Lessons from Solomon: Myrrh, Frankincense, and All the World has to Offer

This week, as we landed in the wonderment of Song of Songs 3:6-ff, I found myself wide-eyed in the theological treasure trove of verse six as the Great King Solomon makes his entrance for the wedding celebration.

As he does, the most interesting things are pointed out by the Shulamite... his perfumes! To sum it up, there are three basic aromas which the Shulamite bride smelled on the person of Solomon as he entered for the wedding celebration: she smelled myrrh, frankincense, and complimentary perfuming powders.

"So what's up with that?!" you might ask. It seems meaningless enough, doesn't it? So he put on cologne for his wedding... so what?!

It seems meaningless until we begin to remember something about Jesus being given myrrh and frankincense, and then we stop to think, "Hey, didn't they say something about that stuff in those painfully long Exodus passages that we thought were meaningless to read?!" And the answer, of course, is found somewhere within the realization that what God has delivered to us, no-matter how tedious or laborious it might seem, is never to be assumed "meaningless." It might do us well to consider that if God finds it important enough to include, then perhaps it's a bit arrogant to skip it, thus declaring it unimportant.

There are, in fact, some amazing lessons to be found in the three perfumes of Solomon.

First, the bride of Solomon smells myrrh. Myrrh is actually commanded as a key ingredient to holy anointing oil in Exodus 30:23-24. Along with Cassia, it is one of the two primary scents. This is the anointing oil set aside for things and people made holy to God... i.e. the Tent of Meeting and its appointments, the Priests, etc. When God anoints someone or something, this is the stuff. One suddenly recalls Samuel anointing David, while still a young shepherd boy, to be King over Israel, and so many other examples. And on the day of entrance to his wedding celebration, the first scent that is noticed upon the Great King Solomon, son of David, ruler of the Golden Age of Israel, is a key reminder of the scent of consecration to God.

Second, the Shulamite bride smells frankincense. Frankincense was the main ingredient in the incense of Temple Worship of God (see Exodus 30:34). This ingredient would smell as a reminder, once again, of the centrality of focus upon service to God.

Finally, the third smell noticed on the person of Solomon, was the smell of the world. Specifically, "...all scented powders of the merchant". Simply put, Solomon availed himself of the scented body powders available to him from merchants who visited from around the world. Remember here, that Israel was poised at the apex of a piece of geography which saw merchants collide from the East, as well as from around the Great Sea. Coupled with the massive fame of Solomon's kingdom, and you find the best the world has to offer right at Solomon's footstool.

So what do we learn from the smells of the perfumes of Solomon at his wedding to the Shulamite?

First, it is the anointing of God, the call to be set apart to His purposes, which is the most important scent of all when it comes to life, and relationships, and passion and romance. Solomon did not select the scent of the Shulamite's choosing, but the scent of his calling to inspire and "woo" his bride.

Second, the scent of service to God, frankincense which reminds us of the common essence of temple incense, is to be central to our lives of relationship, passion and romance. It defines our path; both where we are going and where we have been.

And third, that we are free to enjoy the scents of the world which fit with the other two.

Have you ever wondered what your house might look like if you emptied it first of anything except that which is holy to God, set aside for the work and purposes of Christ? What if you emptied your house, your life, of all else, and then looked about and only allowed the things that fit with the things of God to come back in?

To be honest, there would be some things that would still fit, wouldn't there? Some pots and pans, your favorite chair perhaps, that old tattered t-shirt that you love to wear on Saturdays... and then there would be some things that simply couldn't come back inside. Such were the fragranced powders worn by Solomon. Only the smells that fit with the smells of God were allowed.

Verse 6... who would've thought! What would happen if we smelled like that?

Live long, ride hard, and smell of anointed service to Christ!

In the Peace of Christ,

Pastor John