“What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us? My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.”
(Song of Solomon 5:9-16)

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Song of Solomon 5:9

“What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?” – Here is the response of the daughters of Jerusalem (her brethren) to the charge she gave them in 5:8 – “if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.” As sinners saved by God’s grace in Christ Jesus, we know the glory, beauty, and value of Christ, our Beloved. But this question is posed, not to inform us of what we do not know, but to remind us of the wonderful truth of our precious Savior. What is Christ, our Beloved, more than any other? The Apostle Paul wrote, “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Galatians 6:14). The Apostle Peter wrote, “Unto you therefore which believe He is precious” (1st Peter 2:7). The question is this – What think ye of Christ? He is everything to His people, and the answer His people give is detailed in the following verses

Song of Solomon 5:10

“My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.” – “White” speaks of the spotless purity and the righteousness He worked out for His people by His death on the cross. This includes the righteousness of Christ imputed to His people for their justification before God. “Ruddy” is red which speaks of His bloody sacrifice and sufferings unto death as the Surety, Substitute, and Redeemer of His bride. White also speaks of His glory as God, and ruddy speaks of His incarnation as it is the same word used for “man” in Genesis 1:27 (man means “red earth”). White speaks of salvation which is all in and by Christ. Red speaks of justice which He satisfied for us on Calvary. “The chiefest among ten thousand” describes His preeminence, for His is above and over all for the glory of His Father and the salvation of His people (Colossians 1:16-19). In His church, He is the Head and the chief cornerstone. Among His brethren He is the Firstborn. Among the resurrected, He is the First begotten from the dead and the First-fruits of them which believe.

Song of Solomon 5:11

“His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.” – “Gold” most always in the Scripture, when used of God, speaks of the brilliance and value of deity. Christ is God manifest in the flesh, the Word made flesh to dwell amongst us, and He is “Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matthew 1:13). Applied to “His head” speaks of His absolute sovereignty and authority over all things so that we can be assured that He is able to save us to uttermost in spite of all that would come against us. As we know how “black” often refers to the dark sinfulness of a person (i.e. Song of Solomon 1:5), it could not refer to Christ as a sinful person. For though all the sins of God’s elect were imputed to Him, He washed that debt completely away by the sacrifice of Himself for His people. He had no sin and knew no sin within Himself, and sin could never be said to have been transferred to Him except by imputation. Here is a description of our Saviour in the glory of His finished work wherein even our sins imputed to Him has been completely erased. Here, “black” is used in line with His deity. It, therefore, describes the blackness or darkness of a mystery and can apply to Christ in the depth and height of His glory as Godman. Although He has revealed to us much about Himself in the glory of His Person, He is such a great and glorious Person that we can never reach the full depths and heights of all that He is and all that He does in His sovereign providence (Romans 11:33-36).

Song of Solomon 5:12

“His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.” – Our Beloved’s eyes are set upon us in peace which provides life and sustenance to our souls for eternal life. His eyes are pure and clean and set upon the glory of His Father and the eternal good of His people. He watches over us to keep and protect us and never takes His eyes from us. He sees our needs and provides us spiritual water and bread when we thirst and hunger.

Song of Solomon 5:13

“His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.” – In this verse the church joins together two features of her Beloved in describing Him, namely, His cheeks and His lips. His cheeks describe the beauties of His Person. His lips describe the blessedness of what Christ has delivered to His church in His Word of truth. To those who have seen the King in His beauty and heard the gracious words which proceed out of His mouth, recorded in His Holy Word, nothing can more strikingly set forth the Person, finished work, and mediatorial offices of Christ.

Song of Solomon 5:14

“His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.” – The “hands” (and the arms), when attributed to the LORD, speak of His power to save and His power to rule over and work all things for the glory of His Father and the good of His people, the redeemed of the Lord. The word “beryl” is viewed by various translators as one of the stones associated with the breastplate of the high priest and, so, speaks of Christ high priestly work as the one Mediator between God and His people. His “belly” is probably His heart (His compassion) which is towards His people and is as precious stones because of what it brought Him to do for His people (John 13:1; 1st John 4:10).

Song of Solomon 5:15

“His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.” – Obviously, these images describe the LORD’s strength and stability. He is a firm foundation, a Rock, for His people upon which they stand invincible because of who He is and what He has done to save them from their sins. He stands upon the strength and power of His deity, and, as God in sinless human flesh, He worked out the sure salvation of His people. His appearance is as beautiful as the cedars of Lebanon. When the bride sees Him in His glory, there is no beauty like His beauty.

Song of Solomon 5:16

“His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.” – His “mouth” is the sweet fellowship and closeness He has with His bride, and it describes the sweetness of His Word. “HE IS ALTOGETHER LOVELY.” There is none like our LORD. There is none even to compare with Him. Everything about Him is perfect and beautiful. There are not enough words to describe the beauty and glory of Christ. We see His beauty now, but when we are broken free from the shackles of this sinful flesh, we will see even more of His beauty and glory (1st John 3:1-2). And with all of this beauty and glory that we see in Him, we can also say that He is our Friend. The LORD Jesus Christ was, and is, the friend of sinners. The Pharisees accused Him of this, but they meant it as an insult (Matthew 11:19). But He made it clear that He came to seek and to save that which was lost. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And all whom He brings to faith in Him and true repentance, He calls them His friend, and they call Him their Friend. The wise man wrote, “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs 17:17). Christ is every believer’s friend at all times, and He is every believer’s elder brother born out of His sufferings unto death to put away our sins and work out righteousness by which we are justified, sanctified, and preserved unto glory.

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W. Parker