Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 4:12
A garden enclosed [is] my sister, [my] spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
12. a spring shut up ] The word rendered spring is gal, not found elsewhere in this sense. Another derivative from the same root is used in Jos 15:19 and Jdg 1:15 in a similar sense. Some MSS., the LXX, the Vulg. and Syr. have gan =‘a garden,’ repeated, and Budde with others prefers this reading. But it is difficult to see why the perfectly simple and satisfactory gan should have been changed into the more difficult gal. The only argument for gan which seems to have much weight is that the ‘spring’ is mentioned again immediately under another name. But that is met by Delitzsch, who distinguishes the ‘spring’ from the ‘fountain’; the latter being the place whence the former issues forth.
a fountain sealed ] Cp. Pro 5:15-18. The fountain is the condition precedent of the garden, so that the metaphor is not changed. Perhaps the three nouns of the verse should be distinguished thus: A garden shut in is my sister my bride, a streamlet shut in, a sealed spring. Del. points out that chthm, ‘a seal,’ is used directly of maiden-like behaviour.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
12 15. These verses are a further comparison of the bride in her beauty to a garden in its splendour of colour and its fertility, but a garden shut or closed to all but its lawful owner. The reference is to her modesty and chastity. N‘l is properly shut and bolted.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The loveliness and purity of the bride are now set forth under the image of a paradise or garden fast barred against intruders, filled with rarest plants of excellent fragrance, and watered by abundant streams. Compare Pro 5:15-20.
Son 4:12
A fountain sealed – i. e., A well-spring covered with a stone Gen 29:3, and sealed with the kings own signet (Dan 6:17; compare Mat 27:66).
Son 4:13
Orchard – This is the renderlng here and in Ecc 2:5 of pardes (see Neh 2:8 note). The pomegranate was for the Jews a sacred fruit, and a characteristic product of the land of promise (compare Exo 28:33-34; Num 20:5; Deu 8:8; 1Ki 7:18, 1Ki 7:20). It is frequently mentioned in the Song, and always in connection with the bride. It abounds to this day in the ravines of the Lebanon.
Camphire – Cyprus. See Son 1:14 note.
Son 4:13-15
Seven kinds of spices (some of them with Indian names, e. g. aloes, spikenard, saffron) are enumerated as found in this symbolic garden. They are for the most part pure exotics which have formed for countless ages articles of commerce in the East, and were brought at that time in Solomons ships from southern Arabia, the great Indian Peninsula, and perhaps the islands of the Indian Archipelago. The picture here is best regarded as a purely ideal one, having no corresponding reality but in the bride herself. The beauties and attractions of both north and south – of Lebanon with its streams of sparkling water and fresh mountain air, of Engedi with its tropical climate and henna plantations, of the spice-groves of Arabia Felix, and of the rarest products of the distant mysterious Ophir – all combine to furnish one glorious representation, Thou art all fair!
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Son 4:12
A garden inclosed is My sister, My spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
The Lords own view of His Church and people
I. The nearness of kin of the Church to Christ, and Christ to the Church. He calls her in the text, My sister, My spouse. As if He could not express His near and dear relationship to her by any one term, He employs the two. My sister–that is, one by birth, partaker of the same nature. My spouse–that is, one in love, joined by sacred ties of affection that never can be snapped. My sister by birth, My spouse by choice. My sister in communion, My spouse in absolute union with Myself. Oh, how near akin is Christ to all His people! But first, do try to realize the person of Christ. Believe that He truly is, and that He truly is here–as much here and as really here as He was at Jerusalem, when He sat at the head of the table, and entertained the twelve at the last supper. Jesus is a real Man, a real Christ–recollect that. Then let this further truth be equally well realized, that He has so taken upon Himself our human nature that He may correctly call His Church His sister. He has become so truly man in His incarnation, that He is not ashamed to call us brethren. He calls us so because we are so. Change of place has made no change of heart in Him. He in His glory is the same Jesus as in His humiliation. No man is so fully a man as Jesus Christ. If you speak of any other man, something or other narrows his manhood. You think of Milton as of a poet and an Englishman, rather than as a man. You think of Cromwell rather as of a warrior, than as a man. The second Adam is, par excellence, man. We may not think of Him as one amongst a vast number who may be distantly akin to us, as all men are akin to one another by descent; but the Lord comes near to each individual. He takes each one of His believing people by the hand, and says, My brother. In our text He salutes the whole Church as My sister. He says this with tender emphasis. As we have already observed, the first term, sister, implies kinship of nature; but the second term, My spouse, indicates another kinship, dearer, and, in some respects, nearer; a kinship undertaken of choice, but, once undertaken, is everlasting. This kinship amounts to unity, insomuch that the spouse loses her name, loses her identity, and, to a high degree, is merged in the greater personality to which she is united. Such is our union to Christ, if indeed we be His, that nothing can so well set it forth as marriage union. He loves us so much that He taken us up into Himself by the absorption of love. If you are true believers, if you have been born again, if you are really looking to Christ alone for salvation, He has brought you into a condition of the utmost conceivable nearness with Himself He has participated in your nature, and He has made you a partaker of His nature, and in so many words He says, I will betroth thee unto Me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.
II. The security of the people of God in consequence of being what they are. A garden inclosed is My sister, My spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. We are not only like a garden, but a garden inclosed. If the garden were not inclosed, the wild boar out of the wood would bark the vines, and uproot the flowers; but infinite mercy has made the Church of God an inclosure, into which no invader may dare to come. For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. Is she a spring? Are her secret thoughts, and loves, and desires like cool streams of water? Then the Bridegroom calls her a spring shut up. Otherwise, every beast that passed by might foul her waters, and every stranger might quaff her streams. She is a spring shut up, a fountain sealed, like some choice cool spring in Solomons private garden around the house of the forest of Lebanon–a fountain which he reserved for his own drinking, by placing the royal seal upon it, and locking it up by secret means, known only to himself. The legend hath it that there were fountains which none knew of but Solomon, and he had so shut them up that, with his ring he touched a secret spring, a door opened, and living waters leaped out to fill his jewelled cup. No one knew but Solomon the secret charm by which he set flowing the pent-up stream, of which no lip drank but his own. Now, Gods people are as much shut up, and preserved, and kept from danger by the care of Christ, as the springs in Solomons garden were reserved expressly for himself. Are you really in Christ? If so, who is to pluck you thence? Are you really trusting Him? How can He fail you? Have you been begotten again into the Divine family? How can that new life be quenched?
III. The most striking idea of the text is that of separation: A garden inclosed is My sister, My spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. A garden is a plot of ground separated from the common waste for a special purpose: such is the Church. The Church is a separate and distinct thing from the world. Let us, however, take heed that our separateness from the world is of the same kind as our Lords. We are not to adopt a peculiar dress, or a singular mode of speech, or shut ourselves out of society. He did not so; but He was a man of the people, mixing with them for their good. He was seen at a wedding-feast, aiding the festivities: He even ate bread in a Pharisees house, among cautious enemies. He neither wore phylacteries, nor enlarged the borders of his garments, nor sought a secluded cell, nor exhibited any eccentricity of manner. He was separate from sinners only because He was holy and harmless, and they were not. The Church is to be a garden, walled, taken out of the common, and made a separate and select plot of ground. She is to be a spring shut up, and a fountain sealed, no longer open to the fowl of the air, and the beasts of the field. Saints are to be separate from the rest of men, even as Abraham was when he said to the sons of Seth, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you.
IV. The text bears even more forcibly another idea, namely, that of reservation. The Church of God is a garden inclosed. What for? Why, that nobody may come into that garden, to eat the fruit thereof, but the Lord Himself. It is a spring shut up, that no one may drink of the stream but the Lord Jesus. But, cries one, are we not to seek the good of our fellow-men? Assuredly we are to do so for Christs sake. Are we not to seek to help on sanitary, educational, and purifying processes, and the like? Yes so far as all can be done for His sake We are to be the Lords servants for the blessing of the world, and we may do anything which He would have done. In such a garden as the text speaks of, every plant bears flowers for its owner, every tree yields fruit for him. All for Jesus, is to be our motto. No one among us may dare to live unto himself, even in the refined way in which many are doing it, who even try to win souls that they may have the credit of being zealous and successful. We may so far degenerate as even to attempt to glorify Christ that we may have the credit of glorifying Him. It will not do. We must be truly, thoroughly, really living for Jesus: we must be a garden inclosed, reserved, shut up for Him. The wall must wholly inclose the garden, for a gap anywhere will admit an intruder everywhere. If one part of our being be left under the dominion of sin, it will show its power everywhere. The spring must be sealed at the very source, that every drop may be for Jesus throughout the whole of its course. Our first thoughts, desires, and must wishes be His, and then all our words and deeds. We must be wholly reserved for Christ that died, surrendered to the Crucified. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The garden of the soul
Your soul is, or should be, the Beloveds vineyard, Gods fruitful field, Gods garden and your own. The history of this garden of gardens falls into four chapters–
I. The common ground. That beautiful garden was once a bit of heath or moorland, over which the beasts ranged. In its natural state it was worthless. About one hundred years ago the finest garden in the world was the palace-garden of Versailles. But when the French king chose the spot it was a marshy moor. It cost twenty-five years of toil and forty millions of money to change it into the royal garden. And every garden was a waste till the busy hand of cultivation clothed it with various beauties. And are not greater wonders wrought in the soul reclaimed front the outfield of the world?
II. The ground cultivated, or the garden.
1. It must first be inclosed. A garden inclosed is my spouse, says Solomon. Of every Christian soul we may say, as Satan said of Job, Thou hast made a hedge about him.
2. The soil must next be broken up. What hard and rough work is the digging, the trenching, and the uprooting! But as the confusion in our gardens in spring does not discourage us, so we should not be discouraged by those sorrows that belong to the cultivation of the soul.
3. Then without wise sowing all the gardeners pains would be lost. Fill mind and memory with the delightful truths of the Bible, and let them sink deep, that, seed-like, they may swell, and sprout, and bring forth fruits and flowers of choicest perfume and colour. And you must be ever tending them, for to let your garden alone is to spoil all.
4. The gardeners utmost art would be in vain without the sunshine, the shower, and the quickening breath of spring. That philosopher, famed for his contentment, was right, who, when asked by a friend to show him the splendid garden of which he was always boasting, led him into a bare, rocky space behind his house. Where is your garden? the friend asked. Look up, said the philosopher, heaven is a part of my garden. Every good gift in the garden really comes from above; for should God command the clouds to rain no rain, the earth would soon be as iron. Heaven shields, broods over, and enriches every fruitful sod. It is a great truth that Paul planteth and Apollos watereth, but God giveth the increase. Turn, then, your whole being fairly towards the sunshine of Gods grace, and pray that the garden of your soul may always be as ready to receive heavenly blessing as is the garden around your dwelling.
III. The garden neglected. A neglected garden is one of the completest pictures of desolation in the world: it is desolations throne in the deserted village.
IV. The garden well kept. Solomon gives a picture of what your soul should be, and Isaiah of what it should not be. Everything had been done for the Beloveds vineyard, and in return He received only wild grapes (Isa 5:1-30.). But the garden in the Song was stocked with all rich and beautiful things. It gave pleasure to every sense: its fine forms and colours gladdened the eye, its ripe fruits gratified the palate, its exquisite perfumes gave delight, and its leaves yielded an additional joy by their agreeable shade. A holy soul is compared to such a garden. It is the most beautiful thing in the world, a paradise of heaven on earth. How can my soul be a fruitful garden of God? do you ask. The answer is, by good cultivation; and that is the work of God and man. For we are labourers together with God: ye are Gods husbandry (1Co 3:9) All your powers should be gladly devoted to this God-like work of keeping your own vineyard. I remember visiting in spring a poor widow residing in a miserable corner of the city. Her soul was a garden of God. On the window-sill she had some flowers in jelly-dishes and spoutless teapots–a touching proof of that love of the country which city life wakens in all but the broken-hearted. I took notice of the flowers. Yes, she said, I take many a bit lesson from them; if I neglect them for a day or two, they hang their bit heads and wither. And my soul does the very same if it is not always watered with the grace of God. God help you so to cultivate the garden of your soul as that you shall bring much fruit to His praise! (James Wells.)
A secret and yet no secret
(with verse 15):–Observe the contrast which the two verses present to us. There are two works of the Holy Spirit within us. The first is when He puts into us the living waters; the next is when He enables us to pour forth streams of the same living waters in our daily life. The Spirit of God first implants in us the new nature. This is His work–to regenerate us, to put into us the new principle, the life of God in Christ. Then next, He gives us power to send forth that life in gracious emanations of holiness of life, of devoutness of communion with God, of likeness to Christ, of conformity to His image. The streams are as much of the Holy Spirit as the fountain itself. He digs the well, and He afterwards with heavenly rain fills the pools. He first of all makes the stream in the desert to flow from the flinty rock, and afterwards out of His infinite supplies He feeds the stream and bids it follow us all our days. Now, we think the first verse, to a great extent, sets forth the secret and mysterious work of the Holy Spirit in the creation of the new man in the soul. Into this secret no eye of man can look. The inner life in the Christian may well be compared to an inclosed garden–to a spring shut up–to a fountain sealed. But the second verse sets forth the manifest effects of grace, for no sooner is that life given than it begins to show itself. No sooner is the mystery of righteousness in the heart, than, like the mystery of iniquity, it doth already work. It cannot lie still; it cannot be idle; it must not rest; but, as God is ever active, so this God-like principle is active too; thus you have a picture of the outer life proceeding from the inner. A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. The first is what the Christian is before God; the next is what the Christian will become before men. The first is the blessedness which he receives in himself; the next is the blessedness which he diffuses to others.
I. With regard to the first text, you will clearly perceive that in each of the three metaphors you have very plainly the idea of secrecy. There is a garden. A garden is a place where trees have been planted by a skilful hand; where they are nurtured with care, and where fruit is expected by its owner. Such is the Church; such is each renewed soul. But it is a garden inclosed, and so inclosed that one cannot see over its walls–so shut out from the worlds wilderness, that the passer-by must not enter it–so protected from all intrusion that it is a guarded paradise–as secret as was that inner place, the holy of holies, within the tabernacle of old. The Church–and mark, when I say the Church, the same is true of each individual Christian–is set forth next as a spring. A spring–the mother of sweet draughts of refreshing water, reaching down into some impenetrable caverns, and bubbling up with perennial supplies from the great deeps. Not a mere cistern, which contains only, but a fresh spring, which through an inward principle within, begets, continues, overflows. But then, it is a spring shut up: just as there were springs in the East, over which an edifice was built, so that none could reach the springs save those who knew the secret entrance. So is the heart of a believer when it is renewed by grace; there is a mysterious life within which no human skill can touch. And then, it is said to be a fountain; but it is a fountain sealed. The outward stones may be discovered, but the door is sealed, so that no man can get into the hidden springs; they are altogether hidden, and hidden too by a royal will and decree of which the seal is the emblem. I say the idea is very much that of secrecy. Now, such is the inner life of the Christian. It is a secret which no other man knoweth, nay, which the very man who is the possessor of it cannot tell to his neighbour. A second thought is written upon the surface of the text. Here you see not only secrecy, but separation. That also runs through the three figures. It is a garden, but it is a garden inclosed–altogether shut out from the surrounding heaths and commons, inclosed with briars and hedged with thorns, which are impassable by the wild beasts. There is a gate through which the Great Husbandman Himself can come; but there is also a gate which shuts out all those who would only rob the keeper of the vineyard of His rightful fruit. There is separation in the spring also. It is not the common spring, of which every passer-by may drink; it is one so kept and preserved distinct from men, that no lip may touch, no eye may even see its secret. It is a something which the stranger intermeddleth not with; it is a life which the world cannot give and cannot take away. All through, you see, there is a separateness, a distinctness. If it be ranged with springs, still it is a spring specially shut up; if it be put with fountains, still it is a fountain bearing a particular mark–a kings royal seal, so that all can perceive that this is not a general fountain, but a fountain that has a proprietor, and stands specially by itself alone. So is it with the spiritual life. It is a separate thing. I would not give a farthing for that mans spiritual life who can live altogether with others; if you do not sometimes feel that you must be a garden inclosed, that you must enter into your closet, and shut-to the door; if you do not feel seasons when the society of your dearest friend is an impediment, and when the face of your sweetest relation would but be a cloud between you and Christ, I cannot understand you. Be ye, O ye children of Christ, as chaste virgins kept alone for Christ. In the third place, you have in the text the idea of sacredness. The garden inclosed is walled up that it may be sacred to its owner; the spring shut up is preserved for the use of some special person; and the fountain sealed more eminently still bears the mark of being sacred to some distinguished personage. Now such is the Christians heart. It is a spring kept for Christ. Oh, I would that it were always so. Every Christian should feel that he is Gods man–that he has Gods stamp on him–and he should be able to say with Paul, From henceforth let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. But I think there is another idea prominent, and it is that of security–security to the inner life. A garden inclosed. The wild boar out of the wood shall not break in there, neither shall the little foxes spoil the vines. A fountain shut up. The bulls of Bashan shall not mud her streams with their furious feet; neither shall the wild beast of Lebanon come there to drink. A fountain sealed. No putrid streams shall foul her springs; her water shall be kept clear and living; her fountains shall never be filled up with stones. Oh, how sure and safe is the inner life of the believer. Satan does not know where it is, for our life is hid with Christ. The world cannot touch it; it seeks to overthrow it with troubles and trials and persecutions, but we are covered with the Eternal wings, and are safe from fear of evil. How can earthly trials reach the spirit? As well might a man try to strike a soul with a stone, as to destroy a spirit with afflictions. We are one with Christ, even as Christ is one with the Father; therefore as imperishable through Christs life as Christ Himself. Truly may we rejoice in the fact that because He lives we shall live also. Once more only. I think in looking at the text you receive the thought of unity. You notice, it is but one garden–a garden inclosed. A garden. It is but one spring, and that is shut up; it is but one fountain. So the inner life of the Christian is but one. If you could imagine two bodies quickened by the very same mind, what a close connection would that be! But here are hundreds of bodies, hundreds of souls, quickened by the self-same Spirit. Brethren, indeed not only ought we to love one another, but the love of Christ constraineth us, so that we cannot resist the impulse; we do love each other in Christ Jesus.
II. I shall now try to open the second text, which presents a decided contrast, because it deals not so much with the inner life as with the active life which goes abroad into all the deeds of the Christian in the world, and is the natural outgoing of the life within. First, notice that in contradistinction to our first thought of secrecy you have in the text manifestation. A fountain of gardens. Everybody can see a fountain which runs streaming through many gardens, making deserts fertile. A well of living waters. Whatever the traveller does not see, when he is riding along on a thirsty day, he is sure to see the fountain; if there be one anywhere he is certain to observe that. And streams from Lebanon. So that any passer-by in the valley, looking up the side of the mountain, will see by the clusters of trees which skirt the stream where the stream is; or, if it be a smaller brook, just as sometimes in Cumberland and Westmoreland, on a rainy day you see the mountain suddenly marked with streaks of silver all adown its brown sides, where the brooks are rippling, so the Christian becomes like the streams leaping adown Lebanon s steep sides, clearly perceived even from a distance, manifest to the most casual observer. Now, brethren, this is what you and I ought to be. No man ought to court publicity for his virtue, or notoriety for his zeal; but, at the same time, it is a sin to be always seeking to hide that which God has bestowed upon us for the good of others. The inner life is secret–mind that you have this inner mystery; but out of the secret emanates the manifest; the darkness becomes the mother of light; from the dark mines comes the blazing coal. Oh! see to it, that from all that is hidden and secret and mysterious there comes out the plain and the manifest that men may see the holiness, truthfulness and zeal of God in thy life. But clearly enough, again, we have in the second text, in opposition to the separation of the first, diffusiveness. The garden was inclosed before, now it is a fountain of gardens; the well was shut up, now it is a well of living waters; before we had the fountain sealed, now we have streams dashing adown the sides of Lebanon. So a Christian is to be separate in his inner life; but in the outer manifestations of that inner life, he is to mingle for good among his fellow-men. We must let the streams flow abroad; we must seek to give to others what Christ has given to us. Briefly we are obliged to speak on each of these points; but notice, thirdly, that in opposition to the sacredness of the first text we have in the second verse an unlimited freeness, especially in that last expression–streams from Lebanon. What can be freer than the brook, which leaps along the mountain-side? There the bird wets its wings; there the red deer comes to drink; and even that wild beast of Lebanon, of which we read in the Book of the Kings, comes there, and without let or hindrance slakes its thirst. What can be finer than the rivulet singing with liquid notes adown the glen? It belongs to no one; it is free to all. Whosoever passeth by, be he peer or peasant, may stoop there and refresh himself from the mountain-stream. So be it with you, Christian. Carry about with you-a piety which you do not wish to keep for yourself. A light loses none of its own lustre when others are lit as its flame. We must be hidden springs within, but let us be sweetly flowing rivulets without, giving drink to every, passer-by. And notice that, while we had in the other text the idea of security, in connection with that we have here in this text the idea of approach. The garden was shut up–that was to keep it. There are no walls here, so that all may come to it. The streams were shut up before; here it is an open well. The fountain was sealed in the first verse; here it is a flowing stream, which is to teach us this–that the way God keeps His people in security is not by shutting out their enemies from attacking them, but while laying them open to temptation and attack, He yet sustains them. And last of all, in opposition to the unity of which I spake, we have in our second text great diversity. You have a fountain, not of a garden, but of gardens; you have a well, but it is a well of living waters; you have not a stream, but streams–streams from Lebanon. So a Christian is to do good in all sorts of ways, and his fruits are to be of many kinds; he is to be like the trees of Paradise, which bear twelve manner of fruits. The Christian is to have all sorts of graces. Oh t if the fountain, the secret fountain, were better seen to, I think there would be more of these outward streams; and if the sealed well were better guarded, we should see more of these rapid streams from Lebanon, which would make glad the people of God, and the world at large. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Christs Church
I. It is a sacred inclosure. Inclosed:
1. For protection–against the many foes that would injure it.
2. For enjoyment–Christ has a right to witness its beauties and enjoy its fruits.
II. The means by which it is inclosed.
1. By sovereign electing grace–this sweeps round His Church as a boundary line–grand, comprehensive, invisible.
2. By the ministrations of angels–these are its guardians,, servants, etc.
3. By restraining, grace–this is needed by every plant in this garden and every member in Christs Church.
4. By Christian ordinances-baptism, the seal of separation.
5. By Christian doctrine–no man can be a Christian without believing some fundamental doctrines. (J. F. Elder, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. A garden enclosed – a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.] Different expressions to point out the fidelity of the bride, or of the Jewish queen. See the outlines. She is unsullied, a chaste, pure virgin. None has ever entered into this garden; none has yet tasted of this spring; the seal of this fountain has never been broken. Among the Athenians, the interior part of the house, called the women’s apartment, was not only locked but sealed; so Aristophan., Thesmoph. ver. 422: –
.
And on this account, to the women’s apartment
They place seals as well as bolts.
And seal, as applicable to chaste conduct, is a phrase well known to the Greeks. AEschylus, in the Agamemnon, praises a woman, , who had not violated her seal of conjugal faith. But Nonnus, lib. ii., uses the form of speech exactly as Solomon does with reference to a pure virgin; he says, ; “She had preserved the seal of her virginity untouched.” All this is plain; but how many will make metaphors out of metaphors!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A garden, for order and beauty, for pleasant walks, and flowers, and fruits.
Enclosed; either,
1. Defended by the care of my providence; or,
2. Reserved for my proper use. She will not admit of other lovers, either false teachers or worldly lusts, but keeps herself close for me. She is chaste, and pure, and modest, as virgins are or should be.
A spring; either,
1. For others, sending forth the wholesome streams of saving doctrine, for the refreshing, and healing, and cleansing of those who receive it. Or,
2. Within herself, being well watered, i.e. replenished with spiritual graces and blessings, which are frequently compared to waters, both in the Old and New Testament, as Isa 44:3; Joh 4:10; 7:38, for which the church is compared to a watered garden, or a spring of water, Isa 58:11.
Shut up; either,
1. To preserve it from all pollution or injury; or,
2. To reserve it for the use and service of its owner, for which reason springs were shut up in those countries where water was scarce and precious, as Gen 29:3.
A fountain sealed; the same thing is here repeated in other words.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. The Hebrew has no”is.” Here she is distinct from the garden (So5:1), yet identified with it (So4:16) as being one with Him in His sufferings. Historically theParadise, into which the soul of Jesus Christ entered at death; andthe tomb of Joseph, in which His body was laid amid “myrrh,”c. (So 4:6), situated in anicely kept garden (compare “gardener,” Joh20:15) “sealed” with a stone (Mt27:66); in which it resembles “wells” in the East(Gen 29:3; Gen 29:8).It was in a garden of light Adam fell; in a garden of darkness,Gethsemane, and chiefly that of the tomb, the second Adam retrievedus. Spiritually the garden is the gospel kingdom of heaven. Here allis ripe; previously (So 2:13)it was “the tender grape.” The garden is His, thoughHe calls the plants hers (So 4:13)by His gift (Isa 61:3, end).
spring . . . fountainJesusChrist (Joh 4:10) sealed, whileHe was in the sealed tomb: it poured forth its full tide on Pentecost(Joh 7:37-39). Still Heis a sealed fountain until the Holy Ghost opens it to one (1Co12:3). The Church also is “a garden enclosed” (Psa 4:3;Isa 5:1, c.). Contrast Ps80:9-12. So “a spring” (Isa 27:3Isa 58:11); “sealed”(Eph 4:30; 2Ti 2:19).As wives in the East are secluded from public gaze, so believers(Psa 83:3; Col 3:3).Contrast the open streams which “pass away” (Job 6:15-18;2Pe 2:17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A garden enclosed [is] my sister, [my] spouse,…. At a little distance from Bethlehem are pools of water, and below these runs a narrow rocky valley, enclosed on both sides with high mountains which the friars, as Mr. Maundrell says d will have to be the enclosed garden here alluded to; but it is more likely that the allusion is to a garden near Jerusalem, called the king’s garden, Adrichomius e makes mention of, which was shut up, and only for the king’s use and pleasure: to which the church may be compared; for its being distinguished from the world’s wide waste, by the sovereign grace of God; and for the smallness of it in comparison of that; and for its pleasantness and fruitfulness, having pleasant and precious plants of great renown; or consisting of persons of different gifts and graces; in whose hearts these are not naturally, or do not grow there of themselves; but are sown or planted and raised up by the Spirit of God, for which the fallow ground of their hearts is thrown up: and that everything may be kept in good order, as in a garden, the plants are watered with the grace of God; the trees of righteousness are pruned by Christ’s father, the vinedresser; the fences are kept up, and the whole is watched over night and day; and here Christ, the owner of it, takes his delightful walks, and grants his presence with his people. And the church is like an “enclosed” garden; for distinction, being separated by the grace of God, in election, redemption, effectual calling, c. and for protection, being encompassed with the power of God, as a wall about it and for secrecy, being so closely surrounded, that it is not to be seen nor known by the world; and indeed is not accessible to any but to believers in Christ; and is peculiarly for his use, who is the proprietor of it; see So 4:16;
a spring shut up, a fountain sealed; the allusion may be to the sealed fountains great personages reserved for their own use; such as the kings of Persia had, of which the king and his eldest son only might drink f; and King Solomon might have such a spring and fountain in his garden, either at Jerusalem or at Ethan, where he had pleasant gardens, in which he took great delight, as Josephus g relates: and near the pools, at some distance from Bethlehem, supposed to be his, is a fountain, which the friars will have to be the sealed fountain here alluded to; and, to confirm which, they pretend a tradition, that Solomon shut up these springs, and kept the door of them sealed with his signet, to preserve the waters for his own drinking; and Mr. Maundrell h, who saw them, says it was not difficult so to secure them, they rising underground, and having no avenue to them, but by a little hole, like to the mouth of a narrow well. Now the church may be thus compared, because of the abundance of grace in her, and in each of her members, which is as a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life, Joh 4:14; and because of the doctrines of the Gospel, called a fountain, Joe 3:18; with which Gospel ministers water the plants in Christ’s garden, the members of the church; whereby they are revived, refreshed, and flourish; and their souls become as a watered garden, whose springs fail not. Though some read this clause in connection with the former; “a garden enclosed [art thou], with a spring” or flow of water “shut up, [and] with a fountain sealed” i; meaning Christ and his fulness; from whence all grace is received by the church and its members; and with which they are supplied, and their souls are watered: and the phrases, “shut up” and “sealed”, which, whether applied to the doctrines of grace and truth, in and from Christ, may denote the secrecy and safety of them from the men of the world; or to the grace of Christ, communicated by him to the saints, may denote the security of it, the invisible operations of it, and the sole exercise of it on him: for these phrases denote the inviolable chastity of the church to Christ, in her faith, love, service, and worship; see Pr 5:15; and are used in the Jewish writings k, to express the chastity of the bride. Ambrose affirms l, that what Plato m says concerning Jove’s garden, elsewhere called by him the garden of the mind, is taken out of Solomon’s Song.
d Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 89. Edit. 7. e Theatrum Terrae Sanctae, p. 170. f Theatrum Deipnosoph. l. 12. c. 2. p. 515. g Antiqu. l. 8. c. 7. s. 3. Vid. Adrichom. p. 170. h Journey from Aleppo &c. p. 88, 89. i “Cum fluctu obserato, cum fonte obsignato”, Marckius, so some in Michaelis. k T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 75. Apud Wagenseil. Sota, p. 240. Seder Tephillot, fol. 203. 1. Ed. Basil. vid. Targum, Jarchi & Aben Ezra in loc. l De Bono Mortis, c. 5. m In Sympos. p. 1194.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The praise is sensuous, but it has a moral consecration.
12 A garden locked is my sister-bride;
A spring locked, a fountain sealed.
(according to rule masc. Bttch. 658) denotes the garden from its enclosure; (elsewhere ere ), the fountain (synon. ), the waves bubbling forth (cf. Amo 5:24); and , the place, as it were an eye of the earth, from which a fountain gushes forth. Luther distinguishes rightly between gan and gal; on the contrary, all the old translators (even the Venet.) render as if the word in both cases were gan. The Pasek between gan and na’ul , and between gal and na’ul , is designed to separate the two Nuns, as e.g., at 2Ch 2:9; Neh 2:2, the two Mems; it is the orthophonic Pasek, already described under Son 2:7, which secures the independence of two similar or organically related sounds. Whether the sealed fountain ( fons signatus ) alludes to a definite fountain which Solomon had built for the upper city and the temple place,
(Note: Vid., Zschocke in the Tbinger Quartalschrift, 1867, 3.)
we do not now inquire. To a locked garden and spring no one has access but the rightful owner, and a sealed fountain is shut against all impurity. Thus she is closed against the world, and inaccessible to all that would disturb her pure heart, or desecrate her pure person.
(Note: Seal, , pers. muhr, is used directly in the sense of maiden-like behaviour; vid., Perles’ etymol. Studien (1871), p. 67.)
All the more beautiful and the greater is the fulness of the flowers and fruits which bloom and ripen in the garden of this life, closed against the world and its lust.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(12) A garden inclosed.Comp. with this passage Son. 4:12-15; Pro. 5:15; Pro. 5:21. The closed or walled garden and the sealed fountain appear to have been established metaphors for the pure and chaste wife. For the latter, at least, there is not only the above passage in Proverbs, but a prayer still in use in Jewish marriages: Suffer not a stranger to enter into the sealed fountain, &c
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. A spring shut up Most critics give this, by the change of one letter, as a repetition of a garden enclosed, making greater emphasis. The fields of Palestine were not fenced, but the gardens were walled, as more private. Passers through the fields might take, if hungry, from the crops, enough for their relief, but not so from the gardens.
A fountain sealed In the dry East fountains are often marked as private property, or the top is covered and sealed, and the water conveyed in pipes to the dwelling or garden of the owner. The idea is, of assurance of exclusive possession, and freedom from anxiety for the result of any arts and resources that the king may employ.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The BRIDEGROOM now delights in the fact that his bride is his, and his alone.
“A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride, A spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits; Henna with spikenard plants, spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices. You are a fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And flowing streams from Lebanon.”
The bridegroom now delights in the fact that his bride is pure and has been kept only for him. She is like an enclosed and locked garden into which no one has been allowed to enter, she is like a spring that has been shut off from men, she is like a fountain that has been sealed so that none can drink from it. She is a pure virgin, who has never known a man. And the contents of that enclosed and locked garden, which he is about to enter, include an orchard of pomegranates, with many precious fruits, henna with spikenard plants, and all the richest spices known to man. And they are all his for the taking. Furthermore she is like a spring that feeds many gardens, a well of living waters, and flowing streams from the mountains of Lebanon. His delight in her is total.
And this is how it should be with us. This is what our lives should be for our Lord, and it is how He wants us to be, with our lives wholly separated in spirit from all that is outside so that they may only produce for His pleasure (Eph 1:12; Php 1:10-11) and so that He may enjoy us to the full. He wants to come into our garden so that we may have communion together, and so that He may partake of our fruits. He wants our lives to be lives that give off the savor of life unto life (2Co 2:15-16), lives from which should flow rivers of living water (Joh 7:37-39). For if we are taken up with Him, we will also be taken up with the work that He wants us to do. Indeed we will be unable to help it, for it will be the inevitable consequence of our closeness to Him.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Son 4:12. A garden inclosed, &c. See the note on Son 4:8.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
Jesus is still prosecuting the subject in the commendation of his love. And here he compares her, by two or three very striking similitudes She is a garden distinguished from the world’s wide wilderness; but she is inclosed also, set apart with special design for the owner. The people are said to dwell alone, and not reckoned among the nations. Num 23:9 . Moreover she is a spring shut up, and a fountain sealed; meaning, that from her union with Christ, and her interest in Christ, the water of life which her Lord hath given her to drink, is in her a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Joh 4:14 . And how truly blessed is it to see and know that by the graces of the Holy Spirit planted in the souls of the redeemed, they have eternal life abiding in them. Because I live, (said Jesus) ye shall live also.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Son 4:12 A garden inclosed [is] my sister, [my] spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
Ver. 12. A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse. ] Fair and sweet he had before affirmed her; now, because
“ Lis est cum forma magna pudicitae. ”
The quarrel is with her great form of modesty. Fair women have many that wish them and lie in wait for them. E , , said he to his friend, dissuading him from marriage. a If she be fair, she will lightly be common. Christ therefore here commends her for her purity and chastity, and shows that she was so hedged and defenced by discipline and government, that none could come at her to hazard her virginity, no more than they could enter into a well walled garden. She openeth the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in; Isa 26:2 those which subscribe with their hands unto the Lord; Isa 44:5 that when he shall say, Who is on my side? who? do heartily avouch him for their God; Deu 24:18 that fly to her as a cloud, and flock to her as a flight of doves. Isa 60:8 As for the unclean, or anything that defileth, she hath her porters on purpose to keep them out; 2Ch 23:19 Rev 21:27 no dirty dog shall trample on her golden pavement. Isa 5:2 ; Isa 35:8-10 ; Isa 62:8 1Co 5:11-13 It was not permitted to a dog to enter into the Acropolis or tower at Athens, for his heat in venery and for his ill favour, saith Plutarch. b Goats likewise, saith Varro, come not there, lest they should hurt the olive. Irish air will sooner brook a toad or snake to live therein than the true Church, if she may freely exercise her power, scandalous and heretical persons. Papists teach that the Catholic Church consisteth of good and bad; and that a man may be a true member thereof, though he have no inward virtues. c We confess that in all particular congregations there are hypocrites, as appears in the parable of the tares, of the net, &c. But yet we deny that the holy Catholic Church mentioned in the creed hath a mixture of good and bad, since she is the chaste spouse of Jesus Christ, who owneth no wicked man or hypocrite in her; for how should he love such, unless it be with a common, not with a conjugal, love, so as he loved that tame young man, Mar 10:21 whom he pitied as a self-deceiver, like as we pity moderate and devout Papists. In Christ’s garden, as there is no ground but what is specially good, set apart for the purpose, fit for him to sit and walk in for his recreation – my well beloved hath his orchard in a very fruitful hill, Isa 5:1 in a cornucopia country – so it is furnished and filled with the choicest fruits and flowers, plants of renown, and pleasant trees, yielding fruit according to their kind. And though all cannot bear cinnamon and balsam, yet as in Spain there is said to be nihil infructuosum, nihil sterile, nothing barren or unfruitful, so all that “are planted in the house of the Lord, do flourish in the courts of our God; they do still bring forth fruit in old age, they are fat and flourishing”; Psa 92:13-14 they are both actuosi and fructuosi, “neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2Pe 1:8 And indeed how can it be otherwise with God’s garden, whenas he “himself keeps it, and watereth it every moment; lest any hurt it, he keepeth it night and day.” Isa 27:3 God fenceth it with his omnipotent arm, keepeth it from the wild boar and other devoratory evils, as Tertullian phraseth it, better than the garden of Eden was kept with the flaming sword. And whereas the Church may seem to lie open to all incursions, this verse shows that it hath a well within it and a wall without it. Yea, himself is a “wall of fire round about Jerusalem,” Zec 2:5 in allusion to the custom of those Eastern countries where, by reason of the great number of wild beasts, shepherds and travellers guard themselves by making great fires round about their night lodgings to keep off their approach.
A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
a Aul. Gell.
b , . – Plut. E .
c Bellar., lib. iii. cap. 2, De Eccles. Militan.
d Speed.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
A garden. Note the Alternation in verses: Son 4:12-15 :
c | 12-. Garden.
d | -12. Spring.
c | 13, 14. Garden fruits.
d | 15. Fountain.
inclosed = closed: bolted and barred.
shut up. Same word as “inclosed” (above).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
ADDRESSES ON THE SONG OF SOLOMON
by H. A. Ironside, LITT. D. Author of Notes on Hebrews, Lectures on Romans, Colossians, Revelation, etc., etc.
Loizeaux Brothers, Inc. Bible Truth Depot A Non-Profit Organization, Devoted to the Lords Work and to the spread of the Truth Copyright @ 1933 CHAPTER FIVE SONG OF SOLOMON 4:12-5:1
A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh, and aloes, with all the chief spices: a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved (Song of Solomon 4: 12-15; 5: 1).
WE have been noticing in chapter after chapter how the blessed Lord puts before us our privileges as those who are permitted to enter into communion with Himself, and now in this little section we have the believer (if you think of it as the individual), or Israel, or the Church, whichever you will, pictured as a watered garden set apart for our Lord Himself to bring forth fruit that will be to His delight. It is a lovely figure, one used on a number of other occasions in Scripture. In the fifty-eighth chapter of the prophet Isaiah, God pictures His people as such a garden. In verse eleven, He says, The Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
This is a beautiful picture. Primarily it refers to Israel, and morally it speaks of any believer, of that which God would see in all His saints as they walk with Him. In the book of the prophet Jeremiah, chapter thirty-one, verse twelve, we read, Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. It is the Risen Christ Himself from whom we draw abundant supplies of mercy and grace; but did you ever think of your own heart as a garden in which He is to find His joy? Your very life is as a garden which is to be for His pleasure. That is the figure you have here. It is the bridegroom looking upon his bride with his heart filled with delight as he says to her, You are to be for me, you are like a lovely garden yielding its fruit and flowers for me, set apart for myself.
A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. We in America like open gardens that anybody can enjoy, but in Syria and in other parts of the old land, they have many inclosed gardens, gardens that are walled in. This is necessary in some of those countries, as otherwise they would be destroyed by marauding creatures and robbers. It is as though the Lord says, That is what I want My people to be, separated to Myself; I want them to have about them the wall of holiness, for I have marked them off as My own. In the Psalms we read, The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself. Some Christians shrink from the idea of separation. If it is only a legal thing, it may become mere Phariseeism with no heart to it, but if it is to Himself, if it is the soul going out to Him, if one turns away from the world for love of Him, then separation is a very precious thing indeed, and one does not need to think of it as legal bondage, for it is being set apart for God Himself. Could one think of a higher privilege on earth than that He might find His joy in us and we might find our joy in Him?
A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse. How Satan likes to break down the wall, to destroy that principle of holy separation which would keep our hearts for the Lord alone; but what a loss it is to our own souls, and what a loss it means to Him, when His people become like a garden trodden under foot, as it were, by every wayfarer. That is what the Christian becomes who does not keep the path of separation.
Then notice the next figure, A spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Pure water is a very precious thing in the Far East and so often, when a spring is discovered, it is walled about, covered, and locked, and the owner of it keeps the key so that he can go and drink when he will, and the water is kept from pollution and waste.
That is what our Lord would have in His people. He has given His Holy Spirit to dwell in us, and the Holy Spirit is Himself the Fountain of Water within every believers heart, that we might be to His praise and to His glory. This living water within the garden will, of course, result in abundant fruit and flowers.
Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard. The orchard suggests more than a mere garden of beautiful flowers; not only something fair to look at, or something that is fragrant to the senses, but something fruitful as well. What precious fruit is borne by the believer; what precious fruit is found in the heart of the one who is shut up to God! In Philippians one, the apostle tells those dear saints that he is sure that God who has begun the good work in them, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. In verses nine to eleven of this chapter, he says, And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. It seems to me that every one ought to understand that a life that is lived for God is one bringing forth the fruits of righteousness. Love, purity, goodness, sweetness, kindness, compassion, and consideration for others, all of these things are the beautiful fruits that grow in this garden when the living water is properly fructifying the soil. In Gal 5:22 we have a long list of the fruit of the Spirit. Challenge your own heart by asking, Am I producing this kind of fruit for Him, Love, joy, peace, longsuffering? It is that patience, you know, that makes you willing to endure. Then there is gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. This is the delightful fruit that our Lord is looking for in the lives of His people. He would have every one of us as a garden that produces fruit like this.
That word translated orchard is really similar to the Persian word for Paradise, and it may suggest that as God has a paradise above for His own people, where they shall share His joy for all eternity, so a believers heart when it is producing fruit like this, is for God a paradise where He finds His joy and His delight. I wonder if we think enough of that side of it. Are we not likely to become self-centered and merely think of God as serving us, the blessed Lord Jesus giving Himself for us, dying for us, rising again for us, nurturing our souls, guiding us through the wilderness of this world and bringing us at last to glory? Some of the hymns we sing are almost entirely occupied with the blessings that come to us, but these do not rise to the height of the Christians communion at all.
It is when we are through thinking about what God is doing for us, and are seeking by grace to adore the One who does all this for us, and are letting our lives go out to Him as a thank-offering in praise and adoration, that we truly rise to the height of our Christian privileges. Then it is that He gathers these sweet and lovely fruits in His garden. It is not only fruit upon which He feeds, but it is that which gives satisfaction in every sense. Camphire, with spikenard, spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices. Some of these plants give forth their fragrance as the rain and dew fall upon them; some of them send forth a subtle aroma when the rays of the sun are warming them. Others never exude, never give out their fragrance, until they are pierced and the sap flows forth. So is it with our lives. We need all kinds of varied experiences in order that we may manifest the graces of Christ in our behavior, and it is not only that we are to be for His delight in the sense in which I have been speaking, but we are to be for His service too, in making known His grace to a lost world.
In the next verse we read, A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Let us see if we can correlate that. There is Lebanon, that backbone mountain range of Palestine, with Mt. Hermon to the north covered with snow. The streams coming down from Lebanon sink into the ground, and as they do so, springs rise here and there in vales and dells to the surface of the earth, and so the living water flows forth to refresh the thirsty soil. The living water represents, as we know from Johns Gospel, the blessed Holy Spirit. Our Lord Jesus said, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified (Joh 7:37-39).
Now the Spirit of God descending from above enters into our inmost being and then we have the living water springing up unto everlasting life. Our own hearts are refreshed and gladdened, and the living water in abundance flows out from us for the blessing of a lost world around. Is this not a beautiful picture? My brother, my sister, what do you know of this life in the fulness of the Holy Spirit? Far too many of us seem to be content to know that our sins have been forgiven, that we have a hope of heaven based upon some testimony that we have received from Holy Scripture. But it is more than this. We are not merely to have the assurance of our own salvation, but every one of us should be as watered gardens for Him, with streams flowing out for the refreshment of dying men and women all about us.
In what measure is your life touching others?
In what measure are you being used of God to win other souls for Christ? If we have to confess, as many of us would, that we have never had the privilege of winning one soul that so far as we know we have never yet give a testimony to any one that has really been blessed in his or her coming to Christ, let me suggest that there must be something that is hindering the outflow of the living water. Can it be that great boulders of worldliness, selfishness, pride, carnality, sinful folly or covetousness are literally choking the fountain of living water, so that there is just a little trickling when there should be a wonderful outflowing? If this is the case, seek by grace to recognize these hindrances and deal with them one by one. Away with worldliness, away with pride. Who am I to be proud? What have I to be proud of? What hast thou that thou hast not received? – Away with carnality, – Away with self-seeking, – Away with covetousness, – Away with living for my own interests. Let me henceforth live alone for Him who shed His precious blood for me and redeemed me to Himself. As I thus deal with these things that hinder the outflow of the living water, I will myself enter into a new, living, blessed and wonderful experience, and my testimony then will count in blessing to those about me, and my life will be at its best for Him.
There has been some question as to the identity of the first speaker in verse sixteen. It is very evident that the one who speaks in the last sentence is the bride, but is it the bride or the bridegroom in the first part of the verse? Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. If it is the bridegroom who is speaking, then he it is who is calling on the winds to blow upon what he calls, my garden, the heart of his bride, in order that she may be at her best for him. If, on the other hand, as I am personally inclined to believe, it is the bride who is speaking, then it indicates her yearning desire to be all that he would have her to be. Dear child of God, is that your desire? Do you yearn to be all that Christ would have you to be, or are you still actuated by worldly and selfish motives that hinder communion with Him? Listen to these words again, as we think of them as coming from the lips of the bride, Awake, O north wind. That is the cold, bitter, biting, wintry blast.
Naturally she would shrink from that as we all would, and yet the cold of winter is as necessary as the warmth of summer if there is going to be perfection in fruit-bearing. It is as though she says, Blessed God, if need be, let Thy Spirit breathe upon me through trial and sorrow, and difficulty and perplexity; take from me all in which I have trusted from the human standpoint; bereave me of everything if Thou wilt; leave me cold, naked, and alone except for Thy love, but work out Thy will in me.
The best apples are grown in northern climes where frost and cold have to be faced. Those grown in semi-tropical countries are apt to be tasteless and insipid. It takes the cold to bring out the flavor. And it is so with our lives. We need the north winds of adversity and trial as well as the zephyrs of the south so agreeable to our natures. The very things we shrink from are the experiences that will work in us to produce the peaceable fruits of righteousness. If everything were easy and soft and beautiful in our lives, they would be insipid; there would be so little in them for God that could delight His heart; and so there must be the north wind as well as the south. But, on the other hand, we need the south wind also, and our precious Lord tempers the winds to every one of us. Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. It is a blessed thing to be in that state of soul where we can just trust ourselves to Him.
Charles Spurgeon tells of a man who had the words, God is love, painted on his weather-vane. Someone said, That is a queer text to put there. Do you mean to say that Gods love is as changeable as the wind? Oh, no, said the other; I mean that whichever way the wind blows, God is love. Do not forget that. It may be the north wind of bereavement when your dearest and best are snatched from you, but God is love. It may be that the cold wind of what the world calls ill-fortune will sweep away like a fearful cyclone all that you have accumulated for years, but God is love, and it is written, The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet (Nah 1:3).
Perhaps you have been asking questions like this, Why has God allowed the sufferings we have had to undergo? Why has He allowed these weeks and months with no employment and everything slipping away, the savings of years gone? Dear child of God, He giveth not account of any of His matters now, but,
When you stand with Christ in glory, Looking oer lifes finished story,
then He will make it clear to you, and you will know why He allowed the cold wind to blow over His garden as well as the south wind, and if you would bow to Him now, and recognize His unchanging love, perhaps He would be able to trust you with more zephyrs from the south than you ordinarily experience. We are not subject enough to the will of God. We need to learn the lesson that, All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).
Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. In other words, Anything, Lord, that will make me a better Christian, a more devoted saint; anything that will make me a more faithful child of Thine, so that Thou canst find Thy delight in me. Is that your thought? And then she looks up into the face of her bridegroom and says, Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. How He delights to get such an invitation as that from His people. He responds to her immediately, for the first verse of chapter five really belongs to this section. She no sooner says, Come, than he replies, I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.
It closes with a scene of rapturous communion. And when you look up to the Beloved of your heart and say, Come into Thy garden and eat Thy pleasant fruits, He will immediately respond, I am come. You will never have to wait; you will never have to give Him a second invitation. If you have any time for Him, He always has time for you.
~ end of chapter 5 ~
http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/
***
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
garden: Son 6:2, Son 6:11, Pro 5:15-18, Isa 58:11, Isa 61:10, Isa 61:11, Jer 31:12, Hos 6:3, 1Co 6:13, 1Co 6:19, 1Co 6:20, 1Co 7:34, Rev 21:27
enclosed: Heb. barred
sealed: 2Co 1:22, Eph 1:13, Eph 4:30, Rev 7:3
Reciprocal: Num 24:6 – as gardens Ecc 2:5 – me Son 3:6 – perfumed Son 4:9 – my sister Son 4:15 – fountain Mat 12:50 – and sister Luk 13:19 – cast 1Co 9:5 – a sister
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Son 4:12. A garden For order and beauty, for pleasant walks, and flowers, and fruits; enclosed Defended by the care of my providence:
and reserved for my proper use. A spring shut up To preserve it from all pollution, and to reserve it for the use of its owner, for which reason springs were shut up in those countries where water was scarce and precious.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
4. The bride’s purity 4:12-15
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Solomon praised his bride’s virginity also. She had kept herself a virgin for the man she would marry.