This article came about with a conversation with a friend the other day. He was asking why Jesus is sometimes referred to as the Rose of Sharon.
The phrase “rose of Sharon” comes out of the Old Testament in the Song of Solomon. Here is the verse:
“I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.” (Solomon 2:1)
Here are some basic facts about this verse and how it may be related to Jesus being considered the Rose of Sharon.
- Nowhere in the New Testament is Jesus actually referred to as the rose of Sharon. However, He is symbolically referred to as the rose of Sharon by many.
- You are right about Sharon being a place. Sharon is a plain and it is one of the largest valley-plains in all of Palestine. Back at the time of Solomon, it was considered a wild, fertile plain that had many beautiful flowers in it. Sharon was supposed to have been known for its beauty and majesty back in those days.
- The person saying she is the “rose of Sharon” in the above verse was a Shulamite woman who apparently was Solomon’s bride.
- Here is the reason that I think people like to use this analogy of Jesus being the Rose of Sharon. The New Testament refers to Jesus as being the Bridegroom and the Church as His Bride. This tells us right here that God is using the “lover” analogy to describe the personal relationship that He wants us to have with His Son.
However, in the above verse, the person saying she is the rose of Sharon is a woman, not a man. Jesus is obviously referred to as “male” since He is always referred to as “He” in the Bible.
The rose is considered to be the most “perfect” of all flowers.
You will notice that Jesus is symbolically referred to as the rose of Sharon. Jesus is totally perfect in His nature and personality.
He thus can be considered to be the actual rose of Sharon since He is totally perfect within His own nature – just like the rose is supposed to be the most perfect of all flowers.
Normally in a husband-wife or boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, it is the male who gives roses to the wife or girlfriend.
Since Jesus is considered the Bridegroom in His personal relationship with His church, it would thus be Jesus coming to us to give us the flowers.
However, in this case, God may be going one step further in allowing this analogy to be made of His Son.
I believe God may be trying to tell us that Jesus will go one step further. Instead of Jesus being the One who would give us the flowers as we have in our normal human relationships, Jesus is actually referred to as the flower itself!
And with the rose being the most perfect of all flowers, God is telling us that His Son Jesus is the Rose of Sharon rather than just having Him be the One to just give us this rose flower due to His perfect nature and perfect love that He has for all of us.
Women love flowers. They love the way they look and smell – especially roses.
I feel God wants us to have full realization of how special His Son Jesus is to us, and He is using the rose flower to compare His Son with so we can truly appreciate the beauty and perfection of Jesus and the perfect love that He has for each and every one of us.
Bottom line – Jesus is perfect love just as the rose is the most perfect of all flowers in its looks, beauty and smell.
By using the rose flower as a visual symbolism of Jesus’ love for us, we can better see and appreciate what God is trying to tell us in the personal love relationship that He wants to establish with each and every one of us.
He wants all of us to realize how special His love is for us, and that He wants more than anything else to be able to enter into this personal love relationship with each one of us.
The above is just my own personal opinion on what this analogy is referring to.
I’ve always had a good witness that God the Father does approve of us using the Rose of Sharon to symbolize His Son’s perfect love for us even though it is not actually stated per se in Scripture.
In western societies, Men give the women flowers, yes, but what about in other societies?
In arriving at the meaning in Gods word on a specific subject as this about ‘The Rose of Sharon’ will you tell me which Bible or Bibles you use or just more than one?
We use the New King James Version of the Bible.
Mike
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on that. I have always wondered why Jesus is considered as “The Rose of Sharon” since at first thought, when one considers the passage where the term is introduced, the analogy does not quite make sense. But your resolution of the difficulty is quite compelling.
This is so cool how you are able to explain something so simple, through it I can see the love and romance Jesus, and the Father has for us in having a intimate relationship with Him. Lol He is completion in every aspect isn’t He.
@Kellyjo, If you read carefully, the Shulamite is the person claiming to be the Rose of Sharon and a Lilly in the valley. The Shulamite is considered to be a sister to Sodom and Sumeria which would make her Jerusalem. A lily is a Christian. The rose is not a rose like we think of one. Look up the rose of Sharon and you can see the difference. This rose is surrounded by thorns and needs protection. The “King ” is a type of the Antichrist and the Shepard is Jesus. The Shulamite must escape from the King that has her in his chambers to follow her beloved. The king is friends with the King of Tyre, a type for Satan in Scripture.
When reading SOS we must always keep in mind who is speaking at the time. Christ cannot be the rose or a Lily because the woman is speaking saying that’s what she is.
do you know how many times the name sharon is mentioned in the bible? my friend named her daughter sharon and is new in christ as i also am and were both new to our bibles and were wondering … thank you
This is wonderful! I can c now that d true love (4rm God) is shown 2 us 2ru JESUS CHRIST. See this manner of LOVE that the father has towards us that we are called sons and daughters of God.
While praying I heard the Holy Spirit declare that as spirit converses with spirit so we must seek a relationship with God.When we seek this relationship with God He will put the mantle of His Son Christ Jesus over us and we will be able to open up doors that could never be opened before.
Glory to God!!!
At receiving this word I also continuously heard Rose of Sharon.
Our Abba Father wants the relationship with us that He originally had with Adam in the garden of Eden before the fall.
Come let us adore and glorify God almighty through Christ Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us.
Be blessed!!!It is your time!!!
i thank you so much because when in prayer i kept hearing the rose of sharron i instantly began to look this up and i so receive your comment.
The Rose of Sharon is the true people of God who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. The Rose of Sharon is the people of God – we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ when we are born again. It is Christ who washes and cleanses us that is why we become perfect. It can also be talking of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21) that comes down from heaven as a bride adorned for her Husband – The People of God are the bride of Christ and the New Jerusalem is our eternal home and rest with Christ our King and Husband.
Marriage on earth is to be a reflection of the Heavenly bride (The true people of God) and the Heavenly Husband (Christ)…Read Ephesians 5 for the explanation.
The Rose of Sharon in Song of Solomon is The Bride – that is any born again believer – Christ refers to us as “Children of the bride chamber” in Matthew 9:15. I find it almost impossible to read song of Solomon without tears of joy and longing to see Christ. Come Lord Jesus.
@Colin,
Your reason are explanation or whatever reason you wrote that was the most wonderful one I’ve heard thank you for it I just wanted to tell you thank you for it it was absolutely music to my ears and I heard God say this is what you need to do and I want you to know I appreciate you God bless you and you have a blessed day.
The rose of sharon shrub is one of the hardiest roses and will thrive beautifully on it’s own with no maintenance, thus a very popular choice for rental and vacation home landscapes, so of course this type of rose is the perfect choice to symbolize the enduring beauty of the love of Jesus Christ. Let’s not forget the symbolic importance of the rose in the amazing sacrifice Christ made for all when he bore the cross while forced to wear a crown of thorns. Although it may be said that the thorns used to torture his innocent mind and body were not of this flora, the transformative nature of his resurrection symbolizes the protection the thorns of the rose give to the flower, as the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ is protected by the powerful divinity of God.
Its a very interesting metaphorical interpretation.
God’s nature is love. A love God sent His love son, who willing laid down His life for us to beget love children of the nature of God.
If i understood well, Jesus is the Rose of sharon, but he is also the groom offering him self “the Rose ” to and for the love sake of his bride the church, because no one took his life but in self sacrifice and as the eternal high priest he gives his life for the sake of all those who so ever believe in him .he is the perfect sacrifice and the sacrificing.
Very well said. your comment reminds me of “Above All” song by Michael W Smith: Like a Rose, trampled on the ground. You took the fall. And thought of me. Above all…
Amen, excellent analogy! I aslo had the same revelation, because I believe a rose has a perfect fragrance and the aroma is forever before his Father presence as a sweet smelling sacrifice. The High Priest had offer a perfect sacrafice or a lamb without bleemish yearly doing Pastover. You can very well say that the fragrance in the father’s nostral was like a pleasant smell of a rose. Some may say it was the smell like the aroma of frankincens and muyrrh. However the aroma of rose a is Holy or a set apart fragrance that stands alone above all flower frances, but I’m not that saying that it’s factual. In my opinion the analogy or symbolism supports our LORD!
For God(HUSBAND) so love the world(wife) that he give us his ROSE OF SHARON(JESUS) that we may enjoy life more aboundantly.jn3:16 I.E when soever we go after other gods we have committed audultry.our broken marriage wit GOD WAS RESTORE BACK BY JESUS.
I dreamt last night that someone is covering my whole body with roses while laying in bed. My whole body was covered and you cannot even see part of me uncovered. I think Jesus is the person in my dream
Amen I say to you. That was a prophetic dream. He is our covering. That was a beautiful dream he gave you. You will begin to smell roses in places at times and that’s a sensory tell tale that he’s with you. You love roses and that’s why he did that for you.
Daniel
Thank you for this article. The Lord gave me a dream last night of a bouquet of red roses and I wanted to research the meaning biblically. Thanks again!
Thank you for these explanations. As I think deeper the Rose is one of the prettiest and sweet smelling flower and within this tree there are thorns and inspite of the crown of thorns He still blossoms and shows the world that He is most beautiful beyond description.Jesus thank you for being so wonderful that I can always look to you. as the Beautiful Rose
I am a believer in Jesus as well. However, I feel like the “Rose” in “The Rose of Sharon”
can be overly implied to justify the beauty of Jesus at times.
The flower The Rose of Sharon” is not a rose that we commonly know of. It is not a rose are from the land of Sharon in Israel. It is another kind of flower that looks more like a smaller version of hibiscus with milder petal colors, and it does not have any thorns on its stems as the common rose bushes do.
So, I am afraid that our interpretation of Jesus as the ‘Rose of the Sharon’ may overly implied or stretched as we imagine the “rose” in the “Rose of Sharon” as the rose we all know, as the national flower of England. However, the Rose of Sharon, is more closely related to the national flower of South Korea.
So the Rose of Sharon is the flower blooming in the land of Sharon, Israel, without thorns.
This is an excellent description of Jesus’ Love to us all. His love is a perfect Love that when we were yet sinners He loved and gave His life for us. He showed me how to love even to the person who doesn’t desire my love. As a sinner Jesus loved and continue to love me even when I fall short of glory, even when I cannot measure up to the standard of righteousness. It’s only by His grace that I am made righteous, oh what a loving God!!
There is a Tree Shrub called the Rose of Sharon that blooms White and as the flower ages on day one of it’s bloom it starts to go pink like blood stains then deepens in red until it dies and this hapoens over a 3 day period until the bud next to it opens white like the Crusifixtion death and burial then resurrection
I have a Rose Of sharon in my garden and it is amazing to watch
it always blooms around Passover every year it is an Autumn Bloom and it has no fragrance
the Rose of Sharon is more of a cousin of the Hibiscus family NOT an actual Rosia that has a fragrance
Thank the Lord Jesus Christ, for He has loved us with an everlasting love.
His beauty and adoring fragrance is beyond the roses in the world put together.
Alleluia!
I had a dream that I was looking for a girl named Rose and I couldn’t find her anywhere I kept calling out her name and asked a teacher if she seen her and she said she would help me but I never found Rose
Probably you are looking for Jesus and He is there all the time just open your heart to Him
The origin of “Rose of Sharon” is in Song of Solomon (old Testament) and attributed to Solomon’s wife. The attribution to Christ’s mother is a generic one, Sharon being (formerly) a rich pasture-land in Palestine, and the Rose being the “perfect flower”.
While in worship i was with Jesus in a garden that had no color but Jesus rubbed his hand against a rose and it turned red. The whole garden came to life. Jesus was walking in the garden with me looked back and i seen the holes in his hands as he walked ahead of me to follow him. I felt such peace and love.
A few weeks later i am praying in the spirit and i am with Jesus again and he is pouring oil over my head and it smelled like roses.
Beautiful.
I had a dream I was in love with a man 4 months before actually meeting him. In this dream I felt overwhelming love and peace, and he was holding me. I even woke up from that dream still feeling the intense love. After I met this man months later, we became close and clicked so fast almost like I knew him before. I was praying to God about him and asking why is he in my life? I fell asleep praying and dreamed of me and that man sitting across from each other at a table, our family and friends were congregating around us and eating but they were a blur, it looked like a banquet. Only this man and I were in focus. I knew in the dream that he learned everything about me. When I looked above our heads there was a giant beautiful bouquet/ball/bundle of roses above me and his heads. His eyes followed my eyes to admire the roses. Does this mean I will lead this man to Christ? Does this mean this man is meant for me in love? It’s been two years since that dream and we’ve come closer and closer, and the powerful love is developing…
Hi there 🙂 how is it going with this man of your dream? I am also in love with a man who does not yet know Jesus’ love. I hope I can help to lead him to God’s forgiveness and love.
Also, I found this page because I’ve been looking up things about the Rose of Sharon because Mumford and Sons song about it in their album Delta.
Hi, I’m excited for you though that must be excruciating at the moment. What has the Lord told you about this man? I’ve had a most unconventional year with a new beginning and gift and promotion just in August, after the year long trial.
Fathers ways are unfathomable and he is amazingly gracious, kind and a great matchmaker!!
In the old testament the bible says that Sharon will spring forth out of the desert as a Rose, or similar words. I think Jesus is the Rose springing forth in the desert of sin and the fall and calling all men to him.
I also find it interesting that the verse mentions “A lily of the valleys” and in the next verse, ” a lily among thorns”. Both references make me think of Jesus. When my Lilies of the Valleys are blooming under my kitchen window, I just can’t get enough of their delicate beautiful fragrance. I want to get my nose right down to them and breath deeply. I want to just lie down amongst them and breath in and rest in that lovely fragrance and when I do take time to enjoy the fragrance of my flowers, it is so deeply satisfying, just like my time spent with Jesus. “A Lily among thorns” makes me think of an Easter Lily another flower associated with Jesus , his death, burial, and resurrection, another flower of strong fragrance and white color. It all makes me think of Jesus’s purity and His pure love for us and His suffering for us, so that we might truly enjoy a deep and satisfy relationship with Him.
I think you’re actually correct. David Pawson explains this in his serminar on Song of Solomon that the rose of Sharon is a little flower that is so small you can hardly see it and will almost trample it. This resembles not Jesus’ beauty, but rather His humility.
This is a very interesting take, but I would like to offer an alternative: That the rose of Sharon is not Jesus but His Bride. The person saying it is the woman, who is consistently alluding to the Bride. Jesus says He has “perfected forever those who are being sanctified”. (Hebrews 10:14) He also says that He presents us to Himself “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” -Ephesians 5:27
The Song of Solomon is a love story about the Bride caught up in her desire for the perfect Bridegroom but painfully aware of her natural unworthiness compared to His perfection. And yet He CALLS her perfect, He CALLS her without blemish (SS 4:7); and in CALLING her that, just like in the Creation, she BECOMES so IF she receives it by faith. (Romans 4:17)
Why do you refer to the Land of Israel as Palestine? It was not called Palestine by God, or Jesus, (Yeshua) but given that name by the Romans to humiliate and conquer the Hebrew people. The area of Israel where the Rose of Sharon, is modern day LOD still part of the plain of SHARON and is located in present, modern day ISRAEL, not far from the international airport.
Just like the Rose, Jesus is both the giver and the gift.
The gift of roses, perfect and fragrant in every way, what a wonderful gift to receive!
The giver, upon the death of a rose every part is useful for beauty, health, vitality and spirit.
I loved reading everyone’s take on the Jesus/rose analogy! Our God is so complex and simple at the same time, grand and humble… he is a loving teacher who communicates to us all in our own way but all to the glory of Jesus Christ!
To the best of my knowledge I understood that Jesus is called the “Rose of Sharon” because He beautifies ugly situation. It was said that Sharon was one of the largest valley-plains in all of Palestine and was without beauty, knowing this that a flower would beautify a valley and a Rose flower would perfectly design this. So in our lives His presence as a Rose beautifies our lives. Thanks.
Is the crown of Thorns Formed from the Rose Of Sharon and it’s thorns ?
When I was saved I asked Jesus if he could honour my sister Sharon who passed away and when I read this article I realised that he had already done so.
My name is Sharon as a child I hated the name. As I grew up and learned about the word of God I learned to love the name and I especially love to tell people that I’m named after Jesus. It is a very special name in my book and I named my daughter sharonda which has Sharon in it so she would be named after Jesus too. I hope all Sharons appreciate their name cuz they are very special their mom has stopped before they gave them that name. Thank you for listening God bless you
I keep having visions of a rose. Closed and then blooming. This is the perfect explanation- thank you! I believe this is Jesus’s promises to me.