PART I – Son 1:2 to Son 2:7

THOUGHTS AND DESIRES OF THE SHULAMITE

Verses 2-4a express thoughts and desires of the beautiful Shulamite maid for her beloved shepherd while captive of King Solomon in Jerusalem. The shepherd is far away in the home country near Shunem, 55 miles north of Jerusalem, but drawn very near in her thoughts. She was brought to Jerusalem prior to events in this part with the intent of persuading her to marry the king, a proposal she has not accepted.

Verse 4 b affirms that the king has brought the Shulamite into his chambers but does not indicate he is present.

Verse 4c suggests that despite the king’s efforts to the contrary, the Shulamite is determined that she and her beloved shepherd will find happiness together.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

PART FIRST
The Meeting of the Betrothed

CHAPTER Son. 1:2, TO CHAPTER Son. 2:7

SCENE FIRST. Place: The Palace of Jerusalem. Speakers: Shulamite, or the Bride; and the Daughters of Jerusalem, or the Ladies of Solomons Court.CHAP. Son. 1:2-8.

SHULAMITE

Addressing the King in his Absence

Brides Longing after the Beloved.

Son. 1:2-4

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For thy love is better than wine.
Because of the savour of thy good ointments,
(Thy name is as ointment poured forth),
Therefore do the virgins love thee.
Draw me:
We will run after thee.
The King hath brought me into his chambers:
We will be glad and rejoice in thee;
We will remember thy love more than wine:
The upright love thee.

Spiritually, the believers longing for the sensible presence of Christ and the manifestation of His love. Probably the cry of the Ancient Church for the coming of the Lords Anointed. According to the Jews, Israels longing for the Divine reconciliation after the sin of the Golden Calf.

Brides First Desire.

Let him kiss me with the kisses (or, with kisses) of his mouth (Son. 1:2). Shulamite speaks in soliloquy. Speaks of her Beloved as absent. Observe

I. The PERSON intended. Let him; namely, the Beloved. No name mentioned. The language abrupt but natural, as spoken under strong emotion. Expressive of reverence. So the disciples of Pythagoras Spoke of their master,He said. More especially, of impassioned affection. The Brides thoughts full of her Beloved, as though there were but one object she cared for (Psa. 73:25). Christ to the believer the One Pearl of great price (Mat. 13:46). The language of a soul wearying of all but Christ. Bride speaks of her Beloved as if all must know whom she meant. So Mary to the supposed gardener: If thou have borne Him hence (Joh. 20:15).

Christ continually promised to the fathers through the prophets (Act. 26:6; 1Pe. 1:11). The hope and expectation of Old Testament saints (Gen. 49:18; Isa. 26:8; Mat. 13:17; Joh. 8:56; Act. 26:7). Exemplified in Simeon, Anna, and others (Luk. 2:25-26; Luk. 2:36-38; Luk. 3:15). Christ promised and expected as the Bridegroom of the Church (Hos. 2:19; Hos. 3:3; Isa. 54:5; Isa. 62:5; Joh. 3:29).

II. The THING desired. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. Personal and sensible manifestation of Christ and His love to the soul. The love itself not doubted: the expression, proof, and enjoyment of it desired. Christs kiss is Christ Himself sensibly giving Himself in tenderest affection to the soul, and assuring it of His cordial love. The subject of the Song not the coming to the Saviour, but communion with Him: not the coming of the soul to Christ, but the coming of Christ to the soul. The language of the soul in the Song not that of the Publican: God be merciful to me a sinner; but that of the Psalmist: My soul cleaveth to the dust: quicken thou me according to Thy word (Psa. 119:25). The language of the text expressive of

1. Strong desire and eager longing. Let him. (or, O that he would) kiss me. Such longings a natural part of a healthy Christian experience. Feeble health little accustomed to fervent longing. A Christ loved will be a Christ longed for. Absence illbrooked by ardent affection. Love yearns for the fellowship and enjoyed love of its object.

2. Intimate acquaintance. Familiar acquaintance with Christ begets not contempt, but reverence and love.

3. Consciousness of union with and interest in the Beloved. Kisses not for strangers, still less for enemies. Expected only by a friend, and most of all by a Bride or wife.

4. Mutual affection. Kisses desired only from one who loves us and whom we ourselves love. An aggravation of Judass sin that he betrayed his Master with a kiss. A true kiss the kiss of charity or love (1Pe. 5:14).

5. Absence and delay. Sensible tokens of Divine love not always vouchsafed to believers. Christs kisses not things of every day. At times wisely withheld. A time for embracing, and a time to refrain from embracing. Patience required in respect to spiritual joys. The time coming when delay and withdrawal will be no more.

6. Desire for manifested reconciliation. So Israel longed after the Lord after the sin of the golden calf (Exo. 33:1-4; Exo. 33:7-11); and in the time of Samuel (1Sa. 7:2). A kiss the token of reconciliation given by David to his son Absalom, and by the forgiving father to the prodigal and penitent son (2Sa. 14:33; Luk. 15:20).

The desire expressed by each believing soul for itself: Let him kiss me. The living soul desires personal enjoyment of Christs love and the personal application of it. Christs kisses for His Church universal, and for each true member of it in particular. Each believing soul the Church in miniature. The features, experience, and glory of the Church those of each individual member.

The thing desired

(1) Kisses. Implies coldness of faith and affection. To receive even a kind word from Christ an unspeakable favour and happiness. Christ able and willing to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think (Eph. 3:20). Grants not only the adoption of a son, but the espousals of a bride (Theodoret). The Bride appears to desire not only one kiss but many. Even one not to be purchased with a thousand worlds. How rich the believer in receiving many! Even one a thing never to be forgotten. One of Christs kisses carries heaven in its bosom. Kisses of different kinds and for different occasions: the kiss of favour, of friendship, of affection, of reconciliation, of relationship, of nuptial contract, and of marriage. The marriage-covenant between Christ and His people permits and grants the renewal of its seals and pledges.

(2) Kisses of his mouth. These reserved more especially for his personal appearing. Let him kiss me, not by the mouth of the prophets, but with his own mouth (Rabbins). The desire a prophetical intimation of His coming in the flesh. Realized when men wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth (Luk. 4:18-22). Be of good comfort, thy sins are forgiven thee; Thy faith hath saved thee: go in peacesome of these kisses. Such also every Gospel promise and gracious consolation uttered and applied by Jesus to the penitent believing soul. The lip of promise meeting the lip of prayer. Christs office to Preach glad tidings to the meek; to bind up the broken hearted; to comfort them that mourn; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Isa. 61:1-3; Luk. 4:18-19). His mouth most sweet (chap. Son. 5:16). His mouth, as marking the tenderest affection. Amazing condescension that the King of glory can stoop from His throne to kiss a beggar taken from the dunghill. Ample compensation for the loss of idols in the kisses of the Kings mouth. The soul that gives up all for Him, sooner or later filled and overpowered with His love. The kisses of his mouth not only the communications of His love but of His spirit. According to the Jews, a mans loving kiss is accompanied with an infusion of his spirit. So Jesus, after saying: Peace be unto you,breathed on His disciples, and said: Receive ye the Holy Ghost (Joh. 20:21-22). Christs kisses given in the reading and hearing of His word; in secret and social prayer; and in the ordinance of the Supper. The consolations of His Word personally applied by Himself to the heart through His Spirit. The kisses to be given by His own mouth. All Gospel duty summed up in our kissing the Son; all Gospel comfort summed up in the Son kissing us. Christs kisses in the Gospel intended to heal the wounds of the Law. The kisses of His mouth in the highest sense still kept in reserve. Jerusalem above the place where the Lord mainly comforts His people (Isa. 66:13). There they see His face. His hand wipes away their tears. He Himself feeds them and leads them to living fountains of waters. Hence His second appearing the desire of believers in the New Testament, as His first appearing was that of those in the Old (Tit. 2:13; 1Co. 1:7; Php. 3:20; 2Pe. 3:12). The last promise of Christ in the Bible: Surely I come quickly. The last prayer of His Church: Even so, come, Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:20).

Reason of Brides First Desire.

For thy love (Heb. loves) is better than wine.Son. 1:1.

With the next breath Shulamite turns to her Beloved and addresses himself, though still absent and invisible. A believers communion with Christ on earth rather that with an invisible friend. Want of bodily sight no hindrance to spiritual fellowship. Christ, though invisible to the eye of flesh, yet visible to the eye of faith. Common, under strong feeling, to address a friend though distant and unseen. The living and loving soul not satisfied with speaking of Christ, but must speak to Him. He to be exchanged for Thou. The reason for the soul desiring the kisses of Christs mouth is the excellence and sweetness of His love and the manifestations of it. An object desired in proportion to the sense of its worth. Observe in regard to the

Excellence of Christs Love.

1. The LOVE itself. Thy love, or as margin, thy lovesnot only the love itself, but the manifestations of it. Christs love always one and the same; the expressions and manifestations of it many and various. His love well represented in the plural form, from its riches, abundance, and extent. Pauls prayer that believers might be strengthened with might by the Holy Spirit, so as to comprehend with all saints what is its length, and breadth, and depth, and height, and to know it though really passing all knowledge (Eph. 3:16-19. Observe

1. The character of Christs love. Like the love of the Father it is

(1) Everlasting (Jer. 31:3).

(2) Unchanging (Joh. 13:1).

(3) Spontaneous and free (Eze. 16:5-6; Eze. 16:8; 1Jn. 4:10; 1Jn. 4:19).

(4) Sovereign and distinguishing (Joh. 6:70; Joh. 13:18; Joh. 15:16).

(5) Costly and self-sacrificing (Eph. 5:25; Rev. 1:5).

(6) Enriching in its effects (Eph. 5:26-27; Rev. 1:5-6).

2. The manifestations of it. These both in word and deed. Made in

(1) His engaging for us in the everlasting covenant (Psa. 40:7; Eph. 5:25).

(2) The revelation of His love in the first promise in Eden (Gen. 3:15).

(3) The successive communications of it through the prophets.
(4) His gracious dealings with His people in the Old Testament.
(5) The personal manifestations of Himself to the patriarchs and Old Testament saints.
(6) His INCARNATION.
(7). His acts, words, and teachings when on earth.
(8). His sufferings and death.
(9). The bestowment of His Spirit on and after Pentecost.
(10) His promises to His Church made before and after His ascension into heaven.
(11) The ordinances which He instituted, especially that of the Supper.
(12) The ingathering of His Redeemed by the preaching of the Word.
(13) The personal communications of His love to the souls of His people.
(14) His gracious providential dealings with His Church, both as a whole and in its individual members.

II. The EXCELLENCE of the love. Thy love is better than wine. Wine put for what is most grateful to the taste, refreshing to the body, and exhilarating to the spirits. Wine among the chief luxuries of life. The banquet of wine (Est. 5:6) put for the most joyous of feasts. Yet Christs love better than wine.

(1) From the nature of love itself. Love and the expression of it among the sweetest of human enjoyments. Hence the comfort of love (Php. 2:1).

(2) From the person whose love it is. A sinful and imperfect creatures love often the sweetest of earthly enjoyments. What the love of Him who is the Chief among ten thousand, fairer than the children of men, altogether lovely, the sum, source, and centre of all loveliness and excellence! Christs love better than wine, as

1. More sweet, gladdening, and refreshing. (Psa. 4:7-8). Sweet is the Kings wine, but sweeter is his love (Delitzsch). The sense of Christs love the true cordial of the soul.

2. More satisfying. The old wine, after which none desires new. Takes from creature enjoyments much of their attraction. The world crucified to us by the cross of Christ,the highest expression of this love.

3. More beneficial. Exhilarates the soul; and through that, influential on the whole man. Purifies while it gladdens. No danger of excess or of hurtful consequences. Wine a mocker. At last bites like a serpent and stings like an adder (Pro. 20:1; Pro. 23:32). Christs love leaves no sting behind it. Betrays none into sin. Exhilarates without inebriating.

4. More lasting in its effects. Wine perishable, and soon ceases even to exhilarate and refresh. Christs love eternal and unchanging in its effects as well as in itself. That only strictly true of Christs love which is said of wine: Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more (Pro. 31:6).

The excellence of Christs love not to be described (Psa. 36:7-10). To be tasted in order to be known (Psa. 34:8; 1Pe. 2:3). Able to fill the soul with joy in the absence of all earthly comforts, and the loss of all earthly possessions (Hab. 3:17-18). The Holy Spirits office to reveal it and shed it abroad in the heart (Rom. 5:5). Hence the exhortation: Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be ye filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). Joy in the experience of Christs love the characteristic of the New Testament dispensation. Symbolized in His first miracle. The water of the Old Testament economy turned into the wine of the New. The consecration of wine as the symbol of His shed blood, and so of His dying love, among the last acts of the Saviours love. Hence the Lords Supper made the sweetest and most reviving of all Divine ordinances. Christs love the joy of the Redeemed in heaven. The new wine of the kingdom. The song of the Beloved Disciples old age, seventy years after tasting of it as he lay on Jesuss breast. The ever new song of the saints around the throne (Rev. 1:5; Rev. 5:9-12).

The Bride Justifies her Desire.

Because of the savour of thy good ointments (thy name is as ointment poured forth), therefore do the virgins love theeSon. 1:3.

Her desire justified on two grounds:

(1) The excellence and sweetness in the Beloved himself;
(2) The fact that on that account virgins loved him.

FIRST GROUND: Because of the savour of thy good ointments,thy name it as ointment poured forth; or, ointment poured forth is thy name. The first clause the formal reason for the virgins love to the King; the second, a parenthetical amplification and explanation of the former, his name being itself those good ointments (Ecc. 7:1). The savour of thy good ointments or perfumes, suggests

The Excellence and Sweetness of Christ

I. Christ has ointments or perfumes. The kings ointments sweetly scented oils sprinkled on the garments, poured on the head, or carried about the person. Christs ointments the graces of the soul and life, shed on Him and produced in Him by the Holy Spirit. The existence of such ointments indicated in His official name, Christ, or the Christ. This the Greek rendering of the Hebrew term Messiah; both meaning the Anointed One. Christ, as Gods appointed Saviour, anointed with the Holy Ghost, and that without measure (Joh. 3:34 : Act. 4:8; Luk. 4:18). This anointing that which fitted Him for His office (Isa. 61:1-3). Anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows (Heb. 1:9). All His mediatorial garments thus made to smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, by which He was made glad (Psa. 45:8). His human nature thus made full of all excellence and sweetness. Christ fully endowed with all the virtues that can either adorn the character, or that can render a man lovely and attractive in himself, and a benefactor and blessing to his fellow men (Isa. 11:2-5). All the excellences and charms that can either beautify or exalt humanity found in Him in their combination and perfection. Graces and virtues apparently contradictory and exclusive of each other, found beautifully harmonized in His character. Symbolized by the holy anointing oil, composed of various ingredients (Exo. 30:23-25; Exo. 30:34-35). Loftiest wisdom combined in Jesus with child like simplicity; awe-inspiring dignity with meekest humility; inflexible justice with tenderest compassion; spotless holiness with sweetest affability; abhorrence of sin with pity and love to the sinner. The Gospels an exhibition of the good ointments of Christ. His life, as written by the four Evangelists, the best commentary on this verse.

II. Christs ointments are good. They are so

1. In themselves. The graces and virtues of His character, of the purest and choicest kind, and existing in Him in the highest degree. All Divine, as the product of the Holy Ghost which filled Him. God well pleased for His righteousness sake (Isa. 42:21). The testimony twice repeated from heaven: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Mat. 3:17; Luk. 9:35). The goodness or excellence of Christs ointments discovered

(1) In His spirit and disposition. Meek and lowly in heart. Gentle and compassionate, not breaking the bruised reed nor quenching the smoking flax. Holy, harmless, undesled, and separate from sinners.

(2) In His words. Gracious words proceeded out of His mouth. Never man spake like this man. The Gospels a repertory of such golden sayings as never before had fallen from human lips.

(3) In His actions. He went about doing good. Even in His outward actions, acknowledged to have been the greatest benefactor the earth had ever seen before or has ever beheld since. His earthly ministry one continued display of self-denying beneficence to the poor, the suffering, and the distressed.

(4) In His sufferings and death. In these, peculiarly distressing as they were, a picture displayed of the most perfect patience and submission. His dying breath a prayer on behalf of His persecutors and murderers, while His only complaint was that poured forth to His Father in the words of the Psalmist: My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? (Psa. 22:1; Mat. 27:46).

2. In their effects. Ointments or perfumes valued for their refreshing fragrance. Hence poured on the head of guests at table. The graces and virtues of Christs character all such as rendered Him a Benefactor and Saviour to mankind. Fitted by the Holy Spirits anointing to preach glad tidings to the poor, bind up the broken hearted, &c. (Isa. 61:1-2.) The poorest, lowest, and guiltiest attracted to Him by His gracious and loving spirit, as well as by His heavenly and healing words (Luk. 15:1). Even little children drawn to Him by the savour of His good ointments. In the graces and virtues of His character, as well as the sacrificial surrender of His life, Christ a sweet-smelling savour to God. His words quickening, reviving, comforting and gladdening as well to sinners as to saints.

In the view of Shulamite, the Kings name, including in it the report of his graces and excellencies (1Ki. 10:1; 1Ki. 10:6-9), constituted in itself a rich perfume. Thy name is as ointment poured forth; or, ointment poured forth is Thy name (Ecc. 7:1). Sweetly true in regard to Solomons Antitype. Observe, in reference to the

Name of Christ

I. The NAME itself. The name of a person often put simply for the person himself. All that is in Jesus, and that is known of Him, renders Him as ointment poured forth. The chief among ten thousand. Precious to them that believe. In Him is all that sinners need and that is suited to their case and condition. His character and worth that which renders Him to believers the object of their warmest affection and their most entire confidence. The name or names by which He is known indicative of what He is in Himself, and what He is and becomes to us. His names all significant and suggestive of His character and work. Their meaning such as to commend Him to sinners, and to endear Him to saints. Each name an exhibition of Him in some special aspect of loveliness and preciousness. Examples:

1. EMMANUEL. His name in prophecy (Isa. 7:14). Its meaning, God with us (Mat. 1:23). Full of sweetness. God for our salvation become one of usa partaker of flesh and bloodin order to be our Redeemer. God manifest in the flesh. The Eternal Word made flesh and dwelling among us. The name a reviving revelation of boundless love, pity, and condescension on the part of our Maker. The Beloved of the Church one who is both God and Man. The man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of Hosts (Zec. 13:7). One with the Father, and yet one with us. The bright reflection of the Divine glory, and yet bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. Possessed of all the attributes of the God head, and all the sympathies of humanity. Sustains the glory of Deity, and is touched with the feeling of all our infirmities. The Creator and Upholder of the universe, and yet tempted in all points like as we are (Heb. 1:2-3; Heb. 4:15). Hence

(1) His infinite power as a Saviour. Able to save to the uttermost. Mighty to save. Able to raise both the dead soul and the dead body to life.

(2) The infinite efficacy belonging to His sacrificial undertaking. His suffering and death that of God manifest in the flesh. God purchased the Church with His own blooda sufficient price for the ransom of countless worlds (Act. 20:28). The blood of Jesus Christ, because the blood of Gods Son, able to cleanse from all sin (1Jn. 1:7).

2. JESUS. Given, at the direction of as angel, as the equivalent of Emmanuel (Mat. 1:21-23). A name full of exquisite sweetness. DenotesJehovah the Saviour; or, the Lord will save. God Himself becomes our Salvation. Jesus, a Divine Saviour; hence equivalent to Emmanuel. A Saviour needed by man, and a great one Such found in Jesus. Hence His name. Saves, as was necessary, both from sin and sins consequences; not only from its guilt and punishment, but from its power, pollution, and presence; saves from a blinded understanding, a depraved will, and a corrupt heart. Saves from sin and Satan, from death and hell, and from the power and influence of a present evil world Saves at once, and saves for ever. Saves now by the invisible operation of His Spirit; saves hereafter by His visible and glorious appearing (Heb. 9:14; Heb. 9:28). Able to save even the chief of sinners (1Ti. 1:15). To save the lost the object of His coming into the world (Luk. 19:10; 1Ti. 1:15).

3. CHRIST, or THE CHRIST. His official name. Both a name and a title. Like the Hebrew term Messiah, denotes the Anointed. A name also full of sweetness. Marks Him out as anointed by the Holy Ghost as the Prophet, Priest, and King of His Church. Anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows (Psa. 45:7). Anointed by the Spirit to preach glad tidings to the meek, &c (Isa. 61:1). Jesus the Christ, as filled with the Holy Spirit, and so fitted for mans salvation.

His name may include

(1) His Titles: as; Son of God, Son of Man, King of Kings, Prince of Peace, Lamb of God, Prince of Life, Lord of Glory, Plant of Renown, the Word, the Word of God, our Hope, our Peace, our Life.

(2) His Offices: as; Prophet, Priest, King, Mediator, Redeemer, Captain, Physician, Teacher, Witness-bearer, SAVIOUR.

(3) His Relations: as; Husband, Brother, Father, Friend, Shepherd, Surety, Master.

(4) His Attributes: as; Merciful, Faithful, True, Almighty, Everlasting, Unchanging, the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.

(5) His Character: as; meek, lowly, loving, holy, just, wise, and good.

No name mentioned in the text. The name deep in the heart. No name like His in a believers ear. Remembered when every other name is forgotten. The name which is above every name. Known truly to none but Himself and those to whom He reveals it. Wherever known, accompanied with love and trust (Psa. 91:14; Psa. 9:10).

II. The COMPARISON. As ointment poured forth.

1. As ointment or perfume. Indicates its sweet and reviving nature. To a believer the very mention of Jesus accompanied with joy and comfort. Every name of Jesus fragrant to the spiritual senses. The name of a loved one sweet because calling up the person himself. The name of Jesus makes the sad heart it enters leap with joy. Is honey to the mouth, music to the ear, and comfort to the soul. Everything insipid to a believer that carries not the savour of that name in it. All spiritual food dry, if not pervaded with this oil; and tasteless, if not seasoned with this salt. What is written has no relish to a believer, if he reads not there the name of Jesus. Conversation has no pleasure if the name of Jesus is excluded. Nature with all its loveliness only pleases when associated with the name of Jesus. His name suggestive of all that is most beautiful, lovely, and excellent. Contains in it all the excellence scattered throughout creation. The best, sweetest, purest, noblest things associated with it. Embraces whatever is noblest in truth, honour, faith, love, meekness, humility, self-denial, generosity. All tenderness, sweetness, benevolence, centred in the name of Jesus. Gentleness, moral courage, disinterested love, identified with it. In His name, more sweetness, beauty, love, than ever human heart conceived To a renewed and spiritual mind, the most joyous and exhilarating name on earth. Touches all the chords of gratitude, enthusiasm, and devotion. Under the Holy Spirits revelation, fills every avenue of the soul with joy, wonder, and adoration. A day coming, when it will fill heaven and earth with its sweetness and fragrance.

2. As ointment poured forth. Indicates

(1) Abundance, as well of the ointment itself as of its fragrance. The perfume abundantly diffused. An infinite fulness in Jesus, and an infinite sweetness in His name. It hath pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell. God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. His glory that of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (Joh. 1:14; Joh. 3:34; Col. 1:19). Christ a full Saviour for empty sinners. A fountain ever full and ever flowing. His riches without a bottom. A mine never exhausted.

Enough for each, enough for all,

Enough for evermore.

(2) Impartation. A perfume poured forth yields up all its fragrance for enjoyment. Enclosed and sealed up in the vessel, it affords little sweetness. Mary broke her alabaster box, or its seal, and the whole house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Christs name not only ointment but ointment poured forth, for the benefit and enjoyment of others. Christ to be manifested

Externally. Christ and His name was a perfume in heaven while shut up in the bosom of the Father. A perfume to God and angels before man was created. Shut up as to men till the day of the fall. The first promise of a Saviour made in Eden broke the seal (Gen. 3:15). The seal more and more removed, and the fragrance made more and more to flow forth, as time rolled on. The promised Saviour more and more plainly and fully revealed through the prophets, till He Himself appeared. The ointment then poured forth

(1) By Christ Himself: (a) in His life; (b) in His preaching; (c) in His miracles; (d) in His death. The seal of the casket containing the perfume that was to fill heaven and earth with its fragrance fully broken on Calvary when Jesus said: It is finished, bowed His head, and died; (e) in His effusion of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

(2) By the Apostles and the Church after Pentecost. Till then the name shut up among the Jews: after that, to be carried by the Apostles to all nations. The ointment streaming forth more or less over the world during the last eighteen centuries The calling and commission of the Church at large, as well as of Apostles, ministers, and missionaries, to make manifest the savour of his knowledge in every place (2Co. 2:14). Ye are My witnesses. Every believer, by his lips and his life, to be a bearer of the fragrance of Christs name in the neighbourhood where he dwells.

Internally. This ointment to be poured forth in the soul in order to the perception of its sweetness. Mere external diffusion not sufficient. A spiritual fragrance to be spiritually perceived. A spiritual power of perception needed; or, what is equivalent, an inward spiritual revelation of Christ by the Holy Ghost. It pleased God to reveal His Son in me. Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. God hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2Co. 4:6; Gal. 1:16; Mat. 16:17; Mat. 11:25). Without the inward diffusion of the fragrance by the Holy Ghost (Joh. 16:14-15), Christ a root out of dry ground, without form or comeliness (Isa. 53:2). A mans greatest blessedness in having this precious ointment poured forth in his heart (Rom. 5:5). The perfume of Christs name to be poured forth externally by the church, through the lips and lives of its members to the world at large; internally by the Holy Ghost to the individual soul. The Word and Sacraments the instituted means through which the Spirit pours forth the ointment, both externally and internally. Sinners saved and believers refreshed, revived, and sanctified only as Christs name is thus revealed and the ointment poured forth. The Scriptures, a preached Gospel, the Bread and Wine in the Supper,these the casket containing the perfume; the Holy Ghost the agent who breaks the seal and pours forth the fragrance.

Important questions for each: Have I known this precious name? Is the name of Jesus to me as ointment poured forth? If so, what am I doing to diffuse its fragrance for the benefit of others? If not, why so? Have I given proper attention to that name? Have I seriously thought of Christ? The whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick: have I realized my spiritual sickness? Have I seriously considered and really known what it is to be a sinner, and so realized my need of a Saviour? If not, how can I expect the name of Jesus to be sweet and precious to me? Lord, let me not rest till I have done so. Give me now, by Thy Holy Spirit, to realize my need of Christ, and to see His preciousness.

The Effect of Solomons Excellencies.

Therefore do the virgins love thee.

The report of the kings excellencies and attractions had reached Shulamite, as it had done the Queen of Sheba (1Ki. 10:1) The effect of these excellencies was that the virgins loved him; among the rest Shulamite herself. So the excellencies of Christ render Him, as they may well do, the object of love to all sincere and rightly disposed persons who came to hear of them. In reference to

Love to Christ,

the text suggests

I. The PERSONS who love Him. The virgins representatives of

1. Believers, or renewed persons in general. Virgin-soulsthose whose hearts are given entirely to God and Jesus Christ. Those who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth (Rev. 14:4). Believers to be presented to Christ as a chaste virgin (2Co. 11:3). The true members of the Jewish Church so called (Jer. 31:4; Jer. 31:21). Believe virgins

(1) From their pure and undivided affection to Christ;

(2) From their chaste and faithful adherence to Him and His cause;

(3) From their true and Scriptural views of Him and His religion;

(4) From the purity of their worship and general conversation;

(5) From their meekness, modesty, and tenderness of conscience;

(6) From their moral beauty and comeliness of spirit. Observe

(1) Christ only loved by virgin-souls, whose hearts are detached from the world. Men cannot serve God and mammon, or love Christ and the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father and of Christ is not in him. A divided heart cannot love Christ. Those only His true lovers who are willing to leave all and follow Him. Hence

(2) Only renewed and regenerate persons love Christ. The carnal mind enmity against God, and so against Christ. The heart renewed and circumcised in order to love God and His Son (Deu. 30:6). The stony heart taken away and a heart of flesh given instead (Eze. 36:26).

(3) All renewed souls love Christ. Christ the magnet that attracts renewed hearts. A natural affinity between Christ and renewed souls. Such able both to see and appreciate His excellence, both in Himself and in relation to sinners. The language of renewed and enlightened souls: The love of Christ constraineth us (2Co. 5:14).

(4) The glory and honour of Jesus, that He is loved only by pure and sincere souls, and by all such.

2. Young converts, more particularly. First love of believers often warmest. The kindness of Israels youth tenderly remembered by the Lord (Jer. 2:2). The believers young love often damped by the power of corruption within, and the influence of the world without. The main charge which the Lord Jesus brought against the Church of Ephesus, that it had left its first love (Rev. 2:4).

3. Men in general,especially, men of single and sincere hearts. Christ the suitable object of human love, both as a perfect man and as a loving Saviour. Men of honest and sincere hearts the most likely to love Christ. Hence the attachment of a Nathanael and a Cornelius, of a Nicodemus and a Joseph of Arimatha. Men who are Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile, readily drawn to Christ. Christ the Desire of all nations, fitted to be such, and actually to become such. Men only prevented from loving Christ by the blindness of their minds and the depravity of their hearts. Love to Christ the test of a mans character. Men worthy to be accursed who do not love the Lord Jesus Christ (1Co. 16:22).

4. Angels, who have never sinned. Christ the object of angelic love. His sufferings on earth and His glory in heaven lovingly contemplated by angels (1Pe. 1:11-12). Angels rejoiced to minister to Him, and still minister to His members for His sake. The first to announce His birth, and the companions of the redeemed in celebrating His praise.

II. The LOVE itself. Christ the object first of a sinners faith, then of his love. True faith in Christ, a faith which worketh by love. Mens love desired by Christ: My son, give Me thine heart. The love of the woman of Sychar refreshes Him more than meat and drink. Nothing without mens love satisfied Christ. If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would be utterly contemned (chap. Son. 8:7). Christ infinitely worthy of mens love

(1) For what He is in Himself;
(2) For what He has done for them. Observe
1. The character of a believers love to Christ. It is

(1) Natural and reasonable.
(2) Ardent and sincere.
(3) Paramount and supreme.
(4) Undivided and admitting no rival.
(5) Active and practical.
(6) Self-denying.
(7) Pure and holy.
(8) Permanent and abiding.
(9) Unconquerable and unquenchable.
(10) Divine in its origin.
(11) Self-evidencing.
2. The evidence of this love. Shews itself

(1) In obedience to His will.
(2) In devotedness to His service.
(3) In love to His fellowship.
(4) In imitation of His spirit and conduct.
(5) In affection to His people, His cause, and all that belongs to Him.

Brides Second Desire.

Draw me, we will run after thee.Son. 1:4.

Shulamites first desire for the bridegrooms kisses; her second desire for the bridegroom himself. Spiritual desire grows and enlarges itself. Christ better than even His kisses. The text containsI. A Request: II. A Resolution.

I. The REQUEST. Draw me. Christ the magnet of renewed souls. The desire of all such to be drawn to Him. The request the result

(1) Of acquaintance with Him;
(2) Of love to Him;
(3) Of desire to enjoy and follow Him. Implies
(1) Perception of Him, as the One Pearl of great price; the Treasure hid in the Field; the chief among ten thousand; the Altogether Lovely.

(2) Desire after Him. Renewed and saved souls not content to be at a distance from Christ, or to sit still in such a condition. Their desire to be near Him, lean on His bosom, rest in His arms, sit at His feet, hear His voice, look on His pierced hands and side.

(3) Conscious inability. The soul unable of itself to come to Christ, run after Him, or follow Him. The renewed soul conscious of that inability. Hence the prayer: Quicken us, and we will call upon Thy name. My soul cleaveth to the dust; quicken me according to Thy word. Turn me and I shall be turned. The soul conscious of Divine help in following hard after God (Psa. 63:8; Psa. 119:32). Grace, leaches us both Christs worth and our own weakness. Christ the Author as well as the Object of our faith. The soul kept from Christ, and from following after Him, by a three-fold hindrance

(1) The flesh;
(2) The world;
(3) The Devil. Christ first draws souls to Him, and then after Him. Observe in regard to

The Saviours Drawing.

1. The MEANING AND IMPORT of it. A threefold drawing of the soul by Christ

(1) In conversion to Him;
(2) In following after Him;

(3) In communion with Him. The last here especially intended. The desire in Son. 1:2, followed by that in Son. 1:4 as a means towards it. To enjoy Christs kisses we have to be drawn to Christ Himself. Christ draws

(1) Our attention, keeping it fixed on Himself;

(2) Our desire and longing, as in the case of the woman of Sidon (Mat. 15:21-28);

(3) Our affection;

(4) Our resolution;

(5) Our self-surrender;

(6) Our confidence and faith. Implies not only faith, but perseverance in it (1Pe. 1:5).

2. The MEANS by which He draws. Christ draws by showing

(1) His own love, loveliness, and preciousness;
(2) Our entire and absolute need of Him. The Holy Ghost the effectual agent employed. The instrumental means, the Word, however communicated, which reveals Him in what He is in Himself, and what He is to us and has done for us (Joh. 12:32). Christ draws

(1) By the Doctrines He teaches;

(2) By the Promises He makes;

(3) By the Providences He employs (Hos. 2:14; Hos. 11:4; Rom. 2:4).

3. The MOTIVE AND GROUND of the drawing. His own free love. He draws with loving-kindness because He has loved with an everlasting love (Jer. 31:3). The bands with which He draws, the bands of love (Hos. 11:4). His love to and choice of us before ours to Him (Joh. 15:16; 1Jn. 4:19).

The personality of the request to be noticed. Draw me. Salvation and true religion,the possession and enjoyment of Christ,a personal thing. The believers first desire is to be drawn himself. Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that Thou bearest to Thy people; visit me with Thy salvation (Psa. 106:4). We can only be the means of drawing others to Christ when we have been drawn ourselves.

II. The RESOLUTION. We will run after thee. The words may indicate;

(1) The object of the request;
(2) The argument used to enforce it: nothing sweeter to Christ, than a soul ardently following Him;
(3) A purpose formed;
(4) A hope entertained. Viewed as referring to the speaker, a purpose or resolution; as referring to others, a hope and expectation. Notice
1. The Action. Run after thee. Implies eagerness, earnestness, and haste; rapidity, perseverance, and strength (Isa. 40:31; Dan. 8:6). Opposed to former deadness and sluggishness, whether absolute or comparative. Believers, when it in well with them, not content with mere walking after Christ. Good to walk, better to run. The Psalmists resolution (Psa. 119:32). The promise of the Father to Christ in regard to the nations (Isa. 55:5). Not only walking but running promised as the result of waiting upon the Lord (Isa. 40:31). Running, rather than mere walking, pleasing to Christ. Luke warmness his great dislike (Rev. 3:15). Christ worthy not only of being followed, but run afterfollowed and sought with the energy of the whole soul. A blind world run after the creature; enlightened believers run after Christ. Christ first run to, then run after. Run to as a Saviour; run after as a Friend and Beloved. We run to Him as sinners; after Him as saints. The believers duty and privilege not to run before, but after Christ; not to make a way for himself but to tread in His steps (Joh. 10:4-5; Joh. 10:27). The running ours; the power to run, Christs. Effectual grace consistent with personal diligence, and a strong encouragement to it (Php. 2:12-13; Psa. 110:3). The request to be drawn not made from indolence but from helplessness. Believers to be not slothful in businessleast of all in the business of religionbut fervent in spirit, serving the Lord (Rom. 12:11). Progress always to be made towards Christ and in the Divine life. The Christian life a running (1Co. 9:24-25; Gal. 2:2; Gal. 4:7; Heb. 12:1-2; Php. 3:13-14). The believers let made like finds feet. The Word of God made plain, that those that read may run (Hab. 2:2). Christ to be run after

(1) As our Chief Joy and Highest Good. Christ the Desire of all nations, and worthy to be the Desire of all hearts. All in Him that is lovely and desirable; and all lovely and desirable that is in Him. Christ the Fountain of living waters. All else broken cisterns. The language of the soul running alter Christ, Whom have in heaven but Thee? and there is none on the earth that I desire besides Thee. There be many that say: who will shew us any good: Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us (Psa. 73:25; Psa. 4:6).

Thou. O Christ art all I want;

More than all in Thee I find.

(2) As our Pattern and Example. He hath left us an example that we should follow His steps. I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you (Joh. 13:14-15; 1Pe. 2:21). The same mind to be in us that was in Him. The believer to be as He was in the world (Php. 2:5; 1Jn. 4:17; 1Jn. 2:6; 1Jn. 3:3). To run his race, looking unto Jesus (Heb. 12:3).

(3). Our Leader and Commander. Christ given for this purpose (Isa. 55:4). The Captain of our salvation. Believers to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ. The picture of Christ and His saints on the day of His appearing to have its special verification now,Christ as King and General on His white horse, followed by the armies of His people also on white horses (Rev. 19:12-14). Fulfilled in the calling of the Apostles (Mat. 4:18-22; Luk. 5:27-28; Joh. 1:43). And of every believer (Mat. 16:24). The sacramental host of Gods elect.

2. The persons. We will run after Thee. The singular changed for the plural. Draw me: we will run. We,I and others with me. Me, the individual believer; we, he and others influenced by him. Or; me, the single believer; we, the Church of which he forms a part. Both individuality and plurality in the Bride. The Bride both an individual and a community. The Church one and many. The drawing of one member followed by the running of others; so the Primitive Church at and after Pentecost. The drawing of the woman of Sychar followed by the running of many of the inhabitants (John 4). The language of a lively believer that of Moses to his father-in-law: We are journeying to the place of which the Lord hath said, I will give it you; come thou with us and we will do thee good (Num. 10:29). The believer not content to enjoy or follow Christ alone. Andrew finds his brother Simon and brings him to Jesus. Philip, after finding the Saviour himself, does the same with Nathaniel (Joh. 1:40-45). None drawn to follow Christ alone. One drawn by means of another. The believers duty and privilege to be instrumental in drawing others to Christ; and his great joy to see others running after Him along with himself. The lively Christian a missionary everywhere. The love and life of one believer the means of quickening and stirring up others. On the other hand, one dead Christian often the means of deadening others. One lively member of a Church a blessing to the whole.

Brides Recorded Experience.

The King hath brought me into His chambers.

Shulamite recalls and records her experience of the Kings kindness and her own happiness. Good to remember and thankfully to record the manifestations of Christs favour. The Lords will concerning His people. He hath made His works to be remembered. The believers duty,Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all His benefits. A gain to ourselves as well as to others, to remember and mention the loving kindness of the Lord (Isa. 63:7). The favour in the text recorded apparently as an answer to the prayer: Draw me. Answers to prayer to be especially remembered and mentioned for the Lords honour, and for the encouragement of others as well as ourselves. Earnest longings and entreaties for spiritual blessings never disregarded. The vision is for an appointed time; though it tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, and will not tarry (Hab. 2:3).Observe, in regard to the favour in the text,introduction into

The Kings Chambers.

I. THE CHAMBERS themselves. The Kings chambers his more private apartments. Admission only for favoured persons, those nearest and dearest to the King. The especial privilege of the Kings Betrothed. Shulamite rejoices in being admitted to this high honour. Christ not only makes believers His Bride, but admits them to the privileges of such a relation. Admission into Christs chambers impliesmore than ordinary manifestations of Himself; personal nearness; intimate fellowship; sensible enjoyment; confidential communication. The fulfilment of the promise: I will manifest myself to him (Joh. 14:21). The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant (Psa. 25:14). The privilege of believers to enter into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10:19), and to sit with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6). Special nearness to Christ and sense of His love at times realized by the believer. Such realisations not confined to time or place; but more usually enjoyed in secret prayer and public ordinances, more especially in the Lords Supper. Such experiences the believers high festival days, and foretastes of heaven. Ordinarily for but a short time together. At present, the believers place in general only the antechamber. Permanent abiding in the Kings chambers reserved for a higher and better state. Meantime, the happy privilege of believers to be at times admitted into the Kings chambers. No place on earth so honourable and so blessed. No place so humble and unattractive to the eye of sense but grace can convert it into the Kings chambers. Jacobs experience on the stony plain at Bethel not confined to local habitation: Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not: This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven (Gen. 28:16-17). Such Divine manifestations enjoyed in the humblest dwelling, and even in the chamber of sickness. The field, the wood, the highway, the open sea, capable of being made the Kings chambers. Johns blessed experience in the lonely rocky isle of Patmos. Samuel Rutherford in exile dated his letters from the Kings palace at Aberdeen. John Bunyan wrote his Pilgrims Progress in Bedford Jail. The moors and mosses, caves and mountain sides, often made to His persecuted followers the Kings chambers. Admission into these chambers the special privilege of New Testament times. Moses spoke to the Church at the door of the tabernacle; the Apostles speak from the Holy of Holies. Those now waiting at Wisdoms gates admitted into Wisdoms chambers. The three great blessings enjoyed in those chambers,Comfort, Enlightenment, and Security (Psa. 25:13-14; Psa. 27:4-6; Isa. 26:20-21). The Kings chambers on earth so blessed, what the chambers in heaven!

II. ADMISSION into the chamber. The King hath brought me (Heb., made me come). Admission into them both the Kings favour and the Kings doing. An enhancement of the happiness. Believers conscious of their own unworthiness and inability to enter the chambers of Divine communion, and of the Saviours grace in introducing them. The King brings them

(1) By procuring access through His own merits (Rom. 5:2; Eph. 2:13; Eph. 2:18; Heb. 10:19).

(2) By giving the desire to enter themWhy was I made to hear thy voice, &c. (Eph. 4:18).

(3) By encouraging them with His gracious invitations and promises.

(4) By imparting faith and inward light (Psa. 43:3).

(5) By subduing and keeping down corruption,like Abraham fraying away the fowls from the sacrifice (Gen. 15:11). Obstacles and hindrances to be overcome in order to our entrance into the Kings chambers. Some outside of us: Divine justice that, forbids it to transgressors; Satan who resists it; the world with its influences against it. Others within us: conscious guilt; spiritual blindness; carnality; unbelief; sloth; natural disinclination. These to be overcome and removed by the Saviours grace.The King hath brought me. Marks the forth-putting of especial grace and power. Christ brings sinners into the enjoyment of Divine favour and fellowship as a King. The title indicative of His power and right. To introduce sinners into the enjoyment of the blessings He has purchased, one of His kingly acts. As King, He has the keys of His own chambers as well as those of death and hell. The impression of Christs kingliness left on the heart of the believer admitted into His fellowship. A few hours converse with Jesus in a humble dwelling left John and Andrew with the conviction they had been with Messiah the King (Joh. 1:41). Communion with Christ gives lofty thoughts of Him. Only He before; now, the King. Christ all the more kingly in a believers eyes the nearer he gets to Him. So Isaiah: Mine eyes have seen the King (Isa. 6:5). Divine familiarity the opposite of bleeding contempt. Reverence, humility, and obedience, the result of admission into the Kings chambers. The experience in those chambers: I am a man of unclean lips (Isa. 6:5). Believers go forth from them more devoted to the service of the King: Here am I, send me (Isa. 6:8). Divine power and sovereignty manifest in everything connected with salvation. Christ a King, both in His own right as God, and by Divine appointment as Mediator (Psa. 2:6). Saves not only as a Priest and a Prophet, but also as a King. Believers, when it is best with them, love most to acknowledge Christs supremacy and right over all they are and have and do. Christ not only a King, but the King,chief of all who ever bore the title; the only one with absolute right to it; the blessed and only Potentate, King of Kings and Lord of Lords (1Ti. 6:15).Observe the personality of the experience: Hath brought me. Each believer to be able to say this for himself. The language

(1) Of joy and thankfulness. What was matter of prayer, now made matter of praise.

(2) Of wonder and surprise. Shulamite dwells on the Kings condescension. Like Mephibosheth when admitted to the Kings table,such a dead dog as I. Hath brought me,me so black and unworthy of such an honour and happiness! Amazing condescension and love on the part of the King to admit worms and rebels into His chambers. Every believer a beggar raised by the King from the dunghill, to be made His Bride and the partner of His throne. The believer never to lose sight of what he was, and still is, in himself.

(3) Of consciousness and certainty. Shulamite certain the King has bestowed on her this privilege. Enjoyment of Christs presence and fellowship a matter about which there should be no mistake or doubt. Christs object to make it certain; Satans, to tempt the believer to question its reality and think it a delusion.

Brides Joy in the King.

We will be glad and rejoice in Thee.

Language expressive of Shulamites happy experience of the Kings chambers, and her high esteem of the King himself. Implies both anticipation and resolution. Observe on the words thus viewed, in regard to the

Believers Joy in Christ.

I. The JOY itself. Intense joy. The language emphatic: We will be glad and rejoice. Two words employed for emphasis. Not mere joy, but exultation. Not a mere rejoicing, but a shouting for joy. An inward joy outwardly expressed. A believers joy in Christ a joy unspeakable and full of glory (1Pe. 1:8). Believers at times in heaviness through manifold temptations; but their experience anything but a gloomy one. The ransomed of the Lord enabled to return to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads (Isa. 35:10). Have joy here, and the hope of more hereafter. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Cheerfulness and joy disposing to praise, both the privilege and duty of believers. Sadness in the presence of an Oriental monarch an offence to the sovereign and a peril to the subject (Neh. 2:1-2). God graciously meets those that rejoice while they remember Him in His ways (Isa. 66:5).

II. The OBJECT of the joy. Christ himself. We will be glad and rejoice in Thee. Not in the creature and its attractions; not in the world and its pleasures; not in self and its doings or feelings. Christ and God in him the object of truest and highest joy. The duty and privilege of believers, both in the Old and New Testament, to rejoice in the Lord (Psa. 33:1; Php. 3:1). Enough in God to fill a universe of intelligent creatures, and enough in Christ to fill a world of believing sinners, with joy unspeakable. Christ opens up sources of joy outside of Himself; but the deep and living fountain is in Himself. The Psalmists words especially true of Christ: All my springs are in Thee (Psa. 87:7). In Him are both the upper and the nether springs,the joy of the Church triumphant in heaven, and of the Church militant on earth. All the attractions and charms in the creature concentrated and summed up in Him, the Creator and Saviour. In Him all love and loveliness, all sweetness and excellence, in their perfection and without alloy. Believers able to rejoice in Christ not only as their Redeemer and Saviour, but as their Beloved and Bridegroom (Mat. 9:15). To a renewed soul, everything in Jesus such as to afford matter of joy,His person, names, titles, offices, relations, work: His birth, life, sufferings, death resurrection, ascension, second coming; His miracles, discourses, doctrines, promises, precepts, warnings; His word, worship, day, table, people, cause; His salvation, grace, kingdom, fellowship, love; His blood that washes them, His righteousness that clothes them, His spirit that anoints and sanctifies them, and His ordinances that comfort and strengthen them. In His present salvation they rejoice; still more in that which is to be revealed at His coming. In His salvation they rejoice; still more in Himself. Good to have and enjoy the Kings gifts; still better to have and enjoy the King himself. Thy gifts precious; but We will be glad and rejoice in Thee. Joy in an unseen Christ unspeakable; what then in a seen one?

The text the language of resolution. We will be glad. The duty of believers to rejoice in Christ, and to resolve by Divine grace to do so. Especially on any fresh enjoyment of His presence and love. Holy resolution the fruit of Divine grace, and to be freely made in dependance on it. Need of resolution. Much to oppose such rejoicing: remembered sin; inward corruption; buffetings of Satan; outward trials. These not to hinder rejoicing in the Lord. Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, &c., yet will I rejoice in the Lord, &c. (Hab. 3:17-18). Joy in Christ often greatest when joy from the creature is least (Hos. 2:14; 2Co. 1:5).

The language of faith and hope. The same ground of rejoicing in the future as in the past. Christ a well that never runs dry. The same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver; in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us (2Co. 1:10). Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice (Psa. 63:7).

Observe the party who shall rejoice. We will be glad and rejoice in Thee. Another change from the singular to the plural. The King hath brought me, &c.; we will be glad, &c. The Bride herself, and others along with her. The believer speaks for himself and his fellow-believers. The joy of one to become the joy of many. The part of believers to rejoice with them that rejoice. The body of Christ one with many members. If one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it (1Co. 12:26). One believer rejoicing in the presence and love of Jesus, the means of influencing others to seek and obtain the same happiness. Man a social being. Inclined to act in numbers. One constantly influenced by another. Sympathy a powerful principle in mans nature. Its operation in revivals of religion. Employed by the Spirit in the great advancement of Christs Kingdom (Zec. 8:20-23; Isa. 2:3; Mic. 4:1-2).

Brides Gratitude to the King.

We will remember Thy love more than wine.

Shulamite resolves not only to rejoice in the King himself, but to cherish a grateful remembrance of his love. We will remember (or record) thy love (or lovesloving words and actions) more than wine. Probably a double resolutionto remember inwardly for herself, and to record outwardly for others; both to the praise of her loving Bridegroom. One of the duties and delights of believers, the

Remembrance of Christs Love.

Observe in regard to it
I. The LOVE remembered. Heb. Loves,for the greatness of it, or the variety of its kinds, and the multiplicity of its manifestations. Christs love to His people that of a Saviour to the lost, a Redeemer to the captive, a Shepherd to his sheep, a Husband to his wife, a Brother to his brethren, a Father to his children, a Friend to his intimate acquaintances. Its various manifestations

1. Offering Himself for our redemption in the everlasting covenant (Psa. 40:7).

2. Revealing himself to the Old Testament Church in types and symbols, prophecies and promises.
3. Assuming our nature in the fulness of time.
4. His teachings and labours of love during His life on earth.
5. His sufferings and death as the atonement for our sins.
6. His return to heaven to carry forward the work of our salvation.
7. His subsequent bestowment of the Holy Spirit with all needful grace and blessing.
8. His gathering in lost sinners to Himself through His Word and Spirit.
9. His speaking peace and comfort to the awakened and troubled conscience.
10. His restoring the believer from his falls and backslidings.
11. His gladdening the soul with His manifested presence and love.
12. His gracious promises to come again and receive His people to Himself for ever.

Christs love infinitely worthy to be remembered and celebrated through time and eternity; on account of

1. Its greatness. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (Joh. 15:13). Christs love greater than this; as

(1) He did more than lay down His life for us;

(2) He did it not for friends, but enemies. Jonathans love to David, wonderful, passing the love of women (2Sa. 1:26). Jonathans love only a faint picture of Christs.

2. Its costliness. Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it (Eph. 5:25). The love of Ahasuerus to Esther his queen extended to the gift of half his kingdom (Est. 5:3). Christs love to His people extended not only to the gift of His whole kingdom, but of Himself (Mat. 20:28).

3. Its fruits. Deliverance from sin, death, and hell, with perfection in holiness and the enjoyment of Himself in glory everlasting. That He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water, by the word; that He might present it unto Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:26).

II. The REMEMBRANCE of it. The remembrance of Christs love on the part of believers:

(1) A Duty;
(2) A Delight;
(3) A Necessity. Proceeds
(1) From a sense of duty;
(2) From the impression of its sweetness. Christs love remembered when all else is forgotten. Its remembrance brings
(1) Glory to Christ;
(2) Benefit to our neighbour;

(3) Comfort and quickening to ourselves. Its remembrance our sweetest cordial in the time of trouble (Psa. 42:6). Assures us afresh of our interest in Christ, and casts out slavish fear. Revives our love to Him, and stimulates to do and suffer for His sake. His love not remembered and recorded as a thing past and gone for ever; but one of unchanging continuance and ever fresh manifestation. An everlasting love. Helps to remembering it are

1. Daily reading, of the Word, with meditation and prayer; especially such portions of it as bear expressly upon Christ and His love. For example: the Gospels and Canticles; Isaiah 53; Psalms 22 &c.

2. Careful observance of the Sabbath, with suitable meditation on His death and resurrection, which it was designed to commemorate.
3. Frequent celebration of the Lords Supper, designed for the express purpose of keeping Himself and His dying love in remembrance.
4. Fellowship with living and loving believers. As iron sharpeneth iron, so doth a man the face of his friend. Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. Provoke one another to love and good works.

III. The DEGREE of Remembrance. More than wine. The love better than wine (Son. 1:2), and therefore more remembered. Wine mentioned as a natural means of gladness and refreshing (Jdg. 9:13; Psa. 104:15). Associated with festivitybanquet of wine. Here put for all earths choicest pleasures and sensuous enjoyments. To Shulamite, her bridegrooms love more worthy to be remembered than everything besides. Sweet is the Kings wine, but sweeter his love. All Christs gifts sweet, and all His benefits to be remembered; but sweeter and more to be remembered than all is His love. Its sweetness sufficient to obliterate the remembrance of all other joy. Christs love the absorbing subject as the believer approaches the confines of eternity. Earths lawful enjoyments perhaps not forgotten in heaven; but the love of Christ the chosen and overshadowing subject of ever-new songs (Rev. 1:5; Rev. 5:9; Rev. 5:12-13; Rev. 14:3).

The text the language of resolution. We will remember, &c. Such resolution needed. The flesh adverse to such remembrance. Satans object to efface or weaken it. The tendency of earthly things to prevent or deaden it. Davids language in reference to Jerusalem applicable to Christs love: If I forget thee, let my right hand forget her cunning: if I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not thee above my chiefest joy (Psa. 137:5-6).

Bride Commends her Beloved and Justifies her Love.

The upright love thee.

May be either readUpright people love thee; or, Rightly do people love thee. Mentioned by Shulamite as an enhancement of her Beloveds excellence, and a justification of her own love. Similar to Son. 1:3. Indicates the character both of Christ himself and

Christs Lovers.

I. THE CHARACTER OF THOSE WHO LOVE CHRIST. The upright;sincere, true, just, pure in heart and life. Such as Simeon of Jerusalem; Joseph the carpenter; Joseph of Arimatha; Nathaniel, an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile. Christ Himself, that Just One; Gods righteous servant; Jesus Christ the Righteous, who loves righteousness and hates iniquity; holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Naturally loved by persons of a similar character, and only by such. A holy Christ capable of being loved only by holy persons, or such at least as, conscious of their sins, desire to be holy. Like naturally loves and draws to like. Hence Christ only loved by converted and renewed persons. Love to Gods Christ a holy and spiritual thing. A plant not spontaneously growing among the noxious weeds of Natures garden, but produced by the Holy Ghost in a renewed heart. Found only in those who have passed from death to life; who were afar off, but have been made high by the blood of Christ; who were lost, but are found; who as believing and pardoned sinners have tasted that the Lord is gracious (1Pe. 2:3; 1Jn. 4:19). The forgiven woman that had been a sinner, loved Jesus, who had forgiven her sins, which were many, and for which she now lovingly weeps at His feet. The proud, self-righteous, merely outwardly religious Pharisee, incapable of such love. He to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little (Luk. 7:47). A sinner may love Christ, but not a Pharisee (Luk. 15:1-2). Upright persons love Christ, because by His blood shed for them, and His spirit given to them, He has made them upright. When He forgives a sinner He makes him upright. The heart purified by faith. All upright who love Christ in sincerity. Others only pretenders. True love to Christ sufficient to prove a man upright. By their fruits ye shall know them. On the other hand, a mans love to Christ proved by his uprightness. If ye love me keep my commandments. If a man love Me, he will keep My words (Joh. 14:15; Joh. 14:23). Hence those worthy to be accursed who do not love Christ. They are not upright, and they refuse Him who would make them so.

II. THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST HIMSELF. The text a commendation of the Beloved. He must be excellent and upright who is loved by upright persons. A mans character indicated by the character of his friends. A high commendation of the character of Christ

(1) That He is loved by all the honest and best in creationby all holy angels and holy men;
(2) That He is loved only by the holy and upright

III. THE CHARACTER OF LOVE TO CHRIST. It is

(1) A holy thing; only upright persons possess it;

(2) A right and reasonable thing. Upright persons only love uprightlyon just grounds and considerations. Just grounds for loving Christ

(1) In what He is;

(2) In what He has done. Christ infinitely worthy of angelic, still more of human, love. Is infinitely excellent in Himself; has been infinitely kind to us. As God, possessed of all the infinite amiableness of the Divine perfections; and, as our Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor, has an infinite right to our love. That right enhanced by the fact that, as God-man for our sakes, He has become also our Redeemer. Robbery committed when Christ is not loved; idolatry, when others are loved in His place. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha,accursed [when] the Lord cometh (1Co. 16:22).

The text a test of character. Do I love Christ? If not, then I am not upright. I do not love uprightness; for Christ is uprightness itself. I rob Him of what He has the most perfect right to, and of what He sets the highest value onmy love. Hence my need both of mercy and grace; of mercy to pardon, and of grace to renew me. Lord, grant both.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

TEXT 1:24

FIRST SCENEThe Kings Palace

SHULAMMITE: SOLILOQUY

2

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for thy love is better than wine.

3

Thine oils leave a goodly fragrance; thy name is as oil poured forth; therefore do the virgins love thee.

4

Draw me; we will run after thee: the King hath brought me into his chambers; we will be glad and rejoice in thee; we will make mention of thy love more than wine.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 1:24

4.

For whom does the Shulammite maid long in these verses? Is it Solomon or the shepherd?

5.

In what way is love better than wine?

6.

Why not just ask for kisses? Why mention the kisses of his mouth?

7.

The fragrance of the oils of the man involved compares to what in the personal grooming of men today?

8.

What name would be appropriate as suggested in verse three?

9.

Who are the virgins of verse three? Where are they?

10.

What is meant by draw me? (verse four)

11.

Why use the pronoun we in verse four?

12.

Why mention the fact that she is in the Kings chambers?

13.

Is there a contrast between the Kings chambers and the rejoicing and love mentioned in verse four?

14.

Twice love is compared with wineshow at least two parallels.

PARAPHRASE 1:24
SHULAMMITES SILILOQUY

2

Oh, that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!

For thy endearments are better than wine.

3

Thy perfumes have a delightful fragrance;

Thy name is as perfume poured out;

No wonder the damsels adore thee.

4

Draw me after thee; let us hasten away!

(For the king has brought me into his inner apartments).
We will be glad and rejoice only in thee;
We will praise thy endearments more than wine.
Deservedly do the damsels adore thee.

COMMENT 1:24

Our comments throughout this book will be threefold: (1) To give as careful an exegesis of the text as possible. We are concerned about every word in the Song of Solomon and its meaning! (2) The application of the text to the husband-wife relationship. We believe this book can become a veritable marriage manual in the area of love that should and can exist between those who are married. (3) As much as we need help in our day for our shakey marriages, we need more help in establishing a deep union and communion with our Lord. We shall relate the text to the mutual love between the believer and his Lord.

Exegesis

By reading Son. 6:12-13 we conclude the Shulammite maid was kidnappedperhaps willingly, by the servants of Solomon. She was taken to the palace of King Solomon. Perhaps this palace was one of his northern summer housesor was it at Jerusalem? At least there is a garden present with a latticework trellis. It is springtime. She is confined to the Kings inner chambers. The women of the court or daughters of Jerusalem surround her. When the impact of what has happened hits her she cries out in deep longing for her betrothedLet him kiss me with his mouth; for his love is better than wine. Even the wines of Solomon cannot make her forget her beloved. In memory and imagination she can remember the fragrance of his presence. We would compare such fragrance to cologne used by both men and women of our day. The thought of his familiar fragrance prompts her to epitomize the total personality of her betrothed with the symbolism of the fragrance of his oil poured forthThy name is as oil poured forth. In her soliloquy she is sayingYou are as attractive to me in your personality as the cologne is to my sense of smell.

What is meant by the phrase, therefore do the virgins love thee? We see the Shulammite dreaming of her wedding day. All her girlfriends who share with her in the wedding party also share her estimate of the groom. These virgins love the shepherd, not, of course, in the same relationship as the bridebut they understand the beauty of his character and appearance and therefore admire him greatly.
The girl from Shunem asks the groom to indicate by some word or gesture that he wants her with him (i.e., draw me out)only a slight indication and we shall come running. We can see the girls and the bride of the wedding party frolicking on the green meadows of northern Galilee. All of this is fanticized in the mind of the maiden as she waits in the Kings chambers. She is waiting for a weddingbut not with Solomon. The king wants her to rejoice and be glad in him and all the things he can give her. The Shulammite assures her far off lover that her heart is with himher joy is in himshe will tell the daughters of Jerusalem of her true lovershe will speak of him to them of his endearing charms.

Marriage

All husbands would be delighted to have a wife who loved them as this maiden loved her betrothed. And perhaps at one time such love existed as a mutual deep affection. What happened? Well, no perfume lasts foreveror very long at all. If we refer to only a surface put-on physical attraction we are sure this is true. But if it is true hidden fragrance of the man of the heart we are just as sure that such fragrance will not leave or change. Your wife has always wanted you with your kisses. Yes, she wants your kisses but not without you. The sense of smell has more power in it for recall than any of the other senses. We all associate some pleasant experience or the opposite with some fragrance. Today, we with tears remember, as we catch again the fragrance of yesterdayhow poignant and sad. What has changed? Not the perfumebut what it represented. There is only One who can give any of us a lasting fragrant personality. Please notice that the words concerning other women and their admiration of the husband are in the mouth of his wifenot in his. She knows her husband is attractive to other women and she is ready to admit itnot out of fear, but admiration. She is confident and secure in his love for her. She does suggest to her husband-to-be that she has an interest in expressing her lovebut it is the shepherd who draws her out. The expression of not only physical love but all love in the husband-wife relationship is reciprocal. Many husbands would be pleasantly surprised to know how very often their name is mentioned in conversation shared by their wife among other women. Your wife wants to rejoice and be glad not only in your presence but in her constant pleasant memory of your presence. There is a lovely intoxicating quality in a true love affairand it does not last for only a brief day, it is the continuing of the love of marriage where giving and not getting is the center.

Communion

Is it difficult for you to relate these words to yourself as the bride of Christ and to Him also as the groom? Or more to the pointcan you relate them to yourself as the betrothed and our Lord as the One to whom you are promised? We are not suggesting that everyone will emotionally respond to what they can remember of their Beloved. Many believers have not spent time enough in the gospel accounts to get personally acquainted with the beautiful One there revealed. Is it at all possible to fall passionately in love with Jesus of Nazareth who is the God of love in human form? Perhaps we should askif we do not love Him deeply from the heart what has prevented it? Do we expect from Him a relationship in which our senses will respond to His near, dear presence? The words from His lips are found in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These words are expressions of love to uswhen we read them as such we cannot prevent emotional responsewhen we abide in His words we are moved emotionally. We are NOT saying this is our only response to His wordsbut we are saying this is one of our responses!

The Lord Jesus excels in all the fragrant graces of a perfect character. (Clarke) To become so intimately involved with Him in an appreciation of His character and His sacrifice on our behalf is better than wine. Can we say the joys we experience in our knowledge of Him creates a sensation (based on our knowledge) better than the physical inebriating capacity of wine? These are mere poetic words without meaning to those who have never hungered and thirsted after Him (who is our righteousness).

Jesus was the anointed of GodHe was thus anointed with the Holy Spirit at His baptism. (Act. 10:38) The Holy anointing oil of the Old Testament was a combination of lovely fragrances (Cf. Exo. 30:22-25). The name of a person stands for or represents the person himselfHis name is The Anointed OneHe is even as His namefragrant in beauty beyond human description.

We are glad to affirm that our Lord has many, many times drawn us out in our love for Him. If we want His love He will provide the circumstance in which we can find it. You will find His love revealed in His word and in your meditation and prayer before Him. Do you want to spend time with your beloved? Ask Himhe will draw you out by arranging your schedule in such a manner that whereas you had no time or placethen suddenly there it is!When He has shown us the way, are we ready to run in it? Taking delight in the Lord is a cultivated capacity. Wine and its enjoyments is here contrasted with our Lord and His enjoyments. Which will it be? We cannot kiss two people at the same time.

FACT QUESTIONS 1:24

4.

Why do we believe the Shulammite maiden was kidnapped?

5.

Where is the maiden when she gives her soliloquy? To whom does she address these words?

6.

Why mention wine and perfume?

7.

What is meant by saying Thy name is oil poured forth?

8.

What is meant by the phrase, therefore do the virgins love thee?

9.

Explain the phrase draw me.

10.

The Shulammite is waiting for a wedding but it is not as Solomon planned. Explain.

11.

What is shared with the daughters of Jerusalem?

12.

The Shulammite surely offers all wives a grand example. How so?

13.

What do we mean by saying no perfume lasts forever?

14.

Explain the thought that your wife has always wanted you with your kisses.

15.

Discuss the powerful recall capacities of the olfactory sense.

16.

There is a way to always be fragrant. How?

17.

Who said the groom was attractive to other women than his bride? Why?

18.

There must be a mutual expression of love but someone must lead. Discuss.

19.

What is the large topic of conversation among women? How does this relate to the conduct of the husband?

20.

Discuss the lovely intoxicating quality of a true love affair.

21.

Why would it be difficult for some persons to relate the words of Son. 1:2-4 to our Lord and His bride, the church?

22.

Many people never emotionally respond to their heavenly groom. Why?

23.

We are not saying emotional response is all important, nor our only response. What are we saying? Discuss its importance?

24.

In our relationship with our Lord what is better than wine?

25.

Jesus is The Anointed One. What does this mean to us?

26.

Explain how our groom has often drawn us.

27.

Taking delight in our Lord is a cultivated capacity. Explain.

28.

What is meant by saying We cannot kiss two people at the same time?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(2) Love.Marg., loves, i.e., caresses or kisses, as the parallelism shows. The LXX., followed by the Vulg., read breasts (probably dada instead of dda), the origin of many fanciful interpretations: e.g., the two breasts = the two Testaments which breathe love, the first promising, the second revealing Christ. The reading is condemned by the obvious fact that the words are not spoken to but by a woman, the change of persons, from second to third, not implying a change of reference or speaker, but being an enallage frequent in sacred poetry. (Comp. Deu. 32:15; Isa. 1:29, &c) Instead of let him kiss me, many prefer the reading let him give me to drink, which certainly preserves the metaphor (comp. Son. 7:9), which is exactly that of Ben Jonsons:

Or leave a kiss but in the cup,
And Ill not ask for wine.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

2. Let him kiss me No Greek drama opens with truer words of an enamoured woman, the passionate outbreak of love, devotion, and confidence. No wonder that these warm movings of a human heart affected tenderly even that stern rabbi who daily thanked God that he was not a woman.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.” “For your love is better than wine. Your oils have a goodly fragrance. Your name is as oil poured forth. That is why the virgins love you. Draw me. We will run after you.”

The young maiden reveals her craving to experience a loving relationship with her beloved, and her longing for his kisses. Then, slightly shocked at herself (indicated by the change of person form ‘him’ to ‘you’), she explains to him, in his absence, why this is so. It is because his love is so much better than wine, and his name better than perfumed oils. Wine may make glad the heart of men and women, but to her his kisses will accomplish far more, for she knows that the true love that they have between them transcends even the finest of wines. So she wants him to know that she is not dreaming of enjoying the wine at his feast, but rather dreaming of receiving his kisses because they are the true indications of his love.

As she dreams of those kisses she also remembers the fragrance of the oils with which he had been anointed when she had first met him, and which had made him seem so delightful. But even so she assures him that she knows that ‘his name’, (in other words, in terms of those times, ‘what he is in himself’, for the name was considered to reflect the person) is even more pleasant to her than his oils. For what he is in himself is like an abundance of such oils poured forth. And this explains to her why all the young unmarried women of his kingdom love him.

As a result she calls on him from a throbbing and passionate heart to choose her out, and if he really wants her to ‘draw her’. She wants some message or indication from him that will make clear his personal interest in her. For she is fully aware that all the young women of his kingdom are equally ready to run after him, and she along with them. But what she requires is some suitable confirmation of his special interest in her now that he has invited her to his feast (‘draw me’).

‘Draw me, we will run after you.’  In Psa 119:32 the Psalmist uses the same picture of Israel.  ‘I will run the way of Your commandments, when You enlarge my heart.’  And this is what the young maiden wants, to have her heart enlarged, so that she may run after him. It is a reminder to us that acceptable obedience is ever the result of God drawing to us and enlarging our hearts.

In Old Testament terms the young woman can be seen as being like Israel. Like this young maiden, Israel is also depicted as, in the wilderness, having longed for the Lord. ‘Thus says the Lord, I remember in respect of you the love of your espousals, how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness to the Lord, the firstfruits of his increase —’ (Jer 2:2-3). In these words Israel is depicted as a young maiden in the wilderness looking yearningly to her Lord, just as this young maiden is looking to Solomon. And we should note the emphasis on the fact that she ‘came from the wilderness’ (Son 3:6; Son 7:5), just as Israel had.

Later Israel will certainly be depicted as a maiden who has defiled herself because she has turned from His love (Ezekiel 16; Ezekiel 23), and that in the face of His words to her, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love, and therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you’ (Jer 31:3), in a context where he refers to the ‘virgin of Israel’ (Jer 31:4). Furthermore incorporated in that idea of God’s love would be the idea of the great expected king of the house of Judah who was to come, to whom the people would gather (Gen 49:10-12; Num 24:17-19), for he was to be a token of that love.

Considering it in these terms the ‘daughters of Jerusalem’ (verse 5) can be seen as the satellite nations who are in obedience to Solomon, but are not the ‘favorite’ of the king. It is Israel along who are so fully favored.

In New Testament terms ‘the ekklesia’ (the church) is the continuation of the old ‘ekklesia’ (congregation) of Israel. It is ‘the ‘ekklesia (‘congregation’) of Mat 16:18, and is ‘the new nation’ of Mat 21:43 (see 1Pe 2:9) and ‘the Israel of God’ of Gal 6:16 (see also Rom 11:17-28). Thus Israel is seen as having flowered into the church so that their anticipated ‘coming king’ can be seen as representing our Lord, Jesus the Messiah, and the young woman as representing His new chosen people, the true church, who are the continuation of the true Israel. Among all who have found Him attractive she alone is seen to be drawn by Him so that she might be wholly His (Joh 6:44), while ‘the daughters of Jerusalem’ (unbelieving Israel) watch her with jealousy (compare Rom 11:11). And as a result she longs to experience continual fellowship with Him, and enjoy His love as ‘the Anointed One’.

Note the intimate expectations. She will not kiss His feet like the nations (Psa 2:12) but wants to kiss Him tenderly in an intimate way. Here is a picture of the intimate relationship that initially believing Israel and then the believing church (and each individual in that church) is to have with its Lord (See Rom 7:4 ; 2Co 11:2; Eph 5:25-27; Rev 19:7-8; Rev 21:2; Rev 22:17; compare Joh 14:18; Joh 14:23). Here righteousness (the Righteous One – Act 3:14) and peace (those established in His peace –Rom 5:1; Joh 14:27) will kiss each other (Psa 85:10).

For ‘your love is better than wine’ compare Eph 5:18-19, where what is better than wine is declared to be the ‘filling of the Spirit’. The Spirit is the provision of the love of the King (Joh 15:26; Joh 20:22), which will result in songs of true delight for those whom He loves (‘psalms and hymns and spiritual songs’).

For the anointing with oil we only have to think of the King’s title (in both Old and New Testaments) as ‘the Anointed One’ (‘Christ’, see Psa 2:2; Dan 9:25). And for His Name as ‘perfumed oil poured forth’ consider Isa 9:6, ‘His name will be called wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace’, together with ‘you shall cause His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins’ (Mat 1:22; compare Php 2:9-10).

‘Therefore will the virgins love you.’  In Psa 45:14 virgins are seen as the companions of the king’s daughter, and here they rather compose a part of the court of the young king, as he has come north to ‘play’ at shepherding, along with the his ‘companions’ (Son 1:7). These virgins must all have loved him, as the young maiden is astute enough to recognize. Unbelieving Israel is often likened to a virgin (Isa 23:12; Isa 37:22; Jer 18:13; Jer 31:4; Jer 31:21; Lam 2:13; Amo 5:2), so that virginity does not indicate goodness. Virgins are similarly depicted as ‘loving’ Jesus Christ in Mat 25:1-13. But whereas five virgins, whose lamps were lit, were ready to go into the marriage feast with the Bridegroom, there were five who did not because, although they ‘loved’ the bridegroom sufficiently to be around, their hearts were not truly with Him (Mat 25:13). These latter five were like these virgins, for Solomon was similarly ‘loved’ by the daughters of Jerusalem, but there was only one whose love was seen as so acceptable to him that it justified him in making her his bride.

Son 1:4

“The king has brought me into his innermost rooms. “We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will make mention of your love more than of wine. Rightly do they love you.”

The young maiden now dreams of being with her royal lover in his innermost rooms, probably here, in view of what follows later, the inner sections of his palatial shepherd’s tent where only the most favored are allowed. Then she assures him (again at present from afar) that she is not alone in her love. All the young women of his kingdom rejoice and are glad in him. They all run after him. They talk of his love more than wine. They too dream of being with him. And rightly (or ‘in uprightness’) do they love him. He is the darling of his people, and their love is to be expected.

This visitation of his inner rooms is not intended to be interpreted as indicating a lone sexual encounter (that comes later when they are married). This is the dream of an innocent young maiden with high and pure thoughts about her beloved. She just wants to be with him in the innermost section of his tent, as the one he cherishes, even though she knows that she will be sharing him there with others, who also love him. She does, however, have the dream of being especially selected out for his attention. On the other hand, it is not to be seen as a secret assignation. In a situation like this both parties would be expecting to behave honorably.

In Old Testament terms such an experience is well expressed by the Psalmist as regards Israel’s relationship to God. They too are invited into His inner room. ‘He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, will abide under the shadow of the Almighty’ (Psa 91:1). That was intended to be the true experience for all His holy people (Exo 19:5-6) as they visited Him in His ‘inner room’. We can compare in a similar way how the elders of Israel were called on to eat and drink in the presence of God (Exo 24:9-11; compare also Deu 12:7; Deu 12:12). They too were invited to enjoy the intimate experience of His love.

In New Testament terms His people’s desire is depicted as being to be presented as a chaste virgin to Christ (2Co 11:2) and to enjoy the experience of His love in their daily lives (Joh 14:21; Joh 15:9; Eph 1:4; Eph 3:17-19; Eph 5:2; 1Jn 4:10; 1Jn 4:16; 1Jn 4:19) as they walk in His light. They too want to be loved by the King and to seek Him as their beloved, the One Who fills their hearts with joy, ‘the fairest among ten thousand’. They are to eat and drink in His presence (Mat 5:6; Joh 4:10-14; Joh 6:35; Mat 22:1-14; Luk 14:15-24; Rev 3:20). But they also recognize that if they are to achieve their longing it will be because the King has done it. It will be because He has chosen them and ‘brought them within his innermost rooms’.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

SECTION 1.

The First Assignation of The Lovers ( Son 1:2 to Son 2:7 ).

In this first section a young Northern maiden is thinking about the handsome young shepherd king, Solomon, who has won her heart, and has clearly shown her some depth of affection. She is filled with expectancy because he has invited her to a feast in his palatial tent, and it soon becomes apparent that, initially at least, she has no real idea of the splendor of his position, but rather sees him as a glorified shepherd (possibly like her own tribal chieftains to whom she may well have been related – compare Exo 3:1).

THE YOUNG MAIDEN (visualizing her beloved in the light of the fact that she will shortly be seeing him).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Predestination: Introduction or Prologue (The Shulamite’s Summary of True Love for the King) All three of Solomon’s writings open with an introduction, or prologue, which establishes the theme, or primary message, of the book. Son 1:2-4 reveals the intimate relationship that the Shulamite has with her beloved, the king. There are different types of relationships in society. There is the love of parents for their children, or the love of friendship between two individuals, and there is the love of devotion as a servant. But the most imitate type of love is that between a man and a woman within the institution of marriage. This is the type of love that is described in the opening verses of Songs.

Literal Interpretation – Although the king has chosen her, the Shulamite is describing her desire to be completely aroused and touched by the king’s presence. The statement, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine,” (1:2) reflects her physical passions for his touch. The beloved longs for the touch of his tender lips (physical affection). The second statement, “Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee,” (1:3) reflects her longing for the smell of his fragrance that reminds her of his name, the sweet thoughts and remembrances that this relationship brings to her mind (mental affection). The statement, “Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers,” (1:4a,b) describes her desire to be drawn into his bed of the closest intimate intercourse, to give herself totally to him; for the king’s bed chamber is where their hearts are bound (spiritual affection). Within the setting of Songs, we can picture wine being served to the beloved (1:2) within the chamber of the king (1:3) and perfume being poured forth so that its sensual fragrance fills the room (1:4). It was the ultimate romantic environment for this ancient world.

She wants to yield her body to Him (1:2), her mind (1:3) and her heart (1:4), being entirely embraced in the security of his love. The statement, “We will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine” (1:4c) means that her joy is found entirely in him, which she desires more than earthly pleasures. In summary, she describes a total commitment to her beloved: body, soul and spirit. The statement, “The upright love thee” (1:4d) says this is the way God created love to exist between a man and a woman, and this is a metaphor of how the righteous are to love God (1:4d).

During the rest of the Songs the Shulamite will rehearse her journey through the stages of love that brought her to this place of intimacy described in the opening prologue. It is a journey that began at the banquet house, and culminates in the king’s bedchamber, with her daily duties overseeing the vineyard assigned to her. However, the Shulamite woman will discover at the end of this Song (8:6-7) that love and jealousy are the strongest forces within the human soul. No other emotion has the strength to move a person like the passions of love.

Figurative Interpretation Figuratively speaking, Son 1:2-4 serves as a description of how God has predestined mankind to love Him passionately from the heart, far above the things of this world. This passage of Scripture is a metaphor for total love towards God: spirit, soul and body.

A proposed interpretation is: 

Literal Figurative 1. Kissing physical love Love for God’s Word 2. Remembrances emotional love God’s presence 3. King’s chamber heart’s abandonment Communion with Christ 1:2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.

Son 1:2 “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth” Comments – Watchman Nee explains that there are different kinds of kisses. [85] He says this is not the kiss of asking repentance as the sinful woman kissed the feet of our Saviour in Luk 7:37-50; for the Song of Solomon is not about the conversion experience, but rather, spiritual growth in Christ.

[85] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 16-7.

Luk 7:38; Luk 7:50, “And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace”

Nee says that is not the kiss of granting forgiveness as the father kisses his prodigal son who has come home after having backslidden.

Luk 15:20, “And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”

It is not the kiss of servitude as the people honored Absalom as their new king in 2Sa 15:5. For this kiss lacks love and true devotion.

2Sa 15:5, “And it was so, that when any man came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took him, and kissed him.”

Nee says it is not the kiss of a formal greeting as Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus; for this kiss is outward only, and not of the heart.

Mat 26:49, “And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.”

Rather, the kiss of Son 1:2 is the kiss of intimacy, of love’s passion. The phrase “the kisses of his mouth” refer to intimacy within a relationship that only two married people can have. It symbolizes a Christian who is hungry for a deeper relationship with the Lord than those around him.

Figurative Interpretation – Son 1:2 refers to the personal pursuit of God that an individual has to make alone when he becomes a Christian. It is a pursuit that cannot be made while following others. A believer cannot pursuit this level of intimacy with the Lord as he still seeks to please others. For in such a close relationship, the lover becomes jealous over his beloved. There is no room for clinging to other relationships. All other relationships must be laid aside in order to find the Lord, as this Song will reveal. Other virgins may seek Him (Son 1:3 b), but they must do it on their own.

We also see in this phrase that the Lover is the one giving the kisses, and not the beloved; because she says, “Let him kiss me” It is the lover who initiates the kisses. It represents the fact God first gave to us His love, and we are simply asked to reach out and receive His love. We are the ones who are to come to Him in our weaknesses and needs. We are the recipients of His love. It is He who gives life and we are the ones who receive that life. It is God who initiated love’s first kiss with His love to a lost and dying world by sending His Only Begotten Son to die on Calvary. We must simply reach out to give Him what love we do have, and it is He who embraces us and gives to us “the kisses of His mouth.” In summary, this phrase figuratively symbolizes the continual longing within a person’s heart for God to display His love upon us.

Son 1:2 “for thy love is better than wine” Word Study on “love” Strong says the Hebrew word “love” “dwd” ( ) (H1730) means, a love-token, lover, friend, beloved, uncle,” and comes from an unused root properly meaning “to boil.” The Enhanced Strong says this word it is used 61 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as, “beloved 34, uncle 16, love(s) 8, father’s brother 2, wellbeloved 1.” It is used 39 times in the book of Songs of its 61 Old Testament uses.

Comments on “thy love” The Hebrew construction uses the masculine singular possessive pronoun (your) attached to the plural noun “loves.” Thus, the Shulamite is referring to the “loves” that the king has bestowed upon her. The plural form of the noun is used in an abstract manner, rather than concrete, in order to express the manifold ways and depth in which she is loved by the king. Therefore, Gesenius tells us the Hebrew word “love” ( ) (H1730) can carry a broader definition of “tokens of love, caresses or kisses.” We will find this same construction again in Son 1:4.

Comments on “for thy love is better than wine” – Wine represents the pleasures of this world that bring happiness to the soul. In Proverbs, wine is synonymous with the pleasures of this earth.

Pro 21:17, “ He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.”

Wine makes the heart glad. Note:

Psa 104:15, “And wine that maketh glad the heart of man , and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.”

In Son 1:6 the maiden will reflect upon the effects of the sun that has darkened her skin. The sun represents the affairs of this earthly life. Thus, the wine represents the best pleasures that this life can offer. Yet, with these pleasures comes the dark stains of sin. Thus, this phrase is saying that the greatest pleasures of this world are not to be compared with an intimate relationship with God. If anyone had tasted the pleasures of this world, it was Solomon. He tells us of these vain pursuits in the book of Ecclesiastes. In all of his pursuits, his pleasures soon turned to emptiness and vanity.

This phrase also reveals to us that no one is ready to pursue Him until the pleasures of this world become distasteful. One is not able to turn loose of this world unless he gets a glimpse of something more glorious. A believer can only see this vision by the Holy Spirit.

Son 1:2 Comments – Why would this book of love start out with kissing? It could have started out at many other points in a relationship between two individuals. However, anyone who has ever fallen in love knows the answer. It is the first kiss that officially begins a relationship between a man and a woman. It is the act of crossing over from a casual friendship into intimacy. In fact, the first kiss is the best and sweetest kiss in the life of that relationship. There will be many more, but none will compare to the memories of that first kiss. It is saying to the other partner that I am willing to make a covenant with you the rest of my life. That first kiss causes love to become inflamed into a passion.

In today’s society, if the two partners are in school, it means anticipating one another on campus. If it is in a church setting, it means looking forward to the next church service in order to sit with that person. This anticipation is clearly seen woven throughout the book of the Song of Songs.

Literal Interpretation – Within the setting of Song, we can picture wine being served to the beloved within the chamber of the king and perfume being poured forth so that its sensual fragrance fills the room. It was the ultimate romantic environment for this ancient world.

Figurative Interpretation of Israel – Mike Bickle notes that ancient Jews have interpreted this verse to refer to the “kiss of God’s Word,” or the “kiss of the Torah.” [86] For example, Rashi’s comments on Son 1:2 says, “This figure of speech was used because He gave them His Torah and spoke to them face to face, and that love is still more pleasant to them than any pleasure…” [87]

[86] Mike Bickle, Session 3 – Introducing the Divine Kiss: A 7-Fold Bridal Paradigm, in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 3.

[87] The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary, ed. A. J. Rosenberg (New York: The Judaica Press Company, 1963) [on-line]; accessed 13 December 2009; available from http//www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16445/showrashi/true; Internet, comments on Song of Solomon 1:2.

If the book of Psalms is an expression of the Song of Songs, then Psalms 1 could be an expression of the introduction to Songs (Son 1:1-4). We find a reference to man’s delight in the Word of God within Psa 1:2, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” This verse supports the Jewish interpretation of Son 1:2 being symbolic of the love of God’s Word.

Figurative Interpretation of the Church “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth” Son 1:2 a reflects God initiating His love towards us; for He is the one kissing us. Regarding the Church’s interpretation this kiss, it can symbolize our intimacy with Christ Jesus, as we find God’s love being poured forth into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and we fill the cleansing of our souls from sin and the sweet peace of a clean conscience before God. This phrase expresses that unique relationship that each child of God can have with God through Jesus Christ. Because each one of us is different, each one is loved and nurtured in a different way by the Heavenly Father. “for thy love is better than wine” The revelation and continual experiences of His love to the mature believer positions the heart to desire this divine love more than the best this world has to offer. Some scholars suggest that wine represents both the good pleasures that God gives mankind, as well as worldly vices that bind men in sin. Bickle notes that within this “marriage metaphor” wine represents “the drink of earthly celebration.” [88]

[88] Mike Bickle, Session 5 – Theme: Divine Kiss and the Bride’s Life Vision (1:2-4), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 4.

Son 1:3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.

Son 1:3 “Because of the savour of thy good ointments” Word Study on “ointment(s)” Strong says the Hebrew word “ointment” ( ) (H8081) means, “grease, especially liquid (as from the olive, often perfumed),” and comes from the primitive root ( ) (H8080), which means, “to shine, to be oily.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 193 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “oil 165, ointment 14, olive 4, oiled 2, fat 2, things 2, misc 4.” The ancient Hebrews mixed olive oil with certain aromatic ingredients, such as spices. to make a sweet-smelling perfume. [89] Thus, this fragrant oil is called an ointment. This same Hebrew word is used in Pro 27:9 to symbolize the joy of the heart.

[89] R. F. Youngblood, F. F. Bruce, R. K. Harrison, and Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, rev. ed. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), “Ointment.”

Pro 27:9, “ Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.”

Comments – Oil is figurative of the Holy Spirit throughout the Scriptures. It is the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling a believer that gives him “fragrance,” both in God’s eyes and in the eyes of other believers. Jesus was the ultimate example of one who was anointed, whose divine character and graces produced the sweetest fragrance before God and men.

Son 1:3 “thy name is as ointment poured forth” Comments – Some scholars suggest that the pouring forth of ointment is figurative of the pouring forth of Christ’s blood on Calvary. The ointment has been poured out and we are now the recipients of that sweet fragrance, of that fragrant offering that was accepted by God the Father. The name of Christ now brings us pleasure just as the smell of a sweet fragrance brings pleasure to us through our senses.

Paul spoke of the Gospel message as a “sweet savour of Christ” (2Co 2:14-16). While Jesus was on earth, many men rejected Him. But now that He has been exalted and the sweet message of His sacrifice on Calvary is being proclaimed, many have turned to Christ.

2Co 2:14-16, “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?”

Son 1:3 “therefore do the virgins love thee” Word Study on “the virgins” Strong says the Hebrew word “virgin” ( ) (H5959) means, “lass, damsel, maid, virgin,” and comes from the primitive root verb ( ) (H5956) meaning, “to veil from sight, to conceal.” The Enhanced Strong says this Hebrew word is used 7 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “virgin (4 times), maid (2 times), damsels (1 time).” This word is used two times in the Song of Songs (Son 1:3; Son 6:8).

Comments – Literally understood, these virgins refer to the many ladies in King Solomon’s court. Zckler understands this as a reference to the “ladies of Solomon’s court,” who hold admiration for the “graceful, brilliant and lovely king.” This young Shulamite lady from a northern province of Israel finds herself in the king’s court and observes how the ladies love the king. [90]

[90] Otto Zckler, The Song of Solomon, trans. by W. Henry Green, in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, ed. Philip Schaff (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1872), 54.

Figuratively understood, it may refer to those whom God has hidden under His wings (Psa 17:8). These are those who have kept themselves undefiled from the world because they have sought refuge in Him. This love for God, which is so personal and so intimate, is not limited to the Shulamite in Son 1:2. There is a place for each of His children to come to Him and become enraptured by this great love. With human relationships, we can only give our intimacy to one person, our husband or wife. With God, His love is limitless. He can pour out infinite love to each one of us. This intimate love is reserved for those who have kept themselves pure from the passions of this world. These virgins represent those whose heart is pure before Him, untainted with the adultery of this world (Jas 4:4).

Psa 17:8, “Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,”

Jas 4:4, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”

No one other than virgins was a candidate for a royal marriage in this type of culture. Adulteresses were not chosen by the king to be his wife. Thus, these virgins represent those who are also in pursuit of their Lover just as the maiden is in pursuit. For in that culture, all of the young virgins were hoping to find themselves as the chosen bride of the handsome king. Paul the apostle spoke of this pursuit as one who runs a race, “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.” (1Co 9:24) So, are we to pursue Christ as if we are the only one whom He will choose.

Son 1:3 Literal Interpretation – A person’s name represents his character. When someone uses a person’s name in a conversation, we immediately reflect upon his character. In the same way, the maiden reflects upon the graces and divine character of her lover when she thinks of his name. Regarding the simile of ointment used in Son 1:3, every plant and animal in nature has a unique scent. A dog with his keen nose understands this. In fact, every person has a unique scent. Just as pouring forth of sweet fragrances causes a smell that pleases the senses, so does the maiden’s reflection upon his name pour forth pleasure into her heart. This may have been a particular scent that was worn by her lover, so every time she smells it, she is reminded of him.

Figurative Interpretation To the believer, the name of Jesus has become sweet to the sound and comforting to the soul. His name has authority over all the powers of darkness and evil that hinder God’s children on earth. The young virgins that are referred to in Son 1:3 would represent those believers who have been saved and purified by the blood of the Lamb and now know that precious name in which they hid themselves.

Son 1:4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.

Son 1:4 “Draw me, we will run after thee” Word Study on “Draw” Strong says the Hebrew word “draw” “mashak” ( ) (H4900) is a primitive root meaning, “to draw,” with a great variety of applications, such as sow, sound, prolong, develop, march, remove, delay, be tall, etc.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 36 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “draw 15, draw out 3, prolonged 3, scattered 2, draw along 1, draw away 1, continue 1, deferred 1, misc 9.”

The same Hebrew word is used in Psa 36:10, Jer 31:3, and Hos 11:4. The God of Israel drew His people to Him with cords of love (Hos 11:4). Jesus tells us that no man can come to the Father except God draw him (Joh 6:44). God attempts to draw us near to Him through His lovingkindness.

Psa 36:10, “O continue (or draw out) thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.”

Jer 31:3, “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”

Hos 11:4, “I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.”

Joh 6:44, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him : and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Comments – “Draw me” – Son 1:4 reads, “Draw me, we will run after thee.” There are two occasions within Songs when the bride is drawn away by her Lover (Son 2:10; Son 5:2). The fact that the Lover initiates the approach in drawing his beloved to him serves as a testimony of his love towards her. If a man cannot go after a woman, then he cannot prove his love towards her. It is this approach that arouses the woman. There are times in our spiritual growth when the Lord “draws us” out of one phase of ministry and into a higher level of sacrifice. Son 5:2-8 describes just such a time when Christ calls a believer out of a place of rest. Thus, the office and ministry of the Holy Spirit is to woo us into fellowship with Jesus.

“we will run after thee” – We respond to the wooing of the Holy Spirit by drawing near to Him. Watchman Nee suggests the phrase “run after” means “a continuous desire.” [91]

[91] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 20.

If we follow Frances Roberts’ interpretation of Son 2:10, the Lover is calling his Beloved away from the cares of this world, from the vanities of this life, to a place hidden in God, a place where the Spirit of God can commune with man. [92] We find this same call expressed in the opening verses of Songs, “Draw me, we will run after thee,” (Son 1:4).

[92] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 145-6.

A relationship must have participation from two parties. When God draws us to him, we express our will by making an effort to pursue Him. This requires a sacrifice on man’s part. It is this sacrifice that moves the heart of God, and causes Him to bring us into an intimate place with Him, which is called “his chambers” in Son 1:4. We find this two-fold role of God and man referred to in Php 2:12-13, where Paul tells the believers to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, then assures them that God is at work in them giving them the desire and ability to fulfill His good pleasure.

Php 2:12-13, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”

Son 1:4 “the king hath brought me into his chambers” Word Study on “chambers” Strong says the Hebrew word “chambers” “cheder” ( ) (H2315) means, “an apartment, bed chamber, inner chamber innermost.” The Enhanced Strong says it is found 38 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “chamber 21, inner 4, bedchamber + 4296 3, bedchamber + 4904 3, inward parts 2, innermost parts 2, parlours 1, south 1, within 1.” It is used one other time in Son 3:4.

Son 3:4, “It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.”

Comments – Because Son 1:2-4 is an introduction, reflecting mature love between the king and the Shulamite bride, the phrase “the king hath brought me into his chambers” reflects the intimacy of mature love, rather than a king taking a virgin into the bed of intercourse before love develops between the two. It is a place where the wife continually yields her own will to the desires of her husband. This phrase figuratively represents the place where a servant of God continually yields his will to the Lord in prayer on a continual basis in order to lead a consecrated life. It is a place of continual consecration.

Son 1:4 “we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine” Comments on “thy love” The Hebrew construction uses the masculine singular possessive pronoun (your) attached to the plural noun “loves.” Thus, the Shulamite is referring to the “loves” that the king has bestowed upon her. The plural form of the noun is used in an abstract manner, rather than concrete, in order to express the manifold ways and depth in which she is loved by the king. Therefore, Gesenius tells us the Hebrew word “love” ( ) (H1730) can carry a broader definition of “tokens of love, caresses or kisses.” We will find this same construction again in Son 1:4.

Comments – For those believers who have experienced His presence, the joy that lifts the heart above the cares of this world are priceless compared to the best that this world has to offer. Wine is figurative of that which lifts the spirit of man in this life. Yet, such an experience is nothing compared to being in His presence.

Son 1:4 “the upright love thee” Comments – The word “upright” is plural, so that this phrase reads, “the upright ones love you.” The word “you” is masculine, referring to the Lover. The Shulamite reflects upon others who love the King. Only those who are upright before God love His presence. The unbelievers and the slothful Christians do not know this experience exists, so their love is still searching amongst the cares of this world to find peace and joy. Watchman Nee suggests an alternate reading, “In uprightness they love thee.” He says this means that those who love you, or desire your presence more than the pleasures of this world, do so with pure motives. [93]

[93] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 21.

Son 1:4 Literal Interpretation – Son 1:4 continues the discussion of the Shulamite maiden among other young virgins who are pursuing the king’s hand in marriage. She says, “We will run”, perhaps implying many virgins are in pursuit of him, although some interpret it as her own individual pursuit.

Figurative Interpretation “Draw me, we will run after thee” It is God’s love that draws us along our spiritual journey. In the Song of Songs, it is the driving force of the plot of this love story. Each phase of our spiritual journey begins by God drawing us out of our comfortable place of rest and on to a new phase, which requires greater sacrifices and endurance. Within the Songs, the king draws the bride in a position of betrothal in Son 2:8-13. He brings her to him in the wedding carriage in Son 3:6-10. He draws her out of her place of rest in Son 5:2-4. He leads her through the wilderness back to her village in Son 7:5. These passages reflect the seasons that God draws us by His love into a deeper walk with Him. We are to respond by running after Him, growing ever more mature in our spiritual development and divine service. This is our proper response to prove our devotion and love to Jesus our Master. “the king hath brought me into his chambers” – The bed chamber is where a woman gives herself totally to a man. When a woman initially accepts a man’s proposal to date her, she accepts his request to court, but cautiously gives herself only partially to him. However, the bed is where a woman gives her heart totally to the man. This must take place after marriage. The statement, “ We will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine” (Son 1:4 c) means that her joy is found entirely in him, which she desires more than earthly pleasures. In summary, she describes a total commitment to her beloved: body, soul and spirit. The statement, “The upright love thee” (Son 1:4 d) says this is the way God created love to exist between a man and a woman, and this is a metaphor of how the righteous are to love God (Son 1:4 d). Perhaps this statement is a summary of the previous verses. Or, it may be a reference to how the righteous love God, which is revealed in the rest of Songs. Thus, it may be read, “This is to introduce you to the story of how the righteous love you.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Son 1:2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth The Hebrew idiom delights in redundancies of this kind; so in Psa 17:10. With their mouth they speak: Psa 66:17. I cried with my mouth: and in ch. Son 8:7 of this song, would be utterly contemned is in the original, contemning they would contemn.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

I. 1 THE SONG OF SONGS, WHICH IS BY SOLOMON

FIRST SONG

The first time the lovers were together at the royal palace (in or near) Jerusalem

(Son 1:2 to Son 2:7)

FIRST SCENE:

Shulamith and the Daughters of Jeruzsalem

(Son 1:2-8)

Shulamith

2 1Let him kiss me with kisses2 of his mouth,

3for better is thy love than wine!

3 In fragrance thine unguents are good;4

5an unguent6 poured forth is thy name,7

therefore virgins love thee.

Shulamith and the Daughters of Jerusalem (in responsive song).

4 Draw me!after thee will we run!8

9The king has brought me into his chambers!10

We will exult and be glad in thee,
will commend11 thy love beyond wine!

Rightly12 do they love thee!

Shulamith

5 13Black I am, but 14comely, ye daughters of Jerusalem,

as the tents of Kedar, as the tent-cloths of Solomon.

6 Look15 not at me, because16 I am dusky,17

because the sun has scorched18 me;

19my mothers sons were angry20 with me,

made me keeper of the vineyards;
mine own vineyard I have not kept.21

(Looking around for Solomon)

7 22Tell me, thou whom my soul loveth, where23 feedest thou?

where makest thou (thy flock) to recline at noon?
For24 why should I be as one straying25

by the flocks of thy companions?

Daughters of Jerusalem

8 26If thou know not,27 fairest among women,

go forth in the footprints of the flock
and feed thy kids beside the shepherds tents.

SECOND SCENE:

Solomon and Shulamith

(Son 1:9 to Son 2:7)

Solomon

9 To my horse28 in Pharaohs chariots

I liken29 thee, my dear.30

10 Comely are thy cheeks with chains,31

thy neck with beads.32

11 Chains33 of gold will we make thee

with points34 of silver.

Shulamith

12 35Whilst the king is at his table,36

my spikenard yields its fragrance.

13 A bundle37 of myrrh is my beloved38 to me,

that lodges between my breasts.

14 A cluster of the cyprus-flower39 is my beloved to me,

in the vineyards of Engedi.

Solomon

15 40Lo! thou art fair, my dear,

lo! thou art fair; thine eyes are doves.

Shulamith

16 41Lo! thou art fair, my beloved, yea sweet;

yea our couch is green.42

17 The beams43 of our houses are cedars,

our wainscot44 is cypresses.45

II. 1. 46I am (only) a wildflower of Sharon,

a lily of the valleys.

Solomon

2 As a lily among thorns,

so is my dear among the daughters.

Shulamith.

3 47As an apple-tree among the trees of the wood,

so is my beloved among the sons.
In his shade delighted I sit.
and his fruit is sweet to my palate.48

4 He has brought me into the wine-house,

and his banner over me is love.

5 Stay me with pressed grapes,49

refresh50 me with apples,

for I am sick of love.

6 His left hand is under my head,

and his right embraces me.

7 51I adjure you, ye daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field,52

that ye wake not, and that ye waken not
love till it53 please.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. For the explanation of the title, see the Introduction, 1 and 3. To the view of those who assign Son 1:2-4 entirely to the daughters of Jerusalem, and suppose the words of Shulamith to begin with Son 1:5 (Hitz., Vaih. and others, so too Del.) stands opposed1. That the wish to be kissed with the kisses of his mouth could scarcely have been expressed by the ladies of the court, or even by one of them, without filling Shulamith with indignation, of which, however, she shows nothing in what follows. 2. That the way in which the lover is extolled in Son 1:2-3, agrees perfectly with the fond encomiums and enthusiastic descriptions which Shulamith subsequently, Son 1:13 ff., and Son 2:3 ff., bestows upon her loSong Son 1:3. That the interchange of the 1st sing. and the 1st plur. plainly points to a diversity of persons speaking, or to an alternation between a single speaker and a whole chorus. This latter circumstance likewise renders their assumption impossible, who (as Ew., Hengstenb., Weissb. and most of the older interpreters) suppose that the whole of Son 1:2-7 is spoken by Shulamith. Undoubtedly Shulamith and the ladies of the court here respond to each other in speech or song; yet not so that only the words Draw me after thee … chambers Son 1:4 a belong to Shulamith, and all the rest to Son 1:5 to the women of the harem (so Renan), but simply that all that is in the singular is to be regarded as spoken by her alone, and all that is in the plural by her and the ladies together, so that in particular (we will run) and (we will be glad, etc.) are to be assigned to the ladies who confirm the words of Shulamith by joining in them themselves, while (draw me after thee), (the king has brought me into his chambers) and (they rightly love thee) belong to Shulamith alone54 (comp. Dpkein loc.) Then Son 1:5-7 unquestionably belong to Shulamith alone; Son 1:8 again to the ladies of the court, who reply with good-humored banter to the rustic simplicity and naivet with which she has expressed Son 1:7 her desire for her royal lover; Son 1:9, ff. to Solomon, who now begins a loving conversation with his beloved, reaching to the close of the act.55 During this familiar and cosy chat, which forms the second scene of the act, the chorus of ladies withdraws to the back-ground, but without leaving the stage entirely; for the concluding words of Shulamith Son 2:7 are manifestly directed to them again, and that not as absent, but as present on the stage. The place of the action must be supposed to be some locality in the royal palace or residence in or near Jerusalem, some one of the kings chambers ( ) Son 1:4; whether precisely the room devoted to wine parties, the wine-room of the royal palace (Del.), cannot, as it seems, be certainly determined from the repeated reference to the excellence of wine (Son 1:2; Son 1:4), nor from the mention of the house of wine ( 2:4); and even the table of the king spoken of Son 1:12 does not afford a perfectly sure support to this opinion. Only it appears to be certain from Son 1:16-17 that we must imagine the scene to be open outwards, and to afford a prospect of fresh verdure and stately trees, such as cedars, cypresses, etc. It must therefore have been either a room in the kings palace upon Zion immediately adjacent to parks or gardens, or what in view of Son 6:2-3 (comp. Son 4:16) is still more probable, an open summer-house (or pavilion) in the royal pleasure gardens of Wady Urtas, south of Jerusalem, near Bethlehem and Etam, in those magnificent grounds of Davids splendor-loving son, which probably bordered upon Zion itself, and thence extended southward for several leagues, and of which there still remains at least a grand aqueduct, with three basins lying successively one above another, the so-called pools of Solomon (comp. K. Furrer, Wanderungen durch Palstina, Zrich, 1865, p. 178, etc.; C. Hergt, Palstina, p. 278, etc.;Ewald, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, III. 1, p. 64, etc.). That Shulamith had formed a personal acquaintance with the royal gardens in the neighborhood of Jerusalem directly after she had been brought from her home in the north of Israel to Solomons court, is shown by her mention Son 1:14 of the vineyards or vine-gardens of Engedi, near the Dead Sea, five or six German miles south-east of Jerusalem, from which however the conclusion must not be drawn that these pleasure-grounds of Engedi formed the scene of the action in the opening of the piece; see on that verse. Weissbach very properly locates the second scene of the Song from Son 1:9 onward in the gardens of Solomon near Jerusalem, but puts the action of Son 1:1-8 somewhere on the way to this retreat, where Shulamith in her search for her lover chances to meet the women of Jerusalem. But in opposition to this may be urged1. That there is nothing in the context to indicate a change in the locality between Son 1:8-17. The mention of the kings chambers in Son 1:4 certainly implies the immediate vicinity of a royal palace, and probably the presence of the speaker in it. 3. It by no means follows from the metaphors borrowed from pastoral life, in which Shulamith speaks of her lover, Son 1:7 that she thought he was really to be found in a pasture ground, and engaged in feeding sheep. 4. With as little propriety can it be inferred from Son 1:8 that Shulamith is represented as wandering about over the country and accompanied by some little kids, searching for her lover in or near Jerusalem.56

2. First Scene. Shulamith. Son 1:2-3.Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.for which Hitzig needlessly reads , let him give me to drink, etc. (comp. Son 8:2)is manifestly the utterance of a wish, O that he would kiss me; and its subject is not , his mouth, which is too remote and manifestly stands in a genitive relation to kisses; nor , equivalent to one of his kisses (Ewald, E. Meier), for a kiss kisses not but is kissed, and includes an accusative (Hitzig). The speakers lover is rather thought of as the kissing subject, the same, whom in the vividness of her conception she immediately afterwards in b and in Son 1:3 addresses in the second person, as though he who is so ardently longed for were already present.57 The partitive properly points to but one or a few kisses of her lover as the object of the beloveds wish; comp. Gen 28:11; Exo 16:27; Psa 132:11, and generally Ew., Lehr., 217, b, 294, c. [GreensHeb. Gram., 242, a]; J. H. Michaelis, in loc., uno tantum vel altero de osculis.Kisses of his mouth58 are, moreover, in contrast with the idolatrous custom of hand-kisses, or kissing the hand to any one (Job 31:27; comp. Del., in loc.), tokens of honest love and affection between blood relations and friends (Gen 29:11; Gen 33:4; Gen 41:40; 1Sa 10:1; 1Sa 20:41; comp. Psa 2:12), and especially between lovers (Pro 7:13). It is not likely that the similarity of the words kiss and drink gave occasion to the comparison in b of caresses with wine (Weissb.); this comparison is of itself a very natural one; comp. Son 4:10; Son 5:1; Son 8:2.For better is thy love than wine. different from breasts, paps (which the LXX here express by , and the Vulg. by ubera [so Wic., Cov., Dow.]), as well as from plur. of beloved (Son 5:1), denotes manifestations of love, caresses, (comp. Son 4:10-11; Son 7:13; Pro 7:18; Eze 16:8; Eze 23:17), i.e., dalliance, exhibition of (Son 7:7; Son 8:6), fond endearments, (in bad taste Vaih., Liebelei, flirtation.) In the comparison of such love with wine, the tertium comparationis is, as is shown by the parallels Son 4:10 ff.; Son 5:1; Son 7:9, ff. not the intoxicating power of wine, but primarily its sweetness59 only; comp. Act 2:13. The figure of intoxication indicates a higher grade of loving ecstasy than is here intended, comp. Son 5:1 b;Pro 5:19; Pro 7:18, and in general Weissb., in loc.

Son 1:3. In fragrance thine unguents are good., in respect to odor, as to fragrance, limits , good (comp. Jos 22:10; 1Ki 10:23; Job 32:4), and is emphatically placed at the beginning of the sentence. Commonly: to the smell, or for the smell, against which, however, lies the twofold objection: 1, that denotes not the organ of smell, nor the act of smelling, but the odor which any thing exhales (odor, halitus), comp. Son 1:12; Son 2:13; Son 4:10; Song 7:14; Hos 14:7, etc.; 2, it is not , but simply . Hitzigs construction is quite too artificial; he connects 3 a with 2 b as its sublimitation, and translates thy caresses are more precious than wine with the odor of thy precious ointment (comp. the like mode of connection adopted in the Vulg., uberafragantia unguentis optimis [so Coverdale, Doway]). So also is that of Weissbach, thy ointments are good to serve as a perfume, where too much is evidently foisted into the simple .60An unguent which is poured forth is thy name.The comparison of a good name with a fragrant unguent is also found, and on the basis of this passage in Hos 14:7-8; Ecc 7:1; Sir 49:1. The ideas of smelling and being (or being named, bearing this or that name) are, as a general fact, closely related through the intermediate notion of breathing, respiring; comp. in German Gercht, ruchbar.61 That the name of the lover is thus compared to a costly perfume diffusing a wide fragrance (comp. Mar 14:3; Joh 12:3) plainly indicates that it is only the renowned King Solomon, an actual possessor of (name, i.e., fame, gloriacomp. Pro 22:1; 1Ki 1:47; Job 30:3), who can be thought of as this lover, and not a simple country swain (so Weissb. properly against Herd., Umbr., etc.).Therefore virgins love theei.e., not barely on account of this thy renown, but on account of all the excellencies celebrated in Son 1:2-3. Observe that is without the article. It is not the virgins universally, but simply virgins, such as Shulamith herself, or the daughters of Jerusalem, the ladies of Solomons court, by whom she sees herself surrounded, that she describes as lovers, as reverential admirers of the graceful, brilliant and lovely king. The guileless country lass, who has but recently been transferred into the circle of the countless virgins of the royal court (comp. Son 6:8) here accounts to herself for the fact that many other virgins besides her are attached to the king with admiring devotion and love; comp., 4. e.

3. Shulamith and the daughters of Jerusalem.

Son 1:4. Draw me after theeas it is to be translated with the Targ., Luth. and most of the recent expositors, connecting contrary to the common accentuation with , which requires it as its proper complement;62 comp. Hos 11:4; Jer 31:3. By this drawing is meant, as appears from b, a drawing into the kings chambers, or at least into immediate proximity to him, not a conducting out of the palace into the country, as the advocates of the swain-hypothesis suppose, who see in these words an ardent call upon her distant lover.We will runi.e., not, let us take flight, and hasten hence [so Ginsburg: Oh, let us flee together!], as though here again there were a cry for help to her absent lover; but: we will hasten to him, viz.: the gracious king; a lively exclamation uttered by Shulamith, and at the same time by the chorus of the daughters of Jerusalem catching the word from her.The king has brought me into his chambersa simple expression of the virgins rapturous joy at the high honor and delight granted her by the king. As the words stand, they contain neither an indirect petition or complaint addressed to her distant lover (to which the following clauses of the verse would agree poorly enough), nor a wish directed to the kingas though the preterite were to be taken in the sense of a precative or optative: O that the king had brought me into his chambers (so, e.g., Hug, Weissb.), nor finally a condition dependent on the following (so Hahn, who supplies , if, before . If the king brings me into his chambers, we will,63etc. Furthermore, the kings chambers are by no means simply identical with the harem, the house of the women belonging to the royal palace (Vaih., Ren., etc.); this would rather have been designated , as in Est 2:3; Est 2:9, ff., or simply called , house, as in 1Ki 7:8; 1Ki 9:24; Psa 68:13, etc. They are 2Sa 4:7; 2Sa 13:10, the kings own rooms in the palace, his sleeping apartments and sitting-rooms, penetralia regis, in distinction from those of his wives and the ladies of the court, which formed a particular division of the royal palace. Comp. 1Ki 7:8; Est 2:12-14. Into these the kings own innermost apartments, Shulamith, as the favored object of his special love, had been repeatedly brought,nay, she has in them her own proper abode and residence. She had therefore a perfect right to say: The king has brought me into his chambers.64We will exult and be glad in thee.With these words, which recall Psa 31:7; Psa 118:24; Isa 25:9; Joe 2:21; Joe 2:23, the ladies of the court again chime in with the language of Shulamith, in order to commend with her the happiness of belonging to the number of those who were loved by the king. , in thee, belongs in equal measure to both verbs; comp. Isa 65:19.We will celebrate thy love more than wine.Comp. Son 1:2.Rightly do they love thee.The most obvious construction is to make the virgins again the subject, as in 3c, and consequently to regard Shulamith as again the speaker. But the 3d plur. might also be taken impersonally (they, i.e., people generally love thee. Comp. , they despise, Son 8:1), and then the clause might be spoken by the entire chorus. , an adverbial accusative (as, e.g., , wonderfully, Lam 1:9), means neither without reserve (Weissb.), nor sincerely (Gesen., Del.) [so Noyes; Eng. Ver. marg.: uprightly], but, as appears from the context and the parallels Psa 48:2; Psa 75:3, with good reason, rightly (Ew., Hitzig, Vaih., etc.). This word is taken as the subject by the Sept. (), Vulg. (recti diligunt te), Hengstenb. (rectitudes, i.e., abst. for concrete, the upright love thee), Umbr. (O favorite of all the virtues), etc. [so Eng. Ver., Thrupp, Wordsworth, Withington, Ginsburg], interpretations as ungrammatical as they are unsuited to the connection. The attempts at emendation proposed by Velth., Schelling, Augusti, are altogether unnecessary65 (see Weissb., in loc.).

4. Shulamith. Son 1:5-7.

Son 1:5. Black I am, but comely.The explanation of the fact that she was black () contained in the following verse shows that by this blackness can only be meant her being browned by the hot sun. Then too in Lam 4:8 the substantive denotes only the livid or swarthy appearance of one who has suffered long from famine and wretchedness, and in this very passage the strong expression black is qualified by the diminutive blackish () in the verse immediately following.Moreover, the whole statement before us was occasioned according to Son 1:6, by the curious looks with which Shulamith had meanwhile been regarded by many of the daughters of Jerusalem and probably also by jeering remarks which they had made (comp. Son 1:8). But comely [Taylor: attractive, engaging] (., lit., agreeable); the plain country maid hereby expresses with frank, straightforward simplicity her consciousness that nevertheless she was not altogether unworthy of the love of Solomon. There is no vain self-laudation in the words.As the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.The first of these comparisons is designed to illustrate and set before the mind the idea of blackness, the second that of comeliness or elegance. Kedar is a Bedawn tribe near Palestine in the Arabian desert, Gen 25:13; Isa 21:17, which is here named in preference to all others, simply because the name seems originally to denote blackness. Tents of poor Bedawns, which are always exposed to the heat of the sun, must certainly appear blacker and less attractive than those of Solomon; and we need not therefore with other interpreters (see especially Hitz. and Weissb. who refer to the observations of modern travellers as della Valle, Burckhardt, Harmer, Volney, etc.,) have recourse to the tents now commonly covered with black goat skins, as Shulamith only has in mind the blackness caused by the suns rays. But Solomons tents as a figure of the greatest elegance can only correspond to comely. We may without difficulty assume that the splendor-loving Solomon adopted the custom of oriental monarchs of living in tents once in the year in some charming district and in the utmost elegance and splendor (comp. the remarks above, Son 1:1, respecting the pleasure grounds at Etham and Engedi.) It is, therefore, wholly unnecessary to understand by (with Del., Hitz., etc.,) tapestry,66 which is neither permitted by usage nor by etymology, from continuit, prop. velum, then tent-cloth. We shall have in the main to abide by this explanation of the passage given by Ewald, although we might assign to a different etymology, and derive it perhaps with Gesenius from to tremble, flutter, or with Weissb. from to be bad, i. e., of coarse, inferior workmanship. The two comparisons are in any case understood in quite too artificial a manner by the latter and by several others, who assume that both the tents of Kedar and the tent-coverings of Solomon set forth the peculiar combination of dark color with attractiveness in Shulamiths looks (for which an appeal is made to the testimony of travellers like DArvieux, Shaw, etc., according to whom a plain filled with the black tents of the Bedawn presents a very pleasing and even beautiful spectacle.) In opposition to Bttchers view, who though he assigns the words Black am I, daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar to the vinedresser, i.e., to Shulamith, refers the rest (but comely and as the tent cloths of Solomon) to an elderly princess, who looks with astonishment at the new comer, comp. Hitz. in loc., who properly rebukes the extravagance of the dissecting mania here exhibited.

Son 1:6. Look not at me because I am dusky, because the sun has scorched me. There is nothing in the context to indicate that the look is one of approval, in admiration of her beauty67 (versusBttcher, Hitz., etc.) Comp. above on Son 1:5. My mothers sons were angry with me.Velth., Umbr., Ewald needlessly think of step-brothers or half-brothers; the passages adduced for this purpose Lev 18:9; Lev 20:11 : Deu 23:2, etc., are outweighed by many others as Gen 27:29; Psa 50:20; Psa 69:9; Deu 13:7, where mothers sons corresponds in the parallelism to brothers, and consequently is entirely synonymous with it. And this expression is the less surprising in Shulamiths mouth since like a true Hebrew daughter she is in the habit of denominating everything after her mother; comp. my mothers house, Son 3:4; Son 8:2, and so too Rth 1:8. We need not even assume that she would intimate a less favorable judgment of her brothers as more or less strange or distant in their bearing to her (Rocke, Hitz.); and there is still less to justify the assumption that her brothers are by this expression emphatically designated as Shulamiths own brothers-german (vs.Magnus.) Yet it may with considerable probability be inferred from the expression before us, that Shulamiths father was no longer living at the time of this transaction, and her brothers had assumed the prerogatives of a father (comp. Gen 34:5, ff.; 2Sa 13:20 ff.), but that her mother meanwhile was still living, which also seems to be favored by Son 6:9, (Son 8:2; Son 3:4).Made me keeper of the vineyards. This manifestly does not assign the reason of her brothers anger, nor is this intimated in the following clause (vs. Hengstenberg and E. Meier), it is rather passed over in silence as irrelevant. But this clause tells what her brothers did in consequence of their anger, and then the last clause states what further happened to her when degraded into a vineyard-keeper.Mine own vineyard I have not kept.The addition of not only gives a special emphasis to the suffix in , but distinguishes the vineyard of Shulamith here named as quite distinct and of another sort from those of her brothers, which she had been obliged to keep (Son 8:12). It is a vineyard of a higher and more valuable kind, which alas! she had not carefully guarded. She herself with all that she has and is, must be intended by this vineyard of her own (comp. Del. and Weissb. in loc.), or it may be her beauty (Ew., Dpke., Magn., Heiligst., Hitz., Vaih.),at all events every thing that she had to surrender to Solomon and devote to him when she became his beloved and followed him. There is, in these words, no serious lament for her lost virtue (on the contrary see Son 4:12-16) or for her forsaken lover (as Bttcher, Meier and tentatively also Vaih.); but they contain a lament half in jest or with mingled sadness and irony for her forfeited freedom, for which she constantly longs in spite of her attachment to her royal lover. In favor of this double meaning of vineyard may also be urged the etymology of , which agreeably to its derivation from the root , signifies the noblest, the most valued possession, the highest good, (comp. Hos 2:17; Isa 5:7; Psa 16:6, as well as Ewald and Hitzigin loc.).

Son 1:7. Tell me, thou whom my soul loveth, where feedest thou? To this dreamy exclamation of longing desire for her still absent lover, the close of the preceding verse forms a thoroughly appropriate introduction. Despoiled of her freedom and her beloved home she can only then feel happy amid the new and splendid objects which surround her, when he from love to whom she has forsaken all and to whom her whole heart belongs, is actually close beside her. inform me not cause me to be informed, for always denotes an immediate declaration or announcement. This expression would manifestly be less suited to an address to a far distant lover. The paraphrase of the idea by the fond circumlocution whom my soul loveth is found four times beside in the beautiful section Son 3:1-4.Shulamith represents her royal lover as feeding and then as reclining (or more exactly as causing to recline, viz., his flock) simply because, as a plain country girl, she supposes that she can directly transfer to him the relations and occupations of country life, and hence assumes that the king may now be somewhere in the fields with his flocks, and have sought with them some shady resting-place as a protection from the hot noon-day sun. That Solomon was just then residing in his pleasure grounds near Jerusalem, that is to say in the country, might favor this artless conception of hers (comp. above on Son 1:5.) But the assumption of Weissbach is needless, that Solomon was then actually engaged in the over-sight of his flocks (Ecc 2:7) like Absalom and his brothers who, according to 2Sa 13:23, ff., were accustomed to manage the sheep-shearing themselves, and to convert it into a merry-making. Nothing further is to be sought in the expressions before us, than a ready trope from pastoral life, and consequently one of those criteria which mark this poem as at least a partially idyllic or pastoral drama (comp. Introduc. 1, Rem. 3). That Josephs going to the pasturage of his brethren, Gen 37:15-16, was what specially suggested the present figurative representation is too far-fetched, though asserted by Hengstenberg, and connected with his allegorical mode of interpretation. Parallels for this reclining at noon may better be adduced from the figurative language of the prophets, as Isa 49:10; Psa 23:2; Eze 34:13-15, or even from the ancient classics, as Theocritus, Id., Son 1:14-15; Son 6:4; 25:216: Horace, Od., III. 29:21; Virg. Georg. III. 324 ff.68

For why should I be as one straying?etc. is very variously explained. to cover is commonly regarded as its theme, and it is accordingly translated as one veiled [so Eng. Ver. margin] i.e., as a harlot, Gen 38:14-15 (Rosenm., Del.) [so Thrupp, Burrowes, Noyes]; or as one ashamed, veiled through shame (Umbreit, Dpke, Hengstenberg), or as one unknown (Ewald, Heiligst., who compare the Arab. obscurus fuit, occultavit) [Williams: as a stranger], or as a mourner, (so some of the older commentators, as R. Solomon ben Melek, [Ainsworth] after 2Sa 15:30). [Weiss.: Muffled up as eastern women always were when exposed to the eyes of strangers, and as a shepherdess subject to insolent and injurious treatment from the shepherds, comp. Exo 2:16-19]. But the signification cover can no more be proved for , than that of pining away, which Schultens (Op. Min. p. 240), Rocke and others have sought to establish for the word. The Vulgate (ne vagari incipiam), Symmach. ( ), Syr. and Targ., favor the meaning of wandering or straying, which is admirably suited to the context; [Clarke: as a wanderer; one who not knowing where to find her companions wanders fruitlessly in seeking them.] In proof of it we shall not need Bttchers emendation (as a country-stroller), but simply Hitzigs assumption that by a transposition of the is for (= comp. Gen 37:15); comp. = , = Arab. etc., (a view as old as Kleukerin loc., who with S. Bochart actually proposes to read ). The following expression by the flocks of thy companions is closely connected with this idea as the more exact limitation of the straying. The straying by the flocks of the kings companions, is nothing but a figure of speech for remaining among the throng of ladies in the royal court without the presence of the king himself; and that is just the veritably desolate and forlorn condition, from which Shulamith wishes to be released by the return of her lover. Hitzig arbitrarily explains the wandering of a wandering of her thoughts; and still more arbitrarily Weissbach seeks to give to (with the following for ) the sense of laying hands upon, purloining (that I, by the flocks of thy companions, be not regarded as one who will lay hands upon them, and for that reason is sneaking about them watching his opportunity.)

5. The daughters of Jerusalem.

Son 1:8. If thou know not, fairest among women,etc. This address (lit. the fair (one) among the women. compare [GreensHebrew Grammar, 260, 2 (2)], Ewald, Lehrbuch, 513, c) which is also used Son 5:9; Son 6:1 by the daughters of Jerusalem in speaking to Shulamith, does not prove that the counsel here given to follow the tracks of the flocks and pasture her kids beside the shepherds huts is a seriously meant exhortation to Shulamith to return to the condition of a shepherdess, or a friendly direction to her on her way to the royal flocks (Weissb.). This language is evidently an answer adapted to the narrow range of thought implied in Shulamiths question (which must necessarily appear foolish to the ladies of the court) and hence an unmeaning one, after which the fair shepherdess knew neither more nor less than she did before (Del.). It is therefore jeeringly intended, and if it did not exactly wound her deeply, it was certainly adapted to increase Shulamiths longing for her lover. means neither if thou do not know thyself (Sept., Luth.), nor if thou art deficient in understanding (Ewald, Hitzig, etc., who appeal to Isa 1:3; Isa 56:10, passages not appropriate in this connection), but conformably to the similar passage, Son 6:12, if thou know not, viz.: where thy lover feeds, this object being readily supplied from the context. go out at the heels of the flock, i.e., go after it, follow its tracks, comp. Jdg 4:10; Jdg 5:15. therefore denotes here, as the Hiphil in Isa 40:26; 2Sa 5:2, going forth with the flock, not going out of the palace (Vaih., etc.).Thy kids, i.e., the kids which as such an enthusiastic admirer of country life, and a shepherds occupation you must certainly have. That she actually had some with her (Weissb.) by no means follows from this expression.

6. Second Scene. Solomon, Son 1:9-11. The king has now returned from the engagements, which had hitherto detained him from his women, and he begins a tender conversation with Shulamith, who is favored by him above all the rest; during which the others withdraw into the background. Comp. No. 1, above.

Son 1:9. To my horse in Pharaohs chariots, literally: to my mare; for can scarcely stand collectively for horses, a body of horse, (Vulg. equitatui;Hengstb., Weissb., etc.), and there is nothing to justify its being pointed (Magn., Hitz.). The singular evidently refers to a favorite mare of the king (comp. Zec 10:3), to a particularly fine, and splendidly caparisoned specimen of those , which according to 1Ki 10:26, Sept., Solomon had for his chariots; and more exactly to such a steed used on state occasions in Solomons Pharaoh-chariots, i.e., in those costly Pharaonic spans of horses, which according to 1Ki 10:28-29, he had imported from Egypt. Solomon compares his beloved to this mare of his, harnessed and magnificently decorated before stately Pharaoh-chariots (not exactly before one of them, Vatabl.), and that on account of her youthful bloom and her unaffected demeanor, whose lovely charms are still further heightened by the simple ornaments worn upon her head and neck, Son 1:10-11 (Del.). The point of the comparison is not to be sought exclusively in the proud bearing of the horse, Job 39:19, etc. (Ewald, Vaih., etc.), any more than in the glittering ornaments of his head and neck. In opposition to Weissb., who thinks merely of the latter, and referring to HartmannsHebrerin am Putztische, (Hebrew woman at her Toilet), OleariusPersische Reisen (Travels in Persia), etc. [see also HarmersOutlines, p. 205, and the illustrations of a brides dress, in CalmetsDictionary] maintains that there was a marked similarity between the ornaments of pearls and chains worn by horses and by women in the East, and consequently by Shulamith in the present instance, it may be said that according to Son 1:11 Solomon now first proposes to adorn his beloved with the proper gold and silver ornaments, and therefore she did not yet wear a burdensome head and neck ornament like a richly bridled mare.69My dear; comp. Son 1:15; Son 2:2; Son 4:1, etc., where the same familiar form of address recurs.

Son 1:10. Comely are thy cheeks in chains. kindred with , etc., is equivalent to a circle, ring; in the plural consequently it denotes a chain composed of many rings, which goes around from the head under the chin, by which therefore the cheeks are encircled. Shulamith may not have brought this ornament together with the necklaces named in b ( kindred with , , little disks of metal or corals pierced and strung together) with her from the country, but may have received it as a present from Solomon since her coming to the royal court. Solomon, however, is not satisfied with this simple ornament, but promises her, Son 1:11, much richer and more splendid jewels,scarcely with the view of alluring her and binding her to his court (as even Del. supposes) but simply to adorn yet more handsomely one who is so lovely, and to have his full pleasure in her as a magnificently attired princess.70

Son 1:11. Chains of goldwith points of silver. Needlessly, and quite too artificially, Weissb. will have us understand by the something similar to the little disks of silver pierced and strung together, which might be worn along with the gold chains. But with by no means requires this explanation (comp. Son 4:13): it rather leads to the far more natural assumption that the golden chains were dotted with silver punctis argenteis distincti (Hitzig).71

7. Shulamith Son 1:12-14.

Son 1:12. Whilst the king (is) at his table, my spikenard yields its fragrance. If these words were to be translated: whilst the king was at his table, my spikenard yielded its fragrance (Rosenmueller, Ewald, Hengstenb., Vaih., Weissb., etc.), they could only mean: as long as Solomon was absent, and did not burden me with his attentions, I was happy in the memory of my friend; they would accordingly bear an emphatic testimony to the correctness of the herdsman or shepherd-hypothesis; for that the fragrance of the spikenard is to be taken literally and explained of the costly nard-oil on Shulamiths hair and garments, which had been as it were suppressed and far exceeded by the coming of her lover with his much more delightful fragrance (Weissb.) is a very far-fetched explanation of these simple words.72 They are rather to be taken as referring to the present, because the fact of there being no was in the protasis makes against the preterite sense of give73 (comp. Hitz. in loc.) and because does not properly mean table, but rather company, festive assembly (comp. the adverbial use of the word in the singular, 1Ki 6:29, and in the plural, 2Ki 23:5; Job 37:12) and consequently points to the place where the king then was, to the womens apartment of his palace or park in contrast with his former stay in the fields, with the soldiers, on the chase, or elsewhere. The fragrance of Shulamiths nard is accordingly a figurative designation of the agreeable sensations or delightful feelings produced in her heart by the presence of her lover (comp. Del.: it only emits again that fragrance, which it has absorbed from his glances), a representation which by no means sounds too refined and courtly for this simple country girl, this child of nature, which therefore Hitzig very needlessly puts (as well as Son 1:13) into the mouth of an enamored court lady as a voluptuous piece of flattery for Solomon.74 For , which must here denote not a stalk of the well-known Indian plant Valeriana Jatamansi (Magn., Bttcher), but the aromatic unguent prepared from it, and that as poured out, and consequently emitting its fragrance, comp. Winer, R. W. B. Art., Narde. [SmithsDictionary of the Bible, Art. Spikenard. KittosBiblical Cyclopedia, Art. Nerd].

Son 1:13. A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me. Evidently an advance upon the figure of the fragrant nard. The royal lover, who now rests upon Shulamiths bosom, is compared by her to a parcel of the costly myrrh-gum such as the ladies of the East are in the habit of carrying in their bosom. is not a bunch [so Noyes] or sprig of myrrh (Ewald, Delitzsch, etc.) for there is no more evidence of any aromatic quality in the branches and leaves of the myrrh tree than there is of its occurrence in Palestine at all. We must therefore think of a bundle or box (not exactly a flask, as Weissb. proposes, contrary to the meaning of ) of semi-fluid, or fluid myrrh gum, and must besides compare the use of this gum as an unguent, which is vouched for also in Son 5:5; Son 5:13; Est 2:12; Exo 30:28. On the carrying of boxes of ointment by Hebrew women, comp. also Isa 3:20; Job 42:14, and Hartmann, die Hebrerin am Putztische II., p. 280 f.

Son 1:14. A cluster of Cyprus is my beloved to me.Sept.: ( here and Son 4:13) is the Cyprus flower or Alhenna, which is indigenous to India, and probably to Egypt (Pliny, H. N. xii. 24) and may have been transplanted by Solomon in his vineyards at Engedi (on which comp. No. 1 above) for the sake of the peculiarly strong odor of its yellowish-white, grape-like clusters of flowers. [See HarmersOutlines, pp. 218221; ShawsTravels, pp. 113, 4: SonninisVoyage, pp. 291302]. Comp. in respect to the fondness of oriental women for this aromatic plant the testimony of a recent traveller in the Ausland, 1851, No. 17. The white Henna-blossoms, which grow in clusters and are called Tamar-henna, have a very penetrating odor, which seems disagreeable to the European who is unaccustomed to it; but the Orientals have an uncommon liking for this odor, and prefer it to any other. The native women commonly wear a bouquet of Tamar-henna on their bosom. The Hebrew name of this plant might with Simonis and others be derived from to cover, with allusion to the custom which prevails among Oriental women of staining their finger nails yellow with Henna powder, but it is more natural to refer as well as and the Lat. cuprum to the Sanskrit root cubh, to shine, be yellow, whence cubhra. The exact parallelism between Son 1:13-14, and in general the intimate connection of Son 1:12-14, with their figures taken without exception from the region of vegetable aromas further yields decided testimony against Hitzigs division of the passage as though Son 1:12-13, belonged to one of the women of the Harem, and only Son 1:14 to Shulamith.

8. Solomon, Shulamith, Son 1:15-17.

Son 1:15. Lo! thou art fair, my dear. The fond ardor, with which she has just spoken of her lover, has doubled the expressive beauty of her features. The perception of this leads Solomon full of rapture to praise her beauty.Thine eyes are doves,i.e., not thine eyes are doves eyes, as though (like Psa 45:7; 1Ki 4:13, Ezr 10:13) the const. were to be supplied; and the dove-like simplicity and fidelity of Shulamiths eyes were to be brought into the account as the point of comparison (Vulg., Syr., Ibn Ezra, Vat., Gesen., Del., etc.), [Eng. Ver.]; but as is shown both by the context and the parallel passage, Son 5:12, thine eyes resemble the lustrous and shimmering plumage of doves, wherein more particularly the white of the eyes is compared to that of the body, and the lustrous iris to the metallic lustre of the neck or wings of the dove (comp. Psa 68:14). Correctly therefore the Sept.: , and in the later times Targ., Rashi, Hengstenberg, Hitzig, etc.) [So Hodgson, Williams, Fry, Thrupp, etc.].

Son 1:16. Lo! thou art fair, my beloved, yea sweet. The exactly analogous form of expression, with which Shulamith here answers the flattering caresses of the king, makes it appear to the last degree forced to regard these words of hers as addressed to a distant lover. The climacteric yes sweet, yes charming is only the expression of her loving transport, and finds an illustrative commentary in the description Son 2:3-5. [Will., Gins. connect this adjective with what follows: Lovely is our verdant couch].Yea, our couch is green, lit.: greens, grows green () a reference to the stately, verdant, and refreshing natural surroundings, in the midst of which to their delight their loving intercourse now takes place, and perhaps more particularly to a shady grassplot under the trees of the park, upon which they were for the moment sitting or reclining; comp. 1 above, and Weissb. in loc. In opposition to Hengstenb., who takes in the sense of marriage-bed, and in a purely figurative sense of a gladsome and flourishing condition, may be urged that no mention can be made of a marriage-bed for Shulamith and Solomon before their nuptials, which are not described until Son 3:6, etc.; likewise the contents of the following verses, especially Son 2:1-3, which point to a continued stay of the lovers in the open air, under shady trees, and beside fragrant flowers.75

Son 1:17. The beams of our houses are cedars, our wainscoting cypress-trees. This can neither be the language of the choir of women belonging to the harem (Bttcher), whose entrance here would be to the last degree disturbing; nor even of Solomon (Hitzig, Weissb., Ren.) to whom the beauty of the place where they are, is a matter of perfect indifference, by reason of the rapture with which he regards his beloved; but only that of Shulamith, the innocent, light-hearted child of nature, who has just begun to express her pleasure in that lovely spot in the open air, to which her lover had conducted her, and whose words would sound quite unfinished and end abruptly if nothing further were added to the commendation of their verdant couch.Cedars and cypresses, also named together Isa 14:8; Zec 11:2, as costly species of wood for building and stately, lofty trees, are here evidently meant in the literal sense, of living trees of this description, such as were to be found, along with other rare and noble plants, in the royal gardens of a king so skilled in nature and so fond of splendor. The figurative part of her language lies rather in the beams and the wainscoting ( from = Ar. to hew, hence = laquearia of the Vulg., wainscoting on walls and ceilingsnot. pillars, Weissb., nor rafters, Vatabl. and L. Cappell, [so E. V.], nor floor, Hengstenberg, who prefers the Kri ). She, who had hitherto been without Solomon in the showy apartments of the palace, felicitates herself that she can now rest with him under the green trees of the garden, which seem to her to arch over them a far finer ceiling than those richly adorned halls. It is impossible to reconcile the mention of cedars, which only grew wild in Lebanon, not in central or northern Palestine, and consequently not in the vicinity of Shunem, with the shepherd hypothesis, whose advocates here find expressed Shulamiths longing for the verdure and shade of her home (e.g.Ewald, Vaih.).

For the DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL comments, see Son 2:7 ff.

Footnotes:

[1][Wicliffe: The Church of the coming of Christ speaketh, saying. Matthews: The voice of the Church. Cover-Dale: O that thy mouth would give me a kiss, for thy breasts are more pleasant than wine, and that because of the good and pleasant savor.].

[2]On the combination of the kindred words and . Comp. 1Ki 1:12; 1Ki 2:16; Isa 1:13; Isa 8:10; Jon 1:10; Jon 1:16, and generally Ewald, Lehrbuch, 281 a, [Greens Heb. Gram. 271, 3].

[3][Wicliffe: The voice of the Father.]

[4][Thrupps proposed emendation like as the scent which cometh from incenses, is nothing but ingenious trifling, and has not even the merit of being good Hebrew.Tr.]

[5][Wic. The voice of the Church.]

[6]Observe the assonance in and which is probably intentional. [Thrupp: as ointment thou art, by thy name, poured forth.]

[7]In regard to the construction of the words four views are possible: 1. is taken as the subject, and as 3 pers. fem. here employed because is exceptionally used as a feminine after the analogy of the Ethiopic (so Ew.: thy name is poured out as an ointment; Vaih.: as the fragrance of balsam thy name pours itself forth, etc.) 2. is regarded as the subject, which is here exceptionally treated as feminine, and to which belongs as a relative clause; an unguent, which is shed forth, is thy name (so the Septuag., Vulg., Luth. and the generality of interpreters). 3. is taken as a masc., but the form is regarded as a hardened form for (after the analogy of Isa 44:28; Ecc 10:15), and accordingly translated as before (Hitzig). 4. is held to be the 2 pers. sing. fut. Hophal with a double accusative: thou art poured forth in respect to thy name as ointment, i.e., thou, or more precisely thy name, diffusest a noble fragrance, like a box of ointment which is emptied of its contents (so J. H. Michaelis: sicut oleum effunderis nomine tuo; Hengstenb., Weissb.). This last construction is to be preferred as grammatically the best established, while it agrees in sense substantially with Nos. 2 and 3.

[8][Matt. Yea, that same moveth me also to run after thee.]

[9][Matt. The spousess to her companions.]

[10][Cov., Cranmer, Bishops: privy chamber; Doway: cellars, altered in later editions to store-rooms.]

[11]Upon prop. to mention, bring to remembrance, then to mention with praise, celebrate, comp. Psa 20:8; Isa 48:1; Isa 63:7; also Ps. 45:18; 1Ch 16:4, where it is parallel to thank, praise.

[12][Cov. Well is them that love thee. Eng. Ver. The upright, Marg. uprightly. Noyes, Burrowes: sincerely.]

[13][Wic. The Church, of her tribulations. Mat. The voice of the Church in persecution. Cov., Cran. I am black, (O ye daughusalem) like as the tents of the Cedarenes and as the hangings of Solomon; but yet I am fair and well-favored withal. Ginsburg: swarthy.]

[14][Withington: fair; Burrowes: lovely.]

[15][Cov. marvel; Doway: consider; Williams, Noyes: gaze; With. scorn; Ginsburg: disdain.]

[16] signifies in both instances, in and in not for, but for the reason that, because ( ); comp. Exo 2:2. The second clause is therefore co-ordinated with the first, although explanatory of it (comp. Weissb. in loc.)

[17][Cov.: so black. E. Ver. black; Doway: brown; Weiss: swarthy; Bur., Thrupp: dark.] On blackish, dusky (not very black, deep black, as Hitz. and formerly Ewald too would have it), comp. on Son 1:5 above [Greens Heb. Gram., 188].

[18] is not look upon [so E. V.; Cov. shined; Will. beamed; Thrupp: fiercely scanned; Weiss: glanced] (Septuag. , comp. Job 20:9), but is here= (Gen 41:23) scorch, blacken, the sense already expressed by Aquila ( ) and the Vulg. (decoloravit me) [Good: discolored; Bur., Gins. browned], and retained by most of the recent interpreters (in opposition to Rosenm., Hengstenb., Weissb.).

[19][Mat. The voice of the Synagogue.]

[20] either Niph. of to burn, glow, (so Ew., Meier, Hitz.), or more probably from (so that the sing. would be or ); for the Niph. of always elsewhere means to be dried, parched (Psa 69:4; Psa 102:4, etc.), whilst the meaning demanded here is to be angry, wroth. Comp. Gesenius Lexicon and Weissb. in loc. [Cov.: had evil will.]

[21][Cov.: Thus was I fain to keep a vineyard, which was not mine own.]

[22][Wic., Mat. The voice of the Church to Christ.]

[23] elsewhere how? [which Weiss. retains] is here= where? so too 2Ki 6:13, Kthibh, whilst the Kri has

[24] properly for why (comp. , Dan 1:10), a fuller expression for the simple why, as in Job 34:27, stands for , Psa 45:3. The sense is correctly given by the Sept. and Syr., which here and in Dan 1:10 translate that not, lest (). [Cov.: and that. The critical conjecture mentioned by Williams, that this word should be pointed as a proper name O Solomon is unworthy of attention.Tr.]

[25][Wic. go vagrant; Cov. lest I go wrong and come unto the flocks of thy companions; E. Ver. one (Genev. she) that turneth aside; Good, Percy, Clarke: wanderer; Williams, Fry: stranger; Taylor: rover; Ginsb.: roaming; E. Ver. Marg. one that is veiled, so Noyes, Weiss., Thrupp.]

[26][Wic., Mat. The voice of Christ to the Church.]

[27] is here added inasmuch as the action returns upon its subject (comp. Pro 9:12; and Pro 2:6; Pro 8:14 below), so in general Ewald, Lehrb. 315 a [Greens Heb. Chrest. note on Isa 40:9.]

[28][Wic. my riding; Genev. troop (E. V. company) of horses; Will.: the horse; Noyes: the horses; Gins.: my steed.]

[29][Cov. There will I tarry for thee, my love, with mine host and with my chariots, which shall be no fewer than Pharaohs]

[30]The plur. [rather Tr.] Jdg 11:37 Kthibh. [E. Ver. my love, Marg. in Son 1:15 : companion; Will.: consort; Fry: partner.]

[31][Genev. rows of stones; E. Ver. rows of jewels; Fry: jewels; With. chains; Thrupp, Ginsb.; circlet; Weiss.: reins.]

[32][Genev. chains; E. Ver. chains of gold; Doway: jewels; Fry: strings of beads; Good, Burrowes: strings of pearls: Thrupp, With., Ginsb. necklace; Weiss.: chains, i.e., such as are attached to the pole or beam of the carriage, and which the horse wears on his neck.]

[33][In addition to the renderings given to this word in the preceding verse, Wic. here translates it: ribands; Cov. neck-band; E. Ver. borders; With. collars.]

[34][Cov. buttons; E. Ver. studs; With. stars.]

[35][Wic. The voice of the Church, of Christ. Mat. The voice of the Church.]

[36][So Cov., Eng. Ver.; Genev. repast; Doway: repose, after the Vulg. accubitu and the LXX ; Good: banquet; Fry: the king in his circuit may either refer to his going round in some part of the procession, or to taking his stand in the midst of his retinue, or we may translate, until the king had taken his seat; Will., Burr, circle of friends; Weiss.: with his guest.]

[37][Ainsw.: bag; Taylor: scent-bag; Good: casket; Burrowes: amulet.]

[38][Cov. O my beloved. E. Ver. my well-beloved, so constantly throughout the book in Genev., except once in Son 5:9, lover.]

[39][So Cov., Doway, E. Ver. Marg. The text of the Eng. Ver. has camphire.]

[40][Wic., Mat. The voice of Christ to the Church.]

[41][Wic., Mat. The voice of the Church to Christ.]

[42][Cov., Cran., Bish. Our bed is decked with flowers. Dow.: our little bed is flourishing.]

[43][Cov. ceilings.]

[44][Cov. balks; Cran., Bish. cross-joints; E. V.: rafters, Marg.: galleries; Good, Noyes boardings; Parkhurst: ceiling; Gesen.: carved ceiling; Fuerst: carved beams].

[45][E. Ver. fir; Ains. brutin-tree.]

[46][Wic. The voice of Christ, of Him and of the Church; Mat. The voice of Christ.]

[47][Wic., Mat. The voice of the Church, of Christ.]

[48][Cov., Cran., Bish., Dow. throat; Genev. mouth; E. V. taste].

[49][Cov. grapes; Cran., Bish. cups; Genev., E. V. flagons].

[50][E. V. comfort; Marg. straw me; Doway, compass me about; Ainsworth: strew me a bed; Williams: strew citrons around me; Thrupp: strew me with citron leaves].

[51][Wic., Mat. The voice of Christ, of the Church; Wic., Dow. I adjure you; Cov., Cran., Genev., E. V.: I charge you.]

[52][Thrupp has: fells, so as to rhyme with gazelles, in fancied imitation of the original].

[53][Cov., Dow., Genev. she; E. V. correctly: he; Ginsb., Thrupp: it].

[54][So Patrick, Good, Williams, Taylor, Fry, the last two of whom divide Son 1:5 in like manner, assigning the words but comely, and as the curtains of Solomon to the daughters of Jerusalem, who compliment the bride on her beauty, while she in the remaining clauses speaks depreciatingly of herself; Taylor also apportions Son 1:2-3 between the bride and her attendant ladies, to whom Fry adds an imaginary messenger from the king. Harmer carries the sub-division of parts to an equal extent, claiming that not only the variation in number, but the change of person from third to second, and vice versa, indicates a diversity of speakers. The majority of English Commentators regard the bride as the sole speaker in Son 1:2, as is done also in the headings to this chapter in the authorized version, and either find in the change of number evidence of the plurality involved in the unity of the speaker, (Poole, Thrupp), or suppose that she in thought associates her companions with herself, we, i.e., I and the virgins fore-mentioned (Ainsworth), or that it is the language of modesty, though she means only herself (Clarke)].

[55][Patrick. Scott and Taylor suppose it interrupted by the attendant ladies in Son 1:11].

[56][Taylor and Williams make the place to have been the brides parlor in Solomons palace, and the time the first day of the week preceding the marriage, Son 1:1-8 belonging to the morning, and Son 1:9 to Son 2:7 to the evening of the day. Burrowes follows Harmer in the conjecture that in the opening scene of this poem the king had probably gone forth, according to Oriental customs, to meet the bride, and was awaiting her with his princely retinue in an encampment where his rich pavilion, Son 1:5, stood pre-eminent. The spouse on coming in sight of those kingly tents, gives utterance to the strong emotions of her heart].

[57][Patrick. As in Joh 20:15 the pronoun is used without a consciousness of the absence of the antecedent. Her heart is so full that she supposes every one must know who she means by him].

[58][Permission to kiss the hand of a sovereign is considered an honor; but for that sovereign to give another the kisses of his mouth, is evidence of the tenderest affection, and is the highest possible honor.Burrowes.]

[59][Thy love is more reviving and exhilarating than the effects of wine. Comp. Psa 104:15; Pro 31:6.Burrowes].

[60][Weiss.: Besides or in addition to the savor, etc. A sense which the prep. rarely has, and which is neither admissible here nor in Exo 14:28; Lev 11:26; Lev 16:16, to which he appeals. Incorrectly also the Eng. Ver.: Because of the savor, etc., which must then be connected with therefore, etc., in the last clause, the second clause being parenthetic. She has ointments preparatory to her exaltation; just as Esther was purified to go in to the king, Est 2:12.Withington].

[61][Comp. Eng. To be in good or bad odor for good or ill repute. This explanation of the relation of these ideas, which is developed at length by Baehr, Symbolik d. Mos. Cultus, I., p. 459 ff., appears to be too subtle and remote. It is simpler to find the connection in the fact that the odor, like the name, indicates the character or quality of that from which it proceeds, or to which it belongs. It is an efflux from the object itself, the impression which it makes ad extra.Tr.]

[62][There seems to be no sufficient reason for departing from the authority of the accents in the present instance. We will run requires after thee as its complement to indicate the direction of the running more than draw me, where the direction is sufficiently implied. The violation of the accents is merely for the sake of evading the evidence afforded by the masc. pron. , that after thee we will run is still the language of the bride to Solomonnot of her virgin companions to the bride.Tr].

[63][So too Weiss.: When the king shall have brought me; nor is it a prophetic preterite, the bride anticipating the time when she shall be brought (Thrupp). Ginsburg insists that the changes of person in this verse clearly show that the king here referred to is a separate person from the beloved to whom the maiden is addressing herself. But he is compelled to acknowledge that just before in Son 1:2 the third person and the second both refer to the same subject.Tr.]

[64][This would seem to compel the conclusion that the marriage has already taken place, and is not still future, as our author supposes.Tr.]

[65][Fry, who disregards the points; they do right in loving thee. Good alters the text into: thou art every way lovely.]

[66][Eng. Ver., curtains, Ainsworth: the goodly hangings that were in his house and about his bed.]

[67][Look not disdainfully upon me, Hall; do not too accurately scrutinize, Taylor; Gaze with wonder at her presumption, Noyes.]

[68] [The introduction of these figures from pastoral life has occasioned much needless perplexity among interpreters. Clarke says: How this would apply either to Solomon or to the princess of Egypt, is not easy to ascertain. Probably in the marriage festival there was something like our masks, in which persons of quality assumed rural characters and their employments. Some have thought this to be a separate and independent composition, unconnected with the preceding in which the king was spoken of. So besides the German fragmentists, Fry, who begins a new idyl with Son 1:7 on account of the entire change of imagery. Others maintain that the unity of the poem is unbroken, but insist that the king and the shepherd are distinct persons; so Ginsburg and the entire class of interpreters to which he belongs, and extremes meeting here as not infrequently elsewhere, allegorical interpreters have gone so far in the same direction as to allege that these diverse representations are incompatible in application to any literal subject, and that no consistent sense can be made of them but by referring them to Christ. This, however, is to prejudice the beauty and perfection of the allegory, and to damage the spiritual interpretation of the Song itself. The author of the Song is not writing directly of Christ and His church, but only under the figure of a bridegroom and his bride. His language must, therefore, in all cases have immediate application to the latter, and can set forth the former only as the character and relations in which the more immediate subjects are presented, serve as their faithful image. If this image is distorted, wanting in consistency, and its various parts mutually discordant, the effect of the whole is marred, its beauty and its truth are defaced. It is at least safe to say that this is an assumption, which should not be made without necessity.

The objection to the explanation of the brides language given by Zckler is, that it seems to impute to her the silly conceit that her royal husband or betrothed was actually engaged in the occupation of a shepherd, and it makes the reply by the daughters of Jerusalem utterly unmeaning. Withington presents three alternatives, the last of which is the only simple and natural one. This speech may be a natural mistake of the rural lass on her first union with the king, or it may be the king went into her country to rusticate, or it may be an allegorical expression by which she signifies that the king is a shepherd and his kingdom is a flock. Williams: If he be like a good shepherd feeding his flock, administering public benefits and dispensing judgment, why should not I enjoy the common benefit? If he be indulging in retirement, why may not I, who am admitted as his wife, enjoy his company and conversation?]

[69][Clarke, Burrowes, and others adhere to the singular, to my mare or steed. Good drops the pronoun: one of the steeds, supposing the final yodh to be paragogic. So the common Eng. Ver., which takes the noun in a collective sense company of horses, and is followed by the majority of English commentators, who find in this a proof of its allegorical meaning. The point of comparison according to the Westminster Assemblys Annotations is comeliness, according to Fry splendid decoration. Poole, An horse is a very stately and beautiful creature, and the Egyptian horses were preferred before others, and Pharaohs own chariot horses were doubtless the best of their kind. Thrupp, Wordsworth, Moody Stuart suppose special allusion to the formidable character of Pharaohs horses and chariots at the Red Sea, Exo 14:9; Exo 14:23. Several classic parallels have been adduced as Theocritus, Idyl, 18:30; Horace, Odes, Son 3:11; Sophocles, Electra, 25.Tr.]

[70][The mention of the Egyptian steed in Son 1:9 naturally suggested the reference here made to the beautiful head-dress of the spouse. Burrowes. Whether she be still compared hereby to a company of horses, as in Son 1:9, or to a woman is doubtful, for both similitudes do agree to the things here spoken of. The bridles of horses are often adorned with rows (of jewels) especially in kings chariots. Also the next words thy neck with chains may have like reference; for the kings of Midian when they went to war had chains about their camels necks, Jdg 8:26. Ainsworth, so too Gill. Of the ornament spoken of in the first clause Ainsworth further says, The same word is also used for a turtledove, which some therefore take here to be jewels or ornaments that had the figures of turtle-doves. It is so in fact translated both in the Sept. and Vulg., followed by Wicliffe and Doway, thy cheeks are beautiful as the turtle-doves. So too Cranmer and Bishops: thy cheeks and thy neck are beautiful as the turtles. It is needless to say after the explanation given in the commentary that this rendering confounds two entirely distinct words.Tr.]

[71][Burrowes adopts the conjecture of Harmer in his Outlines, p. 206, that this is the description of a crown. So Moody Stuart: These silver studded circles of gold mean either the royal or the nuptial crown, or both in one. Patrick, Williams, Taylor make this the language not of the bridegroom, but of the attendant virgins.]

[72][Much less so, however, than that which would make the nard refer to a distant shepherd lover, of whose existence there is no evidence. Weiss, who adopts the above rendering gives a peculiar turn to the thought: The bride is supposed to have been provided with a bundle of spikenard, with which she intended to regale her bridegroom, when he entered the banqueting house or saloon, where the guests and the bride await him, and he approached to salute her according to custom. But unfortunately the bridegroom being detained a long time in another chamber by one of the guests, the brides precious bundle of spikenard yielded all its fragrance, and became useless. When he enters, however, Son 1:13 it is more than supplied by the delicious odors of the bridegrooms ointments and spices, which fill all the room. This belongs to his historical interpretation of it as an emblem of Israels losing his pious fervor and lapsing into gross sin, while the Lord was with Moses on Mount Sinai, and the subsequent forgiving love and condescending grace of God.Tr.]

[73][There is no need of departing from the preterite form of the Hebrew verb to obtain the sense desired. It should be rendered Whilst the king has been (as he still is) with his company, my nard has yielded its fragrance.Tr.]

[74][The meaning of this verse is differently given by Coverdale: When the king sitteth at the table, he shall smell my nardus. Her spikenard was not for her own gratification; she had perfumed herself with it for the kings sake alone, Est 2:12, and it now gladly diffuses its fragrance in his presence to afford him pleasure. This Fry takes in its literal sense, supposing allusion to the throwing of flowers and perfumes as a token of high respect and complimentary congratulation. To this Noyes adds with an unnecessary degree of hesitation its emblematic sense: It would seem to be too harsh a figure to suppose my spikenard to mean my personal charms and graces though such a supposition is favored by the next verse. Ainsworth suggests the spiritual application: In her and from her so adorned by her beloved, the odor of the Spirit of God in her, flowed forth and spread abroad to the delight of herself and others. Thrupp: The symbolism of the song of songs was outwardly acted, as is recorded in the gospels in the earthly life of the Lord Jesus, and is also permanently embodied in the worship of the Christian church. It was while He sat at table that the feet of our Saviour were on two separate occasions anointed, Luk 7:36-50; Joh 12:3 ff. And it is in the celebration of the Lords Supper that the church still most solemnly presents her sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, which she beseeches God of His fatherly goodness to accept.Tr.]

[75][The scene seems to be laid in the kiosk or summerhouse in the royal garden. The green flowery turf is our place of repose; our canopy is cedar interspersed with fir, richly carved. Burrowes. Better still, GOOD: The lovers are not in a house, but a grove, where the spreading branches of the firs and the cedars are poetically called the beams and the roof of their chamber. Thus Milton, describing Adams bower, Par. Lost., 4:692, comp. Homer Il., 24:191. Harmer supposes Son 1:16 to be the language of the bride, and Son 1:17 that of the bridegroom. She commends the rural beauty of the spot in which they then were. He, impatient to introduce her to his palace, replies in substance: Arise, my love, and quit this place, pleasant as it is, for equally pleasant and much more commodious will you find the abode to which I am conveying you, it being built of the fragrant cedar, and of other precious wood. Poole, with many others, supposes the nuptial bed to be referred to adorned with green garlands or boughs. Ainsworth: Green is not meant so much of color as of flourishing growth and increase.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.

Thus the song, opens: and there can be no hesitation to discover the singer, namely, the Church. It is she which begins it. But Reader! do not imagine, that because the Church opens this Song, that thereby is meant to intimate love begins first in the human breast. No! thou blessed Jesus! thy love is first in the field; and if we do love thee, it is because thou hast first loved us. 1Jn 4:19 . Hadst thou not loved us with an everlasting love; nay, hadst thou not found out some way of subduing the natural enmity of our hearts; hadst thou not sweetly constrained and drawn us with the bands of love to thyself; never should we have loved thee, or desired to love thee. But when that everlasting love of thine prompted thy sacred breast to manifest it to us, and by thy sweet Spirit to give us a sense and perception of it; then thy love to our souls became the source and fountain of our love to thee, and hath drawn us to thyself, and now will keep us near thy dear Person forever!

There is a great beauty in the manner of the Church’s expression when she saith, Let him kiss me. She doth not call Jesus by name, but him: meaning, no doubt, that her whole soul and heart was so full of him, that it was needless to mention whom she meant. She could refer to no other. We have several beautiful examples of the same kind in scripture. The Psalmist; Psa 73:25 . Mary Magdalene; Joh 20:15 . Peter’s account of the Church; 1Pe 1:8 .

The object of the Church’s request is interesting, that Jesus would kiss her with the kisses of his mouth; meaning the manifestation of his presence. This was what the Old Testament-saints longed for; the appearance of Christ in the flesh: and the same is what New Testament believers continually desire more of. The manifestation of the Lord Jesus, in substance of our flesh, might well be called kisses; because his incarnation was a sure pledge that he came to redeem our fallen nature; and the acceptance of redemption by us, is, in one part of scripture, summed up in this comprehensive way, as kissing the Son. Psa 2:12 . Well might the Old Testament Church thus long for Christ’s coming, that the salvation of Israel might come to Zion. Psa 53:6 . For however God spake in sundry times, and in divers manners, to our fathers by the prophets; yet prophets, nor angels, nor wise men, nor scribes, none were like Jesus: never man spake like him. Thou, and thou only, dearest Jesus, hast the words of eternal life. But, my soul, was this the request of the Old Testament Church only? Dost not thou, doth not every real follower of the Lord Jesus in the New as earnestly long, and passionately cry out, for frequent, constant, uninterrupted manifestations of himself, and his love to our hearts? Yes! the language of all that know our Lord Jesus Christ, is, like the Church: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.

I hardly think it necessary to remind the Reader, that the request is for kisses in the plural number, and not for one kiss only, a single token of Jesus’s love. The cause of this is very obvious. They who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, will desire to taste more and more of him. There must be repeated manifestations of his love, and repeated desires of the soul going forth after him. And though a believing soul may, and will say, when under a dark state of mind, and an absence, as to our view of things, of the light of God’s countenance; oh! that Jesus would but grant me one token of his love, one kiss of his mouth, one sweet smile of his favour, which is better than life itself; yet, when the Lord Jesus comes with his hands full of grace, and his heart full of love, the soul finds such rapture in communion, that she will not be satisfied with a little; but, like the Patriarch, will wrestle for a blessing, and will lay hold of the skirt of his mantle, saying, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. Gen 32:26 . Pause, Reader, and admire with me the condescension of our Jesus! doth he, indeed, whom angels adore, kiss with the kisses of his mouth poor polluted sinners. Is it an honour to kiss the hand of an earthly prince? And will our heavenly King himself kiss with his mouth the beggars of the dunghill? Oh! precious Jesus! what a love is thine. But we must not stop here. The Church gives the reason for her request: Thy love is better than wine. Let the Reader remark with me, that the manner of expression in the song is now changed. She had before been speaking of him. And now she particularly speaks to him. But what an endless subject is opened here in the view of Jesus love? Who shall describe it, as it is in itself; as it is in its effects; or as it manifests itself to the souls of his people.

Yes! thou dearest Jesus, none but thyself can tell what it is. It began before all worlds. It had its rise in thyself: nothing in us, no, not even our misery prompted thee to it, though our misery afforded occasion for its display. But it would rob thee, dearest Lord, of thy glory, in thy love to us, to say that anything in us became the cause. No! it was spontaneous in thy holy breast. And as it was from everlasting; so it is to everlasting. And the duration of thy love is only equaled by the nature and quality of it, in its greatness, extensiveness, aboundings, unmeasurable by heights, and depths, and lengths, and breadths: a love indeed that passeth knowledge: and as infinitely surpassing all creature love as the drop of the bucket, or the small dust of the balance. Its blessed effects also are such as no language can describe. All that we have in time: all that we look forward to in eternity. All the mercies of redemption, all the works of grace, and all the hopes of glory; the whole hath its rise in this unparalleled love of Jesus. Neither are the manifestations of it less wonderful on the hearts of the Lord’s people. For what can equal the astonishing powers of this love in converting such an heart as mine, (may I, Reader, add yours also) from an hatred to the Lord and his ways, to the love of him and his salvation. Can you be surprised, Reader; then, that the Church should cry out under such views of Jesus; Thy love is better than wine. Wine is an high cordial, and as such it is recommended in the book of the Proverbs, to be given to the heavy in heart. Pro 31:6 . But then it can reach no further than to the refreshment of the body. But the love of our Jesus reacheth to the soul. If I give a poor, famishing, fainting creature a little wine, it may revive his spirits. But if Jesus gives his precious love to me, it will heal my soul. It hath done so, dearest Lord, for thou hast quickened my soul which before was dead in trespasses and sins. And now the renewed draughts of the same everlasting love keep my soul alive, and preserve it from day to day. Reader! do you know anything of this love of Jesus? Can you say, as the Church did, Thy love is better than wine? If so, let us ask the dear Lord to shed abroad the sweet tokens of this love more and more in our hearts: here is no danger of intoxication. We would be drunken, but not with wine. Jesus hath said, Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Son 1:2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love [is] better than wine.

Ver. 2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. ] It must be premised and remembered that this book is penitus allegoricus et parabolicus, as one saith, allegorical throughout, and aboundeth all along with types and figures, with parables and similitudes. Quot verba, tot sacramenta, So many words, so many mysteries, saith Jerome of the Revelation, which made Cajetan not dare to comment upon it. a The like may be truly affirmed of the Canticles; nay, we may say of it in a special manner, as Possevinus doth of the whole Hebrew Bible, tot esse sacramenta, quot literae, tot mysteria, quot puncta, tot arcana, quot apices. so much is sacred, how many books, so much is mysterious, how many marked with vowel points, so much is secret, how many marked vowels. b Hence Psellus in Theodoret asketh pardon for presuming to expound it. But difficilium facilis est venia; et, in magnis voluisse sat est: In hard things the pardon is easy, and in high things let a man show his goodwill and it sufficeth. The matter of this book hath been pointed at already; as for the form of it, it is dramatic and dialogistical. The chief speakers are not Solomon and the Shulamite, as Castalio makes it, but Christ and his Church. Christ also hath his associates, those friends of the bridegroom, Joh 3:29 viz., the prophets, apostles, pastors, and teachers, who put in a word sometimes; as likewise do the fellow friends of the bride – viz., whole churches, or particular Christians. The bride begins here abruptly, after the manner of a tragedy, through impatience of love, and a holy impotence of desire after, not a union only, but a unity also with him whom her soul loveth. “Let him kiss me,” &c. Kissing is a token of love, 1Pe 5:14 Luk 7:45 and of reconciliation. 2Sa 14:33 And albeit , as Philo observeth, love is not always in a kiss – Joab and Judas could kiss and kill, Caveatur osculum Iscarioticum, consign their treachery with so sweet a symbol of amity 1Pe 1:22 – yet those that “love out of a pure heart fervently,” do therefore kiss, as desiring to transfuse, if it might be, the souls of either into other, and to become one with the party so beloved, and in the best sense suaviated. kissed That, therefore, which the Church here desireth, is not so much Christ’s coming in the flesh – that “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners had spoken in times past unto her by the prophets, would now speak unto her by his Son,” Heb 1:1-2 as some have sensed it – as that she may have utmost conjunction to him, and nearest communion with him, here as much as may be, and hereafter in all fulness of fruition. “Let him kiss me,” and so seal up his hearty love unto me, even the “sure mercies of David.” “With the kisses of his mouth”; not with one kiss only, with one pledge of his love, but with many – there is no satiety, no measure, no bounds or bottom of this holy love, as there is in carnal desires, ubi etiam vota post usum fastidio sunt. Neither covets she to kiss his hand, as they deal by kings, or his feet, as they do the pope’s, but his “mouth”; she would have true kisses, the basia, the busses of those lips, whereinto “grace is poured,” Psa 45:2 and wherehence those words of grace are uttered Mat 5:2-12 “He openeth his mouth with wisdom, and in his lips is the law of kindness.” Pro 31:26 Hence her affectionate desires, her earnest pantings, inquietations, and unsatisfiablenesses. She must have Christ, or else she dies; she must have the “kisses of Christ’s mouth,” even those sweet pledges of love in his Word, or she cannot be contented, but will complain, in the confluence of all other comforts, as Abraham did, “Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless?” Gen 15:2 or as Artabazus in Xenophon did, when Cyrus had given him a cup of gold and Chrysantas a kiss in token of his special favour, saying that the cup that he gave him was nothing so good gold as the kiss that he gave Chrysantas. The poet’s fable, that the moon was wont to come down from her orb to kiss Endymion. It is a certain truth that Christ came down from heaven to reconcile us to his Father, to unite us to himself, and still to communicate unto our souls the sense of his love, the feeling of his favour, the sweet breath of his Holy Spirit.

For thy love is better than wine. ] Heb., Loves. The Septuagint and Vulgate render it ubera, thy breasts; but that is not so proper, since it is the Church that here speaks to Christ, and by the sudden change of person shows the strength and liveliness of her affection, as by the plural “loves,” she means all fruits of his love, righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost, assurance of heaven, which Mr Latimer calls the deserts of the feast of a good conscience. There are other dainty dishes at that feast, but this is the banquet, this is “better than wine,” which yet is a very comfortable creature, Psa 104:15 and highly set by. Psa 4:7 Plato calls wine a music, miseriarum humanarum , the chief allayments of men’s miseries.

a Apocalypsin fateor me nescire exponere, &c., exponat cui Deus concesserit. – Cajet.

b Possev. in Biblioth. Select.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)