Song of Solomon 2:2

For he was not good who refused to tolerate the evil. For hence it is that blessed Job asserts of himself, saying: I was a brother of dragons, and a companion of ostriches. Hence through Solomon it is said in the voice of the bridegroom to holy Church: As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters.

It is written of the church: "As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among women."

As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. These are manifestly the words of Christ concerning his church, whom he calls "my love"; see Gill on Son 1:9; and was his love still, though in such company, and in such an uncomfortable condition.

The king resumes, taking up the bride’s comparison: “As the lily excels in beauty the thorny shrubs among which it grows, so my friend excels her companions.”

Jesus Christ to the Bride (Mt 10:16; Thorns, equivalent to the wicked (2Sa 23:6; Ps 57:4). daughters--of men, not of God; not "the virgins." "If thou art the lily of Jesus Christ, take heed lest by impatience, rash judgments, and pride, thou thyself become a thorn" [LUTHER].

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

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 and 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."

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 and 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 study 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 on 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 necessary, 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 purpose 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 hope that many are taking root among us, now, newly transplanted from the world.