Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 5:13
His cheeks [are] as a bed of spices, [as] sweet flowers: his lips [like] lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
13. as a bed of spices ] Rather, as a bed of balsam shrubs. Probably we should read the plur. beds as in Son 6:2, to correspond with the plur. cheeks. The Heb. for ‘bed’ is ‘arghh derived from ‘ragh, ‘to mount up,’ and signifying a raised flower-bed. Cp. Driver on Joel, Camb. Bible, p. 47. The points of comparison are the rounded form and the variegated colour.
as sweet flowers ] This is rather a paraphrase than a translation. As they stand, the Heb. words mighdlth merqchm mean ‘towers of perfume herbs.’ ‘Towers’ is taken to be a synonym of ‘arghth, but if these are only raised garden-beds, this can hardly be. Probably we should read with the LXX, Targ. Vulg. meghaddlth for mighdlth, i.e. rearing or producing perfumes. The point of the comparison is the growth of a perfumed beard on the cheeks.
like lilies ] The redness of the shshannh is the point here. Tristram thinks it is the Anemone coronaria. Cp. note on Son 2:1.
sweet smelling myrrh ] or liquid myrrh (R.V.), i.e. the finest myrrh, that oozes from the bark of itself. Cp. note on Son 5:5. The reference is to the perfume of the breath (cp. Son 7:8).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Sweet flowers – Better as in the margin, i. e., plants with fragrant leaves and flowers trained on trellis-work.
Like lilies – Are lilies dropping liquid myrrh (see the Son 5:5 note). Perhaps the fragrance of the flowers, or the delicate curl of the lip-like petals, is here the point of comparison, rather than the color.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Son 5:13
His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: His lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh.
Spices, flowers, lilies, and myrrh
It is of Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom, that we perceive the spouse to be speaking, and mentioning in detail at least ten particulars, dwelling with delight upon the beauties of His head and His locks, His eyes and His cheeks, His lips and His hands, and every part of Him; and, beloved friends, I think it shows true love to Christ when we want to speak at length upon everything that concerns Him. True love to Christ seeks to get to Him, to live with Him, to live upon Him, and thus to know Him so intimately that things which were unobserved and passed over at the first, stand out in clear light to the increased joy and delight of the contemplative mind.
I. Christ looked upon is very lovely. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers.
1. But why do they mention His cheeks?
(1) I suppose, first, because every part of Christ is inexpressibly delightful. Take any portion of His countenance that you may, and it has surpassing beauty about it. Think for a moment what is meant by a sight of His cheeks. Though you may not yet see the majesty of His brow as King of kings and Lord of lords,–though you may not perceive the brightness of the lightning flashes of His eyes, which are as a flame of fire,–though you may scarcely be able to imagine at present what will be the glory of His second advent,–yet, if you can but see the cheeks that He gave to the smiters, if you do but know something of Him as the suffering Saviour, you shall find that there is inexpressible delight in Him, and with the spouse you will say, His cheeks are as a bed of spices.
(2) But, methinks, the saints see great loveliness in those parts of Christ which have been most despised. Oh! if we could but see Him now, if we could but gaze upon His face as it is in glory, what a subject of meditation it would be to think that even the spittle of cruel mockers did run a-down those blessed cheeks,–that infinite loveliness was insulted with inconceivable contempt,–the holy face of the Incarnate Son of God distained with the accursed spittle of brutal men. It was I, with my vain and idle talk, with my false and proud speech, that did spit into that dear face. How sad that He should ever have been made to suffer so! O glorious love, that He should be willing even to stoop to this terrible depth of ignominy that He might lift us up to dwell with Him on high I
(3) And next, those parts of Christ in which we do not immediately see any special office or use are, nevertheless, peculiarly lovely to the saints. Do you care only for the lips that speak to you? Have you no love for the cheeks that are silent? Do you care for nothing but for the eyes that are watching over you? If there come to you nothing from those cheeks of your Lord, yet shall they not be to you as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers? The fact is, we are not to judge concerning Christ in any such fashion as this; on the contrary, if there is any duty which Christ has commanded, but which, instead of seeming to be easy and profitable to us, is hard, and requireth that we should give so much that Judas will cry out, To what purpose is this waste? let us never mind him, but break our alabaster boxes, and pour out the sweet perfume upon our dear Master.
(4) But further, the followers of Christ have an intense admiration, an almost infinite love for that part of Christ by which they are able to commune with Him, and perhaps that is one reason why His cheeks are here specially mentioned. The cheek is the place of fellowship where we exchange tokens of love. What a blessing it is that Christ should have had a cheek for the lips of love to approach, and to kiss!
2. The spouse, however, in our text tries to speak of the loveliness of Christ by comparisons. She cannot do it with one emblem, she must have two even concerning His cheeks; they are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers.
(1) Notice, in the metaphors used by the spouse, that there is a blending of sweetness and beauty; as a bed of spices,–there is sweetness; and then, as sweet flowers,–there is beauty. There is sweetness to the nostrils and beauty to the eye, spice for its fragrance and flowers for their loveliness. In Christ, there is something for every spiritual sense, and for every spiritual sense there is a complete satisfaction and delight in Him.
(2) Notice that, when the spouse is speaking even of the cheeks of her Beloved, she brings in the idea of abundance;–spices, aye, a bed of spices; flowers,–not one or two, but, according to the Hebrew, towers of perfume, which I understand to mean those raised beds which we delight to have in our gardens, where there are many flowers set in order, forming charming banks of beauty. No doubt Solomon had some of those in his garden, for there is nothing new under the sun; and those raised beds of dainty flowers are fit emblems of the beauteous cheek of Christ, with its delicate tints of white and red. So in Christ there is infinite abundance.
(3) There is also in Christ infinite variety; there is in Him all you can want of any one thing, and there is more than all you can want of everything.
(4) The spouses metaphors seem to me also to suggest use and delight. She speaks of spices, for which there is practical use in surgery and in medicine, for preservation and for perfume; and she also mentions sweet flowers, for which there may not be any particular use, but which are charming for ornament, and for the delectation of taste. So, dear friends, in Christ Jesus there is all that we want, but there is a great deal more. There is something beside and beyond our actual necessities, there are many spiritual luxuries.
II. Now let us turn to the other part of our text:
His lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. These words teach us that Christ listened to is very precious. When He is silent, and we only look at Him, He is lovely to our eyes; but when He speaks, we can see His lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh.
1. Notice, first, that it is well, whenever we hear the voice of Jesus Christ, to try to see the blessed Person who is speaking. Tile spouse does not say in our text, His words are sweet, but she speaks of His lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. Why should we not believe more in a personal Christ, and why should we not always see the connection between the mercy and the hand that gives it, and between the promise and the lips that speak it?
2. Notice the comparison in the text,–lilies; not white lilies, of course, but red lilies, crimson lilies, lilies of such a colour as are frequently to be seen, which would be a suitable emblem of the Beloveds lips. Christs lips are peculiarly delightful to us, for it is with them that He speaks to us, and intercedes with the Father for us. When Heb, leads as the Intercessor on behalf of a poor soul like me, His lips are indeed in Gods sight like lovely lilies. The Father looks at His dear Sons lips, and He is charmed with them, and blesseth us because of Christs intercession. And whenever Christ turns round, and speaks to us, shall we not listen at once, with eyes and ears wide open, as we say, I like to watch His lips as He is speaking, for His lips are to me as lilies? I suppose this comparison means that Christs lips are very pure, as the lily is the purest of flowers; and that they are very gentle, for we always associate the lily with everything that is tender and soft and kind.
3. But the spouses comparison fails, for she said, His lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. This lilies do not do, but Christ does. He is more than a lily, or He is a lily of such a sort as never bloomed on earth except once. He was the only lily that ever dropped sweet-smelling myrrh. The spouse says that His lips do that; what means this? Does it not mean that His Word is often full of a very sweet, mysterious, blessed influence? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. His cheeks are as a bed of spices] Possibly meaning a bed in the garden, where odoriferous herbs grew. But it has been supposed to refer to his beard, which in a young well-made man is exceedingly beautiful. I have seen young Turks, who had taken much care of their beards, mustachios, c., look majestic. Scarcely any thing serves to set off the human face to greater advantage than the beard, when kept in proper order. Females admire it in their suitors and husbands. I have known cases, where they not only despised but execrated Europeans, whose faces were close shaved. The men perfume their beards often and this may be what is intended by spices and sweet-smelling myrrh.
His lips like lilies] The shoshannim may mean any flower of the lily kind, such as the rubens lilium, mentioned by Pliny, or something of the tulip kind. There are tints in such flowers that bear a very near resemblance to a fine ruby lip.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
His cheeks; his face or countenance, an eminent part whereof is the cheeks, in which the beauty or deformity of a face doth much consist.
As a bed; which being higher than other parts of the garden, fitly represents the cheeks, which are higher than other parts of the face.
Of spices; not of dry spices, for they are not in beds; but of aromatical flowers, which delight both the eye with a pleasant prospect, and the smell with their fragrancy. This may also signify the down or hair upon the Bridegrooms cheeks, which is the evidence of his mature and vigorous age, and may denote that Christs sweetness and gentleness is accompanied with majesty, and gravity, and just severity.
Sweet flowers: this may be added to explain the former phrase. Or,
towers of perfumes, i.e. boxes in which perfumes were put, which by their height or form had some resemblance to a turret.
His lips like lilies; beautiful and pleasant. Or this is meant of that sort of lilies which were of a red or purple colour, as ancient writers affirm, and so signify the grateful colour of the lips. This may note that grace which was poured into Christs lips, and which flowed from them in sweet and excellent discourses.
Dropping sweet smelling myrrh; not only graceful to the eye, as lilies are, but also fragrant to the smell.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. cheeksthe seat of beauty,according to the Hebrew meaning [GESENIUS].Yet men smote and spat on them (Isa50:6).
bedfull, like theraised surface of the garden bed; fragrant with ointments, as bedswith aromatic plants (literally, “balsam”).
sweet flowersrather,”terraces of aromatic herbs””high-raisedparterres of sweet plants,” in parallelism to “bed,”which comes from a Hebrew root, meaning “elevation.”
lips (Psa 45:2;Joh 7:46).
liliesred lilies. Softand gentle (1Pe 2:22; 1Pe 2:23).How different lips were man’s (Ps22:7)!
dropping . . . myrrhnamely,His lips, just as the sweet dewdrops which hang in the calyx of thelily.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
His cheeks [are] as a bed of spices, [as] sweet flowers,…. Which may intend the presence of Christ with his people in his word and ordinances; often called his “face”, which he shows, and they seek after, than which nothing is more desirable; walking in the light of his countenance is preferable to walking among spicy beds, where fragrant plants and odoriferous flowers grow: or the cheeks, being the seat of modesty and blushing, may denote the great humility of Christ, seen in his assumption of our nature, throughout the whole course of his life, and especially at his death, and which renders him very delightful to his people; how lovely does the meek and lowly Jesus look! how beautiful are those blushing cheeks of his, who, being equal with God, took upon him the form of a servant! The cheeks may intend not bare cheeks, but with the hair growing upon them, the hair of the beard; which puts forth itself, and grows upon the cheeks or “jaws” o, as it may be rendered, which makes a man look graceful and majestic; so Aben Ezra interprets the word of the beard, and so many Christian p interpreters, which puts out like aromatic plants on spicy beds. This was literally true of Christ, who was a grown man when he suffered, and gave his cheeks to the smiters, and who plucked off the hair of his beard: and in a mystical sense it may intend either believers in Christ, who are the hair of his cheeks, as well as of his head; and who, like spicy beds and fragrant flowers, are odoriferous to Christ and to one another; or “[as] towers of perfumes” q as some, which ascend upwards in the exercise of faith, hope, and love: or rather the graces of the Spirit in Christ, as man and Mediator; which, like the hair of the beard, are in Christ, in great numbers, without measure, and make him very lovely and graceful; and are like beds of spices and sweet flowers, for the variety and sweet smelling savour of them. Though it seems, best of all, to be expressive of the manliness, courage, prudence, gravity, and majesty of Christ; of which the beard, thick set and well grown, is an indication; all which appeared in the whole conduct and deportment of Christ among men; in his ministry, in his life and conversation, at his apprehension, arraignment, condemnation, sufferings, and death. The cheeks rising, and being a little elevated, are fitly described by beds in a garden, by “towers of perfumes”, or fragrant flowers and fruit trees, reared up in the form of towers, or pyramids; or by a dish of fruit preserves, placed in such a figure: and the hair of the cheeks, or beard, are aptly represented by spices, rising up from a bed of them; and all denote the beauty, savour, and majesty of Christ. Or, as the Vulgate Latin version, “as beds of spices set by confectioners”; not as aromatic plants, set in rows by the gardener; but the spices themselves, set in rows by the confectioner in vessels r, placed in his shop in rows to be sold; which being of various colours, especially white and red, the cheeks, for colour and eminence, are compared unto them;
his lips [like] lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh; by which are meant the words of Christ, which drop from his lips; which are like lilies, for their purity, thinness, and beautiful colour: the words of Christ are pure words, free from all pollution, deceit, and human mixtures; nor are his lips big with his own praises, but with expressions of regard for his Father’s glory; and are very pleasant, gracious, and graceful. But then the comparison is not between them and white lilies, for not white, but red lips, are accounted the most beautiful; see So 4:3; wherefore rather red or purple lilies are respected, such as Pliny s, and other writers t, speak of; such as grew in Syria u, a neighbouring country; and also in Egypt w grew lilies like to roses. Some x think the allusion is to crowns, made of red or purple lilies, wore at nuptial festivals, on which were poured oil of myrrh, and so dropped from them; but the phrase, “dropping sweet smelling myrrh”, is not in construction with “lilies”, but with “lips”: signifying, that the lips or words of Christ were like to lilies; not so much or not only for their thinness and colour, as for the sweet smell of them, very odorous, grateful, and acceptable; as are the doctrines of peace, pardon, righteousness, life, and salvation, to sensible souls, delivered in the ministry of the word: the manner of which delivery of them is expressed by “dropping”; gradually, by little and little, as Christ’s church and people can bear them; seasonably, and at proper times, as their wants require constantly, as while Christ was here or, earth, so now he is in heaven, by his ministers, in all ages, to the end of the world; and yet sweetly and gently refreshing, and making fruitful; see De 32:2. Moreover, the kisses of Christ’s lips, or the manifestations of his love, may be taken into the sense of this clause; which together with the grateful matter and graceful manner of his words, render him very acceptable to his church; see So 1:2; and such a sentiment is expressed, in much the same language, by others y.
o “maxillae ejus”, Pagninus, Montanus, Marckius, Michaelis. p Sanctius, Cocceius, Ainsworth, Marckius, Michaelis. q “turribus pigmentorum”, Marckius; “condimentorum”, Schmidt, Michaelis. r Vid. Fortunat. Scacchi Eleochrys. Sacr. l. 1. c. 18. p. 90. s Nat. Hist. l. 21. c. 5. t Theophrast. apud Athenaei Deipnosophist. l. 15. c. 8. p. 681. Maimon. in Misn. Sheviith, c. 7. s. 6. & Alshech in loc. Midrash Esther, s. 4. fol. 91. 1. u Dioscorides, l. 1. c. 163. Apud Fortunat. Scacch. ut supra, (Eleochrys. Sacr.) l. 1. c. 27. p. 134. w Herodot. Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 92. x Scacch. ibid. l. 1. c. 28. p. 138, 139. y “Olent tua basia myrrham”, Martial. Epigr. l. 2. Ep. 10.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
13 a His cheeks like a bed of sweet herbs,
Towers of spicy plants.
A flower-bed is called , from , to be oblique, inclined. His cheeks are like such a soft raised bed, and the impression their appearance makes is like the fragrance which flows from such a bed planted with sweet-scented flowers. Migedaloth are the tower-like or pyramidal mounds, and merkahhim are the plants used in spicery. The point of comparison here is thus the soft elevation; perhaps with reference to the mingling of colours, but the word chosen ( merkahhim ) rather refers to the lovely, attractive, heart-refreshing character of the impression. The Venet., keeping close to the existing text: (thus not a ] according to Gebhardt’s just conjecture). But is the punctuation here correct? The sing. is explained from this, that the bed is presented as sloping from its height downward on two parallel sides; but the height would then be the nose dividing the face, and the plur. would thus be more suitable; and the lxx, Symm., and other ancient translators have, in fact, read . But still less is the phrase migdeloth merkahhim to be comprehended; for a tower, however diminutive it may be, it not a proper figure for a soft elevation, nor even a graduated flowery walk, or a terraced flowery hill, – a tower always presents, however round one may conceive it, too much the idea of a natural chubbiness, or of a diseased tumour. Therefore the expression used by the lxx, , i.e., ‘ , commends itself. Thus also Jerome: sicut areolae aromatum consitae a pigmentariis , and the Targ. (which refers allegorically to the of the law, and merkahhim to the refinements of the Halacha): “like the rows of a garden of aromatic plants which produce ( gignentes) deep, penetrating sciences, even as a (magnificent) garden, aromatic plants.” Since we read , we do not refer migadloth , as Hitzig, who retains , to the cheeks, although their name, like that of the other members ( e.g., the ear, hand, foot), may be fem. (Bttch. 649), but to the beds of spices; but in this carrying forward of the figure we find, as he does, a reference to the beard and down on the cheeks. is used of suffering the hair to grow, Num 6:5, as well as of cultivating plants; and it is a similar figure when Pindar, Nem. v. 11, compares the milk-hair of a young man to the fine woolly down of the expanding vine-leaves ( vid., Passow). In merkahhim there scarcely lies anything further than that this flos juventae on the blooming cheeks gives the impression of the young shoots of aromatic plants; at all events, the merkahhim , even although we refer this feature in the figure to the fragrance of the unguents on the beard, are not the perfumes themselves, to which megadloth is not appropriate, but fragrant plants, so that in the first instance the growth of the beard is in view with the impression of its natural beauty.
13 b His lips lilies,
Dropping with liquid myrrh.
Lilies, viz., red lilies ( vid., under Son 2:1), unless the point of comparison is merely loveliness associated with dignity. She thinks of the lips as speaking. All that comes forth from them, the breath in itself, and the breath formed into words, is , most precious myrrh, viz., such as of itself wells forth from the bark of the balsamodendron. , the running over of the eyes (cf. myrrha in lacrimis , the most highly esteemed sort, as distinguished from myrrha in granis ), with which Dillmann combines the Aethiop. name for myrrh, karbe ( vid., under Song _Num 5:5).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(13) His cheeks are as a bed of spicesProbably with allusion to the beard perfumed (Marg., towers of perfumes), as in Psa. 133:2.
Lilies.Comp. He pressed the blossom of his lips to mine (Tennyson, (Enone).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Cheeks bed of spices The wearing of the full beard is ancient and uniform in the East. The growth of the cheeks of the Beloved, in its soft, early luxuriance, is like “beds of balsams, rising growths of spiceries.”
From this growth, gracefully dressed, his lips appear as lilies. The Hebrew word here used is not the one for the white lily of the valley, but means, probably, the red crown lily. Dropping, etc. refers to the lips, not the lilies, meaning pleasant words.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Son 5:13. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, &c. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, sweetly budding forth. Bishop Patrick supposes that the word translated lilies, alludes to a sort of lilies of a deep rich red colour, and particularly to that called by Pliny, rubens lilium, which he tells us was much esteemed in Syria. The expression of lilies dropping sweet-smelling or precious myrrh, denotes the sweetness of his conversation; and it is supposed by Sir Thomas Brown to refer to the roscid and honey drops observable in the flowers of Martagon, and inverted-flowered lilies: it is probably the standing sweet dew on the white eyes of the crown imperial, now common among us, which is here figuratively used. See his Observations, and the New Translation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
Two features of her beloved in description the Church joins together in this verse: the cheeks of Christ and his lips. Perhaps by the former may be meant the beauties of his Person; and by the latter, the blessedness of what he delivered. And to those who have seen the King in his beauty, and heard the gracious, words which proceed out of his mouth, nothing can more strikingly set forth the Person and offices of the Lord Jesus.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Son 5:13 His cheeks [are] as a bed of spices, [as] sweet flowers: his lips [like] lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
Ver. 13. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, ] i.e., Comely and pleasant to the sight, sweet also to the smell; areolis similes, aromatum plenis; flourishing with a goodly, comely, fresh, and sweet beard; so declaring his face not only to be gracious and amiable, but also full of gravity, glory, and majesty. There are those who would have all these things to be taken literally about Christ’s natural body, and that here is set down his prosopograpohy; but this was written long before Christ was incarnated, and therefore it must needs be meant in a metaphorical and allegorical sense, hard to be explained. Ego quid de singulis statuam fateor me nescire, saith a learned interpreter. Allegorically to handle all these is not in my purpose or power, saith another: since the graces of Christ, as they cannot well be expressed, so, by reason of our weakness, they cannot better be declared. The drift of the Holy Ghost is to paint out unto us the spiritual and heavenly love of his Church to Christ, who doth not and cannot satisfy herself with any words or comparisons of this kind; and, secondly, to stir up our heartiest and liveliest affections to him that hath such a world of worth and wealth in him. As the worth and value of many pieces of silver is in one piece of gold, so all the petty excellencies scattered abroad in the creatures are united in Christ; yea, all the whole volume of perfections which is spread through heaven and earth is epitomised in him. Why do we not then make out to him, and despise all for him with Paul? Why do we not, with David, chide ourselves and others for loving vanity and seeking after leasing? Psa 4:2 “How long wilt thou go about, O backsliding daughter,” Jer 31:22 and fetch a compass? knowest thou not that “the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth? a woman shall compass a man”; Isa 7:14 that is, “a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,” even the man Christ Jesus, in whom it pleased the Father that there should dwell all fulness. Col 1:19 Make we therefore straight paths for our feet; Heb 12:13 let us go speedily to Christ, Zec 8:21 as bees do to a meadow full of flowers; as merchants do to the Indies, that are full of fruits and spices, that we may return from him full fraught with treasures of truth and grace.
His lips, like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
a bed of spices = a raised bed of balSamaritan Pentateuch Some codices, with Septuagint, read “beds of balsam”.
dropping = distilling.
sweet smelling = liquid.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
cheeks: Son 1:10, Isa 50:6
as a: Psa 4:6, Psa 4:7, Psa 27:4, Psa 89:15, Rev 21:23
sweet flowers: or, towers of perfumes, Son 3:6
his lips: Son 4:11, Psa 45:2, Isa 50:4, Luk 4:22
dropping: Son 5:5
Reciprocal: Psa 45:8 – All Son 1:3 – the savour Son 1:13 – bundle Son 4:3 – lips Son 6:2 – the beds