Song of Solomon 4:11

He adds a very sweet word here. He had just spoken of her as in the lions' den and the mountains of the leopards. Yet He still says, "Your lips drop as the honeycomb… and the smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon." … He will not reproach her as a guilty woman who was cast off. He will speak of her with tenderness and mercy, as one in the sorrows and mourning dress of widowhood.

These verses begin another description by the Lord of His loved one. It is really a prophecy of what Israel will be for the Lord. He will redeem her, deliver her from the power of the enemy, and set her in royal glory at the head of the nations.

Every word that falls from the lips is to Him like honey dripping from the comb. So is all that grace produces in the soul. In Scripture honey stands for food as well as refreshment. How such a passage as this judges us! What has our conversation been? Has it fed as well as refreshed the heart of the blessed Lord?

Patient work must fill the honeycomb before it drops. We must gather the honey from every flower… we are too much like the butterfly, and too little like the bee… We must study the Word closely and store the heart well. Only then does the word suited to the occasion lie ready under our tongue… The dropping of the honeycomb may suggest thoughtful selection, in contrast with "the multitude of words" spoken of in Proverbs. Words are like seeds. They sprout and bear fruit, whether they are sharp and bitter, or good and wholesome.

What is the honeycomb that holds these sweet words dropping like the myrrh of the lilies from His lips? Is it not our Bibles? But we should also store His Word in our heart. Then our lips will drop this sweet honey like the honeycomb. Canaan was a land flowing with milk and honey. Are we feeding on this sweet and pure food of heaven, or, like many Christians, eating the leeks and onions of Egypt?

Scripture says of the wicked, "the venom of asps is under their lips." But of His own He can say, "honey and milk are under your tongue." Words fall from their lips that are sweet to the Lord. And the practical righteousness of the saints — their garments — is like the smell of Lebanon, the cedar wood that speaks of human perfection.

What is purer than milk? What is sweeter than honey? What is more nourishing than the one, or more healing than the other? … Into His own lips "grace is poured," and all His garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia. He finds in His beloved bride the perfect answer to Himself — grace answering to grace, far sweeter to His heart than anything nature produces.

Scripture often uses the garment as a figure of a person's conduct (see Isaiah 64:6; Jude 23; Revelation 3:4; 19:8). Our conduct shows our character, and what we feed on forms our character. If we are feeding on the milk and honey of Canaan, the smell of our garment will be like Lebanon — whiteness, purity.