D. Scott Meadows

“My Beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my Beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.” —Song of Solomon 2:16, 17

Surely if there be a happy verse in the Bible it is this—“My Beloved is mine, and I am his.” So peaceful, so full of assurance, so overrunning with happiness and contentment is it, that it might well have been written by the same hand which penned the twenty-third Psalm. Yet though the prospect is exceeding fair and lovely—earth cannot show its superior—it is not entirely a sunlit landscape. There is a cloud in the sky which casts a shadow over the scene. Listen, “Until the day break, and the shadows flee away.

There is a word, too, about the “mountains of Bether,” or, “the mountains of division,” and to our love, anything like division is bitterness. Beloved, this may be your present state of mind; you do not doubt your salvation; you know that Christ is yours, but you are not feasting with him. You understand your vital interest in him, so that you have no shadow of a doubt of your being his, and of his being yours, but still his left hand is not under your head, nor doth his right hand embrace you [Song of Solomon 2.6]. A shade of sadness is cast over your heart, perhaps by affliction, certainly by the temporary absence of your Lord, so even while exclaiming, “I am his,” you are forced to take to your knees, and to pray, “Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my Beloved.”

“Where is he?” asks the soul. And the answer comes, “He feedeth among the lilies.” If we would find Christ, we must get into communion with his people, we must come to the ordinances with his saints. Oh, for an evening glimpse of him! Oh, to sup with him to-night!

—C. H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, 19 June PM

On Song of Solomon 2.16, 17

Interpretation of the details of texts in the Song of Solomon, first of all in their literal sense as the dialogue of spouses, and then in their spiritual sense with respect to Christ and His church, is notoriously difficult. It is clear that this text begins with the young woman speaking, or, the church in the traditional spiritual interpretation. After that things are murky. Is her lover feeding his flock among the lilies, or is he poetically portrayed as a roe or young hart (deer) feeding among the lilies? Even the discerning Matthew Poole is not sure. And so the relative difficulty, if not obscurity, of the rest of the text continues.

Spurgeon’s remark about “Bether” having the sense of “division” is correct. It is a geographical designation of a mountainous region which may have been so named from a “cleft” (division) in its rock formation.

The specific correlations Spurgeon makes between the biblical text here and the spiritual realities of Christians may be a bit imaginative if not dubious, but his doctrine of Christian experience is true to Scripture and life, and not without great potential benefit to those who take it to heart.

The structure of this devotional message

I. Christians are one with Christ but He may not seem near
II. Christians may have assurance without great comfort
III. Christians must seek Christ in church fellowship and ordinances

Critically important truths

“My Beloved is mine, and I am his,” is the language of covenantal and mutual commitment, which marriage vows are divinely-intended to illustrate. The great Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck wrote, “Covenant is the essence of true religion,” and that, for several reasons. First, the infinite distance between God the Creator and man the creature requires a covenant for fellowship and religion. Second, the creature, as mere, dependent creature, has no rights before God except as He should promise blessings to us, and we may plead these on that basis alone. Third, God deals with us by way of covenant as rational and moral beings. “Religion is freedom; it is love that does not allow itself to be coerced.” It is in the context of a covenantal relation that we can respond with gratitude and joy to our gracious God (RD 2.569, 570).

An appreciation for these things helps account for the great stress upon “covenant theology” which is characteristic of the system of Reformed theology, which Spurgeon represents. The very gospel itself is unintelligible apart from covenantal concepts and considerations.

Exulting in our belonging to Christ is the joyful note struck in the first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism: “What is thy only comfort in life and in death? That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me, that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him.” Understanding this well is foundational to a Christian’s comfort, which waxes and wanes in our actual experience.

The counsel of Spurgeon’s closing remarks should be recovered and emphasized today, namely, the indispensable place of the local church to the Christian’s communion with Christ Himself. He is to be found in and among the church members especially when gathered for worship, in the preaching of the Word and in His holy ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper—ideally observed frequently. Sadly, countless modern Christians have very little appreciation, if any, for these churchly things. Ω