Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 6:2

My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

2. The bride gives them an evasive answer, becoming jealous perhaps of their eager interest. She simply says he has gone forth to his usual haunts. Budde would strike out Son 6:1-3, on the ground that the garden, the beds of spices, and the lilies are figures for the bride’s person, as similar natural objects are in Son 4:12 f., Son 5:13, Son 2:16, Son 5:1. Here they cannot be that, since the bride is confessedly describing an absent lover, and they must consequently on his theory be put in by someone who did not understand the other references. But this curious reversion to the allegorical interpretation of the Song in a physical sense, by the opponents of allegorical interpretation in a spiritual sense, must be rejected. In all the passages referred to, save Son 2:16, which must be taken literally, the simile or metaphor is fully stated; the bride is like so and so, or her cheeks are so and so. No one, consequently, could possibly misunderstand them. Here the absence of any indication of simile makes the literal interpretation necessary, and so understood these verses have a perfectly natural and appropriate meaning. The similes referred to are taken in the first instance from surrounding nature, and when the Shulammite’s lover disappears it would be among these surroundings he would disappear. Taken simply as they stand, the words mean that he has gone back for a time to his ordinary occupations, and she thinks of him as gathering a garland for her as he had often done before. Further, the expression lilqt shshannm is in favour of this view. ‘To pluck lilies’ would be a very strange expression if lilies meant ‘lips’ here.

to feed ] i.e. ‘to feed the flock.’

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Son 6:2-3

My Beloved has gone down into His garden, to the beds of spices.

Communion

The exquisite pastoral from which our text is taken is peculiarly fitted for Sacramental meditation–because its design is to set forth the mutual love of Christ and His disciples; and because His disciples, in approaching the Sacrament, should be in frames of mind fitted to appreciate, its exquisite imagery.

I. Christian duty. The Church is here represented as Christs garden, into which He then descends to delight Himself with the gracious fruits of the believers spiritual life. And our lesson of duty is, that the Sacrament we should experience and exhibit such spiritual affections as seem unto Christ precious–fruits to be eaten–lilies to be gathered I Consider these graces:–

1. Faith. This is the foundation of all religious life. Now this grace Christ delights in, for it greatly honours and glorifies Him. In its ascription of salvation to Him alone it virtually places the mediatorial crown upon His head.

2. Love,–the souls crowning grace, or a grand composite of all graces. For, in strict speech; they are all modifications of love. Penitence is love grieving–faith is love resting–obedience is love working–hope is love waiting. So that love toward man and toward God is at once the law fulfilled, and holiness perfected. And in this Christ delights.

II. The Christians privilege. Regarding the believer as the subject it represents his soul as greatly rejoicing in the Sacrament, gathering in Christs garden the heavenly fruit. These fruits are the gracious gifts imparted by the Saviour. Consider a few of them. Take them as they are presented in Christs discourse in that guest-chamber.

1. Peace. Quiet, tranquillity, spiritual and immortal rest I And for this we come to Christ in the Sacrament. Behold a garden walled up to heaven. And through its open portal the soul passes leaning on the Beloved, to bathe heart and spirit in the everlasting fulness of Gods glorious peace!

2. Joy. These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain with you, and that your joy might be full. And what glorious, joy imparting words they were! And this is better than peace; for that is but a passive rest, this is a reigning rapture. (C. Wadsworth.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 2. My beloved is gone down into his garden] The answer of the bride to her companions.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The spouse had hitherto been at a loss for her Beloved, but having diligently sought him, and inflamed both her own and others affections with love to him by her just commendations, now at last she meets with a gracious answer from God, directing her where to find him, which also comes very seasonably, not only for her own relief and comfort, but also for the benefit of others, who inquired after him. The

garden seems to signify the church catholic, and the gardens, as it follows here, as also the beds, may note the particular assemblies of the faithful, in which Christ affordeth his presence and his blessing.

Beds of spices; in which the gifts and graces of Gods Spirit, which are fitly compared to spices or aromatical flowers, do appear and grow.

To feed; to refresh and delight himself, or to gather the flowers and fruits of it, as men use to do in their gardens.

To gather lilies; which may note either,

1. Particular believers, whom Christ gathereth to himself in his church, who are compared to lilies, Son 2:2. Or,

2. The prayers and praises tendered to him by his people in the public congregations, and all their gracious dispositions and actions.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

2. gone downJerusalem was ona hill (answering to its moral elevation), and the gardenswere at a little distance in the valleys below.

beds of spices(balsam)which He Himself calls the “mountain of myrrh,” c. (So4:6), and again (So 8:14),the resting-place of His body amidst spices, and of His soul inparadise, and now in heaven, where He stands as High Priest for ever.Nowhere else in the Song is there mention of mountains of spices.

feed in . . . gardensthatis, in the churches, though He may have withdrawn for a time from theindividual believer: she implies an invitation to the daughters ofJerusalem to enter His spiritual Church, and become lilies, madewhite by His blood. He is gathering some lilies now to plant onearth, others to transplant into heaven (Son 5:1Gen 5:24; Mar 4:28;Mar 4:29; Act 7:60).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

My beloved is gone down into his garden,…. Which may be said by Solomon, in allusion to what he himself was wont to do, as Josephus q relates; who used to go very early in a morning in great pomp to Etham, about two miles from Jerusalem, a pleasant place, abounding with gardens and flows of water: or respect may be had to the king’s gardens nearer Jerusalem, which were at the descent of Mount Zion, and reached to the lower pool r; see Ne 3:15; and which lying lower than the king’s palace, he might be said to go down to it. And this may point at the low estate of the people of God on earth, depressed with sorrows, afflictions, and persecutions; and the condescension of Christ, in visiting them in their low estate, and granting them his gracious presence: of the garden of Christ, and of his coming into it,

[See comments on So 4:12];

[See comments on So 4:16];

[See comments on So 5:1]; and the church might remember what he said, “I am come into my garden”, So 5:1; though she soon fell asleep and forgot it, and now calls it to mind, and so could direct the daughters where he was. She adds,

to the beds of spices; of odoriferous plants; to which particular believers, planted regularly in the churches of Christ, may be compared, for the excellency and fragrancy of their graces; and among whom Christ delights to be; see So 4:13. Gussetius s thinks the words, both here and in So 5:13, should be rendered “rivers of spices”; an hyperbolical expression, showing that a man walking by rivers of waters, where aromatic plants and fragrant flowers grow, perceives such a sweet odour, that, while he is refreshed with the moisture of the waters, he seems to be walking by rivers of spices. The end of her beloved’s going thither is,

to feed in the gardens; to feed his flocks there: not on commons and in fields, but in gardens, which is unusual: and by which are meant particular churches, where Christ feeds his people, by his Spirit and by his ministers, word and ordinances, with himself, the bread of life; with the discoveries of his love, better than wine; and with the doctrines and promises of the Gospel: or to feed himself, or that “he [himself] might be fed” t there; by beholding with pleasure how the plants grow, and the spices flow out; by tasting the pleasant fruits of the garden; and by observing with delight the graces of the Spirit in his people in lively exercise;

and to gather lilies; to crop them with the hand u; lilies are liable to be cropped, hence Horace w calls the lily “breve lilium”, the short lived lily: to these saints may be compared, for the glory, splendour, and beauty, they receive from Christ; see So 2:2; there was a gathering of these at the death of Christ, Eph 2:10; and there is a gathering of them in effectual calling, and into a church state, and into nearer communion with Christ; but here it seems to signify a gathering them by death, when fully ripe, to enjoy everlasting fellowship with him.

q Antiqu. l. 8. c. 7. s. 3. r See Lightfoot’s Chorograph. Inquiry on John, c. 5. s. 4. p. 509. s Ebr. Comment. p. 642. t “ut ubi pascatur”, V. L. Munster, Mercerus. u , Theocrit. Idyll. 19. v. 32. w Carmin. l. 1. Ode 36, v. 16.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

2 My beloved has gone down into the garden,

To the beds of sweet herbs,

To feed in the gardens

And gather lilies.

He is certainly, she means to say, there to be found where he delights most to tarry. He will have gone down – viz. from the palace (Son 6:11; cf. 1Ki 20:43 and Est 7:7) – into his garden, to the fragrant beds, there to feed in his garden and gather lilies (cf. Old Germ. “to collect rsen ”); he is fond of gardens and flowers. Shulamith expresses this in her shepherd-dialect, as when Jesus says of His Father (Joh 15:1), “He is the husbandman.” Flowerbeds are the feeding place ( vid., regarding under Son 2:16) of her beloved. Solomon certainly took great delight in gardens and parks, Ecc 2:5. But this historical fact is here idealized; the natural flora which Solomon delighted in with intelligent interest presents itself as a figure of a higher Loveliness which was therein as it were typically manifest (cf. Rev 7:17, where the “Lamb,” “feeding,” and “fountains of water,” are applied as anagogics, i.e., heavenward-pointing types). Otherwise it is not to be comprehended why it is lilies that are named. Even if it were supposed to be implied that lilies were Solomon’s favourite flowers, we must assume that his taste was determined by something more than by form and colour. The words of Shulamith give us to understand that the inclination and the favourite resort of her friend corresponded to his nature, which is altogether thoughtfulness and depth of feeling (cf. under Psa 92:5, the reference to Dante: the beautiful women who gather flowers representing the paradisaical life); lilies, the emblems of unapproachable grandeur, purity inspiring reverence, high elevation above that which is common, bloom there wherever the lily-like one wanders, whom the lily of the valley calls her own. With the words:

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

THE SHULAMITE’S ANSWER

Verse 2 answers the women, stating that he has gone down into his garden. This suggests that she has become aware of his whereabouts since her frantic search described in Son 5:6-8.

Verse 3 repeats Son 2:16, reaffirming the mutual commitment of the two lovers to each other.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

THE INQUIRY ANSWERED

Son. 6:2

SHULAMITE, to the Daughters

My Beloved is gone down into his garden,
To the beds of spices;
To feed in the gardens,
And to gather lilies.

Shulamite continues her Narrative and Song. Relates her answer to the inquiring women. Suddenly recollects herself, and at once and unhesitatingly declares whither her Beloved is gone. He is gone down to his garden. Literally, Solomons garden in a valley below Jerusalem, on the South East. The allusion, however, probably to the Bride herself, already called his garden, which he had been invited by her to enter and eat his pleasant fruits (chap. Son. 4:16). A delicate hint that the Bridegroom was expected to be with his Bride, and to find his chief enjoyment in her society. So Pro. 5:15-20. Christ the Bridegroom of His Church to be found in the assemblies of His people (Mat. 18:20; Psa. 132:13-14). Walks among the golden candlesticks (Rev. 2:1). Never absent from His Church in general, though apparently and for a time from individual believers. Observe

(1) By commending Christ to others we often find Him ourselves.
(2) The spiritual darkness of a believer often broken in upon by a ray of light which at once removes his difficulty and sorrow. Hagars eyes had but to be opened to see the fountain by her side. Mary! suddenly and in a moment turned her sorrow into joy.
(3) Historically, Christs body, after His crucifixion, found in Josephs garden, and His Spirit in the paradise of God. The Brides answer suggestive of what constitutes

The Saviours Joy.

1. The fellowship of His believing people on earth. The Church His garden. Separate congregations and individual believers His gardens. Christ goes down into His garden, to feed in the gardens. Indicated in His call to the Church at Laodicea: I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear My voice, I will come in unto him, and will sup with him, and he with Me (Rev. 3:20). The Lords portion is His people. He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing (Zep. 3:17). The name given by Him to His Church: Hephzibah, or my delight is in her. The Lord taketh pleasure in His people. He walketh in the midst of thy camp. I will walk in you. Christ delights in His Church and people as a man in his garden of fruits, flowers, and spices. Hence the responsibility resting on them to be such that Christ may find in them the enjoyment which He seeks. No unclean thing to be in Israels camp. The garden to be kept clean and orderly for the proprietors pleasure. Believers to keep their hearts and lives for Christs sake as well as their own. The Church to purge out the old leaven of malice and wickedness. To put away from among them the wicked person. To keep the ordinances as delivered to them. To see that all things are done decently and in order (1Co. 5:7; 1Co. 5:13; 1Co. 11:2; 1Co. 14:40). Believers to see that they are bearing not only fruit, but much fruit. All the fruits of the Spirit to be produced in themlove, joy, peace, &c. (Gal. 5:22). I looked that it should bring forth grapes. My soul desired the first ripe fruit. His complaint that Israel was an empty (or yieding) vine, bringing forth fruit only to himself (Isa. 5:4; Mic. 7:1; Hos. 10:1). Christ leaves His heritage, and gives the dearly beloved of His soul into the hand of her enemies, when it becomes to Him as a speckled bird (Jer. 12:7-11). A lukewarm Church or Christian He can only spue out of His mouth (Rev. 3:16). Believers to see that no root of bitterness springing up trouble them, and defile the garden of Christ. Spices, as well as fruits, to be growing in Christs garden. His people and Churches to be beds of spicesfragrant and attractive, as well as useful.

2. The presence of His people in heaven. He goes down into His garden to gather lilies. Heaven a place of

Gathered Lilies.

Lilies, his believing people (chap. Son. 2:2). Gathered out of His garden on earth for His presence in heaven. Christ first transforms thorns into lilies, then transfers the lilies to Paradise. A world lying in wickedness not a place for His lilies to remain longer than is necessary. Every departed saint a gathered lily. The lilies enjoyed by Christ while growing in His garden below; still more when blooming in the Paradise above. The lilies gathered in fulfilment of His own promise (Joh. 14:2). Preserved safe with Himself till His return, when He brings them with Him (1Th. 4:14; 1Th. 3:13; 2Th. 1:10). Heaven delightful and attractive as the place of gathered lilies. The spirits of just men made perfect. Those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Believers depart to be with Christ. To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise. Absent from the body, present with the Lord. Lazarus carried by the angels into Abrahams bosom. Christs lilies in heaven without a spot in them. Without fault before the throne of God. Presented as a chaste virgin to Christ. Faultless before the presence of His glory. A glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Holy and without blame before Him in love. All like Himself, seeing Him as He is. The former things passed away. The blessedness of heaven is, that it is free from all moral defilement. The happiness of the glorified, not so much that there is no more sorrow, as that there is no more sin. Christs people lily-like here; much more hereafter. No remains of the thorn in heaven. The flesh carried to the grave, but no farther. The lilies gathered for Christs own enjoyment as well as that of His people. Each departed believer an accession to the joy of heaven and of heavens King. Christs heaven to have the hundred and forty and four thousand of His redeemed around Him on Mount Zion, praising the Father in the midst of the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn the (Heb. 2:12; Heb. 12:23). Hence

(1) A reason why believers should gladly leave this world.
(2) A ground of sweet consolation in regard to friends who fall asleep in Jesus.
(3) Believers not to grudge Christ the lilies which He gathers.

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

2. Into his garden This reply is made with the utmost composure, as if she divined their plan, but was entirely easy and assured of herself. The verse might be introduced by an “Oh,” pronounced so as to depreciate the question. “As if he thought his stay here might not be the best thing, he has returned to his pleasant business at home.”

To feed in the gardens Better, to enjoy the good of the gardens.

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