2025-01-20A
THE GROOM CONTINUES TO COMPLIMENT HIS BELOVED.
THE GROOM: 4:4 Your neck is like the tower of David built for an armory, on which there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.
A woman’s neck, especially if it is slender, holds a special charm for her husband. She also knows how to use it by tilting her head to one side so that he can plant a kiss there. The neck, of course, also has many practical functions: it serves as a pivot allowing the eyes, ears and nose a wider scope to better fulfill their observation functions. It also contains the blood channels and the information cables to and from the to the brain, the control center. Her lover, however, is not impressed by these hidden virtues. He only notices the creamy white external beauty.
Not so with the spiritual Bridegroom. The slender neck brings to mind a tower; a high vantage point from which a watchman can survey the surroundings of a city up to the horizon so that the the army can be warned timeously when an enemy is approaching. They can then have the gates closed and archers placed on the walls. Important cities had several such towers erected at strategic points to ensure their safety. So, like a watchtower, says the Bridegroom, is his Bride: always alert, aware of the attacks of the evil one.
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. (Mat 26:41).
But she also expects her Lover at any moment and from her tower she eagerly scans right around for a sign of a cloud of dust indicating his approach.
Watch therefore, for you do not know the day or the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. (Mat 25:13).
The Bridegroom’s thoughts drift on. He thinks of the special Tower of David in Jerusalem and the precious shields that are kept there; shields of faith. It grips him. Faith is the basis for all the other spiritual virtues. Without it, they cannot function. And that is what He sees in his Bride: a Tower of David full of memories of victories of faith!
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, But the just shall live by faith. (Rom 1:17).
And without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Heb 11:6).
Let us look more closely at the Tower of David so that the imagery contained therein can speak to us more clearly. David’s involvement with Israel began when, as a boy, he defeated the giant, Goliath. Furthermore, until a relatively old age, he himself led the armies of his people. He was an outstanding hero in their eyes and many of his men followed in his footsteps and performed awesome heroic deeds. In 2 Sam 23:8 ff. his heroes and their deeds are mentioned.
Apparently he later built a tower in which he collected their shields and kept these as souvenirs for veneration. (These were not the golden shields of Hadadezer, 2Sam 8:7, or those made by Solomon, 1Ki 14:6.) It is of course that Tower that is here referred to by his son, Solomon. Each shield would testify to the heroic, bloody battles in which that warrior had been engaged for the sake of his people and king and the victories of faith which he had achieved over the enemy. The marks of the blows of his opponents on his shield would testify to the authenticity of his story.
In Ephesians 6:16, faith is compared to a shield. This is the shield that his spiritual Bride also carried and used. Fearlessly she resisted the evil one in his attempts to crush her faith, to overwhelm and take her captive. Heroically she persevered. The burn marks on her shield of faith were evidence of the fiery darts she had warded off with it.
In this she was an image-bearer of her Bridegroom, who, by the marks of the nails in his hands, bore evidence of his battle and victory on Calvary. By her perseverance she gained a firmer hold on her life (Luke 21:19). Time and again, when she found herself in the wilderness of trial and the enemy tried to seduce her by his cunning words, she resisted him by simply quoting the words of her Lover, and he fled headlong from her (James 4:7).
What she did not know was that her shields of faith were kept safe in the heavens, even safer than the shields in the Tower of David. No one could lay a hand on them. Not one would deed be lost or forgotten. He would call them to mind again and again; yes, not only the shields that testify to the evil she had resisted for his sake, but also every shield of self-sacrifice she had made for his sake.
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the labor of love which you have shown for his name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. (Heb 6:10).
Then they that feared the LORD spake one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it: and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. (Mal 3:16 ).
And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water to drink because he is a disciple, truly I say to you, he will certainly not lose his reward (Matt 10:42).
Hebrews chapter 11 is such a “Tower of David”, in which the the Lord displays the shields of faith of his heroes, such as Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarai, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and many others, describing their mighty deeds.
Be assured that your shields of faith are also already displayed in heaven, seen and read by your Bridegroom.
THE GROOM: 4:5 Your two breasts are like two lambs, twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies.
These parts of a woman’s body are perhaps more attractive to a man than any other. That is why the wise woman, the one who is pure in heart, carefully conceals them. She does not want every hobo to see and desire her body. Only her Creator, herself, and in this case, her bridegroom, may see its beauty. She has already betrothed herself to him and he to her, so she allows him more freedom with her. It is a secret they share with each other. She also knows that he is a man of integrity and will be able to control himself and not give in to the temptation expecting greater intimacy of her.
What he sees captivates him. Is she truly so well-endowed or is it the haze of love through which he looks that makes her appear so beautiful? Nevertheless, after she has thus exposed herself to him, they share a secret, a deeper bond has developed between them. She ran the risk that he would not be impressed with what he saw and would leave her, but he did not. They have crossed a bridge of mutual knowledge of each other, or at least, he of her. His newfound knowledge of her body and acceptance of it, his excitement about it, brings greater certainty to her mind that their relationship will be lasting. He knows so much more about her now, and yet he still desires her. Now she can devote herself even more unconditionally to him.
In human to human marriage, it is precisely those things that only the two of them know about each other, including the knowledge of each other’s weaknesses, that bind them so closely together – each other’s secrets that they share. In the administration of justice, this is held in such high regard that spouses cannot be compelled to testify against each other in court.
But how does the Heavenly Bridegroom see his spiritual Bride? We look at 1Pet 3:3,4:
Your adornment should not be external: braiding the hair and wearing gold jewelry or putting on fine clothes, 4 but let it be the hidden person of the heart, in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God. (Emphasis added).
We are talking about the hidden man of the heart. How is it between the Heavenly Bridegroom and his spiritual Beloved? Even in the most holy Bride there is so much unseemly left that she would rather conceal tightly in her cloak of private humanity. She sometimes entertains thoughts into which her enemies would so much like to have insight, but into which she only allows her Bridegroom by way of confession of sin. Sinful thoughts sometimes suddenly pop up and lay hold of her mind. They stubbornly cling to the door frames and simply refuse to be cast out. Evil thoughts towards others. Invented happenings. She has so many unopened doors of wall cupboards that contain forgotten, and therefore, unconfessed sins of the past. So many rooms without light regarding the thoughts and ways of God. So much doubt in his wise planning of her life. So much unfounded fear. So much lukewarmness of spirit.
Yet He describes these hidden parts of her life as pure, like two lambs that have not yet known carnal intercourse. Her body too is virginally pure like the lilies of the field where the lambs graze. They are an example of a vibrant, flourishing life and more so than that of other women; as the Oryx towers above the other antelope of the wild.
Is that not precisely why the Bride loves him so much? Because, even though He knows her through and through, He still loves her passionately. He looks past all the unsightly and praises her for the beauty: her purity, the clear evidence of the development of the fruit of the Spirit. Like the horns of the Oryx’s lambs which, though still only partially developed, already hold the promise of future formidable weapons, so too is her spirit: a model of challenging, sustained growth.
(In the discussion of verse 7 we will share the deeper secret to the Bridegroom’s exuberant love song.)
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