Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 2:8
The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
8. The voice of my beloved ] This is the literal rendering of the Hebrew, but the word ql, ‘sound’ or ‘voice,’ is often used with a following genitive as an interjection, and then ‘Hark!’ is the best equivalent. (See Ges. Gramm. 146 b.) Thus in Gen 4:10, “The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground,” should be, “Hark! thy brother’s blood crieth,” &c. Cp. Isa 40:3. So here, Hark! my beloved, behold he cometh leaping over the mountains, &c.; i.e. it is not his voice, but the sound of his feet that she hears in imagination. (Cp. Oettli.) The mountains might be those round about Jerusalem, but more probably they are the Northern hills amidst which they now are.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Chap. Son 2:8-17. The Beloved comes
The scene is evidently changed from Jerusalem to some royal residence in the country. The lover, like the Shulammite herself, belongs to the northern hills; and as he appears here, it is more natural to suppose that the scene has been transferred thither than that he has come to Jerusalem. Moreover the later references to Lebanon imply this change of scene, and it is most suitable to suppose that the change takes place here. The indirect way in which this is hinted is entirely congruous with the kind of poems we have taken these to be. The Shulammite starts up in uncontrollable agitation, imagining she hears her lover’s footsteps as he hastens to her over the hills, and she addresses her companions, the court ladies, tracing his approach until he reaches the lattices in the wall, Son 2:8-9. Her lover speaks to her through these, and she, hearing him, repeats what he says, Son 2:10-14. In reply to his desire to see her and hear her voice, as she cannot make herself visible, she sings a little vineyard song, Son 2:15. In Son 2:16 she gives herself up to a loving rapture, and then, Son 2:17, fearing for her lover’s safety she exhorts him to depart till the evening. Some think the bride speaks here of some past scene when her lover came to meet her, over which she is now brooding. That is possible, but the view expressed above seems preferable. In any case these verses are among the most beautiful in the book, and take their place among the perfect love verses of the world. A modern parallel may be found in Tennyson’s lines,
“And all my heart went out to meet him
Coming, ere he came.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The bride relates to the chorus a visit which the beloved had paid her some time previously in her native home. He on a fair spring morning solicits her company. The bride, immersed in rustic toils, refuses for the present, but confessing her love, bids him return at the cool of day. It is a spring-time of affection which is here described, still earlier than that of the former chapter, a day of pure first-love, in which, on either side, all royal state and circumstance is forgotten or concealed. Hence, perhaps, the annual recitation of the Song of Songs by the synagogue with each return of spring, at the Feast of Passover, and special interpretations of this passage by Hebrew doctors, as referring to the paschal call of Israel out of Egypt, and by Christian fathers, as foreshadowing the evangelic mysteries of Easter – Resurrection and Regeneration. The whole scene has also been thought to represent the communion of a newly-awakened soul with Christ, lie gradually revealing Himself to her, and bidding her come forth into fuller communion.
Son 2:8
Voice – Better, sound. Not a voice, but the sound of approaching footsteps is meant (compare noise, Isa 13:4).
Son 2:9
Like a roe – Gazelle (compare Pro 5:19 note). The points of comparison here are beauty of form, grace, and speed of movement. In 2Sa 2:18; 1Ch 12:8, princes are compared to gazelles.
Wall – The clay-built wall of the house or vineyard of the brides family, different from the strong wall of a city or fortress Son 5:7; Son 8:9-10.
Looketh forth at the windows – The meaning evidently is, that he is looking in at, or through, the window from the outside. Compare Son 5:4 note.
Shewing himself – Or, peering. Some, taking the marginal rendering, imagine that the radiant face of the beloved is thus compared to some beautiful flower entangled in the lattice-work which protects the opening of the window, from where he gazes down upon the bride.
Son 2:10-13
Arise, my friend, my beautiful one, and come away – The stanza begins and ends with this refrain, in which the bride reports the invitation of the beloved that she should come forth with him into the open champaign, now a scene of verdure and beauty, and at a time of mirth and mutual affection. The season indicated by six signs Son 2:11-13 is that of spring after the cessation of the latter rain in the first or paschal month Joe 2:23, i. e., Nisan or Abib, corresponding to the latter part of March and early part of April. Cyril interpreted Son 2:11-12 of our Lords Resurrection in the spring.
Son 2:12
The time of the singing … – i. e., The song of pairing birds. This is better than the rendering of the ancient versions, the pruning time is come.
Son 2:13
The vines … – The vines in blossom give forth fragrance. The fragrance of the vine blossom (semadar), which precedes the appearance of the tender grape, is very sweet but transient.
Son 2:14
The secret places of the stairs – A hidden nook approached by a zig-zag path. The beloved urges the bride to come forth from her rock-girt home.
Son 2:15
The bride answers by singing what appears to be a fragment of a vine-dressers ballad, insinuating the vineyard duties imposed on her by her brethren Son 1:6, which prevent her from joining him. The destructive propensities of foxes or jackals in general are referred to, no grapes existing at the season indicated. Allegorical interpretations make these foxes symbolize false teachers (compare Eze 13:4).
Son 2:16
Feedeth among the lilies – Pursues his occupation as a shepherd among congenial scenes and objects of gentleness and beauty.
Son 2:17
Until the day break – Or, rather, until the day breathe, i. e., until the fresh evening breeze spring up in what is called Gen 3:8 the cool or breathing time of the day.
And the shadows flee – i. e., Lengthen out, and finally lose their outlines with the sinking and departure of the sun (compare Jer 6:4). As the visit of the beloved is most naturally conceived of as taking place in the early morning, and the bride is evidently dismissing him until a later time of day, it seems almost certain that this interpretation is the correct one which makes that time to be evening after sunset. The phrase recurs in Son 4:6.
Mountains of Bether – If a definite locality, identical with Bithron, a hilly district on the east side of the Jordan valley 2Sa 2:29, not far from Mahanaim (Son 6:13 margin). If used in a symbolic sense, mountains of separation, dividing for a time the beloved from the bride. This interpretation seems to be the better, though the local reference need not be abandoned.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Son 2:8-17
The voice of my Beloved.
The voice of the Beloved
I. When Christ is away from the soul of the believer, he sits alone. Whatever he the mountains of Bether that have come between his soul and Christ–whether he hath been seduced into his old sins that his iniquities have separated again between him and his God, and his sins have hid his face from Him, that He will not hear for whether the Saviour hath withdrawn for a season the comfortable light of His presence for the mere trial of His servants faith, to see if, when he walketh in darkness and hath no light, he will still trust in the name of the Lord, and stay himself upon his God–whatever the mountains of separation be, it is the sure mark of the believer that he sits desolate and alone. He cannot laugh away his heavy care, as worldly men can do. He cannot drown it in the bowl of intemperance, as poor blinded men can do. Even the innocent intercourse of human friendship brings no balm to his wound–nay, even fellowship with the children of God is now distasteful to his soul.
II. Christs coming to the desolate believer is often sudden and wonderful. Some text of the Word, or some word from a Christian friend, or some part of a sermon, again reveals Jesus in all His fulness–the Saviour of sinners, even the chief. Or it may be that He makes Himself known to the disconsolate soul in the breaking of bread, and when He speaks the gentle words–This is My body broken for you; this cup is the New Testament in My blood shed for the remission of the sins of many; drink ye all of it–then he cannot but cry out, The voice of my Beloved! behold, He cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
III. Christs coming changes all things to the believer, and His love is more tender than ever. The world of nature is all changed. Instead of the thorn comes up the fir tree, and instead of the brier comes up the myrtle tree. Every tree and field possesses a new beauty to the happy soul. The world of grace is all changed. The Bible was all dry and meaningless before; now, what a flood of light is poured over its pages! how full, how fresh, how rich in meaning, how its simplest phrases touch the heart! The house of prayer was all sad and dreary before–its services were dry and unsatisfactory; but now, when the believer sees the Saviour, as he hath seen Him heretofore within His holy place, his cry is,-How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts, etc. The garden of the Lord was all sad and cheerless before; now tenderness towards the unconverted springs up afresh, and love to the people of God burns in the bosom–then they that fear the Lord speak often one to another. The time of singing the praises of Jesus is come, and the turtle voice of love to Jesus is once more heard in the land; the Lords vine flourishes, and the pomegranate buds, and Christs voice to the soul is, Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away.
IV. Observe the threefold disposition of fear, love, and hope, which this visit of the Saviour stirs up in the believers bosom. These three form, as it were, a cord in the restored believers bosom, and a threefold cord is not easily broken. (R. M. McCheyne.)
Behold, He cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
The mountains of Judah
One of the most striking features of this book of Solomons Song is that of liveliness. We find the Church here represented in the liveliness of her affections to Christ, to God; we here see the Saviour in the liveliness of His love, and of His activities towards the Church; and so He is represented as a roe, or as a young hart, expressive of freedom and activity.
I. The mountains, the hills of impediment which the saviour overcomes. I will here take the Saviour leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills, to denote with what triumph and with what certainty He enables all His people to overcome all their troubles.
II. Take the mountains and the hills to denote the eternal truths of the Gospel, as spoken of in this book,–the mountains of eternity. The voice of my Beloved! behold, He cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills, of division. There is Gods everlasting love to Jacob in contradistinction to Esau; Gods everlasting love to His own, in contradistinction to the others; and Christ glorified in that mountain of division. There is Gods eternal election, and Christ gloried in the same, and commands His disciples to rejoice that their names are written in heaven. There is His eternal achievement by which He hath redeemed His people, and distinguished them from all others by that eternal redemption, for none but the redeemed can learn that song that the redeemed sing. The mountains of division. Then comes regeneration; that brings His people up to Mount Zion–mountain of division. Then comes resurrection to life; then comes glorification. Here is a range of mountains ranging from eternity to eternity. (J. Wells.)
An absent Christ yet beloved
1. An absent Christ is yet a beloved Christ to His true Church, and to the truly believing soul.
2. The spouse of Christ will know her Beloveds voice, though He hath a while been absent.
3. The spouse of Christ will greatly rejoice to hear her Beloveds voice, especially after a time of absenting Himself.
4. Though Christ may withdraw, and absent Himself from His Church, and from the souls of His people, yet He will come.
5. When He comes, He will come skipping upon the mountains and leaping upon the hills, openly and hastily, and trampling all difficulties and impediments under His feet.
6. The Church, and the true members of it, will by the eye of faith discern Christ coming, skipping upon the mountains. (John Collinges, D. D.)
Christs coming to His spouse to be beheld
Believing souls in the time of His withdrawing from them may and ought to behold Him again returning to them.
I. Christs return to His spouse after an absence may be beheld by a believer.
(1) He came by His Incarnation.
(2) He cometh to His people in the influences of His grace, to comfort, quicken, strengthen them.
(3) He cometh in the influences of His providence, to protect, save, rescue and deliver His people.
(4) He cometh to judgment, and His reward is with Him to render to every one according to his work.
II. A believer may behold Christs coming, in many sure and faithful promises.
III. The believer sees Him coming in the sure words of prophecy.
IV. His coming may be beheld in the steps of His providence.
(1) To a particular soul in the influences of His grace.
(2) To the public assemblies of His people in the influences of His common providences.
(3) To the universal judgment. Signs of this are:–
(a) Plenty of seducers (Mat 24:4).
(b) Great commotions in the world, and other judgments of God.
(c) Abounding of iniquity and decay of religion.
(d) Great security of sinners.
(e) Alterations in the course of nature. (John Collinges, D. D.)
Lessons of the Spring
Whatever these words may or may not mean in any deep, spiritual sense, they may at least be applied to the Spring-time and the Summer.
I. As we feel the influences of the growing spring, they suggest to us the idea of order. By the end of the Winter we are apt to feel as if we had the end of all inanimate nature. But the first buds of Spring bring to mind the order of nature more vividly than such frequent changes as the succession of day and night, which become so familiar that we fail to mark their lessons.
II. Spring impresses us with the manifestation of power. It returns with a great manifestation of force. Who can compute the aggregate weight now lifting in the vegetable creation all over this land, in ten thousand times ten thousand billions and billions of plants, from the tiny grass-blade to the giant oak? There is a moral aspect here also. The power which wields this force is on the side of righteousness. It is the same as that which rules the hearts of men, and makes their lives and actions to praise God, and bring about His will on earth.
III. The incoming spring delights us with its exhibition of progressiveness. I watch a tree opposite my dwelling with ever-increasing interest. This tree in Winter seemed dead, until as Spring approached a single bud peeped forth. After neglecting to look for a few days I was yesterday surprised to see it clothed in every branch with leaves. Ah, what progressiveness! The kingdom of Spring cometh not by observation. So with the kingdom of God–the kingdom of goodness in the earth. Has Christianity made no advance? Compare to-day with yesterday, and, as in a tree, we see but little change. But think of the treatment of the insane, or of prisoners, now, and even so lately as only fifty years ago! Is there no advance there? Compare the pictures drawn by writers of the former day with what we now take as a matter of course, and we seem to be living in almost a new world. The function of Christianity in the world is the bettering of men in physical, moral, and spiritual progress; and the work, though gradual, is sure. Therefore learn this lesson: Be patient! You cannot take the bellows of the sky and blow the heat of heaven into greater intensity, to hasten Gods work in nature or in grace. Be patient, as God is patient. His policy is broadly progressive. In means of Gospel privilege Gods kingdom grows as under glass; but in heathen lands the progress is more slow–yet none the less sure. Gods will shall triumph in the end. He can afford to wait, and we should follow His example.
IV. We learn from the spring the hope of recovery. The Springtime is a recovering. So with grace. Salvation is a recovering–not only a setting up of something new. There was once a golden age for the race, but we have descended to an iron age; nay, even to an age of clay, and broken, clay at that. But there is a good day coming, when the earth shall be filled with more than its original blessedness. This blessedness is through Christ, in whom alone trusting you may surely find eternal life. (L. D. Bevan, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. Behold, he cometh leaping] This appears to be highly characteristic of the gambols of the shepherds, and points out the ecstasy with which those who were enamoured ran to their mates. It is supposed that the second day’s eclogue begins at this verse. The author of what was then called A New Translation of Solomon’s Song, observes,
1. The bride relates how the bridegroom, attended by his companions, had come under her window, and called upon her to come forth and enjoy the beauties of the spring, So 2:9-11, c.
2. She then returns to her narration, So 3:1. The bridegroom did not come according to her wishes. Night came on she did not find him in her bed; she went out to seek him; found him, and brought him to her mother’s pavilion, So 3:4; and then, as before, conjures the virgins not to disturb his repose, So 3:5.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The voice of my Beloved! methinks I hear his voice. The spouse being now refreshed and revived with Christs presence, awakes out of sleep, and breaks forth into this joyful exclamation. Christs voice is nothing else but the word of grace revealed outwardly in the gospel, or the evangelical passages of the Old Testament, and inwardly to the heart of the spouse by the Spirit of God.
Behold, he cometh; either,
1. He is coming, or will shortly come, into the world; which Solomon and the rest of the Old Testament prophets and saints did earnestly desire and confidently expect. Or,
2. He is coming to me for my support and comfort.
Leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills; he saith leaping and skipping, to note that Christ came readily and swiftly, with great desire and pleasure; and he adds,
upon the mountains and hills, either with respect to Mount Zion or Jerusalem, in and from which Christ first discovered himself; or to signify Christs fixed resolution to come, in spite of all discouragements and difficulties which stood in his way; or to show that his coming was manifest and visible to the eye of her faith. Or in this phrase he may have a respect to the roes and harts here following.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. voicean exclamation ofjoyful surprise, evidently after a long silence. The restlessness ofsin and fickleness in her had disturbed His rest with her, which shehad professed not to wish disturbed “till He should please.”He left her, but in sovereign grace unexpectedly heralds His return.She awakes, and at once recognizes His voice (1Sa 3:9;1Sa 3:10; Joh 10:4);her sleep is not so sinfully deep as in So5:2.
leapingbounding, asthe roe does, over the roughest obstacles (2Sa 2:18;1Ch 12:8); as the father of theprodigal “had compassion and ran” (Lu15:20).
upon the hillsas thesunbeams glancing from hill to hill. So Margin, title of JesusChrist (Ps 22:1), “Hind ofthe morning” (type of His resurrection). Historically,the coming of the kingdom of heaven (the gospel dispensation),announced by John Baptist, is meant; it primarily is thegarden or vineyard; the bride is called so in a secondary sense. “Thevoice” of Jesus Christ is indirect, through “the friend ofthe bridegroom” (Joh 3:29),John the Baptist. Personally, He is silent during John’sministration, who awoke the long slumbering Church with the cry.”Every hill shall be made low,” in the spirit ofElias, on the “rent mountains” (1Ki19:11; compare Isa 52:7).Jesus Christ is implied as coming with intense desire (Luk 22:15;Heb 10:7), disregarding themountain hindrances raised by man’s sin.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The voice of my beloved!…. So says the church, who well knew Christ her beloved’s voice; which is known by all believers in him, and is distinguished by them from the voice of others; by the majesty and authority of it; by the power and efficacy of it; by its directing them to himself, and by the pleasure it gives them: and she speaks of it as being very delightful to her; it being the voice of him whom she loved, and a voice of love, grace, and mercy, of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation; and, being observed before, what follows shows that Christ is heard before he is seen; he is first heard of in the Gospel, before he is seen, by an eye of faith: and such would have others observe the voice of Christ as well as they, for here the church speaks to the daughters of Jerusalem; and it seems by this, that, by some means or another, Christ had been disturbed, and had departed from the church for a while, and was now upon the return to her, which made his voice the more joyful to her;
behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills; this may be, understood, either of Christ’s first coming in the flesh, much prophesied of, long expected, and was very welcome: this was attended with many difficulties, comparable to mountains and hills; that he the Son of God should become man; that he should obey, suffer, and die for men, fulfil the law, satisfy justice, atone for sin, and save from all enemies; but those which seemed insuperable were easily surmounted by Christ: or of his spiritual coming; sometimes he withdraws himself, and then returns again, and faith, spying him at a distance, rejoices at his nearer approach; for impediments in his way, occasioned by the unbelief, carnality, lukewarmness, backslidings, and ingratitude of his people, are removed and got over by him, nothing being able to separate from his love; and his coming, either way, is with all readiness, swiftness, speed, and haste. And a “behold” is prefixed to this, as a note of admiration and attention; and is so, whether applied to the one or other. Christ’s incarnation was matter of wonder, “behold, a virgin”, c. Isa 7:14 and so his manifestation of himself to his people, and not to others, is marvellous, “Lord, how is it”, c. Joh 14:22 and both comings are visible, glorious, and delightful. Ambrose g has these remarkable words, by way of paraphrase, on this passage,
“Let us see him leaping; he leaped out of heaven into the virgin, out of the womb into the manger, out of the manger into Jordan, out of Jordan to the cross, from the cross into the tomb, out of the grave into heaven.”
The allusion is to the leaping of a roe, or a young hart, as in So 2:9, which is remarkable for its leaping, even one just yeaned h; so a young hart is described, by the poet i, as leaping to its dam the leap of one of these creatures is very extraordinary k.
g Enarrat. in Psal. cxviii. octon. 7. p. 917. h Vid. Dionys. Perieg. v. 843, 844. i , &c. Theocrit. Idyll. 8. prope finem. k “The hart is said to leap sixty feet at a leap”, Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 3. c. 17. col. 882.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
8 Hark, my beloved! lo, there he comes!
Springs over the mountains,
Bounds over the hills.
The word , in the expression , is to be understood of the call of the approaching lover (Bttch.), or only of the sound of his footsteps (Hitz.); it is an interjectional clause (sound of my beloved!), in which kol becomes an interjection almost the same as our “ horch ” “hear!”. Vid., under Gen 4:10. after sharpens it, as the demonst. ce in ecce = en ce. is though of as partic., as is evident from the accenting of the fem. , e.g., Jer 10:22. is the usual word for springing; the parallel ( ), Aram. , , signifies properly contrahere (cogn. , whence Kametz, the drawing together of the mouth, more accurately, of the muscles of the lips), particularly to draw the body together, to prepare it for a spring. In the same manner, at the present day, both in the city and in the Beduin Arab. kamaz , for which also famaz , is used of the springing of a gazelle, which consists in a tossing up of the legs stretched out perpendicularly. ‘Antar says similarly, as Shulamith here of the swift-footed schebub ( D. M. Zeitung, xxii. 362); wahu jegmiz gamazat el – gazal , it leaps away with the springing of a gazelle.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Mutual Love of Christ and the Church. | |
8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. 9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice. 10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. 11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; 12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; 13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
The church is here pleasing herself exceedingly with the thoughts of her further communion with Christ after she has recovered from her fainting fit.
I. She rejoices in his approach, v. 8. 1. She hears him speak: “It is the voice of my beloved, calling me to tell me he is coming.” Like one of his own sheep, she knows his voice before she sees him, and can easily distinguish it from the voice of a stranger (Joh 10:4; Joh 10:5), and, like a faithful friend of the bridegroom, she rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice, John iii. 29. With what an air of triumph and exultation does she cry out, “It is the voice of my beloved, it can be the voice of no other, for none besides can speak to the heart and make that burn.” 2. She sees him come, sees the goings of our God, our King, Ps. xlviii. 24. Behold, he comes. This may very well be applied to the prospect with the Old-Testament saints had of Christ’s coming in the flesh. Abraham saw his day at a distance, and was glad. The nearer the time came the clearer discoveries were made of it; and those that waited for the consolation of Israel with an eye of faith saw him come, and triumphed in the sight: Behold, he comes; for they had heard him say (Ps. xl. 7), Lo, I come, to which their faith here affixes its seal: Behold, he comes as he has promised. (1.) He comes cheerfully and with great alacrity; he comes leaping and skipping like a roe and like a young hart (v. 9), as one pleased with his own undertaking, and that had his heart upon it and his delights with the sons of men. When he came to be baptized with the baptism of blood, how was he straitened till it was accomplished! Luke xii. 50. (2.) He comes slighting and surmounting all the difficulties that lay in his way; he comes leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills (so some read it), making nothing of the discouragements he was to break through; the curse of the law, the death of the cross, must be undergone, all the powers of darkness must be grappled with, but, before the resolutions of his love, these great mountains become plains. Whatever opposition is given at any time to the deliverance of God’s church, Christ will break through it, will get over it. (3.) He comes speedily, like a roe or a young hart; they thought the time long (every day a year), but really he hastened; as now, so then, surely he comes quickly; he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. When he comes for the deliverance of his people he flies upon a cloud, and never stays beyond his time, which is the best time. We may apply it to particular believers, who find that even when Christ has withdrawn sensible comforts, and seems to forsake, yet it is but for a small moment, and he will soon return with everlasting loving-kindness.
II. She pleases herself with the glimpses she has of him, and the glances she has of his favour: “He stands behind our wall; I know he is there, for sometimes he looks forth at the window, or looks in at it, and displays himself through the lattice.” Such was the state of the Old-Testament church while it was in expectation of the coming of the Messiah. The ceremonial law is called a wall of partition (Eph. ii. 14), a veil (2 Cor. iii. 13); but Christ stood behind that wall. They had him near them; they had him with them, though they could not see him clearly. He that was the substance was not far off from the shadows, Col. ii. 17. The saw him looking through the windows of the ceremonial institutions and smiling through those lattices; in their sacrifices and purifications Christ discovered himself to them, and gave them intimations and earnests of his grace, both to engage and to encourage their longings for his coming. Such is our present state in comparison with what it will be at Christ’s second coming. We now see him through a glass darkly (the body is a wall between us and him, through the windows of which we now and then get a sight of him), but not face to face, as we hope to see him shortly. In the sacraments Christ is near us, but it is behind the wall of external signs, through those lattices he manifests himself to us; but we shall shortly see him as he is. Some understand this of the state of a believer when he is under a cloud; Christ is out of sight and yet not far off. See Job xxxiv. 14, and compare Job xxiii. 8-10. She calls the wall that interposed between her and her beloved our wall, because it is sin, and nothing else, that separates between us and God, and that is a wall of our own erecting (Isa. lix. 1); behind that he stands, as waiting to be gracious, and ready to be reconciled, upon our repentance. Then he looks in at the window, observes the frame of our hearts and the working of our souls; he looks forth at the window, and shows himself in giving them some comfort, that they may continue hoping for his return.
III. She repeats the gracious invitation he had given her to come a walking with him, v. 10-13. She remembers what her beloved said to her, for it had made a very pleasing and powerful impression upon her, and the word that quickens us we shall never forget. She relates it for the encouragement of others, telling them what he had said to her soul and done for her soul, Ps. lxvi. 16.
1. He called her his love and his fair one. Whatever she is to others, to him she is acceptable, and in his eyes she is amiable. Those that take Christ for their beloved, he will own as his; never was any love lost that was bestowed upon Christ. Christ, by expressing his love to believers, invites and encourages them to follow him.
2. He called her to rise and come away, v. 10, and again v. 13. The repetition denotes backwardness in her (we have need to be often called to come away with Jesus Christ; precept must be upon precept and line upon line), but it denotes earnestness in him; so much is his heart set upon the welfare of precious souls that he importunes them most pressingly to that which is for their own good.
3. He gave for a reason the return of the spring, and the pleasantness of the weather.
(1.) The season is elegantly described in a great variety of expressions. [1.] The winter is past, the dark, cold, and barren winter. Long winters and hard ones pass away at last; they do no endure always. And the spring would not be so pleasant as it is if it did not succeed the winter, which is a foil to its beauty, Eccl. vii. 14. Neither the face of the heavens nor that of the earth is always the same, but subject to continual vicissitudes, diurnal and annual. The winter is past, but has not passed away for ever; it will come again, and we must provide for it in summer, Pro 6:6; Pro 6:8. We must weep in winter, and rejoice in summer, as though we wept and rejoiced not, for both are passing. [2.] The rain is over and gone, the winter-rain, the cold stormy rain; it is over now, and the dew is as the dew of herbs. Even the rain that drowned the world was over and gone at last (Gen. viii. 1-3), and God promised to drown the world no more, which was a type and figure of the covenant of grace, Isa. liv. 9. [3.] The flowers appear on the earth. All winter they are dead and buried in their roots, and there is no sign of them; but in the spring they revive, and show themselves in a wonderful variety and verdure, and, like the dew that produces them, tarry not for man, Mic. v. 7. They appear, but they will soon disappear again, and man in herein like the flower of the field, Job xiv. 2. [4.] The time of singing of birds has come. The little birds, which all the winter lie hid in their retirements and scarcely live, when the spring returns forget all the calamities of the winter, and to the best of their capacity chant forth the praises of their Creator. Doubtless he who understands the birds that cry for want (Ps. cxlvii. 9) takes notice of those that sing for joy Ps. civ. 12. The singing of the birds may shame our silence in God’s praises, who are better fed (Matt. vi. 26), and better taught (Job xxxv. 11), and are of more value than many sparrows. They live without inordinate care (Matt. vi. 26) and therefore they sing, while we murmur. [5.] The voice of the turtle is heard in our land, which is one of the season-birds mentioned Jer. viii. 7, that observe the time of their coming and the time of their singing, and so shame us who know not the judgment of the Lord, understand not the times, nor do that which is beautiful in its season, do not sing in singing time. [6.] The fig-tree puts forth her green figs, by which we know that summer is nigh (Matt. xxiv. 32), when the green figs will be ripe figs and fit for use; and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. The earth produces not only flowers (v. 12), but fruits; and the smell of the fruits, which are profitable, is to be preferred far before that of the flowers, which are only for show and pleasure. Serpents, they say, are driven away by the smell of the vines; and who is the old serpent, and who the true vine, we know very well.
(2.) Now this description of the returning spring, as a reason for coming away with Christ, is applicable [1.] To the introducing of the gospel in the room of the Old-Testament dispensation, during which it had been winter time with the church. Christ’s gospel warms that which was cold, makes that fruitful which before was dead and barren; when it comes to any place it puts a beauty and glory upon that place (2Co 3:7; 2Co 3:8) and furnishes occasion for joy. Spring-time is pleasant time, and so is gospel-time. Aspice venturo ltentur ut omnia seclo—Behold what joy the dawning age inspires! said Virgil, from the Sibyls, perhaps with more reference to the setting up of the Messiah’s kingdom at that time than he himself thought of. See Ps. xcvi. 11. Arise then, and improve this spring-time. Come away from the world and the flesh, come into fellowship with Christ, 1 Cor. i. 9. [2.] To the delivering of the church from the power of persecuting enemies, and the restoring of liberty and peace to it, after a severe winter of suffering and restraint. When the storms of trouble are over and gone, when the voice of the turtle, the joyful sound of the gospel of Christ, is again heard, and ordinances are enjoyed with freedom, then arise and come away to improve the happy juncture. Walk in the light of the Lord; sing in the ways of the Lord. When the churches had rest, then were they edified, Acts ix. 31. [3.] To the conversion of sinners from a state of nature to a state of grace. That blessed change is like the return of the spring, a universal change and a very comfortable one; it is a new creation; it is being born again. The soul that was hard, and cold, and frozen, and unprofitable, like the earth in winter, becomes fruitful, like the earth in spring, and by degrees, like it, brings its fruits to perfection. This blessed change is owing purely to the approaches and influences of the sun of righteousness, who calls to us from heaven to arise and come away; come, gather in summer. [4.] To the consolations of the saints after a state of inward dejection and despondency. A child of God, under doubts and fears, is like the earth in winter, its nights long, its days dark, good affections chilled, nothing done, nothing got, the hand sealed up. But comfort will return; the birds shall sing again, and the flowers appear. Arise therefore, poor drooping soul, and come away with thy beloved. Arise, and shake thyself from the dust, Isa. lii. 2. Arise, shine, for thy light has come (Isa. lx. 1); walk in that light, Isa. ii. 5. [5.] To the resurrection of the body at the last day, and the glory to be revealed. The bones that lay in the grave, as the roots of the plants in the ground during the winter, shall then flourish as a herb,Isa 66:14; Isa 26:19. That will be an eternal farewell to winter and a joyful entrance upon an everlasting spring.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
ANTICIPATION OF THE SHEPHERD’S COMING
Verses 8-10a are words of the Shulamite as she anticipates hearing the voice and seeing the person of her beloved shepherd when he arrives from the mountains and hills of the homeland. Note that verses 10-15 picture the shepherd as present but his words are being quoted by the Shulamite.
THE SHEPHERD’S PLEA
Verses 10b-14 report anticipated expressions of love and jubilant mood of the shepherd urging the Shulamite to come away with him. His plea is enforced by calling attention to the many evidences of spring – the flowers, singing birds, and putting forth of fig trees and vines.
Verse 15 appears to be a caution against allowing hindering circumstances to spoil the opportunity to realize their dream.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Notes
Son. 2:12 : The time of the singing of birds iS come.
The time of the singing, (eth ha-zamir). Two meanings given to (zamir). GESENIUS and others derive it from (zamar), to prune, as in Lev. 25:3; and so understand the expression as the time of pruning the vines, or spring. So the Septuagint, Vulgate, and the ancients generally. RASHI, KIMCHI, ABEN EZRA, and most of the modern interpreters, understand the word rather as denoting singing, from , to sing. So EWALD, who observes that vineyards are not mentioned till Son. 2:13, and that the Greek (psallein), equivalent to is used of the singing of birds. ZCKLER understands the word of singing, but rather the merry songs as of shepherds and country people. Some understand it of the plucking and gathering of flowers. So GREGORY OF NYSSA, DU VEIL, TIRINUS, and POOLE. HARMER and KITTO think allusion is made to the nightingale, which is heard in Palestine during the greater part of the garden season, singing delightfully in the day time among the pomegranate groves, and from trees of loftier growth in the night season. The time of singing, as more agreeing with that of the turtles cooing. FAUSSET. SANCTIUS observes that vines are not pruned in spring, and prefersthe time of cutting the Cyprus in order to obtain its balsam in the gardens of Egedi. LUTHER simply translates: The time of spring. Variously allegorized. TARGUM: Time of cutting off the first born in Egypt. RABBINS: Time of Israels redemption, cutting off of the first born, and rooting up of idolatry. WEISS: Cutting off of the idolatrous nations of Canaan. ORIGEN: Pruning at the end of the world, when the axe of judgment is laid to the root of the trees. GREGORY: Removing the reprobate from the Church, that the end of the world may come. DEL RIO: A spiritual pruning in baptism and repentance for the remission of sins. FOLIOT: In sacred confession. WILLERAMUS: By the preaching of the Word. CASSIODORUS: The pruning of the saints in and by Christ. PHILO: A daily pruning from all sin necessary to those who wish to be Christs spouse. HONORIUS: Pruning the Church of its rebellious members. FROMONDI: Putting off of the old man and cutting away of the old shoots of vices. WICKLIFF: By the preaching of the Gospel. THREEFOLD MYSTERY: Pruning of the Gentiles after Christs coming. ABEN EZRA. Time of singing the song by the Red Sea. BROUGHTON: Time of the Jews return from the Babylonian captivity. FAUSSET: Time of rejoicing at the advent of Jesus.
PART SECOND
The Huptials
CHAPTER Son. 2:8, TO CHAPTER Son. 3:11
SCENE FIRST. Place: Shulamites home in the country. Speaker: Shulamite alone with the Daughters of Jerusalem, or Ladies of the Court.
NARRATIVE OF THE BRIDEGROOMS VISIT
Son. 2:8-13
The voice of my Beloved!
Behold, he cometh,
Leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills.
My Beloved is like a roe or a young hart:
Behold, he standeth behind our wall;
He looketh forth at the windows,
Shewing himself (glancing, like a rose bud) through the lattice.
My beloved spake and said unto me
Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away.
For lo! the winter is past;
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth:
The time of singing is come;
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs;
And the vines, with the tender grape, (or, now in blossom), give a good smell.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Shulamite relates the visit of her Beloved when he came to take her to the nuptials. The visit probably made in spring. The bridegrooms invitation, from its pleasant nature, poetically represented as a call to come forth and enjoy the beauties of that delightful season. The language implies a previous absence of the bridegroom. The believers most comfortable state on earth not abiding. Its interruption, however, subservient to higher advancement.The parts of which the Song is composed appear to shift and melt into each other like the dissolving views of a diorama.
The text a poetical and allegorical representation of what takes place in the history of the Church as a whole, and in the experience of believers individually. Historically, the Churchs experience
(1) At the return of the Jews from the captivity in Babylon;
(2) At the time of the Saviours incarnation and earthly ministry;
(3) At any time of great revival in the Churchpre-eminently, at the commencement of the Gospel Dispensation on the Day of Pentecost, and at the Reformation in the sixteenth century. A time of the Churchs
Revival,
a time of Spring. The voice of the heavenly Turtle-dove, like the harbinger of an oriental Spring, then heard in the land. The Gospel,the voice and dispensation of the Spiritthen clearly and earnestly preached, and accompanied with the Spirits own power. Sleepers awakened and the dead made alive. The anxious inquiry heard: What must I do to be saved? Sanctuaries thronged with thirsting hearers. Converts multiplied. Believers quickenedmade holy, happy, and useful; bold in testifying for Christ, and their testimony blessed. The spirit of prayerthe voice of the Turtle-dove in the believers hearteminently poured out. Gatherings for prayer, numerous, lively, and largely attended. The fruits of the Spirit conspicuous. Love, peace, and goodwill prevailing in the Church and in the neighbourhood. Satan may rage, and some may persecute; but the believers are unmoved, rejoicing to walk in the footsteps of the flock, and to be counted worthy to suffer shame for their Masters sake. ObserveA necessity laid on believers to pray for such a Spring-time to the Church and the world (Zec. 10:1).The Churchs experience farther indicated in the text
(4) At the time of the Saviours second coming. The new heavens and the new earth then created. The whole creation, now groaning and travailing in pain together, then delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. No more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain; for the former things are passed away (2Pe. 3:13; Rom. 8:21; Rev. 21:4).
The experience of individual believers exhibited
(1) At the time of their first enjoyment of Christs manifested love;
(2) At subsequent repetitions of the same;
(3) In revived spiritual life and joy after a season of deadness and discomfort;
(4) At their departure to the better country.
There everlasting spring abides,
And never withering flowers.
The passage includes a lively and beautiful description of
Spring.
Spring the emblem of all that is sweet and lovely, joyous and refreshing. The spring in nature only a picture of the spring in grace, and still more of the spring in glory. Its lessons manifold:
1. That God is love. This proclained in the months of spring from every wood and hedge-row, every field and garden. Sung by the lark as it soars in the air; hummed by the insect as it flits from flower to flower; whispered by the daisy that shows its smiling face again after the snows and storms of winter. Spring a continually recurring testimony that God delights in the happiness of His creatures.
2. That He rules by His providence. By His care, the creatures he has made are again provided with the means of support and comfort which seemed for a time to be suspended. Life bursts forth out of death, and plenty out of want. His hand looses the bands of winter by preserving the earth in its motion, and the sun in its power. He brings back the sweet influences of the Pleiades, and looses the bands of Orion (Job. 38:31).
3. That God is faithful to his promises. The time of the singing of birds comes, however long it seemed to be deferred. The voice of the turtle or cuckoo is again heard in the land, proclaiming that God is mindful of His promise that, while the world remains, seed-time and harvest, summer and winter, shall not cease (Gen. 8:22). Weeping may endure for a night; joy, according to His promise, comes in the morning. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. (Psa. 30:5; Psa. 126:5). The fulness of the time arrives, and the Saviour appears.
4. That God is the author of beauty. Himself the perfection of beauty, He delights in imparting it to His creatures. Beauty the robe of Spring. Conspicuous everywhere,in the blue sky, green earth, and gleaming sea. The world not a mere granary. The hand that fills the ear with the full corn for mans food, clothes the grass of the field with beautiful flowers for mans enjoyment. The voice of spring: How great is His goodness, and how great is His beauty! (Zec. 9:17).
An interesting feature of Spring is the return of the migratory inhabitants of the woods. More especially that of the herald of Springwith us the cuckoo,in Palestine,
The Turtle Dove.
The voice of the turtle is heard in our land.
The turtle-dove in the natural, an emblem of the Holy Ghost in spiritual, world His chosen form, in descending on the Saviour at His baptism. Probable allusion to the figure in the account of the Creator (Gen. 1:2): The Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters. Literally, brooded, as a bird over its young. Dove-like, satst brooding (Milton). The dove an emblem of the Holy Spirit, as
(1) Distinguished for its faithful love. In love, the Spirit visits loathsome hearts, which He renews for His abode, and then never entirely leaves.
(2) The cleanest and most delicate of birds. The least sin hateful and grieving to the Holy Spirit. Creates, in the soul He dwells in, the same holy hatred.
(3) A very timid creature. A hawks feather said to be sufficient to make it tremble. The Holy Spirit easily grieved, and creates in us a holy fear in regard to sin and spiritual danger.
(4) A gentle bird. The gentleness of the Spirit seen in the gentleness of Christ, in whom He dwelt in His fulness. I am meek and lowly in heart. He shall not strive nor cry. A bruised reed He shall not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench (Mat. 11:29; Mat. 12:20). Among the fruits of the Spirit arelong-suffering, gentleness, and meekness (Gal. 5:22-23).
(5) The turtle takes up its abode in the land renewed under the genial breath of Spring. The Holy Spirit loves to dwell in the heart He renews by His own gracious influence. The believers body as well as His soul the temple of the Holy Ghost (1Co. 3:16; 1Co. 6:19). Care to be taken by the believer to cherish so blessed a guest.
The voice of the Holy Spirit heard in the land
(1) When the Gospel is preached in its purity. The Gospel the Dispensation of the Spirit. The Spirit and the Bride say: Come. As the Holy Ghost saith, Today, if ye will hear His voice. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches (Rev. 2:11; Rev. 21:17; Heb. 3:7).
(2) When the Gospel is preached with power. The Gospel to be preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me (1Pe. 1:12; Act. 1:8).
(3) When the fruits of the Gospel appear in the lives of those who hear it These fruitslove, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (or self control). Exemplified in the first hearers of the Gospel at Jerusalem, at Samaria, Philippi, Corinth, &c. (Act. 2:44-47; Act. 8:8; Act. 16:15; Act. 16:33-34; Php. 1:3-7; 1Co. 6:11). The voice of the turtle-dove never entirely silent in the earth since the first promise of a Saviour. Heard in the preaching of Enoch and Noah, in the Psalms of David, in the Proverbs and Song of Solomon, and in the strains of all the prophets. Carries in the Gospel the olive leaf of peace to a perishing but pitied world.
From the language of Shulamite in reference to her Beloved, observe
1. The warm affection of a believers heart towards the Saviour. The voice of my Beloved! The first faint sound of His voice eagerly caught as it falls on the ear. Shulamite speaks as if her heart leaped within her at the sound. As soon as the voice of Thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy (Luk. 1:44).
(2) The waiting and expectant state of the believer in regard to Christ. For His first Advent in the case of the Old Testament Church; His second Advent in that of the New; and His spiritual visits and appearances in the case of believers in general. Shulamite on the eager look out for her Beloved. The proper posture of believers in regard to Christ. His second and glorious Appearing the Churchs blessed hope (Tit. 2:13; Luk. 12:36)
(3) The love of Christ to His Church. Shulamites Beloved represented as coming to her, in the eagerness of his desire, like a swift and sprightly gazelle or young antelope, bounding over mountain and hill. No obstacle too great for Christ to overcome in redeeming and blessing His Church. He loved the Church and gave Himself for it. Jacobs love to Rachael shewn by a hard service of fourteen years in keeping Labans flocks. A human life of thirty-three years to fulfil the precepts of the law; and a painful, ignominious, and accursed death, with the added misery of the hiding of His Fathers face, to satisfy its penaltynot too much for the love of Christ to His Church. Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not: then said I, lo, I come to do Thy will, O God; a body hast Thou prepared for me (Psa. 40:6, &c.; Heb. 10:5-9).
3. The Saviours desire for the believers love and fellowship. Shulamites Beloved having reached her dwelling, waits outside till he obtains her consent to follow him. He standeth behind our wall, &c. He addresses her by the most endearing titles, and employs arguments taken from the removal of every obstaclethe winter is past, &c.and from the most attractive features of the country in the lovely season of an oriental Spring, as expressive of the sweetness enjoyed in the fellowship of love. Souls invited to receive and follow Christ by the blessedness imparted by His presence and love. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in unto him, and will sup with him, and he with me (Rev. 3:20).
4. The natural backwardness of the heart to the blessedness to which Christ invites His people. Shulamites backwardness indicated by the arguments employed by her waiting Beloved to overcome it. The believers spirit willing, while the flesh is weak. Weights hanging on the soul which have to be laid aside. The natural tendency, through the remains of the carnal mind, to settle down in a state of sloth and indolence, satisfied with little of spiritual life and communion with the Saviour. My soul cleaveth to the dust; quicken Thou me according to Thy word (Psa. 119:25).
6. The necessity of leaving everything for Christ. Shulamite twice entreated to rise up and come away. Like the exhortation addressed to the same Bride in the forty-fifth Psalm: Harken, O daughter, and consider: forget also thine own people and thy fathers house (Psa. 45:10-11). The Saviours call: Follow Meto be answered by a rising up, leaving all, and following Him (Mat. 4:19-22; Luk. 5:27-28). Whosoever he be that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple (Luk. 14:33).
7. The whole passage descriptive of
The Saviours Call
I. What it COST to make it. Shulamites Beloved required to come from a distance, overcoming every obstacle, like a roe or a young hind bounding over one mountain peak after another. The Son of God required to leave His Fathers house, assume our nature, empty Himself of His glory, take the form of a servant, be born of a humble woman, be brought forth in a stable, work as a carpenter, become a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, be for a time with nowhere to lay his head, endure the contradiction, reproach, and opposition of sinners, and at last the hiding of His Fathers face amid the agony and shame of an accursed death. One mountain of suffering and one valley of humiliation after another, to be passed before He could call sinners to the enjoyment of salvation,His chosen bride to the celebration of the marriage. Many also the provocations to be come over in His saving call to sinners, and His sanctifying call to believers, before He obtains their full consent to rise up and come away. Jesus more eager to save and bless, than the sinner or the saint to experience His salvation and blessing (Psa. 81:10-16).
II. The MEANS through which He addresses the call. The voice of my Beloved. He standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself (margin, flourishingglancing like an opening flower) through the lattice. Through these openings in the wall he addressed his invitation: My beloved spake and said unto me. Through the ordinances instituted by Himself in His Church, Christ wooes sinners to become His Bride, and invites His Bride to the full enjoyment of union and communion with Him. We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you, in Christs stead, be ye reconciled unto God. I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin unto Christ (2Co. 5:20; 2Co. 11:2). The voice of Christ Himself in the word and ordinances the only effectual means of awakening and drawing the soul to Himself. My sheep hear my voice and follow me. The quickened soul able to distinguish that voice as the voice of the beloved. They know not the voice of strangers. The voice known to be that of the Saviour from its inward power and sweetness, and from its conformity to the written Word. Known by believers as having heard and experienced it before. Observe
(1) A wall found standing between Christ and the soul whom He seeks. Our fleshly nature, both in respect to body and mind, such a wall. The law of commandments which we have broken, another. Visible nature at present a separating wall. Ordinances themselves a wall, but a wall with openings in it; or ordinances these openings themselves. Through these openings Christ shows Himself to the soul He seeks.
(2) To obtain glimpses of Christ and hear His voice, it is necessary to be at the lattice of ordinances. Divine ordinances the meeting-place between Christ and His people (Exo. 25:22; Exo. 29:42-43; Exo. 30:6; Exo. 30:36). Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the ports of my doors. One thing have I desired, and that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and inquire in His temple. Wherever two or three are gathered together in My name there am I in the midst of them. Wherever I record my name, I will come and bless you (Pro. 8:34; Psa. 27:4; Mat. 18:20; Exo. 20:24).
III. The ARGUMENTS employed in the call. Three arguments employed by Shulamites Beloved.
(1) His own loveexpressed in the titles given her;
(2) The removal of hindrances: The winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
(3) The joyful prospect before herThe flowers appear on the earth, &c. Jesus invites sinners to become His Bride, and His Bride to come forth to the full enjoyment of His fellowship on the ground of
1. His love to them. His great argument with Israel His argument with believers and with sinners still: I have loved Thee with an everlasting love; therefore, with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. I have redeemed thee; thou art mine. Turn, O backsliding children, for I am married unto you (Jer. 31:3; Jer. 3:14; Isa. 43:1). God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him might not perish. The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many (Joh. 3:16; Luk. 19:10; Mat. 20:28). Thus Jesus gained the woman at Jacobs well, and the sinner that washed His feet with her tears. The sinners heart only thawed by a Saviours love. The cords that draw the soul to Christ the cords of a man and the bands of love (Hos. 11:4). Only the revelation of redeeming love able to break down the barriers and undo the bolts of a sinners heart. A loving voice heard outside before the door is opened within (Rev. 3:20). None so fair in the eyes of Jesus as the penitent and believing soul (Luk. 15:5-7).
2. The removal of hindrances. The winter of a Legal Dispensation now past. The covenant of works superseded by a covenant of grace. Do this and live exchanged for Believe and live. Fulfilment of moral precepts and observance of ceremonial ordinances no longer a term of union with the Beloved. The invitation: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Ho, every one that thirsteth; come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money; Come, buy and eat; without money and without price. Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely (Mat. 11:28; Isa. 55:1; Rev. 22:17). Divine justice that demanded the sinners damnation now satisfied with the Suretys blood. The sword that should have smitten the guilty sheep bathed in the blood of the Shepherd, and so put back into its scabbard. The way prepared on the cross for a righteous reconciliation with God, and the full forgiveness of the sinner. God now able to be just while justifying the ungodly. A just God now a Saviour. All things now ready for the salvation of the sinner, and his marriage with Gods own Son (Zec. 13:7; Eph. 2:13-16; Rom. 3:21-26; Mat. 22:2; Mat. 22:4). Nothing wanting but the sinners consent. Wilt thou go with this man? To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God (Joh. 1:12).
3. The joy and blessedness attending compliance. The flowers appear on the earth, &c. The soul invited by Christ to the joy and blessedness of an eternal spring, in the enjoyment of His society and lovein the new heavens of the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. A rest remaining for the people of God, of which Canaan, clad in all the beauties of a lovely spring, was only a type. A time in prospect for the sinner that accepts the Saviour, when all the chill and gloom, the clouds and storms, the darkness and discomfort of the present state, shall give place to the sweetness and sunshine, the brightness and beauty, the light and gladness, of a land where the sun shall no more go down; where flowers that never fade bloom under cloudless skies; where the harps of angels and the songs of the Redeemed fill the air with celestial music, and where the tree of life bears its perennial fruit on both banks of the river that waters the Paradise of God. A better country in prospect to every believing soul, where purity and peace, and joy and lovethe voice of the heavenly turtleis everywhere heard, and where the true Vine diffuses its fragrance, and with its precious clusters fills the happy inhabitants with a joy unspeakable and full of glory.
III. The CALL itself. Rise up and come away. The call addressed by the Saviour to His first disciples: Follow me. In obedience to it, they rose up, left all, and followed him (Mat. 4:18-22; Luk. 5:27-28). The general law: Whosoever he be that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me. Let us go forth unto Him, without the camp, bearing His reproach Hearken, O daughter, and consider; forget all thine own people, and thy fathers house: so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty (Luk. 14:33; Mat. 16:24; Heb. 13:13; Psa. 45:10-11). The world to be given up in order to come away with Christ. No man able to serve two masters of different interests and demands. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. If the Lord be God, serve Him; if Baal be God, serve him. A resolution and effort to be made to leave our present state in order to follow Christ. Rise up. So the Prodigal Son: I will arise and go to my father, &c. And he arose and went. The strength to arise is Christs: the act and effort our own. So with the Paralytic: Take up thy bed, and go into thine house; and he arose and departed to his house (Luk. 15:18; Luk. 15:20; Mat. 9:6). Christs call is
(1) To come to him;
(2) To come after Him. We are to come to Him as sinners; to come after Him as disciples. The former verified by the latter. The blessing of coming to Christ realized in coming after Him. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, followed bytake my yoke upon you, and learn of me; and ye shall find rest to your souls (Mat. 11:28-29). Unspeakable gainers in giving up all for Christ. Christ the One Pearl of great price that makes a man up for time and eternity. Everything, therefore, wisely given up to obtain possession of it. The case of Paul that of all believers: What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ; yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, &c. (Php. 3:7-8).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
TEXT 2:83:5
SHULAMMITE: NARRATION TO COURT LADIES
(perhaps later)
a. Invitation from the beloved Son. 2:8-14
8. The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. 9. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall; he looketh in at the windows; he glanceth through the lattice. 10. My beloved spake, and said unto me, rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. 11. For, lo, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone; 12. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land; 13. The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. 14. O my dove, thou art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 2:814
58.
Are we to imagine the shepherd has truly come for a visit to Solomons palace? Discuss.
59.
What is suggested by leaping upon the mountains, and skipping upon the hills?
60.
In what way does she compare her beloved to a gazelle or roe?
61.
Why stand outside and look in? Why not knock and come in? Discuss the figure and its meaning.
62.
Is the maid full of desire to escape her confinement and is this the reason for the invitation of verse ten? Discuss.
63.
Why describe the time of the year?
64.
What a lovely description of spring! What is the voice of the turtle-dove?
65.
What hint is found in reference to the ripened figs? Come away from what to where? Cf. Son. 2:13.
66.
The attitude and response of the maiden is found in verse fourteen. What is it?
67.
The invitation of the shepherd is to much more than physical relationship as seen in verse fourteen. What is involved?
PARAPHRASE 2:814
Shulammite to Court Ladies:
8.
Hark, tis the sound of my beloved! He comes
Bounding over the mountains, skipping over the hills.
9.
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young deer.
See! he stands at our wall,
He peers in at the windows,
Glancing through the lattice.
10.
My beloved said to me,
Arise, O my companion, my fair one, and come away!
11.
For, see! the winter is past;
The season of rains is over;
12.
The flowers appear in the fields;
The time of singing is come.
And the cooing of the turtledoves is heard in the land;
13.
The fig tree ripens its green figs,
The blossoming vines give forth their fragrance.
Arise, O my companion, my fair one, and come away!
14.
O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
In the crannies of the precipice,
Let me see thy face, let me hear thy voice;
For sweet is thy voice and thy face comely.
COMMENT 2:814
Exegesis Son. 2:8-14
We like the expression of Moffat as found in verses eight and nine. He says:
Listen, it is my darling,
There he is, coming to me,
leaping across the mountains,
bounding over the hills!
There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the window,
glancing through the lattice!
The word voice in verse eight is better understood as sound; so the thought is that the maiden hears the footsteps of her beloved. In his eagerness of love the shepherd scorns all obstacles that would keep lovers apart, yet as he nears the maidens home he appears somewhat shy, not knowing, perhaps, what kind of reception he will get from the rest of the family (Son. 1:6, Son. 2:15) (Clarke) He is compared to a gazelle because of his beauty of formbut also because of his alertness and timidity. It would appear that the shepherd is not the only one who is unwilling to express himselfwhen he arrives at the house why isnt the lovely maiden there to greet him? The lattice window refers to the form of construction. Glaze or glass windows were not used. Evidently, the latticework was so built that a person on the outside could not see in but those on the inside could easily see out.
It would seem that beginning with verse ten through verse thirteen we have an eight line stanza of the beloveds entreaty to his love. Notice: he invites her to come with him into the open country, which is now a place of unsurpassing beauty. The winter is over and the spring has come. It is a time of mirth and mutual affection. (Cook)
It must be either the last week in March or the first or second week in April. Six signs of the season are given in these verses:
(1)
The winter and its heavy rain is overFor behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. (Son. 2:11) For six months in the summer the rain rarely falls.
(2)
Buds and flowers appear on the earth (Son. 2:12 a). When the tender grass springs out of the earth, through sunshine after rain. (2Sa. 23:4)
(3)
The time for singing has come or the time has arrived for pruning the vines. It would seem considering the context of the first two signs that time for singing is much more parallel than pruning the vines. (Son. 2:12 b)
(4)
The voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. (Son. 2:12 c) This is a migratory bird that appears in Palestine the second week in April (Cf. Jer. 8:7). (A. F. Harper)
(5)
The fig tree has ripened its figs. The figs remained embalmed during the winter months and come to life or ripen in the early spring.
(6)
And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. The fragrance of the grape vine blossom is very sweet, but very brief. The inhabitants of grape country need no proofs or descriptions to appreciate this fact. (Adapted from C. F. Cook)
We like the words of W. J. Cameron as found in the New Bible Commentary. After the wintry months devoid of fresh life and growth, the stirring vigor of the Syrian spring follows of a sudden upon early rain. The earth rapidly assumes a mantle of bright green intermingled with the varied colors of innumerable flowers. The newly clad woodland comes alive with song amid which can be discerned the persistent mournful note of the turtledove. It is then that the voice of the beloved is heard. (quoted by Clarke)
Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along! (Son. 2:13 b) Verse fourteen continues in four lines an entreaty to the bride to come out of her seclusion. The modesty and shyness of the maiden are the points here. Her home must have been inaccessiblenote the description; O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, In the secret place of the steep pathway, Let me see your form (appearance), Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, and your form is lovely. Some render the phrase the secret place of the ascent, pointing to crevices in a cliff approachable only by a steep ascent. The wild dove chooses high and inaccessible rocks for its resting place. In poetic language the shepherd seems to intimate that the maiden is not easily accessible to him because the attitude of her brothers as shown in the next verse. (Clarke)
Marriage Son. 2:8-14
Oh that my wife would want me and love me as this maid did her shepherd. Such an expression could well be the lament of many a husband. No doubt there are some wives who think as fondly of their husbands as the Shulammite did of the shepherd. Every wife (as well as husband) have known what it is to wait for the familiar sounds of the approach of their spouse but are they persuaded he (or she) is as eager to see them as the hero of our text? Such persuasion must be planned and cultivated long before he arrives. Actions in little areas of need met time after time will convince anyone that no hill or mountain will separate us from meeting a need when it is present. The largest need is one of companionship. It would be easy for me to change places with the maiden and imagine my wife as the eager, shy, beautiful gazelle anxiously-curiously-alertly looking through the almost impenetrable windows of my heart to see if she could discover a meaningful movement. Please exchange places husbandyou are to be just that eager to know what goes on in the heart of your wifenever mind that you cannot see or know, the important thing is that you are there and that you want to know.
There are a thousand times a thousand wives who weep today for a husband who would dream a dream like the one described in verses eight through thirteen. Lets take our wife on a picnic in the countryor to a lovely secluded spot by the seashore. The important part of this is not the picnic but her person. The spring is only lovely because she is the center attraction. Have we forgotten how to be romantic? Perhaps it is because the beauty of Gods creation and our willingness to give ourselves to our wife has ceased to be a reality.
Communion Son. 2:8-14
As the bride of our Lord we can soliloquize concerning His coming againbut I would rather relate this passage to His present interest in us. There is no barrier that can or will separate usnot tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine or nakedness, or peril, or sword (Rom. 8:35). In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. Behold! He stands at the door of our heartHe is beautiful in appearancebut He will not force entrance. He is more than curiousHe wants very much to come in and share every activity of oursHe is standing behind our wall and looking in at the windowssee Him there as He glances through the lattice? He is calling me to leave the television set and meet Him for a walk together in seeking and saving some poor lost person who lives but a few houses from me. One glad day He came and called me to put aside the winter of my backsliding and join Him in the springtime of my first love. There is so much beauty in holiness! The time of singing is come. The song of heavens dove is with me. What was once only hard words I find to be delectable fruit. What fragrance I find in His presence! I seem to hear His voice again and again Arise, O my companion, my fair one, and come away! Far too often I have been as inaccessible as the maiden in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the precipicebut no moreHe shall hear my voice and see my faceI love Him.
FACT QUESTIONS 2:814
101.
What does Moffats translation add to our understanding?
102.
The word voice in verse eight is not the best translation. What is?
103.
The shepherd is eager but shy. Why?
104.
In what way is he like a gazelle?
105.
The maiden is also reticent. Why?
106.
What is the context of the eight-line stanza of verses ten through thirteen?
107.
What time of the year is indicated?
108.
List and discuss the six signs of the season.
109.
Discuss the context of verse fourteen?
110.
Just where did the bride live?
111.
What can husbands do to receive the welcome given by the Shulammite?
112.
There is something very basic in the happy relationship of husband and wife. Is there an answer in this text? Discuss.
113.
It isnt necessary to understand our wives or for the wives to understand all about their husbandsone thing is needfulwhat is that? Discuss.
114.
Do you think we have overstated the case of our communion with our Lord? Discuss.
115.
Offer some personal practical manner of application for the thought of returning to our first love.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(8) The voice of my beloved.So here there is no need of the clumsy device of supposing the heroine in a dream. This most exquisite morsel of the whole poem falls quite naturally into its place if we regard it as a sweet recollection of the poets, put into the mouth of the object of his affections. The voice (Heb., kl), used to arrest attention = Hark! (Comp. Psalms 29) The quick sense of love discerns his approach a long way off. (Compare
Before he mounts the hill, I know
He cometh quickly.Tennysons Fatima.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. The voice of my beloved Better, A voice! It is my beloved! The word rendered “voice” sometimes serves as an interjection, like “Hark!” It is also used of the sound of the feet in running.
He cometh Properly, He came. She saw him at a distance and knew him by his brisk gait and graceful bearing.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
THE YOUNG MAIDEN speaks.
‘The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, Leaping on the mountains, Skipping on the hills. My beloved is like a roe-deer or a young hart, Behold, he stands behind our wall; He looks in at the windows, He glances through the lattice.’
Here we have a beautiful picture of the fervency of love. Her beloved might be a king, but when it comes to love he is like other men. It commences with her hearing his call as he speaks her name. And she pictures him ‘leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills’ for all the world like a roe-deer, or a young hart in spring time, his heart full of life, and of thoughts of love (compare Pro 5:19).
And then there he is. First standing behind the wall, and then looking in at the window, and glancing though the lattice which protects it (it would have no glass). This is not the behavior of a king but of a heart in love that dares to do anything, and cannot be restrained, and will not be denied.
It was like God’s love for Israel. How often He called their name (Isa 50:2). How often He sought them and looked for them (Jer 7:13; Jer 35:17). He, as it were, stood behind their wall, and even looked through the lattice. But they kept Him outside. They did not want Him interfering in their daily lives.
We are reminded here also of another Shepherd-King, Who came into the world that He might seek and save the lost. He too loves His true people. And we are reminded here of His persistence when He begins to seek us. One moment we are aware of Him behind the wall of our unbelief, then of Him looking in through the window. We cannot escape Him. He just will not let us go until we are sought and found. For He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love (Eph 1:4), and loves us with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3). In a similar way He had called to Jerusalem but in their case they would not hear Him (Mat 23:37). For they were not of His sheep (Joh 10:26).
And once we are His He regularly calls to us and tell us that it is the time for love, a time for renewal. But how often we leave Him standing behind the wall, or looking in through the lattice of the window. We are too busy with other things, and the moment of opportunity passes us by.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
SECTION 2.
The Follow Up Visit By Her Beloved, And Her Subsequent Nightmare ( Son 2:8
In this section we now have described in vivid terms a picture of how the young maiden’s beloved seeks her out and calls her to come away with him into the countryside. The courtship is advancing and he is here not acting as a king but as a lover. And while she does not respond, for it would not have been seemly for a maiden of her quality to go off alone with her lover, she delights in the assurance it brings her of their love. However, that night the fact that she has had to gently rebuff him results in her having a nightmare that she has lost him, and so in her dream she commences a desperate journey to seek him out, which again ends with an adjuration to the daughters of Jerusalem not to awaken his love until it pleases.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Illustration – Note these insightful words from Frances J. Roberts about this passage:
“O My children, there is the sound of the turtledove going throughout the land. It is the voice of the Bridegroom calling forth His Bride. It is the wooing of the Spirit bringing forth a people for His Name. Yea, it is the Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ Himself, drawing together them that are His. It is the call of love, and they who truly love Him shall respond..I tell you, there shall be a revelation of My nearness given to My dear ones before My second coming. Anticipate Me. Watch for Me. Thy heart shall listen, and thy heart shall hear. I am not far off. I am looking through the lattice. Ye shall see Me ye shall know ye shall rejoice.” [126]
[126] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 106.
Son 2:8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
Son 2:8
Comments – The Song of Solomon describes the mountains metaphorically as “the mountains of Bether” (Son 2:17), “mount Gilead” (Son 4:1), “the mountain of myrrh” (Son 4:6), “the mountain of spices” (Son 8:14), “the mountains of the leopards” (Son 4:8). The hills are referred to as “the hill of frankincense” (Son 4:6). Watchman Nee says the phrase “the mountains of spices” refers to “the new millennial world of fragrance and beauty.” [127] The mountains and hills seem to refer to the heavenly, spiritual realm of eternity that the believer partakes of in a limited measure along his earthly journey.
[127] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 157.
Son 2:8 Word Study on “hills” Strong says the Hebrew word “hill” “ gib`ah ” ( ) (H1389) means, “a hillock, hill, little hill.” The Enhanced Strong says this word is used 69 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “hill 69.” This word is used 2 times in the Song of Songs (Son 2:8; Son 4:6).
Son 2:8 Figurative Interpretation – In the Song of Solomon the mountains and hills refer to the heavenly realm, where the resurrected Christ dwells, and from where the Holy Spirit was sent. Son 2:8 can be interpreted allegorically to mean that God comes to us in the spirit realm.
In contrast, Watchman Nee and Mike Bickle interpret the mountains and hills to represent the difficulties of this life. They say Son 2:8 describes the Lord victoriously overcoming all things of this world. [128]
[128] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 43; Mike Bickle, Session 8 Challenging the Comfort Zone (Song of Solomon 2:8-17 ), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 2.
Son 2:9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.
Son 2:9
Word Study on “a hart” Strong says the Hebrew word “hart” “ ah-yawl’ ” ( ) (H354) means, “a stag or male deer, hart.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 11 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “hart(s).” This Hebrew word is used 3 times in the Song of Songs (Son 2:9; Son 2:17; Son 8:14). Of all the animals in the ancient Orient, the deer symbolized grace and beauty. In Songs this word is possibly used metaphorically of the Lover, who figuratively represents Christ.
Comments – On three occasions the Lover is described as a deer. Watchman Nee refers to the phrase in the title of Psalms 22, “upon Aijeleth Shahar” as a reference to the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. This Hebrew phrase literally reads, “to the deer of the dawn.” In the Song of Solomon Jesus is referred to figuratively as a deer (Son 2:9; Son 2:17; Son 8:14). The dawn is figurative of His Resurrection. [129]
[129] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 42-3.
Son 2:9 “he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice” Comments – In her book Come Away My Beloved Frances J. Roberts makes a reference to the lattice as being a shelter that the Lord has provided for His children, a place where man can commune with God.
“O My beloved, abide under the shelter of the lattice for I have betrothed thee unto Myself” [130]
[130] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 13.
Son 2:9 Figurative Interpretation – Allegorically, the Beloved looking in the window in Son 2:9 can be interpreted to mean that God speaks to our spirit, or heart, which is the window of our soul. We see a similar metaphor used in Rev 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
Son 2:10-13 The Lover’s Call Literal Interpretation – In Son 2:10-13 the Beloved tells of the call of her Lover.
Figurative Interpretation Christ Jesus is telling His child that it is time to bear fruit in the kingdom of God. A new season in life has come. God had cursed the earth for man’s sake. But Jesus bore all of man’s sins so that he was no longer bound by that curse. Prosperity was now offered to man through faith in Christ. In order to bear this fruit, the believer must separate himself with God for a season.
God Tells Us that Redemption Has Come – The description of peace and tranquility upon earth in Son 2:11-13 is figurative of a cry that redemption has come for mankind upon earth. Rom 8:20-23 tells us that all of creation is in travail, awaiting the redemption of the children of God. Sadhu Sundar Singh says that “winter” represents a time of great distress. [131] Springtime represents a time of refreshing to man’s soul. Son 2:11-13 is figuratively saying that once we are saved and rest in the Lord, the distress of this life is over. The Lover is going to now guide His Beloved into a place of rest by teaching her to come aside with him in communion.
[131] Sadhu Sundar Singh, At the Master’s Feet, translated by Arthur Parker (London: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1922) [on-line]; accessed 26 October 2008; available from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/singh/feet.html; Internet, “III Prayer,” section 3, part 5.
Rom 8:20-23, “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
Son 2:10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Son 2:10
“O My beloved, ye do not need to make your path (like a snow plow), for lo, I say unto thee, I go before you. Yea, I shall engineer circumstances on thy behalf. I am thy husband, and I will protect thee and care for thee, and make full provision for thee. I know thy need, and I am concerned for thee: for thy peace, for thy health, for thy strength. I cannot use a tired body, and ye need to take time to renew thine energies, both spiritual and physical. I am the God of Battle, but I am also the One who said: They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. And Jesus said, Come ye apart and rest a little while.
“I will teach you, even as I taught Moses on the back side of the desert, and as I taught Paul in Arabia. So will I teach you. Thus it shall be a constructive period, and not in any sense wasted time. But as the summer course to the school teacher, it is vital to thee in order that ye be fully qualified for your ministry.
“There is no virtue in activity as such neither in inactivity. I minister to thee in solitude that ye may minister of Me to others as a spontaneous overflow of our communion. Never labor to serve, nor force opportunities. Set thy heart to be at peace and to sit at My feet. Learn to be ready, but not to be anxious. Learn to say ‘no’ to the demands of men and to say ‘yes’ to the call of the Spirit… Come away, My beloved , and be as the doe upon the mountains; yea, we shall go down together to the gardens.” [132]
[132] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 145-6.
Figurative Interpretation If we follow Frances Roberts’ interpretation in 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. We find this call expressed in the opening verses of Songs, “Draw me, we will run after thee,” (Son 1:4).
Son 2:11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
Son 2:11
[133] Sadhu Sundar Singh, At the Master’s Feet, translated by Arthur Parker (London: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1922) [on-line]; accessed 26 October 2008; available from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/singh/feet.html; Internet, “III Prayer,” section 3, part 5.
Mat 24:20, “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:”
Son 2:12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
Son 2:12
Son 2:12 Figurative Interpretation – The metaphors used in Son 2:12 represent the resurrected life of the believer. The phrase “The flowers appear on the earth” may represent a life of newness and spiritual growth. The phrase “the time of the singing of birds is come” may represent a life of peace and joy. Frances Roberts interprets the phrase “and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land” to be a reference to the voice of the Bridegroom calling forth His Bride.
“O My children, there is the sound of the turtledove going throughout the land. It is the voice of the Bridegroom calling forth His Bride. It is the wooing of the Spirit bringing forth a people for His Name. Yea, it is the Lord of Glory, Jesus Christ Himself, drawing together them that are His. It is the call of love, and they who truly love Him shall respond..I tell you, there shall be a revelation of My nearness given to My dear ones before My second coming. Anticipate Me. Watch for Me. Thy heart shall listen, and thy heart shall hear. I am not far off. I am looking through the lattice. Ye shall see Me ye shall know ye shall rejoice.” [134]
[134] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 106.
Son 2:13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
Son 2:13
Son 2:14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
Son 2:14
Word Study on “the clefts” Strong says the Hebrew word “clefts” “chgv” ( ) (H2288) means “a rift in the rocks,” and comes from an unused root that means, “to take refuge.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used three times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “clefts 3.” The other two uses are found in Jer 49:16 and Oba 1:3.
Jer 49:16, “Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock , that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.”
Oba 1:3, “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock , whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?”
Word Study on “of the stairs” Strong says the Hebrew word “stairs” “madrgh” ( ) (H4095) It means, “a steep place, a step,” and comes from an unused root meaning “to step.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used two times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “stair 1, steep places 1.” Its other use is found in Eze 38:20.
Eze 38:20, “So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.”
Comments – Son 2:14 implies that the beloved dwells in a high and protected place above the dangers of the valleys below. Such crevices in high buildings and rocky hills would have been the natural habitat for birds such as doves (Isa 2:21, Jer 49:16, Oba 1:3).
Isa 2:21, “To go into the clefts of the rocks , and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.”
Jer 49:16, “Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock , that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.”
Oba 1:3, “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock , whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?”
Son 2:14 Literal Interpretation – The Lover is still speaking in Son 2:14. He asks His Beloved, who is sheltered like a dove in the clefts of the rocks, to commune with Him.
Figurative Interpretation The dove represents the resurrected life with the indwelling Spirit of God. In Son 2:14 the believer is sheltered by God in this resurrected life just as a bird hiding in the clefts of the rocks. It is in this place of separation that God desires to commune with us.
Son 2:15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
Son 2:15
Comments – The Song of Songs refers to a garden nine times (Son 4:12; Son 4:15-16; Son 5:1; Son 6:2; Son 6:11; Son 8:13) and to a vineyard nine times (Son 1:6; Son 1:14; Son 2:15; Son 7:12; Son 8:11-12) within its text. A garden is a place of meditation and rest, while a vineyard is a place of bearing fruit as a result of entering into rest and communion with God. For our life of walking in the Spirit and bearing fruit is simply the overflow of being filled with the Spirit while in communion with the Lord. The beloved’s vineyard would figuratively represent a believer who has entered into his calling and ministry and is labouring for the Lord.
Son 2:15 Literal Interpretation – In Son 2:10-15 we find the Lover discussing his vineyard that just beginning to bear fruit. His concern is that these small foxes will move through the vineyard and knock off this tender fruit before it can produce a harvest.
Figurative Interpretation Son 2:15 can be interpreted figuratively as a call to the Church for sanctification. It is only in a place of separation and communion that this process can begin. Christ is saying that the believer must begin to sanctify himself by laying aside the little sins that stop the fruit of the spirit from maturing. Watchman Nee says these little foxes are “small appearances of the old life.” [135] Note these insightful words by Frances J. Roberts regarding this verse. He says that the little foxes represent the enemy, Satan’s demons, who attempts to bring damage and spoil in our lives before the fruit has grown. The mature fruit is easily recognized and dealt with. But the “tender grapes” represent undeveloped fruit in our lives that Satan is trying to stop from growing by causing little, unnoticed sins to crop up in our lives.
[135] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 52.
“Much that is truly sin and is causing thee distress is not even recognized by thee as such. Ye are in truth plagued more by these unidentified enemies than by all the overt sins ye have ever committed. For the overt sins are readily recognized and sorely grieved over, and for most of these forgiveness has already been received. Lo, it is the little foxes that are spoiling the vine. Thy vine hath tender grapes. If ye were bearing no fruit, ye would not be thus molested. Rejoice in that ye know that the enemy would not trouble thee unless ye were of some value to Me.” [136]
[136] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 175.
Son 2:1-17 The Shulamite Responds to Her Lover’s Call In Son 2:16-17 we have the Shulamite’s response to her lover’s call.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Engagement (Scene 2: The Shulamite’s House) (Separation or Sanctification) Literal Interpretation – The second song (Son 2:8 to Son 3:5) reflects the season of engagement, or betrothal, that takes place in a relationship of growing love. In the African culture the wife brings her lover to her parent’s home and introduces him. This event is called an introduction, and a man is free to take her to his home at any time afterwards. However, in the Middle Eastern culture this event is considered the betrothal that precedes the wedding. In the opening scene (Son 2:8-15) the Shulamite hears the voice of her beloved woos her and asking for her love. In Son 2:16 to Son 3:5 we have the Shulamite’s response to her lover’s call. She accepts (Son 2:16-17) and then experiences the pain that results from being separated from the person who is about to become her husband (Son 3:1-5). Love becomes so strong that it even becomes difficult to sleep at night. At this point in love’s journey she has not entered into rest.
Figurative Interpretation The second song opens with the Shulamite being wooed from her bed rest by her lover. Figuratively speaking, this song represents the call of the Lord for a believer to separate himself from the world and sanctify himself as one who is betrothed to Christ (2Co 11:2). Within the context of Songs, a believer’s call to sanctification is described as someone who is called apart for communion with God. This time of separation is important for every believer. We see in the life of Moses that he stayed in the desert forty years before entering in to divine service. Paul the apostle spent three years in Arabia before serving the Lord. Queen Esther spend one year separating herself and preparing herself to be presented before the king and to serve him.
If a believer stays at the king’s banqueting table and never grows in devotion the Lord, then his love will never be tested as genuine. For example, when David fled Jerusalem because of Absalom, many of his servants join in this rebellion. These servants had fed at the king’s table for years; but their heart was not with the king. The rebellion served as a test of David’s servants. Love must be tested, and this is what God is doing by calling us from our place of rest. He is testing our devotion to Him.
We find another example in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were feasting in God’s blessings in the Garden. In order to test their love and devotion to Him, God gave them one commandment to avoid the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve yielded to their own fleshly desires and disobeyed God’s command and failed the test of love.
Outline – Note the proposed outline of this section:
1. Scene 1 A Time of Courtship Son 2:8-17
a) The Bridegroom’s Call Son 2:8-15
b) The Bride’s Response Son 2:16-17
2. Scene 2 – Love is Tested Son 3:1-5
Historical Background of Oriental Betrothal The next stage of love is the period of engagement, which is symbolized in Son 2:8 to Son 3:5. The oriental Jewish culture called it “betrothal.” John Gill, in his comments on Mat 1:18, gives us the account and manner of the Jewish custom of betrothing by quoting Maimonides:
“Before the giving of the law, if a man met a woman in the street, if he would, he might take her, and bring her into his house and marry her between him and herself, and she became his wife; but when the law was given, the Israelites were commanded, that if a man would take a woman he should obtain her before witnesses, and after that she should be his wife, according to Deu 22:13 and these takings are an affirmative command of the law, and are called ‘espousals’ or ‘betrothings’ in every place; and a woman who is obtained in such a way is called ‘espoused’ or ‘betrothed’; and when a woman is obtained, and becomes ”espoused”, although she is not yet ‘married, nor has entered into her husband’s house’, yet she is a man’s wife.” ( Mishneh Torah, vol 16: Hilchot Ishot c.1.sect. 1,2,3) [124]
[124] John Gill, Matthew, in John Gill’s Expositor, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on Matthew 1:18.
Deu 22:13, “If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her,”
Albert Barnes says that the Jewish custom was to have an interval of ten to twelve months between the contract for marriage, or betrothal, and the actual wedding. During this interval, the virgin was betrothed, or espoused, to her future husband. This engagement was as strong as the marriage itself. [125]
[125] Albert Barnes, The Gospel According to Matthew, in Barnes’ Notes, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1997), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), comments on Matthew 1:18.
In Deu 22:22-29, the Law of Moses considered a virgin who has been betrothed to a man as being bound under the same laws as a wife. If another man lay with such a betrothed virgin, then death is the penalty. If the virgin is not betrothed when a man lays with her, then the penalty is weakened to a monetary fine. The only way that this relationship between a man and his betrothed virgin can be broken is by a writing of divorce, since he was considered her husband (Mat 1:19).
Deu 22:23-24, “If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.”
Mat 1:19, “Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.”
We see the strength and bond of the act of betrothal in the story of Jacob and Laban. After seven years of labor, Jacob demanded his “wife” from Laban, her father (Gen 29:21).
Gen 29:21, “And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Mutual Call of Love
v. 8. The voice of my Beloved! v. 9. My Beloved is like a roe, v. 10. My Beloved spake and said unto me, v. 11. For, lo, the winter, v. 12. the flowers appear on the earth, v. 13. the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, v. 14. O My dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, v. 15. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines, v. 16. My Beloved is mine, v. 17. Until the day break,
The Church, having gained inner strength through the blessings of the Gospel, is now ready to heed the call of Christ. She sees Him approaching in the full vigor of His merciful power, He comes to visit her, to call her forth to enjoy the beauties which He has prepared, and to be active in His interest. He tells her that the period of afflictions is past for the time being, that a new and favorable time of grace has dawned. His invitation and appeal is clothed in the gentlest and most appealing words, irresistible to the heart filled with true faith. And the Church responds by calling upon its own members, especially its pastors and teachers, to stop the destructive work of false prophets, who make use of every new awakening in the Church to do damage to Christ’s vine. At the same time the Church affirms her loyalty to Christ and her trust in His love and power, knowing that His merciful presence is in the midst of His believers. And all this is done in the certainty of the Lord’s final return to lead His bride to the eternal marriage-feast in heaven.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Son 2:8. The second day’s eclogue begins here, belongs wholly to the spouse, and is addressed by her in a continued narration to the chorus of virgins.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
SECOND SONG
The first meeting of the lovers, related by Shulamith who has returned to her home.
Son 2:8 to Son 3:5
FIRST (AND ONLY) SCENE:
SHULAMITH (ALONE).
8 Hark!14 my beloved; lo! here he comes,
leaping15 over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle
or a young hart.16
Lo! here he stands behind our wall,17
looking through18 the windows,
glancing through the lattices.19
10 Answered my beloved and said to me:
Up,20 my dear, my fair one and go forth!
11 For, lo! the winter is past,
the rain is over, is gone.
12 The flowers appear in the land,
the time for song21 has arrived,
and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land.
13 The fig-tree spices22 its green figs
and the vines are in bloom,23 they yield fragrance,
24 up! my dear, my fair one and go forth!
14 My dove, in the clefts25 of the rock,
in the recess of the cliffs,26
let me see thy form,27 let me hear thy voice,
for thy voice is sweet and thy form is comely.
15 Catch28 us foxes,
little foxes, spoiling vineyards;
for our vineyards are in bloom.
16 My beloved is mine, and I am his,
who feeds among the lilies.
17 Against29 the day cools, and the shadows flee
turn thee, my beloved, and be like
a gazelle or a young hart
on the cleft30 mountains.
(She sleeps and after some time awakes again:)
III. 1 31On my bed32 in the nights33
I sought him whom my soul loves;
I sought him but I found him not.
2 I will rise now and go about in the city
in the markets and in the streets;34
I will seek him whom my soul loves.
I sought him but I found him not.
3 Found35 me the watchmen, who go about in the city;
36Whom my soul loves, have ye seen?37
4 Scarcely38 had I passed from them,
when I found him whom my soul loves.
I grasped him and would not let him go,
until I had brought39 him into my mothers house,
and into the chamber of her that conceived40 me.
5 I41 adjure you, ye daughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field,
that ye wake not and that ye waken not
love until it please.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. It is the fixed opinion of almost all the more recent interpreters that this act contains two monologues or sonnets sung by Shulamith alone, and nothing more; and this is verified by all the particulars that it contains. The attempt of Magnus and Delitzsch to strike out as spurious the formula of citation Son 2:10 and so to gain a dialogue form for the first and larger division (Son 2:8-17) is wrecked not only by the evidence of genuineness afforded by all MSS. and ancient versions in favor of these words, but also by the closing verses of the section (Son 2:15-17) which correctly interpreted represent her lover as present only to the imagination of Shulamith or to her memory, which vividly recalled him. Whether the two monologues are regarded as two distinct scenes, (as is commonly the case), or the scene is allowed to remain the same in both without change and only a pause of some length is interposed between them (Ewald, Hitz., Hahn,) is on the whole but an unessential difference. For a pause after Son 2:17 is as undeniable and as universally admitted as is the peculiar character of the second sonnet Son 3:1-5, which as the narration of a dream (with the apostrophizing of the daughters of Jerusalem therewith connected) is sharply and distinctly sundered from the preceding monologue, though this too is of a narrative character. As to what takes place between the two monologues or scenes, we may either suppose (with Ewald and others) a prolonged meditation and silence on the part of Shulamith, exhausted by the foregoing lively expression of her longing desire for her lover, or, as intimated in the above translation, that she sinks into a brief slumber, which brings before her in a dream the lover for whom she so ardently longs, and thus in the moment of her awaking recalls to her remembrance a like dream from the early days of her love, which she hereupon relates. No sufficient proof of this assumption can, it is true, be brought from the context. Yet it undoubtedly has more in its favor than, e.g., the hypothesis proposed by Umbreit, Rocke, Vaihinger, Renan and several of the older writers, that Shulamith utters the words Son 2:8-17 in a dream, and then, after awaking, she relates (to the women of the harem around her) a dream which she had previously had, Son 3:1 ff., in order to prove her changeless love to the friend to whom her heart was given. The language in Son 2:8-17 has, to be sure, a certain dreamlike vagueness, rather than the character of a strictly historical narration. But this is sufficiently explained by the highly excited fancy of the singer, which brings up the past before her, as though she were experiencing it anew, and which in this lyrical recital, that is any thing but dry narration, here and there springs over what intervenes between the separate particulars of the action, especially in Son 2:9 and between Son 2:14-15.
2. It is, however, far more difficult to determine the scene or the situation, and the external-surroundings of the speaker during this act, than to decide upon the form and style of the discourse. The adherents of the shepherd-hypothesis, who here conceive of Shulamith as continuing at Jerusalem in the royal harem, and expressing her longing for her distant lover, can urge, it is true, in favor of this the repetition of the address to the daughters of Jerusalem at the close of the section (Son 3:5), but are not able to explain why the description in Son 2:8-17 presupposes an undoubted country scene, with mountains, hills, vineyards, flowery fields, etc., or why it is a simple monologue of the beloved, and neither Solomon nor the daughters of Jerusalem utter a word. Bttchers view, therefore, seems to have something in its favor, that the locality of the action was a royal country house not far from Jerusalem, where Shulamith was detained a solitary prisoner. And the one circumstance at least that according to Son 2:8 ff. the scene appears to be in the country, might be conveniently combined with the assumption that Shulamith here continues to stay in the royal pleasure-grounds south of the capital, and that Solomon has only left her again for a while for some unknown reasons. But Shulamiths place of abode plainly appears to be one further removed from Jerusalem, and in fact to be located in the region of her home. For 1) the mention of her mothers house, with its wall and its latticed window (Son 3:4; Son 2:9) makes it probable that she is there. 2) We are also led to the very same result by , in our land, Son 2:12, the mention of the vineyards in bloom, Son 2:13; Son 2:15, as well as the , Son 2:17, whether this difficult expression be rendered separating mountains, or cleft mountains, or spice mountains (see in loc.). 3) Shulamith brought in solemn pomp to the wedding by her royal bridegroom, as described for the first time in the following act, Son 3:6-11, presupposes that she had before been staying again in her parents house; for it is from thence that according to the custom of the ancient Hebrews, the bride must always be brought (comp. 1Ma 9:37; 1Ma 9:39; Mat 25:1, etc.). 4) That Shulamith came from northern Palestine to Jerusalem for her marriage with Solomon, is also rendered highly probable by the mention of Lebanon in what her newly espoused says to her, Son 4:8; and further, the coming up of the bride out of the wilderness, as described in Son 3:6, in her entry into the capital, might point to a coming from the north, and not out of the wilderness of Judah, which lay south of Jerusalem (comp. in loc.). Accordingly the parental residence of the bride, or its vicinity is, with Dpke, Heiligstedt and Delitzsch, to be regarded as the scene of this passagethat is to say, Shunem or some neighboring locality in the tribe of Issachar north of Mount Gilboa, or on the south side of Little Hermon. How Shulamith came thither again from the royal residence, whether peaceably dismissed to her home by agreement with her bridegroom, or conducted thither by himself in order to be subsequently brought with solemn pomp to the wedding, is not clearly explained in the piece. Only every thought must be excluded of a possible flight of the virgin from the royal harem to her home, for she exhibits her longing for her royal lover in undiminished strength, and this too not as though it had arisen from regret at her too hasty flight from him (comp. Delitzsch, p. 99 f.).As regards the time of the action, it appears to follow from the way that, Son 2:11-13, the winter is described as past, and the fair spring-time as come, that an interval of some months had elapsed between the summer or autumn scene of the preceding act (Son 1:14; Son 1:16 f.; Son 2:3 ff.) and the present, or more briefly, that the entire rainy season lies between Son 2:7 and Son 2:8 (Hitz.). But as that charming description of opening spring belongs to a narration, and furthermore to a poetic and ideal narration of what Solomon said to his beloved on his first meeting with her, no conclusion can be drawn from it in respect to the time of this action. And neither the winter in Son 2:11 nor the nights in Son 3:1 (according to Hitzig the long winter nights!) afford any support for that opinion, which would charge upon the poet too great a violation of the Aristotelian demand of the unity of time. On the contrary, there is nothing in the way of assuming with Ewald, Bttcher, Del. and most of the later interpreters, an interval of but a few days between Acts 1, 2 (which certainly need not be narrowed down to the space of a few hours, as, e.g., Vaihinger assumes), nor of regarding the entire action of the piece generally as taking place in the course of a single spring, and occupying, at the utmost, a few weeks.42 Comp. on Son 7:13.
3. Ch.2, Son 2:8-9.
Son 2:8. Hark! my beloved.Literally, the voice [or sound] of my beloved, , to which abrupt expression it is or is heard is to be supplied as in Isa 40:3; Isa 40:6 (Mat 3:3); 2Ki 6:32. [It is rather an exclamation, to which no verb need be supplied, see GreensHeb. Chres. on Isa 40:3; Isa 40:6]. And the following expression, lo! there he comes, etc., shows that it is not the words of the bridegroom (Hengstenberg, after Michaelis and many of the older writers), but his coming itself or the sound of his coming and bounding over the mountains and the hills, in short his steps, which are indicated by , comp. Son 5:2; Gen 3:8; 1Ki 14:6. That Shulamith was shortly expecting her lover, may be probably inferred from this exclamation of hers which may be supposed to have been occasioned by some noise in which she thought she heard the steps of him for whom she longed. But that which further follows is not a description of his arrival, which now actually ensues (Magn., Del.), nor a mere airy fancy sketch or dreaming description of what her friend would say and do, if he were now actually to come (Umbr., Hitz., Vaih., etc.see No. 1, above), but a vivid reminiscence of the way that he had actually come to her the first time and of the loving conversation which had then taken place between him and her by the wall of her parental home. It was the more natural for the bride to be thus vividly transported to the past, as she was hourly expecting her bridegroom back again at the very spot where he had then met with her for the first time.43Leapingbounding (). From this description of her lovers first coming to Shulamith, which is further illustrated by the following figures of the gazelle and the young hart, we may perhaps conclude that Solomon while hunting on Mount Gilboa, or in its vicinity, saw his beloved there for the first time, and formed a connection with her in the manner ideally described in what follows.
Son 2:9. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart.Hitzig calls in question the genuineness of these words, with no other grounds of suspicion than such as are purely subjective. They are designed more particularly to illustrate and justify in their application to her lover the somewhat bold and in themselves not very intelligible terms leaping, and bounding. And this they manifestly do in so far as they call attention to the fact that he resembles those fair and noble animals not in his speed and agility merely, but generally in the charming grace and loftiness of his whole bearing. Comp. passages like 2Sa 2:18; 1Ch 12:8; Pro 6:5, where speed alone is the tert. comp. in this figure, with Psa 18:34; Hab 3:19; Pro 5:19, where the other qualities of these animals are also taken into the account.Lo here he is, standing behind our wall. Judged by the analogy of other passages, in which it is found, the word here used does not mean the wall about the vineyard but the wall of the house, to which the mention of the window immediately after also points.44 Our wall, because Shulamith means the house belonging to her family, in or near which she now is again [or which she so well remembersTr.]; comp. Son 8:8 our sister, and our vineyards Son 2:15.Looking through the windows, glancing through the latticesliterally, from the windows, from the lattices. It is a matter of indifference from which window he looks into the interior; it was only worth while to affirm in the general that he looked in from the region of the windows, that is from without. Window (), and lattice (according to the Targ. Jos 2:15; Jos 2:18 equivalent to , of the same meaning also with Jdg 5:28; Pro 7:6, as well as with Hos 13:3; Ecc 7:3) are plainly only different names for the same thing, of which however the latter expression is the more special or precise; for the lattice properly closed the aperture of the window and consequently was that through which he must have looked, comp. 2Ki 13:17. literally, blooming (comp. Isa 27:6; Psa 132:18 and especially Psa 72:16, where occurs of men blooming out of the earth) does not express a transient appearing or a quick and stolen glance, but evidently describes the blooming and radiant appearance of her lover, who is also called white and red, Son 5:10. He blooms in through the window (comp. Michaelis: roseum suum vultum instar floris jucundissimi per retia cancellorum ostendens) is a pregnant expression, and reminds one of Gen 49:22, where Joseph is described as a young fruit tree of luxuriant growth, whose daughters run over the wall.45
4. Solomons first greeting to Shulamith, Son 2:10-14.
Son 2:10. My beloved answered and said to me. In opposition to the doubts of Magnus and Delitzsch regarding the genuineness of these words, see above No. 1. In respect to in the opening of a discourse and consequently in the sense of beginning to speak (not answering Hengstenberg), comp. Deu 21:7; Deu 26:5; 2Ch 29:31; Isa 14:10; Job 3:2, and , which is frequently so used in the New Testament.46 Arise, my dear, my fair one, and go forth,viz., out of the housenot out of the city into the country, as the adherents of the shepherd-hypothesis suppose, who think the shepherd utters these words to Shulamith in her captive condition (similarly also Weissbach).47
Son 2:11. For lo, the winter is past. (for which the Kri to fix the correct pronunciation instead of as it might possibly be read) denotes, as also in Aram., the winter and that on the side of its cold, as the parallel expression (comp. Ecc 12:2; Job 37:6) denotes the same on the side of its moisture, that is to say, as the rainy season ( time of rain, Ezr 10:9; Ezr 10:13). The winter as the cold season of the year necessarily keeps people in the house; whence the allusion to its being past adds force to the solicitation to come out of the house.
Son 2:12. The flowers appear in the land, literally, are seen () in the land. On the rapidity with which the spring with its new verdure and its blooming attire usually follows the winter in the East, comp. Hasselquist, Reisen, p. 261.The time of singing has arrived. is not the time for pruning vines, as the old translators explained it, after the analogy of Lev 25:3 f.; Isa 5:6; for in Son 2:13; Son 2:15 the vines are represented as already in blossom, the time for pruning them was therefore long since past; but it is the time of singing, of merry songs. By this, however, we are not to understand the singing of birds (Ibn Ezra, Rashi, E. Meier), but conformably to Isa 25:5 (), Isa 24:16; Job 35:10; Psa 119:54; 2Sa 23:1, etc. (), the glad songs of men, such as spring usually awakens, especially in the life of shepherds and country people (comp. Jdg 21:20 f.).And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land,viz. in Palestine, the land of Solomon and and Shulamith. This does not by any means require us to regard Shulamiths country lover as the speaker, although it favors the assumption that the scene of the narrative lay in the country rather than in the city. The turtle-dove () as a bird of passage (Jer 8:7) is a fit representative of spring, and it need not therefore symbolize the Holy Spirit (Targ.), nor the meek (Hengstenb.), nor Israel in general (Hahn).
Son 2:13. The fig tree spices its fruit. As means not the early figs but the late figs, i.e. the small fruit of the fig tree which continues to grow during the winter, and does not ripen until spring (Septuag. , Vulgate, grossi), and as signifies, Gen 1:2; Gen 1:26, to spice, to perfume, this verb must here too have the sense of spicing and denote that aromatic sweetness which figs attain about the time of their ripening (comp. Schubert, Reise III. p. 113). We must reject, therefore, both the putting forth of the ancient versions (Sept., Aq., Vulg., Syr.), and the signification of reddening or browning, preferred by Ewald, Hitzig, Renan, etc.; for the late figs are of a violet color even during the winter, when they are still unfit to eat (comp. Meier and Weissbachin loc.).And the vines are in blossom, literally, are blossom. a substantive, which occurs again Son 2:15; Son 7:13, and whose etymology is very obscure (comp. Velth., Ewald and Hitzigin loc.), can mean nothing but blossom, vine blossom either here or in the other two passages; and this is confirmed by the ancient versions (Sept., Vulg. florere, Symm.; also the Syr. on Isa 17:11). It plainly makes no difference in the sense whether we translate the vines are blossom (comp. e.g.Exo 9:31), give fragrance (as is commonly done) or the vines in blossom, i.e. since they are blossoming, yield their fragrance (see e.g.Weissb. comp. Delitzsch). With regard to the fine delicious fragrance of the vine blossom comp. also Sir 24:23.
Son 2:14. My dove in the clefts of the rock.No pause is observable between Son 2:13-14 (Hitzig; comp. Weissbach). The tenderly caressing and alluring language continues without change. Solomon here entitles his beloved a dove in the clefts of the rock, because, as appears from Son 2:9, the bars of the latticed window still separate him from her. The allusion to her dove-like innocence and her lovely form is altogether subordinate, but must nevertheless not be left wholly out of the account as e.g.Weissbach insists; for dove is undoubtedly a tender pet-name, comp. Son 6:9, and even Son 1:15. The allegorical interpretation, which sees in the dove persecuted innocence (Hengsten.), or even the righteous hiding himself in the gaping wounds of Christ (Theodoret, Greg. the great, J. Gerh.) has clearly no exegetical justification.48In the secret of the cliffs, literally in the hiding-place of the ladder of rock, of the steep rocky precipices, for this appears to be the meaning of the word here used. The expression evidently serves only to finish out the figure employed immediately before of the clefts of the rock concealing the dove. No conclusion can be based upon it respecting Shulamiths place of residence, as though it actually were a rock-bound castle (Bttcher), or were in Solomons lofty palace upon Zion (Ewald, Hitzig, Vaih., etc.)49 The present description would rather appear to indicate (comp. above No. 2) that Shulamiths country home was surrounded by a mountainous and rocky region (Delitzsch).Let me see thy form, denotes in this poem not barely the face (this Solomon already saw through the lattice) but the entire form, comp. Son 5:15, also Gen 12:11; Gen 24:17; Gen 39:6.Let me hear thy voice. Evidently an invitation to sing, with which Shulamith complies in Son 2:15.The following fortifying clause reminds of the similar one in Son 2:9, a.
5. Shulamiths answer.
Son 2:15. That this verse is a little vintagers song or at least the fragment of one, and that Shulamith sings it in answer to the request of her lover in Son 2:10-14 is regarded as settled by most of the recent interpreters since Herder. Only the allegorists, as Hengstenberg, Hahn, etc. see expressed in it Shulamiths fear of the foes of Gods vineyard (i.e. heretics according to Hengstenberg, [so Cov., Patr., Poole and the generality of English Commentators], pagan Hamites according to Hahn.); and Ewald inappropriately puts the words into the mouth of the lover, who thus makes the connection again with what he had said in Son 2:13. That we rather have here a separate ditty or fragment of a song, is shown not only by the plural form of address, but also by the accumulation of rhymes (, , ,). And that this ditty is sung by the bride, not by the bridegroom, appears from its contents, which seem perfectly suitable for the keeper of a vineyard (see Son 1:6), but not for her lover, be he king or shepherd.50 It is, however, arbitrary and preposterous to assume with Hitzig and Renan, that Shulamith sings this sonnet at one of the windows in the harem at Jerusalem in order to inform her lover from her old home, who was in the vicinity of the place of her abode, in nearly the same way that Richard Cur de Lion betrayed the place of his captivity to Blondel, his faithful minstrel, by singing the refrain of a song familiar to them both. The whole situation too is not in the remotest manner adapted to such a romantic and sentimental meaning and design of the sonnet. Its context rather indicates plainly enough that it still belongs to Shulamiths narrative of her first meeting with her lover, and consequently is neither more nor less than her answer to his request to come out to him and to sing to him,an answer, which whether actually given by her in just these words or not, at all events concealed a delicate allusion to her lover under a popular veil artlessly employed and half in jest, and intimated to him that she was not disinclined to let him take part henceforth in her care for the security of her vineyard. If she really sang these words, she did so while opening or the doors of her house to admit her lover who stood without before the wall, or while she stepped out to him singing and smiling (comp. Delitzschin loc.)Catch us foxes, little foxes, spoiling vineyards. The foxes deserve this name, not because they attack the ripe grapes themselves (Theocr. Id. I. 46, ff; V. 112), but because by their passages and holes they undermine the walls of the vineyards and injure the roots of the vines; and they also gnaw the stems and young shoots.51 It was important, therefore, in the spring when the vines were blossoming, to protect the vineyards from these uninvited guests; and the more so, since the spring is the very time of the coming forth of the young foxes from their kennels. The predicate little refers to young foxes (comp. Gen 9:24; Gen 27:15; 1Ki 3:7), not to the diminutive size of the animals which nevertheless do so much damage [so Harmer, Good, Williams]; in that case the smaller variety of the jackal, which is known by the name of adive, would be specially intended by (Hitzig). But as the jackal is always called or (Job 30:29, Mic 1:8) in every other passage in which it is mentioned in the Old Testament, whilst is the constant designation of the fox proper, we are not justified here in departing from this usual meaning of the expression, comp. Oedmann, Sammlungen II. 38; Winer, Real-Wrterbuch, Art. Fchse, also P. Cassel on Jdg 15:4. Moreover the expressions little foxes and destroying vineyards are simply related as in apposition to the principal object ; and both this and the words named as in apposition are without the article, because it is not the foxes universally, but just foxes, vineyard-destroying foxes that are to be taken. Hitzig seeks without necessity to base upon this absence of the article before his translation hold for us, ye foxes, etc., which he makes equivalent to wait, ye foxes, Ill give it to you!For our vineyards are in bloom, literally and our vineyards are in bloom; comp. in respect to this specifying and, and in fact, which here has a specially motive character, Ecc 1:15; Ecc 8:2; Jdg 6:25; Jdg 7:22; Mal 1:11, and in general Ewald, 340, b. By the expression the singer takes up again what had been said, by her lover, Son 2:13, a, whether she altered her ditty in conformity with it, or that expression in the mouth of Solomon recalled to her mind this vernal song with the like-sounding refrain; this latter view is evidently the more natural.
6. Conclusion of the first monologue. Son 2:16-17.
Son 2:16. My beloved is mine and I am his.This declaration that she has become the property of her beloved and he hers, that they have mutually surrendered themselves to one another (comp. Son 6:3; Son 7:11), does not continue Shulamiths answer to the greeting of Solomon, Son 2:10 b14 (Delitzsch, Weissbach, etc.), but after her account of her first meeting with him, which terminates with Son 2:15, she takes up again the expression of her desire for her absent lover uttered in Son 2:8-9, by asserting in the first instance that though still absent, he was inseparably bound to her.52Who feeds among the lilies.Manifestly a figurative expression for who, wherever he abides, spreads radiance, joy and loveliness about him, or in whose footsteps roses and lilies ever bloom.53 With reference to the figurative nature of this form of speech as a fixed and favorite poetical phrase, comp. its recurrence with two different applications, Son 4:5 and Son 6:3. Shulamith had already represented her royal lover as feeding his flock, Son 1:7.
Son 2:17. Against the day cools and the shadows flee.Contrary to the division of the verses, as well as to the analogy of Son 6:3, Herder, Amm., Kleuker, Dpke [so Coverdale, Doway] connect these words with the participial clause at the close of the preceding verse. Feeding among the lilies till the day grows cool would yield a very tame and trivial thought, whilst, on the other hand, the following solicitation, turn thee, etc., can scarcely dispense with some more particular statement of the time up to which or about which it should be complied with. Upon (literally, enduring till, waiting till)=until, whilst, by the time that, comp. the like forms of expression, Gen 24:33; Gen 27:45; Exo 22:26; 1Sa 1:22; 1Sa 14:19, etc.; also Son 1:12 above, where, it is true, the connection demands a somewhat different translation. Shulamith evidently begs her lover to return to her before the coming on of the shades of evening (before the day wholly cools, and the ever lengthening shadows melt quite away in the darknesscomp. Job 14:2). By evening, at the latest, and before night, he should come over the mountains to her swift as a gazelle, as at that first time when she had seen him bounding over the summits and the hills (Son 2:8).54Turn thee and be like,etc. neither qualifies adverbially, resemble hereabouts a gazelle, etc. (Weissbach); nor is it an invitation to her friend already present to ramble with her upon the mountains in the neighborhood (Delitzsch); nor equivalent to turn back again, as though it were intended to call back one who had shortly before been near her and who was going away (Bttcher); but simply=turn thyself hither, direct thy steps hither (comp. 1Sa 22:18; 2Sa 18:30). The Vulgate quite correctly, therefore, as regards the sense, revertere; so also the Syr., Luth., etc.The call upon him to resemble the gazelle is evidently connected with the description given of her lover in Son 2:8. She wishes that her lover would now soon return, as she saw him then, swiftly and gracefully, like the sudden appearing of a noble deer on the mountain height.On cleft mountains.This translation of the difficult is especially favored by the of the Sept. The usual signification of , piece, severed portion (Gen 15:10; Jer 34:18-19, etc.) lies at the basis of it; and both the name of the place, , Bithron, the designation of a mountain ravine east of the Jordan, 2Sa 2:29, and the Greek , fissure, cleft, offer themselves at once as confirmatory analogies (comp. Gesen., Lex., also Vaih., Renan and Delitzschin loc., riven mountains). Commonly, on mountains of separation, i.e., on the mountains that separate us (comp. Luther, auf den Scheidebergen; Merc., Ewald, Hitzig, also the Targ., Ibn Ezra and Jarchi) [so Ginsburg]. Peculiarly Weissbach on the spice-mountains (or Bathrum heights, comp. Vulg., super montes Bother, and Theodoret, who, as well as the Syr., translates similarly ); by this he supposes to be meant Shulamiths breasts perfumed with aromatic betel-leaves, i.e., with , malabathrum=Syr., bathrum. But such an adducing of the , mountains of spices mentioned in Son 8:14, and that as identical in signification with the mountain of myrrh and hill of frankincense mentioned in Son 4:6, i.e., with the fragrant breasts of his beloved (?), is in the present instance manifestly destructive of the sense and repugnant to the connection, and would besides yield an absolutely lascivious sense, which the expressions in question do not have in the two passages alleged.
Footnotes:
[14][Wic. heading: The voice of the church of Christ. Mat.: The voice of the church. Cov.: Methink I hear the voice of my beloved. So Cran., Bish.]
[15]Whilst the verb suggests his long leaps, as he springs, comp. Isa 35:6; Psa 18:30; Zep 1:9, the verb (an older form for and related to the to press together, as well as to to gather; in the Piel to cause to draw together) lets us, as it were, see the gazelles, with which the lover is compared, as in galloping they draw their feet together again, after being stretched so wide apart. Weissb.
[16][Ains.: a fawn of the hinds]
[17] according to the Targ. on Jos 2:15 equivalent to wall occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament except in the Chaldee forms Dan 5:5, and (plur.) Ezr 5:8.
[18][E. Ver.: forth at. Cov.: better in at. Words.: spying in at the windows.]
[19][Cov.: peepeth through the grate. Ains.: flourishing through the lattices.]
[20]The two-fold to thee after arise and after go, throws back the action, as it were, upon its subject and thus serves to impart to the language an easy, colloquial and kindly character, comp. Son 1:8, also Son 2:11; Son 2:13; Son 2:17; Son 4:6; Son 8:14. Weissbach correctly remarks that it is chiefly verbs of motion to which this kindly or or is added. [Mat.: The voice of Christ.]
[21][E. Ver.: singing of birds, which Harmer refers especially to the nightingale. Wic.: cutting. Cov.: the twisting time. Doway: pruning, so Thrupp and Weiss. Poole: cutting or cropping for nosegays.]
[22][So Noyes. Cov.: bringeth forth. E. Ver.: putteth forth. Good, Ginsb.: sweeten. Williams: ripen. Fry: embalm. Weiss: perfume. Thrupp: mature.]
[23][Wic.: flowering. Cov.: blossoms, so Fry, Noyes, Thrupp. Doway: flower. E. Ver.: tender grapes; so Good, Weiss, Ginsb. Williams: tender buds.]
[24][Wic.: The voice of Christ to the church.]
[25] appears here as well as in Obad. Son 2:3; Jer 49:16, which are probably derived from the passage before us, to be not rocky heights, lofty refuges on top of the rocks, (Schult., Gesen., Hengstenb., Weissb., etc.,) but rather fissures, clefts in the rocks (comp. Ewald and Hitzig in loc.) For the latter figure manifestly agrees better with the present situation, (see Son 2:9) and may also have a better etymological basis (comp. Arab. to split.)
[26] (from kindred to. ) comp. Ezek. 38:29, the only other passage in which the word occurs.
[27]On the form as a singular, comp. Ewald, 256 b, [Greens Heb. Gramm. 221, 7 a.]
[28][Wic.: The voice of Christ to the church against heretics. Mat.: The voice against the heretics.]
[29][Adopted from Thrupp.]
[30][E. Ver. marg: division, but in the text: Bether, as though it were a proper name which Patrick identifies with Bethel; Ainsworth and Poole with Bithron; and Clarke with Beth-horon. Cov.: simply; mountains omitting Bether. Bish., Cran.: wide mountains. Parkhurst, Williams: craggy mountains. Burrowes: a region cut up or divided by mountains and valleys, rough, craggy and difficult to cross. With.: our secluded hills.]
[31][Wicliffes heading: The voice of the church gathered together of Gentiles. Mat.: The voice of the church which is chosen out of the heathen.]
[32][Wic.: little bed.]
[33][So Ains., Wic., by nights. Mat., E. Ver., by night.]
[34] plur. of , as from [Greens Heb. Gramm. 207, 1. f.] related to to run (whence also leg) denotes places where people run, bustling public places, hence the Sept. correctly . Comp. Ecc 12:4-5; and Pro 7:8.For streets () comp. Pro 1:20; Pro 7:12. Without sufficient proof from the language Weissbach claims for this latter expression the meaning markets, open squares, and for the former the meaning streets. [Wic.: by towns and streets. Cov.: upon the market and in all the streets. Genev.: by the streets and by the open places. E. Ver. in the streets and in the broad ways. Patrick: are the lesser thoroughfares in the city or the streets of lesser cities; as are the greater, wider streets, or rather the streets of the royal capital city.]
[35]On to strike upon any one, find, meet him, 1Sa 10:3; Song Son 5:7.
[36][Wic. The church saith of Christ to the apostles. Mat.: The church speaking of Christ.]
[37]The interrogative particle is omitted before the verb , because it is at so great a remove from the beginning of the clause. Comp. Ewald, Lehrbuch, 314 a, b.
[38]On ( with veritatis) as much as a little. Comp. Isa 1:9.
[39]On the form for see Hitzig in loc. [Greens Heb. Gram., 160, 2.]
[40] synonym of as Hos 2:5.
[41][Wic.: The voice of Christ to the church. Mat.: The voice of Christ.]
[42] [If Shulamith is here describing her first meeting with her royal lover, there is no reason why she might not remember and relate it as fully as is here done, without the necessity of being transported for the purpose from Jerusalem to Shunem, even supposing that to have been her original home. Especially as her adjuration of the daughters of Jerusalem, Son 3:5, is a more evident proof of her still being in the royal capital, than any which Zckler has been able to bring to the contrary. He seems to have made the mistake of confounding the locality of a past event narrated with the place of the narrator. It may be a necessity to the dramatic hypothesis to get her back again to Shunem, after her residence with the king in his palace, in order that she may come thence in solemn pomp to her marriage at a subsequent period. But this scarcely warrants the drawing of so large a conclusion from so slender a premise.
The advocates of the idyllic hypothesis find here a distinct song, describing a visit paid by the lover to the fair object of his affections, without being at any pains to trace a connection between it and what had preceded. Taylor thinks that this belongs to the second day of the marriage feast; the bride from her window in the palace is attracted by the sound of a hunting party (Son 2:15); the bridegroom, who is one of the party, looks up and addresses her. Withington supposes some time to have elapsed since the preceding scene. The bride had gone up to Jerusalem, and after a stay there had gone back to the country, and was to remain there until the season came of her husbands rustication, which would naturally be in the spring. Burrowes: The beloved had left the spouse; these words describe his return. Wordsworth connects this scene directly with the immediately preceding verse, the slumber of the bridegroom there described being equivalent to his absence or withdrawal: The patience of the bride, after long waiting, is rewarded by the joyful sight of the bridegroom bounding over the hills. Ginsburg, with his peculiar modification of the shepherd-hypothesis, describes the situation as follows: The Shulamite, to account for the severity of her brothers, mentioned in Son 2:6, relates that her beloved shepherd came one charming morning in the spring to invite her to the fields (814); that her brothers, in order to prevent her from going, gave her employment in the gardens (15); that she consoled herself with the assurance that her beloved, though separated from her at that time, would come again in the evening (16, 17); that seeing he did not come, she, under difficult circumstances, ventured to seek him and found him (Son 3:1-4).Tr.]
[43][There is no propriety in sundering this from what follows. The succeeding verses evidently continue or explain this opening exclamation. If it belongs to the present, so does the entire description which it introduces. If the coming of the beloved here narrated is past, her exclamation on hearing the sound of his approach is past also.Tr.]
[44][Harmer supposes the reference is to a kiosk or eastern arbor, and quotes the Letters of Lady Montague, who speaks of them II. p. 74 as enclosed with gilded lattices, round which vines, jessamines and honeysuckles make a sort of green wall.]
[45][Wordsw.: Literally, sprouting and blooming like a flowering shrub or creeper, whose blossoms peep and glance through the trellis or lattice work of a window, and giving brightness and loveliness to the apartment.]
[46][Wordsw.: Here is an anticipation of the phrase so often applied in the gospels to Christ, who answered even the thoughts of His hearers.]
[47][It can scarcely be anything but a slip when Withington puts these words into the mouth of the bride: He hears her distant voice: Rise up, my love, etc.Tr.]
[48] Harmer says, on the authority of Dr. Shaw: Doves in those countries, it seems, take up their abodes in the hollow places of rocks and cliffs. Wordsw. suggests that the comparison is to a dove fleeing to the clefts of the rock for refuge from the storm. Good quotes as parallel the following simile from Homers description of the wounded Diana, Il. xxi. 493.
As when the falcon wings her way above,
To the cleft cavern speeds the affrighted dove,
Straight to her shelter thus the goddess flew.]
[49][So Harmer, who supposes an allusion to her apartments in a lofty palace of stone. Good: The common version, secret places of the stairs is erroneous. The mistake has obviously originated from a wish in the translators to give a literal interpretation to this highly figurative phraseology. Stairs may well enough apply to the royal fair-one as a bride, but not as a dove.]
[50] [Good, Burrowes, Noyes, Adelaide Newton, Withington, Thrupp, make this the language of the bride; Patrick, Poole, Ainsworth, Henry, Scott, Taylor, Fry, Clarke, Wordsworth the language of the bridegroom. Ginsburg puts it in the mouth of Shulamiths brothers. Williams is led by the plural form of the pronouns both of the first and second persons to suppose that the chorus of virgins is here addressing the companions of the bridegroom. The ingenious suggestion that these words may be borrowed from a popular song, which here receive a new meaning from their connection, agrees well with this peculiarity in the form of expression and also with the intimation in the preceding verse.
Wordsw.: He commands her to look well to her vineyard. He calls it our vineyard; it is his as well as hers. Withington, (after Taylor, who thinks this verse a summons to a chase) sees in it an allusion to the sports and employments of the care-worn king in his seasons of relaxation.]
[51][Patrick: Aristophanes in his Equites, compares soldiers to foxes; spoiling whole countries as they do vineyards.]
[52][Williams: These verses stand perfectly distinct from the preceding. Others endeavor to establish a direct connection with the foregoing verses. Thus Taylor paraphrases: I am all obedience to his requests; it shall be my happiness to accomplish his desires. And Wordsworth in its spiritual application: The Church thankfully catches up the expression our vineyard; and rejoices that not only have they one vineyard, but that He is hers and she is His.]
[53][Good, with an entire misapprehension of the figure intended: So sweet is his breath, that surely he feedeth among the lilies. Ginsb.: Who tends his flock in the meadows abounding with flowers. A figure for the best pastures, according to Williams, for in such lilies appear to have grown spontaneously; or for sweet and lovely pastures, according to Poole, where there is not only herbage to feed them, but lilies to delight them. Fry suggests as the connection between the clauses of the verse: let him drive his flock to pasture in the flowery meads and I will accompany him. Ainsworth, Henry, Words. and others find in the lilies a figurative reference to the bride herself as the object of his fond attachment, and one who had been compared to a lily among thorns, Son 2:2.]
[54][Good: Till the day breathe. The expression is truly elegant and poetical. At midnight all nature lies dead and lifeless. The shadows, however, at length fly; the morning breathes and nature revivifies. The intrinsic excellence of the metaphor has seldom been understood by our commentators, who have almost all of them referred it to the day breeze of the country, or at least to that peculiar current of air which is often found existing in most climates at the dawn. Williams: Return, my beloved, and remain with me until the day breathe. Noyes: This is understood by many of the morning. But the more recent commentators refer it to sunset or the evening. Wordsw.: Before the first cool gales of the evening.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
I conceive that at this verse is the beginning of a new subject. Probably some short space might take place between this and the former. The Church appears to be in great delight in hearing the voice of Jesus. And indeed, when Christ speaks in the word, and by the word, there is such a sweetness, power, efficacy, and grace accompanying it, that it cannot but delight the soul of a believer. It is observable, that the church knew whose voice it was. She could and did distinguish it from all others. So Jesus hath marked his people. His sheep know his voice and follow him, a stranger will they not follow. Joh 10:3-14 . And it is further observable, that the church heard Christ’s voice, before she said she beheld his person. A sweet thought ariseth from hence. Jesus may be out of the believer’s sight; but yet the believer can discern him in his word, from its power and gracious influences. Reader! it is a privilege which none but God the Holy Ghost bestows, to know how to discern the voice of Jesus, from the errors of the present day. David hath left upon record a blessed testimony to this great truth. I shall never forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened me. Psa 119:93 . The church calls upon others to behold him with her. He cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. Old Testament saints were always by faith upon the lookout for his promised advent. He that should come, was the well-known character by which the Lord was in all ages expected. So that the church is here speaking of his approach in the general acceptation of it, in respect to his first coming in substance of our flesh. But over and above this general view of Jesus, no doubt the church had an eye also to his private and personal manifestation. Mountains and hills; yea, even the mountains of sin, and the hills of unbelief in our nature, shall not obstruct his sweet visits to his people; for his love and grace will cause him to leap over all. Reader! think for your encouragement, and let the thought bear both your mind and mine up in the blessedness of it, that as no discouragements kept Jesus back from coming for the salvation of his redeemed, so nothing shall arise to keep him hack from fully accomplishing their deliverance. All the mountains of divine wrath against sin, and all the terrors of a broken law falling like hills upon the mind and conscience; yea, and all the hidings of his Father’s countenance for a season, could not restrain the Lord from coming to satisfy God’s justice, and to ransom his captives. So neither now shall anything separate his people from his love, though their rebellion and slights of him are so very strong in testimony of their unworthiness. Jesus doth come, and will come speedily; as in his first appearance in our flesh, so in all the after visits of his grace and Holy Spirit; and, ere long, finally, and fully to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe. 2Th 1:10 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Son 2:8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
Ver. 8. The voice of my beloved! behold! ] An abrupt passage, proceeding from a pang of love, whereof she was even sick, and now lay languishing, as it were, at Hope’s Hospital, lingering and listening, hankering and hearkening after her beloved. Of the ear we use to say that it is first awake in a morning. Call one that is asleep by his name, and he will soon hear and start up. Christ “calls all his sheep by their name,” Joh 10:3 and they “know his voice,” Joh 10:4 so well are they versed in his Word, and so habitually are their senses exercised, Heb 5:14 yea, they know his pace. For –
Behold he cometh,
He comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Son 2:8-9
8Listen! My beloved!
Behold, he is coming,
Climbing on the mountains,
Leaping on the hills!
9My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Behold, he is standing behind our wall,
He is looking through the windows,
He is peering through the lattice.
Son 2:8 The rabbis say that this refers to God giving the law at Mt. Sinai. However, this is an attempt at a typological interpretation based on climbing mountains. But again, if you let this type of interpretation be valid, there is no way to verify any interpretation. Context, context, context; authorial intent, authorial intent, authorial intent; genre, genre, genre!!!
This verse (Son 2:8-9) speaks of the young man’s virility and physical strength. Nothing, no barrier, can stop him from coming to his beloved. He is coming to her in her northern rural setting!
Grammatically, Son 2:8-9 are a series of seven PARTICIPLES, which denotes it is a unified literary unit.
Son 2:9 This is so typical of a young man’s enthusiasm in visiting his girl who does not answer the door quickly.
This verse is hard to interpret because the words are rare:
1. lattice – BDB 355, referring to some kind of opening in the wall (cf. Jos 2:15; Jdg 5:28)
2. looking – BDB 993, KB 1414, Hiphil PARTICIPLE, a rarely used VERB from an Aramaic root
3. peering – BDB 847 II, KB 1013, Hiphil PARTICIPLE, used only here in the OT, also from an Aramaic root
4. wall – BDB 508, used only here in the OT
It is possible that Son 2:9 should extend through Son 2:17.
1. The maiden wants her lover to wait until evening so no one will see.
2. The maiden wants her lover to leave before dawn after staying with her all night.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
voice = sound: e.g. footsteps (Gen 3:8).
my beloved. Masculine. Showing that the Shulamite is the speaker.
he: emphatic = this (very one).
cometh = came.
skipping = bounding.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Son 2:8-14
Son 2:8-9
THE SHULAMITE’S LOVER COMES TO RESCUE HER
“The voice of my beloved! Behold he cometh,
Leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills.
My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart:
Behold, he standeth behind our wall;
He looketh in at the windows;
He glanceth through the lattice.”
“My beloved … leaping upon the mountains … skipping upon the hills” (Son 2:8). This is not the picture of a king ordering one of his eunuchs to bring a new concubine to his bed. No indeed! This is the Shulamite’s true lover striding over the hills of Judea, scaling a wall, looking through the windows to find his beloved!
“He standeth behind our wall” (Son 2:9). To be in front of a wall would be to stand on the outside of it, approaching it. The shepherd lover of the Shulamite found his way inside the wall that guarded the harem, found his lover’s window, and was looking in at it! What an amazing development!
Son 2:10-14
HE CARRIES HER AWAY
“My beloved spake, and said unto me,
Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.
For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land;
The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs,
And the vines are in blossom;
They give forth their fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
O my dove, thou art in the clefts of the rock,
In the covert of the steep place,
Let me see thy countenance,
Let me hear thy voice;
For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.”
“Rise up, my fair one, come away” (Son 2:10; Son 2:13). Why is this repeated? The Shulamite might not have been able to respond instantly, through fear of discovery, or by reason of interference by other women in the harem. Anyway, in some of the most beautiful language in all the literature of mankind, the shepherd lover pleads for her to come away.
“The winter is past …the rains are come and gone … the flowers are blooming …. the birds are singing … and the figs are getting ripe” (Son 2:11-13). The next verse indicates that the lovers have indeed escaped from the harem.
“O my dove, thou art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place” (Son 2:15) This indicates the security of the wilderness which, at this point, they had achieved in their flight to the shepherd lover’s vineyard in northern Palestine, far from Jerusalem.
Exegesis Son 2:8-14
We like the expression of Moffat as found in Son 2:8-9. He says:
Listen, it is my darling,
There he is, coming to me,
leaping across the mountains,
bounding over the hills!
There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the window,
glancing through the lattice!
The word voice in verse eight is better understood as sound; so the thought is that the maiden hears the footsteps of her beloved. In his eagerness of love the shepherd scorns all obstacles that would keep lovers apart, yet as he nears the maidens home he appears somewhat shy, not knowing, perhaps, what kind of reception he will get from the rest of the family (Son 1:6, Son 2:15) (Clarke) He is compared to a gazelle because of his beauty of form-but also because of his alertness and timidity. It would appear that the shepherd is not the only one who is unwilling to express himself-when he arrives at the house why isnt the lovely maiden there to greet him? The lattice window refers to the form of construction. Glaze or glass windows were not used. Evidently, the latticework was so built that a person on the outside could not see in but those on the inside could easily see out.
It would seem that beginning with verse ten through verse thirteen we have an eight line stanza of the beloveds entreaty to his love. Notice: he invites her to come with him into the open country, which is now a place of unsurpassing beauty. The winter is over and the spring has come. It is a time of mirth and mutual affection. (Cook)
It must be either the last week in March or the first or second week in April. Six signs of the season are given in these verses:
(1) The winter and its heavy rain is over-For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. (Son 2:11) For six months in the summer the rain rarely falls.
(2) Buds and flowers appear on the earth (Son 2:12 a). When the tender grass springs out of the earth, through sunshine after rain. (2Sa 23:4)
(3) The time for singing has come or the time has arrived for pruning the vines. It would seem considering the context of the first two signs that time for singing is much more parallel than pruning the vines. (Son 2:12 b)
(4) The voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. (Son 2:12 c) This is a migratory bird that appears in Palestine the second week in April (Cf. Jer 8:7). (A. F. Harper)
(5) The fig tree has ripened its figs. The figs remained embalmed during the winter months and come to life or ripen in the early spring.
(6) And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. The fragrance of the grape vine blossom is very sweet, but very brief. The inhabitants of grape country need no proofs or descriptions to appreciate this fact. (Adapted from C. F. Cook)
We like the words of W. J. Cameron as found in the New Bible Commentary. After the wintry months devoid of fresh life and growth, the stirring vigor of the Syrian spring follows of a sudden upon early rain. The earth rapidly assumes a mantle of bright green intermingled with the varied colors of innumerable flowers. The newly clad woodland comes alive with song amid which can be discerned the persistent mournful note of the turtledove. It is then that the voice of the beloved is heard. (quoted by Clarke)
Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along! (Son 2:13 b) Verse fourteen continues in four lines an entreaty to the bride to come out of her seclusion. The modesty and shyness of the maiden are the points here. Her home must have been inaccessible-note the description; O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, In the secret place of the steep pathway, Let me see your form (appearance), Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, and your form is lovely. Some render the phrase the secret place of the ascent, pointing to crevices in a cliff approachable only by a steep ascent. The wild dove chooses high and inaccessible rocks for its resting place. In poetic language the shepherd seems to intimate that the maiden is not easily accessible to him because the attitude of her brothers as shown in the next verse. (Clarke)
Marriage Son 2:8-14
Oh that my wife would want me and love me as this maid did her shepherd. Such an expression could well be the lament of many a husband. No doubt there are some wives who think as fondly of their husbands as the Shulammite did of the shepherd. Every wife (as well as husband) have known what it is to wait for the familiar sounds of the approach of their spouse but are they persuaded he (or she) is as eager to see them as the hero of our text? Such persuasion must be planned and cultivated long before he arrives. Actions in little areas of need met time after time will convince anyone that no hill or mountain will separate us from meeting a need when it is present. The largest need is one of companionship. It would be easy for me to change places with the maiden and imagine my wife as the eager, shy, beautiful gazelle anxiously-curiously-alertly looking through the almost impenetrable windows of my heart to see if she could discover a meaningful movement. Please exchange places husband-you are to be just that eager to know what goes on in the heart of your wife-never mind that you cannot see or know, the important thing is that you are there and that you want to know.
There are a thousand times a thousand wives who weep today for a husband who would dream a dream like the one described in verses eight through thirteen. Lets take our wife on a picnic in the country-or to a lovely secluded spot by the seashore. The important part of this is not the picnic but her person. The spring is only lovely because she is the center attraction. Have we forgotten how to be romantic? Perhaps it is because the beauty of Gods creation and our willingness to give ourselves to our wife has ceased to be a reality.
Communion Son 2:8-14
As the bride of our Lord we can soliloquize concerning His coming again-but I would rather relate this passage to His present interest in us. There is no barrier that can or will separate us-not tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine or nakedness, or peril, or sword (Rom 8:35). In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. Behold! He stands at the door of our heart-He is beautiful in appearance-but He will not force entrance. He is more than curious-He wants very much to come in and share every activity of ours-He is standing behind our wall and looking in at the windows-see Him there as He glances through the lattice? He is calling me to leave the television set and meet Him for a walk together in seeking and saving some poor lost person who lives but a few houses from me. One glad day He came and called me to put aside the winter of my backsliding and join Him in the springtime of my first love. There is so much beauty in holiness! The time of singing is come. The song of heavens dove is with me. What was once only hard words I find to be delectable fruit. What fragrance I find in His presence! I seem to hear His voice again and again Arise, O my companion, my fair one, and come away! Far too often I have been as inaccessible as the maiden in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the precipice-but no more-He shall hear my voice and see my face-I love Him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
B. The Betrothal (Son 2:8-17; Son 3:1-11; Son 4:1-16; Son 5:1-16; Son 6:1-13; Son 7:1-9)
I. Memories of the Wooing (Son 2:8-17; Son 3:1-5)
1. The Bride (Son 2:8-14).
How the Beloved Came.
2. The Brothers (Son 2:15).
Interrupting the Wooing.
3. The Bride (Son 2:16-17).
Answering the Wooer.
4. The Bride (Son 3:1-4).
Her Dreams after the Wooing.
II. The Voice of the Singer: Wisdom (Son 3:1-11; Son 5:1-16).
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
7.
Winter is past
Son 2:8-15
The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice. My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
Those things that are seen are types of the things that are not seen. The works of creation are pictures to the children of God that represent the secret mysteries of grace. Gods truths are apples of gold; and the visible creatures are baskets of silver. In the verses before us, we have a picture of revival. It is a time of joy, refreshing, and singing. It is like springtime after a long, dreary winter. Here we see the Lord Jesus Christ coming to his church. By his word, by the manifestation of his presence, by his power, and by his grace, he brings a time of refreshing to his own beloved people.
I recognize that we are living in perilous times. We are living in the midst of the greatest religious apostasy ever known. It appears that the time has come when God has sent men a strong delusion that they should believe a lie, because they received not the love of the truth. Freewill, works religion is the greatest religious deception this world has ever known. This man centered, man exalting, man pleasing, God debasing, God hating religion seems to engulf the entire world and all religious sects. The world, by-in-large, has accepted the doctrines of antichrist. These are indeed perilous times (2Th 2:7-12; 2Ti 3:1-5; 2Ti 4:3-4).
Any religion that is man-centered, any religion that has for its foundation mans will, mans works, or mans rights, any religion that promotes the honor, dignity, and pride of man, any religion that pampers and cultivates self-righteousness, self-esteem, and self-worth is antichrist.
Yet, it seems to me that, while we see apostasy all around us, Gods church is also in the midst of great revival. I see more men preaching the true gospel of Gods free and sovereign grace than at any other time we know of in history. I am not talking about religious hirelings who discuss the doctrines of grace over coffee but dare not preach them in their pulpits. I am talking about men who boldly tell out Gods truth. In the midst of wrath, our God does yet remember mercy. He has not forgotten to be gracious.
It appears to me that Christ is again working mightily in Zion. I hope that I am not deceived, but so far as the church of Christ, in its universal aspect, is concerned, I can almost hear the Saviors voice crying, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing birds is come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land. I do not want to be presumptuous. Yet, I do not want to fail to recognize the hand of Gods providence and his grace upon us.
In his wisdom and grace, the Lord sends upon his church some long, cold winters; but he also sends the springtime of revival to his beloved people. Anyone who reads the history of Christs church, with half an eye open, will recognize that she has her ebbs and flows, her winter times and her spring times. Often it seemed as if she would be frozen out of the earth. Ungodliness, heresy, and error have prevailed at times. At other times she has been fruitful, triumphant, and majestic under the reviving influences of God the Holy Spirit.
Revival is not always a sudden burst of divine power upon the church. It is much more than a temporary emotional stirring. True revival is simply the communion and fellowship of Christ with his people. It often comes by degrees, by the gradual manifestation of Christ himself[1]. Lets look at these verses and see what steps our Lord takes in coming to his people. In these verses of Inspiration the Spirit of God shows us how it is that God brings revival to his church.
[1] I am not impressed by most of that which has been called revival in church history. That which is commonly called revival appears to me to be more demonic than heavenly. Most would call the events recorded in 1Ki 18:26; 1Ki 18:28-29 revival, if they were to occur today and the word Jesus were used instead of Baal. But revival came in Song of Solomon 2:39. When God works his wonders in the midst of his people, he does not cause fleshly, charismatic show of emotional frenzy. Rather, he causes sinners to be awed before him in worship, bowing before the throne of his sovereign majesty (Read Isaiah 6, Joel 2 and Acts 2). Whatever revival is, it is not a spasmodic fit of religion, with only temporary results. Rather, it is Christ seizing the hearts of men and women by his omnipotent grace.
Christ comes
First, the Lord Jesus Christ comes to his people. The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice (Son 2:8-9).
It is our responsibility to seek the Lord and call upon him; but revival comes when he comes to us. The fact is, we will never truly seek him and call upon him, until he first seeks us and calls us. If he turns us, we shall be turned. If he calls us, we will run after him. Here we see the Bride rejoicing in the approach of her Beloved. (Read Psalms 80.)
She hears him speak. It is the voice of my Beloved. Christ calls to his church to tell us that he is coming. No one but Christ can speak to the heart; and no voice but his can make it burn. We are his sheep. We know his voice. He speaks to us through the preaching of the gospel. He speaks to us by his Spirit. He speaks to us personally. When he speaks, his Bride, who knows his voice, says. It is the voice of my Beloved!
She sees him coming. Behold, he cometh. The eye of faith looks for Christ, anticipating him. This may very well be taken as a prophecy of our Lords first coming in the flesh. The incarnation of Christ to suffer and die as our Substitute was the hope and expectation of the Old Testament believers. Abraham rejoiced to see his day, and was glad. The nearer the time came, the more clearly they saw. Those who waited for the consolation of Israel with an eye of faith saw him coming and rejoiced in Gods salvation. They had heard him say, Lo, I come. And faith responded, Behold, he cometh! (Psa 40:7-8). Blessed be his name, the Lord Jesus came to redeem us!
He came cheerfully and with great speed, leaping and skipping over the mountains like a deer, as one who was pleased with the work before him. He was not a forced, but a voluntary Surety. Our Lords heart was in the work of redemption (Isa 50:5-7; Luk 12:50).
The Son of God came to remove the difficulties that stood in the way of our salvation and to triumph over our enemies. He came leaping over the mountains. The powers of darkness, our own sins, and the terrible curse of Gods law had to be overcome. But before the determination of his love, these mountains were brought low.
He came suddenly and soon after the promise was given. Gods people thought that the time between the promise and the fulfillment of the promise was very long. But it was not. One day the promise was given, and four days later the time came. At the appointed time Christ came. The due time was the best time (Rom 5:6; Gal 4:4-5).
This is true regarding our Lords gracious visitations with his people today. His time is the best time. He withdraws himself, but for a small moment. At the appointed time, he will return to us in everlasting lovingkindness (Isa 54:7-10).
This is also true regarding his glorious second advent. He says, Behold, I come quickly. Faith responds, Behold, he cometh! He has only been gone for two days! Soon, he shall appear in power and in great glory.
When the Lord Jesus comes to revive and refresh his people, he graciously reveals himself to our hearts. He standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice. This was the condition of the Church in the Old Testament. Christ was with them; but they did not clearly see him. He stood behind the wall of the law. He showed himself through the windows and lattices of their sacrifices and ceremonies. In a sense, this is the condition we are in as long as we are here upon the earth. Now we see him through a glass darkly. This body of flesh is a wall between him and us. But soon we shall see him face to face.
Particularly, these words describe our condition as believers when we are under a cloud. Christ is always near; but sometimes he is out of sight; he does not reveal himself to our hearts. The wall between us is a wall we have erected. The wall separating us from Christ is always our wall, our sins (Isa 59:1-2). Our dear Savior stands behind our wall as One who is waiting to be gracious, ready to be reconciled, willing to forgive (Rev 3:20, See Hos 14:1-4).
He graciously looks in at the windows and shows himself through the lattices to comfort us, to break us, and to make us open to him. The windows and lattices by which he shows himself are the ordinances he has given us. As we read his Word and seek his face in prayer, the Lord Jesus gives us glimpses of his face. As we hear the gospel preached in the house of God, sing his praise, and remember him in the Supper, eating the bread and drinking the wine, he shows himself. Each time a new born child confesses him in believers baptism, symbolically buried in the watery grave and rising again in the newness of life, we see our Savior in the glory of his redemptive accomplishments.
Christ calls
Second, once Christ has come to us and revealed himself, causing our hearts to burn for him, he lovingly calls us to himself. My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away (Son 2:10-13). Would to God we were all keenly sensitive to our Saviors voice. Let us be like Abraham, Samuel, and Isaiah, ready to hear his voice, ready to obey him, ready to do his will.
In all of our frames and circumstances, Christs love and attitude toward us is unchanged. His chastisements are the chastisements of a loving heart. He calls us his love and his fair one. Our Lords love for us is immutable (Mal 3:6; Heb 13:8). It is in no way dependent upon us. My soul through many changes goes; His love no variation knows. In his eyes, we are always fair and lovely, because he has made us so.
Christ calls for us to arise and come away with him (Son 2:10; Son 2:13). Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light (Eph 5:14). With tenderness and earnestness he urges us to come to him. Arise from your bed of slothful indifference. Come away from your carnal amusement and worldly care. Come to me! We have come to him. Let us ever be coming to our Beloved (1Pe 2:4) for mercy and grace we need. He bids us do so (Heb 4:16)
Then the Lord presses our hearts to come to him (Son 2:11-13). He says, The winter is past. Our long, hard, bitter winters will not last forever. They will pass away. But spring would not be so pleasant if it did not follow winter. The winter is past for now; but it will come again. So we must make provision for it now. The time of fruitfulness and singing has come.
When Christ comes and makes himself known, his people rejoice, and sing, and bring forth fruit. The rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. Someone said the serpents are driven away by the smell of grapevines. I do not know whether or not that is true. But I do know that the old serpent is driven away when our True Vine puts forth his tender grapes. This picture might easily be applicable to many things.
Our Lords First Advent, The Dawning Of The Gospel Age.
The Conversion Of Sinners.
The Revival Of Christs Church.
The Great Resurrection Day.
Christ communes
Christ first comes to us, then, he calls us to himself, and, thirdly, our all glorious Christ communes with his believing people. O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely (Son 2:14). In the most gentle and loving tones, Christ speaks to the hearts of his people. God always deals with his children graciously, in love and tenderness. Look at the loving description he gives of those who put their trust in him.
The Church of God is compared to a dove. The dove is innocent, beautiful, humble, faithful, and peaceful. That is what God makes his people to be by his grace. The Lord Jesus has taken away our guilt by his blood atonement, putting our sins away. The Lord God has put upon every redeemed sinner the very beauty of Christs perfect righteousness. He conquers the heart in conversion, humbling his chosen vessels of mercy in repentance and faith. He has betrothed his Bride to him in faithfulness. And the Prince of Peace makes his people a peaceable people. Christs chosen Bride (the Church) is his dove. He owns her and delights in her. She can find no rest except in him. Sooner or later she must return to him, even as Noahs dove returned to the Ark.
The Church of God is a dove, hidden in the clefts of the rock, Christ Jesus. The believing soul may not always be sensible of Christs presence. But he is always sensible of his souls need; and he takes refuge in the wounds of that One who was smitten in our stead. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee!
Sensing his own need for Christ, every believer finds a closet in the secret places of the stairs to seek the Lord. Our love for and communications of love to Christ are not things about which we make a public spectacle. Public passion is cheap, demeaning, and disgusting. Believers, those who love Christ, pour out their hearts passions to him in the secret places of the stairs.
As his Church and Bride, we are the objects of Christs peculiar love and tender care. All that our Lord does for us, or to us, or allows to be done, he does because he loves us. In his eyes, we are lovely. He delights in us. He wants to see our faces turned toward him. He wants to hear our voices calling upon him. He wants to commune with us and us with him. Oh, great wonder of grace! The Son of God delights to have such worthless worms as we are! He truly loves us!
Has Christ come to you? Have you heard his voice? Have you seen the Lord, showing himself through the windows and lattices of your own soul? Has he driven away your long winter and made your soul to sing, rejoicing in his love?
Christ admonishes
Fourth, our Lord Jesus Christ gives us a loving admonition. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes (Son 2:15). The admonition he gives us is to guard against and suppress those little foxes, which destroy the tender vines and would disturb the peace of his beloved dove. This is a charge to every believer to suppress his own sinful nature. Those evils of our nature, that may seem little in our own eyes (anger, wrath, gossip, slander, peevishness, evil speaking), must be avoided for the good of Christs kingdom. There are other little foxes that would destroy the peace of Gods Church. They, too, must be taken out of the way. All doctrinal error, all that is contrary to the gospel of Gods free and sovereign grace in Christ, every little fox of freewill, works religion must be kept out of Gods vineyard. Every little fox of schism, strife, and division must also be put away, lest they spoil the vine. For the honor of our Beloved, for the good of our own souls, and for the good of our brethren, we must constantly guard against these little foxes of hell.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
voice: Son 5:2, Joh 3:29, Joh 10:4, Joh 10:5, Joh 10:27, Rev 3:20
leaping: 2Sa 6:16, Isa 35:6, Jer 48:27, Luk 6:23, Act 3:8, Act 14:10
the mountains: Isa 40:3, Isa 40:4, Isa 44:23, Isa 49:11-13, Isa 55:12, Isa 55:13, Luk 3:4-6
Reciprocal: Son 2:10 – spake Isa 52:7 – publisheth Joh 11:28 – come Joh 20:16 – She
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Son 2:8. The voice of my beloved Christs voice, the word of grace revealed outwardly in the gospel, and inwardly by the Spirit of God. Behold, he cometh leaping She saith, leaping and skipping, to denote that Christ came readily and swiftly, with great desire and pleasure; and adds, upon the mountains and hills, to signify Christs resolution to come in spite of all difficulties.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Son 2:8-17 contains one of the most beautiful poems in the whole book; it breathes the air of the fresh spring-time, when, according to our own poet, a young mans fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love; here it is a young womans fancy that hears the steps of the beloved hastening over the mountains, drawn by the sweet attractiveness of love. (1) The beloved comes (Son 2:8 f.). (2) His speech (Son 2:10-14). (3) The bride calls for his companionship (Son 2:16 f.). Note the vividness, the dramatic force, of the opening words, Hark my belovedThere he comesHastening over the mountains, leaping over the hills, etc. The first clause of Son 2:9 is probably a gloss introduced from Son 2:17, where the words have a more suitable connexion; the LXX has here also on the mountains of Bether (baithel). He gazed from the outside of the window, i.e. he looks in through the window, etc. Son 2:10 a may be an explanatory gloss, it is clear in any case that the lover now speaks. The word for winter (found only here in OT) and that for rain both refer to the same season, the time of heavy, cold, winter rain. The spring comes with a sudden rush and reveals itself in magnificent colours. Son 2:12 b should probably be translated, the time of pruning has come, the time when rich foliage needs careful attention. The turtle dove is mentioned because its migration is a sign of spring (Jer 8:7). In our land is probably a prosaic addition. The winter figs begin to swell and take on new colour. Translate the next words with RV: And the vines are in blossom, They give forth their fragrance. In endearing tones she is, in her character of a dove, summoned from her refuge behind the lattice, which is rhetorically described as the hiding-places of the rock and the secrecy of the steep place. It is difficult to form any connexion for Son 2:15. It is mostly taken as a fragment of a sarcastic song which warns the maidens that love makes havoc with their charms, the cares of wedlock soon rub some of the glitter from these fine pictures. The passage closes with a glowing description of the meeting of the lovers in the evening time, when the day becomes cool and there are no shadows because the daylight has gone. The meaning of Bether is uncertain; cleft-riven mountains, separating mountains, mountains of spices or of cypresses (Lebanon) are specimens of the various conjectures.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
2:8 {d} The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
(d) This is spoken of Christ who took on our nature to come to help his Church.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. Increased longing 2:8-17
Whereas the setting so far had been Israel, it now shifts to the Shulammite’s home that was evidently in Lebanon (cf. Son 4:8; Son 4:15).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The girl described her young lover coming for a visit in these verses. He was obviously eager to see her.