Song of Songs
SoS 1:11a Song 1 Kings 4:32
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 1:11 [1] Song of Songs is a history of love in an excellent marriage, a story of the love between the wise King Solomon, the writer of this book, and the Shulammite (6:13), a girl of the countryside. As such, this book is a marvelous and vivid portrait, in poetic form, of the bridal love between Christ as the Bridegroom and His lovers as His bride (John 3:29-30; Rev. 19:7) in their mutual enjoyment in the mingling of His divine attributes with the human virtues of His lovers. Song of Songs stresses not the Body of Christ corporately but the believer in Christ individually, unveiling the progressive experience of an individual believer’s loving fellowship with Christ in four stages, as shown in points I through IV of the outline of this book. The correspondence between the progression in the poem and the progression in the experience of Christ’s lovers is the intrinsic revelation of the holy Word of the omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God. The stages of such a progression should be landmarks to us in the course of our pursuing of Christ for His and our mutual satisfaction.
SoS 1:11 [2] In the romance between the great King Solomon and the girl from the countryside (cf. vv. 5-8), because the two did not match each other, the king became a “country man” in order to go to her village to court her, to gain her love. On the one hand, he made himself the same as the country girl; on the other hand, he made the country girl a queen. This is a type of the story of God’s romance with man. God as the Husband is divine, and the wife He desires to marry is human; the two do not match each other. To fulfill His heart’s desire God became a lowly man with humanity in incarnation, and He contacted man by the way of a romance. Then in His resurrection He uplifted His humanity into His divinity in the divine power according to the Spirit of holiness, and He was designated the Son of God in His humanity (Rom. 1:3-4 and notes). Today He as the universal Bridegroom is the God-man, having both divinity and humanity. In order to make His bride, His wife, the same as He is, He regenerates His human elect, putting His divinity into their humanity and uplifting their humanity to the standard of divinity (1 Pet. 1:3, 23; John 3:6). After regenerating them, He then transforms His loving seekers gradually in their soul, and ultimately He transfigures them in their body, until in their entire being they are the same as He is in life, in nature, in image, and in function, but not in His Godhead (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; Phil. 3:21; 1 John 3:2). The romance in Song of Songs portrays the process through which the seeker of Christ passes in order to become the Shulammite, a duplication of Solomon and a figure of the New Jerusalem. See note 131 in ch. 6.
SoS 1:21 kisses
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 1:21 [1] The kisses of the mouth are the most intimate kisses. This yearning to be kissed by Christ is a response to Christ’s cheering love, which is better than wine (v. 2b), and to His charming name (equivalent to His person), which is like ointment (the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving Spirit as the realization of Christ’s person—1 Cor. 15:45; Exo. 30:23-25 and note 251) poured forth with the pleasant fragrance of the anointing oils (v. 3a). No one can resist Christ’s cheering love and His charming person (cf. Matt. 4:18-20).
SoS 1:21 [2] According to vv. 2-3, the lover of Christ has obtained a part of Christ’s love, but now she yearns for something more intimate. This indicates that the very Christ in whom we believe is personal and affectionate toward us, and that every believer’s relationship with Christ must be personal and affectionate (Mark 16:7 and note; John 13:23; 20:1-17; Gal. 2:20b). After believing in Christ to receive Him as the divine life (John 1:4, 12), we need to love Christ in a personal and affectionate way that we may pursue Him and enjoy Him as our satisfaction (1 Cor. 2:9 and note 3; 1 Tim. 1:14 and note 2).
SoS 1:3a fragrance 2 Cor. 2:14
SoS 1:31b virgins S.S. 6:8; Psa. 45:14; Matt. 25:1; 2 Cor. 11:2
The virgins signify the chaste believers (2 Cor. 11:2), who love Christ because of His cheering love (1 Pet. 1:8a).
SoS 1:41a Draw Hosea 11:4
In her pursuing of Christ for satisfaction, the lover of Christ asks Him to draw her that she and her companions (“we”) may run after Him. For the accomplishing of His eternal economy, God created man in His own image so that man may express Him (Gen. 1:26). He also created man with a spirit so that man may receive Him and contain Him (Gen. 2:7; Zech. 12:1), and with a heart that seeks God Himself so that God can be man’s satisfaction (Eccl. 3:11). Although man fell away from God, and sin through Satan came in to frustrate man from receiving God for his satisfaction, the desire for God, the seeking for God, still remains in man’s heart. This book tells us the unique way to be properly satisfied with God—to pursue and gain Christ (Phil. 3:7-14), who as the very embodiment and reality of God (Col. 2:9; John 1:18) came to earth that man might receive Him for satisfaction. Cf. Eccl. 1:2 and note 2.
SoS 1:4b run Phil. 3:12-14
SoS 1:42c chambers Psa. 45:14-15
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 1:42 [1] In her pursuing of Christ the seeker is brought by Him into her regenerated spirit as the Holiest of all (his chambers) to have fellowship with Him (2 Cor. 13:14; Phil. 2:1). Our regenerated spirit (John 3:6) as Christ’s dwelling place, which is mingled with and indwelt by Christ as the life-dispensing Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22), becomes His inner chambers, His practical Holy of Holies (Heb. 4:16; 10:19), for our participation in and enjoyment of Him as the consummated Triune God.
SoS 1:42 [2] Through His death and resurrection Christ, as the last Adam, a man in the flesh, became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17). As the all-inclusive consummated Spirit He visits us in our spirit privately, coming to us in a spiritual way, not in a physical way.
SoS 1:43 rejoice
The fellowship of Christ and His lover in her mingled spirit is in the joy of Christ’s lover with her companions (“we”), in their extolling of His unrivaled love.
SoS 1:51 black
In her fellowship with the Lord the lover of Christ is enlightened to see that she is a sinner in Adam (black like the tents of Kedar), but she has been justified in Christ (lovely like the curtains of Solomon).
SoS 1:5a daughters S.S. 2:7; 3:5, 10; 5:8, 16; 8:4; Luke 23:28
SoS 1:61 scorched
Others translate, looked upon me.
SoS 1:71 Where
The seeker realizes that she has been kept away from Christ’s presence and separated from Christ’s flock—the church in the proper sense according to the apostles’ teaching (John 10:16; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2)—and that she needs Christ’s feeding and rest with satisfaction.
SoS 1:72 noon
The time when the sun is at its highest, signifying the time of hardships.
SoS 1:8a fairest S.S. 5:9; 6:1
SoS 1:81 Go
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 1:81 [1] In her fellowship with her Beloved, the Beloved tells her to go forth from the place where she is kept away from the proper church life and to follow Him on the footsteps of the church (flock) and pasture her spiritual children (young goats) at the local churches (the shepherds’ tents), where He pastures His church. To follow on the footsteps of the flock is to follow the church, to follow the footsteps of all the faithful seekers of Christ throughout the centuries. As we follow the church, we are led into Christ’s presence, and we bring all the younger ones (young goats) to the church as well. The church is the place where Christ’s presence is and where He pastures, shepherds and feeds, His saints (John 10:11, 16; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2-4).
SoS 1:81 [2] The Lord’s lover has been seeking Him for her own satisfaction, but the Lord’s concern is for God’s satisfaction realized by the accomplishing of His eternal economy. God’s economy is to save sinners in order to gain the proper local churches, so that the essence of these churches can become the organic Body of Christ, which consummates the New Jerusalem as the consummation of God’s economy. Hence, in His answer to His lover, Christ instructs her to enter into the church life and also charges her to take care of her spiritual children, the members of the Body of Christ.
SoS 1:8b flock Psa. 95:7; Ezek. 34:31; Luke 12:32; John 10:16; Acts 20:28
SoS 1:91 my
Always in this book Solomon refers to the Shulammite in this way, whereas she refers to him as “my beloved” (e.g., v. 13).
SoS 1:9a love S.S. 2:2, 10, 13
SoS 1:92b mare 2 Chron. 1:16-17
Initially, the lover of Christ is a strong natural person (a mare—v. 9) living in the world, the satanic chaos (Egypt), and enslaved by Satan for his worldly purpose (Pharaoh’s chariots—see note 12 in Exo. 1). But in the church life she is transformed (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18) into a person who lives not by her natural life in relying on her natural strength but by the divine life in trusting in God (a lily—2:1-2; Matt. 6:28) and looking to Him with a single eye (eyes like doves—v. 15b; Matt. 10:16).
SoS 1:101 cheeks
Here the Beloved appreciates the seeker’s loveliness in her submission to Him (cheeks lovely with plaits of ornaments) and her beauty in her obedience to the transforming Spirit (neck with strings of jewels).
SoS 1:101a neck S.S. 4:9
See note 101.
SoS 1:102 strings
See note 111, par. 2.
SoS 1:111 We
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 1:111 [1] We here indicates that in the church life the transforming of Christ’s lover is carried out by the transforming Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God (2 Cor. 3:18) with the coordination of the lover’s companions, the gifted members in the Body of Christ who do the work of perfecting the saints (Eph. 4:11-12). The transforming Spirit and the lover’s companions adorn her with the constitution of the life of God (plaits of gold) by the redeeming work of Christ (studs of silver). See note 112.
SoS 1:111 [2] Gold refers to God the Father in His divine nature; silver, to Christ the Son in His all-inclusive judicial redemption; and strings of jewels (precious stones put together as one in strings—v. 10), to God the Spirit in His transforming work (cf. note 122, par. 1, in 1 Cor. 3). In the proper church life the lover’s companions, the perfected believers, coordinate with the transforming Spirit to perfect the lover by ministering the Triune God to her for her transformation by the Triune God’s attributes being wrought into her to become her virtues. This is for the building up of the church as the organic Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem (cf. 1 Cor. 3:12; Rev. 21:18-21) for the accomplishing of God’s eternal economy.
SoS 1:112 plaits
The seeker’s hair is bound into plaits of gold, indicating her submission (bound hair) to God through the transformation of the Spirit with the divine nature of God (gold). The plaits of gold are fastened with studs of silver, signifying the redeeming Christ.
SoS 1:121 table
At the table where Christ is feasting with His lover and her companions (the king at his table), her love (spikenard) toward Him spreads forth its fragrance (cf. John 12:1-3). Here the lover of Christ is brought by Him into a feast as the expression of the initial result of the mutual gain and enjoyment of Christ and His lover in the churches. This shows the mutual enjoyment and satisfaction of Christ and His lover in the churches.
SoS 1:131 bundle
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 1:131 [1] The lover gains Christ (Phil. 3:8) and enjoys Him privately (at night) in His death (a bundle of myrrh) in her embracing Him with love and faith (breasts—1 Tim. 1:14; 1 Thes. 5:8). She also gains and enjoys Him publicly in His resurrection (a cluster of henna flowers—v. 14) in the churches of Christ (vineyards) built on the fountain of His redemption (En-gedi—see note 141), which fountain is the Spirit.
SoS 1:131 [2] All our experiences of Christ are related to His death, His resurrection, and His Spirit. The death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ always go together (John 19:34; 1 Cor. 15:45; Rom. 8:9, 11, 13). His death goes along with His resurrection, and His Spirit is the realization of His resurrection. The way to gain Christ and enjoy Him is to experience Him in His death and in His resurrection and to remain in His Spirit, who is in our spirit (Rom. 8:16).
SoS 1:13a myrrh Exo. 30:23; Psa. 45:8; S.S. 3:6; 4:6, 14; 5:1, 5, 13; John 19:39
SoS 1:141b En-gedi 1 Sam. 23:29
Meaning the fountain of the kid.
SoS 1:151 eyes
Christ appreciates her beauty in looking to Him with a single eye by the Spirit (eyes like doves—Matt. 3:16 and note 4). She appreciates His beauty in His pleasantness (v. 16).
SoS 1:15b doves S.S. 5:12; cf. Matt. 3:16
SoS 1:161 couch
The lover is satisfied with her rest in Christ’s feeding life (green, signifying the Spirit of life—Rom. 8:2) as the resting place in the night (couch) in His embracing (2:6). Further, she is satisfied with her rest in Christ’s death (cypresses) and His resurrection (cedars) as the shelter (beams and rafters—v. 17). The lover gains Christ and enjoys Him as her Husband (implied in the couch) in the divine life as the couch of green, in Christ in His resurrection as the beams, and in Christ in His death as the rafters for her shelter. Cf. note 131.
SoS 2:11 rose
A wild rose, despised in the land of Judea. Here the lover humbly realizes that she is but a small person, living on the one hand a pretty but despised life (rose) in the common world (Sharon—see note 12), and on the other hand a pure and trusting life (lily—Matt. 6:28) in the low place (valleys).
SoS 2:12a Sharon 1 Chron. 5:16; 27:29; Isa. 33:9; Acts 9:35
Meaning plain.
SoS 2:1b lily Matt. 6:28
SoS 2:21 lily
Here Christ appreciates her as His love among the world-loving adulteresses (daughters—James 4:4), as one who lives a pure and trusting life (lily—Matt. 6:28) among the filthy and unbelieving people (thorns).
SoS 2:2a thorns Gen. 3:18; Exo. 3:2; 2 Sam. 23:6
SoS 2:31 apple
The lover appreciates Christ as the source of rich provision (apple tree) who supplies her in a timely way. She is satisfied with her delight in resting (sitting down) under Christ as an overshadowing canopy in the day (shade—Isa. 4:5-6; 2 Cor. 12:9) and with her tasting Him as the sweet, timely supply (sweet fruit).
SoS 2:41 banqueting
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 2:41 [1] Lit., house of wine. Here the lover is satisfied with triumphant love (banner of love—cf. Rom. 8:31-39) spread over her in the enjoyable church life (banqueting house), in which she is sustained with Christ as the bread of life (raisin cakes—John 6:35) and refreshed with Him as the fruit of life (apples—Rev. 2:7; 22:2) to heal her lovesickness in her longing for her Beloved. Christ in His death is signified here by the raisin, a dried grape (the juice of which signifies the shedding of blood—Matt. 26:27-29), and Christ in His resurrection is signified by the fresh apples.
SoS 2:41 [2] The initial result of the mutual gain and enjoyment of Christ and His lover is a feast (1:12), and the consummate result is the banqueting in the banqueting house, the church life.
SoS 2:6a His vv. 6-7: S.S. 8:3-4
SoS 2:71 adjure
Considering His lover as one who is easily stirred up (gazelles or hinds of the fields), Christ solemnly charges (adjures) the meddling believers (daughters of Jerusalem) not to awaken His lover from her present experience of Christ in resting in Him. In her Christian life she has reached the goal of resting in and experiencing Christ and being satisfied in the church life. He allows her to remain at rest until she is pleased to enter into the second stage of her pursuing after Him (until she pleases).
SoS 2:81 Leaping
This leaping and skipping signifies Christ’s power to overcome difficulties and barriers, which are signified by the mountains and hills. Christ’s being like a gazelle and a young hart (v. 9) signifies that His power is the power of resurrection (see note on superscription in Psa. 22).
SoS 2:91 wall
In the first stage of her progressive experience of Christ, the lover of Christ pursues Him (1:2-4a), receives help in the fellowship in the inner chambers (1:4b-6a), and enters into the church life (1:6b-8), where she experiences transformation (1:9-16a; 2:1-3a) and enters into the rest and enjoyment of Christ for her full satisfaction (1:16b-17; 2:3b-7). These attainments result in a situation in which she overcares for her spiritual condition before Christ, being too concerned about whether or not she remains in the perfection she has attained. This causes her to fall into introspection, which becomes a seclusion as a wall that keeps her away from the presence of Christ. Every spiritual person who reaches a situation of satisfaction in Christ eventually falls into introspection, not only examining the self but also analyzing it (cf. Heb. 12:2). If such a condition persists, the self becomes stronger and eventually becomes the center of everything in the lover’s life.
SoS 2:92 windows
The windows and the lattice signify the openings set up by God for Him to fellowship, to commune, with His lover. The conscience of man is the window with a lattice, which is open for God to come in to contact fallen man (cf. John 16:8).
SoS 2:101 responds
Indicating that the lover of Christ failed to respond to Him in His fellowship, making it necessary for Christ to speak to her again (cf. v. 8a).
SoS 2:102a Rise S.S. 2:13; cf. S.S. 3:2
Because of the lover’s self and introspection, she is down in her situation. Hence, Christ encourages her, in His appreciation of her, to rise up and come out of her low situation to be with Him.
SoS 2:111 winter
This indicates that the time of dormancy (winter) and trials (rain) is over and that the time of resurrection (spring) is coming.
SoS 2:121 Flowers
The flowers, singing, voice of the turtledove, ripened figs, blossoming vines, and fragrance (vv. 12-13a) indicate the flourishing riches of Christ’s resurrection. The life of the cross (see note 141) is lived by the power of resurrection (Phil. 3:10) and is encouraged by the riches of resurrection.
SoS 2:13a vines S.S. 6:11; 7:12
SoS 2:131b Rise S.S. 2:10
This repeated word (cf. v. 10) indicates Christ’s eagerness in asking His lover to come away from her introspection of the self to be with Him. See note 102.
SoS 2:141 My
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 2:141 [1] Here Christ, considering her His simple lover (My dove), wants to see His lover’s lovely countenance and hear her sweet voice in her oneness, union, with the cross, signified here by the clefts of the rock and the covert of the precipice. This is Christ’s call for His lover to be in oneness with the cross (cf. Luke 9:23). Only the cross of Christ can deliver her from the situation caused by introspection.
SoS 2:141 [2] Christ wants His seeker to remain in the cross, in a crucified condition, continually (Gal. 2:20a; 1 Cor. 15:31; 2 Cor. 4:10-11). However, to remain in the cross is a difficult matter, like entering into the clefts of the rock and the covert of the precipice high in the mountains by a rugged road. In order to empower and encourage His lover to rise up and come away from her low situation in her introspection of the self, Christ empowers her by showing her the power of His resurrection (vv. 8-9a), and He encourages her by the flourishing riches of His resurrection (vv. 11-13). It is by the power of Christ’s resurrection, not by our natural life, that we, the lovers of Christ, determine to take the cross by denying our self (Matt. 16:24). It is also by the power of Christ’s resurrection that we are enabled to be conformed to His death by being one with His cross (Phil. 3:10). The reality of resurrection is the pneumatic Christ (John 11:25), who as the consummated Spirit indwells and is mingled with our regenerated spirit (1 Cor. 6:17 and notes). It is in such a mingled spirit that we participate in and experience the resurrection of Christ, which enables us to be one with the cross to be delivered from the self and to be transformed into a new man in God’s new creation for the fulfillment of God’s economy in the building up of the organic Body of Christ.
SoS 2:14a dove S.S. 5:2; 6:9; Matt. 10:16; cf. S.S. 1:15; Matt. 3:16
SoS 2:151a foxes Ezek. 13:4; Luke 13:32
Christ charges His lover to be aware of her peculiarities, habits, and introspections (little foxes) that ruin the flourishing resurrection of Christ in the churches (our vineyards in blossom).
SoS 2:161 mine
Here Christ’s lover realizes that Christ belongs to her and she to Christ according to her inner feelings, yet He is not with her but is away feeding His pure and trusting followers (pasturing His flock among the lilies). At this point the lover and Christ are not one but are separated. There is a controversy between her and Christ. The lover cares only for her satisfaction, not for His will, intention, or goal.
SoS 2:171a Until S.S. 4:6
Here Christ’s lover rejects Him. Instead of responding to His call to rise up and come away from her introspection through the cross and be with Him (vv. 13b-14), she asks Him to wait until her low situation is over (until the day dawns and the shadows flee away) and then to turn to her in His resurrection, like a gazelle or a young hart (see note 81), during the time of their separation (the mountains of Bether—see note 172). In her view this mountain, this separation between her and Christ, can be removed only by Him.
SoS 2:172 Bether
Meaning separation.
SoS 3:11 sought
While she is still in her introspection, in her low situation, she seeks her Beloved, but she fails to find Him.
SoS 3:21a rise cf. S.S. 2:10, 13
Eventually, Christ’s lover has no choice but to answer His call, and she determines to rise up from her introspection to seek her Beloved in the ways (streets and squares) of the heavenly Jerusalem (typified here by the city Jerusalem on earth—Heb. 12:22).
SoS 3:31a watchmen S.S. 5:7
Signifying the ones who watch over God’s people spiritually (Heb. 13:17) in the ways of the heavenly Jerusalem.
SoS 3:41 mother’s
After finding her Beloved, she holds Him and will not let go until she brings Him into the Spirit of grace, through which she was regenerated (her mother’s house and chamber), for secret fellowship. She was born in the mother’s house and was conceived in the mother’s chamber. The mother is grace (Gal. 4:26, 31 and note 311), and the mother’s chamber signifies love, which is of the Father and which issues in grace (Eph. 2:4-5). The Spirit brings God’s love and carries God’s grace to us (2 Cor. 13:14 and note 1, pars. 1 and 2); hence, He is called the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29). Although the lover of Christ fell into introspection, one day she woke up and realized that, though she was a sinner, she was saved by grace (Eph. 2:8). This revived her.
SoS 3:51 adjure
Here Christ charges the meddling believers (daughters of Jerusalem) not to awaken His lover from her experience of Christ in her being delivered from the self, from her seclusion in her introspection, into her secret fellowship with Him, until she is pleased to enter into the next stage in her experience of Him (until she pleases).
SoS 3:61 Who
In the third stage of her experience the lover of Christ is called to live in ascension as the new creation in resurrection. To live in ascension is to live continually in our spirit. Although we, the believers in Christ, are on earth, when we are in our spirit, we are joined to the ascended Christ in the heavens (see note 191 in Heb. 10). To live in ascension requires that we live, act, move, and do everything in our spirit (Rom. 8:4). This requires that we discern our spirit from our soul (Heb. 4:12).
SoS 3:62 she
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 3:62 [1] In vv. 6-11 the lover of Christ becomes a new creation by her complete union with Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). Here the lover of Christ, as an overcoming representative of God’s elect, comes from Egypt, the world (wilderness), like persons in the unshakable power of the Spirit (pillars of smoke—Exo. 14:19; Rev. 3:12), perfumed with the sweet death and fragrant resurrection of Christ (myrrh and frankincense) and with all the fragrant riches of Christ as a merchant.
SoS 3:62 [2] At this point, after a long period of remaining in Christ’s death (2:14), the seeker of Christ has experienced the breaking of her self, her natural man, and has entered into resurrection, in which she has been transformed to be a spiritual person, one who lives in the spirit, not in the physical realm (1 Cor. 2:15; 3:1; 2 Cor. 4:16-18; Col. 3:1-3). She is like smoke, but she is a pillar that can stand on the earth and touch the heavens. In experience she has become the same as God, who is Spirit (symbolized by a cloud of smoke—Exo. 14:19; John 4:24), and the same as Christ, who is a ladder (related to the pillar—Gen. 28:12; John 1:51) standing on the earth, bringing heaven to earth and joining earth to heaven. As such a person, she is worthy of God’s economy and is qualified to move with God, in union with Christ for the accomplishing of His economy (cf. 2 Cor. 2:14).
SoS 3:6b pillars cf. Exo. 13:21-22
SoS 3:6c myrrh S.S. 1:13; 4:6; Matt. 2:11
SoS 3:71 bed
In the church age the lover of Christ, signified by the bed, and Christ, signified by the one who sleeps in the bed, are in a union of love. The bed is for rest and victory in the night, signifying the church age, during the time of spiritual warfare, signified by the sixty mighty men who surround the bed. Christ’s lover is among the sixty mighty men, indicating that she is a leading overcomer, fighting for Christ in order to keep Him at rest during the fighting. She is the victory of the overcoming Christ, full of the power of the overcomers among God’s elect that carries Christ even in times of difficulties. These overcomers are experts in war, fighting with their weapons at the time of alarms (v. 8; cf. 2 Cor. 10:3-5; Eph. 6:10-20; 1 Tim. 1:18; 2 Tim. 4:7).
SoS 3:91 palanquin
After the church age there will be the age of the kingdom, an age of triumphant glory to celebrate Christ’s victory. In the kingdom age the lover of Christ, signified by the palanquin, and Christ, signified by its rider, are in a union of triumphant celebration. Christ’s lover is a palanquin (for travel in the day, the kingdom age—2 Pet. 1:19), a carriage for Christ, made by Christ Himself out of the resurrected, uplifted, and noble humanity (the wood of Lebanon), having God’s nature (gold) as its base, Christ’s redemption (silver) as its supports, and Christ’s kingship (purple) as its seat (vv. 9-10). The inside of the palanquin is inlaid with the love of Christ’s seekers (daughters), signifying that the lover of Christ is one with all the seekers of Christ in love in the principle of the Body of Christ.
SoS 3:11a daughters Zech. 2:10; 9:9; Matt. 21:5
SoS 3:111 look
The Spirit, signified here by a third party speaking, bids the overcoming believers (daughters of Zion—see note 21 in Psa. 48) to look away from themselves unto Christ in His humanity, which is a crown with which His mother (incarnation) crowned Him on the day of the believers’ betrothal to Him, a day of the gladness of His heart. Here the lover of Christ and Christ are united to be one in the bridal love and marriage life. This portrays the church and Christ being united to be completely and fully one organically in the mingled spirit (1 Cor. 6:17).
SoS 3:112 crown
The entire Bible is a romance between God and His elect (see note 62, par. 2, in Exo. 20). Through incarnation God became a man so that He could court man (John 3:29-30). Incarnation was a “mother” who gave Christ His humanity as a crown, a treasure. The humanity that Christ put on in His incarnation and uplifted in His resurrection (Rom. 1:3-4) is His crown. In our response to Christ’s courting, we court Him by being transformed to become divine for His expression (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18). As Christ’s human wife transformed with His divinity, we become a crown to Him (cf. Prov. 12:4a).
SoS 3:113 espousals
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 3:113 [1] Christ’s espousal and marriage life cover the church age, the kingdom age, and the eternal age. Christ’s espousals began from the time of incarnation, when incarnation as His mother crowned Him with His humanity, and continue through the church age, an age of warfare (vv. 7-8), in which all His believers are espoused to Him as virgins (2 Cor. 11:2). After the church age, in the kingdom age Christ’s regenerated and transformed wife, composed of the overcoming believers, becomes a palanquin to Him for His triumphant celebration (vv. 9-10). The celebration of Christ’s victory is His thousand-year wedding day (Rev. 19:7-8). His marriage life after His wedding will be the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth for eternity (Rev. 21:9-10).
SoS 3:113 [2] The union of the bed with its sleeper (vv. 7-8), the union of the palanquin with its rider (vv. 9-10), and the union of the bride with her bridegroom (v. 11) all signify the complete union of the lover with Christ, which has made her God’s new creation in Christ’s resurrection (2 Cor. 5:17). The bed in the night, the palanquin in the day, and the marriage life in the ages to come all refer to the one lover of Christ—the Shulammite (6:13 and note 1). Eventually, the New Jerusalem will be a corporate Shulammite, which will include all God’s chosen and redeemed people (Rev. 21:9-10, 12, 14).
SoS 4:11 eyes
This verse portrays the beauty of Christ’s lover in her singleness and insight by the Spirit (eyes like doves), which is invisible to the outsiders (behind your veil), and in her submission and obedience through God’s feeding (hair like a flock of goats) that subdues her disobedience among the disobedient people.
SoS 4:2a Your vv. 2-3: S.S. 6:6-7
SoS 4:21 teeth
This portrays the beauty of the lover in her receiving the divine food by her power that has been dealt with by the cross (teeth like a flock of shorn ewes), made clean by the Spirit’s washing (come up from the washing), and strengthened twofold and balanced (twins), without losing strength (none bereaved of her young).
SoS 4:31 lips
This is the beauty of Christ’s lover in her speaking with Christ’s redemption and His authority (lips like a scarlet thread—Josh. 2:21; Matt. 27:28-29) by her lovely mouth, and in her expression (cheeks), which is full of life (pomegranate) and hidden (behind your veil).
SoS 4:3a scarlet Josh. 2:18
SoS 4:41a neck S.S. 7:4
The lover of Christ is beautiful in her having a will that is submissive to Christ (neck like the tower of David—cf. Isa. 3:16) and that is rich in the defending power (bucklers and shields of the mighty men).
SoS 4:51 breasts
This speaks of the beauty of Christ’s lover in her tender faith and love that are strengthened twofold (two breasts—Gal. 5:6; 1 Tim. 1:14) and nourished (feed) in the environment of a pure and trusting life (among the lilies—Matt. 6:28).
SoS 4:61 dawns
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 4:61 [1] Lit., breathes. After the lover of Christ has experienced Christ in His sweet death and His fragrant resurrection (2:14—3:5), in her deeper pursuit she determines to stay in the sweet death of Christ (the mountain of myrrh) and His fragrant resurrection (the hill of frankincense) until her Beloved comes back (the day dawns and the shadows flee away—cf. 2 Pet. 1:19). Here it seems that the lover does not care whether her Beloved is with her or not, as long as she remains on the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. However, it is not possible to experience Christ’s death and resurrection as something separate and apart from Christ. The death, resurrection, ascension, and Spirit of Christ are actually Christ Himself (Rom. 6:3; John 11:25; Eph. 2:6; Rom. 8:9-10). If we remain in Christ, who is the Spirit in our spirit (Rom. 8:16), and have Christ with us, we will be in His death, His resurrection, and His ascension. This is to experience Christ, to enjoy Christ.
SoS 4:61 [2] God in His economy does not want us to experience something of Christ. Instead, He determined that we enjoy Christ Himself in many aspects. Death, resurrection, ascension, and the Spirit are the four conditions in which Christ is enjoyed by us. To die with Christ is to enjoy Christ in His death. He is always in His sweet death for our enjoyment (Gal. 2:20a). To be resurrected with Christ is to enjoy the resurrected, life-giving Christ (John 12:24). To live in ascension is to enjoy Christ in the condition of ascension (Col. 3:1-3). If we enjoy Christ in ascension, we also enjoy Him in resurrection as God’s new creation. Ascension, God’s new creation, and resurrection are one. Christ is not only in the conditions of His death, resurrection, and ascension but also in the condition of the life-giving Spirit. He is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit of Jesus Christ to us (1 Cor. 15:45; Phil. 1:19). Where the Spirit is, Christ is, and it is in this Spirit that we enjoy Christ.
SoS 4:6b myrrh S.S. 1:13; Matt. 2:11
SoS 4:71 beautiful
Here Christ expresses His appreciation of His lover to prepare her to receive His call to live with Him in His ascension as His new creation in resurrection, instead of remaining on the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense (v. 6). The new creation is only that which is in ascension in resurrection. Anyone who is in Christ and in His resurrection is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). The matters of resurrection and the new creation are closely related to Christ’s ascension. Actually, Christ’s resurrection and ascension are one (cf. Eph. 2:5-6). If we are in His resurrection, we are also in His ascension.
SoS 4:81 Lebanon
Here Christ asks His lover as His bride to look with Him from His ascension (Lebanon), the highest place of the truth (Amana) and of Christ’s victory in His fighting (Senir and Hermon), and from the heavenly places of the enemies (the lions’ dens and the leopards’ mountains). Christ calls His lover to live with Him in His ascension, as He had called her to remain in His cross (2:14). When the lover is living in ascension, she and Christ are living in one condition, the condition of ascension, to be a couple. Christ is divine and human, and His transformed lover is human and divine. They are the same in life and nature, perfectly matching one another.
SoS 4:82 Lebanon
Lebanon, a high mountain, signifies ascension as the peak of resurrection (2 Kings 19:23; see note 31 in John 6). See note 71.
SoS 4:83 Amana
Meaning truth. The truth refers to the reality of the consummated Triune God, the all-inclusive Christ with His complete redemption, and the all-inclusive, compound, life-giving, sevenfold intensified Spirit. These realities are the three of the Triune God. Cf. note 66 in 1 John 1.
SoS 4:84 Senir
Meaning soft armor. That the armor is soft, not hard, signifies that the enemy, Satan, has been defeated, the war is over, and the victory has been gained (Heb. 2:14; Col. 2:15). In Christ’s ascension we do not need to fight, for the enemy has already been defeated. We wear soft armor to enjoy our victory in Christ.
SoS 4:85b Hermon Deut. 3:9
Meaning destruction. In Christ’s ascension there are the positive peaks of truth (Amana), victory (Senir), and the destruction of the enemy.
SoS 4:86 lions’
The lions’ dens and the leopards’ mountains signify the heavenlies, where Satan and his subordinates (the lions and the leopards) are. The victory has been gained, but Satan and his evil forces are still there, in the heavenlies (Eph. 3:10 and note 1). Christ calls His lover to look from this, indicating that we must have our living in ascension, far above the evil powers (see note 124 in Eph. 6). Here we fight with Satan and his power of darkness by being empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength, by putting on the whole armor of God, by standing against the stratagems of the devil, by receiving the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, and by praying always in the spirit for the building up of the Body of Christ and the spreading of the gospel (Eph. 6:12-20). This is the reality of living in the ascension of Christ.
SoS 4:91 ravished
The silent answer of Christ’s lover, by a quick look (glance of your eyes) and by her submission to God’s instruction (strand of your necklace—Prov. 1:8-9), has ravished His heart.
SoS 4:92 sister
Christ considers His lover as one with Him in nature (sister—cf. Heb. 2:11) and as His bride (vv. 9-10, 12; 5:1). Cf. note 11, par. 2, in ch. 1.
SoS 4:101 love
Considering His lover as one with Him in nature and as His bride, Christ enjoys her beautiful love, which is much better than wine, and her ointments, which were the King’s (1:3) and are more fragrant than all spices.
SoS 4:10b fragrance cf. John 12:3; 2 Cor. 2:15
SoS 4:111 lips
Christ enjoys her word as fresh honey (for restoring the weak—1 Sam. 14:24-29), which comes from her lips, and as honey and milk (for restoring the weak and feeding the immature ones—1 Cor. 3:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:2), which are under her tongue. He also enjoys the fragrance of her conduct (garments—Rev. 19:8) like the fragrance of ascension (Lebanon—see note 82).
SoS 4:11a fragrance Hosea 14:6-7; cf. 2 Cor. 2:15
SoS 4:121 garden
Through her living in Christ’s ascension as the new creation in resurrection for her growth in life and transformation by life, Christ’s transformed bride becomes mature in the riches of the life of Christ so that she becomes four things: a garden to satisfy Christ (4:12—5:1; 6:2-3), God’s dwelling place with its protection (6:4a), the heavenly bodies as the universal light (6:10a), and a terrible army, which is the corporate overcomer—the Shulammite (6:4b, 10b, 13, and notes). Here the garden is enclosed, and there is a spring shut up, a fountain sealed, for Christ’s private enjoyment, indicating that in experiencing Christ we, the seeking believers, must have something private, hidden, shut up, and sealed that is for Christ alone. The spring is the Spirit of life and is seen in Rev. 22:1 as the river of water of life. The fountain is the source of the spring, which is God’s throne.
SoS 4:131 orchard
Heb. pardes, meaning an enclosed garden; the word paradise is akin to it. In Christ’s enjoyment of His lover, she is an enclosed garden that grows all kinds of plants in different colors as different expressions of the inner life and in a variety of fragrances as the rich expression of the mature life (vv. 13-14). This becomes the lover’s beauty to the Lord. The lover of Christ is now rich in life, producing fruits to nourish and refresh, giving forth sweet fragrances, and displaying beautiful colors for Christ’s enjoyment.
SoS 4:14a Calamus Exo. 30:23
SoS 4:14b Myrrh Psa. 45:8; S.S. 1:13; John 19:39
SoS 4:151 fountain
The fountain in gardens and the well of living water of the life-giving Spirit (John 7:38-39) are streams from the resurrection and ascension life (Lebanon). The fountain and the spring stream out from the overcomers, flowing out from what they are and from where they are.
SoS 4:15a living John 4:10; 7:38
SoS 4:161 north
Christ’s lover wants the difficult environment (north wind) and the pleasant environment (south wind) to work on her as a garden, that its fragrance may be spread. She asks her Beloved to come into her as a garden and enjoy its choicest fruit.
SoS 4:16a spices cf. 2 Cor. 2:15
SoS 5:11 sister
See note 92 in ch. 4.
SoS 5:12 friends
Here, the Bridegroom, Christ, the Son in the Divine Trinity, answers and invites His beloved “friends,” God the Father and God the Spirit, to enjoy His garden, His lover, with Him. Furthermore, He has gone down to the beds of spices to feed in the gardens (the lover and other lovers of Christ) and gather lilies (6:2).
SoS 5:21 sleep
Here the lover realizes that her old man, the outward man, was crucified (I sleep—Rom. 6:6) and her new man, the inward man, is living (my heart is awake—2 Cor. 4:16). She hears her Beloved knocking and asking her to open to Him as He reminds her of His suffering at Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion (His head drenched with dew and His locks with the drops of night).
SoS 5:22 Open
In 5:2—6:3 the lover of Christ is called more strongly to live within the veil through the experience of the cross after resurrection. Even after the experience of living in ascension as the new creation in resurrection (3:6—5:1), we still need the experience of the cross, because no matter how much we are in ascension, i.e., in our spirit, we are still in the old creation and we still have our flesh. Thus, for us to enter into the Holy of Holies in the heavenly tabernacle (Heb. 8:2; 9:11-12, 24), the veil, signifying our flesh (Heb. 10:19-20), must be split through the stronger experience of the cross (Matt. 27:51a). See note 41 in ch. 6.
SoS 5:2c drops Luke 22:44
SoS 5:31 put
Since she has put off the former manner of life of her old man (garment) through the dealing of the cross (Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9), how could she put it on again? This would require her Beloved to repeat His suffering in His crucifixion. Since she has been cleansed (washed) by His redeeming blood (1 John 1:7), how could she defile herself? This would require her Beloved to repeat His suffering of death. These are her reasons for refusing the Beloved’s call.
SoS 5:41 hand
Her Beloved shows His pierced hand through her narrow opening so that her inner parts are moved to yearn for Him. Here Christ’s pierced hand reminds her that He was crucified for her.
SoS 5:51 open
The lover’s action in opening to Christ shows Him her appreciation of His sweet death (myrrh).
SoS 5:81a daughters S.S. 1:5
This indicates that because her sense of failure is so deep, the seeker feels that even the younger believers (daughters of Jerusalem) can help her. She charges them to tell her Beloved that she is sick with love, considering that her Beloved might have some concern about her love for Him.
SoS 5:101 dazzling
In giving her impression of her Beloved, appraising Him with many excellent and detailed expressions, the lover says that He is pure yet full of life and power (dazzling white yet ruddy), and He is distinguished as an uplifted banner (see note 102) against the enemy (Isa. 59:19) and for the drawing of sinners (John 12:32).
SoS 5:102 Distinguished
Lit., Set as a banner.
SoS 5:111 head
His headship is of God (gold—1 Cor. 11:3), and His submission to God (locks—cf. Phil. 2:5-8; 1 Cor. 15:28) is flourishing (wavy) and strong (black—cf. note 141 in Rev. 1).
SoS 5:11a locks cf. Dan. 7:9; Rev. 1:14
SoS 5:121 eyes
His expression of sentiment (eyes—cf. note 103 in 2 Cor. 2) is single and pure (like doves), flowing like the river of life (streams of water), distinct and clear (bathed in milk) and in proper order (fitly set).
SoS 5:131 cheeks
His countenance (cheeks) is beautiful and sweet (a bed of spices, sweetly fragrant herbs) through His suffering of people’s smiting and despising (Isa. 50:6; Matt. 27:30), and His mouth is pure, releasing sweet words of grace (Psa. 45:2; Luke 4:22) based on His redemption (myrrh).
SoS 5:141 hands
His works (hands) are full of the divine binding power (tubes of gold) and are stable (set with beryl—Ezek. 1:16; Dan. 10:6) for the carrying out of God’s will. His inward parts (Phil. 1:8—belly, the same word as for “inner parts” in v. 4) are full of deep, tender feelings wrought through His sufferings (ivory work, which requires suffering and even death) under a clear heavenly vision (sapphire—Exo. 24:10).
SoS 5:151 legs
His standing (legs) and supporting strength (pillars) is of the righteous standing (white marble) based upon God’s divine nature (bases of gold), and His expression (appearance) shows that He is a person who has ascended into heaven (Lebanon) and whose excellency transcends all others (excellent as the cedars).
SoS 5:16a mouth Luke 4:22; cf. Rev. 1:16
SoS 6:11 Where
Still considering her the most beautiful among women (cf. 5:9a), the younger believers (daughters of Jerusalem) ask the lover where her Beloved has turned that they may seek Him with her, indicating that they have been attracted by her testimony concerning her Beloved. She is a pursuer of Christ, and her pursuit influences others, affects them, and attracts them to Him (cf. 1:4a).
SoS 6:21a garden S.S. 4:16; 5:1
After seeking help from others, she realizes that her Beloved is within her as His garden and in all the other believers as His beds of spices, feeding in her and other believers as His gardens and gathering the pure and trusting ones (lilies). Christ’s garden is in our spirit. If we live in our spirit, our spirit becomes a garden in which we grow all the beautiful, spiritual, divine, and heavenly things, which are sweet to His taste.
SoS 6:3a I S.S. 2:16; 7:10; 1 Cor. 1:2
SoS 6:31 my
The lover tells them, according to her faith, that she belongs to her Beloved and He to her and that He is now feeding His pure and trusting ones (lilies). She is now more mature in life than when she spoke the same word in 2:16 (see note there).
SoS 6:3b lilies Matt. 6:28
SoS 6:41 Tirzah
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 6:41 [1] Tirzah, a capital city of the kings of Israel and the place of the kings’ palace (1 Kings 14:17; 15:21; 16:23), is mentioned here in a positive sense to signify the sanctuary of God, the dwelling place of God as the King. The holy city Jerusalem was the capital of Judah and the safeguard of God’s dwelling place, the temple, on earth. Hence, these two cities signify God’s sanctuary, God’s dwelling place, with God’s holy city surrounding it to be its safeguard. Here the Beloved’s praising His lover, saying that she is as beautiful as the heavenly sanctuary (Tirzah) and as lovely as the heavenly Jerusalem, indicates that through her living in Christ’s ascension as the new creation in resurrection, the lover of Christ becomes mature in the riches of the life of Christ so that she becomes not only a garden to Christ (4:12—5:1; 6:2) but also the building of God (cf. Gen. 2:8-12, 18-24; 1 Cor. 3:9-12), the sanctuary of God and its safeguard. It indicates further that she lives in the Holy of Holies, the inner chamber of the heavenly sanctuary, within the veil, experiencing the ascension of Christ through the cross after her experience of His resurrection. To become a garden to Christ is to be flourishing in the element of Christ’s life with its unsearchable riches; to become the sanctuary of God is to be built up (related to the building up of the Body of Christ) in the growth in the life of Christ with its unsearchable riches unto maturity (Eph. 4:12-16). In the Old Testament the building of God is typified by Tirzah and Jerusalem; in the New Testament this building is the organic Body of Christ. Ultimately, the building up of the organic Body of Christ, which is also Christ’s wife (Eph. 5:25-32), will consummate the New Jerusalem, the holy city as the consummation of the Holy of Holies, the mutual dwelling of God and His redeemed in eternity (Rev. 21:2-3, 16, 22).
SoS 6:41 [2] Although the sanctuary of God is in the heavens, it is divided into two sections—the outer Holy Place and the inner Holy of Holies, where God Himself dwells—by the veil, which signifies our flesh (Heb. 9:1-5, 12, 24; 10:19-20). In relation to Christ, the veil in the sanctuary of God was split at the time of Christ’s crucifixion (Matt. 27:51), but in relation to the believers, it still remains so that God may use it to perfect His seeking ones and so that they may be one with God by dwelling in Him as the Holy of Holies (see Rev. 21:22 and notes). The apostle Paul became mature in the life of Christ, living in the ascension of Christ, yet God still allowed him to have a thorn in his flesh through a messenger of Satan to keep him from being exceedingly lifted up (2 Cor. 12:7). According to God’s economy, no matter how mature and spiritual we may become, as long as we are living on earth, i.e., as long as our body has not yet been transfigured (Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:21), we still have the flesh, which is the veil. Hence, there is still the need of the Lord’s ultimate calling of us to live within the veil through a stronger experience of the cross in dealing with our flesh after we experience Christ’s resurrection as the new creation of God. We need to learn to pass through the veil by experiencing the dealing of the cross every day that we may live within the veil, in the Holy of Holies. It is here that all the seekers of Christ who live in the Holy of Holies, in the consummated Triune God, enjoy to the fullest extent the hidden Christ in His hidden life supply (signified by the manna in the golden pot—Exo. 16:32-34; Rev. 2:17a), in the resurrection life (signified by the budding rod—Num. 17:1-11), and in the inner law of life (signified by the tablets of the covenant—Exo. 25:16; 31:18; Deut. 10:1-5; Jer. 31:33) hidden in the Ark within the Holy of Holies (Heb. 9:4). This is the highest stage in the experience of the lover of Christ as presented in this book.
SoS 6:42 army
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 6:42 [1] This praise of the Beloved’s indicates that her becoming the heavenly sanctuary and the heavenly Jerusalem is due to her victory over the enemies. Only by being an overcomer can we live within the veil.
SoS 6:42 [2] When the overcoming lover of Christ becomes one with God to be God’s dwelling place, in the eyes of God she is as beautiful as Tirzah and as lovely as Jerusalem. However, to the enemy she is as terrible as an army with banners. Banners indicate a readiness to fight and also are a sign that the victory is won. A terrible army signifies that the overcomers of the Lord terrify God’s enemy, Satan, and become terrible in the eyes of God’s people. This army fights the battle for God’s kingdom in the degradation of God’s people to become the overcomers who answer the Lord’s call (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21). Eventually, the overcomers will be a bride collectively to marry Christ (Rev. 19:7-9). After their wedding, this bride will become an army to fight alongside Christ, her Husband, to defeat Antichrist with all his followers (Rev. 19:11-21).
SoS 6:51 eyes
This is the Lord’s word of seeming rejection (cf. Mark 7:25-27; John 11:5-7; Exo. 32:10; Gen. 32:26), but actually it is a word that invites His lover to express her overcoming love to Him by putting her eyes on Him (cf. Heb. 12:2).
SoS 6:5a Your vv. 5b-7: S.S. 4:1-3
SoS 6:52 hair
See note 11 in ch. 4.
SoS 6:61 teeth
See note 21 in ch. 4.
SoS 6:71 cheeks
See note 31 in ch. 4.
SoS 6:81 queens
In vv. 8-9 her Beloved (Solomon, typifying Christ in a positive sense) is loved by many different believers, some as queens, some as concubines, and some as virgins (all in the positive sense in poetry), but He, considering her as His love and His perfect one, praises her as the only lover of Him, the only and choice one regenerated by grace (her mother, who bore her—Gal. 4:26).
SoS 6:81a virgins Psa. 45:14; S.S. 1:3; Matt. 25:1
See note 81.
SoS 6:101 moon
Through her living in the ascension of Christ and further living within the veil, experiencing the cross of Christ more strongly, the lover of Christ is transformed into the heavenly bodies, indicated here by the moon and the sun. This indicates that she has become not only wholly spiritual (3:6) but also absolutely heavenly and signifies that she has become an overcomer (Phil. 2:15 and note 5; Matt. 13:43 and note 1; Rev. 12:1, 5 and notes 11 and 52). In Song of Songs the lover of Christ overcomes in stages, in the first stage overcoming the attraction of the world by being captivated by Christ (1:2—2:7); in the second stage overcoming the self, which secluded her from the presence of Christ, by becoming one with the cross of Christ (2:8—3:5); in the third stage overcoming the old creation (the physical things) by living in the ascension of Christ in resurrection after her self was dealt with by the cross (3:6—5:1); and in the fourth stage overcoming the flesh, the natural man, the old man, by living within the veil (5:2—6:13).
SoS 6:111 orchard
Here we see the lover’s work. She works on herself as a garden that is growing as the valley growing fresh green things, as the vine budding, and as the pomegranates blossoming. She considers herself not only a garden of soft things but also an orchard growing particular nuts as strong, hard food for Christ.
SoS 6:121 chariots
Verses 12 and 13 describe the lover’s progress and victory. She is not aware that she is progressing swiftly like the noble people’s chariots going forth.
SoS 6:131 Shulammite
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 6:131 [1] The feminine form of Solomon, derived from the root meaning peace. The use of this name here indicates that at this point she has become Solomon’s duplication, counterpart, the same as Solomon in life, nature, expression, and function, as Eve was to Adam (Gen. 2:20-23 and notes). This signifies that in the maturity of Christ’s life the lover of Christ becomes the reproduction of Christ, the same as He is in life, nature, expression, and function (but not in the Godhead) to match Him for their marriage (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29).
SoS 6:131 [2] This couple’s becoming one indicates the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem the redeeming God (signified by Solomon) and all His redeemed (signified by the Shulammite) become one—a universal couple (Rev. 21:9-10; 22:17). The New Jerusalem is a mingling of divinity and humanity to express the processed and consummated Triune God in human virtues.
SoS 6:132a two Gen. 32:2
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 6:132 [1] Heb. mahanaim (cf. Gen. 32:2). Here the Shulammite is likened to two armies, or camps, dancing in celebration of their victory. After he met the angels of God, Jacob divided his wives, children, and the rest of his possessions into two camps, or “two armies” (Gen. 32:1-10). The spiritual significance of the two camps as two armies is that we are more than conquerors (Rom. 8:37). It also signifies a strong testimony. There being two armies indicates that the country girl, the Shulammite, was not alone. An army indicates the principle of the Body of Christ (Rom. 12:5).
SoS 6:132 [2] God does not want those who are strong in themselves. He wants only the feeble ones, the weaker ones, the women and children (cf. 1 Cor. 1:26-28; 2 Cor. 12:9-10). They can become His armies because the fighting is not in their hands but in His. God needs a people who are one with Him, a people who are submissive to Him, signified by the plaited hair (1:11), and obedient to Him with a flexible will, signified by the neck with strings of jewels (1:10). Those who are counted worthy to be overcomers will be the weaker ones who depend on the Lord (cf. Rev. 3:8; Rom. 9:16; Gal. 2:20).
SoS 7:11 How
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 7:11 [1] The speaker in vv. 1-5 is not Solomon nor the Shulammite but a third one, who signifies the Spirit. The Spirit is one with Christ (2 Cor. 3:17) and one with the believers (Rev. 22:17). Thus, when He speaks, it is as if the two are speaking.
SoS 7:11 [2] Solomon is the lord of many vineyards (v. 12), which require much labor. At this point the Shulammite must become Solomon’s co-worker. This indicates that eventually Christ’s lovers need to share in the work of the Lord. Their qualification for this depends on their being equipped with all the attributes of the divine life. Verses 1-5 in this chapter are the Spirit’s review of the virtues of the lover, which presents a beautiful portrait of the lovely lover of Christ from her feet to her head as an expression of Christ, whom she loves (cf. 6:4-10). Such virtues are signs of her maturity in the divine life and qualify her to share in the Lord’s work (cf. 2 Cor. 1:12; 2:14-17; 11:10a; 1 Thes. 2:1-12).
SoS 7:12a sandals Luke 15:22
Here the Spirit reviews her beauty in the gospel preaching (footsteps in sandals—Rom. 10:15) and in her standing power (thighs) produced through the skillful transforming work of God the Spirit (jewels—2 Cor. 3:18).
SoS 7:13 prince’s
This indicates that a lover of Christ should reach the maturity in His royal life to reign as a king with Christ (Rom. 5:17). This is a qualification for her to share in the Lord’s work.
SoS 7:21 navel
Here the Spirit reviews her beauty in her inward parts (navel and belly), which are filled with the divine life received through the drinking of Christ’s blood (wine) and the eating of His flesh (wheat) by faith (lilies). See John 6:53-54 and note 542.
SoS 7:31 breasts
This refers to her beauty in her active ability to feed others in a living way (John 21:15, 17; cf. S.S. 4:5).
SoS 7:41a neck S.S. 4:4
Here the Spirit reviews her beauty in her submissive will (neck) wrought by the Spirit’s transforming work through sufferings for the carrying out of God’s will, in the expression of her heart, which is open to the light, clean, full of rest, and accessible (eyes like pools—cf. 1:15; 4:1; 5:12), and in her spiritual sense of high and sharp discernment (nose—cf. Phil. 1:9-10; Heb. 5:14).
SoS 7:51 head
Here the Spirit reviews her beauty in her thoughts and intentions (head), which are strong for God (Carmel—cf. 1 Kings 18:19-39), and in her submission and obedience for her consecration (locks of her head—cf. Num. 6:5a and note), which are for the glory of God (purple) and capture (fetter) her Beloved, who is the King.
SoS 7:61 beautiful
While the Spirit is speaking (vv. 1-5), Christ, the Beloved, inserts some words of praise for His lover (vv. 6-9a). In vv. 6-7 the Beloved praises His lover first in her beauty and pleasantness, which delight others, and then in her mature stature, in which she is like Christ (a palm tree—Eph. 4:13), and in her rich feeding of others (breasts like the clusters).
SoS 7:81 palm
This indicates that the Beloved will enjoy her mature stature of Christ (palm tree—Eph. 4:13) and share it with the members of His Body (branches—John 15:5a). He wishes that her feeding of others would be rich (breasts like clusters of the vine), that her intuition (nose) would be fragrant for nourishing others in life (apples), and that her foretaste would be of the power of the age to come (best wine—v. 9a; John 2:10; Matt. 26:29).
SoS 7:91 Going
The Shulammite interrupts and continues the words of her Beloved, wishing that He would enjoy smoothly what she could be, and that those who love God in losing consciousness of themselves (those who sleep—cf. 2 Cor. 5:14-15) would enjoy what the Lord would enjoy. This indicates that our working together with others must become their enjoyment.
SoS 7:111 fields
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 7:111 [1] Christ’s lover wants to carry out with her Beloved the work that is for the entire world (fields) by sojourning from one place to another (lodging in the villages). This indicates that she is not sectarian in carrying out the Lord’s work. She keeps the work open, so that others can come to sojourn there and she can go to sojourn elsewhere. This is to keep one work in one Body.
SoS 7:111 [2] To share in the work of the Lord is not to work for the Lord but to work together with the Lord (1 Cor. 3:9a; 2 Cor. 6:1a). To work with the Lord, we need the maturity in life, we need to be one with the Lord, and our work must be for His Body. The Shulammite works as Solomon’s counterpart, taking care of all the vineyards (8:11), the churches and the believers on the whole earth. This indicates that our work should be for the Body, not just one city. We must have a work that is for the entire world. This is what Paul did by establishing local churches and then working to bring them into the full realization of the Body of Christ.
SoS 7:121 vineyards
She and her Beloved work diligently not for herself but in the churches (vineyards) for other believers to bud, blossom, and bloom. In the churches she renders her love to her Beloved.
SoS 7:131a mandrakes Gen. 30:14
In her working together with her Beloved there is a mutual love (signified by mandrakes—Gen. 30:14-16) giving forth its fragrance between them as a couple who love each other, signifying the bridal love between the lover of Christ and Christ, and in their working places there are plenty of fragrant and choice fruits (cf. Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 5:9), new and old, which she stores up for her Beloved in love.
SoS 7:13b New Matt. 13:52
SoS 8:11 brother
At this point the lover of Christ is mature in life to the extent that she has become the same as Christ in every respect, except that she still has the flesh. Realizing all the troubles that come from her flesh, the lover wishes that Christ could be her brother in the flesh who was born of grace (her mother—Gal. 4:26), i.e., that He would be the same as she is in the flesh. This indicates poetically her groaning for her flesh. In vv. 2-4 she is hoping to be saved from her groaning for the flesh, indicating that she hopes to be raptured through the redemption of her body (Rom. 8:23; 2 Cor. 5:1-8; Eph. 4:30b).
SoS 8:12 outside
I.e., outside the limitation of the flesh. When her body is transfigured (Phil. 3:21), she and the Lord will be the same (1 John 3:2), and no one will despise her because of her shortage in the flesh.
SoS 8:21 mother’s
In vv. 2-3 the lover of Christ hopes that she and her Beloved could meet in the heavenly Jerusalem, where she is perfected by grace (her mother’s house—Gal. 4:26), and that she could afford her Beloved a way to enjoy the riches of her experience of the divine life (spiced wine from the juices of her pomegranate) for His satisfaction in His embracing, as in His embracing before rapture (2:6).
SoS 8:41 adjure
Her Beloved charges the meddling believers (daughters of Jerusalem) not to awaken her from her proper hope of rapture until she wakes up in the countenance of His face, i.e., until she meets Him face to face in rapture.
SoS 8:51 Leaning
The Spirit, signified by a third person speaking, asks who this lover of Christ is who came up once from the spiritual wilderness (the worldly environment) by herself (3:6) and now comes up from the fleshly wilderness (the earthly realm) by leaning on her Beloved. As she is waiting for His coming, she is going out with Him to meet Him (cf. Matt. 25:1).
SoS 8:52 I
Here Christ answers that she is a sinner who has repented and has been saved by grace (her mother—Gal. 4:26; Eph. 2:8a) through regeneration (birth) in Him as the Provider of life (apple tree—2:3). Here, at the consummation of her Christian life, the Lord reminds His lover that even now she is nothing—a sinner saved by the grace of Christ.
SoS 8:61a seal Isa. 49:16; Hag. 2:23
When the lover hears what her Beloved spoke in v. 5, she admits that by herself she is not able to stand and live in her Beloved until her rapture. Having no trust in herself while she is still in the flesh, the old creation, she asks her Beloved to keep her by His love (heart) and His strength (arm), for His love is as strong as unshakable death and His jealousy is as cruel as unconquerable Sheol, which is like the jealous Jehovah, who is a consuming fire (Deut. 4:24) that burns up all the negative things. His love cannot be quenched by trials nor drowned by persecutions nor replaced by any wealth (v. 7; Rom. 8:35-39; 1 Cor. 13:1-3).
SoS 8:62 Sheol
See note 231 in Matt. 11.
SoS 8:63 Jehovah
Heb. Jah; a shortened form of Jehovah.
SoS 8:81 sister
Since the lover has matured in life in pursuing Christ and in the ultimate consummation of her experience of Christ, before her rapture she with Christ is concerned for the younger lovers of Christ, whose faith and love (breasts—1 Tim. 1:14) have not yet matured. She is concerned about how to perfect the younger ones to mature in life for the building up of the Body of Christ and to love Christ until they are betrothed to Him in love for the constituting of the bride of Christ (2 Cor. 11:2; Gal. 4:19).
SoS 8:91 wall
If the younger one (see note 81) is a wall for separation from the world (sanctification), Christ’s mature lover with her Beloved will perfect that one by building upon her a battlement based on the redemption of Christ (silver). If the younger one is a door as an entry for people to enter into Christ, the lover of Christ with her Beloved will perfect that one by building an enclosure around her with Christ’s heavenly and glorified humanity (Matt. 26:64; Acts 3:13) and His heavenly human life (cedar—Phil. 2:7-8). This indicates that the lover of Christ is an experienced one who knows not only how to nourish others but also how to build them up with the proper materials according to their particular need.
SoS 8:101 wall
Here the lover of Christ testifies that she is a sanctified one (a separating wall) whose faith and love have been developed (breasts like towers—1 Tim. 1:14), in contrast to the immature believer in v. 8. In the eyes of her Beloved she is like a person who has obtained peace based on sanctification (1 Thes. 5:23 and note 2).
SoS 8:111 Baal-hamon
[ par. 1 2 ]
SoS 8:111 [1] Meaning Lord of all. Solomon as a great lord who possessed many vineyards rented the vineyards to keepers in order to gain produce. The vineyard keepers would pay Solomon one thousand shekels. Each vineyard keeper had helpers to keep the fruit, and he had to pay them two hundred shekels (v. 12). In the work of Christ, Christ is the Lord of all the works (vineyards). We, as Christ’s lovers, are vineyard keepers, who participate in one part of Christ’s work. According to the Lord’s requirement, we should pay Him the one thousand shekels, i.e., pay Him what He requires. In our work with the Lord we do not have “helpers”; hence, we as the vineyard keepers are able to keep the fruit ourselves. Thus, instead of giving the two hundred shekels to others, we give it to ourselves. This is the same as the Lord giving us two hundred shekels as a reward. Verses 11-12 show that our work with the Lord must exceed what He requires. The Lord requires not only what He has delivered to us but what He has given to us with interest (Matt. 25:26-27). With this interest as the basis, the Lord will reward us when He comes back. This reward will be given not according to the Lord’s grace but according to His righteousness.
SoS 8:111 [2] Christ as our Beloved is the Lord of all, possessing all things (Acts 10:36), and we as His lovers share in all His possessions (1 Cor. 3:21-22) freely in the grace of Christ (Rom. 3:24), which is the issue of the love of God (2 Cor. 13:14). Yet we as His lovers still should give Him as our Beloved what we should give, not as a duty but as a matter of love (cf. Gal. 5:13). Christ as our Beloved, joining Himself to us as one, still likes to give us a reward of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8). This implies that Christ as our Beloved gives us a reward for the residue of our labor as an incentive to our faithfulness in our labor for Him in love (cf. Matt. 25:20-23); hence, it is a reward of righteousness.
SoS 8:11a vineyard 1 Cor. 9:7; cf. Mark 12:1; Luke 20:9
SoS 8:131a voice S.S. 2:14
The lover of Christ asks Him who dwells in the believers as His gardens to let her hear His voice while her companions listen for His voice. This indicates that in the work that we as the lovers of Christ do for Him as our Beloved, we should fellowship with Him. As we are working with Him, we need to maintain our fellowship with Him, always listening to Him (cf. Luke 10:38-42 and note 421).
SoS 8:141a Make S.S. 2:17; cf. Rev. 22:17, 20
As the concluding word of this poetic book, the lover of Christ prays that her Beloved would make haste to come back in the power of His resurrection (gazelle and young hart) to set up His sweet and beautiful kingdom (mountains of spices), which will fill the whole earth (Rev. 11:15; Dan. 2:35). Such a prayer portrays the union and communion between Christ as the Bridegroom and His lovers as the bride in their bridal love, in the way that the prayer of John, a lover of Christ, as the concluding word of the Holy Scriptures, reveals God’s eternal economy concerning Christ and the church in His divine love (Rev. 22:20).