Sorry Gals, He’s Mine!
Meditation for the week of May 20, 2012
What is your beloved More than another beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved More than another beloved, That you so charge us?
(Song of Solomon 5:9)
Expositors differ on the interpretation of this beautiful love poem. Some think Solomon is the man wooing the young lady in the poem, and they think that he has won her heart. Others think that she is in love with a shepherd but that Solomon is trying to win her love away from him. For various reasons, I believe that Solomon, the King who has brought her into his chambers, is the only man in the young woman’s life and that she is totally in love with him.
When we come to chapter 5, the young woman is asked by the “daughters of Jerusalem,” whoever they might be, “What is your beloved more than another beloved?” Apparently this gal would have been considered a “good catch” by any man. Why was she so sure that this was the man for her? She starts out describing him and as she looks across Solomon’s army she says that nobody compares to him. He is the chief or the standard bearer among ten thousand. In other words, he is the standard by which others should be measured; and when they are compared to him, they all come up short. Now that is quite a heartfelt compliment. If Solomon had in any way been listening in on this conversation, can you imagine how it would have made him feel? I am sure that he would have stood just a little taller and would have felt greatly loved by this woman. There is no doubt that physical attraction is prominent in the relationship of these two, but physical attraction can sometimes turn to physical disgust after people get to really know each other and if they begin to feel used by their significant other. However, that would not be the case in this relationship. The physical beauty of this women would only be enhanced by her loyalty and emotional commitment to Solomon. As a practical matter, if husbands overheard their wives talking about them this way in situations where the wives were being “honest” with their girlfriends, can you imagine what this would do for the marriage? And of course, it would also be a beautiful thing if men talked this way about their wives on those men only fishing and hunting trips that they take.
While the story probably has an application to Israel as the bride of Jehovah, we in the new testament surely can apply these principles to the church in its relationship to the Lord Jesus. The church universal is a bride. How would we who are part of that “bride” answer those who would like to believe that there are other gods that are just as good as the one we love? Or how would we answer those who would seem to think that no god is as good as our God? What is our beloved more than another beloved? I could start enumerating the ways that He is better, but this is a meditation limited by space, so I will only mention a couple of reasons as to why no one else even comes close for me personally. No one else has been willing and able to totally and completely forgive my sins, both intentional and unintentional. The Lord has proven to be loyal to me even when I have not been totally loyal to him. Humans can’t love the way He loves, it just isn’t in them. Our love is always performance based in some way, His is unconditional even though I know that He loves it when we speak well of Him both by what we do and by what we say.
So when the question is asked, “What is your beloved more than another?,” can we who are a part of the bride of Christ start at the Lord’s head and end up at his feet describing His beauty? Would we say, “Yes, He is altogether lovely!” Or have we reached a point in our relationship with Him where we would admit that He has been good to us, but perhaps not as good as we would have liked. Do “the daughters of Jerusalem” see a bride that is totally in love with her bridegroom? Or do they see a bride who is less than loyal to the Lord?
This is a beautiful picture of what a relationship ought to be. If our relationship with the Lord was as intensely satisfying and beautiful as the relationship between Solomon and this young lady was, we would have lots of people asking, “What is your beloved more than another beloved?” We would have people scrambling to hear our answers. We wouldn’t have enough preachers of the Gospel available to answer the questions of those who simply don’t understand this kind of relationship, but who would like to have one like it. Fortunately, we don’t have to say, “Sorry gals, He’s mine!” We don’t lose His personal love and loyalty when we speak well of Him and when we share Him.
Bruce Collins