Drink waters out of thine own cistern,
And running waters out of thine own well.
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad,
And rivers of waters in the streets.
Let them be only your own,
And not strangers’ with you.
Let your fountain be blessed:
And rejoice with the wife of your youth.
Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe;
Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
And be you ravished always with her love.
And why wilt you, my son, be ravished with a strange woman,
And embrace the bosom of a stranger?
(The phrase “loving hind and pleasant roe” describes the wife as a source of joy and satisfaction, encouraging a man to be captivated by her love and intimacy within marriage.)
For us, marriage represents the mystic union between Christ and the Church. Every Christian home should be a little picture of the relationship of our glorified Head with the members of His body. How holy then is that earthly association which speaks of such exalted heavenly mysteries. “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Heb. 13-4).
How much precious teaching in the New Testament, particularly the epistolary portion of it, flows from this truth. Husbands and wives are urged to dwell together according to knowledge that their prayer be not hindered. (See 1 Peter 3:1-7). What a test is this! When husband and wife are so living before each other that with joy and confidence they can kneel and pray together, the home will be what God desires; but where the ways and words of either or both hinder such seasons of communion with each other and the Lord, there is something radically wrong.
(Commentary by H.A. Ironside)