Borders of Gold with Studs of Silver

adapted from PCC Prayer MeetingExhortation on 27 August 2010


“We will make thee borders of gold with studs ofsilver” (Songs of Solomon 1:11)

The Song of Songs is a poemwritten by King Solomon not too long after he became king. If we read the poemliterally, we see a love story between a Shulamite woman and her lover. Thestory begins in their courtship days and ends at their day of marriage.

For the most part, the poem ismade up of dialogue between the woman and her lover, with some interjection byfriends and relatives. But who is this woman and her lover? Many commentatorsbelieve that the lover was Solomon himself, whereas the Shulamite woman was theconcubine of David who must have been given to him to be his wife when Daviddied.

But this may not be the bestinterpretation, for in the firstplace, the lover is painted as a shepherd in the song (1:7), and Solomon wasnot quite a shepherd although he did own flocks of sheep. In the second place, by the time this Song waswritten, Solomon had 60 queens, and 80 concubines, and the number wasincreasing because there were “virgins without number” (SS 6:8)! Whateverromance that Solomon enjoyed would unlikely be the pure and chaste one asdepicted in this poem.

Who then were these two persons? Well, in the finalanalysis, I think we have to come to the conclusion that if you look at theSong literally, that these two persons did not really exist. Solomon was notwriting the love story between two real persons. He was writing, I believe,under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a parable of perfect lovepersonified,—a parable of the love between the Messiah and His bride.

There is no doubt that if welook at the picture that he paints merely on the surface, we will see aromantic story between a Shulamite girl and Solomon picturing himself as ashepherd (or vice-versa). But there is also no doubt in our minds that thisstory is not to be interpreted literally, for else it will make no sense aspart of the Holy Scriptures.

On the other hand it makesperfect sense to interpret the poem spiritually or allegorically, foreverywhere in Scripture is Christ portrayed as a Shepherd, a King, and aHusband as in the Song. And similarly, everywhere in the Scripture, we find theChurch portrayed as the Bride, and the Beloved of the Husband.

Indeed, this is the only way we must interpret thisbook if we are going to find spiritual promises applicable to all of us fromthis book.

Well, when we interpret this book Christologicallylike that, we will see that the whole book points to an implicit promise, whichis the marriage of the Bride to the Bridegroom. In fact, this whole book isabout the courtship between the Shepherd and the Shulamite. It begins with theShepherd coming to look for the Shulamite at her home and ends with theirwedding.

So this book allegoricallypoints us to the Great Wedding Supper of the Lamb, or to the day of the LordJesus Christ. This is the day that we are all looking forward to. But thisimplicit promise is only expressed explicitly though indirectly in one verse inthis whole book, namely, chapter 1, verse 11—

Wewill make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.

The Lord helping us, let us study these words. Let’sdo so under 3 heads. First, let us understand who is the ‘we’ that is speaking.Secondly, what do the borders of gold with studs of silver represent? Thirdly,we want to ask when this promise would be fulfilled.


1. Who?

It is clear that the words of our text is spoken tothe Shulamite. The Hebrew which is translated as ‘thee’ is in the feminine, soit can’t be spoken to the Shepherd. Now, the Shulamite represents the church ofChrist.

But who are the speakers? Who are the ‘we’ of our text? Who said “we will make thee borders of gold, etc…”

Now, as I mentioned, on the surface most of thisbook contains a dialogue between the Shepherd and the Shulamite.

There are, however, occasional interjections by thefriends and relatives of the Shulamite. For example, in the second part ofverse 4, we have the words, “we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we willremember thy love more than wine.” Who are the ‘we’ who say these words? Well,the Shulamite addresses them as the “daughters of Jerusalem” (v. 5); so theyare probably the friends of the Shulamite.

But what about in our text? Who are the ‘we’ in ourtext? Well, looking at the poem literally, it is difficult to escape theconclusion that the speakers are the daughters of Jerusalem.

However, who would these daughters of Jerusalemrepresent in the courtship between Christ and His bride? Well, certainly theycannot refer to the unbelieving world for they will not rejoice in the marriagebetween Christ and his bride.

Who then are these? Well, we are left with two options.

The first option is the Trinity. The Jamieson,Fausset and Brown Commentary insists: “the Trinity is implied by the HolyGhost, whether it was so by the writer of the Song or not.” Matthew Henry,Matthew Poole and James Durham agree.

Well, that is possible. But another possibility isthat they point to the angels in heaven, whom the apostle Peter suggest areleaning over the parapet of heaven looking earnestly at the development ofdrama of redemption unfolding before them (1 Pet 1:12).

Whatever the case may be, one thing is sure: Heavenwill conspire to make “borders of goldwith studs of silver” for the bride of Christ for her wedding day! This isthe promise.

But…


2. What?

What do the “bordersof gold with studs of silver” represent? Well, in the first place, weshould note that the word translated ‘borders’ (rwTo) is usually translated as‘ornament’ as in the NKJV, NASB, or ESV.

But there are a couple of Hebrew words that clearlymean ‘ornament’ such as ydi[} (Ex 33:4-6 etc) and ylij} (Prov 25:12).

Those words are not used in our text. On the otherhand, the word used is related to a verb to mean ‘search out’ as in go aroundand search out something. So it is very possible that ‘border’ as in the hem ofthe wedding dress is the intended meaning.

But whatever the case maybe, clear that it refers to“a beautiful and honorable ornament” (Poole) which no doubt is intended toadorn the bride on her wedding day.

As the apostle Paul puts it, on the wedding day,Christ as the bridegroom will present the church “to himself a glorious church,not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy andwithout blemish” (Eph 5:27).

We may not know exactly what Solomon meant by the border or theornament, but one thing is sure, it is intended to enhance the beauty of thebride just like the jewellery she wears on the wedding day.

AsMatthew Henry puts it:

“Whateveris wanting shall be made up, till the church and every true believer come to beperfect in beauty.”

All heaven will conspire tomake sure that the Bride at the wedding supper of the lamb will be perfect andwithout blemish. God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will see to it;and the angels will, no doubt, be involved in some ways to carry out what mayneed to be done to prepare the church.

Asthe LORD says to the Church through Ezekiel:

“Andthy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfectthrough my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD” (Ezk 16:14).

What a glorious hope we mayhave as we look forward to that day when we shall adorn the ornaments of goldand silver to share in the glory of our Lord and Saviour at the dawn of a newday in eternity.

But…


3. When?

When would that be? Well, the promise points to the day of the WeddingSupper of the Lamb. That will be at the end of the present era of redemptivehistory. It will be the Last Day of these Last Days that we are in.

But when that will be, we don’t know. Even the Sonof God did not know.

One thing we know is that it is a day we should lookforward to and prepare for. The Lord Jesus reminds us in the parable of the TenVirgins that we must be prepared for that day.

Ten Virgins were looking forward to the coming ofthe bridegroom. Five had enough oil; five did not. Who do the virginsrepresent? They represent the members of the church of Christ, no doubt. Thebride represents the church triumphant as a whole; but the virgins representthe individual members in the church militant.

The promise we have is that “He which hath begun agood work in [us] will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6).

Today we are imperfect and not ready for the WeddingBanquet. Imagine how a bride will feel if she has to go to her wedding in ashabby wedding gown, with hair unkempt, and face covered with pimples and cakedwith mud.

Well, that is the state we are in today. But thankGod we will be ready for the wedding. God the Father has elected us. He hasalready given permission for the wedding.

God the Son laid His life down for us and haspurchased for us all that we need to bring to the Banquet including the garmentof righteousness. He has ornaments of grace made available to us to adorn ourwedding garment for the perfect day.

And God the Spirit is making use of all that hasbeen purchased for us to prepare us for life in the eternal mansion. He ischanging us little by little from inside out so that we are more and more ableto enjoy heaven.

And the angels: they are “all ministering spirits,sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Heb 1:14). Wedon’t know exactly what they do. But one thing we know, they are sent tominister to us on our journey.

I can’t prove it, but I wonder if the angels havenot at times kept us from serious accidents so that we may live to thank God.

Whatever, it may be, we know that come the day ofthe wedding supper of the Lamb; we will be ready. All of us will be ready. Allour blemishes and flaws that make us bicker and quarrel with one another todaywill be gone. All our sinful tendencies will be gone. There will be no morehatred, suffering or tears. All that remains will be beautiful persons who loveone another—eager to enjoy one another in Christ for all eternity.


Conclusion

We will make theeborders of gold with studs of silver.

The wedding supper of the Lamb is an event that Itrust we are all looking forward to.

Let us remember that we must prepare for it byworking out our salvation with fear and trembling. But let us also rememberthat we will never be able to prepare adequately for it. Therefore thank Godthat “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his goodpleasure” (Phil 2:13). And he is directing his angels and saints to accomplishthat purpose.

Wewill make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.

Thank God that we do not have to prepare alone forwe shall never be good enough for our bridegroom.

Thank God thatday by day, little by little we see the work that is being done in our heart toprepare us for the great and glorious day. Amen. Ω