Song 1:17 | KingComments | STEP | The bride is still in the free and green field, which she compares in the verse above with “our couch”. Now she compares the trees with building material for “our houses” and “our rafters”. In the free green field, the bride sees herself surrounded by cedars. In it she recognizes beams for their houses. She sees the high cypresses as rafters that form the roof. She knows that being together with the groom has the protection and firmness of the cedars that surround her, while the cypresses are a protection against the heat of the sun. It is remarkable that most of the woodwork in Solomon’s temple was cedar and cypress timber ( ). God considered these woods the most suitable for the construction of His house on earth. This reminds us that the description of the place where the bride is, speaks of God’s sanctuary and of fellowship with Him. Wood grows out of the earth. The woods speak of Christ Who “grew up … like a root out of parched ground” ( ) as the imperishable Man. It has been noted that cypresses were common in cemeteries in Judea. So they can be linked to death, so we can apply this to the death of Christ. What He has been in His life and death is the power of God’s house and the certainty of the future. God found His rest in the temple that was made of this wood and that is also the place where the believer finds rest. It is also remarkable that the bride does not speak about ‘our house’, but about ‘our houses’. Therefore, the application does not only apply to God’s house, the church, but also to the houses in which we live. The church is built on Christ as the Son of the living God and came into existence by His work on the cross. In the church we may think of the death of Christ and honor Him for it. But it is also important that Christ and His work is the foundation of our homes, our marriages, and our families. He must be at the heart of it. We may ask ourselves whether we build our houses with the same materials as those used to build God’s house. Everything in our houses that is connected with Christ and His work strengthens the building of the church as God’s houses. Everything we do or allow in our houses without Christ weakens God’s house. Do God’s Word and prayer take the central place in our homes or are we only busy making our houses comfortable places to live in? It is God’s purpose that our houses should also be His houses, where He can have fellowship with us on the basis of the death of His Son, just as He wants to have fellowship with us in His house, the church. The prophet Haggai speaks clear language about this to God’s earthly people ( ). He tells us that we lose sight of the value of our own houses to God and make a wrong use of them if we lose sight of God’s houses. Then “our houses” become only houses of people, in which He has no place. They are no longer houses in which we have fellowship with the Lord. And that is what the bride desires and in which she is an example to us.

‏ Song of Solomon 1:17

Cedars and Cypresses

The bride is still in the free and green field, which she compares in the verse above with “our couch”. Now she compares the trees with building material for “our houses” and “our rafters”. In the free green field, the bride sees herself surrounded by cedars. In it she recognizes beams for their houses. She sees the high cypresses as rafters that form the roof. She knows that being together with the groom has the protection and firmness of the cedars that surround her, while the cypresses are a protection against the heat of the sun.

It is remarkable that most of the woodwork in Solomon’s temple was cedar and cypress timber (1Kgs 5:8 ; 10). God considered these woods the most suitable for the construction of His house on earth. This reminds us that the description of the place where the bride is, speaks of God’s sanctuary and of fellowship with Him.

Wood grows out of the earth. The woods speak of Christ Who “grew up … like a root out of parched ground” (Isa 53:2) as the imperishable Man. It has been noted that cypresses were common in cemeteries in Judea. So they can be linked to death, so we can apply this to the death of Christ. What He has been in His life and death is the power of God’s house and the certainty of the future. God found His rest in the temple that was made of this wood and that is also the place where the believer finds rest.

It is also remarkable that the bride does not speak about ‘our house’, but about ‘our houses’. Therefore, the application does not only apply to God’s house, the church, but also to the houses in which we live. The church is built on Christ as the Son of the living God and came into existence by His work on the cross. In the church we may think of the death of Christ and honor Him for it. But it is also important that Christ and His work is the foundation of our homes, our marriages, and our families. He must be at the heart of it.

We may ask ourselves whether we build our houses with the same materials as those used to build God’s house. Everything in our houses that is connected with Christ and His work strengthens the building of the church as God’s houses. Everything we do or allow in our houses without Christ weakens God’s house.

Do God’s Word and prayer take the central place in our homes or are we only busy making our houses comfortable places to live in? It is God’s purpose that our houses should also be His houses, where He can have fellowship with us on the basis of the death of His Son, just as He wants to have fellowship with us in His house, the church.

The prophet Haggai speaks clear language about this to God’s earthly people (Hag 1:3-4). He tells us that we lose sight of the value of our own houses to God and make a wrong use of them if we lose sight of God’s houses. Then “our houses” become only houses of people, in which He has no place. They are no longer houses in which we have fellowship with the Lord. And that is what the bride desires and in which she is an example to us.