and your mouth like the best wine. She It goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding over lips and teeth.
Song of Solomon 7:9 closes the King's long praise of the one He loves. Two voices meet in this single verse: He likens her mouth to the best wine, and she takes the words up and turns them back to Him.
The Bridegroom at rest in His bride
One writer sees the Bridegroom at rest here, satisfied in the bride — and reads her as Israel restored.
Andrew MillerFrom Song 7:9 it seems that the Bridegroom now rests in the charms of His bride. His heart is at rest. Wonderful truth! He sees in her the fruit of the anguish of His soul and is satisfied. The desires of His love are answered. What love! What grace! What blessing! Happy bride! Happy Israel! Perfectly and for ever restored; the Lord your God rests in you. He is revived, refreshed, and cheered by "the best wine," which you have prepared for your Beloved.
Where the voice changes
One speaker carries the whole chapter until this verse. Partway through, the ESV hands the words to the bride, and commentators mark the same break.
William KellyAs in the last chapter from verse 4, the Bridegroom is again the speaker here — except from the latter part of verse 9 to the end.
The exact place of the break is a matter of translation, and one writer points to a version that fixes it at a particular phrase.
The Christian's FriendA French version, well known to some of our readers, gives a striking meaning to this verse by dividing it after the words, "the best wine," and making the rest the language of the Shulamite.
The best wine is "for my beloved"
The bride's first words name someone else. One writer draws out what that tells us about communion.
VariousHe had just said that the scent of her mouth was like the best wine. Wine is the symbol of the joy of communion. The best of all joys is the joy of communion with the Lord, and she had been drinking freely of that best wine. But communion always has two sides, for there must be two for communion. The Lord has His own part and joy as well as we, when we are in communion with Him. We usually think only of our feelings and our own joy. She is thinking of Him instead. So when He mentions the best wine, she says at once, "for my beloved."
Sleeping lips made to speak
The older translation these writers use ends the verse, "causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak." The ESV reads "gliding over lips and teeth," so the comments below follow the older wording. One writer sets the bride's speech here against a failure earlier in the Song.
Hamilton SmithThe bride hears the Bridegroom expressing His delight in her, and she cannot stay silent. If the Bridegroom likens the joy He has found in her to the best wine, she at once adds, "That goes down smoothly for my Beloved." Once she had slept on her bed. She was overcome with laziness and could not answer the voice of her Beloved. But all the beauty His love has put upon her has awakened her affections and called out her delight in Him. The best wine has caused the lips of the once sleeping bride to speak.
One writer explains why the verse links wine with both sleep and speech.
VariousWhen someone has been drinking a good deal of wine, it makes him sleepy and talkative. It is the same in spiritual things. Communion gives rest, of which sleep is a picture, and it makes the lips speak of Christ. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
The secret of speaking about Christ
Another writer sets out what has to come first, and what second.
Edward DennettThis is the secret of all ability to testify of Christ. First, knowing Him. Second, a heart filled with Himself — with the sense of His love, His grace, and His perfection. This is the best wine "that goes down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak."
Why our lips say so little
Commentators differ on what the wine pictures. One calls it the joy of communion itself. Another calls it the joy that rises in the bride when she senses His delight in her. Either way, the end of it is worship.
The Christian's FriendThe "best wine" here stands for the joy born from the sense of the Lord's delight in His bride. When the soul knows this joy, it wakes up and is moved to speak, in answer to such love beyond words. This is the secret of all praise and adoration. When thinking on His love fills the heart, it must overflow in worship.
Turn that round and you get a diagnosis for silent, unsettled believers.
VariousThe hearts of the Lord's people are so often stirred up or troubled, and their lips speak so little of Him. The chief reason is that they are not drinking enough of this "best wine" of communion with Him.
Summary
- His delight first. The verse begins with the Bridegroom satisfied — He "sees in her the fruit of the anguish of His soul and is satisfied."
- The wine. "Wine is the symbol of the joy of communion," and the best of all joys is communion with the Lord.
- Shared, not hoarded. The bride's added words, "for my beloved," show that communion "has two sides" — He has His own joy in it as well as we.
- Awakened. This wine "has caused the lips of the once sleeping bride to speak"; the same joy is "the secret of all ability to testify of Christ."
- The test. Little speech about Him usually means too little drinking of this best wine.