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Spurgeon interprets the bridegroom’s praise in Song of Solomon as Christ’s praise of His church and applies each image to Christian love, grace, speech, inward thought, and conduct. The sermon strongly emphasizes sanctification: believers’ daily actions should carry the fragrance of Christ, and their ordinary work can be genuine service to Him. Scripture reading, meditation, prayer, and attendance on preaching are presented as means by which spiritual speech and character are formed. At the same time, Spurgeon warns that a profession contradicted by persistent sin is dangerous, urging hearers to pursue sincere love and holiness.
Theological center: Christ graciously values the imperfect love, spiritual graces, words, thoughts, and obedient works of His people, while genuine faith is demonstrated through holy daily living.
Applications: Love Christ sincerely · Cultivate spiritual graces · Read and meditate on Scripture · Speak for Christ with sweet words
Primary texts: Song of Solomon 4:10-11 · John 21:17 · 1 Peter 2:18
“How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! Thy lips, O my spouse,drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.” Song of Solomon 4:10-11 I SHALL not, this evening, attempt to prove that the Song of Solomon has a spiritual meaning. I am sure it has. It has been frequently said, and I believe, has commonly been thought, that this song was originally written by Solomon upon his marriage with Pharaoh’s daughter. Now I am as sure as I am of my own existence, that this is one of the grossest mistakes that was ever committed. There is nothing about Pharaoh’s daughter in it. It is, first of all, improbable that it was written of her, and in the next place I will go further, and affirm that it is impossible that it could have been written by Solomon in honor of her. If you look all through the song you will find that this is so, in the first beginning she is compared to a shepherdess. Now all shepherds are abominations to the Egyptians, do you think therefore, that Solomon would compare an Egyptian princess to the very thing which she abominated? In the next place, all the scenery is in the land of Canaan, none of it in Egypt, and besides that, all the places that Solomon speaks of, such as Engedi, Lebanon, Amana, and Damascus, were all out of the way, not one of them would have been passed in coming out of Egypt into Jerusalem, and very probably the Egyptian princess did not even know there were such places at all, so that if Solomon had wished to praise her he would not have compared her eyes to the fish-ponds of Heshbon, but would have spoken of the sweet waters of the Nile. Besides, it could not have been Pharaoh’s daughter. Did Pharaoh’s daughter ever keep sheep?—and yet the person who is represented here did. Did the watchman ever follow her about the streets and try to take her veil away from her? Solomon would have shown them something if they had, therefore that is impossible. In one place, Solomon compares her to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariot. Now, horses were, among the Israelites, common things, and what would Pharaoh’s daughter have said, if Solomon had compared her to a company of horses? She might have well looked him in the face and said, “Have you not some better comparison for me than my father’s horses?” It is very unlikely that Solomon perpetrated that folly. It is improbable therefore, and we may almost say impossible, that it could be Pharaoh’s daughter. She never came…