Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 8:5
Who [is] this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth [that] bore thee.
5. the wilderness ] i.e. the uncultivated open pasture lands round the village. This again is an insurmountable difficulty for Budde, as the same word in Son 3:6 was. Siegfried boldly tries to get over the difficulty by saying that the threshing-floor lay in the midhbr, and in Wetzstein’s account the marriage procession is said to move from the chaff-barn towards the threshing-floor. But unfortunately, the procession, if procession it be, is described as coming from the midhbr. Moreover, to make the threshing-floor a part of the midhbr is unheard of.
leaning upon her beloved ] i.e. she was supporting herself as weary with the journey.
I raised thee ] The pronouns thee and thy in the last clauses of this verse are masculine in the Massoretic text, and consequently make the Shulammite address the bridegroom. But the Syriac, which is followed by many commentators, reads the pronouns as feminine. The question is one of vowels, as the consonantal text is the same for both readings, and in all probability the feminine suffixes are correct, for no one’s mother but the bride’s has hitherto been spoken of, and the words are better suited to the bridegroom than to the bride. The clause should be rendered as in the R.V. I awakened thee. The lover, as he approaches the maiden’s home, points out places that are memorable to him. Under this apple tree he had, perhaps, kissed her awake. Cp. Tennyson’s Sleeping Beauty. This is better than, ‘here I first aroused thy love.’
there ] i.e. yonder, not under the apple tree, but in the house they are approaching.
thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee ] Better, as in the R.V., thy mother was in travail with thee, there was she in travail that brought thee forth.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Chap. Son 8:5-7. The Return in the Might of Love
The scene depicted in these verses is the return of the Shulammite with her lover to the village. As they draw near she leans upon him in weariness, and they are observed by some of the villagers, who ask the question in Son 8:5 a. The lovers meantime come slowly on, and as they come he points out an apple tree under which he had once found her sleeping and awaked her, and then as they come in sight of it, he points to her birthplace, her mother’s home. In Son 8:6-7 the Shulammite utters that great panegyric of love which is the climax and glory of the book. Because of this power of love which she feels in her heart she beseeches her lover to bind her closely to himself. For the Wetzstein-Budde theory these verses are full of insuperable difficulty. Such personal details as we have here cannot be made to fit into a collection of general wedding songs, and the advocates of that view have simply to give them up as a mere congeries of fragments. Taken as above, everything is simple, intelligible and natural.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The scene changes from Jerusalem to the birthplace of the bride, where she is seen coming up toward her mothers house, leaning on the arm of the great king her beloved.
Who is this – Compare and contrast with Son 3:6. In the former scene all was splendor and exaltation, but here condescension, humility, and loving charm.
I raised thee up … – Beneath this apple-tree I wakened thee. The king calls the brides attention to a fruit-tree, which they pass, the trysting-spot of earliest vows in this her home and birthplace. The Masoretic pointing of the Hebrew text (the most ancient traditional interpretation) assigns these words to the bride, but the majority of Christian fathers to the king. The whole passage gains in clearness and dramatic expression by the latter arrangement.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Son 8:5
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?
The state and attitude of a believer
I. The believers spiritual state. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness? From this desolate wilderness, the Church, and by consequence every believer, is represented as departing. The deliverance is not complete, the departure is not entire, while the follower of Christ is in the present state of being.
II. The attitude of a believers soul.
1. Dependence on Christ. By faith, believers lean upon the person of their glorious Redeemer for acceptance with God; upon His power for help; upon His love for joy; upon His faithfulness for hope.
2. Delighted affection.
3. Entire devotedness. (R. P. Buddicom, M. A.)
The Christian renouncing the world
I. The representation here given of the world; it is called a wilderness. By the world, I mean the things of the world, regarded as sources of happiness and satisfaction. It is totally insufficient for the supply of true and lasting happiness.
II. The conduct of every true Christian with respect to the world.
1. The true Christian no longer seeks his chief happiness from worldly things.
2. The real Christian uses great moderation, in his enjoyment even of lawful things. He does not venture to the edge of forbidden ground, but keeps at a cautious distance. He allows himself no gratification which is of a doubtful character. And even when he has reduced his cares and his pleasures to a much smaller compass than his worldly neighbours would think needful, he still sets a guard over his heart, lest it should be betrayed into too great an attachment to the things which remain.
3. The real Christian longs for his final translation to a better world.
III. The secret source and spring of the Christians conduct.
1. He is influenced to do this by the Love of Christ.
2. He is encouraged by the promises of Christ.
3. He is strengthened by the grace of Christ. (J. Jowett, M. A.)
True believers, espoused to Christ, turning their back on the world, and walking heavenward with Him, are a mystery, a strange sight in the world
I. I shall premise some things for right understanding the doctrine. Sin turned this world into an enemys country in respect of heaven, and so into a wilderness. This her going away up from the wilderness with her espoused Husband, is a going away in heart and affections; it is the souls motion heavenwards in this life, the last step of which is made at death. Christs bride at her waygoing, and ongoing with Him thus, is a mystery, a strange sight in the world.
II. I shall show in what respects believers are a mystery, a strange sight in the world; the power of godliness appearing in their walk at this rate, so that it is said of them, Who is this? There is something very amiable about them, as we are told of the primitive Christians (Act 2:46-47), that they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, etc. They are like foreigners in a country, apt to become a gazing-stock, a wonder, about which the natives cannot satisfy themselves.
III. I shall give the reasons of the point, that true believers are a mystery, a strange sight in the world.
1. Because they are so unlike the world, they are like speckled birds among the rest (1Pe 4:4).
2. Because they are so unlike themselves in former times.
3. Because they are very rare in the world; they are but here and there one for a marvel (Jer 3:14).
use
I. Of information.
1. Serious souls need not think it strange, if they become a wonder to many (Psa 71:7).
2. The world is no idle spectator of those who have given themselves to Christ, and profess to follow Him.
3. Those who shall still walk after the course of the world, continue sons of earth, not making away heavenward in the tenor of their life and conversation, are not espoused to Christ; though they have given Him the hand, they have not given Him the heart.
Use
II. Of exhortation. O Christians, communicants, walk so as the world may bear witness, that ye are going up out of the wilderness, leaning on your Beloved; that your faces and hearts are heavenward; that ye have set off from them, and are no more theirs. And further, if ye be clothed with humility and with humanity, meek, ruling your own spirit, doing good to all, even to those that wrong you; and are patient under trouble, and living by faith. (T. Boston, D. D.)
The life of believers as espoused to Christ, is a going up from the wilderness of this world, with Him, to His Fathers house in the heavenly Canaan
I. I shall take notice of some things supposed in this doctrine.
1. As soon as a soul is espoused to Christ, it is loosed from the world.
2. The soul espoused to Christ, being loosed from the world, is set in motion heavenwards, away from the world (Psa 84:5-7).
3. The believers journeying heavenwards is attended with many difficulties. It is an up-going, and that through a wilderness.
4. The believers passage to heaven is also a work of time. It is not a leaping out of the wilderness into Canaan, but a going up out of it by degrees. It cost Israel long forty years in the wilderness.
5. Christ is with the believer in the journey. It is a weary land they have to go through, but they are not alone in it (Son 4:8).
6. The end of this journey is a most comfortable one (Joh 14:2).
II. I shall unfold the believers life, as a going up from the wilderness of this world, typified by the Israelites going up from the wilderness to Canaan.
1. I shall show you how believers are brought unto the wilderness. The world is not a wilderness to them and in their esteem, till they be brought out of the Egyptian bondage of their natural state. Then, and not till then, they enter into their wilderness-state.
2. I shall show how the believer is set into the wilderness. When once converting grace has made a fair separation betwixt the sinner and the world, presently he enters into a wilderness-state.
(1) He cares not for the world as he was wont (Gal 6:14).
(2) The world cares not for him as before (Gal 6:14).
(3) Then it becomes, by Gods appointment, the place of trial for him, as the wilderness was to the Israelites (Deu 8:2).
(4) It is no more his home or his rest; but the place of his pilgrimage, the place he must travel through in his way home to his eternal rest (Heb 11:13).
3. I shall show how the believer is going up from the wilderness.
(1) By the course of nature, which is swift as a post, a ship, and as an eagles flight.
(2) In the habitual bent of his heart and affections. Believers hearts are turned off the world, and set on things above.
(3) In progressive sanctification (Pro 4:18).
(4) In obtaining victory over the world (1Jn 5:4).
4. The hardships and inconveniencies of the wilderness-road, which the believer must lay his account with, while he goes up from the wilderness. It is a difficult way through the wilderness. The road the travellers must go will try their patience, their strength, etc.
5. I now come to show the advantages and conveniencies of the wilderness-road. The people of God, while in the wilderness-world, have as much allowed them from heaven as may balance the hardships of the wilderness.
(1) The pillar of cloud to go before them in the wilderness.
(2) They have provision allowed them from heaven in the waste wilderness. The Kings country affords them provision for their journey.
(3) Sometimes they are allowed a song in the weary land, for their comfort and recreation by the way (Psa 119:54).
(4) The Lord is their banner in the wilderness, and so they may be sure of victory, they shall be conquerors in the war (Exo 17:15).
(5) There is healing in the wilderness for them, for the wounds got there.
(6) We must not forget the tabernacle in the wilderness, which was the comfort of the godly Israelites there. The tabernacle of Gospel-ordinances is the great comfort of the travellers towards Zion.
Use
I. Of information.
1. The people of God need not be surprised, that they meet with many hardships and trials in the world, and that it is a strange world to them. While they are in it, they are in a wilderness. How, then, can they expect other than a wilderness-life?
2. They have good reason to bear all the hardships of their wilderness-lot patiently, and with Christian fortitude and cheerfulness. And that
(1) Because they will not last, they will be over ere long; they are going up from the wilderness.
(2) Because the heavenly Canaan which the wilderness-read leads to, will make amends for all.
(3) Their lot is a wise mixture, take it at the worst.
3. They are not Israelites indeed, nor espoused to Christ, who are not going up from this world as a wilderness, in heart and affection, in life and conversation.
Use
II. Of caution. While ye are in the wilderness, beware of wilderness sins and snares.
1. Unbelief (Psa 68:22).
2. Murmuring (1Co 10:10).
3. Lusting (1Co 10:6).
4. Looking back to Egypt (Num 14:4).
5. Fawning and flattering enemies (Num 25:17-18).
6. The mixed multitude (Exo 12:38).
Use
III. Of exhortation.
1. Ye who profess to be espoused to Christ, evidence the reality of it by your going up from the wilderness-world with Him in heart and affection, in the progress of sanctification, and contempt of the world, holding off from the ways of it.
2. Strangers to Christ, be espoused to Him, that ye may go up with Him from this wilderness-world, to His Fathers house in the heavenly Canaan; believe that Christ is offered in an everlasting marriage-covenant to you. Embrace ye and accept, and so close with Him as your Head and Husband, for time and eternity. (T. Boston, D. D.)
The believers journey from the wilderness of this world to the heavenly Canaan
I. The character of a soul truly espoused to Christ. He is one that is aye breathing to more and more nearness to the Lord, and a more intimate fellowship and acquaintance with Him. The soul espoused to Christ is one who is bending his course heavenwards, and has his back turned upon this world as a howling wilderness. He is one whose life in this world is a life of faith and dependence on Christ.
II. The place of the present residence of the spouse of Christ; it is a wilderness, a very unheartsome lodging.
III. The course that the spouse is taking, or the earth toward which she is bending while in the wilderness; she is not going down, but coming up from the wilderness. And this, I conceive, may imply these things following.
1. That believers, or those who have really taken Christ by the hand, have, turned their back on the ways of sin, which lead down to the chambers of death.
2. That believers are pilgrims on the earth, and that this world is not their home.
3. A dissatisfaction with, and a disesteem of, this world, and all things in it; and therefore she has her back turned upon it, and her face toward a better earth.
4. That though she could find no rest nor quiet hereaway, yet she expected a quiet rest on the other side, or beyond the wilderness.
5. This coming up from the wilderness implies motion, and progress in her motion heavenwards.
6. This phrase of coming up from the wilderness implies, that religion is an up-the-hill work and way; for the, spouses way here is represented under the notion of an ascent.
IV. The spouses posture; she comes up leaning on her Beloved. It is the life of faith upon the Son of God that is here intended. And this expression of faith implies these particulars following.
1. The spouses weakness and inability in herself to grapple with the difficulties of her way through the Wilderness; that she could never surmount them by the strength of natural, or yet of any created grace in her.
2. That however weak and insufficient she was in herself, yet there was almighty strength in her Husband and Head, on whom she leaned.
3. A blessed knowledge or acquaintance with the Lord Jesus.
4. The expression implies not only knowledge, but intimacy and familiarity; for we use to lean upon them with whom we are intimately acquainted.
5. This leaning posture implies Christs nearness to the spouse; for we cannot well lean upon a person that is at a distance.
6. It implies a trusting, resting, or recumbency of her soul upon him, under all her weights and burdens, which she rolls over on Christ (Psa 55:22; Mat 11:28; Psa 37:7).
7. It implies, that there is something in Christ that the hand or arm of faith stays and leans upon, as we come up from the wilderness. Sometimes faith stays itself on the person of Christ, as He is Emmanuel, God with us; sometimes upon His love, which passeth knowledge (Psa 36:7). Sometimes it stays itself upon His name; for they that know His name will put their trust in Him: sometimes on His mission, as the Sent of God, the great Apostle of our profession; it takes Him up as Gods legate, His ambassador-extraordinary, sent to seek and to save that which was lost. It leans upon His general office as Mediator, for peace and reconciliation with God; upon His prophetical office, for instruction and illumination in the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom; upon His priestly office, for reconciliation and acceptance; upon His regal or kingly office, for sanctification and deliverance from the power of sin and Satan. (E.Erskine.)
Leaning upon her Beloved.
Leaning on our Beloved
In the verses which precede my text, the spouse had been particularly anxious that her communion with her Lord might not be disturbed. Her language is intensely earnest, I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my Love, until He please. She valued much the fellowship with which her Beloved solaced her; she was jealously alarmed lest she should endanger the continuance of it; lest any sin on her part or on the part of her companions should cause the Beloved to withdraw Himself in anger. Now it is a very striking fact that immediately after we read a verse so full of solicitous care concerning the maintenance of communion, we immediately fall upon another verse in which the upward progress of that selfsame spouse is the theme of admiration; she who would not have her Beloved disturbed is the selfsame bride who cometh up from the wilderness, leaning herself upon Him; from which it is clear that there is a most intimate connection between communion with Christ and progress in grace, and therefore the more careful we are to maintain fellowship with our Lord, the more successful shall we be in going from strength to strength in all those holy graces which are landmarks on the road to glory.
I. We notice the heavenly pilgrim and her dear companion. Who is that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved? Every soul that journeys towards heaven has Christ for its associate. Jesus suffers no pilgrim to the New Jerusalem to travel unattended. He is with us in sympathy. He has trodden every step of the way before us; whatever our temptations, He has been so tempted; whatever our afflictions, He has been so afflicted. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, having been tempted in all points like as we are. Nor is Jesus near us in sympathy alone, He is with us to render practical assistance. When we least perceive Him, He is often closest to us. When the howling tempest drowns His voice, and the darkness of the night hides His person, still He is there, and we need not be afraid. Courage, then,ye wayfarers who traverse the vale of tears; you come up from the wilderness in dear company, for One like unto the Son of God is at your side. Note the title that is given to the Companion of the spouse. Her Beloved. Indeed, He of whom the Song here speaks is beloved above all others. He was the Beloved of His Father or ever the earth was; He was declared to be the Lords Beloved, in the waters of Jordan, and at other times, when out of the excellent glory, there came the voice, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Beloved of His Father now, our Jesus sits for ever glorious at Gods right hand. Jesus is the Beloved of every angel, and of all the bright seraphic spirits that crowd around the throne of His august majesty, casting their crowns before His feet, and lifting up their ceaseless hymns. He is the Beloved of every being of pure heart and holy mind.
II. We have said that the pilgrim has a dear Companion, but that much of the blessedness of the text lies in her posture towards him. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her Beloved? Her posture, then, is that of leaning. His relation to her is that of a Divine supporter. What does this leaning mean? Why, first of all, there can be no leaning on another unless we believe in that others presence and nearness. A man does not lean on a staff which is not in his hand, nor on a friend of whose presence he is not aware. Christ Jesus is with thee; though thou hearest not His voice, and seest not His face, He is with thee. Try to grasp that truth, and to realize it clearly, for thou wilt never lean until thou dost. Leaning also implies nearness. We cannot lean on that which is far off and unapproachable. Now, it is a delightful help to us in believing repose if we cannot understand that Christ is not only with us, but to an intense degree near us. A sacred unity exists between thee and Him, so that thou dost drink of His cup, and art baptized with His baptism, and in all thy sorrows and thine afflictions He Himself doth take His share. These two things being attended unto, leaning now becomes easy. To lean implies the throwing of ones weight from oneself on to another, and this is the Christian s life. The leaning place of a Christian is, first of all, Christs person. We depend upon the Lord Jesus as God and as man. As God, He must be able to perform every promise, and to achieve every covenant engagement. We lean upon that Divinity which bears up the pillows of the universe. Our dependence is upon the Almighty God, incarnate in human form, by whom all things were created, and by whom all things consist. We lean also upon Christ as man; we depend upon His generous human sympathies. Of a woman born, He is partaker of our flesh; He enters into our sicknesses and infirmities with a pitiful compassion, which He could not have felt if He had not been the Son of man. We depend upon the love of His humanity as well as upon the potency of His deity. We lean upon our Beloved as God and man. We lean upon Christ Himself in all His offices. We lean upon Him as Priest; we expect our offerings, and our praises, and our prayers to be received, because they are presented through Him. Our leaning for acceptance is on Him. We lean upon Him as our Prophet. We do not profess to know or to be able to discover truth of ourselves, but we sit at His feet, and what He teaches that we receive as certainty. We lean upon Him as our King. He shall fight our battles for us, and manage all the affairs of our heavenly citizenship. We have no hope of victory but in the strength of Him who is the Son of David and the King of kings. We lean upon Christ in all His attributes. Sometimes it is His wisdom–in our dilemmas He directs us; at other times it is His faithfulness–in our strong temptations He abides the same. At one time His power gleams out like a golden pillar, and we rest on it, and at another moment his tenderness becomes conspicuous, and we lean on that. There is not a trait of His character, there is not a mark of His person, whether human or divine, but what we feel it safe to lean upon, because He is as a whole Christ, perfections own self, lovely and excellent beyond all description. We lean our entire weight upon HIM, not on His arm; not on any part of His person, but upon Himself do we depend.
III. Her reasons for thus leaning. She leaned on her Beloved because she was weak. Strength will not lean, conscious strength scorns dependence. My soul, dost thou know anything of thy weakness? It is a sorrowful lesson to learn; but oh! it is a blessed and profitable lesson, which not only must be learned, but which it were well for thee to pray to learn more and more, for there is no leaning upon Christ except in proportion as you feel you must. She leaned, again, on her Beloved, because the way was long. She had been going through the wilderness. It was a long journey, and she began to flag, and therefore she leaned; and the way is long with us, we have been converted to God now some of us these twenty years, others these forty, and there are some who have known the Lord more than sixty years, and this is a long time in which to be tempted and tried, for sin is mighty and flesh is weak. She leaned, again, because the road was perilous. Did you notice, she came up from the wilderness? The wilderness is not at all a safe place for a pilgrim. Here it is that the lion prowls, and the howl of the wolf is heard, but she leaned on her Beloved, and she was safe. If the sheep fears the wolf, he had better keep close to the shepherd, for then the shepherds rod and staff will drive the wolf away. There is no safety for us except in close communion with Christ. Again, she leaned on the Beloved because her route was ascending. Did you notice it? Coming up. The Christians way is up–never content with past attainments, but up; not satisfied with graces to which he has reached, but up. If we are to go up, we must lean. Christ is higher than we are; if we lean, we shall rise the more readily to His elevation. He comes down to us that we, leaning upon Him, may go up to Him. He is made of God unto you sanctification as well as redemption. Again the spouse leaned on her Beloved because her walk was daily separating her more and more from the whole host of her other companions. The Church is in the wilderness, but this traveller was coming up from the wilderness. She was getting away from the band marching through the desert, getting more and more alone. It is so, and you will find it so; the nearer you get to Christ, the more lonely you must necessarily be in certain respects. The spouse leaned upon her Beloved because she felt sure that He was strong enough to bear her weight. He upon whom she leaned was no other than God over all blessed for ever, who cannot fail, nor be discouraged. She leaned yet again, because He was her Beloved. She would have felt it unwise to lean if He were not mighty; she would have been afraid to lean if He had not been dear to her. So it is, the more you love the more you trust, and the more you trust the more you love.
IV. The person and the pedigree of her who leaned upon her Beloved. The text says, Who is this? What made them inquire, Who is this? It was because they were so astonished to see her looking so happy and so little wearied. Nothing amazes worldlings more than genuine Christian joy. Who, then, is this that leans on her Beloved? Her name was once called outcast, whom no man seeketh after, but according to this old book her name is now Hephzibah, for the Lord delighteth in her. The name of the soul that trusts in God, and finds peace in so doing, was by nature a name of shame and sin. We were afar off from God even as others; and if any soul is brought to trust in Christ, it is not from any natural goodness in it, or any innate propensity towards such trusting; it is because grace has wrought a wondrous transformation, and God the Holy Ghost has made those who were not a people to be called the people of God. Good news this for any of you who feel your guilt this morning. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. That cometh up from the wilderness] Perhaps the words of the daughters of Jerusalem, who, seeing the bride returning from the country, leaning on the arm of her beloved, are filled with admiration at her excellent carriage and beauty.
I raised thee up under the apple tree] The original of this clause is obscure, and has given birth to various translations. The following is nearly literal: “Under the apple tree I excited thee (to espouse me:) there, thy mother contracted thee;-there, she that brought thee forth contracted thee (to me.) Or it may be understood of the following circumstance: The bridegroom found her once asleep under an apple tree, and awoke her; and this happened to be the very place where her mother, taken in untimely labour, had brought her into the world.” And here the bridegroom, in his fondness and familiarity, recalls these little adventures to her memory.
The Vulgate gives this an abominable meaning.
Sub arbore malo suscitavi te: ibi corrupta est mater tua; ibi violata est genetrix tua; “I raised thee up under the apple tree: it was there that thy mother was corrupted; it was there that she who brought thee forth was violated.” Spiritually, all this is applied to Eve losing her purity by sin; and Jesus as the promised seed raising her up by the promise of mercy, through the blood of his cross. But the text says nothing of this.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness? These Words are repeated from Son 3:6, See Poole “Son 3:6“. This and the next clause are the words either,
1. Of the daughters of Jerusalem, or the friends of the bride and Bridegroom, admiring and congratulating this happy conjunction. Or,
2. Of the Bridegroom, who proposeth the question, that he may give the answer here following.
Leaning upon her Beloved; which implies both great freedom and familiarity, and fervent affection, and dependence upon him. If these be the Bridegrooms words, he speaketh of himself in the third person, which is usual in the Hebrew language.
I raised thee up, when thou wast fallen, and laid low, and wert dead in trespasses, and in the depth of misery I revived thee.
Under the apple tree; under my own shadow; for she had compared him to an apple tree, and declared that under the shadow of the tree she had both delight and fruit, Son 2:3, which is the same thing with this raising up.
There thy mother brought thee forth; under that tree either the universal or the primitive church did conceive and bring thee forth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. Who is thisWords of thedaughters of Jerusalem, that is, the churches of Judea; referring toPaul, on his return from Arabia (“the wilderness”), whitherhe had gone after conversion (Ga1:15-24).
I raised thee . . . she . . .bare thee (Ac26:14-16). The first words of Jesus Christ to the bride since hergoing to the garden of nuts (Son 6:9;Son 6:10); so His appearance toPaul is the only one since His ascension, So8:13 is not an address of Him as visible: her replyimplies He is not visible (1Co15:8). Spiritually, she was found in the moral wilderness(Eze 16:5; Hos 13:5);but now she is “coming up from” it (Jer 2:2;Hos 2:14), especially in the laststage of her journey, her conscious weakness casting itself the morewholly on Jesus Christ (2Co 12:9).”Raised” (Eph2:1-7). Found ruined under the forbidden tree (Ge3:22-24); restored under the shadow of Jesus Christ crucified,”the green tree” (Lu23:31), fruit-“bearing” by the cross (Isa 53:11;Joh 12:24). “Born again bythe Holy Ghost” “there” (Eze16:3-6). In this verse, her dependence, in the similarverse, So 3:6, &c., Hisomnipotence to support her, are brought out (De33:26).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
(Who [is] this that cometh up from the wilderness?…. Which words are spoken by the daughters of Jerusalem, occasioned by her charge to them, by which they were excited to look more earnestly at her, whom Christ had indulged with so much nearness to him; at which they express their surprise, and describe her by her ascent “from the wilderness”; that is, of the world, out of which she was chosen and called; and from a state of nature, out of which she was brought; and was rising up in a state of grace to a state of glory;
[See comments on So 3:6];
leaning upon her beloved); faith in Christ, whom her soul loved, and who loved her, is signified hereby; see Isa 50:10; which is the grace by which believers lean on the person of Christ, for acceptance with God; on his righteousness, for justification; on his fulness, for the supply of their wants; and trust in his blood for pardon and cleansing, The word is only used in this place, and is differently rendered: by some, “casting herself” l on him; as sensible sinners do at first conversion, when they venture their souls on Christ, commit the care and keeping of them to him, and trust their whole salvation with him: by others, “joining, associating” m; cleaving to him, keeping company with him, from the use of the word n in the Arabic tongue; so such souls give up themselves to Christ; cleave to him, with full purpose of heart; walk with him, and walk on in him, as they have received him: by others, “rejoicing” or “delighting” o herself in him; in the view of his personal glory, transcendent excellencies, inexhaustible fulness, and searchable riches: the Septuagint version is, “strengthened”, or “strengthening herself on her beloved”; deriving all her strength from him, to exercise grace, perform duty, withstand temptation, and persevere to the end, conscious of her own weakness; faith, in every sense of the word, is intended;
I raised thee up under the apple tree; not the words of Christ concerning the church, since the affixes are masculine; but what the church said concerning Christ, when leaning on his arm as she went along with him: so the words may be connected with the preceding, by supplying the word “saying”, as Michaelis observes; relating a piece of former experience, how that when she was under the apple tree, sat under the shadow of it, So 2:3; that is, under the ordinances of the Gospel; where, having no sensible communion with Christ for some time, he being as it were asleep, she, by her earnest prayers and entreaties, awaked him, and raised him up, to take notice of her; whereby she enjoyed much nearness to him, and familiarity with him;
there thy mother brought thee forth, there she brought thee forth [that] bare thee; which may be said either concealing the Old Testament church, who conceived hope of the coming of Christ, waited for it, and was often like a woman in pain until he was brought forth, which at length was done, to the joy of those that looked for him; or of the New Testament church, hoping, looking, waiting for the second coming of Christ, in the exercise of faith and prayer, and is like a woman in travail, and will be until he makes his appearance; and both may be meant, the one by the former, the other by the latter phrase, and may be the reason of the repetition of it. It may be applied to the apostles of Christ, who travailed in birth, until Christ was brought forth into the Gentile world, through the preaching of the Gospel; and so to all Gospel ministers, who are in like case until Christ be formed in the souls of men; which is no other than the new birth, and is attended with pain like that of a woman in travail; and every regenerate person may be said, in this sense, to be Christ’s mother, as well as his brother and sister, Mt 12:50; and each of the above things are usually done under and by the means of the word and ordinances; which may be signified by the apple tree, or, however, the shadow of it.
l “injiciens se”, Cocceius. m “Adjungens se”, Montanus; “associans se”, Brightman, Schmidt, Marckius, Michaelis; so Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Joseph Kimchi, R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel. Moed, fol. 19. 1. n “Raphak, comes fuit rephik, comes itineris; socius”, Golius, col. 1018, 1019. o “Deliciis affluens”, V. L. “delicians”, some in Mercerus, so Kimchi.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5 a Who is this coming up out of the wilderness,
Leaning on her beloved?
The third Acts; Son 3:6, began with a similar question to that with which the sixth here commences. The former closed the description of the growth of the love-relation, the latter closes that of the consummated love-relation. Instead of “out of the wilderness,” the lxx has “clothed in white” ( ); the translator has gathered mit|chauweret from the illegible consonants of his MS before him. On the contrary, he translates correctly by (Symm. , Venet. , wearily supporting herself on …), while Jerome renders it unsuitably by deliciis affluens , interchanging the word with . But , common to the Heb. with the Arab. and Aethiop., signifies to support oneself, from , sublevare (French, soulager ), Arab. rafaka , rafuka , to be helpful, serviceable, compliant, irtafaka , to support oneself on the elbow, or (with the elbow) on a pillow (cf. rafik , fellow-traveller, rufka , a company of fellow-travellers, from the primary idea of mutually supporting or being helpful to each other); Aethiop. rafaka , to encamp for the purpose of taking food, (cf. Joh 13:23). That Shulamith leant on her beloved, arose not merely from her weariness, with the view of supplementing her own weakness from his fulness of strength, but also from the ardour of the love which gives to the happy and proud Solomon, raised above all fears, the feeling of his having her in absolute possession. The road brings the loving couple near to the apple tree over against Shulamith’s parental home, which had been the witness of the beginning of their love.
5 b Under the apple tree I waked thy love:
There thy mother travailed with thee;
There travailed she that bare thee.
The words, “under the apple tree I waked thee,” , might be regarded as those of Shulamith to Solomon: here, under this apple tree, where Solomon met with her, she won his first love; for the words cannot mean that she wakened him from sleep under the apple tree, since has nowhere the meaning of and here given to it by Hitzig, but only that of “to stir, to stir up, to arouse;” and only when sleep or a sleepy condition is the subject, does it mean “to shake out of sleep, to rouse up” ( vid., under Son 2:7). But it is impossible that “there” can be used by Shulamith even in the sense of the shepherd hypothesis; for the pair of lovers do not wander to the parental home of the lover, but of his beloved. We must then here altogether change the punctuation of the text, and throughout restore the fem. suffix forms as those originally used: , ,
(Note: , penult. accented, and Lamed with Pathach in P. This is certainly right. Michlol 33 a adduces merely of the verse as having Kametz, on account of the pause, and had thus in view , with the Pathach under Lamed. But P. has also , with Pathach under Daleth, and so also has H, with the remark (viz., here and Jer 22:26). The Biblia Rabbinica 1526 and 1615 have also the same pointing, Pathach under Daleth. In the printed list of words having Pathach in pause, this word is certainly not found. But it is found in the MS list of the Ochla veochla, at Halle.)
and (cf. , Isa 47:10), in which we follow the example of the Syr. The allegorizing interpreters also meet only with trouble in regarding the words as those of Shulamith to Solomon. If were an emblem of the Mount of Olives, which, being wonderfully divided, gives back Israel’s dead (Targ.), or an emblem of Sinai (Rashi), in both cases the words are more appropriately regarded as spoken to Shulamith than by her. Aben-Ezra correctly reads them as the words of Shulamith to Solomon, for he thinks on prayers, which are like golden apples in silver bowls; Hahn, for he understands by the apple tree, Canaan, where with sorrow his people brought him forth as their king; Hengstenberg, rising up to a remote-lying comparison, says, “the mother of the heavenly Solomon is at the same time the mother of Shulamith.” Hoelemann thinks on Sur. 19:32 f., according to which ‘Isa, Miriam’s son, was born under a palm tree; but he is not able to answer the question, What now is the meaning here of the apple tree as Solomon’s birthplace? If it were indeed to be interpreted allegorically, then by the apple tree we would rather understand the “tree of knowledge” of Paradise, of which Aquila, followed by Jerome, with his , appears to think, – a view which recently Godet approves of;
(Note: Others, e.g., Bruno von Asti ( 1123) and the Waldensian Exposition, edited by Herzog in the Zeit. fr hist. Theol. 1861: malum = crux dominica . Th. Harms (1870) quotes Son 2:3, and remarks: The church brings forth her children under the apple tree, Christ. Into such absurdities, in violation of the meaning of the words, do the allegorizing interpreters wander.)
there Shulamith, i.e., poor humanity, awakened the compassionate love of the heavenly Solomon, who then gave her, as a pledge of this love, the Protevangelium, and in the neighbourhood of this apple tree, i.e., on the ground and soil of humanity fallen, but yet destined to be saved, Shulamith’s mother, i.e., the pre-Christian O.T. church, brought forth the Saviour from itself, who in love raised Shulamith from the depths to regal honour. But the Song of Songs does not anywhere set before us the task of extracting from it by an allegorizing process such far-fetched thoughts. If the masc. suff. is changed into the fem., we have a conversation perfectly corresponding to the situation. Solomon reminds Shulamith by that memorable apple tree of the time when he kindled within her the fire of first love; elsewhere signifies energy (Psa 80:3), or passion (Pro 10:12), put into a state of violent commotion; connected with the accus. of the person, it signifies, Zec 9:13, excited in a warlike manner; here, placed in a state of pleasant excitement of love that has not yet attained its object. Of how many references to contrasted affections the reflex. is capable, is seen from Job 17:8; Job 31:29; why not thus also ?
With Solomon’s words are continued, but not in such a way as that what follows also took place under the apple tree. For Shulamith is not the child of Beduins, who in that case might even have been born under an apple tree. Among the Beduins, a maiden accidentally born at the watering-place ( menhil ), on the way ( rahil ), in the dew ( tall ) or snow ( thelg ), is called from that circumstance Munehil , Ruhela , Talla , or Thelga .
(Note: Vid., Wetstein’s Inschriften (1864), p. 336.)
The birthplace of her love is not also the birthplace of her life. As points to the apple tree to which their way led them, so points to the end of their way, the parental home lying near by (Hitzig).
The lxx translates well: , for while the Arab. habida means concipere , and its Pi., habbada , is the usual word for gravidam facere , in the passage before us certainly appears to be
(Note: The Arab. habilat , she has conceived, and is in consequence pregnant, accords in the latter sense with hamilat , she bears, i.e., is pregnant, without, however, being, as Hitzig thinks, of a cognate root with it. For hamal signifies to carry; , on the contrary, to comprehend and to receive (whence also the cord, figuratively, the tie of love, liaison, as enclosing, embracing, is called habl , ), and like the Lat. concipere and suscipere , is used not only in a sexual, but also in an ethical sense, to conceive anger, to take up and cherish sorrow. The Assyr. , corresponding to the Heb. , is explained from this Arab. habl , concipere . On the supposition that the Heb. had a word, , of the same meaning as the Arab. habl , then might mean concipiendo generare ; but the Heb. sentence lying before us leads to the interpretation eniti .)
a denom. Pi. in the sense of “to bring forth with sorrow” ( ). The lxx further translates: , in which the is inserted, and is thus, as also by the Syr., Jerome, and Venet., translated, with the obliteration of the finite , as if the reading were . But not merely is the name of the mother intentionally changed, it is also carried forward from the labour, eniti, to the completed act of birth.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Church’s Dependence on Christ; The Love of the Church to Christ. | |
5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. 6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.
Here, I. The spouse is much admired by those about her. It comes in in a parenthesis, but in it gospel-grace lies as plain, and as much above ground, as any where in this mystical song: Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Some make these the words of the bridegroom, expressing himself well pleased with her reliance on him and resignation of herself to his guidance. They are rather the words of the daughters of Jerusalem, to whom she spoke (v. 4); they see her, and bless her. The angels in heaven, and all her friends on earth, are the joyful spectators of her bliss. The Jewish church came up from the wilderness supported by the divine power and favour, Deu 32:10; Deu 32:11. The Christian church was raised up from a low and desolate condition by the grace of Christ relied on, Gal. iv. 27. Particular believers are amiable, nay, admirable, and divine grace is to be admired in them, when by the power of that grace they are brought up from the wilderness, leaning with a holy confidence and complacency upon Jesus Christ their beloved. This bespeaks the beauty of a soul, and the wonders of divine grace, 1. In the conversion of sinners. A sinful state is a wilderness, remote from communion with God, barren and dry, and in which there is no true comfort; it is a wandering wanting state. Out of this wilderness we are concerned to come up, by true repentance, in the strength of the grace of Christ, supported by our beloved and carried in his arms. 2. In the consolation of saints. A soul convinced of sin, and truly humbled for it, is in a wilderness, quite at a loss; and there is no coming out of this wilderness but leaning on Christ as our beloved, by faith, and not leaning to our own understanding, nor trusting to any righteousness or strength of our own as sufficient for us, but going forth, and going on, in the strength of the Lord God, and making mention of his righteousness, even his only, who is the Lord our righteousness. 3. In the salvation of those that belong to Christ. We must go up from the wilderness of this world having our conversation in heaven; and, at death, we must remove thither, leaning upon Christ, must live and die by faith in him. To me to live is Christ, and it is he that is gain in death.
II. She addresses herself to her beloved.
1. She puts him in mind of the former experience which she and others had had of comfort and success in applying to him. (1.) For her own part: “I raised thee up under the apple tree, that is, I have many a time wrestled with thee by prayer and have prevailed. When I was alone in the acts of devotion, retired in the orchard, under the apple-tree” (which Christ himself was compared to, ch. ii. 3), as Nathanael under the fig-tree (John i. 48), “meditating and praying, then I raised thee up, to help me and comfort me,” as the disciples raised him up in the storm, saying, Master, carest thou not that we perish? (Mark iv. 38), and the church (Ps. xliv. 23), Awake, why sleepest thou? Note, The experience we have had of Christ’s readiness to yield to the importunities of our faith and prayer should encourage us to continue instant in our addresses to him, to strive more earnestly, and not to faint. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, Ps. xxxiv. 4. (2.) Others also had like experience of comfort in Christ, as it follows there (Ps. xxxiv. 5), They looked unto him, as well as I, and were lightened. There thy mother brought thee forth, the universal church, or believing souls, in whom Christ was formed, Gal. iv. 15. They were in pain for the comfort of an interest in thee, and travailed in pain with great sorrow (so the word here signifies); but they brought thee forth; the pangs did not continue always; those that had travailed in convictions at last brought forth in consolations, and the pain was forgotten for joy of the Saviour’s birth. By this very similitude our Saviour illustrates the joy which his disciples would have in his return to them, after a mournful separation for a time, Joh 16:21; Joh 16:22. After the bitter pangs of repentance many a one has had the blessed birth of comfort; why then may not I?
2. She begs of him that her union with him might be confirmed, and her communion with him continued and made more intimate (v. 6): Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm. (1.) “Let me have a place in thy heart, an interest in thy love.” This is that which all those desire above any thing that know how much their happiness is bound up in the love of Christ. (2.) “Let me never lose the room I have in thy heart; let thy love to me be ensured, as that deed which is sealed up not to be robbed. Let nothing ever prevail either to separate me from thy love, or, by suspending the communications of it, to deprive me of the comfortable sense of it.” (3.) “Let me be always near and dear to thee, as the signet on thy right hand, not to be parted with (Jer. xxii. 24), engraven upon the palms of thy hands (Isa. xlix. 14), be loved with a peculiar love.” (4.) “Be thou my high priest; let my name be written on thy breast-plate, nearer thy heart, as the names of all the tribes were engraven like the engravings of a signet in twelve precious stones on the breast-plate of Aaron, and also on two precious stones on the two shoulders or arms of the ephod,” Exo 28:11; Exo 28:12; Exo 28:21. (5.) “Let thy power be engaged for me, as an evidence of thy love to me; let me be not only a seal upon thy heart, but a seal upon thy arm; let me be ever borne up in thy arms, and know it to my comfort.” Some make these to be the words of Christ to his spouse, commanding her to be ever mindful of him and of his love to her; however, if we desire and expect that Christ should set us as a seal on his heart, surely we cannot do less than set him as a seal on ours.
3. To enforce this petition, she pleads the power of love, of her love to him, which constrained her to be thus pressing for the tokens of his love to her.
(1.) Love is a violent vigorous passion. [1.] It is strong as death. The pains of a disappointed lover are like the pains of death; nay, the pains of death are slighted, and made nothing of, in pursuit of the beloved object. Christ’s love to us was strong as death, for it broke through death itself. He loved us, and gave himself for us. The love of true believers to Christ is strong as death, for it makes them dead to every thing else; it even parts between soul and body, while the soul, upon the wings of devout affections, soars upward to heaven, an even forgets that it is yet clothed and clogged with flesh. Paul, in a rapture of this love, knew not whether he was in the body or out of the body. By it a believer is crucified to the world. [2.] Jealousy is cruel as the grave, which swallows up and devours all; those that truly love Christ are jealous of every thing that would draw them from him, and especially jealous of themselves, lest they should do any thing to provoke him to withdraw from them, and, rather than do so, would pluck out a right eye and cut off a right hand, than which what can be more cruel? Weak and trembling saints, who conceive a jealousy of Christ, doubting of his love to them, find that jealousy to prey upon them like the grave; nothing wastes the spirits more; but it is an evidence of the strength of their love to him. (3.) The coals thereof, its lamps, and flames, and beams, are very strong, and burn with incredible force, as the coals of fire that have a most vehement flame, a flame of the Lord (so some read it), a powerful piercing flame, as the lightning, Ps. xxix. 7. Holy love is a fire that begets a vehement heat in the soul, and consumes the dross and chaff that are in it, melts it down like wax into a new form, and carries it upwards as the sparks towards God and heaven.
(2.) Love is a valiant victorious passion. Holy love is so; the reigning love of God in the soul is constant and firm, and will not be drawn off from him either by fair means or foul, by life or death, Rom. viii. 38. [1.] Death, and all its terrors, will not frighten a believer from loving Christ: Many waters, though they will quench fire, cannot quench this love, no, nor the floods drown it, v. 7. The noise of these waters will strike no terror upon it; let them do their worst, Christ shall still be the best beloved. The overflowing of these waters will strike no damp upon it, but it will enable a man to rejoice in tribulation. Though he slay me, I will love him and trust in him. No waters could quench Christ’s love to us, nor any floods drown it; he waded through the greatest difficulties, even seas of blood. Love sat king upon the floods; let nothing then abate our love to him. [2.] Life, and all its comforts, will not entice a believer from loving Christ: If a man could hire him with all the substance of his house, to take his love off from Christ and set it upon the world and the flesh again, he would reject the proposal with the utmost disdain; as Christ, when the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them were offered him, to buy him off from his undertaking, said, Get thee hence, Satan. It would utterly be contemned. Offer those things to those that know no better. Love will enable us to repel and triumph over temptations from the smiles of the world, as much as from its frowns. Some give this sense of it: If a man would give all the substance of his house to Christ, as an equivalent instead of love, to excuse it, it would be contemned. He seeks not ours, but us, the heart, not the wealth. If I give all my goods to feed the poor, and have not love, it is nothing, 1 Cor. xiii. 1. Thus believers stand affected to Christ: the gifts of his providence cannot satisfy them without the assurances of his love.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
THE SHULAMITE AND SHEPHERD IN PUBLIC
Verse 5 again asks the identity of a female who comes out of the wilderness, see Son 3:6 and Son 6:10. The answer in all instances is the Shulamite. However, she is now leaning upon her beloved shepherd, a posture of closeness. The latter half of the verse is a statement of the Shulamite addressed to her beloved, but the significance is not clear.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Notes
Son. 8:5. I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth; there the brought thee forth that bare thee.
I raised thee up, orarlicha, Pilel of to be awake; literally, I awaked thee out of sleep; according to many moderns, here applied to awakening the previously slumbering affections. So ZCKLER. I incited thee [to love]; discovering mine to thee, I obtained thine. GESENIUS. I inspired thee with love; properly, aroused thee. DE WETTE, BOOTHROYD. Excited thee to love. WILLIAMS. Wooed thee. PERCY, GOOD. FRY: Raised thee up; perhaps, resuscitated thee,the Bride originally found by her husband an exposed infant (Eze. 16:3-6). The Masoretic pointing in our Hebrew Bibles probably in this case faulty, as determining the speaker to be the Bride instead of the Bridegroom, to whom the words appear much more naturally to belong, and to whom they are ascribed by all the Greek Fathers, and many of the Latins. Under the apple-tree. Under this apple-tree,pointing to it; one immediately adjoining her mothers house, and probably shading one of the windows. ZCKLER. This apple-tree one among many other places recalling their first love-intercourse. DELITZSCH. Reminding her of their first interview. BOOTHROYD. Referring to the place of her birth. SANDERS. In the woods, as rustic and poor. SANCTIUS. Reminding her of her humble origin. FRY. Refers to the scene in chap. Son. 2:3. WILLIAMS. SEPTUAGINT, and VULGATE: Under an apple-tree I awoke thee up (). COVERDALE and MATTHEWS: I am the same that awakened thee up among the apple-trees. EWALD prefers adhering to the Masoretic pointing, and understands by the apple-tree the place where the Bride sometimes awoke the Bridegroom when resting at mid-day, and which had seen him born.There she brought thee forth that bare thee. khibbelatheeha; Piel of , to bend, twist; hence Piel, to bring forth with pain. So GESENIUS and most. There, where that apple-tree stands, or the dwelling shaded by it, she travailed with thee. ZCKLER. Others, however, understand the verb as From to plight, as Exo. 22:26; Deu. 24:6; Deu. 24:17; pledged or contracted thee to me. So HOUBIGANT, MICHAELIS, A. CLARKE, GOOD, BOOTHROYD, &c. DELITZSCH. Under the same tree, Shulamite received from her mother her life, from Solomon his love. WILLIAMS. Reference to the scene in chap. Son. 2:3, where we may suppose the Brides mother to have been present, and some ceremony here alluded to have taken place. PERCY. Bridegroom makes a solemn recapitulation of the contract they had entered into. SEPTUAGINT. There thy mother travailed with thee ( ). VULGATE, using a different reading: Was corrupted. Followed by the DOUAI version. COVERDALE. Bare thee. So LUTHER, DIODATI, MARTIN, and the DUTCH version. PAGNINUS. Conceived thee. PISCATOR, JUNIUS, and TREMELLIUS: Was in labour with thee. Allegorically:WICKLIFFE. The voice of Christ to the synagogue; of the holy cross. DOUAI. Christ redeemed the Gentiles at the foot of the cross. MATTHEWS. Voice of the Spouse before the spouseless. DEL RIO. Bridegroom relates that the beginning and increase of his love to his beloved had manifested itself under the apple-tree; reminding her of her original misery and poverty, in order to keep her from pride and elation. FROMONDI. I raised thee up when dead under the forbidden tree, by sprinkling thee with the blood of my cross; that as death reigned by one tree, he might be conquered by another. SANCTIUS. I raised thee up when abandoned by thy mother to perish (Eze. 16:3-6). DAVIDSON. Raised thee up after the fall; or, by the preaching of the Gospel. WEISS. I, the risen Saviour, aroused thee under the apple or citron tree; the cross, where the sleeping Church was aroused; for example, John, Joseph, Nicodemus, the thief, &c. GILL. The apple-tree Christ Himself, or the ordinances of the Gospel. RASHI, following the Rabbinical pointing. The Bride seeks to stir up the love of her Beloved. COCCEIUS. The Bride arouses Christ by her prayers in time of trouble and persecution, as the disciples did in the storm. J. H. MICHAELIS. Arouses Him by earnest prayer to shew Himself more than formerly. AINSWORTH. Taking hold of the covenant of grace and the promises of life in Christ, the apple-tree of life and grace (chap. Son. 2:3), she surred Him up by prayer for her help and comfort. GILL: Not finding Him in ordinances, she raised Him up by earnest prayer. FAUSSET: I excited thy comparsion to come and save me from my sin and misery under the apple-tree in Eden;spoken by converted Israel as the type of the whole redeemed humanity. M. STUART: She reminds the king of his own outcast condition. HAHN: Pledges herself solemnly to the king for ever, and the king himself to her, in the cool shade of the apple-tree of the garden (chap. Son. 6:11); in his home-land in Canaan, her misery out in the open field moved his loving heart to sympathy. According to AMBROSE and others: The synagogue the Churchs mother, who brought forth the Church, by shedding the blood of Christ through which she is born again. THEODORET: The grace of the Holy Spirit in connection with baptism. HONORIUS: The flesh of Eve or human nature. DURHAM: Believers the mother of Christ, as bringing forth His image in the souls of men, and so giving Him a being in their heart. AINSWORTH: By the preaching of the Gospel, attended with labour, sorrow, and difficulty. J. H. MICHAELIS: By doing the Fathers will, and conceiving in themselves the image of Christ by a true faith. MERCER: When fleeing to Him for refuge. M. STUART: Refers to the time of sorrow or birthpangs that preceded Christs resurrection from the dead. HAHN: With pain His people brought Him forth to themselves as their King.
Son. 8:6. The coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame. The coals thereof. reshapheha, plural of resheph, a flame; from the unused root to inflame or kindle. GESENIUS, ZCKLER. A blaze or flush of lightning. (Deu. 32:24; Job. 5:7; Hab. 3:5) WEISS. EWALD derives rather from to creep, creep forth; applied to the plague, and so the heat of the plague: hence, heat or flame in general. SEPTUAGINT: Its wings. VULGATE and AQUILA: Its lamps and torches. SYMMACHUS: its attacks. SYRIAC: Its sparks. LUTHER: Its flame or heat. DIODATI and MARTIN: Its burning coals. So the Rabbins, who make it like retseph, a coal, and who are followed by PAGNINUS, MONTANUS, MERCER, PISCATOR, &c. MUNSTER has torches. AINSWORTH: Burning coals or darts of love that pierce and enflame the heart. So PATRICK: Darts of arrows. PERCI prefers sparks. SANCTIUS applies it to jealousy, which tortures like fire.Which hath a most vehement flame. shalhebhethyah, from lehabhah, a flame with which. Another reading, the Recension of Ben Naphtali, divides it into two words, , shalhebheth Yah, the flame of Yah, or Jehovah. EWALD thinks that probably both words were originally read, (its flames are the flames of Jehovah,) and that one of them dropped out; and remarks that for was seldom used before Solomons time, its use having risen when the name of Jehovah began to be added as a surname; and that it occurs only once in the Pentateuch (Exo. 15:2). ZCKLER, who translates, a blaze of Jehovah, observes that this name of God is mentioned only in this passage of the Song, the radiant apex in the developement of its doctrinal and ethical contents. According to ZCKLER, the flame not natural, but kindled and sustained by God Himself; love, and jealousy, its intense synonym, appearing here like a brightly blazing fire, sending forth a multitude of sparks or flames into mens hearts. So DELITZSCH: A flame of Jehovah, as kindled by Him; hence unquenchable. PATRICK: Fire of the flame of the Lord, i.e., mighty and exceedingly scorching. SIMON derives the word from the Chaldee or Syriac to burn; the servile marking the Shaphal species (GREEN). PARKHURST derives it from to loose, and a flame,a dissolving fire WEISS, in like manner reading as one word, explains as a stream, volume or torrent of flame, as Eze. 20:47; a conflagration of flames (Job. 15:30). PERCY: A flame of Jah,which Jehovah kindles in the clouds,a most vehement flame (Job. 1:16). WILLIAMS refers the expression to the sacrificial flame, which, according to Jewish tradition, no rain could extinguish. The SEPTUAGINT has simply: Its flames. VULGATE: And of flames, connecting with fire. TARGUM: Like the coals of the fire of hell, which the Lord shall kindle at the last day. COVERDALE and MATTHEWS: A very flame of the Lord. GENEVA: A vehement flame. DUTCH: As a flame of the Lord. DIODATI: A very great flame. MARTIN: A very vehement flame. TIRGURINE: Which have been kindled by the flame of God. MERCER and MONTANUS: A flame of the Lord. JUNIUS and TREMELLIUS: A Divine flame. COCCEIUS: A flame of God,bright and inextinguishable. PAGNINUS: A most vehement flame. GROTIUS: As a flame of God, i.e., a whole burnt-offering. VATABLUS: As the flame of Jab or God, i.e, most vehement. PISCATOR: Which Jehovah kindles; the genitive of Authorship. JUNIUS: The greatest flame, as being the Spirits most powerful light, to endure for ever. AINSWORTH: The vehement consuming flame of the Lord; piercing and devouring lightning; the fire of His Spirit. PATRICK: Burning with a violent and inextinguishable heat; mightily moved by the Lord.
SCENS SECOND. Place: The Country in the neighbourhood of Shulamites native home. Speakers: The King, Shulamite, and Country People.
CHAPTER 8 Son. 8:5-7
SHULAMITE ADMIRED BY THE COUNTRY PEOPLE
Son. 8:5
COUNTRY PEOPLE
Who is this
That cometh up out of the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
Shulamites proposal to go forth into the country lovingly accepted by the King. The journey commenced, and now nearly completed. The happy pair now arrived at the neighbourhood of Shulamites native home. Seen approaching, as she leans on her husbands arm. The Bride an object of admiration to the rustic inhabitants, who exclaim: Who is this? &c. Beautiful and instructive picture of the believer while in this world. True always; especially true in the Pentecostal or primitive age of the Church. Notice in regard to
The Believers Posture.
I. The POSTURE itself. Two features
1. Coming up out of the wilderness.
(1) Coming. The life of believers a journey, Like Moses to Hobab: We are journeying to the place, &c. Sinners not pardoned to sit still. Brought up out of the horrible pit, and our feet set upon the rock, our goings are established. The healed and pardoned paralytic takes up his couch and goes to his house. Believers have a home, and they go to it.
(2) Coining up. The journey of believers an upward one, Their home on high. The heavenly Jerusalem; the house with many mansions; the better country, that is, an heavenly. Their affections set on things above. Their journey an ascent. Their motto, Excelsior. Higher and higher. Progress heavenward characteristic of the believer. On the ladder, and ascending by it. Ascent often difficult and laborious. Descent easy, and requiring little effort. Salvation to be wrought out with fear and trembling. All diligence required to add to our faith, virtue, &c.
(3) Coming up out of the wilderness. The world in which the believer find himself, a wilderness. So Israels journey to Canaan lay through a desert. A wilderness is(i.) A place of hunger and thirst. (ii.) A place of thorns and briars. (iii.) A place of danger both for man and beast. The world unable to satisfy the wants and cravings of the soul. Full of trials and temptations. The place of the roaring lion, who seeks whom he may devour. An enemys country. Believers, like others, once abiding in the wilderness. Willing to remain in it, though finding neither rest nor satisfaction. Aroused by a gracious voice: Arise and depart ye; this is not your rest. Made to see it to be a wilderness. Like the prodigal son, they see their misery, and think of a home. Taking Jesus as their Saviour, they set out for it. Their back now to the wilderness, and their face to heaven. In the world, but no longer of it.
2. Leaning on her Beloved. Implies
(1) The company of her Beloved. Christs presence promised to His people in their journey through the wilderness. Fear not, for I am with thee. I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Hence their fearlessness. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me (Psa. 2:3-4).
(2) The support of her Beloved. Christ the strength, as well as righteousness, of His people. His promise: My grace is sufficient for thee; My strength is made perfect in weakness. Believers taught the happy art of depending on Christ for all things. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Believers lean on Christ(i.) for acceptance with God, through His perfect obedience. (ii.) For holiness and victory over sin, through the grace of His Spirit; (iii.) For protection and preservation, by His Almighty power. (iv.) For strength and grace for the performance of every duty, and the endurance of every trial. Constant supplies of grace needed and received out of Christs fulness for the wilderness journey. Great part of heavenly wisdom to lean on Christ at every step, and at every turn of the road. The life of believers a life of faith and dependence on Christ. The part of faith to lay the whole weight of our salvation, and the burden of every duty and difficulty on the Beloved. Believers only go upward as they lean on Christ. Resting on Christ essential to progress in holiness. Spiritual growth marked by conscious weakness leaning on perfect strength. Hence Miltons paradox: The omnipotence of human weakness. Christ honoured and pleased by such dependence. To further it, He often removes from us every other support. Hence Pauls thorn in the flesh.
The believers life therefore
(1) A laborious one. An upward journey through a wilderness.
(2) A pleasant one. The company of the Beloved. Pleasant company makes pleasant travel.
(3) A safe one. An Almighty arm to lean upon.
II. The ENQUIRY. Who is this? The sight
(1) A rare one. Far from common to see an individual going up from the wilderness, with his back to the world and his face to heaven, and especially as leaning on Jesus as his Beloved. The opposite of the character of the world. The sight everywhere met with is, worldliness, pride, and self-dependence.
(2) A beautiful and engaging one. Beautiful in itself, and beautiful in the eyes of God, angels, and all right-minded persons, to see an individual giving up sin and the world, and with Jesus as his Beloved and only trust, earnestly proceeding on his way to heaven. Believers most amiable when seen going up out of the wilderness leaning on their Beloved. Worldliness and pride the blight and bane of the Church. A proud and worldly-minded professor a stumbling-block to the world. A humble and heavenly walk attractive even in the eyes of ungodly men.
(3) An open and conspicuous one. Believer, going up from the wilderness leaning on Jesus, not able to be hid. A city set on a hill. The Masters will that they should be seen. Let your light so shine before men, &c. The object not that they should be admired, but that God their Father should be glorified. Believers to be living Epistles of Christ, known and read of all men. He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Believers to be Gods witnesses in a sinful world. Their holy and heavenly life to be His constant testimony. Men to take knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus. Made a spectacle to the world for Gods glory and the worlds good. The heathens testimony to the early Church: See how these Christians love one another. Men to be drawn to Christ not merely by the preachers lips, but by the believers life.
THE REMINISCENCE
Son. 8:5
THE KING.
To Shulamite, who enters with him, leaning on his arm.
I raised thee up under the apple tree:
There thy mother brought thee forth,
There she brought thee forth that bare thee.
One of the obscurest passages in the poem. Apart from Jewish pointing, nothing in the form of the words to indicate who is the speaker. That pointing, comparatively modern, makes the words to be addressed to the King, and thus to be spoken by Shulamite. More reason, however, with all the Greek Fathers, and many of the Latin ones, to regard the King himself as the speaker, and Shulamite the party addressed. Moved, perhaps, by the sight of a familiar object as they approach her mothers dwelling, he reminds his beloved of what took place there at an early period of their connection; points her to the apple or citron-tree growing near the house, which had witnessed his endeavours, under its pleasant shade, to gain her affections, and his subsequent happiness when he there received her as his betrothed at her mothers hand. I raised thee up (or excited thee to love) under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth (rather pledged thee to me), there she brought thee forth (pledged thee) that bare thee. Observe
1. First love and espousals between Christ and the believer never to be forgotten. Never forgotten on Christs side. I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals (Jer. 2:2). Believers first love greatly prized and fondly looked back upon by the Saviour. I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love (Rev. 2:4). Believers, on their part, to cherish the remembrance of Christs early gracious dealings with their soul, and of their early affection and surrender of themselves to Him.
2. Christ the first mover in the saving connection between a soul and Himself. I raised thee upexcited thee to love. Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you. The first spark of love to Christ in the soul kindled by Christ Himself. We love Him because He first loved us. I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. I will betroth thee unto Me in lovingkindness and in mercies (Hos. 2:19; Jer. 31:3). The soul espoused by Christ first raised up by Him from spiritual death. Raised up from a state of degradation and misery. Raised as a beggar from the dunghill, to inherit the throne of glory (1Sa. 2:8). Raised up from the deep spiritual sleep into which sin has cast mankind (Eph. 5:14). Raised up, finally, from the dejection and despondency common upon conviction of sin (Act. 2:37-38; Act. 16:30-31).
3. Those places precious and memorable to the believer that are associated with his early love and espousals to Christ. The place of the altar where the Lord first appeared to Abraham in Canaan fondly remembered by him. Jacob reminded by the Lord Himself of the place where He first appeared to him as his covenant God. Those places of early love and communion afterwards gratefully visited. Their frequent remembrance profitable to the reviving and stimulating of love and devotedness to the Saviour.
4. Spiritual ordinances, in which Christ meets and espouses souls to Himself, fitly compared to an
Apple Tree.
(1) Because full of Christ, the True Apple Tree (chap. Son. 2:3).
(2) From the sweet refreshment afforded in them to quickened souls. The apple or citron tree distinguished for its refreshing fragrance.
(3) From the rich and reviving fruit enjoyed in connection with them. Thy words were found unto me, and I did eat them; and Thy words were the joy and rejoicing of my heart. My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
(4) From the comfort and strength afforded in them in times of temptation and trial. The citron-tree remarkable for its shade. The Psalmists experience: One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple: for in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion. Mine head shall be lifted up above mine enemies round about me (Psa. 27:4-6).
5. The part of the Church of Christ not only to bring forth, but to pledge souls to Him as His Bride. The Church to be a mother of children, who, with herself and through her instrumentality, shall be espoused to Christ. Paul, as a minister of Christ, a representative of the Church when he says: My little children, of whom I travail in birth, until Christ be formed in you. I have espoused you to one husband. The Church never to forget her high calling, and never to be satisfied unless pledging souls to Christ as His Bride.
6. The divinely instituted ordinances of the Church, the means by which souls are ordinarily brought forth to a spiritual life and pledged to Christ as His Bride. There thy mother brought thee forth (pledged thee). The ordinances of the Church instituted by Christ Himself for this purpose (Eph. 4:8-12). In Christ Jesus have I begotten you by the Gospel. Paul and Barnabas at Iconium so spake that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed (Act. 14:1).
THE BRIDES REQUEST
Son. 8:6-7
SHULAMITE, to the King
Set me as a seal upon thy heart,
As a seal upon thine arm:
For love is strong as death,
Jealousy is cruel as the grave:
The coals thereof are coals of fire,
Which hath a most vehement flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
Neither can the floods drown it.
If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
It would utterly be contemned.
Shulamite, still leaning on her Beloved, and taking occasion from the tender recollection he had just uttered, expresses on her side a desire indicative of the ardour and steadfastness of her affection. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, &c. As a plea for her request, she urges the nature of true love. For love is strong as death, &c. Observe
I. The REQUEST. Set me as a seal, &c. Seals well-known to have been used, as they still are, for ratifying and confirming covenants (Neh. 9:38; Jer. 32:10; Jer. 32:44; Rom. 4:11). Used also for security (Deu. 32:34; Job. 14:17; Mat. 27:66; Rom. 15:28). May here allude to the practice of impressing marks upon the person with henna dye, or other material (Rev. 7:3; Rev. 14:1; Rev. 20:3). Shulamites desire to have her name or likeness stamped upon her Beloveds heart and arm; on his heart or breast as the seat of affection, and on his arm, where it might be constantly in view. The desire of every loving heart to be kept in affectionate remembrance by one who is the object of its love. Love must have love in return. A fear, however, that love might be diminished by distance, especially where it may have rivals. Love trembles at the thought of the proverb proving true: Out of sight, out of mind. The believers strongest desire to be loved and affectionately remembered by his Saviour. Lord, remember me, a prayer both in the Old and New Testament (Psa. 106:8; Luk. 23:42). The believer conscious how unworthy he is of Christs love, yet cannot live without an assurance of it. That assurance granted in the words of the inspired prophet: Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, she may forget; yet will I not forget thee. Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me (Isa. 49:14-16). Typical of this fact, the names of the twelve tribes were engraved on the High Priests breast-plate and shoulder-pieces, and carried with him into the Holy of Holies before the Lord (Exo. 28:6-30). The import of the request
(1) Preciousness and dearness in the sight of the Beloved (Jer. 22:24; Hag. 2:23).
(2) Nearness to, or rather oneness with, Him.
(3) An unchanging and permanent place in His affection.
(4) A constant remembrance by Him. Observe
1. Present communion to be improved by importunate pleading.
2. Love evinces its reality and ardour by seeking greater nearness and unchanging steadfastness.
3. The believers earnest desire and distinguished privilege to be cherished by Christs heart, and supported by Christs arm.
II. The PLEA. For love is strong as death, &c. The ardour and strength of Shulamites affection, the reason of the desire to have an abiding place in that of her Beloved. Ardent love can only live on love. Conscious of the ardour and steadfastness of her own affection, she desires it to be reciprocal. Love which is not ardent and steadfast unworthy of the name. Hence Shulamites descant on the
Nature of True Love.
1. Its strength and irresistibleness in the subject of it. Strong as death. Love no more to be resisted in its approaches than death. Shulamite under the power of it in regard to her Beloved. Unable to resist it, she must love and be loved in return, or die. Like death, love must have its object. So Christ gave up His own life in order to have the Church whom He loved (Joh. 15:13; Eph. 5:25). Believers must have Christ, or die.
2. Its tenacity. Jealousy is cruel as the grave. Jealousy an intense, vehement love, that cannot brook a rival (Pro. 6:34). Same word rendered zeal. Is cruelsevere, unyielding, and tenacious, as the grave. Like the grave, love will not quit its hold but at the command of Omnipotence. Jealousy implies
(1) Ardent affection;
(2) Fervent desire of enjoyment;
(3) Impatience of anything coming between love and its object;
(4) Grief for any apparent want of return. Such the case with Christs love and the believers. Jealousy of Christs love a proof of the strength of our own. Love to Christ makes us jealous of all that would come betwixt Him and us. Christs love to His people can endure no rival in theirs to Him. I would thou wert either cold or hot. Believers too apt unjustly to suspect Christs love to them, while Christ has too much cause to be jealous of their love to Him.
3. Its ardour and intensity. The coals (or rather flames) thereof are coals (flames) of fire, which hath a most vehement flame (or, a flame of Jah, or Jehovah,expressive either of its greatness, or its origin). The comparison common to all countries. The Song itself an exemplification of the text. True love not only intense, but painful and consuming, unless able to obtain its object. Believers not to be satisfied with a lukewarm love to Christ. Everything in Him to beget a fervent, burning love. Such a love sought by Him (Joh. 21:15-17; Rev. 3:15). Christ infinitely lovely and infinitely loving. Conjugal love to be ardent, intense, and self-sacrificing: love to Christ to be still more so. Christs own love of that nature. The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up He loved the Church, and gave Himself for it. True, holy love, a flame of Jehovah, from its origin as well as its ardour. Especially true of love to Christ. No true love to Christ which has not been kindled by the Holy Ghost. A divine flame of love to Christ kindled in the breast of every believer.
There let it to Thy glory burn,
With inextinguishable blaze;
And, trembling to its source return,
In ardent love and forvent praise.
The text the only passage in the Song apparently containing the divine name: a flame of Jah. This, if the correct translation, perhaps intended to afford the key to the whole book. The Song of Solomon not only a Song of Loves, but a Song of divine lovesof the love of Jehovah-Jesus to His Church, and the Churchs love to Him, as kindled by the Holy Ghost.
4. Its unquenchableness. Many waters cannot quench love, &c. True love survives all discouragements, and even coolness on the part of its object. Superior to all suffering endured on account of it. The love of Shulamite and the King had stood both tests. To exhibit, under an allegory, the unquenchableness of the love between Christ and His Church, probably one great object of the poem. A leading feature in love or charity, as described by Paul, that it suffereth long, beareth all things, endureth all things, and never faileth (1Co. 13:4; 1Co. 13:7-8). The unquenchableness of the believers love to Christ exhibited by the noble army of martyrs (Rom. 8:35-37; Rev. 12:11). By Paul himself (Act. 20:24; Act. 21:13). By many among the Jews, in the persecutions by Antiochus Epiphanes (Dan. 11:32-33). Loves unquenchableness exhibited in its perfection by the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 5:25; Joh. 13:1). His love not drowned by the floods of suffering that men, or devils, or God Himself, as the righteous Judge dealing with the sinners Surety, could pour upon it (Psa. 69:1-2).
5. Its unpurchaseableness and preciousness. If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. Three ideas
(1) Love cannot be purchased by money or external gifts. Too precious to be bought. Love will beget love, but money cannot buy it. Money answereth all things; but cannot purchase love. The poorest peasant possessed of a treasure which the wealth of a millionaire cannot buy. A mans body and labour may be purchased, but not his love. Kind words and acts may generate it. Self-denying devotedness may give a claim to it, and may win it. But no money can be accepted as its price. Riches may gain the hand, but not the heart. Shulamites love, though that of a humble peasant, not won by Solomons crown and kingdom, but by his excellence and love. Believers love Christ not for what He has, but for what He is. God is loved not because He is the greatest, but because He is the best of beings. Christs goodness rather than His gifts, wins the sinners heart. His cross the apple-tree under which He gains the believers love. Sinners drawn by the cords of a man and the bands of love (Hos. 11:4). We love Him, because He first loved us. Christ gave for the sinners love, not the substance of His house, but the blood of His heart (Rev. 1:5; Rev. 5:9).
(2) Nothing can be given or accepted as a substitute for love. Solomons whole kingdom despised by Shulamite if offered in the place of his love. The riches of the universe contemptible to a quickened soul as a substitute for Christs love. Heaven itself, with all its glory, were it possible, without the love of heavens King, but a poor gift to the soul that loves Him. Hell made heaven with the enjoyed love of Christ, and heaven no heaven without it. In His favour is life. Thy loving kindness is better than life. On the part of man, all his gifts, without love, contemptible. (1Co. 13:3). Love the pearl in the oyster-shell. The shell without the pearl contemptible.
(3) Love not to be detached by the gifts of another. True love superior to flattering promises as well as threatened penalties. Satans bait only successful where love to Christ is nominal. The world able to withdraw Demas from his profession, but not John from his love. The believer not to be separated from the love of Christ by the height of prosperity, any more than by the depth of adversity. The believers love, like Christs own, superior to all enticements. His language, even at the stake, with a pardon offered for apostasy: If you love my soul, away with it. None but Christ, none but Christ! Love rejects with disdain the most flattering temptations to withdraw the soul from Christ. Esteems the reproach of Christ greater riches that the treasures of Egypt. Prefers a dungeon with Christ to a palace without Him.
This brief didactic discourse on the nature of true love, remarkable as here introduced into the Song. Apparently intended to give the key to the whole book. Remarkable also for its resemblance to Pauls discourse on the same subject in 1 Corinthians 13. The passage probably a prophetic intimation of that exhibition of Divine love to be made in the fulness of time, in the incarnation, suffering, and death of the Son of God, as the Bridegroom of His Church, and the Saviour of the world.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
TEXT 8:514
FIFTH SCENEThe Homeward Journey, Son. 8:5-14
Villagers (or the Shepherds Companions): Inquiry, Son. 8:5 a
The Lovers: Dialogue, Son. 8:5 b14
Shepherd, Son. 8:5 b Shulammite, Son. 8:6-12
Aspiration; Son. 8:6-7
Recollection; Son. 8:8-9
Declaration, Son. 8:10
Information, Son. 8:11
Repudiation, Son. 8:12
Shepherd, Son. 8:13
Shulammite, Son. 8:14
5.
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
Under the apple-tree I awakened thee:
There thy mother was in travail with thee,
There was she in travail that brought thee forth.
6.
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.
7.
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.
8.
We have a little sister,
And she hath no breasts:
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she shall be spoken for?
9.
If she be a wall, we will build upon her a turret of silver;
And if she be a door,
We will enclose her with boards of cedar.
10.
I am a wall, and my breasts like the towers thereof.
Then was I in his eyes as one that found peace.
11.
Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon;
He let out the vineyard unto keepers;
Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.
12.
My vineyard, which is mine is before me:
Thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand,
And those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
13.
Thou that dwellest in the gardens,
The companions hearken for thy voice;
Cause me to hear it.
14.
Make haste, my beloved,
And be thou like to a roe or to a young hart.
Upon the mountains of spices.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 8:514
200.
We are no longer in Jerusalemhow was it possible to return to the wilderness? Who is asking this question? Why lean on her beloved?
201.
Under the apple tree seems to be a very special place for two reasons. What are they?
202.
What is suggested in the use of a seala seal had two or three purposes. Show how they relate here. Why upon the heart and the arm?
203.
In what way is love as strong as death?
204.
In what way is jealousy as cruel as the grave? How does this relate?
205.
Something was in danger of being burned up. What was it?
206.
True love can be seen in this Song. Define it.
207.
Love is impervious to water. Why?
208.
True love cannot be bought. Why?
209.
How then is this love obtained?
210.
Who is the little sister of verse eight?
211.
Who is speaking and who is addressed in verse eight?
212.
The metaphor of wall in verse nine carries what meaning?
213.
There seems to be opposites involved in reference to a wall and a door; Explain.
214.
The maiden decides she shall be a wall. Why mention her breasts?
215.
A decision seems to have been reached in Son. 8:10 ba very important decision. What was it?
216.
How shall we relate the information given in Son. 8:11 to the story of this Song?
217.
The Shulammite had a vineyard. What was it?
218.
There seems to be a rejection in Son. 8:12 bor is this the meaning? Discuss.
219.
Who is speaking in Son. 8:13? Who is addressed? For what purpose?
220.
What is the emphasis in the closing verse? Who is involved?
PARAPHRASE 8:514
Shepherds Companions
5.
Who is this coming up from the country
Leaning on the arm of her beloved?
Shepherd
There under the citron tree I awakened thy love;
There thy mother pledge thee to me;
There she that bore thee took my pledge.
Shulammite
6.
Set me as a seal upon thy heart,
As a seal upon thine arm!
Solomon (concluding comment)
For love is strong as death;
Jealousy is as unyielding as Sheol;
Its burnings are fiery darts,
A most vehement flame. (lit., flame of JAH)
7.
Many waters cannot quench love,
Neither can rivers drown it.
If a man should give all his wealth for love,
He (or, It) would be scornfully rejected.
Shulammite (recalling her brothers discussion in her girlhood days)
8.
We have a little sister,
She has still no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister,
When someone asks for her in marriage?
9.
If she be like a city wall,
We will build her battlements of silver.
But if she be like a door,
We will make her secure with cedar boards.
Shulammite
10.
I was a city wall,
And my breasts like towers upon it.
Then became I in his (Solomons) eyes
As one that finds peace.
11.
Solomon had a vineyard in Baal-hamon,
He left his vineyard to tenant-keepers,
Who gave for its fruit a thousand shekels.
12.
My vineyard, my very own, lies before me.
Thou, O Solomon, mayest have the thousand shekels
And the tenant-keepers two hundred!
Shepherd
13.
O thou that dwellest in the gardens,
My companions wait to hear thy story;
Let me, too, hear it!
Shulammite
14.
Come, my beloved, swift as a fleeing gazelle
Or a young deer upon the mountains of spices!
COMMENT 8:514
Exegesis Son. 8:5-14
The comments of Walter F. Adeney are unexcelled on this section of scripture.
Now the bridegroom is seen coming up from the wilderness with his bride leaning upon him, and telling how he first made love to her when he found her asleep under an apple tree in the garden of the cottage where she was born. As they converse together we reach the richest gem of the poem, the Shulammites impassioned eulogy of love. She bids her husband set her as a seal upon his heart in the inner sanctuary of his being, and as a seal upon his armalways owning her, always true to her in the outer world. She is to be his closely, his openly, his for ever. She has proved her constancy to him; now she claims his constancy to her. The foundation of this claim rests on the very nature of love. The one essential characteristic here dwelt upon is strengthLove is strong as death. Who can resist grim death? Who escape its iron clutches? Who can resist mighty love, or evade its power? The illustration is startling in the apparent incompatibility of the two things drawn together for comparison. But it is a stern and terrible aspect of love to which our attention is now directed. This is apparent as the Shulammite proceeds to speak of jealousy which is hard as the grave. If love is treated falsely, it can flash out in a flame of wrath ten times more furious than the raging of hatreda most vehement flame of the Lord. This is the only place the name of God appears throughout the whole poem. It may be said that even here it only comes in according to a familiar Hebrew idiom, as metaphor for what is very great. But the Shulammite has good reason for claiming God to be on her side in the protection of her love from cruel love and outrage. Love as she knows it is both unquenchable and unpurchasable. She has tested and proved these two attributes in her own experience. At the court of Solomon every effort was made to destroy her love for the shepherd, and all possible means were employed for buying her love for the king. Both utterly failed. All the floods of scorn which the harem ladies poured over her love for the country lad could not quench it; all the wealth of a kingdom could not buy it for Solomon. Where true love exists, no opposition can destroy it; where it is not, no money can purchase it. As for the second ideathe purchasing of lovethe Shulammite flings it away with the utmost contempt. Yet this was the too common means employed by a king such as Solomon for replenishing the stock of his harem. Then the monarch was only pursuing a shadow; he was but playing at love-making; he was absolutely ignorant of the reality.
The vigour, one might say the rigour, of this passage distinguishes it from nearly all other poetry devoted to the praises of love. That poetry is usually soft and tender; sometimes it is feeble and sugary. And yet it must be remembered that even the classical Aphrodite could be terribly angry. There is nothing morbid or sentimental in the Shulammites ideas. She has discovered and proved by experience that love is a mighty force, capable of heroic endurance, and able, when wronged, to avenge itself with serious effect.
Towards the conclusion of the poem fresh speakers appear in the persons of the Shulammites brothers, who defend themselves from the charge of negligence in having permitted their little sister to be snatched away from their keeping, explaining how they have done their best to guard her. Or perhaps they mean that they will be more careful in protecting a younger sister. They will build battlements about her. The Shulammite takes up the metaphor. She is safe now, as a wall well embattled; at last she has found peace in the love of her husband. Solomon may have a vineyard in her neighborhood, and draw great wealth from it with which to buy the wares in which he delights. It is nothing to her. She has her own vineyard. This reference to the Shulammites vineyard recalls the mention of it at the beginning of the poem, and suggests the idea that in both cases the image represents the shepherd lover. In the first instance she had not kept her vineyard, for she had lost her lover. Now she has him, and she is satisfied. He calls to her in the garden, longing to hear her voice there, and she replies, bidding him hasten and come to her as she has described him coming before,Like to a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of spices.
And so the poem sinks to rest in the happy picture of the union of the two young lovers. (Exposition of the Bible, pages 535536.)
Marriage Son. 8:5-14
Every marriage should have a honeymoon more than once. Do these words of the text awaken fond memories of the day when your beloved said, Come, my beloved, let us go forth . . .? Make them true againonly this time you can plan it well ahead. You have so much more experience. Your wife would be delighted to respond to such an invitation and these words really could be hers.
Do you remember the place where you asked her that great question? That place cannot be repeatedthat question cannot again be asked, but the devotion and excitement and commitment can all be repeated a thousand times a thousand. We can be that seal upon her heart and upon her arm. What message is written upon the seal? It is surely obviousit says: I love you. But what is meant? It means: I give myself to you. The whole person of the husband is given to the wifenot some of the time, but all the time. Love is an act of the will as much as an expression of emotion. The seal is upon the arm as well as the heart. Our wife finds protection and very visible evidence in a multitude of little acts of love that we have given ourselves to her.
As the reader can observe from the Paraphrase, we believe Son. 8:6 b and Son. 8:7 are the concluding observation of Solomon concerning the whole story of his Song. As he said in Ecclesiastes 12 : Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matterso here we believe he is sayingLet us hear the conclusion of the whole subject of lovehuman and divine: Love is strong as death. Once the total self has been given, that commitment is just as irrevocable and immutable as death! It will not changeit will not yield. The possessiveness and protection of that decision is as cruel as the grave. To challenge that decision is to expect a flame of fire! A fierce fire like the fire of God! Solomon is going on record for all time that there is nothingabsolutely nothing so indestructable as pure love. He could, and did command a flood of waters to overflow the Shulammite; it was a flood of flattery and wealth. When the waters subsided, she was as immovable as she was before he started. If anything, she was more intractable. As she looked at him with the kind of cold indifference only scorn can give, he saidTurn your gaze from me, I cannot look upon thee. (Son. 6:5) Solomon of all men should know that love (not lust) cannot be bought. Are we to read into his words: If a man would give all the substance of his house . . . that he was willing to give a great sum of moneyeven half his kingdom for the love of the Shulammite? If so, he found her love not for sale.
The above comments all apply to many wivesand they are married to some unworthy husbandsi.e., there are many of us who do not appreciate the dear girl our Lord has given us for a wife.
From the reading of our earlier comments you will notice we have applied verses eight through ten to the Shulammite. These verses describe her in her childhood at home (a little sister that hath no breasts). These could be the words of her brothers as they expressed their concern over her as she approached the marriageable age. She is too young now but she will soon be spoken for. When she arrives at that age will she be a wall or a door? i.e., will she refuse unworthy advances upon her? or will she welcome all who come, to her? In either case her brothers wanted to help her. If she was a wall they would reinforce it with silver turretsif she was a door they would enclose her with boards of cedar. After her experience with Solomon she can say that she was indeed a wall. In her maturity she proved herself to be a virtuous woman; very much like the one Solomon described in Pro. 31:10-31. Because of her resistance and refusal, she was given release from his court and enjoyed peace.
Is your wife a wall or a door? So very much depends upon our total attitude toward her. Surely we can have at least as great a concern as the brothers here described. Most virtuous women become such because someone believed they could and wanted them to. In the case of our wives, it has been the example and words and love of our Lord who has created the resolve and surrender that gave them peace; but the constant concern and support of a husband who also loves her Lord would be a great help.
Verses eleven and twelve describe an offer made by Solomon to the maiden. Was this his last desperate attempt to win her? She describes a vineyard Solomon offered to heror to her family. It yielded a thousand pieces of silver every year and the clear profit on it was two hundred pieces of silver. She replies that she has her own vineyardwhich in the poetic figure is herself and her beloved. Solomon can keep his vineyard and his servants can keep the profit, she much prefers her own vineyard.
Such loyalty can only arise out of genuine love. Our heavenly Father is mercifully kind to us in not only His gifts, but in what He withholds. How many wives would steadfastly refuse all the offers of Solomon? Would a large income for life be an attraction? We are glad most of us do not have to find out.
Verse thirteen probably contains the words of the friends of the bride. One of her friends refers to her as Thou that dwellest in the gardensor Thou that dwellest in paradises. All her friends are eagerly waiting to hear of what happened in the paradise of the King.
We can imagine that every detail was told again and again. Yea, we are still telling the beautiful story of love strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave and a love that can neither be drowned nor bought.
So ends this song of songs. No longer are there mountains of separation between them (Son. 2:17), but mountains of fragrant communion in their own waiting home. Solomon has chosen to conclude his inspired composition by recalling the Shulammites earlier invitation to her beloved but with an important change befitting the new circumstances. The Song began abruptly with the maidens musings (Son. 1:2 ff). It ends abruptly with her loving entreaty. In each case the beloved shepherd is the focus of her thoughts. (Clarke)
Communion Son. 8:5-14
Surely Son. 8:5 a has in it a description of every ChristianIn answer to the queryWho is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? We could say that it is every member, of the bride of Christ. We have come up and out of the wilderness of this world and are leaning heavily upon our beloved Lord for support.
It was under a tree that He awakened within us a love for Him. Beneath the Cross of Jesus, I fain would take my stand. I can recall the love and wonder that filled my heart when I remember what happened when He died for me. It was at the same place my new birth took place. When I came to commit myself to Him and was buried in baptism unto His deathI was born of the water and the Spirit (Rom. 6:1-4; Joh. 3:3-5). We, like the maiden, ask Him to seal us. He has already done so with the blessed Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13-14; Eph. 4:30; 2Co. 1:21).
The conclusion of the whole Song of Solomon as well as the Christian experience, is that His love is as strong as death, His jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. He will not let me go. We give upbut He does not. How many times has our Lord hindered Satans efforts? How often has the flame of love stopped our adversary short of capturing us? We can identify many such times, and there are innumerable times when His jealous love protected us and we did not even know it. So many times we have indeed been overwhelmed and the flood of sorrow, or disappointment or discouragement have overflowed. But His love is unquenchable. We cannot buy it, we do not deserve it, but we are so glad that He will not sell it.
We are also that little immature sister. We need some older brothers who will take the kind of interest described in these verses. We have been spoken for by our beloved Lord. Will we be a wall to the allurements of Satan, or will we be a door? If we resist, we do need someone who will offer encouragement to keep up the fight. We want someone to come and help us erect our battlements of silver. There are times when we have been a door and welcome the knock of the evil one. O, how we need someone to enclose us with boards of cedar. Ye who are spiritualhelp uswe need it! (Gal. 6:1-2).
What a solid satisfaction must have filled the heart of the Shulammite maid as she declares her victory of maturityI am a wall, and my breasts like the towers thereof. She was more than a conqueror because of her love. The victory and the strength and the growth are out of love and not stubborn resistance. Her peace was the gift of grace; so is ours.
Every Christian can remember a special offer of our enemy which had a personal appeal to us. It was much like the vineyard Solomon offered. We are asked to sell out for a very high pricea thousand pieces of silverand the promise is that the benefits will continue at two hundred a month. Such an offer will be accepted if we do not have our own vineyard. We are branches in the great vine and my Father is the caretaker of this vineyard. My joy is to abide in the vine and bear much fruit. Therefore, I can have no interest in the vineyard of this world.
There are those who eagerly await our testimony. They want to hear all the ways God led us and delivered us from Satans harem. Before we can tell them anything we must speak again to the one my soul loveth. Make haste my belovedlead me to the mountains of spices. When we have spent time in prayer and meditation we shall have something to say and not before.
FACT QUESTIONS 8:514
236.
According to Adeney where was the apple tree where the shepherd first made love to the maiden? What were the circumstances?
237.
Adeney feels verses six and seven are not the eulogy of Solomonbut of whom? Discuss.
238.
There is only one reference to God in this whole Song. Why? Discuss.
239.
What were the floods that attempted to overcome her love?
240.
This passage distinguishes it from nearly all other poetry devoted to the praises of love. How? Discuss.
241.
Towards the conclusion of the poem fresh speakers appear. Who are they? What is their message?
242.
Who is the little sister? Discuss.
243.
What is the vineyard of the Shulammite?
244.
Every marriage should have a honeymoon more than once. What is meant?
245.
Some things cannot be repeated in our marriageand some things can. Discuss.
246.
Discuss just how we shall set a seal upon the heart and arm of our wife.
247.
We have suggested that Solomon is the speaker in the last half of verse six and verse seven. Discuss his meaning.
248.
How do the words of Solomon apply to wives today?
249.
Was there a younger sister at homeor does this refer to the Shulammite? Discuss.
250.
How can we help to make our wives a wall instead of a door?
251.
What was the last offer of Solomon?
252.
Discuss the mercy of God as related to what He doesnt give us.
253.
Does this Song speak to the needs of our generation? Discuss.
254.
Show how these verses can have application to our relationship with our Lord. Discuss the following verse units: (1) Son. 8:5; (2) Son. 8:6-7; (3) Son. 8:8-10; (4) Son. 8:11-12; (5) Son. 8:13; (6) Son. 8:14.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(5) Who is this that cometh.This begins a new section, which contains the most magnificent description of true love ever written by poet. The dramatic theory encounters insuperable difficulties with this strophe. Again we presume that the theatre and the spectators are imaginary. It is another sweet reminiscence, coming most naturally and beautifully after the last. The obstacles have been removed, the pair are united, and the poet recalls the delightful sensations with which he led his bride through the scenes where the youth of both had been spent, and then bursts out into the glorious panegyric of that pure and perfect passion which had united them.
Leaning upon her beloved . . .The LXX. add here shining white, and the Vulgate, flowing with delights.
I raised thee up.Literally, aroused: i.e., I inspired thee with love. For this sense of exciting a passion, given to the Hebrew word, compare Pro. 10:12; Zec. 9:13. Delitzsch restores from the Syriac what must have been the original vowel-pointing, making the suffixes feminine instead of masculine.
There thy mother . . .Not necessarily under the apple-tree, which is commemorated as the scene of the betrothal, but near it. The poet delights to recall these early associations, the feelings with which he had watched her home and waited her coming. The Vulg. has here ibi corrupta est mater tua, ibi violata est genetrix tua, which savours of allegory. So in later times the tree has been taken to stand for the Cross, the individual excited to love under it the Gentiles redeemed at the foot of the Cross, and the deflowered and corrupted mother the synagogue of the Jews (the mother of the Christian Church), which was corrupted by denying and crucifying the Saviour.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. The wilderness Hebrew, the plain. Dismissed now from the palace, the people of the village the Homeric the casual group, ask of each other this question. Not hearing certainly not heeding any words of theirs, they pass on in tender musing’s, until a dear old trysting place, an apple tree, calls out a remark.
I raised thee up Hebrew, I incited thee to love. The common people of the East live much in the open air, and it is not extraordinary that the Beloved may have been born under the apple tree, (Hebrew, this apple tree,) where, in years long after, the speaker won his heart. The repetition here given makes the identification of the tree the more forcible.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Happy Couple Return To Jerusalem In Full Harmony.
General question.
“Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, Leaning on her beloved?”
The Beloved speaks to his bride.
“Under the apple-tree I aroused you, There your mother was in birth pains with you, There she was in birth pains who brought you forth.”
By comparison with Son 3:6 which similarly opens with the words ‘Who is this who comes up from the wilderness?’, verse 5 would seem to indicate a return to Jerusalem. But now she comes, not as his new bride, but as one who has been taught. Nevertheless she still leans on her beloved. For however much instruction she has received, her dependence is still totally on Him.
And as they return her beloved reminds her that he had ‘aroused her’ under the apple tree. It was from that that she was to gain her strength. It was under that apple tree that her mother had first begun to experience the birth pains that would result in her being born. The idea is that being under the apple tree had a special significance and there is therefore a sense in which by his act of love he has brought her to a new birth (compare Isa 55:10-11).
In Son 2:3 we were told that the apple tree was in fact her beloved under whose shadow she took great delight, and whose fruit was sweet to her taste. Thus the apple tree is the source of all her blessings from her beloved. It is from him that she receives all.
We too as we return to face the world after being alone with Him must recognize that we must constantly lean upon His arm, and must look to the strength and life gained from Him while we were ‘under the apple tree’, the place of new birth and renewal, to enable us in what lies ahead. We too are His beloved wife and can be sure of His care and provision for us.
His New Wife Asks Him To Mark Her As A Seal On His Heart And Arm.
The new WIFE now calls on her beloved to mark her as a seal on his heart and on his arm. She wants him to have a permanent reminder that she is his. For the seal is a stamp of ownership, and she wants the stamp of his ownership of her to be in his heart, and in everything that he does. She wants nothing ever to come between them again. We are then told why she wants to be sealed on his heart and arm. It is because of the strength and power of love, which is the very flame of God (Yah) Himself. Thus it must be preserved at all costs.
This reference to God, the only such reference in the song, may well be seen as drawing attention to the whole significance of the song. In the end the love that has been described throughout the song is to be seen as revealing the very flame that is in the heart of God as He too looks with love and jealousy on His people (Exo 20:5; Exo 34:14) a love that cannot be destroyed or bought. In this way the writer himself parallels the love of God with this love between bridegroom and bride.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Shulamite’s Homeland: Her Love for Her Own People In Son 8:5-10 the scene becomes the place of birth of the Shulamite bride. She returns to her people, to the place where she was born, to the brothers who mistreated her by working her in their vineyards. Because the Shulamite gave herself to her husband, he will now give his attention to the redemption of her people. Through the years that I have served the Lord, I have entrusted my family and loved ones into His divine care. I have seen His hand at work in their lives through divine providence.
When we study the book of Songs, which is a love story, we soon realize that it is the love of God that is continually being poured out in our hearts that enables us to love and serve Him. In this love story, which is figurative of Christ’s love for the world, and particularly for you and me, it is God’s love that serves as the “engine,” or driving force, that moves us towards our destiny of eternal rest. In Rom 5:5 Paul says, “because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Within the context of Rom 5:1-5 he is explaining that it is God’s love being continually poured into our lives that strengthens us to rejoice in tribulations; it is God’s love that enables us to patiently endure those trials until we experience His grace and see His hand at work through us and amongst us; it is God’s love that gives us hope that the future will be brighter and anchors our souls to keep serving the Lord.
Paul the apostle will soon reveal his love and passion for his own people in Rom 9:1-3, which is the driving force the keeps him in the ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. He talks about a love so deep that it causes a continual sorrow in his heart. This is not a natural level of love, but rather, it is the love of God that has been poured into his heart by the Holy Spirit. He has given himself as a living sacrifice upon God’s altar of divine service (Rom 12:1) in hopes that God will work mightily amongst his loved ones, the Jews. The heartbreak comes in his own life because the ones he so dearly loves are those who persecute him the most. When Paul wrote this letter he was on his way back to Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit was bearing witness that persecutions awaited him there. He says, “And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” (Act 20:22-24)
The Shulamite bride returns to the place of her birth (Son 8:5), with a love burning with jealousy, a driving force within her that cannot be quenched (Son 8:6). This is the same passion that drove Paul each day in the ministry, the same love that sustained him and gave him the strength to endure. The Shulamite’s love will be poured forth for her little sister (Son 8:7). This is the place of maturity that God has called her to, the place where the Lord is now pleased with her (Son 8:10).
Son 8:5-7 Mature Love Described Son 8:5-7 describes the strength and endurance that only love can create within the heart of one who is deeply in love.
Literal Interpretation: The Strength of Love The Shulamite woman began this journey with the flames of passion for her lover. By the end of her pursuit for rest in the midst of passion, she will discover love and jealousy are the strongest forces within the human soul. No other emotion has the strength to move a person like passion. She wants her husband’s love and jealousy for her to be above all other things in his heart.
Figurative Interpretation I understand Son 8:6-7 figuratively to be a divine request for the mature believer, who is willing to sacrifice himself for God’s love, to embrace God’s passion for redeeming mankind. A believer is requested to carry the fire and passion for redemption that God carries for a lost and dying humanity.
Son 8:5 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.
Son 8:5
[251] Otto Zckler, The Song of Solomon, trans. by W. Henry Green, in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, ed. Philip Schaff (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1872), 128.
Son 8:5 Word Study on “I raised thee up” Strong says the Hebrew word “I raised thee up” “`uwr” ( ) (H5782) is a primitive root meaning, “to wake.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 81 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “(stir, lift….) up 40, awake 25, wake 6, raise 6, arise 1, master 1, raised out 1, variant 1.” This word is used one time in Songs.
Son 8:5 Word Study on “the apple tree” Strong says the Hebrew word “apple tree” “tappuwach” ( ) (H8598) word means, “an apple, apple tree.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 6 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “apple tree 3, apple.” (see Pro 25:11, Son 2:3; Son 2:5; Son 7:8; Son 8:5, Joe 1:12). Thomas Constable says, “The apple tree was a symbol of love in ancient poetry because of its beauty, fragrance and sweet fruit.” [252]
[252] Thomas L. Constable, Notes on Song of Solomon (Garland, Texas: Sonic Light, 2000) [on-line]; accessed 28 December 2008; available from http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes.htm; Internet, 26.
Son 8:5 Literal Interpretation – “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” Zckler believes this symbolizes the couple returning to the village and home of the young wife. Therefore, the village people are doing the speaking. [253] We have seen a similar statement in Son 3:6, which says, “Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?” But this time the couple is not approaching in stately pomp adorned for a wedding, but in pure simplicity and true affection for one another. We imagine a couple coming from the open plains and entering into a city.
[253] Otto Zckler, The Song of Solomon, trans. by W. Henry Green, in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, ed. Philip Schaff (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1872), 128.
The wife is described as leaning upon her beloved. This suggests a state of affection for him and also a dependence upon him. It certainly describes the wife as feeling secure and at rest in his love for her. Watchman Nee interprets this to mean that the wife is leaning close to her Beloved in recognition of her lack of strength. [254] He uses the story of Jacob’s thigh being out of joint as a symbol of a Bible character that had to also lean upon the Lord. Nee says she was also leaning upon her Beloved because she could not find her way through the wilderness without his guidance.
[254] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 147-8.
“I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee” Otto Zckler says that Solomon is addressing the Shulamite, reminding her that it was under this apple tree that he “awakened” her love, meaning “I excited thy love,” or “I won thy heart.” He believes the following statements support Solomon speaking, since he then reminds his wife that it was under this tree that her mother gave birth to her, something that would not have taken place with Bathsheba in the courts of the king. [255] Hudson Taylor suggests this is the king speaking to his bride as he claims her from her birth. [256]
[255] Otto Zckler, The Song of Solomon, trans. by W. Henry Green, in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, ed. Philip Schaff (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1872), 128.
[256] J. Hudson Taylor, Union and Communion (Edinburgh, Great Britain: R. & R. Clark, Ltd, c1893, 1929) [on-line]; accessed 28 December 2008; available from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/taylor_jh/union.i.html; Internet, notes on Song of Solomon 8:5.
Figurative Interpretation – “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” If we interpret the wilderness in light of the journey the children of Israel made in the wilderness as a place of testing; and in its application in the epistle of Hebrews, we can say that it refers to this world with its vanity and depravity. We are also reminded of Jesus coming up from His wilderness journey after forty days of trial. This phase of our journey is necessary to bring us to a place of maturity and total trust in God. The phrase “cometh up from the wilderness” means that the trial is finished. Bickle says that “coming up” means victory and not failure. He says that love is the ingredient that brings victory in the midst of trials. [257]
[257] Mike Bickle, Session 19 The Bridal Seal of Mature Love (Song of Solomon 8:5-7 ), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 1-2.
The believer is travelling through this world of hardship “leaning upon her beloved,” or trusting and resting in him. A figurative interpretation of the metaphor of “leaning upon her beloved” suggests that the beloved has now found rest. She discovered true rest in the previous passage when she yielded herself entirely to her husband in the marriage bed, figurative of the believer yielding oneself entirely to the will and purpose and plan of God, embracing God’s passion for the redemption of mankind. Bickle compares this position of leaning to Paul’s statement in 2Co 12:9-10, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” [258] Paul learned to lean upon God’s grace in the midst of hardships, as well as in times of pleasure. Also, at Peniel Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint by the angel and his limp caused him to be dependent upon the Lord (Gen 32:1-32). Bickle explains that the Shulamite’s position of leaning is an awareness of her weaknesses as a result of her trials. [259] He uses Paul’s statement as an example when he said, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” (1Ti 1:15) In other words, Paul understood his tendency to cease depending upon the Lord and trust in his own flesh.
[258] Mike Bickle, Session 19 The Bridal Seal of Mature Love (Song of Solomon 8:5-7 ), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 3-4.
[259] Mike Bickle, Session 19 The Bridal Seal of Mature Love (Song of Solomon 8:5-7 ), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 4-5.
She is now focused upon her people and is leading the Lord to them in an effort to bring redemption to them. This would be her vineyard of labour in the Lord’s work. Her position of leaning upon the king means that a believer has now become totally dependent upon the Lord, no longer moving about by his own will.
In this love story, the royal couple would have not been walking of foot on such a long journey. Rather, they would have been riding in a royal chariot, surrounded by an army of soldiers. This chariot is figurative of God’s redemption for mankind, as is described in Son 3:6-10.
“I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee” Within the context of the previous statement of the Shulamite leaning upon her Lover, he reminds her of God’s divine and loving hand of providence that brought her into this world through her natural birth. The phrase “I raised thee up under the apple tree tells her of God’s divine provision throughout her spiritual journey. The apple tree is mentioned at the beginning of this journey of love (Son 2:3) and at the end (Son 8:5). Once a believer is able to look back and see God’s amazing providence and provision throughout his journey, he is able to rest entirely in God for his future journey as God guides him to his destination of rest. Thus, this statement reflects back in order to prepare one to rest in God for the future.
Son 8:6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
Son 8:6
Comments – We read in Gen 38:18 that Judah had a signet ring, which he gave to Tamar as a pledge.
Gen 38:18, “And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.”
We read in the book of Exodus how God instructed Moses to take a stone and engrave the names of the tribes of Israel onto them as a signet, or seal and wear them in his priestly garments. These signet stones were intended to serve as a memorial before the Lord.
Exo 28:11-12, “With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel: thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial.”
On the golden ephod were twelve stones with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel engraved upon them as signets and worn upon the chest of the high priest. This served to remind the Lord of His people. We can conclude from Jer 22:24 and Hag 2:23 that a signet was symbolic of something that was highly prized by its owner.
Jer 22:24, “As I live, saith the LORD, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence;”
Hag 2:23, “In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.”
Son 8:6 Word Study on “love” Strong says the Hebrew word “love” “ahabah” ( ) (H160), means, “love.” The Enhanced Strong says this word is used forty (40) times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “love 40.” It is found 11 times in the Song of Solomon (Son 2:4-5; Son 2:7; Son 3:5; Son 3:10; Son 5:8; Son 7:6; Son 8:4; Son 8:6-7 [twice]), with one of these uses as a substantive to refer to her lover (Son 7:6).
Son 8:6 Word Study on “strong” Strong says the Hebrew word “strong” “`az” ( ) (H5794) means, “strong, vehement, harsh.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 23 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “strong 12, fierce 4, mighty 3, power 1, greedy 1, roughly 1, stronger 1.”
Son 8:6 Word Study on “cruel” Hebrew “qasheh” ( ) (H7186) Strong tells us it means, “hard, cruel, severe, obstinate.” This word is used 36 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “stiffnecked + 06203 6, hard 5, roughly 5, cruel 3, grievous 3, sore 2, churlish 1, hardhearted 1, heavy 1, misc 9.”
Son 8:6 “for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave” Comments – Zckler notes that the two adjectives “strong” ( ) (5794) and “cruel” ( ) (7186) are also used together in Gen 49:7 as “fierce” and “cruel,” respectively. He suggests the author of Songs had this verse in mind when writing Son 8:6. [260]
[260] Otto Zckler, The Song of Solomon, trans. by W. Henry Green, in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, ed. Philip Schaff (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1872), 129.
Gen 49:7, “Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.”
Son 8:6 Literal Interpretation – “Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm” Zckler believes this statement draws a picture of the custom of a man wearing his signet ring around his neck on a chain, or about his arm, so that it was ever with him, signifying its value. [261] We see Judah giving his signet to Tamar in Gen 35:18. Garrett notes how the twelve stones set within the ephod signified that Israel was God’s covenant people. He says the wearing of the Jewish phylacteries were their reminder of their covenant with God. [262] Today, this marriage covenant is sealed with wedding rings. In the same sense, the Shulamite is asking her husband to entirely committed to her, and bring her so close to him in this covenant of love that she is ever before his thoughts. Bickle and others understand the king to be making this request, arguing that it flows better with the thoughts of this passage. It would be the king asking his wife to place him first in her life. [263]
[261] Otto Zckler, The Song of Solomon, trans. by W. Henry Green, in Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, ed. Philip Schaff (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1872), 128-9.
[262] Duane Garrett, Song of Songs, in Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 23B (Dallas, Texas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), comments on Song of Solomon 8:6.
[263] Mike Bickle, Session 19 The Bridal Seal of Mature Love (Song of Solomon 8:5-7 ), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 10-1.
Gen 38:18, “And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.”
“for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave”
Figurative Interpretation “for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave” As our intimacy with the Lord grows deeper, the Lord’s jealously over us also grows deeper. He does not want us to stray far away. Our life becomes more restricted in movement and choices. Yet, it is within these restrictions of love’s passions where one finds true rest in Christ.
“Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm” Nee notes that “the ‘heart’ is the seat of love, and the ‘arm’ is where strength lies.” [264] Nee compares this to the signet stones worn on the ephod of the priests. He interprets the believer to be asking the Lord to hold him close to His heart and “sustain” him with His divine strength. Bickle understands the Lord to be asking a believer to set Jesus as the seal of his heart. He notes from the context of the rest of this verse that this seal is the fire of the Holy Spirit within the heart of a believer. [265] Paul refers to the believer being “sealed” with the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph 1:13).
[264] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 149.
[265] Mike Bickle, Session 19 The Bridal Seal of Mature Love (Song of Solomon 8:5-7 ), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 12-3.
Eph 1:13, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”
Bickel says the heart refer to a person’s affections and the arm to his works. He says the seal of the heart means that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, and the seal of the arm means that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. [266]
[266] Mike Bickle, Session 19 The Bridal Seal of Mature Love (Song of Solomon 8:5-7 ), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 129.
“the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame” Bickle explains that this flame of jealousy tenderizes our hearts so that we embrace a divine passion for man’s redemption. [267] This tender heart allows the Holy Spirit to pour Himself as liquid love into our hearts and feel the love of God towards mankind. Bickle notes that Deu 4:24 describes God’s jealousy for His people as a consuming fire. [268]
[267] Mike Bickle, Session 19 The Bridal Seal of Mature Love (Song of Solomon 8:5-7 ), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 28.
[268] Mike Bickle, Session 19 The Bridal Seal of Mature Love (Song of Solomon 8:5-7 ), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 22.
Deu 4:24, “For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.”
Son 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.
Son 8:7
Son 8:8-9 The Little Sister Son 8:8-9 speaks of a little sister who is too young to become espoused. Some scholars suggest the figurative interpretation of Son 8:8-10 is as a reference to the Gentile Church that will one day be grafted into the Jewish Church. Watchman Nee and Bickle interpret the “little sister” to be symbolic of all immature believers in the body of Christ. [269]
[269] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 151-2; Mike Bickle, Session 20 The Bride’s Final Intercession and Revelation (Song of Solomon 8:8-14), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 3.
Son 8:8 We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?
Son 8:8
[270] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 151.
[271] Mike Bickle, Session 20 The Bride’s Final Intercession and Revelation (Song of Solomon 8:8-14), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 5.
Bickle describes an encounter with the Lord in 1983 regarding the responsibility of helping the Lord lead the Church into maturity. One morning in prayer he was complaining about the heavy responsibility of pastoring a congregation of five hundred people. He said he was simply pleased with perfecting holiness in his own life. The Lord spoke to him Jos 1:2, “Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.” The Lord then quickened a question to him, “What is more important on earth than a holy person.” While being puzzled with such a question, the Lord answered, “A whole generation of holy people.” The Lord explained that He wanted not only the pastor, but the whole church to inherit the land. [272] In other words, in the life of a mature believer the most important thing to the Lord becomes his willingness to lead other believers into Heaven.
[272] Mike Bickle, Session 20 – The Bride’s Final Intercession and Revelation (Song of Solomon 8:8-14 ), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 5-6.
“what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?” We must reflect back to the opening song of the Songs and recall how the Shulamite was spoken for and was taken to the king’s palace. Thus, the little sister who is spoken for symbolizes the day the believer is saved. Son 8:8 is asking, “Once a person joins the local congregation, what is the role of the mature believer?”
Son 8:9 If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.
Son 8:9
Word Study on “a palace” Hebrew “tiyrah” ( ) (H2918) Strong tells us that this word means, “encampment, battlement, tent camp, walled dwelling places”. It comes from the primitive root ( ) (H2905), which means, “a row, a course”. It is used 7 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “castle 3, palace 2, row 1, habitation 1”. It is used one time in the Song of Songs (Son 8:9). Duane Garrett suggests in Son 8:9 this word means either” an encampment (in which there is a row of tents)” or “a row of stones”. [273]
[273] Duane Garrett, Song of Songs, in Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 23B (Dallas, Texas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), comments on Song of Solomon 8:9.
Comments – Some translate the phrase “a palace of silver” as a “battlement (ramp) of silver” ( LXX, RSV), or “towers of silver” ( NIV), or “a turret of silver” ( ASV), as a way of fortifying the wall. Some interpret this phrase as a way of beautifying the wall.
ASV, “If she be a wall, We will build upon her a turret of silver : And if she be a door, We will inclose her with boards of cedar.” [a turret is a little tower]
LXX, “If she is a wall, let us build upon her silver bulwarks ; and if she is a door, let us carve for her cedar panels.”
NIV, “If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar.”
RSV, “If she is a wall, we will build upon her a battlement of silver ; but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.”
Son 8:9 “and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar” – Word Study on “a door” Strong says the Hebrew word “door” “ deleth ” ( ) (H1817) means, “something swinging, i.e. the valve of a door.” The Enhanced Strong says this word is used 88 times in the Old Testament, and is translated in the KJV as, “doors 69, gates 14, leaves 4, lid 1.” It is used once in the Song of Songs (Son 8:9).
Comments – Nee interprets the door to refer to a person who serves as a witness that leads others to Christ.
“‘If she be a door,’ that is, if she is indeed such a witness that others may enter by her into the true knowledge of God, then we will build into her the new heavenly life of Christ whose “countenance is as the cedar.” [274]
[274] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 153.
This is how the word “door” is used figuratively by Jesus Christ in Joh 10:1-10.
Joh 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
Duane Garrett says the verb “we will inclose her” means “to besiege” in the sense of enclosing in order to fortify against an assault, which carries the same meaning of the previous phrase, “we will build upon her a palace of silver.” [275]
[275] Duane Garrett, Song of Songs, in Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 23B (Dallas, Texas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), comments on Song of Solomon 8:9.
Son 8:9 Comments – In Uganda people build a wall around their homes for security reasons. If a home owner has plenty of money, he will make it a decorative wall and entrance gate to enhance the beauty of the home. The doors of the house are often decorative as well.
Son 8:9 Literal Interpretation – Every young girl dreams about the day that her bridegroom will come to get her. As a bride, she can offer herself in one of two conditions. She can offer herself as a pure virgin, or as a polluted and defiled woman.
Duane Garrett notes that scholars frequently interpreters the wall as chastity and the door in contrast as promiscuity. He disagrees with the view of contrasting metaphors on the basis that the apodosis of each describes the same event, protecting the young girl from a possible assault. Also, Garrett believes it inappropriate to judge a young child on such a premature basis. He interprets both the door and the wall to be analogous of a barrier that protects the young girl. [276] In other words, the metaphors of the wall and the door are parallel and essentially say the same thing. Both a wall and a door serve the same function, which is to enclose and protect. The king described his bride earlier in Son 4:12 using a similar metaphor of an enclosed garden.
[276] Duane Garrett, Song of Songs, in Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 23B (Dallas, Texas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), comments on Song of Solomon 8:9.
Son 4:12, “A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.”
Figurative Interpretation Nee interprets a wall to represent a believer who is willing to separate himself from this world, so that Christ can begin to do a work of sanctification in his life, which is said figuratively as “we will build upon her a palace of silver.” [277] He interprets the door to mean if a believer becomes a witness for Christ so that others can enter the kingdom of God, then “we,” meaning the mature believer in partnership with the work of the Holy Spirit, will “inclose her with boards of cedar,” or “build into her the new heavenly life of Christ whose ‘countenance is as the cedar.’” We find another place in Joh 10:1-10 where Jesus uses a door is used figuratively to refer to Himself as the access to peace and abundance in God.
[277] Watchman Nee, Song of Songs (Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: CLC Publications, c1965, 2001), 152-3.
Joh 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
Bickle is more specific in putting the responsibility of nurturing the young ones upon the mature believers. [278] It is the mature believer that is building and equipping the immature saints. He describes the distinctions of building a wall or a door as a reflection of the different gifts and callings that a mature believer must help the immature to achieve.
[278] Mike Bickle, Session 20 – The Bride’s Final Intercession and Revelation (Song of Solomon 8:8-14 ), in Song of Songs (Kansas City, Missouri: International House of Prayer, 1998), 9-14.
Son 8:10 I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour.
Son 8:10
Comments – If we use Nee’s interpretation that a wall represents a believer who is willing to separate himself from this world, and the little sister with no breasts represents immaturity, then the phrase “I am a wall, and my breasts like towers” would represent a believer who is strong in character.
Son 8:10 “then was I in his eyes as one that found favour” Word Study on “favor” Strong says the Hebrew word “favor” “shalom” ( ) (H7965) literally means, “safe,” and figuratively, “well, happy, friendly,” and used abstractly, “welfare, i.e. health, prosperity, peace.” The Enhanced Strong says it is used 236 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “peace 175, well 14, peaceably 9, welfare 5, salute + 07592 4, prosperity 4, did 3, safe 3, health 2, peaceable 2, misc 15.”
Comments – The destination of the beloved was to find peace. Her lover and husband had loved her passionately all the time and had never abandoned her. But she had to find within herself the assurance of his love.
Son 8:10 Literal Interpretation – The beloved finally does find rest by understanding that peace does not come by controlling the affections of her lover and husband, but by controlling her own personal devotion to him. By keeping herself pure and unstained from the outside influences she found that her husband began to look at her with special favor.
Figurative Interpretation The wall (or hedge) and towers were build around the vineyards for protection and oversight by the keeper of the vineyard. Figuratively speaking, they represent the maturity of the believer, who has found favor from God. Her confession of her maturity symbolizes her declaration of serving as an example to those immature believers as they strive to reach her level. Paul reflects this statement in “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” (1Co 11:1) It is in this service that God’s grace and anointing and gifts are poured forth through the mature believer’s life. This is the place of rest that God is taking His people, to enter into their calling and ministry.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Mature Marriage (Scene 5: The Vineyards and Gardens) (Bearing Fruit) The fifth and final passage in Songs shows the woman at rest in her marriage because of the assurance of her husband’s devotion, which took place in the intimacy of the marriage bed in the previous passage. Up until now, she has wanted to possess his undivided attention because she was not sure of his love. However, mature love does not possess and hold on too; rather, it gives and sets free. When she gives him the freedom to fulfill his calling and destiny through her life, she too finds rest. This is the place where the Lord wants to take every marriage; for it is only then that a couple can become fruitful and fulfill their destiny as one flesh. In fact, God’s original purpose of marriage was to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth (Gen 1:27-28). This final passage reveals the fulfillment of that purpose as it describes Solomon with his numerous vineyards and gardens, one of which has been given to his bride. Son 8:5-7 describes the king bringing his bride back to her homeland. We can imagine the emotions that tear at her heart as she finally returns to her place of birth. The love and emotions that were embedded within her heart during her childhood come forth in this passage. Because of the love the king has poured forth into the heart of her bride, she can now pour it forth upon her people. Her character of strength and endurance were shaped and mounded in the furnaces of fire and tribulation, a character that only love can create within the heart of one who dies to his own will. Son 8:8-9 speaks of a little sister who is too young to become espoused. The sight of the vulnerability and immaturity of her beloved little sister make the Shulamite aware of her own growth and maturity (Son 8:10 a), a maturity and beauty that has positioned her in a place of favor with the king, because she realizes that only by the favor of the king was she chosen to come out of her village and grown to a place of maturity (Son 8:10 b). Son 8:11-14 describes the wife in a position of absolute rest. She supports him in his pursuits of prosperity (Son 8:11-12), which symbolizes God’s purpose and plan for his life that he was called to fulfill; and she expresses her abiding love and admiration for him (Son 8:13-14). This final passage reveals the fulfillment of that purpose as it describes Solomon with his numerous vineyards and gardens.
Figurative Interpretation Figuratively, this fifth song represents the believer’s ministry of intercession and evangelism for people as an overflow of his communion with Christ. His vineyard is the ministry of people to Christ. Now that she has found rest, she seeks this place of rest for those she loves. This is the place of true rest that God is calling every believer, when he is willing to take upon himself the weight of love and sorrow for a lost and dying humanity. It reflects a minister of the Gospel who sticks with a ministry that God called him to fulfill.
Illustration – We see this level of love and devotion reflected in Paul’s statements about “having had the sentence of death” in his life, and having the “the sufferings of Christ abounding in him,” and “fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake.”
2Co 1:9, “But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:”
2Co 1:5, “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.”
Col 1:24, “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:”
Illustration – Another good example is found in Rom 9:1-3, where Paul reveals his heart and passion for his people Israel, who went to the Gentile nations trusting God to take care of his greatest desire, Israel’s redemption. When God allowed Paul the apostle to carry this burden of pain and sorrow for a lost humanity, He gave Paul the most intimate access to His heart. God does not ask just any Christian to carry this burden. However, in the same way that a person does not share intimate pain publically, but rather, with only a few close friends that dearly love him, neither does God share His deepest emotions with everyone. He reserves it for those believers who have proved themselves to have a devout love for God and are willing to share His same concerns for humanity. Paul was willing to enter into God’s sorrows for a lost humanity and carry this burden with God. Another example of mature love is seen in Jesus’ statement to Peter in Joh 21:18, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.” Peter’s willingness to suffer and die as a martyr reflects this mature level of love for God. Mark Buntain’s wife, Huldah, is now 86 years old. She and her husband have served as missionaries with Calcutta Mercy Ministries in Calcutta, India for fifty years. [247] Another good example is found in the life of Arthur Blessitt, who has carried the cross into every nation on earth. [248] His life is a life of peace and joy, while pursuing the will of God in his life.
[247] Huldah Buntain, interviewed by Benny Hinn, This is Your Day (Irving, Texas), on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California, 2008), television program.
[248] Arthur Blessitt, interviewed by Matthew Crouch, Behind the Scenes, on Trinity Broadcasting Network (Santa Ana, California, 2008), television program.
Summary – In summary, the Shulamite found rest initially by following the path of the flocks and by dining at the king’s banqueting table. This represents a believer’s initial conversion and tasting of God’s table of blessings (Son 1:5 to Son 2:7). But this bed of rest soon faded away, and she began to search again for rest. Only now, she found rest by yielding to the call of separation and solitude in the clefts of the rocks (Son 2:8-17). This represents the early phase of Christian growth when God calls a child out of his worldly activities to a place of solitude. This period soon ended and she sought rest again, only this time to find Him in the midst of the city (Son 3:1-5). This represents the phase of Christian growth when a person learns to participate in Church life and learn its doctrine. Hudson Taylor notes that up to this point in time the Shulamite was the primary speaker. Now, the king is going to do most of the speaking, as the new bride learns to be quiet and yield herself to her husband. [249] The wedding ceremony symbolizes the phrase of Christian growth when a believer is set apart and anointed by the Spirit for divine service (Son 3:6 to Son 5:1). Although this gives a period of rest, she is soon called out of this place of rest, and begins to seek it again. This time she encounters hardships before realizing her rest is found by returning to the garden where He feeds among the lilies (Son 5:2 to Son 6:3). It is in this search that her Lover beholds her beauty again (Son 6:4 to Son 7:9). Her eyes now turn to her vineyard where she will give him her love (Son 7:10-13).
[249] J. Hudson Taylor, Union and Communion (Edinburgh, Great Britain: R. & R. Clark, Ltd, c1893, 1929) [on-line]; accessed 28 December 2008; available from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/taylor_jh/union.i.html; Internet, notes on Song of Solomon 3:6.
Illustration – Notes these words from Frances Roberts:
“My people may be recognized by their humility and sufferings; not by their social acceptability and their self-advertizing success: not by extravagant physical appointments of their structures; but by the grace of God at work in their hearts. Sacrifice is My status symbol, and man has not been eager to decorate the type of spiritual leadership I had in servants like Paul and Jeremiah.
“Do ye desire to follow Me truly? Look for the blood-stained prints of My feet. Go, as it were, to the cold, unyielding rock in the garden of Gethsemane, where self is put aside, and the cup of suffering is accepted. Die to thine own treacherous and deceitful heart. Rise with determination to go on unflinchingly, not hoping to spare thyself. Save thy life, and ye shall surely lose it. Offer it up to Me, this very day, in a renewal of consecration unto sacrificial living, and I will accept thee and thou shalt know joy as new wine.” [250]
[250] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 30-1.
Outline – Note the proposed outline of this section:
1. Scene 1 – The Shulamite’s Homeland Son 8:5-10
a) Mature Love Described Son 8:5-7
b) The Little Sister Son 8:8-9
c) The Shulamite’s Maturity Son 8:10
2. Scene 2 – The Place of Rest Son 8:11-14
a) The Vineyard – The Husband’s Prosperity Son 8:11-12
b) The Garden – The Wife’s Love & Admiration Son 8:13-14
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Blissful Union in Heaven
v. 5. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved? v. 6. Set me as a seal upon Thine heart, v. 7. Many waters cannot quench love, v. 8. We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts; what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? v. 9. If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver; and if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar, v. 10. I am a wall, v. 11. Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon v. 12. My vineyard, which is Mine, is before Me, v. 13. Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice; cause Me to hear it. v. 14. Make haste, my Beloved, and be Thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices,
We have here both a climax and a summary. The Church, accompanied by Christ, her Bridegroom, is pictured as approaching the end of her course, nearing her heavenly home, where the marriage will take place. The Church, in reviewing her history, reminds Christ of the time when her conduct provoked Him to a jealous zeal. But as she was lying there, in the misery of her sinful condition, Christ came, being born into the lowliness and curse of this earthly life, in order to deliver mankind, and especially those that are His own, from the condemnation which men had brought upon themselves. Her consideration of these blessings causes the Church to exclaim that she is the seal of His love and His power. She adds an overwhelming cry of praise concerning the love of Jehovah as shown in the sending of the Messiah for the salvation of mankind, His love being the supernatural strength and divine persistence, a blaze of perfect and enduring affection for all lost and condemned sinners. The great floods of the world’s sins and misery were not able to extinguish this love as revealed in Jesus Christ, altogether unmerited as it was on the part of men.
The Bridegroom, in turn, reviews the history of His relation to the Church. He found the Church when she was still without comeliness and beauty, Eze 16:7, and immediately had compassion upon her. When suitors of a false kind approached her, when the false wisdom of this world tried to influence her, when the lusts of the world tried to insinuate themselves into her favor, He sheltered her. This the Church acknowledges with gratitude; she has been kept faithful and well ornamented by virtue of His mercy. At the same time she meditates upon the vineyard which the heavenly Solomon had in the midst of the world, the city of turmoil, in which He had His watchmen, apostles, preachers, and teachers, who delivered its fruits to the Lord. Christ answers that He has His vineyard before His eyes, that the bride is His kingdom of glory and perfection. To this she assents, reminding Christ, at the same time, of the reward of mercy which the faithful watchmen should have, Luk 8:23. In conclusion the situation as at present existing is once more pictured in a single glance. The Church is still living in gardens, in many congregations scattered over the world; there she must still proclaim the message of salvation in preparing many souls for the bliss of heaven. Therefore she prays to the Lord to hasten the course of His Word far and wide in the world, in order that the last elect may soon be won for the truth and the heavenly marriage take place. When that day comes, all believing hearts, united in the Church as the bride of Christ, will meet the great Bridegroom of their souls and be with Him in everlasting joy and happiness.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Son 8:5. Who is this that cometh up, &c.? The seventh and last day’s eclogue begins here.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
FIFTH SONG
The return home and the triumph of the chaste love of the wife over the unchaste feelings of her royal husband
Son 8:5-14
FIRST SCENE:
The Arrival Home
(Son 8:5-7)
Country people (in the fields at Shunem)
5 Who2 is this coming up out of the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved?
Solomon (entering arm in arm with Shulamith).
Under3 this4 apple tree I waked thee;5
there6 thy7 mother travailed8 with thee,
there travailed she that bare thee.
Shulamith (familiarly pressing up close to her lover)
6 Place9 me as a signet-ring upon thy heart,
as a signet-ring upon thine arm.
For strong as death is love,
hard as Sheol10 is jealousy
Its flames11 are flames of fire,
a blaze of Jehovah.12
7 Many waters cannot
quench love,
and rivers shall not wash13 it away.
If a man were to give
all the wealth of his house for love,
he would be utterly contemned.
SECOND SCENE:
Shulamith with her lover (in the circle of her friends.)
(Son 8:8-14)
Shulamith
8 A14 sister we have, little
and she has no breasts;
what shall we do for15 our sister
in the day that she shall be spoken for?16
Shulamiths Brothers
9 If17 she be a wall,
we will build upon her a silver castle;
but if she be a door,
we will stop her up with a cedar board.
Shulamith
10 I18 was a wall
and my breasts like towers.
Then was I in his eyes
as one that finds peace.
11 Solomon19 has20 a vineyard in Baal-hamon.
He committed the vineyard to the keepers,
each was to bring for its fruit
a thousand of silver.
12 My21 vineyard, my own,22 is before me;
the thousand is thine, Solomon,
and two hundred for the keepers of its fruit.
Solomon
13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens,
companions are listening for thy voice;
let me hear it.
Shulamith (singing)
14 Flee,23 my beloved,
and be like a gazelle,
or a young hart
upon mountains of spices.24
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Some of the more recent interpreters dismember this last act, by attaching part of it to the preceding section, and regarding the remainder as an appendix or epilogue to the whole. Thus Umbreit extends the last act of the piece to Son 8:7, which is then followed by Son 8:8-12 as a first appendix, The shrewd old brothers and the naively jesting sister; and Son 8:13-14 as a second appendix, The unlucky trip to the country. In like manner Renan, who regards the fifth act as ending with Son 8:7, and the remaining seven verses as forming an epilogue. On the contrary v. Hofmann connects Son 8:5-12 with his last main division of the whole (Son 6:1 to Son 8:12), and considers the last two verses only, Son 8:13-14, as an appendix.Dpke and Magnus push the process of dismemberment to the greatest length, the former of whom divides this section into three separate songs (57; 812; 13, 14). The latter makes it consist of four small pieces, a lyric poem: The parting (57), two dramatic epigrams (810 and 11, 12), and a fragment with several glosses (13, 14).A correct apprehension of the unity of this section as one whole, separated from the preceding by the solemn introductory formula Who is this, etc., is found in Ewald, Hitz., Del., Hengstenb., Vaih., Bttcher, Weissb. Only some of these, especially the last named, go too far in their assertion of the compactness and continuity of the passage, since they fail to recognize the difference between the two scenes, which it unmistakably contains. For in Son 8:5-7 there is evidently represented a return home, and in Son 8:8 ff. a transaction after arriving home. The former of these paragraphs exhibit the principal couple of the piece as still travelling, although quite near the end of their journey. The latter depicts their acts and doings at home in the circle of Shulamiths family, where merry jests and peaceful enjoyment reign. The two scenes of such different character are therefore related exactly as in the third act; only there the excited tumult of the capital and the noisy bustle of the royal palace on Zion resounding with luxurious festivities, formed the background of the action, whilst here an innocent rural seclusion and simplicity, a cheerful, quiet life under apple trees, in gardens, and on mountains fragrant with spices, is depicted as a bright and peaceful termination of the whole matter.
2. With respect to the time and place of the action, no well grounded doubt can exist, on the supposition that the contents and meaning of the preceding act have been correctly understood. Solomon must have yielded to the urgent entreaties of his beloved, and immediately arranged a journey to her home and started with her, so that at the utmost there can only be an interval of three or four days between this and the foregoing act. Various indications suggest Shunem, the home of Shulamith, as the goal toward which the loving pair are journeying, and consequently as the locality of this act; especially the introductory passage, Son 8:5, rightly understood and interpreted, and also the mention of Shulamiths little sister, Son 8:8 f., her abiding in the gardens, Son 8:13, as well as the mountains of spices or mountains of balm, Son 8:14, which remind us of Son 2:17.Partly on account of the introductory words, which are identical with Son 3:6, Who is this coming up out of the wilderness? partly on account of the masc. suffixes in ,etc. (according to the Masoretic punctuation), which appear to show that the passage refers not to Shulamiths but to Solomons birth-place, Weissbach (as also Dpke, etc., before him) explains and assumes the royal palace on Zion to be the place of this action; Son 8:5 ff. describe the arrival of the lovers there from the royal gardens (or more exactly from the path or pasture ground of the royal flocks, which is to be sought between Zion and the kings gardens); the rest of the action is then performed on Zion itself. But the correctness of the Masoretic reading in that passage is more than doubtful (see just below, No. 3); and it is only by the greatest forcing that all that follows, especially Son 8:8 f., 11 ff. and Son 8:13, can be brought into harmony with this transfer of the scene to Jerusalem, as is sufficiently shown by the strange combinations of Weissbach with respect to the circumstances, under which Bathsheba had borne Solomon under an apple tree and the way that Shulamith had waked the king on this his native spot, comp. on Son 8:5 b.The majority of recent interpreters are agreed with us in assuming Shunem to be the place of the action, only the advocates of the shepherd hypothesis, as might be expected, make not Solomon, but the shepherd and Shulamith arrive there and transact what follows;a view, which is already sufficiently refuted by Son 8:12 where Solomon is evidently addressed as present (see in loc. as well as on Son 8:13), and which has as little foundation as Vaihingers assertion that Son 8:5-7 is performed at the house of Shulamiths mother, and Son 8:8 ff. on the eastern slope of little Mt. Hermon, where her brothers may have had their pasture ground.When Delitzsch, whose view of the position and import of this act is in every other respect correct and appropriate, finds represented merely a visit of Shulamith with her husband to her home, we must remark on the contrary that the entreaties and desires of Shulamith at the close of the preceding act certainly looked to more than a mere transient stay at her home, and that this was demanded by the whole state of the case.25 It was only in an actual settlement both of herself and of her husband in her home that she could find the needed guarantee of an undisturbed continuance of her relation to him of cordial and conjugal love.
3. First Scene. The arrival, vers.57.
Son 8:5. Who is this coming up out of the wilderness? So asked Son 3:6 the daughters of Jerusalem, the chorus of ladies of the court, who took part in the action until towards the end of the preceding act. This chorus could only have come to Shulamiths home in company with the royal pair; and then the question before us would, be insupposable in their mouth26 (vs. Renan, etc.). Ewald, Bttcher, Hitzig, Delitzsch, etc. therefore correctly assume the speakers to be shepherds, or country people, or inhabitants of the district, whilst Umbreit and Meier arbitrarily suppose the question to be put by the poet himself; Weissb. by courtiers on Zion, Rosenm. by citizens of Jerusalem. lit. place to which cattle are driven, pasture ground (in opposition to cultivated land, comp. Isa 32:15; Joe 1:19; Psa 65:13) is here used in a different sense from Son 3:6 where it referred to the barren tracts north and east of Jerusalem. It is here a designation of the plain of Esdralon or Merj ibn Amir, lying southward from Shunem to Jezreel, which is still for the most part untilled and traversed by Bedouins (Robinson, Pal. II. 324, 362). For through this plain the travellers coming from the capital must ultimately pass.Leaning upon her beloved. The long journey, though she may have got over part of it in her sedan, has wearied the delicate lady who therefore supports herself upon the arm of her husband. Failing to recognize this situation so clear in itself and so easily conceivable, the old translators have variously altered the sense of the passage. In this way we may explain the glosses to be found in the text of the Sept. and Vulg., (=) and deliciis affluens (=), which are in both cases followed again by the correct translation of .Under this apple tree I waked thee. The pointing , like that of the following verb implies that Solomon is the person addressed and that Shulamith is the speaker, but the consonants admit also of the reverse, and the old Syriac version seems actually to have read fem suffixes. Most of the older as well as of the more recent interpreters, following the Masoretic text conceive Shulamith to be the speaker, whilst Hitzig, Bttcher (who to be sure assigns a part of the verse to Shulamiths mother), Delitzsch, Rebenst., Sanders, etc. make her lover speak. In favor of the latter assumption it may be urged 1) that if Solomon were the person addressed, the absurd sense would result of his birth under an apple treea sense which is certainly not made any more tolerable by Weissbachs supposition of a temporary sojourn of Bathsheba in the royal gardens with a view to her confinement; 2) that in case the young shepherd were addressed the entire absence of any mention of his mother in what precedes, would be somewhat surprising and is not relieved by the parallels adduced by Ewald Gen. 35:48, Donati, vit. virg. c. 1, etc.; 3) that Son 8:6-7 confessedly spoken by Shulamith would require to be more closely connected with Son 8:5 b than they actually are, in case Son 8:5 b was also spoken by her: 4) that the expression travail or conceive () seems fitter in the mouth of a man than of a woman, in like manner as when correctly explained only appears appropriate in the mouth of the lover. For this expression, which we therefore read , as is shown by its likeness to Son 8:4, is not to be understood of a literal awakening out of sleep (Ewald, Heiligst., Hitzig, Vaih. etc.) but of waking a previously slumbering affection, the stirring up of love. I waked thee is here equivalent to I excited thy love, I won thy heart (Dpke, Del., Hengstenb. etc.). The circumstance, to which Solomon here alludes, is manifestly identical with that described by Shulamith Son 2:8 ff. We must, therefore, imagine the apple tree to be immediately adjoining the house of Shulamiths mother, and probably shading one of its windows; the following statement is thus too more easily explained.There thy mother travailed with thee, there travailed she that bare thee. There, i.e. not precisely under the apple tree as though the birth had taken place in the open air (Dpke), but more indefinitely, there, where that apple tree stands, in the dwelling shaded by it.
Son 8:6. Place me as a signet-ring upon thy heart. This is manifestly said by Shulamith in ardently loving response to what her lover had said to her, by which she had been reminded of the commencement of her relation to him. She thereupon presses familiarly and closely to him, illustrating the meaning of her words by a corresponding action. the seal or signet-ring (Gen 38:18) is here as in Jer 22:24, and Hag 2:23 (which latter passage is probably an imitation of that before us) a symbol of close inseparable connection and most faithful preservation. Reference is had to the custom attested by Gen. loc. cit. of wearing signet-rings on a string upon the breast as well as to the like custom of binding them to the arm or right hand (see Jer. loc. cit., Sir 49:11); not to the use of the signet-ring for sealing, as though the sense were press me closely to thy breast and in thy arms (Hitzig), and quite as little to the impression taken from the seal (Herder, Dpke), or to an elegantly engraved bracelet (Weissb.), or even to the high priests breastplate (Golz, Hahn, etc.) For strong as death is love, hard as Sheol is jealousy. The request that he would keep her firmly and faithfully as his inalienable possession is here based by Shulamith on a reference to the death-vanquishing power and might of her love, or rather of love ( absolutely), of true love in general. The adjectives and stand together also in Gen 49:7 to designate the passionate anger and fiery zeal of Simeon and Levi as one which was too strong and invincible to be repressed. As our poet probably (?) had this passage in mind, he doubtless designed to be understood here too of the all-conquering power and (literally hard, resisting all impressions) of the constancy of love which baffles every attempt to suppress or to extirpate it. The comparisons also tend to the same conclusion; for death overcomes all things and the nether world (hell, sheol) cannot be subdued, comp. Job 7:9; Wis 2:1; Mat 16:18; 1Co 15:55. Thus Weissbach, who is substantially correct, only he goes too far perhaps, in regarding Gen 49:7 as the model, which the poet designedly follows in this passage. On zeal, zealous love, comp. Pro 6:34; Pro 27:4, where however the expression is used in a bad sense of love that has cooled, jealousy. In this passage it intensifies the idea of love, just as death and hell stand to each other in the relation of climax, and as strong (i.e. invincible) indicates a lower degree of the passion of love than hard, unyielding (i.e. inexorable, not to be appeased, like the realm of death, which never gives up anything that it possesses). Comp. Hitzigin loc.Its flames are flames of fire, a blaze of Jehovah. On sparks, rays, flames, comp. Job 5:7 ( sons of the flame, i.e. sparks of fire); Psa 76:4 (flashes or sparks of the bow, i.e. arrows); Deu 32:24; Hab 3:5, etc. Love or rather its intenser synonym (comp. Zep 1:18), appears here as a brightly blazing fire, which sends forth a multitude of sparks or flames into the hearts of men and thus verifies its invincible power and its inextinguishable intensity. And this quality belongs to it because it is not natural fire, but a blaze of Jehovah, flame kindled and sustained by God Himself. Observe that the name of God is mentioned only in this one passage of the Song, which must, however, prove to be just the radiant apex in the development of its doctrinal and ethical contents (comp. Doct. and Eth. No. 2). As parallels to this verse may be adduced: Motanebbi (edit. v. Hammer) p. Song of Solomon 3 :
In the heart of the lover flames the blaze of desire
Fiercer than the flames of hell, which are but ice in comparison.
Also Anacreon: . Likewise Theocritus, Id. 2, 133.
.
And many other expressions of Arabic, Greek and Roman poets. See Magnusin loc.
Son 8:7. Many waters cannot quench love, and rivers shall not wash it away. It is here shown more particularly in what respect love is a divine flame, a fire greater than any kindled by a human hand, comp. 1Ki 18:38. To the figure of a blazing fire was readily added that of the inability of floods of water to extinguish this fire, and therefore in explanation of this new figure we need neither refer (as Hitzig does) to Isa 43:16, a passage which is different in every respect, nor (with Vaihinger and others) explain the floods of water of the enticements of Solomon in particular, by which he would have turned Shulamith away from her lover. The rivers () do not form a climax to the many waters, as Hlemann supposes (see e.g. on the contrary Jon 2:3); but in the latter case the thing chiefly regarded is the great mass of the element hostile to fire and in the former its rapidity and violence.If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,i.e. with the view of exciting love and producing it artificially where it does not exist. Here we might really see something to favor the shepherd hypothesis, if a statement of the impossibility of purchasing true love was not appropriate in the mouth of Shulamith on our assumption likewise. But that this is the case, may be learned from the contrast between Shulamiths genuine, invincibly strong love for Solomon and the mere semblance of love which had previously subsisted between this king and his other wives; comp. the sentence referring to this very contrast, Son 2:7; Son 3:5; Son 8:4, by which Shulamith represents to the ladies of the court how impossible it was for them by means of their amorous arts really to gain the kings heart (see on Son 2:7, p. 63). On the expression comp. Num 22:18; Pro 6:31, which latter passage was probably drawn from this. On a man, any one, comp. Exo 16:29. That it is here an indefinite subject seems the more certain from the fact that in the apodosis also a universal statement follows with an impersonal form of the verb ( ). Vaihinger, Hlem., etc., therefore translate without good reason If some man, etc.He would be utterly contemned; lit., contemning they would contemn him. The impersonal plural expresses, as in the similar passage Pro 6:30, the universal sentiment not merely that of those in particular who were solicited by false love and with money. The repetition of the verb by means of the Infin. absol. expresses the very high degree of contempt, which such an one as is here spoken of would encounter.
4. Second Scene.a.Shulamiths little sister, Son 8:8-10. Weissbach is alone in attempting to point out an intimate connection between these verses and the preceding. He says: What was uttered Son 8:7 c, d as a universal proposition (viz. that money and property have no value as compared with love) is now Son 8:8-9 conditionally illustrated in the sister who is still young and destitute of charms, whilst Shulamith represents herself, Son 8:10, as the antithesis. As this view can only be based on a very artificial interpretation of Son 8:8-9, we shall have to abide by the looser connection maintained, e.g., by Delitzsch and Hahn. They suppose that the sense expressed by Shulamith, Son 8:6-7, of the high happiness which she possesses and enjoys in her love for the king, reminded her of her young sister who was still debarred from such loving enjoyment, and she accordingly expresses her solicitude for her future conduct and fortunes. Upon this assumption the unmistakable dramatic progress receives due acknowledgment without the sundering of all connection between the new scene which begins here and that which preceded it, as is the case, e.g., in Umbreits view, according to which Son 8:6-7 constitute the closing sentiment of the drama (spoken by the poet himself) and Son 8:8-14 a twofold supplement to it. So in the similar views of Renan, Dpke, Magnus (comp. above No. 1) and no less so finally on the assumption of Dderlein, Ewald, Heiligstedt, Meier and Rocke, that Shulamith narrates in Son 8:8-9 what had formerly been said by the brothers in relation to her little sister. In opposition to this latter opinion, according to which Son 8:8-9 are to be regarded as recitative, and Shulamiths own words do not begin again until Son 8:10, Delitzsch correctly urges: It would be vain to appeal to Son 3:2; Son 5:3 to prove the possibility of this view; in both those passages the introduction of the language of another without any formal indication of the fact, occurs in the course of a narrative, whilst Son 8:8 f. is only converted into a narrative by the fratres aliquando dixerunt (Heiligstedt) understood. There is nothing to justify such an insertion. The only seeming necessity for it might be found in Son 6:9, according to which Shulamith herself appears to be the little sister. It is not, however, said in Son 6:9 that Shulamith was the only daughter of her mother, but only that her mother did not possess or know her equal, (comp. in loc.). Hitzig, too, emphatically opposes understanding the passage as a narration, but assumes that both verses, Son 8:9, as well as Son 8:8, were spoken by Shulamiths brothers, which is contrary to the relation of the two verses as question and answer. Nevertheless this assumption, shared also by Vaihinger, especially if one brother is supposed to speak in Son 8:8, and the other in Son 8:9, would be far more tolerable than Bttchers view, which makes Shulamiths mother put the question in Son 8:8, and one of her sons answer it in Son 8:9; or than the opinion of Hengstenberg that both Son 8:8-9 were spoken by Solomon; or than the view of Starke, and of many of the older interpreters, that Son 8:8 belongs to Shulamith, and Son 8:9 to Solomon.
Son 8:8. We have a sister, little, and she has (as yet) no breasts. On little in the sense of young, belonging to the period of childhood, comp. Gen 9:24; Gen 27:15; 1Ki 3:7; and in relation to the breasts as the criterion of virgin maturity, Eze 16:7.What shall we do. in the day that she shall be spoken for? The day that a maiden is sued for, is when she becomes of a marriageable age. The suit was addressed in the first instance to the father of the damsel, or to her brothers, not directly to herself (Gen 34:11; Gen 34:13; Gen 24:50, etc.).
Son 8:9. If she be a wall, we will build upon her a silver castle; but if she be a door, we will stop her up with a cedar board.Delitzsch correctly paraphrases these words: If she opposes a firm and successful resistance to all immoral suggestions, we will build on her, as on a solid wall, a castle of silver, i.e., we will bestow upon her the freedom and honor due to her virgin purity and steadfastness, so that she may shine forth in the land like a stately castle on a lofty wall which is seen far and wide. But if she is a door, i.e., open and accessible to the arts of seduction, we will block her up with cedar boards, i.e., watch her so that she cannot be approached by any seducer, nor any seducer approached by her.As soon as we suppose the brothers to give this answer respecting their younger sister, it loses the strange or even offensive appearance which its figures would certainly have in the mouth of Shulamith. Then, too, we shall not be compelled to seek for a closer connection between this sentiment and the main action of the poem (as the advocates of the shepherd hypothesis do), but can abide by the simple assumption that what is here said, as in general, all from Son 8:8 onward, is simply designed to form a cheerful and sportive termination of the whole matter. Least of all need we take refuge in the over-refined view of Weissbach that Son 8:9 is a continuation of the language of Shulamith, who supposes two questions to be put to her by certain men respecting her sister when marriageable, and immediately replies to them bothso that the sentences run thus:
. What shall we do then in respect to our sister when they ask about her:
(a) Is she a wall?
Ans. We will build a little silver wall around her (?);
(b) Is she a door?
Ans. We will construct around her (?) a cedar frame (?)
As to the particulars observe further: The wall is not designed to set forth the idea of lofty stature (7:8), or the impossibility of being scaled, but simply that of the firm resistance which checks the further advance of foes (Hitzig correctly, vs. Weissbach).The castle of silver to be built on the wall is, of course, only to be conceived of as a small but strong castle, tower or bulwark (comp. in Num 31:10; Eze 25:4, etc.), or if any prefer as a pinnacle or battlement crowning the wall (Hitzig, Heiligstedt, Magn., Meier, Hlem.comp. the Sept.:),not as a palace (Goltz) [so Eng. Ver.] or habitation (Hengstenberg), or court-yard (Bttcher), or low fence (Weissbach). The meaning of the figure is admirably illustrated by Hitzig by a reference to our proverbial form of speech, He (or she) deserves to be set in gold. He also not inappropriately suggests an allusion to the way that oriental ladies to this day decorate their head-dress with strings of silver coins or with horn-like ornaments of embossed silver and the like (comp. on Son 4:4 above). On the contrary the sense which Vaihinger would attribute to the expression is undemonstrable and in bad taste: we will seek to obtain a large dowry by her. And Weissbachs explanation is perfectly absurd and trifling: we will carry up a silver wall around her, who needs no such protection.The door presents a fitting contrast to the wall, because it is easily opened and admits everything through it; an expressive emblem of unchastity which is open to every amorous seduction. Stopping up or blocking (Hitzig: barricading) this door with a cedar board naturally means a determined warding off of those seductive influences, and rendering all dissoluteness impossible by the most sedulous care. By this is not to be understood a fore-door or vestibule door in front of the proper door (Hug), nor a cedar post (Weissb.), nor a tablet to be put on the door as an ornament (Hlem.), but quite certainly a plank or board to be put against the door on the inside to prevent it from turning and opening. This board was to be of cedar, because this wood is a particularly strong building material and not liable to rot.27
Son 8:10. I was a wall and my breasts like towers. This is evidently said by Shulamith, whose thoughts were turned back to her own maiden state by her brothers faithful care shown for the honor and purity of her little sister. Looking back upon this time, which now lies in the past, she can joyfully affirm that all seduction recoiled from her as from a solid wall, and that no one had dared to venture an assault upon her pure and awe-inspiring charms (her breasts as inaccessible and hard to be scaled as towers upon walls, comp. Son 7:9 b).Then was I in his eyes as one that finds peace,i.e., this careful preservation of my chastity, this keeping my charms pure and sacred procured me his, the kings, favor and inmost love. welfare, peace, is here as in Psa 41:10, a synonym of favor or kindness (comp. Gen 6:8; Gen 19:19; Jer 31:2, as well as Est 2:17) and is not without a delicate allusion to the name of Solomon. There is also a certain refinement in the expression that Shulamith does not exactly say then I found peace in his eyes, but with a modest circumlocution: then was I as one ( as in 8:1) that finds peace in his eyes, then I appeared to him worthy of his cordial affection (comp. Delitzsch and Hlemannin loc.). The expression contains no allusion, therefore, to the preceding comparison of herself to a wall surmounted by towers, or to a fortification. If the poet intended by to express the meaning: then he finally left me in peace, instead of assailing me further, he did so in a most strange and unintelligible manner (vs. Hitzig), and to regard wall as the subject of found (Ewald, Weissbach) will not answer on account of this word being too remote; and such a form of speech as a wall or fortress finds peaceit surrenders or it is spared, receives no confirmation from the Old Testament elsewhere, or from oriental literature generally.
5. Continuation.b.Shulamiths intercession for her brothers, Son 8:11-12.These difficult verses can only be explained in accordance with the context, and with the whole course and tenor of the piece, by assuming with Delitzsch that the vineyard of Solomon in Baal-hamon, mentioned in Son 8:11, is simply adduced by way of example; that the speakers own vineyard, as in Son 1:6 (comp. Son 4:12 ff.), is a figurative designation of herself and her charms, which she devotes to the king; and finally that the keepers of its fruit (Son 8:12 b) is a designation of her brothers, the faithful and zealous guardians of her innocence; and consequently the whole must be taken to be an intercession of Shulamith on behalf of her brothers. This intercession fitly connects itself with their tender care for her little sister, just now manifested; and it likewise refers back in a suitable manner to the mention before made of her brothers, Son 1:6, and thus helps to bring about a termination of the whole, in which everything shall be satisfactorily adjusted and harmonized. We therefore reject the following divergent explanations of this brief section: 1) Shulamith declares that she has herself guarded her virgin innocence better than Solomon his vineyard in Baal-hamon, whose keepers had secretly retained, besides the fruit, two hundred shekels for themselves; she therefore needs no other keepers, not even the guardianship of her brothers (Herder, Umbreit,Dpke, Hitzig, Rocke). 2) Shulamith protests that she disdains all the wealth and the treasures of Solomon, which, like his vineyard in Baal-hamon, he is obliged to entrust to the guardianship of others; her vineyard, i.e., her innocence and virtue is under her own control, and in this possession of hers she has enough (Dathe, Rosenmueller, Ewald, Heiligstedt, etc.). 3) Shulamith triumphantly relates that Solomon offered her the rich vineyard at Baal-hamon, whither she had been carried to his pleasure-palace, with all its produce, and the entire park as her own property, if she would be his; he was even willing to release her from the payment of the two hundred shekels due to each of its keepers; but she had renounced the whole for the sake of her lover, who now, as her own chosen vineyard(!) stood before her (Vaihinger). 4) Shulamith means to say, Solomon must have his distant vineyard in Baal-hamon kept for him, and must therefore pay away considerable of its proceeds; but she, on the contrary, kept her own vineyard, that is to say Solomon (!), herself, and hence possessed his love alone without being obliged to share it with others (Hlemann). 5) Shulamith intends by Solomons vineyard in Baal-hamon herself, and by her own vineyard the shepherd, her lover; she means to say, Solomon did indeed get Shulamith into his power at Shulem (=Baal-hamon), and offered her one thousand shekels by each of the ladies of the court as her keepers; but he may keep this money, for her proper keeper, the shepherd, now stands before her again (Meier). 6) Shulamith means to say that Solomon, who has let out his vineyard to keepers, receives as the owner one thousand silverlings in cash from each keeper, whilst the keepers retain for their pay five times as much in fruit = five thousand shekels. But Shulamith, who keeps her own vineyard, i.e., herself with all her personal charms, and consequently might, as both owner and keeper, retain the entire produce for herself, gives the use of the fruit, consequently the five parts, in this case = 1000 (!) to Solomon, and only retains for herself as keeper the 200, i.e., the possession; the usufruct shall be his, she will only be the keeper of her vineyard (Weissbach). 7) Solomons vineyard in Baal-hamon denotes the kingdom of God founded in the midst of the world, in the midst of the savage masses of heathen population. The keepers of this vineyard are the several Christian nations, each of which has to pay one thousand shekels to the heavenly Solomon as the product of his labor. Each must therefore produce as much fruit as the people of Israel, the tenants of the vineyard mentioned, Son 8:12, which forms one part of the great vineyard of the Church. Each people then receives in return a reward of grace of two hundred shekels, that is to say, a fifth part of the produce of his portion; and the people of Israel receives no more, comp. Mat 20:1-16 (Hengstenberg). 8) Solomons vineyard at Baal-hamon denotes the Church of the Lord in the midst of the world. Its keepers are the prophets, apostles, pastors and teachers of Christendom, to whom two-tenths (twice as much, therefore, as under the Old Testament) shall be given as a reward of grace for their faithful raising of fruit, or for their leading many thousand souls to the heavenly Solomon (Calov, Michael., Marck., Berleb. Bib., and in general most of the old allegorists). 9) The vineyard at Baal-hamon denotes the Gentile world, generally, Shulamiths vineyard, Son 8:12, Japhetic gentilism as one half of this Gentile world, the two hundred silverlings the spiritual peace granted by the king to Japhetic humanity in regard for their loving submission to him, etc.28 (Hahn).
Son 8:11. Solomon has a vineyard in Baal-hamon. Baal-hamon is, without doubt, the place not far from Dothaim in the south of the tribe of Issachar, which is called or , Jdt 8:3, a locality therefore not very remote from Shunem. It derived its name from the Syro-Egyptian god, Ammon (=Jer 46:25), which may have been worshipped there, just as Baal-gad (Jos 11:17; Jos 12:7, etc.) was named from Gad, the well-known Babylonish god of fortune. Baal-hamon scarcely signifies the populous (Vulg., Weissb., etc.), and it is still more improbable that it is to be identified, as many of the older writers assumed, with Baalbec in Cle-Syria (where vineyards could hardly ever have flourished), or with Hammon, , Jos 19:28, or with Baalgad, Jos 11:17, etc. But if that locality near Shunem is intended, it by no means follows that Shulamith had been carried off to just that spot by Solomon, and detained there for some time as a prisoner in a pleasure-palace of the king, as Vaih. strangely supposes. But Shulamith only names this vineyard as an instance very near her home of a royal property let out on high rent, in order afterwards to illustrate by it her relation to the king as well as to her brothers.He committed the vineyard to the keepersi.e., to several at once, amongst whom the piece of ground was parcelled out in greater or smaller portions. That these keepers rented the property is shown by what follows.Each was to bring for its fruit a thousand of silveri.e., a thousand shekels of silver. From the high rent may be inferred the productiveness of the property; for that its annual yield corresponded to the agreement is certainly presupposed, as well as that a part of the produce of his piece annually remained for each tenantthat is, on an average, about two hundred shekels (see Son 8:12).
Son 8:12. My vineyard, my own, is before mei.e., I take charge myself of my own vineyard, viz., of myself and my womanly charms, of myself as an object of mens admiration and courtship. Since I came to maturity, I have been my own keeper, and have with entire freedom transferred to my royal husband this right of mine to dispose of myself. I have no longer any other keepers but him, who is one with me (comp. on Son 1:6, p. 56).The thousand is thine, O Solomon, and two hundred for the keepers of its fruiti.e., the entire proceeds are due to thee; I remain wholly thine own with all that I am and have. But they who kept my fruit, i.e., my innocence and virtue, before I was thine, should not go empty away. These trusty brotherly guardians of my maidenhood, who once watched over me as they now faithfully and sedulously watch over our little sister (Son 8:9), must be commended to thy love and favor, as in my heart they hold the next place after thee.This explanation, it is true, does not completely remove all difficulties; but it involves fewer doubtful and forced assumptions than the other attempted explanations adduced above.
6. Conclusion.c.The cheerful pleasantry and singing of the royal couple, Son 8:13-14.These two concluding verses contain, according to Herder, the fragment of a conversation; according to Umbreit the serenade of a young man from the city with the answer of his lady-love in the country; according to Dpke a small duet belonging to the initial period of Shulamiths love, and here appended by the poet; according to Magnus, a glossed and mutilated fragment of a love-song; while most of the advocates of the shepherd hypothesis see in it a colloquy between the lover and Shulamith, consisting of an invitation to sing on the part of the former, and a song of a roguish and playful character, which Shulamith thereupon sings (Ewald, Hitzig, Vaihinger, etc.). This last view evidently has the most in its favor on account of the recurrence of let me hear, from Son 2:14, and the unmistakable resemblance of the song in Son 8:14 to Son 2:17 (and partly also to Son 2:15). Only there is no reason to suppose the person, who invites her to sing and whom Shulamith addresses in her song as my beloved, to be a young shepherd. The epithet which he bestows upon her, thou that dwellest in the gardens, makes it seem far more likely that he was a citizen of rank, and even resident in a palace, a man of royal race exalted greatly above her station in life. But little reason as there is to regard another than Solomon as the beloved who speaks in Son 8:13 and is then addressed in the sprightly little song, there is quite as little for assigning this occurrence with Hitzig to a period considerably later than the one recorded just before, or for assuming with Bttcher that the bridegroom, in quitting the merry engagement feast in the house of Shulamiths mother, wanted to hear one more song from his bride before he left her for the last brief interval prior to the celebration of their marriage. Delitzsch and Weissbach understand the passage correctly, only the latter preposterously imagines the locality of the action here as in the final section generally to be the royal palace in Jerusalem (comp. p. 127).Thou that dwellest in the gardens.Literally, thou sitting in the gardens, i.e., thou resident in gardens, who art opposed to living in populous cities and splendid palaces (comp. Son 1:16 f.; Son 4:6; Son 5:7; Son 7:12 ff.). Solomon here evidently means to allude with pleasant raillery to the fact that his beloved, who had so often before exhibited her longing for the gardens and meadows of her home, was now exactly in her element, and ought therefore to be in the best of moods.Companions are listening for thy voice; let me hear it.The companions are, according to Magnus, neighbors, or the family; according to Hufnagel, female friends; according to Moldenh., Ewald, Ren., etc., bridemen (des paranymphes, Renan); according to Vaihinger, shepherds, fellow-pasturers; according to Weissbach, Solomon himself, who here jestingly represents himself as a shepherd, or rather in the plural as shepherds! and finally, according to Herder, Hug, Delitzsch, playmates or youthful associates of Shulamith. This last view has most in its favor; only it is a matter of course that the companions of Shulamiths youth were likewise those of her brothers; they are consequently in all likelihood shepherds and country people from Shunem and its vicinity. They were probably, therefore, the same as the speakers in Son 8:5 a of this chapter; on the contrary they are not the companions of Solomon (comp. Son 5:1), of whom Shulamith spoke Son 1:7 (vs. Ewald).
Son 8:14. Flee, my beloved. The words sound like sending off, or if any prefer scaring away or at least urging out into the open ground (Delitzsch). They do not, however, by any means express seriously intended coyness, as is shown by the very form of the address my beloved. They rather invite to hasten and range with the singer over the mountains and plains as is shown by what follows. is not, however, exactly equivalent to hasten, up! as is maintained by Vaihinger and Weissbach, who refer to Num 24:11, Isa 30:16, etc. For even in these passages, as well as in Gen 27:43; Amo 7:12, the primary signification of this verb to flee is clearly apparent. Ewald arbitrarily: the meaning is that he should cut across, leave his companions and not stay opposite to her but hasten to her side, etc.And be like a gazelle,etc. comp. on Son 2:17. In place of the mountains of separation or cleft mountains there mentioned we here have balsam mountains or heights of scented herbs (Weissbach), which to be sure are meant in a different sense from Son 4:6. Shulamith here calls by this name the mountains and hills of her home (comp. Son 2:8) because they were just then in the season of spring or early summer covered with fragrant flowers of all sorts and accordingly filled with balmy odors (comp. Son 2:12 f., Son 6:11).On the import of this verse as the conclusion of the entire poem, comp. Delitzsch, p. Song 153: Amid the cheerful notes of this song we lose sight of the pair rambling over the flowery heights, and the graceful spell of the Song of Songs, which bounds gazelle-like from one scene of beauty to another, vanishes with them.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The allegorical exegesis is in this section less able than ever to bring all into a form possessing unity and regular structure, and to reach really certain results, as the attempts above exhibited (p. 132) to give an allegorical explanation of Son 8:11-12 have evinced. Not only in this passage but in other parts of this section this mode of interpretation shows a very great multiplicity and divergence of opinions among its various advocates. The little sister, Son 8:8 f. is by some made to denote the first-fruits of Jews and Gentiles received into the church immediately after the ascension of Christ (Cassiodorus, Beza, Gregory, Rupert v. Deutz, etc.;) by others the entire body of the Jews and Gentiles yet to be converted (Heunisch, Reinhard, Rambach, likewise Hahn, who refers it particularly to Hamitic Gentilism); by others the weak in faith and young beginners in Christianity belonging to every period of the church in their totality (Marck., Berleb. Bib., Starke); and finally by others the daughter of Zion at the time of the first beginnings of her conversion to the heavenly Solomon (Hengst. and others). The wall and the door, Son 8:9, are indeed mostly understood of the steadfast and faithful keeping of the word of God and of its zealous proclamation to the Gentiles (according to 1Co 16:9, etc.); but some also explain them of the valiant in faith and the weak in faith, or of the learned and simple, or of faithful Christians and such as are recreant and easily accessible to the arts of seduction. And then according to these various interpretations the silver bulwarks are now the miracles of the first witnesses of Jesus, now the distinguished teachers of the church, now pious Christian rulers, now the testimonies of Holy Scripture by which faith is strengthened, etc. And again by the cedar board are sometimes understood the ten commandments or the law, sometimes Christian teachers, sometimes the examples of the saints, sometimes the salutary discipline of the cross and sufferings for Christs sake, etc. (comp. Starke in loc.). By the companions or associates who listen for the voice of the bride, Son 8:13, Piscator in all seriousness understands God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost; whilst the followers of Cocceius for the most part referred it to the angels; some of them, however, to true Christians; and the two most recent interpreters of this class suppose that the Gentile world before the time of Christ is intended by the expression, but with this difference that one (Hahn) has in mind chiefly the Gentiles as hostile to revelation, the other (Hengstenberg) as kindly disposed to the people of God and His revelation.
2. It is apparent from the exegetical explanations given above, that this divergence in the allegorical exegesis is matched by an equal variety of opinions and uncertain guess-work on the part of the merely historical interpreters of this chapter; and in fact it is scarcely possible by even the most cautious procedure to arrive at perfectly certain results in respect to the meaning and the connection of the sentences of this section with their fragment-like brevity and obscurity. This, however, only makes it the more necessary with a view to its practical application to adhere to its leading and most perspicuous passage which formulates the fundamental thought not only of the closing act, but of the entire poem with solemn emphasis and with an elevation and pathos of language purposely rising to a climax. We mean the spirited encomium contained in Son 8:6-7 of love between man and woman as a mysterious divine creation, and a power superior to death, Shulamiths exalted panegyric of conjugal and wedded love, the culminating point of the entire poem, and the only true key to its meaning according to the unanimous assumptions, of interpreters of all schools. Delitzsch (p. 182 f.) has given the best exposition of the thought contained in this leading passage, which has in it the gist of the whole matter: Shulamith herself here declares how she loves Solomon and how she wishes to be loved by him. This spontaneous testimony discloses to us the intermingling of human freedom and of divine necessity in true love between man and woman. Love is a , a flame kindled by God Himself. Man cannot produce it in himself, and though he employ all his wealth for the purpose, he cannot kindle it in others. She is speaking, of course, of true love, which is directed to the person and not to any mere things. Man cannot create this love by his own agency. It is an operation of Goda divine flame, which seizes upon a man like death with irresistible power, and can neither be quenched nor extinguished by any calamity or by any hostile force. There is thus evinced in true love an inevitable and invincible power of divine necessity. But this divine necessity has for its other side human freedom. It is the inmost and truest ego of a man, from which this divine flame of love blazes forth. Whilst a man becomes a lover by a resistless divine energy, the lovers passionate desire for the possession of the beloved object is as vehement and inflexible as the resistless and all-devouring grave. The lover loves because he must, but love is at the same time his most pleasurable volition, a return of love his most ardent desire. Smitten with love to Shulamith Solomon exclaims: How beautiful and how comely art thou, O love, among delights (Son 7:7); and smitten with love to Solomon Shulamith prays: Place me as a signet upon thy heart, as a signet ring upon thine arm (Son 8:6). In this declaration of Shulamith, which gathers up all the main elements in the idea of wedded love and experience, and accordingly formulates the fundamental thought of the entire poem there is no allusion indeed to the blessing of children as the resplendent consummation of the wedded communion of man and wife, as also no express mention is made of this matter elsewhere throughout the piece. For to see an allusion to it in what Shulamith says, Son 8:12, of the thousand due to her husband from the produce of his vineyard, would evidently be forced and arbitrary. But Delitzsch properly remarks in relation to this omission of an apparently essential particular: The author of Canticles has avoided everything, which would look to an externalizing of the relation, which he describes. He makes no mention of children; for a marriage in which the parties who conclude it are not an end to each other, but merely a means for obtaining posterity, does not correspond to its idea. Children are by divine blessing the sparks which result, when the flames of two souls flash into one. The latter is the main thing in marriage. It is also a delicate feature of great psychological as well as sthetic value, that Shulamith, the chaste and pure-minded maiden, though silent respecting the blessing of children, mentions instead with tender love and solicitude her little sister and her brothers, the same who had previously been angry with her and treated her harshly (Son 1:6), and consults with her brothers respecting the future of the former and in her intercession with her royal husband lays to heart the future of her brothers. This overplus of love, which with all the ardent fervor of her devotion to her husband, she still preserves for her own family (see Son 8:12); this touching sisterly love, which is essentially identical with her faithful and pious filial devotion to her mother repeatedly shown in the previous portion of the Song; this combined with her gladsome, cheery, playful disposition, which expresses itself in her concluding words, adds the finishing touch, sweetly transfiguring this noble picture which the poet would sketch of her character as the ideal of a bride and of a young wife, and by whichan unconscious organ of the Holy Spirithe has set forth the idea and mystery of marriage itself as a sacred and divine institution.
3. From this luminous and revered female figure there proceeds a transfiguring radiance, in which the form of her royal husband, the enthusiastic admirer and spirited singer of her love and her loveliness also shines with a clear and pleasing light. But yet for the sake of, a complete and thoroughly correct typical estimate of the transaction, the sad truth must not be left out of the account, that the bond of love so purely and holily regarded by her was nevertheless at last desecrated and broken by him. For that this was the case, can scarcely be doubted from the manner in which both the historians of the Old Testament record the final fortunes of Solomon and the end of his life (1Ki 11:1-43, 2Ch 9:22-31). Of a sincere and permanent conversion of this monarch to a God-fearing and virtuous walk in the evening of his days neither the book of Kings nor Chronicles has anything to relate, the latter of which would scarcely have omitted to note a similarity in the life of Solomon to that of Manasseh in this respect. That no proof can be drawn from the book of Ecclesiastes for this view, a favorite one with many of the older theologians, the introduction to this book may teach us ( 4). We must stand by the assumption confirmed by 1 Kings 11 and contradicted by no other testimony, that the unhappy king afterwards proceeded from that stage of polygamous degeneracy indicated in this Song, especially in Son 6:8, to still grosser extravagances in this direction, and thus at last filled up the measure of his sins, and brought upon himself and upon his house the corresponding judgment beginning with the revolt of Jeroboam. He must accordingly have deeply wounded Shulamiths heart by a speedy return to the criminally voluptuous and idolatrous manners of his court and have repaid her love so pure and ardent with base infidelity. This deplorable condition of things casts a light not very creditable to him upon his relation to his antitype in the history of redemption, the Messiah. Love for the purest and best of the daughters of his people, whom he adorned with the crown royal and raised from an humble station to the throne of David, could not permanently purify and hallow the earthly Solomon and rescue him from the abyss of crime into which he was in danger of sinking. The heavenly Solomon, on the contrary, must laboriously lift the Church, which He is gathering to Himself from amongst mankind, step by step to the luminous elevation of His own holiness and truth; He must have great indulgence for her weakness, must pardon her many relapses into her old walk of sin, must absolutely despair of presenting His bride perfectly pure, without spot or wrinkle, so long as she remains in this present world. In the Old Testament type, therefore, we find a sad contrast between the fidelity of the wife and the unfaithfulness of her husband. Of the Messianic archetype, on the other hand, it is written with perfect truth: Though we be unfaithful, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself (2Ti 2:13). In the type no really pure, complete and durable realization of the idea of marriage is reached, but the natural relation existing for a time is only too speedily perverted to its opposite by the fault of the husband. In the fulfilment of the type it is the husband, the new Adam, the Son of Man who came down from heaven and yet is essentially in heaven (Joh 3:13), who not merely concludes the marriage covenant with mankind, but likewise preserves, confirms, refines and conducts it step by step to its ideal consummation, which is at the same time the palingenesia and perfection of humanity. To our human consciousness this parallel, which strictly carried out leaves scarcely more than a faint glimmer of resemblance between the type and the archetype, has in it something deeply humiliating. But it may nevertheless operate to the strengthening of faith in our heart, for it points us to the one divine helper and physician, who heals all our diseases; it drives us into the arms of the one mediator and comforter, who is rich in mercy unto all them that call upon Him; it encourages us to childlike confidence in the heavenly author and finisher of our faith, whose grace worketh all in all according to His word of promise (Joh 5:15; Php 1:6; Php 2:12, etc.).
His love no end nor measure knows,
No change can turn its course,
Immutably the same it flows,
From one eternal source.
Footnotes:
[1][Williams: She suggests a wish that her relation to him were rather that of an infant brother than a husband; that she might be at liberty to express her affection in the strongest and most public manner, without incurring the charge of forwardness or indecorum.]
[2][Wicl.: The voice of the synagogue, of the church. Mat.: The synagogue speaking of the church.]
[3][Wicl.: The voice of Christ to the synagogue, of the holy cross. Under an apple tree I reared thee. Mat.: The voice of the spouse before the spousess. Cov., Mat.: I am the same that waked thee up among the apple trees. Bish.: I waked thee up among, etc. Genev.: I raised thee up under an [Eng. Ver.: the] apple tree.]
[4] deictic: this apple tree.
[5]We read .
[6] we take to be synonymous with as in Jer 18:2 : 2Ki 23:8, etc.
[7]Here too we read the fem. suf. and at the end of the verse (or with the Sept., Vulg., Syr. )
[8] here as well as in Psa 7:15 is taken by Ibn Ezra and Hitzig in the sense of conceiving [so Genev.: conceived]; but the meaning of writhing with pain, travailing () is more obvious and better confirmed by ,. At all events, we must reject Meiers explanation: there thy mother betrothed thee (in like manner Schultens, J. D. Michaelis, Magnus) [so too Percy, Good, Williams, Burrowes and others]; for even if the sense of pledging or betrothing were certainly established for the Piel of , it would still require to me, for its more exact limitation. The Vulg. (corrupta est, violata est) with still less propriety has taken in the sense of corrupting (in like manner Aquila: ). On the contrary, the Sept. correctly: . [Wicl.: there shamed is thy mother, there defiled is she that gat thee. Dow.: there thy mother was corrupted, there she was deflowered that bare thee; to which is appended the note: under the apple tree I raised thee up; that is, that Christ redeemed the Gentiles at the foot of the cross, where the synagogue of the Jews (the mother church) was corrupted by their denying Him and crucifying Him.]
[9][Mat.: The church speaking to Christ.]
[10][Wicl., Cov., Mat., Cran., Bish., Dow.: hell. Genev., Eng. Ver.: the grave.]
[11][Wicl., Dow.: lamps. Other English versions: coals.]
[12]In the Masorah has connected the genitive with the construct, as in Jer 2:31, and as in proper names compounded with or (the abbreviation of ). The recension of Ben Asher retains this mode of writing the expression as a compound, while that of Ben Naphtali separates the words. The of the Septuagint is based upon this contraction into one word. Ewald and Hitzig needlessly conjecture that the original reading was its flames are flames of God. The analogy of the preceding sentences rather requires, as Weissbach correctly observes, the giving of two predicates to the single subject . It is, therefore, properly to be translated its flames are flames of fire, they are a blaze of God. On the etymology of as a compound of and compare Weissbach in loc. [The is servile, such as marks the Shaphel species in Chald. and Syr. See Gesen. and Fuersts Lexicons. Cov., Mat.: a very flame of the Lord. Genev.: a vehement flame. Eng. Ver.: a most vehement flame.]
[13] is neither to deluge (Ewald), nor overflow (Delitzsch, Hengstenberg), nor choke up with sediment (Rosenm.), but wash away, sweep away, as is shown by Job 14:19; comp. Isa 28:17 f .; Eze 16:9.
[14][Wicl.: The voice of Christ to the lineage of holy church. Mat.: Christ speaking of the church to the synagogue. Note in Geneva Bible: The Jewish church speaketh this of the church of the Gentiles. Cov., Mat.: When our love is told our young sister, whose breasts are not yet grown, what shall we do unto her?]
[15]On what shall we do in respect to, etc., comp. 1Sa 10:2; also Gen 27:37.
[16] is neither to speak to any one, nor to speak about any one, whether in a good or a bad sense (Doederl., Weissb.), but simply and only to speak for any one ( prep. of the end or aim, as in 7 b), i.e., to sue for any one, to woo a maid (1Sa 25:39).
[17][Mat.: The answer of Christ for the church.]
[18][Wicl.: The voice of the church answering. Mat.: The church answereth to the synagogue. Cov., Mat.: If I be a wall and my breasts like towers, then am I as one that hath found favor in his sight.]
[19][Wicl.: The synagogue of the church saith. Vine she was to peaceable in her that hath peoples; she took it to the keepers; a man taketh away for the fruit of it, a thousand silver plates. Dow.: The peaceable had a vineyard in that which hath people. Mat.: The synagogue speaking to the church.]
[20] literally a vineyard became Solomons, i.e., he has it now (comp. Psa 119:56; Psa 119:83; also Eze 16:8), not, he had it once, as though Solomon were here spoken of as a ruler long since dead (Ewald, Hitzig, etc.).
[21][Wicl.: Christ to the church saith. Mat.: The voice of Christ. Cov., Mat.: But my vineyard, O Solomon, giveth thee a thousand, and two hundred to the keepers of the fruit. Thou that dwellest in the garaens, O let me hear thy voice, that my companions may hearken to the same.]
[22]On the different explanations of see on Son 1:6, p. 56.
[23][Wicl., Mat.: The voice of the church to Christ. Wicl.: Flee thou, my love; be thou likened to a capret and to an hart, calf of harts, upon the mountains of sweet spices. Cov., Mat.: O get thee away, my love, as a roe or a young hart unto the sweet smelling mountains. The end of the Ballet of Ballets of Solomon, called in Latin Canticum Canticorum.]
[24]On the general usage of comp. Son 4:14; Son 5:13; Son 6:2.
[25][The transparent absurdity of this hypothesis of Solomon going to Shunem not merely for a visit but to reside, involving the abandonment of his capital and the neglect of the affairs of government, renders any scheme of the book untenable of which it is a necessary part.Tr.]
[26][Zckler has repeatedly argued before that the recurrence of the same language implies the same speaker and the same subject: see his comment on Son 4:1; Son 4:6; Son 6:9; Son 6:10 and several times elsewhere. Whatever force there is in this consideration makes against the locality and the speakers that he here assumes. The wilderness here spoken of should not without some obvious necessity be regarded as different from that in Son 3:6. And that the queen appears on foot leaning on her royal husbands arm is surely not suggestive of the termination of a long and wearisome journey.Tr.]
[27][Thrupp quotes in opposition to the view above given of this verse the language of Renan: This interpretation is pressed by serious difficulties. I do not insist on its vapid and feeble character. We may admit contrary to all probability, that the silver battlements of which the brothers speak might denote a sort of ornament as a recompense of the young girls virtue, it will still remain a trait whose signification is an enigma. If the brothers wish to punish their sister in case she should commit any fault, why do they menace her with panels of cedar? It is evident that this implies an idea of riches and luxury. Battlements of silver, panels of cedar answer to one another. Neither of these alternatives includes an idea of punishment or recompense. Thrupp himself supposes it to be the language of the bridegroom, and its meaning to be: We will build her up, and that in full glory. The walls and the doors come into view as two of the most obvious features of every edifice. As for her wall of enclosure, we will fence her around with silver; as for her doors, of cedar alone and of no inferior wood, shall they be constructed. Burrowes: Her nature should be adorned with ornaments, giving more beauty and strength than turrets of silver, or a richly carved door of the most elegant cedar. Moody Stuart: They liken the little sister to two of the principal parts of a building or templefirst, the wall without which there is no stability, no house; and second, the door without which there is no entrance to the house, and no use of it. The wall is the image of stability on which, with its solid strength, is to be built a silver palace for habitation and for beauty. The door is the image of accessibleness; but a door-way without the wooden frame work, requires cedar boards to distinguish it from a mere open thoroughfare. Good understands by the silver turrets: The prominent charm of an ample dowry shall immediately be her own; and by the door encased in cedar: She shall be the graceful entrance to my favor and friendship. Harmer, who supposes the little sister to be Pharaohs daughter espoused to Solomon, imagines that the wall and the door are emblems of the political consequences of the alliance as on the one hand a guard and defence, giving a new security to Juda, and on the other opening a free communication between Egypt and the Jewish country.]
[28][Good finds in these verses a request made of Solomon by his royal bride that he would consign the estate which, prior to her marriage, she had possessed in Baal-hamon, and which now appertained to himself as a part of the dowry she had brought him, to her younger and unendowed sister. Burrowes: While Solomons tenants were obliged to pay the stipulated rent, the spouse speaks of a vineyard which was her own, but which she would nevertheless so keep under her own control and management, as to be able while paying the keepers equitable wages, to offer yearly to the king a thousand pieces of silver as a testimonial of her love. Moody Stuart: Solomon is the Messiah, and Baal-hamon is no doubt either Jerusalem or the land of Israel. The vineyard was let to keepers, who were to render its fruits to the kingthey were to render them, but the silence as to the fulfilment implies that the covenant was not kept. The New Testament church now declares, that by the Lords grant the vineyard is hers, and undertakes, through grace, that she will never lose sight of it. She further engages to assign to those who labor in it a suitable and moderate maintenance, and allots two hundred pieces of silver to those that keep the fruit of it. At the same time she promises that the full revenue shall only be the Lords, and that she will never attempt, like her predecessor, to claim the vineyard as her own. The same author also calls attention to the remarkable agreement between this passage and the reference to the Lords vineyard, in the fifth chapter of Isaiah, and adds: The Song of Solomon was evidently much in the mind of Isaiah, and he refers to it more or less directly in every page of his prophecies. This last statement is verified through several pages filled with passages from Isaiah, which bear more or less affinity in language or ideas to expressions in the Song of Solomon. The interesting relation thus suggested as existing between these two books, has its importance in determining the estimate put upon the Song of Solomon, and the interpretation given to it in Old Testament times and by inspired men.Tr.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 854
THE CHRISTIANS RELIANCE ON CHRIST
Son 8:5. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved?
THERE is an intimate and mysterious union between Christ and his Church. It is often compared, in Scripture, to a marriage union: and in the book before us, the Song of Solomon, there is a figurative representation of the intercourse which subsists between Christ and his Church under this relation. A third description of persons, called the daughters of Jerusalem, are occasionally introduced, to diversify the dialogue, and to enliven it by bearing their part in it. The words of the text seem to be uttered by them. The Church had, in the four preceding verses, expressed her desire after more familiar and abiding fellowship with her divine Husband: and the bystanders, admiring and felicitating her state, exclaim Who is this? &c.
I will endeavour briefly,
I.
To throw light upon the words thus addressed to the Church
There does not, indeed, appear any considerable difficulty in them; especially if we bear in mind the passage of the Israelites through the wilderness to the land of Canaan. This world may fitly be represented as a wilderness
[That through which the Israelites passed is called a waste howling wilderness [Note: Deu 32:10.]; a land of deserts and of pits, a land of drought and of the shadow of death [Note: Jer 2:6.]; a land wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions; and drought, where there was no water [Note: Deu 8:15.]. And such, indeed, is this vain world to the weary pilgrim. It affords nothing for the comfort and refreshment of a heavy-laden soul; but furnishes obstructions without number, snares at every step, and enemies filled with the most envenomed hostility ]
Through this the Christian is passing, in his way to heaven
[He has, of necessity, his duties to perform, like other men. But though in the world, he is not of the world [Note: Joh 17:6.]. He regards not this world as his rest; but merely as a country through which he must go, towards that better country which he is seeking after. He accounts himself a pilgrim and a stranger upon earth [Note: Heb 11:13.]; and advances on his journey with all practicable expedition, not setting his affections on any thing by the way [Note: Col 3:2.], but looking forward to the termination of his labours in a better world ]
In all his way, he leans upon his beloved Saviour for support
[He feels his insufficiency for the work he has to perform: but he knows in whom he has believed, that he is able to sustain him, and to keep that which he has committed to him [Note: 2Ti 1:12.]. No sick or enfeebled traveller places a more entire dependence on one who has undertaken to bear him onward, than the Christian does on Christ, who has engaged to perform this office, saying, Even to your old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you [Note: Isa 46:4.]. He would account it a most heinous offence if for a moment he should trust to an arm of flesh [Note: Jer 17:5.]; and with a holy indignation at the thought of placing any confidence in the creature, he says, Ashur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands. Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy [Note: Hos 14:3.]. In a word, the whole habit of the Christians mind, throughout this dreary wilderness, is that which the holy Psalmist addressed to his Lord and Saviour: Hold thou up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not: hold thou me up, and I shall be safe [Note: Psa 17:5.].]
But my object is, to mark the spirit of my text, and,
II.
To point out more particularly the force of the interrogation
I should say, that, in its strictest sense, it appears to express admiration: but we may very properly consider it as the language,
1.
Of inquiry
[Who is this? Is there, amongst ourselves, any one answering to this character? Am I this happy person? Do I so live in this world, that the by-standers notice the peculiarity of my walk, and my entire devotion to the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? Do I, instead of loving the world, account it a dreary wilderness? Do I renounce, as in my baptismal vows I undertook to do, all the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh? and am I daily dying unto the world, to its cares, its pleasures, its maxims, its habits, its company altogether? Am I crucified unto the world, and is the world crucified unto me by the cross of Christ, so that I value it no more than a man does who is in the very article of death [Note: Gal 6:14.]? And, in my passage through this wilderness, am I leaning constantly on my beloved Saviour, saying, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength [Note: Isa 45:24.]? This is, indeed, the character of the true Christian; and we are commanded to examine ourselves, whether we be in the faith, and to prove our own selves [Note: 2Co 13:5.]. I would entreat you, therefore, to make this a subject of most serious inquiry; and to ask yourselves, Am I the person characterized in the words of our text?]
2.
Of admiration
[This I suppose to be the more immediate feeling expressed in my text. And truly a person so circumstanced as the Bride here was, is one of the greatest wonders upon earth. Conceive yourselves to be that person;that such an earthly and sensual creature, as every one of you must know yourselves to be, should so renounce the world!that such a polluted creature should enjoy such intimacy with the Lord of Glory! that such a weak creature should persevere, in despite of so many obstacles both within and without! May not such an one well say, I am a wonder unto many [Note: Psa 71:7.]? Must he not, above all, be a wonder to himself? Who am I that I should be so honoured; whilst the world at large are left to walk after the imaginations of their own evil hearts, and to live as without God in the world!]
3.
Of congratulation
[No man in the universe is so to be congratulated, as he who dies to the world, and seeks all his happiness in Christ. Think with yourselves from what imminent danger he has escaped. The whole world is lying in wickedness [Note: 1Jn 5:19.], and will be condemned at last [Note: 1Co 11:32.]; but he has been taken out of the world [Note: Joh 15:19.], and been delivered from it, even as Lot from Sodom. Is not he a fit object for congratulation? But consider, further, to what a glorious place he is hastening; even to heaven itself, where he shall speedily possess an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away [Note: 1Pe 1:4.]. Behold, too, to what a blessed company he is joined! He is come to an innumerable company of angels; and to the general assembly and Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven; and to God, the Judge of all; and to the spirits of the just made perfect; and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant; and to all these, as his everlasting companions. Think, also, how near he is to all this felicity, every day and hour bearing him towards it, as fast as the wings of time can carry him. And, above all, what an all-sufficient support he has in his way thither, even his beloved Lord, who is able to keep him from falling, and to present him faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy [Note: Jude ver. 24.]. Tell me, Who is happy in comparison of him? Who is to be congratulated, if he be not?]
Is there here a weak believer, who doubts whether such an one as he can ever attain this blessedness?
[Let him trust in Christ, and not be afraid: for none ever perished, who trusted in Him. As for a mans own weakness and insufficiency, that can be no bar to his attainment of this felicity; since the Lord Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him [Note: Heb 7:25.]; and he has expressly told us, that he will carry the lambs in his bosom, and gently lead them that are with young [Note: Isa 40:11.]. Only take care that he be for you; and then you may hurl defiance at all that are against you.]
But is there any backslider that is turning back to the world?
[O, think what you are doing; and what tremendous evils you are bringing upon your soul! What has this vain world ever done for you, that it should influence you by its attractions? And what has Christ not done for you, whilst you sought him, and relied upon him! Hear his complaint against you: Have I been a wilderness unto Israel; a land of darkness! Wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee [Note: Jer 2:31.]? The world has been a wilderness to you, at all times: but has Christ been so? Has he been so at any moment, when you sought your happiness in him? Hear, and tremble at the warning given you by an inspired Apostle: If, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome (a case that too frequently occurs), the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them [Note: 2Pe 2:20-21.]. And is there one in such an unhappy state as this? Who is he? Let every one inquire, Lord, is it I? And whoever he may be, let us all regard him as an object of the deepest commiseration.The Lord awaken all such ere it be too late!]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.
The former part of this verse also hath been noticed; Son 3:6 . But there is an addition here, of a most interesting nature, which saith, that while the Church is coming up out of the wilderness, she is leaning upon her beloved; meaning, that believing souls lay their whole stress of salvation upon Jesus. They have not an atom of their own, but hang upon him, cleave to him, rest upon him. And this is in perfect agreement to the whole doctrine of faith. See those scriptures; Isa 22:24 ; Pro 3:5 ; Psa 71:15-16 ; Phi 3:8-9 . It should seem that Christ is the speaker of that after part of this verse, I raised thee up under the apple tree, and intimating the power of his blessed Spirit, in the conversion and new birth of the souls of his redeemed. But the words may be read as the words of the Church. For when by faith Jesus is raised up to a believer’s view, and in the Church the soul of the redeemed beholds Christ in his incarnation, sufferings, and death: there is no impropriety of speech, as the language of faith, thus to speak of the Redeemer. Joh 3:14-15 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Son 8:5 Who [is] this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth [that] bare thee.
[Ver. 5. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness?] See Trapp on “ Son 3:6 “ There are continual ascensions in the hearts of God’s people while here. And whereas the men of this world, “which have their portion here,” Psa 17:14 animus etiam incarnaverunt, as Bernard complaineth, and are borne downward to hell by their own weight; the saints of God are ever aspiring, and do “groan, being burdened,” as knowing that “while they are at home in the body,” such a home as it is, “they are absent from the Lord,” 2Co 5:4 ; 2Co 5:6 from their heavenly home. Either Egypt was not Moses’s home, or but a miserable one; and yet, in reference to it, he called his son, born in Midian, Gershom – i.e., a “stranger there.” If he so thought of his Egyptian home, where was nothing but bondage and tyranny, what marvel though the saints think of that home of theirs above, and hasten to it in their affections, where is nothing but rest and blessedness?
Leaning upon her beloved.
I raised thee up under the apple tree, &c.
a Brightman. Sunt qui exponunt dilicians.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Son 8:5 a
5Who is this coming up from the wilderness
Leaning on her beloved?
Son 8:5 The speaker is uncertain. The verse is either divided into two separate sayings (NKJV, JPSOA) or the 3rd and 4th lines begin a section continuing through Son 8:7 (NASB, NIV).
The first two lines of poetry may refer to Solomon’s travelling palanquin from Son 3:6-11 and may be the source of the strange allusion of Son 6:10 (line 4).
However, it may also refer to the northern young lover from whom the maiden was estranged by an arranged marriage (cf. Song of Solomon 5 :b-7, 9, 12).
Leaning This is a hapax legomenon (BDB 952, KB 1279). From cognate usage, the root implies a leaning back or to lie against a table, or recline.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Who is this? The companions of the shepherd are the speakers.
I raised thee up: i.e. I awakened [love] in thy heart: i.e. I won thy heart. See note on “love”, Son 2:7.
under the apple tree = under the orange tree. The place of the birth of their love. The orange-blossom is everywhere, now, the bridal flower.
there: thither came she that bare thee. Confinements in the open air are of frequent occurrence.
brought thee forth = to bring thee forth.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Son 8:5-14
Son 8:5-7
“Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?”
We have great respect for Waddey, his scholarship, insight and perception; and although we cannot agree with his interpretation here, we cite it as one view of the passage:
“Solomon appears with his bride on his arm; as the loving couple approach, Solomon points to the very spot where they first met (under the apple-tree!). To this writer, there seems to be an impossible incongruity in the king of the mightiest empire on earth seducing some country girl under an apple tree!
Our interpretation of this verse is inherent in the stark contrast with the expression in Son 3:6, “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, etc.”
In Son 3:6, the reference was to the royal parade of the magnificent Solomon in all his glory.
Here in Son 8:5, the reference is to this simple maid leaning upon her shepherd lover.
Note the contrast: Solomon stands for all the worldly allurements: wealth, power, fame, glitter, pomp and circumstance, ease, luxury, ostentation, feasting, sensuality, lust and gratification. That disgusting picture answers the question in Son 3:6.
The Shulamite stands for simple beauty, purity, wholesomeness, fidelity, patience, true love, morality, truth, honor and holiness, representing the Church in the days of her probation, sorely tempted, wooed, solicited and flattered by the evil world, but clinging, nevertheless, to the Shepherd above who is her true love, and to whom the Church is faithful even in his absence “in the far country.” This answers the question of, “WHO IS THIS”? as it appears in Son 8:5.
Balchin elaborates this understanding of the passage, as follows:
“The Shulamite and her shepherd lover here approach their home. The question, `who is this’? is on the lips of the villagers. The king’s court with its luxuries and allurements is now far away; and she is now at home in every sense. Her shepherd lover tells how he made love to her under the apple-tree in her mother’s garden.
Son 8:5-7
THE SHEPHERD’S ACCOUNT OF HIS WOOING THE MAIDEN
“Under the apple-tree, I awakened thee;
There thy mother was in travail with thee,
There she was in travail that brought thee forth.
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 contemned.”
All of these short paragraphs in this chapter are dramatically separated in the American Standard Version; and there remains the possibility mentioned by Jordan that, “We have here a series of lyrical fragments.”
The most acceptable interpretation which we have encountered for this short section is that, “It has in it the deepest and most comprehensive statements concerning true love that are found in the whole Song.” These marvelous words about genuine love could not possibly have been uttered by a man like Solomon. These wonderful words about love would fit Solomon exactly like a diamond ring in a swine’s snout. The divine jealousy concerning his Church’s constancy (“Jehovah is a jealous God”) appears here. The Divine love for the Church is beyond comparison. No human power can overcome it. The flood waters of death, Sheol, Satan, and all the allurements of the world and the flesh cannot dissipate the love of Christ for his Church. “And true love is not only unquenchable; it is also unpurchasable. Solomon had made every effort to buy the Shulamite’s love with all the glittering luxuries of his court, but to no avail.
“There thy mother was in travail with thee” (Son 8:5 b). This is a reference to the bride’s home place, not merely to the apple-tree in the orchard.
Here the Shulamite pleads with her lover to set her as a seal in his very heart; she has seen through all the tinsel ugliness of Solomon’s ostentatious court, and here renounces all of it for the genuine and eternal love of her shepherd.
What a beautiful picture of Christ’s holy Church is this? She rejects all of the golden promises of a materialistic and sensual world for that “Love of God that passeth understanding.”
Son 8:8-10
THE SONG OF THE LITTLE SISTER
“We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts;
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she shall be spoken for?
If she be a wall,
We will build upon her a turret of silver,
And if she be a door,
We will enclose her with boards of cedar.
I am a wall, and my breasts like the towers thereof
Then was I in his eyes as one that found peace.”
The paragraphing we have followed here is that of the Revised Standard Version. It is not clear who the “little sister” may be. It could be that the Shulamite is merely stating the principles of the family in which she was reared. “In the days of her adolescence, they were concerned to protect her innocence and purity until she was of marriageable age. `If she be a wall,’ meant that she would be strong and virtuous, and that no man would be able to seduce her. `If she be a door,’ meant that she would be weak and easily `entered,’ as through a door, by some seducer.”
“I am a wall” (Son 8:10). “I was a wall,” is far better here, corresponding with the past tense in the next line. “This means that the Shulamite kept herself chaste and pure for the man she married.”
“Then was I in his eyes as one that found peace” (Son 8:10 b). “This means (1) either that Solomon, realizing that he cannot conquer her, desists from further amorous warfare and `calls it a day,’ or (2) that she finds peace in her exclusive relationship with her true lover. Our view is that both these meanings are in the passage.
Jordan mentioned the interpretation we have just written, saying that, “It seems far-fetched to make the `peace’ mentioned here to mean one to whom Solomon gave peace because he could not conquer her.” Indeed this is so; but we have never seen any interpretation of this Song that was not far fetched! Certainly we have found no better explanation than the one offered here.
Son 8:11-12
THE SHULAMITE’S INDEPENDENCE OF SOLOMON
For these two verses, we shall use the following version:
“Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
But let out the vineyard to keepers;
Each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.
My vineyard, my very own, is for myself,’
You, O Solomon, may have the thousand,
And the keepers of the fruit two hundred.
What is the Shulamite’s vineyard? “The whole spirit of this passage justifies the view that she is speaking of her own person.” Granting this view to be correct, Bunn’s interpretation is eloquent and convincing: “Solomon’s vineyard is that immense harem with a thousand women in it; the ‘keepers’ are the eunuchs in charge of it. Solomon can have his godless harem and all its profits. The Shulamite’s `vineyard’ is her own chaste and virtuous person, reserved for her lover alone.”
It is extremely significant that the great king is not giving orders in these verses; it is the Shulamite who is `calling the shots.’ This passage alone is absolute proof that Solomon did not overpower this young woman and succeed in taking her into his harem, despite his constant efforts to do so. We have encountered no convincing denial of this obvious fact.
Son 8:13
THE ABSENT BRIDEGROOM CALLS FOR THE BRIDE TO SPEAK
“Thou that dwellest in the gardens.
The companions hearken for thy voice:
Cause me to hear it.
Make haste, my beloved,
And be thou like to a roe or to a young hart
Upon the mountains of spices.”
“The Song of Solomon closes here with the bridegroom’s request, for the bride to speak so that his friends may hear her voice. This reflects the constant desire of Christ the heavenly Bridegroom to hear the prayers of his people. Inherent in this request is the evident physical absence of the bridegroom.
Back in Son 8:5, the bride is seen “leaning on the arm of her lover”; but here they are separated. How is this? Christians are “with Christ” continually. We walk with him; we commune with him; and he is `with us’ always (Mat 28:18-20); and yet he is physically absent. The narrative corresponds to that paradox.
The absence of the bridegroom shows that Solomon was not the woman’s lover. Solomon was present.
“Make haste, my beloved, …” (Son 8:14). Balchin catches the spirit of this perfectly: “In this, the bride’s final recorded response, she earnestly requests that her husband come to her with the speed and agility of a gazelle or a young stag. This anticipates the Bride of the Apocalypse and her cry, `Yea, … come quickly. Amen; Come, Lord Jesus’! (Rev 22:20).”
This should be contrasted with the interpretation that must rest on these verses if the theory is received that Solomon was the woman’s husband. In that case, what we would have here is a neglected, disconsolate, love-starved woman in Solomon’s immense harem, pleading and waiting in vain for her jaded old lover to call her to his bed. How does that stack up against the interpretation which we have adopted here? How does the love of God for his Church appear in that comparison? (And practically all the scholars admit that this is the essential ingredient in the whole Song).
As this writer sees it, the overwhelmingly predominant question in this book is simply, “Who is the Shulamite’s lover”? Solomon, or a shepherd? We sincerely believe that we have correctly answered this in seeing him as the shepherd, on the grounds of his being a far more acceptable representative of Christ than Solomon.
We confess that this does not answer all the questions, solve all the mysteries of this book, nor fit every single verse in the Song. We would welcome a better solution if we could find it. We pray that God through Jesus Christ will forgive any errors we have made or solutions which we have overlooked.
Exegesis Son 8:5-14
The comments of Walter F. Adeney are unexcelled on this section of scripture.
Now the bridegroom is seen coming up from the wilderness with his bride leaning upon him, and telling how he first made love to her when he found her asleep under an apple tree in the garden of the cottage where she was born. As they converse together we reach the richest gem of the poem, the Shulammites impassioned eulogy of love. She bids her husband set her as a seal upon his heart in the inner sanctuary of his being, and as a seal upon his arm-always owning her, always true to her in the outer world. She is to be his closely, his openly, his for ever. She has proved her constancy to him; now she claims his constancy to her. The foundation of this claim rests on the very nature of love. The one essential characteristic here dwelt upon is strength-Love is strong as death. Who can resist grim death? Who escape its iron clutches? Who can resist mighty love, or evade its power? The illustration is startling in the apparent incompatibility of the two things drawn together for comparison. But it is a stern and terrible aspect of love to which our attention is now directed. This is apparent as the Shulammite proceeds to speak of jealousy which is hard as the grave. If love is treated falsely, it can flash out in a flame of wrath ten times more furious than the raging of hatred-a most vehement flame of the Lord. This is the only place the name of God appears throughout the whole poem. It may be said that even here it only comes in according to a familiar Hebrew idiom, as metaphor for what is very great. But the Shulammite has good reason for claiming God to be on her side in the protection of her love from cruel love and outrage. Love as she knows it is both unquenchable and unpurchasable. She has tested and proved these two attributes in her own experience. At the court of Solomon every effort was made to destroy her love for the shepherd, and all possible means were employed for buying her love for the king. Both utterly failed. All the floods of scorn which the harem ladies poured over her love for the country lad could not quench it; all the wealth of a kingdom could not buy it for Solomon. Where true love exists, no opposition can destroy it; where it is not, no money can purchase it. As for the second idea-the purchasing of love-the Shulammite flings it away with the utmost contempt. Yet this was the too common means employed by a king such as Solomon for replenishing the stock of his harem. Then the monarch was only pursuing a shadow; he was but playing at love-making; he was absolutely ignorant of the reality.
The vigour, one might say the rigour, of this passage distinguishes it from nearly all other poetry devoted to the praises of love. That poetry is usually soft and tender; sometimes it is feeble and sugary. And yet it must be remembered that even the classical Aphrodite could be terribly angry. There is nothing morbid or sentimental in the Shulammites ideas. She has discovered and proved by experience that love is a mighty force, capable of heroic endurance, and able, when wronged, to avenge itself with serious effect.
Towards the conclusion of the poem fresh speakers appear in the persons of the Shulammites brothers, who defend themselves from the charge of negligence in having permitted their little sister to be snatched away from their keeping, explaining how they have done their best to guard her. Or perhaps they mean that they will be more careful in protecting a younger sister. They will build battlements about her. The Shulammite takes up the metaphor. She is safe now, as a wall well embattled; at last she has found peace in the love of her husband. Solomon may have a vineyard in her neighborhood, and draw great wealth from it with which to buy the wares in which he delights. It is nothing to her. She has her own vineyard. This reference to the Shulammites vineyard recalls the mention of it at the beginning of the poem, and suggests the idea that in both cases the image represents the shepherd lover. In the first instance she had not kept her vineyard, for she had lost her lover. Now she has him, and she is satisfied. He calls to her in the garden, longing to hear her voice there, and she replies, bidding him hasten and come to her as she has described him coming before,-Like to a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of spices.
And so the poem sinks to rest in the happy picture of the union of the two young lovers. (Exposition of the Bible, pages 535-536.)
Marriage Son 8:5-14
Every marriage should have a honeymoon more than once. Do these words of the text awaken fond memories of the day when your beloved said, Come, my beloved, let us go forth . . .? Make them true again-only this time you can plan it well ahead. You have so much more experience. Your wife would be delighted to respond to such an invitation and these words really could be hers.
Do you remember the place where you asked her that great question? That place cannot be repeated-that question cannot again be asked, but the devotion and excitement and commitment can all be repeated a thousand times a thousand. We can be that seal upon her heart and upon her arm. What message is written upon the seal? It is surely obvious-it says: I love you. But what is meant? It means: I give myself to you. The whole person of the husband is given to the wife-not some of the time, but all the time. Love is an act of the will as much as an expression of emotion. The seal is upon the arm as well as the heart. Our wife finds protection and very visible evidence in a multitude of little acts of love that we have given ourselves to her.
As the reader can observe from the Paraphrase, we believe Son 8:6 b and Son 8:7 are the concluding observation of Solomon concerning the whole story of his Song. As he said in Ecclesiastes 12 : Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter-so here we believe he is saying-Let us hear the conclusion of the whole subject of love-human and divine: Love is strong as death. Once the total self has been given, that commitment is just as irrevocable and immutable as death! It will not change-it will not yield. The possessiveness and protection of that decision is as cruel as the grave. To challenge that decision is to expect a flame of fire! A fierce fire like the fire of God! Solomon is going on record for all time that there is nothing-absolutely nothing so indestructable as pure love. He could, and did command a flood of waters to overflow the Shulammite-; it was a flood of flattery and wealth. When the waters subsided, she was as immovable as she was before he started. If anything, she was more intractable. As she looked at him with the kind of cold indifference only scorn can give, he said-Turn your gaze from me, I cannot look upon thee. (Son 6:5) Solomon of all men should know that love (not lust) cannot be bought. Are we to read into his words: If a man would give all the substance of his house . . . that he was willing to give a great sum of money-even half his kingdom for the love of the Shulammite? If so, he found her love not for sale.
The above comments all apply to many wives-and they are married to some unworthy husbands-i.e., there are many of us who do not appreciate the dear girl our Lord has given us for a wife.
From the reading of our earlier comments you will notice we have applied verses eight through ten to the Shulammite. These verses describe her in her childhood at home (a little sister that hath no breasts). These could be the words of her brothers as they expressed their concern over her as she approached the marriageable age. She is too young now but she will soon be spoken for. When she arrives at that age will she be a wall or a door? i.e., will she refuse unworthy advances upon her? or will she welcome all who come, to her? In either case her brothers wanted to help her. If she was a wall they would reinforce it with silver turrets-if she was a door they would enclose her with boards of cedar. After her experience with Solomon she can say that she was indeed a wall. In her maturity she proved herself to be a virtuous woman; very much like the one Solomon described in Pro 31:10-31. Because of her resistance and refusal, she was given release from his court and enjoyed peace.
Is your wife a wall or a door? So very much depends upon our total attitude toward her. Surely we can have at least as great a concern as the brothers here described. Most virtuous women become such because someone believed they could and wanted them to. In the case of our wives, it has been the example and words and love of our Lord who has created the resolve and surrender that gave them peace; but the constant concern and support of a husband who also loves her Lord would be a great help.
Verses eleven and twelve describe an offer made by Solomon to the maiden. Was this his last desperate attempt to win her? She describes a vineyard Solomon offered to her-or to her family. It yielded a thousand pieces of silver every year and the clear profit on it was two hundred pieces of silver. She replies that she has her own vineyard-which in the poetic figure is herself and her beloved. Solomon can keep his vineyard and his servants can keep the profit, she much prefers her own vineyard.
Such loyalty can only arise out of genuine love. Our heavenly Father is mercifully kind to us in not only His gifts, but in what He withholds. How many wives would steadfastly refuse all the offers of Solomon? Would a large income for life be an attraction? We are glad most of us do not have to find out.
Verse thirteen probably contains the words of the friends of the bride. One of her friends refers to her as Thou that dwellest in the gardens-or Thou that dwellest in paradises. All her friends are eagerly waiting to hear of what happened in the paradise of the King.
We can imagine that every detail was told again and again. Yea, we are still telling the beautiful story of love strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave and a love that can neither be drowned nor bought.
So ends this song of songs. No longer are there mountains of separation between them (Son 2:17), but mountains of fragrant communion in their own waiting home. Solomon has chosen to conclude his inspired composition by recalling the Shulammites earlier invitation to her beloved but with an important change befitting the new circumstances. The Song began abruptly with the maidens musings (Son 1:2 ff). It ends abruptly with her loving entreaty. In each case the beloved shepherd is the focus of her thoughts. (Clarke)
Communion Son 8:5-14
Surely Son 8:5 a has in it a description of every Christian-In answer to the query-Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? We could say that it is every member, of the bride of Christ. We have come up and out of the wilderness of this world and are leaning heavily upon our beloved Lord for support.
It was under a tree that He awakened within us a love for Him. Beneath the Cross of Jesus, I fain would take my stand. I can recall the love and wonder that filled my heart when I remember what happened when He died for me. It was at the same place my new birth took place. When I came to commit myself to Him and was buried in baptism unto His death-I was born of the water and the Spirit (Rom 6:1-4; Joh 3:3-5). We, like the maiden, ask Him to seal us. He has already done so with the blessed Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13-14; Eph 4:30; 2Co 1:21).
The conclusion of the whole Song of Solomon as well as the Christian experience, is that His love is as strong as death, His jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. He will not let me go. We give up-but He does not. How many times has our Lord hindered Satans efforts? How often has the flame of love stopped our adversary short of capturing us? We can identify many such times, and there are innumerable times when His jealous love protected us and we did not even know it. So many times we have indeed been overwhelmed and the flood of sorrow, or disappointment or discouragement have overflowed. But His love is unquenchable. We cannot buy it, we do not deserve it, but we are so glad that He will not sell it.
We are also that little immature sister. We need some older brothers who will take the kind of interest described in these verses. We have been spoken for by our beloved Lord. Will we be a wall to the allurements of Satan, or will we be a door? If we resist, we do need someone who will offer encouragement to keep up the fight. We want someone to come and help us erect our battlements of silver. There are times when we have been a door and welcome the knock of the evil one. O, how we need someone to enclose us with boards of cedar. Ye who are spiritual-help us-we need it! (Gal 6:1-2).
What a solid satisfaction must have filled the heart of the Shulammite maid as she declares her victory of maturity-I am a wall, and my breasts like the towers thereof. She was more than a conqueror because of her love. The victory and the strength and the growth are out of love and not stubborn resistance. Her peace was the gift of grace; so is ours.
Every Christian can remember a special offer of our enemy which had a personal appeal to us. It was much like the vineyard Solomon offered. We are asked to sell out for a very high price-a thousand pieces of silver-and the promise is that the benefits will continue at two hundred a month. Such an offer will be accepted if we do not have our own vineyard. We are branches in the great vine and my Father is the caretaker of this vineyard. My joy is to abide in the vine and bear much fruit. Therefore, I can have no interest in the vineyard of this world.
There are those who eagerly await our testimony. They want to hear all the ways God led us and delivered us from Satans harem. Before we can tell them anything we must speak again to the one my soul loveth. Make haste my beloved-lead me to the mountains of spices. When we have spent time in prayer and meditation we shall have something to say and not before.
The Bride’s Tender Appeal – Son 7:10 to Son 8:4
Open It
1. What makes a person feel secure in a relationship?
2. What makes a person feel insecure in a relationship?
3. When do you think it is OK for a woman to take the initiative in a relationship?
Explore It
4. To whom did the Beloved say she belonged? (Son 7:10)
5. Where did the Beloved want to go to spend the night? (Son 7:11)
6. Why did the Beloved want to go to the vineyards? (Son 7:12)
7. What did the Beloved say that the mandrakes sent out? (Son 7:13)
8. What had the Beloved stored up for her Lover? (Son 7:13)
9. Whom did the Beloved wish her Lover was like? Why? (Son 8:1)
10. Where did the Beloved say she would take her Lover? (Son 8:2)
11. What did the Beloved say about her Lovers arms? (Son 8:3)
12. What charge did the Beloved give to the Daughters of Jerusalem? (Son 8:4)
Get It
13. How would you describe this relationship between husband and wife?
14. In what way do married people belong to one another?
15. What does the fact that the Beloved felt comfortable with taking the initiative suggest about the couples relationship?
16. During what season did these events take place?
17. Why might the Beloved wish her Lover were like a brother to her so that she could kiss him outside without being despised by others?
18. What feeling about their relationship might the Beloveds description of her Lovers arms suggest?
Apply It
19. What can you do this week to deepen your relationship with your spouse?
20. How can you make your spouse feel loved, accepted, and secure this week?
The Power of Love – Son 8:5-14
Open It
1. What do you consider to be the most powerful emotion? Why?
2. Why does sex sell?
3. Who has most helped or inspired you to stay true to Gods plan for marriage?
Explore It
4. What question did the Friends ask? (Son 8:5)
5. What events happened under the apple tree? (Son 8:5)
6. What did the Beloved ask the Lover to do? (Son 8:6)
7. How did the Beloved describe love? (Son 8:6-7)
8. What question did the Friends ask about their sister? (Son 8:8-9)
9. Who helped the Beloved prepare for the day of her marriage? (Son 8:8-9)
10. What had the Beloved become like to Solomon? (Son 8:10)
11. What did the Beloved say that Solomon had? (Son 8:11)
12. What did the Beloved say she had? (Son 8:12)
13. What did the Lover say he wanted to hear? (Son 8:13)
14. What did the Beloved invite her Lover to do? (Son 8:14)
Get It
15. In what way is love strong and unyielding?
16. How is love like a blazing fire?
17. In what way is love unquenchable?
18. How does the Beloved reflect upon her childhood and her courtship?
19. What do the words of the Lover and Beloved in Son 8:13-14 recall about their relationship?
20. What do the verses and this book say about physical love between a husband and his wife?
21. In what ways do we take love for granted?
22. How can we keep the passion and commitment in our marriage?
Apply It
23. What can you do this week to rekindle the flame of romantic love in your marriage?
24. What commitment will you make to honor love and sex within marriage and not to abuse it?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
26.
Leaning on Christ
Son 8:5-7
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.
Faith in Christ is described by many symbolic actions. Faith toward Christ has nothing whatsoever to do with physical acts, physical posture, or physical movement. But, in the Word of God, faith is described symbolically by many actions of the body.
Faith is looking to Christ and seeing him. He says, Behold me, behold me…Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else (Isa 45:1; Isa 45:22). Our Lord says, This is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on him may have everlasting life (Joh 6:40). Saving faith is looking to Christ, like the perishing Israelites looked to the brazen serpent and were healed.
Faith is coming to Christ. He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst (Joh 6:35). Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest (Mat 11:28). All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out (Joh 6:37). Saving faith is coming to Christ, acknowledging him as Lord and trusting him as Savior. We come to you, our Savior, for pardon, for redemption, for righteousness, for life. We have come to him. We are coming to him. And we shall yet come to him.
Faith is fleeing to Christ. We have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us (Heb 6:18). Christ, the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe (Pro 18:10). Realizing that were are under the wrath of God, and knowing that the Lord Jesus Christ is Gods only appointed place of refuge for guilty sinners, we flee to him. We venture our souls on him, on the merits of his blood and righteousness. We cast ourselves into his arms of power and grace, trusting him alone to save us. Saving faith is fleeing to Christ in hope of mercy.
Faith is laying hold of Christ. Like a drowning man lays hold of the line thrown to him, we lay hold of Christ and cling to him.
Faith is receiving Christ. As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name (Joh 1:12). It is not receiving Christ into the head that brings salvation, but receiving him into the heart. It is not receiving the doctrine of Christ that saves us, but receiving Christ himself. True faith receives the whole Christ as he is revealed in Holy Scripture. We receive him in all his offices, for the whole of our acceptance before God. In all his teaching (doctrine), and in preference to all others.
But in this passage we see faith described in richer, fuller, more intimate connectionWho is this that cometh up out of the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved? Here is faith, but it is something more than looking for life, or coming in hope, or fleeing for mercy, or laying hold of help, or even receiving a Savior. This is intimate, confident, loving, admiring, adoring faith leaning on Christ. Here is a description of the church of God and of every true believer. The people of God are as a bride coming up out of a dark, dangerous, and desolate wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ;.
Leaning
First, we see faith leaning. Who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved? There is no better description of true faith than the picture of a sinner leaning on Christ. Like a cripple man leans on his crutches, the children of God lean on Christ. Like a timid, frightened women, passing through some strange and dangerous forest at night, might lean upon the strong arm of her husband, we lean upon our Beloved. We lean upon him, because he has proven his love for us and his faithfulness to us. We lean upon him, because he is mighty and able to protect us. There is a clear connection between the sweet fellowship with Christ described in Son 8:1-4 and faith in Christ. The more we trust him, the more heavily we lean upon him, the more constant and real our fellowship will be.
Some suggest that this question was raised by Christ. But it seems most likely to me that it is a question raised by the daughters of Jerusalem, when the Shulamite had solemnly charged them not to disturb her Beloved.
The people of God in this world are passing through a wilderness. To the heavenly pilgrim, this world is a barren and desolate wilderness. Sometimes our pathway leads us through rivers of woe, deep waters of affliction, and seas of temptation. There are many dangers to be overcome, many snares to avoid, and many enemies to face. The world, the flesh, and the devil oppose us. The lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life make our journey a troublesome one. But onward we must go.
Dont ever forget, child of God, we are only pilgrims here. Be sure that your heart is fixed upon Immanuels land, and not upon the things of this world (Heb 11:8-10; Heb 11:14-16; 1Jn 2:15-17; Col 3:1-3). But our pilgrimage is not a lonely one. The Bride is not alone. Her Beloved is with her. Every soul that journeys toward heaven has Christ for its companion. Our Lord allows no pilgrim to the New Jerusalem to travel alone. Christ is with us in tender, deeply felt sympathy. Whatever our temptations may be, he has been tempted in every point, just as we are. Whatever our afflictions may be, he has been so afflicted. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Our Savior is also with us in reality (Isa 43:2-5; Isa 41:10). He is always at hand (Php 4:4). This is not a dream, or a piece of fiction. It is fact, a blessed, glorious fact. The Lord is at hand! And though our pilgrimage sometimes seems long, we are passing through this bleak land. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness? We shall not be in this wilderness forever.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come:
Tis grace that brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
Throughout our pilgrimage here, it is our privilege and joy to be leaning on Christ, Leaning on her Beloved.
Learning to lean, learning to lean
Im learning to lean on Jesus;
Finding more power than Id ever dreamed,
Im learning to lean on Jesus.
Do you know anything about this posture of faith? Do you know anything about leaning on Christ? That is what faith is, it is leaning on Christ. Faith leans on Christ for all things and at all times. “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Pro 3:5-6). Trust Christ, lean on him for all your salvation, for all things relating to daily providence, and for all things regarding the future.
Every hour of everyday,
Every moment, and in every way,
Im leaning on Jesus, Hes the Rock of my soul,
Im singing His praises wherever I go!
The bride leans upon her Beloved. Christ is the Beloved. He is Beloved of the Father. He is Beloved of the angels. He is Beloved of the saints in heaven. He is the Beloved of every saved, believing soul. Is the Lord Jesus Christ your Beloved? (1Pe 2:7; 1Co 16:22). There is no better description of faith than leaning on Christ. We lean on the person of Christ for acceptance with God. We lean on the righteousness of Christ for justification. We lean on the blood of Christ for pardon and cleansing. We lean on the fulness of Christ to supply all our needs, both physical and spiritual, temporal and eternal (Lam 3:23-26 ).
In prayer, we lean on Christ. In worship, we lean on Christ. In giving, we lean on Christ. In praise, we lean on Christ. All our hope of acceptance with God is Christ, so we lean on him. Oh, may we evermore learn to lean heavily upon the Son of God. Go ahead and lean on him! He can bear all the weight of your soul.
This word leaning has many shades of meaning. It suggests a picture of the bride casting herself upon her Beloved, joining herself to her Beloved, associating with her Beloved, cleaving to her Beloved, rejoicing in her Beloved, strengthening herself in her Beloved, and clinging to, or hanging onto her Beloved. This is the posture of faith. Leaning upon her Beloved.
Remembering
Second, we see faith remembering. I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought the forth that bare thee (Son 8:5). Reading only the English translation, we would assume that these words were spoken by Christ to the church. But in the Hebrew, the pronoun thee is masculine. So again, the Bride is speaking to her Beloved.
She remembers the past. I raised thee up. That is to say – I have wrestled with thee in prayer and prevailed upon thee to help me and to comfort me (Psa 44:23; Psa 34:1-6). Like the disciples raised Christ up to help them in the storm, crying, Master, carest thou not that we perish? the children of God raises him up in prayer.
He is ready and willing to yield to our importunate cries of faith. Out of the bitter pains of conviction and repentance, Christ is found in the soul and brought forth in travail, like a son born of his mothers travail into the world. Out of the depths of desperate need, agony of soul and heaviness of heart, believing sinners cry out to Christ in times of trouble and raise him up to help.
The bride here looks prophetically to the future. Christ came in the first advent, in his incarnation, being conceived in and born into this world out of the womb of the Old Testament church (Rev 12:1-17). Our Lord himself uses this metaphor to describe the joy his people will have at his second advent (Joh 16:21-22).
Praying
Third, we see faith praying (Son 8:6). Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm. As she makes her pilgrimage through this world, she prays that her union with him might be confirmed, that her communion with him might be constant, and that her fellowship with him might be intimate.
Each of us, as believers, might very well take these same words to express the prayer and desire of our hearts. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm.
Let me have a place in your heart and an interest in your love. The allusion is to the High Priest (Exo 28:11-12; Exo 28:21; Exo 28:29-30). It is enough for me, and all I desire, that Christ be my sin-atoning High Priest, that he carry me upon his heart when he stands before God. Let me never lose the place that I have in your heart. Let your love be secured to me, as a deed that is sealed cannot be broken (Eph 1:14; Eph 4:30). Let me always be near and dear to you. Set me as a seal upon thine arm. The allusion here is to those bracelets that young lovers wear with the name of their sweethearts engraved upon them (Isa 49:13-16). Let your power be engaged for me as token of your love for me. Oh my Beloved, defend me and protect me with the right arm of your power!
Persevering
Fourth, we see faith persevering (Son 8:6-7). “Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.”
All true faith is persevering faith. It perseveres in love for Christ. If ever a man comes to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, he will continue in both faith and love toward him. Love for Christ is the vigorous passion of the believing heart. It is strong as death. His love for us was stronger than death. And the love of true believer for Christ is as strong as death. Love for Christ makes the believer dead to everything else.
Jealousy is cruel as the grave. We are jealous of anything that might draw us away from him, because we love him. We are jealous of ourselves, lest we should do anything to provoke him to leave us. Love for Christ is an all-consuming fire in the hearts of his children.
Love for Christ is the victorious passion of the believing heart (Son 8:7). Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. Neither the substance of this world nor the swelling floods of death could quench our Saviors love for us (Rom 8:38-39). And where there is true love for Christ, it cannot be destroyed. Waters of affliction cannot quench love. It only grows stronger. Floods of trouble cannot destroy love. It only clings more firmly to its object. All the riches of the world cannot buy love. Even life itself would be despised, before love could be sacrificed.
May the Lord graciously grant us this holy faith and this love for Christ that rises from it! May his love constantly be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and constantly inspire and constrain us to lean upon him as the solitary Object of our souls faith and love.
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
Who is this: Son 3:6, Son 6:10
from the: Son 4:8, Psa 45:10, Psa 45:11, Psa 107:2-8, Isa 40:3, Isa 43:19, Jer 2:2, Rev 12:6
leaning: 2Ch 32:8, *marg. Psa 63:8, Isa 26:3, Isa 26:4, Isa 36:6, Mic 3:11, Joh 13:23, Act 27:23-25, 2Co 12:9, 2Co 12:10, Eph 1:12, Eph 1:13, 1Pe 1:21
I raised: Son 2:3, Hos 12:4, Joh 1:48-51
there she: Son 8:1, Son 3:4, Son 3:11, Isa 49:20-23, Rom 7:4, Gal 4:19
Reciprocal: Deu 32:10 – found Isa 40:31 – mount Isa 63:1 – is this Jer 31:32 – in the Jer 46:7 – Who Joh 15:4 – Abide Heb 8:9 – I took Rev 17:3 – into
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Son 8:5. Who is this, &c. These seem to be the words of the daughters of Jerusalem, or of the friends of the bride and bridegroom, admiring and congratulating this happy union: leaning upon her beloved Which implies both great freedom and familiarity, and fervent affection and dependance upon him. I raised thee up These are Christs words: when thou wast fallen, and laid low, and dead in trespasses and sins, and in the depth of misery, I revived thee: Under the apple-tree Under my own shadow: for she had compared him to an apple-tree, and declared, that under the shadow of the tree she had both delight and fruit, (Son 2:3,) which is the same thing with this raising up. There Under that tree, either the universal or the primitive church did conceive and bring thee forth.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Son 8:5-7. The Power of Love.The verses from Son 8:5 to the end of the book are difficult to weave into a connected whole, and perhaps we have here a series of lyrical fragments. It is possible to draw an imaginary picture, and assign the parts to the villagers, peasants, the Shulammite quoting from her brothers and speaking in her own person, but the result is not convincing. The song consists of introductory question, the reminder by the lover of the time and place when he first called forth love (Son 2:3; Son 2:10, Son 7:8) and the beloveds noble hymn of love.
Son 8:5. thee is masculine in Heb., but as mother in the book is always mentioned in connexion with the woman it should probably be feminine.
Son 8:6. seal (see Gen 38:18, Jer 22:24, Hag 2:23).jealousy: or the zeal, the ardour and passion of love, is resistless, its flames are the flames of Yahweh, i.e. the lightning.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
V. THE CONCLUSION 8:5-7
These verses summarize the theme of the book.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Evidently these are the words of the daughters of Jerusalem. The couple is coming up out of the wilderness. The "wilderness" connoted Israel’s 40 years of trials to the Jewish mind. The couple had emerged from their trials successfully, too (i.e., insecurity, Son 1:5-6; the "foxes," Son 2:15; and apathy, Son 5:2-7). The "wilderness" also symbolized God’s curse (cf. Jer 22:6; Joe 2:3). The couple had likewise overcome the curse of disharmony, which God had placed on Adam and Eve, by their love for one another (cf. Gen 3:16).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Shulammite reminded her husband (masculine "you" in Hebrew) of the beginning of their love. The apple tree was a symbol of love in ancient poetry because of its beauty, fragrance, and sweet fruit. She had given him a type of new birth by awakening him to love. This may refer to their first meeting; he may have found her sleeping under an apple tree.