Scripture Daily

Context No. 3893 of 4322 · Song of Solomon

Context · Reflection

Song of Solomon 5:9-16: in context

9How is your beloved better than another beloved, you fairest among women? How is your beloved better than another beloved, that you do so adjure us? 10My beloved is white and ruddy. The best among ten thousand. 11His head is like the purest gold. His hair is bushy, black as a raven. 12His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, washed with milk, mounted like jewels. 13His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh. 14His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl. His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires. 15His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. 16His mouth is sweetness; yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.

Asked what makes her beloved so special, the bride answers with a portrait glowing with love, describing every feature of the one she adores, and ending with a summary that gathers it all: he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend.

Whatever else the Song of Songs celebrates about human love, generations of believers have read in these words a description of Christ, the one who is altogether lovely, and who is both our beloved and our friend. Two words stand out in her summary. Beloved: he is the object of a love that delights in him, that could go on describing his beauty. And friend: he is not distant or fearsome but near, a true companion. For those who know Christ, both are gloriously true. He is altogether lovely, worthy of our whole love and admiration; and he is our friend, the one who calls us not servants but friends. To grow in faith is, in part, to come to see Christ as the bride sees her beloved: altogether lovely, and to be able to say of him, this is my beloved, and this is my friend.

Do I see Christ as altogether lovely, growing in a love that delights in him, and do I know him not only as Lord but as the friend who is near, so that I can say, this is my beloved and this is my friend?

Sources