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Scripture Reading: S. S. 5:4-6, 8-9, 16; 6:1-6, 10, 13
As we have seen in the past chapters, the seeking one in the Song of Songs reached at least four attainments. In chapter 2 she reached the first attainment, after which she became contented. Due to this, a discrepancy arose between her and the Lord. The second attainment was reached when she became a crown to the Lord. Yet at that time she herself realized that there were still some shadows and that her day had not yet dawned. Hence, she progressed by going to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. By this she was transferred to the top of Lebanon. This was her third attainment, at which she again became contented. The Lord then came to call her from what she had attained. She answered the Lord’s call to reach the fourth attainment by becoming a garden. This is a much further, higher, and deeper attainment. Formerly, she was enjoying the Lord, but now she is producing the Lord. She was a partaker, but now she has become a producer. The poetry here reveals that she now becomes very contented, even more contented than she was in chapter 2. Therefore, she says, “I sleep, but my heart is awake.” At this juncture the Lord calls her again to leave her attainment.
Thus, we see four attainments in chapters 2 through 5, with at least one in each chapter. The last attainment was reached when she became a producing garden, growing out what she had enjoyed of the Lord. But still the Lord’s purpose had not been accomplished. The garden is not the consummation of the Bible; it is only the beginning.
In these four attainments, we see two main discrepancies between her and the Lord. The first is in chapter 2, and the second is in chapter 5. These two discrepancies really speak something to us. I must say again, this is not a book of teaching but a map for our spiritual driving. It reveals all the turns we must make in order to fulfill God’s eternal purpose.
In the discrepancy of chapter 2, she heard the voice of the Lord, and she saw the Lord’s countenance. But in the discrepancy of chapter 5, the Lord showed her His hand: “My beloved put his hand into the opening of the door, / And my inner parts yearned for him” (v. 4). When the Lord showed her His countenance, He attracted her by His loveliness and His beauty. His face signifies His beauty. But in the second discrepancy, the Lord did not show her His face but rather His hand. In the Bible, the hand signifies working and doing.
What was the Lord showing her by this vision? He had already shown her that He was the One under the dew in the night, suffering for God’s purpose. Now He continued by showing her that whatever He did on this earth was not according to His own taste, opinion, or feeling. It was absolutely according to the Father’s will. He worked for the Father, not according to His own desire but according to His Father’s desire and to fulfill His Father’s purpose. Now it is not a matter of the Lord’s beauty or attractiveness but a matter of the Lord’s working. By this vision the Lord taught her to take His way of working. If she is to work with Him on this earth, she must learn to work according to the Lord’s way.
When she saw the Lord’s hand, she stretched out her hands. “I rose up to open to my beloved; / And my hands dripped with myrrh, / My fingers with liquid myrrh, / Upon the handles of the bolt” (v. 5). She saw the hand of the Lord, and she replied with her hands dripping with myrrh. In chapter 1 she appreciated the myrrh. In chapter 3 she was perfumed and permeated with myrrh. In chapter 4 there was the mountain of myrrh. Now in chapter 5 her hands are dripping with myrrh. She has become so thoroughly saturated with myrrh that her hands are dripping with myrrh. This signifies that now her work and her doing have been dealt with by the death of Christ. Even in her work, there is the sweet smell of the Lord’s death. Her hands give the sense of the cross.
To work for the Lord by going to the mission field or preaching the gospel is one thing, but to work for the Lord with the sweet smell of myrrh is quite another. I may preach the gospel but with no smell of myrrh. I may do much in the name of service for the Lord, yet without the smell of the Lord’s death in my work. But after becoming permeated and saturated with the Lord’s death, my hands will drip with myrrh. Then I may still preach the gospel, but there will be the sense that this is not just preaching. This is the dripping of the sweet-smelling myrrh.
In poetry, every sentence, every term, every expression, and even every word speaks much. Her hands dripping with myrrh show that all her working for the Lord is under the dealing of the Lord’s death. This dealing of death becomes the sweet-smelling myrrh dripping from her working hands. Drops of myrrh even hit the handles of the bolt. This is full of meaning. The door was locked but becomes unlocked by the dripping of the myrrh. There had been a separation between her and the Lord, but the barrier was removed by the myrrh dripping from her hands. In her working, in her doing, in whatever she does for the Lord, there is now the sweet smell of the dripping myrrh.
We all must be like this in our work for the Lord. When we go to visit others for fellowship, is there the dripping of the sweet-smelling myrrh? We may do a lot of visiting, but it means nothing if it is a visitation without the dripping of myrrh. When some visit others, it is not just a mere visitation. Along with the visitation there is the dripping of the sweet-smelling myrrh. The sweet smell of the dealing of the Lord’s death is in whatever they do.
The Lord also taught the seeking one another lesson. During all that time, she had been dealing with the Lord more or less according to her feeling of the Lord’s presence. Now the Lord hides His presence from her feeling. She says she opens herself to the Lord and seeks the Lord, but she simply cannot find Him. She calls, but He will not answer her. Has the Lord left her? No, He has not left, but to her sensation and feeling He is gone. Her fellowship with the Lord in the past had been according to her feeling of the Lord’s presence. Now the Lord is teaching her not to deal with Him only by her feelings. Whether she feels the Lord’s presence or not, He is always there.
Because she cannot find the Lord, she begins to ask others to help her find Him. Then the others ask her about the difference between her beloved and another beloved. As she begins to tell them how altogether lovely her beloved is, she begins to realize that He has never left her. He is within His garden. Now she realizes that whether or not she feels that He is with her, He is, nonetheless, always with her. By this lesson, she learns not to discern the Lord’s presence simply by her feeling.
When we lose the feeling of the Lord’s presence, the best way to bring it back is to talk with others about Him. This is the experience of the seeking one. As we begin to talk with others about the Lord, we immediately sense that He is with us. We realize that He is in His garden. Not only is He in us, but He is in all His gardens — not only one garden but many gardens. “My beloved has gone down to his garden, / To the beds of spices, / To feed in the gardens / And gather lilies” (6:2). He is feeding and shepherding in all His gardens, and He is feeding among the lilies.
This is very meaningful. We should learn never to care for our feeling of the Lord’s presence. Whether we feel that the Lord is with us or not, the Lord is still with us. He is always within us feeding, gathering, and shepherding His garden.
Now the seeking one says, “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine; / He pastures his flock among the lilies”(v. 3). Formerly, she said, “My beloved is mine.” But now she says, “I am my beloved’s.” It is not so much that the Lord is for me as it is that I am for the Lord. This shows more growth in life, more improvement, and further transformation. Now she is like the apostle Paul, suffering for the Lord’s purpose, not working according to her taste but according to God’s desire. She is no longer laboring for her contentment or satisfaction but for the fulfilling of God’s eternal purpose to build up the Body of Christ. To do this, she surely must take the way of suffering. Just as Paul suffered to fill up the lack of the afflictions of Christ for His Body’s sake, this one knows the Lord with the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. She is now being conformed to the death of Christ. Such a one, like Paul, is a useful vessel for God’s purpose.
She has lost her will, her personality, and her way to work. All these things have been fully dealt with by the Lord’s death. Now she is absolutely one with the Lord for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose. For this reason the Lord likens her to a city. “You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, / As lovely as Jerusalem, / As terrible as an army with banners” (v. 4). The real consummation of the spiritual life is not her individual, personal satisfaction but the fulfillment of the Lord’s eternal purpose to build up His Body. Even chapter 5 shows some personal satisfaction and contentment, but now as a city she is absolutely not for herself. Now she is wholly for God’s purpose of building up the church, which is seen at the end of the Bible as a built-up city.
Now the Lord appraises her again. “Turn your eyes away from me, / For they overwhelm me, / Your hair is like a flock of goats / That repose on Mount Gilead. / Your teeth are like a flock of ewes / That have come up from the washing, / All of which have borne twins, / And none of them is bereaved of her young” (vv. 5-6). Here the Lord mentions mainly three things: her eyes, her hair, and her teeth. The eyes signify the renewing of the mind, the hair signifies the submission and subduing of the will, and the teeth signify the ability to take in or receive food. We cannot take in food properly without teeth. She has learned to feed upon the Lord Jesus.
How she has captured the Lord! Her eyes have overwhelmed Him. Her sight is very spiritual, so much like the dove. It seems that the Lord simply cannot resist her eyes. Her hair, the subduing and submission of her will, is such a beauty to the Lord. Her teeth have such receiving power. All the time she eats of the Lord and takes Him in. These are the three main points of the Lord’s appraisal of such a seeking one. We need spiritual sight, we need submission, and we need receiving ability. Through these we will be transformed and changed into a city.
Now the day dawns, and the shadows really flee away. The Lord likens her to three shining things and one terrifying thing: the dawn, the moon, the sun, and the army. “Who is this woman who looks forth like the dawn, / As beautiful as the moon, / As clear as the sun, / As terrible as an army with banners?” (v. 10). She looks forth like the dawn, the breaking of day. Proverbs 4:18 says, “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, / Which shines brighter and brighter until the full day.” Now her day really dawns. She herself is just like the dawn. Moreover, she is the moon and the sun. There is no more shadow, no more darkness; she is completely filled with light. As the moon and the sun, she is the light-bearer, full of light.
This is not another stage but is included in the city. These last four figures: the army, the dawn, the moon, and the sun are all included in the city. When she was a garden, she was not yet an army. Now, as the city, she is the army, the dawn, the moon, and the sun. To the Lord she is the city; to the enemy she is the army; and to the whole universe she is the shining one, shining forth all the time. According to the Bible, the sun signifies Christ, and the moon as the reflection of the sun signifies the church. Now she is both Christ and the church; she is both the sun and the moon. This is marvelous! To God she is the city, to Satan she is the army, and to the whole universe she is the sun and the moon. She is shining more and more until the full day.
Eventually, some of her admirers ask her to return: “Return, return, O Shulammite; / Return, return, that we may gaze at you. / Why should you gaze at the Shulammite, / As upon the dance of two camps?” (S. S. 6:13). It is at this time that her name is called Shulammite. This is the feminine form of Solomon. So now she simply becomes Solomon. They ask, “What can you see in this feminine Solomon?” The answer is that this female Solomon is just like the dance of two camps.
Exodus 15:20 and 1 Samuel 18:6 tell us that dances among the Lord’s people were a celebration of victory. When they defeated the enemy, they danced to celebrate their victory. This poetic expression shows us that this seeking one has victory all the time. There is never any defeat but always the celebration of victory.
Before I came to the church, I was with a group of believers who were seeking the Lord. They were good teachers of the Scriptures, but they were never victorious. Whenever I met with them, there was always a kind of sighing and confessing of their defeat. I never heard a praise of victory among them. That was surely not the Shulammite. But after I came into the church life, there was always the “Hallelujah! Amen! Jesus is Lord!” This was really the Shulammite in the dance of two camps to celebrate the victory.
When I was a young Christian, I was bothered by my temper. But now in the church life I realize that Christ is much bigger than my temper. I just say, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I’m in the corporate Shulammite, where there is always the victory!” Some people ask, “What is there to see in the local church?” We can only reply, “The dance of two camps!” This does not mean that I am encouraging you to dance. What I mean is that the real dance is the celebrating of our victory. Hallelujah! In the local church we are always enjoying the victory over the enemy!
She is not only the city but also two armies. She is also the dawn, the moon, and the sun. The Lord has used so many figures in describing her. He has used the animals, the plants, the things on the earth, and the things in the sky. All these figures are used by the Lord to describe such a wonderful one. She must include all of us. We all must be like this. Some of us are still mares, some have doves’ eyes, some are lilies, and some are little doves. Moreover, some are the pillars of smoke, the bed, the palanquin, and the crown. And, praise the Lord, some are the garden and the city. This is the local church! We are all-inclusively these figures under the Lord’s transformation. Transformation can only be accomplished by enjoying the Lord Himself, step by step, in all the deeper experiences of His death and resurrection. Hallelujah! This is the real Song of Songs. The church is a real song to Christ, and Christ is the real Song of Songs to the church. Praise the Lord!
