The Mandrakes Yield Fragrance

"The mandrakes yield fragrance."

Song of Songs 7:13.

A sister recently said to me "I am not concerned about having little knowledge of the Bible, as I will know it perfectly, from cover to cover, when I am in heaven." I remain unconvinced, but that is not the main thrust of that upon my heart.

Nevertheless, if we are content to have scant knowledge of the Word of God, we will know real deficiency in our appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is Centre, Sum, Subject and Object of the written Word, and that precisely and preciously for "His own."

The mandrakes, or "love apples," yield fragrant incense arising from the hearts' affections of the Lords' people. Exhilarated, intoxicated with the Lord Himself, in all His infinite beauty.Thus we further read, "And at our gates are all choice fruits, new and old:" Perhaps answering to the "treasure" brought out by the "instructed" child of God, [Matthew 13:52] from as it were his basket of first fruits, [Deuteronomy26:2] in anticipation of, and for, the sweetest purpose and highest privilege afforded to him, that of worship. "Things new and old" vouchsafed to us by Him; new wonders revealed, old meditations remembered, as day by day we peruse the Word. Solomon himself would teach us that "by knowledge are the chambers filled with all precious and pleasant substance." Proverbs 24:4.

Now, have we "kept," reserved these things for ourselves, for our enjoyment only? Or have we individually, "laid them up" for One who is Beloved? Choice fruits are to be found at "our gates," plural, or so it should be; but have we personally treasured them up for Him alone, the One who then we may call, "MY Beloved."

How precious those brief moments when gathered to His Name, and in remembrance of Him in His death for us, audibly and in silence we present our first fruits to Him, trusting that the Spirit of God will endue them with a savour of a sweet smell ascending to the very Throne of God.

May we be so freighted every time we draw nigh and enter in to the Holiest of all. 

[Quotations from JND New Translation]