9 “You have made my heart beat faster, my sister, my bride;
You have made my heart beat faster with a single glance of your eyes,
With a single strand of your necklace.
10 “How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much better is your love than wine,
And the fragrance of your oils
Than all kinds of [h]spices!
11 “Your lips, my bride, drip honey;
Honey and milk are under your tongue,
And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
12 “A garden locked is my sister, my bride,
A [i]rock garden locked, a spring sealed up.
13 “Your shoots are an [j]orchard of pomegranates
With choice fruits, henna with nard plants,
14 Nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,
With all the trees of frankincense,
Myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest [k]spices.
15 “You are a garden spring,
A well of [l]fresh water,
And streams flowing from Lebanon.”16 “[m]Awake, O north wind,
And come, wind of the south;
Make my garden breathe out fragrance,
Let its [n]spices [o]be wafted abroad.
May my beloved come into his garden
And eat its choice fruits!”
Solomon continues his description of his bride’s beauty and perhaps ramps it up a bit, if that’s possible. She makes his heart race with a single glance (v. 9), and her kiss is like honey and milk (v. 11). She is like a garden with the finest fragrances and spices (vv. 12-14), or a garden spring that gives the most refreshing water (v. 15). You might have noticed I skipped over a couple things, but in particular v. 10.
““How beautiful is your love… How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils
than all kinds of spices!” In other words, she is like all these things, but add her love on top, and there is no comparison. Her love is valued more than wine, how much he cannot tell.
Do I value the love of my spouse like this? Do I prize it above anything else? To be honest, it’s too easy to get distracted by the things of this world, to take for granted the love we receive from others. Never mind the love God pours out on us that is even above that of anyone else.
We should be extremely grateful for the love of others, and especially that of our spouse. And, in return we ought to show a love that is likewise beyond compare. Jesus gave us the ultimate example of love, and Paul doesn’t let any of us off the hook easily. It’s well worth reading all of Ephesians 5, but here’s a snippet:
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her… so husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies.” Jesus didn’t just put us first, and give up his own desires and plans. He literally gave up his very life, and our love ought to be that great as well.
Let us each then strive to imitate Christ as Paul did (1 Cor. 11:1), and love our spouses well, and be grateful for the love of our spouse also. How much? Above wine, and all kinds of spices, and anything else this material world can offer. There is no price that can buy such love, it is beyond compare!