The Holy Tabernacle

6Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant? 7Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage! Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel. 8They all handle the sword, and are expert in war. Every man has his sword on his thigh, because of fear in the night. 9King Solomon made himself a carriage of the wood of Lebanon. 10He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, the middle of it being paved with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem. 11Go out, you daughters of Zion, and see king Solomon, with the crown with which his mother has crowned him, in the day of his weddings, in the day of the gladness of his heart.

Some people still marry in the traditional way, but you can see that in the past the procession of a bride going to her wedding in a palanquin was far more splendid than it is now. On that day above all, a bride on her way to the husband she will rely on for a lifetime wants to look the most beautiful in the world to the one she loves. She puts on the red dots at her cheeks and forehead, applies sweet-scented cosmetics, and on that road toward the one she loves a happy heart and a fearful heart live side by side.

Esther, who became the wife of King Ahasuerus, also spent twelve months preparing her body to please the king: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and various preparations, making herself clean. To become the wife of a king means working like this to erase your own smell and to give off the fragrance the king likes. Whatever her life had been before, from the moment she was chosen by the king she had to train herself to let go of what she was.

If the woman riding a palanquin to her husband has wisdom, that husband has been blessed more richly than if he had found a costly pearl. A wise wife will handle the affairs of the household without strife, and will raise the children whole in the faith.

Times have changed, and many couples now both work, so husband and wife both do the housework. But in Solomon’s day a woman with wisdom worked hard at home building up goodness, managed people wisely and kept the household together, so that her husband could do his work outside without worry. In those days the husband worked outside and supported the family, so he took little interest in the housework. That is to say, the roles of husband and wife were clear.

A wife’s wisdom is not something the world’s learning can teach. This wisdom has to be received from God. If the woman in the palanquin has wisdom and understanding, that home will be at peace for generations. A wise and understanding woman keeps her home in faith, and children who grow up watching their mother’s wisdom will learn from what she judged and decided. Children who come to see, as they grow, that their mother judged rightly will thank her, and will live fine lives in order to become wise parents themselves. And the husband will praise his wise wife and thank her, saying, “You surpass them all.”

Proverbs 31:30

30Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman who fears Yahweh, she shall be praised.

If a man has found a wife who fears God and prays, then from now on he must protect her so that she can keep her faith and live more at ease. He has a duty to help her live more boldly and more confidently in the world. A husband must be a fence around his wife, so that through him she can enjoy happiness and give off a fragrance of peace and rest and joy beyond anyone else’s.

When does a wife think of her husband as a safe fence? When he carries his own work well as the head of the house and leads the family in love. A wife relies on a husband like that and feels at ease inside it. That is to say, when the wife takes good care of the household and the children and the husband handles the work outside with ability, that home is at peace and a safe fence stands around it.

Solomon lifted the Shulammite up with what was his. She used to call herself a poor tent of Kedar, and Solomon set her in his own splendidly made carriage so that she could stand boldly before everyone.

Song of Solomon 3:6

6Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant?

The women of Jerusalem saw the Shulammite’s carriage procession coming from far off and whispered, asking who this was coming up out of the wilderness like a pillar of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense and all the merchant’s spices. That is how magnificent her procession was.

When they saw a Shulammite who had been nothing but a vineyard keeper riding a splendid carriage because Solomon loved her, the women were envious, because they knew how great a blessing she would enjoy. In just the same way, Satan torments believers out of jealousy, because he knows they are loved by Christ the King of kings, that they are saved and will enjoy eternal life. Satan knows what an astonishing blessing the life of heaven is.

Solomon was afraid there might be little foxes who would harm the Shulammite out of jealousy, so he had her escorted by sixty warriors, brave men expert with the sword. As a husband he is doing everything he can to protect his wife. This is the sure fence the Shulammite feels in her husband.

Song of Solomon 3:9-10

9King Solomon made himself a carriage of the wood of Lebanon. 10He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, the middle of it being paved with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem.

The carriage was made of well-grown wood of Lebanon; its pillars were plated with silver, its floor covered with gold, and the seat spread with purple. The inside was more splendid still, beautifully decorated by the women of Jerusalem.

Can you imagine how happy the Shulammite was to see a husband who had taken this much care for her? There were daughters of good families in any number, and Solomon had gone out of his way to love a worthless vineyard keeper; her heart would have held nothing but thanks. Riding the king’s carriage with Solomon toward the palace in front of many watching people, she would have been very happy. She would have been all the more thankful because now she could live at his side forever.

Even now many women dream of becoming Cinderella. Perhaps that is why cosmetic surgery clinics have sprung up like mushrooms. But when you see celebrities whose beauty everyone envied getting divorced, it is good evidence that a marriage does not live on appearance.

As Proverbs says, unless the woman is one who watches over the household with wisdom, strife will soon break out. Maturing the inner self before appearance, education and money is the shortest road to a happy life and the way to become a vessel large enough to hold another person.

Look at the carriage the Shulammite is riding: something like a pillar of smoke rises ahead of it, warriors stand around it, it is overlaid with silver and gold, and there is a seat of purple. The sight calls to mind the people of Israel camped around the tent of meeting after the exodus.

The pillar of smoke is the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud that guarded Israel above the tabernacle. The carriage, like the tabernacle, was made with silver and gold. The purple seat seems to show the ark of the covenant, where the sin offering was made and the blood sprinkled. And the warriors around it look like the people of Israel drawn up in good order.

The word “pillar of smoke” comes from the word for “palm tree.” The name was given because of the shape that rises and then spreads out like a palm, the same shape as a nuclear bomb rising and spreading wide when it goes off. People who saw a pillar of smoke rising high enough to be seen from far away would have prepared to welcome Solomon and the Shulammite with joy. When the people of Israel moved with the tent of meeting, the first thing foreign eyes saw would have been the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. Foreigners who saw those pillars standing high in front of Israel would not have attacked them lightly; they would have been afraid. The absolute protection of a God who guards his people thoroughly appeared exactly as the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.

Inside the most holy place they made a mercy seat of pure gold with two cherubim facing each other, and set it on top of the ark. Atonement was received by sprinkling on that mercy seat the blood of an animal that had paid for sin.

Only the high priest could go into the most holy place, once a year, and a veil stood between the holy place and the most holy place. But when Jesus carried the cross and died, the veil that shut off the most holy place from the holy place was torn from top to bottom. Until then sins had been forgiven by the blood of animals; but Jesus became the atoning sacrifice with his own body, and with that the veil that had shut us off from God was gone. The astonishing work by which believers now meet God directly was accomplished through Christ’s atonement.

Then who is the pillar of cloud that leads you now, as you run toward Jesus Christ your bridegroom?

Acts 2:3

3Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them.

The pillar of cloud that leads us must be the Holy Spirit, who came upon every one of those praying people, dividing like tongues of fire. At Pentecost, while a hundred and twenty disciples were praying with one heart in the upper room of Mark’s house, a sound like a rushing mighty wind came suddenly from heaven, and fire came down and rested on the disciples. He is the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promised to send to the children of faith after he ascended. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, and he is God. Because the Holy Spirit walks with us, you are able to live by faith in this world that Satan rules.

Even after he drove Adam out of Eden, God has never once abandoned his people. He has shown his children that he is always with them. He drove them out of Eden because of sin, and still he clothed them with garments of skin and showed them a sign; he protected them with the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud; he worked through the cross and the resurrection; and the Holy Spirit walks with us and makes us able to overcome the world. And now he will lead us all the way to the wedding feast.

You are the bride of Christ, riding the carriage of Christ’s atonement that he sent, led by the Holy Spirit, giving off the fragrance of faith and traveling toward the holy city under the escort of angels. Among the women of Jerusalem standing along the road there would have been some who envied Solomon’s carriage and some who were jealous of it.

Like them, when you travel in the carriage of atonement that Christ has sent, some will envy that faith and praise it and some will mock it as an empty faith. People of the world may urge you to try, instead of that pointless fragrance of the cross, a perfume that smells of the pleasure, the immorality, the honor and the human righteousness the world likes. Perhaps, as they say, the world’s perfumes do smell better than the fragrance of Christ. But if you are taken in by that and start using the world’s perfumes, God will find the smell repellent and will not take you in his arms.

Only by using a perfume that carries the fragrance of Christ can the children of God attend the feast, waited on by angels. Solomon liked the scent of myrrh and frankincense the Shulammite had put on, and when he said, “This woman is the one I love most,” she would have been satisfied as a bride. A woman who is not shaken by what other people say and who contents her husband’s heart is a wise woman and an understanding believer.

How well do you know Jesus, your bridegroom? And how much do you love him; how far are you ready to sacrifice for the bridegroom? What fragrance does the Christ you love like? If you truly love him, you certainly know what fragrance he likes. As the Shulammite gives off the scent Solomon likes, you must have the fragrance Christ wants.

Hebrews 2:7

7You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor.

Jesus took a body made lower than the angels, bore the suffering of the cross and defeated death, and for that he was crowned with glory and honor. There is no way we can ever repay the grace by which God the Son, the King of heaven, paid for sin through the death of the cross. The only thing a believer can do is to live out a life according to his will, doing whatever it is that Christ wants.

You are all the bride of Christ.

On the day the wedding feast is held, all of us, like the Shulammite, will go to the feast under the escort of the angels Christ sends. Until the day we arrive, the Holy Spirit will always protect us and help believers not to stray from the road of faith. No one in this world receives a greater love than the deep love God gives to believers. Only those who know how deep and how wide that love is will live for Christ their bridegroom, and will dress themselves in the fragrance of a life of faith in order to make him glad.

The women of Zion rejoiced and welcomed Solomon as they looked at him wearing his crown.

Song of Solomon 3:11

11Go out, you daughters of Zion, and see king Solomon, with the crown with which his mother has crowned him, in the day of his weddings, in the day of the gladness of his heart.

You too will feel the joy the Shulammite felt in that place of eager welcome. You will be glad as she was glad, and the dance she danced for joy you will dance with Christ inside the glory of God.

The Shulammite will now live in the palace with Solomon with nothing left to envy. Under his protection she will enjoy everything she wanted. You who have kept the faith will look on the throne of God, full of glory, and will now live forever. Angels will wait on you and you will enjoy everything, lacking nothing. This is how astonishing the blessing is that comes from a small faith kept in this world.

May you watch over yourself always, so that the fragrance of Christ never dries up in you. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.