Ecclesiastes and Song-of-Solomon (Sections 65-68)

Section 65 "Where the word of a King is, there is Power."—Ecclesiastes 8:4

Kings were autocratic in Solomon's day. We may be glad that we are not under bondage to an absolute monarch, but enjoy the blessings of constitutional government. We are by no means slow to say to any one of our governors, "What doest thou?" And such a question, wisely put, is good both for him and for us.

God alone is rightfully sovereign without limit. He is King in the most absolute sense; and so it should be; for he is supremely good, wise, just, holy, etc. As he is Maker of all, dominion over his creatures is a matter of natural right.

He has infinite power wherewith to carry out his royal will.

Even in his least word there is omnipotence.

Let us consider this,—

I. To excite our awe.

Let us carefully think of—

1. His creating Word, by which all things arose out of nothing.

2. His preserving Word, by which all things abide.

3. His destroying Word, by which he will shake earth and heaven.

4. His Word of prerogative by which he kills and makes alive.

5. His Word of everlasting promise, which is our comfort.

6. His Word of terrible threatening, which is our warning.

7. His Word of prophecy and fore-ordination, which is a great deep, full of solemn teaching to the lowly in heart. Who can stand before any of these without trembling adoration? Power attends them to the fullest degree, for each one is the Word of a King.

II. To ensure our obedience.

1. No divine command is to be treated as non-essential, for it is the Word of Jehovah, the King. (See verses 2 and 3.) 2. Each precept is to be obeyed at once, heartily, to the full by everyone, since the King commands.

3. His service must not be shunned, for that were to rebel against our Sovereign. Jonah did not find this to succeed; for the Lord will not be trifled with, and will make runaways know that his arm is long.

4. Disobedience is to be repented of. If we have fallen into sin, let the King's Word have a gracious power to subdue us to hearty grief.

III. To inspire our confidence.

1. That he is able to give to the penitent, pardon; for he has promised in his Word to do so.

2. That he will give to the believing power to renew their lives. "He sent his word, and healed them," is true, spiritually.

3. That he will give to the tempted power to overcome temptation. God ensures the believer's victory over every assault of Satan through the Word. This weapon Jesus used in the wilderness.

4. That he will give to the suffering power to endure with patience, and to gather profit from the trial.

5. That he will give to the dying, hope, peace, beatific vision, etc. One word from the Lord of life robs death of its sting.

IV. To direct our christian effort.

1. In all we do we should respect the King's Word. Churches should own Christ's headship, obey his laws, and acknowledge no other law-giver. This would be a source of power, as the opposite is the cause of weakness.

2. We must look nowhere else for power. Education, oratory, music, wealth, ceremonialism, are weakness itself, if depended on.

3. We must rely upon the Word of our King as the instrument of power whenever we seek to do works in his name.

Preach it: for nothing else will break hard hearts, comfort the despairing, beget faith, or produce holiness.

Plead it in prayer: for the Lord will surely keep his own promises, and put forth his power to make them good.

Receive it into our mind and heart: for where divine truth is treasured, there will be a wealth of spiritual power.

Practice it: for none can gainsay a life which is ordered according to the precepts of the Lord. An obedient life is full of a power before which men and devils do homage.

4. We shall see its power in various ways.

Gathering congregations. After all, the many do not go to listen to mere human teachings, but the cross attracts everywhere.

Gaining true converts. No conversion is worth anything unless it is wrought by the word of truth.

Keeping such converts to the end. The incorruptible seed alone produces an incorruptible life.

Order is created and preserved in the church by God's Word.

Saints are instructed, edified, sanctified, and fed by the Word.

Love, joy, peace, and every grace, are begotten and fostered by the Word.

Read much the royal Word.

Speak more than ever the King's Word, which is the gospel of peace.

Believe in the Word of King Jesus, and be bold to defend it.

Bow before it, and be patient and happy.

Experiences No language ever stirs the deeps of my nature like the Word of God; and none produces such a profound calm within my spirit. As no other voice can, it melts me to tears, it humbles me in the dust, it fires me with enthusiasm, it fills me with felicity, it elevates me to holiness. Every faculty of my being owns the power of the sacred Word: it sweetens my memory, it brightens my hope, it stimulates my imagination, it directs my judgment, it commands my will, and it cheers my heart. The word of man charms me for the time; but I outlive and outgrow its power; it is altogether the reverse with the Word of the King of kings: it rules me more sovereignly, more practically, more habitually, more completely every day. Its power is for all seasons: for sickness and for health, for solitude and for company, for personal emergencies and for public assemblies. I had sooner have the Word of God at my back than all the armies and navies of all the great powers; ay, than all the forces of nature; for the Word of the Lord is the source of all the power in the universe, and within it there is an infinite supply in reserve.

Believers know the life-giving power of the Word, for they can say, "Thy word hath quickened me"; and its life-sustaining power, for they live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," and its power against sin, for they can say, "Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee."

"His word was with power" in Capernaum of old, and it will be with the same power in any place nowadays. His Word cannot fail; "it shall not return void; it shall prosper." Therefore, when our "words fall to the ground," it only proves that they were not his words.—Miss Havergal.

Section 66 "I am the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valleys."—Song of Solomon 2:1 Here we have the Bridegroom praising himself, and this is a thing to be considered with careful attention. This self-praise is not tainted with pride: such a fault could not find a place in the lowly Jesus. His ego-ism is not egotism. He does not commend himself for his own sake, but for our sakes. He sets himself forth in glowing terms because:— In condescension he desires our love. What a poor thing it is for him to care about! Yet he thirsts after it. In wisdom he uses the best way to win our love. In tenderness he deigns to describe himself that we may be encouraged by his familiarity in praising himself to us. This is one of the most effectual proofs of lowliness. Of necessity he describes himself, for who else can describe him? "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father": Matthew 11:27.

Moreover, he states a fact which else might not be believed, seeing he makes himself so common a flower of earth, so graciously a joy for men, that all may have him.

We will not take up your time by trying to discover what flowers these may have been in the eastern flora: we may select those most like them in our own western land, and do our Lord no wrong.

I. The exceeding delightfulness of our Lord.

He compares himself, not only, as in other places, to needful bread, and refreshing water, but to lovely flowers. In Jesus there are all delights as well as all necessaries.

1. He is now all that he ever was, for his "I am" runs through all eternity in unabated force.

2. He is in himself the delight of men. He speaks not of offices, gifts, works, possessions, but of himself. "I am."

3. He is delightful to the eye of faith, even as flowers are to the bodily sight. What more beautiful than roses and lilies?

4. He is delightful in the savor which comes of him. In him is a delicious, varied, abiding fragrance.

5. In all this he is the choicest of the choice: the rose—yea, Sharon's rose: the lily—yea, the most delicious lily of the valleys. There is none like him. He is indeed "a plant of renown."

Yet blind men see no color, and men without scent perceive no odor in the sweetest flowers; and carnal men see no delights in Jesus. Roses and lilies require eyes and light ere they can be appreciated, and to know Jesus we must have grace and gracious dispositions. He says, "I am the Rose of Sharon"; and so he is essentially; but the grave question is,— "Is he this to you?" Yes, or no.

II. The sweet variety of his delightfulness.

1. Of the rose, majesty: of the lily, love.

2. Of the rose, suffering: of the lily, purity.

3. Of both, a great variety: all the roses and all the lilies, all the beauties of heaven and earth meet in Jesus.

4. Of both the very essence. Of all the creatures, all the excellences, virtues, and blessings which may be found in them come from Jesus and abide in Jesus without limit. Many eyes are wanted to spy out the whole of Christ. No eye, nor all eyes, can see all that lies in his varied perfections.

5. Of all these a perfect proportion, so that no one excellence destroys another. He is all a rose should be, and yet not the less perfect as a lily.

Hence, he is suitable to all saints, the joy of all, the perfection of beauty to each one.

III. The exceeding freeness of his delightfulness.

1. Meant to be plucked and enjoyed as roses and lilies are.

2. Abundant as a common flower. He is not as a rare orchid, but as the anemones which covered Sharon's plains, and as the lilies which abounded in all the valleys of Palestine.

3. Abiding in a common place, as roses in Sharon and lilies in the valleys, where every passerby was free to gather according to his own sweet will. Not found on inaccessible steeps, or within guarded enclosures, Jesus is out in the open: a flower of the common. This is a leading idea of the text. Those who desire Christ may have him.

4. Scattering fragrance, not over a room or a house, but far and wide, perfuming every wandering wind.

5. Yet roses and lilies fail to set forth our Beloved, for his is unfading virtue. They are soon withered, but "He dieth no more." In all things look for Jesus. See him in primroses and daisies. In Jesus look for all things of beauty and sweetness: lilies and roses are in him.

Listen much to Jesus, for he can tell you most about himself; and, coming at first hand, it will be surely true, and come with great force and unction. Hearken, and hear him say, "I am the Rose of Sharon."

Observations

"I am the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valleys"; words most seemly in the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom it is not robbery from others, but condescension and grace, to commend himself to the sons of men. "I am meek and lowly," would be the utterance of pride in Gabriel, but it is humility in Jesus, who has stooped that he might become meek and lowly. "I am the true Vine," "I am the good Shepherd," etc., are the expressions alike of truth and grace, and so here.—A. Moody Stuart. Not to flowers which only the rich and great can possess, but to those easily obtainable, does he liken himself; for always did he stoop to the lowliest, and the common people ever heard him gladly. His presence on earth never failed to bring comfort to the needy, and refreshment to the downcast spirit, just as sweet odors float around roses and lilies, and minister solace to the organ of smell, while their fair forms and rich and delicate colors gratify the eye.—H. K. Wood, in "The Heavenly Bridegroom and his Bride."

We believe there can be little doubt that the rose is really intended by the Hebrew word. Even if in the general sense it should mean but a flower, we should still infer that, when applied in a particular sense, it means a rose, for this would be according to the usage of the East. Thus the Persian word gul describes a flower in general, and the rose par excellence. This suffices to show the estimation in which the rose is held in the East. In the Persian language, particularly, there is perhaps no poem in which allusions to it, and comparisons drawn from it, do not recur even to repletion. . . . The extreme fragrance and beauty of the rose in some parts of Western Asia have attracted the notice of many travelers. It is also cultivated, not merely as a garden plant for pleasure, but in extensive fields, from the produce of which is prepared that valued and delicious perfume called rose-water. The size of the rose-trees, and the number of the flowers on each, far exceed in the rose districts of Persia anything we are here accustomed to witness.—Pictorial Bible.

Section 67

"It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found Him whom
my soul loveth: I held Him, and would not let Him go, until I had brought
Him into my Mother's House, and into the chamber of her that conceived me."—Song of Solomon 3:4 The first position is, "I passed from them." We must go beyond the fellowship of the best of men, and commune with him whom our soul loveth. Our love must lead to action, "I sought him." Those who love Jesus seek his presence with an agony of desire.

After this seeking, we read at first, "I found him not." Sad, but needful disappointment. But this lasts not for ever; we soon come into the region of our text, where everything is bright with sunlight. Three flashes of delight follow each other: "I found him"; "I held him"; "I brought him." May these be our joyous experience! To that end let us muse upon them, and pray the Holy Spirit to help us.

I. "I found him": or, love in fellowship.

1. I was enquiring for him.

2. I had got beyond all men and means and could not be content with any but himself.

3. I beheld his person. He drew near in his Word and ordinances. I perceived him by the Spirit. Faith saw him clearly.

4. I was assured of his presence. My heart felt peculiar influences operating upon it. It was a time of love.

5. I knew him to be mine. There were no doubts and fears. He was "my Beloved," and I was all his own.

6. I was filled with content. I looked for no one else, for in finding him I had found my all for earth and heaven. Do we know what this blessed finding means?

If not, let us never rest till we do.

II. "I held him": or, love in possession.

1. By my heart's resolve, determining never to lose him again.

2. By my tearful pleas, entreating him not to make me wretched by withdrawing. I pleaded— My joy in his society. My need of his gracious protection. My love to him, which made me hunger for him. His love to me, which surely would not let him leave me.

3. By making him my all in all. He stays where he is prized, and I set him on a high throne in my spirit.

4. By renouncing all other loves, sins, idols, etc. He is jealous, and I kept myself altogether for him.

5. By a simple faith: for he is pleased with trust, and dwells where he is rested in.

6. By his own power. "I would not let him go," because I held him by his promise, and by the power which it gave me.

If you have Jesus, hold him.

He is willing to be constrained. See how often, in his life on earth, "they constrained him," and he yielded to their will.

III. "I brought him": or, love in communication. The love of Jesus creates in our hearts love to our fellow-believers for their Redeemer's sake. The church of God is our mother: the holy assembly is her chamber, where we were born unto God, and nurtured in his fear. We are to labor to promote communion with Christ among those who are our brethren, taking Jesus with us whensoever we go up to the gatherings of the faithful. This we should do—

1. By our own spirit: communing with Jesus before we go to public worship, and going there with him in our company.

We shall always find him in the church if we take him in our hearts to its hallowed services.

2. By our words: we should so speak as to set forth Jesus, and promote fellowship with him. Alas, how many speak controversially, or without savor, or with carnal oratory wherein is no room for the Beloved! Oh, for a crucified style of speech!

3. By our prayers we should bring him into the assembly; ay, bring him into society where hitherto he has been unknown. The world also was once our mother. Oh, that we could introduce the Lord Jesus into her chambers, that he might reign and rule there! "Thy Kingdom come." By loving violence we will constrain him to come with us in his presence and power.

See what the church needs!—Christ in her midst.

See how he is likely to come!—he must be brought.

See what must first be done!—he must be held.

See who alone can do this!—those who have found him.

Yet see, also, who may find him!—all who love him, and seek him. Are we among the number?

Further Suggestions

Hold him by not offending him. First, by sloth. When the soul turns sleepy or careless, Christ goes away. Secondly, by idols. You cannot hold two objects. Thirdly, by being unwilling to be sanctified. Fourthly, by an unholy house. "I brought him into my mother's house." Remember to take Christ home with you, and let him rule in your house. If you walk with Christ abroad but never take him home, you will soon part company for ever.—McCheyne.

"I found him"; I, a man, found the Lord of Glory; I, a slave to sin, found the great Deliverer; I, the child of darkness, found the Light of life; I, the uttermost of the lost, found my Saviour and my God; I, widowed and desolate, found my Friend, my Beloved, my Husband. Go and do likewise, sons and daughters of Zion, and he will be found of you; for "then shall ye find when ye search with all your heart." But we have another mother, and other brethren, in the human family from which we are sprung. The Church has the first, not the only claim on our affections; the perishing world has its right to a large share of our pity and our prayers. Comparatively, it is not hard for us to bring Jesus into the Church, which is his mother's house as well as ours. But the world hates Christ, has nothing in common with him, is aware that he rightfully claims the dominion, is sensitively jealous of the claim, and lives with its doors barred against him night and day. No criminal keeps so vigilant a watch against the officers of justice, no lonely widow makes her gates so fast against the midnight robber, no miser spurns so haughtily the beggar from his door, as the unrenewed heart keeps watch and ward against the entrance of Jesus, and scornfully sends him away when he asks for a lodging in the soul. To introduce him, therefore, into this home of our mother is a work demanding effort, watchfulness, patience. There is much to provoke him to turn away; we must plead with him, hold him, and not let him go; and with our mother's children we must also plead with "the soft tongue that breaketh the bone," for they are offended with us as well as with him. So sought and prevailed the Bride of the Lamb, till she brought her own Beloved into the midst of her mother's children, by whom she had been herself so hardly entreated, requiting evil with good. Have you attempted this? Are you engaged in the effort now? If not, rise and commence such a work of faith and labor of love on behalf of the lost.—A. Moody Stuart.

Section 68 "Turn away Thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me."—Song of Solomon 6:5

Much of our life's business consists in overcoming evil, but here we have to deal with overcoming him who is perfect good.

It is not to be supposed that there is any opposition in the heavenly Bridegroom, nor any unwillingness to be overcome by his bride: no, it is the loving heart of Jesus which is readily overcome by the love of his chosen one.

Let us learn from this most remarkable exclamation,—

I. That looking upon his church has overcome the heart of the Lord Jesus.

1. He left heaven to be one with her. He could not bear to see her ruin, but left his Father that he might share her lot.

2. He died to redeem her: "found guilty of excess of love."

3. His delight is in her now; she is lovely in his sight.

4. His eternal joy is to spring from her: he will see in her the result of his death-agony: "he will rest in his love."

Jesus is so overcome that he still gives all that he is, and has, yea, and his own self, to his beloved.

II. That the eyes of his chosen still overcome the Lord Jesus.

Because his eyes are full of love, therefore is he overcome by our eyes when we are—

1. Looking up in deep repentance. At first seeking for pardon. At times when we pine for restoration from backsliding.

Whenever we are struggling to maintain fellowship, and mourning our breaches of it.

Whenever we groan under inbred sin, and would be free from it.

2. Looking at him by faith for salvation. At first, by a desperate act, daring to glance with feeble hope.

Afterwards, in simplicity, day by day gazing at his wounds. In deep distress still hoping on, and never removing our eyes.

3. Looking for all things to his love alone. When in sore trouble, patiently submitting. When in humble hope, quietly waiting. When under severe tests, firmly believing. When in full assurance, joyfully expecting.

4. Looking in prayer. In personal trouble, like Jacob, pleading the promise, and saying, "I will not let thee go." The Lord says, "Let me go." In holy compassion pleading for others, like Moses, to whom the Lord said, "Let me alone."

5. Looking in rapturous, restful love.

He is altogether lovely, and all mine: my eyes swim with tears of delight as they gaze on him, and thus they overcome him. My heart burns with love to him, and I adore him; and this wins everything from him.

6. Looking in sacred longing for his appearing.

Pining for a personal revelation of himself to me by his Spirit.

Most of all, sighing for his speedy coming in the glory of the Second Advent. He replies, "Behold, I come quickly!"

Oh, the power of a spiritual man with Jesus!

Oh, the power of a church with heaven! The Lord will deny nothing to the prayer of his elect.

III. That if the church would but look to her Lord more she would overcome the world more. To overcome the Lord is the greater thing, and when this is done, the church may well go forth conquering and to conquer all that is less than her Lord. The eyes of the church should be set on Jesus, and then she would overcome. If we were—

1. Weeping for dishonor done to him, he would see this, and retrieve our defeat.

2. Depending on him for our strength, our faith would give us victory through Jesus' love.

3. Obediently following his commands, he would then feel it right to give honor to his own truth, and to reward obedience to his own precepts.

4. Confidently expectant of victory, Jesus would make bare his arm for us. Faith's eyes calmly watching, or flashing with exultant expectancy, would be as flames of fire to the foe.

5. Eagerly pleading for his interposition, our tearful, earnest eyes would soon succeed with our gracious God.

See the secret of strength. Look to Jesus, and overcome.

Let us lament our infrequent use of this conquering weapon.

Now for a long and loving look at the Bridegroom of our souls.

Help us, O Holy Spirit, to whom our eyes owe their sight!

Hints Who has not felt the power of the eye? The beggar looked so imploringly that we gave him alms; the child's eye so darkened with disappointment that we indulged his desire; the sick man gazed so sadly at our departure that we turned back, and lengthened our visit. But the eyes of those we love master us. Does a tear begin to form? We yield at once. We cannot endure that the beloved eyes should weep. Our Lord uses this figure to most encouraging purpose. The weeping eyes of prayer move the loving heart of Jesus. Matthew Henry says, "Christ is pleased to borrow these expressions of a passionate lover to express the tenderness of a compassionate Redeemer, and the delight he takes in his redeemed, and in the workings of his own grace in them."

We read in Matthew 15 that the Lord Jesus said to the Canaanitish woman, "O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." He seems to surrender at discretion, conquered by that faith which he had himself put into her heart. Now, faith is the eye of the soul, and here is an instance of the eyes overcoming the Lord. We cannot vanquish him with the works of our hands, or the eloquence of our lips; but we can win the victory by the pleadings of our eyes,—those eyes, which are as the eyes of doves, seeing afar,—the eyes of true faith.

Some devout persons find it a profitable exercise to bow the knee, and to look up. Using few words, they commune through a long, upward, pleading glance. One only cried, "My God," and at another time, "God be merciful to me, a sinner"; and yet he came forth from his closet as one who had bathed in heaven.

"Have you a glimpse of Christ now that you are dying?" was the question asked of an old Scottish saint, who, raising himself, made the emphatic reply "I'll hae none o' your glimpses now that I am dying, since that I have had a full look at Christ these forty years gone."—Annals of the Early Friends.