Song of Solomon 2:3–3:5

Here, I. The spouse commends her beloved and prefers him before all others: As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, which perhaps does not grow so high, nor spread so wide, as some other trees, yet is useful and serviceable to man, yielding pleasant and profitable fruit, while the other trees are of little use, no, not the cedars themselves, till they are cut down, so is my beloved among the sons, so far does he excel them all,—all the sons of God, the angels (that honour was put upon him which was never designed for them, Heb. i. 4),—all the sons of men; he is fairer than them all, fairer than the choicest of them, Ps. xlv. 2. Name what creature you will, and you will find Christ has the pre-eminence above them all. The world is a barren tree to a soul; Christ is a fruitful one. II. She remembers the abundant comfort she has had in communion with him: She sat down by him with great delight, as shepherds sometimes repose themselves, sometimes converse with one another, under a tree. A double advantage she found in sitting down so near the Lord Jesus:—1. A refreshing shade: I sat down under his shadow, to be sheltered by him from the scorching heat of the sun, to be cooled, and so to take some rest. Christ is to believers as the shadow of a great tree, nay, of a great rock in a weary land, Isa. xxxii. 2; xxv. 4. When a poor soul is parched with convictions of sin and the terrors of the law, as David (Ps. xxxii. 4), when fatigued with the troubles of this world, as Elijah when he sat down under a juniper tree (1 Kings xix. 4), they find that in Christ, in his name, his graces, his comforts, and his undertaking for poor sinners, which revives them and keeps them from fainting; those that are weary and heavily laden may find rest in Christ. It is not enough to pass by this shadow, but we must sit down under it (here will I dwell, for I have desired it); and we shall find it not like Jonah's gourd, that soon withered, and left him in a heat, both inward and outward, but like the tree of life, the leaves whereof were not only for shelter, but for the healing of the nations. We must sit down under this shadow with delight, must put an entire confidence in the protection of it (as Judges ix. 15), and take an entire complacency in the refreshment of it. But that is not all: 2. Here is pleasing nourishing food. This tree drops its fruits to those that sit down under its shadow, and they are welcome to them, and will find them sweet unto their taste, whatever they are to others. Believers have tasted that the Lord Jesus is gracious (1 Pet. ii. 3); his fruits are all the precious privileges of the new covenant, purchased by his blood and communicated by his Spirit. Promises are sweet to a believer, yea, and precepts too. I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Pardons are sweet, and peace of conscience is sweet, assurances of God's love, joys of the Holy Ghost, the hopes of eternal life, and the present earnests and foretastes of it are sweet, all sweet to those that have their spiritual senses exercised. If our mouths be put out of taste for the pleasure of sin, divine consolations will be sweet to our taste, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. III. She owns herself obliged to Jesus Christ for all the benefit and comfort she had in communion with him (v. 4): "I sat down under the apple-tree, glad to be there, but he admitted me, nay, he pressed me, to a more intimate communion with him: Come in, thou blessed of the Lord, why standest thou without? He brought me to the house of wine, the place where he entertains his special friends, from lower to higher measures and degrees of comfort, from the fruit of the apple tree to the more generous fruit of the vine." To him that values the divine joys he has more shall be given. One of the rabbin by the banqueting-house understands the tabernacle of the congregation, where the interpretation of the law was given; surely we may apply it to Christian assemblies, where the gospel is preached and gospel-ordinances are administered, particularly the Lord's supper, that banquet of wine, especially to the inside of those ordinances, communion with God in them. Observe, 1. How she was introduced: "He brought me, wrought in me an inclination to draw nigh to God, helped me over my discouragements, took me by the hand, guided and led me, and gave me an access with boldness to God as a Father," Eph. ii. 18. We should never have come into the banqueting-house, never have been acquainted with spiritual pleasures, if Christ had not brought us, by opening for us a new and living way and opening in us a new and living fountain. 2. How she was entertained: His banner over me was love; he brought me in with a banner displayed over my head, not as one he triumphed over, but as one he triumphed in, and whom he always caused to triumph with him and in him, 2 Cor. ii. 14. The gospel is compared to a banner or ensign (Isa. xi. 12), and that which is represented in the banner, written in it in letters of gold, letters of blood, is love, love; and this is the entertainment in the banqueting-house. Christ is the captain of our salvation, and he enlists all his soldiers under the banner of love; in that they centre; to that they must continually have an eye, and be animated by it. The love of Christ must constrain them to fight manfully. When a city was taken the conqueror set up his standard in it. "He has conquered me with his love, overcome me with kindness, and that is the banner over me." This she speaks of as what she had formerly had experience of, and she remembers it with delight. Eaten bread must not be forgotten, but remembered with thankfulness to that God who has fed us with manna in this wilderness. IV. She professes her strong affection and most passionate love to Jesus Christ (v. 5): I am sick of love, overcome, overpowered, by it. David explains this when he says (Ps. cxix. 20), My soul breaks for the longing that it has unto thy judgments, and (v. 81), My soul faints for thy salvation, languishing with care to make it sure and fear of coming short of it. The spouse was now absent perhaps from her beloved, waiting for his return, and cannot bear the grief of distance and delay. Oh how much better it is with the soul when it is sick of love to Christ than when it is surfeited with the love of this world! She cries out for cordials: "Oh stay me with flagons, or ointments, or flowers, any thing that is reviving; comfort me with apples, with the fruits of that apple-tree, Christ (v. 3), with the merit and meditation of Christ and the sense of his love to my soul." Note, Those that are sick of love to Christ shall not want spiritual supports, while they are yet waiting for spiritual comforts. V. She experiences the power and tenderness of divine grace, relieving her in her present faintings, v. 6. Though he seemed to have withdrawn, yet he was even then a very present help, 1. To sustain the love-sick soul, and to keep it from fainting away: "His left hand is under my head, to bear it up, nay, as a pillow to lay it easy." David experienced God's hand upholding him then when his soul was following hard after God (Ps. lxiii. 8), and Job in a state of desertion yet found that God put strength into him, Job xxiii. 6. All his saints are in his hand, which tenderly holds their aching heads. 2. To encourage the love-sick soul to continue waiting till he returns: "For, in the mean time, his right hand embraces me, and thereby gives me an unquestionable assurance of his love." Believers owe all their strength and comfort to the supporting left hand and embracing right hand of the Lord Jesus. VI. Finding her beloved thus nigh unto her she is in great care that her communion with him be not interrupted (v. 7): I charge you, O you daughters of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the mother of us all, charges all her daughters, the church charges all her members, the believing soul charges all its powers and faculties, the spouse charges herself and all about her, not to stir up, or awake, her love until he please, now that he is asleep in her arms, as she was borne up in his, v. 6. She gives them this charge by the roes and the hinds of the field, that is, by every thing that is amiable in their eyes, and dear to them, as the loving hind and the pleasant roe. "My love is to me dearer than those can be to you, and will be disturbed, like them, with a very little noise." Note, 1. Those that experience the sweetness of communion with Christ, and the sensible manifestations of his love, cannot but desire the continuance of these blessed views, these blessed visits. Peter would make tabernacles upon the holy mount, Matt. xvii. 4. 2. Yet Christ will, when he pleases, withdraw those extraordinary communications of himself, for he is a free-agent, and the Spirit, as the wind, blows where and when it listeth, and in his pleasure it becomes us to acquiesce. But, 3. Our care must be that we do nothing to provoke him to withdraw and to hide his face, that we carefully watch over our own hearts and suppress every thought that may grieve his good Spirit. Let those that have comfort be afraid of sinning it away.

3. Her reply. apple —generic including the golden citron, pomegranate, and orange apple ( Pr 25:11 ). He combines the shadow and fragrance of the citron with the sweetness of the orange and pomegranate fruit. The foliage is perpetual; throughout the year a succession of blossoms, fruit, and perfume ( Jas 1:17 ). among the sons —parallel to "among the daughters" ( So 2:2 ). He alone is ever fruitful among the fruitless wild trees ( Ps 89:6 ; Heb 1:9 ). I sat … with … delight —literally, "I eagerly desired and sat" ( Ps 94:19 ; Mr 6:31 ; Eph 2:6 ; 1Pe 1:8 ). shadow —( Ps 121:5 ; Isa 4:6 ; 25:4 ; 32:2 ). Jesus Christ interposes the shadow of His cross between the blazing rays of justice and us sinners. fruit —Faith plucks it ( Pr 3:18 ). Man lost the tree of life ( Ge 3:22 , 23 ). Jesus Christ regained it for him; he eats it partly now ( Ps 119:103 ; Joh 6:55 , 57 ; 1Pe 2:3 ); fully hereafter ( Re 2:7 ; 22:2 , 14 ); not earned by the sweat of his brow, or by his righteousness ( Ro 10:1-21 ). Contrast the worldling's fruit ( De 32:32 ; Lu 15:16 ).

The church is here pleasing herself exceedingly with the thoughts of her further communion with Christ after she has recovered from her fainting fit. I. She rejoices in his approach, v. 8. 1. She hears him speak: "It is the voice of my beloved, calling me to tell me he is coming." Like one of his own sheep, she knows his voice before she sees him, and can easily distinguish it from the voice of a stranger (John x. 4, 5), and, like a faithful friend of the bridegroom, she rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice, John iii. 29. With what an air of triumph and exultation does she cry out, "It is the voice of my beloved, it can be the voice of no other, for none besides can speak to the heart and make that burn." 2. She sees him come, sees the goings of our God, our King, Ps. xlviii. 24. Behold, he comes. This may very well be applied to the prospect with the Old-Testament saints had of Christ's coming in the flesh. Abraham saw his day at a distance, and was glad. The nearer the time came the clearer discoveries were made of it; and those that waited for the consolation of Israel with an eye of faith saw him come, and triumphed in the sight: Behold, he comes; for they had heard him say (Ps. xl. 7), Lo, I come, to which their faith here affixes its seal: Behold, he comes as he has promised. (1.) He comes cheerfully and with great alacrity; he comes leaping and skipping like a roe and like a young hart (v. 9), as one pleased with his own undertaking, and that had his heart upon it and his delights with the sons of men. When he came to be baptized with the baptism of blood, how was he straitened till it was accomplished! Luke xii. 50. (2.) He comes slighting and surmounting all the difficulties that lay in his way; he comes leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills (so some read it), making nothing of the discouragements he was to break through; the curse of the law, the death of the cross, must be undergone, all the powers of darkness must be grappled with, but, before the resolutions of his love, these great mountains become plains. Whatever opposition is given at any time to the deliverance of God's church, Christ will break through it, will get over it. (3.) He comes speedily, like a roe or a young hart; they thought the time long (every day a year), but really he hastened; as now, so then, surely he comes quickly; he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. When he comes for the deliverance of his people he flies upon a cloud, and never stays beyond his time, which is the best time. We may apply it to particular believers, who find that even when Christ has withdrawn sensible comforts, and seems to forsake, yet it is but for a small moment, and he will soon return with everlasting loving-kindness. II. She pleases herself with the glimpses she has of him, and the glances she has of his favour: "He stands behind our wall; I know he is there, for sometimes he looks forth at the window, or looks in at it, and displays himself through the lattice." Such was the state of the Old-Testament church while it was in expectation of the coming of the Messiah. The ceremonial law is called a wall of partition (Eph. ii. 14), a veil (2 Cor. iii. 13); but Christ stood behind that wall. They had him near them; they had him with them, though they could not see him clearly. He that was the substance was not far off from the shadows, Col. ii. 17. The saw him looking through the windows of the ceremonial institutions and smiling through those lattices; in their sacrifices and purifications Christ discovered himself to them, and gave them intimations and earnests of his grace, both to engage and to encourage their longings for his coming. Such is our present state in comparison with what it will be at Christ's second coming. We now see him through a glass darkly (the body is a wall between us and him, through the windows of which we now and then get a sight of him), but not face to face, as we hope to see him shortly. In the sacraments Christ is near us, but it is behind the wall of external signs, through those lattices he manifests himself to us; but we shall shortly see him as he is. Some understand this of the state of a believer when he is under a cloud; Christ is out of sight and yet not far off. See Job xxxiv. 14, and compare Job xxiii. 8-10. She calls the wall that interposed between her and her beloved our wall, because it is sin, and nothing else, that separates between us and God, and that is a wall of our own erecting (Isa. lix. 1); behind that he stands, as waiting to be gracious, and ready to be reconciled, upon our repentance. Then he looks in at the window, observes the frame of our hearts and the working of our souls; he looks forth at the window, and shows himself in giving them some comfort, that they may continue hoping for his return. III. She repeats the gracious invitation he had given her to come a walking with him, v. 10-13. She remembers what her beloved said to her, for it had made a very pleasing and powerful impression upon her, and the word that quickens us we shall never forget. She relates it for the encouragement of others, telling them what he had said to her soul and done for her soul, Ps. lxvi. 16. 1. He called her his love and his fair one. Whatever she is to others, to him she is acceptable, and in his eyes she is amiable. Those that take Christ for their beloved, he will own as his; never was any love lost that was bestowed upon Christ. Christ, by expressing his love to believers, invites and encourages them to follow him. 2. He called her to rise and come away, v. 10, and again v. 13. The repetition denotes backwardness in her (we have need to be often called to come away with Jesus Christ; precept must be upon precept and line upon line), but it denotes earnestness in him; so much is his heart set upon the welfare of precious souls that he importunes them most pressingly to that which is for their own good. 3. He gave for a reason the return of the spring, and the pleasantness of the weather. (1.) The season is elegantly described in a great variety of expressions. [1.] The winter is past, the dark, cold, and barren winter. Long winters and hard ones pass away at last; they do no endure always. And the spring would not be so pleasant as it is if it did not succeed the winter, which is a foil to its beauty, Eccl. vii. 14. Neither the face of the heavens nor that of the earth is always the same, but subject to continual vicissitudes, diurnal and annual. The winter is past, but has not passed away for ever; it will come again, and we must provide for it in summer, Prov. vi. 6, 8. We must weep in winter, and rejoice in summer, as though we wept and rejoiced not, for both are passing. [2.] The rain is over and gone, the winter-rain, the cold stormy rain; it is over now, and the dew is as the dew of herbs. Even the rain that drowned the world was over and gone at last (Gen. viii. 1-3), and God promised to drown the world no more, which was a type and figure of the covenant of grace, Isa. liv. 9. [3.] The flowers appear on the earth. All winter they are dead and buried in their roots, and there is no sign of them; but in the spring they revive, and show themselves in a wonderful variety and verdure, and, like the dew that produces them, tarry not for man, Mic. v. 7. They appear, but they will soon disappear again, and man in herein like the flower of the field, Job xiv. 2. [4.] The time of singing of birds has come. The little birds, which all the winter lie hid in their retirements and scarcely live, when the spring returns forget all the calamities of the winter, and to the best of their capacity chant forth the praises of their Creator. Doubtless he who understands the birds that cry for want (Ps. cxlvii. 9) takes notice of those that sing for joy Ps. civ. 12. The singing of the birds may shame our silence in God's praises, who are better fed (Matt. vi. 26), and better taught (Job xxxv. 11), and are of more value than many sparrows. They live without inordinate care (Matt. vi. 26) and therefore they sing, while we murmur. [5.] The voice of the turtle is heard in our land, which is one of the season-birds mentioned Jer. viii. 7, that observe the time of their coming and the time of their singing, and so shame us who know not the judgment of the Lord, understand not the times, nor do that which is beautiful in its season, do not sing in singing time. [6.] The fig-tree puts forth her green figs, by which we know that summer is nigh (Matt. xxiv. 32), when the green figs will be ripe figs and fit for use; and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. The earth produces not only flowers (v. 12), but fruits; and the smell of the fruits, which are profitable, is to be preferred far before that of the flowers, which are only for show and pleasure. Serpents, they say, are driven away by the smell of the vines; and who is the old serpent, and who the true vine, we know very well. (2.) Now this description of the returning spring, as a reason for coming away with Christ, is applicable [1.] To the introducing of the gospel in the room of the Old-Testament dispensation, during which it had been winter time with the church. Christ's gospel warms that which was cold, makes that fruitful which before was dead and barren; when it comes to any place it puts a beauty and glory upon that place (2 Cor. iii. 7, 8) and furnishes occasion for joy. Spring-time is pleasant time, and so is gospel-time. Aspice venturo lætentur ut omnia seclo—Behold what joy the dawning age inspires! said Virgil, from the Sibyls, perhaps with more reference to the setting up of the Messiah's kingdom at that time than he himself thought of. See Ps. xcvi. 11. Arise then, and improve this spring-time. Come away from the world and the flesh, come into fellowship with Christ, 1 Cor. i. 9. [2.] To the delivering of the church from the power of persecuting enemies, and the restoring of liberty and peace to it, after a severe winter of suffering and restraint. When the storms of trouble are over and gone, when the voice of the turtle, the joyful sound of the gospel of Christ, is again heard, and ordinances are enjoyed with freedom, then arise and come away to improve the happy juncture. Walk in the light of the Lord; sing in the ways of the Lord. When the churches had rest, then were they edified, Acts ix. 31. [3.] To the conversion of sinners from a state of nature to a state of grace. That blessed change is like the return of the spring, a universal change and a very comfortable one; it is a new creation; it is being born again. The soul that was hard, and cold, and frozen, and unprofitable, like the earth in winter, becomes fruitful, like the earth in spring, and by degrees, like it, brings its fruits to perfection. This blessed change is owing purely to the approaches and influences of the sun of righteousness, who calls to us from heaven to arise and come away; come, gather in summer. [4.] To the consolations of the saints after a state of inward dejection and despondency. A child of God, under doubts and fears, is like the earth in winter, its nights long, its days dark, good affections chilled, nothing done, nothing got, the hand sealed up. But comfort will return; the birds shall sing again, and the flowers appear. Arise therefore, poor drooping soul, and come away with thy beloved. Arise, and shake thyself from the dust, Isa. lii. 2. Arise, shine, for thy light has come (Isa. lx. 1); walk in that light, Isa. ii. 5. [5.] To the resurrection of the body at the last day, and the glory to be revealed. The bones that lay in the grave, as the roots of the plants in the ground during the winter, shall then flourish as a herb, Isa. lxvi. 14; xxvi. 19. That will be an eternal farewell to winter and a joyful entrance upon an everlasting spring.

4. Historically fulfilled in the joy of Simeon and Anna in the temple, over the infant Saviour ( Lu 2:25-38 ), and that of Mary, too (compare Lu 1:53 ); typified ( Ex 24:9-11 ). Spiritually, the bride or beloved is led ( So 2:4 ) first into the King's chambers, thence is drawn after Him in answer to her prayer; is next received on a grassy couch under a cedar kiosk; and at last in a "banqueting hall," such as, Josephus says, Solomon had in his palace, "wherein all the vessels were of gold" ( Antiquities, 8:5,2). The transition is from holy retirement to public ordinances, church worship, and the Lord's Supper ( Ps 36:8 ). The bride, as the queen of Sheba, is given "all her desire" ( 1Ki 10:13 ; Ps 63:5 ; Eph 3:8 , 16-21 ; Php 4:19 ); type of the heavenly feast hereafter ( Isa 25:6 , 9 ). his banner … love —After having rescued us from the enemy, our victorious captain ( Heb 2:10 ) seats us at the banquet under a banner inscribed with His name, "love" ( 1Jo 4:8 ). His love conquered us to Himself; this banner rallies round us the forces of Omnipotence, as our protection; it marks to what country we belong, heaven, the abode of love, and in what we most glory, the cross of Jesus Christ, through which we triumph ( Ro 8:37 ; 1Co 15:57 ; Re 3:21 ). Compare with " over me," " underneath are the everlasting arms" ( De 33:27 ).

5. flagons — Maurer prefers translating, "dried raisin cakes"; from the Hebrew root "fire," namely, dried by heat. But the "house of wine " ( So 2:4 , Margin ) favors "flagons"; the "new wine" of the kingdom, the Spirit of Jesus Christ. apples —from the tree ( So 2:3 ), so sweet to her, the promises of God. sick of love —the highest degree of sensible enjoyment that can be attained here. It may be at an early or late stage of experience. Paul ( 2Co 12:7 ). In the last sickness of J. Welch, he was overheard saying, "Lord, hold thine hand, it is enough; thy servant is a clay vessel, and can hold no more" [ Fleming , Fulfilling of the Scriptures ]. In most cases this intensity of joy is reserved for the heavenly banquet. Historically, Israel had it, when the Lord's glory filled the tabernacle, and afterwards the temple, so that the priests could not stand to minister: so in the Christian Church on Pentecost. The bride addresses Christ mainly, though in her rapture she uses the plural, "Stay ( ye ) me," speaking generally. So far from asking the withdrawal of the manifestations which had overpowered her, she asks for more: so " fainteth for " ( Ps 84:2 ): also Peter, on the mount of transfiguration ( Lu 9:33 ), "Let us make … not knowing what he said. "

6. The "stay" she prayed for ( So 2:5 ) is granted ( De 33:12 , 27 ; Ps 37:24 ; Isa 41:16 ). None can pluck from that embrace ( Joh 10:28-30 ). His hand keeps us from falling ( Mt 14:30 , 31 ); to it we may commit ourselves ( Ps 31:5 ). left hand —the left is the inferior hand, by which the Lord less signally manifests His love, than by the right; the secret hand of ordinary providence, as distinguished from that of manifested grace (the "right"). They really go together, though sometimes they seem divided; here both are felt at once. Theodoret takes the left hand, equivalent to judgment and wrath; the right, equivalent to honor and love. The hand of justice no longer is lifted to smite, but is under the head of the believer to support ( Isa 42:21 ); the hand of Jesus Christ pierced by justice for our sin supports us. The charge not to disturb the beloved occurs thrice: but the sentiment here, "His left hand," &c., nowhere else fully; which accords with the intensity of joy ( So 2:5 ) found nowhere else; in So 8:3 , it is only conditional, " should embrace," not "doth."

7. by the roes —not an oath but a solemn charge, to act as cautiously as the hunter would with the wild roes, which are proverbially timorous; he must advance with breathless circumspection, if he is to take them; so he who would not lose Jesus Christ and His Spirit, which is easily grieved and withdrawn, must be tender of conscience and watchful ( Eze 16:43 ; Eph 4:30 ; 5:15 ; 1Th 5:19 ). In Margin, title of Ps 22:1 , Jesus Christ is called the " Hind of the morning," hunted to death by the dogs (compare So 2:8 , 9 , where He is represented as bounding on the hills, Ps 18:33 ). Here He is resting, but with a repose easily broken ( Zep 3:17 ). It is thought a gross rudeness in the East to awaken one sleeping, especially a person of rank. my love —in Hebrew, feminine for masculine, the abstract for concrete, Jesus Christ being the embodiment of love itself ( So 3:5 ; 8:7 ), where, as here, the context requires it to be applied to Him, not her. She too is "love" ( So 7:6 ), for His love calls forth her love. Presumption in the convert is as grieving to the Spirit as despair. The lovingness and pleasantness of the hind and roe ( Pr 5:19 ) is included in this image of Jesus Christ.

Canticle II.—(So 2:8-3:5)— John the Baptist's Ministry. 8. voice —an exclamation of joyful surprise, evidently after a long silence. The restlessness of sin and fickleness in her had disturbed His rest with her, which she had professed not to wish disturbed "till He should please." He left her, but in sovereign grace unexpectedly heralds His return. She awakes, and at once recognizes His voice ( 1Sa 3:9 , 10 ; Joh 10:4 ); her sleep is not so sinfully deep as in So 5:2 . leaping —bounding, as the roe does, over the roughest obstacles ( 2Sa 2:18 ; 1Ch 12:8 ); as the father of the prodigal "had compassion and ran " ( Lu 15:20 ). upon the hills —as the sunbeams glancing from hill to hill. So Margin, title of Jesus Christ ( Ps 22:1 ), "Hind of the morning " (type of His resurrection). Historically, the coming of the kingdom of heaven (the gospel dispensation), announced by John Baptist, is meant; it primarily is the garden or vineyard; the bride is called so in a secondary sense. "The voice" of Jesus Christ is indirect, through "the friend of the bridegroom" ( Joh 3:29 ), John the Baptist. Personally, He is silent during John's ministration, who awoke the long slumbering Church with the cry. "Every hill shall be made low," in the spirit of Elias, on the "rent mountains" ( 1Ki 19:11 ; compare Isa 52:7 ). Jesus Christ is implied as coming with intense desire ( Lu 22:15 ; Heb 10:7 ), disregarding the mountain hindrances raised by man's sin.

9. he standeth —after having bounded over the intervening space like a roe. He often stands near when our unbelief hides Him from us ( Ge 28:16 ; Re 3:14-20 ). His usual way; long promised and expected; sudden at last: so, in visiting the second temple ( Mal 3:1 ); so at Pentecost ( Ac 2:1 , 2 ); so in visiting an individual soul, Zaccheus ( Lu 19:5 , 6 ; Joh 3:8 ); and so, at the second coming ( Mt 24:48 , 50 ; 2Pe 3:4 , 10 ). So it shall be at His second coming ( 1Th 5:2 , 3 ). wall —over the cope of which He is first seen; next, He looks through (not forth; for He is outside) at the windows, glancing suddenly and stealthily (not as English Version, "showing Himself") through the lattice. The prophecies, types, &c., were lattice glimpses of Him to the Old Testament Church, in spite of the wall of separation which sin had raised ( Joh 8:56 ); clearer glimpses were given by John Baptist, but not unclouded ( Joh 1:26 ). The legal wall of partition was not to be removed until His death ( Eph 2:14 , 15 ; Heb 10:20 ). Even now, He is only seen by faith, through the windows of His Word and the lattice of ordinances and sacraments ( Lu 24:35 ; Joh 14:21 ); not full vision ( 1Co 13:12 ); an incentive to our looking for His second coming ( Isa 33:17 ; Tit 2:13 ).

10, 11. Loving reassurance given by Jesus Christ to the bride, lest she should think that He had ceased to love her, on account of her unfaithfulness, which had occasioned His temporary withdrawal. He allures her to brighter than worldly joys ( Mic 2:10 ). Not only does the saint wish to depart to be with Him, but He still more desires to have the saint with Him above ( Joh 17:24 ). Historically, the vineyard or garden of the King, here first introduced, is "the kingdom of heaven preached" by John the Baptist, before whom "the law and the prophets were" ( Lu 16:16 ).

11. the winter —the law of the covenant of works ( Mt 4:16 ). rain is over —( Heb 12:18-24 ; 1Jo 2:8 ). Then first the Gentile Church is called "beloved, which was not beloved" ( Ro 9:25 ). So "the winter" of estrangement and sin is "past" to the believer ( Isa 44:22 ; Jer 50:20 ; 2Co 5:17 ; Eph 2:1 ). The rising "Sun of righteousness" dispels the "rain" ( 2Sa 23:4 ; Ps 126:5 ; Mal 4:2 ). The winter in Palestine is past by April, but all the showers were not over till May. The time described here is that which comes directly after these last showers of winter. In the highest sense, the coming resurrection and deliverance of the earth from the past curse is here implied ( Ro 8:19 ; Re 21:4 ; 22:3 ). No more "clouds" shall then "return after the rain" ( Ec 12:2 ; Re 4:3 ; compare Ge 9:13-17 ); "the rainbow round the throne" is the "token" of this.

12. flowers —tokens of anger past, and of grace come. "The summoned bride is welcome," say some fathers, "to weave from them garlands of beauty, wherewith she may adorn herself to meet the King." Historically, the flowers, &c., only give promise; the fruit is not ripe yet; suitable to the preaching of John the Baptist, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand "; not yet fully come. the time of … singing —the rejoicing at the advent of Jesus Christ. Gregory Nyssenus refers the voice of the turtledove to John the Baptist. It with the olive branch announced to Noah that "the rain was over and gone" ( Ge 8:11 ). So John the Baptist, spiritually. Its plaintive "voice" answers to his preaching of repentance ( Jer 8:6 , 7 ). Vulgate and Septuagint translate, "The time of pruning, " namely, spring ( Joh 15:2 ). The mention of the "turtle's" cooing better accords with our text. The turtledove is migratory ( Jer 8:7 ), and "comes" early in May; emblem of love, and so of the Holy Ghost. Love, too, shall be the keynote of the "new song " hereafter ( Isa 35:10 ; Re 1:5 ; 14:3 ; 19:6 ). In the individual believer now, joy and love are here set forth in their earlier manifestations ( Mr 4:28 ).

13. putteth forth —rather, "ripens," literally, "makes red" [ Maurer ]. The unripe figs, which grow in winter, begin to ripen in early spring, and in June are fully matured [ Weiss ]. vines with the tender grape —rather, "the vines in flower, " literally, "a flower," in apposition with "vines" [ Maurer ]. The vine flowers were so sweet that they were often put, when dried, into new wine to give it flavor. Applicable to the first manifestations of Jesus Christ, "the true Vine," both to the Church and to individuals; as to Nathanael under the fig tree ( Joh 1:48 ). Arise, &c.—His call, described by the bride, ends as it began ( So 2:10 ); it is a consistent whole; "love" from first to last ( Isa 52:1 , 2 ; 2Co 6:17 , 18 ). "Come," in the close of Re 22:17 , as at His earlier manifestation ( Mt 11:28 ).

[395] “I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up nor awake my love till he please.” In the 2d verse of this chapter. is represented the church in her state of persecution; in the 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th. verses is represented the comforts and supports Christ gives her in this state of hers; in this verse is represented her duty in patience, meekness, and love to her enemies, and humble and patient waiting for Christ’s deliverance, in Christ’s trial while she is in this state of suffering. In the five following verses is represented Christ’s coming to her deliverance, to put an end to the suffering state of the church, and introduce its prosperous and glorious day. In this 7th verse, it is strictly charged upon all professing Christians, that they should not stir up nor awake Christ till he please, i. e. that they should not take any indirect courses for their own deliverance while the church is in her afflicted state, and Christ seems to neglect her, as though he were asleep, but that they should patiently wait on him till his time should come, when he would awake for the deliverance of his church. He that believeth, shall not make haste. They that take indirect courses to hasten their own deliverance, by rising up against authority, and resisting their persecutors, are guilty of tempting Christ, and not waiting till his time comes, but going about to stir him up, and force deliverance before his own time. They are charged by the roes and hinds of the field, who are of a gentle and harmless nature, and not beasts of prey, do not devour one another do not fight with their enemies, but fly from them, and are of a pleasant loving nature, Prov. v. 19. So Christians should flee when persecuted, and should not be of a fierce nature, to resist and fight, but should be of a gentle and loving nature, and wait for Christ’s awaking.

The same thing is represented in the 3rd chap. ver. 5. There as that chap. in the 1st verse, is represented the fruitless seeking of the church in her slothful, slumbering, dark state that precedes the glorious day of the Christian church, and then is represented her seeking him more earnestly when more awakened, ver. 2. and then the introduction of her state of light and comfort by that extraordinary preaching of the word of God, which will be by the ministers of the gospel, and then, in the 5th verse, is the church to wait patiently for Christ’s appearance, without using undue indirect means to obtain comfort before his time comes. And then in the following verses is more fully represented the happy state of the church after Christ has awaked and come out of the wilderness where he had hid himself. The like change we have again, chap. viii. 4. which in a like sense also agrees well with the context.

As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons,.... As the apple tree, in a garden or orchard, excels and is preferable to the wild barren trees of a forest (k), especially it appears so when laden with choice fruit; so the church, who here returns the commendation to Christ, asserts, that he as much excels all the "sons", the creatures of God, angels or men: angels, as the Targum, who, though sons of God by creation, Christ is the Son of God, in a higher sense; he is their Creator, and the object of their worship; they are confirmed by him in the estate they are, and are ministering spirits to him; and he is exalted above them in human nature: men also, the greatest princes and monarchs of the earth, are sometimes compared to large and lofty trees; but Christ is higher than they, and is possessed of far greater power, riches, glory, and majesty. All the sons of Adam in general may be meant; wicked men, who are like forest trees, wild, barren, and unfruitful; yea, even good men, Christ has the pre-eminence of them, the sons of God by adopting grace; for he is so in such a sense they are not; he is their Creator, Lord, Head, Husband, and Saviour, and they have all their fruit from him; and so ministers of the word have their gifts and grace from him, and therefore Christ excels all that come under this appellation of sons. Christ may be compared to an apple tree, which is very fruitful; and, when full of fruit, very beautiful; and whose fruit is very cooling, comforting, and refreshing. Christ is full of the fruits and blessings of grace, which are to be reached by the hand of faith, and enjoyed; and as he is full of grace and truth, he looks very beautiful and glorious in the eye of faith; and which blessings of grace from him, being applied to a poor sensible sinner, inflamed by the fiery law, and filled with wrath and terror, sweetly cool, refresh, and comfort him. The apple tree has been accounted an hieroglyphic of love, under which lovers used to meet, and sit under its delightful shade, and entertain each other with its fruit; to which the allusion may be; see Sol 8:5; the apple was sacred to love (l). The Targum renders it, the pome citron, or citron apple tree; which is a tree very large and beautiful; its fruit is of a bitter taste, but of a good smell; always fruit on it; is an excellent remedy against poison, and good for the breath, as naturalists (m) observe; and so is a fit emblem of Christ, in the greatness of his person, in the fulness, of his grace, in the virtue of his blood, and righteousness and grace, which are a sovereign antidote against the poison of sin; and whose presence, and communion with him, cure panting souls, out of breath in seeking him; and whose mediation perfumes their breath, their prayers, whereby they become grateful to God, which otherwise would be strange and disagreeable; I sat down under his shadow with great delight: under the shadow of the apple tree, to which Christ is compared; whose person, blood, and righteousness, cast a shadow, which is a protecting one, from the heat of divine wrath, from the curses of a fiery law, from the fiery darts of Satan, and from the fury of persecutors, Isaiah 25:4; and is a cooling, comforting, and refreshing one, like the shadow of a great rock to a weary traveller, Isaiah 32:2; and though the shadow of some trees, as Pliny (n) observes, is harmful to plants that grow under them, others are fructifying; and such is Christ; "they that dwell under his shadow shall revive and grow", &c. Hosea 14:7. "Sitting" here supposes it was her choice; that she preferred Christ to any other shadow, looking upon him to be a suitable one in her circumstances, Sol 1:6; it intimates that peace, quietness, satisfaction, and security, she enjoyed under him; it denotes her continuance, and desire of abiding there, Psalm 91:1; for the words may be rendered, "I desired, and I sat down" (o); she desired to sit under the shade of this tree, and she did; she had what she wished for; and she sat "with great delight": having the presence of Christ, and fellowship with him in his word and ordinances, where Christ is a delightful shade to his people; and his fruit was sweet to my taste; the fruit of the apple tree, to which the allusion is. Solon (p) advised the bride to eat a quince apple before she went into the bridegroom, as leaving an agreeable savour; and intimating how graceful the words of her mouth should be. By "his fruit" here are meant the blessings of grace, which are Christ's in a covenant way, come through his sufferings and death, and are at his dispose; such as peace, pardon, justification, &c. and fresh discoveries and manifestations of his love, of which the apple is an emblem: and these are sweet, pleasant, and delightful, to those that have tasted that the Lord is gracious; whose vitiated taste is changed by the grace of God, and they savour the things of the Spirit of God. (k) "Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi", Virgil. Bucolic. Eclog. 1. v. 26. "Lenta salix", &c. Eclog. 5. v. 16. (l) Scholiast. in Aristoph. Nubes, p. 180. The statue of Venus had sometimes an apple in one hand, and a poppy in the other, Pausan. Corinth. sive l. 2. p. 103. (m) Athenaei Deispnosoph. l. 3. c. 7. p. 83. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 53. & 12. c. 3. Solin. Polyhistor. c. 59. Macrob. Saturnal. l. 3. c. 19. (n) Nat. Hist. l. 17. c. 12. (o) "concupivi, et sedi", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Marckius. (p) Plutarch. Conjug. Praecept. vol. 2. p. 138.

He brought me to the banqueting house,.... Or "into" it (q). The "house of wine" (r), as it is literally in the original; either the "wine cellar" (s), as some, where stores of it were kept; or, the "place of fasting" (t), as others, and, as we render it, a "banqueting house"; where it was distributed and drank; a banquet of wine being put for a feast, and here the nuptial feast; and may design the Gospel feast in the house of God, where there is plenty of the wine of Gospel truths, and provisions of rich food, with which believers are sweetly refreshed and delightfully regaled: and to be brought hither, under the drawings and influences of divine grace, is a special privilege, a distinguishing layout; and show a great condescension in Christ, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, to take his people by the hand, as it were, and introduce them into his house, so well furnished, and to a table so well spread: and so the church relates it as an instance of divine favour, and as a fresh token of Christ's love to her; which further appears by what follows: the covenant of grace and the Scriptures of truth may be thought of as a banqueting house, well stored with blessings, and promises, and rich provisions; which, to be led and let into, is a singular kindness; and his banner over me was love; signifying, that she was brought into the banqueting house in a grand, stately, and majestic manner, with flying colours; the motto on which inscribed was "love"; the allusion may be to the names of generals being inscribed on the banners of their armies; so Vespasian's name was inscribed on the banners throughout his armies (u). Christ's name, inscribed on his, was "love", his church's love; and by which his company or band was distinguished from all others, even by electing, redeeming, calling love. It may signify the security and protection of the saints, while in the house of God, and enjoying communion with him, being under the banner of love, with which they are encompassed as a shield; and it may denote the very manifest and visible displays of it, which the church now experienced. (q) "in", Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Marckius, Michaelis. (r) "domum vini", Pagninus, Montanus, &c. (s) "Cellam vinariam", Tigurine version. (t) "Locum convivii", Junius & Tremellius. (u) Suetonii Vita Vespasian. c. 6.

Stay me with flagons,.... Of wine, which is a supporter of the animal spirits (w). The church was now in a house of wine, where was plenty of it; even of the love of Christ, compared to wine, and preferred unto it, Sol 1:2; the church though she had had large discoveries of it, desired more; and such that have once tasted of this love are eagerly desirous of it, and cannot be satisfied until they have their fill of it in heaven: the flagons, being vessels in which wine is put, and from thence poured out, may signify the word and ordinances, in which the love of Christ is displayed and manifested; the church desires she might be stayed and supported hereby, while she was attending on Christ in them; comfort me with apples; with exceeding great and precious promises; which, when fitly spoken and applied, are "like apples of gold in pictures of silver", Proverbs 25:11; and are very comforting: or rather, with fresh and greater manifestations of his love still; for the apple is an emblem of love, as before observed; for one to send or throw an apple to another indicated love (x). It may be rendered, "strew me with apples" (y); in great quantities, about me, before me, and under me, and all around me, that I may lie down among them, and be sweetly refreshed and strengthened: the words, both in this and the former clause, are in the plural number; and so may be an address to the other two divine Persons, along with Christ, to grant further manifestations of love unto her, giving the following reason for it: for I am sick of love; not as loathing it, but as wanting, and eagerly desirous of more of it; being, as the Septuagint version is, "wounded" (z) with it; love's dart stuck in her, and she was inflamed therewith: and "languished" (a); as the Vulgate Latin version is; with earnest desires after it; nor could she be easy without it, as is the case of lovers. (w) "Vino fulcire venas cadentes", Senecae Ephesians 95. (x) "Malo me Galatea petit", Virgil. Bucolic. Eclog. 3. v. 64. Vid. Theocrit. Idyll. 3. v. 10. & Idyll. 6. v. 6, 7. & Suidam in voce (y) "sternite ante me", so some in Vatablus; "substernite mihi", Tigurine version, Piscator. (z) Sept. (a) "Langueo amore", V. L. so Michaelis; "aegrotus" is used in this sense, in Terent. Heautont. l. 1.

His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. The church, having desired to be stayed, supported, strengthened, and comforted, presently found her beloved with her, who with both hands sustained her; which shows his tender love to her, care of her, and regard for her; and is expressive of the near and intimate communion she had with him, as the effect of union to him, often enjoyed in his house and ordinances; likewise of blessings of every kind she received from him; temporal, mercies, or left hand blessings, which are necessary to support and carry through this wilderness; and spiritual, or right hand blessings, as justification, pardon, adoption, &c. and, moreover, may denote the safety and security of the church, being encircled in the arms of her beloved, sustained by Christ's left hand, and embraced by his right hand, out of whose hands none can pluck. Some read the words prayer wise, "let his left hand be", &c. (b); still desiring further tokens of his love to her, and more and nearer communion with him: others read it in the future, "his left hand will be", &c. (c); "his right hand shall embrace", &c. expressing the strength of her faith that she should for the future enjoy his gracious presence; and that he would support her, that she should not sink and faint. (b) Tigurine version, some in Mercer. Marckius; so Ainsworth. (c) V. L. Pagninus Montanus.

I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,.... Of whom, see Sol 1:5. There is some difficulty in these words, whether they are spoken by the church, or by Christ: according to our version, they are the words of the church, and bids fair to be the sense; since they are spoken to the virgins, her companions, that waited on her; and the manner of speech is not by way of command, as by way of adjuration; and the matter, style, and language of it, Christ being the church's love; and the phrase, "till he please", best agrees with his sovereignty and authority, who is at liberty to stay with, and remove from, his people at pleasure; and the context and scope of the place seem to confirm it; the church, enjoying communion with Christ, chooses not that he should be disturbed, and by any means be caused to depart from her. Others think they are the words of Christ, and not without reason; since it was the church that was in Christ's arms, and fallen asleep in them; and the phrase, "my love", is used by Christ concerning his church, Sol 7:6; and not this, but another, is used by her concerning him; and besides, both the word for "my love", and that which is rendered "he please", are feminine, and best agree with her, "that ye stir not up, the" or "this love, until she please"; so Michaelis (d) interprets and renders the word for "love by this lovely one"; the word is very emphatic, the love, the famous love, the well known love (e): add to which, the following words seem to confirm this sense, "the voice of my beloved", which she had heard, adjuring the daughters of Jerusalem. This charge is made, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field; not that either Christ or his church swore by them; but the words may be descriptive of the persons addressed by the creatures, among whom they were feeding their flocks, or whom they delighted to hunt (f); or were loving and lovely creatures, as they: and the charge is, that they would continue among them, and mind their business, and give no disturbance to Christ or the church; or these creatures are called as witnesses to this charge, which, if not observed, would be brought against them: or the charge is made by all that is dear, these being pleasant and lovely creatures, that they would not interrupt the mutual communion of Christ and his church; or it may be a severe threatening, that, should they disregard the charge, they should become food as common as roes and hinds; and that they should be as cautious of stirring up and awaking the person meant as they would be of starting those timorous creatures. The charge is, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please; or, "till she please"; if it is the charge of the church, it may lead to observe, that Christ is the object of the church's love; and that she is his resting place; that he may not be disturbed and raised up from it by an unfriendly behavior toward him, or by animosities among themselves; that saints should be very careful that they do not provoke Christ to depart from them; and that communion with him is entirely at his pleasure, when and how long it shall continue; it depends as much upon his sovereign will as the first acts of his grace towards them. But if this is the charge of Christ, not to disturb his church, then it may be observed, that the church is the object of Christ's love, and always continues so; that the church sleeps and takes her rest in Christ's arms; which is not to be understood of a criminal drowsiness and sleep, but of comfortable repose and rest, Christ gives his beloved ones, in communion with himself; that he loves and delights in the company of his people, and would not have them disturbed in their fellowship with him; and though, while grace is in exercise, saints are desirous of enjoying Christ's presence always; yet, when it is otherwise, they become indifferent to it, which provokes Christ to depart from them; and therefore it is said, "till she please": and as this charge is given to the "daughters of Jerusalem", young converts, or weak believers; it suggests, that they are apt to disturb both Christ and his church; to disturb Christ by their impatience and frowardness, like children; hence the church acts the part of a mother charging her children to be quiet, and not disturb her loving husband, while she enjoyed his company; and to disturb the church, through their weakness, not being able to bear the sublime doctrines of the Gospel, and through their ignorance of Gospel order. (d) Not. in Lowth Praelect. de Poes. Heb. p. 158. (e) So lovers are frequently called "Amor et Amores", "love and loves", vid. Theocrit. Idyll. 2. & Ovid. Briseis Achilli, v. 12. Plauti Curculio, Acts 2. Sc. 3. v. 78. Miles, Acts 4. Sc. 8. v. 67. Poenulus, Acts 5. Sc. 3. v. 49. Mostell. arg. v. 1. Persa, arg. v. 1.((f) "Virginibus Tyriis mos est gestare pharetram", Virgil. Aeneid. l. 1.

The voice of my beloved!.... So says the church, who well knew Christ her beloved's voice; which is known by all believers in him, and is distinguished by them from the voice of others; by the majesty and authority of it; by the power and efficacy of it; by its directing them to himself, and by the pleasure it gives them: and she speaks of it as being very delightful to her; it being the voice of him whom she loved, and a voice of love, grace, and mercy, of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation; and, being observed before, what follows shows that Christ is heard before he is seen; he is first heard of in the Gospel, before he is seen, by an eye of faith: and such would have others observe the voice of Christ as well as they, for here the church speaks to the daughters of Jerusalem; and it seems by this, that, by some means or another, Christ had been disturbed, and had departed from the church for a while, and was now upon the return to her, which made his voice the more joyful to her; behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills; this may be, understood, either of Christ's first coming in the flesh, much prophesied of, long expected, and was very welcome: this was attended with many difficulties, comparable to mountains and hills; that he the Son of God should become man; that he should obey, suffer, and die for men, fulfil the law, satisfy justice, atone for sin, and save from all enemies; but those which seemed insuperable were easily surmounted by Christ: or of his spiritual coming; sometimes he withdraws himself, and then returns again, and faith, spying him at a distance, rejoices at his nearer approach; for impediments in his way, occasioned by the unbelief, carnality, lukewarmness, backslidings, and ingratitude of his people, are removed and got over by him, nothing being able to separate from his love; and his coming, either way, is with all readiness, swiftness, speed, and haste. And a "behold" is prefixed to this, as a note of admiration and attention; and is so, whether applied to the one or other. Christ's incarnation was matter of wonder, "behold, a virgin", &c. Isaiah 7:14; and so his manifestation of himself to his people, and not to others, is marvellous, "Lord, how is it", &c. John 14:22; and both comings are visible, glorious, and delightful. Ambrose (g) has these remarkable words, by way of paraphrase, on this passage, "Let us see him leaping; he leaped out of heaven into the virgin, out of the womb into the manger, out of the manger into Jordan, out of Jordan to the cross, from the cross into the tomb, out of the grave into heaven.'' The allusion is to the leaping of a roe, or a young hart, as in Sol 2:9, which is remarkable for its leaping, even one just yeaned (h); so a young hart is described, by the poet (i), as leaping to its dam the leap of one of these creatures is very extraordinary (k). (g) Enarrat. in Psal. cxviii. octon. 7. p. 917. (h) Vid. Dionys. Perieg. v. 843, 844. (i) , &c. Theocrit. Idyll. 8. prope finem. (k) "The hart is said to leap sixty feet at a leap", Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 3. c. 17. col. 882.

My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart,.... The church, upon the swift and speedy approach of Christ unto her, compares him to these creatures; which are well known for their swiftness (l) in running, and agility in leaping, as before observed: and, besides these things, Christ may be compared to them on other accounts; they are pleasant and lovely, choice and valuable; bear an antipathy to serpents, which they easily overcome; are very good for food, and very agreeable, and are long lived creatures (m); Christ is lovely and amiable in his person, and high in the esteem of his divine Father, angels and men; is choice and excellent in his nature, offices, and grace; bears an antipathy to the old serpent, the devil, whose works and powers he came to destroy, and has got an entire victory over them; and is very agreeable food to faith; his flesh is meat indeed, and the more so through his sufferings and death; as the flesh of those creatures is said to be the more tender and agreeable, by being hunted; and Christ, though dead, is alive, and lives for evermore; behold, he standeth behind our wall; not the middle wall of the ceremonial law, behind which, Christ, under the Old Testament dispensation, stood, showing himself to believers; nor the wall of our humanity he partook of, when he came in the flesh, and under which his glorious deity was in some measure covered and hid; but rather the wall of our hearts, Jeremiah 4:19; the hardness, infidelity, and carnal reasonings of it, which are so many walls of separation between Christ and his people; behind which he stands, showing his resentment of them, and in order to demolish them, and get admittance: he is represented here, as nearer than when she first saw him, even at her very home; he looketh forth at the windows; this is coming nearer still; for, by the manner of the expression, it seems that he was within doors, since he is said, not to look through the windows, but to look forth at them, meaning the ordinances; which are that to the church as windows to a house, the means of letting in light into the souls of men; and where Christ shows himself, in his glory and beauty, as kings and great personages look out at windows to show themselves to their people: though Christ may also be said to look in at, those windows, to observe the behaviour of his people in his house and ordinances, with what attention, affection, faith, and reverence, they wait upon him in them; showing himself through the lattice; by which may be meant the same things, only a larger and clearer discovery of Christ in them, of which ordinances are the means; and yet, unless Christ shows himself through them, he cannot be seen in them: and a "behold" being prefixed to these gradual discoveries of himself, show them to be wonderful! a glance of him behind the wall is surprising; his looking in at the windows still more so; but his showing himself, in all his glories and excellencies, through the lattice, is enough to throw into the greatest rapture, to fill with joy unspeakable and full of glory! Some render the word "flourishing" (n), like a rose or lily, or like a vine, or jessamine; which grow up by a window or lattice, and, seen through them, took very pleasant and delightful. But the allusion is rather to the quick sighted roe, or young hart; which, as it is remarkable for its swiftness, referred to, Sol 2:8, so for the sharpness of its sight; Pliny (o) says it is never dim sighted; it has its name "dorcas", in Greek, from its sight. (l) "Cervi veloces", Virgil. Aeneid. 5. v. 253. (m) Vid. Pausaniae Arcad. sive l. 8. p. 472. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 32. Aelian de Animal. l. 2. c. 9. Solin. Polyhistor. c. 31, Frantz. Animal, Sacr. par. 1. c. 15. (n) "efflorescens", Piscator, Michaelis, so Ainsworth. (o) Nat. Hist. l. 28. c. 11.

My beloved spake, and said unto me,.... Christ, the church's beloved, being so near her, she could distinctly hear and understand what he spoke, and relate the very words: or, "he answered to me" (p); to a secret petition, put up to him for a more full enjoyment of him; for there is mental as well as vocal prayer, which Christ, as God omniscient, knows full well, and gives answer to: of this may be an answer to her petitions in Sol 2:5; and as some in Sol 2:6; however, Christ said something after related, that she well knew he spake, and not another, and to her in particular. What he said follows: Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away; the affectionate and endearing titles of "love" and "fair one", have been met with and explained, on Sol 1:5; and are repeated to show his ardent love to her, notwithstanding the frame she was in, which was very probably a slothful one, by the exhortations given; and to remove her discouragements, arising from her present state; and to prevail upon her to get up from her bed of carnal sloth and security, at least to shake off her indolence; and to quit her seat and company, and go along with him, or where he should direct, since it would be to her own advantage: for the words may be rendered, "rise up for thyself, and come away for thyself" (q); it will turn to thy account, and to do otherwise will be detrimental to thee. The arguments follow. (p) "respondit", Montanus, Vatablus, Piscator, Marckius, Michaelis. (q) "surge tibi, et abi tibi", Montanus, Cocceius, so Vatablus, Marckius.

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. A season of the year which keeps persons within doors, makes going abroad unsafe, unpleasant, and uncomfortable; very unfit for travelling, roads bad, rivers impassable, and journeying very difficult; but now this season being over, and the spring come, the weather fair, and every thing gay and pleasant, it is inviting to be abroad; winter is by some writers (r) used not for the season of the year, but for a storm or tempest. Thus the winter and rain may be descriptive of the state and condition of Jews and Gentiles before the coming of Christ (s), and which then ceased; it having been a stormy dispensation with the one, and a time of darkness and ignorance with the other, Hebrews 12:18; or rather it may in general represent the state of God's people both before and after conversion; before conversion it is a time of darkness, coldness, barrenness, and unfruitfulness; and which are removed by the powerful and efficacious grace of Christ: and after conversion it is often a winter season with them, through the blustering winds of Satan's temptations; the storms of impending wrath for sin, as they imagine; the nipping blasts of persecution, and sharp and severe afflictions they are at times exposed unto: moreover, they are often in great darkness of soul, clouds interpose between Christ and them; a great deal of coldness attends them, their hearts are frozen up and hard, and no impression made on them by the preaching of the word, or by the providences of God; there is a coolness in their love to God and Christ, his people, ordinances, cause, and interest; great barrenness and unfruitfulness in them, they look like trees in winter, and no appearance of fruit on them; their hands are sealed up from working, and they become indolent and inactive; and by all these fellowship with Christ is greatly interrupted: but, when the spring returns again, light breaks in upon them, and their hearts are melted with a sense of love; they become lively in their frames, and in the exercise of grace, and are fruitful in good works; and enjoy much calmness and serenity, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost: sometimes they think the winter is not over when it is, and fear more storms are behind, even of divine wrath and vengeance, though without reason; since Christ has bore all wrath for them, and has satisfied law and justice, and has delivered them from wrath to come; and he that has done this says, "the winter is past", &c. (r) "Grandaevumque patrem supplex, miseranda rogabo unam hyemem", Statii Achill. l. 1. v. 50, 51. Vid. Valer. Flacc. l. 1. v. 197. (s) "Ante adventum Christi hyems erat, venit Christus, fecit aestatem", Ambros. Enarrat. in Paul. cxviii. octon. 7. p. 821.

The flowers appear on the earth,.... One of the first signs of the spring being come (t); and make the season delightful and pleasant; the sun returning with its warming influences, herbs and plants are quickened and spring up; fields and meadows, as well as gardens, are covered with a variety of beautiful flowers, which make walking abroad very delightful. By these "flowers" may be meant either the graces of the spirit in the saints, which, when a wintertime with them, seem to be dead, at least are hid; but, upon a return of the sun of righteousness, revive and are seen again: or the saints themselves, when in a flourishing condition, and in the exercise of grace; who may be compared to the flowers of the field for the production of them in the spring, which is a kind of re-creation of them, Psalm 104:30; and fitly expresses the renovation of the Holy Ghost, to which the revival of them is owing; and for the fragrancy of them, their persons and services being of a sweet savour through the grace and righteousness of Christ; and for their beauty and ornament to the fields in which they grow, as saints are through Christ in themselves, and to the churches and interest of Christ; and for the gaiety and cheerfulness in which the flowers appear in the spring season, and so a proper emblem of the joy and consolation of the saints; where grace revives, Christ returns, and they are favoured with communion with him. It may not be improper to observe, that this may represent the large conversions of souls to Christ, and the numerous appearance of so many beautiful flowers in the church of Christ in the first ages of Christianity, after a long winter of Jewish and Gentile darkness; the time of the singing of birds is come; another sign of spring, and suits the Gospel dispensation, in which the churches of Christ, and the members of them, sing the praises of the Lord in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; and particularly young converts, those little birds that sing in warbling notes and tuneful lays the songs of electing, redeeming, calling, justifying, pardoning, and adopting grace, to the glory of God, and to their mutual comfort and edification. Some render it, "the time of the branch" (u), of the vine putting forth its branches; or "the time of cutting" (w), of pruning vines, of lopping trees, and cutting off unfruitful branches; as in the Gospel dispensation, when the Jewish branches were broken off, and the Gentiles were ingrafted in, and being pruned brought forth more fruit; and this agrees with the season of the year, the spring being the time of cutting and pruning vines (x); though this is by some objected to as unseasonable; and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; so one part of rural pleasures is described by the poet (y), not only by the singing of birds of various kinds, but particularly by the note of the turtle; which is a kind of dove that lies hid in the wintertime, or is gone, being a bird of passage, and appears and returns at the spring, when its voice is heard again (z); see Jeremiah 8:7; for its voice is never heard in winter, unless on a fine day (a); by which may be meant, not the voice of the law, as the Jewish writers (b), rather of the Gospel, the joyful sound, which for a while was heard only in the land of Judea, called by way of specialty "our land": but either of the voice of the Messiah himself (c), preaching the everlasting Gospel in the land of Israel when here on earth; or of John the Baptist his forerunner; and so Alshech interprets it of Elijah, who was to come before the Messiah, and refers to Malachi 4:5. It may design the voice of all the apostles of Christ, and first ministers of the Gospel (d); or of the Holy Ghost, as the Targum, who appeared as a dove at Christ's baptism; and whose voice in the hearts of his people, speaking peace and pardon, and witnessing their adoption, causes joy and gladness; or of the church itself, compared to a turtledove for its harmlessness, meekness, chastity, &c. whose voice in prayer and praise is heard, and is acceptable to Christ, Sol 2:14. (t) "Ver praebet flores", Ovid. de Remed. Amor. l. 1. v. 188. "Omnia tum florent", ibid. Metamorph. l. 15. Fab. 9. So flowers are called , "the children of the spring", in Athenaei Deipnosoph. l. 13. c. 9. p. 608. "Vernus sequitur color, omnis in herbas turget humus", Claudian. de Rapt. Proserp. l. 2. v. 90. (u) "tempus palmitis", Gussetius, p. 231. (w) , Sept. "tempus putationis", V. L. Pagninus; so the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions. (x) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 17. c. 22. Hesiod. Opera & Dies, l. 2.((y) , Theocrit. Idyll. 7. (z) Plin. ut supra, l. 18. c. 28. (a) Myndius apud Athenaeum in Deipnosophist. l. 9. c. 11. p. 394. So Pliny, "hyeme mutis, vere vocalibus", l. 10. c. 35. Vid. l. 18. c. 28. (b) In Zohar in Gen. fol. 121. 3.((c) So Pesikta in Yalkut in loc. (d) Vid. Stockium, p. 1181.

The fig tree putteth forth her green figs,.... Another sign of spring being come, nay, of its being pretty much advanced, since Christ makes this a token of summer being at hand, Matthew 24:32. Theopompus (e) speaks of figs in the middle of the spring. This tree puts forth its fruit at once, and does not flower or blossom (f), wherefore Habakkuk 3:17 is wrongly translated; See Gill on Habakkuk 3:17, though Arianus (g) speaks of its flowering: Aben Ezra thinks the word signifies the sweetening of the figs, and so points at the time when they are sweet and eatable. By the "fig tree" may be meant the saints putting forth their grace in exercise on Christ, who may be compared to fig trees for their leaves and fruit, and for the putting forth the latter before the former (h); for the fig tree is a tree full of large leaves, which may be an emblem of a profession of religion, and of a conversation agreeably to it, which yet are no covering, only the righteousness of Christ is that, yet ought to be and are ornamental; and for the fruit of it, which is wholesome, pleasant, and delightful, as are the fruits of the Spirit, the fruits of grace and righteousness, fruits meet for repentance, which ought to appear before a profession of religion is made. If the Egyptian fig tree is meant, that is a very fruitful tree; it is said to bear fruit seven times a year, but ripens no other way than by scratching it with iron hooks (i); and its wood cut down and cast into water, being dry, sinks, but when thoroughly wet will swim. Saints should bear fruit always, and ever continue to do so, even to old age; nor do any ever become fruitful until their hearts have been pricked and cut by the word of God; and they never grow better, or are more fruitful, than when attended with afflictions and tribulations; when they first enter into the waters of affliction, like Peter, they sink, but, when more used to them, they lift up their heads above them, and bear up with great courage and resolution. By the "green figs" may be meant the beginnings of grace in the soul, some stirrings of affection to Christ, desires of knowledge of him, pantings and breathings after his ordinances, love to his people; all which appear soon, are very imperfect, and, like unripe figs, liable to be shaken off; and it is a miracle of grace that the first impressions of it are not destroyed by the force of corruption and temptation; and it may be observed, that grace in its first appearance, though but small, is not despised, but taken notice of by Christ: yea, he makes use of it as exercised by young converts to stir up old professors, as here the church, to be more active and vigorous in it; and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell; or "being in flower give a good smell" (k), as the word is used in the Targum in Isaiah 18:5; and that vines do flower appears from the same place, and from Genesis 40:10; as well as is observed by naturalists and others (l); and these flowers, and not the tender grapes, emit a sweet smell; and, as some say (m), not in the vineyards only, but in the country round about; and these are fitly mentioned next to figs, since the black fig is by some called the sister of the vine (n). By the vines may be intended distinct congregated churches of Christ, or particular believers; vines are very weak; and cannot bear up of themselves, must be fixed to some place, and be supported by something else; and being supported, will run up a great height, and bring forth much fruit. So saints are weak in themselves, and cannot support themselves; their strength is in Christ, and they are upheld by him, and have their dependence on him; and being supported by him they grow up to the stature of the fulness of Christ; and through their grafting into him, and abiding in him the true vine, bring forth much fruit to the glory of God, and such as is not to be found in others. The wood of the vine is of very little worth or use, Ezekiel 15:2; and yet is very lasting. Pliny (o) ascribes a sort of an eternity to it. Believers in Christ, however weak and worthless they are in themselves, as are their best works and services, yet being in Christ they shall abide in him for ever, and never perish, but have everlasting life. And by the "tender grapes", or "flowers", may be designed either the graces of the spirit, as before; or rather young converts, the fruit of Christ's vines, the churches, who, though weak and tender, yet are dear to Christ; and when there is a large appearance of them, it is a great encouragement to churches, and promises a glorious vintage. And the "smell" of these vines, with their grapes and flowers, may intend the fragrancy, of believers through the righteousness of Christ on them, and the odour of their graces, as exercised on him; and the sweet savour of their godly conversation, observed by all about them. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; repeated from Sol 2:10; which shows sluggishness on the part of the church, that she needed one exhortation after another; and great love on the part of Christ, that notwithstanding this he persists in calling her; and even importunity in him, that he will have no denial (p): and it may be observed, that what is entertaining to most of the senses is mentioned to engage the church to arise and go along with her beloved; the flowery fields would be pleasing to her eye, the chirping birds to her ear, the sweet and ripening figs to her taste, and the refreshing odour of the vines to her smell. (e) Apud Atheanei Deipnosoph. l. 3. c. 4. p. 77. (f) Plutarch. Sympos. l. 6. problem. 9. Macrob. Saturnal. l. 3. c. 20. (g) In Epictet. l. 16. c. 15. (h) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 26. (i) lbid. l. 13. c. 7. Athenaei Deipnosoph. l. 2. c. 11. p. 11. Solin. Polyhistor. p. 45. (k) "in flore constitutae", Mercerus, Michaelis; "vitis pars florens", Munster; "vineae florentes", Tigurine version; "nihil gratius florentis odore vitis", Ambros. Hexaemeron, l. 3. c. 12. (l) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 25. & l. 17. c. 22. "Si bene floruerit vinea", &c. Ovid. Fasti, l. 5. so Horat. Epod. Ode 16. v. 44. (m) Danaeus in Hosea 14.7. Levini Lemn. Herb. Biblic. c. 2.((n) Hipponax apud Athenaei Deipnosoph. l. 3. c. 4. p. 78. (o) Nat. Hist. l. 14. c. 1.((p) "Odit verus amor, nec patitur moras", Senecae Hercul. Fur. v. 587.

14. dove —here expressing endearment ( Ps 74:19 ). Doves are noted for constant attachment; emblems, also, in their soft, plaintive note, of softened penitents ( Isa 59:11 ; Eze 7:16 ); other points of likeness are their beauty; "their wings covered with silver and gold" ( Ps 68:13 ), typifying the change in the converted; the dove-like spirit, breathed into the saint by the Holy Ghost, whose emblem is the dove; the messages of peace from God to sinful men, as Noah's dove, with the olive branch ( Ge 8:11 ), intimated that the flood of wrath was past; timidity, fleeing with fear from sin and self to the cleft Rock of Ages ( Isa 26:4 , Margin; Ho 11:11 ); gregarious, flocking together to the kingdom of Jesus Christ ( Isa 60:8 ); harmless simplicity ( Mt 10:16 ). clefts —the refuge of doves from storm and heat ( Jer 48:28 ; see Jer 49:16 ). Gesenius translates the Hebrew from a different root, "the refuges." But see, for "clefts," Ex 33:18-23 . It is only when we are in Christ Jesus that our "voice is sweet (in prayer, So 4:3 , 11 ; Mt 10:20 ; Ga 4:6 , because it is His voice in us; also in speaking of Him, Mal 3:16 ); and our countenance comely" ( Ex 34:29 ; Ps 27:5 ; 71:3 ; Isa 33:16 ; 2Co 3:18 ). stairs —( Eze 38:20 , Margin ), a steep rock, broken into stairs or terraces. It is in "secret places" and rugged scenes that Jesus Christ woos the soul from the world to Himself ( Mic 2:10 ; 7:14 ). So Jacob amid the stones of Beth-el ( Ge 28:11-19 ); Moses at Horeb ( Ex 3:1-22 ); so Elijah ( 1Ki 19:9-13 ); Jesus Christ with the three disciples on a "high mountain apart," at the transfiguration ( Mt 17:1 ); John in Patmos ( Re 1:9 ). "Of the eight beatitudes, five have an afflicted condition for their subject. As long as the waters are on the earth, we dwell in the ark; but when the land is dry, the dove itself will be tempted to wander" [ Jeremy Taylor ]. Jesus Christ does not invite her to leave the rock, but in it (Himself), yet in holy freedom to lay aside the timorous spirit, look up boldly as accepted in Him, pray, praise, and confess Him (in contrast to her shrinking from being looked at, So 1:6 ), ( Eph 6:19 ; Heb 13:15 ; 1Jo 4:18 ); still, though trembling, the voice and countenance of the soul in Jesus Christ are pleasant to Him. The Church found no cleft in the Sinaitic legal rock, though good in itself, wherein to hide; but in Jesus Christ stricken by God for us, as the rock smitten by Moses ( Nu 20:11 ), there is a hiding-place ( Isa 32:2 ). She praised His "voice" ( So 2:8 , 10 ); it is thus that her voice also, though tremulous, is "sweet" to Him here.

[444] Cant. ii. 14. “O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice.” There is probably respect here to the rock of mount Zion, on which Solomon’s house was built, or of the mountain of the temple, and to the stairs by which they ascended that high rock, to go up to Solomon’s palace. See Neh. iii. 15. and xii. 37. or the stairs by which they ascended through the narrow courts into the temple; it comes much to the same thing, whether we suppose the rocks and stairs referred to, to be of the mountain of Solomon’s palace or temple, for both were typical of the same thing, and both mountains seemed to have been called by the same name, mount Zion. The church, in her low state, before that glorious spring spoken of in the foregoing verses, is not admitted to such high privileges, and such nearness to God, and intimacy with him, as she shall be afterwards, is kept at a greater distance not only by God’s providence, but through her own darkness and unbelief, and remains of a legal spirit, whereby she falls more under the terrors of God’s majesty manifested at mount Sinai under that legal dispensation through which Moses, when God passed by, hid himself in the clefts of the rock. Her love to the spiritual Solomon causes her to remain near his house, about the mountain on which his palace stands, watching at his gates, and waiting at the posts of his doors, and by the stairs by which he ascends to his house, but yet hides herself as if ashamed, and afraid, and unworthy to appear before him, like the woman that came behind Christ to touch the hem of his garment. She has not yet obtained that glorious privilege spoken of, Psal. xlv. 14, 15. and Rev. six. 7, 8. which she shall be admitted to in the glorious day approaching, when she shall enter into the king’s palace. She remains now waiting at the foot of the stairs that go up to the house, as Jacob lay at the foot of the ladder, at the place of which he said, This is the house of God, this is the gate of heaven, and there she hides herself in the secret places of the stairs, but then she shall be made joyfully to ascend, and with boldness and open face to go to the king in his palace.

O my dove,.... An epithet sometimes used by lovers (q), and is a new title Christ gives to his church, to express his affection for her and interest in her; and to draw her out of her retirement, to go along with him. The dove is a creature innocent and harmless, beautiful, cleanly, and chaste; sociable and fruitful, weak and timorous, of a mournful voice, and swift in flying; all which is suitable to the church and people of God: they are harmless and inoffensive in their lives and conversations; they are beautiful through the righteousness of Christ on them, and the grace of the Spirit in them; they are clean through the word Christ has spoken, and having their hearts purified by faith; they are as chaste virgins espoused to Christ, and their love to him is single and unfeigned; they cleave to him, are fruitful in grace and good works; and the church being espoused to Christ brings forth many souls unto him in regeneration; saints carry on a social worship and delight in each other's company; they are weak and timorous, being persecuted and oppressed by the men of the world; and mourn for their own sins and others, and often for the loss of Christ's presence; and are swift in flying to him for safety and protection. Under this character the church is said to be in the clefts of the rock, the usual place where the dove makes its nest, Jeremiah 48:28; or retires to it for safety (r). Adrichomius says (s), there was a stone tower near Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of Olives, called "petra columbarum", "the rock of the doves", where often five thousand were kept at once, to which there may be an allusion here; or else it may have respect to the place where doves are forced to fly when pursued by the hawk, even into a hollow rock, as described by Homer (t); and may be expressive of the state of the church under persecution, when obliged to flee into holes and corners, and caves of the earth; when the Lord is a hiding place to her, in his love, and grace, and power; and particularly Christ is the Rock of his people, so called for height, strength, and duration, and they are the inhabitants of this Rock; and who was typified by the rock in the wilderness, and particularly by that into the clefts of which Moses was put, when the glory of the Lord passed before him: moreover, the clefts of this rock may design the wounds of Christ, which are opened for the salvation of men; and where saints dwell by faith, and are secure from every enemy (u). The Ethiopic version is, "in the shadow of the rock", to which Christ is compared, Isaiah 32:2; and so the Septuagint version, "in the covering of the rock", which is no other than the shade of it. Likewise the church is said to be in the secret places of the stairs; Christ is the stairs or steps by which saints ascend up to God, have access to and communion with him; and the secret places may have respect to the justifying righteousness of Christ, and atonement by him, hidden to other men, but revealed to them; and whither in distress they betake themselves, and are sheltered from sin, law, hell, and death, and dwell in safety. Though as such places are dark and dusty, and whither the dove, or any other creature, may in danger betake itself, so upon the whole both this and the preceding clause may design the dark, uncomfortable, and solitary condition the church was in through fear of enemies; in which situation Christ addresses her, saying, let me see thy countenance, or "face"; and encourages her to appear more publicly in, his house and courts for worship, and present herself before him, and look him full in the face, and with open face behold his glory, and not be shamefaced and fearful; not to be afraid of any thing, but come out of her lurking holes, and be seen abroad by himself and others, since the stormy weather was over, and everything was pleasant and agreeable; let me hear thy voice; in prayer to him and praise of him, commending the glories and: excellencies of his person, and giving thanks to him for the blessings of his grace; for sweet is thy voice; pleasant, harmonious, melodious, having a mixture of notes in it, as the word signifies; and so exceeds the voice of a natural dove, which is not very harmonious: Herodotus (w) makes mention of a dove that spoke with a human voice; and such a voice Christ's dove speaks with, and it is sweet; that is, pleasant and delightful to him, who loves to hear his people relate the gracious experiences of his goodness, and speak well of his truths and ordinances; prayer is sweet music to him, and praise pleases him better than all burnt offerings; and thy countenance is comely; fair and beautiful, and therefore need not cover her face, or hang down her head, as if ashamed to be seen, since she was in the eye of Christ a perfection of beauty. (q) "Mea columba", Plauti Casina, Acts 1. Sc. 1. v. 50. Doves were birds of Venus; her chariot was drawn by them, Chartar. de Imag. Deor. p. 218. Vid. Apulci Metamorph. l. 6. (r) "Quails spelunca subito commota columba, cui domus et dulces latebroso in pumice nidi", Virgil. Aeneid. 5. v. 213. (s) Theatrum Terrae S. p. 171. (t) Iliad. 21. v. 493, 494. (u) "In tegimento petrae", i.e. "tuta praesidio passionis meae et fidei munimento", Ambros. de Isaac, c. 4. p. 281. (w) Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 55.

Here is, I. The encouraging invitation which Christ gives to the church, and every believing soul, to come into communion with him, v. 14. 1. His love is now his dove; David had called the church God's turtle-dove (Ps. lxxxiv. 19), and so she is here called; a dove for beauty, her wings covered with silver (Ps. xviii. 13), for innocence and inoffensiveness; a gracious spirit is a dove-like spirit, harmless, loving quietness and cleanliness, and faithful to Christ, as the turtle to her mate. The Spirit descended like a dove on Christ, and so he does on all Christians, making them of a meek and quiet spirit. She is Christ's dove, for he owns her and delights in her; she can find no rest but in him and his ark, and therefore to him, as her Noah, she returns. 2. This dove is in the clefts of the rock and in the secret places of the stairs. This speaks either, (1.) Her praise. Christ is the rock, to whom she flies for shelter and in whom alone she can think herself safe and find herself easy, as a dove in the hole of a rock, when struck at by the birds of prey, Jer. xlviii. 28. Moses was hid in a cleft of the rock, that he might behold something of God's glory, which otherwise he could not have borne the brightness of. She retires into the secret places of the stairs, where she may be alone, undisturbed, and may the better commune with her own heart. Good Christians will find time to be private. Christ often withdrew to a mountain himself alone, to pray. Or, (2.) her blame. She crept into the clefts of the rock, and the secret places, for fear and shame, any where to hide her head, being heartless and discouraged, and shunning even the sight of her beloved. Being conscious to herself of her own unfitness and unworthiness to come into his presence, and speak to him, she drew back, and was like a silly dove without heart, Hos. vii. 11. 3. Christ graciously calls her out of her retirements: Come, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice. She was mourning like a dove (Isa. xxxviii. 14), bemoaning herself like the doves of the valleys, where they are near the clefts of the impending rocks, mourning for her iniquities (Ezek. vii. 16) and refusing to be comforted. But Christ calls her to lift up her face without spot, being purged from an evil conscience (Job xi. 15; xxii. 26), to come boldly to the throne of grace, having a great high priest there (Heb. iv. 16), to tell what her petition is and what her request: Let me hear thy voice, hear what thou hast to say; what would you that I should do unto you? Speak freely, speak up, and fear not a slight or repulse. 4. For her encouragement, he tells her the good thoughts he had of her, whatever she thought of herself: Sweet is thy voice; thy praying voice, though thou canst but chatter like a crane or a swallow (Isa. xxxviii. 14); it is music in God's ears. He has assured us that the prayer of the upright is his delight; he smelled a sweet savour from Noah's sacrifice, and the spiritual sacrifices are no less acceptable, 1 Pet. ii. 5. This does not so much commend our services as God's gracious condescension in making the best of them, and the efficacy of the much incense which is offered with the prayers of saints, Rev. viii. 3. "That countenance of thine, which thou art ashamed of, is comely, though now mournful, much more will it be so when it becomes cheerful." Then the voice of prayer is sweet and acceptable to God when the countenance, the conversation in which we show ourselves before men, is holy, and so comely, and agreeable to our profession. Those that are sanctified have the best comeliness. II. The charge which Christ gives to his servants to oppose and suppress that which is a terror to his church and drives her, like a poor frightened dove, into the clefts of the rock, and which is an obstruction and prejudice to the interests of his kingdom in this world and in the heart (v. 15): Take us the foxes (take them for us, for it is good service both to Christ and the church), the little foxes, that creep in insensibly; for, though they are little, they do great mischief, they spoil the vines, which they must by no means be suffered to do at any time, especially now when our vines have tender grapes that must be preserved, or the vintage will fail. Believers are as vines, weak but useful plants; their fruits are as tender crops at first, which must have time to come to maturity. This charge to take the foxes is, 1. A charge to particular believers to mortify their own corruptions, their sinful appetites and passions, which are as foxes, little foxes, that destroy their graces and comforts, quash good motions, crush good beginnings, and prevent their coming to perfection. Seize the little foxes, the first risings of sin, the little ones of Babylon (Ps. cxxxvii. 9), those sins that seem little, for they often prove very dangerous. Whatever we find a hindrance to us in that which is good we must put away. 2. A charge to all in their places to oppose and prevent the spreading of all such opinions and practices as tend to corrupt men's judgments, debauch their consciences, perplex their minds, and discourage their inclinations to virtue and piety. Persecutors are foxes (Luke xiii. 32); false prophets are foxes, Eze. xiii. 4. Those that sow the tares of heresy or schism, and, like Diotrephes, trouble the peace of the church and obstruct the progress of the gospel, they are the foxes, the little foxes, which must not be knocked on the head (Christ came not to destroy men's lives), but taken, that they may be tamed, or else restrained from doing mischief. III. The believing profession which the church makes of her relation to Christ, and the satisfaction she takes in her interest in him and communion with him, v. 16. He had called her to rise and come away with him, to let him see her face and hear her voice; now this is her answer to that call, in which, though at present in the dark and at a distance, 1. She comforts herself with the thoughts of the mutual interest and relation that were between her and her beloved: My beloved to me and I to him, so the original reads it very emphatically; the conciseness of the language speaks the largeness of her affection: "What he is to me and I to him may better be conceived than expressed." Note, (1.) It is the unspeakable privilege of true believers that Christ is theirs: My beloved is mine; this denotes not only propriety ("I have a title to him") but possession and tenure—"I receive from his fulness." Believers are partakers of Christ; they have not only an interest in him, but the enjoyment of him, are taken not only in the covenant, but into communion with him. All the benefits of his glorious undertaking, as Mediator, are made over to them. He is that to them which the world neither is nor can be, all that which they need and desire, and which will make a complete happiness for them. All he is is theirs, and all he has, all he has done, and all he is doing; all he has promised in the gospel, all he has prepared in heaven, all is yours. (2.) It is the undoubted character of all true believers that they are Christ's, and then, and then only, he is theirs. They have given their own selves to him (2 Cor. viii. 5); they receive his doctrine and obey his laws; they bear his image and espouse his interest; they belong to Christ. If we be his, his wholly, his only, his for ever, we may take the comfort of his being ours. 2. She comforts herself with the thoughts of the communications of his grace to his people: He feeds among the lilies. When she wants the tokens of his favour to her in particular, she rejoices in the assurance of his presence with all believers in general, who are lilies in his eyes. He feeds among them, that is, he takes as much pleasure in them and their assemblies as a man does in his table or in his garden, for he walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks; he delights to converse with them, and to do them good. IV. The church's hope and expectation of Christ's coming, and her prayer grounded thereupon. 1. She doubts not but that the day will break and the shadows will flee away. The gospel-day will dawn, and the shadows of the ceremonial law will flee away. This was the comfort of the Old-Testament church, that, after the long night of that dark dispensation, the day-spring from on high would at length visit them, to give light to those that sit in darkness. When the sun rises the shades of the night vanish, so do the shadows of the day when the substance comes. The day of comfort will come after a night of desertion. Or it may refer to the second coming of Christ, and the eternal happiness of the saints; the shadows of our present state will flee away, our darkness and doubts, our griefs and all our grievances, and a glorious day shall dawn, a morning when the upright shall have dominion, a day that shall have no night after it. 2. She begs the presence of her beloved, in the mean time, to support and comfort her: "Turn, my beloved, turn to me, come and visit me, come and relieve me, be with me always to the end of the age. In the day of my extremity, make haste to help me, make no long tarrying. Come over even the mountains of division, interposing time and days, with some gracious anticipations of that light and love." 3. She begs that he would not only turn to her for the present, but hasten his coming to fetch her to himself. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Though there be mountains in the way, thou canst, like a roe, or a young hart, step over them with ease. O show thyself to me, or take me up to thee."

15. Transition to the vineyard, often formed in "stairs" ( So 2:14 ), or terraces, in which, amidst the vine leaves, foxes hid. foxes —generic term, including jackals. They eat only grapes, not the vine flowers; but they need to be driven out in time before the grape is ripe. She had failed in watchfulness before ( So 1:6 ); now when converted, she is the more jealous of subtle sins ( Ps 139:23 ). In spiritual winter certain evils are frozen up, as well as good; in the spring of revivals these start up unperceived, crafty, false teachers, spiritual pride, uncharitableness, &c. ( Ps 19:12 ; Mt 13:26 ; Lu 8:14 ; 2Ti 2:17 ; Heb 12:15 ). "Little" sins are parents of the greatest ( Ec 10:1 ; 1Co 5:6 ). Historically, John the Baptist spared not the fox-like Herod ( Lu 13:32 ), who gave vine-like promise of fruit at first ( Mr 6:20 ), at the cost of his life; nor the viper-Sadducees, &c.; nor the varied subtle forms of sin ( Lu 3:7-14 ).

Take us the foxes,.... Of which there were great numbers in Judea; see Judges 15:4; these words are directed not to angels, nor to civil magistrates, but to ministers of the word; but whether the words of Christ, or the church, is not easy to determine; some think they are the words of the church, who had hitherto been relating what Christ said to her, and who, having neglected her vineyard, Sol 1:6; and now stirred up by Christ to a greater care of it, expresses her concern for its flourishing; and therefore calls upon her attendants and companions, to assist in taking and destroying those which were harmful to it: but rather they seem to be the words of Christ continued; since they not only show the care of his vines, the churches; but express power and authority over those they are spoken to: and perhaps they may be the words of them both jointly; since the church, with Christ, and under him, has a right to stir up her officers to do their work, and fulfil their ministry, they have received of Christ for her service. By foxes may be meant false teachers, to whom the false prophets of old were compared, Ezekiel 13:3; foxes are crafty and subtle creatures, malignant and mischievous, hungry and voracious, full of deceit and dissimulation, are of an ill smell, and abominably filthy; so false teachers walk in craftiness, use good words and fair speeches, and thereby deceive the hearts of the simple; their doctrines are pernicious, their heresies damnable, and they bring destruction on themselves and others; they are hungry after worldly substance, are greedy of it, and can never have enough; devour widows' houses, and make merchandise of men, to enrich themselves; they put on sheep's clothing, transform themselves into angels of light, mimic the voice of Gospel ministers, use their phrases and expressions, that they may not be easily discovered; and are abominable in their principles and practices, and to be shunned by all good men. Now ministers of the Gospel are ordered to take these, to detect them, and refute their errors, and reprove them sharply for them; and, after proper steps taken, to reject them, to cast them out of the vineyards, the churches, and keep them out. Even the little foxes; heresies and heretics are to be nipped in the bud, before they increase to more ungodliness; otherwise errors, which may seem small at first, soon grow larger and spread themselves, and become fatal to the churches: that spoil the vines; as foxes do, by gnawing the branches, biting the bark, making bare the roots, devouring the ripe grapes, and infecting all with their noxious teeth and vicious breath (x): so false teachers make divisions and schisms in churches; disturb their peace; unsettle some, and subvert others; sap the foundation of religion, and corrupt the word of God; and therefore by all means to be taken, and the sooner the better; for our vines have tender grapes: or "flowers"; See Gill on Sol 2:13. The "vines" are the churches; the "tender grapes", or "flowers", young converts, which Christ has a particular regard unto, Isaiah 40:11; and these, having but a small degree of knowledge, are more easily imposed upon and seduced by false teachers; and therefore, for their sakes, should be carefully watched, and vigorously opposed, since otherwise a promising vintage is in danger of being spoiled. Christ, in this address, intimates, that not only he and the church, but, he ministers also, had an interest in the vines and tender grapes, as they have; see Sol 8:11; and therefore should be the more concerned for their welfare; hence he calls them "ours"; interest carries a powerful argument in it. (x) Vid. Theocrit. Idyll. 1. v. 48, 49. & Idyll. 5. v. 112, 113. So soldiers are compared to foxes, because they eat the grapes in the countries they come into, Aristoph. Equites, Acts 3. Sc. 1. p. 350.

16. mine … his —rather, "is for me … for Him " ( Ho 3:3 ), where, as here, there is the assurance of indissoluble union, in spite of temporary absence. So 2:17 , entreating Him to return, shows that He has gone, perhaps through her want of guarding against the "little sins" ( So 2:15 ). The order of the clauses is reversed in So 6:3 , when she is riper in faith: there she rests more on her being His; here, on His being hers; and no doubt her sense of love to Him is a pledge that she is His ( Joh 14:21 , 23 ; 1Co 8:3 ); this is her consolation in His withdrawal now. I am his —by creation ( Ps 100:3 ), by redemption ( Joh 17:10 ; Ro 14:8 ; 1Co 6:19 ). feedeth —as a "roe," or gazelle ( So 2:17 ); instinct is sure to lead him back to his feeding ground, where the lilies abound. So Jesus Christ, though now withdrawn, the bride feels sure will return to His favorite resting-place ( So 7:10 ; Ps 132:14 ). So hereafter ( Re 21:3 ). Ps 45:1 , title, terms his lovely bride's "lilies" [ Hengstenberg ] pure and white, though among thorns ( So 2:2 ).

My beloved is mine, and I am his,.... These are the words of the church; who, having had such evidences of Christ's love to her, and care of her, expresses her faith of interest in him, and suggests the obligations she lay under to observe his commands. The words are expressive of the mutual interest had property Christ and his church have in each other: Christ is the church's, by the Father's gift of him to her, to be her Head, Husband, and Saviour; and by the gift of himself unto her, to be her Redeemer and ransom price; and by marriage, having espoused her to himself, in righteousness and lovingkindness; and by possession, he living and dwelling in her, by his Spirit and grace: the church also acknowledges herself to be his, as she was, by the Father's gift of her to Christ, as his spouse and bride, his portion and inheritance; and by purchase, he having bought her with his precious blood; and by the conquest of her, by his grace in effectual calling; and by a voluntary surrender of herself unto him, under the influence of his grace: hence all he is, and has, are hers, his person, fulness, blood, and righteousness; and therefore can want no good thing. Moreover, these words suggest the near union there is between Christ and his church; they are one in a conjugal relation, as husband and wife are one; which union is personal, of the whole person of Christ to the whole persons of his people; it is a spiritual one, they having the same Spirit, the one without measure, the other in measure; it is a vital one, as is between the vine and its branches; and it is a mysterious one, next to that of the union of the three Persons in the Godhead, and of the two natures in Christ; it is an indissoluble one, the everlasting love of Christ being the bond of it, which call never be dissolved; and from this union flow a communication of the names of Christ to his church, conformity to him, communion with him, and an interest in all he has. Likewise these phrases express the mutual affliction, complacency, and delight, Christ and his church have in each other; he is beloved by his church, and she by him; she seems to have a full assurance of interest in him, and to make her boast of him; excluding all other beloveds, as unworthy to be mentioned with him: of whom she further says, he feedeth among the lilies; which is either an apostrophe to him, "O thou that feedest", &c. thou only art my beloved; or is descriptive of him to others, inquiring who he was, and where to be seen: the answer is, he is the person that is yonder, feeding among the lilies; either recreating and delighting himself in his gardens, the churches, where his saints are, comparable to lilies; See Gill on Sol 2:1, and See Gill on Sol 2:2; or feeding his sheep in fields where lilies grow: and it may be observed, it is not said, he feedeth on, or feeds his flock with lilies, but among them; for it is remarked (y), that sheep will not eat them: or the sense may be, Christ feeds himself, and feeds his people, and feeds among them, as if he was crowned with lilies, and anointed with the oil of them; as was the custom of the ancients at festivals (z), thought to be here alluded to by some who read the words, "that feeds"; that is, sups in or with lilies, being anointed and crowned with them. The lily is a summer flower (a); the winter was now past, Sol 2:11. (y) Tuccius in Soto Major in loc. (z) Vid. Fortunat. Schacc. Eleochrysm. Sacr. l. 1. c. 28. p. 137. (a) Theophrast. apud Athenaeum in Deipnosoph. l. 15. c. 7. p. 679.

17. Night —is the image of the present world ( Ro 13:12 ). "Behold men as if dwelling in subterranean cavern" [ Plato , Republic, 7.1]. Until —that is, "Before that," &c. break —rather, "breathe"; referring to the refreshing breeze of dawn in the East; or to the air of life, which distinguishes morning from the death-like stillness of night. Maurer takes this verse of the approach of night, when the breeze arises after the heat of day (compare Ge 3:8 , Margin, with Ge 18:1 ), and the "shadows" are lost in night ( Ps 102:11 ); thus our life will be the day; death, the night ( Joh 9:4 ). The English Version better accords with ( So 3:1 ). "By night " ( Ro 13:12 ). turn —to me. Bether —Mountains of Bithron, separated from the rest of Israel by the Jordan ( 2Sa 2:29 ), not far from Bethabara, where John baptized and Jesus was first manifested. Rather, as Margin, "of divisions," and Septuagint, mountains intersected with deep gaps, hard to pass over, separating the bride and Jesus Christ. In So 8:14 the mountains are of spices, on which the roe feeds, not of separation; for at His first coming He had to overpass the gulf made by sin between Him and us ( Zec 4:6 , 7 ); in His second, He will only have to come down from the fragrant hill above to take home His prepared bride. Historically, in the ministry of John the Baptist, Christ's call to the bride was not, as later ( So 4:8 ), "Come with me," but "Come away," namely, to meet Me ( So 2:2 , 10 , 13 ). Sitting in darkness ( Mt 4:16 ), she "waited" and "looked" eagerly for Him, the "great light" ( Lu 1:79 ; 2:25 , 38 ); at His rising, the shadows of the law ( Col 2:16 , 17 ; Heb 10:1 ) were to "flee away." So we wait for the second coming, when means of grace, so precious now, shall be superseded by the Sun of righteousness ( 1Co 13:10 , 12 ; Re 21:22 , 23 ). The Word is our light until then ( 2Pe 1:19 ).

Until the day break, and the shadows flee away,.... Which may be connected with Sol 2:16; either with the former part, "my beloved is mine", &c. Sol 2:16; and then the sense is, as long as night and day continue, and God's covenant with both stands sure; so long union to Christ, and covenant interest in him, will abide: or with the latter part, "he feedeth among the lilies until", &c. even until his second coming: or with the next clause in this verse, turn, my beloved; and so is a prayer for Christ's speedy coming to her, and continued presence with her, until the day should break: which may be understood either of the Gospel day made by the rising of Christ, the sun of righteousness, at his first coming in the flesh; when the shadows of the ceremonial law disappeared, Christ, the body and substance of them, being come, and the darkness of the Gentile world was scattered, through the light of the Gospel being sent into it: the words may be rendered, "until the day breathe", or "blow" (b); and naturalists observe (c), that, upon the sun's rising, an air or wind has been excited, and which ceases before the middle of the day, and never lasts so long as that; and on Christ's, the sun of righteousness, arising with healing in his wings, some cool, gentle, and refreshing breezes of divine grace and consolation were raised, which were very desirable and grateful: or this may be understood of Christ's second coming; which will make the great day of the Lord, so often spoken of in Scripture: and which suits as well with the Hebrew text, and the philosophy of it, as the former; for, as the same naturalists (d) observe, the wind often blows fresh, and fine breezes of air spring up at the setting as well as at the rising of the sun; see Genesis 3:8; and may very well be applied to Christ's second coming, at the evening of the world; which will be a time of refreshing to the saints, and very desirable by them; and though it will be an evening to the world, which will then come to an end, with them there will be no more night of darkness, desertion, affliction, and persecution; the shadows of ignorance, infidelity, doubts, and fears, will be dispersed, and there will be one pure, clear, unbeclouded, and everlasting day; and till then the church prays, as follows: turn, my beloved; that is, to her; who seemed to be ready to depart from her, or was gone; and therefore she desires he would turn again, and continue with her, until the time was come before mentioned: or, "turn about" (e); surround me with thy favour and lovingkindness, and secure me from all enemies, until the glorious and wished for day comes, when I shall be out of fear and danger; or, "embrace me" (f); as in Sol 2:6; during the present dispensation, which was as a night in comparison of the everlasting day; and be thou like a roe, or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether; the same with Bethel, according to Adrichomius (g); where were mountains, woody, set with trees, full of grass and aromatic plants; and so may be the same with the mountains of spices, Sol 8:14; where the Ethiopic version has Bethel; and so that and the Septuagint version, in an addition to Sol 2:9; here; see 2 Kings 2:23; unless Bithron is meant, 2 Samuel 2:29; a place in Gilead, beyond Jordan, so called, because it was parted from Judea by the river Jordan: and the words are by some rendered, "the mountains of division or separation" (h); which, if referred to Christ's first coming, may regard the ceremonial law, the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, broke down by Christ, and the two people divided by it, which were reconciled by him; if to his spiritual coming, the same things may be intended by them as on Sol 2:9; but if to his second coming, the spacious heavens may be meant, in which Christ will appear, and which now interpose and separate from his bodily presence; and therefore the church importunately desires his coming with speed and swiftness, like a roe or a young hart, and be seen in them; see Revelation 22:10. (b) , Sept. "donec, vel dum spiret", Mercerus, Cocceius; "aspirat", Marckius; "spiraverit", Michaelis. (c) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 47. Senecae Nat. Quaest. l. 5. c. 8. (d) lbid. Aristot. Problem. s. 25. c. 4. "Adspirant aurae in noctem", Virgil. Aeneid. 7. v. 8. (e) "circui", Montanus, Sanctius; "circumito"; some in Michaelis. (f) "Complectere", Marckius. (g) Theatrum Terrae Sanctae, p. 16. (h) "in montibus divisionis", Vatablus, Piscator; "scissionis", Cocceius; "dissectionis", Marckius; "sectionis vel separationis", Michaelis.

God is not wont to say to the seed of Jacob, Seek you me in vain; and yet here we have the spouse for a great while seeking her beloved in vain, but finding him at last, to her unspeakable satisfaction. It was hard to the Old-Testament church to find Christ in the ceremonial law, and the types and figures which then were of good things to come. Long was the consolation of Israel looked for before it came. The watchman of that church gave little assistance to those who enquired after him; but at length Simeon had him in his arms whom his soul loved. It is applicable to the case of particular believers, who often walk in darkness a great while, but at even time it shall be light, and those that seek Christ to the end shall find him at length. Observe, I. How the spouse sought him in vain upon her bed (v. 1); when she was up and looking about her, grace in act and exercise, though her beloved was withdrawn, yet she could see him at a distance (ch. ii. 8), but now it was otherwise. She still continued her affection to him, still it was he whom her soul loved, that bond of the covenant still continued firm. "Though he slay me, I will trust in him; though he leave me, I will love him. When I have him not in my arms, I have him in my heart." But she wanted the communion she used to have with him, as David when he thirsted for God, for the living God. She sought him, but, 1. It was by night on her bed; it was late and lazy seeking. Her understanding was clouded; it was by night, in the dark. Her affections were chilled, it was on her bed half asleep. The wise virgins slumbered in the absence of the bridegroom. It was a dark time with the believer; she saw not her signs, and yet she sought them. Those whose souls love Jesus Christ will continue to seek him even in silence and solitude: their reins instruct them to do so, even in the night season. 2. She failed in her endeavour. Sometimes he is found of those that seek him not (Isa. lxv. 1), but here he is not found of one that sought him, either for punishment of her corruptions, her slothfulness and security (we miss of comfort because we do not seek it aright), or for the exercises of grace, her faith and patience, to try whether she will continue seeking. The woman of Canaan sought Christ, and found him not at first, that she might find him, at length, so much the more to her honour and comfort. II. How she had sought him in vain abroad, v. 2. She had made trial of secret worship, and had gone through the duties of the closet, had remembered him on her bed and meditated on him in the night-watches (Ps. lxiii. 6), but she did not meet with comfort. My sore ran in the night, and then I remembered God and was troubled, Ps. lxxvii. 2, 3. And yet she is not driven off by the disappointment from the use of further means; she resolves, "I will rise now; I will not lie here if I cannot find my beloved here, nor be content if he be withdrawn. I will rise now without delay, and seek him immediately, lest he withdraw further from me." Those that would seek Christ so as to find him must lose no time. "I will rise out of a warm bed, and go out in a cold dark night, in quest of my beloved." Those that see Christ must not startle at difficulties. "I will rise, and go about the city, the holy city, in the streets, and the broad-ways;" for she knew he was not to be found in any blind by-ways. We must seek in the city, in Jerusalem, which was a type of the gospel-church. The likeliest place to find Christ is in the temple (Luke ii. 46), in the streets of the gospel-church, in holy ordinances, where the children of Zion pass and repass at all hours. She had a good purpose when she said, I will arise now, but the good performance was all in all. She arose, and sought him (those that are in pursuit of Christ, the knowledge of him and communion with him, must turn every stone, seek every where), and yet she found him not; she was still unsatisfied, uneasy, as Job, when he looked on all sides, but could not perceive any tokens of the divine favour (Job xxiii. 8, 9), and the Psalmist often, when he complained that God hid his face from him, Ps. lxxxviii. 14. We may be in the way of our duty and yet may miss the comfort, for the wind bloweth where it listeth. How heavy is the accent on this repeated complaint: I sought him, but I found him not! like that of Mary Magdalen, They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him, John xx. 13. III. How she enquired of the watchmen concerning him, v. 3. In the night the watchmen go about the city, for the preservation of its peace and safety, to guide and assist the honest and quiet, as well as to be a check upon those that are disorderly; these met her in her walks, and she asked them if they could give her any tidings of her beloved. In the streets and broad-ways of Jerusalem she might meet with enough to divert her from her pursuit and to entertain her, though she could not meet her beloved; but she regards none in comparison with him. Gracious souls press through crowds of other delights and contentments in pursuit of Christ, whom they prefer before their chief joy. Mary Magdalen sees angels in the sepulchre, but that will not do unless she see Jesus. Saw you him whom my soul loveth? Note, We must evince the sincerity of our love to Christ by our solicitous enquiries after him. The children of the bride-chamber will mourn when the bridegroom is taken away (Matt. ix. 15), especially for the sin which provoked him to withdraw; and, if we do so, we shall be in care to recover the sense of his favour and diligent and constant in the use of proper means in order thereunto. We must search the scriptures, be much in prayer, keep close to ordinances, and all with this upon our heart, Saw you him whom my soul loveth? Those only who have seen Christ themselves are likely to direct others to a sight of him. When the Greeks came to worship at the feast they applied to Philip, with such an address as this of the spouse to the watchmen, Sir, we would see Jesus, John xii. 21. IV. How she found him at last, v. 4. She passed from the watchmen as soon as she perceived they could give her no tidings of her beloved; she would not stay with them, because he was not among them, but went on seeking, for (as Ainsworth observes) the society neither of brethren, nor of the church, nor of ministers, can comfort the afflicted conscience unless Christ himself be apprehended by faith. But soon after she parted from the watchmen she found him whom she sought, and then called him him whom my soul loveth, with as much delight as before with desire. Note, Those that continue seeking Christ shall find him at last, and when perhaps they were almost ready to despair of finding him. See Ps. xlii. 7, 8; lxxvii. 9, 10; Isa. liv. 7, 8. Disappointments must not drive us away from gracious pursuits. Hold out, faith and patience; the vision is for an appointed time, and, though the watchman can give us no account of it, at the end it shall itself speak and not lie; and the comfort that comes in after long waiting, in the use of means, will be so much the sweeter at last. V. How close she kept to him when she had found him. She is now as much in fear of losing him as before she was in care to find him: I held him, held him fast, as the women, when they met with Christ after his resurrection, held him by the feet, and worshipped him, Matt. xxviii. 9. "I would not let him go. Not only, I would never do any thing to provoke him to depart, but I would by faith and prayer prevail with him to stay, and by the exercise of grace preserve inward peace." Those that know how hard comfort is come by, and how dearly it is bought, will be afraid of forfeiting it and playing it away, and will think nothing too much to do to keep it safe. Non minor est virtus quam quærere parta tueri—As much is implied in securing our acquisitions as in making them. Those that have laid hold on wisdom must retain her, Prov. iii. 18. Those that hold Christ fast in the arms of faith and love shall not let him go; he will abide with them. VI. How desirous she was to make others acquainted with him: "I brought him to my mother's house, that all my relations, all who are dear to me, might have the benefit of communion with him." When Zaccheus found Christ, or rather was found of him, salvation came to his house, Luke xix. 9. Wherever we find Christ we must take him home with us to our houses, especially to our hearts. The church is our mother, and we should be concerned for her interests, that she may have Christ present with her and be earnest in prayer for his presence with his people and ministers always. Those that enjoy the tokens of Christ's favour to their own souls should desire that the church, and all religious assemblies in their public capacity, might likewise enjoy the tokens of his favour. VII. What care she was in that no disturbance might be given him (v. 5); she repeats the charge she had before given (ch. ii. 7) to the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up or awake her love. When she had brought him into her mother's house, among her sisters, she gives them a strict charge to keep all quiet and in good order, to be very observant of him, careful to please him, and afraid of offending him. The charge given to the church in the wilderness concerning the angel of the covenant, who was among them, explains this. Exod. xxiii. 21, Beware of him and obey his voice; provoke him not. See that none of you stir out of your places, lest you disturb him, but with quietness work and mind your own business; make no noise; let all clamour and bitterness be put far from you, for that grieves the Holy Spirit of God, Eph. iv. 30, 31. Some make this to be Christ's charge to the daughters of Jerusalem not to disturb or disquiet his church, nor trouble the minds of the disciples; for Christ is very tender of the peace of his church, and all the members of it, even the little ones; and those that trouble them shall bear their judgment, Gal. v. 10.

So 3:1-11 . 1. By night —literally, "By nights." Continuation of the longing for the dawn of the Messiah ( So 2:17 ; Ps 130:6 ; Mal 4:2 ). The spiritual desertion here ( So 2:17 ; 3:5 ) is not due to indifference, as in So 5:2-8 . "As nights and dews are better for flowers than a continual sun, so Christ's absence (at times) giveth sap to humility, and putteth an edge on hunger, and furnisheth a fair field to faith to put forth itself" [ Rutherford ]. Contrast So 1:13 ; Ps 30:6 , 7 . on … bed —the secret of her failure ( Isa 64:7 ; Jer 29:13 ; Am 6:1 , 4 ; Ho 7:14 ). loveth —no want of sincerity, but of diligence, which she now makes up for by leaving her bed to seek Him ( Ps 22:2 ; 63:8 ; Isa 26:9 ; Joh 20:17 ). Four times ( So 3:1-4 ) she calls Jesus Christ, "Him whom my soul loveth," designating Him as absent; language of desire: "He loved me," would be language of present fruition ( Re 1:5 ). In questioning the watchmen ( So 3:3 ), she does not even name Him, so full is her heart of Him. Having found Him at dawn (for throughout He is the morning ), she charges the daughters not to abridge by intrusion the period of His stay. Compare as to the thoughtful seeking for Jesus Christ in the time of John the Baptist, in vain at first, but presently after successful ( Lu 3:15-22 ; Joh 1:19-34 ). found him not —Oh, for such honest dealings with ourselves ( Pr 25:14 ; Jude 12 )!

2. Wholly awake for God ( Lu 14:18-20 ; Eph 5:14 ). "An honest resolution is often to (the doing of) duty, like a needle that draws the thread after it" [ Durham ]. Not a mere wish, that counts not the cost—to leave her easy bed, and wander in the dark night seeking Him ( Pr 13:4 ; Mt 21:30 ; Lu 14:27-33 ). the city —Jerusalem, literally ( Mt 3:5 ; Joh 1:19 ), and spiritually the Church here ( Heb 12:22 ), in glory ( Re 21:2 ). broad ways —open spaces at the gates of Eastern cities, where the public assembled for business. So, the assemblies of worshippers ( So 8:2 , 3 ; Pr 1:20-23 ; Heb 10:25 ). She had in her first awakening shrunk from them, seeking Jesus Christ alone; but she was desired to seek the footsteps of the flock ( So 1:8 ), so now in her second trial she goes forth to them of herself. "The more the soul grows in grace, and the less it leans on ordinances, the more it prizes and profits by them" [ Moody Stuart ] ( Ps 73:16 , 17 ). found him not —Nothing short of Jesus Christ can satisfy her ( Job 23:8-10 ; Ps 63:1 , 2 ).

3. watchmen —ministers ( Isa 62:6 ; Jer 6:17 ; Eze 3:17 ; Heb 13:17 ), fit persons to consult ( Isa 21:11 ; Mal 2:7 ). found me —the general ministry of the Word "finds" individually souls in quest of Jesus Christ ( Ge 24:27 , end of verse Ac 16:14 ); whereas formalists remain unaffected.

4. Jesus Christ is generally "found" near the watchmen and means of grace; but they are not Himself; the star that points to Beth-lehem is not the Sun that has risen there; she hastens past the guideposts to the goal [ Moody Stuart ]. Not even angels could satisfy Mary, instead of Jesus Christ ( Joh 20:11-16 ). found him —( Isa 45:19 ; Ho 6:1-3 ; Mt 13:44-46 ). held him, &c.—willing to be held; not willing, if not held ( Ge 32:26 ; Mt 28:9 ; Lu 24:28 , 29 ; Re 3:11 ). "As a little weeping child will hold its mother fast, not because it is stronger than she, but because her bowels constrain her not to leave it; so Jesus Christ yearning over the believer cannot go, because He will not" [ Durham ]. In So 1:4 it is He who leads the bride into His chambers; here it is she who leads Him into her mother's. There are times when the grace of Jesus Christ seems to draw us to Him; and others, when we with strong cries draw Him to us and ours. In the East one large apartment often serves for the whole family; so the bride here speaks of her mother's apartment and her own together. The mention of the "mother" excludes impropriety, and imparts the idea of heavenly love, pure as a sister's, while ardent as a bride's; hence the frequent title, "my sister—spouse." Our mother after the Spirit, is the Church, the new Jerusalem ( Joh 3:5-8 ; Ga 4:19 , 26 ); for her we ought to pray continually ( Eph 3:14-19 ), also for the national Jerusalem ( Isa 62:6 , 7 ; Ro 10:1 ), also for the human family, which is our mother and kindred after the flesh; these our mother's children have evilly treated us ( So 1:6 ); but, like our Father, we are to return good for evil ( Mt 5:44 , 45 ), and so bring Jesus Christ home to them ( 1Pe 2:12 ).

5. So So 2:7 ; but there it was for the non-interruption of her own fellowship with Jesus Christ that she was anxious; here it is for the not grieving of the Holy Ghost, on the part of the daughters of Jerusalem. Jealously avoid levity, heedlessness, and offenses which would mar the gracious work begun in others ( Mt 18:7 ; Ac 2:42 , 43 ; Eph 4:30 ).

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth,.... The day being not yet broke, the night of Jewish darkness still on the church, and the shadow of the ceremonial law as yet stretched upon her; and having some knowledge of Christ by types and prophecies, desires more, and seeks it in the use of means: though the words may be taken in a more large sense, and represent the state and condition of the church and of all true believers in any age, and at one time as well as another; who, when their beloved is absent, it is "night" with them; as Christ's presence makes day, his absence makes night; and it was now night with the Church, either of affliction, or of darkness and desertion, and indeed of both. The word is plural, "by nights" (i); one night after another, successively, she sought her beloved; which both expresses the continuance of her state, and her diligence and constancy in seeking Christ. The place where she sought him was "her bed"; not the same as in Sol 1:16; which was both Christ's and hers, and where a different word is used; but this was purely her own: either a bed of affliction, when good men usually seek the Lord, Isaiah 26:16, Hosea 5:15; or rather of carnal ease and security, in which she continued, and rose not up from it to seek her beloved; which shows the cold, lukewarm, lazy frame she was in, and formal manner in which she sought him, and so succeeded not: however, he was stilt the person "whom her soul loved", cordially and sincerely, though not so fervently as she had done; true love, though it may be abated, cannot be lost; I sought him, but I found him not; because she sought him not aright; not timely, nor fervently and diligently, nor in a proper place; not in her closet, by prayer, reading, and meditation, nor in public ordinances, she afterwards did; but on her bed. (i) , Sept. "per noctes", V. L. Junius & Tremeilius, Piscator; "in noctibus", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine versions, Marckius, Michaelis.

I will rise now,.... Perceiving she had taken a wrong method, and therefore unsuccessful, she fixes on another; and, in the strength of divine grace, determines to pursue it, and "now", at once, immediately, without any delay, "rise" from her bed of sloth and ease, and forego her carnal pleasures, in pursuit of her beloved; which showed the sincerity of her love to him; and go about the city; not the city of Jerusalem, though there may be an allusion to it; but the spiritual city, of which saints are fellow citizens, where they dwell, and where the word is preached, and the ordinances are administered: and "going about" it, as she proposed, showed her diligence and industry in seeking him: and the night being an unseasonable time to walk about a city, especially for women, this is a further proof of her great love to Christ, in that she not only exposed herself to reproach and scandal, but to harm and danger also; but being fired with love, and fearless of danger (k), and set on finding her beloved, she resolved to proceed, whatever she suffered. Hence she sought him in the streets, and in the broad ways; that is, of the city, such as commonly are in cities; so Troy is described (l) as a city, having broad ways in it; and also Athens (m): meaning the public ordinances of the Gospel, where he takes his walks, and often shows himself; in seeking him here, she was right, though she did not succeed; I will seek him whom my soul loveth; her love was still the same, not abated, more likely to be increased through disappointment; nor was she discouraged, but was determined to go on seeking, till she found him; I sought him, but I found him not; this was to chastise her for her former negligence; to try her faith, love, and patience; and to show that even the best means, though to be used, are not to be depended on; and that Christ has his own time and way to make himself known to his people, which depends on his sovereign will. (k) "Audacem faciebat amor". Ovid. Metamorph. l. 4. Fab. 4. (l) Homer. Iliad. 2. v. 29, 66, 141, 329. & 14. v. 88. Odyss. 22. v. 230. (m) Ib. Odyss. 7. v. 80.

The watchmen that go about the city found me,.... By whom are meant the ministers of the Gospel; who are called watchmen, as the prophets were under the Old Testament, Isaiah 52:8; in allusion to watchmen in cities; and are so called in regard to themselves, it being their duty to watch over themselves; and to their doctrine, and all opportunities to preach it, and the success of it: their business with respect to others is to give the time of night; to point out the state and condition of the church; to give notice of danger to sinners in the broad road to destruction; and to saints, through the prevalence of error, heresy, and immorality; all which require sobriety, vigilance, prudence, courage, and faithfulness; and show the necessity and utility of the Gospel ministry, and the awfulness of it; and the care Christ takes of his churches, in providing such officers in them. These are said to "go about the city", denoting their industry and diligence; and being in the way of their duty, they "found" the church, fell upon her case in their ministry, and hit it exactly; which shows the efficacy of the word under a divine direction; which finds out sinners, and their sins; saints, and their particular cases, unknown to ministers; and the church, having met with something suitable to her case under their ministry, to whom I said, took an opportunity privately to discourse with them, and put this question to them, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? meaning Christ; who was still the object of her love, and uppermost in her thoughts; whom she thus describes, without mentioning his name, as if he was the only "Him" in the world worthy of any regard; which shows how much he was in her mind, how much the desires and affections of her soul were towards him, and that these ministers needed no other description of him. No answer is returned to her question that is recorded; not because they were not able to give one, nor because they did not; and if they did not, it might be owing to her haste, not waiting for one; and if they did, she not being able to apply it to her case, no notice is taken of it: however, though she did not find immediate relief by them, yet she met with something from them that was of use to her afterwards, as appears by what follows.

It was but a little that I passed from them,.... Either a small moment of time, as the Targum and Aben Ezra; or a little distance of place, that is, from the watchmen or ministers, from whom she passed; not through disrespect to them, much less contempt of them; nor because she received no benefit at all from them; but her going on shows she did not rest in means, but looked beyond them, and went on further in the exercise of her faith, and hope of finding her beloved: and meeting with him a little after she had passed from the ministers suggests that Christ is not far from his ministers and ordinances; for it follows, but I found him whom my soul loveth; which she expresses with the utmost exultation and pleasure, which meeting with him must give her, after such long and fruitless searches, and so many disappointments; see John 1:41; and for Christ to show himself, without which there is no finding him, is a proof of the greatness of his love, and of the freeness and sovereignty of it; and that means, though to be used, are not to be depended on; nor should we be discouraged when they fail, since Christ can make himself known without them, as he did here to the church; who says, I held him, and would not let him go; which on the part of the church is expressive of her faith in him, signified by laying hold on him, his person, righteousness, grace, and strength, Proverbs 3:18; and of her strong affection to him, grasping and embracing him in her arms of faith and love; and of her fear and jealousy lest he should depart from her again; and of her steady resolution to hold him, whatever was the consequence of it: and, on his part, it intimates a seeming offer to be gone; and a gracious allowance to lay hold on him; and his wonderful condescension to be held by her; and the delight and pleasure he took in the exercise of her faith upon him; for it was not against but with his will he was held by her; and this she determined to do, and not let go her hold, until, says she, I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chambers of her that conceived me; the allusion is to the tents and apartments women had in former times, distinct from their husbands, Genesis 24:67; and all this may be understood either of the visible church, and the ordinances of it, the mother of all true believers, where they are born again, brought up and nourished; and where Christ may be said to be brought, when his name is professed, his Gospel is embraced, and his ordinances are submitted to; and here the church is desirous of introducing Christ, that she with others might magnify him, and praise him for all the instances of his grace and goodness, and have communion with him: or else the heart, and the inmost recesses of it, may be meant; where the incorruptible seed of divine grace is cast; where the new creature; conceived, born, and brought up, until it becomes a perfect man; and where Christ is desired to be, and to dwell by faith, and saints may have uninterrupted communion with him: unless the heavenly mansions are intended, the house of the Jerusalem above, the mother of us all; where saints long to be with Christ, enjoy him, and never lose his presence more; till then the church resolves to hold him fast in the arms of faith, hope, and love, and not let him go.

I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,.... Which are either the words of Christ, adjuring the young converts not to disturb the church; who had now Christ in her arms, taking repose with him, being wearied with running about in search of him: or they are the words of the church; who having experienced a long absence of Christ, and having been at much pains in search of him, and now had found him, was very unwilling to part with him; and fearing these young converts should by any unbecoming word or action provoke him to depart, she gives them a solemn charge; by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please; See Gill on Sol 2:7.