You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.
Parallel Translations
-
You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.
-
Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.
-
Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.
Cross-references (20)
Passages linked to Song of Solomon 6:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Song of Solomon 6:10 Who is she who looks out as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners?
- Psalms 48:2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the north sides, the city of the great King.
- 1 Kings 14:17 Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died.
- Psalms 50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines out.
- Song of Solomon 2:14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places of the mountainside, let me see your face. let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.
- Song of Solomon 4:7 You are all beautiful, my love. There is no spot in you.
- Lamentations 2:15 All that pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city that men called ‘The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth’?”
- Revelation 21:2 I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
- Numbers 24:5-9 How goodly are your tents, Jacob, and your dwellings, Israel! As valleys they are spread out, as gardens by the riverside, as aloes which Yahweh has planted, as cedar trees beside the waters. Water shall flow from his buckets. His seed shall be in many waters. His king shall be higher than Agag. His kingdom shall be exalted. God brings him out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He shall consume the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them with his arrows. He couched, he lay down as a lion, as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Everyone who blesses you is blessed. Everyone who curses you is cursed.”
- 1 Kings 15:21 When Baasha heard of it, he stopped building Ramah, and lived in Tirzah.
- 1 Kings 15:33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel in Tirzah for twenty-four years.
- Psalms 144:4-8 Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away. Part your heavens, Yahweh, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke. Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them. Stretch out your hand from above, rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
- Song of Solomon 1:5 I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains.
- Song of Solomon 1:15 Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are like doves.
- Song of Solomon 5:2 I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night.”
- Ezekiel 16:13-14 Thus you were decked with gold and silver. Your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered work. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate. Your renown went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- Zechariah 12:3 It will happen in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.
- 2 Corinthians 10:4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds,
- Ephesians 5:27 that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without defect.
- Revelation 19:14-16 The armies which are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white, pure, fine linen. Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain This declareth the exceeding love of Christ toward his…
This declareth the exceeding love of Christ toward his Church.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Son 6:4 Thou [art] beautiful, O my love, as…
Son 6:4 Thou [art] beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as [an army] with banners.
Ver. 4. Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah.] A most neat and elegant city, where the kings of Israel kept their courts. A place of pleasure it was, as the very name imports; hence the Greeks translate it here good pleasure, {a} like as the Italians call a city of theirs Placenza. Of the Church’s exquisite beauty much hath been said before. Let it ever be remembered that all her beauty is but borrowed. {Eze 16:14} Uxor fulget radiis mariti, as they say in the civil law. Isaac, when he was to marry Rebecca, sent her jewels aforehand, that, having them, she might be more lovely in his eye. So doth Christ the spirit of faith, and other graces, besides the imputation of his own perfect righteousness, that he may delight in his spouse. And albeit she had so discourteously dealt with him, {as Son 5:3} and thereupon he had stepped aside for a while; yet that she might know that he was still the same, without shadow of change, and that he "hated putting away," {Mal 2:16} meeting her again, he doth marvellously commend her, that is, his own graces in her, and all is as well as ever between them. Homo agnoscit, Deus ignoscit: it is but acknowledging the debt, and Christ will soon cross the book, and cancel the handwriting. {Col 2:14} Quem poenitet peccasse, pene est innocens, - Repent, and the amends is made. "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." {Jer 3:22}
Read full note →
Comely as Jerusalem.] That "city of the great king," great among the nations, and "princess among the provinces," {Lam 1:1} the glory of the whole earth; Urbium totius Orientis clarissima, saith Pliny, {b} the most famous of all the cities of the East. Orbis totius lumen, as another calls it; yea, an earthly paradise, as Josephus, soli coelique fertilitate omnes civitates superans - a city compact together. {Psa 122:3} The Church is all this in Christ’s esteem, and though the least, yet "not the least among the princes of Judah," as it is said of Bethlehem in a different respect. {Mic 5:2 Mat 2:6}
Terrible as an army with banners,] i.e., Of invincible faith and spiritual courage: terrible also and full of majesty, either to draw hearts or to daunt them; as Nazianzen saith of Athanasius, that he was magnes et adamas, a lodestone in his sweet gentle drawing nature, and yet an adamant in his resolute stout carriage against those that were evil and erroneous. How terrible were the Israelites, encamped and bannered in the wilderness, unto the Moabites, Canaanites! &c. {Exo 15:14-16 Psa 48:5-6} And the like may be said of the Hussites in Bohemia, when all Germany were up in arms against them, and worsted by them; of the Britons under the conduct of Germanus, fighting against a mighty army of Pelagian Picts and Saxons in this kingdom, and prevailing only by the three times pronouncing the word Hallelujah. {c} Of the Protestants in France at the siege of Mountalban, where the people of God using daily humiliation, immediately before their sallying forth, sang a psalm, which when the enemy heard, they would so quake and tremble, crying, They come, they come, as though the wrath of God had been rushing out upon them. {d} God is both van and rear in the Church’s army. "The Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rereward." {Isa 52:12} Even he that is "the great, the mighty, and the terrible God"; {Neh 9:32} so that although, Loricatus incedat Satan, et cataphractus, as Luther hath it, Satan, muster up all his forces, tyrants, heretics, &c., that invade the Church and assault her on all sides, yet they shall find her invincible: Oppugnatur, sed non expugnatur. "Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel say, yet they have not prevailed against me." {Psa 129:1-2} Populus Rom. saepe proelio victus, nunquam bello, saith Florus. The people of Rome lost many battles, but were never overcome in a set war; at the longrun they crushed all their enemies. So the Church. Nay, it may be truly affirmed of her, that she conquereth, even then, when she is conquered; as Christ overcame as well by patience as by power. So that more truly it may be written upon her gates, that is at this day upon the gates of Venice, Intacta manet, Let them remain intact, because it was never yet subdued by any enemy.
{a} ευδοκια.
{b} Lib. v. cap. 14.
{c} Dr. Ussher, De Britan. Eccles. Primord., 337.
{d} Spec. Belli Sac, 282.
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 Thou art beautiful, O my love: these are the…
Thou art beautiful, O my love: these are the words of Christ, who had now again manifested himself to his church; whereby he declares, that though he had for a season hid his face from her, yet still he retained a sincere and fervent affection to her, and that, notwithstanding her manifold infirmities, she was yet beautiful in his eyes.
Tirzah; a very pleasant city, as its very name signifies, and therefore made the royal seat of the kings of Israel; of which see 1Ki 14:17; 15:31,33; 16:6, &c.
Read full note →
Comely as Jerusalem; which was beautiful, both for its situation, Psa 48:2, and for its goodly buildings, especially the temple. See Lam 2:15.
Terrible; either,
1. To strangers, whom by her grave and, majestic looks and carriage she affrights from rude or bold attempts, whereas some women invite others to familiarity with them by their loose and wanton carriage. Or,
2. To her enemies, whom God will certainly destroy.
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 Thou - These are the words of Christ, who…
Thou - These are the words of Christ, who had now again manifested himself to his church. Tirzah - A very pleasant city, the royal seat of the kings of Israel. Jerusalem - Which was beautiful both for its situation, and for its goodly buildings. Terrible - To her enemies, whom God will certainly destroy.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. Beautiful - as Tirzah] This is supposed…
Verse 4. Beautiful - as Tirzah] This is supposed to be the address of Solomon to the bride. Tirzah was a city in the tribe of Ephraim, (Jos 12:24,) and the capital of that district. It appears to have been beautiful in itself, and beautifully situated, for Jeroboam made it his residence before Samaria was built; and it seems to have been the ordinary residence of the kings of Israel, 1Kg 14:17; 1Kg 15:21; 1Kg 16:6. Its name signifies beautiful or delightful.
Comely as Jerusalem] This was called the perfection of beauty, Ps 48:2-3; Ps 50:2. And thus the poet compares the bride's beauty to the two finest places in the land of Palestine, and the capitals of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
Read full note →
Terrible as an army with banners.] This has been supposed to carry an allusion to the caravans in the East, and the manner in which they are conducted in their travels by night. The caravans are divided into companies, called cottors, according to Thevenet; and each company is distinguished by the form of the brazier in which they carry their lights. After night, these braziers are placed on the ends of long poles, and carried by a person who walks at the head of the company. Some have ten or twelve lights, and are of different forms; some triangular, or like an N; some like an M, by which each pilgrim readily knows his own company, both by night and day. A whole caravan, composed of many thousands of hadgees or pilgrims, divided into various cottors or companies, each having its own distinguishing brazier or light, must necessarily produce a very splendid, if not a terrible, appearance.
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 6:4. Thou art beautiful — These are the…
Son 6:4. Thou art beautiful — These are the words of Christ, who had now again manifested himself to his church; as Tirzah — A very pleasant city, the royal seat of the kings of Israel; comely as Jerusalem — Which was beautiful, both for its situation and for its goodly buildings; terrible as an army, &c. — To her enemies, whom God will certainly destroy.
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 section might be entitled, “Renewed declaration of love…
The section might be entitled, “Renewed declaration of love after brief estrangement.”
Son 6:4
Read full note →
Tirzah ... Jerusalem - Named together as the then two fairest cities of the land. For Jerusalem compare Psa 48:2. “Tirzah” (i. e., “Grace” or “Beauty “)was an old Canaanite royal city Jos 12:24. It became again a royal residence during the reigns of Baasha and his three successors in the kingdom of the ten tribes, and may well therefore have been famed for its beauty in the time of Solomon.
Terrible as ... - Awe-inspiring as the bannered (hosts). The warlike image, like others in the Song, serves to enhance the charm of its assured peace.
Son 6:5
Even for the king the gentle eyes of the bride have an awe-striking majesty. Such is the condescension of love. Now follows Son 6:5-7 the longest of the repetitions which abound in the Song, marking the continuance of the king’s affection as when first solemnly proclaimed Son 4:1-6. The two descriptions belong, according to some (Christian) expositors, to the Church of different periods, e. g. to the primitive Church in the splendor of her first vocation, and to the Church under Constantine; other (Jewish) expositors apply them to “the congregation of Israel” under the first and second temples respectively.
Son 6:9
The king contrasts the bride with the other claimants for her royal estate or favor Son 6:8. She not only outshines them all for him, but herself has received from them disinterested blessing and praise.
This passage is invaluable as a divine witness to the principle of monogamy under the Old Testament and in the luxurious age of Solomon.
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 Turn. The more one contemplates God’s majesty, the more…
Turn. The more one contemplates God’s majesty, the more he will be convinced that it is incomprehensible. (Worthington) --- To pry into mysteries, may cause Christ to retire. (Theodoret, &c.)
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 4. Tirzah (Delightful) was the capital of Israel until…
4. Tirzah (Delightful) was the capital of Israel until Omri built Samaria. Its site was charming, and the town probably worthy of its name.
Comely as Jerusalem — “The perfection of beauty,” “built as a city compact together,” or at harmony with itself — now adorned with the temple and the various works of the royal builder — must have been the most imposing of all cities known to the people of the land. Terrible, etc. — The beauty of woman has more than once been compared to the power of an army. The fascinations of Cleopatra dazzled and subdued Caesar — the foremost man of all his time, and afterward the grim and unscrupulous Antony. So Alexander refused to see the daughters of Darius, lest, alter conquering men, he should be conquered by women.
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 4. Tirzah] = pleasantness, is mentioned in Jos_12:24. It…
4. Tirzah] = pleasantness, is mentioned in Jos_12:24. It was an ancient Canaanite city, famed as its name and our passage shew for its beautiful situation. It was the royal residence of the Northern kings from the time of the abandonment of Shechem by Jeroboam I till the 6th year of Omri, who left it for Samaria, but it was apparently still of importance in the time of Menahem (2Ki_15:14; 2Ki_15:16). Neither the O.T. nor Josephus contains any indication as to the situation of Tirzah. But Brocardus in the 13th century, and Breydenbach in the 15th, mention a Thersa, three hours eastward of Samaria. Robinson, therefore, has identified it with the large village of Talluza, two-and-a-half hours E. of Samaria, and two hours N. of Nablous. Conder, however, has suggested that the village of Teiasir may be Tirzah. It lies two-and-a-half hours to the N. of Talluza, and has been identified by Porter in Murray’s Guide-book, 1858, with Asher a town of Manasseh, placed by Eusebius on the 15th mile from Neapolis to Scythopolis, anciently Bçthshe’ân. An objection which seems fatal is, that it lies too far from the great thoroughfare of the country for the ancient seat of the Israelite kings. From Tirzah being mentioned along with Jerusalem, this reference probably is to it as the capital of the N. kingdom. Its ancient rank as a Canaanite royal city can hardly have been in the writer’s mind. Consequently, unless this be an interpolation, as Budde makes it, the Song cannot have been written by Solomon. But it does not prove that it was written during the period that Tirzah was the capital. For the name of the town at least was known up till the 15th century of our era, and the site must always have been beautiful. Therefore, if the writer of the Song was a Northern man, who knew its beauty and history, he might have inserted the reference centuries after it had become an unimportant place, or even a ruin. Tirzah may have been chosen along with Jerusalem instead of Samaria, because of the evil odour in which the latter was held after Nehemiah’s day, or for its significant name and well-known beauty.
terrible as an army with banners] The last four words represent the Heb. word nidhgâlôth, partic. niphal of a denominative from deghel = a banner. Cp. dâghûl, ch. Son_6:10 : literally it would be ‘beflagged things,’ if we might coin such an expression; hence companies of soldiers gathered about a flag. Rightly the LXX, θάμβος ὡς τεταγμέναι (sc. φὰλαγγες), a terror (i.e. terrible) as ranked (phalanxes). As Oettli remarks, this simile indicates that a king, not a shepherd, is speaking here. Whether the bannered hosts are terrible as overcoming, conquering, so that we have here praise of the Shulammite’s beauty, or whether we have praise of her inaccessibility as frowning upon her flatterers, must be left to individual taste. The former seems simpler, but the latter agrees best with the next clause. Cheyne suspects corruption in the text (Jew. Quart. Rev. Jan. 1899). For Tirzah he would read chabhatstseleth, and for Jerusalem and the words following it, he would read keshôshannath ǎmâqîm. His translation would therefore be, ‘Thou art fair, my friend, as the crocus, and comely as the lily of the valleys.’ But this would make the verse a mere repetition of Son_2:1.
Read full note →
for they have overcome me] Rather, for they [i.e. thine eyes] have made me afraid. The word translated ‘overcome’ in A.V. is found elsewhere in the O.T. only in Psa_138:3, where it is variously translated; A.V. ‘thou didst strengthen,’ R.V. ‘encourage,’ Variorum Bib. ‘make proud.’ Here also some have taken it in this sense. But against that is the last clause of Son_6:4, and the “turn away” of Son_6:5. Moreover Hitzig has shewn that in Syr. and Arab. the forms corresponding to that here used in Heb. mean, ‘to terrify.’ The LXX seem to favour that view, for their translation ἀνεπτέρωσάν με may mean ‘agitate me,’ probably with fear (cp. θάμβος in the previous verse). This would suit the context best. It is not probable that there is in the words any reference to the magic of the evil eye.
From here to the end of Son_6:7 we have a mere repetition of Son_4:1-3 b, with very slight variation. The only differences are that here we have ‘from Gilead’ instead of ‘from mount Gilead,’ and instead of ‘shorn ewes,’ simply, ‘ewes.’ For the commentary see Son_4:1, &c. The repetition may be intended to indicate that the words are mere stock phrases in Solomon’s mouth (Oettli), but more probably they are stock phrases taken by the poet from the marriage wasfs, which must have consisted mainly of just such phrases.
Chap. Son_6:4-13. The King fascinated
Here we have a renewed assault by Solomon. Just after the Shulammite’s impassioned claim to belong wholly to her lover her royal persecutor returns, and bursts out into praise of her physical beauty as before, Son_6:4-9. In Son_6:10 he repeats the words used by the court ladies in praising her. In Son_6:11-13 the Shulammite, ignoring Solomon, recalls what she was doing on the fatal day when she was so praised, and her attempt at flight from the court ladies.
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 (4) Beautiful . . . as Tirzah.—There is no…
(4) Beautiful . . . as Tirzah.—There is no sufficient reason for the employment of Tirzah side by side with Jerusalem in this comparison but the fact that they were both capitals, the one of the northern, the other of the southern kingdom. This fixes the date of the composition of the poem within certain limits (see Excursus I.). Jeroboam first selected the ancient sanctuary of Shechem for his capital; but, from some unexplained cause, moved the seat of his government, first to Penuel, on the other side Jordan, and then to Tirzah, formerly the seat of a petty Canaanite prince. (See 1Ki_12:25; 1Ki_14:17; 1Ki_15:21; 1Ki_15:33; 1Ki_16:6; 1Ki_16:8; 1Ki_16:15; 1Ki_16:18; 1Ki_16:23; Jos_12:24.) Robinson identified Tirzah with Tellûzah, not far from Mount Ebal, which agrees with Brocardus, who places Thersa on a high mountain, three degrees from Samaria to the east. Tirzah only remained the capital till the reign of Omri, but comes into notice again as the scene of the conspiracy of Menahem against Shallum (2Ki_15:14-16). The LXX. translate Tirzah by εὐδοκία, Vulg. suavis; and the ancient versions generally adopt this plan, to avoid, as Dr. Ginsburg thinks, the mention of the two capitals, because this made against the Solomonic authorship.
As Jerusalem.—See Lam_2:15. As to the idea involved in a comparison so strange to us, we notice that this author is especially fond of finding a resemblance between his love and familiar localities (see Son_5:15; Son_7:4-5); nor was it strange in a language that delighted in personifying a nation or city under the character of a maiden (Isa_47:1), and which, ten centuries later, could describe the new Jerusalem as a bride coming down from heaven adorned for her husband (Rev_21:9, seqq.).
Read full note →
An army with banners.—Heb. nidgalôth, participle of niphal conjugation = bannered. (Comp.—
“And what are cheeks, but ensigns oft,
That wave hot youth to fields of blood?”)
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 Vers. 4-7. Thou art beautiful, O my love, as…
Vers. 4-7. Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners. Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Thy hair is as a flock of goats that lie along the side of Gilead. Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes which are come up from the washing, whereof every one hath twins, and none is bereaved among them. Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind thy veil. The king is not far off. The bride knows that he is near. She prepares herself for him with words of love. He is coming among his "rosebud garden. of girls." His voice is heard as he approaches. And as he enters the chamber he bursts forth with lavish praises of his bride. Tirzah and Jerusalem, two of the most beautiful cities of the world, are taken as symbols of the surpassing beauty of the bride doubtless also with an intended reference to the symbology of Scripture, where the people of God are compared throughout to a city. Tirzah was discovered by Robinson in 1852, on a height in the mountain range to the north of Nablus, under the name Tulluzah, high and beautiful, in a region of olive trees. The name itself signifies sweetness, which might be so employed even if there were no actual city so called. Jerusalem is said to have been "the perfection of beauty". (Psa_48:2 Psa_50:2 Lam_2:15) Cities are generally spoken of as females, as also nations. The Church is the city of God. The new Jerusalem is the bride of the Lamb. If the prophets did not take their language from this Song of Solomon, then the phraseology and symbology which we find here must have been familiarly known and used among the people of Israel from the time of Solomon. The beauty of the bride is overwhelming, it is subduing and all-conquering, like a warrior host with flying banners going forth to victory. Solomon confesses that he is vanquished. This, of course, is the hyperbole of love, but it is full of significance to the spiritual mind. The Church of Christ in the presence and power of the Lord is irresistible. It is not until he appears that the bride is seen in her perfection. She hangs her head and complains while he is absent; but when he comes and reveals himself, delighting in his people, their beauty, which is a reflection of his, will shine forth as the sun forever and ever. The word which is employed, "terrible," is from the root "to be impetuous," "to press impetuously upon," "to infuse terror," LXX, anapteroun , "to make to start up," referring to the flash of the eyes, the overpowering brightness of the countenance. So the purity and excellence of the Church shall delight the Lord, and no earthly power shall be able to stand before it. Heaven and earth shall meet in the latter days. Wickedness shall fly before righteousness as a debated host before a victorious army. Is there not something like a practical commentary on these words in the history of all great revivals of religion and eras of reformation? Are there not signs even now that the beauty of the Church is becoming more and more army-like, and bearing down opposition? The remainder of the description is little more than a repetition of what has gone before, with some differences. Mount Gilead is here simply Gilead. The flock of shorn sheep is here the flock of ewes with their young. Perhaps there is intended to be a special significance in the use of the same description. The bride is the same, and therefore the same terms apply to her; but she is more beautiful than ever in the eyes of the bridegroom. Is it not a delicate mode of saying, "Though my absence from thee has made thee complain for a while, thou art still the same to me"? There is scope here for variety of interpretation which there is no need to follow. Some would say the reference is to the state of the Church at different periods as e.g. to the primitive Church in its simplicity and purity, to the Church of the empire in its splendour and growing dominion. The Jewish expositors apply it to the different stages in the history of Israel, "the congregation" being the bride, as under the first temple and under the second temple. In Ezra, and indeed all expositors, recognize the reason for the repetition as in the sameness of affection. "The beloved repeats the same things here to show that it is still his own true bride to whom he speaks, the sameness in the features proving it." So the Targum. The flock of goats, the flock of ewes, the piece of pomegranate, all suggest the simple purity of country life in which the king found so much satisfaction, he is wrapt up in his northern beauty, and idolizes her. One cannot help thinking of the early Jewish Church coming forth from Galilee, when all spoke of the freshness and genuineness of a simple-hearted piety drawn forth by the preaching of the Son of Mary the virgin-born Bridegroom whose bride was like the streams and flowers, the birds and flocks, of beautiful Galilee; a society of believing peasants untouched by the conventionalities of Judaea, and ready to respond to the grand mountain like earnestness and heavenly purity of the new Prophet, the Shepherd of Israel, "who feedeth his flock among the lilies." There is a correspondence in the early Church, before corruption crept in and sophistication obscured the simplicity of faith and life among Christians, to this description of the bride, the Lamb"s wife. There must be a return to that primitive ideal before there can be the rapturous joy of the Church which is promised. We are too much turned aside from the Bridegroom to false and worthless attractions which do not delight the Beloved One. When he sees his bride as he first saw her, he will renew his praises and lift her up to himself.
Vers. 4-9. The bridegroom"s praise of the bride.
Read full note →
I RENEWED ENUMERATION OF HER GRACES.
1. General praise of her beauty. Her beauty is compared to the beauty of Tirzah or Jerusalem. She is beautiful as Tirzah, which word means "grace" or "beauty;" comely as Jerusalem, the habitation or foundation of peace. The bridegroom mentions Tirzah as well as Jerusalem, which seems to imply that the song was written before the division of the kingdom. The bride is beautiful as Tirzah was to the inhabitants of Northern Palestine a fair city in a fertile country, deriving its name from the attractive graces of the surrounding scenery. She is comely as Jerusalem was to every loyal Israelite. "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King;" "Walk about Zion," the psalmist continues, "and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following". (Psa_48:2, Psa_48:12, Psa_48:13) Zion was to the Israelites "the perfection of beauty". (Psa_50:2 Lam_2:15) The exiles in the days of the Captivity sang in plaintive strains, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy". (Psa_137:5, Psa_137:6) The great delight in returning from their long captivity wan to think, "Our feet shall stand in thy gates, O Jerusalem." "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem," they would say: "they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces". (Psa_122:2, Psa_122:6, Psa_122:7) And what Jerusalem was to the Israelites, that the Church is to the heavenly Bridegroom. Her salvation was "the joy set before him," for which "he endured the cross, despising the shame". (Heb_12:2) He tells her towers; for "the Lord knoweth them that are his." He knows every living stone of the spiritual temple, the Church, which he hath built upon the Rock of ages. He never forgets her. He intercedes for her, and is preparing a place for her, that hereafter "the nations of them which are saved may walk in the light of her". (Rev_21:24) He prays now for her peace, and giveth her his peace peace of God, which passeth all understanding." She is beautiful with the reflection of his perfect beauty, He will cleanse and purify her, and at the last present her to himself a glorious Church. And if the Church is fair in the Bridegroom"s eyes, so in a degree is each converted and sanctified soul; in each such soul he sees something of that beauty of holiness which comes from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God. For they who love him, and seek to live in that fellowship which is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, must, while they "behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, be changed into the same image from glory to glory". (2Co_3:18) And if the dear Lord is pleased with the poor holiness of his people, how earnestly we ought to strive to purge ourselves from all pollution of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God! Earthly beauty is but a poor endowment; it soon fades and passes away. The inner beauty of a holy soul abides and increases continually, and is very precious and sacred; for such fair souls, washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, shall see the King in his beauty, and dwell in the light of the golden city.
2. She is terrible as an army with banners. The bride is beautiful not only for her attractive gentleness; she has a queenly dignity that could repel any presumptuous advances. The beauty of the Church is a severe beauty, like the martial beauty of a bannered host. For, indeed, the Church is an army, the army of the living God; the banner of the cross shines in the van, advancing ever forward. "The royal banners forward go, The cross shines forth in mystic glow.
That bannered host is terrible to the enemy. "Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness". (Eph_6:12)
"They march unseen, That sacred band, in serried ranks arrayed, Each cheering on his brother to the fight. The Spirit sword flashes in each right hand; The shield of faith protects each steadfast breast; The red cross banner glitters in their van, As they press ever forwards; breathing all The selfsame prayer, the selfsame Presence high Abiding in each heart, the selfsame hope, The glory crown in heaven, sustaining all.
Each Christian soul has its place in that vast army; each is a sworn soldier of the cross; each such soul is terrible to the enemy, because Christ is the strength of his people, and they are more than conquerors through him who loved them.
"Satan trembles when he sees The humblest saint upon his knees.
Then we must pray for grace to follow the banner of the cross with loyal heart and steadfast purpose, that our service may be acceptable to the Captain of our salvation, and pleasing in his sight, as a bannered host marshalled and ordered, as each noble warrior well equipped and disciplined, is a sight that gives pleasure and joyful pride to the commander.
3. The bridegroom repeats the praises of Son_4:1-6. But first he says, "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me." He had praised her eyes again and again; they were as doves. (Son_1:15 Son_4:1, Son_4:9) Now he says, in the tenderness of a great love, "they have overcome me." We may compare the Lord"s gracious wonder at the faith of the centurion. (Luk_7:9) He condescended to "marvel at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." The bridegroom goes on to praise the various features of the bride"s beauty, he had done so already in the love of their first espousals. His affection continues unabated; he repeats the same praises in the same words. The heavenly Bridegroom loves his bride the Church with "an everlasting love". (Jer_31:3) The terms of affection which are bestowed in the Old Testament upon the ancient Jewish Church are repeated in the New Testament, and applied to the Christian Church, the Israel of God. Thus St. Peter (1Pe_2:9) calls Christians "a chosen generation;" the same title (in the Greek of the Septuagint the words are exactly the same) is given in the Prophet Isaiah (Isa_43:20) to the Jewish people. St. Peter calls Christians "a royal priesthood;" in Exo_19:6 the Israelites are called "a kingdom of priests" (here again St. Peter has used the exact words of the Septuagint). St. Peter calls Christians "a holy nation;" the same thing is said of the Israelites in Exo_19:6. St. Peter describes Christians as "a peculiar people;" his words represent Deu_7:6, translated in our old version "a special people," in the new version, "a peculiar people." He applies to the Christian Church the words which the Prophet Hosea had used of the Jews, "Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy". (1Pe_2:10 Hos_2:23) The Lord Jesus loves his Church with a love that changes not. Almost at the beginning of the New Testament stands the holy promise, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins;" and almost at the end we read the blessed words, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Each faithful Christian may trust his Saviour"s love, for it is written, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee;" and again, "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ". (Php_1:6)
II COMPARISON OF THE BRIDE WITH OTHERS.
1. They are many. David had had sixteen wives. Solomon had early followed that unhappy example; already he had, it seems, "three score queens, and four score concubines." He had transgressed the commandment of Deu_17:17, where it is said of any future king, "Neither shall he multiply wives unto himself, that his heart turn not away." Solomon, alas! broke the commandment of God, and incurred the awful peril denounced against disobedience. "He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods". (1Ki_11:3, 1Ki_11:4) Now he was young but even in his youth the evil desire was strong within him. His love for the pure country maiden might have saved him; for a time, perhaps, it did check his sensual passions. But, alas! if it was so, the evil spirit that had been cast out soon returned, and brought with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and the last state was worse than the first. (Mat_12:43-45)
2. She is one alone, "One is she, my dove, my undefiled; one is she to her mother; the choice one is she to her that bare her." Such is the literal rendering of the touching words. The bride was an only daughter; she was the joy and darling of her mother. The good daughter makes a good wife. She was the bridegroom"s dove, his undefiled one, stud she stood alone in his affections; no other came near to her. So good was she and so lovely in character as well as in person, that even those who might hate been expected to regard her with envy praised her and called her blessed. The luxurious monarch seems to have a glimpse of the blessedness of purity; he seems almost to feel that "to love one maiden and to cleave to her" is the ideal of human love. Alas! "his goodness was as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it passed away" (Hos_6:4) The evil spirit of sensuality returned. When he was old, his wives turned away his heart; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and built high places for the worship of idols in the hill that is before Jerusalem. (1Ki_11:4, 1Ki_11:6, 1Ki_11:7) How earnestly we ought to strive to retain in our souls those happy feelings, those aspirations after purity and holiness which God sends from time to time, like angels" visits, into our hearts! They can only be fixed and wrought into our characters by immediate action. In themselves they are transitory, and rapidly pass away. But hold them firm, make them the basis of real effort, the beginning and occasion of the healthy discipline of self-denial, then God will help us to keep them alive in our souls; the little seed will grow till it becomes a great tree; the little leaven will spread through the whole life with its quickening powers. Very precious are those moments of holy emotion; very solemn, too, for they involve a great responsibility. To let them go is perilous exceedingly, to use them aright brings a priceless blessing.
Vers. 4-10 and Son_7:1-9. The friendship of the world.
Those who take the literal and historic view of this song see here a repetition of Solomon"s attempts to bend to his will the maiden whom he sought to win. It is a repetition of Son_4:1-5. And in the extravagance of his flattery, his mention of her terribleness, his telling of his many queens and concubines, his huge harem, all of whom he says he will set aside for her all this is like what he would say. Now, it all might be, as it generally has been, taken allegorically, as we have taken it in Son_4:1-5, and as setting forth Christ"s estimate of his Church. But here the representations are yet more extravagant and even gross, so that we prefer to take them as telling of that which is evil rather than good; as the language, not of Christ, but of the world, his foe, in attempting to win from him those who are his. Let it, then, teach us concerning this friendship of the world
I FLATTERY IS EVER ONE OF ITS FORMS. It is compelled to adopt this in order to hide away the fatal issue of its friendship. Like as the vampire is said to fan its victim with its wings, soothing and stupefying it so that it may the more surely destroy it, thus the world soothes and sends asleep by its flatteries the soul it would destroy.
II THIS FLATTERY HAS MARKED CHARACTERISTICS.
1. It is extravagant. Of what is here said in the verses selected concerning her of whom they speak. How monstrous are the representations as addressed to any maiden! And are not the conceits the world engenders in men"s souls of this order?
2. It is always fearful of losing its prey. (Ver. 4, "Terrible as an army;" also ver. 10) These expressions seem to indicate consciousness that the soul was as yet anything but fully won.
3. Has no originality. It says the same things over and over again. See about her "hair," her "teeth," her "cheeks". (vers. 5, 6, 7; cf. Son_4:1-5) And still every poor fool that the world successfully flatters is plied with the same worn-out arguments, and, alas! yields to them.
4. Sensuous and sensual. (Cf. ver. 8 and Son_7:1-9) The baser instincts are the world"s happy hunting grounds. It knows that it can get a response there when there is none elsewhere.
5. Ruthless and cruel. (Ver. 9) The flatterer professes, but let all such professions be doubted vehemently that he would sacrifice all the rest for her whom he would now win. For her, the "dove," whom he, the hawk, would devour, the three score queens and the four score concubines and the virgins without number (ver. 8) should all be set aside and lose favour. Anything, no matter how unjust, so Solomon may please his sensual phantasy. They who are ruthless in winning will be ruthless when they have won (cf. poor Anne Boleyn). Oh, the all-devouring world! Its "words are smoother than butter," but "the poison of asps is under its lips.
III TRUE LOVE WILL REJECT IT. Such love is the Ithuriel-like spear which detects at once what it is. So this maiden, type of the redeemed soul, will have none of it. (cf. Son_7:10) And here is suggested what, indeed, is the theme of the whole song the invincible strength of the true love of Christ in the soul. Let us have that, and no flatteries or blandishments of the world, nor its fierce frowns either, shall seduce us from him whose we are and whose we hope ever to be. Such love will he "terrible," must be so, to all who would come against it. Christ"s love to us is so infinite that, therefore, nothing less than these many dread words of his about the everlasting fire can serve to tell of his wrath against that and those who would destroy us for whom he died. And if we love him as we should, we shall give no quarter to sin; it will be to us "the abominable thing which I hate," even as to him. Oh, may this love dwell in us richly and forevermore! S.C.
Vers. 4-10. Christ"s picture of his Church.
The value of an encomium depends on the qualification of the speaker. If a man is a master of eloquent phrases, and knows but little of the person he eulogizes, his encomium is little worth. If, on the other hand, the speaker is a skilful judge of character, and knows well the person, and speaks from pure motives, his estimate is priceless. Now, the best judge of the quality of a wife is her own husband, for no one else has such opportunities of knowing her virtues. If we regard the language in the text as the language of Christ, then he has all the qualities needful to be an accurate judge. As the Bridegroom, he has intimate acquaintance with his bride; and so righteous is he that he will neither exaggerate nor detract in his delineation. He will gauge with perfect accuracy her merit and her worth. Others may not acquiesce in his judgment. She herself may deem it a flattering portrait. But Jesus is an unerring Judge, and we accept with perfect confidence his description of his Church.
I THIS LANGUAGE PLAINLY CONVEYS THE IDEA OF SPIRITUAL BEAUTY. "Thou art beautiful, my love, as Tirzah; comely as Jerusalem." Tirzah was a city on the mountains of Samaria, that had a wide renown for beauty. The name meant "a delightful place." God has given to the human soul a faculty that discerns and appreciates what is beautiful. We detect what is beautiful in material nature, viz. symmetry of form and harmony of colour. We discern also what is beautiful in human character and in human conduct. All beauty springs from God, the Fount. He is perfect Beauty, as much as perfect Righteousness. The constituent elements of spiritual beauty are humility, holiness, and love. These, wisely blended, form a comely character. It is always unsafe, because an inducement to pride, to praise the bodily beauty of a maiden within her hearing. But one of the elements in spiritual beauty is lowliness; hence public praise is an advantage rather than a peril. For commendation is a spur to fresh effort, and whatever quickens our exertion in the culture of humility and holiness is a boon to be prized. Nor is this spiritual beauty evanescent. It is a permanent acquisition. It will develop and mature towards perfection, as the ages roll on. The sun will be quenched in darkness, the stars will disappear or else assume new forms; but the ransomed saints will be rising in excellence, and adding to their spiritual adornments, world without end. This high estate of beauty may not as yet be in esse, but it is in posse. It is not yet an actual possession. But it is in course of development, from the bud to the open flower. It is clearly seen in its perfectness by the prescient eye of our Immanuel.
II THIS LANGUAGE BETOKENS THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. "My dove, my undefiled, is one." In all God"s works we find unity amid diversity. Throughout all material forces we discover system. Part is subordinated to part. Everything is linked to everything else. All forces work together for the well being of the whole. There is organic unity. The universe shows the presence of one Mastermind. God loves order. Confusion, conflict, anarchy, are an abomination to him. Yet variety is not displeasing to him. Very clearly Jesus has not ordained a system of rigid uniformity in his Church. That would not add to her beauty nor to her usefulness. But the heart of Jesus is set upon unity. In his great prayer to his Father, prior to his crucifixion, he pleaded, "That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee." In opinions and beliefs it is next to impossible for the Church to be one. For God has created such diversities of taste and temper in men"s minds, that for the time present truth presents itself under many aspects. Likely enough, this will continue until the human mind can more easily grasp the system of truth as a whole. Yet, while opinions and beliefs may vary, Christians can be one in feeling, one in love, one in loyalty to their King, one in aggressive service. This unity of life and love, amid diversities of belief and methods of service, will add to the Church"s beauty and the Church"s success. All the imagery which God has employed in Scripture to set forth his Church conveys this idea of unity. Is the Church a vine, springing out of Christ the Root? Then the manifold branches and twigs imply a united whole. Is a human body employed as an illustration? Then all the members and organs working in harmony imply unity. So, in our text, the bride is the representative of all saints, in all lands and in all ages. A dominant note of Christ"s Church is unity. "There are many members, yet are they one body.
III THE LANGUAGE DENOTES FAME. "The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the women praised her." High and noble qualities of character are sure to command fame. Fame is a doubtful good. Counterfeit excellence, like tinselled brass, sometimes gains currency, and imposes on credulous people. Successful wickedness will, now and then, obtain a transient fame. Nevertheless, real and permanent honour belongs only to substantial goodness. Sooner or later the true Church will secure high renown. "God is in the midst of her." "The highest himself shall establish her." Her spiritual beauty and her beneficent influence shall win for her immortal praise. Beyond all human institutions, the Church will be found the bond of human society, the bulwark of freedom, the inspirer of intellectual life, the guardian of the nation"s welfare. Fame is of secondary importance, yet fame must not be despised. For fame is power. Fame is large opportunity for doing good. Fame, as the result of generous and heroic service, is inevitable. Yet the Church will not keep her fame for herself. She will lay it at the feet of her Lord, to whom all belongs. For the present the Church may inherit the world"s scorn rather than the world"s fame; but when her hidden light and power shall break forth, "the Gentiles shall come to her light, and kings to the brightness of her rising." Resplendent fame is her sure reversion, "for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
IV HERE IS FURTHER THE IDEA OF HOPE CREATING. "Who is this that looketh forth as the morning?" Morning is the dawn of hope to the benighted and the shipwrecked. Such are the evils that infest human society, that many thoughtful men have become pessimists. "Is life worth living?" many ask. If, after all the struggles and toils and endurances of this life, there is only extinction, or if the future is a dark enigma, then may not suicide be true wisdom? Hope, the backbone of all energy, is destroyed. The great questions are Is there any desirable future for the human race on the earth? Is there a certain prospect of a better life for righteous souls after death? Now, there is no oracle, outside the Church, that can respond to these queries. The Church is the apostle of hope, the champion of humanity. The Church is a pledge of a better future for mankind. The Church proclaims a universal brotherhood. The Church is the foster mother of all the useful arts; the foster mother of progress, learning, social order, and peace. She changes deserts into gardens, and prisons into palaces. Where dark despair awhile reigned, she comes like the light of morning, and opens a new day.
V HERE IS THE IDEA OF USEFULNESS. "Fair as the moon, clear as the sun." As the luminaries of night and of day perform an office of unspeakable usefulness to mankind, so does the true Church. In some respects the Church most resembles the moon, Her light is borrowed, and hence is enfeebled. She passes oft through manifold phases. The world often obstructs her light. It is only now and then that her light is full-orbed and at its best. This shall not always be. Her light shall be soft and gentle, like the light of the moon; yet for clearness and brilliance she shall be like the sun. Who can measure the potent usefulness of light? How destitute of beauty and of life would our earth be without light! If tomorrow the sun should not rise, what consternation would prevail in every home of man. The wheels of commerce would stand still. Agriculture would be suspended. Food would speedily be exhausted. All artificial light would soon come to an end, and, before many months had sped, all animal and vegetable life would expire. Equally useful, yea, more beneficent still, is the Church in the moral world. Apart from the truth embodied in the Church, what would mankind know of God, or his relationship to men, or his purposes of redemption, or his provision for a higher home? Or what would men know of themselves, their spiritual capacities, their Divine origin, their possible developments, or the resources of Divine help open to them? If you could blot out from existence the Church of Christ, this world would speedily sink into darkness and ruin. Within a single generation of men it would be a chaos, a pandemonium. Usefulness is predicated.
VI A FURTHER IDEA IS DEVELOPMENT. "Who is this that looketh forth as the morning?" The morning is a promise and a pledge of perfect day. Light and warmth advance by regular stages until noon is reached. It is a picture of certain progress advancement along an appointed way. Such is the destined life of the Church. At her birth she was feeble. Political arrogance at Jerusalem thought to crush out her life. But she steadily grew, passed safely through the stages of infancy and childhood, until now she appears a full-grown, ruddy maiden. Development is evidently God"s order. He places trees at zero, and from the lowest point gives them opportunity to reach the highest. At the present hour the Church"s development is an impressive fact. She grows in intelligence, in vigour, in power, in influence, in usefulness, day by day. At no period in her history was the Church of Christ so highly developed as she is today. Her progress is assured.
VII HERE IS ALSO THE IDEA OF CONQUEST AS THE RESULT OF CONFLICT. "Terrible as an army with banners." The metaphor imports a majesty of active power that moves onward with confident step to overthrow its foes. "Terrible as a bannered host." The Church on earth is a Church militant. Many regiments of believers make up one army. This consecrated host of God"s elect is commissioned to fight against error, ignorance, superstition, vice, and all immorality. Until the day of complete triumph dawns, she must station her sentinels, discipline her recruits, boldly contend with sin, and lead men captives to the feet of Christ. In proportion to her internal holiness and unity and zeal she will be "terrible" to ungodly men. The main secret of her terribleness is the fact that Jehovah dwells in her midst. As the Canaanites of old feared the host of Israel because the rumour of their power had spread on every side, and the mystic presence of Jehovah was with them, so is it still. The more that evil men discern the tokens of God"s presence in the Church, the more they tremble. On the banner of the Church, men see the pattern of the cross. This inspires courage in the army, but terror among opponents. And the old battle-cry of the Crusaders is still the battle-cry of the Church, "By this we conquer! D.
The spiritual beauty of the Church of Christ.
There is such a study as the aesthetics of the soul. Beauty is not wholly material; it has a spiritual side appreciable by the spiritual sense. There is beauty of character as well as of form "beauty of holiness" in which the holy delight. In the human countenance may now and again be seen, shining through symmetrical features, the loveliness of high emotion and aspiration. And in the spiritual society of the redeemed, even where churches are lowly, services inartistic, the ministry far from brilliant, the discerning mind may nevertheless often recognize glimpses of moral majesty, or comeliness, or attractiveness, speaking of a Divine favour and a Divine inspiration.
I THE REALITY AND NATURE OF SPIRITUAL BEAUTY. It is not merely imaginary, like that "Light that never was on sea or land, The consecration and the poet"s dream.
Though not physical, it exists, and partakes of the character of moral excellence. It is not discernible by the thoughtless, the insusceptible; it may be passed unnoticed by the haughty and the worldly. Yet it is observed by the enlightened and morally sensitive; such contemplate it with a satisfaction deeper than that of the artist who gazes entranced upon a noble statue or a fascinating picture.
II THE SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL BEAUTY. The Church does not claim to be in possession of such a quality in its own right, to take credit for it as for something due to its own innate power and goodness. On the contrary, it acknowledges that all moral excellence is due to Divine presence and operation. The beauty which adorns the Lord"s spiritual house is the Lord"s own workmanship, the expression of the Lord"s own wisdom and love. It is derived, and it is reflected the mirrored image of the purity and benignity which are essentially and forever his own. It is sustained and developed and perfected by the same grace by which it was originally imparted. The language of the Church"s prayer is accordingly, "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us," and the language of the Church"s grateful praise, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name give glory.
III THE IMPRESSIVENESS AND ATTRACTIVENESS OF SPIRITUAL BEAUTY. There are, indeed, unspiritual natures for whom it has no interest and no charm. But it is dear to Christ, who delights in it as the reflection of his own excellence. The King desires and greatly delights in the beauty of his spiritual spouse, the Church; to him she is beautiful and comely, fair as the moon, and clear as the sun. And all who share the mind of Christ take pleasure in that which delights him. The purity and unity, the Christ-like compassion and self-sacrifice of God"s people, have exercised an attractive power over natures spiritual, awakened, and sensitive. By his living Church the Lord has drawn multitudes unto himself. And thus the beauty of the Church, reflecting the beauty of Christ, is the means of winning souls to the fellowship of immortal love. T.
The terribleness of the Church of Christ.
There is nothing inconsistent in the assertion that the same living society is possessed of beauty and of terribleness. To the susceptible mind there is ever something awful in beauty; it is felt to be Divine. There is a side of beauty which verges upon sublimity. We feel this in gazing upon the headlong cataract, the glorious sea. It sometimes seems to us as though God draws near to our souls when we suddenly behold a noble woman"s grace and charm and pure ethereal expression. So there is in Christ"s Church a severity as well as a winningness of beauty; we are conscious in some phases of Christian life of an aspect of deep and unspeakable awe. How is this to be explained?
I THE SPIRITUAL CHURCH IS TERRIBLE AS THE DEPOSITARY OF THE MYSTERIOUS, AND SUPERNATURAL GRACE OF GOD. It is the scene of the "real presence" of him who ever fulfils his own assurance, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
II AS POSSESSING IN HOLINESS OF CHARACTER A SUBLIMITY WHICH APPEALS TO THE CHASTENED AND APPRECIATIVE IMAGINATION. Moving with spotless garments amidst the world"s defilement and contamination, the true Church presents to the enlightened vision a spectacle of true sublimity, and commands our reverence as that which on earth is most truly sublime.
III AS REBUKING AND FORBIDDING ALL THAT IS MORALLY EVIL. To penitents the attitude of the Church of Christ is, as was the Master"s, benignant and compassionate; but to hardened sinners and to contemptible hypocrites there is a sternness and severity in its demeanour which may well make its presence terrible.
IV AS POSSESSED OF MILITANT PROWESS AND POWERS. "Terrible as an army with banners." The Church has to confront the hosts of ignorance, of error, and of sin; its attitude and its equipment must, therefore, partake of the nature of a warlike force. As an army, the Church of Christ acknowledges the leadership of the Divine Captain of our salvation; is supplied with weapons, not carnal, but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds; is distinguished by a duly martial spirit, shrinking from no conflict to which it is called, by steady discipline and by just order. Well, then, may it be likened to an embattled host, with banners floating on the breeze, and the voice of the Commander ringing through the ranks. The spectacle is grand and awe-inspiring an earnest of victory, an omen of empire. 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 Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely…
Son_6:4
Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.
Read full note →
The Church as she should be
Though the words before us are allegorical, and the whole Song is crowded with metaphor and parable, yet the teaching is plain enough in this instance; it is evident that the Divine Bridegroom gives His bride a high place in His heart, and to Him, whatever she may be to others, she is fair, lovely, comely, beautiful, and in the eyes of His love without a spot. Moreover, even to Him there is not only a beauty of a soft and gentle kind in her, but a majesty, a dignity in her holiness, in her earnestness, in her consecration, which makes even Him say of her that she is terrible as an army with banners, awful as a bannered army. She is every inch a queen: her aspect in the sight of her Beloved is majestic.
I. Why it is that the Church of God is said to be an army with banners. That she is an army is true enough, for the Church is one, but many; and consists of men who march in order under a common leader, with one design in view, and that design a conflict and a victory. But why an army with banners? Is not this, first of all, for distinction? How shall we know to which king an army belongs unless we can see the royal standard? The Church unfolds her ensign to the breeze that all may know whose she is and whom she serves. Unfurl the old primitive standard, the all-victorious standard of the Cross of Christ. In very deed and truth--in hoc signo vinces--the atonement is the conquering truth. Let others believe as they may, or deny as they will, for you the truth as it is in Jesus is the one thing that has won your heart and made you a soldier of the Cross. Banners were carried, not merely for distinctiveness, but also to serve the purposes of discipline. Hence an army with banners had one banner as a central standard, and then each regiment or battalion displayed its own particular flag. An army with banners may be also taken to represent activity. When an army folds up its colours the fight is over. It is to be feared that some Churches have hung up their flags to rot in state, or have encased them in dull propriety. It is high time that each Church should feel that if it does not work, the sole reason for its existence is gone. May we all in our Church fellowship be active in the energy of the Spirit of God. Does not the description, an army with banners, imply a degree of confidence? Banners uplifted are the sign of a fearlessness which rather courts than declines the conflict. The warriors of the Cross, unfold the Gospels ancient standard to the breeze; we will teach the foeman what strength there is in hands and hearts that rally to the Church of God. Once more, an army with banners may signify the constancy and perseverance in holding the truth. If we give up the things which are verily believed among us we shall lose our power, and the enemy alone will be pleased: but if we maintain them, the maintenance of the old faith, by the Spirit of God, shall make us strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
II. The Church is said to be terrible. To whom is she terrible? I answer, first, in a certain sense she is terrible to all ungodly men. Even in the most ribald company, when a Christian of known consistency of character has wisely spoken the word of reproof, a solemn abashment comes over the majority of those present; their consciences have borne witness against them, and they have felt how awful goodness is. Not that we are ever to try and impress others with any dread of us; such an attempt would be ridiculed, and end in deserved failure; but the influence which we would describe flows naturally out of a godly life. If there be real goodness in us--if we really, fervently, zealously love the right, and hate the evil--the outflow of our life almost without a word will judge the ungodly--and condemn them in their heart of hearts. Holy living is the weightiest condemnation of sin. There will be always in proportion to the real holiness, earnestness, and Christ-likeness of a Church something terrible in it to the perverse generation in which it is placed; it will dread it as it does the all-revealing day of judgment. So is there something terrible in a living Church to all errorists. They do not dread those platform speeches in which they are so furiously denounced at public meetings, nor those philosophical discussions in which they are overthrown by argument: but they hate, but they fear, and therefore abuse and pretend to despise, the prayerful, zealous, plain, simple preaching of the truth as it is in Jesus. Even to Satan himself the Church of God is terrible. He might, he thinks, deal with individuals, but when these individuals strengthen each other by mutual converse and prayer, when they are bound to each other in holy love, and make a temple in which Christ dwells, then is Satan hard put to it. It is not every Church that is terrible thus, but it is a Church of God in which there is the life of God, and the love of God; a Church in which there is the uplifted banner, the banner of the Cross, high-held amid those various bannerets of truthful doctrine and spiritual grace, of which I have just now spoken.
III. Why is the Church of Christ terrible as an army with banners? First, because it consists of elect people. The elect shall overcome through the blood of the Lamb, and none shall say them nay. Ye are a royal priesthood, a peculiar people, a chosen generation; and in you the living God will gloriously declare His sovereign grace. The Church, again, consists of a praying people. Now prayer is that which links weakness with infinite strength. We cry unto the Lord, and He heareth us; He breaketh through the ranks of the foe; He giveth us triumph in the day of battle: therefore, terrible as an army with banners are those who wield the weapon of all-prayer. Again, a true Church is based upon eternal truth. Men who love the truth are building gold and silver, and precious stones; and though their architecture may progress but slowly, it is built for eternity. Ramparts of truth may often he assailed, but they will never be carried by the foe. We are now to observe, that the chief glory and majesty of the Church lies mainly in the banner which she carries. What cause for terror is there in the banner? We reply, the enemies of Christ dread the Cross, because they know what the Cross has done. Wherever the crucified Jesus has been preached, false systems have tottered to their fall. Dagon has always fallen before the ark of the Lord. Rage the most violent is excited by the doctrine of the atonement, a rage in which the first cause for wrath is fear. The terribleness of the Church lies in her banners, because those banners put strength into her. Drawing near to the standard of the Cross the weakest soldier becomes strong: he who might have played the coward becomes a hero when the precious blood of Jesus is felt with power in his soul. Martyrs are born and nurtured at the Cross. Moreover, the powers of evil tremble at the old standard, because they have a presentiment of its future complete triumph. Jesus must reign; the crucified One must conquer. Will each one here say to himself: An army, a company of warriors, am I one of them? Am I a soldier? I have entered the Church; I make a profession; but am I really a soldier? Do I fight? Do I endure hardness? Am I a mere carpet-knight, a mere lie-a-bed soldier, one of those who are pleased to put on regimentals in order to adorn myself with a profession without ever going to the war? And then terrible. Am I in any way terrible through being a Christian? Is there any power in my life that would condemn a sinner? Any holiness about me that would make a wicked man feel ill at ease in my company? If I am not a soldier, if I am not a servant of Christ in very truth, and yet I come to the place of worship where Christians meet, and where Christ is preached, the day will be when the church of God will be very terrible to me. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
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 The King’s Admiration of His Bride
The King’s Admiration of His Bride
SCENE SECOND. Place: The Royal Garden. Speaker: The King to Shulamite
Read full note →
Son_6:4-10
THE KING
Thou art beautiful, O, my love, as Tirzah,
Comely as Jerusalem,
Terrible as an army with banners.
Turn away thine eyes from me,
For they have overcome me.
Thy hair is as a flock of goats,
That appear from Mount Gilead.
My teeth are as a flock of sheep,
Which go up from the washing,
Whereof every one beareth twins,
And there is not one barren among them.
As a piece of pomegranate
Are thy temples within thy locks.
There are threescore queens,
And fourscore concubines,
And virgins without number:
My dove, my undefiled, is but one;
She is the only one of her mother;
She is the choice one of her that bare her.
The daughters saw her,
And blessed her;
Yea, the queens and the concubines,
And they praised her:—
‘Who is she that looketh forth as the morning,
Fair as the moon,
Clear as the sun,
Terrible as an army with banners?’
The king himself now appears, and expresses his joy in and admiration of his bride, notwithstanding her temporary coldness. Perhaps found by her in the royal gardens, where she had gone to seek him. Possibly only her exclamation on the conclusion of her song at the Marriage Feast. The place and circumstances of the dialogue now more difficult to determine. The application or spiritual meaning of the allegory, however, under the Spirit’s teaching, not difficult to find. Among the truths suggested by the passage, we notice—
1. Christ’s love not forfeited by His people’s falls. Shulamite is still ‘my love.’ So Christ revealed Himself after His resurrection to His disciples, who had forsake Him and fled; and to Peter, who bad thrice denied Him.
2. Earnest seeking after Christ sure to be followed by a happy finding of Him. Fervent longings for His presence succeeded by sweet enjoyment of it. Faith in and love to an unseen Christ sure of His blessing (Joh_20:29).
3. The penitent believer, seeking Christ sorrowing, the object of His admiration and delight.
4. Christ’s withdrawal from and silence towards His erring people not of long continuance. ‘In a little wrath, I hid my face from thee for a moment,’ &c. (Isa_54:9).
5. Christ returns to His people in love when they return to Him in penitence. No upbraiding for past sin. Lays the lost sheep on His shoulder, and returns with it rejoicing (Luk_15:4).
6. The fruit of chastening after a fall only greater endearment.
7. Christ’s views of His people, like His love towards them, unchanged by their falls. Their beauty, on repentance, the same in His eyes as before. The diamond a diamond still, notwithstanding temporary sullying. The beauty of nature fading; that of grace, fast colours.
8. Beauty a character essentially belonging to the Church and believers. ‘Thou art beautiful.’ Observe, in regard to the
Church’s Beauty.
1. A moral and spiritual beauty to be recognized, as well as a corporeal or sensuous one. The former as far superior to the latter as the soul and spirit is more excellent than the body, and the divine nature is superior to the human. Spiritual beauty, or the beauty of holiness, a portion of the beauty that is in God Himself; or rather is that beauty itself. Holiness the divine nature and image. Its essence love. That moral and spiritual beauty the beauty of believers. Believers renewed in the image of God. Made partakers of the divine nature. Conformed to the image of Christ, the perfection of beauty. Love the essential feature in their character, and that which distinguishes the children of God. ‘Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity (love), I am as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal,’ &c. (1Co_13:1). That love, embracing both God and man, the sum of moral beauty, or the beauty of holiness. Believers chosen in Christ by God the Father, and blessed with all spiritual blessings, that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love (Eph_1:4). Beautified with salvation—salvation from sin into holiness. The Church’s holy beauty the delight of her divine Lord (Psa_45:10-11). The Bride’s beauty compared to that of Tirzah, the royal city of one of the ancient kings of Canaan, and afterwards the metropolis of the kings of Israel. In Solomon’s time the northern, as Jerusalem was the southern, capital of Palestine. Its name, denoting the ‘pleasant’ or ‘agreeable,’ probably given from its situation or appearance.
9. A comeliness as well as a beauty belonging to the Church and to believers. ‘Comely as Jerusalem.’ Comeliness closely allied to beauty. Conveys the additional idea of pleasantness. The sweetness and the pleasantness of beauty. Shulamite comely—pleasant to look upon and converse with, as well as beautiful. In this respect also the Bride’s beauty a counterpart and reflection of the Bridegroom: ‘Thou art fair, my beloved; yea, pleasant’ (chap. Son_1:16). A comeliness, as well as a beauty, in holiness. The one to be cultivated and exhibited by believers as well as the other. Believers to be, like Christ, not only loving but lovely. Their character to embrace not only whatsoever things are true, just, and pure, and honest, but ‘whatsoever things are lovely’ (Php_4:8). Christ not only the holiest, but the most attractive of men, even to publicans, and sinners, and little children. Believers to resemble Him by imbibing His Spirit. ‘Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.’ ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ Shulamite’s comeliness compared to that of ‘Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem the city of the great King. Beautiful for situation. The joy of the whole earth. At first a stronghold of the Jebusites; afterwards the metropolis of Palestine and residence of the kings of Judah. Its name—the ‘City or Foundation of Peace.’ Mostly surrounded by mountains. Compactly built. Fortified by lofty walls. Adorned with palaces. Beautified and ennobled especially by the temple, the peculiar abode of Jehovah, in the midst of it. An emblem of the Church in its unity and brotherhood, its security and peace, and especially in its being the chosen habitation of God through His Spirit’ (Eph_2:20-21). The Church’s beauty not so much her own as that of Him who dwells in her.
10. A terribleness as well as comeliness in the Church’s beauty. ‘Terrible as an army with banners.’ Something in extraordinary beauty that awes beholders and forbids approach. ‘Terror in love and beauty, not approached by stronger hate.’—Milton. A terribleness in holiness or spiritual beauty. ‘He perceived how awful goodness is, while in its form most lovely.’ Terribleness and beauty combined in the Church when enjoying much of the Divine presence and blessing. ‘Kings of armies did flee apace,’ while Israel was ‘as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold’ (Psa_68:12-13. So Psa_48:1-6). The people magnified the Pentecostal Church at Jerusalem, while awed by its holiness and afraid to join themselves at its (Act_2:43; Act_5:13). Paul terrible both to Felix and Agrippa. Believers walking in their true character as kings and priests to God, not only amiable but awful. Observe, in regard to
The Church’s Terribleness
I. The GROUNDS of it.
1. Her holy and spiritual character. The Church terrible through the heavenly walk and spirit of her members. One believer, by this Christ-like spirit, able to overawe a multitude.
2. The presence of Christ, promised to His Church and to His people individually. ‘God is in the midst of her.’ ‘I am with you alway.’ ‘Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.’
3. The power committed to her. ‘Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come you.’ ‘Tarry ye in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.’ That power exhibited—
(1) In the Church’s prayers and the answers to them. ‘By terrible things in righteousness wilt Thou answer us.’ The earthquake at Philippi connected with the prayers of Paul and Silas in the prison. The power of Elijah’s prayers to be repeated in the Church of Christ (Jas_5:16-18; Rev_11:6). The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints ascending up before God, followed by ‘voices and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake’ (Rev_8:4-5).
(2) In the Church’s ordinances, and especially its faithful preaching. ‘Strength’ as well as ‘beauty’ in God’s sanctuary. Power with the Word, both to convince and to convert. The hearers is ‘convinced of all and judged of all, and the secrets of his heart made manifest; so that falling down on his face he worships God and reports that God is among you for truth’ (1Co_14:24-25). So Felix trembled before Paul. ‘The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds’ (2Co_10:4).
(3) In its discipline. A disciplinary power committed to the Church by its Head,—to bind and to loose, to remit or to retain sins (Mat_16:19; Mat_18:18; Joh_20:23). The Kingdom of God not in word but in power. ‘I have judged already, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus’ (1Co_4:20; 1Co_5:3-5). Effects of the spiritual and faithful exercise of discipline by the Church realized from the age of the Apostles to our own.
II. The OBJECTS of it. The Church terrible to her adversaries (2Co_10:4). So Israel in the wilderness (Deu_33:29; Deu_2:25; Exo_15:14-16; Num_24:5; Psa_48:5-6; Psa_68:12). ‘Satan trembles when he sees,’ &c. A holy Church and a spiritual believer the terror of the devil. ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?’ The Church terrible in the eyes of her adversaries only as she is beautiful in those of Christ. More formidable to her enemies when arrayed in the beauties of holiness, than when armed with Acts of Parliament, and the sword of the civil magistrate. The Church, when faithful, ever terrible to her adversaries and to the world in general. Tyrants made to tremble by the constancy and firmness of believers (Act_24:25). Mary, Queen of Scotland, more afraid of Knox’s prayers than of an army of soldiers. Attila overawed by Leo and his attending presbyters. Sin and ungodliness often put to shame by the zeal and consistency of a single believer (Heb_11:33-35). Christ’s weak Bride, both collectively and individually, mightier by her faith, holiness, and prayers, than the combined hosts of earth and hell. Samson in his locks of consecration and Nazariteship, a terror to the Philistines.
III. The NATURE of her terribleness. ‘As an army with banners.’ The Church terrible in her militant character as arrayed against the powers of evil. An army with banners terrible from its arms and armour flashing in the sun, its numbers, its order and array, its unity and compactness, its courageous spirit, determined mien, undaunted aspect, and firm step; resolved to conquer or to die in the conflict. The Church of Christ terrible as an
Army with Banners,
1. With Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, as its commander-in-chief, the Captain of the Lord’s host, the Captain of our salvation. The Church led on by Him who has already ‘overcome the world,’ and ‘spoiled principalities and powers, triumphing over them in His cross’ (Col_2:15; Joh_16:33).
2. Marshalled under subordinate leaders. ‘He gave gifts; some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers’ (Eph_4:8-11). Every pastor and Church ruler an officer under Christ.
3. Arrayed with goodly order, and governed by wholesome discipline. The Apostle’s joy in beholding the ‘order’ of the Church at Colosse (Col_2:5). His direction: ‘Let all things be done decently and in order’ (1Co_14:40.) A Church with Scripture order and discipline something terrible to the world.
4. Divided into various sections. Israel marched through the wilderness in four divisions, exclusive of the Levites (Num_10:14-28). One Church and yet many Churches. An army composed of many regiments, each with its own uniform and banner, yet serving one King and obeying one Commander-in-chief. Christian Societies and Missions in the Church as the battalions and squadrons of an army.
5. Animated with one spirit. Unity without uniformity the order of Christ’s army. One body and one spirit; one faith and one baptism (Eph_4:4-5). The Church’s terribleness seen and felt when its members stand ‘steadfast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel’ (Php_1:27).
6. Furnished with suitable armour and weapons. The armour of Christ’s Church—the helmet of the hope of salvation; the breast-plate of righteousness, faith, and love; the girdle of truth; the shoes of the Gospel of peace; the shield of faith. As John Bunyan remarks—no armour for the back. Christ’s soldiers expected not to flee but to fight. Their weapons the arrows of truth, the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, and earnest, believing, and persevering prayer. Believers’ armour a panoply provided by God Himself—‘the whole armour of God’ (Eph_6:13-18; 1Th_5:8). The armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left (2Co_6:7). Their weapons not carnal, but mighty through God (2Co_10:4).
7. Distinguished by appropriate banners. Israel’s host in the wilderness said to have marched under four standards (Num_10:14-28). A banner given by Christ to be displayed because of the truth. His banner that waves over His people, Love. Christ himself set up for an ensign. Some of the emblems on the Church’s banners—a Lamb as it had been slain; a Cross; a Shepherd, carrying a lamb in His bosom. Some of their mottoes: ‘Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.’ ‘He loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.’ ‘The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.’
The army of the Church composed of all who as sinners accept of Christ as a Saviour, and surrender themselves to Him as their King. Every true conversion to Christ an enlistment. Every genuine Christian a soldier of Jesus Christ. Baptism and Church membership a nominal enrolment. The baptized and professors found in the ranks of the world and the devil, deserters from Christ. Professing Christians, with the heart still in the world, traitors in the camp. The Church, as an army, not only prepared for battle, but always in it. Its enemies the world, the flesh, and the devil. Their worst enemy within—fleshly lusts that war against the soul—the law in the members warring against the law of the mind (1Pe_2:11; Rom_7:23). The devil to be daily resisted (1Pe_5:8-9). The world to be overcome by the disciple as by the Master and in the Master’s strength (1Jn_5:4-5). The world to be won for Christ. Hardness to be endured as by good soldiers. Perseverance in the conflict to be maintained to the end. Victory certain. Every believer already a conqueror, fully in Christ and partly in his own person. The conflict hastens to a close. The crowning at hand.
The true and spiritual Church of Christ, ‘His body and the fulness of Him that filleth all in all,’ the living embodiment of Christianity. That Christianity ‘no failure; not feeble, but strong; not vanquished, but valorous and victorious; a spiritual power in the midst of a godless world; working in the early centuries, and during the middle ages, and ever since; working in spite of resistance and corruption, in spite of violence and sophistry, in spite of errors and perversions; often apparently imperilled, but never really overcome; assailed, but invincible; warred against, but triumphant.’—Stoughton’s Ages of Christendom.
Christ’s joy in His Church not only from her beauty and comeliness, but her terribleness. Believers never fairer in His eyes than when going forth in His strength to the spiritual conflict, and fighting the good fight of faith. The Bridegroom delights in contemplating his Bride as an army with banners led on by Himself as Her Captain. The Church often fairest in Christ’s eyes when foulest in the eyes of the world. Most like her Lord when incurring the world’s hatred, because testifying against its sin. ‘Me it hateth, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil.’ ‘If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you’ (Joh_7:7; Joh_15:18).
The description in the text realized in the Pentecostal Church to the present day. To be so still more hereafter (Rev_19:8; Rev_19:14).
The Bridegroom acknowledges the power of the Bride’s beauty over himself. ‘Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me.’ Eyes mentioned as the principal seat of beauty, and the expression of the soul. The language of the eye often more powerful than that of the tongue. A look from Christ broke Peter’s heart; a look from Peter overcomes His own. The part of the believer to have power with God as well as with men; with God first, then with men. The believer’s power with Christ in the look of penitence, dependence, and prayer. ‘He wept and made supplication unto him. He had power with the angel and prevailed’ (Hos_12:3-4). Christ unable to hold out against the beseeching eye of the woman of Sidon. The pleading eye of the penitent thief drew forth from the dying Saviour His longest utterance on the cross. The eyes of the Spouse like those of doves. The more dove-like the believer, the more power he has with Christ. Doves’ eyes overcome the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The proper character of the believer’s eyes that they ‘are ever toward the Lord’ (Psa_25:15). Not lofty, but waiting on the Lord until he have mercy (Psa_123:1-2; Psa_131:1). Hence the believer strongest when he is weakest. Paul’s paradox: ‘When I am weak, then am I strong.’ ‘The lame take the prey.’ ‘Christ constrained by the earnest love of His dependent people (Luk_24:29-30).
The particular description now given of the Bride’s beauty mostly a repetition of a former one (chap. Son_4:1, &c.). Lips, neck, and breasts, only now omitted.
Observe—
1. The Church’s beauty a permanent one. May, however, be more fully exhibited at one time than another. The same parts and features not always equally developed. In the Seven Churches, some things commended, and the want and weakness of others reproved. The Church at Ephesus praised for its patience and its works, but blamed for having left its first love. Israel’s love warmest at the earliest period of their history. ‘I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals.’ Peter’s fall brought his love into question, and perhaps for a time cooled its ardour. ‘Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.’ Young converts to preserve the ardour of their first love, and so to guard against the chilling influence of the world around them. Probably the earliest and the latest periods of the Church’s history those of its greatest spiritual beauty. Believers to seek to cultivate all the graces of the Spirit. To be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. To pursue, possess, and exhibit whatsoever things are true, just, pure, honest, lovely, and of good report: ‘if there be any virtue and if there be any praise.’
2. Christ’s love to His Church unchanged and unchanging. Speaks comfort according to the requirements of her case. Assurance of continued love and esteem needed after reproof for undutiful conduct. So with Peter after his fall. The charge to feed Christ’s lambs and sheep renewed as often as he had before denied His Master.
3. Truth requires repetition. Believers need to be reminded of what they have heard, and to have their minds stirred up by way of remembrance (Php_3:1; 2Pe_3:1-2). More earnest heed to be given to the things we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. Line to be given upon line, and precept upon precept. Truth not easily imprinted on the mind so as to be retained, recollected, and always realized. The Spirit specially given to bring to our remembrance whatsoever Christ has said to us in His Word. Words spoken by Christ to His disciples after His resurrection those He had spoken before, but which they had either not understood or had forgotten (Luk_24:44). Words spoken by Christ must be spoken again by Himself, in order to have their relish and effect. Believers to be frequently reminded of their proper character and holy calling as Christ’s Bride, in order to be the more careful to exemplify that character, and to walk according to that calling.
The Bride commended by the Bridegroom as superior to all others. ‘There are threescore queens,’ &c. Possible allusion to the Ladies of an Oriental Harem. Something similar in Solomon’s own Court at a later period of his life (1Ki_11:1-3). Perhaps only a comparison intended between Shulamite and all other women, even the queens, concubines, or secondary wives, and virgins, or candidates for that position, belonging to all Oriental Courts. Solomon’s Bride attended by ladies of high rank. King’s daughters among his ‘honourable women,’ while the queen stood at his right hand, accompanied by her virgins (Psa_45:9; Psa_45:14). The comparison viewed in relation to the
Church of Christ,
Suggestive of—
1. The excellence of Christ’s Church or true believers. None of all the queens, concubines, or virgins to be compared with Shulamite. Christ’s ‘little flock’ more beautiful and precious in His eyes than all other members of the human family, whatever their position, talents, or acquirements. This, however, not from anything in themselves, either original or acquired by their own efforts. ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’ ‘Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called; but God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty,’ &c. ‘God hath chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him.’ Christ’s chosen, redeemed, and regenerated people His ‘beautiful flock.’ Made comely with His comeliness put upon them. The best and most gifted of unrenewed men, in comparison to the subjects of His grace, but as ‘chaff to the wheat.’ The saints in Cesar’s household the true royalty—kings and priests unto God. The true ‘Sons of Zion,’ as partakers of Christ and His Spirit, ‘comparable to fine gold.’ Out of Christ, men at the best but flesh, and carnally minded. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. But the mind of the flesh is enmity against God. To be carnally-minded is death. The carnal mind not subject to the law of God, nor can be. ‘In me, that is, in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing.’ Apart from renewing grace, men have not the love of God in them. The character of the unregenerate, that they love the praise of men more than the praise of God; are alienated from the life of God; are without God in the world; and do not seek after God, but mind earthly things. The comparison in the text true also of the Church of Christ collectively, as a visible and organized community, in relation to all other bodies of men, whether civil or religious. True, notwithstanding all the defects to be found in the Church visible; but true in the degree in which it approaches the Scriptural model, ‘the pattern showed in the Mount.’ The reason is, that the Holy Spirit is ever more or less at work in it, renewing men in the image of God. ‘The abode of the Spirit in the Church, from Pentecost, is a fact. A succession of ages is presented, on all of which the spirit sets a seal.’ Even in those ages, ‘overshadowed by ignorance and spiritual despotism, the light of the Spirit’s presence may be traced amidst the gloom; not only amongst those who stood apart from the corruptions of Christendom, but even in the heart of the Roman Church. Faith, love, and purity may be found in the lives of many in that communion; connected, it is true, with error and superstition, with much that was foolish, and worse than foolish; but yet faith, love, and purity were there—all the more manifestly, indeed, for the evils and hindrance that surrounded them.’—Stoughton’s Ages of Christendom.
2. The Unity of the Church. ‘My love, my undefiled is one, the only one of her mother.’ This unity farther expressive of the Church’s excellence. Shulamite more precious and excellent in her mother’s eyes than all her other children, and in her Bridegroom’s eyes than all the Queens, concubines, and virgins united. Her excellence enabled her to stand alone—one against ten thousand. Perfection needs no help or addition, and admits of none. The one diamond in the ring more precious than all the stones set round about it. The Church of Christ one in herself. ‘Jerusalem is a city that is compact together’—united or made one in herself. ‘One body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism.’ Apostles and other gifts bestowed by the Church’s Head, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in (or into) the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ’ (Eph_4:4-5; Eph_4:12-13). The Church many individuals, and many separate congregations and organizations, but one Church. Its true members the one Bride of Christ, united to Him by a living faith, and inhabited by His Spirit. United also to each other by a substantially common faith; by a common inward life, which is Christ Himself living in them by His Spirit; by a common birth and common nature, that of the Spirit, in virtue of which they are all made God’s children; and by a common love, as, notwithstanding all their diversities, brethren of each other. Christ’s prayer that that unity might be increasingly and perfectly developed and displayed to the world. That unity much more precious than uniformity in rites, ceremonies, and Church government, and independent of it. Exhibited in the Lord’s Supper: ‘We, being many, are one bread.’
3. The greatness of Christ’s love to His Church. Solomon’s love concentrated on Shulamite. So Christ’s love in regard to His redeemed. Israel loved by Jehovah with a peculiar love (Deu_7:7-8; Psa_147:19-20; Psa_148:14). The Lord ‘loveth the stranger to give him food and raiment:’ but loved Israel with the love of a Bridegroom. ‘You only have I known of all the nations of the earth.’ The love of the Father and of Christ to the Church, also a peculiar love. A general divine love towards all mankind. ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,’ &c. A special love to His Church. Christ ‘loved the Church, and gave Himself for it.’
4. The undividedness of the Church’s love to Christ. ‘My dove, my undefiled.’ Shulamite’s love to the Bridegroom that of the dove, distinguished for its undivided attachment to its mate. Herself ‘undefiled,’ as loving him with an undivided love. The mark of Christ’s true Spouse to be able to say: ‘Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none on earth that I desire besides Thee.’ ‘What have I to do any more with idols?’ ‘What things were gain to me, these I counted loss for Christ: yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ.’ ‘God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world.’ The whole heart sought by Christ, and yielded through His grace. ‘My son, give me thy heart.’ His complaint against the nominal Israel: ‘Their heart is divided.’ The prayer of the regenerate: ‘Unite my heart that I may fear Thy name.’ The part of grace to make the double heart single.
5. The smallness of the Church as compared with the world. Shulamite one; the queens, concubines and virgins many. So with the true spiritual Church of Christ at any period of her history. In comparison with the world, and even with religious professors, Christ’s believing people but a ‘little flock.’ ‘We are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.’ Among the Gentiles, as in Israel, the saved only a ‘remnant according to the election of grace.’ The gate of life straight, and ‘few there be that find it.’ The prophet’s complaint regarding Israel a general one: ‘Who hath believed our report?’ So the Saviour’s own, as addressed to the multitude: ‘Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life.’ The Gospel preached among the nations to ‘take out a people for His name.’ God hath ‘chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty.’ Christ’s Church His ‘hidden ones,’ whom ‘the world knoweth not, even as it knew Him not.’ Yet collectively, a ‘multitude that no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues’ (Rev_7:9).
Shulamite represented in the text as an object of admiration and praise to spectators. ‘The daughters saw her, and blessed her (pronounced her happy)’ &c. The Bride’s beauty and excellence thus strongly commended by her royal Bridegroom, who extols her as the object of admiration to those who might have been her rivals. The New Testament Church and converted Israel similarly spoken of by the prophet. ‘Their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed’ (Isa_61:9). Jerusalem to be made a praise in the earth and a joy of many generations (Isa_60:15; Isa_62:7). Israel was to be an object of admiration and wonder to other lands, on account of the wisdom and understanding through the Divine law which had been committed to them, and to be made ‘high in praise, and in name, and in honour above all the nations’ (Deu_4:6; Deu_26:19; Jer_33:9). A thing which actually happened (Eze_16:14; 1Ki_10:8). So after the effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the people collected from every nation under heaven, wondered when they heard the illiterate Galilæans declaring in all their respective languages, ‘the wonderful works of God.’ Subsequently, the infant Church at Jerusalem ‘had favour with all the people’ who ‘magnified them’ (Act_2:6-11; Act_2:47; Act_5:13). The rulers, ‘seeing the boldness of Peter and John, marvelled, and took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.’ The council ‘looking steadfastly on Stephen’ as he stood before them, ‘saw his face as it had been the face of an angel’ (Act_4:13; Act_6:15). King Agrippa, hearing and seeing Paul, ‘almost persuaded’ to become a Christian. The testimony of the heathen in regard to the early Christians: ‘See how these Christians love one another!’ ‘They are astonished who behold thy order.’—Theodoret. Believers the living epistles of Christ, known and read of all men. So to live that others seeing their good works may glorify their Father who is heaven. ‘They magnified the grace of God in me’ (Gal_1:24). Men to see that faith in Jesus makes believers not only holy but happy. Others to be attracted to Christ by what they see in His people (Zec_8:23). ‘Now I saw in my dreams that Christian went not forth alone; for there was one whose name was Hopeful (being so made by beholding of Christian and Faithful in their words and behaviour, in their sufferings at the Fair), who joined himself unto him. Thus one died to bear testimony to the truth, and another rises out of his ashes to be a companion with Christian in his pilgrimage.’ The language of the admiring daughters apparently given: ‘Who is she that looketh forth,’ &c. Perhaps the exclamation of the king’s female attendants, as they saw Shulamite enter the garden while they had accompanied him. The language, not of ignorance, but of admiration. That in the Church of Christ fitted to awaken the wonder and admiration of the world. The Church a wonder in heaven (Rev_12:1). The Apostles a ‘spectacle to the world, to angels and to men’ (1Co_4:9). In reference to
New Testament Believers,
The language suggestive of—
I. Their POSTURE. ‘That looketh forth as the morning.’ Indicates—
1. Deliverance and change for the better. The morning looks forth out of the darkness of the night. The shadow of death turned into the morning. The case—
(1) Of the Church at and after Pentecost. ‘Ye shall have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your hearts shall rejoice.’ Darkness made light before them. ‘The day-spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness.’ ‘The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.’ At Pentecost the light of the moon made as the light of the sun.
(2) Of believers at conversion. ‘His going forth is prepared as the morning.’ The converted and believing soul goes forth out of darkness into light, out of bondage into liberty, out of death into life. ‘Ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.’ Believers are children of the light and of the day. Not of the night nor of the darkness. Possess of the day-star in their hearts.
(3) Of the Church at the Resurrection. All comparatively night with the Church till Jesus comes. Her chief beauty and blessedness connected with His glorious appearing, when she looks forth from the night of tribulation and the darkness of the grave. ‘In the beauty of holiness, from the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth.’ ‘He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe’ (2Th_1:10).
2. Cheerfulness and confidence. The face not now hidden or cast down from sorrow, shame, or fear. From Mount Olivet the disciples returned to Jerusalem with great joy. After Pentecost they ‘did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God.’ The council marvelled at the boldness of Peter and John, and saw the face of Stephen as the face of an angel. Believers having peace with God through Jesus Christ, rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, glory in tribulation, and have joy in God Himself (Rom_5:1, &c.). Conscious enjoyment of God’s favour the health of a man’s countenance. In Christ we receive at conversion, ‘not the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba Father!’ Confidence towards God a fruit of faith in His Son. He hath given us, ‘not the spirit of fear, but of love, power, and of a sound mind.’ The promise connected with the Lord’s appearing: ‘For their shame they shall have double; and for their confusion they shall rejoice in their portion’ (Isa_61:7).
3. Interest in others. The law of Christ’s kingdom: ‘Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.’ Believers after Pentecost looked forth with pity and concern on a world lying in wickedness. Their calling: ‘Ye shall be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.’ Preach ‘repentance and the forgiveness of sins in My name to all nations.’ ‘Freely ye have received; freely give.’ The Gospel committed to the Church for the world’s salvation. Believers to hold forth to others the Word of life. To look forth on the multitudes with the bowels of Christ. To go, in the spirit and steps of their Master, to ‘seek and save that which is lost.’ The world to be won for Christ.
II. Their APPEARANCE. A threefold comparison—
1. ‘Fair as the moon.’ The moon, with her borrowed light, an object of beauty for the whole earth she looks upon. Beautiful when rolling on with unclouded grandeur. So Homer—
——The moon, refulgent lamp of night,
O’er heaven’s clear azure spreads her sacred light.
When not a breath disturbs the deep serene,
And not a cloud o’ercasts the solemn scene.
——The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight,
Eye the blue vaults and bless the useful light.
Still more beautiful when her path is through dark masses or patches of clouds—
The moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length,
Apparent queen! unveil’d her peerless light,
And o’er the dark her silver mantle threw.
Still more so, perhaps, in her virgin crescent. So the Church of Christ, faithfully reflecting to a world still in darkness the light she receives from the Sun of Righteousness, an object of beauty to men and angels. All the more beautiful when her path is through dark clouds of trial and adversity—her usual course in this world. The proper character of believers to be ‘fair’ in their doings, dealings, and general demeanour. To cultivate and exhibit ‘whatsoever things are pure, lovely, and of good report.’ The Church’s fair face to be soiled with tears, but not with sin. Her character after Pentecost (Act_2:42-47; Heb_10:32-34).
2. ‘Clear as the sun.’ The Church’s path progressive. A refulgence belonging to the sun above that of the moon. The New Testament Church clothed with the sun, while the moon is under her feet (Rev_12:1). The Lord Himself, the Sun of Righteousness, her everlasting light. Believers partakers of His glory. Even now the prayer of Deborah in part fulfilled: ‘Let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might’ (Jdg_5:31). Fully hereafter. ‘The righteoun shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father’ (Mat_13:43). We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory (1Jn_3:2; Col_3:4). Believers to be clear in their character, their conscience, and their creed. Christ’s Church to be like Cesar’s wife—above suspicion.
3. ‘Terrible as an army with banners.’ The comparison to a bannered host already made. The allusion here not unlikely to the celestial host, the stars, as they appear marshalled in the midnight sky, when ‘He bringeth out their host by number.’ The third comparison probably taken from the same class of objects as the first and second. The stars, as seen in Syria, especially resplendent. Something overpowering and awe-inspiring in the countless starry worlds, varying in magnitude, brilliancy, and colour, as they throng the deep blue vault of heaven. The Church not only fair and clear but terrible; and terrible as she is fair and clear. Attractive yet terrible. Burning yet unconsumed. The Church’s faithful ministers especially, as stars in the Saviour’s right hand. They that turn many to righteousness to shine as the stars for ever and ever (Dan_12:3). The whole regenerate Church to be seen one day by an astonished world as a countless starry host, of which ‘one star differeth from another star in glory.’ The description of the Church in this verse, and the kindred one in verse fourth, among the most magnificent passages in the Song. The distinction between the two, that the former takes its comparisons from terrestrial, the latter from celestial objects. Perhaps pointing to the distinction between the Church while militant on earth, and the same Church when triumphant in heaven; the former description concluding with the simile of an army marshalled for battle under its banner, the latter with that of glittering stars peacefully shining in the midnighty sky. Conflict first, then rest. First the fight, then the feast.
“There they who with their Leader,
Have conquer’d in the fight,
For ever and for ever,
Shall shine as stars of light.”
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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Here begins Part Five of the book
Read full note →
as beautiful as Tirzah, my love, as lovely as Jerusalem
These cities were famous for being beautiful and pleasant to be in. The man thinks the woman is beautiful, and he takes pleasure in being with her. (See: Simile)
my love
"you whom I love." See how you translated this in Song of Songs 1:9.
lovely
See how you translated this in Song of Songs 1:5.
as awe-inspiring as an army with its banners
The beauty of the woman is so powerful that it makes the man feel helpless, as if an army were approaching him.
translationWords
Tirzah
love
Jerusalem
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 6:4-10 The man again describes the physical beauty of…
6:4-10 The man again describes the physical beauty of the woman. He repeats parts of the description from ch 4 almost verbatim, showing the same high regard for his wife.
6:4 Tirzah was a city-state as early as Joshua’s time; it eventually became great enough to be the capital of the northern kingdom (Josh 12:24; 1 Kgs 15:33). The town’s name means “pleasant.” • Jerusalem was the capital of David’s and Solomon’s united kingdom and after that, the most important city of Judah.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.