Distance Devotions          –          March 31, 2020

Song of Solomon 5:9,10  –          He is the Chiefest

Song 5:9 What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?  10 My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.

The Song of Solomon has other names.  The most common one other than the Song of Solomon is Canticles.  The book is a record of the love and marriage between King Solomon and a village girl name Shulamite.  (Song 6:13)  The style of the book is antiphonal singing.  The groom will sing and the bride will answer.  As I pointed out in a previous Distance Devotion, singing was the highest expression of joy in the Middle Eastern custom.  This little book is likely best known for the text we are using today and, perhaps, “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys”. (Song 2:1)

In chapter five, the bride has become lazy and indifferent to the groom and offends him.  The bride is a picture of the Church and the groom is a picture of Christ in the Song of Solomon.  As her indifference was an offense to the groom, so our indifference to the Lord offends Him.  In this text, the bride is asked, What is thy beloved more than another….?  That is the question for you and me today as well.  If we profess to be Christians, how can we allow anything to come between us and the Savior who redeemed us?  What in this world can compare to Him?  The answer today is the same that the Shulamite gave centuries ago, He is the Chiefest….  The comparison is impossible.  Any ten thousand men may muster, Jesus outshines them all.  Any ten thousand of history are dwarfed by the Christ of God! 

Let us determine that we will not allow anything here on earth to come between us and He who loves our souls unto death.  May we always answer Him in the affirmative instead of making excuses for our lack of obedience.  May our testimony be that He is more than all else that is, that was, and that ever might be.  Jesus is all in all to the believer.

Pastor F. J. Weems III