Song 1:12 | KingComments | STEP | Here we hear the bride speak again. She responds to what her beloved has said in the preceding verses. She is at rest at the king’s table. It is not just a table, but a festive table that is richly set with the tastiest flour and meat dishes ( ). But the most special thing about this table is that the king himself is sitting on it. All the delicacies on the king’s table would have no meaning if he were not at the table. This scene points out to us the Lord Jesus and the fellowship with Him. A table speaks of fellowship . Here it is not so much about what is on the table, but about the fact that it is “His table”. Nor is this primarily an application to the Lord’s Table, where His Supper is celebrated. This happens when we meet as a church. But here, in picture, it is about experiencing the constant fellowship with the Lord Jesus. The fact that this is a continuous fellowship is expressed by the “round table”, as it literally says. What is round is without beginning and without end. The fellowship that we may experience with the Lord Jesus is, by its nature, eternal, because He is eternal. When the bride comes to the king’s table, she has her own perfume, “my perfume” which literally is “my nard”, with her. “While” she is together with the king at his table, the smell of her nard fills the dining room. We automatically think of Mary of Bethany, of whom we read: “Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume” ( ). Spreading the scent of the perfume of nard is a picture of worship. We can understand that. Isn’t it an unprecedented privilege for us, who formerly had no part in anything and were on our way to hell, now are allowed to be ‘at the table’ with the Most High? He has delivered us from our misery and given us that high place of fellowship with Himself. We should always think about that. It is not for nothing that the Lord Jesus links the anointing by Mary to the preaching of the gospel ( ). It shows that whoever is saved from his sins becomes a worshiper of God and of the Lord Jesus. When we apply this to the coming together as a church at the Lord’s Table, what the bride and Mary have done is an encouragement for us to prepare for the meeting with Him (cf. ). Mary has saved for her nard. The cost of this ointment was three hundred denarii. Converted, this is roughly the annual salary of an employee – one denarius is a daily salary ( ). Mary has long been busy preparing for her deed, which received so much appreciation from the Savior.

‏ Song of Solomon 1:12

The Nard of the Bride

Here we hear the bride speak again. She responds to what her beloved has said in the preceding verses. She is at rest at the king’s table. It is not just a table, but a festive table that is richly set with the tastiest flour and meat dishes (1Kgs 4:22-23). But the most special thing about this table is that the king himself is sitting on it. All the delicacies on the king’s table would have no meaning if he were not at the table.

This scene points out to us the Lord Jesus and the fellowship with Him. A table speaks of fellowship. Here it is not so much about what is on the table, but about the fact that it is “His table”. Nor is this primarily an application to the Lord’s Table, where His Supper is celebrated. This happens when we meet as a church. But here, in picture, it is about experiencing the constant fellowship with the Lord Jesus. The fact that this is a continuous fellowship is expressed by the “round table”, as it literally says. What is round is without beginning and without end. The fellowship that we may experience with the Lord Jesus is, by its nature, eternal, because He is eternal.

When the bride comes to the king’s table, she has her own perfume, “my perfume” which literally is “my nard”, with her. “While” she is together with the king at his table, the smell of her nard fills the dining room. We automatically think of Mary of Bethany, of whom we read: “Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume” (Jn 12:3).

Spreading the scent of the perfume of nard is a picture of worship. We can understand that. Isn’t it an unprecedented privilege for us, who formerly had no part in anything and were on our way to hell, now are allowed to be ‘at the table’ with the Most High? He has delivered us from our misery and given us that high place of fellowship with Himself. We should always think about that. It is not for nothing that the Lord Jesus links the anointing by Mary to the preaching of the gospel (Mt 26:13). It shows that whoever is saved from his sins becomes a worshiper of God and of the Lord Jesus.

When we apply this to the coming together as a church at the Lord’s Table, what the bride and Mary have done is an encouragement for us to prepare for the meeting with Him (cf. Deu 16:16-17). Mary has saved for her nard. The cost of this ointment was three hundred denarii. Converted, this is roughly the annual salary of an employee – one denarius is a daily salary (Mt 20:2). Mary has long been busy preparing for her deed, which received so much appreciation from the Savior.