Still considering her the most beautiful among women (cf. S.S. 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. S.S. 1:4a).

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).

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 (S.S. 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).

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).

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.

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.

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.

See note S.S. 6:4².

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 (S.S. 3:6) but also absolutely heavenly and signifies that she has become an overcomer (Phil. 2:15 and note Phil. 2:15^5d; Matt. 13:43 and note Matt. 13:43¹; Rev. 12:1, 5, note Rev. 12:1^1b and note Rev. 12:5²). 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 (S.S. 1:2-17; 2:1-7); in the second stage overcoming the self, which secluded her from the presence of Christ, by becoming one with the cross of Christ (S.S. 2:8-17; 3:1-5); 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 (S.S. 5:2-16; 6:1-13).

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).

See note S.S. 4:3¹.

See note S.S. 4:2¹.

See note S.S. 4:1¹.

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).

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.

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).

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 (S.S. 4:12-16; 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).

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.

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 S.S. 2:16 (see note S.S. 2:16¹).

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.