As Excellent As The Cedars: Tree Series Part 4 of 7

Song Of Solomon 5 

15"His legs are pillars of marble Set on bases of fine gold. His countenance is like Lebanon, Excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet, 16 Yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, And this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!" 

Solomon wrote 3,000 proverbs and more than 1,000 songs.  It says so right here in 1 Kings 4:32  "He {Solomon} spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five."  Incredible! 

The most excellent of all the songs he wrote God called the "Song of Songs."  It's a beautiful story of the love between Jesus and His bride, the Church.  That's us! 
 

 

In this part of the song, the bride is missing her bridegroom.  She is diligently searching for her Beloved but not finding Him.  While Jesus never ever leaves us, we can sometimes lose the sense of His presence. 

The present-day Church is just like her.  We are without His physical presence.  We, like the Shulamite, wish more than anything that He was here in person!

As the Shulamite searches for him she comes across the daughters of Jerusalem.  (Shulamite is the feminine form of the name, "Solomon.") These Jewish people asked her, in verse 9:  "What is your beloved more than another beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, That you so charge us?" 

The "others" mentioned here by the daughters of Jerusalem (Jewish people) are all the other prophets, like Moses and Elijah, that came before her Beloved, before her Jesus.  The Shulamite goes on to describe His appearance in great detail, how His countenance is as "excellent as the cedars....." etc.  

This is how she pictures her beloved, Jesus:  He is the King of Kings!  The more she talks about Him, about how wonderful and altogether lovely He is, her very description causes her to fall deeper and deeper in love with Him!  Her describing spills over into the next chapter where she suddenly remembers where He is:  Feeding His flock.  She finds him at last!

How appropriate that she compares Him to the cedar.  It is the greatest and most stately of all the trees of Israel. It could rightly have been called "king" of the trees. It is very beautiful, a picture of majesty and strength like our Lord Jesus! 
 

The Hebrew word for cedar is "erev," which means "solid," because it's roots go deep into the soil.  It is well-known for it's longevity, some living for many generations.  Some are more than a thousand years old!  It's leaves and branches spread out wide enough to provide welcome shade and shelter underneath.

That's just like Jesus!  He's as excellent as the cedars, beautiful in stature; dignified and full of majesty and glory! There is shelter under His wings.  The stately Cedar naturally repels insects which typify evil spirits in the Bible. That is good news for all who are believers because   "As He is, so are we in this world," 1 John 4:17

The root system of the cedar is so strong it is not felled by forces of nature that would topple other trees; like earthquakes. That is the real secret of it's longevity.  It says of Jesus in Hebrews 1:12 that "His years do not fail." It's a typology of eternal life. 

He is not only as stately, as kingly, as powerful and imposing as the cedars but is also described as being as humble and lowly as "the hyssop that grows out of the walls." (1 Kings 4:33.)  He is the perfect combination of strength and gentleness, majesty and humility.

Every which way you turn Him, He is absolutely perfect; altogether lovely.....and His countenance is as Excellent as the Cedars!