WWUTT 1784 On the Day of His Wedding (Song of Songs 3:6-11)

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A lot of commentaries that you'll read on Song of Songs will jump right into the symbolism of Christ and the

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Church, but that's the secondary meaning of this book. The primary meaning is a man and a woman in love, when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand the Text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, an

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Old Testament book on Thursday, and a Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone. So wonderful to be back with you again in Song of Songs.

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We made it last week as far as chapter 3, verse 5, if you want to open up your Bible and join with me there.

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So far in this book, we've actually never seen this couple together. The man and the woman have never found each other.

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They're constantly looking for one another. The woman is longing for him. He describes how beautiful she is.

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She goes to where she thinks she will find him. He's not there. She longs for his touch.

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He says, no, not yet. That's all we've seen in this book thus far. But where we are today, we finally arrive at the wedding day.

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Song of Songs, chapter 3, verse 6, is where I'm picking up. And the woman is still speaking here.

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She speaks through to the end of the chapter. So I'm going to read verses 6 through 11 in the

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Legacy Standard Bible. This is the word of the Lord. Who is this coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke, as rising incense of myrrh and frankincense, with all scented powders of the merchant?

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Behold, it is the traveling couch of Solomon, sixty mighty men around it, of the mighty men of Israel.

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All of them are those who seize the sword. Learned in war, each man has his sword at his side, guarding against the dreadful things of the night.

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King Solomon has made for himself a seat and chair from the timber of Lebanon.

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He has made its posts of silver, its back of gold, and its seat of purple fabric, with its interior inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

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Go forth and see, O daughters of Zion, King Solomon with the crown with which his mother has crowned him on the day of his wedding and on the day of his gladness of heart.

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Now this section right here is the reason why most scholars, most teachers of the

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Song of Songs will say that the man in this poetic narrative is

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Solomon himself, because he is the groom who's coming on his wedding day. She describes him as such.

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Therefore, the man must be Solomon. After all, the book is called Song of Solomon to most people.

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We started at the very beginning, chapter one, verse one, the Song of Songs, which is Solomon's.

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So therefore, the man that she is longing for must be Solomon. But if that were the case, it would be quite a surprise since we've not had that said to us at all here up to this point in the story.

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There's been this poetic narrative between these two peasant people, this shepherd and this shepherdess and the growing love that they have for one another.

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There's never been anything here about him being the king. Now, of course, there was kind of a hint of it back in chapter one, verse 12, where she said, while the king was at his banqueting table, my perfume gave forth its fragrance.

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But even there, it looks like she is idealizing her man. She thinks of him as someone regal.

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He's the choicest of men. So of course he would be like the king, not that he actually is the king.

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So here we get to the wedding day and here's Solomon coming for his wedding.

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And so was he the shepherd the entire time? How is the king of Israel out in the field tending sheep and goats?

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That doesn't even make sense. So this is not the woman marrying

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Solomon. But once again, just like we saw that picture in her mind of her idealizing her man back in chapter one, so it is here.

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She sees her man coming to her, dressed up for his wedding day as though the king has come.

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Now, there's a reason why we have the groom depicted in such a way as the king with this royal procession.

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We don't see that with the bride. Like when you go to a wedding, the wedding's all about the bride, right?

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She's wearing the great gown. Everybody's attention is focused on her. As she's coming down the aisle, the groom is in a rented tux.

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So all of the splendor appears to be the way that the bride is adorned.

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But here she's describing the entrance of the groom as being like the king has entered.

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There's a reason for that. There's a reason why in this story, the woman has been described as so homely and the king, she sees as being beautiful and glorious and all kinds of pomp and circumstance around him.

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There's a reason for that. I'll get to that at the end of the devotional lesson today, but for now, let's stick with our context.

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Let's look at verse six again. She says, who is this coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke as rising incense of myrrh and frankincense with all scented powders of the merchant?

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Our first clue here that this is not actually King Solomon, but that she is really picturing her man as though he were the king is in the very first line.

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Who is this coming up from where? From the wilderness. Where have they been? The man and the woman, they have been out tending sheep and goats.

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She has gone to the forest and has laid under an apple tree. Then she ran through the city to find him and she found him and clung to him.

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There's been all these different settings that we've seen. Nothing has ever really been described as a wilderness, but if this were literally

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Solomon, he would not literally be coming in from the wilderness. Solomon did not go out to the wilderness.

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He had no reason to. He was always in Jerusalem. So this coming from the wilderness is her seeing that the days of our wandering are over, the days of our looking for one another.

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We've finally found each other. We're together at last forever because this is our wedding day.

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So here he is coming in from the wilderness like columns of smoke as rising incense of myrrh and frankincense.

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Now, like columns of smoke, this does not mean that he's got all this incense burning around him and so there's just smoke all over the place.

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Remember that the metaphors are most often meaningful.

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They mean something. They're not visual. Whenever we use metaphors, our Western world thinking, often our metaphors are depicting something visual.

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That's not what this is. The metaphor means something. It's symbolic of something else. So coming up like smoke is to say that he ascends.

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He rises high. That's all that's supposed to mean. So she sees him as being higher or greater than any other man in Israel.

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As rising incense of myrrh and frankincense with all scented powders of the merchant.

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We've seen earlier in Song of Songs how a fine fragrance is equated with a good reputation.

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And so right now, as she sees her man coming to her on their wedding day, here he is arriving for the feast, for the celebration, she sees him as fine a man as she ever has.

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He is more beautiful to me today than he has ever been. And so he ascends.

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There's just this fragrance all around him. His coming is like a royal procession.

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This is a good, pure man whom my soul loves.

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Now the groom is gonna pour out his poetic verse as he describes his bride.

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That's not coming up until chapter four. Let's finish up with what she sees with the entrance of her man.

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Verse seven, behold, it is the traveling couch of Solomon. 60 mighty men around it of the mighty men of Israel.

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Now this traveling couch, again, it's all symbolic here, but it would have been huge. It would have been something that would have been carried by 60 men, not just a little couch or sofa that could be carried by 10 guys or something like that.

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But this was much bigger than that. And again, she's idealizing her man. Here he is coming in and he's got his mighty men to carry him because he's on all their shoulders.

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He is greater than even the most valiant men of Israel. And the word that's translated 60 mighty men, it's actually literally translated it's three score.

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So three twenties. I don't know if there's really any symbolism behind that or not.

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I know there were 600 ,000 men that were guarding the tabernacle when the census was taken of Israel.

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And all of the men who were able to fight, the number was about 600 ,000. So I wonder, this is just a theory, but I wonder if she's picturing one man to represent 10 ,000, which isn't, that's not an uncommon number.

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10 ,000 is sometimes used in poetry. Like for example, when Rebekah was blessed to go and marry

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Isaac in the book of Genesis, there was a song that was sung to her and it was said, may you, our sister become thousands of 10 ,000s.

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And surely, you know, the song that was sung about David when he killed Goliath. Saul has killed his thousand, but David, his 10 ,000s.

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So I just have to wonder if the number 60 here is supposed to be representative of 600 ,000, as though the bride is saying that her man is even head and shoulders above all of the 600 ,000 fighting men of Israel as recalled in the law.

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That's a theory, but it could be what the number is intended to symbolize.

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Since she says and closes that phrase with of the mighty men of Israel, 60 mighty men of the mighty men of Israel.

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So we go on in verse eight, all of them are those who seize the sword, learn it in war.

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Each man has his sword at his side, guarding against the dreadful things of the night.

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Now, remember, where did she find her man? When we finished up the lesson last week, where was he?

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She found him in the city and what was her concern? At least poetically kind of what's symbolized there seemed like she was concerned that it's been so long since they have been together.

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They've waited so long to get married. Maybe he's gotten tired of it and he's gone into the city to find a different kind of woman.

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And so she finds him and she clings to him. And from there we jump right into the wedding day.

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This is our covenant day in which we bind ourselves to one another in this lifelong relationship, the two becoming one.

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I no longer have to worry about my man being his heart being after another because his heart now belongs to me.

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And so this picturing of the men of war who guard against the dreadful things of the night, this could be symbolic of a couple of things.

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Number one, it could be that she's describing his companions who are his accountability and she knows they will not let him stray from the vows that he's about to make to me.

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So we have these godly valiant men who are going to make sure that we're committed to our relationship and they're going to make sure that he's committed to me and nothing is going to tear us apart.

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What God has joined together, let man not separate as Jesus says in Matthew chapter 19 about marriage.

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So that could be it. It could be the accountability. That's what she's describing, number one. Or the second possibility is that this could just simply be a reference to the vow itself, which binds us to one another and is a safety for us.

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You consider the fact that Paul says this about marriage in first Corinthians chapter seven, verse two, but because of sexual immoralities, each man is to have his own wife and each woman is to have her own husband.

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The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife and likewise also the wife to her husband.

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The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

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So it could be that the woman is seeing that the vow itself, the covenant that they are making with one another could be the thing that guards them against the dreadful things of the night.

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No longer are they as tempted to flee to these other passions of the flesh because their desire is for one another, the two becoming one flesh, this man and this woman in one new union.

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This is a new family that is being created here. And so maybe in the way that she's visualizing these men who are learned in war, it could very well be the things of God.

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It's just simply the seal that he places on us by his divine providence. We are joined together and let man not separate.

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So verse nine, King Solomon has made for himself a seat and chair from the timber of Lebanon.

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Now that kind of speaks of the distance that he's coming from. They've been separated, they haven't been together.

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So not only is the timber of Lebanon the most choicest of the cedars, but it's also as though to say that he's come from a great distance and finally we're together at last.

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Verse 10, he made its posts of silver. Now there, that kind of clues us into the kind of the, well, in one sense, the visual.

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I said that this is not visual, but you have to think of what she's describing and how that symbolically applies.

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So the couch that she's describing is not a sofa, like what we would think of as a couch. You know, one person can lay across it and a few guys can carry it together.

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She's got in her mind like this whole platform that's got columns on it and a roof over the top.

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And then there's all these men that are carrying it. And so it's that thing that she is therefore applying to the fact that her man is as royalty.

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So its posts are made of silver, it's back of gold. She's just describing how regal she thinks of her man being as he is coming into the wedding with its interior inlaid with what?

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Now she's described gold, she's had this purple fabric, which is royal, it's very expensive fabric, posts of silver, but its interior is inlaid with love.

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Ah, that's so sweet. But that's to say that though from the outside, he's appearing to me as one who is royal, what's on the inside is a desire for me.

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All of this is not to make himself great. It's because he is coming for me by the daughters of Jerusalem at the end of verse 10, as though to say they didn't get to have him, he's mine.

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Verse 11, go forth and see, oh daughters of Zion, King Solomon with the crown with which his mother has crowned him on the day of his wedding and on the day of his gladness of heart.

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Now, again, not literally Solomon and not literally Bathsheba, who is the one who is putting the crown on his head, all symbolic once again, to say that he comes from good stock.

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He comes from a good lineage, parentage that has raised him up and trained him in this way.

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And as a man has treated his own mother, so you know how well he is going to treat his bride.

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This is the woman who bore him. And it's as though she's now giving him to this other woman.

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He doesn't belong to his mother anymore. He belongs to the woman he is marrying. So to recall the words of Adam in Genesis chapter two, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.

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A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

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So he is crowned with honor on the day of his wedding and on the day of his gladness of heart.

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And that's as far as we're going to get this week. Next week, we will hear his description of his bride, which is actually much longer.

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So that'll go chapter four verses one through 15. And then she responds in the last verse of chapter four.

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So that's what we're going to look at next week. That's what we'll consider. But first of all, as we kind of wrap this up, let me describe for you once again, why she sees her man as a king and why that's so important to the

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Song of Songs. Now, there are many commentaries that you will read where the commentary jumps right into this symbolism of Christ and his church.

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And that's almost like the only way you will read some of these commentaries.

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They're not even looking at what the symbolism would mean in Judah at that particular time, which is what we're trying to do as we go through Song of Songs together before we get to application and before we even recognize the symbolism of Christ and his church.

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I would agree that that's certainly there in Song of Songs, but you can go overboard with it. And a lot of those commentaries do.

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So the fact that the woman sees her man as a king is very, very important. It's key to Song of Songs, even though I do not think that the man that she is marrying is literally or actually

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Solomon. She idealizes him as Solomon, but he's not actually Solomon. But it's so important that she sees him in that way, because Christ is king.

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And we have the wedding feast of the lamb described for us in the book of Revelation as the king returning and his wife being prepared for him, adorned in white for the day of their wedding.

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And so as the church is being purified and being prepared for that day, remember we've had this woman who does not think she is lovely.

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In fact, she's really kind of a mess because she's been working all day. Her skin is dark. She hasn't had the time to beauty herself.

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And yet he describes her as beautiful to him anyway. So it is the way that Christ loves his church.

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We are not beautiful in and of ourselves. We would be ugly and disgusting and completely unworthy of the wedding of a king.

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But it is God who makes us lovely, who cleanses us and clothes us in righteousness.

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We are being purified even now in preparation for that day. This is all the metaphor that is used to describe

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Christ being joined together with his church in eternity. It's wedding language. All throughout this, we have wedding language.

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All throughout the scriptures. When Jesus says to his disciples, I go to prepare a place for you, that's wedding language.

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That's what the groom would do in preparation for his bride. And when I come back again,

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I'll receive you unto myself. In my house, there are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you.

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Jesus says to his disciples, he's preparing the place for us, which is what he is doing now. And also preparing us, when we understand the language that's used in Ephesians chapter five, is for husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church.

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And gave himself up for her, cleansing her, how? By the washing of water through the word.

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So through the word of God, we are being sanctified even now. We're growing in holiness and in Christ likeness.

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We are being prepared for that wedding day. And who is the one who comes to the wedding day in Song of Songs three?

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It's not the bride. This is not the bride adorned in white walking down the aisle, which is traditionally how we picture weddings.

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This is the king that's coming in from the wilderness. And that is exactly the way that Christ returns.

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It is the king's entrance that is grand and royal and everyone is in awe of.

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And his return is inlaid with love on the day of his wedding and on the day of his gladness of heart.

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It will be his delight to receive us unto himself. Marriage itself is meant to be a picture of the relationship that Christ has with his church.

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Whether you're married or not, you can still look at marriage and see that as the picture that God has given to show the way that Christ loves us.

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And we are a bride being prepared for that day. So keep yourself pure and walk in holiness and in righteousness before him as he has commanded us to do.

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That is the secondary meaning of the Song of Songs. It's not the primary meaning. The primary meaning is this is a relationship between a man and a woman who become husband and wife.

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But secondarily, we have the allegorical references of understanding that marriage itself is meant to be a picture of the way that Christ loves the church.

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And so even here, the symbolism is chosen very, very carefully as this is the word of God that will point us to recognizing the affection that Christ has for us and the love and desire that we must have for him as well.

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Let's finish with prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your goodness to us. We thank you for calling us to be your children through the preaching of the gospel that came to us.

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And in this gospel message, we have heard that Jesus Christ is coming back again to judge the living and the dead.

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He will deliver us out of this world into his perfect imperishable kingdom as the king returns for his bride.

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So prepare us for that day. Cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Teach us to walk in holiness and uprightness before you as we are being prepared for his second coming.

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Come quickly, Lord Jesus. It's in Jesus' name that we pray, amen. This has been

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When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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and let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.