Song of Solomon 1:12

While the King sits at His table, the worship of her heart rises like a sweet fragrance. The King at His table gives us a lovely picture of Christ among His own. This is not Christ with His robe tucked up for lowly service, washing feet dirtied by sin. It is not Christ as the Captain of the Lord's army, leading His own in the fight against the powers of evil. It is not Christ with tears of divine compassion, comforting a grieving heart. It is Christ at rest, finding joy and delight among His own.

To learn at His feet is good, but learning is not worship. To be comforted by His tears of sympathy is sweet, but comfort is not worship. In learning, I am conscious of my ignorance, in comfort, I am thinking of my sorrow. But when we spread a feast for Christ — when the King sits at His table — it is no time for teaching or comfort. There we leave our sorrows, our ignorance and our daily cares behind. At His supper, He alone fills the mind and holds the heart.

This book speaks in pictures, so we must read it with godly care and sober judgment. This verse has its precious counterpart in Mary of Bethany anointing the Lord Jesus with her costly ointment of spikenard. That ointment is the symbol of fragrant worship, and it delights the nostrils of God.

How did she fill her box of precious ointment? Ah! was it not when she sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word? … caught up in love for the One she adored, she pours the precious ointment on His feet. Truly, she could say, "While the King sits at His table, my spikenard sends out its fragrance," and "the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."

There is an infinite difference between the attractions of nature and the grace of the Spirit… God forbade honey, the sweetness of nature, in the sacrifices… Its pleasant qualities are valuable for the family, for friends, and for the world at large. But they are quite unfit for God's altar or the King's table. The Holy One of Israel rejects both the sweetness and the sourness of nature alike.

It is a mistake to suppose that we have nothing to present to the King while He sits at His table. True, what we give Him is already His own. But that makes it all the sweeter for both… If the Bridegroom has His "good ointments," the bride has her "spikenard" — yet it is all grace. The table is His — the ointment and spikenard, too, are His.

We must not expect a box of spikenard to be ready in our hands just because we have come to the Lord's Table on the first day of the week. Mary's box of spikenard cost her something; it was very costly. So it will cost us something to have a box of spikenard to pour out on Him. It will cost watchfulness, prayerfulness and self-denial during the week, to keep near the Lord and walk with Him. Otherwise, on the Lord's Day there will be no spikenard to give Him — no worship in us.

The "Song of Songs" is a song of love. It has in view a future day, when our blessed Lord will come out in the character of Solomon. Yet we may apply it to ourselves today, because we also know Him as the lover of our souls.