The Lily Among Thorns
Charles H. Spurgeon
Song of Solomon 2:2
As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
We shall not enter into any profitless discussion this morning. We take it for granted that the Song of Solomon is a sacred marriage song between Christ and His church. That it is the Lord Jesus who is here speaking of His church, and indeed of each individual member, saying, "As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters." I will not even enter into any disquisition as to what particular flower is here intended by the word translated "lily," for it would be very difficult to select a plant from the Holy Land about which travelers and botanists would agree. The lily which we should most naturally fix upon is, as I have gathered from books of travel, not at present found in that country, though we may not therefore be sure that it was never there or may not yet be discovered. Several other fair and beautiful forms, according to the fancies of various travelers, have been preferred to occupy the place of the plant intended by the original Hebrew, but none of them quite come up to the ideal suggested to an English reader by our translation.
I will for once take the liberty to clothe the Scripture in a western dress, if need be, and venture to do what Solomon would surely have done if his Song of Songs had been written in England. I shall assume that he means one of our own lilies, either the lily of the valley or one of those more stately beauties, matchless for whiteness, which so gloriously adorn our gardens. Either will do and serve our turn this morning. "As the lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters." It is of small moment to be precise in botany so long as we get the spirit of the text. We seek practical usefulness and personal consolation and proceed at once in the pursuit in the hopes that it may be with us as with the great Bridegroom himself, of whom the golden canticle says, "He feedeth among t ...
Charles H. Spurgeon
Song of Solomon 2:2
As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
We shall not enter into any profitless discussion this morning. We take it for granted that the Song of Solomon is a sacred marriage song between Christ and His church. That it is the Lord Jesus who is here speaking of His church, and indeed of each individual member, saying, "As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters." I will not even enter into any disquisition as to what particular flower is here intended by the word translated "lily," for it would be very difficult to select a plant from the Holy Land about which travelers and botanists would agree. The lily which we should most naturally fix upon is, as I have gathered from books of travel, not at present found in that country, though we may not therefore be sure that it was never there or may not yet be discovered. Several other fair and beautiful forms, according to the fancies of various travelers, have been preferred to occupy the place of the plant intended by the original Hebrew, but none of them quite come up to the ideal suggested to an English reader by our translation.
I will for once take the liberty to clothe the Scripture in a western dress, if need be, and venture to do what Solomon would surely have done if his Song of Songs had been written in England. I shall assume that he means one of our own lilies, either the lily of the valley or one of those more stately beauties, matchless for whiteness, which so gloriously adorn our gardens. Either will do and serve our turn this morning. "As the lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters." It is of small moment to be precise in botany so long as we get the spirit of the text. We seek practical usefulness and personal consolation and proceed at once in the pursuit in the hopes that it may be with us as with the great Bridegroom himself, of whom the golden canticle says, "He feedeth among t ...
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