Song of Songs 2
Here begins a new colloquy between Christ and his church; in which they alternately set forth the excellencies of each other, and express their mutual affection for, and the delight and pleasure they take in each other’s corap.iny. Christ seems to begin, in an account of himself and his own excellencies, and of the church in her present state, ver. 1, 2. Then she in her turn praises him, and commends him above all others; relates some clear proofs she had of his love to her, and communion with him in his house and ordinances, to such a degree as t9 overcome her, ver. 3 — 6; and then either he or she gives a charge to the daughters of Jerusalem, not to disturb either the one or the other in their sweet repose, ver. 7. Next the church relates how she heard the voice of Christ, and had a sight of him on the hills and moaiitains at some distance; then more nearly behind her wall, and through the lattices; ver. 8, 9; and expresses the very words in which he spake to her, and gave her a call to come away with him; making use of arguments from the season of the year, the signs of which are beautifully described, ver. 10 — 13; and requests that she would come out of her solitude, that he might enjoy her company, whose countenance and voice were so delightful to him; and gives a charge to her and her friends, to seize on such as were hurtful and prejudicial to their mutual property, ver. 14, 15; and she closes the chapter with expressing her faith of interest in Christ; and with a petition for his speedy approach to her, and continued presence with her, ver. 16, 17.
Verse 1. I am i/ie rose of Sharon, and the lily of the vallies. Here begins a new colloquy between Christ and his church, in which they alternately set forth the praises and excellencies of each other, discover the strength of their mutual affection, and express the delight and pleasure they take in each other’s company: but who begins this colloquy is not so easily determined. What is here said, may be applied either to Christ or to the church; and therefore I shall consider the words in both senses.
First. The words may be considered, as the words of the church expressing the excellency of her grace, loveliness, and beauty, which she had received from Christ; and at the same time inmade of it, riato de leg. 1. 5. p. 848. Plin. 1.
16. c. 33. Et’McSei Kwn-apio-crw, Theocrit. epigram, 4. V. 7. Lib. 12. c. 17.
Gs”,
tiraatiug her being exposed in the open field and low vallies to mnny dangers and enemies; and therefore tacitly desires his protection over her, which he seems to promise in ver. 2. That these are the words of the church, seems to be the general opinion of the Jewish doctors,” and is also embraced by some Christian interpreters.’’ And
1st, The church may be compared to “the rose,” 1. For beauty; it is called the beautiful flower y“^ its colour is beautiful and delightful: the figure is exceeding just; nothing is more common in poems of this kind, than to set forth the beauty of women by the rose; such as Hero,’’ Aspasia,’ and others; some have had the name of Rhoda from hence; and Helena for her beauty was called Vodoxpos.’ The church may be fitly compared to it; no “rose of Sharon” can be move beautiful in colour, and delightful to the eye, than the church is in the eyes of Christ; as she is clothed with his pure and spotless righteousness, adorned with the graces of his Spirit, and standing at his right-hand in cloth of gold, bespangled with the sparkling gems of divine grace; Jier beauty is desirable to him, she being in his eye “the fairest among women.”
2. Por its sweet odour ;8^ the church and all believers are as the fragi-ant and sweet-smelling rose; their persons are so as considered in Christ, and all their graces, especially when in exercise; and all their duties and services, when performed in faith, and perfumed with Christ’s mediation; see chap. iv. 10, Phil. iv. 18, Rev. v. 8, and viii. 3, 4. 3. For its delight in sunny places;’’ it thrives and flourishes the best there, and has the most fragrant smell: Christ is “the Sun of righteousness,” under whose warming, comforting, and refreshing beams, believers delight to be, and under which their souls grow, thrive, blossom exceedingly, and bring forth much fruit. 4. For its blossoming and flourishing, “the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; ’ the church may be said to do so, when there is a large increase of members, and these much in the exercise of grace, and “fruitful in every good work:” then may the church be said to be as the blossoming rose.
2ndly. She may be compared to the “lily of the vallies:” some women have their name from the lily, as Susanna; and so Sysigambis is the rame of the mother of Darius,’ which sigruQes
“Targum, R. Aben Ezra, and Yalkut in loo. so it is interpretiHl of inalcutli. or the bride, by the Cabalistic Doctors, in Lexic. Cab. p. 333. and in Zohar. in Ticv, fol. 4f). 2. ‘’ Tres Patrcs, Lyra, Ainsvvorth, Brightman, Yatablus, Cocceius, Slichaelis.
‘To poSoi’ KaXov cfTi, Theocrit. Iflyll. 2-1. Po3,k t? KaXov aiyot, Antiloflms apud Athen. Deipnosophist. 1. 2. c. 12. Yid. 1. lb. c. .■I. p. G70. * Museus de
lIcro.T..’J9. Vid. Barth. Animadv. ad CIaudian.de nupt. Honor, v. 217. ’ ylilian. Var. Hist. I. 12.
c. I. ‘TlKocrit. I.lyll. 18. e The rose by
the Arcadians was railed cpo/iaXov, that is, sweet-smelling, Timacli, ides apud AlhenaM Deipnosophist,
the white lily ;^ to which for beauty women are sometimes compared -. and v’ith propriety enough may the church be called a lily.’ She is comj)ared to the “lily among thorns “in the next verse, and saints are frequently compared to lilies in this Song. And, 1. She may be likened to a lily for the glory, beauty, and sweet odour of it. Christ says. Mat. vi. 29, of the lilies of the field, that” Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these;” and for the same reasons that she is compared to the beautiful and sweet-smelling rose, is she likewise to the lily; which Pliny“” says, rosce nobii’date pro.vimum est, “is next in nobleness and excellency to the rose.” 2. For its whiteness; there are various sorts of lilies, and they are of different colours; some are of red and purple colours, others are white; and it seems to be the white lily which is intended here, for this seems best to express her beauty; for the red rose and the white lily make her look somewhat like her beloved, “white and ruddy,” a perfect beauty; and of the white lily, Pliny“‘’ says, candor ejus eximius, that its whiteness is singularly excellent; the church, and all believers in Christ, are very aptly resembled by the white lily, who are clothed with “fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of the saints” wrought out by Christ, imputed by God the Faher, and laid hold on by faith; this is so exceeding white, that being arrayed with it, they are all fair, and there is no spot in them.” 3. For its fruitfulness; Pliny” says, nihil est fmcundius, una radice qaitiqiiagenos scrpe emittente biilbos: “nothing is more fruitful, for oftentimes one root sends forth fifty bulbs:” and as fruitful are believers when the Sun of righteousness shines upon them, and Christ is as the dew unto them; for then “they grow as the lily, and cast forth their roots as Lebanon; their branches spread, and their beauty is as the olive tree.” The church brings forth many souls to Christ; and these bring forth much fruit, to the glory both of him and his Father. 4. For its height, for which it is comraended: the lily grows very high; PlinyP says, nee ulli florum excehitas major, interditi cubitorum trium; “no flower exceeds it in height; for in the day-time,” (that is, when it erects itself,) “it is three cubits h’gh.” Believers are trees of righteousness, and plants of Christ’s Father’s planting, which do not run along the ground, and cleave to earthly things,
estqiie odoratior. Junius in loc. ‘Curtius, Elist.
1. 3. c 3. Hitler. Onomastic. p. 632. Dilia non
douiina suit magis alba niea, Propcrtius, 1. 2. so Venus is compared to a lily by Anecreon.
‘So the lily i interpreted of Mulonth. the bride, the church, by the Cabalists, Lexic. Cab. p. 708, 709.
Lib. xxi. c. a” Lib. xxi. c. a. Toto candidior puella cycno, argento nive, lilio, ligustro, Martial. I. i. Lllia tu vincis. 1. 8. c 28. o Lib.
21. c. 5. P Ibid. Lilia summa r.ietit, Ovid. Fasti,
1. 2. prope finera.
but lift up their heads heaven- wards, and grow up on high in their desires and aCfections, having their hearts above, where their treasure is: be lievers are like the flowers of the lily, open towards heaven, but shut towards the earth. 5. For the weakness of its body, and largeness of its head: Pliavn says of the lily, languido semper coiio et noil sufficienle capitis oneri; that it has “a weak neck, or body, which is not sufficient to bear the weight of the head.” Christ is the Head of the body, the church, and far greater than that; he is not supported by it, but he supports it: the church’s strength lies in her head, as Samson’s did in his locks; she is weak in herself, but strong in Christ her Head, and therefore says, “surely in the Lord have I righteousness and strength.” 6. The church may be compared, not only to a lily, but to “a lily of the vallies:” there is a lily which is called liliiimconvaHiicm, “the lily of the vallies:” but this seems not so much to intend the distinguishing name of some particular lily, as it does the place where it grows. And, 1. Vallies are low places; and, when the church is called “the lily of the vallies,” it may be expressive of the low estate and condition which he is sojietimes in: believers are Christ’s myrtle-trees, and these aje sometimes in the bottom, in a low condition; but he grants his presence with them, and the discoveries of his love to them; they are his doves, and they are often “like doves of the vallies, mourning every one for their iniquity, being humbled and pressed down in their souls under a sense of sin and unworthiness; they are not only humble in themselves, and low in their own eyes, but are often in the deeps of affliction, sorrow, and distress, and out of these depths cry unto the Lord; see Psal. csxx. 1. 2. Lilies that grow in the vallies are exposed to danger; they are liable to be plucked up by every one ihat ])asses by, to be trodden upon, and eaten by the beasts that feed there, and also to be washed away, and destroyed by hasty showers of rain, that run from the hills and niouutaius down into the vallies with force and violence; so the church of Christ here on earth, in her low estate, is exposed to the rage of her adversaries, to be trodden under the feet, and torn in pieces by the teeth of those bulls of Bashan, that beset her around, and to be carried away by the flood of persecution, which “Satan the old serpent casts out of his month after her.” Now it is a glorious instance of God’s mighty grace and power in protecting and defeuding his church, that this lily grows and abides in the Vallies, notwithstanding all this danger. 3. Lilies of the vallies have more moisture, verdure, and greenness in them, than those upon the hills and mountains; becr.use the snn has not that power over them, as R. Sol. Jarchi observes, to scorch and dry them up, and
1 Ut supra. ‘Roscis convallibus ^Etna?, Claudian. de rapt. Proserp. 1. 3 v. 85. ‘Durliam in loo.
therefore are much more beautiful and excellent; so believers, being planted by “rivers of water,” are green, flourishing, and fruitful; whilst others look like “the heath in the desert,” dried and parched up. Christ is to the saints as “rivers of water in a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land -,” by the oue he refreshes them, and makes them fruitful; and by being the other he shades from that which would scorch them, and make them barren and unfruitful: and thus is the church the “lily of the vallies,” as well as “the rose of Sharon.” And the Targum here renders it, “the rose in the plain of the garden of Eden:” and some interpreters think the rose is meant; and we sometimes read of roses in vallies,’’ and certain it is there were roses in the vale of Sharon. But,
Secondly, the more commonly received opinion is, that these words are the words of Christ, owning all the glory and praises the church had given him in the former chapter, and setting forth more largely the beauties and excellencies of his person the more to effect, enamour, and ravish her soul, and make her seek and long fur him: and indeed it seems best to understand them of Christ, for self-conimendation does not so well agree with the church as with him. What Solomon says, Prov. xxvii. 2, is worth regarding, “let another praise thee, and not thine own month: a stranger, and not thine own lips:” though it is lawful fur the saints to speak of their glory, beauty, and excelleucy, as considered in Christ, in order to magnify the riches of his grace, for the instruction and encouragement ofotliers, and in viudication of themselves against the calumnies of the world, and to obviate their mistakes concerning them, as in chap. i. 5, she says, “I am black but comely;” but her chief province and design in this Song appears to be, to set forth his praises, and not her own; and indeed the majesty and a;^reeahleness of the style with Christ’s language in the New Testament, such as, “I am the door, I am the good shepherd, I am the vine, T am the way, the truth, and the life,” &c., as well as the connection of the words with the following verse, as one well observes,’ manifestly bespeak them to be the words of Christ, who may very well be called,
1st, “The rose of Sharon.” Christ fitly compares himself to a ruse, which, as Bishop P.strick observes, is still one of the goodliest things to which a great prince can be likened in those Eastern countries; and gives an instance of it in the great Mogul complimenting one of our kings, as being like a rose in a garden; in the Misnah’ mention is made of the king’s lily, or the king’s rose, being the king of flowers, and fit for a king, and an emblem of one; so the men of the. great congregation of Ezra are compared to roses in the Tarura of Cant. vii. 2; and the ances-Misn. Kilaim.c. 5. s. 8. and Muimon. in ib.
F 2
tors of Melissus the Theban, after many calami - ties, are compared to the flourishing rose, for the heijjht of honour and power they arrived unto.” Nor is this simile unfitly used by the bridegroom of himself, since it is sometimes given to men by their lovers;“‘^ and is very properly used in a Song of love, as this is, seeing the rose, as Philostratus calls it, is epwros <pvTov, the ‘plant of love; and Auacreon calls it to poZovTwv epurraiv, the rose of loves; it was sacred to love; the graces are represented, one of them as having a rose, anotlieramyrlle-hranch;^ and a crown of roses, was consecrated to the muses i all this because of the beauty and loveliness of the plant. And to it Christ may be com])ai”ed, 1. Because of its red colour; which may be expressive of the truth of his humanity, and signify that he is really and truly man, having taken part of the same flesh and blood, that his people are partakers of; as also of his bloody sufferings in the same nature, on the account of which he is said to be “red in his apparel:” likewise both these together, the red rose and the white lily, make up that character which is given him, chap. v. 10: that he is “white and ruddy,” a complete beauty, like the charming lily and blushing rose, “fairer than the children of men.” 2. He may be coml)ared to the rose for its sweet smell, as for the same reason he is in the former chapter to spikenard, myrrh, and camphire: his person, sacrifice, grace, and righteousness, have a delightful odour in them; no rose smells so sweet, as Christ docs to believers: this Sharon-rose refreshes them, quickens their spiritual senses, and ravishes and delights their souls. 3. The rose is of a cooling nature,’ and therefore useful in burning fevers, inflammations, &c., Christ, by the effusion of his blood, by the oblation of himself, and by his dying in the room and stead of sinners, has appeased and removed his Father’s fierce and burning wrath from them; and it is only an application of this Sharon rose, the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ, which can cool and comfort the consci.mce of a sinner set on fire, and terrified by the law of God; the discoveries of his love and grace can only remove those dreadful tenors, and fire of divine wrath, which is kindled by a “fiery law,” and cure those inflammations raised tbereliy. 4. He is called “the Rose of Sharon,” for the excellency of it; the roses which grew there perhaps were the best of any, Sharon is the name of a fruitful plain or country, where herds and flocks were kept, as appears from 1 Cliion. xsvii. 29, Isa. xxxv. 2, and lxv. 10; this plain or country lay between Cassarea and
“Pindar Isthra. ode 4.” Jtea rcsa, I’lauti
Asinari, act. 3. se. 3. v. 74. Bad. ides, sc. I. v. 50. Tu rosa, Circulio, act. 1. sc. 2. v. 6.
‘Tausan. Eliac. 2. sive 1. P.p. 3!)1.
‘■ Sappho apud riutarch. synipos. 1. 3. p. fill Tlifocrit. epigr. I. v, 1, 2. Kernel, method,
Joppa, beginning at Lydda; hence they are joined together. Acts ix. 35, and reaching to the jlrediterranean sea hence the Jews in their writings say,” from Lydda to the sea in the vale; and this was so very fruitful, that the Targnmist on this place rcndera it, “by the garden of Eden:” and Sharon is described in the Jewish map,*” as fat and fertile, having in it very desirable fields, fruitful vines, and abounding with flowers and roses. There are various sorts of roses in different places, some better than others; those of the first class with the Greeks,“^ were those of Oleuum, and next those of Megara Nisea, and then those of Phaselis, and then of others; with the Romans, the best were those of PrEcneste and Campania, and then others:“’ but of the roses in Judea, the rose of Sharon seems to have been the best, and therefore to that the comparison is made; there was a garden of roses in Jerusalem, ‘but not to them, but to those in Sharon, is the allusion. The word for a rose is only used in this place and in Isa. XXXV. 1, and is so called, either from the collection and compression of leaves in it, or from the shadow of it; for the word seems to be compounded of one, that signifies to hide and cover, and another that signiSes a shadow; so Gussetins;’ and so may be rendered,” the covering shadow:” but why a rose should be so called is not easy to say; unless it can be thought to have the figure of an umbrella, or that the rose of Sharon was so large as to be remarkable for its shadow, like that MontfauconS saw in a garden at Ravenna, under the shadow of the branches of which more than forty men could stand. Christ is sometimes compared to trees for their shadow, which is pleasant and reviving, as in ver. 3, Hosea xiv. 7; but he here seems to be compared to the rose of Sharon on another account, even the excellency and fragrancy of it; for, Pliny says,“^ that the rose does not delight in fat soils, rich clays, or well-watered grounds, but thrives the best in poor lean ground; and that those are of the sweetest smell which grow in dry places, for ruderatum agrum amai, “it loves rubbish earth.” Now such dry and rubbish earth was that which was about the city of Sharon; for we read of such a place as inhabited. Acts ix. 35, as the Talmudic doctors assert; who also tell us,’ that those who built a brick house in Sharon, had no benefit of the law, mentioned in Deut. xx. 5, because the earth thereabout was not fit to make bricks of, nor would houses made of them continue long. Hence they also say,“” that the high priest, on the day of atonement, prayed particularly for the Sharonites, that
Nicander apud Athen. Deipnosoph. 1. 15. c. 9. p. 083. run. nat. hist. 1. 2i. c. 4. ‘Misn.
Masserot, c. 2. a. 5. ‘Comment. Ebr. p. 239.
i Diar. Ital. c. 7. p. 100. ‘Lib. 21. c. 4.
‘In Misna Sotah, c. 8. §. 3. and R. 8ol. Jarchi, IMainion, and Bartenora in idem. ‘’ T. Hiero.
Soth, fol. 23. 1.
their houses might not become their graves. Now these being the best and sweetest roses which grew ia this soil, and Christ being compared to one of them, deuotes the cxcellcacy and preferableuess of Christ to all others.
Some’ think that some other plant or flower is here intended; as the Targum readers it, “the narcissus:” of which some are white, having white leaves surrounding a yellow flower,™ and some of a purple colour ;° and which Pliny” calls purple lilies: be says,“” there are two sorts of them, one that has a purple flower, and the other is of the grass kind; some, he says.i have a white flower and a purple cup. The Heathens used to call the narcissus the ancient crown of their superior deities;’ and it was reckoned a beautiful flower, and of a sweet smell;’ and for beauty Christ may be compared unto it: its white colour may denote the purity of Christ; and the purple, his royalty, or rather his purple blood and sufi’erings of death. The Septuagint translates the words thus, “I am the flower of the field;” as do also the Vulgate Latin and Paguine. “Now Christ may be called so,
1. Kar’ foxvy way of emiuency, as being the chiefest and most excellent flower in the field; there is no such flower in the heavenly paradise as he is; among all the holy angels and glorified saints, there are none to be compared with him; and ia his garden here below, no such flower grows as this: he is “the flower,” the choicest, the best, and the most excellent in the whole field or garden.
2. The flower of the field is liable to be plucked up or trodden under feet by beasts; Christ was exposed to the rage and fury of his enemies, those “strong bulls of Bashan” of which he eomplaius, Psal. xxii. 13, 14. The sweet flower was laid hold on by “wicked hands,” and cropped; and still his precious person, blood, and righteousness, are slighted, contemned, and “trodden under foot” by Christless and unconverted sinners. 3. This may be expressive of the meanness of Christ in the esteem of the world; a field-flower is little regarded; Christ is as “a root out of a dry ground,” and therefore they say, “he hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him: hence he is despised and rejected of men,” they not knowing the real worth and value of this precious flower; see Isa. liii. 2, 3. 4. The flower of the field is not of man’s planting, nor is it raised by his care and industry: Christ was conceived in the womb of a virgin, and born of her without the help of man: as the flower of the field, he had no father but his Father in heaven, and no mother but the virgin on earth; and so was Melchisedeck’s antitype, “without father as man, and without mother as God.” 5. The flower of the field is open to all; whoever will may come
’ lide K. Aben Ezram in loc.
“* Croceum florem-foliis medium cingentibus albis Ovid. IVtetamorph. 1. 3. fab. 6.” Pro purpureonarcisso, Virgil. liucolic. eel. 5. v. 2d. Ant suave rubens narcissus, ibid. Cyria. Nat. hist. 1. 21. c.
to Christ for life and salvation; there is liberty of access to all sorts of sinners, to come to him and partake of his sweetness and benefits; he is not a flower in an inclosed garden, that cannot be come at, but stands in the open field; every sinner that labours under a sense of sin, and is heavy laden with the weight and burden of it, may come to him, and not fear a rejection from him; he is not “a fountain sealed, but opened to the house of David, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.”
2ndly. Christ may be very well compared to “the lily of the vallies,” 1. For its whiteness; the lily, as has been already observed, is exceeding white, which may intend the purity and holiuessof Christ, who both in nature and life is “holy, harmless, uudefiled, and separate from sinners; he is the Lamb without blemish and without spot,” without the blemish of original or spot of actual sin: for he never knew it in his nature, nor did he ever commit it in his life, either in thought, word, or deed: or else the whiteness of the lily may signify his eternity, for so his head and his hairs are described by John, Rev. i. 14, to be “white like wool, as white as snow;” which represents liirn as the Ancient of Days, and as existing from everlasting to everlasting. 2. For its tallness; the lily grows up very high, as has been taken notice of. Christ, as Mediator, is “the rock that is higher than we are;” from whence the waters of divine grace flow, to the refreshment of our souls when overwhelmed; “he is higher than the kings of the earth; nay, he is higher than the heavens,” and all the angels there; for he is “set far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that that is to come,” Eph. i. 21. 2. For its fruitfulness; the lily is very fruitful, as has been before observed. Christ is “filled with all the fruits of righteousness,” and is possessed of all the blessings of grace; he is like a tree richly laden with fruit, and therefore is compared to an apple tree, in ver. 3; all the church’s fruit and fruitfulness come from him; he is the green fir-tree, from whom all her fruit is found.” 4. He may be compared to the lily for its excellency and glory; it being the next flower to the rose, and which is preferred by Christ to the glory of Solomon. Christ is the brightness of his Father’s glory; is now, in our nature, “crowned with glory and honour;” and will shortly appear in his own glory and in the glory of his Father, and of the holy augeU. 5. He may be said to be the lily of the vallies, because of his wonderful humility and condescension, in assuming our nature, suQ’eriug in our stead, and in humbling himself unto the death of the cross for us; his whole life was one continued series of humility, as was his death an
p Ibid. c. 19
1 Ibid. c. *.
p xDia. c. ly. 1 loiu. c. «,
‘Sophocles apud Plutarch, sympos. 1. 3. p. 041.
KaAa vapKiaaot, Theocrit. Idyll. !. tapKtaffOv. T.4..n in
trffioei’, Idyll. 19.
undeniable instance of it: Ciiiist here on earth did not appear as the lofty cedar, but as the lowly lily, and [hat not of the Uiomitains, but of the vallies; it is with humble souls he delights to dwell; for though he is the high and lofty Oue, in his divine nature, yet he coudescciids to dwell with such who are of an humble and contrite spirit.
^^trse 2. As the Uhj amoyig thorns, so is my luve among the daughters.
Though it may not be so evident whose are the former words, whether Christ’s or the chnrch’s, yet these manifestly a|)pear to be hisj and if we take the preceding verse as the words of the church, then we may consider this as the words of Christ, either owning and coufirniing what she had said of herself in it; as that she was indeed the most beautiful of all the roses and lilies which grew in fields and vallies, and that all others were but like thorns and briars wbeu compared to her; and also, at the same time that he owns and commends her beauty, puts her in mind of her present state and condition in this life, as being attended with afflictions, sorrows, nnd suil’erings: or else the words may be regarded as the answer’ of Christ to her complaint in the former verse, where she says, that she was indeed the blushing rose and charming lily, but then she was the rose and lily in the open fields and vallies, liable to be plucked up by every one that passed by, and to be devoured or trodden under feet by the beasts of the field; to this Christ replies here, by owning it all to be true, and promising that he will keep and preserve her safe in the midst of her enemies, “as the lily among thorns;” nay, that her very enemies should be her protection, these thorns should be as an hedge about her. But if we take the former verse to be the words of Christ, which seems most agreeable, then we are to consider these as his also; who, having in the former verse set forth his own beauties and excellencies, vphich was proper to be done in the first place, does in this set forth his church’s, in which may be observed,
I. ^Vil;lt he compares her lo; “a lily among 1 horns.”
II. The title which he gives her, “my love;” which discovers his regard unto her, and afifectioa for her.
III. Her e.Tcelleney and prclerableness to all others in his esteem.
I. The church is here compared by Christ to “a lily among thorns.” The Targum renders it, Uie rose; and so it is in Zohar;” and that this is intended, some strenuously contend, for which, and not the lily, they say, grows among thorns: Ainsworth would have what we call the woodbind or honeysuckle here meant, which grows in hedges; and indeed this is sometimes
Vide K. Aben Kzram and Brightman in Joe. “Iu Gen. fol. 82 2, 3. and in Exod. fol. 74.3. but ill Lev. fol. l»’>. 2. it ise.viilii.neJ of the pome cidoiicalled liliuni inter sphias,” the lily among thorns,“’ to which the church may be compared, because of its sweet smell; the flower of it gives an exceeding sweet smell; and makes those fields where it grows in abundance very delightful: believers in their persons, grace, and conversation, are like the” smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed;” being clothed with the s’weet-smelling garments of Christ’s righteousness, and anointed with the savoury ointments of the Sjiirit’s grace. Also the woodbind or honeysuckle cannot bear up itself, but has its dependence on others; it does not grow up erect, but for its support wraps itself about the body, branches, and twigs of other trees, convolvens se admimculis qiiibtiscunque, as Pliny” observes; therefore we call it woodbind, from its binding about other trees; and for the same reason it is in Gve.ek c&Weii periclymenon, which is also used by Latin writers: believers are weak, and cannot support themselves, and therefore by faith lean on Christ, who is their beloved; and are upheld 1 y him with the right-hand of his righteousness; they cleave close unto him, and depend upon him for all grace here, and for glory hereafter. But the word will very well bear to be translated a lily, being the same that is so in the former verse; where it has been shown in what sense the church may be compared to one; and therefore I shall only obsei-ve, 1. That Christ and the church bear the same names. Is he a lily? so is she; the church being married to Christ, and they two becoming one flesh, have one and the same name, hence the church is called Christ, 1 Cor. xix. 12; so the same name Jehovah our righteousness, which Christ is called by, Jer. xxiii. 6, is given to her in chap, xxxiii. 16. Again, Christ is called Israel, Isa. xlix. 3, which is the name of his church and people: for being espoused together, and having partaken of each others natures, they also bear each others names. 2. That there is a very great likeness and near resemblance between Christ and his church; for when he says, she is “as the lily,” he means, she is as himself, who is, “the lily of the vallies,” ver. 1; and therefore, as one well observes,y be does not say she is the lily, but as or like the lily; for as he is, so are we, that is, believers, in this world. Christ and the church are both lilies in God’s eye, and are loved by him with the same love: believers bear the image of Christ, wear his righteousness, have the same spirit, though in measure, and are exposed to the same hatred, malice, and persecution of the world, being wounded with those thorns even as he was: and they shall be much more like him in another world; for they shall then be like him, and see him as he is: they shall then have everlasting and transforming views of him, which will change
tree.” Vide SFurcev.
1 Durham in loc.
Lib. 27. c. 12.
them into the same image, from glory to glory; for as they will then have more communion with him, so they will then have a greater conformity to him, who is “the first-born among brethren.” 3. That all the church’s beauty and loveliness come from Christ: it is because he is the lily, that she looks like one; her beauty is not natural to her, but is derived from him, who is her Head and Husband; she is indeed a perfect beauty, but then it arises from that comeliness which he has put upon her.
Jloreover she is not only said to be as the lily, but “as the lily among thorns.” By thorns may be meant, 1. Wicked and ungodly men, sons of Belial which are “as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands,” 2 Sara, xxiii. 6; these, like thorns and briars, are the curse of the earth, are worthless and unfruitful in themselves, and hurtful and grieving to the saints: David, Isaiah, and others have complained of them; righteous Lot was pricked w ith these thorns; his soul was vexed, and grieved from day to day with their unlawful deeds: also like thorns, their end is to be burned, and that by the fierceness and fury of God’s wralh, who says, Isa. XXV ii. 4: “Who would set the briars and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together;” which he will do at the last day, when he will bind up those thorns in bundles, and cast them into “the lake which hurneth with fire and brimstone;” where “the people shall be as the burnings of lime; as thorns eut up, shall (hey be burnt in the fire,” the terror of which sometimes surprises the siu-Bers in Zion, who therefore say, “who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Isa. xxxiii. 12 — 14. 2. By thorns may be meant the reproaches, reviliiigs, and persecutions of wicked men, whereby they afflict and disturb the saints; the Targum explains these thorns, of the wicked edicts and decrees of princes, by which the congregation of Israel was oppressed in captivity: the prophet Ezekiel is encouraged by the Lord faithfully to deliver his message to the people of Israel, though briars and thorns were with him, and though he had his dwelling among scorpions, that is, though he was reproached, reviled, and persecuted by them for it. Christ’s lily in all ages has more or less been attended with, and has grown up, among such thorns as these; for every one that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution of one kind or another; and yet they abide like “the lily among thorns,” in their faith, purity, and holiness; so that neither the frowns nor flatteries of the world can prevail upon them to desert the Redeemer’s interest, forsake the Gospel, nor turn aside from the true worship of God; to which agrees R. Sol. Jarchi’s gloss on the text, which is this: “As the lily among thorns, which prick it, yet stands
continually in its beauty and redness; so is my love among the daughters, who entice her to follow after them, and go a whoring after other gods, but yet continues in her religion.” 8. By thorns may be meant heretics and lierctical doctrines, which pierce, prick, and grieve the children of God: now these false teachers, these wolves in sheep’s clothing, may be known by their fruits, which are none at all, that are good for any thing; for, “do men gather grapes off thorns, or figs off thistles!” there is no fiuit of faith, sound doctrine, or a gospel-conversation to be found upon them; but are like unfruitful thorns, whom God snfTers to grow up in his churches, that those which are filled with the fruits of righteousness might he made manifest; and in all ages, more or less, Christ’s lily, the church, has grown up among, and been pricked by, and pestered with such thorns as these. 4. The corruptions of our nature may be called so: these Canaanites remaining in the land, dwelling in our hearts, are pricks in our eyes, and thorns in our sides; these grieve and disturb us, and they make us groan with the anguish our souls are filled with by them. Perhaps the breaking forth of some corruption is intended by the thorn in the flesh, and messenger of Satan, that the apostle speaks of, 2 Cor. xii. 7; though the temptations of Satan nay also be called by these names, which often give the saints a great deal of uneasiness, and throw them into much heaviness; and it may be that both the corruption of nature, and the temptations of Satan, which the apostle might labour under, are intended; and the thorn in the flesh may be expressive of the breaking out of some corruption; and the messenger of Satan may intend his temptations, by which it was stirred up and encouraged: though I rather think that both phrases are only expressive of the corruption of nature, which was wont to be called by the Jews, tlip, messenger of hell; a phrase much like this used by the apostle. So in Midrash Hanneelam,* we read that R. Hona, in his sermons, used to advise persons thus, “O ye children of men, take care of the messenger of hell: but who is this? The evil imagination, (by which the Jews always intend the vitiosity of nature) is the messenger of hell. Now this being a phrase that was well known, the apostle adds it by way of opposition to the thorn in the flesh, as explanative of it. Moreover, worldly cares are compared to thorns which choke the word; they are pernicious to saints, and make them barren and unfruitful, as well as grieve and (fisturbthem. Matt. xiii. 22; but though Christ’s lilies here on earth grow up among, and are annoyed by those thorns of sin and corruption; yet when they are transplanted into Christ’s garden above, “there shall be no more a pricking briar, nor a grieving thorn,” to give them the least disturbance. II. Whilst Christ is comparing his church to
In Zohar in Gen. fol. 67. 4.
a “lily among thorns,” he gives her a loving and affectionate title, my love, which has been already explained in chap. i. 9; and his mentioning it here shows, that even in hei’ present state and condition she was a beauty in his eye; and that her being among thorns, was so far from detracting from it, that it rather served as a foil to set it off the more; as also, that she was still the object of his love, though in the midst o( wicked and ungodly men, men of unclean lips and lives, haters of peace, religion, and godliness; though she was reviled, reproached, and persecuted by them, yet she was loved, valued, and esteemed by him; nay, though she was attended with many infirmities, sins, andcorruplions, that were grieving to her, and dishonouring to him, yet neither these, nor any thing else, should ever separate her from his love: she was Christ’s love and lily still, though among thorns. The lily is often made use of in this love-song, to set forth the beauty of the church and of the saints in the eye of Christ: and his great love to them, and delight in them, and very justly.”
III. He sets forth her excellency and preferableness to all the daughters. By whom we are to understand the nations and men of the world; for it is usual in the Hebrew tongue to call the inhabitants of countries the daughters thereof; thus we read of the daughters of Tyre, Edom, Babylon, &c., none of which are to be compared with the church; these are like thorns to Christ’s lily: or else carnal, hypocritical, and formal professors may be intended, whom she calls in chap, i. 6, mother’s children; who made an external profession of religion, but wanted that real and internal beauty which she was possessed of, and differed only in name from the rest of the sons and daughters of fallen Adam; but she, being distinguished by divine grace from them all, was preferable to them, 1. In beauty; these looked like thorns, she like a lily; they were black and uncomely, she the perfection of beauty, and the fairest among women. 2. In harmlessness; though there are thorns about, yet none upon the lily; ungodly persons are not only uncomely in themselves, but like thorns, pricking -and hurtful to others; but as for the saints, they are “blameless and harmless, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,” like lilies among thorns. 3. la fruitfulness: no fruit grows on thorns, but on Christ’s lilies grow all sorts of precious fruit; they are laden with them. 4. In their last end Christ’s lilies will be gathered by himself and his angels, and be put in his garden above; but the wicked, which are Satan’s tares and thorns, shall be bundled together, and cast into everlasting burnings; the one being highly valued and prized by Christ, the other hated and rejected by him; for as much ‘The lily is called ambrosia; and is said to be the delight of Venus, because of its pleasing colour, Nicander apud Athena;uni, 1. l.’i. c. 8. p. 083. and of Juno, Clement Alex. pa;dagog. 1. 2. p. ISl.
as the lily exceeds the thorns which grow about it, so much does the church of’ Christ excel the men of the world among whom it is here on earth; and as there is a difference now between them, though growing up together, so there will be one, and that far greater and more visible, when separated; the one, will be everlastingly glorified, the other everlastingly punished.
Verse 3. As the apple-tree among the trees of the loood, so is my beloved among the sons: I sat doton under his shadow loith great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
Christ having commended the church in the former verse, and declared that she was as preferable to all others, as the lily was to the thorns; she in this verse returns the commendation to him, and asserts that he as much excelled all the sons, as the fruitful apple-tree did the wild and barren trees of the wood;’’ and at the same time gives an account of that sweet experience she had of his excellency, preciousaess, and usefulness to her. Now in the words may be observed,
I. A comparison which she makes of him to an apple-tree; in which she sets forth his excellency and preferableness to all others.
II. She instances in two particular things; in which, by good experience, she found him to be so to her own soul. First, The shadow of this apple-tree was delightful to her; “I sat down under his shadow with great delight.” Secondly, The fruit thereof was exceeding sweet to her; “his fruit was sweet to my taste.”
I. She compares him to au apple-tree, and that no doubt of the best sort. The Targum renders it, a pome-citron, or citron-apple-tree: which, 1. Is a very large tree;” and somay be fitly used to express the greatness and excellency of Christ, who is posssesed of all divine perfections, and is “over all, God blessed for ever.” He is a Saviour, and a great One; who has, as an instance of his great love, coudescension, and power, wrought out a great salvation for great sinners. He is a High Priest, and he is a great one, both in the glory of his person, and in the virtue and efficacy of his sacrifice and intercession. He is the King of saints, and as such is higher than the kings of the earth: He is equal with God, therefore greater than angels, and more excellent than all the sous of men. 2. It is a very fruitful tree; it is sometimes so full of fruit, that it is even pressed down with the weight thereof,*^ and is, as Pliny says,* omnibus huris pomifera, “always bearing fruit:” it has at one and the same time flowers, ripe and uuripe fruit; whilst some are putting forth, others are dropping off; so Christ abounds with the fruits of divine grace; he is not the barren fig-tree, but the green fir-tree, from
* Quantum leuta sclent inter viburua cupressi, Virgil. Bucolic, eclog. I. v. 26. Lenta salix, &c. eclog. 5. v. IG. ‘Solin. Polyhist. c. 59.
Ibid. ‘Lib. 12. c. a.
whom our fruit is found, and that at all tiines; for he is that “tree of life which hare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations,” Rev. xxii. 2. Here may believers come at all times, and pluck and eat; for here is not any deficiency of fruit, it is always growing, always pluclciug, and yet never lessened. 3. The fruit of this tree ’ is of a bitter taste, but of an exceeding sweet smell, as are the leaves; which being put among garments, not only give them a delightful odour, but also drive away noxious creatures from them; for the same reason is Cln-ist compared to myrrh in chap. i. 13; for though his sacrifice, death, and sufferings, are sweet and savoury, both to his Father and to his people, yet they were bitter unto him, who not only tasted of, but drank up the whole cap of his Father’s wrath: and though the blessings which spring from hence are of a sweet smell, exceeding grateful and delightful to believers, yet are they enjoyed in this life with a variety of crosses, afflictions, and tribulations; this passover-lamb is eaten with bitter herbs. 4. It is an excellent remedy against poison. Sin is that poison of asps which has infected all human nature, and spread itself over all the powers and faculties of the souls of men, as well as over all the members of their bodies: now the Christ is the sovereign antidote against it; this fruit of the citron-apple-tree is the most proper remedy for it; his righteousness justifies, his blood cleanses, and his grace will eternally clear his people from their sins. 5. It is very good for shortness of breath, and to remove a stinking one;’’ hence the Parthian nobles used to boil the kernels of it in their food for that purpose; it is the presence of Christ, and communion with him, that only can cure our panting souls when we are wearied, and almost out of breath in seeking him; and it is the sweet incense of his mediation that perfumes our prayers, which are the breath of our souls, and which otherwise would be so far from being grateful to God, that it would be strange unto him. And thus may Christ be compared to a citron-apple-tree; though perhaps the common apple-tree is here intended, which the Talmud’ interprets of the Israelites, but R. Abeu Ezra understands it of the Shecinah, as do the Targum and R. Sol. Jarchi, of the holy and blessed God, and Lord of the world; as also does R. Chaya, in the book Zohar,’’ who says, that the congregation of Israel set forth the praises of the holy and blessed God by an apple, because of its colours, smell, and taste; so the Cabalistic doctors interpret of tiphereih, or the bridegroom, because of the same.’ Christ is this Sheciuah, the holy and blessed God, and Lord of the world, who may be compared to an apple-tree, (1.) Because it is a
‘Solin and Tlin. in locis citatis.
6 Solin. and Flin. i. ibid, and Fernel. method, med. 1. 5. c. 21. Plin. 1. ll.fc. 53, and 1 12. c.
3. Athen. Deipuosophist, 1. 3. c. 7. p. 83.
very fruitful tree. There are various sorts of fruit which it bears; Christ is full of fruit; he is Joseph’s Antitype, who is called “a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall:” all the fruits of righteousness grow on him, every grace is in him; he is that “tree of life which bears twelve manner of fruits;” there are justifying and pardoniug grace, sanctifying and adopting grace in him; all that a believer can want here, and all that can make him happy hereafter: and as fruitful boughs beud downwards, being laden with fruit, and may be easily reached, so Christ, being full of grace and truth, gives to sinners the utmost liberty of access to him for grace from him; for though as God, he is “the high and lofty One,” yet as man and Mediator, he is meek and lowly, and condescends to take notice o.f and admits into familiarity, poor, mean, and abject creatures; he gives them a gracious allowance to approach near unto him; that apple-tree, whose fruitful boughs of divine grace hang so low, that the hand of faith may easily reach them, where the poor sinner is heartily welcome to pluck and eat at pleasure. (2.) It is of a very beautiful aspect when laden with fruit, and especially as growing among the trees of the forest. Some have thought that the fruit of this tree is what was forbidden our first parents; which being so “pleasant to the eyes,” was a temptation to the woman to eat thereof; therefore is in Latin called malum, evil, because sin entered into the world hereby: though others think it was another sort of fruit. The Jewish writers differ much about it; some say it was the fig-tree, so R. Sol. Jarchi, and some others in R. Aben Ezra on Gen. iii. 6; which they gather from Adam and Eve’s immediate sewing of tig -leaves together, as soon as they had siuued, to cover themselves with: others, that it was the pome-citron, or citron-apple tree, so Baal Hatturim in Gen. i. 29, but the same author on Numb. v. 3, seems to intimate as if it was the grape, the fruit of the vine; which is also the opinion of the Jews in Zohar,“” who think that it is particularly the black grape; though others have thought it to be the apple, as the author of the old Nizzachon;” which was either his own and the opinion of some other Jews, or else he took it from the common notion of Christians. But whether it was the apple -ti’ee or no, which was so pleasant and desirable to the eyes of the woman, yet it is certain that this is very pleasant and delightful to the sight, when laden with fruit. Christ as Mediator is a beautiful sight to believers, as he stands in all his endearing characters and relations; as he may be viewed undertaking their cause, assuming their nature, suff”cring, bleeding, and dying in their stead, rising again for their justification, ascending into heaven, and entering there with their names and i T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. ssTT In Lev. fol. 30.
4. ‘Lexic. Cabal, p. 738. In Exod. fol.
59. v. and in Numb. fol. 53. 3.
P. 147. apud egcnseil. Tela Ignoa.
for “to which of the angels said lie at any time. Sit thou at my right-hand?” Or else by them may be meant the saints, who are the sons of God by adopting grace: Christ, the eternal Son of God lias the pre-eminence in, and over these; he is their Ci-eator and Redeemer, their Lord and King, their Head and Husband, their everlasting Father and glorious Mediator, to whom they are infinitely obliged for all the needful supplies of grace here, and lor all the glory they expect hereafter. Or else by them may be meant the men of the world, the sons of Adam; and these Christ infinitely excels, as much as the apple-tree does the trees of the wood; for he is “fairer than the children of men;” there is none like him in all the armies of heaven, nor any to be compared with him among all the iuhabitauts of the earth; if both vvoilds were to be searched with the utmost scrutiny, not one single individual person could be found comparable to him: and perhaps particularly by these may be meant the great princes and monarchs of the world, who are sometimes in scripture compared to large and lofty trees; see Ezek. xxxi. 3, 5, 0, 8, Dan. iv. 20 — 22. But Christ is far preferable to these in beauty, glory, and majesty; he is “higher than the kings of the earth, they receive their crowns and kingdoms from him;” they are at his command, and under his dominion; he sets them up, and puts them down at pleasure; these must all submit to his awful judgment, even as the poorest peasant; and will be equally as fearful of “the great day of his wrath,” which when come, they will call to the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and hide them from the face of this omnipotent Judge. Moreover, with respect to the saints, the fruits of Christ’s grace are to them far preferable to the kingdoms, crowns, and sceptres of the greatest monarchs, nay, reproach, for Christ’s sake, is more highly esteemed of by them, and accounted greater riches than all the treasures of this world. Though it seems as well as to be understood in general of all wicked, Christless, and unconverted sinners, who are like to the trees of the wood, wild, barren, and unfruitful; and what fruit they do bring forth, is sour, wild, and unprofitable; and though like the trees of the wood, lliey may run up a great height, yet they shall be cut down and thrown into everlasting burnings: for, “the ax is laid to the root of the trees; therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire,” Matt. iii. 10. Thus the church, by this comparison, sets forth the excellency and preferableness of Christ to all others. But.
II. She instances in two excellent properties of this apple-tree, of which she had had some comfortable experience.
First. The shade of it was delightful to her,” I sat down under his shadow with great dc-
° The apple was sacred to love, Scholiast. In Aristoph. Nubes p. 1«0. the statue of Venus had aa apple m one liaiid, and a poppy in the other. Pausau. Corinth, sive 1. 2. p. 103.
persons upon his heart, and there ever living to make intercession for them: Christ, as possessed of all the blessings of the everlasting covenant, being the Surety, Mediator, and Messenger of it, is exceeding delightful to the eye of faith; “his glory is as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, when he appears to souls full of grace and truth. (3.) The fruit which grov.s upon the apple-tree, as it is of various sorts and of a beautiful aspect to the eye, so it is of a cooling and comforting nature. Christ has cooled, turned awaj, and appeased the fierceness of his Father’s fiery wrath, by his death and blood; and does by his mighty grace sweetly cool and refresh the heart of a poor sinner, inflamed by a fiery law, and commands serenity and peace in its conscience filled with wrath and terror; and when his people are ready to faint and sink, he comforts them with his apples, the sweet discoveries of his love and grace, of which the church having had some experience, and desiring some renewed instances thereof, says, in ver. 5,” comfort me with apples;” where I shall more largely take notice of this, as well as ol their pleasant and delightful smell. (4.) The apple-tree has been accounted an hieroglyphic of love,” under it lovers used to meet, with the fruit thereof they entertained each other, under its delightful shade they sat; to which perhaps an allusion is not only made in this verse, but also in chap. viii. 5. “I raised thee up under the apple-tree.” Christ and his church are throughout this song introduced as lovers, and the subject of their whole conversation is love: He, who if the apple-tree is the church’s beloved, whom she loves and prefers before all others; it is his love her soul is ravished with; his fruit she feeds upon; his shade that she with so much content and pleasure sits under, where she is delighted with his love and grace, and sensibly feels her soul all enamoured with him. Some other things might have been taken notice of, particularly the fruit and shadow of this tree, which are both mentioned in the text; but these will be considered under another head.
Now Christ, whom the church here compares to an apple-tree, is by her preferred to all others; and she signifies, that as much as the apple-tree excels the wild and unfruitfLil trees of the wood, so much does Christ excel all the sons: by whom may be meant either the angels, so the Targum, who are by creation the sons of God; but not in so high and eminent a sense as Christ is: he has a more excellent name and nature than they; as God, he is their I-ord and Creator, and the object of their highest worship and adoration; and as Mediator, they are obliged unto him, being upheld and secured by his grace in that state wherein they are: and though in his human nature he was, made a little lower than they, yet now in the vei’y same nature he is exalted above them;
TER. 3.]
light.” Secondly. The fruit of it was sweet unto her; “his fruit was sweet to my taste.”
First. The shade of this apple tree was very delightful to her: “I sat down under his shadow with great delight:” in which may be inquired, 1st. What is meant by the shadow under which she sat. 2ndly. What her sitting there intends or supposes. Srdly. What she desired to sit there for. 4thly. From whence that pleasure and delight arose, which she was filled with.
1st. It will be proper to inquire what is meant by the shadow of Christ, under which she sat. Some’’ have thought that the ceremonial law, with its festivals, is here intended, which was a shadow of good things to come, of which Christ was the sum and substance; under this shadow the Old Testament saints sat during the legal dispensation, where their souls were much delighted and sweetly refreshed by viewing Christ represented in the types and sacrifices of that law. The Targum understands it of the shadow of God’s Shecliinah, or Divine JMajesty, under which the congregation of Israel desired to sit, when God gave the law on mount Sinai: but that dispensation was not so desirable; the law which was then given, was a fiery one; and the words which were then spoke were such, that they that heard them, intreated that they should not be spoken to them any more: therefore it may be better understood of the Gospel and the ordinances of it, than either of the moral or ceremonial law; under this refreshing shadow saints delight to sit; here they enjoy sweet communion and fellowship with Christ; the sound of the Gospel is joyful to them; the truths and doctrines of it are nourishing; the ordinances of it are comfortable and delightful; these tabernacles are amiable and lovely; and all wisdom’s ways are ways of pleasantness; and therefore it is no wonder that souls desire to sit under this shadow, and when they do, it is with delight.
Moreover, some’ think that an allusion is here made to the nuptial ceremony of spreading the skirt, used by the Jews at the time of marriage; of which see Ruth iii. 9; and to which an allusion is made in Ezek. xvi. 8; or to that veil, which being borne up with four rods or staves, was carried over the heads of the new-married couple, at the time that the bridegroom brought home the bride into his own house, where the whole solemnity was finished; this nuptial ceremony perhaps may give the best light to Luke i. 35, “the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee:” so that this phrase of sitting under Christ’s shadow, may be expressive of the church’s being married to Christ, and of that delightful communion which she enjoys with him as her husband, when brought home to his own house; of which we have an account in the next verse, where she is entertainp Ambrose in Psal cxviii. octon. 5. col. 908.
1 Sanct. in loc. and so R. Simeon Ben Joachi
ed after a noble manner: and has as much of his love manifested to her, as she is capable of bearing, nay so much, that she is overcome with it. But I rather think that the metaphor is continued from the former part of the verse; and that the allusion is made to the shadow of an apple-tree, such an one as Christ was; whose shadow arises from his person, blood, and righteousness; which shadow is, 1. A protecting one from heat; such as Jonah’s gourd was to him, or as the pillar of cloud was to the Israelites in the wilderness, or as a great rock to a weary traveller in a hot country. Christ and his righteousness are a shadow, which protfect souls from the heat of his Father’s wrath; he, by making atonement for sin, and satisfaction to divine justice, hath delivered his own people from the wrath to come, and will eternally screen them from it; for though showers of divine wrath will fall on Christless sinners, yet those that are under this shadow of Christ’s righteousness, shall not have one drop of it fall on them; for being justified by his blood, they shall be saved from wrath through him; also it is this, laid hold on by faith, which screens from the curses of a fiery law, and from the heat of that wrath which it sometimes works in the conscience; which is only rightly removed by the sprinklings of that blood which speaks peace and pardon, and by the application of that righteousness which justifies from all sin, and produces a peace which passeth all understanding: likewise Christ is the shadow which protects and shelters from the fiery darts of Satan; he is as a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones, those fiends of hell, is as a storm against the wall; his blood and righteousness keep ofi” Satan’s fiery darts, preserve from his suggestions, and protect from the violence of his temptations; and ths soul is still more secured by the prevalent mediation and intercession of Christ in heaven, which is founded upon his blood and righteousness; so that what faith makes use of on earth to oppose to Satan’s temptations, Christ does in heaven to secure his people from his false charges and accusations: to this might also be added, that he is the shadow which protects from the heat of persecution, under which he causes his flock to rest at noon; when this sun smites them with the greatest violence, he is then their shade on their right hand, so that the sun shall not smite them by day; and this is their comfort and support under all their fiery trials, that they have such a shadow to have recourse to. 2. It is also a refreshing one; for if it is a shadow from the heat of God’s wrath, the terrors of the law, the temptations of Satan, and the persecutions of the world, it must needs be so; what can be more refreshing to a weary traveller, that is almost scorched, and ready to faint vlith heat, than a cooling and delightful shade? so refreshing is Christ to poor sinners,
seems to understand it in Kxod. vol. 43. 1.
who is as “the shadow of a great rock ia a weary laud;” nay, is a large spreading apple-tree, that at once furnishes them with an agreeable shelter and suitable provisions. 3. It is a fructifying one: the shadow3 of some trees, as Pliny’ informs us, are very hurtful and noxious to some plants that grow under them, and others are very nourishing and fructifying: Christ’s shadow is such an one; for “they that dwell under this shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine; the scent thsrof lshall be as the wine of Lebanon,” Hos. xiv. 7; and indeed all the fruitfulness of those who are the Lord’s planting comes from Christ* for, unless they abide in and under him, they can bring forth no fruit. The shadows of some trees are injurious to men that lie under them;’ not so Christ’s shadow; but there are others’ very delightful and wholesome, to which he may be compared.
2ndly. It may also be inquired what her sitting under this shadow is expressive of, or does suppose. And, 1. It shows the sense she had of herself, and present condition, and the need she stood in of Christ as a shadow; she was not only scorched with the sun of persecution, with afflictions, temptations, &c., but she was likewise sensible thereof, and therefore, betook herself to a proper shade. 2. It manifestly appears from her sitting under this shadow, that she looked upon Christ to be a suitable one for her in such cases; and that as the idolaters in Hos. iv. 13, sacrificed on mountains, and burnt incense under oaks, poplars, and elms, “because the shadow thereof was good;” so the church here sat under this shadow of Christ’s, because she looked upon it to be a good one, and preferable to all others. 3. It is expressive of her faith and confidence in Christ; the vain confidence of the Israelites in an arm of flesh, is called their “trust in the shadow of Egypt,” Isa. xxx. 2, 3; and the holy confidence and faith of God’s children in him, is frequently called a “trusting in the shadow of his wings;” see Psalm xxxvi. 7, and lvii. 1; which seems to be the same with sitting under it here: the church did not sit idle under Christ, but her faith was in exercise upon him; and she was rejoiciug alone in him, having “no confidence in the flesh.” 4. It seems to intimate that security, peace, quietness, and satisfaction of soul, she enjoyed; here she sat as under her own vine and fig-tree, and none to make her afraid; where being safe and secure from all her enemies, she solaced herself under this delightful shade, enjoying much peace of conscience, and satisfaction of mind: for she did not sit here with any manner of uneasiness, but with the utmost delight and pleasure. 5. It denotes her continuance here; faith takes up its dwelling in Christ; it
will not move from hence, and is desirous of always enjoying sensible communion with him; “he that dwellelh in the secret of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty,” Psal. ici. 1. But
3rdly. What was it she desired to sit here for? For thus may the words be rendered, “I desired, and I sat down;“” that is, I desired to sit down, and I did sit down, I had what I wished for; and what was that? no doubt, protection from heat, rest, and refreshment for her weary and fainting soul; that she might be comforted with those apples w’hich grew on this tree, and be revived by tasting of and feeding upon the sweet fruit thereof, as well as be comforted with its delightful shade.
4thly. She sat here with delight; and indeed it could not be otherwise when its shade was so agreeable, and the fruit so sweet: this pleasure and delight of hers arose from the enjoyment of Christ’s presence, “in whose presence is fulness of joy, and at whose right-hand arc pleasures for evermore;” from the discoveries of his love to her soul, which is better than life, and all ‘.he comforts of it; and were had in th exercise of faith upon him, in the actings of which grace the soul is filled with “joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
Secondly. The fruit of this apple-tree was sweet unto her taste: by this fruit are either meant the fruit of his doings, what his hands have wrought out, and his blood has procured for sinners, even all the blessings of grace, such as peace and reconciliation, justification, sanctification, pardon of sin, adoption, nearness of access to God, &c. or else, the fruit of his lips; such as his word and Gospel, preached by himself, which is sweet to a believer’s taste, and is preferred to his necessary food; his promises, which are exceeding great and precious, and are highly valued by believers, for his mouth is most sweet, from whence they proceed; and his ordinances and commands, in which they enjoy sweet communion with him, and have the discoveries of his love to their souls; and therefore “are more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than the honey or the honey comb.”
These are called his fruits; they are his in a covenant-way; all the blessings of grace, which make up the everlasting covenant, are in Christ’s hands, and at his dispose, being placed there for that purpose by God the Father; and they are also his, being procured by him; for though they are all the gifts of free grace, yet are they all obtained by Christ, and come to us through his blood: likewise they may be said to be his, because in his possession; every grace in its fulness is in him, he is full of grace and truth, and
‘Lib. 17. c. 12. Juniper! gravis umbra, nocent et frugibus umbrK. Virgil. Bucol. eclog. 10. in line.
“Arboril)u.5certis gravis umbra tributa est, Lucret.
1. (i. v. 7s3. ‘TTbi mollis axnaracus ilium
Jloribus et dulci aspiraus complcctitur umbre, Virg.
jEneid. 1. 1. prope finem. Oportuna sua blanditur populus umbra, Ovid. IMetam. I. 10-
u Tinci Trran coucupivi et sedi, Pagninus, Moutauus, Mercerus, Marckius.
is communicated to us from him, for from him all our fruit is found; remission of sin, justifying righteousness, adopting grace, &c., come to us through and by him; and we are indulged with the gospel-promises and ordinances, as instances of his grace to us.
Now these are all sweet to the taste of a believer, though not to a natural man, who hath a vitiated taste, and calls evil good and good evil: puts bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter; he savours the things of the flesh; sin is his food, from whence he receives an imaginary pleasure; and therefore disrelishes all spiritual things, looks upon them as poor and insipid, and finds no more taste in them than in the white of an egg; which arises from the predominancy of sin, that hinders from tasting any sweetness in divine things, and will do so whilst their taste remains in them, and their scent is not changed; but as for a spiritual man, he savours the things of the Spirit, and disrelislies others; sin is rendered odious, bitter, and unpleasant to him; it is in some measure expelled, so that he can taste that the Lord is gracious: and therefore every thing he says or does is sweet unto him; for as his state can discern perverse things, so it can relish spiritual ones: such as the fruit before-mentioned is, which grows upon and drops from the apple tree, Christ Jesus: this delightful shade and eicellent fruit, which believers find in Christ, render hira very acceptable to them, and preferable to all others. Now when souls at any time have some experience of Christ’s love and grace, in such a way and manner, it is very proper to speak of it, for the glory of Christ, and the encouragement of other souls, as the church does here; which she also continues to do in the following verse, where she meets with a larger display of it.
A’erse 4. He brought me to the lanqueting -house, and his banner over me was love.
The church here goes on to give an account of some larger experiences of Christ’s love, which she had met with from him; for she is not only indulged with his shadow, and refreshed with his fruit, as in the former verse, but is also brought into his bauqueting-house, where she is entertained by him, of which she gives an account in this: where may be observed,
I. “What is meant by the banqueting-house.
II. What by being brought into it.
III. The manner in which she was brought; “his banner over me was love.”
I. I shall inquire what is meant by the banqueting-house, into which the church was brought: it is in the Hebrew text, a house of wine:” by which may be meant, either the wine-cellar,” the place where wine is kept under ground; or else the places’ where wine is poured out, and where
it is drank, according to R. Aben Ezra; and so may very well he rendered a banqueting-house. Thus we read of a banquet of wine which Esther invited king Ahasuerus and Haman to; and wine, being much used at feasts, may be put syncchdochically, for all the other accommodations thereof; by which we may understand either, 1st. The covenant of grace; this is built for a bauqueting-house for souls; it is a superstructure of grace and mercy, whose foundation is the person of Christ; it is well stored with all needful provisions for a nobler entertainment; it is ordered in all things, and sure;” it is full of Christ, his love and grace; it is well stored with spiritual blessings, and precious promises, which will serve as an everlasting banquet for those who are interested in it. Or else,
2ndly. The Sacred Scripture, which is a true banqueting-house: here is a variety of food, and plenty of it; here is milk fjr babes; and meat for strong men; which is exceeding pleasant and delicious, sweeter to the taste than the honey or honey-comb; revives and refreshes those who participate thereof, and is also exceeding wholesome to the souls of men: though there are vast numbers daily feasted here, yet there is no want; it abounds with the bread of Gospel-truths, with the wine of Gospel-promises, and is full of Christ, the hidden Manna, who is also the Bread of Life; he is the Alpha and Omega of the scriptures, the sum and substance of them, on whom faith lives, and by whom, from time to time, it is sweetly refreshed. Or else,
3rdly. The church is this banqueting-house. The Targum refers it to the house of the school, where the Israelites learnt the law at mount Sinai from the mouth of Moses; R. Alshech understands by it Sinai itself, and so it is interpreted in Yalkut; R. Sul. Jarchi tbiuksthe tabernacle of the congregation is intended, where the sense and explanations of the law were given; but it may much better be understood of the church of Christ, which is a house built by widsom, and furnished with all the necessary provisions of grace; here is “a feast of fat things prepared, of wines on the lees well refined. Christ is the Master and Provider of the feast, and he himself is the chief entertainment; his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed; to all which he gives his people an hearty welcome; meets them himself at his well-furnished table, and feasts with them; gives them spiritual appetites, and blesses all the provisions of his grace to them; hence those are the blessed persons who have admittance into, and a dwelliug-place in this house, for these shall be continually “satisfied with the goodness and fatness thereof;” hence it is that souls are so desirous of being here, and are so well-pleased with their habitation, because it is a banuetiug-VM n’a doniura vini, Pa-iuinus, Arontanus, &c. CcUam vinariam, V. L. Tigurlne version; eis tov
oii’Mia, Symmachus.
and Tvemellius.
y Locum con vivii, Junius
house unto them; and no wonder then is it, that those who are “Planted in the house of the Lord, flourish in the courts of our God.”
II. What it is to he “brought into’ this banqueting-house;” which may be considered according to the several senses before given. And
1st. Seeing by the banquetiug-house may be meant the covenant of grace, it may be proper to inquire, What it is to be brought into that, and by what means? And now here observe, that water-baptism, and a submission to it under the New-Testament, give a person no right unto, nor interest him in the covenant of grace, even as circumcision did not, nor could under the Old; instances of both might be given of persons, where there is no reason to believe they have any shai’c or lot in this matter; neither does charch-fellowship bring a person into it, nor a mere submission to any or all the ordinances of the Gospel, for “they are not all Israel which are of Israel:” nor are they all instances of covenant-grace, who are church-members; for there are tares as well as wheat grow in Christ’s field below; and goats as well as sheep are folded in his fold on earth, the church; there are foolish as well as wise virgins, snd there are “sinners in Zion,” as well as the “living in Jerusalem;” neither are faith and repentance terms and conditions of a man’s entering into this covenant; for they are some of the blessings of grace contained in it; they do not bring a person into it, but are evidences of his being there before; but what brings a person into it, is an act of sovereign and unchangeable grace before all time; all, interested in the everlasting covenant, before the world began, did by electing grace “pass under the rod of him that telleth them;” for when God made a covenant of grace with his Son on the account of these chosen ones, he brought them all into the bond of it, and put all grace and blessings into the hands of his Sou for them. Now the Spirit of God in time does in conversion take and apply this covenant grace to those persons, for the quickening, pardoning, justifying, and sanctifying them; he shows them the covenant, and their interest in it, and enables them to lay hold upon it; and every time he does do so, he may be said to bring a soul into the covenant, as an effect and fruit of that original, ancient act, made before the world began; which is what the church might experience here, to wit, a fresh manifestation of her covenant-interest; for “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear hira, and he ill show them his covenant -.” Christ led her into his banqueting-house, and there feasted her with his royal dainties; for to bring, is to lead one to an entertainment.*
2ndly. If we understand the scripture by the banqueting-house; then to be brought into it is to have the understanding opened, so as to behold wondrous things out of it; the heart affected with
’ ‘’N in, Pagninus, Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, Marckius, Michaelis.
the glorious truths thereof, so as to taste the spreetness of the “sincere milk of the word;” and distinguish the doctrines of the Gospel from those which are not so, and be capable of appropriating the promises of it to the comfort and satisfaction of our souls; and when we are enabled thus to do, we shall find the scripture to be a delightful banqueting-house indeed! Now all this Christ docs by his Spirit; who is the Spirit of truth, who guides and leads his people into all truth. But
Srdly. If by the bauquetiug-house we understand the church of Christ: then to be brought into it, is to be made a partaker of all the privileges of it, as those who are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow- citizens of the saints and of the household of God. Christ first calls men by his grace, then by his ministers invites them to come in, that this house may be filled; and by his Spirit powerfully works upon their souls, sweetly inclining them not only to give up themselves to him, but likewise to one another by the will of God; he, as an instance of his distinguishing grace, takes one of a city, and two of a family, and brings them to Zion, where he invests them with all the privileges and immunities thereof; here he grants them his gracious presence, sheds abroad his love in their hearts, and often entertains them with a delightful banquet. Now Christ’s thus bringing his church into his banqueting-house, shows, 1. Inability on her part; we cannot bring ourselves into the covenant of grace, nor can we take views of our interest in it at pleasure; but he who of his own grace placed us there, must show it us; nor can we of ourselves know the depths and mysteries of the sacred writings; they will remain a sealed book to us, unless the Spirit of Christ open the book, and our understandings to look into it: nor will his church, with all the ordinances of it, be a banqueting-house unto us, unless he himself be present with us. 2. Wonderful grace and condescension on his side; that he, who is the King of kings, and Lord of lords, should take one thus mean into his own apartments, and there entertain her with the best his house could afford. But this will still appear more manifestly, if we consider,
III. The manner in which she was brought; “his banner over me was love.” It was in a very stately and majestic manner, as well as a loving one, that she was brought; and for the illustration of this, it will be proper to consider the use of banners, and how they may be applied here. And
1st. The use of banners, standards, or ensigns, is to gather and keep persons together: thus Christ himself was lifted up on the cross, and is now lifted up in the Gospel, as an ensign to gather snuls unto him: and so his love, being displayed in the preaching of the Gospel, has a power and efficacy in it to draw souls after him; for as a fruit and
Ad prandium me adduxit, Plautus.
effect of everlasting love, “with loving kindness” he draws them: and in the same way and manner Christ here drew the church unto himself, and held her fast; and constrained her to keep close to him, and follow hard after him; see 2 Cor. V. 14.
2ndly. A banner displayed, or a standard set up, is an indication of war; it is to prepare for it, and to animate to it,’’ see Jer. li. 12, 27. This may serve to inform us, that the church of Christ here on earth is militant, and therefore in chap, vi. 4, is represented as formidable and terrible as an army with banners: she has many enemies to enpiage with, as sin, Satan, and the world, and yet has the greatest encouragement to fight, for she is bannered under the Lord of hosts; Christ is Commander-in-chief; he is given to be a Leader and Commander of the people, and is every way fit for it; he has courage enough to appear at the head of his armies, and conduct enough to lead them on, and bring them off at pleasure; those that are under him are well provided for; their bread is given them’in due season, and their water is sure: they are furaished with the Travo-srAia, or whole armour of God; they may be assured of a crown and kingdom as soon as the battle is over, and even of victory beforehand, for they are more than conquerors through him that hath loved them; likewise the motto, which is written upon the banner, under w-hich they are, is love: and if all this will not encourage them to fight, what will?
Srdly. A banner displayed is also a sign of victory; sometimes when a town, city, or castle is taken, the flag is hung out as an indication of it; see Jer. 1. 2. Christ has gotten the victory over all his and our enemies; he has conquered sin, Satan, and the world; and given his church and people a share in all his conquests; and as an evidence of it, has set up his banner over them. Or this may principally intend the conquest, which he, by love, had gotten over her heart; she surrendered herself into the victor’s hands; and now, as an instance of his mighty grace, he introduces her into his own house, under the banner of love, by which she was conquered.
4thly. A banner is for protection and defence; hence Moses built an altar, and called it Jehovah «/wi, that is, the Lord is my banner; because the Lord had been on the side of him and the people of Israel, and defended them from the Amalekites. The church was now enjoying sweet communion with Christ in his banqueting-house: and that she might be safe and secure fi-ora her enemies, and abide there during his pleasure, without any molestation or disturbance, he sets up his banner over her: thus “when the enemy comes in like a flood,” to disturb our peace, joy, and comfort, “the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him,” Isa. li.x. 19.
Vexillum proponendum, quod eratinsigne quum ad arma coueurri oporteret, Caesar, de Bello Gallic.
5thly. It is to direct soldiers where to stand, when to march, and whom to follow; see Numb, i. 52, and ii. 2, which may teach us, who are enlisted in Christ’s service, not to fly from our colours, but adhere closely to Christ and his Gospel, his cause and interest, his church and people, and to follow him, the Standard-bearer, wherever he goes; and nothing can more strongly engage us to do so than love, which is the motto of his banner; this first drew us to him, this animates us in his service, and keeps us close to his person and interest.
Ctlily. It is to distinguish one band from another; see Numb. ii. 2. As one band has one motto upon its banner or ensign, by which it is distinguished from another; so the motto on Christ’s banner is love, by which his band or company is distinguished from all others: it is this which has made them to differ from others; has distinguished them in electing, redeeming, and calling grace; and will keep them a distinct and peculiar people to all eternity; it is not any works which they have done, but Christ’s boundless love and grace alone, that make the difference between them and others. The allusion may be to the names of generals being inscribed on the banners of their armies; so Vespasian’s name was inscribed on the banners throughout his armies.^
Verse 5. Stay me with ilagons, comfort me with
apples, for I am sick of love. The church being brought into Christ’s banqueting-house or house of wine, and having there suh large discoveries of his love, she falls into a deliquium or fainting fit, not being able to hear up under the present enjoyment; and therefore calls to her friends and acquaintance that were about her, to give her their assistance in her present circumstances. In these words may be considered,
I. The church’s case and condition in which she was; “sick of love.”
II. “What relief she asks for. 1st. To be “stayed with flagons.” 2pdly. To be “comforted with apples.”
III. Who the persons are to whom she makes application.
I. We have in these words the present case and condition in which the church was; she was sick of love; this was a sickness of the soul, and not of the body; though the one has oftentimes an influence upon the other; for as there are various bodily sicknesses and diseases, so there are various spiritual ones. 1. There is the sickness of sin, which, if mighty grace prevent not, is a sickness unto death; it is in its own nature mortal, and can only be cured by Christ, the great Physician, who heals diseases by forgiving iniquity: this is what is natural and hereditary to us; we bring it into the world with us; for we are all” shapen in iniquity, and in sin did our mothers conceive
1. 2. c. 20.
Sucton. Vita Vespasian, c. 6.
U8:” it is an epidemical distemper, which has infected all human nature; all are diseased with it, though all arc not sensible of it; and it has overspread all the powers and faculties of the souls of men, as well as all the members of the body; so that there is no part nor place exempted from it; for the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint: but this is not the sickness intended here. 2. There is a sickness which souls are incident to, that arises from a sense of sin, want of the fresh manifestations of pardoning irace, absence of Christ Jesus, and a longing after the enjoyment of his person, and the discoveries of his love; which though it is not a sickness unto death, yet it is very painful and afflicting, and can only be cured by the enjoyment of the object loved; this discovers itself by a violent panting after Christ; a carefulness and activity in the use of means, to enjoy his presence and company; a resolution to go through all difficulties for the sake of him, and an uneasiness until it receives some instances of favour from him: with such souls, Christ is the subject of all their discourse; they love to hear his name mentioned, especially with commendation, their thoughts are continually upon him, and their minds are not easy till they enjoy him; this is the sickness which the church was attended with in chap. v. 8; where see more of it. 3. There is a sickness which springs from views of Christ’s person, discoveries of his love, and manifestations of his grace; which sometimes overpower the soul, and throw it into the utmost amazement, at the consideration of the greatness of Christ’s person and grace, and its unworthiness to be interested in it; so that it becomes like the queen of Sheba -. who, when she saw the riches, glorj’, and wisdom of Solomon, it is said of her, that “there was no more spirit in her.” And this I take to be the case of the church here; it did not arise from the want of Christ’s presence, or discoveries of his love, but from the enjoyment of them both; he had introduced her in a most stately manner into his banqueting-house, and gave her a noble entertainment; yea, he had plentifully shed abroad his love in her heart, which occasioned her to speak after this manner; his person appeared so glorious and lovely, the entertainment was so large and sumptuous, the motto of love upon the banner so bright and glittering, and what she felt in her own soul so powerful and inconceivable, that she was quite overcome therewith; she was “sick through love:” or, as the Septuagint renders it, she was “wounded wilh love:” not that this arises from the nature of love itself, which is not painful and grievous, but is owing to our weakness and imperfection, who cannot bear large views, nor support up nudur
“‘TerpM/ii’/i/i) ..lyiinnt, Sept. amore langueo, V. L. so Michaelis; jegrotus is used in this sense in Terent. Heautont. 1. I. The Tigurine version renders the words thus. Quia infirma sum clilectione, because I am weak in love; and understands it in the same sense a» when persons are saiito be weak in faith,
the mighty power of boundless love; we are but poor narrow earthen vessels, that can receive and retain bat little of it: this was that pressure under which she now laboured, and for which she seeks relief; which brings me,
I[. To consider what it is she calls for to relieve her at this time. 1st. [She desires to be “stayed with flagons.” 2nd. To be “comforted with apples.”
1st. Her request is, that some person or other would stay herewith flagons. The word translated flagons is differently rendered by interpreters; some render it flowers, as Jerom and the Vulgate Latin; and so she may be considered as having reference to sweet flowers bound up in nosegays, the odour of which is very refreshing and reviving; or, “make me to lie down in flowers,” so Symmachus; according to Plato,” love delights to be in odoriferous places; where there are sweet-smelling flowers, there is its habitation, and there it abides. Now the church being in love, says, stay me, revive, or support me with flowers; perhaps chiefly regarding Christ, who is the only strength and support of believers, who only can keep them both from falling and fainting; for having heard him speak of himself under the names of those delightful flowers, the rose and lily, in ver. 1, she is desirous that she might be stayed by, and supported with them: the Septuagint renders’the words thus, “strengthen me with ointments,“’ by which may be meant the graces of Christ, which are called so in chap. i. 3, ointments were used at feasts, andareof a cheering, reviving, and strengthening nature; and may very well express the grace of Christ, by which souls are cheered, revived, established, strengthened, and settled; our translators have rendered it flagons, and that very well; for according to the best Jewish writers,e it signifies vessels in which either wine or fine flower are put; and perhaps may be comprehensive of all the entertainments of a ban. quet, which are proper to satisfy, delight, and exhilarate; and wine being a principal one, may chiefly intend flagons of that; see 1 Chron. xvi. 3, Ilos. iii. 1; flagons are, by a metonymy, pnt for wine contained in them, as the cup is, Luke sxii. 20; for the church was desirous of those that were full and not empty; such as were full of the wine of Christ’s love, which is as reviving, cheering, and refreshing as the best wine: and which greatly strengthens and supports the animal spirits. “^ In what sense Christ’s love may be compared to wine, and is preferable to it, has been shown on chap. i. 2: and by flagons of it may be meant the doctrines of grace, in which Christ’s love is displayed; or the ordinances of the Gospel, by which it is communicated to the
and therefore need support.
‘Symposium, 1189. ‘SrepiVaTe le ti, /irpoir,
Sept. B R. Sol. Jarchi, and R. Aben Ezra in
loc. R. David Kimclii in lib. shorash. rad. ‘CXN.
‘’ Vino fulcire veuas cadcntes, Seneca, ep. 95.
saints; and may also intimate, that though the love and grace of Christ are given forth in measure to them, yet that they are large measures, which believers arc desirous of receiving; those who have most grace, would have still more; and those who have the greatest sense of Christ’s love, would have a larger experience of it, and are not content without it; they are like “the two daughters of the horse-leech, crj-ing, give, give:” and it may be also, that the church may have in view the glories and joys of another world; where she should have her (ill of love, drink freely and plentifully of this wine new with Christ in his Father’s kingdom, and coutiuue in the uninterrupted enjoyment of his presence. Now it ought to be observed, that she is desirous of more of that which had brought her into this condition: Chrisi’s love had wounded her, and that only could heal her; what had brought her into this sick and fainting condition, could only bring her out of it: this wounds and heals, kills and makes alive: and is the only reviving cordial.
2udly. She desires that she might be “comforted with apples;” as in the former request, she had a regard to the bacqueting-house, where she now was; so in this to the apple-tree, whose delicious fruit she had lately tasted. Apples are of a cooling and comforting nature,’ and are good against a syncope and palpitation of the heart, and the smell of them is very I’eviving: Solinus’’ tells us of a certain people who eat no food, but odorevivnnt poinorum sylvestrium, live by the smell of apples that grow in woods; and that when they go long journeys, carry them with them, ut ol- ■faclu alantur, that by the smell of them they may be uourished and sustained. The words may be rendered, “strew me with apples”;’ strew them about me, and strew them under me: the apple was an emblem of love, as before observed; to send or throw an apple to another, was a sign of love;“’ and must be still more so, to strew them about in quantities. By these apples may be meant, either the blessings of grace procured by the blood of Christ, which remove the fierceness of divine wrath, and being powerfully applied by the Spirit of God, do abundantly comfort and refresh the soul: or else the doctrines of the gospel, when filly spoken, and fitly applied, are like “apples of gold in pictures of silver;” how comfortable and reviving are the doctrines of justification, pardon, perseverance, &c.; the church had found them so by good experien ce, and therefore desires them. The Targum, by flagons, understands the words of the law; and by apples, the interpretations of them; which, it says, are sweet to the taste as the apples of the garden of Eden: but it is much better to understand them, as we have done, of the doctrines of the gospel, which have often been
‘Femel. method, medend. 1. .5. c. 6, 21.
k Polyhist. c. 65. ’ ‘:nDT sternite ante me, so
some in Vatablus; substernite mihi, Tigurine verfiion, Piacator.” Melo Galatea petit. Virgil
experienced to have relieved persons in a fainting condition, such as the church was now in; and who knowing the virtue and efficacy thereof, calls for them. And,
III. The persons she makes application to, the word being in the plural number, are either the chorus of virgins, or daughters of Jerusalem, her dear friends and acquaintance, to whom she often told her case, especially when in distress, and desired their assistance, who seem to be near to her, by that solemn adjuration given unto them in ver. 7; or else, any other Christian friends that might be standing by her; for they that fear the Lord, speak often one to another, converse together, and comfort each other: or rather the ministers of the Gospel, who, by preaching the glorious doctrines of it, are instrumental in the hand of the Spirit for comforting the distressed, and reviving the fainting souls of God’s children; though perhaps she principally intended Christ, who we find immediately came to her relief, as appears from the following verse.
Verse 6. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
These are still the words of the church, declaring what experience she had of Christ’s grace and presence; who immediately upon the notice she gave of her distress, came to her assistance, and with both hands supported her in her fainting fit, and brought her out of it. And it may be observed, that she called to others for relief in the former verse, hut it was Christ only that could help her: the flagons and apples of a gospel-ministry and gospel-ordinances will not be effectual to comfort and sustain the saints in such circumstances, unless Christ himself appears in them, and gives a blessing to them; which is what the church comfortably experienced here, and therefore speaks of it. And,
I. I shall consider what these words are expressive of.
II. In what manner they are delivered by her.
III. To whom they are directed, and for what reasons.
I. It may be proper to consider what Christ’s left hand being under her head, and his right hand being said to embrace her, are expressive of. And.
1st. They are expressive of Christ’s tender love unto, care of, and regard for his church and people; he acts the part of a loving husband, who, seeing his bride and spouse ready to sink and faint, hastens to her relief, embraces her in his arms, lays her in his bosom, and discovers the strongest and most endeared affoction to her: Christ had a love for his church from all eternity; his heart was then ravished with her, and he took the
Bucol. eclog. 3. ver. 64. Vid. Theocrit. Idyll. 3. v. 10, 40, 41. and Idyll. 6. v. 6, 7. and Suidam in voce.
utmost delight in bcr, viewing her in all the glory his Father meant to bring her to; and therefore requested of his Father that she might be his spouse and bride, whinh was accordingly granted to hira; who has ever since remained a faithful and loving husband, and has given her the fullest and most incontestible proofs of it; he has assumed her nature, died in her room and stead, paid all her debts, procured every needful blessing for her, has given her right unto, and will put her into the possession of all that he has; he has raised her from the dunghill, the depths of sin and misery, tfiken otr her filthy garments, clothed her in rich attire and royal apparel, and set her at his own right hand, in gold of Ophir.
This love of his remains the same as ever it was, and will do so for ever, notwithstanding all her failings and infirmities, her revoltings from him, and unkiudncss to him; for he is “Jesus, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever:” though it is true, he does not alway manifest his love to his people, but sometimes hides his face from them, and kindly chides them for their good, and his own glory; yet he cannot always withhold his love in the manifestations of it to their souls; for though he seems to treat them severely for a while, yet his heart is full of love, pity, and concern; his bowels yearn, and, Joseph-like, cannot refrain himself, but must make himself known unto his brethren. Christ now has various ways of showing his love to his people, which he does the most suitably and seasonably; when tempted, he succours them; when disconsolate, he comforts them; and when afflicted, he sympathizes with them; when hungry, he feeds them; when naked, he clothes them; when sick, he, as the great Physician, heals them; when weak, he supports and upholds them with the right hand of his righteousness; and when fainting, he cheers and revives them; “he giveth power to the faint, and to them who have no might, he increases strength;” and this he does by putting his left hand under their head, and by embracing them with his right hand; the doing of which is an amazing and surprising instance of his grace.
2ndly. These phrases are expressive of that near fellowship and communion the church has with Christ; which is variously expressed in scripture, as by supping, and walking with him, and leaning on his bosom, and here by lying in his arms; which is an indication of very near and intimate communion indeed: to be admitted into Christ’s banqueting-house, and there sit with him at his table, or into his privy chambers, and there have converse and communion with him, argue great nearness to hira, and intimacy with him; but to lie in his arms, and have a place in his bosom, what can be nearer? This is the effect of that near and iudissolute union souls have with Christ; and what by divine grace, they are called to the
1. S’^ Tovippf, i„ ]„p, Tigurine version, some
Ainsworth, Uarckius.
enjoyment of; are frequently indulged with in their attendance on ordinances; and is that one thing they are desirous of, and uneasy without; bat which, when obtained, gives them the greatest pleasure and highest satisfaciion.
3rdly. They are expressive of the enjoyment of blessings from Christ, in whose right hand is length of days, and in whose left hand are riches and honour. Temporal mercies are Christ’s left-hand blessings;” and such a measure of them Christ hands forth to his people in a covenant way, as will be needful for them to support them whilst in, and comfortably carry them through this wilderness; but Christ’s right-hand blessings are of a spiritual nature, such as a justifying righteousness, pardon of sin, peace, and reconciliation by bis blood, and adoption; all which being, by Christ’s hand, applied unto his saints, cheer, revive, and com.fort, when ready to faint; and which sustain, uphold, and strengthen them, when ready to sink and die away.
4thly. They are expressive of the safety and security of the church: they must needs be safe from all enemies, and secure from falling, who are encircled in the anns of Almighty grace, sustained by Christ’s left hand, and embraced by his right hand, for out of his hands none can pluck Ihera: such are, and will be preserved in Christ Jesus, until they are safely brought to glory. The Targum and R. Sol. Jarchi expound these words of the divine care and protection which the Israelites enjoyed in the wilderness; whereby they were not only provided with every thing that was useful and necessary, but also defended from every thing that was noxious and hurtful.
II. We may now consider the manner in which these words were delivered; and that they may be considered, either, 1. As a” prayer, and be read thus, “0 that his left hand was under my head, and that his right hand would embrace me!” and suppose her still in the same case in which she was in the former verse; and seem to intimate, that she had a sense of her present statu and condition, and a desire to be out of it; also, that she was without Christ’s presence and communion with him, though she had a value for it, and an earnest desire after it, and did firmly believe that the enjoyment of it would relieve her. Or, 2. They may be considered as spoken in the strength of faith, that it would be so; and then the words may be read thus, “his left hand will be under my head, and his right hand will embrace me;”p and the sense of them is, as if she should say. It is true I am now in a very weak, feeble, and fainting condition; yet I know I shall not totally sink, fall and perish; for he will hold me up and support me, so that I shall not be moved: the words seem then to be spoken much in the same manner, and to argue the same strength of faith, as those spoken by the church in Mic. vii. 7, 8.
p V. L. Pagninus, Arontanus.
S3
Or else, 3. As expressing her present experience that it was so; and then the words may he read as they are rendered by our translators, “his left hand is under my head,” &c., which experience of hers she mentions with thankfulness, as she ought to do, to the glory of his love and grace, who had so kindly and graciously appeared for her in a time of distress; and this she does also in an exulting manner, and with a kind of boastiflg; for though we are not allowed to glory in ourselves, nor have any reason to boast of any thing which we have done, yet we may glory in Christ, and boast of what he is unto us, and has done for us.
III. The person to whom she speaks, are either the ministers of the Gospel, whose assistance she had desired; and having enjoyed the comforting and supporting presence of Christ, in the ordinances, and under the ministry of the word, she lets them know of it, to encourage them in their work, and that they, with her, might bless the Lord for it: or else, the daughters of Jerusalem, whom she adjures in the following verse; who are persons newly converted, to whom she directs her discourse, and gives them this account of her experience, that she might allure them to the ordinances, and encourage them to walk in the ways of Christ, as well as engage them to join with her in giving thanks to him for the reception of so great a mercy; which is very agreeable to David’s practice, in Psal. iiiiv. 2, 3, “My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.”
Verse 7. / charge you, 0 ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
There is some difficulty in these words concerning the person speaking, who it is, whether Christ or the church: interpreters are divided about it; and there are reasons, not to be despised, given on both sides.
Some think that they are the words of the church, charging the daughters of Jerusalem to give no disturbance to Christ, her love, and cause him to depart from her, with whom she now was, enjoying sweet communion with him; which seems to be the sense of our translators: and this sense of the words bids fair, if we consider, 1. The person to whom these words are spoken, “the daughters of Jerusalem;” who were the friends of the church, “the virgins, her companions;” who attended and waited upon her: Christ is represented in this Song as having his friends with him; and the church, as having hers with her, and that in allusion to a nuptial entertainment; and therefore it seems most reasonable that she should speak to her friends, and not his.
2. In all other places, where these words arc used, they seem to be the words of the church, and not of Christ; see chap. iii. 5, and viii. 4.
3. The manner of speech shows it, which is not by way of command, which is proper to Christ; but by way of adjuration, or giving a charge with an oath, which is usual with the church of these persons; for which, besides the places before-mentioned, see chap. v. 8. 4. If we also consider the matter, it suits well with the church’s language; the character, “my love,” is very applicable to Christ, he being the Person whom her soul loved; the charge that this love should not be stirred up, but at pleasure, agrees with Christ, who is endued with sovereignty, and ought to be at his own liberty to stay with, or remove from his people when he pleases. 5. It suits with the contest and scope of the place: the church was now in Christ’s arms, where she lay with a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction; and being willing to have communion with Christ continued, and not interrupted by these persons, she solemnly adjures them after this manner; which carefulness and solicitude of her’s seems also to be the scope and design of those other places, chap. iii. 5, and viii. 4.
But there are others who think that they are the words of Christ, and not without some reason; for, 1. It was the church, who having solace and ease in Christ’s arras, was fallen asleep there, and not he in hers; and therefore, that she might have no disturbance, he charges the daughters of Jerusalem by no means to awake her, till she herself thought meet. 2. The church in this Song, when she gives Christ a character, which is expressive of her love, does not use this word nariN, ahahah, love, which is of the feminine gender; but another, nn dodi, my beloved, or well-beloved, which is of the masculine; but Christ makes use of this same word in giving a loving title to his church, as in chap. vii. 6; and therefore they seem to be the words of Christ speaking concerning and in behalf of his church. 3. Both the word nnn«, ahabih, love, and Dun, techphafz, which is in construction with, and is rendered he please, are both of the feminine gender, and so best agree with her,i and may be rendered, “that ye stir not up nor awake my love till she please.” 4. The following words seem to confirm this sense, “the voice of my beloved!” What voice was this she heard? ^Tiy, the charge he gave to the daughters of Jerusalem not to disturb her; which discovered so much love and goodness in him, and her heart was so much affected with it, that she breaks out into this pathetic exclamation, “the voice of my beloved!”
And now though the former sense is not to be despised, yet I must confess I chiefly incline to the latter, and having thus considered whose words they are, I shall now consider the words
t So the Cabalistic doctors interpret the word of malcuth. or th9 bride Lexic. Cabal, p. 43, 44.
o 2
i
up nor
themselves; in which may be observed,
I. The char-re given; not to “stir
awake t//e love till he or she j)lease.”
II. The persons to whom this charge is given; “the daughters of Jerusalem.”
JII. The manner in which it is delivered; “I charge you by (he roes and by the hinds of the field.”
I. Here is a solemn charge given not to “stir up nor awake the love,” or “this love,” the wellkuovvn love,’ “till he, or she please;” which I have observed may be understood, either as the church’s charge to these persons not to disturb Christ, ia whose company she now was; or else, as Christ’s charge to them not to awake the charch, who was now sleeping in his arms; and both these senses being pressed with such reasons as have been bufore observed, I shall consider the words both ways: and then if we consider them as the church’s charge, not to disturb Christ her love, they will lead us to observe, 1. That Christ is the object of the church’s love, and of all true believers; there is none in heaven or on earth, that has so great a share in their love as he has; they love him with all their hearts and souls, and above all things else whatever; and that so sincerely and unfeigncdly, that they can appeal, with Peter, to the Searcher of hearts, and say, “Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee;” which arises from the discoveries of Christ’s love to them, and the views which they have of his loveliness; and is still more and more increased, by having nearer communion, and more intimacy and acquaintance with him. 2. That Christ sleeps and takes his rest among his church and people; this is manifest from her carefulness not to have him stirred up and awaked; the Lord is sometimes said to sleep, and not to awake, when he does not arise to deliver his people from danger, or out of the hands of their enemies; see Psal. xxiv. 22, 23, and xliv. 23, 33, and sometimes when he grants his presence to them and communion with them, as here: the church is Christ’s resting-ploce, where he “rests in his love,” towards his people, grants his presence to them, converses with them, and “lies all night betwixt their beasts.” 8. That Christ may be disturbed, and raised up from hence by the sins of his people; their vexatious contentions one with another, their unfriendly and ungrateful carriage to him, often provoke him to remove from them; they grieve his Spirit, and cause him to hide his face, which is no ways for their honour or comfort.
4. That believers should be very careful that they do not provoke Christ to depart from them; and therefore should watch against the very first motions of sin, and” abstain from all appearance for sinful thoughts, as well as sinful acofit;
tions, are an abomination to him, and lead on to (he commission of them ;, and it is the desire of believers under the influences and by the assistance of the Spirit of grace, so to do; which shows that communion with Christ is highly valued by them, and what they would not have by any means iuterrupted. 5. That communion which souls have with Christ, is entirely at his pleasure; they cannot have it, when and as long as they please, but when and as long as he pleases; for “when he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? so when he hideth his face, who then can behold him?” as Elihu says. Job xxxiv. 29. The discoveries of Christ’s love and grace to his people; the grants of his presence to Ihetn, and communion with them, as much depend upon his sovereign will and pleasure, as the first actings of his grace towards and upon sinners do: he may withdraw from his people without any provocation, as he sometimes does; for he is a God that “hideth his face from the house of Jacob;” and is not obliged to give any reason for it, but his owu sovereign well; though he always designs their good, and his own glury by it; yet he is oftener caused to arise, and remove from them, through their carnality, lukewarmness, ingratitude, and unbelief.
But if we consider the words as the charge of Christ to the daughters of Jerusalem, not to disturb the church, then we may observe, 1. That the church is Christ’s love; she is frequently called so by him in this Song, as in chap. i. 9, 15, and ii. 10, and in other places: she has the greatest share in his affections, as he has in hers, and has given the fullest proofs of his love of her; which put it beyond all dispute, that she is the object of it, and will always continue so, notwithstanding all her failings and infirmities. 2. That the church sleeps and takes her rest in Christ’s arms; there is a sleejjiness or drowsiness which attends God’s children, that is a sinful one; when they fold their own arms together, and do not lie in Christ’s; in this frame was the church, chap. iii. 1, and v. 2; but this here is a rest which Christ gives, a sleep which he brings his into, when he puts under his everlasting arms, and embraces them in his bosom; for “so he givelh his beloved sleep,” Psal. cxxvii. 2, 3. That Christ values the company and conversation of his children: these are “the excellent in the earth, in whom is all his delight;” he loves to see their persons, and hear their voice; the actings of their grace upon him are exceeding delightful to him, and therefore would not have them be disturbed, hence it can never be a work well-plcasiug to Christ, for any to sadden the hearts, lessen the joys, and weaken the faith of God’s children. 4. That Christ would not have his church’s jjeace disturbed; though it olten-
‘So lovers are frequently caller! amor and amores, love and loves; vid. Theocrit. Idyll. 2. and Ovid. Bnseis Aehilli. v. 12. Plaiiti Curculio, act. 2. sc. 3. v. 78 Miles, a«t. i. sc. 8. v. 07. Jlostel. Arg. v. 1. Persa, Arg. V. 4. Foeaulus, .let..;, fc. 3. v. 42.
tiines is by “quarrelsome and contenlious persons,” who are always uneasy themselves, and euJeavQur to make others so; by “carnal professors, whose lives and conversations are wounding and grieving to pious souls;” by “errors and heresies,” which, “springing up” in churches, trouble some, and defile others; and often by “inward corruptions,” those domestic enemies, which are of all the worst and most alSicting; as well as by Satan, that unwearied enemy, who, though he cannot devour, yet will disturb; but whether this be done one way or other, it is no ways pleasing and grateful to Christ. 5. Though believers, when under the gracious influences of the blessed Spirit, are desirous of communion with Christ; and if they might have it as long as they please, they would have it always, and say, as the disciples did, “Lord, it is good for us to be here;” yet when they begin to be sleepy and drowsy, they grow careless and iudiflcreut about it; which justly provokes Christ to deprive them of it. So much for the charge itself.
II. The persons to whom this charge is given, arc the “daughters of Jerusalem;” by whom we are to understand young converts, as has been observed in chap. i. 5. Now these are very apt to disturb Christ by their impatience; who, like new-born babes, are unwilling to wait till their food is prepared for them; till’Cbrist’s own time is come, when he will more fully reveal himself unto them, and give them large discoveries of his love: and also by their frowardness, who, when their food is prepared for them, grow sullen and will not eat it; and, like Rachel of old, “refuse to be comforted;” or else, through “the weakness of their faith, and living upon their frames,” which young converts are very apt to do; for no longer than they have the discoveries of Christ’s love, and sensible communion with him, can they believe their interest in him; and therefore, like froward and impatient children, or poor weaklings, give him a great deal of disturbance: and so taking them as the words of the church, she seems here to act the part of a mother; and charges these her children to be still and quiet, and give her loving Husband no disturbance, whilst she enjoyed his delightful company.
Moreover, these daughters of Jerusalem, or young converts, are very apt to give the church disturbance; and therefore Christ may be represented as charging them not to do it: this they sometimes do through weakness, not being able to bear the doctrines of the Gospel; such some of the Coi-inthians were, who were “babes in Christ,” and therefore the apostle fed them with milk, and not with mrat, for they “were not able to bear it;” by reason of which, many contentions, divisions, and disturbances, were raised in that church: as also, sometimes through ‘igno-
Cerva silvicultrix. Catullus, v. 04, 72. ‘Virgiuibus Tyrus mos eBt gestare pharetram, Virgil.
ranee of Gospel-order,” not being so well versed in, and acquainted with the rulei, laws, and ordinances of Christ’s house; so that oftentimes, for want of know ledge in Gospel-discipliue, as well as in Gospel-doctrine, they give disturbance to the church of Christ; all which, Christ knowing full well, gives them this solemn charge.
III. The manner in which this charge is given, which is very solemn and awful; it is with an oath, “I adjure you, or I cause you to swear by the roes and by the hiuds of the field, that ye give no disturbance to my love; creatures which ran in field*, forests, and woods, and were their native places.’ The meaning is, not as if either Christ or his church swore by those creatures; for swearing by heaven or earth, or by any creature in them, is condemned by Christ, Matt. V. 34 — 37; au oath ought not to be take a in trifling cases, nor in any other name than in the name of God; which perhaps is the reason why the Targum thus paraphrases the words here:” I adjure you, O ye congregation of Israel, by the Lord of hosts,” or Tzebaoth, which same word is used for roes here, “and by the strengths or fortresses of the land of Israel,” k.c. And either, 1. The words may be paraphrased thus, I charge you, who are among the roes and hinds of the fields, you daughters of Jerusalem, who are shepherdesses, and keep your flocks where roes and hinds skip and play; or who love to hunt them, and delight in such exercises;’ I chai”ge you, that you give my love no disturbance. Or else, 2. Thus I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, that ye remain or abide with the roes and hinds of the field, so Junius; mind your own business, keep your flocks, stand without whilst I and my love enjoy each other’s delight fiil convei’sation,without any interruption or molestation from you. Or, 3. Those creatures, the roes and hinds, it may be, are called in as witnesses to this solemn charge, and to be produced against them, if ever they should break it; as to which sometimes iieaveu and earth, animate and inauimate creatures, are called in scripture; see Deut, xxx. 19, Josh. xxiv. 27. Or, 4. This adjuration or charge is made by all that is dear, the roes «ud hinds being pleasant and lovely creatures, as in Prov. v. 19; as if he or she should say, I charge you, O ye lovely daughters of Jernsalcm, by the hinds and roes, which for beauty and loveliness are like to yon, as R. Aben Ezra observes; if, 0 ye lovely ones, ye have any love for me, I beg, I earnestly intreat of you, that you will cause neither me nor my love any interruption. Or, 5. It may be considered as a severe threatening to those persons, if they should be unmindful of the charge given; and it is as if he should say, I swear, that if you stir up, or awake my love, that you shall be food as common to all, as the roes and hinds are; to which purpose as R. Sol. Jarchi’s gloss: and
neid. 1. I.
A:< expos iXlON OF THE
these creatures being very swift ones, may note the suddenness and swiftness of those judgments which should come upon them in case of disobedience. Or, 6. The sense may be this: that as ye would, 0 ye daughters of Jerusalem, be cautious how you start those timorous creatures,” the roes and hinds; so would I have you be as cautious how you stii’ up and awake my love, which is as easily and as quickly done. Or, 7, and lastly, I charge you, for the sake of these roes and hinds, the Gentiles and nations of the world, that ye do not disturb the peace of my church, by fomenting and increasing divisions in it; and so cause my name to be dishonoured, my ways to be spoken evil of, and me to depart from you; but rather keep peace within, and “walk in wisdom towards them that are without;” and by so doing you will gratify me, and allure these Gentiles to your society and fellowship; who otherwise, like timorous roes and hinds, will be frighted and scared from it.
Verse 8. The voice of my I dove dl beJioJd! he Cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
Though there was some difficulty in understanding the former words, whose they were, whether Christ’s or the church’s; yet it is certain that these are spoken by the church, who hearing Christ, her beloved, give such a solemn charge to the daughters of Jerusalem, not to awake her, is so affected with his love to her, and care of her, that she could’ not forbear breaking out into this pathetic exclamation upon it; and not only takes notice of this, but also of some other instances of his love and regard unto her; or else it may be supposed, that the sweet and comfortable communion which she had before enjoyed with Christ, mentioned in the preceding verses, had been for some time interrupted, he having withdrawn himself, and she being fallen into a spiritual drowsiness; but he returning again to her, and calling her out of this state, as in vcr. 10, she awakes, and takes notice of the several steps and procedures of his grace, and records several instances of his love unto her; two of which are mentioned in these words.
I. He calls unto her, and she hears and knows his voice, and says. It is “the voice of my beloved.”
II. He not only calls, but comes, and she spies him coming; the manner of which she describes to be, “leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.”
I. The first thing she remarks is his voice, with which she seems to be wonderfully affected, “the voice of my beloved! “Some Jewish writers” interpret this of the voice of the Messiah; by which may be meant, the Gospel of Christ, in
° — Pavidos formidine cervos terret, Ovid. Fasti, 1. 5. v. 173. Formidantes cervos, Ovid. Metamorph. 1. !.■>. fab. 43. Timidi damse, Virgil. Bucol. eclog. 8. V. 28. and Georgic. 1. 3. prope finem. Pavida; damje.
which he speaks both to saints and sinners; and which has a virtue and efficacy in it to quicken dead sinners, and comfort living saints; for though it is powerful, yet alluring; though full of majesty, yet soft and charming, and makes delightful music in the ears of believers; concerning which may be observed,
1st. That the voice of Christ is known and distinguished by believers from the voice of others: the church was capable of doing this, and therefore says, “the voice of my beloved!” she could know it lo be his voice, and distinguish it from another’s, even though but just I’aised out of her sleep; nay, she could do this when she was as it were between sleeping and waking; when indulging herself in drowsiness and security, as in chap. v. 2, and thus Christ says, John X. 4, 5, of all his sheep, that they not only heard his voice, but knew it, and therefore followed him and not strangers; for, says he, “the voice of strangers they know not.” Now if any one should ask how Christ’s voice can be known and distinguished from others; I answer,
1. By the majesty of it; by this we know the scriptures to be the word of God, there appearing such a shine of majesty in them, as does not in any other writings; and hereby we know the Gospel to be the voice of Christ, and can distinguish it from that which was not so: Christ speaks in the Gospel, “as one having authority, and not as the scribes;” there is a vast difference between “the words which man’s wisdom teacheth,” and those “which the Holy Ghost teacheth;” the one are low, mean, dead, and lifeless; the other not only come with evidence, and “the demonstration of the Spirit and of power” to believers, but even fasten convictions of the original and authority of them upon the minds of wicked men; see 1 Cor. xiv. 24,25.
2. By the power and efficacy of it; the Gospel which is Christ’s voice, comes “not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost;” and so not only reaches the ear, but also the heart; it opens blind eyes, unstops deaf ears, quickens dead sinners, awakes sleepy, and comforts distressed saints, and is in fine, “the power of God imto salvation, to every one that believes.”
3. By the spiritual food and divine refreshment it affords to believers; who find Christ’s word and eat it, and it becomes “the joy and rejoicing “of their hearts; that which is not Christ’s word and Gospel, is like the chaff to this wheat; and that which is opposite to those” wholesome words of our Lord Jesus,” instead of nourishing and refreshing, as these do, “eat as doth a canker.” 4. Believers know this voice of Christ, and can distinguish it from others, by its bringing them to him, and not sending them from him; that voice which sends Her at. Carmin. 1. 1. ode 2. v. 1 1. hence Kpo3in£ln0oio, corcervi, Homer. Iliad. 1. I. v. 225.” Fesikta in Yalkcutin loc.
ine to my owu rigliteousuess, and not to Christ’s, for acceptance with God, and justificatioa before him; which sends me to my tears of repentance, and not to Christ’s blood, for pardon and cleansing, can never be the voice of Christ; that voice which bids me keep off from Christ, till I have prepared and qualided myself for him, by my own acts of humiliation and obedience, is contrary to that voice of Christ which bids me come to him as a poor, vile, filthy, and perishing sinner in myself, without him, and venture on him for life and salvation; and therefore that cannot be the voice of Christ: thus may it be known from the voice of a stranger. 6. Believers have the Spirit of Christ, who is “the Spirit of truth,” whose work and office it is to “guide them into all truth,” and to enable them to distinguish truth from error; and this he accordingly does, for he “searches the deep things of God,” and reveals them to the saints, and abides in them as a “spirit of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of Christ.” G. They know it by the scriptures of truth, which they diligently search, and by which they examine every doctrine: and whatsoever sound or language is disagreeable thereunto, they reject, as not being the voice of Christ; “to the law and to the testimony” they appeal; and whosoever does not “speak according to this word,” they judge “it is because there is no light in them,” Isa. viii. 20
2ndly. It may be observed that this voice of Christ, as it may be known and distinguished by believers from the voice of others, so it is exceeding pleasant and delightful to them. - The church seems to speak of it as being so to her; and no wonder it was, for it is, 1. A voice of love, grace, and mercy to poor sinners; it is not like the law, a voice of terror, wrath, and fury; no, it speaks peace and pardon to rebellious creatures, and publishes life and salvation to lost sinners. Christ came leaping and skipping like a roe or a young hart; or, as it is said of Naphtali, like “a hind let hose, who giveth goodly words;” emd no wonder then that his voice was so delightful. 2. It was also the voice of her beloved one, who dearly loved her, and had given incontestible proofs of it, and whom she loved with all her heart and soul; and therefore his voice, as well as his countenance and person, was sweet unto her; it was the voice of the bridegroom, and therefore need not be thought strange that the bride, as well as her friends, should rejoice at it.
Srdly. We may learn from hence, that Christ’s voice may be heard before he is seen-, the church first heard his voice, and then she saw him come leaping and skipping over the mountains and hills; and this indeed is one way by which souls are brought to a sight of Christ, viz., by the preaching of the gospel; nay, believers, even when they are without sights of Christ, and sensible communion with him; yet, in hearing
the word, cau distinguish Christ’s voice, and can set to their seals that it is his, though perhaps they cannot immediately take in the comfort of it.
4tlily. Believers would have others know Christ’s voice as well as they; the church knew this to be the voice of Christ; but she is not content with the knowledge of it herself, and therefore speaks of it for the information of the daughters of Jerusalem. But,
II. She not only heard his voice, but also spied him coming to her, though at some distance; and perhaps as soon as ever she had heard his voice, or the noise of his feet, as R. Abcn Ezra explains it, she lifted up her eyes, or turned herself, and saw him upon the march towards her. Here must be considered, 1st. What is meant by his coming. 2ndly. The manner of it, “leaping upon the mountains, and skipping upon the hills.” Srdly. Why she prefixes an ecce, or a behold unto it; behold he cometh,” &c.
1st. It will bo proper to consider what is here meant by Christ’s coming: which must be understood either of his coming in the flesh, which the church had then a distant sight of, and is since accomplished: this coming of Christ from heaven, and out of his Father’s bosom, into this sinful world, was not by a change of place, but by assumption of nature; who.ee great end in it was to save sinners, which is entirely answei’ed: now, as this had been long promised, frequently prophesied of, and nothing was more earnestly expected, and passionately wished and prayed for, so nothing was more delightful to the Old-Testament saints, than the near approach of it, nor more welcome than when it was accomplished. Or else by bis coming here, may be meant his spiritual coming; for though he withdraws and absents himself from his people for a time, yet he will not leave them altogether, and always comfortless, but will come unto them; and the church’s spying him as coming, supposes that he was at some distance from her, with respect to sensible communion or enjoyment of his presence, though not with respect, either to union or affection; for in this sense she is always near unto him: and also that he was upon the return to her, whom faith spied, though at a distance, which is agreeable enough to the nature of it; this filled her soul with joy and pleasure: for even distant sights of Christ are pleasant, though his nearer approaches give a greater satisfaction; his presence is always welcome to a believer, and there is a great deal of reason for it: for he always brings something along with him, and never comes empty handed; yea, never visits without leaving something behind him.
2ndly. The manner of his coming is expressed by “leaping upon the mountains, slcipping upon the hills:” the allusion is to the leaping of a roe or a young hart, as in the next
verse, remarkable for leapijipr, even oue just yeaned;” so a young hart is described as leaping ’ to its dam ■/ the leap of one of these creatures is very extraordinary -.^ which, if understood of Christ’s coming in the flesh, shows, 1. That there were many difficulties in the way, and such that were comparable to bills and raonntains: the greatness of his pei’son was no inconsiderable one; nay, such an one, that it could nevar have been thought that it should have been got over, had not God himself declared it should be; and we have undeniable evidence that it has been; for God to become man, the Creator a creature, and the Word to be made flesh, and dwell among us, is such an amazing stoop of Deity, and surprising instance of divine condescension, that it is even the wonder of men and angels: also the greatness of the work he was to do, when come, was no small difficulty; here was a broken law to fulfil, angry justice to satisfy, sin to atone for, the wrath of God to bear, many enemies to grapple with, and a cursed death to undergo; and all this for the vilest of miscreants, the worst of creatures, whose characters are sinners, ungodly persons, and such who were enemies to him in their minds by wicked works. Yet, 2. These difficulties which seem insuperable to us, were easily surmounted by him: he leaped and skipped over those mountains and hills, which all became a plain before our great Zerubbabel; what appear mountains to us, were mole-hills to him; therefore he readily engaged, and voluntarily undertook before time to assume human nature, which in time he did with the utmost cheerfulness; and showed his eager desires after it, long before his incarnation, in often appearing in a human form; and when he was actually become incarnate, how eager was he for the accomplishment of the work he came about! how easily did he break through all difficulties, discouragements, and impediments, that lay in his way! and nothing could stop him till he could say the work was finished which he undertook; and thus, with the utmost swiftness and celerity, he came “leaping upon the mountains, and skipping upon the hills.” If we understand it of his spiritual coming, it shows, 1. That there are impediments in the way of Christ’s visiting his people; such as their unbelief, carnality, and lukewarmness, their want of faith in him, and affection to him, their backslidings from him, and ingratitude towards him: yet all these mountains and hills he leaps and skips over, resolving that nothing shall separate him and them. 2. That Christ’s coming to his people in a way of grace, is very conspicuous to them; the eye of faith spies him at a distance, as it were, upon the mountains; and also, that it is very glorious and beautiful; for if “beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth glad tidings,” much more beautiful must
Vid. Dionys. Prieg. p. 843, 844. y Ne/3por
aXoiTo, &c. Theocrit. Idyll. 8. prope finem. ‘The
hart is said to leap sixty feet at a leap, Bochart.
the feet of Christ, or Christ himself be, when he” comes and grants his gracious presence to his people. 3. It denotes the spcediness, swiftness, and ie,uliiiess of Christ, to help his people; he makes haste and delays not, and therefore is said to leap and skip; his heart is set upon it; and nothing shall prevent him, though mountains and hills are between them.
3rdly. She prefixes an eere, a behold, to this coming of Christ unto her; which, if applied to his coming in the flesh, may be considered, either, 1. As a note of admiration; as in Isa. vii. 14, “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son:” the incarnaliou of Christ, though it was confirmed to the church by promises, types, and prophecies, yet was so strange and stupendous a thing, that nothing but faith eonld receive it, and that with the most profound admiration. 2. As a note of attention or asseveration; and so is used by her to stir up the daughters of Jerusalem to an observation of his near approach, and to encourage them in their faith and expectation of it, as well as that they might participate of her joy in the views thereof; see Zech. ix. 9.
Again, if we understand it of Christ’s spiritual coming; this is, (1). Matter of admiration, and therefore may well have an ecce, a behold, prefixed to it; we have all, who know any thing of this, reason to say with Judas, not Iscariot, in John xiv. 22, “Lord, how is it that thon wilt manifest thyself to us, and not unto the world?” (2). It is also worthy of observation: Christ’s special grace and favour in this regard ought not to be carelessly overlooked; but we should take no I ice of it with thankfulness, and wonder at it ourselves, and remark it to others, that they may join with us in magnifying the Lord on such an occasion, as the Psalmist did, in Psal. xxxiv. 1 — 3; who, as the church here, was so affected with the loving-kindness of the Lord, in this instance of it, that he tells it to others for this purpose.
Verse 9. Mi, beloved is like a roe, or a young hart: behold he standeth behind our wall, he looleth forth at the windows, shelving himself through the lattice.
The church continues her discourse concerning Christ, and takes notice of the several steps he took in manifesting himself unto her.
1. She compares him to “a roe or a young
hart.”
2. Declares the several gradual discoveries of himself unto her.
I. She compares him to “a roe or a young hart;” which seems to be occasioned by his swift and speedy approach unto her, mentioned in the former verse; for these are creatures remarkable for their swiftness ;• see 2 Sam. ii. 18. and many have reference to Christ’s celerity in
Hierozoic. par. I. 1. .5. v. 17. col. 8S2,
Cervi veloces, Virgil. iEneid. 1. 4. v. 253. Cerva aeripes, swift as the air, Ibid. I. 6. prope finem.
his coming ia the flesh; who as soon as ever “the fulness of time” was come, made no dehiy, but immediately clothed himself with human nature, in order to dispatch, with the utmost speed, the work which he had agreed to do; and with no less speed does he haste to the assistance of his people, when under trials, desertions, temptations, and aiBictions, and shows himself to be” a very* present help in trouble:” likewise
moans upon the cross, a violent eonsHmption of the radical moisture; so that his “strength was dried up like a potslierd,” and his tongue cleaved to his jaws,” with the violent thirst that was upon him; such an one he had, as is manifest from those words of his, when suffering upon the cross, / Udrst. Moreover, it is reported in Lybia,* where there is a great number of serpents, that when they see a hart lying alone, will, in great
his second ‘coming to raise the dead, judge the numbers at once, attack h.m; some wrappm
..... ii 1 — ,,f Ula foot ntlipra n iniir nis norni
world, reward his saints, nnd punish his enemies, will be equally as swift and sudden; for which reason it is compared. Matt, x.xiv. 29, to “the lightning which cometh out of the east,” and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, shineth even unto the west: but besides the swiftness of these creatures, Christ may be compared to them, or be said to be like to them on some other accounts; as, 1. For their pleasantness and lovinguess; they are pleasant and loving creatures, as appears from Prov. v. 19. Christ is pleasant and desirable in his person to his people, being “white and ruddy, and the chiefest among ten thousand;” he is loving in his carriage and deportment to them, and has given the most
undeniable proofs of the reality.
themselves about his feet, others about his horns, his ne.k, ard belly, and bite him dreadfully: upon which he gets up and runs about, here and there in great distress, but at length throws himself upon his back; some he rubs to death, and others he devours, and then hastens to the water-brooks to cleanse and refresh himself: thus Christ was beset by all the infernal powers, yet spoiled them all, got an entire victory over them, and now enjoys the glories of it. These were creatures fit for food, and were allowed to be so by the Levitical law; naturalists say,’ that by their being hunted, their flesh becomes softer: Christ is the Bread of Life,” and the “hidden manna;” he is very agreeable food for souls; his “flesh is meat indeed,” and his
strength, and immutability of his love, in shed-” blood is drink indeed; and by reason of the
ding his blood, and by giving his life for them. I sufferings which he underwent in our nature 2. For their choiceness and excelleucv, as R. Sol. become very suitable food for faith. 5. ihese Jarchi observes; young roes and harts being the creatures are long-lived ones: it is reported.
most choice and excellent: Christ is so in his nature. Person, office, people, and ordinances; he is so in the esteem of his Father, and in the esteem of men and angels; for though he is disallowed by some, yet he is highly valued by others. 3. For the antipathy there is between these creatures and serpents: historians’’ report of them, that they search out the lurking-places of serpents, and not being able to come at them in their holes, do, by the very breath of their nostrils, draw them out from thence,’^ and then trample upon them, tear them in pieces, and eat them: this may in some measure represent that enmity there is between that old serpent Satan, and Christ Jesus, the seed of the woman, who was manifested in human nature, to break his head, and destroy his works, which he has accordingly done. It is also fai’ther reported of the hart,*^ that after eating serpents, it grows prodigiously th”rsty, which occasions dreadful cries and lamentatious, and violent pantings after the water-brooks; to which an allusion is made in Psalm xlii. 1; and yet knowing, by an instinct in nature, that it is dangerous to drink until it has digested them, forbears a while. Thus Christ, when he destroyed that old serpent the Devil, sustained the weight of his Father’s wrath, which occasioned a bloody sweat in the garden, piteous
Plin. 1. 8. c. 32. .£uaii. de animal, l. 2. c. y. suiu! Polylust. c. 31. So Theodoret. inloc. ‘Hence
the hart has the name of elaipor, according to I’lutarch. de Solert. Animal, ii. <»76. Frantz.;
Hist, animal, pacr. par. 1. c. 15. Frantz. ibid. I
that Alexander the Great, having taken some of them, put golden chains about them, with which they were found, covered with fat, a hundred years afterwards, and scarce any appearance of old age in them. Christ lives and will live for ever;“he died once for the sins of men, but will never die more; “I am he,” says he, “that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore,” Rev. i. 18; for such reasons as these, and perhaps some others, Christ may be said to be “like a roe or a young hart.” The Septuagint here adds, “upon the mountains of Bethel,” which is not in the Hebrew text.
II. She declares the several gradual discoveries of himself unto her. In the former verse, she tells us, that she first heard his voice, and then saw him come “leaping upon the mountains,” and “skipping upon the hilis;” and here she observes some nearer approaches of him to her. let. She says, that he stood behind their wall. 2ndly. Looked forth at the windows. 3rdly. Showed himself through the lattice.
1st, She says, that he stood behind their wall; by which is meant, either. 1. The incarnation of Christ, whose glorious Deity was covered and hid under the wall of our humanity ;■■ which ii called our wall, because he was made partaker of the same flesh and blood with us. Or, 2. The walls 32. Solin. c. 31. Vid. p. 472. Hence cervina 251. So
f Ibid. P Plin. 1. 3.
Pausan. Arcad. sive 1. 8
senectus, Juvenal, satyr. 14.
Isidore in loc.
of our hearts, of which we read, Jer. iv- 19, “I am pained at my veiy heart;” in the Hebrew it is, “I am pained at the walls of my heart;” such are our sins and transgressions,’ which are as so many walls of separation between Christ and us, particularly unbelief, lukewarmness, carnal reasonings, &c., behind which Christ stands; and which, by the mighty power of his grace and Spirit, he batters down and demands an entrance. Or else, 3. The ceremonial law, which the apostle calls, Eph. ii. 14, “the middle wall of partition:” this separated between Jew and Gentile, and was made up of many hard and difficult precepts; behind this wall Christ stood under the Old Testament dispensation, and showed himself to his people in types and figures, though but darkly and obscurely in comparison of the Gospel revelation. Or else, 4. By it may be meant the church’s defence and protection: the church is a city, and a walled one; God himself is a wall of fire round about it; and has also appointed salvation for walls and bulwarks: his ministering servants, he has not only set upon Zion’s walls, but has made them as walls of brass unto them; he has set them both for the defence of the church of the Gospel; now Christ’s standing behind her wall, may show that he is ready to protect his people, redress their grievances, and revenge himself upon their enemies. Or rather, 5, In general it shows, that Christ was nearer unto her than he had been before; she then saw him, but at some distance, upon the hills and mountains afar off; but now he was come nearer, even to her very home, and stands behind her wall, being desirous to enter in; but still there was some distance of comnmnion, a wall between them, and a wall of her own building; it was owing to her own infidelity, carnality, and sleepiness, that Christ stood at a distance, and drew no nearer than he was; and yet notwithstanding this, he stands waiting as it were for an invitation to enter in.
2udly. She takes notice of a farther discovery of himself: he comes from behind her wall and looks in at the windows, to see in what posture his church was, and how things were managed in his house. The allusion is to the quicksighted roe or young heart; which, as it is remarkable for its swiftness, as in ver. 8; so for the sharpness of its sight; Pliny says,^ it is never dim sighted; it has its name dorcas in Greek, from its sharp sight.’ By windows, we arc not to unstand the windows of the heavens, through which the Lord looks down upon his people, and beholds them under all their afilictions, and in their several cases and circumstances, as some of the Jewish writers” do; but rather, the ordinances of the Gospel, which are that to the church, as windows are to a house, they let in light to souls; which
‘So K. Alshech in loo. Nat. Hist. 1. 28.
c. II. ’ kno T« ofu 3opK€ii/, Origen in loc. so
Theodoret in loc.” K. Sol. Jarchi, and K.
Aben Ezra in loc. and so Lyra.” Efflorescens,
windows, for the glory and excellency of them, are said, Isa. liv. 12, to be as gates. Christ looks forth at these, and shows himself in his glory and beauty to his saints; even as kings and great men look forth at the windows to be seen in their majesty and splendour by their people; also in at these windows Christ looks, and takes notice how his children behave themselves under the ordinances: with what reverence and attention, faith and affection, they hear the word: and in what becoming manner they carry themselves at the table of the Lord; and there is not the least motion of the heart that escapes his notice.
3rdly. She takes notice of his showing himself through the lattices; which seems to attend a more clear and glorious discovery of himself in the means and ordinances of the Gospel; though indeed, our clearest sights of Christ here, are but as through a glass darkly, through windows and lattices, and not face to face, as they will be in another world: and it may be observed from hence, that unless Christ shows himself unto us, we can get no sight of him; for “when he hideth his face, who then can behold him?” as also, that Christ usually discovers himself in the use of means through the ordinances; and therefore these are to be observed carefully, and attended on constantly. Moreover, a behold is prefixed to all these gradual manifestations of himself; which shows us, that Christ’s discoveries of himself to his people are exceeding wonderful and ravishing: a glimpse of him behind the wall, is a surprising instance of his grace, much more his looking forth at the windows; and his showing or flourishing” himself, in all his beauty and glory, through the lattices, as the word signifies; this is enough to throw us into the greatest raptures and ecstacies of mind, and fill us with a joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Verse 10. 31y beloved spake, and said tmlo me. Rise icp, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Christ having made so near an approach to his church, as to come to her very wall, nay, to look in at the windows, and show himself to her through the lattice, calls aloud to her to arise from her sleep, and come away with him; which she distinctly heard and understood, and therefore relates the very words he said to her which she might be capable of; for if she could say it was the voice of her beloved, when he was a great way of, at a distance from her upon the hills and mountains: she must needs know and understand distinctly what he said now when he was ao near her. These then are the words of the church, giving an account of what her beloved said to her, when he made her this
Junius; so Ainsworth, Piscator, and Michaelis. >’SD propria de plantis dicitur, quum id jiroferunt, quod florem praecedit, Mercer, in loc.
kiad and iadulgent visit: in which mxy be considered,
I. The preface to the following discourse; “my beloved spake, and said unto me.”
II. The exhortation which he presses a compliance to rise up, and come away.”
III. Some affectionate titles which he gives her: “my love, my fair one.”
I. The preface which she makes to this discourse of Christ to her, of which she gives an account in this and the following verses, is, “ray beloved spake, and said unto me:” in which may be considered, 1. The person speaking, “my beloved;” which title has been frequently met with and explained, particularly in chap. i. 13. 2. The mode of expression in this preface, which in the Hebrew text is thus, “my beloved answered, and said unto me;“” which mode of speaking is frequently made use of by Christ in the New Testament; and perhaps is an hebraism in all those places where it is there used; but here it seems to be expressive of an answer to a secret petition of hers. There is undoubtedly such a thing as mental, as well as vocal prayer, in which the desires of the soul are put up to God; and that under the iufluences of the Spirit, who maketh intercession for the saints, with groaniugs which cannot be uttered: and such mental petitions and desires preheard, regarded, and answered by Christ Jesus, who is privy to the secret motions of our souls God-ward, and understands full well the language of a sigh and groan; which shows him to be the omniscient God; gives a manifest proof of his Deity; as well as evidences his tender regard to his people, and his readiness to help them under all their distresses. 3. The notice which she takes of it. As Christ is not always mute, but opens his mouth, and returns suitable answers, gives proper directions and instruction, and speaks peace and consolation to his people; so they are not always deaf, but have ears to hear, they listen to what he says; and as they can distinguish his voice from another’s, so they regard it above all others: what he speaks unto them, is received with much pleasure and delight; his words are not harsh and austere, but full of love, grace, pity, and compassion. Now it may be observed from hence that there is such a thing as souls being satisfied when Christ speaks to them, and that it is not a delusion; the church knew that it was her beloved that spake, and not another; and that he spake, to her in particular, “my beloved spake, and said unto me:” and so every believer may, in some measure, know when Christ speaks unto him, and that it is* not a delusion; as when it make us love Christ more, and quickens us to our duty; or when it discovers Christ’s love to us, and our intei-est in him; when it excites our faith, our
n33? respondit, Montanus, Vatablus, Marckius, Michaclis,
hope, and joy, has a tendency to promote holiness of heart and life, puts us upon glorifying Chiist, and makes us more active and vigorous in his service; all which seem to be the effect of Christ’s speaking to the church here. But,
II. What Christ says unto her is by way of exhortation; which consists of two parts. 1st. To rise up. 2ndly. To come away.
1st. He exhorts her to rise up, and that in the most tender and affectionate manner, as will be observed hereafter; which supposes, either that she was asleep upon a bed of carnal security, indulging herself in ease and sloth; or else, that she was cast down in her soul under a sense of sin, and for want of his presence, sitting in darkness, without the light of his countenance, bemoaning her sorrowful and disconsolate condition: as also, that walking in the path of faith, and running in the ways of Christ’s commandments, better became her, than sitting still and being indolent; and likewise, that to lift up the head, and to be of a cheerful spirit, better suited with the spouse of Christ, than a sad and dejected countenance; who had no need to sit in the dust, and clothe herself with sackcloth and ashes, when she is the king’s daughter, nay, the queen herself, whoso clothing is the gold of Ophir: so that neither an indolent and inactive, nor a sorrowful and dejected spirit, become the people of God and spouse of Christ.
2ndly. He exhorts her also to come away; from whence? why, from off her sluggish bed, or from out of her prison of darkness and unbelief, or from the company and conversation of wicked and ungodly men; and, in short, from every thing that might bring a dishonour to him, or be prejudicial to herself; which shows the great regard that Christ had for her. But whither would he have her come? why, to himself, where she might have peace and comfort, enjoy sweet communion with him, be out of the reach of enemies, and free from danger by them; he would have her quit her former companions, her former ease and pleasures, and go with him, where she should enjoy ease, pleasure, and conversation superior to these; he would have her be up and about her duty, following him, the Lamb, whithersoever he went: in giving which advice, he sought her own good and comfort, as well as his own glory. The Jewish writers? understand it as God’s call to the people of Israel to come out of Egypt,
III. The loving and affectionate titles which he gives her, are, 1. “My love,” which has been already explained in chap. i. 9. 2. “My fair one;” in what sense the church is fair and comely, has been shown in chap. i. 5; the church is Christ’s fair one; not upon the account of her works of righteousness, as the Targum explains it; but upon the account of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, the pardon of her sins through his
p Targum, 11. Sol. Jarchi, and R. Abeu Ezra in loc.
d2
blood,“and the sanctification of his Spirit. The Septuagiut adds a third character, “my dove;” but this is not ia the Hebrew text. Now he uses these titles, (1.) To show her his ardent love and tender affections to her; that though she was in a carnal and secure frame, and negligent in her duty, yet she was his love and fair one still. (2.) To remove all discouragements from her that might arise from the consideration of her present slate and condition. (3.) To prevail upon her to arise and go with him; and indeed an exhortation, expressed in such moving language, delivered in such an affectionate manner, one would think, could not fail of succeeding, especially when pressed with a claim of interest in her, my love, and my fair one; as also when designed for her own good, for so the words may be read, “rise up for thyself, and come away for thyself;”’’ it will turn to thy advantage, if thou dost do so; if not, it will be detrimental to thee. What other arguments he makes use of to enforce this upon her, will be seen in the following verses.
Verse 11. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
Christ here presses upon and encourages his church to rise up from her present state of sleep and sloth, and come away with him, where she might enjoy peace and pleasure! and this he does by informing her, that it was now spring-tiine; that the winter was past, and the spring was come, in which every thing looked gay, pleasant, and delightful; the rain was over and gone, which made journeys difficult, and rivers impassable, and in the room of it, fair and sunshine weather; that that time of the year was over which was bad to travel in, as Christ says, “pray ye that your (light be not in the winter;” and therefore she might without fear, and with the utmost safety as well as pleasure, venture abroad with him. Winter and rain are very properly put together, since rain is frequent in the winter-season; and hence it has the name of imhrifer from it. Now by this winter, which is said to be past, and the rain that is said to be over and gone, may be meant, either.
First. The state and coudilion both of the Jews and Gentiles, before the coming of Christ in the flesh, when it was a winter, a rainy and stormy dispensation with both of them. Winter is used by some writers, not for the season of the year, but for A storm and tempest ;• and figuratively, for some calamity, as war,’ &c. And,
1st. It may be expressive of the state of the Jews before Christ’s coming.” It is true, they were a people peculiarly chosen by God, and were indulged by him with special favours above the Gentiles; they had tJie knowledge of the true God,
0 “f) n”?! -]b ‘Sip surge tibi and abi tibi, Montanu», Cocceius, Ainsworth, Vatablus, Marekius.
‘Hyems imbrifera, Sil. Ital. 1. 31. v. 197. Tluviosa liyems, Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 18. c. 25.
Eiuissamque hyemeni seHsit, Neptunus, Virgil -£neid.l, I. v. 129. Miseranda rogabo unam hyeand were instructed in his mind and will; for he gave them his law to direct them, and sent his prophets time after time to inform, teach, rebuke, warn, and admonish them; whilst the Gentiles lived without the law, and had only the dim light of nature to guide them: and yet the dispensation which the Jews were under, before Christ’s coming, when compared with the gospel-dispensation, may be said to be a winter, a rainy and stormy one; which began when the law was given on mount Sinai, which was attended with blackness, darkness, and tempest. These people were all along treated by God, as if they had been under a covenant of works; for whilst they lived in obedience to the divine will, they enjoyed without disturbance their civil and religious privileges; but when they broke and transgressed the divine laws, the clouds of God’s wrath gathered thick and black about them, and stormy judgments descended on them, which begat in them a spirit of bondage; so that their services which they performed to God, were not attended with that spirit of liberty and ingenuity, with that faith and cheerfulness, as now appeared in the saints in this spring-time of the gospel: it was a time of coldness and barrenness, the Sim of righteousness not having as yet risen in their horizon, with his warming and fructifying iulluences as he has done since: it was a time of much darkness and obscurity; for though there were some discovcri«s of Christ and his grace to believers then, yet these were made tlirougii dark shadows, cloudy and smoakysacritices: a little before Christ’s coming in the flesh, and appearing in his public ministry, there was a violent rain, nay, a flood of error, infidelity, and profaueness, came pouring in among them; the law of God was corrupted with false glosses, his institutions and ordinances changed and altered, and his temple profaned; one sort set up the traditions of the elders, against the positive commands of God; another denied the resurrection of the dead, and a future judgment; and both obstinately persisted in their infidelity concerning the Messiah, when he appeared among them. This was the face of tilings when Christ was manifested in the flesh; who, by his ministry, checked the infidelity and profaueness of the age; and, by his death, put a period to the Mosaic dispensation: so that now those cloudy and shadowish ceremonies arc gone; the night of Jewish darkness is ended, and the old covenant is waxen old, and vanished away.
2nd]y. It may also point out the state and condition of the Gentiles before Christ’s coming. The times before the Gospel came among them, were limes of ignorance; they were strangers to the knowledge of the true God, to his mind, will,
mem, Statii Acbill. 1. 1. v. 50, 51. Vid. Val. Flacc. 1. 1. v. 197. * Ni’.tc !roXeoiOX6’|Uepiov fooi/, Pindar. I.stlim. ode.” Ante adventum Christi hyemg
erat, venit Christus, fecit a?statem, Anibros. Enarrat. in PBttl. cxviii. octon. 7. p. 921. Vid. Isidor. in loc.
and worship; darkness covered them, yea, gross darkness was all around them; storms of divine wrath hang over their heads; they were under the manifest tokens of God’s disiileasure, being given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heSrt, and were shut up in sin and unbelief; their hearts were frozen up; and seemed scarce capable of having any impressions made upon them; the Gentile world looked like a heath, a desert, or a wihk-rness, all barren and unfruitful, like the earth in wintertime; an impetuous’ rain and flood of profaneness, error, and seduction, overflowed it: God suflfered them to walk in their own ways, and to follow the imaginations of their own hearts; they were left to worship birds, four-footed beasts, and creeping things; to fall down to stocks and stones, and graren images, and pray lo a god that could not save: but when the gospel was sent among them by Christ, the face of the Gentile world was quite altered, and appeared like the earth after a winter season, upon the returning spring; gospel light diffused itself through all the parts thereof, and dispelled the shades of darkness, blindness, ignorance, profaneness, a;^ infidelity; gospel grace, with its warming influences, thawed their frozen hearts, and left some deep and lasting impressions on them; that which looked like a wilderness, is become a fruitful field; and that which was as a desert, now appears as the garden of the Lord: such a mighty change has the spring-time of the gospel made in the Gentile world! Or else,
SeconJIy. This winter and rain, which Christ
says were past and gone, may be understood of
the spiritual state of souls; and that either before
or after conversion. The state of believers before
conversion, may be represented by it, which is a
time of darkness, deadness, coldness, barrenness,
and unfruitfulness, and is only removed by the
powerful and eBicious grace of Christ; and often
after conversion, is a winter season with them;
they are frequently annoyed with the blustering
winds and rains of Satan’s temptations, which
beat upon them like a storm against a wall; this
enemy of their souls often comes in like a flood
upon them, and would bear them away, were it
not for the power and grace of the Spirit of God,
which are opposed unto it; they are often under
the fearful apprehensions of storms of impending
wrath for their sins and transgressions against
God; they are seldom free from sharp crosses and
afflictions, and are often under the nipping blasts
of persecution; which may be compared to the
winter season for its shai-pness ar.d severity,
though exceeding wholesome.
Moreover, they are sometimes in a great deal of darkness of soul; the clouds interpose between Christ and them, so as they cannot behold him, and their interest in him; their hearts are often hard and frozen up, so as no impressions are, made either by the preaching of the word, or by the
providences of God; a great deal of coldness frequently attends them; there is a chill upon their love to God, to Christ, to his people, ordinances, cause, and interest, which is occasioned by the prevailings of sin and corruption in them: sometimes they look like trees in winter, barren and uufruitful, with no appearance of the fruit of grace, nor leaves of profession, but as if they were entirely dead and lifeless; and when this is their case, it may he said to be a” winter-season with them; but though this is sometimes their case, it is not always: they have their returning seasons of peace, joy and comfort when it may be said, “the winter is past, and the rain is over and gone;” then lii’ht breaks in upon their souls, and there hearts are melted with a sense of divine love,; they become lively in their frames, and in the exercise of theii grace, and fruitful in every good word and work; calmness and serenity of mind, peace of couseieuce, and joy in the Holy Ghost, are the delightful blessings which the soul now enjoys; all these, and much more, docs the Sun of righteousness bring along with him, and produce in us, whea he arises with healing in his wings, and turns a cold and nipping winter into a pleasant and delischtul spring. But when it is a winter-season with believers, they have a little or nocommuuioa with Christ, which was the church’s case here; the rains that fall, and the floods occasioned thereby, interrupt their fellowship; and the clouds of darkness, and doubts and fears, which hang over their heads, hinder them from beholdiug Christ, and their interest in him; now this must needs be a very melancholy and uncomfortable time unto them; and therefore to hear that the winter is past, and the spring is come; that the rain is over and gone, that the clouds are dispersed, and the air is clear, otight, and serene, must needs be good news and glad tidings to them. Moreover, souls, whilst in such a state, are usually indolent and inactive; they have neither hearts nor hands to work, but both are sealed up; they are neither diligent in the way of their duty, nor active in the exercise of grace, as the church appears to be here; also they are ready to thiak that the winter is not over when it is, but fear that there are more storms behind; not only of crosses, afflictions, persecutions, and temptations; but which are worse than all the rest, that there are storms of divine wrath and anger behind, which will fall upon them; though these have been all borueby Christ, and areea“ectually and eternally removed by him; and believers may be assured of this, whatever their fears are, that not a drop of wrath shall fall upon them for Christ has satisfied law and justice, and so hath delivered them from the wrath which is to come; and he that has done this, says, the winter is past, and the rain is over and gone: this is the voice of the Gospel, and a joyful sound it is. The Jewish writers”’ interpret this of the bondage of the people of Israel in Egypt, and their deliver-TarguMi, R, Sol. Jarciiii, and R. Aben Ezra in loc. and so Lyra.
aance out of it; as do some Christian iuterpreters,* of the Babylonish captivity, and the Jewish deliverance from thence; it being a Chaldce word that is here used to express the season of the year by: but the sense before given, seems to be much preferable to either of them; though it is true, that the tvo former deliverances did produce a spring-time of joy and rejoicing, after a cold and nipping winter of trouble and sorrow; and were indeed wrought in the spring of the year, as was also our redemption by Christ Jesus, they were typical of.
Verse 12. The floicers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
The chui’ch goes on to give an account of the pressing instances that Christ made unto her, to arise and come away; which he had done in the former verse, by assuring her that the winter was past, and therefore she need not be afraid of nipping blasts and blustering storms, nor of heavy rains, which would make travelling difBcult, as well as unpleasant; and here he encourages her to arise and come with him, from the pleasantness of the spring, of which he gives the following account, in this and the next verse, enough to tempt her to a compliance, and which is very pleasant and inviting to lovers.^ In this verse he says,
I. That “the flowers appear on the earth.”
IT. That “the time of the singing of birds was come.”
III. That “the voice of the turtle was heard in their land.” All which are so man, evident demonstrations of the spring-time of the year, which of all others is the most pleasant.
I. The first sign of the spring, and which he mentions to prevail upon her to quit her present place and posture, and go with him, is, that “the flowers appear on the earth;”° in the winter-season the earth appears barren and unfruitful, being nipped with cold winds, frost, and rain; but when the sun returns with its warming influences, it quickens those herbs and plants which before lay hid, and causes them to spring forth and flourish; so that the fields and meadows, as well as gardens, are covered with a variety of herbs, plants, and beautiful flowers, which are very pleasant to Iheeye, and cause walking in the fields to be very delight-
“^ Brightman and Cotton in loc. f inD quod
legitur quasi VnD scriberetur, alibi in scriptura non invenitur, est autem vox Chaldaica ii^TD pro Uebrsea Fjin hyems, Mercer in loc. Vid. Vitringam in Jes. 4. 6.
‘Vere gaudet Yenus, Ovid.” Vere florifero,
Senecre Oedipus, v. 649. Ver praebet flores, Ovid, de Bemed. Amor. 1. l.v. 188. Omnia turn floreut. Ovid. Metamorph. 1. 15. fab. 3. Vernus sequitur color, om-His in herbaa turget humus, Claudian. de Eapt. Troserp. 1. 2. r. 90. So flowers are called rexva eapot ,the children of the spring, in Athenaei Deipnosophist. 1. 13. c. 9. p. 608. Whatever was flowery, used to be called spring, because of the nature of it, Orpheus
ful. Some Jewish writers, as Jarcbi and Alshech, interpret them of the two Messiah’s, the Jews dream of, and vainly expect; it is much better to interpret them of the one and only true INIessiah, who appeared on earth in the spring of the acceptable year of the Lord; and who is compared to various flowers in this book, particularly to the rose and lily, ver, 1, which are both spriqg-flowers:’’ but rather, by these flowers may be meant, either “the graces of the Spirit” in the saints, which, when it is a winter-season with them, lie dormant, and are as it were dead and lifeless, and are scarcely discernible either to themselves or others; but upon the return of “the Sun of righteousness,” they revive and show themselves in all their glory, send forth a grateful odour, and give a delightful prospect to all beholders; such are those flowers of faith, hope, love, humility, self-denial, patience, long-suft’ering, forbearance with and forgiveness of each other: or else, by these flowers may be meant the saints themselves. The Targum interprets them of Moses and Aaron; but R. Abcn Ezra thinks that all the righteous men of Israel are intended; and it is best to understand them of all the saints, especially when in a flourishing condition, and in the exercise of grace; who may be compared to the flowers of the field, 1. For the production of them; the covering of the earth with grass, herbs, plants, and beautiful flowers, in the spring-season, is a great instance of God’s mighty power; it is no other than a kind of re-creation; this strange, though common change that is made in the earth by the returning spring, is elegantly described, as well as entirely referred to the divine Spirit by the royal Psalmist, thus. Psalm civ. 30, “Thou sendest forth thy Sp’rit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth;” saints are flowers, not of man’s, but of God’s raising; they are “not born of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God;” their grace, and all the flourishings of it, are not owing to their own care, diligence, and industry, but to the power and Spirit of God, who “worketh in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure;” for this work of grace upon their souls, is a work of Almighty power, and is no less than a new creation; and whether we consider it in its first beginning, or in its after-growth and increase, it must be referred to a power superior to ours. 2. For their fraapud Clement. Ales. Stromat. 1. 5. p. 571.
Cum rosam viderit, tunc incipere ver arbitrabatur, Cicero, in Verrem, orat. 7. Rosa verna, Propert. 1 3. eleg. 5. V. 22. So it is represented by Anacreon as a spring flower; and by Pancrates, apud Athen. Deipnos. 1. 15. c. 6 p. G77. So Seneca calls the lily, florem vernum, a spring-flower, epist. 122. Spring-flowers are various; some grow in fields, meadows, vales, hills, and banks of rivers; some in gardenSt as the violet, crocus, hyacinth, narcissus, rose and lily, vide.Athen. Deipnosophist. 1. 15. c. 8. p. 68 1, 682 of which the violet, rose and lily, were preferred for their beauty and smell, Theocrit. Idyll. 24. v. 29 — 31.
graucy: the persons of believers are of a sweet-smelling savour, being perfiimeil with Christ’s mediation, and covered with the sweet smelling garments of Christ’s righteousness; and so are their services, their prayers, and praises, put up and performed in the faith of Jesus. 3. For their beauty and ornament: how beautiful and glorious must those-fields look, where roses are, and lilies grow: which in glory are equal with, nay, superior to the greatest of princes; for “Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these;” such as Sharon’s Held and the roses and lilies there, which are here alluded to: saints are exceeding beautiful in Christ, and ornamental to him, being sanctified by his Spirit, and clothed with his righteousness. 4. Saints may be compared to flowers which appear on the earth in the spring-season with an air of gaiety and cheerfulness, on the account of that joy and consolation which their souls are possessed of when their grace is revived and in exercise; particularly when faith is, and when Christ returns to them, and they enjoy his presence; thus the blossoming and flourishing estate of the church is joined with joy and rejoicing, in Isa. 3XXV. 1, 2. Now all this fragrancy, beauty, and flourishing condition of the saints, are owing to the arising of the Sun of righteousness upon them, to the dews of divine grace, showers of boundless love, frequent waterings of heaven, and to their being planted and growing in a fruitful soil, Christ Jesus: and perhaps *,it may not be amiss to interpret this of that large production and conversion of souls to Christ, and of that ^ppearanceofmanybeautifnlflowersinthechnrchof Christ in the first ages of Christianity; when saints appeared “in the beauties of holiness,” and Christ had “the dew of his youth;” and which time was a delightful spring-season, after a long winter of Jewish and Gentile darkness.
II. Another indication of the spring’s being come, and which Christ makes use of as an argument to induce the church to arise and come away, is, that “the time of the singingofbirds was come;” the spring, when birds begin to chirp and sing, to couple and build their nests: hence the spring is called ver nidificum.’^ Some’’ understand this of the time of cutting and pruning vines, or lopping trees: and to this purpose the Septuagint reads the words thus, the time of cutting is come ;^ which agrees well enough with the first times of the Gospel, when Christ’s Father acted the part of an husbandman, and lopped of the unfruitful branches, the Jews, engi’afted the Gentiles, caused them to bring forth fruit, and pruned them, that they
Senecse Medea, v. 713. * Plerique in Sanct.
in loc. Vide R. Aben Ezra in loc. Kaipoc T>i?
Tojufic i<p9aKe, Sept. Tempus putationis advenit, V. li. Pagninus, so the Syriac, Arabic and Ethiopic versions. ‘Plin. 1. 17. e. 22. Hence says the poet,
eapoi vtov (?Tajulvoto, ri]v tpdafievo, otva 7rcpiTai/6/^€f,
wt yap a/ienov, Hesiod Opera and Dies, 1. 2.
8 Greg. Nyssen. and Psellus in Sanct. in loc.
Sanct. in loc. R. Sol. Jarchi, R. Aben Ezra, and R. Sol. Ben Melech in loc. Zohar. in Gen. fol.
might bring forth more; which seems well enough to agree with the season of the year,’ the spring, at which time, especially at the beginning of it, vines were usually cut and pruned; some object to this as unseasonable: by the Targum, it is referred to the “time of cutting, or gathering in the first fruits;” as it is also by some,” to the gathering of flowers, making of garlands, &c., as well as applied by others,** to the time of making incisures in the Balsam or Cyprus-trees in the vineyards of Engedi; but nothing is more agreeable than our version, and which is the sense that is given of the word by several Jewish writers;’ and exactly suits with the Gospel-dispensation, in which, “from the uttermost parts of the earth, songs are heard,” sung in warbling notes and tuneful lays, by souls called by divine grace; whose usual themes are, the grace and mercy of God the Father, the redeeming love of God the Son, the spiritual blessings in him; the glory of his righteousness to justify them, and the fulness of his grace and power to keep and preserve them; like little birds, they sit and chirp and sing the praises of the Lord, “in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in their hearts unto him;” and this they do as well as they can in this imperfect life, though their hearts are often out of tune, and they sing with faint and feeble notes; but the time is coming, when they shall be clothed in white, have harps in their hands, hallelujahs in their mouths, and be employed in this delightful service for evermore. But however, this present gospel-dispensation may well be called a “time of the singing of birds,” a time of joy and rejoicing, in comparison of the legal one, in which was heard, not the chirping and singing of birds, but “the sound of a trumpet,” and “the voice of words,” which were awful and terrible. This may not be unfitly applied to the singing of the angelic host, those heavenly choristers, at the biith of Christ, Luke ii. 13, 14.
III. As a farther evidence of the spring’s being come, and the more to allure her to arise and go with him,’’ he says, that “the voice of the turtle was heard in their land;” which is a kind of dove, that, as naturalists’ tell us, lies hid in the winter-time, and appears in the spring; its voice is never heard in winter, unless on a tine day.” By which may be meant, either the church, which is compared to a turtle dove. Psalm lxxiv. 19, whose voice is heard in prayer to Christ; and who, in the preaching of the Gospel, speaks of him, and in the public profession of his cause and interest, speaks for him; which voice, in ver. 14, is very
29. 2. and 65. 2. and 12 J. 3. though the other sense of cutting or pruning seems to be intended, in Zohar in Gen. fol. 3. 4. and in Lev. fol. 2. 1. Thus one
part of rural pleasure is described by the poet,
“etiov Kotiudomai iiKavOiiet eVreve Tapvyiav ThCOCrit.Idyll.
7. ‘Plin. 1. 10. c 24. and 18. 28.
“Myndius apud Athen. Deipnosophist. 1. 9. c. 11. p. 394. So Pliny, Hyeme mutis, vere voealibus. 1. 10. c. 35. The turtle appears in summer, in winter it disappears, Aristot. Hist. Animal, 1. 8. c. 3.
pleasant lo him: or else, the voice of the Holy Ghost, according to the Targiiin, who once appeared in the form of a dove, and whose voice in the hearts of believers is very comfortable; for he speaks peace and pardon through Christ’s blood, bears witness to our sonship, and is the pledge of our future inheritance: or the voice of God the Pather, declaring his well-pleasedness in Christ, which was heard in Judca, both at his baptism and at his transfiguration upon the mount: or the voice of John the Baptist,” who was the forerunner of Christ, and declared him to be at hand; and so R. Alshech interprets it, of Elijah, that VFas to come before the Messiah, and cites the passage in Mai. iv. 5; and others” understand it of the Messiah himself: or else, the voice of Christ himself, preaching the everlasting Gospel ;P R. Simeon Ben Jochai’^ understands it of the voice of the law in the days of the Messiah; but rather the Gospel itself, that joyful sound of peace, pardon, righteousness, life, and salvation by Christ, is meant; which was heard for a while only in Judea, which perhaps is the laud here intended, called, by way of eminency and speciality, “our laud;” though afterv.ards this voice was heard throughout the Gentile world; for Christ gave his disciples a commission to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature: who accordingly did, and their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world; and a joyful season it was, acd still is to the poor Gentiles, where this voice is heard; and blessed be God, it is heard in our land.
Verse 13. The ficj4ree putteth forth her green Hgs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair mie, and come away.
To the three former evidences of the spring, here are added two more.
I. “The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs.”
II. “The vines with the tender grape give a good smell.” As also
II r. The former call is repeated, “Arise my love, my fair one, and come away.”
I. As a fourth evidence of the winter being over, and the spring being come, Christ tells his church, that the fig-tree was putting forth her green figs; which is a full confirmation of its bein“’ come, nay, of its being pretty well advanced; for Christ, in Matt. xxiv. 32, makes it a sign of the summer’s being at hand, when the fig-tree shoots out its tender branches, and puts forth its leaves: Theopompus’’ speaks of figs in the middle of the spring; and Plutarch, of the vernal leaves of the fig-tree.’ R. Aben Ezra thinks, that the word translated, “putteth forth,” signifies the sweetening of the figs, and so points out the time when thtr green or unripe figs begin to grow sweet and eatable: so that as the flowery fields would
“I’sellus and Tree Patres in loc. Pesikta
in Yalkut in loc. p So Isidore in loc.
i In Zohar in Gen. fol. 121. 3. ‘Apud Athen.
be delightful to her eye, and the chirping birds affect her ear; thei’e were also figs ripening apace to please her taste; as the vines with the tender grape in the following instance, would give a refreshing odour to her smell; all which would be very entertaining to her, and one would think enough to invite her to arise and go with him. By the fig-tree, both the Targum and R. Aben Ezra understand the congregation of Israel; who they say, is Jiere compared unto it; as indeed Israel is to the first ripe fruit of this tree, Hos. ix. 10; and the godly among the captive Jews are, in Jer. xxiv. 2 — 5; and therefore by it may be meant the saints, putting forth their grace in exercise on Christ; who may be compared to fig-trees for the following reasons.
1. The fig-tree is a tree full of large leaves, so large, that our first parents, after their fall, by sewing them together, made themselves aprons to cover their nakedness; which may be an emblem of a profession of religion, and of a conversation agreeable to it; which, though they ought to be found in us, yet are not sufficient to cover us; for we must also have Christ’s righteousness put upon us, and his grace wrought in us, otherwise we shall be like the fig-tree to which Christ came. Matt. xxi. 19, “and found nothing thereon but leaves only.” And there fore, as the saints are like fig-trees that have the large ever-green and flourishing leaves of a Christian profession and gospel-conversation upoa them; so, 2, They may be compared to them for their fruilfulness: the ng-tree is a tree that bears fruit as well as leaves, and that which is very wholesome, pleasant, and delightful; and if the Egyptian fig-tree is meant, tl’.at is said’ to bear fruit seven times a year, and as soon as you gather one fig, immediately there is another; it is true, there are barren fig-trees, that have no fruit upon them; such an one is mentioned in Luke xiii.6, 7; as there are also barren professors; but such are not the saints, who are filled and laden with the fruits of righteousness, and graces of the Spirit, which they receive from Christ Jesus, from whom all their fruit is found: now as this is to be found from none but him, so neither is it found in any but in them; for, do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” it is impossible; this fruit appears upon no other tree but the fig-tree, and therefore by their fruit ye may know them. 3. It is a tree that puts forth its fruit before its leaves;” which shows us, that though we ought to have the leaves of profession upon us, yet the fruit of grace ought lo precede it; and therefore when persons take upon them a profession of religion, and submit to the ordinances of Christ, care should be taken that they, OS John says, Matt. iii. 7, both have and bring forth fruits meet for rejicntance, there must be faith in the heart, as well as a count supra, 1. 3. c. 4. p. 77. epioit tupno’t, de Dcfectu Oracul. p. 410. ‘Solin. I’olyhistor. c. 45
run. Nat. Hist. I. IG.c. 26.
fession of it in the mouth; and the one ought to go before the other; and both these make souls to appear boaourable believers and professors; and such Christ’s fig-tuees are. 4. It may not be amiss to observe, that the Egyptian fig-tree, which is no other than the sycamore, into which Zaccheus climbed to see Christ, Luke six. 4, may be here intended, seeing that there was great plenty of them in Jndea, as is manifest from 1 Kings i. 27; though it is true another word is used here, than what is there. Now of this tree, PHny says,” that when it is cut down and cast into the water, it sinks, being dry; but when it is thoroughly wet, it will swim; so saints, when they first enter the waters of aflliction, like Peter, they sink; but when they have been more used to them, they lift up their heads above the waters of tribulation; and as good soldiers, with courage and magnanimity of mind, endure hardness: and do not sink in their spirits under the weight of reproaches, persecutions, and afflictions, laid upon them, being supported and borne up by Christ and his grace. 5. The same author says, that this kind of
serves it and increases it; for of all fruit, none is more easily shaken ofif by the wind and lost, than green and unripe figs are; see Nahum iii. 12; it is no less than a miracle of grace, that these first impressions are not wholly erased by the impetuous force of corruptions within; or that these precious blossoms are not entirely blown off by the blustering vviuds of Satan’s temptations; or that our naughty hearts do not of themselves, as the fig-tree, cast off this unripe fruit: this is all owing to mighty, powerful, and efiicacious grace. 4. It may also be observed that grace, though imperfect, is taken notice of by Christ; yea, in the very infancy of it, as soon as ever it begins to appear, even when in its bud and blossom: so far is he from despising the day of small tilings; where there is but little grace and liltle strength, as in the church of Philadelphia, he observes it, and does not crush it, but increases it; for “a bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not qneuch,” Isa. xlii. 3. 5. It may be remarked from hence, that grace being in exercise in others, though weak, should be an
fig-trees will not ripen any other way than by argument and motive to excite and stir up ours; scratching it with iron hooks: men do not and indeed it is disgraceful and dishonourable
begin to grow in grace, or become fruitful in good works, until their hearlip are pricked with the goads and nails of God’s word, or till the fallow ground of their hearts is thrown up by the Spirit of God: nor will they grow afterwards to any purpose, unless Christ’s Father, who is the Husbandman, takes his pruning-knife in his hand, and uses it; and indeed some saints never grow better than when they are attended with tribulations and afflictions, like the people of Israel, in Egypt, or like Christ’s lilies among thorns.
Moreover, the green figs which the fig-tree is said to put forth may intend, 1. The beginnings of grace in the soul, which are like the young, greeu, and unripe figs, that the fig-tree first puts foi’th; such as stirrings of affection to Christ, desires after a saving knowledge of him, and interest in him, pantings and breathings after the ordinances of Christ, and love to bis people; all which appear very soon in the soul, and discover the work of grace begun, though as yet it is but very imperfect. For, 2. These green and unripe figs show the imperfection of grace in the saints; grace in the best is very imperfect in this state of life, much more must it be when it is first put forth; the work of grace in us, though it will be performed, vet at present is but a begun one, and not a finished one; saints are not arrived to the perfection they shall; they are but like green figs, and especially young converts. 3. These begirmiug of grace in the soul, being compared to green figs, show, that grace is liable to be lost, and would be so, were it not for the almighty power which perto old professors, for young converts to be more active and lively in the exercise of grace than they. Christ seems to press this argument here upon the church.
Again, the putting forth these green figs, signifies the exercise of grace on Christ, which saints put forth unto him, not I)y virtue of a power of their own, but by virtue of his grace, which enables them to do it; for the putting forth of these green figs, is owing to the warming and quickening influences of the Sun of righteousness: the beginning, increase, and perfection of grace, are all from Christ; the implantation of it in the soul, and the exercise of it, depeud upon him. But,
II. As a fifth and last evidence of the .spring’s being come, and which puts it beyond all doulit is, the flourishing of the vines, “the vines, with the tender grape, give a good smell.” Fig-trees and vines are frequently mentioned together in scripture, as in Psal. ev. 33, Mic. iv. 4; and in many other places; and one reason is, because they grow together; for fig-trees were planted in vineyards, as is manifest from Luke xiii. 6; nay, it is judged by naturalists,’’ to be very proper they should grow together: one sort of figs, the black fig, is called the sister of the vine.«
By vines may be meant, the several distinct congregated churches of Christ, or else particular believers, see Psal. Ixsx. 14, 15, Isa. v. 7,acdxxvii. 3: who may be called so, 1. Because of their fruitfulness: the vine is a fruit-bearing tree, it produces very fine and excellent fruit; especially the vines in the land of Canaan did, of which there is a famous instance in Num. xiii. 23; saints being
Lib. 13. c. 7. Vid. Solin ib.
Vid. Plin. 1. 17. c. 23.
=■ Plhi, Ibid,
nipponax apud
Athen. Deipnosophist. 1. 3 c. 4. p vs.
engrafted in Christ Jesus, the true viue, anJ reeeiviug lil’e and nourishment from liiin, do, by abiding in Lini, bring forth much fruit, and such as is not to be found in others; not wild and sour grapes, such as Christ’s Father takes no delight in, but such as he is pleased with, and glorified by. 2. Because of their dependence on Christ; the vine-tree does not grow up erect of itself; for if it is not fixed to a wall with nails,’ or supported by something else which it lays hold ou, it creeps along the ground: saints do not grow up erect of themselves, but lean upon Christ, are supported by him, and so grow up in him. 3. For their tallness in Christ: vines being propped, will run up a great height; saints being engrafted in, and upheld by Christ, who is himself higher than the heavens, grow up from shrubs to taller trees; from babes in Christ, to “the measure of the slature of the fulness of Christ;” and, by virtue of grace and strength, received from him, arise ii’om a low and nicau state and condition unto a muoii higher one, untilatlength they arrive unto the iuil possession of the “prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” 4. For their weakness and iinuspfulness in themselves: the viue is a weak tree, and, as has been observed, cannot bear up itself: saints, they are weak in themselves, though strong in Christ; they can do nothing of themselves; uoither perform duties, subdue corruptions, nor withstand temptations; but they “can do all things through Christ strengthening them.” The wood of the vine is of very little worth or use, as appears from Ezek. xv. 2, S; and is obvious enough to every one’s observation: saints are but poor, worthless, and unp’rofilable creatures of themselves; their best works and most excellent performances, are neither profitable to God, nor can they procure salvation to themselves; but are all as an unclean thing, and as filthy rags; they are unworthy of the least mercy they enjoy, and therefore it is a wonder of grace that God should in any respect be mindful of them. 5. For their durableuess; though the wood of the vine is but weak and worthless, yet it is said to be very lasting and durable; Pliny ascribes eternity to it, and says of it,’’ nee esl liyuo ulli afernior ‘iiaiura, no woodisof a more eternal or durable nature than this is; saints, however weak and worthless in themselves, yet shall continue and abide for ever in Christ; they are born of an incorruptible seed; th(-y are built upon a rock, and secured by almighty power, so as they shall never perish, but shall forever enjoy the incorruptible inhciiuince that is reserved for them.
Also these vines are said to have the tender grape upon them. The word Irauslated the tender yrape,
“Vitt-s ciaviculis adminlcula taiiquam nianibus a;)piel;t:nduiit. atque it;i se erigunt ut animantes, Cictro do Katura Deoium, 1. 2. c. 47. I’lin. 1.
14 c. 1. ‘Iu l,ia. xviii. 5. Tract. Oriah,
ch. I. §. 7. e K Abeu Ezra, R. Sol. Jarchi, and
K. tjol. Beu Jlelech in loo. U. L)avid Kiniciii in lib. sliorasii. rad. IIOD David de I’ouiis in Lexie. p. 111. col 3 and Ez. Chayim in Tiacst. (^rlali, 1 .7. Misur.h, tiiltm, C. 3. 5. S. 1. Hieros. .Na-iir, I’ol. 55. I. T. hab.
is only used in this song, and that but in two other places besides this, viz., ver. 15 of this chapter, and chap. vii. 12, but is used both in the Targum*^ and Misuah,“* in the same sense. Most of the Jewish writers think, that by it is meant the small and tender grape, which appears as soon as ever the flower is fallen otf, whea the vines begin to knot, and one grai)e can be known and may be distinguished from another; which sense our version expresses. But I am rather iucliued to think that it means the flower itself; for in the Targum on Is. xviii. 5, this word T|OD, smadar, is used to express the Hebrew word n:?D, uitzah, which signifies a flower; and not only Pliny’ and others, but the scriptures also testify (hat vines do blossom and flower, as in the afore-mentioned place. Is. xviii. 5, and in Gen. xl. 10; and the good smell which these vines are said to give, seems best to be understood of their time of flowering, than of any other time; (or it is reported of some viues,s and perhaps may be true of the vines which grew in Judea, seeing that the wine of Lebanon is commended for its agreeable odour, Hos. xiv. ?. 1 say, it is rejjorted of some vines, that ia the time of their fluweriug they send forth so sweet a smell, that not only the vineyards themselves, but the country round about is refreshed with the sweet savour thereof; so that walking or sitting among them is both wholesome and delightful; nay, that the smell of them is so great, that serpents and other venomous creatures are driven away by it: so then the w’ords may be rendered thus, “the vines, being in flower, give a good smell.”’’ Now by these tender grapes, flowers, or blossoms of the vines, may be meant, either the graces of the Sjiirit in Ihiiir first appearance, as before; or else young converts, to which I rather incline, who are the fruit of Christ’s vine, the church; and though very weak and tcuder, yet are very dear unto, and are much regarded by Christ; and when there is a large appearance of them, it is a great encouragement to the church, and promises a glorious vintage: so the Targum interprets it of young men and babes praising the Lord at the Ped Sea, for their deliverance out of the hands of the Egyptians: and 11. Sol. Jarchi says, it is explained of repenting sinners, in an ancient book of theirs, called Fesikta; and so I find it is also in another book of theirs, called Rai/a Meliimnay
Moreover, these vines having their tender graj)es upon theui, or being in flower, are said to give a good smell; which must be understood of the fragrance of the persons of believers, being
Kiddu.shin, fol 54. 2. ‘Lib. l(i. c. 25. and K. 22.
Si bene tloruerit vinea, &c. Ovid. Fasti. 1. 5. so Ilorat. Epod. ode 16. v. 44. s Dauicus in ilos.
xiv. 7. Luvin. Leuiuii Herb. Bibl. Exijlic. c. 2.
i” llOD oicui/^jri, Symmachiis; in flora constitutae vites, Mercerus, Alichaelis; vitis pars florens, Murister; viueaa florentes, ‘J iguriue vcr>-’16u; uiliil gratius floreut.s odoe vitis, Aiubvos. Hexaemeron, 1. 3. c. ‘i. ’ la Zohur in K.n.ou. fol. .50. 1.
clothed with the sweet-smelling garments of Christ’s righteousQCss, and the delin;hlfitl odour ol’ their graces being exercised on his person; as well as of their sweet savour, which their pious and godly conversations send forth to all that know them, or are about them.
III. Christ having given such full demonstrations of the spring being come, reuevvs his call to the church, and says again, “Arise, my love, my fair one, and comeavvay;” which repetition shows 1. Our backwardness and sluggishness: we need one call after another, one exhortation upon another, and all wQl not do, unless the power of divine grace is exerted: for after repeated calls, we shall sleep on and take no notice, as the disciples did, being overborne with a body of sin and death. 2. It manil’ests the esceediug greatness of his love to us, and care of us; that though we have backslidden from him, yet he calls us back again; and though backward to his calls, yet he persists in them, and all along uses the most endearing and tender language to work upon us: he gives no other words but such as these, “my love, and my fair one.” 3. It is a plain indication that he is unwilling that we should be without him, or he without us; and thei’eforc having taken the most winning methods, and used the most prevailing arguments, he repeats the call. 4. It shows his importunity, and that he will have no denial;’’ andndeed one would think there could be none given, when both our pleasure and profit arc 80 much concerned in it; and what he calls us to, tends so much to advance both; and there will b« none, and can be none, when he exerts the mighty power of his grace.
Verse 14. 0 my dove! that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs: lei me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thjj voice and thy countenance is comely. These are the words of Christ to his church; and may be considered either as coming immediately out of his own mouth; or else, as recorded and related by her, as the former were: in which may be considered,
I. The title or character which Christ gives to his church; “my dove.”
II. Her then present place of residence; “in the clefts ot the rock, in the secret places of the stairs.”
III. A request which he makes, which consists of two parts. 1st. That he might see her coimtenance. 2ndly, Hear her voice.
IV. The motives or arguments that he makes use of to prevail with her; which are also of two sorts, suited to both parts of the request. 1st,
I” Odit verus amor, nee patitur moras, Senecae Hercul. Fur. v. 587. ‘Jlea columba, Plauti
Casina, act. 1. sc. 1. v. JO. Doves being loving creatures, the chariots of Venus were drawn by them, Charter, de Imag. Deorum, p. 218. vid. Apului ileta-Because her voice was sweet. 2ndly, Her countenance was comely.
I. Here we meet with a new title or character given by Christ to his church, “my dove;” an epithet sometimes used by lovers;’ he had called her his love and his fair one before, but not hij dove, till now; though it is true, he had compared her eyes to dove’s eyes, in chap. i. 15. Now the church may be compared to the dove, for the following reasons: 1. The dove is a very beautiful creature; so is the church, as she is washed in Christ’s blood, justified by his righteousness, and sanctified by his grace; for though, while in a state of nature, she lay among the pots, and so looked black and uncomely; yet now being called by, and made a partaker of divine grace, she looks like “the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.” 2. It is a very cleanly creature ;■” it loves cleanliness; it keeps its own body clean, and teaches its young to carry their dung out of their nests; it feeds only upon pure graifl,and delights in clean water: the church, or believers in Christ, arc not only clean through the word which Christ has spoken, but also have their hearts purified by faith in his blood, and delight in purity of life and conversation.
3. It is a very innocent and harmless creature; and therefore Christ says to his disciples. Matt. x. 16; “Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves:” believers are, or at least should be, “blameless, harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation;” they should live not only inoffensive to the world, but also peaceably and quietly among themselves; not biting and devouring one another; nor acting the part of wolves and tigers; but behaving themselves as Christ’s innocent sheep and harmless doves. 4. It is an exceeding loving and chaste creature to its mate;” it inviolably keeps its conjugal faith; adultery is rarely known among these creatures, and, whenever committed, is punished with death; for males will tear a male to pieces, and a female a female that is found guilty of it: it is also reported of the tm-tle-dove,” that upon the loss of its mate, it remains inconsolable; does not couple again, but continues a widow, and lives a mournful and sorrowful life, avoiding every thing that might tend to remove it, and create pleasure; and that whereas before it delighted in pure and clean water, it now will not drink until it has first bemudded it; nor will it sit upon green and flouiishiug, but upon dry and withered branches of trees: all which is a lively emblem of the church, who is ])resented as a chaste virgin to Christ, who bears an exceeding great love and affection to him, and whose absence is what she cannot bear. 5. It is a very fruitful
morph. 1. G. and were sacred to Venus, Plutarch, de Isid. and Osir. p. 370. ^lian. de Animal. 1. 4. c. 2. Frantz. Hist. Sacr. Animal, par. 2. c. 13. num. 3.” Plin. 1. 10. c. 34. JE’.ian. de Animal. 1- 3.
c. 48. ° Grapaldus in Sanct. iii loc.
u.
creature; Ihongli it has not many young ones at I and especially when a tirne.P yet has them very often; jElianus says,i men. that it has yonug ones ten times in a year; nay, in Egypt, twelve times: the church, who is married to Christ, is not only fruitful in grace and good works, but also brings forth many souls unto him, which has been and will be still more eminently seen in the Gentile church; see Isa.liv. 1. 6. It is a sociable creature; doves flock together as birds of a feather usually do: so saints delight to be in each other’s company; they join in fellow ship one with another, and carry on a social worship together; and do not forsake the assembling of themselves together, as the manner of some too often is. 7 It is a weak and impotent creature, and is often oppressed by birds of prey: the church is often distressed and persecuted by the men of the world, and forced to fly into holes and corners, as the dove does. 8. It is a very fearful and timorous creature; hence Ephraim is compared to the trembling dove,’’ in Hos. xi. 11;
near the habitations of
Now Christ’s calling the church by this name, “my dove,” not only shows his interest in her, but also his affection to her; and perhaps the principal thing he had in view, was to assure her of it, and to encourage her in her present condition; though she was in the cleft of the rock, in a poor, desolate, and forlorn condition, yet she was his (love still; which is the next thing to be considered. For,
II. She is said to be “in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs;” which may be understood, either in allusion to the usual place where the dove makes her nest, which is in the rock,’ and “in the sides of the hole’s mouth,” see Jer. xlviii. 28, and Adrichomius” tells us, that there was a stone tower near Jerusalem, southward of the mount of Olives, called Petra Columbariim, “the rock of the doves,” where often five thousand doves were kept at one time; and perhaps
saints are often in trembling fits, at the word of here may be an allusion to it: or else, it may be God, and in the exercise of their faith on Christ; understood of the place where doves are forced to under a sense of their own vileness, and in the j fly when pursued by the hawk, even into a hollow apprehensiou of their weakness and want of power rock, as described by Homer :^ and so may be
to keep and preserve themselves. 9. It has a
mournful voice: saints are like doves of the valleys,
mourning every one for their iniquities; and often
for the loss of Christ’s presence, which they are
frequently deprived of, through their unbecoming
carriage to him. 10. It feeds only upon pure
grain: the church feeds only on Christ, and on
the wholesome words or comfortable doctrines of
the everlasting gospel; she cannot live upon
linsks that swine eat, nor will she be fed with the
chaff of man’s inventions. 11. It is also very swift
in flying; and therefore David wished for the
wings of a dove, that he might flee away, and be
at rest: souls, in their first fleeing to Christ for
life and salvation, move as swift as the manslayer
did from the avenger of blood to the city of
refuge; and afterwards, under all their trials and
afflictions, he is the Strong Tower, whither they
run and are safe: and then more especially, may
they be said to be as doves, when they are upon
the wing of faith, and mount up as eagles do, run
and are not wenry, and walk and faint not.
Lastly. It is reported of the dove,’ that it will allure wild doves by its (amiliar converses into the dove-house with it: those who are called by grace, will use all proper ways and methods to allure and gain others to Christ, and to a compliance with his ways and ordinances, as the church does the daughters of Jerusalem in this Song; she being a great lover of the society of saints, and of the glory of Christ therein; as the dove is of its own country, particularly of its own dove-house.
expressive of the state of the church under persecution, when saints are forced to flee into holes and corners, and cannot openly and publicly, worship God, as they used to do, according to his mind and will; but even then God has his hiding-places for them, where he protects and pi-eserves them until the heat of the persecution is over; for at such a time God will have a church, it shall never be entirely rooted out: neither shall his people be without his presence, and some visible manifestations of himself unto them; for he has as great a love for them as ever; the church is his dove then, and her countenance is as comely, and her voice as sweet as ever; nor would he have her be disconsolate and disheartened in her present condition. Most of the Jewish writers” refer the words to the condition that the people of Israel were in, when they were pursued by Pharaoh at the Red Sea: which seems, in some measure, to agree with the former sense which has been given. Or else, by the clefts of the rock, may be meant, either, 1. The eternal decree of election, in which, as in an immoveable and inaccessible rock, the church dwelt from all eternity, and will do so until all eternity; which is the sense that Junius gives of these words; God’s eternal decree of election is as immoveable as a rock; it is a foundation that stands sure, being laid, not upon the conditions of faith and holiness in the creature, but upon the sovereign will and pleasure of that God, who, “will have mercy on whom he will have mercy,” and” will
? Arist. de Gener Animal. 1. 3. c. I. i Var.
Hist. 1. 1. c. l.’i. ‘Accipiter trepidas agitat columbas, Ovid. Metamorph. 1. 5. Frantz. Hist.
Sacr. animal, par. 2. c. H. ‘Quails spcluneasubito ooramota columba, cui domus and dulces latebroso in pumice nidi, Virgil. iEneid. 5. v. 21.3.
“Theatrum TerraB Sancta;, p. 171. a.” Iliad.
21. V. 49:i. 494.” Targnm, Yalkut, R. Sol. Jarclii, and K. Aben Ezra in loc.
be gracious to whom lie will be gracious;” whose purposes cannot be disannulled, nor his counsel made void, nor he ever be frustrated of his end, for the thoughts of his heart shall stand to all generations; and as the degree of election is immoveable, irrevocable, and cannot be altered, so the doctrine of it will stand, maugre all opposition, and will prove a burdensome stone to all those that set themselves against it. Now in the clefts of this rock, the people of God dwell as in a hidden and secret place before conversion; it being neither known to themselves nor others, that they are the objects of it, until called by divine grac«: and here they dwell secure, and arc safely preserved, notwithstanding the fall of Adam, and their own actual sins and transgressions, until the grace that is laid up for them is actually bestowed upon them; for every one that dwells here, shall be called and sanctified, and at last eternally glorified; not one shall be lost, nor any one link in the golden chain of salvation ever be broken: of which we have an account in Rom. viii. 30, “whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified:” moreover, these persons are and ever were the objects of Christ’s love, and so they ever shall be; his love was set upon them, and his delights were with him before the world began; these are his doves, and this the place of their habitation. Or else, 2. By this rock may be meant Christ, who frequently bears this character in scripture, and particularly is said, 1 Cor. x. 4, to be that spiritual rock, of which the Jews drank in the wilderness; and by the clefts thereof, may be meant the wounds of Christ,^ which were opened for the salvation of sinners, and in which believers dwell by faith, and perhaps to this the allusion is made in Exod. xxxiii. 22, where it is said, that God put Moses into the cleft of the rock, and made his glory to pass before him; for the glory of all the divine perfections is no where so manifestly seen as in a crucified Christ. Now saints are the inhabitants of this rock; here Christ’s church dwells, and that safely, being built upon a rock, against which the gates of hell cannot prevail; this is her fortress and strong-hold, where she need not be afraid of any enemy whatever, for her place of defence is the munition of rocks; and therefore, whenever under any apprehension of danger, she betakes herself to her stronghold, to Christ, the Rock that is higher than she. Moreover, the church being said to dwell here, not only shows the safety of her state, but also her majesty and greatness, and her exaltation above others: see Jer. xlix. 16; for dwelling in a rock, she dwells on high; she is not now in the miiy clay, but her feet are set upon a rock and her goings are established; she is not now upon the dunghill, but
y So Foliot, A’cuin, and not. Tigur. in loc. In tcgimcuto petraa, i. e. tuta pvaesidio ipassionis mcie and lidei munimcnto, Ambros. de Isaac, c. )
upon the throuc; not in a mean cottage, but in a well-built, strong, and fortified castle. Indeed the other phrase, the secret of the stairs, seems to denote abasement and humiliation; -though it may be betttcr understood of Christ, as the former expression seems to be; for Christ is the stairs or ladder which Jacob saw in a vision, which reached from earth to heaven; he being God and man in one person, has, by his mediation, blood, and sacrifice, made peace between God and sinful man, reconciled those two conleuding parties, brought heaven and earth as it were together, and filled up that vast distance that there was between them; he is the ladder or those stairs also, on which the angels of God ascended and descended; see Gen. xxviii. 12, compared with John i. 51: he is likewise our way of access to God, by whom, as by steps, we ascend to him, have admittance into his presence, and are indulged with communion with him: now in the secret of these stairs or steps, did the church lie, as the dove is said to do in some hidden place during the winter season; which was the case of Christ’s dove here, see ver 11, for Christ is the “hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest;” and if any thing is particularly intended by the secret of the stairs, Christ’s justifying righteousness seems not unlikely; which is secret and hidden to the men of the world, and is only revealed in the Gospel from faith to faith: hither souls betake themselves in times of distress, and, by it they are screened and sheltered fromsin,law, hell, and death; and dwelling here, they are in safety; for “he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” The Ethiopic version renders it, in the shadow of the rock; to which Christ is compared, Isa. xxxii. 2, and so the Septuagiut version, in the covering of the rock:’ which is the shade of it; which seems to be a better sense than what some Jewish writers” give of the words, who interpret them of the sanctuary or temple, and of the holy of holies, which was in it. But,
III. I shall now consider the request which he makes unto her, which consists of two parts. Ist. That he might “see her countenance.” 2ndly. “Hear her voice.” 1st. He desires that she would show him her countenance; which supposes that she had either covered her face, as mourners do, and was bemoaning her present state and condition, bewailing her inward corruptions, as well as her outward afllictions: or else, that she was filled with shame, under a sense of sin, and blushed, as Ezra did, and could not lift up her head and eyes to Christ; but smiting upon her breast, like the poor publican, discovered the inward confusion of liermind: or else, that she was attended with fear, and that not so much with a fear of her enemies.
p. 281. in vulucribus quaj pro salute spcynsie sponsus accepit, Isidor. in loe. In Zohar. in Gen. fol.
.!). I.
as of Ilia displeasure; being conscious to herself that she had acted an unbecoming part towards him: or rather, that she n as filled with shamefacedness and bashfulness, and could not, with an holy boldness and an allowed freedom, approach his presence-, unless we understand it of the state of the church under the Old Testament, in opposition to this under the New; when the face of the church was veiled, and she only saw Christ through dark shadows and typical ordinances; whereas we now, “with open face, behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord.” ‘And now, what Christ would have her do in opposition to all this is, to lift up her head with joy, exercise faith upon him, use freedom with him, come with boldness to him, and look him full in the face, and keep always looking to him for every f;’esh supply of grace, and whatever she might stand in need of he would not have her be shy and bashful, fearful and faithless,* but free and familiar with him, with whom he would assure her she might. Unless we would rather understand it of his desire, that she would appear more publicly in his worship, and not lurk in holes and corners, in the clefts of rocks, and under dusty stairs; but show herself in his house, and in the courts of it, and “present herself a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which was but her reasonable service;” and especially seeing there was now no danger, for the storms were over, “the winter was past, and the rain was over and gone.”
2ndly. He desires that he might hear her voice. Believers should not be dumb when Christ would have them speak: there is a dumbness or silence which is laudable, and that is, either when they are under the afflicting hand of God, or are vilified and reproached for the sake of Christ and his Gospel; but then there is a dumbness which is not so: for as there is “a time to keep silence,” so there is “a time to speak.” 1. Believers should speak of Christ, of what he is in himself, of the glory of his person, the excellency of his righteousness, the efficacy of Ids blood, and the sufficiency of his grace; they should also speak of what he is unto them, being of God made unto them, “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption;” of what characters he bears, and of what relations he stands in to them, as well as of what he has done for them, in redeeming them, and calling them by his grace. 2. They should speak for Christ, as well as of him; and he is as a person that is much spoken against by the men of the world, therefore believers should speak for hiiH, in vindication of his person, cause, and interest; boldly assert the truths of his Gospel; bravely bear a testimony against all errors, both in doctrine and worship; and not be afraid of nun or their revilings. 3. They should speak to Christ; and this perhaps is the voice which Christ more especially desired to hear; they should speak to him in prayer, in praises and thanksgivings.
and ascribe all the glory “of their salvation to him; which is but just and reasonable in itself, becoming them, and makes for the advancement of Christ’s glory.
IV. The motives or arguments he makes use of to prevail upon her, to grant him what he desired her, ‘are these two;”lst. The sweetness of her voice. 2ndly. The comeliness of her countenance: which he mentions, not only to show what induced him to make the lequest, but also to encourage her to grant it.
1st. He says, that her “voice was sweet;” that i«, grateful, acceptable, and exceeding well-pleasing, and therefore he desired to hear it; which she had no reason to be ashamed of. Herodotus’’ makes mention of a dove that spoke with a human voice; such a voice Christ’s dove speaks with, and is very grateful to him; the voice as well as the countenance of lovers, is very pleasing;’^ and such was the voice of the church, 1. In speaking of Christ, of what he is in himself and what he is to her, and has done for her, is sweet unto him; he loves to hear his people speak of these things; we are told, Mai. iii. 16, that “they that feared the Lord, spake often one to another;” and what did they speak of? no doubt of the excellency of Christ, of what he had done for, shown unto, and wrought in them: now what acceptance did this raeet with from him? why, “he hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him,” of all they spake of one to another. 2. Her voice in speaking for him, confessing his name, and bearing a testimony to his truths, is sweet unto him; for he says, Matt. x. 32, that “whosoever shall confess him before men, him will he confess before his Father which is in heaven;” but as for those who are “ashamed of him and of his words” here on earth, he highly resents, and will be ashamed of them another day, and in another world. 3. Her voice in speaking to Christ is sweet; whether it be in prayer or in praise; her voice ia prayer is so; and thus the Targum paraphrases the words, “let me hear thy voice, for thy voice is sweet in ‘prayer ^.in the house of the little sanctuary.” The prayer of a poor believer makes sweet music in Christ’s ears; nothing is so delightful to him; so little reason have (souls to be discouraged, or fear a kind reception of their petitions with him: and so her voice in praise and thanksgiving is sweet unto him; praise is not only pleasant in itself, and comely in us, but is also exceeding delightful to him; this “pleases the Lord better than an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs,” Psal. lxix. 30, 31.
2ndly. He tells her, that her “countenance was comely:” that is, beautiful, and much to be desired; and this Christ says, not only in oppossition to what she was in the esteem of the world, who counted her as the offscouring of it, but also to what he was in her esteem, who looked upon
Euterpe, give 1. 2. c. 5h.
Ci KaWiirpoaaKf, xap’“i,”wi’e, vid. Athen.Deipnosoph. 1. 13. c. 2. p. 564.
iO.
herself as black and uncomely, and therefore was ashamed to lift up her head, or to have licr co’.interiance seen by him; therefore, in order to remove her unbelief, bashfuhiess, and misgivings of heart, he declares what she was in his esteem, whose judgment is preferable to her own, and to all others beside; for in his opinion, she was “the fairest among women,” of a beautiful aspect and comely countenance, being made perfectly comely through that comeliness which he had put upon her: he saw no iniquity in her, nor any spot upon her, as clothed with his righteousness; she was in his eye a “perfection of beauty;” having the most just symmetry and proportion of parts, the most agreeable shape, and the most lovely features in her face; her cheeks, being “comely with rows of jewels, and her neck with chains of gold,” as in chap. i. 10. Faith is most properly the,’ believer’s face or countenance, by which he looks on Christ, and views a fulness and suitableness in him, and expects all needful supplies from him; which look of faith on Christ, for life and salvation, is exceeding pleasant, nay, ravishing to Iiim; and therefore he would have his church behold him again and again; for saints never appear more comely in Christ’s eye, than when they take a fuUjiew of him.
Verse 15. Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines; for our vines have fender grapes.
Whether these words are the words of Christ or of the church, is not so manifest. Some think that they arcjthe words of the church, to whom the care of the vineyard was committed: which, though she had in some measure neglected, as appears from chap. i. 6, yet now is heartily concerned for the’flourishing of it; and therefore calls upon her attendants and companions to assist in destroying those noxious creatures the foxes, which did so much mischief to the vines that grew in it; though they rather seem to be the words of Christ, who is the owner of the vineyard, and has an authoritative power over the OiScers of the church, and ministers of the gospel, to stir them up to be sedulous and careful in the disthargc of their work; for the words seem to be directed, not to? angels, nor to his bride, the church, nor to the civil magistrate, but to ministers, who are more particularly employed in the care of Christ’s vineyard: and if we take them to be the words of Christ, it not only shows the power and authority of Christ over those he speaks to, and lays his commands on in so strict a manner; but also his love to, and care of his vines, the several churches, which his own right-hand has planted: though perhaps they may be words of them both jointly together; for the church, with Christ, and under him, has a right to stir up her officers to perform their work, and fulfil their ministry, which they have received of the Lord
* Frant. Hist. Sacr. Animal, par, 1. c. 17.
Ibid. ‘Ibid. Aristot. Hist. Animal. 1.!). c.
Jesus; the doing of which will redound to bis glory, and her good; they both having an interest in the vines here mentioned; also the foxes, which they are ordered to take, were common enemies, both to Christ and his church; and therefore it is not said, “take for me or thee, but take for us the foxes.” In these words may be observed,
I. A command that is laid upon the niiuisters of the Gospel, “to take the foxes, even the little foxes.”
II. Some arguments or motives proposed to
stir them up to an observance of it.”
I. The thing enjoined them, is, to “take the foxes.”
By foxes we are to understand, either, 1st. The sins and corruptions of our nature, which may be compared unto them for the following reasons: 1. xVs foxes have their lurking-holes in the earth, so have these in the hearts of men, where they lie a long time undiscovered; and tha t not only in the hearts of wicked men, but also in the hearts of God’s own people; and therefore, says David, Psal. xix. 12, “Who cau understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults,” now it is only the Spirit of God, who “searcheth the deep things of God,” that can search the inmost I’ecesses of our hearts, discover our vile corruptions, bring them out of their lurking-holes, and slay them by the mighty power of his grace. 2. The sins and corruptions of our nature may be compared to foxes for their deceitfulness, therefore are they called “deceitful lusts;” and well they may, for we are often imposed upon by them, and deceived with them, and that under the notion either of pleasure, profit, or honour, which they promise to us, but leave us entirely shoi-f; of: there is a deceitfulness in sin, which makes our hearts so deceitful, and desperately wicked qs they be. 3. For the crooked ways which they take: the fox** does not walk straight forward, but with several windings and turnings; the ways of sin are all crooked ways; they are so many distortions from the ways of God and godliness, which are straight arid even; and are so many aberrations from the divine law, which is the rule of our obedience unto God. 4. For making places barren and desert,® wherever they come: sin makes persons barren and unfruitful, both in the knowledge of Christ, and in the performance of duty; so that they look like “the heath in the desert,” and like “parehed places in the wilderness.” 5. For their friendship with serpents.’ there is a secret correspondence held between Satan, that old serpent, and the corruptions of our nature; by virtue of which be often compasses his end, and gains his purpose, which he could not do on Christ, there being no such matter for him to work upon; he had notve of his old friends there to let him in, as he has in our hsarts. 1. Piut«ruh de SO’lert. Animal, p. 081.
Now the ministers of the Gospel may be said to take these foxes, wlieii they lift up their voices like a trumpet, autl exclaim against them, expose the wickedness and deceitfulness of them, and show souls the danger they are ia by them, when they are made useful to bring persons under a convicliou of them, and, as it were, to ferret them out of their lurking holes: moreover, by the power of the Sj)irit of God attending the ministry, the “strong-holds of sin” are pulled down, and the vain imaginations of men’s hearts subdued, and every vile thought bronglit “into captivity, to the obedience of Christ,” and a revenge taken upon all disobedience. Not but that private Christians, as well as ministers, should watch and pray against them; fight in order to take them, and, when taken, should bring them to Christ, as his and their enemies, to be slain by the mighty power of his grace; and not only gross sins, but even “little foxes,” the very first motions of sin-, are to be watched against and struck at; we should abstain from all appearance of it, knowing that lesser sins will bring us into the comrnission of greater, and insensibly grow upon us; so R. Alsliech interprets these little foxes of little sins. Or else,
2ndly. By these foxes may be meant false teachers or heretics; so the false prophets in Ezekiel’s time were called by hisn, Ezek. xiii. 3, 4. ‘i O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts;” and so may false apostles and false teachers now, and that for the following reasons; 1. For their craftiness, and subtlety. The fox is remarkable for its cunning and craftiness, of which some writers give us many instances: sometimes he feigns himself dead, lies upon his back, with his mouth open, and his tongue out, so that he looks every way as a dead carcase: by which means he invites the fowls of the air to feed upon him, but when come, devours them with open mouth ;if for the same purpose, at other times, he rolls himself in the red earth, that he might appear as bloody, and then, as before,’hiy3 himself doA’u upon the ground as dead, and thereby lays a bait for the unwary birds: so when he is taken in a snare, and finds that there is no escaping, he prostrates himself upon the ground, holds his breath, and in all appearance seems dead, which the snare-setter supposing to be real, looses the snare, without any suspicioQ of his escaping: but finding himself free, gets upon his legs, and away he runs; also when hunted, he will run among a flock of sheep or goats, and leap upon the back of some one of them, which puts the whole flock into a fright, and causes them to run one after another, and, for fear of damage, the huntsman is obliged to call in his dogs: these, with many other instances of his subtlety, as his artful method of catching crabs and lobsters with his tail, destroying of wasps, clearing himself of fleas.
tricking the hedge-hog, revenging himself upon the badger, and catching of hares, are recorded by several writers.*” Hence false teachers may be very fitly compared unto them, who act in disguise, lie in wait to deceive, walk in craftiness, and handle the word of God deceitfully, speak lies in hypocrisy, use good words and fair speeches, and thereby deceive the hearts of the simple. 2. For their malignity: foxes are cruel as well as cunning; they are very noxious and hnrtfnl creatures; and so are false teachers, they arc wolves though in sheep’s clothing; their heresies are damnable, their doclriues are pernicious, and their wor Is eat as doth a canker; they subvert the faith of some, and biiiig ruin and destruction upon themselves and others. 3. I’or their hunger and voraciousness: all the cunning and cruelty that the fox uses, is to satisfy his greedy appetite; and so the principal end of false teachers, is not to serve Christ, but their owu bellies, to devour widows’ houses, and making merchandise of others, to enrich themselves, and iodulue their owu pride and varvity. 4. For their feigning themselves to be domestics: it is reported of the fox,’ that when it draws uigh to a farmi-house, it will mimic the barking of a dog, which the hens and geese being used to, walk about with les* guard, and with more conlideuce approach to him, and so are eurpriseJ and devoured by him; so false teachers put on sheep’s clothing, transform themselves into angels of light, as their master before theai has done; mimic the voice of Christ’s ministers; use some phrases and expressions which they do, which serve as a blind to the people; and so craftily do they put their words together, that it is not an easy thing to discover them. 5. As foxes are filthy, abominable, and stinking creatures, so are these, not only to God, but to his people; and therefore are also compared to wolvis and dogs; and are not so much as to be received into the houses of good people, uor to be bid God speed by them.
Now the ministers of the Gospel are to take these foxes; they being overseers of the flock, and keepers of Christ’s vineyard, are to watch against them, and make a discovery of them, they are to ojiposc and refute their erroneous doctrines; and being detected, and convicted of heresies, they are with the ch)irch after proper admonitions given, to reject and cut them off from the church, and communion with it: it is true, they are not to take away their lives, but they are to exclude them from fellowship with them, and not suffer them to continue with them either as members or officers; uay, even the little foxes are to be taken. Heresy is compared to leaven: the erroneous doctrines of the Scribes and jiharisees are called so, and “a little leavcu leaveueth the whole lump.” Heresies and heretics are to be nipped in the bud, otherwise they will increase to more
e Viil. Isidor. Origin. 1. 12. c. 2. yElian. de
Animal. 1. 4. c. 39. and 1. 6. c. 24, G4, and 1. 13. c. 11. Olaas Magnus, Hist. Sciitent.l. 18. c. 31. audFrautz.
Hist. Sacr. Animal. pa,r. 1. c. I7.
nuH in loc. supracit.
Olaus Mag-IG.]
ungodliness; great things have risen from small j of doing more damage, and not so easy to be begiunings: these things should be tal<eu in time; I taken neither; so that the consideration also of for errors, seemingly small at first, have grown
there being less diOBculty now, than there would be hereafter, might animate them to set about the work immediately. 3. Christ seems to intimate as if they had some interest in these vines; for which reason they ought to be the more heartily and vigorously concerned for the welfare of them-; therefore they are called our vines: it is true, Christ has a sole right unto, and property in the vineyard; the vines are all of his planting, and the fruit of them belongs to him; yet those to whom the vineyard is let out, who are intrusted with the care of the vines, and who must give an account of them to the chief and principal Owner, have also an interest therein; for though our great Solomon must have a thousand, whose the vineyard is; yet “those that keep the fruit’ thereof must have two hundred,” Cant. viii. 11, 12; so that if they should be negligent in their work, and suiFer the foxes to overrun the vineyard, and spoil the vines, they would not only incur the displeasure of the owner of them, but sustain a loss themselves, by coming short of the fruit which otherwise would be distributed to them. Now such arguments as these, which have interest and profit contained in them, usually have the greatest influence upon persons; Christ knew this, and therefore uses such an one here.
Verse 16. My beloved is mine and 1 am /lis: hefeedeth among the lilies.
Christ having given such evidences of his love,
larger, have spread themselves, and have been very fatal to the churches of Christ; therefore no error or heresy should be connived at, under a notion of its being a small or a harmless one; for even little foxes are to be taken. Some’’ connect the word little with the vines next mentioned; and so it strengthens the reason, why care should be taken to preserve them from the foxes, since they are small and tender.
dly. Here the motives and arguments proposed to induce a compliance to this command of Christ’s.
1. The mischief vvhicli these foxes do to the vines,
is made use of as one, which spoil the viues; it has
been observed by many,’ that these kind of creatures do hurt to the viues; and that by destroying
the fences, gnawing the branches, biting the bark,
making bare the roots of the vines, devouring
the ripe grapes thereof, and infecting all with
their noxious teeth and vicious breath: so heretics
and false teachers break down the church’s fence,
by making schisms and divisions, make bare her
roots, sap the very foundation of religion, by
corrupting the word of God, and denying the great
doctrines of the Gospel; and hurt her fruit, by
disturbing the peace of her members, unsettling
some, and subverting others. 2. Another argument that is made use of to stir them up to
diligence in taking the foxes, is because the vines
have tender grapes; by vines are meant the several
distinct congregated churches of Christ; by the
tender grapes or flowers thereof, we are to understand young converts, whom Christ is very tender I and instances of his care and kindness to the of, and has a particular regard unto; see Isa. xl. church in the preceding verses; she, in this, declares
11, and xlii. 3, and these having but a small degree of faith, knowledge, and experience, like children, are more easily” tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness of these foxes, whereby they lie in wait to deceive: now generally they make their onset upon these, as being more easily wrought upon, and by whom they cau with more facility compass their end; and this being then the case, the ministers of Christ ought to be more sedulous and diligent in the discovering of those foxes, from whom so much mischief may be expected, and more bold, vigorous, and courageous in opposing and rejecting them; seeing the churches of Christ are like to sustain so considerable a loss by them, and in danger of having a promising vintage spoiled. It is true, the foxes love the ripe grapes and devour them, and not when they are blossoming and knotting; which shows Christ’s care of his vines to be the greater, that he would have little foxes taken while the vines were blowing; for by such time as the grapes wcfe ripe, these little
her faith in him, and signifies the obligation which she lay under to observe his commands. “My beloved is mine;” he hath given himself to me, his heart is set upon me, and is always careful of me, and concerned for me; of which he has given the fullest proofl could wish for: “and I am his;” 1 give up myself to him, and am at his disposal, and think myself obliged to observe whatever he enjoins me, and to follow him whithersoever he calls me; especially seeing it is for my good; it makes both for my pleasure and profit, as well as for his glory; for “he feedeth among the liles.” I need not fear his leading me into danger, or any desolate places, but where lilies grow, where is all delight and pleasure; he will lead me into green pastures, where I may have food, and fulness of it. And,
First. These words are expressive of the mutual interest and property which Christ and the church have in each other; “my beloved is mine, and I am his;” he has interest in me, and I have the same in him.
1st. She says, “ray beloved is ‘mine.” She first asserts her interest in Christ, and then his
foxes would be great ones, and would be capable
Vid. Theodoret. in loc. ‘Vid. Theocrit. [ grapes in the countries they come into, ^Vristoiih
Idyll. I. V. 48, J9. and lydll..’j. v. 112, 113. Sol Equites, act. 3. 60. 1. p. 3o0. Soldiers are compared to Ioxlo, because they cat the i
n.
interest in her; for Christ is first ours, and tlicn we are his because he is ours; he loves us before we love him; he iirst gives himself to us, and then we give ourselves to him. But how comes Christ to be ours? I answer, 1. By the Father’s gift; he gave him for us, and he gave him to us; therefore Christ is called, John iv. 10, “the gift of God,” and that by way of eminence, he being the iirst and best gift, the most comprehensive one, that includes all others in it, and brings them with it; for he that gives the greater gift, will give the lesser; if he gives his own Son, “he will give all things with him;” him he has given to be a Husband to his church, and a Head over her; he has given him to be a Priest to offer up sacrifice, and to make intercession for her; to be a Prophet to teach, and a King to rule her; and surely such a gift as this deserves the utmost thanks: so that there is reason to say with the apostle, 2 Cor. ix. 15, “thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift;” and thus Christ becomes ours. 2. By his own gift; he has given himself to us as well as for us; he gave himself a sacrifice for us, and that as an instance of his love to us, as well as a fruit of his having given himself in covenant to us before. 3. By marriage: Christ has not onlv espoused our cause, but has also espoused our persons, and betrothed us to himself” in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies, and in faithfulness,” and that for ever; so that, 0 astonishing grace! he that is our Maker is become our Husband. 4. By possession: we have him and all things pertaining to life and salvation with him; we have him in us as the hope of glory, dwelling in our hearts by faith, living there as in his own house and temple, and reigning there by his grace and Spirit, as in his own palace; and those souls who can e.-^perience this, may say with the church, my beloved is mine; I have an interest in him, for I am in possession of him. Tims Christ is the church’s. But
2ndly. She says also, that she was his; I am his; and that because he is mine. Now how, come souls to be Christ’s? I answer, 1. By the Father’s gift: he that gives Christ to us, gives us also to Christ; and this he did in the everlasting covenant, to be his bride and wife, to be his portion and inheritance, and to be kept and preserved by him safe to glory. Christ having pitched his love upon us, chose us for his own, and asked us of his Father, who granted his request; “thine they were,” says Christ, John xvii. 6,” and thou gavest them me.” 2. By purchase: he has bought us with a price, and that not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with his own most precious blood; so that he does, as he justly may, claim an interest in ns upon this accoutt. 3. By the conquest of his grace upon our hearts: he pulls down the strong holds of our hearts; enters in with his glorious train and retinue of
bsing his; “for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his;” from whence it may be inferred, that he that has the Spirit of Chiist, is one of his. 4. By a voluntary surrender of ourselves unto him; which cannot be belter expressed than it is in Isa.sliv. 5, “One shall say, I am the Lord’s;” which is the language of the church here: “another shall call himself by the name of Jacob;” which is the name of Christ’s church; “and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel;” and this in New-Testaraent-language, is. called a giving themselves to the Lord, and to the church by the will of God; so that as Christ is ours by his own consent, we are Christ’s by our consent, being made a willing people in the day of his power. Now from Christ’s being ours, it follows, 1. That all he has is ours; all his perfections are ours; not that they are communicated to us, fur that would be to deify us; but they are all engaged for our eternal good and welfare; we have the comfort of them. Is he the Almighty? then he is able to save us from law, sin, hell, and death, and to keep and preserve us safe to his kingdom and glory. Is he omnipresent? hence saints enjoy his gracious presence, in all places, in all his ordinances; he can be with them, when and where he pleases. Is he omniscient? he knows their persons, their wants, their enemies, &c., and is both able and willing to help them. Is he immutable? Is he Jesus, “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever?” they need not then fear any variation of his mind, any alteration in his love, nor change in llieir state; and thus all other of hi* divine perfections serve to advance their comfort and happiness. 2. That ail he has is theirs; his Person is theirs, to render them acceptable to God; his blood theirs, to cleanse and pardon them; his righteousness theirs, to justify and acquit them before God; his fulness theirs, to supply their wants; and all covenant-blessings and promises which he has in his hands, are theirs. Therefore, 3. It follows, that they can want no good thing; for as he has ability to help them, he has a heart to do it, and will not withhold any thing that may be needful and proper for them, especially seeing they have an indisputable right to and interest in them. Moreover, from our being Christ’s it follows, that we are not our own; our persons, our time, and talents, our gifts and graces, are not our own, but his, and therefore we should give up all unto him, and glorify him with all: nor are we any others; we are not Satan’s, for Christ has delivered us as lawful captives out of his hands: nor sin’s, for Christ has redeemed us from it; nor the world’s, for Christ has both chosen and called us out of it; and therefore we should serve none but him, who has an iucontestible right to us, and a sovereign power over us.
Secondly, These words are expressive of a near
grace, dispossesses Satan, dethrones sin, sets up a union, that there is between Christ and his church; throne for himself, and places his own S])int in the these two are one in a conjugal relation, as husmidst of us, which is the grand evideuee of our band and nife are one; ray beloved is my Husbaud
IG.]
lo;
nnJ I am his wife, and we are both one flesh. ■Vhich union is, 1. Personal: it is an nnioa of persons, that is to saw, the whole person of Christ as God-man, is united to a believer; and the whole person of a believer, body and soul, is united to Christ; and by virtue of this union, as the souls of the saints shall be received into everlasting habitations till the resurrect ion-morn, so the bodies of the saints shall be raised from their dusty beds, and shall then live with Christ for evermore. 2. It is a spiritual union; “he that is joined to the Lord, is one spirit:” Christ and his church being one, they have one and the same Spirit; Christ has it without measure, and the church in measure; and this she has as the fruit of her union to Christ, and also as the evidence of it. 3. It is a vital union; luch an one as is between the vine and branches: where the Spirit of Christ is given, a princijile of life is implanted; when souls are ingrafted into Christ, they receive life from Christ; nay, he lives in them, and maintains this spiritual life by fresh communications of life frpui himself, who is the Fountain of it; and because he lives, they shall live also; as long as there is life in the Head, there shall be life in the members; and because there is life in the root, the branches shall not wither. 4. It is very mysterious: the union of the three Persons in one divine essence, and that of two natures in Christ’s person, are very mysterious; these, without controversy, are the great mysteries of godliness: and next to them is this union of souls to Christ, which the apostle having spoken of, thus says, Eph. v. 33, “This is a great mystery, but I speak of Christ and the church;” that is, of the union there is between Christ and the church -. that it is an ineffable and inconceivable one, appears from its being compared to the union of the divine Persons in the Godhead, John 5vii. 11 — 23. 5. It is an indissoluble one: Christ and the church can never besepnrated; the union-bond can never be broken; and what is that? The generality of divines say, that it is the Spirit on Christ’s side, and faith on ours; but neither the Spirit nor faith are the bond of union, but the fruits and effects of it: the reason why the Spirit is given, or faith, or any other graces are wrought, is, because the soul is already united to Christ. What then is the bond of union? I answer, Christ’s everlasting love; it is this which is the cement that knits and joints souls unto him. What was it that knit and united the souls of David and Jonathan together, and made them as if they had been but one soul, but love? What is it that knits the saints together? so as thoy appear to be of one heart and one soul, but love? This is the bond of Union between them; and so it is between Christ and his church; and now who or what can separate from this love? This betrothment, which was done in loving-kindness and in mercies, can never be made void; this marriage-knot can never be loosed; this union-bond can never be broken; Christ’s love is everlasting, unchangeable, and inseparable.
Now from this union flow, 1. An interest in all he has; he being ours, and we his by marrinf;e; all his goods arc ours, all the aforementioueJ things are ours. 2. A communication of na.ties: the church is called by the name of Christ, 1 Cor. xii. 12, Jer. xxiii. 16, compared with Jer. xxxiii. 6; and Christ is called by the church’s name, Isa. xlix. 3; which is somewhat remarkable; for though it is usual for the wife to take the name of the husband, yet not the husband the name of the wife. 3. Conformity to Christ: by virtue of this union, the soul receives the same Spirit that Christ has, and has grace daily communicated from, is indulged with transforming views of, and therefore cannot but bear some resemblance to him; which will more fully appear in the other world, when saints shall be like him, and shall see him as he is. 4. Communion and fellowship with him: communion with Christ follows upon union to him; because his saints and he are both one, he is not ashamed to call them brethren; but takes them into his bosom, indulges them with his presence, grants them nearness to and familiarity with him.
Thirdly. These words are also expressive of the mutual affection, delight, and complacency, which Christ and his church have in each other: it is as if she should say, He is a beloved to me, and I am the same to him; he loves me and I love him; yea, there is no love lost between us. He sa, that the lines are fallen to him in pleasant places, and that he has a goodly heritage: he is well pleased with his portion, and I am well pleased with mine: for, “whom have I in heaven but him? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides him.” He says, that I am in his eye “the fairest among women,” the greatest beauty in the world, and so is he in mine; he is white and ruddy, a complete beauty, “the chiefest among ten thousand.”
Fourthly. There is in them a manifest declaration of the assurance of that knowledge and faith which she had of her interest in Christ; it shows us, that such a thing is attainable; and, sure I am, next to the enjoyment of the heavenly glory, nothing is more desirable; it is a mercy not only to have an interest in Christ, but also to know it, to be capable of saying with Thomas,” ;My Lord and my God;” or with Job, “I know that my Redeemer liveth;” or with the apostle Paul, “I know whom I have believed;” for this makes much for the comfort of souls. The church seems to speak thisi in the triumph of faith, rejoicing in the comfortable views of Christ as her own; and as it were boasting of it, excluding all other beloveds, as not worthy of her notice, and as not to be mentioned with her beloved.
Lastly. She tells us, that this beloved of hers was feeding among the lilies; “he feedeth among the lilies:” which may be regarded either as an apostrophe to him, and may be read thus, “O thou that feedest among the lilies!” thou, and thou only, art mine, and I am thine: or else, these
words may be descriptive of his person, and prevent a question that might be asked, viz., who her beloved was, that she thus claimed an interest in? To which she answers, My beloved is that yonder person you see feeding among the lilies; and at the same time also points out to us the place where he was, and what he was about; his employment was feeding, that is, either feeding himself; which Christ does, when he delights and recreates himself in his gardens, the churches, and among his lilies, the saints; observing how their faith grows, and how that all o’her graces are exercised upon himself: or else, feeding his flock, as R. Sol. Jarchi observes; for as he bears the character of a Shepherd, so he performs the work of one; “he feeds his flock like a shepherd;” see chap. i. 7. The place where he is here said to feed, is among the lilies; by which may be meant, either a good, quiet, and delightful pasture, as R. Sol. Jarchi glosses it. Christ leads and feeds his people in “green pastures, beside the still or quiet waters;” and what can be more delightful than to lie down among, or to sit and feed where lilies grow? or else, by these lilies may be meant the scriptures of truth, the precious promises and comfortable doctrines of the gospel, and the ordinances thereof, with which Christ feeds his church: or rather, by them may be meant the saints, who are compared thereunto, inverse 2, of this chapter, iifow it is among these that Christ feeds; and therefore do any want to know where Christ feeds, as the church did, in chap. i. 7? he feeds among his saints, where they are congregated in gospel order, where his lilies grow. It may be observed, it is not said, he feedeth on, or feeds his flock with lilies, but among them; for it is remarked,™ that sheep will not eat them: or the sense may be, Christ feeds himself, and feeds his people, and feeds among them, as if he was crowned with lilies, and anointed with the oil of them; as was the custom of the ancients at festivals,” thought to be here alluded to by some, who read the words, “that feeds;” that is, feeds, sups in, or with lilies, being crowned with them, and anointed with the oil of them. The lily is a summer flower;” the winter was now past, verse 11; and so agrees with the time when those words were spoken.
Verse 17. Until the day hreah, and the shadows flee away; turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe, or a young hart, upon the mountains of Bother.
The former part of these words, “until the day break, and the shadows flee away,” may stand connected with either part of the preceding verse, either with those words, my beloved is mine, and I am his,P which are expressive, as has been observed, of that mutual interest, union, communion, satisfaction, and delight, which Christ and his
■” Tuecius apud Soto M.ijor in loc.” Fortuuat. Sehac. Elcochrysm. Sacr, 1. I.e. 28. p. l.HT.
- Theophrast. apud Athen. Deipnosophist 1. 15. c.
church have in and with each other; and then the sense is, as long as day and night continue, and God’s covenant with both stands sure, so long will my covenant-interest in, and union to Christ, who is my beloved, abide solid and unshaken; I can no more be separated from his person, and from his love, than day and night can cease; and when they do, I shall be taken up into everlasting and uninterrupted communion with him, which is now subject to the same vicissitudes as these returning seasons are: or else, they may stand connected with the latter part of the preceding verse, “he feedeth among the lilies, until the day break, “i &c., and so are expressive of the continual presence of Christ in his church, until his second coming, when the everlasting day shall break, and all shadows of darkness flee away; till then, as in chap. iv. 6, he will be on his mountain of myrrh, and hill of frankincense; where he will delight himself with, and feed among his saints, until all his elect ones are called by grace, and till all his lilies are grown up to their full maturity, when he will gather them to himself; though the words may be also considered as connected with the latter part of this verse, “turn my beloved,” &c., and so they contain a prayer of the church’s for Christ’s speedy access unto her, and continued presence with her, until the day should break, and the shadows flee away. In which may be considered,
I. The favour which she requests of him, which is, 1st, To turn, that is, unto her; and this she desires that he would do speedily, and therefore says, “be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.”
II, The time unto which she desires this favour might be continued to her: and that is, until the day break, upon which the shadows would flee away.
I. The favour which she desires of him is, that he would turn unto her; which seems to intimate as though he was about to leave her; which, upon some account or other, she had a suspicion of, therefore importunes him to stay with her; and seeing him upon the motion, upon the turn, ready to depart, she desires that he would turn again, and continue with her: or else, it supposes that he was entirely gone, and that she was sensible of it: and having a great value for Christ’s person and presence, desires that he would turn again to her: such a petition as this, under a sense of desertion, is frequently put up by the psalmist, particularly in Psalm Ix. 1, and lxix. IG, 17, and Ixxsvi. 16; though the word may be rendered, turn about or iurronud,^’ that is, with thy favour and loving-kindness; let me always be under thy care and protection; be thou a wall of fire round about me; so shall I be safe and secure from all enemies, until the glorious and wished-for-day breaks, when I shall be out of fear, as well as out of dan- 7. p. G79. P So U. Sol. Jarcbi in’loc. Vid.
Sanct. in loc. ’ 3D circiii, Montauus, Sanctiu.5;
uircumito, some in ilicliaclid.
ger: and this favour she desires might be s])ccdily granted to her, and therefore says, “be thou like a roe or young hart;” which are not only loving and pleasant, but also swift and nimble creatures. She had experienced Christ to be so before, and therefore might the more comfortably hope that he would be so to her now: she adds, “upon the mountains of Bether;” by vvhicli perhaps may be meant Bithron, of which we read in 1 Sam. ii. 29, and was so called, because it was parted or separated from Judea by the river Jordan; though some think it should be read Bethel, by a change of a letter: and so the Septnagint reads it in ver. 9; which is there an addition to the Hebrew text; though (hey here render it, oprj KoiXic/j-aTuv, the mountains of cavities, that is, such that were full of clefts and hollow places •, but be they what they will, it is certain that they were such places where roes and fawns used to skip and run. The words may be very well rendered, the mountains of division,^ which, if referred to Christ’s first coming in the days of his flesh, may regard the ceremonial law, which made and kept up the division between Jew and Gentile, was the partition wall between them, which was broken down by Christ Jesus: or else, the two people divided by it, to whom Christ came, for whom he made peace, to whom he preached it, and thereby made both one. But if we refer the words to Christ’s spiritual coming in a way of special grace to visit his people; then these mountains of division, upon which Christ comes, and over which he leaps as a roe or a young hart, may be our sins and corruptions, which often separate between him and our souls; though, when he is pleased to come, they are no obstacles in his way, but are easily surmounted or removed by him; but if they be applied to Christ’s second coming at the day of judgment; these mountains of division may intend the spacious heavens, in which Christ shall then appear, which at present interpose between him and us, and separate us from the enjoyment of his bodily presence; one part or branch of whose awful work then will be, to separate the sheep from the goats. But,
11. How long does she desire to be indulged with this favour of enjoying his gracious presence, in the discoveries of himself, and of his love unto her, without which she could not live, and therefore desires it might be speedily granted to her? and that is, “until the day break, and the shadows flee away;” which may be landerstood, either,
1st. Of Christ’s coming in the flesh, which was the break and dawn of the Gospel day, until the day break; or, according to the Hebrew text, “uatil the day breathe or blow,“’ and naturalists” have observed, that upon the sun’s
rising, an air or wind has been excited: so upon the rising of “the Sun of righteousness with healing in his wings,” were raised some fine, cool, gentle, and refreshing breezes of divine grace and consolation. Before Christ’s coming in the flesh, it was night, not only in the Gentile, but in the Jewish world; there was a great deal of darkness, blindness, and ignorance, infidelity, sleepinessi, and security; but upon the arising of this Sun, and breaking or breathing of this day, all this was in a great measure dispelled, and light, nay a great light, was introduced; for Christ’s coming was “as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds;” he came as the light of the world, and made that day, that Gospel-day, which, by way of eminency, is so often spoken of in the Old Testament, when the shadows of the old law fled and disappeared: so the law is called “a shadow of good things to come,” and that because it was a representation of them; which were so sooner come, but this was gone, and, like a shadow, appeared fleeting and transitory; and whilst it continued, was dark and obscure; though there was some glimmering of light in it, which led the faith of the Old Testament saints to Christ, who was represented by it; but now these shadows are gone, Christ the body and substance being come; this middle wall of partition is broken down; this hand-writing of ordinances is taken av-ay, and the whole Mosaic dispensation and economy is waxen old and vanished; there being a disannulling of it because of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof; and a glorious dispensation and bright day of Gospel grace introduced in the room of it, and all by the appearance of Christ in our nature; which was the great thing promised, prophesied of, long expected, and earnestly wished for by the Old Testament saints, as it was perhaps by the church here. Or else,
2udly. This may be understood of Christ’s second coming to judgment: which, as the former is called that day in the Old Testament by way of eminency, as being that great, glorious, and notable day of the Lord, so is this in the New; for the former, see Isa. si. 10, and xxv. 9, and xxvi. 1, and xxvii. 1, 2, 13, and for this, see Phil. i. 6, 2 Tim. i. 12, 1 Thess. v. 2, 4; and this as well suits both with the Hebrew text, and with the natural philosophy of it, as the former: Christ’s second coming will be at the evening, both of the world and of the Gospel dispensation, when” the shadows of the evening are stretched out upon us; at a time when there will be a great deal of darkness and ignorance, much want of faith, and a very great bleepiness and security, which will seize upon professors, as well as upon profane; but upon Christ’s
in3 nn ‘jj? in montibus division is, Vatablus, Piscator; scissionis, Cocccius; dissectionis.Marckius; scctionis vel separation is, Michaelis.
mC’VD ly CM? ^lajrrct’ffi), Sept. donec. vel dum
spiret, Mercerus, Cocceius: aspiret, Marckius, spiraveril, Michaelis.” Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 7. c. 47.
Senecje Nat. Qua;st. 1..’>. c. 8.
appearance, a glorious and everlasting day will break, the shadows of darkness and ignorance will flee away; we shall know as we are kuowu, and see him as he is; not as now, “through a glass darkly, but face to face;” all infidelity, doubts and fears, will be removed; everlasting joy will be upon our heads; no interposing clouds will be bctvveea Christ and our souls; but we shall have the everlasting enjoyment of him, and uninterrupted commnuion with him: there will then be no need of the sun and moon, of gos- ))el-ordiuaaces; for the glory of God will lighten both our persons and the place of our residence, and the Lamb himself will be the light thereof; so shall we ever be in his presence, see his face clearly, without any mixture of darkness and unbelief, and without any fear of the shadows of the evening returning upon us; there will be uo more night, bat one pure, bright, and everlasting day. Moreover, naturalists“’ have observed, that the wind often blows fresh, and fine breezes of air are raised at the sun-setting, as well as at the sun-rising; so that the words, until the day blow or breathe, that is, at the cool of the day, when the s’ind blows fresher, and there are gentle breezes of air, which often are in the evening; at which time it may be very well supposed that God appeared to Adam in the garden after his fall; I say, these words may be very well applied to the evening of the world, or second coming of Christ; which, though it will be with flames of fire, to take vengeance on the wicked, yet to the saints it wDl be “a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord;” which time is earnestly wished for by them; their desire is, that Christ would be as a roe or young hart to hasten it; for, as he says, “I surely come quickly,” they return and say, “Amen, even so, come Lord Jesus.” So some Jewish* writers interpret these words of the day of judgment, and compare them with Mai. iv. 1.