In the two first verses you have the description that Christ gives, first of himself, then of his church. Of himself, verse 1; that is, what he is to his spouse: “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.” The Lord Mal. iv. 2; Rev. xii. 1; Luke i. 78; Ἀνατολὴ ἐξ ὕψους· Numb. xxiv. 17; 2 Pet. i. 19; Rev. xxii. 16; Gen. xlix. 9; Mic. v. 8; Rev. v. 5. Christ is, in the Scripture, compared to all things of eminency in the whole creation. He is in the heavens the sun, and the bright morning star: as the lion among the beasts, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Among the flowers of the field, here he is the rose and the lily. The two eminencies of flowers, sweetness of savour and beauty of colour, are divided between these. The rose for sweetness, and the lily for beauty (“Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these”), have the pre-eminence. Farther, he is “the rose of Sharon,” a fruitful plain, where the choicest herds were fed, 1 Chron. xxvii. 29; so eminent, that it is promised to the church that there shall be given unto her the Isa. xxxiii. 9, lxv. 10.excellency of Sharon, Isa. xxxv. 2. This fruitful place, doubtless, brought forth the most precious roses. Christ, in the savour of his love, and in his righteousness (which is as the garment wherein Jacob received his blessing, giving forth a smell as the smell of a pleasant field, Gen. xxvii. 27), is as this excellent rose, to draw and allure the hearts of his saints unto him. As God smelled a sweet savour from the blood of his atonement, Eph. v. 2; so from the graces wherewith for them he is anointed, his saints receive a refreshing, cherishing savour, Cant. i. 3. A sweet savour expresses that which is acceptable and delightful, Gen. viii. 21. He is also “the lily of the valleys;” that of all flowers is the most eminent in beauty, Matt. vi. 29. Most desirable is he, for the comeliness and perfection of his person; incomparably fairer than the children of men: of which afterward. He, then, being thus unto them (abundantly satiating all their spiritual senses) their refreshment, their ornament, their delight, their glory; in the next verse he tells us what they are to him: “As the lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters.” That Christ and his church are likened unto and termed the same thing (as here the lily), is, as from their union by the indwelling of the same Spirit, so from that Rom. viii. 29.conformity and likeness that is between them, and whereunto the saints are appointed. Now she is a lily, very beautiful unto Christ; “as the lily among thorns:” — 1. By the way of eminency; as the lily excelleth the thorns, so do the saints all others whatever, in the eye of Christ. Let comparison be made, so will it be found to be. And, — 2. By the way of trial; the residue of the world being “pricking briers and grieving thorns to the house of Israel,” Ezek. xxviii. 24. “The best of them is as a brier, the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge,” Mic. vii. 4. And thus are they among the daughters, — even the most eminent collections of the most improved professors, that are no more but so. There cannot be in any greater comparison, a greater exaltation of the excellency of any thing. So, then, is Christ to them indeed, verse 1; so are they in his esteem, and indeed, verse 2. How he is in their esteem and indeed, we have, verse 3.