the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Verse- by-Verse Bible Commentary
New American Standard Bible
Bible Study Resources
Clarke's Commentary
Verse Song of Solomon 1:2. Let him kiss me, c. — She speaks of the bridegroom in the third person, to testify her own modesty, and to show him the greater respect.
Thy love is better than wine. — The versions in general translate ืืืื dodeyca, thy breasts and they are said to represent, spiritually, the Old and New Testaments.
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Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:2". "The Adam Clarke Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/song-of-solomon-1.html. 1832.
Bridgeway Bible Commentary
1:1-2:7 OPENING EXCHANGES OF PRAISE
The girl longs for her lover (1:1-7)
After an introductory note (1:1), the collection opens with a poem spoken by the girl in praise of her absent lover. At times she imagines she is speaking to him, at times she thinks about him, but always she longs for his love and attention. She thinks that all girls must love such a handsome young man. To her he is king, and she imagines the coming wedding day when he takes her into his room, praises her beauty and makes love to her (2-4).
Aware that men have a liking for lighter skinned girls such as those of Jerusalem, the girl makes excuses for her dark skin. She is a farm girl who has worked in the sun, and she compares the colour of her skin to that of black goat-hair tents. Yet she knows that her lover makes a better comparison when he likens her to the beautiful curtains of Solomonโs palace. The reason for her dark skin is that her hard-hearted brothers have made her look after the family vineyards, with the result that she has not had time to look after the โvineyardโ of her own appearance (5-6).
The girl wishes she knew where her lover was feeding his sheep. Then she could go straight to him without having to wander from flock to flock looking for him (7).
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Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Fleming, Donald C. "Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:2". "Fleming's Bridgeway Bible Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bbc/song-of-solomon-1.html. 2005.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; For thy love is better than wine. Thine oils have a goodly fragrance; Thy name is as oil poured fourth; Therefore do the virgins love thee. Draw me; we will run after thee: The king hath brought me into his chambers; We will be glad and rejoice in thee; We will make mention of thy love more than wine: Rightly do they love thee."
"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth" "The scene here is in the women's chamber of the royal house. The young bride sings of her love for Solomon. In passionate romantic terms, she praises the man she loves. The `oils' (Song of Solomon 1:3) are those with which the king anoints himself. His name is as refreshing and soothing as oil."
Balchin understood it this way: "A number of different persons speak here. The Shulamite, a young innocent from the country, has been thrust into the king's harem. She is not at home. The over sensuous words of the women grate on her sensitive ears. As they see the king approaching, they long for the touch of his lips on theirs. The women are talking to one another about the king. Your `love' (plural in the Hebrew) means caresses… `wine.' An apt description of the intoxicating effect of caressing and kissing."
"Your name is oil poured out" "There is a play on words here. In Hebrew, `name' is [~shem] and `oils' is semen."
"St. Gregory, seeking some meaning beyond the words, wrote that, `Every precept of Christ is as one of his kisses.'"
"Draw me. We will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers; we will be glad and rejoice in thee" "The Shulamite speaks here."
"The king has brought me into his chambers" The king's chambers here are those of the king's harem.
"Let us make haste" There was always an extended period of waiting before a woman taken into the harem was brought into the king's presence (Esther 2:12). The Shulamite pleaded for her lover to take her away before she would be compelled to go to the bed of Solomon.
"We will be glad and rejoice in thee" Scholars agree that these are the words of the women in the harem. Waddey found them to mean that, "They shared her joy for her new found love, and they loved her as well."
In the Shulamite's plea for her true love to come in a hurry and take her away, we have a glimpse of, "True loyal love shining through the lust of this court scene (the harem)."
Coffman's Commentaries reproduced by permission of Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. All other rights reserved.
Coffman, James Burton. "Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:2". "Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bcc/song-of-solomon-1.html. Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible
the prologue. - The Song commences with two stanzas in praise of the king (now absent) by a chorus of virgins belonging to the royal household. Expositors, Jewish and Christian, interpret the whole as spoken by the Church of the heavenly Bridegroom.
Song of Solomon 1:2
Let him kiss me - Christian expositors have regarded this as a prayer of the Church under the old covenant for closer communion with the Godhead through the Incarnation. Thus, Gregory: โEvery precept of Christ received by the Church is as one of His kisses.โ
Thy love - Better as margin, i. e., thy endearments or tokens of affection are more desired than any other delights.
Song of Solomon 1:3
Because ... - Better, For fragrance are thine ointments good, making with the clause that follows two steps of a climax: โthy perfumes are good, thy name the best of all perfumes.โ โOintmentsโ here are unguents or fragrant oils largely used for anointing at entertainments (compare Psalms 23:5; Luke 7:46; John 12:3).
Thy name ... poured forth - As unguents are the sweeter for diffusion, so the kingโs name the wider it is known.
Song of Solomon 1:4
The king hath brought me - Made me a member of his household. This is true of every member of the chorus as well as of the bride.
The upright love thee - Better as in the margin: uprightly do they (i. e., โthe virginsโ of Song of Solomon 1:3) love thee. Compare the use of the same word in Psalms 58:1; Proverbs 23:31.
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Barnes, Albert. "Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:2". "Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/song-of-solomon-1.html. 1870.
Smith's Bible Commentary
Tonight we want to look at the Song of Songs which is Solomon's. By the title it indicates that Solomon felt that this was the finest of the one thousand and five songs that he wrote. This is the excellency of the songs that he has written. Of the thousand and five songs, this one is it as far as Solomon is concerned.
In Ecclesiastes, we had a theme: vanity of vanities. In this we have, song of songs. The vanity or the emptiness of the world apart from God. The emptiness of the world in achievement, any achievement that is apart from God. Now he speaks of the song of songs which is Solomon's and the song of songs is a song of love.
Now there are some people who consider the Song of Solomon no more than just an erotic, oriental love song and feel that it has no place in the scriptures. But others have found tremendous inspiration in the Song of Solomon by looking at a spiritual allegory, seeing it as a spiritual allegory. Now to the Jews, it became a spiritual allegory of God's special relationship to the nation Israel. As God is seen in the figure of Solomon the king, and Israel as the favorite choice wife, and as they express their love of each other, so God's expressions of His love for Israel and Israel's expressions of their love for God.
And of course, through a lot of the prophets we find the same theme as God addresses Israel as His wife. And God tells of His love, His deep love for His people. And the espousals of the youth. "When you first discover Me. Where is that love that we had in the beginning?" God said. "Why have you turned away from the love? Who has drawn you away?" And as Israel turned their hearts from God and began to worship Molech and Mammon and Baal and some of the gods of the Canaanites, God spoke out against it as having forsaken Me, your first love, the true love. And you've taken up with these other paramours that are going to leave you desolate. And so to the Jew it became a beautiful spiritual picture of the relationship of the nation Israel, the special relationship the nation Israel experienced with God.
To the church, because the church is often seen in the New Testament as the bride of Christ, it became a picture to the church of the bride of the church, her relationship to Jesus Christ, her bridegroom, her coming King who we look forward to. And so the spiritual allegories are then made applicable to Christ and His love for the church and the church's response to His love.
John Gill, one of the great Puritan preachers, preached to his congregation a hundred and twenty-two sermons out of the Song of Solomon. So for those that are looking for sermon material, seeking to find it in the spiritual allegories, there's just a lot of material here. He preached a hundred and twenty-two sermons out of this book. Bernard of Clairvaux preached sixty-two sermons to his congregation just out of chapter 1. So the book is filled with imagery and possible allegorical applications.
Now, I am not one who really goes into the mystic allegorical applications of the scripture. Though I do see here many beautiful allegories, and you can take the text and spiritualize upon them, that just hasn't been my method of ministry of taking a text and seeking to spiritualize the text. Because different people can see different things in an allegory. And even in the Song of Solomon, there have been various interpretations of the Song of Solomon.
The basic interpretation of the Song of Solomon is that this is a young Shulamite girl that Solomon has fallen deeply in love with. And she is in love with him. And he addresses himself to her declaring his love and declaring her beauty, and she responding to him. While the daughters of Jerusalem are there asking questions of the young girl concerning her love for him, asking Solomon of his love for her, and so the... Actually, again, it's a song, so you see it's set up in a dramatic kind of an opera. You have Solomon standing there singing in his rich baritone voice of his love for his bride. And she with her high soprano answering him and singing, "Come, my beloved into my garden and drink. Taste of its fruits," and so forth. And then you have the chorus over here, the women's chorus, the female chorus. And they every once in a while sing in, "Tell us of thy beloved. Where is he grazing his flocks and so forth at this time?" And they are interjecting.
Now there is another interpretation of the Song of Solomon, basic overall interpretation. And this one is followed in the Amplified Bible and suggested in the Amplified Bible. And that is, that here is the same beautiful young Shulamite girl that Solomon has fallen madly in love with. And he is seeking to make her a part of his harem, for Solomon had a harem second to none. And he is seeking by his wealth, by his grandeur, by all of the gifts and the wealth to cause her to become a part of his vast harem. Seeking to woo her and to seduce her. And she is brought in with the other virgins and she is telling them, they wonder why she isn't responding to his love and she is telling them that she has a true love, a shepherd. And she doesn't respond really to Solomon's love because her heart is after another, her shepherd lover who she longs for, who she seeks after.
And in the spiritual allegories to this other way of looking at the Song of Solomon, Solomon in this other allegory represents the world. The Shulamite woman, the Christian, and how the world is seeking to allure the Christian away from her love for her Shepherd, Jesus Christ. And she has this deep fervent commitment to her shepherd, even Jesus Christ, and cannot be allured by all of the wealth and the glory and the grandeur of Solomon as he seeks to seduce her and draw her into his harem and all.
And so this is another possible interpretation. But this is the problem, the basic problem of spiritualizing the text and seeing it in an allegorical sense, because as you go through the book, either one fits. But surely they are diametrically opposed to each other as far as an interpretation goes. And yet, you can see and you can read it so that either way it fits. Solomon is the one she loves and they are expressing their love for each other. Or, she is sort of rejecting the love of Solomon because of her true love for her shepherd lover.
The Song of songs, which is Solomon's ( Song of Solomon 1:1 ).
It begins with the first singer who is this young Shulamite, beautiful girl, and she sings.
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. Because of the savor of your good ointments [or your perfume] thy name is as ointment [or perfume] poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. Draw me, we will run after thee: the King hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee ( Song of Solomon 1:2-4 ).
Now speaking of herself, she said,
I am black, yet beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, and as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black ( Song of Solomon 1:5-6 ),
It doesn't mean that she was an Ethiopian, but she says,
because the sun hath looked upon me ( Song of Solomon 1:6 ):
She was well tanned.
my mother's children [my step brothers, actually] were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but my own vineyard [or my own complexion and so forth] I have not kept ( Song of Solomon 1:6 ).
I'm ruddy and tan and so forth.
Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where you make your flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? ( Song of Solomon 1:7 )
So her opening declaration of having been brought into the king's chambers. Her addressing the daughters of Jerusalem concerning her own unkept condition because of being outside, keeping vineyards. Sort of a Cinderella kind of a story, the wicked sisters made her do all of the work and she wasn't able to keep up her own cosmetics and all.
Now the king responds to her.
If thou know not, O thou fairest among women ( Song of Solomon 1:8 ),
And the question is where you feed your flocks. "If you know not, O fairest among women,"
go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents. I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will make thee borders ( Song of Solomon 1:8-11 )
Now these are the daughters of Jerusalem, the virgins, the chorus responds. "We will make thee borders,"
of gold with studs of silver ( Song of Solomon 1:11 ).
And the bride responds.
While the King sits at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof. A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts. My beloved is to me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi ( Song of Solomon 1:12-14 ).
The camphire trees or cypress trees, and just that beautiful smell of the out of doors and trees in blossom there in Engedi.
Behold, thou art fair, [the king answers] my love; behold, thou art fair; you have doves' eyes ( Song of Solomon 1:15 ).
She responds to him.
Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our bed is green. The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir ( Song of Solomon 1:16-17 ).
So you have the opening of this love drama, the Song of Songs of Solomon.
"
Copyright © 2014, Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, Ca.
Smith, Charles Ward. "Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:2". "Smith's Bible Commentary". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/csc/song-of-solomon-1.html. 2014.
Dr. Constable's Expository Notes
The Hebrew word for "love" (dodim) in Song of Solomon 1:2 refers to physical expressions of love. [Note: Cf. G. Lloyd Carr, "The Old Testament Love Songs and their Use in the New Testament," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 24:2 (June 1981):101.] The girl found her boyfriend’s physical affection very stimulating.
". . . figurative language is used more prominently throughout the Song than anywhere else in the Bible." [Note: Hess, p. 29.]
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Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Constable, Thomas. DD. "Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:2". "Dr. Constable's Expository Notes". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dcc/song-of-solomon-1.html. 2012.
Dr. Constable's Expository Notes
1. Longing for the boyfriend 1:2-4
As the book begins, the young woman and young man have already met and "fallen in love." In Song of Solomon 1:2-4 a the girl voices her desire for her boyfriend’s physical affection. According to LaCocque, the main female character speaks 53 percent of the time and the male 39 percent in the book. [Note: LaCocque, p. 41.]
". . . there is no other female character in the Bible whom we get to know so well through her intimate and innermost thoughts and feelings." [Note: Exum, Song of . . ., p. 25.]
"It is significant to this work that the girl speaks first. This young lady is not extremely diffident. She seems to see herself as of equal stature with the male. She longs to express her love to him, and she wants him to reciprocate. There is a sense in which she is the major character in this poem. This is one of the aspects of this work that makes it unique in its day. Much more of the text comes from her mouth and mind than from his. It is more her love story than it is his, though there is no failure on his part to declare his love and admiration for her." [Note: Kinlaw, p. 1216. See Harold R. Holmyard III, "Solomon’s Perfect One," Bibliotheca Sacra 155:618 (April-June 1998):164-71.]
Who was the Shulammite? No one knows for sure. It is possible that she may have been Abishag, the Shunammite (cf. 1 Kings 1:3-4; 1 Kings 1:15). "Shulammite" could describe a person from Shunem (cf. Joshua 19:18; 1 Samuel 28:4). The location of this Shunem was in lower Galilee, south of Nain, southeast of Nazareth, and southwest of Tabor. [Note: Cf. Delitzsch, p. 119.]
"This would explain Solomon’s rather severe reaction to the plot of Adonijah and also partially explain the women of the court listed in Song of Solomon 6:8 without the necessity of understanding them to have been actual consorts of Solomon." [Note: Patterson, p. 98.]
The use of both third and second person address ("he" and "you") is a bit confusing. Is she speaking about him or to him? This feature of ancient oriental poetry is common in other Near Eastern love poems that archaeologists have discovered. It was a device that ancient writers employed evidently to strengthen the emotional impact of what they wrote. [Note: Jack S. Deere, "Song of Songs," in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, p. 1011.] Here the girl appears to be speaking about her love, not to him.
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Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Constable, Thomas. DD. "Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:2". "Dr. Constable's Expository Notes". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dcc/song-of-solomon-1.html. 2012.
Dr. Constable's Expository Notes
A. The Beginning of Love 1:2-11
In the NASB, NIV, TNIV, NKJV and some other English translations, the translators identified the speakers in the various sections of the book. This is, of course, the interpretation of the translators, not part of the inspired text.
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Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Constable, Thomas. DD. "Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:2". "Dr. Constable's Expository Notes". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dcc/song-of-solomon-1.html. 2012.
Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth,.... That is, Solomon; Christ, the antitype of Solomon, the church's beloved; or it is a relative without an antecedent, which was only in her own mind, "let him"; him, whom her thoughts were so much employed about; her affections were so strongly after; and whose image was as it were before her, present to her mind: and "the kisses of his mouth", she desires, intend some fresh manifestations and discoveries of his love to her; by some precious word of promise from his mouth, applied to her; and by an open espousal of her, and the consummation of marriage with her. It may be rendered, "with one of the kisses of his mouth" n; kisses with the ancients were very rare, and used but once when persons were espoused, and as a token of that; and then they were reckoned as husband and wife o: on which account, it may be, it is here desired; since it was after this we hear of the spouse being brought into the nuptial chamber, and of the keeping of the nuptial feast, Song of Solomon 1:4;
for thy love [is] better than wine; or "loves" p; which may denote the abundance of it; the many blessings of grace which flow from it; and the various ways in which it is expressed; as well as the high esteem the church had of it. This is said to be "better than wine"; for the antiquity of it, it being from everlasting; and for the purity of it, being free from all dregs of dissimulation and deceit on the part of Christ, and from all merit, motives, and conditions, on the part of the church; for its plenty, being shed plenteously in the hearts of believers, and who may drink abundantly of it; and for its freeness and cheapness, being to be had without money and without price; and it is preferable to wine for the effects of it; which not only revives and cheers heavy hearts, but quickens dead sinners, and comforts distressed saints; and of which they may drink plentifully, without hurt, yea, to great advantage.
n ืื ืฉืืงืืช ืคืืื "uno tantum, vel altero de osculis oris sui", Michaelis; so Gussetius, p. 446. o Salmuth. in Pancirol. Memorab. Rer. par. 1. tit. 46. p. 215. p ืืืื "amores tui", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernised and adapted for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rights Reserved, Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Gill, John. "Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:2". "Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/song-of-solomon-1.html. 1999.
Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible
| The Love of the Church to Christ. | |
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. 3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. 4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. 5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. 6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
The spouse, in this dramatic poem, is here first introduced addressing herself to the bridegroom and then to the daughters of Jerusalem.
I. To the bridegroom, not giving him any name or title, but beginning abruptly: Let him kiss me; like Mary Magdalen to the supposed gardener (John 20:15), If thou have borne him hence, meaning Christ, but not naming him. The heart has been before taken up with the thoughts of him, and to this relative those thoughts were the antecedent, that good matter which the heart was inditing, Psalms 45:1. Those that are full of Christ themselves are ready to think that others should be so too. Two things the spouse desires, and pleases herself with the thoughts of:--
1. The bridegroom's friendship (Song of Solomon 1:2; Song of Solomon 1:2): "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, that is, be reconciled to me, and let me know that he is so; let me have the token of his favour." Thus the Old-Testament church desired Christ's manifesting himself in the flesh, to be no longer under the law as a schoolmaster, under a dispensation of bondage and terror, but to receive the communications of divine grace in the gospel, in which God is reconciling the world unto himself, binding up and healing what by the law was torn and smitten; as the mother kisses the child that she has chidden. "Let him no longer send to me, but come himself, no longer speak by angels and prophets, but let me have the word of his own mouth, those gracious words (Luke 4:22), which will be to me as the kisses of the mouth, sure tokens of reconciliation, as Esau's kissing Jacob was." All gospel duty is summed up in our kissing the Son (Psalms 2:12); so all gospel-grace is summed up in his kissing us, as the father of the prodigal kissed him when he returned a penitent. It is a kiss of peace. Kisses are opposed to wounds (Proverbs 27:6), so are the kisses of grace to the wounds of the law. Thus all true believers earnestly desire the manifestations of Christ's love to their souls; they desire no more to make them happy than the assurance of his favour, the lifting up of the light of his countenance upon them (Psalms 4:6; Psalms 4:7), and the knowledge of that love of his which surpasses knowledge; this is the one thing they desire, Psalms 27:4. They are ready to welcome the manifestation of Christ's love to their souls by his Spirit, and to return them in the humble professions of love to him and complacency in him, above all. The fruit of his lips is peace,Isaiah 57:19. "Let him give me ten thousand kisses whose very fruition makes me desire him more, and, whereas all other pleasures sour and wither by using, those of the Spirit become more delightful." So bishop Reynolds. She gives several reasons for this desire. (1.) Because of the great esteem she has for his love: Thy love is better than wine. Wine makes glad the heart, revives the drooping spirits, and exhilarates them, but gracious souls take more pleasure in loving Christ and being beloved of him, in the fruits and gifts of his love and in the pledges and assurances of it, than any man ever took in the most exquisite delights of sense, and it is more reviving to them than ever the richest cordial was to one ready to faint. Note, [1.] Christ's love is in itself, and in the account of all the saints, more valuable and desirable than the best entertainments this world can give. [2.] Those only may expect the kisses of Christ's mouth, and the comfortable tokens of his favour, who prefer his love before all delights of the children of men, who would rather forego those delights than forfeit his favour, and take more pleasure in spiritual joys than in any bodily refreshments whatsoever. Observe here the change of the person: Let him kiss me; there she speaks of him as absent, or as if she were afraid to speak to him; but, in the next words, she sees him near at hand, and therefore directs her speech to him: "Thy love, thy loves" (so the word is), "I so earnestly desire, because I highly esteem it." (2.) Because of the diffuse fragrancy of his love and the fruits of it (Song of Solomon 1:3; Song of Solomon 1:3): "Because of the savour of thy good ointment (the agreeableness and acceptableness of thy graces and comforts to all that rightly understand both them and themselves), thy name is as ointment poured forth, thou art so, and all that whereby thou hast made thyself known; thy very name is precious to all the saints; it is an ointment and perfume which rejoice the heart." The unfolding of Christ's name is as the opening of a box of precious ointment, which the room is filled with the odour of. The preaching of his gospel was the manifesting the savour of his knowledge in every place,2 Corinthians 2:14. The Spirit was the oil of gladness wherewith Christ was anointed (Hebrews 1:9), and all true believers have that unction (1 John 2:27), so that he is precious to them, and they to him and to one another. A good name is as precious ointment, but Christ's name is more fragrant than any other. Wisdom, like oil, makes the face to shine; but the Redeemer outshines, in beauty, all others. The name of Christ is not now like ointment sealed up, as it had been long (Ask not after my name, for it is secret), but like ointment poured forth, which denotes both the freeness and fulness of the communications of his grace by the gospel. (3.) Because of the general affection that all holy souls have to him: Therefore do the virgins love thee. It is Christ's love shed abroad in our hearts that draws them out in love to him; all that are pure from the corruptions of sin, that preserve the chastity of their own spirits, and are true to the vows by which they have devoted themselves to God, that not only suffer not their affections to be violated but cannot bear so much as to be solicited by the world and the flesh, those are the virgins that love Jesus Christ and follow him whithersoever he goes,Revelation 14:4. And, because Christ is the darling of all the pure in heart, let him be ours, and let our desires be towards him and towards the kisses of his mouth.
2. The bridegroom's fellowship, Song of Solomon 1:4; Song of Solomon 1:4. Observe here,
(1.) Her petition for divine grace: Draw me. This implies sense of distance from him, desire of union with him. "Draw me to thyself, draw me nearer, draw me home to thee." She had prayed that he would draw nigh to her (Song of Solomon 1:2; Song of Solomon 1:2); in order to that, she prays that he would draw her nigh to him. "Draw me, not only with the moral suasion which there is in the fragrancy of the good ointments, not only with the attractives of that name which is as ointment poured forth, but with supernatural grace, with the cords of a man and the bands of love," Hosea 11:4. Christ has told us that none come to him but such as the Father draws, John 6:44. We are not only weak, and cannot come of ourselves any further than we are helped, but we are naturally backward and averse to come, and therefore must pray for those influences and operations of the Spirit, by the power of which we are unwilling made willing, Psalms 110:3. "Draw me, else I move not; overpower the world and the flesh that would draw me from thee." We are not driven to Christ, but drawn in such a way as is agreeable to rational creatures.
(2.) Her promise to improve that grace: Draw me, and then we will run after thee. See how the doctrine of special and effectual grace consists with our duty, and is a powerful engagement and encouragement to it, and yet reserves all the glory of all the good that is in us to God only. Observe, [1.] The flowing forth of the soul after Christ, and its ready compliance with him, are the effect of his grace; we could not run after him if he did not draw us, 2 Corinthians 3:5; Philippians 4:13. [2.] The grace which God gives us we must diligently improve. When Christ by his Spirit draws us we must with our spirits run after him. As God says, I will, and you shall (Ezekiel 36:27), so we must say, "Thou shalt and we will; thou shalt work in us both to will and to do, and therefore we will work out our own salvation" (Philippians 2:12; Philippians 2:13); not only we will walk, but we will run after thee, which denotes eagerness of desire, readiness of affection, vigour of pursuit, and swiftness of motion. When thou shalt enlarge my heart then I will run the way of thy commandments (Psalms 119:32); when thy right hand upholds me then my soul follows hard after thee (Psalms 63:8); when with lovingkindness to us he draws us (Jeremiah 31:3) we with lovingkindness to him must run after him, Isaiah 40:31. Observe the difference between the petition and the promise: "Draw me, and then we will run." When Christ pours out his Spirit upon the church in general, which is his bride, all the members of it do thence receive enlivening quickening influences, and are made to run to him with the more cheerfulness, Isaiah 55:5. Or, "Draw me" (says the believing soul) "and then I will not only follow thee myself as fast as I can, but will bring all mine along with me: We will run after thee, I and the virgins that love thee (Song of Solomon 1:3; Song of Solomon 1:3), I and all that I have any interest in or influence upon, I and my house (Joshua 24:15), I and the transgressors whom I will teach thy ways," Psalms 51:13. Those that put themselves forth, in compliance with divine grace, shall find that their zeal will provoke many,2 Corinthians 9:2. Those that are lively will be active; when Philip was drawn to Christ he drew Nathanael; and they will be exemplary, and so will win those that would not be won by the word.
(3.) The immediate answer that was given to this prayer: The King has drawn me, has brought me into his chambers. It is not so much an answer fetched by faith from the world of Christ's grace as an answer fetched by experience from the workings of his grace. If we observe, as we ought, the returns of prayer, we may find that sometimes, while we are yet speaking, Christ hears, Isaiah 65:24. The bridegroom is a king; so much the more wonderful is his condescension in the invitations and entertainments that he gives us, and so much the greater reason have we to accept of them and to run after him. God is the King that has made the marriage-supper for his Son (Matthew 22:2) and brings in even the poor and the maimed, and even the most shy and bashful are compelled to come in. Those that are drawn to Christ are brought, not only into his courts, into his palaces (Psalms 45:15), but into his presence-chamber, where his secret is with them (John 14:21), and where they are safe in his pavilion, Psalms 27:5; Isaiah 26:20. Those that wait at wisdom's gates shall be made to come (so the word is) into her chambers; they shall be led into truth and comfort.
(4.) The wonderful complacency which the spouse takes in the honour which the king put upon her. Being brought into the chamber, [1.] "We have what we would have. Our desires are crowned with unspeakable delights; all our griefs vanish, and we will be glad and rejoice. If a day in the courts, much more an hour in the chambers, is better than a thousand, than ten thousand, elsewhere." Those that are, through grace, brought into covenant and communion with God, have reason to go on their way rejoicing, as the eunuch (Acts 8:39), and that joy will enlarge our hearts and be our strength, Nehemiah 8:10. [2.] All our joy shall centre in God: "We will rejoice, not in the ointments, or the chambers, but in thee. It is God only that is our exceeding joy,Psalms 43:4. We have no joy but in Christ, and which we are indebted to him for." Gaudium in Domino--Joy in the Lord, was the ancient salutation, and Salus in Domino sempiterna--Eternal salvation in the Lord. [3.] "We will retain the relish and savour of this kindness of thine and never forget it: We will remember thy loves more than wine; no only thy love itself (Song of Solomon 1:2; Song of Solomon 1:2), but the very remembrance of it shall be more grateful to us than the strongest cordial to the spirits, or the most palatable liquor to the taste. We will remember to give thanks for thy love, and it shall make more durable impressions upon us than any thing in this world."
(5.) The communion which a gracious soul has with all the saints in this communion with Christ. In the chambers to which we are brought we not only meet with him, but meet with one another (1 John 1:7); for the upright love thee; the congregation, the generation, of the upright love thee. Whatever others do, all that are Israelites indeed, and faithful to God, will love Jesus Christ. Whatever differences of apprehension and affection there may be among Christians in other things, this they are all agreed in, Jesus Christ is precious to them. The upright here are the same with the virgins,Song of Solomon 1:3; Song of Solomon 1:3. All that remember his love more than wine will love him with a superlative love. Nor is any love acceptable to Christ but the love of the upright, love in sincerity, Ephesians 6:24.
II. To the daughters of Jerusalem,Song of Solomon 1:5; Song of Solomon 1:6. The church in general, being in distress, speaks to particular churches to guard them against the danger they were in of being offended at the church's sufferings, 1 Thessalonians 3:3. Or the believer speaks to those that were professors at large in the church, but not of it, or to weak Christians, babes in Christ, that labour under much ignorance, infirmity, and mistake, not perfectly instructed, and yet willing to be taught in the things of God. She observed these by-standers look disdainfully upon her because of her blackness, in respect both of sins and sufferings, upon the account of which they though she had little reason to expect the kisses she wished for (Song of Solomon 1:2; Song of Solomon 1:2) or to expect that they should join with her in her joys, Song of Solomon 1:4; Song of Solomon 1:4. She therefore endeavors to remove this offence; she owns she is black. Guilt blackens; the heresies, scandals, and offences, that happen in the church, make her black; and the best saints have their failings. Sorrow blackens; that seems to be especially meant; the church is often in a low condition, mean, and poor, and in appearance despicable, her beauty sullied and her face foul with weeping; she is in mourning weeds, clothed with sackcloth, as the Nazarites that had become blacker than a coal,Lamentations 4:8. Now, to take off this offence,
1. She asserts her own comeliness notwithstanding (Song of Solomon 1:5; Song of Solomon 1:5): I am black, but comely, black as the tents of Kedar, in which the shepherds lived, which were very coarse, and never whitened, weather-beaten and discoloured by long use, but comely as the curtains of Solomon, the furniture of whose rooms, no doubt, was sumptuous and rich, in proportion to the stateliness of his houses. The church is sometimes black with persecution, but comely in patience, constancy, and consolation, and never the less amiable in the eyes of Christ, black in the account of men, but comely in God's esteem, black in some that are a scandal to her, but comely in others that are sincere and are an honour to her. True believers are black in themselves, but comely in Christ, with the comeliness that he puts upon them, black outwardly, for the world knows them not, but all glorious within,Psalms 45:13. St. Paul was weak, and yet strong,2 Corinthians 12:10. And so the church is black and yet comely; a believer is a sinner and yet a saint; his own righteousnesses are as filthy rags, but he is clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness. The Chaldee Paraphrase applies it to the people of Israel's blackness when they made the golden calf and their comeliness when they repented of it.
2. She gives an account how she came to be so black. The blackness was not natural, but contracted, and was owing to the hard usage that had been given her: Look not upon me so scornfully because I am black. We must take heed with what eye we look upon the church, especially when she is in black. Thou shouldst not have looked upon the day of thy brother, the day of his affliction, Obadiah 1:12. Be not offended; for,
(1.) I am black by reason of my sufferings: The sun has looked upon me. She was fair and comely; whiteness was her proper colour; but she got this blackness by the burden and heat of the day, which she was forced to bear. She was sun-burnt, scorched with tribulation and persecution (Matthew 13:6; Matthew 13:21); and the greatest beauties, if exposed to the weather, are soonest tanned. Observe how she mitigates her troubles; she does not say, as Jacob (Genesis 31:40), In the day the drought consumed me, but, The sun has looked upon me; for it becomes not God's suffering people to make the worst of their sufferings. But what was the matter? [1.] She fell under the displeasure of those of her own house: My mother's children were angry with me. She was in perils by false brethren; her foes were those of her own house (Matthew 10:36), brethren by nature as men, by profession as members of the same sacred corporation, the children of the church her mother, but not of God her Father; they were angry with her. The Samaritans, who claimed kindred to the Jews, were vexed at any thing that tended to the prosperity of Jerusalem, Nehemiah 2:10. Note, It is no new thing for the people of God to fall under the anger of their own mother's children. It was thou, a man, my equal,Psalms 55:12; Psalms 55:13. This makes the trouble the more irksome and grievous; from such it is taken unkindly, and the anger of such is implacable. A brother offended is hard to be won. [2.] They dealt very hardly with her: They made me the keeper of the vineyards, that is, First, "They seduced me to sin, drew me into false worships, to serve their gods, which was like dressing the vineyards, keeping the vine of Sodom; and they would not let me keep my own vineyard, serve my own God, and observe those pure worships which he gave me in charge, and which I do and ever will own for mine." These are grievances which good people complain most of in a time of persecution, that their consciences are forced, and that those who rule them with rigour say to their souls, Bow down, that we may go over,Isaiah 51:23. Or, Secondly, "They brought me into trouble, imposed that upon me which was toilsome, and burdensome, and very disgraceful." Keeping the vineyards was base servile work, and very laborious, Isaiah 61:5. Her mother's children made her the drudge of the family. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. The spouse of Christ has met with a great deal of hard usage.
(2.) "My sufferings are such as I have deserved; for my own vineyard have I not kept. How unrighteous soever my brethren are in persecuting me, God is righteous in permitting them to do so. I am justly made a slavish keeper of men's vineyards, because I have been a careless keeper of the vineyards God has entrusted me with." Slothful servants of God are justly made to serve their enemies, that they may know his service, and the service of the kings of the countries,2 Chronicles 12:8; Deuteronomy 28:47; Deuteronomy 28:48; Ezekiel 20:23; Ezekiel 20:24. "Think not the worse of the ways of God for my sufferings, for I smart for my own folly." Note, When God's people are oppressed and persecuted it becomes them to acknowledge their own sin to be the procuring cause of their troubles, especially their carelessness in keeping their vineyards, so that it has been like the field of the slothful.
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that is available on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library Website.
Henry, Matthew. "Complete Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:2". "Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mhm/song-of-solomon-1.html. 1706.
Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible
Better than Wine
June 2, 1872 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892)
"Your love is better than wine." - Song of Song of Solomon 1:2 .
OUTLINE-- I. CHRIST'S LOVE IS BETTER THAN WINE BECAUSE OF WHAT IT IS NOT-- because it may be taken without question because it is to be had without money because it is to be enjoyed without cloying because it is without lees because it will never, as wine will, turn sour because it produces no ill effects II. CHRIST'S LOVE IS BETTER THAN WINE BECAUSE OF WHAT IT IS-- it has certain healing properties it gives strength it gives joy it gives sacred exhilaration III. CHRIST'S LOVE IN THE PLURAL-- Christ's covenant love Christ's forbearing love Christ's personal love Christ's forgiving love Christ's accepting love Christ's guiding love Christ's providing love Christ's instructing love Christ's sanctifying love Christ's sustaining love Christ's upholding love Christ's enduring love Christ's chastening love Christ's love in your dying moments Christ's love to those gathered with him in glory Christ's love on the day of our resurrection IV. CHRIST'S LOVE IN THE SINGULAR-- the love of Christ in the cluster the love of Christ in the basket the love of Christ in the wine-press the love of Christ in the flagon the love of Christ in the cup
The Scriptural emblem of wine, which is intended to be the symbol of the richest earthly joy, has become desecrated in process of time by the sin of man. I suppose, in the earlier ages when the Word of God was written, it would hardly have been conceivable that there could have existed on the face of the earth such a mass of drunken men and women as now pollute and defile it by their very presence. For man, nowadays, is not content with the wine that God makes, but he manufactures some for himself of which he cannot partake, at least in any abundance, without becoming drunken. Redeem the figure in our text, if you can, and go back from the drinking customs of our own day to more primitive and purer times, when the ordinary meal of a man was very similar to that which is spread upon this communion table, รน bread and wine, รน of which men might partake without fear of evil effects; but do not use the metaphor as it would now be understood among the mass of mankind, at least in countries like our own. "Your love is better than wine." In considering these words, in the spirit in which the inspired writer used them, I shall, first of all, try to show you that Christ's love is better than wine because of what is not; and, secondly, that it is better than wine because of what it is. Next, we will examine the marginal reading of the text, which will teach us something about Christ's love in the plural: "Your loves are better than wine." And then, lastly, we will come back to the version we have before us, in which we shall see Christ's love in the singular, for the love of Christ, even when it is described in the plural, is always one; though there are many forms of it, it is evermore the same love.
I. First, then, I want to prove to you that CHRIST'S LOVE IS BETTER THAN WINE BECAUSE OF WHAT IT IS NOT. It is so, first, because it may be taken without question. There may be, and there always will be in the world, questions about wine. There will be some who will say, and wisely say, "Let it alone." There will be others who will exclaim, "Drink of it abundantly;" while a third company will say, "Use it moderately." But there will be no question amongst upright men about partaking to the full of the love of Christ. There will be none of the godly who will say, "Abstain from it;" and none who will say, "Use it moderately;" but all true Christians will echo the words of the Heavenly Bridegroom himself, "Drink, yes, drink abundantly, O beloved." The wisdom of imbibing freely of the love of Christ shall never be questioned even by the pure spirits in heaven; this is the wine which they themselves quaff in everlasting bowls at the right hand of God, and the Lord of glory himself bids them quaff it to their fill. This is the highest delight of all who know Christ, and have been born again by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit; this is our greatest joy while here below, and we can never have too much of it. Yes, we may even swim in this sea of bliss, and there shall be none who shall dare to ask any one of us, "What do you there?" Many delightsome things, many earthly joys, many of the pleasures of this world, are very questionable enjoyments. Christians had better keep away from everything about which their consciences are not perfectly clear; but all our consciences are clear concerning the Lord Jesus, and our heart's love to him; so that, in this respect, his love is better than wine. Christ's love is also better than wine, because it is to be had without money. Many a man has beggared himself, and squandered his estate, through his love of worldly pleasure, and especially through his fondness for wine; but the love of Christ is to be had without money. What says the Scripture? "Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." The love of Christ is 'unpurchased'; and I may add that it is 'unpurchasable'. Solomon says, in the eighth chapter of this Book, "If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be scorned," and we may as truly say, "If a man would give all the substance of his house for the love of Christ, it would be utterly scorned." The love of Jesus comes to his people freely; not because they deserve it, or ever will deserve it; not because, by any merits of their own, they have won it, or by any prayers of their own, they have secured it: it is spontaneous love; it flows from the heart of Christ because it must come, like the a stream that leaps from an ever-flowing fountain. If you ask why Jesus loves his people, we can give no other reason than this-"Because it seemed good in his sight." Christ's love is the freest thing in the world, รน free as the sunbeam, free as the mountain torrent, free as the air. It comes to the child of God without purchase and without merit, and in this respect it is better than wine. Again, Christ's love is better than wine because it is to be enjoyed without cloying. The sweetest matter on earth, which is for a while pleasant to the taste, sooner or later cloys upon the palate. If you find honey, you can soon eat so much of it that you wilt no longer relish its sweetness; but the love of Jesus never yet cloyed upon the palate of a new-born soul. He who has had most of Christ's love has cried, "More! More! More!" If ever there was a man on earth who had Christ's love in him to the full, it was holy Samuel Rutherford; yet you can see in his letters how he labored for suitable expressions, while trying to set forth his hungering and thirsting after the love of Christ. He says he floated upon Christ's love like a ship upon a river, and then he quaintly asks that his vessel may sink, and go to the bottom, till that blessed stream shall flow right over the masthead of his ship. He wanted to be baptized into the love of Christ, to be flung into the ocean of his Savior's love; and this is what the true Christian ever longs for. No lover of the Lord Jesus has ever said that he has had enough of Christ's love. When Madame Guyon had spent many a day and many a month in the sweet enjoyment of the love of Jesus, she penned most delicious hymns concerning it; but they are all full of craving after more, there is no indication that she wished for any change of affection to her Lord, or any change in the object of her affection. She was satisfied with Christ, and longed to have more and more of his love. Ah, poor drunkard! you may put away the cup of devils because you are satiated with its deadly draught; but never did he who drinks of the wine of Christ's love become satiated or even content with it; he ever desires more and yet more of it. Further, Christ's love is better than wine, because it is without lees. All wine has something in it which renders it imperfect, and liable to corruption; there is something that will have to settle, something that must be skimmed off the top, something that needs refining down. So is it with all the joys of earth, there is sure to be something in them that mars their perfection. Men have sought out many inventions of mirth and pleasure, amusement and delight; but they have always found some hitch or flaw somewhere. Solomon gathered to himself all manner of pleasant things that are the delight of kings; he gives us a list of them in the Book of Ecclesiastes: "I made great works for myself; I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself: I made gardens and orchards for myself, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: I made pools of water, to water the woods that brings forth trees: I got servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: I gathered also silver and gold for myself, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I got men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments, and that of all sorts;" but his verdict concerning all of them was, "Behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit." But he who delights himself in the love of Christ will tell you that he finds no vanity and vexation of spirit there; but everything to charm and rejoice and satisfy the heart. There is nothing in the Lord Jesus Christ that we could wish to have taken away from him; there is nothing in his love that is impure, nothing that is unsatisfactory. Our precious Lord is comparable to the most fine gold; there is no alloy in him; no, there is nothing that can be compared with him, for "He is altogether lovely," all perfections melted into one perfection, and all beauties combined into one inconceivable beauty. Such is the Lord Jesus, and such is his love to his people without anything of imperfection needing to be removed. The love of Christ, too, blessed be his name! is better than wine, because it will never, as wine will, turn sour. In certain stages of development, and under certain influences, the sweet ferments, and vinegar is formed instead of wine. Oh, through what fermentations Christ's love might have passed if it had been capable of being acted upon by anything from outside of him! Oh, how often, beloved, have we grieved him! We have been cold and chill towards him when we ought to have been like coals of fire. We have loved the things of this world, we have been unfaithful to our Best-beloved, we have allowed our hearts to wander to other lovers; yet never has he been soured toward us, and never will he be. Many waters cannot quench his love, neither can the floods drown it. He is the same loving Savior now as ever he was, and such he always will be, and he will bring us to the rest which remains for the people of God. Truly, in all these respects, because there are none of these imperfections in his love, it is better than wine. Once more, Christ's love is better than wine, because it produces no ill effects. Many are the mighty men who have fallen down slain by wine. Solomon says, "Who has woe? who has sorrow? who has contentions? who has babbling? who has wounds without cause? who has redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine." But who was ever slain by the love of Christ? Who was ever made wretched by this love? We have been inebriated with it, for the love of Christ sometimes produces a holy exhilaration that makes men say, "Whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell." There is an elevation that lifts the soul above all earthly things, and bears the spirit up beyond where eagles soar, even into the clear atmosphere where God communes with men. There is all that sacred exhilaration about the love of Christ; but there are no evil effects arising from it. He that desires, may drink from this golden chalice, and he may drink as much as he will, for the more he drinks the stronger and the better shall he be. Oh, may God grant to us, dear friends, to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge! I feel sure that, while I am preaching on such a theme as this, I must seem to some here present, to be talking arrant nonsense, for they have never tasted of the love of Jesus; but those who have tasted of it will, perhaps, by my words, have many sweet experiences called to their minds, which will refresh their spirits, and set them longing to have new draughts of this all-precious love which infinitely transcends all the joys of earth. This, then, is our first point: Christ's love is better than wine because of what it is not.
II. But, secondly, CHRIST'S LOVE IS BETTER THAN WINE BECAUSE OF WHAT IT IS. Let me remind you of some of the uses of wine in the East. Often, it was employed as a medicine, for it had certain healing properties. The good Samaritan, when he found the wounded man, poured into his wounds "oil and wine." But the love of Christ is better than wine; it may not heal the wounds of the flesh, but it does heal the wounds of the spirit. Do not some of you remember when your poor heart was gashed through and through by the dagger of Moses, when you felt the wounds caused by the law, the deadly wounds that could not be healed by human hands? Then, how sweetly did that wine of Christ's love come streaming into the gaping wounds! There were such healing drops as this, "Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;" or such as this, "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin;" or this, "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men;" or this, "He that believes on him is not condemned;" or this, "Look unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." I cannot, perhaps, quote the text that dropped like wine and oil into your wounds; but I remember well the text that dropped into mine. The precious vial of wine that healed up all my wounds as in a moment, and made my heart whole, was that text I quoted last, "Look unto me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth." Wine made by man cannot be medicine to a broken heart, nor can it heal a wounded spirit; but the love of Jesus Christ can do this, and do it to perfection. Wine, again, was often associated by men with the giving of strength. Now, whatever strength wine may give or may not give, certainly the love of Jesus gives strength, and strength mightier than the mightiest earthly force, for when the love of Jesus Christ is shed abroad in a man's heart, he can bear a heavy burden of sorrow. If he could have the load of Atlas piled upon his shoulders, and if he could have all the care of all the world pressing upon his heart, yet if he had the love of Christ in his soul, he would be able to bear the load. The love of Christ helps a man to fight the battles of life; it makes life, with all its cares and troubles, a happy one; it enables a man to do great exploits, and makes him strong for suffering, strong for self-sacrifice, and strong for service. It is wonderful, in reading the history of the saints, to notice what the love of Christ has fitted them to do; I might almost say that it has plucked up mountains, and cast them into the sea, for things impossible to other men have become easy enough to men on fire with the love of Christ. What the Church of Christ needs just now to strengthen her, is more love to her Lord, and her Lord's love more fully enjoyed in the souls of her members; there is no strengthening influence like it. Wine was also frequently used as the symbol of joy; and certainly, in this respect, Christ's love is better than wine. Whatever joy there may be in the world (and it would be folly to deny that there is some sort of joy which even the basest of men know), yet the love of Christ is far superior to it. Human joy derived from earthly sources is a muddy, dirty pool, at which men would not drink did they know there was a stream sweeter, cooler, and far more refreshing. The love of Jesus brings a joy that is fit for angels, a joy that we shall have continued to us even in heaven itself, a joy which makes earth like to heaven; it is therefore far better than wine. It is better than wine, once more, for the sacred exhilaration which it gives. I have already spoken of this; the love of Christ is the grandest stimulant of the renewed nature that can be known. It enables the fainting man to revive from his swooning; it causes the feeble man to leap up from his bed of languishing; and it makes the weary man strong again. Are you weary, brother, and sick of life? You only need more of Christ's love shed abroad in your heart. Are you, dear brother, ready to faint through unbelief? You only need more of Christ's love, and all shall be well with you. I would to God that we were all filled with it to the full, like those believers were on the day of Pentecost, of whom the mockers said that they were full of new wine. Peter truly said that they were not drunken, as men supposed; but that it was the Spirit of God and the love of Christ filling them with unusual power and unusual energy, and therefore men knew not what it was. God grant to us also this great power, and Christ shall have all the glory of it!
III. But now passing rapidly on, for our time is flying, the marginal reading of our text is in the plural: "Your loves are better than wine," and this teaches us that CHRIST'S LOVE MAY BE SPOKEN OF IN THE PLURAL, because it manifests itself in so many ways. I ask all renewed hearts that have been won to Jesus, the virgin souls that follow him wherever he goes, to walk with me in imagination over the sacred tracks of the love of Christ. Think, beloved, of Christ's covenant love, the love he had to us before the world was. Christ is no new lover of his people's souls; but he loved them before the day-star knew its place, and before the planets began their mighty revolutions. Every soul whom Jesus loves now, he loved forever and ever. What a wondrous love was that รน infinite, unbounded, everlasting, รน which led him to enter into covenant with God that he would bear our sins, and suffer our penalties, that he might redeem us from going down into the pit! Oh, the covenant love of Jesus! Some dear souls are afraid to believe this truth; let me persuade them to search the Scriptures till they find it, for, of all the doctrines of Holy Writ, I know of none more full of consolation to the heart when rightly received than the great foundation truths of Divine Predestination and Personal Election. When we see that we were eternally chosen in Christ, eternally given to Christ by his Father, eternally accepted in the Beloved, and eternally loved by Christ, then shall we say, with holy gratitude, "Such love as this is better than wines on the lees, well refined." Think next, beloved, of Christ's forbearing loveรน the love which looked upon us when we were born, and saw us full of sin, and yet loved us; the love which saw us when we went astray from the womb speaking lies- the love which heard us profanely speak, and wickedly think, and obstinately disobey, yet loved us all the while. Let the thought of it ravish your heart as you sing,
"He saw me ruined in the fall, Yet loved me, notwithstanding all: He saved me from my lost estate, His loving-kindness, oh, how great!"
Thus were we the subjects of Christ's electing love and forbearing love. Yes! but the sweetness to us was when was realized Christ's personal love, when at last we were brought to the foot of his cross, humbly confessing our sins. May I ask you who can do so to go back to that happy moment? There you lay at the cross-foot, broken in pieces, and you thought there was no hope for you; but you looked up to the crucified Christ, and those blessed wounds of his began to pour out a stream of precious blood upon you, and you saw that he was wounded for your transgressions, that he was bruised for your iniquities, that the chastisement of your peace was upon him, and that with his stripes you were healed. That very instant, your sins were all put away; you gave one look of faith to the bleeding Savior, and every spot and speck and stain of your sin were all removed, and your guilt was forever pardoned! When you first felt Christ's forgiving love, I will not insult you by asking whether it was not better than wine. Oh, the unutterable joy, the indescribable bliss, you felt when Jesus said to you, "I have borne your sins in my own body on the tree, I have carried the great load of your transgressions, I have blotted them out like a cloud, and they are gone from you forever!" That was a love that was inconceivably precious; at the very recollection, our heart leaps within us, and our soul does magnify the Lord. Since that glad hour, we have been the subjects of Christ's accepting, love, for we have been "accepted in the Beloved." We have also had Christ's guiding love, and providing love, and instructing love. His love in all manner of ways has come to us, and benefited and enriched us. And, beloved, we have had sanctifying love; we have been helped to fight this sin and that, and to overcome them by the blood of the Lamb. The Spirit of God has been given to us so that we have been enabled to subdue this ruling passion and overcome that evil power. The Lord has also given us sustaining love under very sharp troubles. Some of us could tell many a story about the sweet upholding love of Christ รน in poverty, or in bodily pain, or in deep depression of spirits, or under cruel slander, or reproach. His left hand has been under our head while his right hand has embraced us. We have almost courted suffering itself by reason of the richness of the consolation which suffering times have always brought with them. He has been such a precious, precious, precious Christ to us, that we do not know how to speak well enough of his dear name. Then let us reflect with shame upon Christ's enduring love to us. Why, even since we have been converted, we have grieved him times without number! As I have already reminded you, we have often been false to him, we have not loved him with the love which he might well claim from us; yet Christ has never cast us away, but still to this moment does he smile upon us, his own brethren whom he has bought with blood, and to each one of us he says, "I have graven you upon the palms of my hands. I have espoused you unto myself forever. I will never leave you, nor forsake you." He uses the most kind and endearing terms towards us to show that his love will never die away. Glory be to his holy name for this! Is not his love better than wine? There is one word I must not leave out, and that is, Christ's chastening love. I know that many of you who belong to him have often smarted under his chastening hand, but Christ never smote you in anger yet. Whenever he has laid the cross on your back, it has been because he loved you so much that he could not keep it off. He never took away a joy without meaning thereby to increase your joy, and it was always done for your good. Perhaps we cannot at present say that the Lord's chastising love has always been sweet to us, but we shall say it one day, and I think I must say it now. I bless my dear Master for everything he has done to me, and I can never tell all that I owe to the anvil, and the hammer, and the fire, and the file. Blessed be his name, many of us can say, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept your Word." Therefore will we put in Christ's chastising love among the rest of his loves, and say of it, "This love also is better than wine." We would sooner have the chastisements of God than the pleasures of the world; we would rather have God's cup full of gall than the devil's cup full of the sweetest wine he ever made. We prefer to take God's left hand instead of the world's right hand, and would sooner walk with God in the dark than walk with the world in the light. Will not every Christian say that? Beloved, there are other forms of Christ's love yet to be manifested to you. Do you not sometimes tremble at the thought of dying? Oh, you shall have; and you ought to think of it now, รน you shall have special revelations of Christ's love in your dying moments. Then shall you say, like the governor of the marriage feast at Cana, "You have kept the good wine until now." I believe we have hardly any conception of what comfort the Lord pours into his people's souls in their dying moments. We do not need those comforts yet, and we could not bear them now; but they are laid up in store, and when we need them, they will be brought out, and then shall our spirits find that the Lord's promise is fulfilled, "As your days, so shall your strength be." And then รน but perhaps I had better be silent upon such a theme, รนwhen the veil is drawn, and the spirit has left the body, what will be the bliss of Christ's love to the spirits gathered with him in glory?
"Oh, for the bliss of flying, My risen Lord to meet! Oh, for the rest of lying Forever at his feet! "Oh, for the hour of seeing My Savior face to face! The hope of ever being In that sweet meeting-place!" Or, as Dr. Watts puts it, "Millions of years my wondering eyes Shall over your beauties rove; And endless ages I'll adore The glories of your love."
Then think of the love of the day of our resurrection, for Christ loves our bodies as well as our souls; and, arrayed in glory, these mortal bodies shall rise from the tomb. Oh, the bliss of being like our Lord, and being with him, when he comes in all the splendor of the Second Advent, sitting as assessors with him to judge the world, and to judge even the angels! And then to be in his triumphal procession, when he shall ascend to God, and deliver up the kingdom to the Father, and the Mediatorial system shall be ended, and God shall be all in all! And then to be forever, forever, for ever, "forever with the Lord," with no fear of the soul dying out, with no dread of the false doctrine of annihilation, like a grim specter ever crossing our blissful pathway! With a life co-eternal with the life of God, and an immortality divinely given, we shall outlast the sun; and when the moon grows pale, and wanes forever, and this old earth and all that is therein shall be burned up, yet still shall we be forever with him. Truly, his love is better than wine, it is the very essence of heaven, it is better than anything that we can conceive. God grant us foretastes of the loves of heaven in the present realization of the love of Jesus, which is the self-same love, and through which heaven itself shall come to us!
IV. Now I must have just a few minutes for my last point, and that is, CHRIST'S LOVE IN THE SINGULAR, is a theme which might well suffice for half a dozen sermons at the very least. Look at the text as it stands: "Your love is better than wine." Think, first, of the love of Christ in the cluster. That is where the wine is first. We talk of the grapes of Eshcol; but these are not worthy to be mentioned in comparison with the love of Jesus Christ as it is seen, in old eternity, in the purpose of God, in the covenant of grace, and afterwards, in the promises of the Word, and in the various revelations of Christ in the types and symbols of the ceremonial law. There I see the love of Christ 'in the cluster'. When I hear God threatening the serpent that the seed of the woman should bruise his head, and when, later on, I find many prophecies concerning him who is mighty to save, I see the wine in the cluster, the love of Christ that is really there, but not yet enjoyed. What delight it gives us even to look at the love of Christ in the cluster! Next, look at the love of Christ in the basket, for the grapes must be gathered, and cast into the basket, before the wine can be made. I see Jesus Christ living here on earth among the sons of men, รน gathered, as it were, from the sacred vine, and like a cluster thrown into the basket. Oh, the love of Jesus Christ in the manger of Bethlehem, the love of Jesus in the workshop of Nazareth, the love of Jesus in his holy ministry, the love of Jesus in the temptation in the wilderness, the love of Jesus in his miracles, the love of Jesus in his communion with his disciples, the love of Jesus in bearing shame and reproach for our sakes, the love of Jesus in being so poor that he had not where to lay his head, the love of Jesus in enduring such contradiction of sinners against himself! I cannot hope to enter into this great subject; I can only point it out to you, and pass on. There is, first, Christ's love in the cluster; and next, there is Christ's love in the basket. Think of it, and as you think of it, say, "It is better than wine." But oh! if your hearts have any tenderness towards him, think of the love of Christ in the wine-press. See him there, when the cluster in the basket begins to be crushed. Oh, what a crushing was that under the foot of the treader of grapes when Christ sweat as it were great drops of blood, and how terribly did the great press come down again and again when he gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, and hid not his face from shame and spitting! But oh! how the red wine flowed from the wine-press, what fountains there were of this precious sweetness, when Jesus was nailed to the cross, suffering in body, depressed in spirit, and forsaken of his God! "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" These are the sounds that issue from the wine-press, and how terrible and yet how sweet they are! Stand there, and believe that all your sins were borne by him, and that he suffered what you ought to have suffered, and, as your Substitute, was crushed for you.
"He bore, that you might never bear, His Father's righteous ire."
Yes, beloved, Christ's love in the wine-press is better than wine. Now I want you to think of the love of Christ in the flagon, where his precious love is stored up for his people รน the love of his promises, given to you; the love of his providence, for he rules for you; the love of his intercession, for he pleads for you; the love of his representation, for he stands at the right hand of the Father as the Representative of his people; the love of his union with his people, for you are one with him, he is the Head, and you are the members of his body; the love of all that he is, and all that he was, and all that he ever shall be, for in every capacity and under all circumstances he loves you, and will love you without end. Think of his rich love, his abundant love towards his people; I call it 'love in the flagon', this love of his to all the saints which he has stored up for them. And then, beloved, not only think of but enjoy the love of Christ in the cup, by which I mean his love to you. I always feel, when I get to this topic, as if I would rather sit down, and ask you to think it over, than try to talk to you about it; this theme seems to silence me. I think, like the poet, "Come, then, expressive silence, muse his praise." Love to me! Dear child of God, do think of it in this way; let me speak for you. "He loves me! He, a King, loves me! A King? The King of kings, HE loves me! God, very God of very God, loves me!" Strange conjunction this between the Infinite and a worm! We have heard and read romantic stories of the loves of emperors to poor village maidens, but what are these compared with Christ's love to us? Worms were never raised so high above their meaner fellow-worms as the Lord Jesus is above us. If an angel loved an emmet, there would be no such difference as when Jehovah-Jesus loves us. Yet there is no fact beneath heaven, or in heaven, that is so indisputable as this fact, that he loves us if we are his believing people. For this we have the declaration of inspiration; no, brethren, we have more even than that to confirm it beyond all question, for we have his own death upon the cross. He signed this document with his own blood, in order that no believer might ever doubt its authenticity. "Herein is love." "Behold what manner of love" there is in the cross! What wondrous love is there! Oh! then, let us have Christ's love in the cup, the love that we may daily drink, the love that we may personally drink just now at this moment, the love which shall be all our own, as if there were no others in the world, and yet a love in which ten thousand times ten thousand have an equal share with ourselves. God bless you, dear friends, and give you to drink of this wine! And if any here know not the love of Jesus Christ, I pray the Lord to bring them to know it. May he renew their heart, and give them faith in him, for whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. "He that believes on him is not condemned." His great gospel word is, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." May the Lord confirm this word by his Spirit, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
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Spurgeon, Charle Haddon. "Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:2". "Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/spe/song-of-solomon-1.html. 2011.
