A Desirable Thing

A Desirable Thing

“Yea, He is altogether lovely.”Song of Solomon 5:16

This verse is rightly applied to our Lord Jesus Christ, our Beloved, our Friend. The words “altogether lovely” come from the Hebrew word machad which means “a desirable thing.”

This word is used of Ezekiel’s wife in “the desire of thine eyes” (Ezek. 24:16). It is used when Ephraim’s children are referred to as “the beloved fruit of the womb” (Hos. 9:16). It is used in reference to God’s sanctuary and translated as “desire” (Ezek. 24:21). It is used to refer to highly esteemed possessions as “pleasant” or “precious” things (1 Ki. 20:6; Isa. 64:11; Lam. 1:7).

It also signifies that which is of supreme worth to the possessor. When we say, “He is altogether lovely,” we are saying that our Lord Jesus is to us all that Ezekiel’s wife was to her husband, all that the children were to their parents, what the temple was to the Jews, and what the choicest possessions were to the Israelites.

Our infinitely attractive Bridegroom is the only supremely worthy and satisfying Object of desire. There is no sinless desire of the human heart which cannot find its perfect fulfillment in Christ!

But there is something else which is striking about the word “machad.” In every case, other than in Song 5:16, the desired object is removed. Ezekiel’s wife is taken away by a stroke. Ephraim’s children are slain. The temple is destroyed. All life’s pleasant things are robbed.

What are we to learn from this? Is it not that since all other objects of our desire will ultimately pass away, if we make anything less than Christ our object, we shall surely be disappointed? Only He is “altogether lovely.”

Can we echo these words of the psalmist, Asaph: “There is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee” (Ps. 73:25)?

By Carolyn C. Gibb