2015-01-28A
WHEN WORDS ARE COLOURED IN BLUE, THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN DISCUSSED IN A PREVIOUS GUIDE.
THE GROOM: 6:4 You are beautiful, my love , as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as battle lines with banners .
Cities.
The Bride’s beauty is compared to two cities. Both were already exceptionally large and beautiful during Solomon’s reign. After his death, the Kingdom of Israel divided into two. Jerusalem was then the capital of Judah, the southern kingdom. It could already boast a royal palace and of course also housed the gold-covered temple. Tirzah must also have been a beautiful city, which is why Solomon singles it out here and mentions it together with Jerusalem. Jeroboam, the king of the northern kingdom (1 Kings 4:17), also settled in Tirzah. So there too, was a royal palace.
Both cities would also have boasted a wide variety of businesses and expensive homes with artistically landscaped gardens. All sorts of arts were probably practiced there. A visitor could stroll along the streets for days on end admiring it all. These cities were also the residences of the country’s elite and of thousands of ordinary people, each with their own interesting personalities and abilities. These cities were desirable places.
For the Shulammite bride to be compared to these two cities was therefore a tremendous compliment: beautiful, gifted, rich, artistic, all in one.
As for the heavenly Bridegroom, we believe that He is here speaking to His universal Bride, the sum total of Shulammite brides, the millions who have chosen Him as their only Lover. All of them together are His Tirzah and His holy Jerusalem, which at the end of time, when their number of inhabitants will be complete, will descend from heaven (Rev. 21:10).
This view is reinforced by the fact that He also refers to her as terrible as battle lines with banners.
Her battle lines are terrible.
- As soon as she takes a stand against the devil, he flees from her (James 4:7).
- The Bride is first and foremost gentle and loving like a young girl in love, but also infinitely more powerful than all the hordes of evil spirits. As an army, she marches out in perfectly ordered battle formations; each soldier in his unique position (Num 2:2).
Her banners proclaim love in all its facets. A large banner flies above each of the battalions, for instance:
- The banner of the battalion of joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
- The banner of the battalion of those who patiently wait for prayer to be answered; those who are in distress and oppression because of their faith; those who are beaten with whips, rods and clubs for the sake of Jesus; those who are held in solitary confinement and terrible conditions in prisons for their testimony; those who allow themselves no rest in the service of their King; those who lie awake at night praying for the lost (2Cor6;3-10, etc.).
- The banner of God’s unsung heroes – those who work faithfully for Him behind the scenes and never appear in the limelight.
Her weapons:
- Are holy. Her soldiers are girded with the armour of light (Rom 13:12). They hold the weapons of righteousness in both the right and the left hand (2 Cor 6:3-10). They live out the principles of the Kingdom on the battlefield. They are not like the rough soldiers of some countries of whom their president and citizens should be ashamed. They conduct themselves in such a way that the ministry and Name of their General may not be tainted.
- Are powerful. They are not carnal, but empowered by God to pull down the strongholds of the enemy, to destroy his schemes, and to cast down every lofty thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, (2Cor 10:4,5).
Look at the scoreboard: victory has already been achieved.
THE GROOM: 6:5 Turn away your eyes from me, for they terrify me; your hair is like a flock of goats that come down from Gilead.
Her eyes.
Her eyes radiate such a tremendous flood of love that He is completely and utterly overwhelmed; it captures his attention, leaves Him powerless in her grip. He is thoroughly overcome by the effect it has on Him. If she does not look away… He will not be able to do so. Bride, this is the power that our mutual love has on our Bridegroom.
See also 4:1 and 4:9.
Her teeth.
THE GROOM 6:6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that come up from the watering place, all of which bear twins, and not one among them is without a lamb.
See 4:2 .
THE BRIDEGROOM : 6:7 Your temples are like a pomegranate disk within your veil.
See 4:3 .
THE BRIDEGROOM : 6:8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines and virgins without number.
Queens, concubines and maidens.
Three groups of women who were to be found in Solomon’s palace, as well as their ranking or standing, are mentioned: queens, concubines, and maidens. How the ranking was assigned, is not stated.
Some of the queens would be princesses from surrounding kingdoms. It was common practice for kings to forge family ties with other kings in this way to ensure the peaceful coexistence of the empires. The reason for such a marriage was therefore political in nature and not because the couple were attracted to each other.
Solomon also did this, for example by making alliances with the king of Egypt (1Kings 3:1). His later marriages with Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite princesses were also not because of love; in fact, the Word describes them as sinful.
In the book of Esther, chapter 2, we find an interesting account of how a king used to obtain a wife or wives at that time. He did not have the privilege of looking for a companion himself right from the srtart, but had to choose later on from a pool of women his subjects had gathered for him.
In Solomon’s case, the result was that he acquired 700 queens and 300 concubines (1Ki 11:3) as bed companions, but, if we understand his Song of Songs correctly, not a single soul mate; no one with whom he could share his deepest secrets and the longings of his spirit.
Perhaps this was, from a human perspective, the reason for the Book of Song of Songs: a king’s longing for true female love, the love of a girl of his own choice: his Shulammite sweetheart.
As for such bed mates: they naturally had it all because of their affiliation with the king: honour, wealth, care, security and, if they were lucky, perhaps a royal child. Emotionally, however, they would have been poorer than most other women of the land because they would not have marriage partners.
How do we tie all this to the Heavenly Bridegroom/Bride story? The world is like a palace of which God is the King. In it live a multitude of people who are supposed to be his bride but whose hearts have been stolen by the evil one. However, he, the devil, does not care for them but, devoid of all love, he leaves it to God to continue to look after them:
… He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, giving us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness (Acts 14:17).
What about his Bride?
THE GROOM: 9 One, this is my dove, my perfect one, the only one for her mother; she is the chosen one for him who bore her.
From this sea of people, the Bridegroom chose for himself a tanned, undesirable Shulammite Bride, won her heart and gave his heart to her. She loves him as a Person, not his palace. In the natural she is that one person, even that child that loves him, but also the sum total of all those depicted as the New Jerusalem.
She, the universal Bride, is the only child and therefore the chosen one of God, the Holy Spirit, Who gave birth to her by means of spiritual regeneration; she alone is perfect from the moment of her birth.
… I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are mine! (Isa 43:1).
To her He gives the hidden treasures of His love.
And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches; that you may know that I am the LORD, who calls you by name, … (Isaiah 45:3).
This leaves us with a question:
THE BRIDEGROOM: 6:8b The daughters saw her and called her blessed, the queens and the concubines, and praised her:
Could it be that worldly people praise a child of God as happy? The answer is, yes.
Firstly, they are not blind to the supernatural material blessings that sometimes befall the Bride of Christ. The pagan king Abimelech drove Isaac away from him because Isaac was becoming more powerful and richer by the blessing hand of God. Then he claimed two wells of water that Isaac had dug so that he had to move away even further to find pasture for his cattle. There he dug a third well and again God gave him water. Abimelech was shocked and realized that this was supernatural, that the hand of God was on Isaac and implored him to enter into a peace treaty with him, because, as he grudingly but openly had to admit:
… . You are indeed the blessed of the LORD. (Gen 26:29).
There are many examples of this in Scripture, e.g. in the lives of David, Daniel and Joseph. This happens especially when the Bride, under severe provocation, does not retaliate but turns the other cheek, walks the second mile carrying the Roman soldiers’ weapons and God blesses her over and above her contemporaries, competitors and opponents, that they recognize and openly express their amazement. David recorded in Ps 23:5 how he experienced this special blessing of God;
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
Secondly the unsaved people praise God when they individually experience the blessings of the miracles performed by the hands of the Bride. Of this there is abundant mention, especially in the Gospels and in the Book of Acts.
And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people: and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. 13 And none of the rest durst join themselves unto them: but the people held them in high esteem. (Acts 5:12,13).
Thirdly, the Lord opens the eyes of some worldlings to see and appreciate the beauty of love in the lives of his Bride.
By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35).
The “daughters” view of the Bride.
We continue. Some translations place a colon at the end of the previous sentence (:) which means that the words that follow are uttered by the “daughters,”:
A “DAUGHTER OF JERUSALEM”: 6:10 Who is this that rises like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, pure as the sun, terrible as battle lines with banners?
They see a stunningly impressive Person appearing in the distance but do not know who it is. The Person manifests as the sun that rises steadily but unstoppably above the horizon from the dark of night. The higher it rises, the brighter it shines until it blinds the eyes of man. So is the spiritual Bride of Christ: She arises slowly but unhaltably from the nocturnal darkness into which this world was plunged by the fall of Adam and Eve. The higher she rises, the wider and brighter she shines on the landscape below.
She is beautiful like the moon that “passes silently over starry fields.” Her overwhelming characteristic is her holiness, her purity. She shines into the darkness but is not overcome by it; in effect she dispells it.
Her touch is gentle. In the lives of those that are not yet ready to receive the full daylight, she rises in the darkness of the night of their sin and by her soft glow of love, she reveals the footpath to heaven, the Way they could not see because of the darkening of their minds.
When her soft touch does not avail to a hardened heart, she seeks to pluck it like a brand from the fire before it is too late. (Jud 1:23).
The Bridegroom in his gardens worldwide.
THE GROOM : 6:11 I went down to the nut garden to see the sprouts in the valley, to see whether the vine budded, the pomegranates bloomed.
A wealthy farmer may own as many as twenty or thirty farms, each in a different area, even in several countries, each growing a unique crop. These may range from strawberries to mulberries, pumpkins to pawpaws. He makes sure that he knows exactly how things are on each farm. He has, of course, appointed reliable managers everywhere, but he enjoys visiting each farm personally, examining it, inhaling the scent of the growing plants and enjoying the taste of a fresh grape, almond or pomegranate here and there.
The Heavenly Gardener’s farms span the entire earth. On the smallest island He owns at least one little garden, perhaps just a child’s heart in which a seed of the Word fell, germinated and is bearing fruit. Then there are also the outstanding growers who require specialized attention:
… for the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him; … (2Cor 16:9).
In some fields the soil is particularly fertile; deep and rich. There the full ears of corn wave in the wind:
And that which fell on good ground, these are they which, when they have heard the word, keep it in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience (Luke 8:15).
In the vineyards too He finds particularly fruitful plants. They grow very fast and their tendrils swing wildly in the wind. They represent fast developing Christians. Their sprouting lives bare all sorts of actions that are not sinful yet not properly ordered by the Spirit. He walks down the rows with the pruning shears in his coat pocket and cuts away some of them accurately, tying up the more promising shoots so that this lovely vine may bear maximum fruit.
(Although Jesus is depicted here as the vine and the Father as the husbandman, we must keep in mind that the entire earth was given to the Son by the Father and that everything that needs to be done on it is done by the Son. So we can stretch the imagery to fit the context.)
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away; and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:2).
As a loving gardener, He takes no pleasure in uprooting a tree that has been growing for many years but bears no fruit, but rather repeatedly gives it another year’s opportunity to do so:
And he spoke this parable: A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none. Then he said to the dresser of his garden, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none; cut it down. Why does he make the ground barren? But he answered and said to him, Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it and dung it. If then it bears fruit, well and good; but if not, then cut it down next year. (Luke 13:6-9)
The Bridegroom with his Bride in her battle against evil.
But as He walks through the tranquil heart gardens of His universal Bride, the alarm goes, warning that the enemy entered His Kingdom at a vulnerable spot and that His Bride spead there in her chariots to ward off his attack.
(Chariots were mostly used for racing and warfare and not for transporting people or goods).
THE GROOM : 6:12 Before I knew it, my longing had transported me to the chariots of my noble people.
He longs to be with Her, to assist Her, to encourage Her, to protect Her, and suddenly, in the blink of an eye, He is there with Her, in Her chariot.
He sums up the situation. If necessary, He will call for reinforcements, namely His angelic army to assist Her as He did when His Bride, Elisha, was threatened by the Arameans.
And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, behold, an host with horses and chariots compassed the city round about. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my lord, what shall we do? And he said, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, open his eyes, I pray thee, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of his servant, that he might see: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
Time to dance.
THE BRIDEGROOM : 6:13 Come back, come back, Shulammite, come back, come back, that we may look upon you. What do you see in the Shulammite? Something like the dance of Mahanaim.
The battle is over and the victory won. His Bride is delivered by his intervention but she immediately left. She returned to her normal daily tasks, not allowing herself time to celebrate the victory, so He calls her back.
He has arranged a feast and his Bride must come and dance for Him, in the sight of the guests: the Mahanaim dance of the redeemed victor; the dance of Miriam after Jesus lead Israel from Egypt and delivered them from Pharaoh’s mighty army:
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances. And Miriam answered them with singing, saying, Sing unto the LORD, for he is highly exalted: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. (Ex 15:20, 21)
Then she dances the dance David danced ahead of the ark after God had handed over the Kingdom of Israel to him:
And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of trumpets. (2Sam 6:14,15) .
The Mahanaim dance is also sometimes called the dance of the angels. Jacob gave this name to the place where angels appeared to him when he was on his way to meet his brother, Esau.
Jacob also traveled on, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s army!” And he called the name of that place Mahanaim. (Gen 32:1,2).
LET US NEVER FAIL TO DANCE BEFORE OUR GROOM.
~~~~~~~~~~