partly (as Son_8:11) to contrast the simplicity of his own espousals, of which all the joy centred in true love, with the pomp and magnificence of a royal marriage, which was a State ceremony.
Wilderness.—Heb., midbar. The idea is that of a wide open space, with or without pasture: the country of nomads, as distinguished from that of a settled population. With the article (as here) generally of the desert of Arabia, but also of the tracts of country on the frontiers of Palestine (Jos_8:16; Jdg_1:16; comp. Mat_3:1, &c). Here = the country.
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Like pillars of smoke.—The custom of heading a cortege with incense is both very ancient and very general in the East: probably a relic of religious ceremonials where gods were carried in processions. For Frankincense, see Exo_30:34.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Ver. 6-ch. Isa_40:3 Hos_1:1-6 Psa_68:8) The Church must pass…
Ver. 6-ch. Isa_40:3 Hos_1:1-6 Psa_68:8) The Church must pass through the wilderness to her royal home, and the soul must be led out of the wilderness of sin and unbelief into everlasting union with her Lord.
Vers. 6-11. The espousals.
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I THE APPROACH OF THE BRIDE.
1. The question. "Who is this?" We have here one of those refrains which form a striking characteristic of the song. The question, "Who is this?" (the pronoun is feminine, "Who is she?") is three times repeated. (ver. 6 Son_6:10 Son_8:5) It indicates always a fresh appearance of the bride. Here the words seem to be chanted by a chorus of young men, the friends of the bridegroom. They are struck with admiration at the beauty of the bride, and the royal state bestowed upon her by the king. She is coming up to Jerusalem from the distant Lebanon country, here described as the wilderness which word in the Hebrew Scriptures often means, not a desert, but a thinly populated country, fit for feeding flocks, a pasture land. She comes like pillars of smoke perfumed with myrrh and frankincense. Perfumes are burned around her in such profusion that pillars of smoke appear to attend her progress. The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. She is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. She comes up from this lower world to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. The incense of adoration and thanksgiving rises as she moves onward. She is the holy Catholic Church, the great congregation of Christian people dispersed throughout the whole world. But the Church is made up of individual Christian souls. And that the Church may come as a whole to Christ the Bridegroom, each soul must come personally, individually. The soul cometh up out of the wilderness, out of the far country, where the world, the flesh, and the devil rule; up to Mount Zion, to the city of God, where is the true temple, where God is worshipped in spirit and in truth, where he manifests himself to them that seek him. And the prayer of the faithful, as they draw ever nearer, is set forth in God"s sight as the incense, and the lifting up of their hands as the evening sacrifice. The Lord is pleased, in his infinite condescension, to regard our poor prayers when lifted up in faith as holy incense, (Rev_8:3, Rev_8:4) because the great High Priest is praying for us. Our poor prayer joins itself through the power of faith with his prevailing prayer, and therefore rises up before the throne as a pillar of sweetest incense smoke, acceptable to God through Christ. The thought that God is pleased so to honour the prayers of the faithful, that he condescends to seek such worship, worship offered up in spirit and in truth, makes prayer a very sacred thing. The approach of the Christian soul to God is very solemn. The soul cometh out of the wilderness, away from its old haunts; it is ascending up to Mount Zion, to the presence chamber of the King of heaven; it must come with reverence and godly fear, remembering that God"s presence is very awful as well as very blessed; it must come with the perfume of holy thoughts and heavenly aspirations, with the offering of prayer and praise rising up like the smoke of holy incense before the mercy seat.
2. The bed of Solomon. The chorus calls attention to the litter (for such seems here to be the meaning of the word) in which the bride is borne in her progress to the royal city. "It is his litter," they say. They add the royal name itself, "Behold his litter, which is Solomon"s," to give emphasis to the honour bestowed upon the bride. The king has sent his own litter to convey his bride to the palace, the palanquin in which he himself was carried. It was King Solomon"s; it is the bride"s, for the king has given it to her. God has given us all things, St. Paul says. (Rom_8:32) If only we are Christ"s, then all things are ours the world, life, death, things present, things to come. (1Co_3:21, 1Co_3:22) And the Lord himself says, "The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them". (Joh_17:22) It is his will that his chosen should be with him where he is. He gives them now all that is necessary to convey them thither. "God rode upon a cherub". (Psa_18:10) The Lord will "send his angels... and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other". (Mat_24:31) The angels carried the soul of Lazarus into Abraham"s bosom. But we may learn here another very solemn lesson. The litter of Solomon bore the bride up to Mount Zion; the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ brings the Christian soul to heaven. The Lord was lifted up upon the cross. Several ancient writers tell us that in Psa_96:10 the earliest reading was, "The Lord hath reigned from the wood. " The cross is his throne; it drew, and still draws, all faithful souls to him; it has lifted him up to reign over the hearts of all the best and truest. It behoved him first to suffer, and then to enter into his glory. "He humbled himself even unto the death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly exalted him". (Php_2:9) And he brings his elect to God by the same way which he trod himself. The cross lifts the Christian soul to God. "Nearer my God, to thee, Nearer to thee; E"en though it be a cross That raiseth me.
The Christian is "crucified with Christ". (Gal_2:20) He is lifted up by the cross of atonement, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then by the cross of spiritual self-sacrifice, the cross borne with Christ, into the very presence of the King. Nothing else can bear him thither. He must pray, "Thy will be done," before he asks, "Give us this day our daily bread." He must learn from the suffering Lord the inner meaning of his own holy prayer. "Not my will, but thine be done." He must remember that the cross is the cross of Christ; that the Lord, who was himself lifted up upon the cross, sends the cross to his followers to lift them also upwards; that, purified and refined by holy self-denials, and by suffering meekly borne, they may at length be with him where he is, and behold his glory, and sit with him in his throne. (Rev_3:21)
3. The guard. The king had sent his own guard to escort the bride to her new home. King David had a guard of thirty mighty men; Solomon, it seems, had double the number. All were expert in war; all bore the sword because of fear in the night. From Psalm 10, especially vers. 7-10, we learn that parts of Palestine were in David"s time dangerous from bands of brigands. The king had cared for the safety of the bride; the escort was not given her merely for honour. So now the Lord giveth his angels charge over his people to keep (to guard) them in all their ways; so now "the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth. (Psa_91:11 Psa_34:7) They "shall not be afraid for the terror by night", (Psa_91:5) for "they that be with us are more than they" that be against us. (2Ki_6:16) The description of the armed guard reminds us that we too have to fight the good fight of faith, that we have to wrestle "against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness". (Eph_6:12) We have to take to ourselves the panoply of God, the armour of light; like the mighty men of Israel who guarded the bride, we must take "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." That sword will save us from the "fear of the night," because it is "through patience and comfort of the Scriptures" that we have. (Rom_15:4) Thus the Holy Scriptures are not only the sword of the Spirit; they furnish us also with hope, the hope of salvation, which is the helmet of the Christian warrior. To gain that sword and that helmet we must study the Word of God in faith; that living faith which (St. Paul tells us) is the shield whereby we may "quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." If we do our part, quitting ourselves like men, fighting manfully under the banner of the cross, we need fear no evil. Our angel guard, sent forth because of them that shall be heirs of salvation, called in Holy Scripture "their angels," because they have charge over them, as well as God"s angels, because he is their God and King, will ever encamp around us and keep us till we appear before God in Zion.
II THE KING GOES FORTH TO MEET THE BRIDE.
1. The chariot of the king. The bride approaches in a litter sent for her by the king. Solomon himself goes forth to receive her in his car of state. He had had it made according to his own plans, with that artistic skill and magnificence which were characteristic of him. It was made of the fragrant and imperishable cedar wood brought from Lebanon, the country of the bride. Its decorations were of the richest gold and silver, and the costly Tyrian purple; in the midst was a tessellated pavement, a gift of love from the daughters of Jerusalem. The bride, the Lamb"s wile, shall have the glory of God. (Rev_21:9, Rev_21:11) When she is "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband," then, we are told, "the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God". (Rev_21:3) When Christ, the true Solomon, the Prince of Peace, shall bring his bride, the Church, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the foundation of peace, he will manifest himself to her in his glory. Now he is interceding for us, that then we may be with him where he is, that we may behold his glory. Then, if we are his indeed, we shall see him as he is, and shall be made like unto him. (1Jn_3:2) It was a great thing for the poor bride from the Lebanon to be brought into the court of the king whose magnificence filled the Queen of Sheba with wonder and delight. But "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him". (1Co_2:9) None can tell the blessedness of those happy souls who, having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, "shall see the King in his beauty"; (Isa_33:17) shall sit with him in his throne amid the glories of the golden city; shall see his face, and his Name shall be in their foreheads. Heart of man cannot conceive the exceeding great joy of that moment of most entrancing bliss, when the heavenly Bridegroom shall bring home the Church, his bride. King Solomon issued out of Jerusalem in royal pomp to meet his betrothed. When the marriage of the Lamb is come, "the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord". (1Th_4:16, 1Th_4:17)
2. The glory and great joy of the king. The chorus calls upon the daughters of Zion to go forth and see the splendour of the royal espousals. King Solomon has brought home his bride; his heart is glad; his mother has crowned him with the royal diadem; he is happy in the love of his bride. The Prophet Isaiah comforts Zion with the blessed promises that "as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee" "Thou shalt no longer be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah "my delight is in her, and thy land Beulah "married: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married". (Isa_62:4, Isa_62:5) So the Lord "Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for her; that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word,: that he might present her to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that she should be holy and without blemish". (Eph_5:25-27) It was for the joy set before him that Christ endured the cross. (Heb_12:2) The Lord bringeth home the lost sheep rejoicing. He saith, "Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep that was lost" "Rejoice with me!" And they do rejoice, the Saviour of the world and the holy angels round his throne. The Lord"s exceeding great love for our poor dying souls makes the salvation of those souls very precious in his sight. Nothing can show the depth and tenderness of the blessed love with which he yearned for our salvation except the great agony of Gethsemane, the awful anguish of the cross. Therefore the day of the resurrection of the blessed will be a day of joy in heaven. "Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready". (Rev_19:7) He is King of kings, and Lord of lords; on his head are many crowns. (Rev_19:12, Rev_19:16) His virgin mother saw him once wearing the crown of thorns; now he wears the crown of boundless sovereignty. He had come down from heaven to seek his bride; now she is with him in his glory. "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied". (Isa_53:11)
Vers. 6-11. "Solomon in all his glory.
(For explanation of details in these verses, see Exposition.) We have set before us here such glory as pomp and splendour, strength and power, great riches and sensual pleasure, could give. All that in which Solomon delighted, and for which his name became famous. Now, these things suggest
I A GREAT TEMPTATION. They were so:
1. To Solomon, for he yielded to it. All that these things could do for him he enjoyed to the full. The tradition of "Solomon and all his glory" came down through the centuries that followed. And the like things are a great temptation to men now. What will they not do for them? They were the last of the temptations with which Satan tempted our Lord. And to the good, the temptation of them lies in the suggestion that was doubtless made to the mind of our Lord so much good may be done by them; they will so help in establishing the kingdom of God. His mind was, we may well believe, absorbed with the question how the great work he bad come to do, the establishment of this kingdom, could be accomplished. And here was the point and force of this temptation. To yield to it would have been as if he had fallen down and worshipped the evil one. Hence he spurned both it and him. And still "in the multitude," not of "words" only, but even more of riches, "there wanteth not sin." Therefore these things are not to become the object of desire in a good man"s soul.
2. They were designed to tempt her of whom this song tells. Solomon would dazzle her with his splendour and wealth, and so would make her "forget" her "kindred" and her "father"s house;" for the king desired her beauty. And in like manner the same temptation is held out still. For the sake of these things what sacrifices are made of loyalty and truth and goodness! She resisted by the might of her affection for her "beloved;" the power of her true love enabled her to overcome. And only the presence in our hearts of a higher love, and, best of all, the highest, even the love of God, will drive out and overcome all lower and evil love.
II A GREAT LACK. There is nothing in all this glory of pomp and wealth which marks the presence of those Godward riches which alone are real; nothing to satisfy the soul of man or to help it in its life. The soul might starve, as Solomon"s did, in spite of all this glory; and, on the other hand, the soul can prosper well though it can call none of this glory its own. We cannot help desiring earthly riches they are designed in due measure to attract and stimulate us; and they will do us no harm if we are careful, all the while we seek them, to be rich towards God; to possess, as we may, "the unsearchable riches of Christ." But poor and miserable is that soul, though he have all Solomon"s glory, if he have not these.
III A VIVID TYPE. This is what expositors in all ages have mostly seen in the pomp these verses describe. Some have seen a setting forth of the glory of Christ on his return to heaven. He comes up out of the wilderness of this dreary world. The incense of praise, fragrant and precious, is given to him. He is borne in stately triumph. (cf. Psa_24:7-10) He is attended by his angel guards. He has prepared a place for them that love him, and will receive them unto himself. All who love him are to go forth and behold his glory. Thus the triumph of Jesus, the King of Zion, is shown forth. Others have read in these verses the unseen glory of the redeemed soul. He comes up out of the wilderness, as Lazarus was carried by angels into Abraham"s bosom. The entrance into glory is with joy and praise. Angel guards surround. The King hath prepared a place, a throne his own throne on which the redeemed with their Lord shall sit. Love Christ"s love has paved all the way. The vision of Christ in his glory which the redeemed shall enjoy. In such ways as this have devout souls found this Scripture full of profit; in this or in other ways may we find it likewise. S.C.
Vers. 6-11. The King coming to his capital.
In Asiatic lands wheeled carriages were rare, and are rare still. This is accounted for by the absence of roads. To construct and maintain roads through a hilly country like Palestine required more engineering skill than the people possessed; and further, there was a general belief that to make good roads would pave the way to military invasion. Hence all over Palestine the pathways from town to town were simply tracks marked out by the feet of men and beasts. Over the level plain of Esdraelon Ahab might ride in a chariot; but if Solomon brought up wheeled chariots from Egypt he had a prior undertaking, viz. to make a road from Beersheba to the capital. Therefore travelling princes rode in a covered palanquin, which served to screen from the hot sun by day, and became a bed at night. Owing to the scorching heat, much of the journey would be taken during the cool hours of night, and hence the need for a strong bodyguard. Before the rapt imagination of the sacred poet such a scene passed. The stately procession arrested his attention, and he asks, "Who is this?" What great king is this? Such is the poetic imagery. Now, what is the religious instruction? It is the march of Christ through the ages a march beginning with the wilderness and terminating, with his coronation in the new Jerusalem. Though he has been long hidden, the day is coming when the King of Zion shall be revealed to the eyes of men, and he shall "be admired by all who love his appearing.
I OBSERVE THE MARCH OF CHRIST TO HIS GLORIOUS THRONE.
1. His lowly beginning is indicated. "He cometh out of the wilderness." This is how he appeared to the onlooker. His prior state was hidden from mortal eye. So far as men saw, Jesus began his strange career in the cattle manger of a stable. The world to him was a wilderness, void of all attractiveness. In this respect he followed the fortunes of ancient Israel, for they too had first the wilderness, then the "land flowing with milk and honey." When Jesus began his mission, human life was a veritable wilderness. The beauty and joy of Eden had departed. On every side raged jealousies, hatreds, strifes. The civilized world was under the iron despotism of Rome. The prophets of God had ceased to speak. Hope of a golden age had almost died out, except in a few believing hearts. The glory of Greece and Tyre had waned. The human race was on the verge of reckless despair. Our earth was reduced to a desert.
2. Christ"s coming was fragrant with heavenly hope. Even in the loneliest desert there are some living plants, and these ofttimes possess aromatic essences. The shrubs are storehouses of fragrant spice. The sweetest perfumes come from the Arabian desert. Such things abate the mischief of noxious miasma. Rare perfumes refresh the senses, and betoken noble rank. The mightiest King did not despise the sweet odours of myrrh and frankincense. So neither did Jesus Christ treat with contempt the simple virtues and courtesies of the people. Ha stooped to learn from the lips of Jewish rabbis. He gave his benediction to the wedding feast. He was pleased with the gratitude of a poor leper. He commended the brotherliness of the despised Samaritan. He accepted the hospitality of peasant women. He praised the generosity of a poor widow. A sweet and refreshing savour pervaded all his words, all his deeds. From his cradle to his grave he was perfumed with frankincense and myrrh.
3. His coming was a conspicuous thing. The procession was seen afar off. Possibly the flame of torches during the night march sent up in front and in rear huge pillars of smoke. Or possibly clouds of dust from that dry soil rose from the feet of the host, and in that clear, transparent air was seen thirty or forty miles away even from the hills of Zion. Anyhow, the procession is seen from a distance. Curiosity is aroused. Many eyes are turned to the novel spectacle, and the question leaps from lip to lip, "Who is this?" So, too, the progress of Jesus through our world has excited the wonder of successive generations. When he read the Scripture in the rustic synagogue of Nazareth, men asked, "Who is this?" When he fed the five thousand on the mountain side, or ruled nature with a nod, they asked, "Who is this?" When, on the Day of Pentecost, the whole city was thrilled with astonishment, men asked, "Who is this?" At Corinth, at Ephesus, at Antioch, when multitudes left their idols for the new faith, men asked, "Who is this, whose onward march is so kingly, so triumphant?" And still they ask in the bazaars of India and in the temples of China, "Who is this?" His march is the march of a Conqueror: the King of kings, because he is the Prince of Peace.
II OBSERVE HIS BODYGUARD.
1. This is a token of peril. But the peril is not that of open war. If a bannered host should oppose his march, he would meet it with his invincible forces. Michael and all the powers of heaven would fight his battle. It is not open war. The foes in the desert are Ishmaelites; They seek for plunder. They make sudden and covert attack in the night. So has it been in the progress of our Immanuel. From the band of his own disciples the traitor came, and came by night. The priests of Jehovah were his worst foes. Professed friends, like Ananias and Sapphira, have stabbed his cause in secret. The persecutors of his gospel have usually laid their plots in the dark. Atheists and hypocrites have been his bitterest foes. The enemies to the cause of heavenly truth still lie in ambush.
2. Variety of service can be rendered to our gracious King. There were some who bore on their shoulders his palanquin; some who carried torches; some who perfumed his Person; some who wielded swords in his defence. And various service is needed still. If one cannot be a general on the battlefield, he may be an armour bearer. He who cannot fight in the ranks can be a sentinel at the gate or a watchman on the tower. The child wanting yet in martial strength may be fleet of foot as a messenger. If too old for field service, we can be mighty at the throne.
3. The life guards are well equipped. "They all hold swords." And in the service of Immanuel the sword is keen and has a double edge. In the olden time a Damascus blade had great renown; but the sword of truth is forged and furbished in heaven, and has a penetration which is irresistible. If once we get this sword of truth into a man"s conscience, it does exploits there. The tongues with which we speak winsomely and graciously of our King is a two-edged weapon. The pen is mightier than the sword, and the tongue of fire is mightier than the pen. The Word of the Lord is invincible.
4. All service is useful in this Kings progress. It made the march a more imposing spectacle. It silenced the murmurers and the scorners. Does Jesus Christ require human service? He has chosen such plans of warfare as require various agencies of man. He prefers to work through feeble and imperfect men, for thereby he confers blessing on friends and on foes at once. Through exercise our spiritual energies become more robust. Through service our faith and love are tested. The more fervid zeal we bring to our Master"s cause, the more honour crowns his head. We serve the King, we serve the human race, we serve ourselves, at one stroke. Loving service is the richest spiritual perfume.
III NOTE HIS PALANQUIN. It is made of cedar wood from Lebanon; the bed is gold, the pillars are silver, the curtains are resplendent with imperial purple.
1. This carriage, or palanquin,may fitly represent for us the covenant of grace. In this our Immanuel rides triumphantly. In order to set this forth so as to impress the dull senses of humanity, the most precious things of earth are used as metaphors. As cedar is the richest and hardest among timber, as gold and silver are the costliest of metals, as the purple colour was selected for royalty, these material splendours feebly adumbrate the eternal covenant of redemption. Nothing on earth can adequately express it. It is notable for its antiquity; notable for its rarity; notable for its splendour; notable for its usefulness. As the palanquin must be made worthy of a king, the covenant of grace is well worthy of our God. To save is his eternal purpose.
2. The curtains were the handiwork of virgins. "Worked by the daughters of Jerusalem." All through the East, women are despised, down-trodden, treated as an inferior race. If in Western lands women are ennobled and honoured, it is wholly due to the grace of our King. So from the very beginning Jesus intimated that the service of women would be acceptable. He was dependent on an earthly mother"s care. Once and again, women ministered to him "of their substance." The deed which he predicted should be known throughout the world was the deed of a woman. Women gathered round his cross in sweetest sympathy, while others laughed and jeered. Women performed the last acts of care for his dead body. Women were the first to greet him on the resurrection morn. "In Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female.
3. These curtains and carpets are adorned with emblems of low. Our version says, "paved with love." It should rather be, "inwrought with symbols of love." Just as in our day men use the form of a heart, or the figure of a fire, to denote warm and genuine love, so some device of love was interlaced in the manufacture of these curtains by the deft fingers of devoted women. It is not more true that we rest in Christ"s love than the converse, he rests in our love. "If any man love me, he will keep my commandments: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and will make our abode with him." To the same effect we read, "that Christ may dwell in your hearts." Love has a thousand devices for expressing itself.
IV MARK THE ADORATION WHICH BEFITS THE KING. "Go forth, ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon." In some respects David was the type of Christ. "He was despised and rejected of men," and yet a mighty king. But, in respect to the magnificence of his kingdom and the peacefulness of his reign, Solomon better prefigures Jesus.
1. To appreciate Jesus as King we must know him. "Go forth, then, and behold him." Look into his excellences. Examine his claims to Kingship. Note carefully the unstained purity of his character. Behold his hands, bearing the marks of the nails marks of love! Behold his feet, firm "as fine brass; as if they glowed in a furnace," and set upon the serpent"s head. Behold his heart, still pulsating with everlasting love for the fallen sons of men. Learn well all his kingly qualities; for no true loyalty, no complete consecration, can spring up in us until we know him.
2. Note especially that he is crowned. He is appointed to this supreme throne as the world"s King by the Eternal Father. "By the right hand of God he is exalted." Yet the symbols of his reign we place upon his head. On his head are already "many crowns." Every ransomed sinner is another ornament in the diadem of our King. Never did king wear such a crown as this. He is crowned already with world wide renown. Every thorn in that crown, which impious mockers thrust upon his brow, is now transmuted into a ray of peerless glory. Today kings and princes bow before him, and already his "enemies lick the dust." From a hundred empires the shout ascends, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!" We do not hail and welcome him simply as the Victim of the cross; we bow to him as our soul"s true King.
3. This coronation of Jesus is attended with gladness of heart. It is not always so. Sometimes the heir to a nation"s crown is very unfitted to wear it. He is too young to sustain its cares. He would prefer a life of pleasurable ease. Or the crown itself may be disgraced. The throne is planted with sharpest thorns. The empire is reeking with discontent. That coronation may be no better than a crucifixion. Not so with King Jesus. To be crowned means success for his great redemptive mission. "For the joy that was set before him he endured the cross." As his grief was unexampled, so shall be his joy. The globe shall be his empire. Because his capacity for joy is infinite, his joy shall rise until the Capacious heart is fall. The joy will be eternal, because the triumph can never be reversed. D.
Vers. 6-11. The bridal entry.
The pomp of Oriental poetry is nowhere more dazzling and imposing than in this passage, where is depicted the procession of the royal bride, who is escorted with magnificent accompaniments, and welcomed into the metropolis with universal and cordial joy. Expositors have seen in this gorgeous picture a description of the dignity and beauty of the Church, the bride of Christ. The incense rising in perfumed clouds heralds the approach of the bridal procession. The palanquin which contains the bride is of the cedar of Lebanon; silver pillars support its canopy of gold, and the hangings and drapery are of costly purple. The palanquin itself is the provision of the king"s munificence, and the ornaments are the gift of the wealthy ladies of Jerusalem. Accompanying the festive procession is an escort of armed and valiant warriors, not only for security, but for state and dignity. The royal bridegroom meets and joins the cortege, having upon his head the crown of festivity and happiness, for it is the day of his gladness of heart. The daughters of Jerusalem go forth from the city to join in the welcome, and to swell the number and add to the dignity and attractiveness of the bridal train. "Which things are an allegory.
I THE CHURCH IS SUMMONED TO QUIT THE WILDERNESS OF THE WORLD, AND BECOME THE BRIDE OF CHRIST.
II THE CHURCH IS INVESTED BY DIVINE LIBERALITY WITH ALL THAT CAN CONTRIBUTE TO HER SPIRITUAL GLORY.
III THE CHURCH IN HER PASSAGE THROUGH EARTH IS ACCOMPANIED WITH THE INCENSE OF DEVOTION AND OF SERVICE.
IV THE CHURCH IS ENVIRONED WITH DIVINE PROTECTION.
V THE CHURCH IS THE OBJECT OF CHRIST"S AFFECTION AND THE OCCASION OF HIS JOY.
VI THE CHURCH IS REGARDED BY ANGELIC INTELLIGENCES WITH THE DEEPEST INTEREST AND SATISFACTION.
VII THE CHURCH IS ASSURED OF AN ETERNAL HOUSE IN THE FAVOUR AND COMMUNION OF THE DIVINE KING. T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness?
Son_3:6-11
Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness?
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The royal pair in their glorious chariot
Great princes in the East are in the habit of travelling in splendid palanquins, which are at the same time chariots and beds. The person reclines within, screened by curtains from public view; a bodyguard protects the equipage from robbers, and blazing torches light up the path along which the travellers proceed. King Solomon, in this Song, describes the Church of Christ, and Christ Himself, as travelling through the world in such a palanquin. The day is coming when both our Divine Lord and His chosen bride shall be revealed in glory before the eyes of all men.
I. The magnificent progress, the glorious on-going of the Church and her Lord through the world (Son_3:6). The equipage excites the attention of the onlooker; his curiosity is raised, and he asks, Who is this? The true Church of God is a stranger and pilgrim still; an alien and a foreigner in every land; a speckled bird; a dove in the midst of ravens; a lily among thorns. The ignorance of men concerning spiritual things is not, however, caused by the darkness of the things themselves, for Christ and His Church are the great lights of the world. When great personages travelled in their palanquins, and more especially in marriage processions, they were attended by a number of persons who, at night, carried high up in the air burning cressets which gave forth a blaze of light. Sometimes these lights were simply torches carried in the hands of running footmen; at other times they were a sort of iron basket lifted high into the air, upon poles, from which went up a pillar of smoke and flame. Our text says, Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke? a beautiful illustration of the fact that wherever Christ and His cause are carried, light is a sure accompaniment. High lift your lamps, ye servants of our Lord. High lift up the Cross of the Redeemer; for in Him is light, and the light is the life of men. But you will tell me that our text rather speaks of pillars of smoke than of sparkling lamps. The smoke is but the effect of the flame, and even the pillar of smoke is luminous. What is the smoke that has attended the Church? What but the deaths of her martyrs, the sufferings of her confessors, the patient endurance of her valiant sons? Wherever she goes, the thick smoke of her suffering goeth up to Heaven. It often happens that Oriental monarchs of immense possessions are not content with burning common coals in these cressets, but frequently consume sandalwood and other woods which give forth a delightful smell; or else, if they use ordinary coals, they sprinkle upon them frankincense and myrrh, so that a delicious perfume is spread on all sides. In the olden times, they also went to great expense in obtaining drugs, which the merchants collected from all parts of the earth, and these were carefully compounded into the renowned powders of the merchants, which yielded a delicious variety of delicate perfumes, not to be produced by any one aromatic essence. Our inspired poet describes the travelling procession of the royal pair, and fails not to dwell upon the delightful perfume of myrrh and frankincense, with all the powders of the merchant, which make the wilderness smell as a garden of roses. Wherever the Church of Christ proceeds, though her pathway is a desert, though she marches through a howling wilderness, she scatters the richest perfume. Among the ten wonders which Jewish tradition ascribes to the temple, we find that the rain never extinguished the fire of the wood which was laid in order upon the altar, nor did the wind ever conquer the pillar of smoke so as to disperse or bend it. Verily it is so with the Church of God, as she cometh out of the wilderness: who shall quench her flaming lamp, or stay the incense of her golden censers. Ride on, Great Prince, and bear Thy spouse with Thee in Thy majestic chariot, till Thou hast lit the world with Thy Divine light, and hast made it a temple filled with a cloud of incense of sweet smell to the nostrils of Jehovah!
II. The security of Christs Church at all times. Of course when travelling through a wilderness, a royal procession was always in danger of attack. Arabs prowled around; wandering Bedouins were always prepared to fall upon the caravan; and more especially was this the case with a marriage procession, because then the robbers might expect to obtain many jewels, or, if not, a heavy ransom for the redemption of the bride or bridegroom by their friends. What shall I say of the attacks which have been made upon the Church of Christ, and upon Christ Himself? They have been incessant. We know that Christs cause in the world is always safe because of Divine protection, and because the lemons of Gods angels keep watch and ward over the saints. But we have something more tangible than this. Our gracious God has been pleased to commit unto men the ministry of Christ. Unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. The Lord ordaineth that chosen men should be the protectors of His Church; not that they have any power as of themselves to do anything, but He girdeth the weak with strength and maketh the feeble mighty; so then, men, even the sons of men stand in array around the travelling palanquin of Christ, to guard both the bridegroom and the bride. Read the 7th and 8th verses carefully, and you will notice that there are enough swordsmen. Threescore valiant men are about it. There are always enough men chosen of God to guard the Church. Observe that these warriors are men of the right mettle. Yes, says poor trembling Little-Faith, we have hosts of men, but they are not like, the great-hearts of old; they have not the qualifications which the age requires. Ah! but remember, about the bed of Solomon there are threescore valiant men; and glory be unto my Master, while I may not flatter the ministry, I must not dishonour Him by believing that He has left His Church without valiant defenders. Ah! I think I hear you say, but though there may be so many men, and men of the right sort, I am afraid they are not in the right place. Look again at the text. It is written, Threescore valiant men are about it; that is, there are some on that side, and some on this, some before, and some behind; they are all round the travelling chariot of Christ. I wish there might be one in our parish, says one. Pray for Him, and He who has promised to send you all good things may yet send him to you. Notice that these men are all well armed. They all hold swords. What swords are these? Every valiant man in Christs Israel holds the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Besides this, and here is an opportunity for you all to carry swords--every valiant man in Gods Israel carries the sword of prayer, which is comparable to those huge two-handed swords of the olden time, which the soldier lifted up and brought down with such tremendous force as to cleave a man in halves: prayer is a weapon which no man can effectually resist. Further, these men are not only well armed, but they are well trained. They are all expert in war; men who have endured temptations themselves; men whose souls have been exercised; men who have slain both the lion and the bear, and are men of war from their youth. Further, these men were not only well trained, but you will see that they were always ready. Each man has his sword upon his thigh, ready to be drawn forth. Observe also that these men were watchful, for they had their sword on their thigh because of fear in the night. They never sleep, but watch always for the Churchs interest. Pray ye that the Lord may raise up many such, who night and day with tears shall watch for the souls of men, and against the enemies of our Israel.
III. The excellency of this chariot in which Jesus rides. It is not difficult to convey to persons the most unacquainted with Eastern manners and customs, an idea of what this palanquin is. It is a sort of large sedan in which one or two persons may recline with ease. Of course, this palanquin could not be made of gold or silver, because then it would be too heavy for carriage; it must be made of wood; hence King Solomon made a bed, or chariot, or palanquin, of the wood of Lebanon. Then there needs to be four pillars supporting the covering and the curtains; the pillars thereof are of silver. The bottom of it should be something massive, in order to sustain the weight of the person; the bottom thereof is of gold. The canopy on the top is a covering of purple. Since to lie on gold would be very unpleasant, it is covered with delicate, daintily wrought carpets; and so we have the bottom thereof paved, or rather carpeted with love for the daughters of Jerusalem. Some delicate devices of needlework adorn the bottom of this bed-chariot in which the king and his spouse recline during their journey. The doctrines of the Gospel are comparable, for their antiquity, for their sweet fragrance, for their incorruptibility, to the wood of Lebanon. The Gospel of Christ never decays; Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Not one single truth bears any sign of rot. And to those souls that are enlightened from above, the Gospel gives forth a fragrance far richer than the wood of Lebanon. As for the silver pillars which bear up the canopy, to what should I liken them but to the attributes of God which support and guarantee the efficiency of the great atonement of Christ beneath which we are sheltered. There is the silver pillar of Gods justice. He cannot, He will not smite the soul that hides beneath the Cross of Christ. Then stands the next, the solid pillar of His power. They shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand; My Father which gave them Me is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of My Fathers hand. Then on the other side is the pillar of His love, a silver pillar, indeed, bright and sparkling to the eye; love unchanging and eternal, strong as the power and fast as the justice which bear up the canopy on the other side. And here on this side stands immutability, another column upon which the atonement rests. If God could change, then might He cast away His blood-bought; but because I am God and change not, therefore, ye sons of Jacob, rejoice. As for the covering of the chariot, it is of purple. I need not tell you where it was dyed. No Tyrian hues are mingled here. As for the bottom of this palanquin, which is of gold--may not this represent the eternal purpose and counsel of God, that purpose which He formed in Himself or ever the earth was? Then, to make this all soft and pleasant to recline upon, here is pavement of needlework. Soft cushions of love on which to rest. These is a double meaning here, for both the bride and bridegroom find rest in love. Our Lord finds rest in the love of His people. Here will I dwell for ever. They do, as it were, make these carpets of needlework in their love and affection for Him, and in their trust and confidence in Him; and here He rests. On the other hand, our Beloved spent His life to work for us our bed of rest, so that we must translate it love of, as well as love for the daughters of Jerusalem. We rest in Christs love; He rests in our love.
IV. The duty of every believing heart in connection with the subject. Let every believer, while he recognizes himself as part of the Church inside the palanquin, yet look upon himself personally as one of the daughters of Zion, and let us each go forth this morning to meet King Solomon. He is the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and therefore is He King Solomon going forth. Get up from your beds of sloth; rise from your chambers of ease; go forth, go forth to pray, to labour, to suffer; go forth to live in purity, leaving Babylon behind; go forth to walk with Him alone, leaving even your kinsfolk and acquaintance if they will not follow with you. Wherefore tarriest thou at home when the King is abroad? Behold the Bridegroom cometh, come ye forth to meet Him, and behold King Solomon. To-day let your eye rest upon Him. Let your eye behold the head that to-day is crowned with glory, wearing many crowns. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christs ascension
The simile is a most striking one. When Christ was on earth, He came, as it were, to a wilderness. He lived in the wilderness while here, in the desert, on the mountain-top. It was at His ascension that He appeared as pillars of smoke rising out of the earthly wilderness. When He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And when we consider who it was that ascended--the well-beloved Son of God, in whom the Father was well pleased, in whom His soul delighted, who finished His work on earth--we see still further the propriety of the figure. The smoke was not the smoke of offensiveness, but the fragrance of perfume, the smoke of the sweet-smelling incense, filling both earth and heaven with fragrance.
I. Christs ascension is the consummation of his work.
1. It was not complete until this had taken place. Before His crucifixion He was working out our salvation and accomplishing the purposes of His Father. When in the grave He was under the dominion of death. After His resurrection He was still in this world of sin and sorrow. But when He ascended into heaven the whole work He had undertaken to perform was carried to a fitting conclusion.
2. We must bear in mind that when Christ ascended into heaven it was not merely a return to the place He came from. He came from heaven a spirit, an essence. He returned, the same spirit indeed, but bearing with Him a human body. His ascension, then, was rather the entrance of renewed manhood into the presence of God, the admission of justified humanity into the kingdom of heaven.
II. Christs ascension was the earnest of our personal blessings. Two important objects were to be especially assured to us.
1. The preparing a place--I go that I may prepare a place for you. What this preparation involved we cannot exactly say.
2. The giving His Spirit--in other words, preparing us for the place.
3. The officiating as High-Priest.
III. Christs ascension was a suitable reward to His work. (Homilist.)
Like pillars of smoke.
Pillars of smoke
The architecture of the smoke is wondrous, whether God with His finger curls it into a cloud or rounds it into a dome, or points it in a spire, or spreads it in a wing, or, as in the text, hoists it in a pillar. In the first place, these pillars of smoke indicate the suffering the Church of God has endured. The smoke of martyrs homes and martyrs bodies if rolling up all at once would have eclipsed the noonday sun, and turned the brightest day the world ever saw into a midnight. Has persecution ceased? Ask that young man who is trying to be a Christian in a store or factory, where from morning to night he is the butt of all the mean witticisms of unbelieving employees. Ask that wife whose husband makes her fondness for the house of God, and even her kneeling prayer by the bed-side, a derision, and is no more fit for her holy companionship than a filthy crow would be fit companion for a robin or a golden oriole. For the body, thanks to God, there are now no swords or fiery stakes, but for the souls of thousands of the good, in a figurative sense, rack and gibbet and Torquemada. The symbol of the domestic and social and private and public suffering of a great multitude of Gods clear children, pillars of smoke. But nothing can be more beautiful than the figures of smoke on a clear sky. You can see what you will in the contour of this volatile vapour, now enchanted castles, now troops of horsemen, now bannered procession, now winged couriers, now a black angel of wrath under a spear of the sunshine turned to an angel of light, and now from horizon to horizon the air is a picture-gallery filled with masterpieces of which God is the artist, morning clouds of smoke born in the sunrise, and evening clouds of smoke laid in the burnished sepulchres of the sunset. The beauty of the transfigured smoke is a Divine symbol of the beauty of the Church. The fairest of all the fair is she. Her mission is to cover the earth with a supernatural gladness, to open all the prison-doors, to balsam all the wounds, to moss all the graves, to burn up the night in the fireplace of a great morning, to change handcuffs into diamonded wristlets, to turn the whole race around, and whereas it faced death, commanding it, Right about face for heaven! According to the number of the spires of the churches in all our cities, towns and neighbour-hoods, are the good homes, the worldly prosperities, and the pure morals, and the happy souls. According as the churches are numerous are the crimes few. According as the churches are few the crimes are numerous. The most beautiful organization the world ever saw or ever will see is the much-maligned Church, the friend of all good, the foe of all evil, fair as the moon and clear as the sun. Beautiful in her Author, beautiful in her mission, the heroine of the centuries, the bride of Christ, the queen of the nations! Through her gates will march all the influences for good that shall ever reach our world. Take its membership as a mass, not speaking of the acknowledged exceptions, they are the noblest, grandest, kindest, best men and women of the ages. But for them the earth would long ago have been a burned-out volcano. They have been the salt that has kept the human race from putrefaction insufferable either to human or angelic olfactories. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Son_3:7. Behold his bed which is Solomon’s ‘His bed,’…
Notes
Son_3:7. Behold his bed which is Solomon’s ‘His bed,’ מִטָתוֹ (mittatho) from נָטָה (natah), to stretch or recline. Not the same word as in verse first, which properly expresses a place for lying down upon. The word here generally understood to denote a palanquin or litter. A bed of repose, especially used by the rich (Amo_6:4). Same as the ‘chariot’ in verse ninth, where it is described as; now before the eyes of spectators. EWALD. A royal bridal chariot or palanquin, afterwards called a ‘chariot.’ STUART. A travelling litter. FAUSSET. A portable bed. DELITZSCH. For the conveyance of the bride. HARMER. A palanquin of State large enough to convey both the Bride and Bridegroom. WILLIAMS. A common vehicle in which the great are carried throughout the East. COBBIN. The bed in which Solomon rests and is conveyed. HAHN. Only such a bed as the Bride used to be carried in from her father’s house to that of her Bridegroom. WILLIAMS. A throne which, in the East, was in the form of a bed or couch. PATRICK. A palanquin, sedan, or portable vehicle, in which Kings in the East used to be carried when on a long journey; also a sort of pleasure couch, or sofa, on which they reposed by day when fatigued with business, or after a repast (Est_7:8; Gen_47:31). Sometimes also used instead of מִשְׁכָּב (mishcab), the bed used at night for sleeping on (2Sa_4:5; Psa_132:3). WEISS. ‘His bed;’ as used by him alone. BROUGHTON. AS made by him. SANCTIUS. ‘Which is Solomon’s’ (שֶׁלִּשְׁלֹמֹה shelli-shelomoh.) The relative שָׁ, with a suffix, gives an intensive signification. ZÖCKLER. His bed, namely, that of him who is Solomon—the bed of Solomon himself. MERCER. Solomon’s own palanquin. WILLIAMS. A form of expression not elsewhere found in the O. T.; but proper here, as used by the common people. EWALD. Of the King whose name is Peace. RABBINS. The name of Solomon in the Song to be taken historically of King Solomon. GENEBRARD. The Bridegroom’s palanquin and attendance Compared to that of Solomon. SANCTIUS. Describes the pomp of an earthly King, and probably Solomon’s own royal state. BRIDE OF CHRIST. Though Solomon be named, a greater than Solomon is here. DR. CHALMERS. Solomon as the type of Messiah. MIDRASH. In the seventy-second Psalm, Solomon viewed as the Messiah. TARGUM, ABEN EZRA, KIMCHI, RASHI. Solomon’s bed the Temple built by Solomon. TARGUM. The Tabernacle of the congregation and the Ark, which were carried in the wilderness. RASHI The Ark of the Covenant brought by David to Jerusalem. WEISS. The Scriptures. THEODORET. Christ Himself in which the soul rests. AMBROSE. The Church in which Christ rests. PHILO, GREGORY, BEDE. The Temple of His body. COTTON, BROUGHTON. His humanity or His Cross. APONIUS. The loving, devoted soul. GREGORY. The hearts of the elect. COCCEIUS, AINSWORTH. Historically, refers to Jesus returning from the wilderness, full of the Holy Ghost. M. STUART. His grave; His, as new. DAVIDSON.
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Son_3:9. King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon. ‘A chariot’ אַפְרְיוֹן aphreyon, a palanquin, or portable bed; probably from פָרה ‘to be borne quickly.’ GESENIUS. According to the Talmudists, a bed, or nuptial couch, from פָרָה ‘to be fruitful.’ EWALD and DELITZSCH derive the word from פרח (Arabic ּׁ to cleave, labour, elaborate: the chariot elaborately made as a state coach; more so than the bed, or travelling litter, in Son_3:7. So FAUSSET. COCCEIUS supposes that the Greek word here used (φορε͂ιον) might have come from the Hebrew through the Phœnician. The Syriac renders the word a throne; WICLIFF, a chair; COVERDALE and MATTHEWS’ Bible, a bedstead; CRANMER and BISHOPS’, a palace: GENEVA, a chariot; DOUAI, a chariot or bed. PISCATOR: A couch. MONTANUS. A bridal bed. PAGNINUS: An edifice. MUNSTER: A palace. The FIGURINE: A canopy. VATABLUS: A tent. MERCER: A portable couch, in which the Bride was carried for display. BRIGHTMAN: A chariot, showing his Majesty before the multitude. JUNIUS and TREMELLIUS: A throne. PATRICK: An open chariot, with a bed or cushion. GILL: Used in the Mishna for a nuptial bed, or open chariot, in which the Bride was conveyed from her father’s house to that of her husband. WILLIAMS: A palanquin of state, probably large enough to carry both the Bride and Bridegroom. GOOD: A bridal couch. M. STUART: A royal bridal chair, or palanquin, borne on men’s shoulders. DEL RIO. The Latin name (ferculum), a conveyance used by the Romans for carrying the spoils or tokens of victory before the conqueror in a triumph; here something carried for show. HITZIG: A conveyance distinct from the מַטָּה, or bed, in Son_3:7; Solomon riding in that, while the Bride rode in this. ZÖCKLER: A portable couch, or litter; identical with the מַטָּה or bed, according to Rabbinical traditions and ancient versions, spacious enough to afford room for Solomon and Shulamite; though the former probably rode in a less showy vehicle by her side. Variously allegorized. TARGUM: The Temple. ABEN EZRA: The Holy of Holies. ALSHECH: The Tabernacle of witness. WEISS: The Throne-chamber, or Holy of Holies, with the Ark and the Cherubim, called ‘the chariot’ (1Ch_18:1-17). M. STUART: Account agrees with the Tabernacle, more especially with the Holy of Holies and Ark of the Covenant, borne on the shoulders of the Levites, like an eastern palanquin. FAUSSET: The Temple as compared with the Tabernacle, typical of Christ’s body. THEODORET: The Apostles who carried Christ’s name to the Gentiles. RUPERT and MERCER: The Word of God. GREGORY, AMBROSE, &c.: The human nature of Christ. WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY and M. STUART: The person of Christ. GREGORY, DEL RIO, DAVIDSON: Christ’s Church and people; the renewed believing soul in which He dwells. SANCTIUS, COCCEIUS, DURHAM: The work of the Covenant of Redemption. GILL, SCOTT: The Covenant of Grace. THRUPP: The Cross of Christ. WILLIAMS: The Gospel in its onward progress. HENGSTENBERG: The means by which Christ brings the nations into His kingdom CHALMERS: May relate to the glories of heaven, and of His own person.
The Marriage Procession
SCENE SECOND. Place: A street in Jerusalem, with a royal Litter, guarded by a company of soldiers, seen in the distance. Speakers: Citizens of Jerusalem.
CHAPTER Son_3:6-11. Son_3:6-8
FIRST CITIZEN
Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness,
Like pillars of smoke,
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
With all powders of the merchant?
SECOND CITIZEN
Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s:
Threescore valiant men are about it,
Of the valiant of Israel.
They all hold swords,
Being expert in war;
Every man hath his sword on his thigh,
Because of fear in the night.
THIRD CITIZEN
King Solomon made himself a chariot
Of the wood of Lebanon;
He made the pillars thereof of silver,
The bottom thereof of gold,
The covering of it of purple,
The midst thereof being paved with love
For the daughters of Jerusalem.
The question probably asked by one citizen or company of citizens, and answered by another in reference to the Bridal Palanquin and Procession seen advancing towards Jerusalem from the country. Marriage processions in the East accompany the Bride on her way from her own dwelling to the house of the Bridegroom or his father; the Bride herself being concealed by a curtained canopy, called the Huppah, borne by four men holding it by a pole at each corner. The procession, accompanied by parties of musicians, generally occupies three or four hours or more, moving slowly, and taking a circuitous route for the sake of display, while aromatics are frequently burnt in honour of the occasion. When the procession is at night, it is to accompany the Bridegroom—usually to and from some house of prayer—and is then illuminated by torches or burning cressets, and other lights fixed at the top of poles, and carried by men on their shoulders, the inhabitants of the place usually pressing out into the streets to enjoy the sight. The name of Solomon connected in the context with the title of King, a sufficient indication that it is the marriage of Solomon, the king of Israel, that forms the picture or emblem in the allegory. His anticipated espousals with Shulamite now about to take place. The procession attracts the notice of the citizens of Jerusalem, who are able to discern it at a distance, and make their remarks to one another. ‘Who (or what) is this,’ &c.? The scene recalls the inquiry of the same citizens when Jesus, a few days before His crucifixion, made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, amid the acclamations of the multitude: ‘Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord’ (Luk_19:38). ‘All the city was moved, saying, Who is this? (Mat_21:10). The inquiry in the text, and the description in reply to it, applicable rather to the Bridal Couch, Litter, or Palanquin, including at the same time the party conveyed in it. Exhibits, under various aspects, the Church or believer, as the
Bride of Christ.
1. Coming up from the wilderness. Believers chosen out of the world. In it, but no longer of it. Like Israel, the typical and Old Testament Bride, coming up out of Egypt and the wilderness to Canaan. A wilderness between the Bride of Christ and her heavenly home. While others take up their abode in it, the Bride makes her way out of it. The mark of Christ’s Bride that she seeks ‘a better country,’ has her ‘conversation (or citizenship) in heaven,’ and sets her ‘affections on things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God’ (Heb_11:16; Php_3:20; Col_3:1).
2. Perfumed. Believers possessed of a two-fold perfume:
(1) The merits of the Bridegroom. Made accepted in the Beloved. Christ made to those who are in Him wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, as well as redemption (1Co_1:30). Christ Himself the divine merchant, from whom the heavenly aromatics are to be obtained. ‘I counsel thee to buy of Me.’ ‘Buy without money and without price.’ The Lord well pleased ‘for His righteousness sake.’ The ‘much incense’ added to the prayers of believers by the Angel of the Covenant, who presents them to the Father (Rev_8:3). Believers wrapped in the perfumed garments of their Elder Brother, and so obtain the blessing (Gen_27:15; Gen_27:27).
(2) The graces of the Spirit. Those who are Christ’s possess His Spirit. Have put on Christ. Receive out of His fulness grace for grace. Believers made fragrant both to God and man by the fruits of the Spirit produced in them—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, &c. (Gal_5:22, &c.). The works of faith and services of love performed by believers through the Holy Spirit in them, a sweet smelling savour to the Lord (Php_4:18). The spiritual perfume that anointed the King shed also upon His Bride (Psa_133:2).
3. On their way to the marriage Supper of the Lamb, and the home prepared for them by the Beloved. Like Shulamite, on their way to the nuptials to be celebrated in the New Jerusalem, when the Bridegroom comes ‘to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe’ (2Th_1:10). The heavenly Bridegroom gone to prepare a place for His Bride in His Father’s house, and in due time to come again, and receive her to himself (Joh_14:2). Believers at His coming caught up to ‘meet the Lord in the air,’ and so are ‘for ever with the Lord’ (1Th_4:17). The public reception and presentation of them to the Father, as His Bride, to be followed by the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev_19:7-9).
4. A spectacle and object of interest to angels and men. Into these things the angels desire to look. To principalities and powers in the heavenly places is made known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God (1Pe_1:12; Eph_3:10). Believers, living as such, the object of attention, if not of attraction, to the world around them. ‘They took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.’ The remark of the heathen in reference to the early believers: See how these Christians love one another! The people ‘magnified’ the Pentecostal Church at Jerusalem, while unbelievers were afraid to ‘join themselves unto them’ (Act_4:13). Believers made conspicuous by their heavenly deportment, as far as they possess the spirit of their Master, and live in His fellowship. Spiritually-minded Christians a marvel and a mystery to their fellow men. ‘Men wondered at.’ Christian and Faithful passing through Vanity Fair, gazed and wondered at ‘as outlandish men.’ Believers, as such, unlike the world in their principles, practice, spirit, views, experiences, hopes. The difference, that between the flesh and the spirit. Believers, as such, both unknown and misknown by the world (1Co_2:15; 1Jn_3:1). The Church of believers going up from the wilderness, compared to
‘Pillars of Smoke.’
1. Pillars or columns of smoke have an upward motion and tendency. Their direction towards heaven, whither they are constantly ascending. So believers, risen with Christ, seek the things that are above. The part of a believer to have his affections, desires, aims, hopes, &c., on things above. ‘Our conversation is in heaven. Their heart where their treasure is.
2. Such columns seen at a considerable distance. Believers a city set on a hill. Lights in the world. Men to be able to see their good works, so as thereby to glorify their Father in heaven. The world to be able to take knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus. ‘Epistles of Christ known and read of all men.’ The heavenward aims and heavenly life of believers, that which makes them most observed by a world which only ‘minds earthly things.’
3. Yet the foundation of these pillars invisible. The smoke ascends from a fire which is unseen. In the Allegory, the smoke probably that ascending from the incense burned as the procession advanced. The source of a believer’s spiritual and heavenly life hidden from the eyes of the world. That source Christ Himself, and the fire of His Spirit in the heart. ‘I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ ‘Not I, but the grace of God which was with me.’ ‘Your life is hid with Christ in God.’ A hidden fire, kindled by the Holy Ghost, burns in the believer’s heart. The smoke seen, but not its source.
4. Such pillars constant and continuous in their ascent. The believer’s spiritual life and heavenward aim habitual and abiding. Not existing for a day or a month, but through life. The path of the just as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day (Pro_4:18). The believer no mere Sabbath-day saint. The mark of a false heart to serve God on Sundays, and the world during the rest of the week. Believers not heavenly in the Church, and earthly in the ball-room. A man known not by what he is sometimes, and by fits and starts, but what he is habitually. A Christian discovered, not by temporary feelings or spasmodic acts, but by the even tenour of his way (Joh_8:31).
5. Yet their ascent not always uniform and undisturbed. The column of smoke always ascending, yet subject to agitation and disturbance from the wind. The spiritual life of a believer not always alike, either in appearance or experience. Subject to disturbing influences, both from within and without. Such influence, natural corruption; the daily trials and temptations of life; the unwearied efforts of an invisible enemy. The work of a believer’s life to guard his spirit against these influences, and to preserve the heavenward tendency of his thoughts and affections, and the heavenly character of his temper and conduct.
Solomon’s Bed or Bridal Palanquin.
‘Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s, &c.
The ‘bed,’ litter, sedan or palanquin, probably the same as the ‘chariot’ described in the subsequent verses. Prepared by Solomon for himself; that is, for the conveyance of his Bride from her father or mother’s house to his own, where the nuptials were to be celebrated; and perhaps for the conveyance of himself on the same occasion. Guarded, as became a royal marriage, by an escort of the king’s select troops, to prevent either danger or disturbance by the way; especially as the journey required to be made, in part at least, during the night. May be viewed as emblematic of
The Covenant of Grace,
as administered both in the Old and New Testament dispensations; in the former, through a system of typical ordinances, including a typical priesthood and a typical tabernacle and temple, (these last perhaps specially referred to by the ‘bed’ and ‘chariot,’—the same, and yet in some respects different,) accompanied with a succession of inspired prophets; in the latter, by means of spiritual ordinances and various gifts of the Spirit, with the ministration of divinely instituted office-bearers, some extraordinary and temporary, as apostles and prophets; others ordinary and permanent, as evangelists, pastors and teachers. The Covenant itself, in substance, that made with Abraham: ‘I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee.’ Circumcision appointed to him and his natural male offspring, as the sign or token of the covenant; ‘a seal of the righteousness which he had by faith;’ afterwards, in the New Testament Church, replaced by the simpler rite of Baptism. The Covenant made with David: ‘He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things; and sure’ (2Sa_23:5), offered to all in the Gospel: ‘Incline your ear and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David’ (Isa_55:3). Proclaimed by Peter on and after Pentecost: ‘The promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even to as many as the Lord our God shall call.’ ‘Ye (Jews) are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed’ (Act_2:39; Act_3:25). Called a New Covenant, as under a new administration, and especially as distinguished from that made with Israel as a people at Mount Sinai. Promised as a New Covenent by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer_31:31, &c.). The promise applied by Paul to the time subsequent to the death and ascension of Christ (Heb_8:4-13). The covenant sealed by the blood or death of Jesus. The cup in the Lord’s Supper, symbolical of that blood, called by Himself the ‘cup of the New Testament (or Covenant) in my blood’. Its special blessings,—divine teaching, pardon, adopt ion, and sanctification (Heb_8:10-12). Hence, called a better covenant, and established upon better promises than that made with Israel at Mount Sinai (Heb_8:6). Christ the Mediator and Surety of the Covenant (Heb_7:22; Heb_8:6; Heb_9:15; Heb_12:24). The covenant made with all who are saved, on their believing in Jesus and accepting the Gospel offer. Believers hence called ‘Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise’ (Gal_3:29). Observe, in relation to the ‘bed’ or ‘chariot’—
1. It was made by Solomon himself. ‘Solomon made himself a chariot.’ Christ the Mediator of the Covenant of Grace. The Covenant ratified and its blessings procured by His atoning death. The Covenant offered by Him in the Gospel, and made by Him with all who believe and accept of it (Isa_55:3). The whole of its administration in the New Testament dispensation, with its ordinances, offices, and gifts, directly from Him as the Church’s Head (Eph_4:7-11; Mat_28:18-20; 1Co_11:23).
2. Made by Solomon for himself. ‘Made himself a chariot.’ The special object of it the comfortable conveyance of his Bride to her future home. The covenant of grace devised by a Triune God, the Son as well as the Father and the Spirit, for the salvation of the Church, given to the Son as His Bride. The ordinances, gifts, and offices, for the gathering in, building up, and perfecting of the redeemed (Eph_4:12; Eph_5:25-28). Christ’s glory connected with the salvation of His Church (Joh_17:1-2).
3. Well guarded. The chariot, with the Bride in it, during its passage through the wilderness, accompanied by a chosen guard of military, well armed, and of dauntless courage, ‘because of fear in the night’. ‘The period of the Church’s passage through this world to her heavenly home a time of ‘night’—of darkness, danger, and discomfort. Hence placed by her divine Lord under the escort of an angelic guard. ‘The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.’ Angels that excelinstrength,—‘ascending and descending upon the Son of man,’—sent forth ‘to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation’ (Heb_1:14; Joh_1:51). Hence the death of a persecuting Herod (Act_12:1-23). The Church placed also under the care of those to whom it is given to watch for their souls ‘as those that must give account’ (Heb_13:17). Such set for the defence of the Gospel, that its truth may continue with the Church in its purity and integrity, and by the skilful use of the ‘sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,’ to contend earnestly ‘for the faith once delivered unto the saints’ (Php_1:17; Gal_2:5; Jud_1:3).
4. Worthy of its author and object. ‘Made of the wood of Lebanon’—cedar, both durable and fragrant. Its ‘pillars of silver,’ supporting the canopy at its four corners. Its ‘bottom,’—seat for reclining on, or back for leaning against,—of gold. Its ‘covering’ or hangings, of purple or scarlet. Its ‘midst,’ or bottom, paved with love, for (or by) the daughters of Jerusalem,’—covered with a carpet, probably adorned with embroidered love-emblems and mottoes, the work of the hands of the Ladies of the Court.—The Covenant of Grace an ‘everlasting covenant.’ The ordinances by which it is administered, for perpetual observance till the Lord’s second appearing. His presence with His Church and servants in the administration of it, ‘even unto the end of the world.’ The Lord’s Supper to be observed until He Himself shall come. The ordinances of the Old Testament dispensation having a temporary design, superseded by those of the New, when that design had been accomplished. The tabernacle and temple with their furniture, distinguished, like the ‘chariot,’ for their durable materials (including cedar), and the gold and silver of which they were composed; the veil of ‘blue, purple, scarlet, and fine-twined linen’ (that of the temple also adorned with embroidered cherubims), and the covering of the tabernacle of ‘rams’ skins dyed red,’ overlaid with badgers’ skins,—all figures of ‘good things to come,’ of which divine ‘love’ is the beginning, middle, and end (Joh_3:16; Eph_5:25, &c.).
No journeying to heaven for sinful men but in this chariot of love. Every portion of the blood-bought Bride of Christ brought into it through the knowledge and belief of the truth which it is designed to proclaim. A place in it offered by Christ to every sinner through the voice of the Bride whom it conveys (Rev_22:17). The chariot passes by wherever the Gospel is preached, with an invitation even to the chief of sinners to accept of Jesus as their Saviour, Bridegroom, and King, and to enter it as a portion of His Bride. Unspeakable blessing to have a place in this Bridal chariot of the King of Kings. Terrible consequences of slighting the invitation (Heb_2:3).
THE ROYAL MARRIAGE
Son_3:11
CITIZENS, calling to the Women of Jerusalem
Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion,
And behold King Solomon;
With the crown wherewith his mother crowned him;
In the day of his espousals,
And in the day of the gladness of his heart.
The bridal procession now supposed to have entered the city, and to be either passing along the street, or to have arrived at the palace. The language sufficiently indicative that the royal marriage is now taking place in the poem, or about to do so. That marriage the point to which the previous events in the Song were preparatory steps. This verse, therefore, to be regarded as the central part of the poem. The king exhibited as already wearing the nuptial crown or chaplet, such a crown being worn in the East by the bridegroom as well as the bride, and usually placed on his head by his mother, if still surviving. The royal marriage naturally an object of special interest and attraction to the citizens, more particularly the king himself, its central figure.
The espousals of Israel’s king with Shulamite a picture of the marriage of the Lord Jesus Christ with His Church at His second coming, when His Bride shall have ‘made herself ready’ (Rev_19:7). On that infinitely solemn and glorious day of the King’s espousals, those who ‘have fallen asleep,’ but whose already perfected spirits shall come with Him to be reunited to their raised and glorified bodies, as well as those who shall be ‘alive and remain to His coming,’ being ‘in a moment’ changed and glorified without tasting of death, shall be ‘caught up to meet the Lord in the air,’ and to go with Him into the new Jerusalem to be presented to His Father and their Father, and to sit down together at the ‘Marriage Supper of the Lamb,’ and so to be ‘for ever with the Lord’ (1Th_4:14-17; 1Co_15:51-52; Rev_19:7-9). The most prominent figure in the whole transcendently glorious scene, and the object attracting the eyes of men and angels, will naturally be Christ Himself as
The Royal Bridegroom;
here exhibited under the name and title of one of his most distinguished Old Testament types, King Solomon. Observe—
1. Christ will appear at His second coming in the character of KING. His title exhibited ‘on His vesture, and on His thigh:’ KING OF KINGS, and LORD OF LORDS. Never till then fully manifested in this character. The dignity claimed for Himself at Pilate’s bar, but denied Him by His own subjects, or those who ought to have been such. His title virtually and practically denied by the world, and, to a great extent, by the professing Church, who say by their spirit and their lives: ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’ The scene indicated in the text faintly foreshadowed by the Saviour’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem. (Mat_21:9; Luk_19:38).
2. Christ will especially appear as KING SOLOMON. ‘Solomon’ derived from a word denoting ‘peace.’ His reign a reign of peace. The sword, always drawn in the reign of David his father, slept in its scabbard during that of Solomon. Jesus the Prince of Peace. Himself our peace. The ‘Man’ who should be ‘the peace.’ Has made peace by His blood. His birth celebrated by angels as inaugurating ‘peace on earth.’ That peace, however, never fully enjoyed on and by the earth, till He ascends the Throne ‘at His appearing and His Kingdom.’ Till then His Kingly character represented by David the ‘man of war,’ rather than by Solomon the Peaceful. His followers now called to fight as ‘good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Only then called to sit down and feast as his Bride at the ‘Marriage Supper of the Lamb.’
3. Christ will appear at His second coming in the character of a ROYAL BRIDEGROOM Solomon’s crown ‘wherewith his mother crowned him,’ neither a political, nor a martial, but a nuptial crown. This crown put on his head not by priest or potentate, but by ‘his mother.’ Worn by him not on a state occasion, or on a day of triumph, but on the day of his espousals. The period indicated, that of the public espousals of Christ with His saved Church on the day of His glorious appearing. That period, however, preceded by two secret and mystical espousals which may be blended with those public ones; namely, His crucifixion, when His human mother, in the person of the soldiers, placed on His head the crown of thorns; and the sinner’s conversion to Christ and open avowal of Him as his Lord and King. His believing people presented unto Him at His coming as a chaste virgin, having been previously espoused to Him as their husband (2Co_11:2). The time to which Paul looked forward as the goal of his hopes in connection with his labours in the Gospel (1Th_2:19). Every saved soul a flower in Christ’s bridal chaplet; or rather a part of the Bride herself. Saved souls the crown of those who had been the instruments in their salvation; much more to Christ Himself, who redeemed and saved them. The crown, therefore, placed on His head by His spiritual mother, the Church in which He Himself was born; in joyful compensation for the crown of thorns with which His natural mother, or humanity, crowned Him in the day of His deep humiliation and sorrow. Every act of faith and love by believing souls, a step towards Christ’s coronation. Before conversion, we put the crown on our own heads; after conversion, we put it on Christ’s.
4. Christ’s second appearing the ‘day of the gladness of His heart.’ The day of the Bridegroom’s greatest joy that on which He receives His Bride (Isa_62:5). That day looked forward to by Christ in the midst of His sufferings as ‘the joy that was set before Him,’ for which He willingly ‘endured the cross, despising the shame’ (Heb_12:3). That day the climax of His joy. His loving heart rejoiced even in the day of His humiliation, when He found the lost sheep and laid it on His shoulders. Much more in the day of His exaltation, when He has all the sheep safely and for ever with Himself at home (Luk_15:5-6). The day when He presents to His Father all that had been given to Him to save, saying, ‘Here am I, and the children whom thou hast given me’ (Heb_2:13). That day the joyous harvest after the seed-lime of sorrow and anguish He endured on earth. The compensating fruit of the pain He suffered, the tears He shed, and the blood He gave for the redemption of His Bride. To the joy of that day every single conversion now contributes; and accordingly, every faithful and loving effort put forth by His people for such conversion. The seed sown now in tears, then reaped in joy.
5. The day of Christ’s appearing and espousals a day of intense interest to the Church and to the world. The daughters of Zion called to ‘go forth and behold King Solomon,’ with his nuptial crown’ in the day ‘of his espousals.’ When Christ comes in the clouds as the Royal Bridegroom of His Church, ‘every eye shall see Him’ (Rev_1:7). The joy of all joys to behold Him on that day as our own Bridegroom (Isa_25:9). The sorrow of all sorrows to see Him as the Bridegroom whom we continued to despise and reject (Rev_6:14-17).
The day of Christ’s public espousals and of ‘the gladness of His heart’ fast hastening on. Eighteen centuries ago the Bridegroom left the promise with His expectant Bride: ‘Surely I come quickly’ (Rev_22:20). His parting word not yet fulfilled. The Bride not yet ready. The number of His elect not yet accomplished. The Gospel of the kingdom not yet preached for a witness to all nations. Yet the time may be near. The Gospel never so widely preached as now. In a short time all nations will have heard it. The last vessel of mercy probably ere long gathered in, when the Bride shall have made ‘herself ready.’ A very short time and the cry may be heard, arousing a sleeping world and a slumbering Church: ‘Behold the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him.’
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Church’s Victorious Progress
The Church’s Victorious Progress
v. 6. Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness, ascending from the lower level of a wilderness to the city set on a mountain, like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? The cavalcade of Shulamith is preceded and followed by clouds of perfumed smoke, which mark her progress.
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v. 7. Behold His bed, the traveling litter, howdah, or palanquin, such as are used in the Orient for long journeys, which is Solomon’s, which the Bridegroom has placed at the disposal of His bride; threescore valiant men are about it, as a protecting body-guard, of the valiant of Israel.
v. 8. They all hold swords, being expert in war, skillful in the use of their weapons; every man hath his sword upon his thigh, ready for immediate use, because of fear in the night, lest any danger come near enough to the bride to disturb her rest.
v. 9. King Solomon made himself a chariot, a bridal wagon or sedan-chair, of the wood of Lebanon, of the finest cedar-wood.
v. 10. He made the pillars thereof of silver, designed chiefly as ornaments, but supporting the canopy, the bottom thereof, that is, the floor, of gold, the covering of it, fine hangings or tapestries, of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, its interior, the sides and the top of the finest material, being embroidered by the women of Jerusalem, as a labor of love.
v. 11. Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him In the day of his espousals and in the day of the gladness of his heart.
Here the Church is pictured, not as she usually appears to the casual beholder, but as she is in reality in the sight of the Lord. She is moving forward and upward through the wilderness of this world to the eternal City above, a great multitude from all nations and tongues and peoples. She is surrounded by a cloud of prayers, expressing her steadfast confession of faith, her patience in suffering, and her work in love, a sweet savor in the nostrils of the Lord. And the Lord has provided an appropriate conveyance for her, a bridal wagon of singular beauty, surrounded by His mighty, ministering heroes, the angels of His power. Yea, more; for every one who belongs to the army of the bride He has a special chariot, in which He has the soul of His believers carried into the eternal home of heaven. There each believer serves as a jewel, enhancing the beauty of the King, and all the believers together will be a diadem, a crown of beauty, when the marriage of the Lamb is celebrated and we behold His glory, world without end.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Here begins Part Three of the book. It begins with a description of sixty men carrying Solomon's bed up from the wilderness to Jerusalem.
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What is that coming up from the wilderness
The group of people is traveling from the wilderness to Jerusalem. They must go up in order to reach Jerusalem because the wilderness is low in the Jordan valley and Jerusalem is high in the mountains.
What is that
Many versions translate this "Who is that."
like a column of smoke
The dust looked like smoke from far away because the people raised much dust in the air as they traveled. (See: Simile)
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense
"with the sweet smell of myrrh and frankincense"
with all the powders sold by merchants
The words "perfumed with" are understood from the previous phrase. They can be repeated here. AT: "perfumed with all the powders sold by merchants" or "and with the sweet smell of all the powders that merchants sell" (See: Ellipsis)
powders
a fine dust made by crushing something solid
Look
"Listen carefully" or "What I am about to say is important." You could use a word in your language that tells the hearer to listen carefully. The speaker now discovers the answer to the question in verse 6.
it is the bed
This refers to a bed with a cover that can be carried from one place to another.
sixty warriors surround it, sixty soldiers of Israel
These two phrases refer to the same sixty people. The second phrase clarifies that the "warriors" are "soldiers of Israel." (See: Doublet)
warriors
men who fight
translationWords
desert
column
myrrh
frankincense
Solomon
soldier
Israel
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 3:6-11 According to the three-character dramatic interpretation, Solomon’s humility…
3:6-11 According to the three-character dramatic interpretation, Solomon’s humility and generosity show in his attending this wedding of a woman who preferred a common shepherd’s love over his. With Solomon in attendance, this ordinary wedding becomes a magnificent ceremony. • If the Song is an anthology, this poem describes what appears to be Solomon’s wedding procession. People are amazed by the opulence of his carriage and the power represented by his entourage. All of this reflects on the significance of marriage in the same way that expensive and beautiful wedding dresses and tuxedos do in modern marriages.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.