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This verse is taken from:
Song of Songs 5. 10
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“search the scriptures” John 5:39
The beautiful love story had reached its climax at the opening verse of this chapter, the joy of the marriage expressed in the invitation, ‘Eat, O friends; drink, yea drink abundantly, O beloved’. But swiftly the joy had gone and the flame had been extinguished. He was gone and she could not find him.
To what was owed this sad circumstance? What sundered those two, so filled with their love for each other? How could such sadness follow such joy? The cause was to be found in her own heart. He came for her, vv. 2-4, and she refused him. Lethargy gripped her, laziness controlled her, and he was gone. She sought him and suffered from her loss, overwhelmed by its magnitude.
It is, therefore, from her lips as she searches for him that the beautiful description found at the end of chapter 5 comes. Out of the darkness of her loneliness she answers those who ask in what way he is different from others. How often have these words been quoted? How many hearts have they lifted in worship?
The number ‘ten thousand’ is one of the largest single numbers quoted in scripture. Numbers larger than that are often expressed in multiples as ‘ten thousand times ten thousand’, Dan. 7.10; Rev. 5.11. As a single number it denotes that which is, beyond description. Her beloved is chief among ten thousand, incomparable in his beauty, inestimable in his loveliness, unsurpassed in his gentleness and unmatched in his exquisite comeliness. None can stand beside him nor can any overshadow him. Wherever he is and whatever occupies him, he is always the chiefest.
But are there not lessons for us? It is so easy to lose touch with the Lord. Today’s enjoyment of Him can become tomorrow’s estrangement. Our love abates, our desire wanes, suddenly He has gone and only then do we realize what we have lost. May we not fail in this. To keep our affections centred on Him, to enjoy His presence and treat it as a precious privilege will ensure that we do not lose touch with the incomparable Christ who is ‘chiefest among ten thousand’.
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