Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 6:1
Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.
Ch. Son 6:1. These words are parallel to ch. Son 5:9. In Son 6:8 the Shulammite had adjured the daughters of Jerusalem, if they found her beloved, to tell him she was sick for love. They ask what is there special about her beloved that they should do so. She answers by describing him. Moved by this, the daughters of Jerusalem are eager to seek him, and now ask whither he is gone.
Whither is thy beloved turned aside? ] R.V. Whither hath thy beloved turned him?
Chap. Son 5:2 to Son 6:3. A Dream
On the hypothesis we have adopted, a night must be supposed to intervene between Son 5:1-2. After the interview with the king and that with her lover night came; and as she slept she dreamed one of those troubled dreams consisting of a series of efforts frustrated, which so often follow on an agitated day. On the following morning she narrates the dream to the ladies of the court. Son 5:2-7 relate the dream. In Son 5:8 the Shulammite, having just awaked and being still under the influence of her dream, asks the ladies, if they should find her lost lover, to tell him she is sick from love. In Son 5:9 they reply, asking with surprise what there is in her lover that moves her in such a fashion. In Son 5:10-16 she gives a description of her lover as he dwells in her brooding imagination, and concludes in triumph, “ This is my beloved and this is my friend.” In ch. Son 6:1, the court ladies ask eagerly whither this model of manly beauty is gone, and to this, in Son 5:2-3, the Shulammite replies vaguely and evasively, and claims her lover for herself alone. Now all this is quite in place if a love-tale is being presented in a series of songs, but in a collection of verses to be sung at weddings in general it is impossible that the bride could be made to speak thus. Such references to pre-nuptial love would be not only unbecoming, but impossible. But in still another way this song is fatal to Budde’s popular-song theory. In such a collection of wedding songs there is, of course, no connexion between the various lyrics. Each of them stands by itself, and there is no possibility of action of a dramatic kind on the part of the bride and bridegroom such as we undeniably have here. But Budde meets that by pointing out that Wetzstein reports a case in which a poet of the region where he discovered the wasf wrote a poem for a particular wedding. In that, before a description of the bride’s ornaments and person, an account is given of the agricultural processes by which the wealth expended on her trousseau had been obtained. But, besides the fact that in the case cited as parallel to this, the poem was not a popular song, but a poem prepared for the special occasion, the addition to the wasf there is a very legitimate extension of the description, and has none of the dramatic element in it. The dramatic element here is very pronounced, and is evidently intended to give unity and movement to the whole poem.
The question put by the chorus, and the answer it receives from the bride, show that the loss and seeking are not to be taken too seriously. CHAPTER VI The companions of the bride inquire after the bridegroom, 1-3. A description of the bride, 4-13. NOTES ON CHAP. VI Verse 1. Whither is thy beloved gone] These words are supposed to be addressed to the bride by her own companions, and are joined to the preceding chapter by the Hebrew and all the versions. These are the words of the daughters of Jerusalem, last mentioned, whom this full and pathetical description of the Bridegrooms excellency had inflamed with love to him. Whither is thy Beloved turned aside, to wit, from thee, as thy words imply, Son 6:6,8; where dost thou use to look for him, and to find him, when thou hast lost him? O thou who art well acquainted with all the places both of his usual abode, and of his diversion, inform us who are ignorant of them. That we may seek him with thee; we ask not with any evil design, but only because we desire an interest in him. 1. Historically, at JesusChrist’s crucifixion and burial, Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus,and others, joined with His professed disciples. By speaking of JesusChrist, the bride does good not only to her own soul, but to others(see on So 1:4; Mal3:16; Mt 5:14-16). Compare thehypocritical use of similar words (Mt2:8). Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women?…. The title is the same used by them, and by Christ before them, So 1:8; and here repeated, to assure her that they were serious in asking this question, and that it was in great respect to her they put it; and which, to the same sense, in other words, is expressed,
whither is thy beloved turned aside? which way did he take? on what hand did he turn, to the right or left, when he went from thy door? They ask no longer who or what he was, being satisfied with the church’s description of him; by which they had gained some knowledge of him, and had their affections drawn out unto him; and were desirous of knowing more of him and of being better acquainted with him, and to enjoy his company and presence; though as yet they had but little faith in him, and therefore could not call him “their” beloved, only “her” beloved: and this question is put and repeated in this manner, to show that they were serious and in earnest; yea, were in haste, and impatient to know which way he went; say they,
that we may seek him with thee; it was not mere speculation or curiosity that led them to put the above questions; they were desirous to go into practice, to join with the church in the search of Christ, to seek him with her in the word and ordinances; upon which they were determined, could they get any hint from her whither he was gone, and where it was most likely to find him: for so the words may be rendered, “and we will seek him with thee” p; this they had resolved on among themselves, and only wanted directions which way to steer their course, or a grant to go along with the church in quest of her beloved.
p , Sept. “quaeremus”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Marckius, &c.
The daughters of Jerusalem now offer to seek along with Shulamith for her beloved, who had turned away and was gone.
1 Whither has thy beloved gone,
Thou fairest of women?
Whither has thy beloved turned,
That we may seek him with thee?
The longing remains with her even after she has wakened, as the after effect of her dream. In the morning she goes forth and meets with the daughters of Jerusalem. They cause Shulamith to describe her friend, and they ask whither he has gone. They wish to know the direction in which he disappeared from her, the way which he had probably taken ( , R. .R , to drive, to urge forward, to turn from one to another), that with her they might go to seek him ( Vav of the consequence or the object, as at Psa 83:17). The answer she gives proceeds on a conclusion which she draws from the inclination of her beloved.
Enquiring after Christ. 1 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee. 2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. Here is, I. The enquiry which the daughters of Jerusalem made concerning Christ, v. 1. They still continue their high thoughts of the church, and call her, as before, the fairest among women; for true sanctity is true beauty. And now they raise their thoughts higher concerning Christ: Whither has thy beloved gone, that we may seek him with thee? This would be but an indecent, unacceptable, compliment, if the song were not to be understood spiritually; for love is jealous of a rival, would monopolize the beloved, and cares not that others should join in seeking him; but those that truly love Christ are desirous that others should love him too, and be joined to him; nay, the greatest instance of duty and respect that the church’s children can show to their mother is to join with her in seeking Christ. The daughters of Jerusalem, who had asked (ch. v. 9), What is thy beloved more than another beloved? wondering that the spouse should be so passionately in love with him, are now of another mind, and are themselves in love with him; for, 1. The spouse had described him, and shown them his excellencies and perfections; and therefore, though they have not seen him, yet, believing, they love him. Those that undervalue Christ do so because they do not know him; when God, by his word and Spirit, discovers him to the soul, with that ray of light the fire of love to him will be kindled. 2. The spouse had expressed her own love to him, her rest in that love, and triumphed in it: This is my beloved; and that flame in her breast scattered sparks into theirs. As sinful lusts, when they break out, defile many, so the pious zeal of some may provoke many, 2 Cor. ix. 2. 3. The spouse had bespoken their help in seeking her beloved (ch. v. 8); but now they beg hers, for they perceive that now the cloud she had been under began to scatter, and the sky to clear up, and, while she was describing her beloved to them, she herself retrieved her comfort in him. Drooping Christians would find benefit themselves by talking of Christ, as well as do good to others. Now here, (1.) They enquire concerning him, “Wither has thy beloved gone? which may must we steer our course in pursuit of him?” Note, Those that are made acquainted with the excellencies of Christ, and the comfort of an interest in him, cannot but be inquisitive after him and desirous to know where they may meet with him. (2.) They offer their service to the spouse to accompany her in quest of him: We will seek him with thee. Those that would find Christ must seek him, seek him early, seek him diligently; and it is best seeking Christ in concert, to join with those that are seeking him. We must seek for communion with Christ in communion with saints. We know whither our beloved has gone; he has gone to heaven, to his Father, and our Father. He took care to send us notice of it, that we might know how to direct to him, John xx. 17. We must by faith see him there, and by prayer seek him there, with boldness enter into the holiest, and herein must join with the generation of those that seek him (Ps. xxiv. 6), even with all that in every place call upon him, 1 Cor. i. 2. We must pray with and for others. II. The answer which the spouse gave to this enquiry, Son 6:2; Son 6:3. Now she complains not any more, as she had done (ch. v. 6), “He is gone, he is gone,” that she knew not where to find him, or doubted she had lost him for ever; no, 1. Now she knows very well where he is (v. 2): “My beloved is not to be found in the streets of the city, and the crowd and noise that are there; there I have in vain looked for him” (as his parents sought him among their kindred and acquaintance, and found him not); “but he has gone down to his garden, a place of privacy and retirement.” The more we withdraw from the hurry of the world the more likely we are to have acquaintance with Christ, who took his disciples into a garden, there to be witnesses of the agonies of his love. Christ’s church is a garden enclosed, and separated from the open common of the world; it is his garden, which he has planted as he did the garden of Eden, which he takes care of, and delights in. Though he had gone up to the paradise above, yet he comes down to his garden on earth; it lies low, but he condescends to visit it, and wonderful condescension it is. Will God in very deed dwell with man upon the earth? Those that would find Christ may expect to meet with him in his garden the church, for there he records his name (Exod. xx. 24); they must attend upon him in the ordinances which he has instituted, the word, sacraments, and prayer, wherein he will be with us always, even to the end of the world. The spouse here refers to what Christ had said (ch. v. 1), I have come into my garden. It is as if she had said, “What a fool was I to fret and fatigue myself in seeking him where he was not, when he himself had told me where he was!” Words of direction and comfort are often out of the way when we have occasion to use them, till the blessed Spirit brings them to our remembrance, and then we wonder how we overlooked them. Christ has told us that he would come into his garden; thither therefore we must go to seek him. The beds, and smaller gardens, in this greater, are the particular churches, the synagogues of God in the land (Ps. lxxxiv. 8); the spices and lilies are particular believers, the planting of the Lord, and pleasant in his eyes. When Christ comes down to his church it is, (1.) To feed among the gardens, to feed his flock, which he feeds not, as other shepherds, in the open fields, but in his garden, so well are they provided for, Ps. xxiii. 2. He comes to feed his friends, and entertain them; there you may not only find him, but find his table richly furnished, and a hearty welcome to it. He comes to feed himself, that is, to please himself with the products of his own grace in his people; for the Lord takes pleasure in those that fear him. He has many gardens, many particular churches of different sizes and shapes; but, while they are his, he feeds in them all, manifests himself among them, and is well pleased with them. (2.) To gather lilies, wherewith he is pleased to entertain and adorn himself. He picks the lilies one by one, and gathers them to himself; and there will be a general harvest of them at the great day, when he will send forth his angels, to gather all his lilies, that he may be for ever glorified and admired in them. 2. She is very confident of her own interest in him (v. 3): “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine; the relation is mutual, and the knot is tied, which cannot be loosed; for he feeds among the lilies, and my communion with him is a certain token of my interest in him.” She had said this before (ch. ii. 16); but, (1.) Here she repeats it as that which she resolved to abide by, and which she took an unspeakable pleasure and satisfaction in; she liked her choice too well to change. Our communion with God is very much maintained and kept up by the frequent renewing of our covenant with him and rejoicing in it. (2.) She had occasion to repeat it, for she had acted unkindly to her beloved, and, for her so doing, he had justly withdrawn himself from her, and therefore there was occasion to take fresh hold of the covenant, which continues firm between Christ and believes, notwithstanding their failings and his frowns, Ps. lxxxix. 30-35. “I have been careless and wanting in my duty, and yet I am my beloved’s;” for every transgression in the covenant does not throw us out of covenant. “He has justly hidden his face from me and denied me his comforts, and yet my beloved is mine;” for rebukes and chastenings are not only consistent with, but they flow from covenant-love. (3.) When we have not a full assurance of Christ’s love we must live by a faithful adherence to him. “Though I have not the sensible consolation I used to have, yet I will cleave to this, Christ is mine and I am his.” (4.) Though she had said the same before, yet now she inverts the order, and asserts her interest in her first: I am my beloved’s, entirely devoted and dedicated to him; and then her interest in him and in his grace: “My beloved is mine, and I am happy, truly happy in him.” If our own hearts can but witness for us that we are his, there is no room left to question his being ours; for the covenant never breaks on his side. (5.) It is now her comfort, as it was then, that he feeds among the lilies, that he takes delight in his people and converses freely with them, as we do with those with whom we feed; and therefore, though at present he be withdrawn, “I shall meet with him again. I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance, and my God.“
SONG OF SOLOMON CHAPTER 6
QUEST FOR THE SHEPHERD
WHERE IS THE BELOVED SHEPHERD?
Verse 1 poses a further question by the Jerusalem women, inquiring where the absent beloved had gone and indicating they desired to help her seek him.
THE CHURCH IN CHRISTS EYES
Song of Solomon 3-8.
THE reader of this volume will recall that in the introduction, taken bodily from Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, we quoted Origen and James as having said that the Jews forbade the reading of this volume by any man until he was thirty years old.
But recently I had in my pulpit a blessed minister of the Gospel, a man of deeply spiritual mind, who is in his sixty-fifth year, and when I asked him what he thought of the Song of Solomon, he answered instantly, Up to the present I have never dared to attempt its interpretation.
As is said in the introduction, It certainly needs a degree of spiritual maturity to enter aright into the holy mystery of love which it allegorically sets forth. To such as have attained this maturity, to whatever age they may have reached, the Song of Solomon is one of the most edifying of the Sacred Writings.
Since the commencement of this series, the Book has constantly grown upon us, until we regret our decision to contribute so few chapters to the same. However, the plan laid out for the forty volumes that make up this work is such that we cannot rearrange at this date. We proceed however, with the consciousness that scores of its suggestive texts are either passed over in entire silence, or touched but superficially, in this brief treatment.
Taking up, therefore, this extensive Scripture lesson of five chapters, we prefer to discuss them
under the following suggestions: Christ Beholds Great Beauty in His Bride, Her Indifference is Truly Heart-Breaking, But Her Neglect is Soon Forgotten and Forgiven.
CHRIST BEHOLDS GREAT BEAUTY IN HIS BRIDE
Behold, thou art fair, My love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.
Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.
Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.
Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.
Thou art all fair, My love; there is no spot in thee.
The figures employed are rural and oriental. It will be remembered that in the New Testament Christ turned to nature again and again for illustrations. His parables involve the sower and the seed, the tares, the mustard seed, the laborers in the vineyard, the wicked husbandmen, the seed growing secretly, the lost sheep, the unprofitable servants, and so forth.
Here also the open country makes matchless contributions. The doves eyes, the silken black hair of the goats, the flock of freshly sheared and washed white sheep, the thread of scarlet , the pomegranate, the two young roesall of these are figures of the beauty found in the features of His Brideher eyes like the doves eyes; her hair like the goats hair; her white teeth like the washed and even shorn sheep; her lips like the thread of scarlet, her temples like the pomegranate, and so forth.
It is a suggestive thing (and yet one that finds easy explanation, since Christ was God, and hence all wisdom was with Him) that He employed figures, the meaning of which time does not destroy nor world-changes deleteriously affect.
Figures from city life are not so lasting as those of country life. In cities, changes are too rapid and radical. But not so with the open spaces of natures face. To this hour there is not a parable of the New Testament that is not clearly, and even easily, understood; and to this good hour also the figures here found are of ready comprehension. The doves eyes are soft, kindly and beautiful; the black hair of the oriental goat is silken indeed; the even shorn and freshly washed flock of sheep are to this day the figures of white and splendid teeth; the thread of scarlet a hint of healthy and beautiful lips; and the pomegranate a picture of temples shining through the locks.
It is a habit of true love to see in nature likenesses of physical and mental graces; and, though the language of these six verses may seem to some exorbitant, they are to the eyes of affection, suggestive but inadequate.
His affection is such as sees no faults.
Thou art all fair, My love; there is no spot in thee (Son 4:7).
Possibly among the New Testament chapters few are so uniformly popular as 1 Corinthians 13.
It is a dissertation on love. In that discussion Paul says love thinketh no evil. In fact, loves eye is blind to defects in its subject. There may be short-comings, but it does not dwell upon them.
It is glorious to believe that Christ beholds only the beauty of the Church; that to Him she is all fair; that He overlooks her defects, and sees her as she shall eventually be, the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. There can be little doubt that the seven Churches of Asia were rather poor specimens of spiritual life, faulty and defective in the last degree, and yet, how much of beauty He beheld in them! At Ephesus He commended the works, and labor and patience; of the people of Smyrna He dwelt upon their works, and tribulation, and poverty; and of Pergamos, their works in an evil station and their exemplary discipline; at Thyatira He thought of their works, and charity, and faith, and patience; at Sardis He sought out the few who had not defiled their garments and promised them that they should walk with Him in white; at Philadelphia He rejoiced that they had kept the Word of His patience and promised to keep them against the hour of temptation; and even at Laodicea, where so little was commendatory, He counselled them to buy of Him gold tried in the fire, that they might be rich; and white raiment that they might be clothed. There were defects in each of these Churches, glaring and terrible. He only called attention to them to correct them, and gave the major portion of each Letter to commendation. Love thinketh no evil.
The fellowship of love is the Lords desire.
Come with Me from Lebanon, My spouse, with Me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions dens, from the mountains of the leopards.
Thou hast ravished My heart, My sister. My spouse; thou hast ravished My heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.
How fair is thy love, My sister, My spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
Thy lips, O My spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
A garden inclosed is My sister, My spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,
Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon (Son 4:8-15).
It might almost seem a strange thing for Christ to crave fellowship. In His Deity one would imagine He would find a sufficiency; such infinite fullness, such perfect conscience, such conscious power, such wisdom that one would suppose He had no need of anything outside of His perfect Self. But the Scriptures do not so present Him.
The greatest and best of men love their fellows. They crave fellowship and seek companionship.
He chose twelve that He might be in a college fraternity, and out of the Twelve He selected three as His intimates. There was never a crisis in His life that He did not long to have the three share the same with Him. Possibly of all the pathetic things recorded of Jesus, the Master, none more pathetic than His appeal to these three that they watch with Him in the hour of His great agony, and His pathetic disappointment at finding them sleeping when the sorrows that rolled over His soul were such that even human companionship seemed a partial but necessary antidote.
We do not believe that we are straining the text a bit when we say,
Come with Me from Lebanon, My spouse, with Me from Lebanon.
Thou hast ravished My heart, My sister, My spouse; thou hast ravished My heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.
How fair is thy love, My sister, My spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
Thy lips, O My spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
A garden inclosed is My sister, My spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,
Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices;
A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon,
is a cry for the fellowship of love.
He indulges in a riot of words to express the craving for affection.
Ive found a Friend; oh, such a Friend!
He loved me ere I knew Him;
He drew me with the cords of love,
And thus He bound me to Him.
And round my heart still closely twine
Those ties which naught can sever,
For I am His and He is mine,
For ever and for ever!
Ive found a Friend; oh, such a Friend!
He bled, He died to save me;
And not alone the gift of life,
But His own Self He gave me;
Naught that I have my own I call,
I hold it for the Giver:
My heart, my strength, my life, my all,
Are His, and His for ever!
Ive found a Friend; oh, such a Friend!
So kind, and true, and tender,
So wise a Counsellor and Guide,
So mighty a Defender!
From Him, who loves me now so well,
What power my soul can sever?
Shall life? or death? shall earth? or hell?
No! I am His for ever!
HER INDIFFERENCE IS HEART-BREAKING
She sleeps while He knocks and waits.
I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my Beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled: for My head is filled with dew, and My locks with the drops of the night.
I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
My Beloved put in His hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for Him.
I rose up to open to my Beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.
I opened to my Beloved; but my Beloved had withdrawn Himself, and was gone: my soul failed when He spake: I sought Him, but I could not find Him; I called Him, but He gave me no answer (Son 5:2-6).
What a picture this of the Church! How many congregations all across this country sleep; and for that matter, in every country these sleeping churches are found. A noted statistician called attention a year or two ago to the circumstance that in three denominations in America over eleven thousand churches had not seen a single soul saved in a twelfth month. Sleeping!
It reminds us of Holman Hunts famous painting of Christ knocking at the door. The door had rusty hinges, and the vines had grown over it showing how long it had been closed; and the fact that it did not open is a further indication of the certainty that only death reigned within.
This is not only a picture of the church at its best; but sad to say, it is a picture of the best of the church, under some conditions. Unquestionably James, Peter and John were the choice spirits in the apostolic college; if anybody could be looked to, to watch, when needed, they were the ones, and on that very account they were selected for that awful night of His betrayal and arrest. And yet, while the diabolical deed of Judas is being carried out these three choice spirits slept.
We have a custom, I fear, of imagining ourselves more awake in this church than we are. The circumstances that no year goes by without seeing a considerable number of souls brought to Christ, leads us to feel that we are not asleep; but, alas, for the facts that we have to face upon a little reflection. Hundreds of our members in this church never speak to a single person on spiritual matters; and even those of us who are looked upon as leaders, are often sound asleep at the time when our opportunity of service is not only greatest but most sorely needed.
We have a notion that there is a dual sense to Solomons proverb:
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
Provided her meat in the summer, and gathered her food in the harvest.
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
There is a spiritual poverty that is even greater than the financial, and there is a soul-lethergy that exceeds that of bodily indolence. Think of the time that Jesus
Took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistening.
And, behold, there talked with Him two men, winch were Moses and Elias:
Who appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.
But Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep (Luk 9:28-32).
How strange, you say! How almost unthinkable that men should sleep under such circumstances! Asleep! at a time when they were called to pray and yet were asleep; at a moment when Heavenly visitors were present; and still more, asleep through the very hour of Christs glorification.
Doubtless these things are recorded as our warning; and yet it must be confessed that we learn not from them. It is little wonder that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians of the Coming of the Lord,
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that Day should overtake you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation (1Th 5:4-8).
We speak sometimes of a revival. What does it mean? It really means a waking up of the Church. How greatly is that needed! Of all the Prophets of the Old Testament Isaiah is truly the evangel. It is interesting to run through his Volume and see how often he calls upon the people of God to awake, anticipating the day of the Lords Coming,
Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise (Isa 26:19). And then his appeal to his people, Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. * * Shake thyself from the dust. * * For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold yourselves for nought (Isa 52:1-3). Then still further, Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.
Not once, but often do we hear some man in impassioned prayer calling upon God in this language: O wake us up! and there is occasion.
James Montgomery must have been dwelling upon the very language of the Prophet Isaiah when he wrote:
Awake, awake; put on thy strength,
Thy beautiful array;
The day of freedom dawns at length,
The Lords appointed day.
Rebuild thy walls, thy bounds enlarge,
And send thy heralds forth;
Say to the south, Give up thy charge,
And Keep not back, O north!
She responds only when it is too late.
I opened to my Beloved; but my Beloved had withdrawn Himself, and was gone: my soul failed when He spake: I sought Him, but I could not find Him; I called Him, but He gave me no answer.
The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved, that ye tell Him, that I am sick of love (Son 5:6-8).
He has gone! How often in human history it has been so! The antediluvians were wakened at last! But, alas, too late! The storm of judgment had broken; the flood was at its full. The last dread enemy, death, was victor, the Lord was gone.
San Pierre wakened at last; but not until its citizens were all dead beneath the ash heap of the exploded mountain.
San Francisco wakened at last. But not until its heart had either been swallowed up by the earthquake, or licked clean by fire.
Father Ryan, the poet priest, would forgive me I know for changing and accommodating some words from his pen which must express the loneliness of that heart that knew Christ and loved Him, but slept through all His appeals and drove away His presence:
Gone, and there is not a gleam of you,
Tour face has floated into the far away.
Gone! and we can only dream of you.
Dream as yon fade like a star away;
Fade as a star in the sky from us,
Vainly we look for your light again;
Hear ye the sound of a sigh from us?
Come, and our hearts will be bright again.
Come! and gaze on our faces once more
Bring us the smiles of the olden days;
Come! and shine in your place once more,
And change the dark into golden days.
Gone! gone! gone! joy is fled from us
Gone into the night of the nevermore,
And darkness rests where you shed for us
A light we will miss for evermore.
Originally this was spoken of earthly friends; but it has its truest meaning when applied to the Heavenly Ones.
Cowper perhaps has voiced this experience as no other uninspired writer has done; and yet voiced it as every backslidden Christian has felt it.
Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul-refreshing view
Of Jesus and His Word?
What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.
Return, O Holy Dove, return,
Sweet messenger of rest;
I hate the sins that made Thee mourn,
And drove Thee from my breast.
Cowper concluded his poem with the only language that will ever conclude this slumber, this sense of loneliness, this unspeakable loss, and with the very language that nine out of ten present-day Christians should employ, namely:
The dearest idol I have known,
Whatever that idol be,
Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
And worship only Thee.
The world sleeps and one day it will awake; but alas, too late! It will awake to a ruined universe, to an earth shaken in every part by fire and earthquake, to a day when the sun shall be black as sackcloth, and the moon as blood, and the stars have fallen, and the heaven itself has departed as a scroll, and every mountain and island has been moved out of its place; then its kings and its great men and rich men and chief captains shall hide themselves in the rocks of the mountains and say to the mountains, Fall on us, and hide us, for the great day of His wrath has come, and who shall be able to stand?
This picture of a departed Christ is followed by a strange, and yet very natural suggestion:
The Church, His Bride, defends Him against all competitors (Son 6:1-4). Strange we never prize love at its best until we have lost it; nor esteem the lover as he deserves until he is gone. So it is with our Divine Lover. When He is with us daily we accept it as a matter of course and fail to appreciate the fullness of His affection. What wife ever saw a husbands virtues in the full light until he was taken away; what Christian ever esteemed the ineffable Person and Presence of Christ as He deserved, until by some sin or spiritual drowsiness His companionship was lost!
Doubtless the five foolish virgins had some appreciation of the bridegrooms presence and also of the feast that had been prepared for the occasion; but the full sense of their loss was never felt until they knew the door was closed; and admission to his presence and the appointments of joy and rejoicing were denied them.
You say it is very strange that one who thought her Lover as the Chiefest of ten thousand should have slept while He knocked and slumbered until He slipped away.
But strange as it seems to us, our. conduct is not less selfish, nor even less sinful, nor does our belated language contribute to the glories of His Person. Our extravagant terms of personal affection do not excuse, in the least, the daily indifference to His calls; and more than one of us have had to endure the fears of His lost love, and to search long and diligently for His presence as a result of our own sinful sluggishness and wicked slumbers.
However, as we pursue this study, another feature of His matchless character comes to the surface.
HER NEGLECT IS FORGIVEN AND FORGOTTEN
Her beauty ravishes His heart. In Son 6:4-10, He voices this thought. In response to her statement that He is chiefest among ten thousand and the One Altogether Lovely. He answers, Thou art beautiful, O My love. There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, My undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. * * Fair as the moon, clear as the sun. And He for whom the Bride sought not, turns about and seeks instead, calling, Return, return, * * that we may look upon thee.
In my work as a minister I have married a great many couples. Occasionally it is easy to see why the bride has been sought out. Her beauty is evident to all; her graces of person are most manifest. But on thousands of occasions it is not so; only the husbands eyes could see beauty in some brides. But evidently the true husband, who has given his heart with his hand, must behold that beauty whether others can see it or not. Such is the influence of love.
When we think on Gods people and know them intimately enough to understand their deficiencies we marvel all the more that Christ, Gods only Son, and the King of Glory, finds in them attractive features. The explanation is not so much in either their attractiveness or their accomplishments as it is in the manifestation of His affection.
That is why the poet could write:
Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God;
He whose Word can neer be broken
Formed thee for His own abode.
Lord, Thy Church is still Thy dwelling,
Still is precious in Thy sight;
Judahs Temple far excelling,
Beaming with the Gospels light.
Her absence is His anguish.
I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.
Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.
Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies (Son 6:11-13).
We know that the individual Christian suffers when he or she feels that there is no further communion between his soul and Christ.
But is it not certain that Christ suffers still more? Undoubtedly Peter, James and John were ashamed of their neglect when once they were wakened out of slumber and knew that they had failed Christ in the hour of His greatest need. But was their suffering comparable to that through which He passed as in the garden great drops of sweat were on His brow; and in the wisdom that was His own, He understood that they had failed Him in that awful hour?
Christ was human and as such He craved human fellowship. What man or woman is there who is normally and Divinely constituted, and yet can live contentedly without the conscious love of lifes choice one?
Again and again it has been my duty to lay away either husband or wife after a long period of fifty or sixty or more years of walking together; and I have noticed that when that walk has been intimate and sweet, the old man or the old woman thus left alone, longs for the end and is happy when it comes. Beyond question that is due to the circumstance that he believes that this fellowship will be renewed in another land; and to live alone after one has gone, makes life a desert and Heaven a land of rejoicing. Who doubts that Divine love is as much more intense than human love as the Divine thoughts are high above the human ones, and that Christ Himself is anguished whenever the members of His Bride, the Church, are indifferent and are practically out of communion with Him.
If one would take the time to read Son 7:1 to Son 8:7 he would discover that
HER POSSESSION IS HIS PLEASURE
It would seem as we pass from chapter six to seven that His cry, Return, return! has not been in vain.
The language that follows indicates her presence, and consequently, pleasure. The statement of the Bride, I am my Beloveds indicates the same. Love is strong as death. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it, are sample sentences of the mutual expressions that follow.
I wonder if people, in general, have noticed what has often impressed me, namely, how we can measure the pulse of affection by the language that r is unconsciously employed to express the same? Older friends, who have long walked together, quite often introduce the spouse as Mr. or Mrs. Smith or Jones; but not so with the young husband or wife.
Their introduction is on another basisThis is my husband, This is my wife, with the emphasis upon the possessive pronoun. That is a natural expression of a keen sense of possession, of pride and joy in the same.
That possessive pronoun also has played conspicuous place in both Old and New Testament. On the one side it voices the believers affection for Christ; and equally on the other, Christs affection for the Christian. Beyond all question, the Psalmists love to Christ reached no higher expression than the twenty-third Psalm; and in that Psalm his language is, The Lord is my Shepherd. Perhaps hundreds of times this single phrase will be found in that Book of the Psalm, My God. It is the language of love, and it is also appropriating faith, and it is justified by the Divine attitude.
Jesus said, As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye in MY love. If ye keep My Commandments, ye shall abide in MY love. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, rather, can we not say with the Apostle, We are persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?
SECOND INQUIRY BY THE Chapter 6. Son. 6:1
Whither is thy beloved gone,
O thou fairest among women?
Whither is thy beloved turned aside?
That we may seek him with thee
Result of Shulamites description of her beloved on the women of the city. Their sympathy excited, and a desire awakened partly to aid her in her search, and partly to see so beautiful and excellent a person for themselves. Shulamite supposed to know something of her beloveds haunts. Observe
1. The faithful and loving tetimony for Christ not always unsuccessful. Often made the means of awakening in others the desire to seek Him and become acquainted with Him. Encouragement to be ready to commend a precious Christ. Good for preachers and ministers to dwell on the beauty, excellence, and preciousness of the Saviour.
2. Earnest and loving seekers of a known Christ likely instruments in awakening the interest of others in regard to Him. A holy zeal for Christ the natural means of provoking many (2Co. 9:2). Preachers, to be of use in winning others to Christ, must be in earnest about Him themselves, and be able to commend Him both as the Friend of sinners and their own.
3. One end of Christs dealings with His people, that they may be the means of leading others to the knowledge and possession of Him. The troubles and afflictions of believers, spiritual as well as physical, often designed for the good of others as well as their own.
4. Every exhibition of Christs preciousness and excellence to excite the desire to become personally acquainted with Him, and possess Him for ourselves. Description not to satisfy. Come and see. Testimony to issue in personal knowledge. Now we believe, not because of thy saying; for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world (Joh. 4:42).
5. Earnest seekers of Christ, bearing faithful testimony of Him to others, not likely to be alone in seeking Him. With Thee. Thorough earnestness sympathetic. Hence Zec. 8:20-21. Apparent in extensive revivals of religion. The nature of enthusiasm, like fire, to extend itself. One heart kindled by the warmth of another.
6. Christ most likely to be found when sought in connection with the BrideHis living people. Good to seek Him alone; still better to seek Him with others who are able to help us. 8. Earnestness required in seeking Christ. The earnestness of the daughters seen in their repeated inquiry: Whither is thy beloved gone? &c.
9. Knowledge of Christ and His ways to be sought with a view to seeking and professing Him. The inquiry of the women made with a practical object: That we may seek Him with thee. An unpractical and uninfluential knowledge of Christ of little value. A knowledge of Christ merely after the flesh to be renounced (2Co. 5:16).
10. Believers expected to know where Christ is to be found, and to be better acquainted with His ways than other people, to as to be able to guide them in their search after Him.
11. In regard to believers, Christs absence only a temporary turning aside, not a final departure. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment (Isa. 54:7-8). The covenant made with believers an everlasting covenant. I will betroth thee unto me for ever (Hos. 2:19). The Lord will not cast off His people (Psa. 94:14; 1Sa. 12:22).
12. A soul never fairer than when earnestly seeking Christ. The earnestly seeking spouse addressed four times as the fairest among women.
The inquiring daughters of Jerusalem! represented historically by the Greeks at the Feast, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, the women that followed Christ to the cross and observed the place of His interment, and by the inquirers on and after Pentecostdevout men dwelling at Jerusalem, out of every nation under heaven (Act. 2:5; Act. 2:14).
TEXT 6:17:10
Court Ladies: Inquiry, Son. 6:1
Shulammite: Answer, Son. 6:2Avowal, Son. 6:3
Solomon: Interview with the Shulammite, Son. 6:4 to Son. 7:10
Dialogue: Solomon, Son. 6:6-10
TEXT 6:110
1.
Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women?
Whither hath thy beloved turned, 2.
My beloved is gone down to his garden,
To the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, 3.
I am my beloveds and my beloved is mine;
He feedeth his flock among the lilies.
4.
Thou art fair, O my love as Tinzah,
Comely as Jerusalem, 5.
Turn away thine eyes from me,
For they have overcome me. 6.
Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes, which are come up from the washing;
Where every one hath twins, 7.
Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind thy veil.
8.
There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.
9.
My dove, my undefiled, is but one;
She is the only one of her mother. 10.
Who is she that looketh forth as the morning,
Fair as the moon, THOUGHT QUESTIONS 6:110
151.
Why did the women ask the questions of the whereabouts of the beloved? Did they really want to seek him?
152.
The maid knows immediately where he was. How was it she was so well informed?
153.
As a shepherd wasnt gathering lilies a rather superficial job? Explain.
154.
What is the strong avowal in verse three?
155.
Solomon is again attempting to win the heart of the maid. Why bother if he has a harem full?
156.
How does the maid compare with two cities? i.e., with Tirzah and Jerusalem?
157.
The maiden had qualities other than physical beautyshe was as terrible as an army with banners. Explain.
158.
The king was overcome with a look. What did he see in her eyes that so moved him?
159.
The shepherd had used the same figure of speech in his description of the maid (cf. Son. 4:1 ff). Is there any difference between Son. 4:1-2 and Son. 6:6?
160.
The description in Son. 6:7 is repeated in Son. 4:3 b. Why? Discuss.
161.
Why mention the 60 queens and the 80 concubines?
162.
What was the purpose in having virgins or maidens? in such large numbers?
163.
There are four descriptions of the Shulammite in verse nine. Discuss their meaning.
164.
The maiden must have made quite an impression upon everyoneor perhaps Solomon is only full of flattery. Discuss.
165.
There is a beautiful expression in verse ten. Discuss the qualities here suggested.
PARAPHRASE 6:110
Court Ladies:
Son. 6:1.
Whither is thy beloved gone,
O thou fairest among women? Shulammite:
2.
My beloved is gone down to his garden,
To the beds of balsam, 3.
(But) I am my beloveds and my beloved his mine!
He (who) pastures his flock where anemones grow.
Solomon:
4.
Thou art fair as Tirzah, O my companion,
Comely as Jerusalem, 5.
Turn away thine eyes from me,
For they are taking me by storm. 6.
Thy teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep
Just come up from the dipping pool. 7.
Thy cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
Behind thy tresses.
8.
There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,
Also virgin damsels without number.
9.
My dove among all the rest is alone perfect;
She is her mothers only daughter,
The darling of her that bore her.
The damsels saw her and pronounced her happy, 10.
Who is this that appears like the early dawn,
Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, COMMENT 6:110
Exegesis Son. 6:1-10
We have been impressed and greatly helped by the comments of Walter F. Adeney in An Exposition of the Bible (p. 533, 34):
The mocking ladies ask their victim where then has this paragon gone? She would have them understand that he has not been so cruel as really to desert her. It was only in her dream that he treated her with such unaccountable fickleness. The plain fact is that he is away at his work on his far-off farm, feeding his flock, and perhaps gathering a posy of flowers for his bride. He is far awaythat sad truth cannot be denied; and yet he is not really lost, for love laughs at time and distance; the poor lonely girl can say still that she is her beloveds and that he is hers. The reappearance of this phrase suggests that it is intended to serve as a sort of refrain. From a reading of several commentaries we are well aware that the above quotation will not be met with unanimous approval. We only offer what seems to us a consistent position. We believe the interpretation we have suggested compliments the teachings of the rest of the scriptures. We are asking this inspired poem which has in itself no certain interpretation to agree with the plain teaching of the rest of the word and not visa versa.
Marriage Son. 6:1-10
Dear God, I want to be that pure man! I trust your heart has responded to the concept presented here as has mine. There is a beauty, a wonder, something awesome, and genuine in holiness. There is a motivation for living, suffering, working, yea, and dying in keeping myself for one woman.
There is nothing weak or unworthy about this look at marriage. It will not do to apply this to our wife and ask her if she is like the Shulammiteof course, we hope she is. But she will respond far more readily to our example of purity. If we are so in love with her that the offers of Satan do not tempt us then purity and oneness becomes a possibility. Lets look very closely at Solomons descriptionit will help us much. (1) He does not mention the lips or speech of the maiden. She had said nothing that pleased him, indeed, she could have spoken against him. It is more important that the conversation of our wife please us than her physical person. (2) Her penetrating gaze profoundly disturbed himit was because her gaze was pure or unadulterated. Contrast the response of the shepherd to her lookit repulsed Solomon and encouraged the shepherd. (Son. 4:9) (3) Even Solomon hesitated in pressing his attention on one whose virtuous behavior gave him no encouragement. The demeanor of our wives speaks far more eloquently than their lips. We need to separate selfishness from virtue. There is nothing virtuous about refusing the attentions of our wife or husband because such attention (particularly in the sexual realm) is not convenient. (Cf. 1Co. 7:1 ff)
Communion Son. 6:1-10
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other such blemish, but holy and blameless Eph. 5:25-27. We are so very delighted and humbled to consider the fact that this is how our bridegroom looks at us, His Bride. But in the text before us we want to know how the worldor Solomon looks at us. Is the world non-plused by our transparent sincerity? A genuine consistent life is as imposing as troops marching with their banners. When Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for lying the result was as follows: And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all that heard these things . . . But of the rest durst no man join himself to them: howbeit the people magnified them; and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women; (Act. 5:11; Act. 5:13-14). It was the consistent lives of the Apostles and other Christians that led in this conquest. Have you ever been avoided because you were a Christian? Has someone refused to look you in the eye? We shouldnt be surprised. If such persons could voice their reaction it could be in the words of our textTurn away thine eyes from me, for they are taking me by storm. Paul obtained this response from the governor Felix and his female companion, Drusilla. And as he reasoned of righteousness, and self-control, and judgment to come, Felix was terrified, and answered, Go thy way for this time; and when I have a convenient season, I will call thee unto me (Act. 24:25). The Christian should indeed be attractive as a personbut pure and undefiled in character and this is a shock to many people.
FACT QUESTIONS 6:110
200.
The shepherd really never left the maidhow account for his apparent leaving?
201.
The shepherd was not only feeding the flocks but also thinking of his beloved. How did he express his thoughts?
202.
There are two refrains running through the Song. What are they?
203.
There is a marked change in the manner of Solomon. What is it?
204.
There is something awful in the simple peasant girl. What is it?
205.
Solomon has not become a seared profligate. How do we know? Discuss.
206.
This text seems to support the shepherd hypothesis. Explain.
207.
Do you think Solomon underwent a conversion at this point and left all his other wives and became loyal to only the Shulammite? Discuss.
208.
Discuss the three points of comparison under the section of Marriage as they relate to marriage today.
209.
Discuss the possible influence a pure consistent life can have on our world.
VI.
(1-3) Whither is thy beloved gone . . . By a playful turn the poet heightens the description of the lovers beauty by the impression supposed to be produced on the imaginary bystanders to whom the picture has been exhibited. They express a desire to share the pleasures of his company with the heroine, but she, under the figure before employed (Son. 4:12-16), declares that his affections are solely hers, and that, so far from being at their disposal, he is even now hastening to complete his and her happiness in their union. Difficulties crowd on the dramatic theory at this passage. Most of its advocates have recourse to some arbitrary insertion, such as, here the lovers are re-united, but they do not tell us how the distance from the harem at Jerusalem to the garden in the north was traversed, or the obstacles to the union surmounted. In the imagination of the poet all was easy and natural.
1. Whither gone By a very skilful and gentle turn of the action. the reader is prepared for a very different scene. The Chorus, as being in the secret knowledge of the King’s desires, remind the Enamoured that her Beloved, charming as he may be in her eyes, has suddenly gone and left her, as intimating that his love for her cannot be very ardent, and that she may as well not be wholly inaccessible to the approaches of one who has much to recommend him. This sentiment is half concealed and half revealed in this first verse.
That we may seek Supply, Tell us, in order that we may, etc.
The DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM reply.
“Where is your beloved gone, O you fairest among women, In which direction has your beloved turned himself, That we may seek him with you?”
The wife’s reply has brought home to the daughters of Jerusalem how foolish they have been in despising her beloved (Son 5:9). Now it is their heart’s desire to seek him too, and they want to be directed to where he is.
‘In which direction has your lover turned himself?’ Literally, ‘where has your beloved turned him?’ Instinctively she knows the answer. She remembers her instruction in Son 2:17, ‘Turn my beloved, and be like a roe-deer, and hart on the craggy mountains’. She knows that he has turned him to the craggy mountains of her homeland.
Happy the Christians whose testimony to their Lord are such that it causes the hangers on to declare their wish to seek Him in terms of their own early experiences.
SECTION 4.
HER SECOND NIGHTMARE ( Son 5:2 Sadly the original warmth of the marriage appears at some stage to have grown cold, for we find now that she has a nightmare that when her beloved comes to enjoy her love, she cannot be bothered to open the door to him, especially as he has come in damp and dripping from watching over the sheep. (She still dreams of him as her shepherd). How can he thus expect to share her bed? So she refuses to open to him. She is now so taken up with herself and her home comforts that she has no time for Him.
Then she regrets her folly, but when she repents she finds that it is too late for she discovers that he has gone. And so in her nightmare she wanders out into the city to seek him, and is treated by the watchmen and guards as a loose woman, her outer mantle being ripped from her. But she does not care. All that concerns her is that she cannot find her beloved, and she calls on the daughters of Jerusalem for their assistance, but finds that her pleas are dismissed.
The Wife Becomes Familiar with Her Husband’s Ways and Desires – The daughters of Jerusalem then ask the wife about the ways and lifestyle and interests of her husband (Son 6:1). She answers by describing the things that he does (Son 6:2-3), which symbolizes her journey of becoming familiar with her husband’s desires and activities.
In Son 1:7 the Shulamite woman was searching for her Lover. She will search for him a number of times in this Song. The purpose of each search is to find rest. She will look for him during the phase of Courtship in Son 1:7. She will look for him again during the phase of Engagement in Son 3:1-4. And she will search for him during the phase of Maturing Marriage in Son 5:6-7, until she learns his ways and becomes confident in his devotion towards her and learns that he abides in the garden among the lilies (Son 6:1-3). She will eventually learn that true rest will be found in yielding to his plan for her life, which is communion with him in the garden, and labouring in her own vineyard (Son 8:10).
Literal Interpretation – A garden is a place of rest and delight. The name “Eden” ( ) (H5731) means, “pleasure” ( Strong). Thus, the Garden of Eden was made as a place of delight where God communed with man. In Son 6:2 we interpret this verse to mean that the king can be found in his garden, tending each lily with care. The wife has learned where her love enjoys spending his time, which is in his garden, tending the plants.
Figurative Interpretation of the Nation of Israel The nation of Israel was God’s chosen people. He brought them out and set them apart and set up His Tabernacle so that He could have a people who would fellowship with Him. This nation was His “garden of delight”.
Figurative Interpretation of the Church We can easily interpret the lilies in the garden of the king to represent those individuals in whom he delights. As is stated earlier in Son 2:2, “As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.” It symbolizes the person who communes with him by separating himself from the cares of this world. This is where true peace and rest can be found, and where one finds God’s presence on a continual basis.
Son 6:1 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.
Son 6:1 Son 6:2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
Son 6:2 Son 6:2 Word Study on “spices” Strong says the Hebrew word “spices” “besem” ( ) or “bsem” ( ) (H1314) means, “fragrance, spicery, the balsam plant.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 29 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “spice 24, sweet odours 2, sweet 2, sweet smell 1.” This word is used six times in the Song of Solomon (Son 4:10; Son 4:14; Son 4:16; Son 5:13; Son 6:2; Son 8:14).
Son 6:2 Word Study on “to feed” Strong says the Hebrew word “feed” “ra`ah” ( ) (H7462) is a primitive root that means, “to tend a flock, to pasture, to rule.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 173 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “feed 75, shepherd 63, pastor 8, herdmen 7, keep 3, companion 2, broken 1, company 1, devour 1, eat 1, entreateth 1, misc 10.”
Son 6:2 Word Study on “lilies” Strong says the Hebrew word “lily” “ shuwshan ” ( ) (H7799) means, “a lily (from its whiteness), as a flower or [archaic] an ornament.” The Enhanced Strong says this word is used 15 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “lily 13, Shoshannim 2.” However, its compound uses in Psalms 60 (Shushan-eduth) and Psalms 80 (Shoshannim-Eduth) can be included. It is found 8 times in Songs (Son 2:1-2; Son 2:16; Son 4:5; Son 5:13; Son 6:2-3; Son 7:2). Lilies were used to adorn Solomon’s Temple (1Ki 7:19; 1Ki 7:22; 1Ki 7:26, 2Ch 4:5). This word or its derivatives are used in the title of four psalms as “Shoshannim” (Psalms 45, 60, 69, 80). Psalms 45 is a song of love, where a wedding processional is described. In Songs the Beloved is describes as “a lily of the valley,” and “a lily among thorns” (Son 2:1-2). The Lover feeds among the lilies in the garden (Son 2:16; Son 4:5; Son 6:3), and gathers lilies (Son 5:13). Hosea describes the children of Israel as a lily, saying, “I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.” (Hos 14:5) Watchman Nee suggests that the lilies in Songs is symbolic of those who are upright before God. [218]
[218] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 53.
Son 6:2 Figurative Interpretation The Lord can be found by others as well in a place of personal communion. “and to gather lilies” The lilies symbolize those people in whom the Lord delights. As I typed these words, I felt the phrase “an anointing” rising up out of me. We read in Mat 6:29 that God arrays flowers with “glory”, “And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” The lilies in Son 6:2 very likely represent those individuals who have an anointing and are walking in fellowship with Him.
Son 6:3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.
Son 6:3 Son 6:3 Word Study on “lilies” Strong says the Hebrew word “lily” “ shuwshan ” ( ) (H7799) means, “a lily (from its whiteness), as a flower or [archaic] an ornament.” The Enhanced Strong says this word is used 15 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “lily 13, Shoshannim 2.” However, its compound uses in Psalms 60 (Shushan-eduth) and Psalms 80 (Shoshannim-Eduth) can be included. It is found 8 times in Songs (Son 2:1-2; Son 2:16; Son 4:5; Son 5:13; Son 6:2-3; Son 7:2). Lilies were used to adorn Solomon’s Temple (1Ki 7:19; 1Ki 7:22; 1Ki 7:26, 2Ch 4:5). This word or its derivatives are used in the title of four psalms as “Shoshannim” (Psalms 45, 60, 69, 80). Psalms 45 is a song of love, where a wedding processional is described. In Songs the Beloved is describes as “a lily of the valley,” and “a lily among thorns” (Son 2:1-2). The Lover feeds among the lilies in the garden (Son 2:16; Son 4:5; Son 6:3), and gathers lilies (Son 5:13). Hosea describes the children of Israel as a lily, saying, “I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.” (Hos 14:5) Watchman Nee suggests that the lilies in Songs is symbolic of those who are upright before God. [219]
[219] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 53.
Son 6:3 Literal Interpretation Son 6:3 suggests that there is a growing confidence in the beloved’s confidence of her lover’s devotion towards her. This can only come from spending intimate time with someone.
Figurative Interpretation “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine” – As Christians, we find that our confidence grows in His love for us as we draw near to Him. We find this sense of confidence described in 1Jn 3:20-22 for those who have learned to walk in fellowship with the Son, as stated in the opening passage of 1Jn 1:3.
1Jn 3:20-22, “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.”
1Jn 1:3, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ .”
“he feedeth among the lilies” According to the previous verse (Son 6:2), the lilies are found in the garden. Jesus communes with the upright in the prayer garden.
The Maturing Process (Scene 4: The Garden, and the Vineyards) (Maturing in Divine Service [Perseverance]) Literal Interpretation – Son 5:2 to Son 8:4 describes the maturing process of marriage. The new bride has not yet entered into rest, for in Son 5:2-8 she experiences the final test of true love in which she has to now learn to deny herself and serve her husband. Her love is tested again to prove her devotion to him (Son 5:2-8). The hardship and persecution that results from this test and her desire for him in the midst of this trial serves as a powerful testimony to the daughters of Jerusalem as they ask her why she loves him so dearly and why he is more special than other men (Son 5:9). She then describes her Lover in a way that others have not known, by describing his unique characteristics above all others (Son 5:10-16). This symbolizes the journey of every wife to learn about her husband and to admire his unique characteristics. Her testimony provokes these maidens to seek him with her (Son 6:1), and she tells them how they can find him as well, assuring them of the strong bond love that holds them together (Son 6:2-3).
In Son 6:4-10 the husband expresses his love and admiration for the beauty and uniqueness of his wife. Her love has proven genuine. Just as the beloved emphasized her lover’s uniqueness in Son 5:9-16, so does he now express her uniqueness among women. In Son 6:11-13 the Shulamite visits the vineyards for the first time since being brought from her native village to the King’s palace (Son 6:11). This introduction to such a familiar setting seems to stir up a longing in her heart for her people and homeland (Son 6:12). Her people call her back (Son 6:13 a) and the king shows forth his jealousy for the first time with a mild rebuke to them (Son 6:13 b).
In Son 7:1-13 we have a description of the husband and wife coming together in the intimacy of the marriage bed. The man is first aroused by her physical beauty and uses his words in foreplay (Son 7:1-5). He then moves into the act of intercourse (Son 7:6-9). The wife responds with words expressing her desire to always yield to him as long as he continues his devotion to her (Son 7:10 to Son 8:4). This is the place of rest that the wife has been seeking in marriage, which is intimacy with her husband.
Figurative Interpretation Figuratively speaking, this fourth song represents man’s discipline to persevere in divine service. The intimacy of the marriage bed is where the wife finds rest as she yields herself totally to her husband. This is figurative of the believer yielding himself entirely to God’s plan and purpose for humanity.
A good example of this phase of loving God with all of our heart is seen in the life of Kathryn Kuhlman in her later years of ministry, whose healing minister touched the world during 1960’s and 70’s. Her services were marked by the distinct presence of the Holy Spirit, being manifested by divine healings, people shaking and being slain with the Holy Spirit. She tells of the heavy price she paid to have this anointing, which involved leaving an unscriptural marriage with a man she dearly loved. She came to a place and time when she died to her own will and yielded totally to the will of God. Her “thorn in the flesh” was carrying the pain of walking away from an earthly love affair in order to be in God’s perfect will. [201] She said, “Any of you ministers can have what I have if you’ll only pay the price.” She described the price that she paid as costing her everything. She said about a lifestyle of prayer, “If you find the power, you’ll find heaven’s treasure.” [202] She refers to the day when she made a decision to divorce a man who has been previously married. She explains how on that day Katherine died. [203] Another good example is seen in the early years of Arthur Blessitt’s call to take the cross around the world. In Central America a group of military police pulled him out of his mobile trailer and stood him up in front of a firing squad. Instead of pleading for his life, he reached into his trailer get these men some bibles. When he turned around to face the firing squad, everyone was on the ground. The power of God manifested and knocked everyone down. The point is that Arthur Blessitt no longer cared for his own life, but rather, his concern was to carry the testimony of Jesus Christ. [204]
[201] Benny Hinn, The Anointing (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1992), 63-4.
[202] Kathryn Kuhlman, “I Believe in Miracles,” on This is Your Day (Irving, Texas), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California, 28 January 2008), television program.
[203] Kathryn Kuhlman, “I Believe in Miracles,” on This is Your Day (Irving, Texas), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California, 28 January 2008), television program; Benny Hinn, The Anointing (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1992), 63-4.
[204] Arthur Blessitt, interviewed by Matthew Crouch, Behind the Scenes, on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California, 2008), television program.
Outline – Note the proposed outline of this section:
1. Scene 1 – Love Is Tested Again Son 5:2 to Son 6:13
a) The Duties of Marriage Son 5:2-8
b) Becoming Familiar with One Another Son 5:9 to Son 6:13
i) The Uniqueness of the Husband Son 5:9-16
ii) The Beloved’s Commitment to Her Husband Son 6:1-3
iii) The Uniqueness of the Wife Son 6:4-10
iv) The Wife’s Desire to Return Home Son 6:11-13
2. Scene 2 – The Intimacy of the Marriage Bed Son 7:1 to Son 8:4
a) The Man’s Foreplay Son 7:1-5
b) The Act of Intercourse Son 7:6-9
c) The Woman’s Response to His Intimacy Son 7:10 to Son 8:4
Becoming Familiar with One Another In Son 5:9 to Son 6:13 the husband and wife become familiar with one another’s characteristics. This passage is important for a maturing marriage in that the spouses focus on the positive unique attributes of one another, rather than on the negative.
In Son 5:9 to Son 6:3 we have symbolic language that suggests that the wife has become familiar with her husband. We have the daughters of Jerusalem asking questions to the beloved about her lover and husband. They first ask her why he is more special than other men (Son 5:9) and she responds by describing his unique characteristics (Son 5:10-16). This symbolizes the journey of every wife to learn about her husband and to admire his unique characteristics. The daughters of Jerusalem then ask the wife about the ways and lifestyle and interests of her husband (Son 6:1). She answers by describing the things that he does (Son 6:2-3), which symbolizes her journey of becoming familiar with her husband’s desires and activities.
The Confession of the Church Rewarded.
The bride having answered the first question of the “daughters of Jerusalem” for a description of her soul’s Bridegroom, they now ask about her relation to this marvelous King.
v. 1. Whither is thy Beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? v. 2. My Beloved is gone down into His garden, v. 3. I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine; He feedeth among the lilies. v. 4. Thou art beautiful, O My love, v. 5. Turn away thine eyes from Me, v. 6. Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them.
v. 7. As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks. v. 8. There are threescore queens and fourscore concubines and virgins without number v. 9. My dove, My undefiled is but one, Events move rapidly in this paragraph. The Church had indeed for a time been deprived of the merciful presence of her Lord, He had withheld His gracious visitation from her. But she was sure of His return, for she was still united with Him in faith; she could not lose the Bridegroom of her soul. This confession of faith causes the Lord once more to sing the praises of His bride, whose beauty He compares to, and exalts above, the fairest cities of the land, and whose victorious march makes her unconquerable. He is filled with the most burning love for her and therefore lands her qualities in a wonderful burst of song. The former relation of the most intimate love between Christ and the Church has been restored after her repentance. He wants all people of the world to know that His Church, His Kingdom of Grace, ranks highest in His estimation, that for her sake He makes and deposes kings and emperors, so that even these outsiders must acknowledge her superiority and glory, Eph 1:21-23; 1Pe 2:9.
EXPOSITION
Son 6:1
Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Whither hath thy beloved turned him, that we may seek him with thee? The dialogue still continues, possibly because, as Delitzsch suggests, the effect of the dream which Shulamith narrates is not passed away in the morning. Under the influence of it she goes forth and meets the daughters of Jerusalem, who offer their assistance. But there is no necessity for this. The poetry merely demands that the idea of the dream should be still kept before the mind of the reader. The scene is still in the palace. The ladies playfully carry on the bride’s cue, and help her to pour out her feelings. The bridegroom, they know, is near at hand, and is coming to delight himself in his bride; but the bride has not yet drawn him back completely to her side. This is evident from the fact that there is no distress in the language of the bride. She is not complaining and crying out in agony under a sense of desertion; she is waiting for the return of her beloved, and so she calmly sings of his love and his perfect truthfulness, even though absent from her. He is where his perfect beauty and fragrance might well be.
Son 6:2, Son 6:3
My beloved is gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth his flock among the lilies. In Ecc 2:5, Ecc 2:6 Solomon says, “I planted me vineyards; I made me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit; I made me pools of water, to water therefrom the forest where trees were reared.” In Rev 7:17 it is said, “The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their Shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of water of life: and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.” We can scarcely doubt that the meaning isThe bridegroom is not gone far; he is where he is congenially employed; where his pure and lovely nature finds that which is like itselfbeauty and fragrance and innocence. It is his resort, and it corresponds with his perfection. Delitzsch thinks “thoughtfulness and depth of feeling are intended” (cf. Psa 92:5). “His thoughts are very deep.” But it would seem more fitting, in the lips of the bride, that she should dwell on the aspects of her beloved which correspond with her own feelings. She is one of the lilies. The king is coming into his garden, and I am ready to receive him. The shepherd among his flock. They are all like lilies, pure and beautiful. The bride has nothing but chaste thoughts of her husband: because she knows that he is hers, and she is his. Surely such language is not inaptly applied to spiritual uses. Tennyson’s lovely poem, ‘St. Agnes’ Eve,’ has caught the spirit of Shulamith. A few of his lines will illustrate this
“The shadows of the convent towers
Slant down the snowy sward,
Still creeping with the creeping hours
That lead me to my Lord.
Make thou my spirit pure and clear
As are the frosty skies,
Or this first snowdrop of the year
That in my bosom lies.
He lifts me to the golden doors;
The flashes come and go;
All Heaven bursts her starry floors,
And strews her lights below,
And deepens on and up! the gates
Roll back, and far within
For me the heavenly Bridegroom waits,
To make me pure of sin.
The sabbaths of eternity,
One sabbath deep and wide,
A light upon the shining sea
The Bridegroom with his bride.”
Son 6:4-7
Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners. Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Thy hair is as a flock of goats that lie along the side of Gilead. Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes which are come up from the washing, whereof every one hath twins, and none is bereaved among them. Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind thy veil. The king is not far off. The bride knows that he is near. She prepares herself for him with words of love. He is coming among his “rosebud garden. of girls.” His voice is heard as he approaches. And as he enters the chamber he bursts forth with lavish praises of his bride. Tirzah and Jerusalem, two of the most beautiful cities of the world, are taken as symbols of the surpassing beauty of the bridedoubtless also with an intended reference to the symbology of Scripture, where the people of God are compared throughout to a city. Tirzah was discovered by Robinson in 1852, on a height in the mountain range to the north of Nablus, under the name Tulluzah, high and beautiful, in a region of olive trees. The name itself signifies sweetness, which might be so employed even if there were no actual city so called. Jerusalem is said to have been “the perfection of beauty” (Psa 48:2; Psa 50:2; Lam 2:15). Cities are generally spoken of as females, as also nations. The Church is the city of God. The new Jerusalem is the bride of the Lamb. If the prophets did not take their language from this Song of Solomon, then the phraseology and symbology which we find here must have been familiarly known and used among the people of Israel from the time of Solomon. The beauty of the bride is overwhelming, it is subduing and all-conquering, like a warrior host with flying banners going forth to victory. Solomon confesses that he is vanquished. This, of course, is the hyperbole of love, but it is full of significance to the spiritual mind. The Church of Christ in the presence and power of the Lord is irresistible. It is not until he appears that the bride is seen in her perfection. She hangs her head and complains while he is absent; but when he comes and reveals himself, delighting in his people, their beauty, which is a reflection of his, will shine forth as the sun forever and ever. The word which is employed, “terrible,” is from the root “to be impetuous,” “to press impetuously upon,” “to infuse terror,” LXX; , “to make to start up,” referring to the flash of the eyes, the overpowering brightness of the countenance. So the purity and excellence of the Church shall delight the Lord, and no earthly power shall be able to stand before it. Heaven and earth shall meet in the latter days. Wickedness shall fly before righteousness as a detbated host before a victorious army. Is there not something like a practical commentary on these words in the history of all great revivals of religion and eras of reformation? Are there not signs even now that the beauty of the Church is becoming more and more army-like, and bearing down opposition? The remainder of the description is little more than a repetition of what has gone before, with some differences. Mount Gilead is here simply Gilead. The flock of shorn sheep is here the flock of ewes with their young. Perhaps there is intended to be a special significance in the use of the same description. The bride is the same, and therefore the same terms apply to her; but she is more beautiful than ever in the eyes of the bridegroom. Is it not a delicate mode of saying, “Though my absence from thee has made thee complain for a while, thou art still the same to me”? There is scope here for variety of interpretation which there is no need to follow. Some would say the reference is to the state of the Church at different periodsas e.g. to the primitive Church in its simplicity and purity, to the Church of the empire in its splendour and growing dominion. The Jewish expositors apply it to the different stages in the history of Israel, “the congregation” being the bride, as under the first temple and under the second temple. Ibn Ezra, and indeed all expositors, recognize the reason for the repetition as in the sameness of affection. “The beloved repeats the same things here to show that it is still his own true bride to whom he speaks, the sameness in the features proving it.” So the Targum. The flock of goats, the flock of ewes, the piece of pomegranate, all suggest the simple purity of country life in which the king found so much satisfaction, he is wrapt up in his northern beauty, and idolizes her. One cannot help thinking of the early Jewish Church coming forth from Galilee, when all spoke of the freshness and genuineness of a simple-hearted piety drawn forth by the preaching of the Son of Marythe virgin-born Bridegroom whose bride was like the streams and flowers, the birds and flocks, of beautiful Galilee; a society of believing peasants untouched by the conventionalities of Judaea, and ready to respond to the grand mountain like earnestness and heavenly purity of the new Prophet, the Shepherd of Israel, “who feedeth his flock among the lilies.” There is a correspondence in the early Church, before corruption crept in and sophistication obscured the simplicity of faith and life among Christians, to this description of the bride, the Lamb’s wife. There must be a return to that primitive ideal before there can be the rapturous joy of the Church which is promised. We are too much turned aside from the Bridegroom to false and worthless attractions which do not delight the Beloved One. When he sees his bride as he first saw her, he will renew his praises and lift her up to himself.
Son 6:8, Son 6:9
There are three score queens, and four score concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. The account given us of Solomon’s harem in 1Ki 11:3 represents the number as much larger. Is not that because the time referred to in the poem was early in the reign? The words are an echo of what we read in Pro 31:28 and Gen 30:13. Perhaps the general meaning is merely to celebrate the surpassing beauty of the new bride. But there certainly is a special stress laid on her purity and innocence. There is no necessity to seek for any exact interpretation of the queens and concubines. They represent female beauty in its variety. The true Church is in closer relation to the Bridegroom than all the rest of the world. Even in the heathen and unconverted world there is a revelation of the Word, or, as the ancient Fathers of the Church said, a . He was then as light, though the darkness comprehended him not. The perfection of the true bride of the Lamb will be acknowledged even by those who are not professedly Christian.
Son 6:10
Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners? This, of course, is the praise which comes from the lips of the queens and concubines, the ladies of the harem, the daughters of Jerusalem. The word rendered “looketh forth” is literally “bendeth forward,” i.e. in order to look out or forth (cf. Psa 14:2), LXX; Venet; (cf. Jas 1:25, “stooping down and looking into the Word as into well”). The idea seems to be that of a rising luminary, looking forth from the background, breaking through the shades of the garden, like the morning star appearing above the horizon ( , Venetian) (cf. Isa 14:12, where the morning star is called ). The moon is generally , “yellow,” but here , “white,” i.e. pale and sweet, as the lesser light, with true womanly delicacy and fairness; but the rest of the description, which plainly is added for the sake of the symbolical suggestiveness of the figures, removes all idea of mere weakness. Clear (or, bright) as the sun. And the word for “sun” is not, as usual, shemesh, but chammah, “heat,” the warming light (Psa 19:7; see Job 31:26; Isa 49:2). The fierce rays of the Eastern sun are terrible to those who encounter them. The glory of the Church is a glory overwhelming as against all that opposes it. The description is pure hyperbole as applied to a fair bride, referring to the blazing beauty of her face and adornments, but symbolically it has always been felt a precious contribution to religious language. Perhaps no sentence in the Old Testament has been more frequently on the lips of devout men, especially when they have been speaking of the victories of the truth and the glowing prospects of the Saviour’s kingdom.
Son 6:11, Son 6:12
I went down into the garden of nuts to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded and the pomegranates were in flower. Or ever I was aware, my soul set me among the chariots of my princely people. There cannot he much doubt as to the meaning of these words. Taking them as put into the lips of the bride, and as intended to be a response to the lavish praises of the bridegroom, we may regard them as a modest confession that she had lost her heart immediately that she had seen King Solomon. She went down into her quiet garden life to occupy herself as usual with rustic labours and enjoyments, but the moment that her beloved approached she was carried awayher soul was as in a swift chariot. Delitzsch thinks that the words refer to what occurred after marriage. He supposes that on some occasion the king Look his bride with him on an excursion in his chariot to a plain called Etam. He refers to a description of such a place to be found in Josephus, ‘Ant.,’ 8.7, 3, but the explanation is far fetched and improbable. The nut or walnut tree (Juglans regia, Linn.) came originally from Persia. The name is very similar in the Persian, AEthiopic, Arabic, and Syriac. One cannot help comparing the lovely simplicity of the bride’s description with the tender beauty of Goethe’s ‘Herman and Dorothea.’ The main point is this, that she is not the mere captive of the king, taken, as was too often the case with Eastern monarchs, by violence into his harem; she was subdued by the power of love. It was love that raised her to the royal chariots of her people. She beholds in King Solomon the concentration and the acme of her people’s glory. He is the true Israel; she is the glory of him who is the glory of God.
Son 6:13
Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. Shulem is the same as Shunem (see 1Ki 1:3; 2Ki 4:8; Jos 19:18). Shulamite will, therefore, mean “lady of Shulem.” It is the first occurrence of the name. It cannot be a pure proper name, says Delitzsch, because the article is attached to it. It is a name of descent. The LXX. has , i.e. “she who is from Shunem.” Abishag was exceedingly beautiful, and she came from the same district. It is the country in the tribe of Issachar, near to little Hermon, to the southeast of Carmel and south of Nain, southeast of Nazareth, southwest of Tabor. It is found at present under the name Sawlam, not far from the great plain of Jiszeal (now Zer‘in), “which forms a convenient way of communication between Jordan and the seacoast, but is yet so hidden in the mountain range that the Talmud is silent concerning this Sulem, as it is concerning Nazareth.” It is impossible to resist the impression of the fact that this part of Galilee so closely associated with our Lord and his ministry should be the native place of the bride. Delitzsch thinks that the Shulamite is on her way from the garden to the palace. That the words are addressed to her by the admiring ladies can scarcely be disputed; hence the “we” of the address. “The fourfold ‘come back’ (or, ‘turn’) entreats her earnestly, yea, with team, to return thither (that is, to the garden) with them once more, and for this purpose, that they might find delight in looking upon her.” But Delitzsch is scarcely right in thinking that the garden of nuts to which the bride referred is the garden of the palace. She is, perhaps, turning to leave the company of ladies, Solomon himself beingamong them, as though she would escape from their gaze, which is too much for her in her simplicity, and the ladies, seeing her intention to leave them, call her back. Another view is that the word “return” is for “turn round;” that is, “Let us see thee dance, that we may admire the beauty of thy form and movements.” This would explain the appropriateness of the bride’s reply in the latter haft of the verse. Moreover, the fourfold appeal is scarcely suitable if the bride was only slightly indicating her intention to leave. She would surely not leave hastily, seeing that Solomon is present. The request is not that she may remain, but that they may look upon her. It would be quite fitting in the mouth of lady companions. The whole is doubtless a poetic artifice, as before in the case of the dream, for the purpose of introducing the lovely description of her personal attractions. Plainly she is described as dancing or as if dancing. Delitzsch, however, thinks that the dance is only referred to by the ladies as a comparison; but in that case he certainly leaves unexplained the peculiarity of the description in So Son 7:1-5, which most naturally is a description of a dancing figure.
Son 6:13
Why will ye look upon the Shulamite as upon the dance of Mahanaim? The Shulamite, in her perfect modesty and humility, not knowing how beautiful she really is, asks why it is that they wish still to gaze upon her, like those that gaze at the dance of Mahanaim, or why they wish her to dance. But at the same moment, with the complaisance of perfect amiability, begins to movealways a pleasure to a lovely maidenthus filling them with admiration. Mahanaim came in later times to mean “angels,” or the “heavenly host” (see Gen 32:3), but here it is generally thought to be the name of a dance, perhaps one in which the inhabitants of Mahanaim excelled, or one in which angels or hosts were thought to engage. The old translators, the Syriac, Jerome, and the Venetian, render, “the dances of the camps” (choros castrarum, ), possibly a war dance or parade. The word, however, is in the dual. Delitzsch thinks the meaning is a dance as of angels, “only a step beyond the responsive song of the seraphim” (Isa 6:1-13.). Of course, there can be no objection to the association of angels with the bride, but there is no necessity for it. The word would be, no doubt, familiarly known in the age of Solomon. The sacred dances wore often referred to in Scripture. and there would be nothing degrading to the dignity of the bride in dancing before the ladies and her own husband. “After throwing aside her upper garment, so that she had only the light clothing of a shepherdess or vine dresser, Shulamith danced to and fro before the daughters of Jerusalem, and displayed all her attractions before them.”
HOMILETICS
Son 6:1-3
Dialogue between the bride and the daughters of Jerusalem.
I. THE QUESTION OF THE MAIDENS. The dream is past. The bridegroom is absent for a time, but the bride is not anxious; she knows where he is, and that he will soon return. Perhaps it was such a short absence which filled her thoughts before, and was the occasion of those narratives which are so dream-like, which recall so vividly reminiscences of dreams such as most men have probably experienced. The chorus again address the bride as “fairest among women.” They recognize her beauty and graces. They do not see the bridegroom with her; they ask, “Whither is he gone?” They offer to seek him with her. So we sometimes ask others who have more Christian graces, more love of Christ, than we have, where we may find the Lord. We want to seek Christ with them; we ask for their prayers; we will join our prayers with theirs.
II. THE ANSWER.
1. The bride knows where her beloved may be found. She has no doubts now, no anxieties, as she had in her dream. She answers without hesitation, “My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed [his flock] in the gardens, and to gather lilies.” She invests her beloved with the ideal character of a shepherd, as she had done before (So Son 7:1 -51:7). We see that the words are not to be taken literally; he is no shepherd in the ordinary sense. He is said, indeed, to be feeding (his flock), but not in ordinary pastures. He is gone to his garden, a garden of costly spices; and he is gone to gather lilies, apparently for his bride. The bride never dwells on the wealth and magnificence of her royal lover as the chorus do. Such thoughts, perhaps, were to her oppressive rather than attractive; she loves to think of him as a shepherd, as one in her own condition in life. The grandeur of the king was dazzling to the country maiden. So the Christian loves to think of the Lord Jesus as the good Shepherd. We know, indeed, that the kingdoms of this world are his; that he is King of kings and Lord of lords; that he is the Word who in the beginning was with God, and himself was God; that all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. We know that he will come again in majesty and great glory to judge the quick and the dead. But when our souls are dazzled by the contemplation of his glory; when we shrink, as sinful men must shrink, from the thought of the great white throne and him that sitteth on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven flee away (Rev 20:11);it is a relief then to our weakness to remember that the great King humbled himself to our low estate, that he was made as one of us, that he shared all our human infirmities, sin only excepted; that he who is the Life of the world humbled himself for us unto death, even the death of the cross. And of all the titles by which he has been pleased to make himself known to his people, there is none so full of comfort as that of the Shepherd, the good Shepherd, who calls his sheep by name, who guides them and feeds them, who knows his own and his own know him, who once laid down his life for the sheep. Now he feeds them in his garden, the garden enclosed (So Son 7:1 -54:12), which is the Church, among the beds of spices, which are the fruit of the Spirit. There he gathers the lilies one by one, the souls of his redeemed, the souls which he has tended and cared for, and glorified with a beauty of holiness which is a faint reflection of his own heavenly beauty. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of those precious lilies. He gathers them one by one when they have grown into that spiritual beauty for which he planted them at the first, and carries them into a better garden, the true Eden, the Paradise of God, there to blossom into purer and holier beauty.
2. She is wholly his. “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he that feedeth [his flock] among the lilies.” She repeats the happy assurance of So Son 2:16, only she inverts the order of the clauses, and adds the description. “He is feeding his flock among the lilies: but I am his, and he is mine.” There is no jealousy, no doubt now, as there seemed to be when she dreamed of his absence. The shepherd is her shepherd, the lilies are for her, she is his. She thinks first now of her gift to the bridegroom. In So Son 2:10 she put his gift first. He had given his heart to her in the first happy days of their young love; and that gift had won from her the responsive gift of her affection. She knew now that her heart was wholly his; she delights in owning it. And she was sure of his affection. His heart was wholly hers. “We love him, because he first loved us” (1Jn 4:19). It is the love of Christ manifested in his blessed life and precious death, revealed into the believer’s heart by the power of the Holy Spirit,it is that constraining love which draws forth from our cold and selfish natures that measure of love, real and true, though unworthy and intermittent, with which the Christian man regards the Lord. At first we are more sure of his love than of ours. He loved us, that is certain; the cross is the convincing proof. But we are not sure, alas! that we are returning his love. We have learned from long and sad experience to doubt these selfish hearts of ours; we are afraid that there is no real love in them, but only excited feeling, only transitory emotion. But if by his grace we persevere in the life of prayer and faith, little by little his love given to us, manifested in our souls, draws forth the response of earnest love from us; little by little we begin to hope (oh, how earnestly!) that we may be able at last to say with St. Peter, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” But to say that, with the knowledge that his eye is on us, that he is reading our heart, involves much awe, much heart searching, as well as much hope, much peace. We can only pray that “the God of hope may fill us with all joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Rom 15:13). And if that love, though weak, as, alas! it must be, is yet real, we may make the bride’s words our own: “I am my Beloved’s; I belong to him. My heart is his; I am giving it to him; and he, blessed be his holy Name, is helping me to give it by first giving himself to me. I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine.” Therefore the Christian soul may say, “I hope one day to see him face to face, and to be with him where he feedeth his flock among the lilies of Paradise.”
Son 6:4-9
The bridegroom’s praise of the bride.
I. RENEWED ENUMERATION OF HER GRACES.
1. General praise of her beauty. Her beauty is compared to the beauty of Tirzah or Jerusalem. She is beautiful as Tirzah, which word means “grace” or “beauty;” comely as Jerusalem, the habitation or foundation of peace. The bridegroom mentions Tirzah as well as Jerusalem, which seems to imply that the song was written before the division of the kingdom. The bride is beautiful as Tirzah was to the inhabitants of Northern Palestinea fair city in a fertile country, deriving its name from the attractive graces of the surrounding scenery. She is comely as Jerusalem was to every loyal Israelite. “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King;” “Walk about Zion,” the psalmist continues, “and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following” (Psa 48:2, Psa 48:12, Psa 48:13). Zion was to the Israelites “the perfection of beauty” (Psa 50:2; Lam 2:15). The exiles in the days of the Captivity sang in plaintive strains, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy” (Psa 137:5, Psa 137:6). The great delight in returning from their long captivity wan to think, “Our feet shall stand in thy gates, O Jerusalem.” “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” they would say: “they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces” (Psa 122:2, Psa 122:6, Psa 122:7). And what Jerusalem was to the Israelites, that the Church is to the heavenly Bridegroom. Her salvation was “the joy set before him,” for which “he endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb 12:2). He tells her towers; for “the Lord knoweth them that are his.” He knows every living stone of the spiritual temple, the Church, which he hath built upon theRock of ages. He never forgets her. He intercedes for her, and is preparing a place for her, that hereafter “the nations of them which are saved may walk in the light of her” (Rev 21:24). He prays now for her peace, and giveth her his peace”the peace of God, which passeth all understanding.” She is beautiful with the reflection of his perfect beauty, He will cleanse and purify her, and at the last present her to himself a glorious Church. And if the Church is fair in the Bridegroom’s eyes, so in a degree is each converted and sanctified soul; in each such soul he sees something of that beauty of holiness which comes from the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit of God. For they who love him, and seek to live in that fellowship which is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, must, while they “behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, be changed into the same image from glory to glory” (2Co 3:18). And if the dear Lord is pleased with the poor holiness of his people, how earnestly we ought to strive to purge ourselves from all pollution of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God! Earthly beauty is but a poor endowment; it soon fades and passes away. The inner beauty of a holy soul abides and increases continually, and is very precious and sacred; for such fair souls, washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb, shall see the King in his beauty, and dwell in the light of the golden city.
2. She is terrible as an army with banners. The bride is beautiful not only for her attractive gentleness; she has a queenly dignity that could repel any presumptuous advances. The beauty of the Church is a severe beauty, like the martial beauty of a bannered host. For, indeed, the Church is an army, the army of the living God; the banner of the cross shines in the van, advancing ever forward.
“The royal banners forward go, That bannered host is terrible to the enemy. “Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness” (Eph 6:12).
“They march unseen, Each Christian soul has its place in that vast army; each is a sworn soldier of the cross; each such soul is terrible to the enemy, because Christ is the strength of his people, and they are more than conquerors through him who loved them.
“Satan trembles when he sees Then we must pray for grace to follow the banner of the cross with loyal heart and steadfast purpose, that our service may be acceptable to the Captain of our salvation, and pleasing in his sight, as a bannered host marshalled and ordered, as each noble warrior well equipped and disciplined, is a sight that gives pleasure and joyful pride to the commander.
3. The bridegroom repeats the praises of So Mar 4:1-6. But first he says, “Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me.” He had praised her eyes again and again; they were as doves. Now he says, in the tenderness of a great love, “they have overcome me.” We may compare the Lord’s gracious wonder at the faith of the centurion (Luk 7:9). He condescended to “marvel at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” The bridegroom goes on to praise the various features of the bride’s beauty, he had done so already in the love of their first espousals. His affection continues unabated; he repeats the same praises in the same words. The heavenly Bridegroom loves his bride the Church with “an everlasting love” (Jer 31:3). The terms of affection which are bestowed in the Old Testament upon the ancient Jewish Church are repeated in the New Testament, and applied to the Christian Church, the Israel of God. Thus St. Peter (1Pe 2:9) calls Christians “a chosen generation;” the same title is given in the Prophet Isaiah (Isa 43:20) to the Jewish people. St. Peter calls Christians “a royal priesthood;” in Exo 19:6 the Israelites are called “a kingdom of priests”. St. Peter calls Christians “a holy nation;” the same thing is said of the Israelites in Exo 19:6. St. Peter describes Christians as “a peculiar people;” his words represent Deu 7:6, translated in our old version “a special people,” in the new version, “a peculiar people.” He applies to the Christian Church the words which the Prophet Hosea had used of the Jews, “Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (1Pe 2:10; Hos 2:23). The Lord Jesus loves his Church with a love that changes not. Almost at the beginning of the New Testament stands the holy promise, “Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins;” and almost at the end we read the blessed words, “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Each faithful Christian may trust his Saviour’s love, for it is written, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee;” and again, “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Php 1:6).
II. COMPARISON OF THE BRIDE WITH OTHERS.
1. They are many. David had had sixteen wives. Solomon had early followed that unhappy example; already he had, it seems, “three score queens, and four score concubines.” He had transgressed the commandment of Deu 17:17, where it is said of any future king, “Neither shall he multiply wives unto himself, that his heart turn not away.” Solomon, alas! broke the commandment of God, and incurred the awful peril denounced against disobedience. “He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods” (1Ki 11:3, 1Ki 11:4). Now he was young but even in his youth the evil desire was strong within him. His love for the pure country maiden might have saved him; for a time, perhaps, it did check his sensual passions. But, alas! if it was so, the evil spirit that had been cast out soon returned, and brought with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and the last state was worse than the first (Mat 12:43-45).
2. She is one alone, “One is she, my dove, my undefiled; one is she to her mother; the choice one is she to her that bare her.” Such is the literal rendering of the touching words. The bride was an only daughter; she was the joy and darling of her mother. The good daughter makes a good wife. She was the bridegroom’s dove, his undefiled one, stud she stood alone in his affections; no other came near to her. So good was she and so lovely in character as well as in person, that even those who might hate been expected to regard her with envy praised her and called her blessed. The luxurious monarch seems to have a glimpse of the blessedness of purity; he seems almost to feel that “to love one maiden and to cleave to her” is the ideal of human love. Alas! “his goodness was as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it passed away” (Hos 6:4) The evil spirit of sensuality returned. When he was old, his wives turned away his heart; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and built high places for the worship of idols in the hill that is before Jerusalem (1Ki 11:4, 1Ki 11:6, 1Ki 11:7). How earnestly we ought to strive to retain in our souls those happy feelings, those aspirations after purity and holiness which God sends from time to time, like angels’ visits, into our hearts! They can only be fixed and wrought into our characters by immediate action. In themselves they are transitory, and rapidly pass away. But hold them firm, make them the basis of real effort, the beginning and occasion of the healthy discipline of self-denial,then God will help us to keep them alive in our souls; the little seed will grow till it becomes a great tree; the little leaven will spread through the whole life with its quickening powers. Very precious are those moments of holy emotion; very solemn, too, for they involve a great responsibility. To let them go is perilous exceedingly, to use them aright brings a priceless blessing.
Son 6:10-13
Conversation between the chorus and the bride.
I. ADDRESS OF THE CHORUS.
1. The question. “Who is she?” This question occurs three times in the song. In So Son 3:6 it is asked apparently by a chorus of young men, the friends of the bridegroom; here and in So Son 8:5 it seems to be put into the mouth of the chorus of maidens, the daughters of Jerusalem. It is an expression of admiration. The maidens meet the bride after an interval, and are startled by her surpassing beauty, at once graceful and majestic. Her happy love has shed a new grace around her; she is clothed in queenly attire; it is a vision of rare loveliness. It is the love of Christ which gives the Church whatever beauty she possesses. Christ’s love for her, drawing forth her responsive love for him, gives her whatever graces she may possess. She is his creation. He built his Church upon the rock; all that she is, and all that she has, comes only from his gift.
2. The description. She looks forth as the dawn. The bride’s sudden appearance is like the early dawn, coming forth in its beauty, tinging sky and clouds with rosy light. She is fair as the moon, clear and pure as the sun (poetical words are used here, as in Isa 24:23; Isa 30:26; the moon is the white, the sun the hot luminary); and the comparison of Son 8:4 is repeated; in her queenly majesty she is terrible, awe-inspiring, as a bannered host. Christ is the Bright and Morning Star (Rev 22:16); He is the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2); He is the true Light, the Light of the world. The true Light lighteth every man (Joh 1:9); and they who believe in the Light, and walk as children of light, reflect something of its brightness; so that the Lord, in his condescending love, says of them, “Ye are the light of the world” (Mat 5:14); and so St. Paul says of his Philippian converts that “ye shine as lights [luminaries] in the world” (Php 2:15). “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Christians must strive, by his grace and the illumination of his Spirit, to walk always in the light, as he is in the light, that so they may have fellowship with one another in the light of holy love, and that the blood of Jesus Christ may cleanse them continually from all sin, making their souls white and clear in the transparent truth of that purity in heart which must, by the Saviour’s compassionate mercy, belong to them who shall see God (Mat 5:8).
II. ANSWER OF THE BRIDE.
1. Her lowliness. The maidens praise her beauty and stateliness; she reminds them of her former low estate. She seems to be looking back to the hour of her first meeting with the bridegroom. She had no thought, country maiden as she was, of the elevation that awaited her. She was engaged in her ordinary occupations. She had gone down into the garden to tend it and to watch the budding of the fruit trees; there she first saw the king. Whatever graces the Church possesses come from the favour of the heavenly Bridegroom. “Through him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Eph 2:18, Eph 2:19). The Gentiles were strangers and foreigners; they knew not the King; they were not looking for him. As the Lord God called Adam and Eve when they were hiding themselves among the trees of the garden, so the Lord called the Gentiles by the mission of his apostles. In the infancy of the human race it was the protevangel, the promise of the Seed of the woman who shall bruise the serpent’s head, that first shed light upon the gloom of sin and misery. And in the fulness of time it was the Lord’s gracious mission, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” that first called the Gentiles into the city of God. Till he calls us we are like the bride in the song, immersed in worldly pursuits and earthly cares; he brings us into the new Jerusalem and makes us fellow citizens with the saints. We must remember always that “By the grace of God I am what I am;” that whatever we may have done of good or right, it was “Not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (1Co 15:10). “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God’ (Eph 2:8). The bride was poor in this world’s goods; we Christians must be “poor in spirit.” That holy poverty, that sense of our own helplessness and need of the Saviour, is very blessed; it has the first place in the Beatitudes.
2. Her exaltation. “I knew not,” she says, “my soul made me the chariots of my people, a princely [people].” She uses a military figure, perhaps suggested by the words twice addressed to her in this chapter, “Terrible as an army with banners.” In a sense she accepts the metaphor. Elijah and Elisha had been severally called “the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof” (2Ki 2:12; 2Ki 13:14). So now the bride had been raised to a lofty position, and was awe-inspiring in her majesty, like a bannered host, or the chariots of a princely people. Her soul, she says, had made her this; she means her soups love for the bridegroom, whom she so often describes as “him whom my soul loveth” (So Son 1:7; Son 3:1, Son 3:2, Son 3:3, Son 3:4). The king saw her and loved her. His love won her innocent heart; and that pure, artless love of hers, the love which filled her soul, the seat of the affections, had lifted her up into the very highest place in the affections of the king, so that now in her queenly majesty she was not only fair as the moon, but awe-inspiring as a bannered host, as the war chariots of a princely people. So it is love that makes one man better than another in the sight of God; not riches, or refinement, or learning, but love. There is, as it were, a hierarchy of love in the universe. Good men love, angels love more, but God is lovethe infinite, everlasting Love. “He prayeth best who loveth best.” He is nearest to God who by his Spirit has learned the great grace of love. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Joh 3:16). The love of Christ draws forth the love of his people. Their love, given in response to his most holy love, lifts them nearer the King; it makes them take up the cross and follow him as his faithful soldiers, quitting themselves like men in the good fight of faith; it makes them terrible to the powers of evil as a bannered host, as the war chariots of iron were in the days of the Judges (Jdg 1:19; Jdg 4:3).
IIL SHORT DIALOGUE CONCLUDING THE CONVERSATION.
1. Request of the chorus. The bride retires; the maidens of the chorus eagerly call her back; they desire to look again upon her beauty. They call her for the first and only time, “O Shulamite!” What is the meaning of the word? Is it equivalent to Shunamite? Was the bride a native of Shuuem in the Plain of Esdraelon, where Elisha afterwards was wont to sojourn (2Ki 4:8-12)? And if so, can it be that the historical basis of the song is the love of Solomon for Abishag the fair Shunamite of 1Ki 1:3? Or, again, is it possible, as some scholars have suggested, that the Hebrew name Shula-mith may have been chosen as a near approach to the feminine form (Shelomith) of Solomon (Shelomoh), signifying the bride’s relationship.to the great monarch? But the bride seems to belong to the Lebanon district; and wives were not then accustomed to take their husband’s name. Again, Shulamith may possibly have been the original name of the maiden, though it occurs nowhere else as a proper name. It is enough for our purpose that the word suggests the meaning “peaceful;” the Vulgate rendering is pacifica. The bride is modest and quiet, she is peaceful; such should Christians be.
2. Question of the bride. She repeats the name given to her by the chorus, and asks, “What will ye see in the Shulamite?” The question is asked in modesty. The last clause of the verse, whether taken as part of the question or as the answer of the chorus, is exceedingly difficult. The word translated “company” is the second part of Abel-meholah (“the meadow of the dance”), the home of Elisha (1Ki 19:16). The Hebrew for “two armies” may be the name of the town in Gilead, “Mahanaim,” so called by Jacob when “the angels of God met him” there (Gen 32:2). Hence the translation of the Revised Version, “Why will ye look upon the Shulamite as upon the dance of Mahanaim?” as if the chorus was inviting the bride to dance some stately measure called from the Gileadite town. Some commentators who take this view understand the bride’s words as a modest refusal; others, that she complies with their request. But the second Hebrew word has the definite article, which would scarcely be used here if it were the name of the city. And if the first word must mean “dance,” as it elsewhere does, may it not be taken in connection with the preceding titles of praise, “the bannered host” and “the chariots of a princely people,” as a martial dance, or as the stately and well ordered evolutions of two bands of warriors? This interpretation, which is suggested with much doubt, may perhaps be regarded as yielding a more suitable explanation than that of the dance, though this last is the view of many accomplished scholars. The chorus looks upon the bride with the interest and delight with which they would watch the evolutions of two hosts with banners and chariots. Warlike images occur several times in the song (So 1Ki 1:9; 1Ki 6:4, 1Ki 6:10, 1Ki 6:12). To the Christian the words recall the onward march of the army of the soldiers of the cross with the attendant escort of angels, the two hosts (Mahanaim) of Gen 32:2. For the angels of God still, as in the times of old, encamp round about them that fear him to deliver them (Psa 34:7). And still, if our eyes were opened, we should see, as the servant of Elisha once saw, “chariots and horses of fire round about” the faithful. “They that be with us are more than they that be with” the enemy (2Ki 6:16, 2Ki 6:17).
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Son 6:1-3
Earnest inquirers after Christ.
The conversation still goes on between her who has lost her beloved and the daughters of Jerusalem. She has just poured out her heart to them in the description of him whom her soul so loved, and these verses give their response. We learn
I. THAT THERE IS A SPIRITUAL LOVELINESS IN THE SOUL THAT EARNESTLY SEEKS CHRIST. (Cf. Son 6:1,” O thou fairest among women.”) It is not merely that Christ sees this loveliness, we know he does; but others see it likewise. It is not the beloved who speaks here, but the daughters of Jerusalem. (Cf. 2Co 7:10, 2Co 7:11, where are set forth some of those graces of character and conduct which are found in the seeking soul.) And that humility, tenderness of conscience, zeal, devoutness, holy desire, and gentleness of spirit which accompany such seeking of Christhow beautiful these things are! And, like all real beauty, there is no self-consciousness in it, but rather such soul mourns that it is so little like what Christ would have it be.
II. IT WILL WIN SYMPATHY AND HELP, WHICH ONCE IT DID NOT POSSESS. At the beginning of this song it is plain that the maiden who speaks did not have the sympathy but rather the contempt,, of the daughters of Jerusalem (cf. So Son 1:5, Son 1:8). But now all that is altered. They are won to her love. Great love to Christ will blessedly infect those about us. We can hardly live with such without coming under the power of its sweet and sacred contagion. Cf. Jethro, “We will go with you, for we see that the Lord hath blessed you.” See, at the Crucifixion, how Joseph of Arimathaea, Nicodemus, the centurion, and others ceased from their cold neutrality or open opposition, and showed that they felt the power of Christ’s love.
III. IT WILL BECOME THE WISE INSTRUCTOR OF OTHERS. This inquiry of Son 6:1 had its fulfilment when Christ lay in the tomb. Those who sought him mourned, but found him not. Cf. Christ’s words concerning his absence, “Ye shall have sorrow, but your sorrow shall be. turned into joy. Also Mar 2:20. And the reply of Mar 2:2 had part fulfilment at that same period. Cf. “This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise” (Luk 23:43). Yes, the Beloved had gone down into his garden (Mar 2:2). But we may also understand by the garden his Church. Arid thus the soul we are contemplating instructs others. She tells them:
1. Where Christ is to be found. In his garden, the place he has chosen, separated, cultivated, beautified, and whither he loves to resort. And:
2. What he delights in there. The spicesthe fragrant graces of regenerated souls, the frankincense of their worship and prayers. The fruits on which he feedsthe holy lives, the manifestation of his people’s faith and love. The liliesthe pure, meek, and lowly souls that spring and grow there.
3. What he does there. He “feeds” there. “He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.“ As his “meat and drink” when here on earth was “to do the will of” the Father, now his sustenance is those fruits of the Spirit which abound in his true Church. And he “gathers lilies.” “He shall gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom” (Isa 40:1-31.). Whenever a pure and holy soul, like those of children and of saints, is transplanted from the earthly garden to the heavenly, that is the gathering of the lilies. “O death, where is thy sting?” Thus doth the soul that loves Christ instruct others.
IV. GAINS THE OBJECT OF ITS SEARCH. (Mar 2:3.) “I am my Beloved’s… mine.” It is the declaration of holy rapture in the consciousness of Christ’s love. They that seek him shall find him. There may be, there are, seasons when we fear we have lost him, but they shall surely be succeeded by such blessed seasons when the soul shall sing in her joy, “My Beloved is mine,” etc. (Mar 2:3).S.C.
Son 6:4-10 and Son 7:1-9
The friendship of the world.
Those who take the literal and historic view of this song see here a repetition of Solomon’s attempts to bend to his will the maiden whom he sought to win. It is a repetition of So Son 4:1-5. And. in the extravagance of his flattery, his mention of her terribleness, his telling of his many queens and concubines, his huge harem, all of whom he says he will set aside for herall this is like what he would say. Now, it all might be, as it generally has been, taken allegorically, as we have taken it in So Son 4:1-5, and as setting forth Christ’s estimate of his Church. But here the representations are yet more extravagant and even gross, so that we prefer to take them as telling of that which is evil rather than good; as the language, not of Christ, but of the world, his foe, in attempting to win from him those who are his. Let it, then, teach us concerning this friendship of the world
I. FLATTERY IS EVER ONE OF ITS FORMS. It is compelled to adopt this in order to hide away the fatal issue of its friendship. Like as the vampire is said to fan its victim with its wings, soothing and stupefying it so that it may the more surely destroy it, thus the world soothes and sends asleep by its flatteries the soul it would destroy.
II. THIS FLATTERY HAS MARKED CHARACTERISTICS.
1. It is extravagant. Of what is here said in the verses selected concerning her of whom they speak. How monstrous are the representations as addressed to any maiden! And are not the conceits the world engenders in men’s souls of this order?
2. It is always fearful of losing its prey. (Son 4:4, “Terrible as an army;” also Son 4:10.) These expressions seem to indicate consciousness that the soul was as yet anything but fully won.
3. Has no originality. It says the same things over and over again. See about her “hair,” her “teeth,” her “cheeks” (Son 4:5, Son 4:6, Son 4:7; cf. So Son 4:1-5). And still every poor fool that the world successfully flatters is plied with the same worn-out arguments, and, alas! yields to them.
4. Sensuous and sensual. (Cf. Son 4:8 and So Son 7:1-9.) The baser instincts are the world’s happy hunting grounds. It knows that it can get a response there when there is none elsewhere.
5. Ruthless and cruel. (Son 4:9.) The flatterer professes, but let all such professions be doubted vehementlythat he would sacrifice all the rest for her whom he would now win. For her, the “dove,” whom he, the hawk, would devour, the three score queens and the four score concubines and the virgins without number (Son 4:8) should all be set aside and lose favour. Anything, no matter how unjust, so Solomon may please his sensual phantasy. They who are ruthless in winning will be ruthless when they have won (cf. poor Anne Boleyn). Oh, the all-devouring world! Its “words are smoother than butter,” but “the poison of asps is under its lips.”
III. TRUE LOVE WILL REJECT IT. Such love is the Ithuriel-like spear which detects at once what it is. So this maiden, type of the redeemed soul, will have none of it (cf. So Son 7:10). And here is suggestedwhat, indeed, is the theme of the whole songthe invincible strength of the true love of Christ in the soul. Let us have that, and no flatteries or blandishments of the world, nor its fierce frowns either, shall seduce us from him whose we are and whose we hope ever to be. Such love will he “terrible,” must be so, to all who would come against it. Christ’s love to us is so infinite that, therefore, nothing less than these many dread words of his about the everlasting fire can serve to tell of his wrath against that and those who would destroy us for whom he died. And if we love him as we should, we shall give no quarter to sin; it will be to us “the abominable thing which I hate,” even as to him. Oh, may this love dwell in us richly and forevermore!S.C.
Verse 10-ch. 7:9
How souls come into perilous places.
“Or ever I was aware.” This section containsso the literalists saythe account of the speaker’s coming to Solomon’s palace. She relates how she met the king’s court (Son 7:11). She was dwelling at home, and occupied in her customary rural labours, when Solomon, on a pleasure tour (So Son 3:6, etc.), came into the neighbourhood of her town, Engedi. There the ladies of the court saw her, and were greatly struck with her beauty (Son 7:10). Bewildered, she would have fled (Son 7:12, Son 7:13), but thought the royal chariots were those of the nobles of her country (Son 7:12). The ladies of the court beg her to return (Son 7:13), and when she asks what they want of her (Son 7:13), they request, and she consents, that she will dance before them, as the maidens of her country were wont to do. Thus Solomon sees her, and is enraptured with her, and begins to praise her in his gross way from her feet upwards (So Son 7:2-9; Muller, in loc.) as he had seen her in dancing. And he seems to have brought her to Jerusalem and to his palace there, where she relates all this. Such appears to be the history on which this song is founded. It is likely, natural, and enables us, whilst still regarding it allegorically, to avoid assigning to Christ language and conduct which far more befit such a one as Solomon was. From the narrative as above given we may learn that
I. NO PLACES ARE FREE FROM SPIRITUAL PERIL. This maiden is represented as at home and occupied in her usual and proper employ, when suddenly all happened as is here told. And what places are there in which the world, and Satan, do not seek the soul’s harm? At home, in our lawful calling, in the Church, everywhere.
II. THOSE WHOM THE WORLD HAS ENSNARED ARE USED TO ENSNARE OTHERS. The women of Solomon’s court are represented as actively engaged in trying to secure this maiden for him. It is a true picture of how worldly souls try to make others as themselves.
III. MISTAKES HAVE OFTEN AS HURTFUL CONSEQUENCES AS SINS.
“Evil is wrought It was so here. There was mistake as to who the people were; as to the motive of the request made her; in not at once escaping; in yielding to their requests. It does seem very hard that when there is no intention of evil, evil should yet come, and often so terribly (cf. 1Ki 13:11, etc.). But it is that we may learn by our mistakes. We learn by nothing so well, and they are never suffered to have irreparable consequences.
IV. THE PERIL OF PARLEYING WITH SPIRITUAL FOES, Had she who is told of here fled away as she intended, none of her after trial would hate followed. To hold converse with a spiritual enemy is next to giving up the keys of the fortress. See how prompt our Lord was in repelling the suggestions of the tempter.
V. THOUGH WE FALL WE SHALL NOT BE UTTERLY CAST DOWN. The tempter in this history was baffled after all. She whom he tried so much kept her faith and love. The soul that loves Christ may wander and fall, but shall assuredly be brought back. “He restoreth my soul.” Faithful love will soon reassert its power.S.C.
HOMILIES BY J.D. DAVIES
Son 6:1-3
Successful quest after the chief good.
The inquirer has taken a step in advance. Awhile he asked, “What is there in Jesus that makes him so attractive?” To this question the loving disciple had responded. He had answered the question fully. He had given a full description of the sinner’s Friend. He had testified to the worth and excellence of the heavenly King. And now the inquirer asks further, “Where may I find this gracious Friend? My heart craves the good which this Friend alone can bestow. I fain would have him too. Tell me where I may find him.”
I. HERE IS SUGGESTED A DILIGENT SEARCH FOR JESUS.
1. Spiritual life and joy in one attract others. Genuine piety acts like a magnetic charm. A well kept garden, stocked with fragrant flowers, has strong attractions for a thousand men, and the fragrant graces of true piety have a like fascination. If “a thing of beauty is a joy forever,” the life of a true Christian, being of all things the most beautiful, is an abiding joy. There is nothing so capable of manifesting beauty as character. If all Christians were as gracious and loving as they might be, what a benign effect would this have on the ungodly! This is Christ’s method for propagating his gospel. “I am glorified in them.” By which he meant to say, “All the charm of my character and all the fruit of my redemption shall be seen in the lives of my disciples.” This will win the world’s attention.
2. Christian Churches are the objects of the world‘s respect. This is not true of every community that styles itself a Church. But every true Church commands the respect and homage of mankind. And as a Church is simply an assemblage of individuals, a genuine Christian has a similar influence over men. The bride of Christ is here addressed as “the fairest among women.” Purity and magnanimity of character command universal respect. Prejudiced men may malign and slander consistent Christians; they may envy their high attainments; yet in their heart of hearts they do them homage. They crave a good man’s benediction.
3. Active search is needful if we would find Christ. It is quite true that Jesus seeks the sinner. He came to “seek the lost.” This first desire to have the friendship of the Beloved has been awakened in the heart by the good Spirit of Christ. Nevertheless, there is a part we must perform, or we shall not gain success. We must strive to enter into the kingdom, or the portals will not open. The salvation of the soul is not to be attained by indolent passivity. There must be search, exertion, intense effort. We must break away from old companions. We must forego former indulgences. We must gain knowledge of Christ. We must search the Scriptures. We must be much in prayer. We must watch the stratagems of the tempter. We must seek if we would find.
4. To find Christ it is best to have an experienced guide. “That we may seek him with thee.” The man who has found Christ, and knows well all the favourite haunts of Christ, is the best guide for others. No qualification in a guide is so good as personal experience. Nothing can take its place. No titles, no diplomas, no amount of intellectual learning, will take the place of experience. The pilot who has navigated a hundred ships through the rocky straits, though he may not be able to read a word in any language, is the best guide to bring us safely into port. It is a foolish act to refuse the practical counsels of faithful Christians. A learned man once accounted for his eminent acquisitions by the fact that he had never hesitated to ask questions respecting the unknown. To find Christ is eternal life, therefore let us use every wise measure in order to gain so great a boon.
II. VALUABLE COUNSEL. “My beloved is gone down into his garden.”
1. Here is confident assurance upon the matter. On the part of a real Christian there is no doubt where Christ can be found. His knowledge is clear, for it is well founded. As surely as men know in what part of the heavens the sun will rise or will set, so the friend of Jesus knows where he can be found. So he speaks in no doubtful tones. There is no peradventure. “My Beloved is gone down into his garden.” There he had always found the Saviour, when devoutly he had sought him. For “his delights are with the children of men.” And his gracious promise to ‘his Church has never been broken, “Where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them.”
2. In the society of living and fruitful saints Jesus will be found. He has gone “to the beds of spices.” However imperfect and insipid our graces seem to ourselves, Jesus finds in them a sweet savour. The organ through which Jesus discovers these and enjoys their fragrance and sweetness, is far more highly developed in him than in us. To his sensitive nature there is a fine aroma in our lowliness and patience, in our love and praise, which we had not suspected. Nor do the sweetest songs of angels attract him so much as the first lispings of a penitent’s prayer. The nearer we get to Jesus the richer joy do we attain. There is a rare delicacy in the gladness, easier felt than described. So in our fresh passionate love, and in our simple zeal, and in our childlike trust, Jesus finds profoundest satisfaction. In the midst of such virgin souls he delights to dwell. These hold him, and will not let him go. What spice beds are to every lover of innocent pleasure, the piety of true saints is to Jesus. Near such he may at any time be found. If any man longs to find the Saviour, he will find him in the vicinity of genuine believers. He is gone to the “beds of spices,” perchance to some bedside, where deep-rooted love is blossoming and bearing fruit.
3. Purity of Inert wins Christ‘s presence. He is gone “to gather lilies.” Using Oriental language to convey heavenly truth, he is described as a Shepherd who feeds his flock “among the lilies,” In the former chapter we read, “His lips are like lilies.” To express his fondness for purity, he portrays his bride as “a lily among thorns,” In the use of all such language he utters his strong affection for that which is pure in moral character. If he stoops in his pity to save a polluted sinner, he at the same time makes it clear that he loathes and abhors sin. His companions shall be spiritual virgins. Until a man is newborn he cannot see the kingdom of heaven, much less can he see the King. Purity of life may not yet be reached, but if in the central heart the purpose and firm resolve be for purity, then Jesus will soon be found. “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”
III. FAITHFUL TESTIMONY. “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.”
1. Religion is essentially a matter of the heart. This title of endearment, “My Beloved,” implies that he has won the affections of the heart. True piety is not simply a matter of conviction. It is not merely a doctrine or a creed. It is not a set of forms and ceremonies. It is an affair of the heart. It moves and holds the whole man. Feeling, desire, choice, strong affection, enter into the warp and woof of true religion. I may be very incompetent to set forth Christ’s claims to the homage of mankind. But one thing I knowJesus is supreme in my heart. None is so worthy of the central shrine as he. I have given myself to him, as the only possible return for his love.
2. This testimony is the outcome of vigorous faith. The bride of Christ had used this language before, but now she reverses the order. The order of events is not always the order of our experience. There are times when the Christian loses the assurance that he is loved by Christ. The sunshine of the Master’s smile is hidden. Yet even then the language of faith is, “Come what may, I give myself afresh to him. Whether he count me worthy of a place in his regards or not, he is worthy of a place in mine. I am his. Therefore faith says (though I do not realize it now), ‘My Beloved is mine.'”
3. This renewed testimony is required by new circumstance. The daughters of Jerusalem were inquiring where this Friend of sinners might be found. The bride of Christ undertakes to guide into his presence. Then she wishes to make it plain upon what terms Jesus will reveal himself to seekers. So she means to say, “I gave my whole self to him. I opened to him my heart, and made him Monarch there. Do you likewise, and you shall find the Saviour too.” Jesus Christ craves the human heart. “Lovest thou me?” is his inquiry still. Even the city harlot, sick of sin, and opening her heart to Jesus, found in him sympathy and pardon and a new life. “She loved much, therefore her sins are forgiven her.”D.
Son 6:4-10
Christ’s picture of his Church.
The value of an encomium depends on the qualification of the speaker. If a man is a master of eloquent phrases, and knows but little of the person he eulogizes, his encomium is little worth. If, on the other hand, the speaker is a skilful judge of character, and knows well the person, and speaks from pure motives, his estimate is priceless. Now, the best judge of the quality of a wife is her own husband, for no one else has such opportunities of knowing her virtues. If we regard the language in the text as the language of Christ, then he has all the qualities needful to be an accurate judge. As the Bridegroom, he has intimate acquaintance with his bride; and so righteous is he that he will neither exaggerate nor detract in his delineation. He will gauge with perfect accuracy her merit and her worth. Others may not acquiesce in his judgment. She herself may deem it a flattering portrait. But Jesus is an unerring Judge, and we accept with perfect confidence his description of his Church.
I. THIS LANGUAGE PLAINLY CONVEYS THE IDEA OF SPIRITUAL BEAUTY. “Thou art beautiful, my love, as Tirzah; comely as Jerusalem.” Tirzah was a city on the mountains of Samaria, that had a wide renown for beauty. The name meant “a delightful place.” God has given to the human soul a faculty that discerns and appreciates what is beautiful. We detect what is beautiful in material nature, viz. symmetry of form and harmony of colour. We discern also what is beautiful in human character and in human conduct. All beauty springs from God, the Fount. He is perfect Beauty, as much as perfect Righteousness. The constituent elements of spiritual beauty are humility, holiness, and love. These, wisely blended, form a comely character. It is always unsafe, because an inducement to pride, to praise the bodily beauty of a maiden within her hearing. But one of the elements in spiritual beauty is lowliness; hence public praise is an advantage rather than a peril. For commendation is a spur to fresh effort, and whatever quickens our exertion in the culture of humility and holiness is a boon to be prized. Nor is this spiritual beauty evanescent. It is a permanent acquisition. It will develop and mature towards perfection, as the ages roll on. The sun will be quenched in darkness, the stars will disappear or else assume new forms; but the ransomed saints will be rising in excellence, and adding to their spiritual adornments, world without end. This high estate of beauty may not as yet be in esse, but it is in posse. It is not yet an actual possession. But it is in course of development, from the bud to the open flower. It is clearly seen in its perfectness by the prescient eye of our Immanuel.
II. THIS LANGUAGE BETOKENS THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. “My dove, my undefiled, is one.” In all God’s works we find unity amid diversity. Throughout all material forces we discover system. Part is subordinated to part. Everything is linked to everything else. All forces work together for the well being of the whole. There is organic unity. The universe shows the presence of one Mastermind. God loves order. Confusion, conflict, anarchy, are an abomination to him. Yet variety is not displeasing to him. Very clearly Jesus has not ordained a system of rigid uniformity in his Church. That would not add to her beauty nor to her usefulness. But the heart of Jesus is set upon unity. In his great prayer to his Father, prior to his crucifixion, he pleaded, “That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee.” In opinions and beliefs it is next to impossible for the Church to be one. For God has created such diversities of taste and temper in men’s minds, that for the time present truth presents itself under many aspects. Likely enough, this will continue until the human mind can more easily grasp the system of truth as a whole. Yet, while opinions and beliefs may vary, Christians can be one in feeling, one in love, one in loyalty to their King, one in aggressive service. This unity of life and love, amid diversities of belief and methods of service, will add to the Church’s beauty and the Church’s success. All the imagery which God has employed in Scripture to set forth his Church conveys this idea of unity. Is the Church a vine, springing out of Christ the Root? Then the manifold branches and twigs imply a united whole. Is a human body employed as an illustration? Then all the members and organs working in harmony imply unity. So, in our text, the bride is the representative of all saints, in all lands and in all ages. A dominant note of Christ’s Church is unity. “There are many members, yet are they one body.”
III. THE LANGUAGE DENOTES FAME. “The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the women praised her.” High and noble qualities of character are sure to command fame. Fame is a doubtful good. Counterfeit excellence, like tinselled brass, sometimes gains currency, and imposes on credulous people. Successful wickedness will, now and then, obtain a transient fame. Nevertheless, real and permanent honour belongs only to substantial goodness. Sooner or later the true Church will secure high renown. “God is in the midst of her.” “The highest himself shall establish her.” Her spiritual beauty and her beneficent influence shall win for her immortal praise. Beyond all human institutions, the Church will be found the bond of human society, the bulwark of freedom, the inspirer of intellectual life, the guardian of the nation’s welfare. Fame is of secondary importance, yet fame must not be despised. For fame is power. Fame is large opportunity for doing good. Fame, as the result of generous and heroic service, is inevitable. Yet the Church will not keep her fame for herself. She will lay it at the feet of her Lord, to whom all belongs. For the present the Church may inherit the world’s scorn rather than the world’s fame; but when her hidden light and power shall break forth, “the Gentiles shall come to her light, and kings to the brightness of her rising.” Resplendent fame is her sure reversion, “for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
IV. HERE IS FURTHER THE IDEA OF HOPE CREATING. “Who is this that looketh forth as the morning?” Morning is the dawn of hope to the benighted and the shipwrecked. Such are the evils that infest human society, that many thoughtful men have become pessimists. “Is life worth living?” many ask. If, after all the struggles and toils and endurances of this life, there is only extinction, or if the future is a dark enigma, then may not suicide be true wisdom? Hope, the backbone of all energy, is destroyed. The great questions areIs there any desirable future for the human race on the earth? Is there a certain prospect of a better life for righteous souls after death? Now, there is no oracle, outside the Church, that can respond to these queries. The Church is the apostle of hope, the champion of humanity. The Church is a pledge of a better future for mankind. The Church proclaims a universal brotherhood. The Church is the foster mother of all the useful arts; the foster mother of progress, learning, social order, and peace. She changes deserts into gardens, and prisons into palaces. Where dark despair awhile reigned, she comes like the light of morning, and opens a new day.
V. HERE IS THE IDEA OF USEFULNESS. “Fair as the moon, clear as the sun.” As the luminaries of night and of day perform an office of unspeakable usefulness to mankind, so does the true Church. In some respects the Church most resembles the moon, Her light is borrowed, and hence is enfeebled. She passes oft through manifold phases. The world often obstructs her light. It is only now and then that her light is full-orbed and at its best. This shall not always be. Her light shall be soft and gentle, like the light of the moon; yet for clearness and brilliance she shall be like the sun. Who can measure the potent usefulness of light? How destitute of beauty and of life would our earth be without light! If tomorrow the sun should not rise, what consternation would prevail in every home of man] The wheels of commerce would stand still. Agriculture would be suspended. Food would speedily be exhausted. All artificial light would soon come to an end, and, before many months had sped, all animal and vegetable life would expire. Equally useful, yea, more beneficent still, is the Church in the moral world. Apart from the truth embodied in the Church, what would mankind know of God, or his relationship to men, or his purposes of redemption, or his provision for a higher home? Or what would men know of themselves, their spiritual capacities, their Divine origin, their possible developments, or the resources of Divine help open to them? If you could blot out from existence the Church of Christ, this world would speedily sink into darkness and ruin. Within a single generation of men it would be a chaos, a pandemonium. Usefulness is predicated.
VI. A FURTHER IDEA IS DEVELOPMENT. “Who is this that looketh forth as the morning?” The morning is a promise and a pledge of perfect day. Light and warmth advance by regular stages until noon is reached. It is a picture of certain progressadvancement along an appointed way. Such is the destined life of the Church. At her birth she was feeble. Political arrogance at Jerusalem thought to crush out her life. But she steadily grew, passed safely through the stages of infancy and childhood, until now she appears a full-grown, ruddy maiden. Development is evidently God’s order. He places trees at zero, and from the lowest point gives them opportunity to reach the highest. At the present hour the Church’s development is an impressive fact. She grows in intelligence, in vigour, in power, in influence, in usefulness, day by day. At no period in her history was the Church of Christ so highly developed as she is today. Her progress is assured.
VII. HERE IS ALSO THE IDEA OF CONQUEST AS THE RESULT OF CONFLICT. “Terrible as an army with banners.” The metaphor imports a majesty of active power that moves onward with confident step to overthrow its foes. “Terrible as a bannered host.” The Church on earth is a Church militant. Many regiments of believers make up one army. This consecrated host of God’s elect is commissioned to fight against error, ignorance, superstition, vice, and all immorality. Until the day of complete triumph dawns, she must station her sentinels, discipline her recruits, boldly contend with sin, and lead men captives to the feet of Christ. In proportion to her internal holiness and unity and zeal she will be “terrible” to ungodly men. The main secret of her terribleness is the fact that Jehovah dwells in her midst. As the Canaanites of old feared the host of Israel because the rumour of their power had spread on every side, and the mystic presence of Jehovah was with them, so is it still. The more that evil men discern the tokens of God’s presence in the Church, the more they tremble. On the banner of the Church, men see the pattern of the cross. This inspires courage in the army, but terror among opponents. And the old battlecry of the Crusaders is still the battlecry of the Church, “By this we conquer!”D.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON
Son 6:1-3
True love is true knowledge.
Knowledge of phenomena and of physical laws is scientific, and is of the intellect. It is not so with knowledge of persons, which is largely intuitive, and depends upon the qualities of the heart. It is sometimes seen that a character, misunderstood by the learned and clever, is apprehended by a very child. A man who is not loved is not truly known; but as love grows warmer, it may well be that knowledge grows clearer. It is certainly so with our experimental acquaintance with our Saviour and Lord.
I. CHRIST IS NOT REALLY KNOWN BY THOSE WHO STUDY HIM AT A DISTANCE. How is it that the Lord Jesus is so utterly misunderstood by many able and distinguished. men? that some such class him with impostors or with fanatics? that others are evidently at a loss to explain the hold he has over the heart of humanity? How many distressing representations of the Saviour’s character, sayings, and ministry are to be met with in the writings of even learned and thoughtful men! The explanation is to be found in a law which governs all our knowledge of persons as distinct from our knowledge of phenomena. These latter we may study from without, as cool spectators. But no great man is to be comprehended if studied in such a spirit; far less any man of remarkable moral character and influence. He who will not sympathize with such a person must be content to be ignorant of him; for he is only to be known upon a nearer view, a closer acquaintance, and by means of a profound and tender association with him of feeling and of confidence.
II. CHRIST IS, HOWEVER, KNOWN BY THOSE WHO LOVE HIM, AND ABE UPON TERMS OF INTIMATE FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM. The peasant woman who is, in this Song of Songs, pictured as the beloved of the king, cherished for her husband the warmest affection; he was everything to herever in her memory when absent, and ever in her heart. Hence she knew him better than others; and those who wished to know of his character and his movements did well to inquire of her. In this simple fact we discern the operation of an interesting and valuable moral principle. To whom shall we go for an appreciative estimate of the character and the work of Immanuel? We shall go in vain to those among the learned and the critical who care not for Christsave as for an object of speculative, psychological, or historical inquiry. We shall fare better if we appeal to the lowly and the unlearned, if only they are persons who feel their personal indebtedness to Christ, who have “tasted that the Lord is gracious,” who have learned by their own personal experience what he can do for those who put their trust in him. It is those who, like Mary, can exclaim, “My Master;” who, like Thomas, can address him as “My Lord and my God;” who, like Peter, can appeal to him, saying, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee;”it is such that can tell of the mystery of the Saviour’s love, and the gracious wisdom of the Savior’s ways.
APPLICATION. These considerations are a rebuke to those who despise the experience and undervalue the testimony of lowly and unlettered disciples of Jesus Christ. And they point out to all who desire intimate knowledge of Christ, that the true method for them to adopt to that end is to yield to him their heart’s warmest affection and unreserved, ungrudging confidence. By the way of love we may come to enjoy clear knowledge, and to give effectual witness.T.
Son 6:4
The spiritual beauty of the Church of Christ.
There is such a study as the aesthetics of the soul. Beauty is not wholly material; it has a spiritual side appreciable by the spiritual sense. There is beauty of character as well as of form “beauty of holiness” in which the holy delight. In the human countenance may now and again be seen, shining through symmetrical features, the loveliness of high emotion and aspiration. And in the spiritual society of the redeemed, even where churches are lowly, services inartistic, the ministry far from brilliant, the discerning mind may nevertheless often recognize glimpses of moral majesty, or comeliness, or attractiveness, speaking of a Divine favour and a Divine inspiration.
I. THE REALITY AND NATURE OF SPIRITUAL BEAUTY. It is not merely imaginary, like that
“Light that never was on sea or land, Though not physical, it exists, and partakes of the character of moral excellence. It is not discernible by the thoughtless, the insusceptible; it may be passed unnoticed by the haughty and the worldly. Yet it is observed by the enlightened and morally sensitive; such contemplate it with a satisfaction deeper than that of the artist who gazes entranced upon a noble statue or a fascinating picture.
II. THE SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL BEAUTY. The Church does not claim to be in possession of such a quality in its own right, to take credit for it as for something due to its own innate power and goodness. On the contrary, it acknowledges that all moral excellence is due to Divine presence and operation. The beauty which adorns the Lord’s spiritual house is the Lord’s own workmanship, the expression of the Lord’s own wisdom and love. It is derived, and it is reflectedthe mirrored image of the purity and benignity which are essentially and forever his own. It is sustained and developed and perfected by the same grace by which it was originally imparted. The language of the Church’s prayer is accordingly, “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,” and the language of the Church’s grateful praise, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy Name give glory.”
III. THE IMPRESSIVENESS AND ATTRACTIVENESS OF SPIRITUAL BEAUTY. There are, indeed, unspiritual natures for whom it has no interest and no charm. But it is dear to Christ, who delights in it as the reflection of his own excellence. The King desires and greatly delights in the beauty of his spiritual spouse, the Church; to him she is beautiful and comely, fair as the moon, and clear as the sun. And all who share the mind of Christ take pleasure in that which delights him. The purity and unity, the Christ-like compassion and self-sacrifice of God’s people, have exercised an attractive power over natures spiritual, awakened, and sensitive. By his living Church the Lord has drawn multitudes unto himself. And thus the beauty of the Church, reflecting the beauty of Christ, is the means of winning souls to the fellowship of immortal love.T.
Son 6:4
The terribleness of the Church of Christ.
There is nothing inconsistent in the assertion that the same living society is possessed of beauty and of terribleness. To the susceptible mind there is ever something awful in beauty; it is felt to be Divine. There is a side of beauty which verges upon sublimity. We feel this in gazing upon the headlong cataract, the glorious sea. It sometimes seems to us as though God draws near to our souls when we suddenly behold a noble woman’s grace and charm and pure ethereal expression. So there is in Christ’s Church a severity as well as a winningness of beauty; we are conscious in some phases of Christian life of an aspect of deep and unspeakable awe. How is this to be explained?
I. THE SPIRITUAL CHURCH IS TERRIBLE AS THE DEPOSITARY OF THE MYSTERIOUS, AND SUPERNATURAL GRACE OF GOD. It is the scene of the “real presence” of him who ever fulfils his own assurance, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”
II. AS POSSESSING IN HOLINESS OF CHARACTER A SUBLIMITY WHICH APPEALS TO THE CHASTENED AND APPRECIATIVE IMAGINATION. Moving with spotless garments amidst the world’s defilement and contamination, the true Church presents to the enlightened vision a spectacle of true sublimity, and commands our reverence as that which on earth is most truly sublime.
III. AS REBUKING AND FORBIDDING ALL THAT IS MORALLY EVIL. To penitents the attitude of the Church of Christ is, as was the Master’s, benignant and compassionate; but to hardened sinners and to contemptible hypocrites there is a sternness and severity in its demeanour which may well make its presence terrible.
IV. AS POSSESSED OF MILITANT PROWESS AND POWERS. “Terrible as an army with banners.” The Church has to confront the hosts of ignorance, of error, and of sin; its attitude and its equipment must, therefore, partake of the nature of a warlike force. As an army, the Church of Christ acknowledges the leadership of the Divine Captain of our salvation; is supplied with weapons, not carnal, but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds; is distinguished by a duly martial spirit, shrinking from no conflict to which it is called, by steady discipline and by just order. Well, then, may it be likened to an embattled host, with banners floating on the breeze, and the voice of the Commander ringing through the ranks. The spectacle is grand and awe-inspiringan earnest of victory, an omen of empire.T.
Son 6:11, Son 6:12
Spiritual promotion.
The Shulamite is now the queen; but she has not forgotten her early home, her youthful training, occupations, and companionship. She takes a pleasure in looking back upon bygone days, and calling to mind the remarkable manner in which, through the king’s admiration and favour, she was raised from her lowly condition to the highest position amongst the ladies of the land. The contrast may be used to illustrate the change which takes place in the experience of the soul which has been visited by the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, and has been raised from a state of pitiable depression and hopelessness to participation in the fellowship and the life of the Son of God.
I. THE SOUL‘S FIRST STATE OF HUMILIATION.
II. THE INTERVENTION OF THE DIVINE FRIEND UPON THE SOUL‘S BEHALF.
1. The several steps of this interposition may be connected with the facts of this simple and beautiful narrative. Christ visits the soul, bringing himself before the attention of the object of his merciful regard. He loves the soul, and makes his affection known by words and by deeds. He appropriates the soul as his own chosen possession. He thus elevates the soul by bidding it share his own nature and life.
2. The manner of the Saviour’s approach in many instances corresponds with the king’s revelation of his love to the Shulamite maiden. It may be sudden and impressive, and yet at the same time unspeakably welcome and appreciated.
III. THE DIGNITY TO WHICH THE OBJECT OF DIVINE CONSIDERATION IS ELEVATED. The change of condition experienced by the maiden from Northern Palestine, when she became the consort of Solomon, may serve to set forth the elevation of the soul that Christ has, in the friendship of his Divine heart, made partaker of his spiritual life. Such a condition involves:
1. Fellowship with the King himself.
2. Congenial society.
3. Dignified occupations.
4. Honour from all associates.
5. Imperishable glories.
APPLICATION. The soul that rejoices most gratefully in the immunities and honours of the spiritual life and calling will do well to recollect the state of error, sin, and hopelessness from which the human race was delivered by the compassion and power of the Divine Redeemer. The Divine communion to which Christians are admitted is a privilege which was forfeited by sin, and which has been recovered and restored through the clemency and loving kindness of him who is love, and whose love is nowhere so conspicuous as in the salvation of his people. There are many cases in which there is danger lest this obligation should be overlooked. It is well that the polished stone in the temple of God should look back to “the hole of the pit whence it was digged.”T.
Son 6:1. Whither is thy beloved gone This is the address of the virgins to the spouse; and, in the Vulgate, LXX, &c. is included in the former chapter.
See Son 5:1 ff for the passage comments with footnotes.
5. Conclusion. c.The question where her lover is and Shulamiths answer. Son 6:1-3.
Son 6:1. Whither has thy beloved gone, etc. As in what precedes Shulamith had made no distinct declaration respecting the person of her lover, but only given an ideal description of his beauty, the women might still remain uncertain who and where he was. Hence this additional question, which like that in Son 5:9 is a question of curiosity and expresses some such sense as this: If then thy lover is a person of such extraordinary elegance and beauty, how could he have suffered you to be away from him? how could he have permitted you to become the wife of another so that you now must pine after him and seek longingly for him? At all events that particular in Shulamiths story of her dream, according to which her lover had turned away, was gone, Son 5:6, determined the form of their question. The women may have thought that they perceived in this the echo of an actual occurrence, a sudden desertion of Shulamith by her former lover. Manifestly no one of them thought of Solomon as the object of her languishing and painful desire.
Son 6:2. My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of balm. This answer of Shulamith is certainly evasive, but scarcely jesting and roguish (Hitz.); it is rather sadly ironical. She does not seriously mean to represent Solomon as actually occupied with working in the garden or with rural pleasures (as Del. supposes). She merely intends to intimate that other matters seem more pressing and important to him than intercourse with her, his chosen love, and with this view she makes use of those pastoral and agricultural (horticultural) tropes, with which she is most conversant and most entirely at home (comp. Son 1:7; Son 1:14; Son 2:3; Son 2:16, etc.) It is further probable that going down to the beds of balm and gathering lilies may contain an allusion to amorous intercourse meanwhile indulged with others of his wives; and with this the primarily apologetic drift of her whole statement, which is purposely figurative and ambiguous, might very well consist. What Shulamith here says can in no event refer to a lover of the rank of a shepherd; for it would be trifling and in bad taste to attribute to him in that case besides his main business of feeding his flock, that of being engaged with beds of balm and other objects belonging to the higher branches of gardening (comp. Weissb. in loc.) and to explain the garden in the sense of Son 4:12-15 (that is, of Shulamith herself, as the locked garden, which her country lover had now come to Jerusalem to visit) must be regarded as the extreme of exegetical subtilty, and can neither be brought into harmony with the verb has gone down (for which we would then rather expect has come up), nor with the plur. in the gardens (vs.Hitz., Bttch., Ren.).
Son 6:3. I am my beloveds,etc.The partial transposition of the words as compared with Son 2:16 is not due to chance, but is an intentional alteration; comp. Son 4:2 with Son 6:6; Son 2:17 with Son 8:14.The connexion of the exclamation before us with Son 6:2 is given by Hitzig with substantial correctness: The words of Son 6:2 are a rebuff to strangers concerning themselves about her lover; the averment in Son 6:3 that they belong to one another, indirectly excludes a third, and is thus inwardly connected with Son 6:2. With which it must nevertheless be kept in view that this present assertion is not made without, at the same time, feeling a certain pain at the infidelity of one so purely and tenderly beloved.1The remark made by Del. on this verse cannot be substantiated: With these words, impelled by love and followed by the daughters of Jerusalem (?), she continues on her way, hastening to the arms of her lover (similarly too Weissb.). The text does not contain the slightest intimation of such a departure of Shulamith to look for him, and a consequent change of scene. Comp. above, No. 2.
6. Second Scene. a.Solomons reiterated praise of the beauty of Shulamith, Son 6:4-10. The simplest view of this scene is that all to Son 6:10 incl. is an encomium pronounced by the king, who has mean while entered, upon his beloved, but hitherto somewhat neglected and consequently saddened wife Shulamith, whilst Son 6:11-12 is spoken by her, and Son 7:1 by her alternately with the chorus. And the following explanation of the details will show that this is on all accounts the most satisfactory. We must reject, therefore, the views of Ewald, who puts the whole, even the colloquy, Son 6:11 to Son 7:1, into the mouth of Solomon, and consequently assumes but one speaker; of Hitzig, who makes the ladies of the court retire and the shepherd enter and speak, Son 6:9; of Bttcher, who besides introduces the queen mother likewise as a speaker in the words she is the only one of her mother, the choice of her that bare her (Son 6:9 a); of Umbreit, who takes Son 6:10 to be the question of the poet, Son 6:11 ff. the language of Shulamith walking sadly about in the kings nut garden; of Magnus, who breaks up the whole section into no less than five fragments, etc.
Son 6:4. Fair art thou, my dear, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem. Tirzah (delightful; also the name of a woman, Num 26:33, in the passage before us rendered by the Sept.) is certainly the subsequent residence of the kings in the northern kingdom, yet not here named as such along with Jerusalem, but as a remarkably beautiful and charming town in northern Palestine. Its mere name cannot possibly have afforded the reason of its being mentioned. It is much more likely that its location not far from Shunem (according to Hitz., in the territory of Issachar, the tribe of Baasha?) may have had some influence, since Solomon is elsewhere particularly fond of comparing his beloved with localities in the region of her home (Son 4:1; Son 4:8; Son 4:11; Son 4:15; Son 7:5-6). Comp. moreover Introduction, 3, Rem. 1.The site of ancient Tirzah is no longer accurately known. K. Furrer, Wanderungen, etc., p. 241, thinks that he saw it not far from Sichem (to the north of it and due west of Samaria), on a charming green hill, part of which has a very steep descent; but he has probably taken a locality considerably to the south for the ruins of the old royal city, probably Thulluza (three hours east of Shomron, one hour north of Mount Ebal), so explained also by Robinson. Comp. Hergt, Palstina, p. 410; L. Voelter, Art. Thirza, in Zellers Bibl. Wrterbuch, and Winer, in Realwrterbuch.Jeremiah also speaks of Jerusalems comeliness, Lam 2:15.Hengstenb. makes the poet rise from Tirzah to Jerusalem as a still grander city; but this is contradicted by the fact that the predicate comely, as appears from Son 1:5 compared with Son 1:8, is inferior to fair.Terrible as bannered hosts. from the same stem with terror, is used Hab 1:7 to designate the Chaldeans as a dreadful foe, and here, therefore, can only designate the person addressed as fearful, terrible, as is especially evident from the comparison with armies or bannered hosts.But why is Shulamith here said to be terrible as bannered hosts (which is only further unfolded in what follows, turn away thine eyes from me, for they assault me)? Not because she was to be represented in a general way as triumphant over men, whose hearts she wounds and captivates by her glances, (Gesen.); much more likely, because she has exerted upon Solomon in particular, her ardent lover, a fearful power by those eyes of hers, which pierce the heart and vanquish all resistance (Ew., Dpke, Delitzsch, and the great body of interpreters); but most likely of all because it was from those marvellously beautiful eyes a grave reproachful look had fallen upon him, because he had felt himself, as it were, called to account and chastised by the awe-inspiring innocence and purity of her look. Hitz. is substantially correct, only he makes the chastising look proceed from Shulamith still unmarried, who from love to her young shepherd acts coldly towards the king in his addresses. This explanation cannot be invalidated by the fact that the predicate terrible as bannered hosts recurs Son 6:10 below, as the language of the ladies of the court, quoted by Solomon;2 for in this quotation Solomon uses great freedom, as is shown by the extravagant comparisons with the sun, moon, and dawn of the morning (see in loc.).
Son 6:5. Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have taken me by storm.By this must be substantially meant, as appears from the context, an influence proceeding from Shulamiths serious looks to the heart of her conscience-smitten husband, by which he was awed and abashed (comp. the parallels adduced by Hitz. from the Syr. and Arab. for the sense of terrifying), not the exciting of love to a passionate ardor (Dpke), nor bewitching (Vaihinger), nor manifesting her resistless and victorious power over her lover (Delitzsch), etc.Thy hair is like a flock of goats,etc. Comp. Son 4:1 b. On Son 6:6 comp. Son 4:2. On Son 6:7 comp. Son 4:3 b. The omission in this passage3 of the description of the lips and tongue contained in Son 4:3 a, is simply to be explained from the abridged character of the present delineation, which is, as it were, but an abstract of the preceding, and since it was enough simply to remind his beloved of the encomiums passed upon her on her wedding day, might fitly be restricted to bare hints or a summary recapitulation. The opinion of Hengstenberg and Weissbach, that the number four is maintained as characteristic of the form of this abridged description, as the number ten in the larger one, imputes too whimsical a design to the poet. Far too artificial also Hitzig: The omission of Son 4:3 a is to intimate a brief pause in the vain endeavors of the king to gain over the coy Shulamith, whereupon the voluptuous sensualist and inconstant butterfly suddenly breaks off after Son 6:7, bethinking himself that there are other damsels yet (Iliad ix. 395 f.), and accordingly leaving the scene with the words, Well, I have sixty queens and eighty concubines, etc., to make love, soon after (Son 7:2 ff.) to another(!).
Son 6:8. There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,etc. That this exclamation is not uttered aside, and indicative of the sudden breaking of the thread of the kings patience, who has thus far been vainly laboring with Shulamith (according to Hitzigs view, just stated), incontrovertibly appears, from its close connection with Son 6:9, which nothing but the extreme of arbitrary criticism can sunder from it, and put into the mouth of the shepherd. Accordingly, even Renan has not ventured to approve Hitzigs separation of Son 6:9 from Son 6:8, but has assigned both verses to the shepherd, who interrupts the king by singing them from without! But how could the praise of the one dove, the one perfect, etc., contained in Son 6:9, come from any other mouth than that which uttered the encomium upon the beauty of the kings beloved, beginning Son 6:4! And again, how else could the way be prepared for the emphatic declaration: My dove is one, etc., but by this glance at the great number of the queens, concubines and virgins, who were all at the rich kings command, but all of whom he was ready to subordinate to that one! It is plain that one verse here sustains the other, and they are all to ver.10 inclusive most intimately connected together like links in a chain, which cannot be broken. This has been seen by the majority even of the advocates of the shepherd-hypothesis, without their finding anything better here after all than a last violent assault upon Shulamiths innocence (Ew.), or a new and heightened piece of flattery (Vaih.), or a thought adapted to win the heart and ensnare the refined feelings of Shulamith (Bttch.), etc. On the relation of the numbers here given, sixty queens and eighty concubines of Solomon to the seven hundred queens and three hundred concubines, as stated (1Ki 11:3, see Introduc., 3, p. 12). The passage before us evidently contains a statement referable to an earlier period in Solomons life, which must as surely have been correct for some fixed point of time (which it is true cannot now be accurately ascertained), as the much larger numbers of the book of Kings are to be reckoned historically accurate for Solomons latest and most degenerate years.4 For there is just as little necessity really for discrediting them as very large statements in round numbers (Hitzig), as there is for the attempt to bring out an approximate adjustment with the lower statements of this passage, by the change of 700 to 70, and of 300 to 80 (comp. Thenius on 1 Kin. in loc.). The accounts of ancient writers, as Plutarch (Artax. c. 27), Curtius (III. 3, 24), Athenus (Deipnos. III. 1), respecting the size of the harem of the later Persian monarchs. (e.g., Artaxerxes Mnemon had 360 ; Darius Codomannus was accompanied by 360 pellices on his march against Alexander, etc.) are analogies, which, rightly weighed, make rather in favor of than against the credibility of the book of Kings in this matter. And although the harems of modern oriental rulers are often stated to be considerably smaller, so that e.g., Shah Sefi of Persia, according to Olearius, had but three wives and three hundred concubines, Sultan Abdul Medjid, of Constantinople, something over three hundred and fifty wives, etc., these accounts of a very recent period prove nothing respecting the customs and relations of a hoary antiquity. The seven hundred and three hundred of the book of Kings, as well as the sixty and eighty of this passage, may indeed be round numbers. This is favored to some extent in the former case by the circumstance that the total amounts to precisely one thousand, and in the latter by the popular and proverbial use of the numbers six, sixty (comp. Cic. Verrin. I. c. 125), six hundred (Exo 14:7; Jdg 18:11; 1Sa 27:2, and the well-known use of the lat. sexcenti). But both these numerical statements must at all events pass for approximately exact; and neither the hypothesis that 1 Kings, loc. cit. states the entire number of all the wives, both principal and subordinate, that Solomon had in succession (so e.g.Keil in loc.), nor the opinion that the virgins without number may afford the means of adjusting the difference between them, seems to be admissible. Against the latter resource even Hitzig remarks: The above difference cannot be reconciled by means of the virgins; for these plainly constitute a third class, and one outside of the haremthat is to say, merely maids of the court, attendants upon the harem, whom the king, if he had chosen, might likewise have exalted to be concubines. On Hengstenbergs allegorical explanation, according to which the household of the heavenly Solomon is here depicted, and consequently sixty and eighty = one hundred and forty, is to be taken as a mystical number,5 see Introduction, p. 31.
Son 6:9. My dove, my perfect is one, comp. on Son 5:2. The opinion that my sister, which stands with my dove, my perfect in the parallel passage Son 5:2, can have influenced the selection of one in this place, is very improbable (vs. Weissb.).The only one of her mother, the choice one of her that bare her. It follows, from the subsequent mention of Shulamiths little sister, Son 8:8, that the predicate only here (as in Pro 4:3) is not to be taken literally, but in the tropical sense of incomparable. On the combination of mother and she that bare her, Son 3:4, Son 8:5. On the clause generally, Pro 4:3.Daughters saw her and called her blessed, queens and concubines and they praised her. On the sentence comp. Pro 31:28, probably a free imitation of this passage. The daughters evidently correspond to the virgins, Son 6:8, as also the queens and concubines of that verse recur here, that they may expressly subordinate themselves to Shulamith, who is preferred above them. On account of this exact correspondence between this clause and Son 6:8, it is incomprehensible how Hitz. can regard Son 6:9 as spoken by the shepherd. Whence could he know that Solomons queens and concubines had such an opinion of Shulamith? And how unnatural and far-fetched would such a remark about the uniqueness and all-surpassing loveliness of his beloved appear as the first exclamation of the shepherd immediately upon his coming to her! In the course of his familiar conversation with her he might appropriately say something of the sort, but not as the first word of his salutation.
Son 6:10. Who is this that looks forth like the dawn? If these words, like the exclamations Son 3:6 and Son 8:5, which likewise begin with who is this, had really been the opening of a new scene (as Rosenm., Dpke, Heiligst., Del., Vaih., Weissb., etc., maintain, either supposing Solomon, or his courtiers and attendants, or the ladies of the court to be the speakers) they would have been preceded by a concluding formula like Son 3:5 and Son 8:4. Instead of this Son 6:9 rather required to be further explained and supplemented in regard to Shulamiths being praised and pronounced blessed by Solomons wives; a statement was still needed of what the blessing and praising of those women amounted to. And the thing of all others best adapted to this purpose, was a mention of that admiring praise, which according to Son 3:6 ff. the ladies of the court bestowed upon Shulamith on her entry into Zion upon her wedding day. To this panegyric, of which he must have had mediate or immediate cognizance, Solomon here refers, though only in the way of inexact suggestion not of faithful reproduction (substantially correct Ew., B. Hirzel, Bttch., Hitz.). lit. looking down, gazing down from a high position: comp. in Jdg 5:28; Psa 14:2; Psa 53:3; Psa 102:20; Lam 3:50. Reference is thus made to the prominent or exalted place occupied by Shulamith in the world of women. She outshines all others like the early dawn, which looks from heaven over the mountains down to the earth. Yes, like the sun and moon! Dawn, moon and sun are here, therefore, personified as it were, like the sun in Son 1:6 above. Fair as the moon, pure as the sun. here equivalent to spotless, bright-shining, comp. Psa 19:9; and on the silvery moon as an image of superior purity and beauty Job 25:5; Job 31:26. Arabic poets also sometimes compare female beauty with the brightness of the moon e. g. Hamasa (ed. Schultens, p. 483.) Then Lamisa appeared like the moon of heaven when it shines; Motanebbi (Translation by Von Hammer, p. 29, 42, etc.) and others, comp. Dpke and Magn. in loc.)6 The poetic expressions white and hot for moon and sun, which are again combined in Isa 24:23, are particularly suited for the comparison, because they are both feminine and alike indicative of white and blazing radiance.Terrible as bannered hosts. This concluding simile points to the identity of the person intended with the one described in Son 6:4, and at the same time testifies to the identity of the speaker and against the sundering of this verse from the preceding.7
7. Continuation. b.Shulamith and the ladies of the court,Son 6:11 to Son 7:1.
Some recent commentators take this particularly difficult little section to be a narration by Shulamith of something which she had previously experienced, in which she also repeats the language of others to her, together with her answer (Hitz., Meier, etc.); Naegelsb. (in Reuters Repert. 1852, No. 10) on the contrary regards it as a reverie of Shulamith, in which she foreshadows to herself her reception by her country friends on her expected return to them; Ew. (and Hahn) a continuation of the discourse of Solomon, in which a colloquy between Shulamith and the ladies of the royal court is repeated; the majority of both the older and the later expositors, however, make of it an independent dialogue between Shulamith and the daughters of Jerusalem, in which the verses Son 6:11-12 together with the words what do you see in Shulamith in Son 7:1 are assigned to the former, and the remainder of Son 7:1, to the latter. This last understanding of it is the only one which avoids the manifold difficulties and forced explanations with which each of those previously mentioned is chargeable.
Son 6:11. To the nut-garden I went down. According to the various interpretations put upon the entire section, these words are thought to contain either 1) Shulamiths answer to what is supposed to be the wondering question of the ladies of the court in Son 6:10 (so Del. and Weissb.: she states to her noble auditors in these words not so much who she is, as why she had come down to the kings garden); or 2) the beginning of an account of what happened to her on the occasion of her being first brought to the kings court (Ew., Umbr., Hitz., Vaih., Bttch., Ren. etc.all agreeing in this that Shulamith here begins to tell the story of her former abduction to the kings harem); or 3) the beginning of a dreamy description of what Shulamith would do after her return home (Naegelsb. loc. cit.) or 4) the beginning of a statement of the way in which the daughter of Zion attained the high dignity which the words of the heavenly Solomon had ascribed to her, especially in Son 6:9-10, (Hengstenb.); or 5) the beginning of a recital by Solomon, in which he prophetically depicts the process of the conversion of the gentiles to the God of Israel (Hahn) etc. We hold that of these views the second comes nearest to the true sense of the poet, but prefer to find in the words instead of a statement of what Shulamith was doing at the precise moment of her abduction, a description of what she was in the habit of doing before she came to the royal court. We accordingly take neither as pluperf. (I had gone down), nor as a proper perfect, nor as an aorist, but as a statement of an action frequently repeated in the past, a customary action, in which sense though it elsewhere belongs rather to the future, the perfect is sometimes used in the O. T (e.g.2Sa 1:22,) comp. Ew. Lehrb. 136, c.If, therefore, Shulamith commences in this way to describe her rural occupations prior to her exaltation as queen, she thereby gives her husband plainly enough to understand that he has in no wise satisfied her by his enthusiastic laudations and admiring declarations of love, but that she now longed more than ever to get away from his voluptuous court and from the vicinity of his sixty queens and eighty concubines to the green little nut garden, the fresh valleys and the lovely vineyards in the region of her home. denotes according to all the versions as well as to ancient Talmudic tradition a nut garden, a meaning for which there is the less need to substitute kitchen-herb or vegetable garden (with Hitz.) since is doubtless the same word with the Pers. ghuz and JosephusBell. Jud. III. 10, 8, expressly testifies to the occurrence of nut-trees in the region of the lake of Tiberias, not far consequently from Shulamiths home. The nut-garden here mentioned is to be sought in this her native region and not in the neighborhood of Jerusalem or within the range of the kings gardens. It can scarcely be different from the vineyards and orchards described Son 7:13 ff. in the immediate vicinity of the house of Shulamiths mother.To look at the shrubs of the valley,etc. The garden itself probably lay likewise in this valley-bottom, or at all events considerably lower than Shulamiths residence (hence went down). Shrubs or green of the valley ( ) probably denotes whatever verdure sprouted up in the place where the water of the Wady had run off, less likely the green of proper water-plants (Job 8:12). On the combination of verdure or shrubs, vines and pomegranates comp. Son 2:12, f. the like juxtaposition of flowers, fig trees and vines. to look at anything denotes, as it invariably does, the pleased, gratified contemplation of an object (comp. Psa 27:4; Psa 63:3; Mic 4:11, etc.) not the busy looking for something, for which latter sense not even Gen 34:1 can be adduced (vs. Hitz.).
Son 6:12. I knew it not, my desire brought me,etc. The thing intended is scarcely her desire to walk out in the open air (Ew.), or her curiosity (Vaih.), or her wish to see the vine sprout (Hitzig), but much more probably her desire to belong to her royal lover, her longing to be wholly and for ever her beloveds. When and how this desire was first awakened in her, she does not here state; she had given utterance to this in another place, see Son 2:8-17. In the passage before us she simply assumes the existence of her desire and longing for her lover, and only tells how little she knew or imagined in the midst of those rural occupations of hers (Son 6:11) that she was exalted by it to the chariots of her people, the noble, in other words, how little she suspected beforehand that her lover was the king, the ruler of all Israel.To the chariots of my people, the noble. strictly denotes merely wagons, but here, like the combination horses and chariots in other passages (Deu 20:1; Isa 31:1; Psa 20:8) seems to express the idea of the full display of the power and pomp of the kingdom, but without suggesting anything of a military nature, so that as in 1Sa 8:11; 2Sa 15:1 we are to think chiefly of state carriages in the festive processions of the king and his court. Being transferred or promoted to these chariots of state would accordingly be tantamount to elevation to royal dignity and glory, of which the analogy of Joseph in Egypt is an instructive instance, Gen 41:43 ff. So far as the language is concerned, there is no special objection to this interpretation. The connection of the accusative with the verb without a preposition most probably expresses the idea of removing or bringing in the direction (comp. Isa 40:26; Dan 11:2; or into the vicinity of something, (comp. Jdg 11:29); this is the case not merely with verbs denoting motion, but with all possible verbal ideas (see numerous examples in Ew., 281, d). is often elsewhere synonymous with to bring or conduct to any place (comp. Gen 2:8) and so may very readily mean: to bring to the chariots, to transfer, exalt into the sphere or region of the chariotsa meaning which is at all events more obvious than the rendering to set me on the chariots (Syr., Del., etc.); or than the explanation of Velth., Gesen., Ew., Bttch., Hitz., Ren., etc.: made me happen among the chariots (viz., of the royal retinue); or than the strange rendering of the Vulg., which probably presupposes the reading instead of conturbavit me propter quadrigas, etc.; or finally than construing as a second object, either in the sense of making me or converting me into chariots, i.e., a princess (Umbr.) or a defence (Hengstenb.); or making like chariots, i.e., as swift as chariots (Rosenm., Magn., Dpke). Since no one of these constructions appears to be better established in point of language than ours, while this latter undoubtedly yields a less forced and more attractive thought, we might with all confidence declare it to be the only one that was admissible, if it were not that the difficult limiting genitive of my people, the noble, involves the real meaning of and consequently of the entire passage in an obscurity that can scarcely be cleared up. The translation chariots of my people, the noble, or chariots of my noble people, is on the whole the most satisfactory (the absence of the article before the adjective is of no consequence, comp. Gen 43:14; Psa 143:10 [Greens Heb. Gram., 249, 1, b]). The resulting sense cannot then be materially different from that of nobles of the people Psa 113:8 or Num 21:18 (comp. Ps. 47:10) and will accordingly refer to the noble countrymen of Shulamith, to the proceres seu optimates gentis su; for the explanation warchariots of the people of the prince (Weissb.) certainly has as much against it as the opinion that is one noun, either equivalent to prince of the realm (Vaih.) or = the well-known proper name Amminadab (Exo 6:23; Num 1:7; Rth 4:19; 1Ch 2:10; 1Ch 6:7, etc.). This last expedient, manifestly the most confusing of all, was already tried by the Sept., Symmach., Vulg., Luther (who has Amminadib instead of Amminadab), and after them by most of the older interpreters, especially the allegorizers, with whom it was, so to speak, a fixed dogma that Amminadab means the devil! But even if we shun such devious ways, the sense of the expression transferred to the chariots of my noble people remains obscure and ambiguous enough, and we can either assume that the noble people or noble folk Edelvolk (Ew.) was intended to denote the noble extraction of Israel, or the courtiers of Solomon, or the whole people as represented in the person of its prince (so substantially Del., comp. Vaih.). In all which, however, it still remains a question why the poet did not make Shulamith speak in so many terms of her elevation to the chariot or to the throne of her prince.To complete as far as possible our enumeration of all that interpreters have made out of the crux before us, Weissbachs view of this verse may here be stated in conclusion. According to it the words of Son 6:12 in the mouth of the person, who had proposed the question Son 6:10 (viz., a courtier, who had gazed with astonishment upon Shulamith in the garden) mean: I asked the question because I did not know that this brilliant and majestic spectacle was you; I had rather supposed that I saw the princes army chariots before me!Hahn, too, thinks that the speaker of these words is not Shulamith but Solomon, who thus relates how, when filled with longing desire for a reunion with Japhetic gentilism, his soul suddenly and insensibly set him on the chariots of his people as a prince.8
See Son 8:1 for DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.
Footnotes:
[1][This is certainly a most extraordinary comment upon language which manifestly expresses nothing but the most entire confidence in Solomons unabated attachment to herself while it reaffirms her own undivided attachment to him. The inconstancy of the bridegroom, which Zcklers preconceived scheme obliges him to assume, is contradicted in express terms by this verse, converts Son 6:2 into an unmeaning evasion instead of the frank statement, whether literal or figurative, which it plainly is, and imputes a meaning to Son 6:1 which the words certainly do not contain, and which no one who was not pressed by the exigencies of a theory would ever imagine that he found there. If the unsuccessful search for her lover, which Shulamith reports, Son 5:6-7, was only a troubled dream, it can create no surprise that in her waking moments she knows and is able to state in the general whither her beloved had gone, even if she were not certain in what particular spot in his extensive gardens he was then to be found. The allegorical sense commonly put upon these verses will appear sufficiently from the following citations: Jerusalem being on an hill, they went down to the gardens; so Christ comes down from heaven spiritually into the congregation. Westminster Annotations. The garden which had been described in Son 4:12 to Son 5:1. The garden refers to the Christian body in its unity, the gardens denote its manifoldness; in the New Testament we read, as Theodoret remarks, alike of the Church and of the churches. Under the dispensation of the gospel, no less than under that of the older covenant, Christ nurtures His people in the purity of holiness. But He now not only feeds His flock among lilies, but also gathers lilies; gathers with joy and acceptance from His people those fruits of holiness which through the grace of His Spirit they are continually bringing forth. Thrupp.Tr.]
[2][This can scarcely be characterized in any other way than as carrying a theory through regardless of difficulties which the plain words of the text may interpose. The expression terrible as armies with banners cannot mean one thing here and a different thing in Son 6:10. As Good correctly remarks: The artillery of the eyes is an idea common to poets of every nation. Comp. Anacreon, Od. ii., xvi.; Musus, Hero et Leander. Tr.]
[3]At least according to the Masoretic text; though the Septuag. insert the words Son 4:3 a ( , ) here too in their proper place (between Son 6:6-7). [But gratuitous insertions from parallel passages are too frequent in the Septuagint to warrant the suspicion of an omission from the currently received text].
[4][Westminster Annotations: It seems that Solomon writ this book of Canticles before he had his full number of wives; for he had many more after. Patrick (followed by Williams, Scott and Henry) supposes allusion not to Solomons own wives, but to those of other princes, for the reason that it is not at all likely that he had so many as are there mentioned, while his mind was filled with such divine raptures as these. Fry fancies that he finds here an argument for the idyllic hypothesis: The passage before us contains a tacit intimation that though King Solomons name and King Solomons pen were made use of by the divine Inspirer of these Canticles to construct an allegory representative of the loves of Christ and His Church, very different loves from those of Solomon must be imagined as the archetype, even when in the exterior of the allegory, circumstances of royalty and circumstances connected with the Israelitish monarch are supposed. And it is for the same reason that though King Solomon is the undoubted author of these songs, he so frequently disrobes himself of his royal character, and speaks in the person of a shepherd, or leads us to contemplate some faithful pair in the humbler ranks of life].
[5][Thrupp gives a different view from the allegorical standpoint: As regards the sixty and the eighty, we have of course in each case a definite number for an indefinite. The choice of the particular numbers seems to have been mainly dictated by a studied avoidance of the number seventy, to which a certain sacredness and completeness would have attached. It is no harmonious covenant-relationship, in which the queens and concubines stand to Christ: all is with them imperfect and wide of the mark. A directly opposite view is erroneously taken by Hengstenberg. Wordsworth exhibits the Archdeacon of Westminster in his comment: The concubines are more numerous than the queens. May not this perhaps signify that the number of the members of sectarian congregations would be greater than that of the Church? He had before remarked upon the fourscore concubines: A state of things is here represented when schisms prevail in Christendom. The concubines represent Christian congregations which have some spiritual gifts and graces, but are not perfectly joined to Christ in the unity of the one faith and apostolic fellowship].
[6] Here too belong the verses from Theocritus, Id. xvii. 26 ff.
,
, ,
) .
[7][Doway note: Here is a beautiful metaphor describing the church from the beginning. As the morning rising, signifying the church before the written law; fair as the moon, showing her under the written law of Moses; bright as the sun, under the light of the gospel; and terrible as an army, the power of Christs church against its enemies.]
[8][The simplest and most natural explanation of these words finds in them, as it is expressed by Wordsworth: the cheerful alacrity and fervent affection of the bride flying on the wings of love to the bridegroom. Moody Stuart: In a moment her soul is carried away directly, irresistibly, rapidly toward her bridegroom and her king. Withington thus paraphrases: I went into the garden; I walked among its shades; I surveyed its beauties; I remembered the owner, and my soul melted with rapture and love. Patrick makes a somewhat different application: The meaning of this verse seems to be that the spouse hearing such high commendations of herself, both from the bridegroom and from the persons mentioned, Son 6:10, with great humility saith, that she was not conscious to herself of such perfections (I did not know it, or I did not think so), but is excited thereby to make the greatest speed to endeavor to preserve this character he had given her. Percy and Good understand it of the brides hesitation and irresolution after she had promised to meet her beloved in the garden. The latter states its meaning thus: I was not aware of the timidity of my mind, which hurried me away from my engagement, when in the very act of adhering to it, with the rapidity of the chariot of Amminadib. Thrupp on the basis of 2Ki 2:12; 2Ki 13:14 : The church had unconsciously and unexpectedly become the source and channel of victorious might to all the willing people of God. My soul, she says, had made me. It is the unshrinking and devoted zeal with which the church prosecutes the task set before her that makes her the rallying point for all who would join in the service of her Lord. Others attribute this language to the bridegroom. Thus Taylor and Williams: The affections of the prince carried him to meet his love with the rapidity of a chariot. Burrowes, as Scott and Henry, finds in Son 6:11-13 a statement of the feelings of the bridegroom during his temporary withdrawal. When he left his spouse, Son 5:6, it was only to withdraw to his favorite place of resort in the garden; where almost unconsciously, ere he was aware, his soul was filled with the desire of meeting her again, a desire so strong that it would have carried him to her arms with the swiftness of the chariot of Amminadib. It is characteristic of Gills exposition that in commenting on Son 6:11 he proposes the question, Why are believers like nuts? and answers it under ten heads.]
CONTENTS
The church appears, in the opening of this Chapter, to have called forth the serious enquiry of others to seek Jesus with her. And she seems delighted to give information concerning him. Christ then takes up the discourse, and sets forth the loveliness of his church, and his delight in her.
Son 6:1
Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.
This is a very interesting part of the Song, because it represents the serious and earnest enquiry of seeking souls after Christ. The persons here asking the question appear to be evidently under impressions of grace, and as the address is made to the church of Jesus, and she is called by them, The fairest among women; nothing can be more plain than that they considered the Lord Jesus the whole cause of her loveliness, and therefore desired to be made partakers of the same. It is one of the most delightful offices of faithful ministers of Jesus, when at anytime the Lord blesseth t heir ministry, to have questions concerning their Lord put to them, by those that are seeking him. I beg the Reader also to observe, before I dismiss the consideration of this verse, that the enquiry here made concerning Jesus; is not who Christ is; for that had been made before (Son 5:9 ), and the answer appears to have been truly satisfactory. But having received conviction concerning the Person and work of Christ, the next enquiry of a truly awakened soul is, how shall I find him, and enjoy him to my soul’s comfort?
Spiritual Transports
Son 6:12
What is the meaning of ‘the chariots of Amminadib’? It may perhaps be best regarded as a proverbial expression by which swift and splendid chariots are described. The rendering of the Revised Version doubtless gives us the substantial idea of the comparison: ‘Or ever I was aware, my soul set me among the chariots of my princely people’. Whatever the immediate reference may be, it is a remarkable description of the mystical experiences of a soul.
I. The Christian Believer has Transports. The religion of the Bible is a religion of transports. All deep and spiritual religion is emotional. Beware of a piety so severely ‘practical’ that it has no experience of the transport comparable to ‘the chariots of Amminadib’. A Christianity that does not transport the soul is certainly not ancient Christianity. A faith which never flashes into ecstasy is surely not the faith of the Scriptures.
II. The Christian’s Transports are Spiritual. ‘My soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.’ It is the soul that was thrilled. The natural man cannot understand the spiritual; it is still ‘foolishness’ to him. But ‘he that is spiritual judgeth all things,’ and he knows how truly spiritual his rapturous experiences are. He can differentiate between the emotionalism of the flesh and of the soul. And these transports make the soul for the time being dominant.
III. Spiritual Transports are often Sudden. ‘Or ever I was aware.’ Before I had realized, I was borne as on Amminadib’s chariots. This is, indeed, a parable of what often happens in the life mystical. How sudden our transports are wont to be! God delights to surprise His children.
IV. Spiritual Transports are very Glorious. They are likened to ‘the chariots of my princely people’ splendid, exhilarating, every way delightsome. Unutterableness and transcendency are ever notes of Christian experiences.
V. Spiritual Transports Assume Many Forms. How many chariots were there? No one knows. The chariots, doubtless, were very varied. Verily there is no monotony in the soul’s transports.
Sometimes we have had a transport in Bible reading. Often a transport of prayer delights the believing suppliant There are transports of meditation. And are there not transports of reading? So it is at times in public worship.
VI. Spiritual Transports Demand a Preparative State. ‘I went down into the garden’ and there ‘or ever I was aware, my soul set me among the chariots of my princely people’. ‘The garden’ is often the sphere of and the preparation for the transport It is the quietude, the meditative, the seclusive, that is the essential preparative for transportive spiritual experiences.
VII. Spiritual Transports should be Testified to. The singer in this drama recounts to all generations this great experience. It is true modesty, if you have had great transports of soul, to glorify God by recording those experiences. Your testimony will have evidential worth. It may be an apologetic.
Conversion may be a sudden transport. What men call death is a transport to the Christian.
Dinsdale T. Young, Unfamiliar Texts, p. 54.
References. VI. 12. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x. No. 1155. S. Baring-Gould, Sermon Sketches, p. 51. VI. 13. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x. No. 593; vol. xxx. No. 1794. S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii. p. 256.
Christ and His Church
Song of Solomon 5-8
The Song has a double action: sometimes the Church praises Christ, and sometimes Christ praises the Church. The most noticeable feature is that the praise on both sides is equal. Not one word does the Church say of Christ that Christ does not in his turn say of the Church. So there is no idolatry in Christian worship when that worship is directed to God the Son. God the Son does not take from the Church all praise and honour without returning to his Church a response which proves the dignity of the Church herself. The occasion is always double, or reciprocal. A worship that is unreturned would be idolatry; but the worship that is returned in recognition and honour and love and benediction is a reflected and re-echoed love; it is the very perfection of sympathy. An idol does nothing in return; there is a short and easy test of idolatry. A wooden deity makes no reply; it takes no interest in the worshipping or adoring life; it may be said to receive all and give nothing in return. To pour out the heart to such an unanswering presence is simple and fruitless idolatry. This is not the relation in which Christ stands to his Church. It would be difficult to say whether the Church more praises Christ than Christ delights in the Church. He speaks of the Church as if he could not live without it. He redeemed it with his precious blood; he comes to it for fruit, for blessing, may we not add, for comfort to his own heart? that he may see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied: he looks for beauty on our part, for all manner of excellence; and when he sees it does he stint his praise, does he speak with merely critical and literal exactness? Is there not a redundance of recognition, as if he could never say too much in return for the worship we render him, and the service we conduct in his name and to his glory? If we doubted this we should only have need to refer to the great rewards with which he crowns our humble, but sincere, endeavours: we cannot give any disciple of his a cup of cold water without receiving recognition from Christ; we cannot watch one hour with him without feeling that, having had participation in his sufferings, we shall have also triumph in his resurrection. Observe, therefore, the reciprocal action as between Christ in heaven and his Church on earth: how they love one another, and communicate with one another, and live in one another. This is the marvel of grace.
We may learn much from this Shulamite. This high privilege, this most sacred and tender joy, brings with it a reflection full of sadness. When the love is so tender, how sensitive it must be to neglect, or disobedience, or wavering! A love like that cannot be neglected with impunity. It is a solemn relation in which the Church stands to Christ: a breath may wound him; an unspoken thought may be a cruel treachery; a wandering desire may be a renewed crucifixion. To have to deal with such love is to live under perpetual criticism. Whilst the recognition is always redundant, yea, infinite in graciousness, yet even that species and measure of recognition may be said to involve a corresponding sensitiveness to neglect or dishonour. The very fact that our poorest service is looked upon with the graciousness of divine love also suggests that our neglect of that service leaves that love wounded and despondent.
Look at the case. The Church which goes into such rhapsodies of admiration as we find in the Canticles breaks down at one point. Whose love is it that gives way? It is not the love of Christ. When a break does occur in the holy communion, where does that break take effect? Look at the image in the fifth chapter. The Church is there represented as having gone to rest, and in the deep darkness a knock is heard at the door, and a well-known voice says: “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night” (Son 5:2 .) What is the response of the Shulamite or, as we should say, the Church? The answer is: “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” Thus we are caught at unexpected times, and in ways we have never calculated. It is when we are asked to do unusual things that we find out the scope and the value of our Christian profession. How difficult it is to be equally strong at every point! How hard, how impossible, to have a day-and-night religion; a religion that is in the light and in the darkness the same, as watchful at midnight as at midday; as ready to serve in the snows of winter as amid the flowers of the summer-time! So the Shulamite breaks down. She has been sentimentalising, rhapsodising, calling to her love that he would return to her; and now that he has come she says: “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on?” How hard for human nature to be divine! How difficult for the finite even to urge itself in the direction of the infinite! How impossible to keep awake all night even under the inspiration of love, unless that inspiration be constantly renewed by intercourse with heaven! Keep my eyes open at midnight, O thou coming One, and may I be ready for thee when thou dost come, though it be at midnight, or at the crowing of the cock, or at noonday: may I by thy grace be ready for thy coming!
The whole subject of excuses is here naturally opened up. “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on?” What a refrain to all the wild rhapsody! When the Shulamite cries that her loving and loved one may return, always add, I have put off my coat: how shall I put it on? I have laid myself down; how can I rise again to undo the door? Oh that he would come at regular times, in the ordinary course of things, that he would not put my love to these unusual and exceptional tests: for twelve hours in the day I should be ready, but having curtained myself round, and lain down to sleep, how can I rise again? Thus all rhapsody goes down, all mere sentiment perishes in the using; it is undergoing a continual process of evaporation. Nothing stands seven days a week and four seasons in the year but reasoned love, intelligent apprehension of great principles, distinct inwrought conviction that without Christ life is impossible, or were it possible it would be vain, painful, and useless. Have we any such excuses, or are these complaints historical noises, unknown to us in their practical realisation? Let the question find its way into the very middle of the heart. There is an ingenuity of self-excusing, a department in which genius can find ample scope for all its resources. Who is guiltless in this matter? Who is there that never was called upon in his conscience to rise and do Christ’s bidding under exceptional and trying circumstances? We may not have love making its demands by the clock; we must not have a merely mechanical piety that comes for so much and for no more: love is enthusiasm; love is sacrifice; love keeps no time; love falls into no sleep from which it cannot escape at the slightest beckoning or call of the object on which it is fastened.
Shall we go a little into detail? or do we shrink from the thumbscrew and the rack of cross-examination? Will not pulpit and pew go down in a common condemnation? The ailment that would not keep a man from business will confine him all day when it is the Church that requires his attendance, or Christ that asks him to deliver a testimony or render a sacrifice. Who can escape from that suggestion? Who does not so far take Providence into his own hand as to arrange occasionally that his ailments shall come and go by the clock? Who has not found in the weather an excuse to keep him from spiritual exercises that he never would have found there on the business days of the week? How comes it that men look towards the weather quarter on the day of the Son of man? It is not a little matter; this is not a detail that is insignificant: within limits that might easily be assigned the detail is not worth taking notice of; but even here we may find insight into character, revelation of spiritual quality, the measure of enthusiasm. We can only test ourselves by the criticism of our own day: it is in vain for us to say whether we should have risen or not when the knock came to the door, and the speaker said that his head was filled with dew and his locks with the drops of the night; into such romantic circumstances we cannot enter; but there are circumstances by which we can be tested and tried, and by which we can say to ourselves definitely, Our prayer is a lie, and our profession a rhapsody. It is not enough that we should be usual, regular, mechanical; that we should have a scheduled order of procession, whereby a duty shall come at a given hour, and be discharged at an indicated time. We are not hirelings; we ought not to be mere slaves, serving as men-pleasers serve in the domestic and commercial circles; we should be slaves in the sense of love that keeps nothing back, that delights in its golden chains, because every link binds the soul more closely and tenderly to the infinite heart of the universe. Where do we begin to economise? do we begin in the region of luxury? Where is there a man who can truthfully say that when he begins to economise he begins in the wine-cellar? Where is there a Christian man, how rhapsodic soever his piety and the more rhapsodic the less likely who can say that when he economises he begins by putting a bridle upon his own appetites and indulgences and worldliness: and that before he will take anything from Christ the last rag must be stripped from his own back? Yet how we sing, how we praise the hymn, how we admire the poet, how we ask him to go higher in his ascriptions and to be broader in his consecrations! Alas, if it be all rhapsody! We shall never know whether it is so or not by mere argument. What have we done? How often have we risen at midnight to help the poor, the helpless, the lost? Of how many meals have we denied our hunger that we might help a hunger greater than our own? How often have we put ourselves out of the way to do that which is good, benevolent, and helpful? Not what have we done by regulation and schedule, and bond and stipulation, and the like; but what irregular service have we rendered, what unusual devotion have we paid? These are the questions that try us like fire; these are the inquiries that mow down our rhapsody and sentiment, and soon discover how much there is left in the field of life for that which is good and solid and useful.
But the Church will repent: the Shulamite will cry; yea, the tears will burst from her eyes, and she will go out after she has had a fit of reflection. Let her go! “I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but——” we saw in how awful a relation the soul stands in regard to Christ; we saw how hard a thing it-is to live clearly up to the point of that infinite affection of his “but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone.” When he goes, who can measure the emptiness which he leaves behind? Hear the sad word “gone.” What is there left? Only emptiness, nothingness, disappointment, mortification, now cry and spare not thy tears, thou indolent Shulamite who did not spring to answer the call that was made by him whose head was filled with dew, and whose locks were heavy with the drops of the night! What a picture of forsakenness! He was gone “My soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.” Has he not left a shadow behind? No. Is there not a sound of his retreating footfall in the night air by which the forsaken one may discover at least the direction in which wounded love has gone? No. Herein we stand in jeopardy every hour. Let the Shulamite now examine her reasons, and she says, I would not rise to put on a garment, and therefore I have lost him who is fairest among ten thousand and altogether ever lovely; I would not put myself to any inconvenience, and therefore I have lost the king and his heaven. Strip all this soliloquy of its orientalism, and still there remains the solid time-long fact, that to neglect an opportunity which Christ creates is to lose the Christ who graciously created it. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in”: “Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” Did not the disciples sleep in the garden? Are we not all sometimes overborne with sleep? Is Christ, then, harsh with us? No: yet only by these forsakings can he get at some of us, so to say, with anything like healthful and permanent effect: argument is exhausted; appeal is lost. The ministry of abandonment plays an important part in the dispensation under which we live. We must be left to ourselves awhile; we must be given to feel how great a thing is the light which we do not value or which we neglect to use. When the light goes what is left? A great burden of darkness. And what does darkness mean? It means imprisonment, destruction. Darkness practically destroys every picture that the hand of skill ever painted; the night roots out all the flowers of summer, so far as their visibleness is concerned. Darkness undoes, limits, appals, imprisons. There is no jail like the darkness. In other prisons you may try to find crevices in the wall, flaws in the building that may be turned to advantage; but in the darkness there are no flaws, it is a great wall which cannot be broken up by our poor human strength: if we should strike a momentary light in its midst it would only be to discover that the prison is vaster than we had at first supposed. When Christ leaves the soul, the soul is sunk in night Not one ray of light has it of its own. All it can do is to cry bitterly, penitently, contritely; but all the crying of the gathered distress and agony of the world cannot dispel the darkness of night.
The Shulamite went forth, and was wounded by strange hands. “The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me” ( Son 5:7 ). Poor Church! That is thy lot when away from Christ! The world hates the Church; the world only awaits an opportunity to wound the Church. This is not only circumstantial; it is philosophical, it is necessary, it is inevitable: there is no communion or congeniality between them; they live in different universes, they are lighted by different flames one the eye of day, the other the baleful fire of hell. The worldly man cannot esteem the Christian. It is a difficult lesson to learn. The Christian is more frequently deceived upon this point than is the worldly man. The Christian speaks of his geniality, his neighbourliness, his evident disposition to return courtesies and to live upon friendly terms. There can be no friendly terms between the soul that prays and the soul that never prays! What communion hath Christ with Belial, or light with darkness? Not that the Christian may set himself in hostility against the world in so far as it would prevent his having an opportunity of revealing the kingdom of heaven. Certainly not. That, indeed, would be unwise generalship, that would be obviously insane and absurd piety; we are now speaking of the solemn fact that if the world should get the Church into its power, the world would wound the Church and kill it; if Christ were to descend the world would slay him every day in the week: and so doing the world is acting logically; it is in perfect sequence with itself; the inconsistency is not in the world. What if there be less inconsistency in the world than in the Church?
There is one expression to which allusion may be made: “Jealousy is cruel as the grave. the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame” ( Son 8:6 ). There is an unreasoning and unjust jealousy. There is a jealousy which every man ought to condemn and avoid as he would flee from the very spirit of evil. But there is a godly jealousy. “I the Lord thy God am a jealous God” : “Thou shalt worship no other God: for the Lord whose name is Jealous is a jealous God.” The Apostle Paul avails himself of this same sentiment when he says: “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” When we condemn jealousy we must understand the direction in which jealousy operates. Let us never forget that there is a jealousy which is born of the very pit of perdition; but let us be jealous for truth, jealous for honour, jealous for domestic sanctities, jealous for mutual reputation. Let us feel that what injures a brother injures us. Never let us forget that when one minister is spoken against the whole ministry is involved. Do not imagine that some particular minister can be the object of jealousy without the whole brotherhood to which he belongs being in some degree involved in the tremendous blasphemy against human rights and human liberties. There is a fine scope for jealousy, if we want to be jealous, and it we are endowed with a jealous disposition. Let us beware of the serpent Jealousy: it will destroy our home, our love, our life; it will turn the sweetest, purest cream into the deadliest poison; with the fumes of hell it will mingle the incense of piety. It is the perversion of a sublime sentiment, and is without either the dignity of justice or the serenity of reason. “It doth work like madness in the brain.” We must be jealous of ourselves, and not of others. There is a fine range for jealousy for a man to sit jealously in judgment upon his own motives, and desires, and aspirations, and to be severe with himself. That is the way to become gracious to others. Let us be jealous of our jealousy; be jealous of our prayerlessness, our illiberality, our mean and despicable excuses. Along that line our jealousy may burn with advantage, but along every other line its proper figure is that of a fiend, and its only passion is thirst for blood. But we should not have jealousy excluded from the action of the Shulamite or from the spirit of Christ, wherein jealousy means regard for the principles of love, the integrity of honour, the flawlessness of loyalty, the completeness of consecration.
How healthful is the lesson, and what a range of application it has namely, let us be jealous in regard to ourselves. Let us say to the self-saving self, This is diabolical on your part, and ought to be punished with the heat of hell. When in the morning we would escape from religious discipline that we may mingle with the greater eagerness in the dissipation of the world, let us stop ourselves and say, Bad man, disloyal man, you have robbed God! What a field for jealousy! When we have neglected the poor and hungry, and listened not to the cause of those who had no helper, then let us be jealous of ourselves, and punish ourselves with anticipated hell. This would be a life full of discipline, but full of blessedness; it would check all evil-speaking, put an end to all malign criticism, and constrain the soul towards all graciousness and gentleness of judgment with others, for it would show others to advantage, and compel us to say, Compared even with them, how poor a figure we cut! To be severe with ourselves is the surest way to prepare for being gentle with our fellow-creatures. I keep myself under; I smite myself in the eyes, lest having preached to others I myself should be a castaway, so said the chief of us all, the loyalest, noblest Christian that ever followed the Saviour; and if he, so mentally strong and spiritually rich, needed so much self-discipline, what do we need, who feel how small we are and frail, and how easily we are moved about by every wind of doctrine and by every subtle temptation? My soul, hope thou in God!
(See the Song of Solomon Book Comments for other methods of interpreting the Song of Solomon)
XXX
AN INTERPRETATION OF THE SONG OF SOLOMON AS AN ALLEGORY
According to the first verse, the title of this book is “The Song of Songs,” and the author was Solomon. The Vulgate has the title, Canticum Canticorum, from which comes the title, “Canticles,” by which it is sometimes called and to which the references in some English versions are made. This title, as it appears here, implies that it is the choicest of all songs, in keeping with the saying of an early writer that “the entire world, from the beginning until now, does not outweigh the day in which Canticles was given to Israel.”
The parts of the book are marked with a refrain, thus: I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the roes, or by the hinds of the field, That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, Until he please, Song of Son 2:7 ; Song of Son 3:5 ; Song of Son 8:4 .
It will be noted that the second line in Song of Son 8:4 is omitted, perhaps, because it had been given twice before and the shortened form suited better the purpose of the author here.
It is well at this point to fix in mind the representative characters of the book, so as to make clear the interpretation and application. In this allegory the Shulammite may represent souls collectively, but more aptly applied to the individual soul seeking Christ. The daughters of Jerusalem represent the church. Solomon represents Christ, and the watchmen represent the spiritual leaders, such as priests, prophets, and preachers.
The prologue expresses the desire of a soul for Christ, a prayer to be drawn to him, conversion, and a consciousness of unworthiness.
In Part I the soul is instructed to seek its lover at the feeding places of the flock, or places where Christ meets his people; as, in meetings, etc., and upon their meeting they express their love for each other in which the soul is represented as being completely enraptured by its first love to Christ.
In Part II we have the beautiful serenade in which Christ is represented as entreating this new convert to come away and separate herself from her people and everything that might cause alienation. But upon neglect to heed this entreaty the little foxes, that is, little sins creep in and alienation is the result. So she sends him away till the cool of the day so characteristic of the soul that is neglectful of its early Christian duties. But soon she goes out to seek him another characteristic of the sheep that has wandered away from its shepherd and the flock. As she goes out to seek him she meets the city watchmen and inquires of them likewise the soul thus realizing its need at this point makes inquiry of spiritual leaders. She soon finds him and brings him to her mother’s house, thus representing the soul that has not left its former associations.
In Part III we have the procession of Solomon coming out to her to take her to his own home. Here he praises her, wooes her, and pleads with her to come away from her old associations. She is won and agrees to go with him, but when he knocks at the door she is half asleep and does not open to him. Her indifference brings about another alienation, and he leaves. Soon she arises to open, but, alas! he has grown tired of waiting and has gone away. She seeks him again, but the preachers (city watchmen) make it hard for her this time, upon which she appeals to the members of the church (daughters of Jerusalem) and they test her with a question, whereupon she declares her appreciation of him in a most glowing description of him. Then they submit the second test by asking another question as to his whereabouts. Here she understands perfectly as to his abiding place, which she shows them. While this is going on he draws near, speaking of his love. Surely, it is a sweet thought that, while we are talking about Christ and praising him, he draws near and is mindful of us, though we have suffered the little foxes to do their work and have not heeded every knock upon the door by our Lord. As he is thinking and speaking of her he sees her in the distance and exclaims, Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, Fair as the moon, Clear as the sun, Terrible as an army with banners?
After telling where he had been he pleads again, very earnestly, for her return. In the remaining part of this division they converse with each other and he wooes her again and she agrees to leave all and go with him into the fields and villages.
In Part IV the daughters describe them as they proceed toward his house, conversing with each other of love in which she shows love to be the strongest thing in the world.
The Epilogue contains the vows of the woman to do her part and applies beautifully to the loyalty of the soul espoused to Christ.
Now, I call attention to the prayers of the Shulammite which indicate the conflict and progress of the Christian life. These are as follows: Draw me; we will run after thee: The king hath brought me into his chambers; We will be glad and rejoice in thee; We will make mention of thy love more than of wine: Rightly do they love thee. (Song of Son 1:4 ) Tell me, O thou, whom my soul loveth, Where thou feedest thy flock, Where thou makest it to rest at noon: For why should I be as one that is veiled Beside the flocks of thy companions? (Song of Son 1:7 ) Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, And eat his precious fruits. (Song of Son 4:16 ) Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; Let us lodge in the villages. (Song of Son 7:11 ) Set me as a seal upon thy heart, As a seal upon thine arm: For love is strong as death; Jealousy is cruel as Sheol; The flashes thereof are flashes of fire, A very flame of Jehovah. (Song of Son 8:6 )
Two of the most beautiful passages in the book are the Serenade, which pictures all nature calling to activity, and the passage on Love and Jealousy, showing love to be “The Greatest Thing in the World.” These passages are well adapted to the theme of the book and furnish an appropriate closing for our discussion on “The Poetical Books of the Bible.” THE SERENADE 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, that 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. The Song of Son 2:10-14
LOVE AND JEALOUSY
Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm: For love is strong as death; Jealousy is cruel as Sheol; The flashes thereof are flashes of fire, A very flame of Jehovah. Many waters cannot quench love, Neither can floods drown it: If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, He would utterly be condemned. The Song of Son 8:6-7
QUESTIONS
1. According to Song of Son 1:1 , what is the title and who is the author of The Song of Solomon?
2. How are the parts of the book marked?
3. Whom does the Shulammite represent?
4. Whom do the daughters of Jerusalem represent?
5. Whom does Solomon represent?
6. Whom do the watchmen represent?
7. What is the spiritual interpretation and application of the Prologue?
8. What is the spiritual interpretation and application of Part I?
9. What is the spiritual interpretation and application of Part II?
10. What is the story and spiritual application of Part III?
11. What is the interpretation of Part IV?
12. What are the contents of the Epilogue and its application?
13. What are the prayers of the Shulammite?
14. What to you are the moat beautiful passages in the book and in what consists their beauty?
Son 6:1 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.
Ver. 1. Whither is thy beloved gone? &c. ] All Christ’s disciples are , inquisitive after the “truth that is in Jesus,” Eph 4:21 and are fellow helpers to it. 3Jn 1:8 There is also nescio quid divinum in auscultatione, as one well noteth; that is, a strange and strong energy or forcibleness in hearing, whether publicly or in private conference, Christ and his excellencies displayed and discoursed of. Let but his name, as an ointment, be poured out, and the virgins can do no less than love him. Son 1:3 These daughters of Jerusalem are, by hearing the Church describing her spouse, and painting him out in lively colours, fired up to a holy contention in godliness, and, might they but know where to have him, they would be at any pains to “partake of the benefit.” 1Ti 6:2 They wondered at first why she should make such ado about Christ; but when they conversed a while with her, and had heard her speak with such affection and admiration, they are turned, and will now go seek him with her. God is pleased many times to water the holy meetings and conferences of his people with blessing, beyond expectation or belief. We should frame ourselves to an easy discourse of the “glory of Christ’s kingdom, and talk of his power.” Psa 145:8-9 Our tongues in this argument should be “as the pen of a ready writer,” Psa 45:1 that we may be able to speak oft to one another, with profit and power in the best thing. Mal 3:16 Little do we know what a deal of good may be done hereby. Mr Foxe, speaking of God’s little flock in the days of Henry VIII, saith: In such rarity of good books and want of teachers, this one thing I cannot but marvel and muse at, to note in the registers, and consider how the Word of God did multiply so exceedingly among them; for I find that one neighbour, resorting and conferring with another, eftsoons, with a few words of their first or second talk, did win and turn their minds to that wherein they desired to persuade them touching the truth of God’s Word and sacraments, &c. a In all ages such as were ordained to eternal life “believed”; Act 13:48 after that they had “heard the word of truth they believed, and were sealed.” Eph 1:13 Contrariwise, reprobates either refuse to hear the Church preaching Christ, Joh 8:47 or else they hear and jeer – as Pilate, with his What is truth? – in mere mockery b Joh 18:38 hear and blaspheme, Act 13:45 or, at best, hear and admire, and that is all. They leave the Word where they found it, for anything they will practise. They think they do a great char to sit out a sermon, and then commend it. But wisdom’s children will not only “justify” her, Mat 11:19 but also “glorify” her. Act 13:48 They will “seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face evermore”; Psa 105:4 seek him in his holy temple; seek him in and with the Church, as here. They know that extra Ecclesiam nulla salus. The Church is “the pillar and ground of truth,” 1Ti 3:15 inasmuch as, by her ministry, the authority, dignity, knowledge, virtue, and use of the truth of the gospel, is preserved in the world, and “held out,” Php 2:16 as the hand holds forth the torch, or the watchtower the light, and so the haven to the weather beaten mariners.
That we may seek him with thee. a Acts and Mon., fol. 750.
b Irridentis vox, non interrogantis.
Song of Solomon Chapter 6
Son 6 The enquiry of the daughters of Jerusalem serves but to draw out the progress of the bride in her appreciation of the Bridegroom’s worth and love, as well as of her value for the relationship.
”Whither is thy beloved gone,
Thou fairest among women?
Whither hath thy beloved turned,
And we will seek him with thee?
My beloved is gone down to his garden, to the beds of spice,
To feed in the gardens and to gather lilies.
I [am] my beloved’s, and my beloved [is] mine:
He feedeth [his] flock among the lilies.
Thou [art] fair, my love, as Tirzah,
Comely as Jerusalem,
Terrible as bannered [hosts].
Turn away thine eyes from me,
For they overcome me.
Thy hair [is] as a flock of goats
On the slopes of Gilead.
Thy teeth [are] like a flock of ewes
Which go up from the washing,
Which have all borne twins,
And none [is] bereaved among them.
As a piece of a pomegranate [are] thy temples
Behind thy veil.
There are threescore queens and fourscore concubines,
And virgins without number.
My love, mine undefiled, is one;
She [is] the only one of her mother,
She [is] the choice one of her that bare her.
The daughters saw her and called her blessed;
The queens and the concubines, and they praised her.
Who [is] she [that] looketh forth as the dawn,
Fair as the moon,
Clear as the sun,
Terrible as bannered [hosts]?
I went down into the garden of nuts,
To see the verdure of the valley,
To see whether the vine budded-
The pomegranates blossomed.
Before I was aware,
My soul set me [in] the chariots of my willing people.
Return, return, O Shulamite;
Return, return, that we may look upon thee?
What look ye upon in the Shulamite?
As upon the dance of two camps (Mahanaim).” (vers. 1-13).
How wonderful is the grace of God always and in every relationship! On His side, on the part of Him Who alone is His perfect image, the accomplisher of His counsels and the expression of His ways, love abiding though never insensitive to the failure of the object of His love, and ever turning the failure to the correction of faults and a deepening sense of relationship. So it is here. In the earlier stage (Son 2:16 ) said the bride, My beloved [is] mine, and I His. And this is the right order of apprehension. She thinks of Him as the object before her heart and rejoices that He is here though even then she can say that she belongs to Him. But the exercises of soul through which she passes, in consequence of her failure in answering to His love and of her review and self-judgment, lead her now as appropriately to say, “I [am] my beloved’s and my beloved mine” (ver. 3). This is no less true, and learnt experimentally more than at first; but such is now the deep feeling of her heart, and out of the abundance of it she speaks. How overwhelming that such as we should be so near to Him! and how re-assuring that the only Worthy One is ours! So Jerusalem will say in truth of heart ere long.
Then follows the Bridegroom’s renewed declaration of the bride’s charms in His eyes. The nations are to be blessed in that day, some of them peculiarly in that prolonged and future hour of earth’s blessing to the praise of Jesus. Isa 19:23-25 is plain enough, if the ears were not dull of hearing. The blessing succeeds the judgment of Jehovah which that day opens. Instead of mutual hostility, and each seeking mastery over Israel, Egypt shall serve with Assyria: both subject to the God of Israel. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and Assyria, certainly not to enfeeble Isa 11:12 , Isa 11:14 , 24-27. (to refer to nothing beyond the same prophet), but to assure each of the divine mercy to all as yet in unbelief when all Israel shall be saved and He will have mercy upon all (Rom 11 ). Jehovah of hosts shall reign on mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients in glory. The name of the city from that day is Jehovah-Shammah. How great the favour of Israel, Abraham’s sons and not seed only in that day, when they shall be a blessing in the midst of the earth, not a reproach and a curse as now because of their infidelity! But when Jehovah of hosts has blessed them, it will be in large mercy, saying, Blessed be my people Egypt, and the work of my hands Assyria, and mine inheritance Israel. So near is Israel to Him, that it is in no way demeaned by being named third. The bride of the beloved is one, His undefiled, the only one of her mother, the choice one of her that bare her; so she will sing. As Jehovah counts when writing up the peoples, This Man was born there. His blood has washed away the reproach of the blood-shedding for Jerusalem believing and blessed and a blessing. The daughters saw her and called her blessed; the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. No more rivalry, nor treacherous dealing of the vile called noble; for a king shall reign in righteousness, and the Spirit be poured from on high to bless man on the earth, instead of men severed from it in sin save those now united to Christ on high for the heavens.
When the Bridegroom looks on the bride according to her unique place and destined glory on the earth (ver. 10), as He had expressed afresh what she is for Him, He goes down to see how all flourishes by His grace, and before He is aware, His soul set Him on the chariots of His willing people in glory. It is no longer “Who is this coming up out of the wilderness”? as in Son 3:6 , where He had found her again and recalled her to Himself. Here He anticipates her triumphant glory when He leads Israel in the day of His manifested power; and they, His people no longer unwilling, have said with believing hearts, Blessed He that cometh in the name of Jehovah. Then indeed the Shulamite shall have returned from long and fruitless and sad wandering, and Israel, no more weak, nor longer needing a staff, shall become two camps, God’s host.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Son 6:1
1Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned,
That we may seek him with you?
Son 6:1 This is a continuation of the two questions made to the maiden by the daughters of Jerusalem:
1. Son 5:9, answered in Son 5:10-16
2. Son 6:1, answered in Son 6:2-3
The fourth love poem runs from Son 5:2 through Son 6:3. It must be remembered that the chapter and verse divisions of modern Bibles are not inspired. Although some ancient Greek Uncial manuscripts have some textual markers for context divisions in the Gospels, most of the modern markers are from the Middle Ages! Compare modern translations to see the options.
That we may seek him with you This (BDB 134, KB 152) is a Piel IMPERFECT used in a COHORTATIVE sense. Again the identification of the group is uncertain. If it is the harem the reunion will be crowded!
Whither, &c. Spoken by the court-ladies. See the Structure (above).
thy beloved. Masculine.
Chapter 6
Now the daughters of Jerusalem respond to her, the chorus sings back.
Where has your beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither or where is your beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with you ( Son 6:1 ).
And she answers,
My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: and he feeds among the lilies ( Son 6:2-3 ).
Now the bridegroom responds to her and he says,
Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, as comely as Jerusalem, terrible or awesome as an army with banners. Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me: your hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead. Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep which go up from the washings, where every one bears twins, and not there is not a barren one among them ( Son 6:4-6 ).
He says the same thing to her so he isn’t that…you know, after a while you got to repeat, you know. I mean, you can only say so much.
As a piece of pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks. There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled, is but one ( Son 6:7-9 );
She is one among them all.
she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yes, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her ( Son 6:9 ).
So he’s declaring all of this praise for his beloved and the daughters of Jerusalem, the chorus now responds. As he is declaring again of her beauty and her glory, and they say,
Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, as awesome as an army with banners? ( Son 6:10 )
And as you see this in the spiritual allegory as representing the church, “Who is she who looketh forth as the morning?” The history of man has been dark and bleak. We are still living–the world in darkness. It’s been a long night, sorrow, pain, suffering, anguish, tragedy that man has brought upon himself by his wars, by his greed, by the atrocities, by the inhumane treatment of fellow man, by the oppression and the exploitation of the weak and of the poor. It’s been a long, dark night of history. But the church looketh forth as the morning. And the church declares to the world that is wrapped in its darkness, there’s a new day about to dawn. And that is always the consistent message of the church. New opportunity that God gives to man. Not only to the world is a new day going to dawn very soon, but a new day can dawn in your life. And that darkness in which your life has been held can turn into a new day. God’s work is always that of a new beginning. Letting you start all over again. “For if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things are passed away, all things become new” ( 2Co 5:17 ). Looking forth as the morning. Always the anticipation. Living in the anticipation of the new day that is going to dawn for man.
“Fair as the moon.” The moon’s light is reflected light, the light of the sun reflected in the moon. And so the church’s light is a reflected light. It is the light of Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the light of the world. And if any man walk in Me, he will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life” ( Joh 8:12 ). John, testifying of Jesus Christ said He is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. But man put the light out. They hanged him on a cross. They put him in a tomb and rolled the stone over the door of the sepulcher. And as far as the world is concerned, they had extinguished the light. But the third day He rose again. And He lives today. And even as the light of the moon declares to you that the sun is still shining, though you cannot see the sun, but as you look at the moon and see the reflected light of the sun, you know that the sun still shines. So the world who cannot see Jesus Christ knows that He lives as they see the reflected glory of Christ from our lives. The light of Jesus Christ shining forth from us. “Ye,” He said, “are the light of the world. And man doesn’t light a candle to put it on a under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it might give light to the whole house” ( Mat 5:14-15 ). The moon was the lesser light to rule the night, to rule in the darkness. And thus, in the darkness of man’s history, God has a light. “Fair as the moon.” His light, His witness as we reflect the light and the glory of Jesus Christ to the dark world around us.
In order to properly reflect that light of Jesus Christ, we must live above the world. For if we live in the world, if we partake of the worldly things, if we are living as the world, then we do not reflect the light to the world. You’ve got to live above the world. By a higher standard than the low standards of man around us. There is always the peer pressure. There is always the mores of a society that would seek to draw you down to a lower level of living. There is always the rationale, “But everybody’s doing it.” To encourage you and to draw you into a lower level of experience and life. But living on a low plane, you’ll never reflect the glory of the Son. It’s only as we live above it that the world can see the light reflecting from us.
“Clear as the sun.” Again, there needs to be a slight change in the word sun. Instead of spelling it s-u-n, capitalize and spell it S-o-n. Clear as the Son. The church. We are to be pure as He is pure. We are to be holy as He is holy. God said, “Be ye therefore holy, for I am holy, saith the Lord” ( 1Pe 1:16 ). Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” ( Mat 5:48 ). “And he who has this hope purifies himself, even as He is pure” ( 1Jn 3:3 ). Christ is our standard for righteousness, which immediately eliminates all of us. Because none of us are as pure as Christ. None of us are as holy as Christ. None of us are as perfect as God. Christ, our standard for righteousness. But it is a righteousness that I cannot attain by works, by rules, by regulations, by laws. “For if righteousness could come by the law, then Christ died in vain” ( Gal 2:21 ).
But God has established a new basis of righteousness which is not a new basis of righteousness. It is the same basis by which Abraham was accounted righteousness. For Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness four hundred years before the law ever came by Moses. The law was never intended to make a man righteous, but only to show man his sin and his guilt in order that we might be driven to a righteousness that is apart from us, the righteousness which is of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. So we read in Galatians, “The law was a schoolmaster to force us to Christ” ( Gal 3:24 ). To drive us to Christ. To make us realize that we can’t do it ourselves. We need help. And God has provided that help. And thus, we become clear as the sun, because it’s His righteousness that has been imputed to us by our believing and trusting in God.
And so that’s why the bridegroom could say, “Hey, she’s without spot.” That’s why God looks at you and says, “Hey, you’re without spot. You’re without blemish. You’re pure. You’re righteous.” Because He sees you in His Son and the righteousness of Christ having been imputed or accounted to your account.
And finally, the church is seen as awesome as an army with banners. And this is what God intends the church to be to the enemies of Jesus Christ. That we might be a terror to the enemies of God, even as an army with banners was a very terrifying thing to behold. To stand in front of or to try to withstand. So the church should be a terror to the enemies of God.
The bridegroom continues his song.
I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded. Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib. Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee ( Son 6:11-13 ).
The chorus responds.
What will you see in the Shulamite? ( Son 6:13 )
And he answers.
As it were the company of two armies ( Son 6:13 ). “
Son 6:1-10
Son 6:1-3
“Whither is thy beloved gone,
O thou fairest among women?
Whither hath thy beloved turned him,
That we may seek him with thee?
My beloved is gone down to his garden,
To the beds of spices,
To feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine:
He feedeth his flock among the lilies.”
What we have here is: (1) a question and (2) the answer. The question is from “the daughters of Jerusalem,” whether understood as God’s people generally, or as the members of Solomon’s harem. The question:
Where is your lover that we also may seek him?
The lover described by the maiden was so glorious that the “daughters of Jerusalem” desired also to find him. This clearly denies any possibility that “the beloved” in this passage was Solomon. Nobody had to hunt him. The whole world knew exactly where he was.
Now, what is the answer to their question?
He has gone to his garden to gather lilies and to pasture his flock.
Can any stretch of imagination behold Solomon in this reply? Ridiculous! Solomon a gardener? Who could believe it? Or Solomon a shepherd pasturing his flock? A million times NO. The maiden’s lover is clearly a shepherd, the Shepherd.
The rest of the Song of Solomon carries the following message:
King Solomon Fails in His Pursuit of the Shulamite.
Son 6:4-10
UNWAVERING FIDELITY OF THE BRIDE TO THE SHEPHERD
(Son 6:4 to Son 8:14)
THE KING ADMITS HIS DEFEAT
“Thou art fair, O my love, as Tirzah,
Comely as Jerusalem,
Terrible as an army with banners.
Turn away thine eyes from me,
For they have overcome me.
Thy hair is as a flock of goats,
That lie along the side of Gilead.
Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes,
Which are come up from washing;
Whereof every one hath twins,
And none is bereaved among them.
Thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate
Behind thy veil.
There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines,
And virgins without number.
My dove, my undefiled, is but one;
She is the only one of her mother;
She is the choice of the one that bare her.
The daughters saw her, and called her blessed;
Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.
Who is she that looketh forth as the morning,
Fair as the moon,
Clear as the sun,
Terrible as an army with banners?”
“Terrible as an army with banners” (Son 6:4; Son 6:10). “This refrain is the key to the passage. The purity and fidelity of the Shulamite have rebuked the king and his artificial flattery.
“Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me” (Son 6:2). Solomon cannot bear to look this precious virtuous woman in the eyes; and he pleads with her not to look at him, admitting that she has overcome him. We are still looking for some commentator who is able to explain this scene as that of Solomon addressing a woman who is madly in love with him!
“Thy hair … thy teeth … thy temples” (Son 6:5-7). Solomon continues his flattery, still unable to think of any suitable comparisons except those that see the maiden as an animal, especially as a female animal.
“Thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate” (Son 6:7). Solomon looked upon her exactly as he might have looked upon a piece of bread, or fruit, something to eat, devour and to satisfy his desire.
“Threescore queens and fourscore concubines” (Son 6:8). Delitzsch considered this an indication that the events covered by this Song took place early in Solomon’s reign, at a time when he had only threescore queens and fourscore concubines. Others have supposed that the author was some other than Solomon; and Carr also denied that this is actually a reference to Solomon. “No particular harem is being considered.” Solomon is clearly meant; and one may find the balance of those 700 wives and 300 concubines in the adjacent phrase, “Virgins without number.” What Solomon was saying here is that there were threescore queens and fourscore concubines of his who were, in one sense or another, special, and that even these praised the maiden (Son 6:9).
“Yea, queens and concubines praised her” (Son 6:9). The maiden was different in some very dramatic and sufficient sense from any of the women in Solomon’s seraglio; and it was undeniably that difference which was praised. What was it? She was the only one who would not submit to Solomon’s advances. She overcame him (Son 6:5).
There are all kinds of interpretations suggested for these verses; but we have cited here the one that makes the most sense to this writer.
Exegesis Son 6:1-10
We have been impressed and greatly helped by the comments of Walter F. Adeney in An Exposition of the Bible (p. 533, 34):
The mocking ladies ask their victim where then has this paragon gone? She would have them understand that he has not been so cruel as really to desert her. It was only in her dream that he treated her with such unaccountable fickleness. The plain fact is that he is away at his work on his far-off farm, feeding his flock, and perhaps gathering a posy of flowers for his bride. He is far away-that sad truth cannot be denied; and yet he is not really lost, for love laughs at time and distance; the poor lonely girl can say still that she is her beloveds and that he is hers. The reappearance of this phrase suggests that it is intended to serve as a sort of refrain.
In the first refrain the daughters of Jerusalem are besought not to attempt to awaken the Shulammites love for Solomon; this is well balanced by the refrain in which she declares the constancy of the mutual love that exists between herself and the shepherd.
Now Solomon reappears on the scene, and resumes his laudation of the Shulammites beauty. But there is a marked change in his manner. This most recent capture is quite unlike the sort of girls with whom his harem was stocked from time to time. He had no reverence for any of them; they all considered themselves to be highly honoured by his favour, all adored him with slavish admiration, like, that expressed by one of them in the first line of the poem. But he is positively afraid of the Shulammite. She is terrible as an army with banners. He cannot bear to look at her eyes; he begs her to turn them away from him, for they have overcome him. What is the meaning of this new attitude on the part of the mighty monarch? There is something awful in the simple peasant girl. The purity, the constancy, the cold scorn with which she regards the king, are as humiliating as they are novel in his experience. Yet it is well for him that he is susceptible to their influence. He is greatly injured and corrupted by the manners of a luxurious Oriental court. But he is not a seared profligate. The vision of goodness startles him; but there is a better nature in him, and its slumbering powers are partly roused by this unexpected apparition.
We have now reached a very important point in the poem. It is almost impossible to reconcile this with the theory that Solomon is the one and only lover referred to throughout. But on the shepherd hypothesis the position is most significant. The value of constancy in love is not only seen in the steadfast character of one who is sorely tempted to yield to other influences; it is also apparent in the effects on a spectator of so uncongenial a nature as King Solomon. Thus the poet brings out the great idea of his work most vividly. He could not have done so more forcibly than by choosing the court of Solomon for the scene of the trial, and showing the startling effect of the noble virtue of constancy on the king himself.
Here we are face to face with one of the rescuing influences of life, which may be met in various forms. A true woman, an innocent child, a pure man, coming across the path of one who has permitted himself to slide down towards murky depths, arrests his attention with a, painful shock of surprise. The result is a revelation to him, in the light of which he discovers, to his horror, how far he has fallen. It is a sort of incarnate conscience, warning him of the still lower degradation towards which he is sinking. Perhaps it strikes him as a beacon light, showing the path up to purity and peace; an angel from heaven sent to help him retrace his steps and return to his better self. Few men are so abandoned as never to be visited by some such gleam from higher regions. To many, alas, it comes but as the temporary rift in the clouds through which for one brief moment the blue sky becomes visible even on a wild and stormy day, soon to be lost in deeper darkness. Happy are they who obey its unexpected message.
The concluding words of the passage which opens with Solomons praises of the Shulammite present another of the many difficulties with which the poem abounds. Mention is made of Solomons sixty queens, his eighty concubines, his maidens without number; and then the Shulammite is contrasted with this vast seraglio as My dove, my undefiled, who is but one-the only one of her mother. Who is speaking here? If this is a continuation of Solomons speech, as the flow of the verses would suggest, it must mean that the king would set his newest acquisition quite apart from all the ladies of the harem, as his choices and treasured bride. Those who regard Solomon as the lover, think they see here what they call his conversion, that is to say his turning away from polygamy to monogamy. History knows of no such conversion; and it is hardly likely that a poet of the northern kingdom would go out of his way to whitewash the matrimonial reputation of a sovereign from whom the house of Judah was descended. Besides, the occurrence here represented bears a very dubious character when we consider that all the existing denizens of the harem were to be put aside in favour of a new beauty. It would have been more like a genuine conversion if Solomon had gone back to the love of his youth, and confined his affections to his neglected first wife. (ibid. pp. 533-34)
From a reading of several commentaries we are well aware that the above quotation will not be met with unanimous approval. We only offer what seems to us a consistent position. We believe the interpretation we have suggested compliments the teachings of the rest of the scriptures. We are asking this inspired poem which has in itself no certain interpretation to agree with the plain teaching of the rest of the word and not visa versa.
Marriage Son 6:1-10
Dear God, I want to be that pure man! I trust your heart has responded to the concept presented here as has mine. There is a beauty, a wonder, something awesome, and genuine in holiness. There is a motivation for living, suffering, working, yea, and dying in keeping myself for one woman.
There is nothing weak or unworthy about this look at marriage. It will not do to apply this to our wife and ask her if she is like the Shulammite-of course, we hope she is. But she will respond far more readily to our example of purity. If we are so in love with her that the offers of Satan do not tempt us then purity and oneness becomes a possibility. Lets look very closely at Solomons description-it will help us much. (1) He does not mention the lips or speech of the maiden. She had said nothing that pleased him, indeed, she could have spoken against him. It is more important that the conversation of our wife please us than her physical person. (2) Her penetrating gaze profoundly disturbed him-it was because her gaze was pure or unadulterated. Contrast the response of the shepherd to her look-it repulsed Solomon and encouraged the shepherd. (Son 4:9) (3) Even Solomon hesitated in pressing his attention on one whose virtuous behavior gave him no encouragement. The demeanor of our wives speaks far more eloquently than their lips. We need to separate selfishness from virtue. There is nothing virtuous about refusing the attentions of our wife or husband because such attention (particularly in the sexual realm) is not convenient. (Cf. 1Co 7:1 ff)
Communion Son 6:1-10
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other such blemish, but holy and blameless Eph 5:25-27. We are so very delighted and humbled to consider the fact that this is how our bridegroom looks at us, His Bride. But in the text before us we want to know how the world-or Solomon looks at us. Is the world non-plused by our transparent sincerity? A genuine consistent life is as imposing as troops marching with their banners. When Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for lying the result was as follows: And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all that heard these things . . . But of the rest durst no man join himself to them: howbeit the people magnified them; and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women; (Act 5:11; Act 5:13-14). It was the consistent lives of the Apostles and other Christians that led in this conquest. Have you ever been avoided because you were a Christian? Has someone refused to look you in the eye? We shouldnt be surprised. If such persons could voice their reaction it could be in the words of our text-Turn away thine eyes from me, for they are taking me by storm. Paul obtained this response from the governor Felix and his female companion, Drusilla. And as he reasoned of righteousness, and self-control, and judgment to come, Felix was terrified, and answered, Go thy way for this time; and when I have a convenient season, I will call thee unto me (Act 24:25). The Christian should indeed be attractive as a person-but pure and undefiled in character and this is a shock to many people.
Son 6:11
I. The Church is a garden in a valley. This sets forth (1) the nature of her distinction; (2) the sufficiency of the protection which she enjoys; (3) the abundance of her supplies; (4) the lowliness of her condition.
II. We have in this text Christ in the valley with His Church. He is with her (1) in the valley of temptation; (2) in the valley of tribulation; (3) in the valley of death.
III. The text shows us Christ in His Church, looking for evidences. He comes to see (1) the characteristics of true piety; (2) the diversity of true gifts; (3) the different developments of true life.
W. H. Burton, Penny Pulpit No. 741
References: Son 6:11.-J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Song of Songs, p. 275; S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii., p. 51. Son 6:12.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1155. Son 6:13.-Ibid., vol. x., No. 593, and vol. xxx., No. 1794; S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii., p. 256.
CHAPTER 6
The description of Her Beloved was addressed to the daughters of Jerusalem. Their answer is recorded in the beginning of this chapter. Her outburst of praise, her glowing testimony of Him, created the desire in the hearts of others to become His. Whither is thy Beloved gone? … We will seek Him with thee. The bride answers and then in words of precious assurance she declares, I am my Beloveds and my Beloved is mine.
Then the Bridegroom speaks in loving praise of her. He speaks of that which she is for Him. He owns that remnant as the only one of her mother (the nation Israel). Nor is she alone His dove, but she is fair as the moon and clear as the sun; glory covers her and she is like an army with banners displayed.
He went down into the garden, to look at the verdure of the valley, to see if His vine budded, and suddenly, before He is aware, His love makes Him like Ammi-nadib, which means the chariots of my willing people Psa 110:3. He leads them forth in triumph and in glory.
19.
Where is Christ to be found?
Son 6:1-3
Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee. My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.) I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.
It is written, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But before any sinner can or will call upon the name of the Lord in true faith and be saved at least three things must take place.
1. Before any man can or will trust Christ and be saved he must hear the gospel of the grace of God (Rom 10:14-17).
It is not enough that he hear and understand the religious opinions of men. He must hear the gospel! Martin Luther was exactly right when he said this passage of Scripture presents us with four impossibilities: (1.) It is impossible for a man to call on Christ unless he believes on Christ. (2.) It is impossible for a man to believe on Christ unless he has heard of Christ, unless he has heard the gospel of Christ. (3.) It is impossible for a man to hear of Christ without a preacher. And (4.) it is impossible for a man to preach Christ, truly to preach Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, unless he is sent of God to do so.
No one ever has been saved and no one ever will be saved apart from hearing the gospel of the grace of God in Christ preached by a man who is sent of God. But what is the gospel? It is the good news of effectual atonement and accomplished redemption in Christ. The only true gospel is that gospel which answers the question How can God be just and justify the ungodly? There is but one gospel. And that gospel is the gospel of Christs substitutionary, effectual redemption. The only way God can be both just and the Justifier of the ungodly, a just God and a Savior (Isa 45:20), is by the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, that sacrifice by which the Son of God fully satisfied all the claims of divine justice in the room and stead of his people.
2. Before any person can or will believe on Christ and be saved he must be regenerated by the grace and power of God the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:1-9).
Faith, like all other graces is the gift of God. Faith is not the cause, but the result of the new birth. While we recognize that no man in the Bible is to be looked upon as having eternal life until he has faith in Christ, we also recognize that before any sinner can or will have true faith he must be given life by the sovereign power of God the Holy Spirit. Regeneration is a resurrection from the dead. It is a new creation of life. The new birth is an implanting of a new heart and a new nature. It is not the work of man, but the work of God (Joh 1:12-13).
3. Before anyone can or will come to Christ, calling upon him in true faith, before any man can be saved the gospel of the grace and glory of God must be revealed in his heart (2Co 4:6; Mat 16:17).
The only way any person can ever know and understand the gospel is if God himself reveals the gospel (Joh 3:3; Joh 16:8-11).
In the passage now before us, the daughters of Jerusalem had heard of Christ. Though he was revealed only under the types and shadows of the Old Testament, they had heard him well described by one who knew him and loved him. They heard of the excellency of his character. They heard of the efficacy of his work. They heard of the exceeding greatness of his love.
They had heard of Christ; and that which they heard created in their hearts a desire to know Christ for themselves. So we see these daughters of Jerusalem asking where they might find the Lord. Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside? That we may seek him with thee. Where is Christ to be found? That is the question I want to answer in this chapter. No question could be of greater importance to eternity bound sinners. This I knowThe Lord is good to them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him (Lam 3:25). Are you seeking him? Those who seek the Lord feel their need of him. They seek him earnestly, with all their hearts. Those who truly seek the Lord shall find him (Jer 29:13). And those who seek the Lord must seek him in the place where he is most likely to be found. If we would know Christ and worship him, we must seek him; and it is wise to seek him in the place where he is likely to be found.
A very earnest question
Here is a very earnest question. “Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee” (Son 6:1). Here the daughters of Jerusalem, being anxious about their souls and anxious to know Christ, asked for help. They came to one who knew the Lord, and said, Where can we find him? They are like those Greeks who came to Philip, and said, Sir, we would see Jesus. Really, the question is this. Where can we find that Beloved One in whom sinners are accepted, justified, and forgiven? Where can we find that One who is so great and yet so gracious? Where can we find this Friend of sinners?
What inspired the daughters of Jerusalem to ask this question? They saw and recognized the blessedness of the Lords people. They call the church of God the fairest among women. They heard the faithful testimony of a believer about Christ. Though in this particular place, the Lords church was much to be blamed; (Her sin and neglect were great. Her heart was greatly troubled.), yet she had born loving and faithful witness to Christ. It is as though she had said, Though I do not now enjoy his presence and a sense of communion with him, I can speak of him. I can talk of my Beloved; and she did. She plainly declared what she had seen and heard, tasted and experienced of the Saviors love and grace (1Jn 1:1-3).
Truly, there is no better medicine for a despondent heart than to talk of Christ. There is no better cure for spiritually troubled believers than to talk of Christ. Believers may not always sense his presence, but we can always talk about him. And those who speak of him with love and faith will not be long kept from his fellowship. (See Son 6:4-9).
Why did the daughters of Jerusalem ask this question? We are told plainly that they wanted Christ for themselves. That we may seek him with thee. Theirs was not an idle curiosity about religion. They wanted Christ. They were determined to find him. It is as though they said, If there is such a God and Savior as this, we cannot rest until we find him. We must have him. Without him, we will surely perish! We are resolved, we are determined to have Christ.
Wealth and honor we disdain, earthly comforts all are vain;
These can never satisfy, give us Christ, or else we die!
A very confident answer
In Son 6:2 the Lords redeemed gives a very confident answer to the daughters of Jerusalem. “My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.” Here the spouse, the church, the child of God was given yet another opportunity to speak of her Beloved. While she was pointing the daughters of Jerusalem to Christ, she was also ministering to her own heart. Though she had, for the time being, lost the sense of his presence by her own slothfulness, she now speaks very confidently. She says, I know where he is. I know where the Lord reveals himself. I know where he is to be found. And then she shows them. My Beloved is gone down into his garden. Though this text speaks of Christ coming down to his garden to visit his people with grace and mercy, he has now gone up to heaven, the garden of God, where he sits upon the throne of universal dominion (Heb 10:12).
Do any ask, Where is Christ to be found? The Lord Jesus Christ is to be found in the midst of his church and people. He had said, I am come into my garden (Son 5:1). And now, the spouse seems to say, How foolish I have been, fretting and worrying myself about where to find him, seeking him where he is not to be found. He told me where he is. He is in his garden! His garden is the church considered as a whole. The beds of spices and the smaller gardens may refer to the many congregations of the Lords people. The spices and the lilies may be taken to refer to individual believers.
The church is the Lords garden. He bought it with his blood. He encloses it with his providence. He plants it by his grace. He protects it by his power. And he dwells there. Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ dwells in the midst of his people. He is always with his beloved (Mat 18:20; Mat 28:20; Php 4:5). The Son of God still walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks (Rev 1:9-20).
If you are interested in your immortal soul, if you seek the Lord, you must not neglect the public assembly of his people to worship him and hear his Word. More often than not, when the Lord intends to save one of his sheep, he causes that sheep to gather with his people in the house of worship. What is the Lord doing in his garden?
There, in the assembly of his saints, he feeds his flock by the ministry of the Word. He has chosen pastors according to his own heart, who feed his sheep with knowledge and understanding (Jer 3:15; Act 20:28; Joh 21:15-17; Eph 4:8-16).
He also feeds himself in his garden. That is to say, he gathers the products of his own grace in his people and finds satisfaction and pleasure in the fruit of his own labor. The Lord taketh pleasure in those that fear him. Matthew Henry said, He has many gardens, many particular churches of different sizes and shapes; but while they are his, he feeds in them all, manifests himself among them, and is well-pleased with them.
The Lord Jesus gathers lilies in his garden, lilies with which he is pleased to entertain and adorn himself. Of course, these lilies are his own people, the flowers of his grace and mercy. There was a great gathering of his lilies, his elect people, by his death upon the cross (Eph 2:4-6; Joh 11:51-52). Today, by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, through the ministry of the gospel, Christ is still gathering his lilies. He gathers his lilies from his garden when he calls them up to glory. Soon he is coming to gather all of his lilies (1Th 4:13-18). One of the old writers said, He picks the lilies one by one, and gathers them to himself. And there will be a general harvest of them in the great day, when he will send forth his angels, to gather all his lilies, that he may be forever glorified and admired in them.
A very comforting assurance
In verse three, the church, the bride of Christ speaks a word of very comforting assurance to her own heart.”I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.” Though the Lord has withdrawn from her the sense and manifestation of his presence, she was comforted by faith in his Word. She was assured of her relationship with him, because she knew it depended not upon her faithfulness but his faithfulness. She says, I am my Beloveds; and my Beloved is mine: He feedeth among the lilies. In spite of her own sin, negligence, and unbelief, she expresses three things about which she was sure. From these she draws great comfort.
First, she says, I am my Beloveds. She had acted shamefully toward him. Therefore, in love he chastened her for a while. But she knew that her standing was not upon her works, but upon his works. Her acceptance was not by works, but by grace. Therefore, she takes a fresh hold upon that firm and everlasting covenant, which stands unbroken in spite of our many sins (Psa 89:30-35).
She says, I am, even now, My Beloveds. Let every believer look upon Christ with such confident faith, knowing our own sin and corruption, and declare, I am my Beloveds by an eternal gift, by a loving election, by a special redemption, and by a distinguishing grace. Yes, I am his! Nothing that I have done or ever shall do can change that fact. What comfort there is in such an assurance!
Second, she declares, my Beloved is mine! This is even better. Since Christ is mine, I neither want nor need anything else. He is all I need. Here is the glory and beauty of faith. It believes Christ, even when he is not seen and his presence is not felt. Child of God, your salvation depends not upon feeling or experience, but upon Christ! He is yours, because the Father gave him to you. He is yours, because he swore that he would be. He said, I will be for thee. He is yours, because he revealed himself to you. He is yours, because you trust him, because he gives you faith to trust him.
Third, she says, He feedeth among the lilies. She seems to be saying, I know that Christ is mine and that I am his. And I know that he feeds among the lilies. He meets with his people in his garden, talks with them, and communes with them, and reveals himself to them. Therefore, I know if I am in his garden when he comes among his lilies, I will meet with him again.
Let us ever rest confidently upon our great Saviors covenant faithfulness (2Sa 23:5). And let us ever cherish the privilege of gathering with his saints in his garden, where he still feedeth among the lilies (Heb 10:25).
we may seek him
So soon as the bride witnesses to the Bridegroom’s own personal loveliness, a desire is awakened in the daughters of Jerusalem to seek Him.
O thou: Son 6:4, Son 6:9, Son 6:10, Son 1:8, Son 2:2, Son 5:9
that: Son 1:4, Rth 1:16, Rth 1:17, Rth 2:12, Isa 2:5, Jer 14:8, Zec 8:21-23, Act 5:11-14
Reciprocal: Psa 45:14 – virgins Mat 25:1 – ten Luk 5:34 – the children Joh 20:15 – whom Act 17:4 – some
Acts 4, SCENE 1 This subsection corresponds to the afternoon of the fourth day, and carries us through chapter 6. The occasion looks like a formal visit of the bridegroom, with his courtiers, to the bride and her maids of honor. The place is a room in her future palace. Solomon begins his praises (Son 6:4-12), when the bride rises to retire, but the courtiers beg her to remain (Son 6:13). The ladies inquire, What will ye see in the Shulamite? or Why do ye desire her to tarry longer?
Acts 5, SCENE 1 On this, the morning of the fifth day, the bridesmaids are describing the nuptial wardrobe as they assist the bride in her toilet (Son 7:1-6). Compare the wardrobe in Isa 3:16-24. See also a parallel in Psalms 45.
Acts 5, SCENE 1 The afternoon of the same day (Son 7:7 to Son 8:3), is a representation of a more private interview between the two, when they avow their attachment for each other. As the week advances they are thus gradually brought into closer acquaintance with one another and their affection increases. The bridegroom begins the conversation (Son 7:7-9), and the bride responds in an undertone (Son 7:10), but subsequently reverts to the rural haunts of her maternal home, whither she would invite him (Son 7:12-13 and continuing into the next chapter).
The warmth of these expressions seem to many too amatory for spiritual interpretation, but following Strong, we keep two considerations before us: (1) It is the bride who speaks in the most ardent terms, not the bridegroom, and it is only right to assume a pure and refined nature behind them appropriate to her sex and innocence; and (2) It is no cold platonic love which the Bible employs as the emblem of Christs feeling for His church, but something very different. See Eph 5:28-33.
Acts 6, SCENE 1 This is the wedding day. Son 8:4-7 may be taken as corresponding to the formal espousal in the presence of witnesses after the manner of the Hebrews.
Solomon arrives early (Son 8:4), but the bride soon joins him, and then the guests are represented as asking the question in Son 8:5.
The bride is pointing out to the bridegroom the scene of their earliest acquaintance (Son 8:5-7). (See the Revised Version for an improved rendering of this and other passages referred to.) Compare Jer 2:2 for Jehovahs reference to the warmth of the early zeal of His people toward Him.
Acts 6, SCENE 1 This synchronizes with the afternoon of the sixth day, and gives an account of the dower portion of the bride. The matter is negotiated by her brothers, who, in their deliberations aside, speak depreciatingly of her as they had been accustomed to do ever since her tender age. It is they who speak in Son 8:8. When they say, If she be a wall (Son 8:9), they refer to her external appearance suggesting to them the blank and unadorned structure facing the street in oriental houses.
The bride overhears, and interrupts indignantly in Son 8:10, reminding them that she has found favor in the eyes of her beloved. She then takes the negotiation into her own hands, settling the income of her private estate upon the bridegroom (Son 8:11-12).
The bridegroom now calls to her in Son 8:14 and she responds in the closing verse, which has been compared with the final invocation of the Apocalypse to the Lord Jesus, Even so, come!
ANSWERS TO CRITICISM AND OBJECTIONS
At the close of Strongs exposition there follows his vindication of the book in which he deals with criticism and objections, some of the answers to which are here in a condensed form.
There are those who speak of the song as indecent, but this is explained by ignorance of the plot and its language. Even the bare outline of the plot largely disproves this, to say nothing of the better translation which accompanies it and which space does not permit us to give except a word here and there. There is a profound and hallowed instinct at the foundation of the marriage state, and where no sin is, it may be alluded to by lips of purity.
Some object that it is purely a love song, nothing more, and therefore unworthy of a place in holy writ; but Jews and Christians in all the ages have maintained its spiritual interpretation. They may have differed in the details of its application, but they have seen in it a foreshadowing of the relation of Jehovah to Israel, or Christ to His church.
Of course, a love scene is the ground of the song, but its final import is of a higher significance. Figurative language has a two-fold application, the literal and the symbolic, a present physical scene which is the type of a distant event or a spiritual principle. The physical is usually depicted with particularity, but it is not proper to pursue the parallel into all the minuteness of the application. A parable does not run on all fours.
A third class have considered the book irreverent, and deprecated addressing God in such familiar intimacy as its dialogues involve when considered symbolically. But the answer is first, that the language is not thought of as used by individuals in their personal capacity, but by the Jewish nation collectively, or the church considered as the bride of Christ. Charles Wesley, and other hymn writers, employ the same sentiments in their lyrics intended for public worship. Secondly, the bridegroom typified here, is not God in His sovereign capacity, but the Redeemer in His revealed relation as partaker of our human nature. Moreover, the bride is not the church in her present weak and defective life and experience, but as presented unto Him, not having spot, or wrinkle or any such thing (Eph 5:27).
A fourth class speak of the book as unedifying, which they think is justified by the fact that it is so little used. But there are other parts of the Bible of which the same might be said, and yet they are inspired, and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness (1Ti 3:16), even though not as much so as other Scriptures. Strong maintains that the fault in this case lies largely in our poor version of the Song poor not only in translation but arrangement. This is true not only of the King James Version but of more modern ones in English. The foregoing exposition furnishes a hint as to the possibilities in the book, if it had a better literary form.
Son 6:1-2. Whither is thy beloved gone Namely, from thee: see chap. 5:6, 8. These are the words of the daughters of Jerusalem, last mentioned, whom the preceding full and pathetical description of the bridegrooms excellence had inflamed with love to him. My beloved is gone into his garden The spouse had hitherto been at a loss for her beloved, but, having diligently sought him, now at last she meets with a gracious answer from God, directing her where to find him. The garden may signify the church catholic, and the gardens, as it follows, as also the beds, the particular assemblies of the faithful, in which Christ affords his presence. To the beds of spices In which the gifts and graces of Gods Spirit, fitly compared to spices, or aromatical flowers, appear and grow. To feed To refresh and delight himself. To gather lilies Which may denote either particular believers, whom Christ gathers to himself in his church, or the prayers and praises of his people in the public congregations.
Son 6:1. Whither is thy beloved gone? These are words of the ladies of honour, tenderly interested for their princess in a moment of anxiety. That we may seek him with thee. Thus should the soul enquire after Christ, and so should the faithful associate in prayer for the reviving influences of his presence; for no earthly good can supply his absence.
Son 6:2. My beloved is gone down into his garden, where every beauty of nature is joined with works of art. The bride knew where the Lord was. So Christ walks in his garden, the church, and amid the seven golden candlesticks. He cheers the heavens with his presence, and casts his kind regards on earth. Oh Zion, thy Lord is not far off. He is only in the garden, and will soon return: he is gone to see how the vine flourishes.
Son 6:3. I am my beloveds, and my beloved is mine. Solomon here admits that a man can have but one wife. His court of women was therefore an oriental court of policy to ensure the throne; but experience proves that it often overturns the throne, and occasions the excision of the whole reigning family. The quarrels, the revolts and cruelties of so many jealous brothers, endanger the peace and safety of the nation.But the true spirit of the text is to console the church with the doctrine of assurance. Under transient clouds she is not to doubt. The ever-shining sun is bright behind the cloud, the light will shine again, and the Lord will soon return.
Son 6:4. Thou art beautiful, oh my love, as Tirzah, a city of Ephraim. Tir in the Hebrew and the Gothic, sister tongues, designates the superlative degree, as tireadig, most blessed. Tyrconnel, the most knowing, or enlightened of God. Tirshatha, the governor.Comely as Jerusalem, the joy of the whole earth, whose hills were adorned with mansions and rural graces. The Hebrews could boast of Tirzah, the French of Montpelier, and the English of Bath, as the most beautiful cities in the world. But all their beauties are thrown into the shade, when compared with the moral grandeur of the city of God. Terrible as an army with banners. A queen may have her court, and her powers; but these words unaptly apply to a woman. The church however has power with God, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against her.
Son 6:7. As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples. This beautiful fruit has a particular rouge on one side, as also in its sections; and might on that account be preferred as an emblem of unspotted innocence.
Son 6:10. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning; which presents the most enchanting vision, and fills the mind with contemplation, after presenting us with a new day, and all the glories and beauties of nature. Fair as the full-orbed moon, which cheers the night; and clear as the sun, whose splendour is a shadow of the supreme Being; she is therefore clothed with Christ, the sun of righteousness. Terrible also as an army with banners. All that meddle with Zion, shall meddle to their hurt: the armies of heaven are at her command. When the root of Jesse shall spread his branches, and display his banners, in Him shall the gentiles trust. The danger is great when we provoke the anger of the church.
Son 6:12. The chariots of Amminadib. He is thought to have been a captain general, distinguished, like Jehu, for pursuing his foes.
Son 6:13. Return, return, oh Shulamite; return, return. Hebrews Shulamith, is given by our critics as the feminine of Solomon; as Agrippina, the wife of Agrippa; Chaia, the wife of Chaius; it being the ancient custom of princesses to assume the names of their husbands. This is the voice of the bridegroom to the bride. Of course this verse should not have been divided from the verses in the following chapter. The Chaldaic reading refers the text to the Hebrew church: Return, return, oh congregation of Israel: return to Jerusalem.
REFLECTIONS.
The church is here presented as exulting in the grace and glory of Christ, walking in all the delights of communion with God, and the full assurance of his love.
The Messiah recounts her graces, and the excellencies of her regenerate character; he recounts them in enlivened figures, which are suggested by the accomplishments and ornaments of a princess. Moses by other similies does the same. As the eagle rejoices over her young, and flutters over them, and bears them up on her wings, so will thy God rejoice over thee.
At the tenth verse, he brings the portrait to the true sublime. The church looks like the welcome light of morning, when the light is cheered by retiring shades, and by the incense of nature exhaled in the early dews. She is pleasant as the moon, with all her influences to cheer the night; glorious as the sun to rule the day; and terrible as an army with banners, having all the powers of heaven, and the gentiles in her train. Every christian should try to be such a character of glory, beauty, and innocence in the eyes of the Lord.
We have next the call to the gentile church to return to the Lord. Return, return, oh Shulamite; that is, oh woman, the perfection of beauty. This cannot be restricted to Pharaohs daughter, because the two armies seen in the church refer to the two great armies, the jewish and the gentile converts to Christ.
We have here much cause to blame the Arian writers, who divide this book into the seven days of Solomons marriage-feast. If that were all, why did the holy prophets admit this book into the sacred volume; and why do the prophets and apostles admit the marriage of the Lamb, in characters so prominent? We have no proof that Pharaohs daughter was the only child of her mother. But the church of Christ is incontestibly the only daughter of the Father and Lord of all.
If we are not to look higher than Solomons wife; if Quintilian has censured Homer and Virgil for extravagant uses of figures; what would he have said of the royal scribe for saying of a woman, that she was like a flock of sheep, each ewe bearing twins! This delicately applies to the church of the gentiles, whose children are more numerous than those of the Jews, the married wife.
Son 5:8 to Son 6:3. Descriptive Poem (Wasf): The Strength and Beauty of the Bridegroom.On this view, Son 6:8 f. is taken as an introduction to the praises of the beloved, and whether there is any real connexion with the dream poem is uncertain.
Son 6:1-3. These verses form a conclusion to the descriptive poem; if we cannot take them as referring to an absent shepherd lover, then we must regard the symbols of the enjoyment of love as having the same meaning here as in other parts of the book. The bride can answer questions about this wonderful lover by saying simply that they possess each other, and are sufficient for each others happiness (Son 4:12-16, Son 5:13).
The Daughters of Jerusalem.
(Son 6:1).
1. Whither is thy beloved gone,
Thou fairest among women?
Whither is thy beloved turned aside?
And we will seek him with thee.
The lovely description of the Bridegroom: raises a further question in the minds of the daughters of Jerusalem. They had inquired, “What is thy beloved more than another beloved?” Now they ask, “Whither is thy beloved gone?” The full revival of the bride’s affections lies in the answer to these two questions. If our love to Christ has grown cold, let us but answer the two questions, “Who is He?” and “Where is He?” and once again, as we are occupied with Him, our cold hearts will be warmed with the glow of His love.
The Bride.
(Son 6:2-3),
2. My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices.
To feed in the gardens and to gather lilies.
3. I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine:
He feedeth [his flock] among the lilies.
The bride has dwelt with rapture on the perfections of the Bridegroom, and occupation with Him has so quickened her intelligence that she can at once tell whither the Beloved is gone. She had sought him in the city but he was not there. “My Beloved,” she says, “is gone down into his garden,” a fragrant spot where he can feed and gather lilies. There are none that minister to the heart of Christ in this world but “His own which are in the world.” With them is all His delight. There only He finds the bed of spices. The garden of the Lord is composed of His loved ones, and the restored soul knows full well that Christ can be found with His people. It was thus with the two disciples of Emmaus. When restored they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem (Luke 24).
The Bridegroom.
(6: 4-9).
4. Thou art fair, my love, as Tirzah,
Comely as Jerusalem,
Terrible as troops with banners:
Step by step the bride is led on until she finds herself in the presence of the Bridegroom, and at last hears his voice. The first words that fall on her astonished ears are, “Thou art fair, my love.” What more touching to the heart that has wandered and grown cold than to be drawn again into His presence; there to realise, in all its sweetness, that, in spite of an our wanderings it can still say, “I am His and He is mine,” and to hear those words pregnant with grace to a restored soul, “Thou art fair, my love.” Just when the heart is ready to reproach itself with having wandered from such a Saviour, at the very moment when the restored soul is so sensible of its own unworthiness, how sweet to hear Him say, “Thou art fair, my love.” When my heart may well feel how truly I have merited a word of reproach, how touching to be greeted with a word of appreciation. Do we not recall a scene like this on the Lord’s resurrection day. His own were gathered behind closed doors and “Jesus Himself stood in the midst.” Some of them had slept in the hour of His agony, all of them had forsaken Him in the presence of His enemies and fled from Him in the day of battle. We may well ask, therefore, will He be against them in this the day of His victory? Ah no I the first words He utters are “Peace unto you.”
The Bridegroom continues to express the attraction he finds in the one who had cost him so much. Earth’s fairest cities, and the world’s bravest display are pressed into service to figure the beauty of the bride.
5. Turn away shine eyes from me,
For they overcome me.
Thy hair is as a flock of goats
On the slopes of Gilead.
6. Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep
Which go up from the washing;
Which have all borne twins,
And none is barren among them.
7. As a piece of pomegranate are thy temples
Behind thy veil.
In spite of her wanderings the thoughts of the Bridegroom towards his bride have not changed. The same figures are used to describe her perfections as in a former canticle. (4: 1-3). She is thus assured there is no change in his heart.
8. There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines,
And virgins without number:
9. My dove, mine undefiled, is but one;
She is the only one of her mother,
She is the choice one of her that bore her.
The daughters saw her, and they called her blessed;
The queen and the concubines, and they praised her.
Here the Bridegroom no longer speaks to the bride, though he speaks about her. He is not content to assure the heart of the bride of his unchanging love and appreciation, but he goes further; he will vindicate her before others. All the world shall know that he has loved her, and that she has a unique place in his affections. There may be other queens and other wives, but his bride holds a supreme place in his affections. None can compare with her, and by unfolding before others all that she is to him, he secures the praise of the world for his bride. Thus will it be with restored Israel among the nations in a day to come. And thus will it be when at last the wanderings of the church are over, according to those touching words of the Lord, “I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.” And is it otherwise with a restored soul? Not only is failing Peter restored in secret to communion with the Lord. but he is publicly owned and honoured in the service of the Lord.
The Daughters of Jerusalem.
(6: 10).
10. Who is she that looketh forth as the dawn,
Fair as the moon, clear as the sun,
Terrible as troops with banners.
The Bridegroom has said that the daughters should bless the bride and the queens should praise her, and now they unite to celebrate her glories. The Bridegroom had used the fairest cities of earth to set forth her beauty, and now the daughters of Jerusalem use the most glorious objects in the heavens to express their praise of the restored bride. All trace of failure and wandering days are passed, and she comes forth fresh as the morning, pure as the light of the moon, and glorious as the sun.
The Bridegroom.
(6: 11, 12).
11. I went down into the garden of nuts,
To see the verdure of the valley,
To see whether the vine budded,
Whether the pomegranates blossomed.
The canticle closes with the Bridegroom’s satisfaction as he sees of the fruit of the travail of his soul. Our Beloved has been into the valley of death to secure His bride. We too, like the bride of the Song, have been, in our wilderness journey, into the valley of humiliation, but at last Christ will gather “the fruits of the valley.” He will take His place in His garden, in the midst of His own, and find fruit sweet to His taste. Time was when He came into the midst of His earthly people seeking fruit but finding none. When He comes seeking fruit in the day of His glory, will He find fruit? Will the vines bud and the pomegranates blossom? The answer immediately comes –
12. Before I was aware
My soul set me upon the chariots of my willing people.
His willing people at once yield to Him the place of victory and glory. They set Him upon the chariots. They can say in the language of the Psalm, “In thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness.” Time was when the bride repelled the Bridegroom, but now He is received with acclaim. He may indeed work so wondrously that His people will receive the praise of all the world but, after all, it is He who is the victor. He is the One that is exalted to the chariots of His willing people. Restored Israel will say “He hath done this” (Psa 22:31). The glorified church will cast their crowns before Him, saying, “Thou art worthy, O Lord.” All the redeemed, whether earthly or heavenly, will at last unite to exalt the Lord. In different times and in different ways the Lord will be set upon the chariots of His willing people.
Canticle 5. Son 6:13-8:4.
The Witness and Communion of Love.
The previous Canticle closes with the restored bride in happy communion with the Bridegroom in the garden of nuts. In this Canticle two scenes pass before us. In the first, the bride is displayed before the daughters of Jerusalem in all the comeliness the King has put upon her (Son 6:13-7:5). In the second, the Bridegroom and the bride are found in happy and unrestrained communion (Son 7:6-8:4).
The bride, having been restored, becomes a witness to the affections of the Bridegroom before others. This witness is maintained by a walk in communion with the Bridegroom. So with ourselves, the fruits of restoration are seen in the display of the moral beauties of Christ, and this can be only maintained by a walk in communion with Christ. It was thus in the history of restored Peter. In the early part of Acts 4. he is before the world in a way that leads them to discern that he “had been with Jesus” and in the latter part of the chapter he retires to his “own company” to hold sweet communion with the Lord”
The Daughters of Jerusalem.
13. Return, return, O Shulamite;
Return, return, that we may look upon thee.
The scene opens with the daughters of Jerusalem calling upon the bride to return. They had already heard from her lips the rapturous description of the Bridegroom, awakening in their hearts desires after the Bridegroom; then, apparently, she left them to join her Beloved in the garden of spices, and now they plead with her to return. Possibly the secret of their plea is the desire to learn more of the Bridegroom, and who so fitted to witness of the Bridegroom as the bride, for now they recognise she is in relation with the King. For the first time they speak of her as the Shulamite – the name of Solomon in its feminine form.
The Bride.
13. What would ye look upon in the Shulamite!
In reply to the call of the daughters of Jerusalem the bride expresses wonder that they should desire to look upon her.
The Daughters of Jerusalem.
(Son 6:13; Son 7:1-5).
13. As it were the dance of two camps.
This appears to be the answer of the daughters of Jerusalem. The text may be translated, “As it were the dance of Mahanaim.” The allusion is probably to the day when Jacob left the land of Mesopotamia to go to the promised land with his wives, his children, his servants and all his goods. In the way “the angels of God met him; and when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim” (i.e., two hosts or camps). There the heavenly and the earthly host met, and here the Bridegroom and the bride have met in the garden of the King, and the daughters say, in the language of figure, “We would see the effect of this meeting.” How good when others can see the effect of our having been “with Jesus.” In response the bride stands before them in all her beauty, and with great delight the daughters of Jerusalem describe her loveliness.
6:1 Where is thy beloved gone, {k} O thou fairest among women? where is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.
(k) Hearing of the excellency of Christ, the faithful desire to know how to find him.
3. Steps toward reconciliation 6:1-3
The Shulammite convinced the daughters of Jerusalem that her love for her husband was deep and genuine. They agreed to search for Solomon with her.
MYSTICAL INTERPRETATIONS
THUS far we have been considering the bare, literal sense of the text. It cannot be denied that, if only to lead up to the metaphorical significance of the words employed, those words must be approached through their primary physical meanings. This is essential even to the understanding of pure allegory such as that of “The Faerie Queene” and “The Pilgrims Progress”; we must understand the adventures of the Red Cross Knight and the course of Christians journey before we can learn the moral of Spensers and Bunyans elaborate allegories. Similarly it is absolutely necessary for us to have some idea of the movement of the Song of Solomon as a piece of literature, in its external form, even if we are persuaded that beneath this sensuous exterior it contains the most profound ideas, before we can discover any such ideas. In other words, if it is to be considered as a mass of symbolism the symbols must be understood in themselves before their significance can be drawn out of them.
But now we are confronted with the question whether the book has any other meaning than that which meets the eye. The answers to this question are given on three distinct lines:-First, we have the allegorical schemes of interpretation, according to which the poem is not to be taken literally at all, but is to be regarded as a purely metaphorical representation of national or Church history, philosophical ideas, or spiritual experiences. In the second place, we meet with various forms of double interpretation, described as typical or mystical, in which a primary meaning is allowed to the book as a sort of drama or idyl, or as a collection of Jewish love-songs, while a secondary signification of an ideal or spiritual character is added. Distinct as these lines of interpretation are in themselves, they tend to blend in practice, because even when two meanings are admitted the symbolical signification is considered to be of so much greater importance than the literal that it virtually occupies the whole field. In the third place there is the purely literal interpretation, that which denies the existence of any symbolical or mystical intention in the poem.
Allegorical interpretations of the Song of Solomon are found among the Jews early in the Christian era. The Aramaic Targum, probably originating about the sixth century A.D., takes the first half of the poem as a symbolical picture of the history of Israel previous to the captivity, and the second as a prophetic picture of the subsequent fortunes of the nation. The recurrence of the expression “the congregation of Israel” in this paraphrase wherever the Shulammite appears, and other similar adaptations, entirely destroy the fine poetic flavour of the work, and convert it into a dreary, dry-as-dust composition.
Symbolical interpretations were very popular among Christian Fathers-though not with universal approval, as the protest of Theodore of Mopsuestia testifies. The great Alexandrian Origen is the founder and patron of this method of interpreting the Song of Solomon in the Church. Jerome was of opinion that Origen “surpassed himself” in his commentary on the poem-a commentary to which he devoted ten volumes. According to his view, it was originally an epithalamium celebrating the marriage of Solomon with Pharaohs daughter; but it has secondary mystical meanings descriptive of the relation of the Redeemer to the Church or the individual soul. Thus “the little foxes that spoil the grapes” are evil thoughts in the individual, or heretics in the Church. Gregory the Great contributes a commentary of no lasting interest. Very different is the work of the great mediaeval monk St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who threw himself into it with all the passion and rapture of his enthusiastic soul, and in the course of eighty-six homilies only reached the beginning of the third chapter in this to him inexhaustible mine of spiritual wealth, when he died, handing on the task to his faithful disciple Gilbert Porretanus, who continued it on the same portentous scale, and also died before he had finished the fifth chapter. Even while reading the old monkish Latin in this late age we cannot fail to feel the glowing devotion that inspires it. Bernard is addressing his monks, to whom he says he need not give the milk for babes, and whom he exhorts to prepare their throats not for this milk but for bread. As a schoolman he cannot escape from metaphysical subtleties – he takes the kiss of the bridegroom as a symbol of the incarnation. But throughout there burns the perfect rapture of love to Jesus Christ which inspires his well-known hymns. Here we are at the secret of the extraordinary popularity of mystical interpretations of the Song of Solomon. It has seemed to many in all ages of the Christian Church to afford the best expression for the deepest spiritual relations of Christ and His people. Nevertheless, the mystical method has been widely disputed since the time of the Reformation. Luther complains of the “many wild and monstrous interpretations” that are attached to the Song of Solomon, though even he understands it as symbolical of Solomon and his state. Still, not a few of the most popular hymns of our own day are saturated with ideas and phrases gathered from this book, and fresh expositions of what are considered to be its spiritual lessons may still be met with.
It is not easy to discover any justification for the rabbinical explanation of the Song of Solomon as a representation of successive events in the history of Israel, an explanation which Jewish scholars have abandoned in favour of simple literalism. But the mystical view, according to which the poem sets forth spiritual ideas, has pleas urged in its favour that demand some consideration. We are reminded of the analogy of Oriental literature, which delights in parable to an extent unknown in the West. Works of a kindred nature are produced in which an allegorical signification is plainly intended. Thus the Hindoo “Gitagovinda” celebrates the loves of Chrishna and Radha in verses that bear a remarkable resemblance to the Song of Solomon. Arabian poets sing of the love of Joseph for Zuleikha, which mystics take as the love of God towards the soul that longs for union with Him. There is a Turkish mystical commentary on the Song of Hafiz.
The Bible itself furnishes us with suggestive analogies. Throughout the Old Testament the idea of a marriage union between God and His people occurs repeatedly, and the most frequent metaphor for religious apostasy is drawn from the crime of adultery. {e.g., Exo 34:15-16 Num 15:39 Psa 73:27 Eze 16:23, etc.} This symbolism is especially prominent in the writings of Jeremiah {e.g., Jer 3:1-11} and Hosea. {Hos 2:2; Hos 3:3} The forty-fifth psalm is an epithalamium commonly read with a Messianic signification. John the Baptist describes the coming Messiah as the Bridegroom, {Joh 3:20} and Jesus Christ accepts the title for Himself. {Mar 2:19} Our Lord illustrates the blessedness of the Kingdom of Heaven in a parable of a wedding feast. {Mat 22:1-14} With St. Paul the union of husband and wife is an earthly copy of the Union of Christ and His Church. {Eph 5:22-33} The marriage of the Lamb is a prominent feature in the Book of the Revelation. {Rev 21:9}
Further, it may be maintained that the experience of Christians has demonstrated the aptness of the expression of the deepest spiritual truths in the imagery of the Song of Solomon. Sad hearts disappointed in their earthly hopes have found in the religious reading of this poem as a picture of their relation to their Saviour the satisfaction for which they have hungered, and which the world could never give them. Devout Christians have read in it the very echo of their own emotions. Samuel Rutherfords “Letters,” for example, are in perfect harmony with the religious interpretation of the Song of Solomon; and these letters stand in the first rank of devotional works. There is certainly some force in the argument that a key which seems to fit the lock so well must have been designed to do so.
On the other hand, the objections to a mystical, religious interpretation are very strong. In the first place, we can quite account for its appearance apart from any justification of it in the original intention of the author. Allegory was in the air at the time when, as far as we know, secondary meanings were first attached to the ideas of the Song of Solomon. They sprang from Alexandria, the home of allegory. Origen, who was the first Christian writer to work out a mystical explanation of this book, treated other books of the Old Testament in exactly the same way; but we never dream of following him in his fantastical interpretations of those works. There is no indication that the poem was understood allegorically or mystically as early as the first century of the Christian era. Philo is the prince of allegorists: but while he explains the narratives of the Pentateuch according to his favourite method, be never applies that method to this very tempting book, and never even mentions the work or makes any reference to its contents. The Song of Solomon is not once mentioned or even alluded to in the slightest way by any writer of the New Testament. Since it is never noticed by Christ or the Apostles, of course we cannot appeal to their authority for reading it mystically; and yet it was undoubtedly known to them as one of the books in the canon of the sacred Scriptures to which they were in the habit of appealing repeatedly. Consider the grave significance of this fact. All secondary interpretations of which we know anything, and, as far as we can tell, all that ever existed, had their origin in post-apostolic times. If we would justify this method by authority it is to the Fathers that we must go, not to Christ and His apostles, not to the sacred Scriptures. It is a noteworthy fact, too, that the word Eros, the Greek name for the love of man and woman, as distinguished from Agape, which stands for love in the widest sense of the word, is first applied to our Lord by Ignatius. Here we have the faint beginning of the stream of erotic religious fancies which sometimes manifests itself most objectionably in subsequent Church history. There is not a trace of it in the New Testament.
If the choice spiritual ideas which some people think they see in the Song of Solomon are not imported by the reader, but form part of the genuine contents of the book, how comes it that this fact was not recognised by one of the inspired writers of the New Testament? or, if privately recognised, that it was never utilised? In the hands of the mystical interpreter this work is about the most valuable part of the Old Testament. He finds it to be an inexhaustible mine of the most precious treasures. Why, then, was such a remunerative lode never worked by the first authorities in Christian teaching? It may be replied that we cannot prove much from a bare negative. The apostles may have had their own perfectly sufficient reasons for leaving to the Church of later ages the discovery of this valuable spiritual store. Possibly the converts of their day were not ripe for the comprehension of the mysteries here expounded. Be that as it may, clearly the onus probandi rests with those people of a later age who introduce a method of interpretation for which no sanction can be found in Scripture.
Now the analogies that have been referred to are not sufficient to establish any proof. In the case of the other poems mentioned above there are distinct indications of symbolical intentions. Thus in the “Gitagovinda” the hero is a divinity whose incarnations are acknowledged in Hidoo mythology; and the concluding verse of that poem points the moral by a direct assertion of the religious meaning of the whole composition. This is not the case with the Song of Solomon. We must not be misled by the chapter-headings in our English Bibles, which of course are not to be found in the original Hebrew text. From the first line to the last there is not the slightest hint in the poem itself that it was intended to be read in any mystical sense. This is contrary to the analogy of all allegories. The parable may be difficult to interpret, but at all events it must suggest that it is a parable; otherwise it defeats its own object. If the writer never drops any hint that he has wrapped up spiritual ideas in the sensuous imagery of his poetry, what right has he to expect that anybody will find them there, so long as his poem admits of a perfectly adequate explanation in a literal sense? We need not be so dense as to require the allegorist to say to us in so many words: “This is a parable.” But we may justly expect him to furnish us with some hint that his utterance is of such a character. Aesops fables carry their lessons on the surface of them, so that we can often anticipate the concluding morals that are attached to them. When Tennyson announced that the “Idyls of the King” constituted an allegory most people were taken by surprise; and yet the analogy of “The Faerie Queene,” and the lofty ethical ideas with which the poems are inspired, might have prepared us for the revelation. But we have no similar indications in the case of the Song of Solomon. If somebody were to propound a new theory of “The Vicar of Wakefield,” which should turn that exquisite tale into a parable of the Fall, it would not be enough for him to exercise his ingenuity in pointing out resemblances between the eighteenth-century romance and the ancient narrative of the serpents doings in the Garden of Eden. Since he could not shew that Goldsmith had the slightest intention of teaching anything of the kind, his exploit could be regarded as nothing but a piece of literary trifling.
The Biblical analogies already cited, in which the marriage relation between God or Christ and the Church or the soul are referred to, will not bear the strain that is put upon them when they are brought forward in order to justify a mystical interpretation of the Song of Solomon. At best they simply account for the emergence of this view of the book at a later time, or indicate that such a notion might be maintained if there were good reasons for adopting it. They cannot prove that in the present case it should be adopted. Moreover, they differ from it on two important points First, in harmony with all genuine allegories and metaphors, they carry their own evidence of a symbolical meaning, which as we have seen the Song of Solomon fails to do. Second, they are not elaborate compositions of a dramatic or idyllic character in which the passion of love is vividly illustrated. Regarded in its entirety, the Song of Solomon is quite without parallel in Scripture. It may be replied that we cannot disprove the allegorical intention of the book. But this is not the question. That intention requires to be proved; and until it is proved, or at least until some very good reasons are urged for adopting it, no statement of bare possibilities counts for anything.
But we may push the case further. There is a positive improbability of the highest order that the spiritual ideas read into the Song of Solomon by some of its Christian admirers should have been originally there. This would involve the most tremendous anachronism in all literature. The Song of Solomon is dated among the earlier works of the Old Testament. But the religious ideas now associated with it represent what, is regarded as the fruit of the most advanced saintliness ever attained in the Christian Church. Here we have a flat contradiction to the growth of revelation manifested throughout the whole course of Scripture history. We might as well ascribe the Sistine Madonna to the fresco-painters of the catacombs; or, what is more to the point, our Lords discourse with His disciples at the paschal meal to Solomon or some other Jew of his age.
No doubt the devoted follower of the mystical method will not be troubled by considerations such as these. To him the supposed fitness of the poem to convey his religious ideas is the one sufficient proof of an original design that it should serve that end. So long as the question is approached in this way, the absence of clear evidence only delights the prejudiced commentator with the opportunity it affords for the exercise of his ingenuity. To a certain school of readers the very obscurity of a book is its fascination. The less obvious a meaning is, the more eagerly do they set themselves to expound and defend it. We could leave them to what might be considered a very harmless diversion if it were not for other considerations. But we cannot forget that it is just this ingenious way of interpreting the Bible in accordance with preconceived opinions that has encouraged the quotation of the Sacred Volume in favour of absolutely contradictory propositions, an abuse which in its turn has provoked an inevitable reaction leading to contempt for the Bible as an obscure book which speaks with no certain voice.
Still, it may be contended, the analogy between the words of this poem and the spiritual experience of Christians is in itself an indication of intentional connection. Swedenborg has shewn that there are correspondences between the natural and the spiritual, and this truth is illustrated by the metaphorical references to marriage in the Bible which have been adduced for comparison with the Song of Solomon. But their very existence shows that analogies between religious experience and the love story of the Shulammite may be traced out by the reader without any design on the part of the author to present them. If they are natural they are universal, and any love song will serve our purpose. On this principle, if the Song of Solomon admits of mystical adaptation, so do Mrs. Brownings “Sonnets from the Portuguese.”
We have no alternative, then, but to conclude that the mystical interpretation of this work is based on a delusion. Moreover, it must be added that the delusion is a mischievous one. No doubt to many it has been as meat and drink. They have found in their reading of the Song of Solomon real spiritual refreshment, or they believe they have found it. But there is another side. The poem has been used to minister to a morbid, sentimental type of religion. More than any other influence, the mystical interpretation of this book has imported an effeminate element into the notion of the love of Christ, not one trace of which can be detected in the New Testament. The Catholic legend of the marriage of St. Catherine is somewhat redeemed by the high ascetic tone that pervades it; and yet it indicates a decline from the standpoint of the apostles. Not a few unquestionable revelations of immorality in convents have shed a ghastly light on the abuse of erotic religious fervour. Among Protestants it cannot be said that the most wholesome hymns are those which are composed on the model of the Song of Solomon. In some cases the religious use of this book is perfectly nauseous, indicating nothing less than a disease of religion. When-as sometimes happens-frightful excesses of sensuality follow close on seasons of what has been regarded as the revival of religion, the common explanation of these horrors is that in some mysterious way spiritual emotion lies very near to sensual appetite, so that an excitement of the one tends to rouse the other. A more revolting hypothesis, or one more insulting to religion, cannot be imagined. The truth is, the two regions are separate as the poles. The explanation of the phenomena of their apparent conjunction is to be found in quite another direction. It is that their victims have substituted for religion a sensuous excitement which is as little religious as the elation that follows indulgence in alcoholism. There is no more deadly temptation of the devil than that which hoodwinks deluded fanatics into making this terrible mistake. But it can scarcely be denied that the mystical reading of the Song of Solomon by unspiritual persons, or even by any persons who are not completely fortified against the danger, may tend in this fatal direction.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM
7. With Thee, an indication of the mystical and spiritual nature of the Song; otherwise an unacceptable compliment to the Bride.Henry. Christs true lovers and possessors, desire to see their number multiplied as much as possible. Joy in the possession of Christ by one, not diminished but increased, by the possession of Him by another. The Spouse of Christ one body, consisting of a multitude of individuals.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
that we may seek him with thee?
And to gather lilies.
Terrible as an army with banners.
Thy hair is as a flock of goats,
That lie along the side of Gilead.
And none is bereaved among them.
She is the choice one of her that bear her.
The daughters saw her, and called her blessed;
Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.
Clear as the sun,
Terrible as an army with banners?
Whither is thy beloved turned aside?
And we will seek him with thee.
*To delight himself in the gardens, (Dr. R. Young)
And to gather anemones.
Imposing as troops marching with their banners!
Thy hair resembles a flock of goats
That browse along the slopes of Gilead.
Each has its twin,
And none among them is bereaved.
Queens and concubines, too, praised her, saying,
Imposing as troops marching with their banners?
In the first refrain the daughters of Jerusalem are besought not to attempt to awaken the Shulammites love for Solomon; this is well balanced by the refrain in which she declares the constancy of the mutual love that exists between herself and the shepherd.
Now Solomon reappears on the scene, and resumes his laudation of the Shulammites beauty. But there is a marked change in his manner. This most recent capture is quite unlike the sort of girls with whom his harem was stocked from time to time. He had no reverence for any of them; they all considered themselves to be highly honoured by his favour, all adored him with slavish admiration, like, that expressed by one of them in the first line of the poem. But he is positively afraid of the Shulammite. She is terrible as an army with banners. He cannot bear to look at her eyes; he begs her to turn them away from him, for they have overcome him. What is the meaning of this new attitude on the part of the mighty monarch? There is something awful in the simple peasant girl. The purity, the constancy, the cold scorn with which she regards the king, are as humiliating as they are novel in his experience. Yet it is well for him that he is susceptible to their influence. He is greatly injured and corrupted by the manners of a luxurious Oriental court. But he is not a seared profligate. The vision of goodness startles him; but there is a better nature in him, and its slumbering powers are partly roused by this unexpected apparition.
We have now reached a very important point in the poem. It is almost impossible to reconcile this with the theory that Solomon is the one and only lover referred to throughout. But on the shepherd hypothesis the position is most significant. The value of constancy in love is not only seen in the steadfast character of one who is sorely tempted to yield to other influences; it is also apparent in the effects on a spectator of so uncongenial a nature as King Solomon. Thus the poet brings out the great idea of his work most vividly. He could not have done so more forcibly than by choosing the court of Solomon for the scene of the trial, and showing the startling effect of the noble virtue of constancy on the king himself.
Here we are face to face with one of the rescuing influences of life, which may be met in various forms. A true woman, an innocent child, a pure man, coming across the path of one who has permitted himself to slide down towards murky depths, arrests his attention with a, painful shock of surprise. The result is a revelation to him, in the light of which he discovers, to his horror, how far he has fallen. It is a sort of incarnate conscience, warning him of the still lower degradation towards which he is sinking. Perhaps it strikes him as a beacon light, showing the path up to purity and peace; an angel from heaven sent to help him retrace his steps and return to his better self. Few men are so abandoned as never to be visited by some such gleam from higher regions. To many, alas, it comes but as the temporary rift in the clouds through which for one brief moment the blue sky becomes visible even on a wild and stormy day, soon to be lost in deeper darkness. Happy are they who obey its unexpected message.
The concluding words of the passage which opens with Solomons praises of the Shulammite present another of the many difficulties with which the poem abounds. Mention is made of Solomons sixty queens, his eighty concubines, his maidens without number; and then the Shulammite is contrasted with this vast seraglio as My dove, my undefiled, who is but onethe only one of her mother. Who is speaking here? If this is a continuation of Solomons speech, as the flow of the verses would suggest, it must mean that the king would set his newest acquisition quite apart from all the ladies of the harem, as his choices and treasured bride. Those who regard Solomon as the lover, think they see here what they call his conversion, that is to say his turning away from polygamy to monogamy. History knows of no such conversion; and it is hardly likely that a poet of the northern kingdom would go out of his way to whitewash the matrimonial reputation of a sovereign from whom the house of Judah was descended. Besides, the occurrence here represented bears a very dubious character when we consider that all the existing denizens of the harem were to be put aside in favour of a new beauty. It would have been more like a genuine conversion if Solomon had gone back to the love of his youth, and confined his affections to his neglected first wife. (ibid. pp. 53334)
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
The cross shines forth in mystic glow.”
That sacred band, in serried ranks arrayed,
Each cheering on his brother to the fight.
The Spirit sword flashes in each right hand;
The shield of faith protects each steadfast breast;
The red cross banner glitters in their van,
As they press ever forwards; breathing all
The selfsame prayer, the selfsame
Presence high Abiding in each heart, the selfsame hope,
The glory crown in heaven, sustaining all.”
The humblest saint upon his knees.”
By want of thought
As well as want of heart.”
The consecration and the poet’s dream.”
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary