Song 6:3 | KingComments | STEP | After the bride described the groom in the way she has done, the daughters of Jerusalem confirm that she is the “most beautiful among women” ( ). The bride made them enthusiastic for him. After her impressive description of him, the daughters of Jerusalem ask if they can help to find him. Now the bride no longer asks the daughters of Jerusalem for help ( ), but it is the other way around. They ask her where her beloved has turned. In a similar way, the disciples have tried to make Thomas enthusiastic about the Lord by telling him that they have seen Him ( ). Thus we can make others enthusiastic for Him by testifying of Him Who He is to us. If our testimony is real, it contains attracting or recruiting power. When we talk enthusiastically about Him, the desire arises in others to seek Him too. This may be the result of Bible lectures or Bible studies in which He is central. We listen to what others say about Him. That encourages us to investigate more Who He is. He also likes to listen to it when believers speak about Him. He will then reveal Himself to them. When the daughters of Jerusalem have asked the bride where her beloved has turned, the bride suddenly knows where he is ( ). He “has gone down to his garden”. By this she means her heart, her life. He called her “a closed garden” ( ). After a short period of her slackening love for him, as a result of which she has placed him outside her life, her heart is again only for him. When we are full of the Lord, we also know where to find Him. Then our heart is like “beds of balsam”, a place of rest and sweetness for Him (cf. ). He comes to enjoy what we are for Him. Although we sometimes shut Him away from our lives, He never really leaves us. Nor do we have to go far up in heaven or far down in the realm of the dead to seek Him. He is near us, in our mouth and in our heart ( ). He can disappear from our interest. Then He withdraws from us, that we may feel the lack of Him. Thus, He brings us to confess our cooled love for Him. The Lord Jesus not only pastures in “His garden ”, which is in my life, but also “in the gardens ”, which is in the lives of other believers who also love Him. For them He is also the center of their lives. That’s how our vision expands. We see not only our own life, but also that of others in connection with Him. With all these believers He wants to “gather lilies”. He seeks fruit in the life of His own. He finds this fruit when the Holy Spirit can work in our life. He is only interested in the fruit of the Spirit, not in our achievements. The lilies he wants to collect do not indicate impressive deeds, but tenderness and vulnerability in the midst of a hard, thorny world ( ). These are features of Himself and He would like to collect them from the lives of His own. The bride becomes aware again of her connection with him and his love for her ( ; cf. ). What she says now goes beyond what she said in Song of Songs 2:16. There she first says that her beloved is hers. She is still ‘I’ oriented. But now she first says she belongs to him. She is focused on him. She has grown spiritually through experience. A proof of spiritual growth is that what I have received is increasingly coming second, while what Christ has received is increasingly coming first. We think about the joy He can experience in our life when we live for Him. Then we are no longer busy with ourselves, but with Him. That does not mean that we are ungrateful for what we have received. The point is that we do not dwell on the gifts, but that from the gifts we focus our eye on the Giver. That also gives a deeper satisfaction. It is a sign of spiritual growth when we think about what we mean to the Lord Jesus instead of what He is to us. We are more focused on Him than on ourselves. The first finds its origin more in the feelings, the second more in the Person Who is the reason for those feelings. The question should not be ‘what can the other person do for me’, but ‘what can I mean for the other person?’ The Lord Jesus never thought of Himself. He has always thought of the pleasure of God and the well-being of His own. If we know that we are His, it also means that we are completely for His responsibility. He takes full care of us. Whatever happens in our life, He is involved and helps us. When we know that He is ours, it means that He is at our side with all His love and all His possibilities. There is nothing in our life that is beyond His control. Thus He pastures “in the midst of the lilies”. Here we have again ‘the lilies’. He is in the midst of these delicate flowers and He appreciates them. To Him we are like these flowers. We are tender, we are weak, incapable, and we have no power to do anything. But He “pastures” among them, that is, He finds that place of rest with them in a world that has no place for Him.

‏ Song of Solomon 6:3

Where Is the Groom?

After the bride described the groom in the way she has done, the daughters of Jerusalem confirm that she is the “most beautiful among women” (Song 6:1). The bride made them enthusiastic for him. After her impressive description of him, the daughters of Jerusalem ask if they can help to find him. Now the bride no longer asks the daughters of Jerusalem for help (Song 5:8), but it is the other way around. They ask her where her beloved has turned.

In a similar way, the disciples have tried to make Thomas enthusiastic about the Lord by telling him that they have seen Him (Jn 20:24-25). Thus we can make others enthusiastic for Him by testifying of Him Who He is to us. If our testimony is real, it contains attracting or recruiting power.

When we talk enthusiastically about Him, the desire arises in others to seek Him too. This may be the result of Bible lectures or Bible studies in which He is central. We listen to what others say about Him. That encourages us to investigate more Who He is. He also likes to listen to it when believers speak about Him. He will then reveal Himself to them.

When the daughters of Jerusalem have asked the bride where her beloved has turned, the bride suddenly knows where he is (Song 6:2). He “has gone down to his garden”. By this she means her heart, her life. He called her “a closed garden” (Song 4:12). After a short period of her slackening love for him, as a result of which she has placed him outside her life, her heart is again only for him.

When we are full of the Lord, we also know where to find Him. Then our heart is like “beds of balsam”, a place of rest and sweetness for Him (cf. Song 5:13). He comes to enjoy what we are for Him. Although we sometimes shut Him away from our lives, He never really leaves us. Nor do we have to go far up in heaven or far down in the realm of the dead to seek Him. He is near us, in our mouth and in our heart (Deu 30:12-14). He can disappear from our interest. Then He withdraws from us, that we may feel the lack of Him. Thus, He brings us to confess our cooled love for Him.

The Lord Jesus not only pastures in “His garden”, which is in my life, but also “in the gardens”, which is in the lives of other believers who also love Him. For them He is also the center of their lives. That’s how our vision expands. We see not only our own life, but also that of others in connection with Him.

With all these believers He wants to “gather lilies”. He seeks fruit in the life of His own. He finds this fruit when the Holy Spirit can work in our life. He is only interested in the fruit of the Spirit, not in our achievements. The lilies he wants to collect do not indicate impressive deeds, but tenderness and vulnerability in the midst of a hard, thorny world (Song 2:1-2). These are features of Himself and He would like to collect them from the lives of His own.

The bride becomes aware again of her connection with him and his love for her (Song 6:3; cf. Song 2:16). What she says now goes beyond what she said in Song of Songs 2:16. There she first says that her beloved is hers. She is still ‘I’ oriented. But now she first says she belongs to him. She is focused on him. She has grown spiritually through experience.

A proof of spiritual growth is that what I have received is increasingly coming second, while what Christ has received is increasingly coming first. We think about the joy He can experience in our life when we live for Him. Then we are no longer busy with ourselves, but with Him. That does not mean that we are ungrateful for what we have received. The point is that we do not dwell on the gifts, but that from the gifts we focus our eye on the Giver. That also gives a deeper satisfaction.

It is a sign of spiritual growth when we think about what we mean to the Lord Jesus instead of what He is to us. We are more focused on Him than on ourselves. The first finds its origin more in the feelings, the second more in the Person Who is the reason for those feelings. The question should not be ‘what can the other person do for me’, but ‘what can I mean for the other person?’ The Lord Jesus never thought of Himself. He has always thought of the pleasure of God and the well-being of His own.

If we know that we are His, it also means that we are completely for His responsibility. He takes full care of us. Whatever happens in our life, He is involved and helps us. When we know that He is ours, it means that He is at our side with all His love and all His possibilities. There is nothing in our life that is beyond His control.

Thus He pastures “in the midst of the lilies”. Here we have again ‘the lilies’. He is in the midst of these delicate flowers and He appreciates them. To Him we are like these flowers. We are tender, we are weak, incapable, and we have no power to do anything. But He “pastures” among them, that is, He finds that place of rest with them in a world that has no place for Him.