A Love That Holds Firm
9I have compared you, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots. 10Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels. 11We will make you earrings of gold, with studs of silver. 12While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. 13My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, that lies between my breasts. 14My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi. 15Behold, you are beautiful, my love. Behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves. 16Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant; and our couch is verdant. 17The beams of our house are cedars. Our rafters are firs.
It is said that here in Korea, cases of children aged eight and under going missing are rising by 20 percent every year. Parents who have lost a child can do nothing else; they search the whole country until they find them. Not being able to see a beloved child must be a pain more agonizing than any punishment.
To be able to see the people we love whenever we wish, to meet them and live with them, is a great blessing, for then we can be happy telling them every day that we love them, caring for them tenderly, and sharing with them the best we have.
If you have a beloved husband or wife, children, or people dear to you beside you now, I hope you will love them with all your heart, for nothing is more foolish than regretting it after they have gone. Love can be received only if we give it first. It is like a ball: thrown at another’s heart, it bounces back to us. Only when we give love with a considerate heart, then, can the love that returns to us become happiness.
The Shulammite fell in love when she saw Solomon, who had come to her vineyard. Having come to love him, she could not forget him, and longing to see him again, she set out to find him. Not knowing where he was, she searched for him blindly. As she wandered in search of him, the women told her that the man she loved was a shepherd and would probably be with the sheep he kept.
She did as they said, and following the tracks of the sheep, she did indeed find Solomon there among them. Her heart leapt at the sight of the one she loved. When she left home, she had made herself pretty, thinking she might meet him. To look beautiful to Solomon, she had braided her hair neatly and hung a lovely string of jewels around her neck. Though her face was burned dark like Kedar’s tents, she wanted to look beautiful at least to the man she loved.
Seeing the Shulammite so full of love for him, Solomon recognized at a glance that she was no longer the woman cowed by her brothers’ abuse. She had run to him, out of breath, only to see him, and to Solomon she was exceedingly beautiful, a lovely woman who shone like no one else in the world.
Solomon thought that the Shulammite, who had come so far to find him, was like a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots. The steeds that carried Pharaoh were remarkable horses, intelligent and swift, running unhindered with their manes streaming. Pharaoh’s steeds were probably the most beautiful and the healthiest horses in the world. Solomon had many exquisite women around him, but the Shulammite, rough and plain as she was, had a particular charm the others lacked. Because Solomon too loved her truly, she looked beautiful and lovely just as she was, without being adorned with costly perfumes.
Being loved by someone makes a person confident in just this way. Love changes the spirit more than the outward appearance, so others can easily tell, even without being told “I love you.” The reason is that the fragrance love gives off is a noble thing that can never be hidden.
1 Peter 3:3-4
3Let your beauty be not just the outward adorning of braiding the hair, and of wearing jewels of gold, or of putting on fine clothing; 4but in the hidden person of the heart, in the incorruptible adornment of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God very precious.
It is only natural that the Shulammite should take great care over her appearance to look beautiful to the one she loves. Every woman in the world carefully makes herself ready so that the man she loves will tell her she is pretty and lovely. Once she has taken pains over herself, she waits all day for him with a fluttering heart, longing to hear those few words. A woman weeps at one word from the man she loves and laughs at another. When he notices the change in her at once, she is happy all day, sparing neither time nor effort for him and making ready to give her life to him.
But however prettily a woman adorns herself, a man who is stingy with praise does not deserve her love. A man must have the wisdom to understand such a woman’s heart. Only when he understands what the woman he loves wants, and senses the beauty that comes from small changes, can the two go on living happily together.
Solomon saw that the Shulammite, though she had not dressed in new clothes and costly ornaments, had braided her hair neatly and put on a necklace, and he understood her heart at once. That is why he gave her such high praise, comparing her to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots. But what we must understand is that a relationship between a man and a woman cannot live on physical love alone. The inner person must be more beautiful than the outward appearance. At first the heart is captured by physical love, but as time passes, attention turns from looks to the words and deeds that come from the spirit. If the love of two people is not to change, they must adorn and transform their spirits rather than their looks; only then can they love each other for a long time.
Once the Shulammite came to love Solomon, her eyes became as pure as a dove’s. The heart of a woman whose every thought was of the one she loved began to change and grow beautiful. How could she please Solomon? How could she be with him? How could she become a help to him? She began to think long about such things, and she would have put them into action. Adorning the outward appearance matters for a woman, but adorning the hidden person of the heart, that is, the “inner self,” for the sake of the one she loves matters even more. The inner self must be gentle and the spirit incorruptible, because even when the outer self is somewhat lowly, as the Shulammite’s was, the spirit within can be renewed and filled through Solomon.
When the Shulammite put down the roots of her love in Solomon, she shone all the more. So too, when Christians put down roots in Jesus Christ and are united with the Lord, they become faithful, true, and radiant. The light of glory that pours out from the reborn inner self is not something anyone can display by adorning the outward appearance with the things of the world. This light is seen only when a person has received the grace of God and been made new in soul, and so the first thing for us is to be born again in spirit.
Christ is always with the sheep who offer him obedience and faithfulness. If you want to meet Christ, go where the sheep full of faith are gathered. There you will meet him among them, and you will hear the voice of the one who loves his sheep.
The saints are Christ’s mirror. Like Moses, whose face shone because of the glory of God, those who love Christ come to bear his light, a light that cannot be hidden. If you live under the leading of the Holy Spirit, you will gain a spiritual authority that no one can treat lightly. The Shulammite was clothed in Solomon’s authority; the church will be clothed in Christ’s, and the world will see a spiritual beauty that no one can manufacture.
Only a faith reborn in this way is precious before God. God does not love you because you attend many services, or because you give, pray, and sing his praises a great deal. He loves the reborn inner self that has true love. The acts of faith that the reborn inner self offers to God show themselves in offerings, prayer, and praise, and it offers him a life of faith lived according to the word. God will treasure those who have wholly renounced the world and themselves in their hearts, and who take up their cross and follow him.
Song of Solomon 1:12-13
12While the king sat at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. 13My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, that lies between my breasts.
In verse 12, while the king sat at his table, her perfume of nard spread its fragrance, and in verse 13 the sachet of myrrh in her bosom gave off its scent. Both fragrances flow from a heart that loved Solomon.
Those whom God loves give off the fragrance of faith naturally, without any special effort to display the fragrance of Christ. Simply by being loved by Solomon, the Shulammite could give off the scent of costly nard, and with the fragrance of myrrh she could drive away all the worldly odors a human body gives off. This is a confidence only a woman loved by a man can feel, a boldness she would not exchange for anything.
A woman shines most brightly when she believes that the one she loves cherishes her and is protecting her like a strong fence. If she is sure of his love, she will not count even her life too dear to give. Anyone can tell from her face how greatly she is loved. We whom God loves are like this too. Once we believe that God, the King of kings, loves us completely, then even if we are somewhat lowly and sick in the world now, like the Shulammite, we can give off a precious fragrance of Christ of which the world is not worthy.
Women carry a sachet of myrrh in their bosom for its scent, which takes away every foul odor of the body. The costly ointment that covers both the smell of weariness from worldly toil and her poor and lowly life becomes that woman’s own fragrance. The reason we must give off the fragrance of Christ is that it can remove all the odors of the world: greed, lust, anxiety, and sexual immorality. Since human beings are sinners by nature and live in the world in the flesh, they cannot help giving off the smell of sin and death. Only when that smell of sin is removed by the fragrance of Christ can we come before God and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Just as the Shulammite confessed that she gave off fragrance because of Solomon, we too must confess that the smell of sin has left us because of Christ. The suffering Christ endured to forgive human sin is beyond words. If someone receives the fragrance of Christ through that sacrifice and love and then behaves arrogantly, as if they had made it by their own effort, God will not forgive them. Those who have grown up under the love of God are not daunted in the least by their outward circumstances. Though they may hold a poor place in the world, they know how precious the cross Jesus bore and the gospel are, and they breathe out the strong fragrance of Christ’s nard.
Even if, like the Shulammite, you are doing the hard work of keeping someone else’s vineyard, if your inner self stands firm in faith, the fragrance of Christ that pleases God will fill both the throne and the world. Because God looks not on the outward appearance but on the heart, he takes pleasure in the fragrance we give off, lifts us up, and blesses us. This dark world cannot give new life to souls. New life comes only through Christ. May you, like the Shulammite, confess that the happiness you enjoy is all because of Christ.
Song of Solomon 1:17
17The beams of our house are cedars. Our rafters are firs.
Verse 17 records that the beams of our house are cedars and our rafters are firs. This speaks of the unchanging love of Solomon and the Shulammite.
The cedar is a highly prized tree that grows straight, usually to a height of 24 to 30 meters. The fir usually grows to 17 to 20 meters, and because its wood is hard and fine, it is widely used for building. A house whose beams are of cedar and whose rafters, the stage before the roof is laid, are of fir is said to be so sturdy that no storm can bring it down. Perhaps that is why we find records throughout the Bible of cedar being used for the pillars and beams when palaces were built. Thus the couch where Solomon and the Shulammite shared their love stayed green, never changing. As long as Solomon’s love does not change, and the Shulammite’s obedience and service to the king do not change, that love will last forever.
The couch where the church is wed to Christ will never change either, because her house is one no storm can bring down: Christ is its rock, its beams and rafters are formed by the cross and the resurrection, and it is completed by the faithfulness of his people. The house of faith built together with Christ will never be shaken, and however hard Satan tries to hinder that beautiful love, he will not be able to overthrow it. The house where Christ and the church are wed is a house built by the precious blood of Jesus, a house for which he willingly laid down his life for her. Who could shake the strong house Christ has built, becoming himself its rock, its beams, and its rafters? Who could come between God and his people in their love?
God’s love is a straight and steadfast love. The eyes of those who receive such love shine pure as a dove’s, and like a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi, small blossoms whose rich fragrance spreads over the whole world, they will make Christ known.
I hope you will take a look at yourself. Are you truly shining with the light of glory through the love you receive from Christ? Let us each look back over our own faith and see whether we carry the fragrance of Christ instead of the smell of the world and of sin.
You must carry a fragrance that God will take pleasure in, and you must hold up a lamp to guide others. Then God will give you strength to lead souls out of the world. God, who takes pleasure in the fragrance of Christ alone, will bless you, filling your vessel of blessing to the full, shaken together. However rough and long the way through the world may be, I hope you will take the road of Christ. And may you write “Christ” as the answer to every problem you meet in the world. If only you hold such faith, you will receive God’s blessing like the Shulammite, loved by the king.
Just as Solomon will never let go of the beautiful and wise Shulammite, God will never let go of you, whom he loves. Now, like her, you need only enjoy peace in God’s grace. As Solomon’s arms were heaven to the Shulammite, you can enjoy the life of heaven only if you are in God. The Shulammite was happy merely to have Solomon look at her. We can be happy because Christ truly gave his life for us on the cross, and because the Holy Spirit walks with us always within our hearts. No one anywhere in the world is loved as dearly as we are.
Solomon had a great many women around him, but his attention was on the Shulammite alone. There are hundreds of millions of people in the world, yet Almighty God has his attention on you alone. This shows how truly you are the holy children of God. You may enjoy that happiness to the full.
May you always be like the Shulammite, giving off light and fragrance. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.