What is your Savior like? If you were asked to describe him, what would you say?
That’s the question that is posed before us tonight.
If you have your bibles, please turn with me to Song of Solomon chapter 5. Song of Solomon 5. We’re continuing to march through this book of poetry. We have lyrical poetry describing to us a relationship between two lovers.
We have the woman, the Shulamite, the bride, and now wife. And we have the husband. The husband, as we have already seen, is pictured in various ways. As a shepherd. As a king. As a son of David. As a savior. As the beloved.
Last week we saw a startling picture of the woman seeking her beloved, but not finding him. She went all around the city searching for him, but didn’t find him. But even worse than that, she found the night watchmen in the city who mistreated her. They mistook her for a harlot and beat her and bruised her.
And we pick up the story tonight right after that scene. The woman is here, having gone through a tough trial, and now she’s asked a question. What is your beloved like? Why is he so special?
Let’s pick up in verse 9 of chapter 5 and see what happens next:
9 What is your beloved more than another beloved,
O most beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
that you thus adjure us?She
10 My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
distinguished among ten thousand.
11 His head is the finest gold;
his locks are wavy,
black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves
beside streams of water,
bathed in milk,
sitting beside a full pool.
13 His cheeks are like beds of spices,
mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His lips are lilies,
dripping liquid myrrh.
14 His arms are rods of gold,
set with jewels.
His body is polished ivory,
bedecked with sapphires.
15 His legs are alabaster columns,
set on bases of gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
choice as the cedars.
16 His mouth is most sweet,
and he is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.
My aim tonight is to walk through the woman’s description of her king and make some comments and applications along the way, but mainly I want us to see how she describes the king. How does she describe her beloved?
If you will remember from previous sermons, Solomon is writing this poetry, and he’s using it to picture for us not merely earthly marriage, but also greater realities. I believe, and I hope I’ve been able to show you in the text, that this poetry about marriage also points to the relationship between the LORD and Israel.
Israel is spoken of in the bible as being wedded to Yahweh, to the Lord. They were covenanted together, beginning at Mount Sinai and the Covenant through Moses, and Israel was to be the bride of the Lord.
We’ve also noted the marriage in this poetry is pictured in language reminiscent of the Garden-temple in Eden, where man walked with God in all purity and love, and the language is also reminiscent of Israel being in the promised land, worshiping God in his place of special revelation, in the tabernacle and the Temple.
These themes of garden and temple are likewise found in our text tonight, as I hope to soon prove.
But let’s begin walking through our text. We begin with a question posed to the woman:
9 What is your beloved more than another beloved,
O most beautiful among women?
What is your beloved more than another beloved,
that you thus adjure us?
What is your king like? Why is he so special? It is possible that there is a bit of mocking tone in their voices, but I’m not so sure of that. I think these friends of the woman are simply serving as a literary device to set the stage for the next section.
What is your king like?
Now, something struck me as strange this week, as I studied this text. Solomon wrote this book, and some people think that it is merely love poetry describing Solomon’s own earthly marriage. Nothing more.
But, if that’s the case, if this is just Solomon writing about himself, then the next section would seem exceedingly narcissistic. If the next section is simply about the King Solomon, he must have had a very glorious and inflated view of himself.
But, if it is the case that Solomon, the wisest man to have lived up to this point, if he was using this poetry to write about another king, a perfect king, describing a greater Solomon, then we have something to learn here.
And I’ve become increasingly convinced as I’ve gone through this book that this is exactly what Solomon is doing. He’s writing about a husband, a shepherd king, that standard that not even Solomon himself can measure up to. And it is the description of that king that comes next in our text. Let’s begin to go through it.
What is your beloved like? Why is he so special? Verse 10:
10 My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
distinguished among ten thousand.
My beloved is radiant. He’s dazzling. The word is literally he is “white.” He’s glowing. He has a splendor and a majesty that is incomparable. Nobody else is like him. In fact, that’s the thrust of statement that he is distinguished among ten thousand. If Solomon were writing today, he might say, “my beloved is one in a million.”
Nobody is like him. Does such a description belong to Solomon? Jesus speaks of Solomon being arrayed in glory, but even Solomon didn’t have a lasting glory. Solomon was not perfectly radiant. In fact, by the end of his life his heart was led astray.
So, the Holy Spirit, writing through Solomon, is pointing to some radiance that is greater than himself. The language of radiance makes me think of Jesus, in the moment of his transfiguration. Do you remember in Matthew 17, Jesus goes up to a mountain and meets with Moses and Elijah, and the text says “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.”
His face shone like the son, and his clothes became white as light. He was radiant. He was glowing. The Lord pulled back the curtain a little bit to see the divine glory of the Son manifested before Peter and John. Radiance is an attribute of divinity.
Likewise, Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus is “3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” Similar language is used of Jesus in John’s vision in Revelation 1. He was dazzling and white, standing in glory.
This poetic king in our text is being described in language that is used of the Glory of the Lord in the Holy of the Holies in the Temple, and was later used of Jesus Christ.
But our verse here doesn’t merely say he was radiant, speaking of his divinity. It also says he was ruddy. The word here has to do with red. He was full of life. He was handsome. It’s a word used to twice describe David himself in 1 Samuel 16:12 and 17:42. He was ruddy.
So we have a Davidic son, born of a man, full of life. And also like David, who was praised in poetic song, we have the Davidic son here praised in song. Do you remember the song sung about David? I Samuel 18:7, “Saul has slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands.” Likewise, here, the same kind of language is describing the beloved king. He’s better than ten thousand.
He is preeminent. He’s the best. No one can compare.
We have in this one king, both divine radiance, and ruddy preeminence. The glory of the Lord, and the best of men. That’s why many theologians have seen this as a reference to the two natures of Christ. Jesus was both the radiance of the glory of God in his divinity, while also being the best of men to ever have lived. Divinity and humanity, both in the same person.
Solomon couldn’t have lived up to that. He’s pointing to someone greater than himself. He’s pointing to Jesus. And if that’s the case, what more does he say? Verse 11:
11 His head is the finest gold;
his locks are wavy,
black as a raven.
The language here confirms the royal nature of the king. He’s not merely Wearing a golden crown, his head is of the finest gold. Literally, the gold of all gold. The picture here is of a statue, similar to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2, where Nebuchadnezzar sees a picture of a composite statue that represents the worldly kingdoms.
Solomon is likewise describing a king, as a representative of his kingdom, and its power and glory. His head is gold, and his locks are wavy and black as raven. There’s no gray here. No hint of decay or decline. No sign of weakness. No diminishment of power or ability.
It’s as if he’s saying this king’s rule has no sign of ending, no sign of weakening. Nothing can stop him. His kingdom will have no end. Was that true of Solomon? No, it wasn’t. He’s pointing to a greater king.
But now the text changes in its imagery. He goes from describing the beloved in terms of a royal king, into language more reminiscent of the Promised land, and of a garden. Verse 12:
12 His eyes are like doves
beside streams of water,
bathed in milk,
sitting beside a full pool.[a]
Commentators are split on exactly what is meant by eyes like a dove. Does that speak to his purity, or to his gentleness, or to his innocence? Could be all those. But the dove is resting beside peaceful streams of water, which sounds like the security and blessing of the promised land.
And the dove is sitting beside a full pool, or we might translate it “a pool fitly set,” or “sitting in fullness.” The thrust seems to be of nothing lacking from his appearance. His eyes are graceful and innocent. They are dovelike.
Gill says that these eyes are “not fierce or furious, but loving and lovely; looking down upon his people, under all their trials and their afflictions, with sympathy and concern to deliver them out of them.” He’s not casting an angry gaze with sharp eyes. He looks with concern. The picture is similar to God hearing the cries of his people in Egypt and being moved with compassion toward them, to rescue them.
That’s this king. He’s not frustrated and angry that the bride rejected him at the start of this chapter. Likewise, continuing the theme of promised land language, verse 13:
13 His cheeks are like beds of spices,
mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.
His cheeks are pleasant, like sweet-smelling herbs. The language here is intimate. To smell someone’s cheeks, or it’s possible the reference here is to his beard, the beloved must have been close. Their faces near. Likewise,
His lips are lilies,
dripping liquid myrrh.
Again, intimate language. Lips are what we use to show affection through kissing. His face is turned toward the beloved, and the sweetness of myrrh and the blessings that it represents are present.
This language picks up themes of face and blessing in the Old Testament. Think back to the priestly blessing in Numbers 6:
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you”
Blessing in the old testament is often pictured as the Face of the Lord being toward you. His countenance, his gaze, it aimed at you, and his inclination is to do good to you. That’s blessedness. That’s flourishing. That’s life.
This king has turned his gaze on his beloved, has entered into an intimate embrace, and that embrace has the aroma of sweet-smelling spices, and precious myrrh.
So let me ask you: does your communion with the Lord have a similar effect upon you?
Or to use the words of the psalmist: have you tasted of the Lord and seen that he is good?
I hope that you have. His embrace, the joy of communion with him is life to a believer’s soul. Nothing in this world can compare to it, and nothing can make up for its absence.
However, if we’re honest, we don’t often value such communion, do we? We let our souls languish. We might go through the motions of religion, performing the outward works, but like the nation of Israel, our hearts are far from God. We go through the rituals, but we’re unmoved in our calloused hearts.
What we need is a fresh sense of our communion with the Lord. We need to cry out, “father forgive me for not valuing you and your love. Wash me again of my sin. Make your face to shine upon me and give me your peace.”
And what is that peace? Jesus himself is that peace, Paul says in Romans. Jesus died for a cold-hearted, apathetic bride. He died for the people that just go through the motions. He bore the penalty for faithlessness and insincerity. And he woos us back through reminding us of his love.
He’s the one who took away the punishment, because he bore it. His beard, though sweet smelling like mounds of spices, his beard pulled out in pain. His cheeks were struck by the unjust authorities. His lips tasted, not of blessedness and wine, but sour wine and sweat and blood on the cross.
That’s the price he paid for our redemption, that we could taste of joy and communion, like sweet spices and myrrh. Remember that king, that son of David, that husband, dying for his bride so that she might be forgiven.
But let’s keep going, and see more of this king’s glory. Starting in verse 14 we start to see the imagery shift more toward temple language. The statue-like description of the king and his rule begin to be described in language that is very closely tied to the temple of Solomon, the place of special communion between God and his people. Verse 14,
14 His arms are rods of gold,
set with jewels.
His arms are rods of gold. Not merely he’s wearing gold, like bracelets or rings, but his arms are rods of gold. The arms, or perhaps hands, are the instruments of his action. They are the representation of his rule. The work of his king is precious. What he does is of incalculable value. There is no defect or weakness.
And the rods of gold are set with jewels, as the ESV translates it. Literally, set with “beryl” a precious gemstone that was found in the breastplate of the temple priests, Exodus 28:20. We have a stone explicitly tied to the work of old covenant priests, now set in the arms of gold of this king.
Here we have the union of two separate offices: the king and the priest. Was King Solomon a priest? No. He was a king. But we do have hints of a priest-king in the old testament.
There is a brief moment where his father David put on the ephod, the garment of a priest, and brought the ark of God’s presence back into the nation. But David’s priesthood didn’t last. He died. And Solomon’s rule, though having some priestly elements, eventually faded into the dust of history.
No, there is another priest-king, who’s priestly rule will last forever like gold. And the priestly work of this Davidic king is precious to a believer. That priest can only be Jesus Christ. He represents us, he mediates for us, he makes a way for us to commune with God again. He takes away our sin. For the believer, He is both our priest and our king.
And even more amazing is the sacrifice that this greater priest makes. He doesn’t slaughter bulls or goats. Rather, he laid himself on the altar. He was the spotless lamb given as a sacrifice in our place. Free of any Blemish or spot.
The text here hints at that. It says next:
His body is polished ivory,
bedecked with sapphires.
His body is polished ivory. Ivory was precious and costly. But Ivory was also what Solomon’s throne was made out of, 1 Kings 10:18. This Davidic king, his rule, his throne, is precious, and spotlessly white. That wasn’t true of the earthly Solomon. His rule didn’t end well.
And that earthly king Solomon wasn’t also a priest offering a blemish free sacrifice. It must be pointing to something greater. A priest king with a perfect rule and blemish free offering.
But is this priest king going to have an end to his rule? Is this a temporary arrangement? No, Verse 15:
15 His legs are alabaster columns,
set on bases of gold.
His legs are alabaster, or marble, columns, set on bases of gold. Again, we have tabernacle and temple language. Marble was used in the temple construction, 1 Chronicles 29:2, and the word used for bases of gold was the same word used more than 55 times to describe the work of constructing the tabernacle in Exodus.
So this priest-king, this Davidic son is being pictured as having a rule and a work that is like the worship of God performed in the tabernacle and temple. But unlike the tabernacle, Hist work is immovable. Like giant alabaster columns and marble supports, the work of this priest is unshakable.
Further driving the point home, the text says:
His appearance is like Lebanon,
choice as the cedars.
The cedar trees of Lebanon were renowned for their quality, their size, their prominence. And it was for exactly that reason that the cedars of Lebanon were used in the construction of Solomon’s temple. Huge trees, known for their strength and quality. That’s what the bride is using to describe the appearance of her beloved king.
So we have a Davidic son, a priest king, who’s work and rule is described in terms of temple and tabernacle language, and whose rule and work is immovable. Unbreakable. Unshakable.
I think you can probably see where I am going. All of this sets the stage for the New Testament, where we have the fulfillment of a promised son of David. A radiant and ruddy son, both human and divine, the son of God and the greater Solomon.
This priest king came and made a sacrifice, which is once and for all, and is as immovable as the cedars of Lebanon and the marble of the temple. That sacrifice was himself, a blemish free lamb, as white and as precious as ivory.
And like his grandfather Solomon, this Davidic son Jesus rules, and he rules because of that sacrifice. He’s the king over all, and his throne was secured because of the spotless sacrifice.
His perfect life and atoning death was received by God as an acceptable sacrifice, proven by his resurrection from the dead, and earning for him the right to reign over a kingdom. But this isn’t a mere ivory throne like Solomon had.
His throne is in the heavens, at the right hand of the father. And his reign will have no end. He’s defeated all of his foes on the cross, and will one day finally judge the wicked and the damned with eternal justice and power.
His arms are rods of gold, and his works have no blemish in them, not even his works of judgement. And if that is the case, then I want you to hear of this promised son, this perfect sacrifice, and believe in him.
That’s what this king demands, that’s what is required to be covered by his sacrifice and forgiven of your sin. Trust in this Jesus. Don’t be like the Pharisees who thought that their good works and their religious effort was enough. No amount of temple sacrifice, no good deeds will be enough.
Jesus said something greater than Solomon is here, something greater than the temple is here. He is the mercy seat. His sacrifice is the only means of communion with God, the only way for sinful people like me and you to come into his presence.
Don’t ignore the son, trust in him, lest, in your rejection of him, you earn for yourself his just judgment and wrath in hell.
He will speak, and he will judge. Psalm 2 says that he will break the wicked nations “with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” His judgment is sure, and the rod of his wrath, held by His arms of gold, will be perfect and complete.
Spare yourself from that fate, and kiss the Son, to use the language again from Psalm 2. His lips are like lilies, indeed, as verse 16 says:
16 His mouth[d] is most sweet,
and he is altogether desirable.
His mouth is most sweet. It sounds like Psalm 19, where the psalmist says that the word of the Lord is,
More to be desired … than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
What our Davidic king says in his word is sweetness to the ears of a believer. His priestly work of intercession brings life to our eyes. And that makes him altogether desirable, altogether lovely.
That’s the close of her description of his appearance. Altogether desirable. Nothing is lacking. No room for improvement.
What more could be wanted in a king? That he’d be willing to sacrifice himself for his bride, for an unfaithful bride, for a sinful people. No earthly ruler would do that. Only the glorious sent one, the promised son of David, the radiant and ruddy one, only Jesus.
And because he has done this, the bride can close by saying words that only a believer can say,
This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.
My beloved, my friend. Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus.
