Tender Words of Intimate Love

How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman. Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies. liquor...: Heb. mixture Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins. Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus. Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries. Carmel...: or, crimson held...: Heb. bound How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes. I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples; And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak. sweetly...: Heb. straightly of those...: or, of the ancient I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves. appear...: Heb. open The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved. - Song of Solomon 7:1-13

    “How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman. Thy navel is like a round goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set about with lilies. Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins. Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus. Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries. How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes. I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples; And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak. I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves. The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.”

    In this seventh chapter of the Song of Solomon the Lord Jesus Christ gives us a very tender, intimate, and loving description of his love and esteem for his bride, the church. He tells us, in the most intimate terms, that he both loves us and takes delight in us (vv. 1-9). Then, in verses 10-13 the bride, the church, expresses her love for Christ. She tells him how that she loves him, delights in him, and greatly desires to be in communion and fellowship with him.

    The intimate language of this chapter to carnal and self-righteous men will probably be both confusing and offensive. But, to those who know the love of Christ and whose hearts are truly in love with the Son of God, this seventh chapter of The Song Of Loves is both delightful and precious. Commenting on this passage, Matthew Henry said, “Such mutual esteem and endearment there is between Christ and believers. And what is heaven but an everlasting interchanging of loves between the holy God and holy souls!”

    Husbands and wives

    These expressions of love are between Christ and his church. They must be understood allegorically, in a spiritual sense. Yet, we have here a pattern and example of that love and tenderness which should characterize every home. The Holy Spirit here gives us a pattern of love for husbands and wives. In Ephesians 5:22-32, the apostle Paul makes it very clear that the relationship of a husband and wife, if it is what it should be, is a picture of the relationship between Christ and his church. Believing men and women ought to work at making their homes palaces of love and happiness for the glory of Christ.

    Marriage was ordained and established by God for the propagation of the race and for the happiness of man (Gen. 2:18). Our Lord Jesus Christ showed his approval for marriage when he attended the wedding in Cana and provided wine for the guests. By his presence, our Lord honored and sanctified the marriage (John 2). Marriage is honorable for all men (Heb. 13:4). We must not look upon marriage as a carnal thing. And we should not look upon the conjugal privileges of husbands and wives as something evil or distasteful. Paul says that - “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled.” Men and women need to get over their silly, prudish ideas about marriage (1 Cor. 7:1-5).

    The relationship of a husband and wife should be a picture of the relationship of Christ and his church. They are no longer two, but one. They are to live together in mutual, self-sacrificing love. The husband is to love, protect, and provide for his wife. The wife is to love, reverence, submit to, and obey her husband.

    Christ and his church

    Here, in the Song of Solomon chapter 7, we have tender words of intimate love between Christ and his church; and they give us a picture of that love which should characterize the husband-wife relationship. We will go through this chapter giving very briefly its interpretation, showing the love and esteem Christ has for his church and the love and esteem believers have for Christ. Then I will draw some applications, which I hope will be helpful for us as husbands and wives. We should seek to follow our Lord and seek his glory in our homes.

    Christ speaks

    In verse 1-9, we hear the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to his church in tender, loving, thoughtful, and endearing terms. Notice the title the Son of God gives to his church—“O Prince’s Daughter.” The Lord himself is “the Prince of the kings of the earth.” He is “the Prince of Glory” and “the Prince of Peace”. He calls us his daughter. We are the Prince’s daughter by birth. We are born from above, begotten of God. We are his workmanship. We bear the image of the King of kings. We are the Prince’s daughter by marriage. Christ, the Son of God, has betrothed us to himself, making us the Prince’s daughter, the very children of God. As the prince’s daughter, we have been made heirs of the Prince of the kings of the earth.

    Our Lord here describes the beauty of his church in his own eyes (vv. 1-5). In our own eyes we see that there is nothing beautiful in us. Our souls are like the company of two warring armies. We are humbled with a sense of our sin, our shame, and our worthlessness. We are not worthy of such love as his.

    But Christ himself here speaks to us, sinful though we are, to express his love, assuring us that he loves us and delights in us. These tender, loving words are thoughtful and endearing. The church had defiled herself. She needed to be assured of his love. So our thoughtful Redeemer assures us that his love has not changed. In Christ we are perfect, and he declares that we are. The Lord looks his bride over from head to foot, and describes her as having a tenfold beauty in his eyes, a beauty which no one else could have in his eyes.

    1.“How beautiful are thy feet with shoes.”— He has set our feet free and adorned them with the gospel of peace to walk in liberty.

    2.“The joints of thy thighs are like jewels.”— The principles that strengthen us and determine how we walk through this world, like the knee and hip joints, are as jewels in his sight They are principles of faith and love toward him for the glory of God. They are produced in us by God the Holy Spirit, as “the work of the hands of a cunning workman” (Eph. 2:10).

    3.“Thy navel is like a round goblet.”— Perhaps, as some suggest, the reference here is not to the “navel” itself, but to a jewel worn to cover it, that it refers to "the clothing of wrought gold" (Ps 45:13), representing the beautiful robe of Christ’s righteousness with which his church is adorned. Perhaps the word refers to the navel itself, symbolizing the fulness of life that is ours in Christ. It is compared to a cup full of wine, refreshing and invigorating. It is well shaped and full of life, not uncut, bleeding, and loathsome, like it was when he found us (Ezek. 16:4). The fear of the Lord is said to be “health to the navel” (Pro. 3:8).

    4.“Thy belly is like a heap of wheat, set about with lilies.”—The wheat refers to fruitfulness (Gal. 5:22-23). The flowers refer to beauty and pleasantness.

    5.“Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.”—This refers to the Word of God, the Old and New Testaments, like twins, they are in perfect agreement, showing forth the riches, the glory, and the grace of Christ (1 Pet. 2:2).

    6.“Thy neck is a tower of ivory.”—The faith of God’s elect, by which we are joined to Christ our Head, is both strong and precious.

    7.“Thine eyes like the fish pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim.”—Eyes of repentance and faith, of love and devotion, of sincerity and truth. The eyes that weep over sin are as beautiful fountains in the eyes of Christ.

    8.“Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.”—This speaks of the boldness and courage of the church in facing her enemies and in the cause of Christ.

    9.“Thine Head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine Head like purple.”—Christ our Head is exalted above the earth and reigns as King over all the earth.

    10. A woman’s beauty is in her head, and the hair of her head is her glory. Even so, Christ our Head is our great Glory and Beauty. Our glory is altogether in Christ’s blood atonement and royal exaltation as our Savior. The church’s hair “may be said to be like ‘purple’ because of their royal dignity, being made kings unto God by Christ, and because of their being washed in the purple blood of Christ.” (John Gill) We have no beauty except what we have in and from him. And his greatest beauty is seen in his agony at the cross, when his hair was dyed crimson and purple.

    In verses 5-9, our Lord tells us of the complacency, satisfaction, and delight he has in his church. —“The king is held in the galleries” (v. 5). Imagine that! The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the God of Glory is so ravished by the beauty of his church, the beauty he has bestowed upon and wrought in her, that he is held at a stand by the sight of her! The Lord Jesus Christ has so adorned us and made us so beautiful in his sight that he delights in us (Ezek. 16:13-14). Our great Savior delights in the beauty of his people - His Righteousness (vv. 6-7). The Lord of Glory delights in the company of his people (v. 8). Christ Jesus, our great God, delights in the prayers and praises of his people (v. 9).

    The church speaks

    In verses 10-13, we see that the church, all believing hearts, are overcome by the love of Christ. The love of Christ, once it is revealed and known, is an irresistible love. Does Christ so love me? Then, surely I shall love him (1 John 4:19). In these verses, the church, the bride, acknowledges five things that I hope as you read them you, too, can honestly acknowledge.

    First, she acknowledges that she belongs to Christ (v. 10). —"I am my beloved's." We belong to him by his own eternal choice of us in electing love (John 15:16). We are his by special purchase (Eph. 5:25-27). We belong to our Savior by the commit of personal faith, because we freely give ourselves to him (Mark 8:35). And we belong to the Son of God by the consecration of love to him (1 John 4:19).

    Second, she expresses, to his praise and glory, that she is confident of his love for her. —“His desire is toward me!” He desires our salvation so much that it was the joy set before him, for which he endured the cross. His heart’s desire is that we may be with him where he is and that we may know the love wherewith he has loved us (John 17:23-24).

    Third, she acknowledges a desire to be with him, in his company, and in his fellowship (v. 11).—"Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages."

    “Thou, O Christ, art all I want,

    More than all in Thee I find.”

    Fourth, she acknowledges a desire to know the true condition of her own soul (v. 12). —"Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth."

    Fifth, she acknowledges her love and devotion for Christ (vv. 12-13). —"There will I give thee my loves. The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved." She promises him her love. She promises him herself. All that she is and all that she has she holds in love for him and gives to him.

    Lessons

    There are lessons here for both husbands and wives. Love needs no law. It is a law unto itself. Love needs no motive. It is a motive unto itself. If you love your wife, you want to please her and do her good. You need no commandment in that regard. If you love your husband, you want to please him and honor him. Love needs no law or motivation beyond itself. But even love needs instruction. And here our Lord gives us some instructions in love, by way of his own example.

    By his example, our Lord gives husbands some clear instructions about loving their wives. Let every believing husband imitate the Son of God in faithfulness to, thoughtfulness of, and giving honor to his wife. Happy is that woman whose husband seeks to imitate the Lord Jesus in intimate tenderness, affection, and devotion (Eph. 5:32).

    The spouse here stands as an example of the love women should show to their husbands. Let every believing wife reverence her husband (v. 10), find satisfaction with and in her husband (v. 11), and submit to her husband (v. 12). Happy is that man whose wife gives herself and her love to him (v. 12), and desires to please him (v. 13).

    Let us safely rest in our Savior’s love. Lets us keep our hearts in the love of Christ. Let us imitate the love of Christ in our homes.