Solomon's Litter
6 Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant? 7 Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage! Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel. 8 They all handle the sword, and are expert in war. Every man has his sword on his thigh, because of fear in the night. 9 King Solomon made himself a carriage of the wood of Lebanon. 10 He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, the middle of it being paved with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem. 11 Go out, you daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother has crowned him, in the day of his weddings, in the day of the gladness of his heart.
The wedding procession is the book's most public scene, and the crown in it comes from a mother rather than a coronation.
Who is this coming up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke? The question introduces the Song's grandest spectacle. The procession is announced by scent before it is seen: myrrh, frankincense, every powder of the merchant. The book asks the same question once more at its close Song of Solomon 8:5. The difference between the two answers is one of its quietest lessons.
Here the answer is majesty. Solomon's litter, with sixty mighty men around it, every sword ready because of fear in the night. Even royal splendor travels guarded. The poem does not pretend the dark is empty. The litter itself is inventoried like a treasury: cedar of Lebanon, posts of silver, base of gold, seat of purple. Then the interior — and the inventory changes currency. The inside was fitted out with love by the daughters of Jerusalem. The costliest thing in the carriage is not on the bill of materials.
Verse 11 calls the daughters of Zion out to look. Not at the armory — at the king crowned by his mother on his wedding day, the day of the gladness of his heart. Whatever state occasion this was, the poem files it under family: a mother's crown, a bridegroom's joy. The Song's one royal pageant exists to deliver a man to a wedding glad.
settled What this mark means