Verse 9 says, "What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?" Although the daughters of Jerusalem do not have deep experiences in the Lord, and although they are not filled with the life of the new creation, they can see that the maiden is the fairest among women. The humility, holiness, and glory of the new creation are admired and acknowledged by all, even by those who do not possess them. Although the maiden no longer sees the countenance of her beloved, she is nevertheless the fairest among women. She has not lost her beauty.
It is never appropriate to consider Christ in the way of comparison, for He is beyond comparison. Yet in the eyes of ordinary people, comparisons are unavoidable. Their eyes have not yet seen His absoluteness; therefore, they can only know Him by comparison. Actually, this Beloved is far more than any other beloved. This word also shows that though these women are the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they have not received a personal revelation of the Lord. They can only receive the reflected light that shines out from her.
Mr. Darby said, "It is, I judge, a fine moral perfectness of thought that the bride never speaks of the Bridegroom's perfections to Himself as if she were to approve Him; she speaks of Him fully as expressive of her own feelings and to others, but not to Him. He speaks freely and fully of her to herself as assuring her of His delight in her. When we think of Christ and our relation with Him, this is beautifully appropriate" (Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, J. N. Darby, Vol. 2, p. 265).
God uses the questions of other people to bring out the maiden's impression of the Lord. This causes the revelation which she once received to shine within her again. This spontaneously recovers her to her initial position. The revelation we have of Christ through the Holy Spirit may become blurred, but the wonderful thing is that it will never be lost. The maiden is still the teacher of the daughters of Jerusalem. Even in her failure, she is still stronger than the daughters of Jerusalem in their time of victory.
Verse 10 says, "My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand." At the very beginning, she speaks of her beloved in a general way. The word "white" in the original language denotes a kind of bright and shining whiteness. This speaks of His purity and His separation from sinners. Yet His whiteness is not a dead whiteness or a pale whiteness, but one that is white and ruddy. This means that He is full of life and power (in the same way that David was a man ruddy in countenance, cf. 1 Sam. 16:12). Throughout His life, He was a man full of power and life. From the time He was twelve years old until today, while He sits at the right hand of God, He has never been short of strength.