Covenantal Confidence: Where the Beloved Shepherds Text: Song of Solomon 6:1-3
Introduction: The Ache of Envy and the Anchor of Covenant
We live in an age that is drowning in sentimentality and starving for true covenantal love. The world knows how to gush, how to emote, how to make grand, flimsy gestures, but it has forgotten the meaning of a binding promise, a solemn oath that holds fast when the feelings fade. The modern world looks at true, biblical marriage, a picture of Christ and the Church, and it is alternately mystified, repulsed, and sometimes, just sometimes, deeply envious. It sees a beauty it cannot replicate and a security it cannot manufacture. And so it asks questions.
The Song of Solomon is God's inspired poetry on the goodness of created, erotic love within the bonds of marriage. It is not a Gnostic manual for escaping the body, nor is it a cheap romance novel. It is a typological masterpiece. We must reject the allegorical method that treats the text like a trampoline to bounce off into ethereal meanings, where the bride's two breasts are the Old and New Testaments. That is pious nonsense. But we must also reject the flat-footed literalism that refuses to see what all of Scripture screams at us, which is that every godly marriage is a sermon about the gospel. Every faithful husband preaches Christ, and every responsive wife preaches the Church, whether they intend to or not (Eph. 5:32).
In the previous chapter, the bride had foolishly delayed in opening the door to her beloved. She repented of her sloth, and went out into the city to find him, where she was beaten by the watchmen. But in her distress, she did not renounce her love. Instead, she extolled his virtues to the "daughters of Jerusalem," a watching chorus of, let us say, less mature believers or perhaps the intrigued world. Her description of her beloved is so magnificent, so compelling, that it awakens in them a desire to know him too. This is what robust, unapologetic love for Christ does. It makes others want to know where your beloved has gone, so they can seek him with you. Our passage today is the answer to that question, and in it we find the bride's confident, covenantal knowledge of her husband, and a profound picture of where Christ is to be found.
The Text
"Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, That we may seek him with you?"
"My beloved has gone down to his garden, To the beds of spices, To shepherd his flock in the gardens And gather lilies.
I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine, He who shepherds his flock among the lilies."
(Song of Solomon 6:1-3 LSB)
The Contagious Desire (v. 1)
We begin with the question from the daughters of Jerusalem:
"Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, That we may seek him with you?" (Song of Solomon 6:1)
Notice the shift. In the previous chapter, they asked, "What is your beloved more than another beloved?" (Song 5:9). They were detached, perhaps a bit cynical. But the bride's passionate, detailed, head-to-toe description of her man has done its work. Her love and loyalty, even in the face of her own recent failure, has made him compelling. Now they are not asking what he is like, but where he is. More than that, they want to join the search party: "That we may seek him with you."
This is a powerful lesson in evangelism. The world is not won over by timid, apologetic, milquetoast Christianity. It is not impressed by our attempts to be cool or relevant. It is arrested by a love that is deep, costly, and articulate. When the Church, the bride of Christ, truly loves her Lord and is not ashamed to praise His excellencies, the world will take notice. They will see a beauty in the bride, calling her the "most beautiful among women," not because of her own inherent perfection, she just got roughed up by the watchmen, remember, but because her devotion to her beloved has made her lovely. A church that is head-over-heels in love with Jesus Christ is the most attractive thing on the planet.
Their desire to seek him "with you" is also key. They recognize that they cannot find him on their own. They need to be with the one who knows him. This is a picture of the necessity of the Church. People are not saved into a vacuum; they are saved into a body. They see the bride's relationship, and they want to be brought into that same fellowship.
The Bride's Confident Answer (v. 2)
The bride does not hesitate. She is no longer frantic and searching. Her repentance and praise have restored her confidence. She knows her man.
"My beloved has gone down to his garden, To the beds of spices, To shepherd his flock in the gardens And gather lilies." (Song of Solomon 6:2 LSB)
Where is the beloved? He is in his garden. And what is his garden? Typologically, the garden is the Church (Song 4:12, 16). It is the place of cultivated beauty, of order, of life. It is where he delights to be. He has not gone to some foreign place, but to what is his own. He is not lost; he is at work in his own domain, the place He has enclosed for Himself.
He has gone "to the beds of spices." Spices in Scripture represent that which is precious, fragrant, and pleasing, things like worship and the virtues of the saints (Rev. 5:8). Christ finds His delight in the praises and the Spirit-wrought graces of His people. He goes to where true worship is offered, where the aroma of faith, hope, and love rises to Him.
He is there "to shepherd his flock in the gardens." Here the metaphor shifts slightly but seamlessly. The beloved is both a king in his garden and a shepherd with his flock. This is our Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11) and the King of kings. He is not an absentee landlord. He is actively tending, feeding, protecting, and guiding His people. He walks among the lampstands (Rev. 2:1). He is present in His churches, shepherding His flock.
And he is there to "gather lilies." Lilies are symbols of purity and beauty. The lilies are his people (Song 2:2). He is not just feeding them in the aggregate; He is gathering them individually. This gathering can mean a few things. He gathers them for His delight, taking pleasure in each individual believer. It can also be a gentle euphemism for taking them to glory. When a saint dies, the Lord is not losing a flower; He is gathering a lily from His earthly garden to place it in His heavenly one. It is a tender, possessive, and purposeful act.
The Heart of the Covenant (v. 3)
The bride concludes with one of the most powerful statements in the entire book, the very heart of covenantal identity.
"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine, He who shepherds his flock among the lilies." (Song of Solomon 6:3 LSB)
This is the language of mutual possession, of total, reciprocal belonging. This is the covenant formula. "I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Heb. 8:10). This is the bedrock of her security. Though she had failed him, though they were temporarily separated, the covenant bond was not broken. Her identity is not located in her performance, but in his possession of her and her possession of him.
Notice the order. In an earlier, more immature statement, she said, "My beloved is mine, and I am his" (Song 2:16). There, the emphasis was first on her possession of him. But here, after failure and restoration, the order is corrected. "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine." She has learned that her security rests first in the fact that she belongs to him. His claim on her precedes her claim on him. Our salvation is not grounded in our weak and fickle hold on Christ, but in His mighty and unbreakable hold on us. "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand" (John 10:29).
She then repeats the description of his activity: "He who shepherds his flock among the lilies." Her confidence in their union is tied directly to her understanding of his character and work. He is a shepherd. It is his nature to care for his flock, the lilies. Her security is not an abstract concept; it is rooted in the constant, active, faithful work of her Lord. She knows where he is and what he is doing, and therefore she knows who she is. She is one of his lilies, and he is her shepherd.
Conclusion: The Shepherd in His Garden
This short exchange is a universe of theology packed into a few lines of poetry. It teaches us that a church passionately in love with Christ becomes a beacon to a searching world. It shows us where Christ is to be found, not in mystical experiences detached from the body, but right here, in His garden, the Church, where He is shepherding His people and delighting in their worship.
And most importantly, it grounds our identity and security in the unshakeable reality of God's covenant love. We are His. He is ours. This is not a sentimental feeling; it is a legal, binding, blood-bought reality. Our relationship with God is not a fragile romance that shatters at the first sign of trouble. It is a marriage covenant, sealed by the blood of the Son.
When you fail, when you feel distant from God, when the watchmen of the world or even your own conscience beat you down, you must do what the bride did. Do not wallow in your failure. Extol the glories of your Beloved. Remind yourself of His character. And then, with restored confidence, declare the truth of the covenant. "I am my beloved's." Start there. My identity is that I belong to Him. He has purchased me. He has claimed me. And because I am His, He is mine. He is my shepherd, and I am one of His lilies. He is in His garden right now, tending to His people, and that includes you. This is the confidence that anchors the soul. This is the love that makes the world stop and ask, "Where has your beloved gone?" May we be a people so captivated by our Shepherd-King that many will want to seek Him with us.