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1. First, it may be taken to intimate the greater discoveries of the riches of His grace which have been made to us under the Gospel. Adam had a savour of the ointment in the promise made to him of "the seed of the woman"; Abraham had, as it were, drops of the precious unguent granted to him when, rejoicing in the day of Christ, he saw it and was glad. But now, in these Gospel times, the box containing the ointment is broken. As bees to a garden of spices, all nations flow to this Divine compound of myrrh, aloes, and cassia.

2. Again, the expression seems to intimate that a right apprehension of Christ in His work, character, and offices, will conduce to religious cheerfulness and joy. The use of ointments in the East, on account of their cooling and refreshing properties, often furnishes the sacred writers with an expressive image for all that is bright, and beautiful, and happy. To know Christ, then — what He is, what He says, what He has done for us, what He is doing now; to know Him as our Shepherd to guide, our Staff to uphold, our Rock to flee to, "from storms a Shelter, and from heat a Shade"; — to know Christ in all these beneficent and happy relations, should make the heart glad, and the hands strong, and the tread firm.

3. Another reflection arising out of this passage is the obligation which lies upon us to make Christ known to others. "The savour of Thy name is as ointment; "but then not ointment as it is pent up, hoarded, not suffered to escape from its case of alabaster, but ointment as it is "poured forth," diffused far and wide, reviving all who come near to it with the odour of its perfumes, and having life and healing on its wings.

(D. Moore, M. A.)

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KJV: Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.

WEB: Your oils have a pleasing fragrance. Your name is oil poured forth, therefore the virgins love you.