Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith theLord,And touch no unclean thing;And I will receive you,And will be to you aFather,And ye shall be to Me sons and daughters, saith theLord Almighty.
We have to take our choice: we cannot enjoy both the world andChrist.
The bride had not learned this: she would fain enjoy both, with no thought of their incompatibility. She observes with joy the approach of the Bridegroom.
The voice of my Beloved: Behold He comethLeaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.My Beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart;Behold He standeth behind our wall,He looketh in at the windows,He glanceth through the lattice.
The heart of the bride leaps on hearing the voice of her Beloved, as He comes in search of her. He has crossed the hills; He draws near to her; He stands behind the wall; He even looks in at the windows; with tender and touching words He woos her to come forth to Him. He utters no reproach, and His loving entreaties sink deep in her memory.
My Beloved spake, and said unto me,Rise up, My love, My fair one, and come away.For, lo, the winter is past,The rain is over and gone;The flowers appear on the earth;The time of the singing of birds is come,And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs,And the vines are in blossom,They give forth their fragrance.Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away.
All nature is responsive to the return of the summer, wilt thou, My bride, be irresponsive to My love?
Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away.
Can such pleading be in vain? Alas, it can, it was!
In yet more touching words the Bridegroom continues:—
O My dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place,Let Me see thy countenance, let Me hear thy voice:For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
Wonderful thought! that God should desire fellowship with us; and that He whose love once made Him the Man of Sorrows may now be made the Man of Joys by the loving devotion of human hearts.
But strong as is His love, and His desire for His bride, He can come no further. Where she now is He can never come. But surely she will go forth to Him. Has He not a claim upon her? She feels and enjoys His love, will she let His desire count for nothing? For, let us notice, it is not here the bride longing in vain for herLord, but the Bridegroom who is seeking for her. Alas that He should seek in vain!
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards;For our vineyards are in blossom,
He continues. The enemies may be small, but the mischief done great. A little spray of blossom, so tiny as to be scarcely perceived, is easily spoiled, but thereby the fruitfulness of a whole branch may be for ever destroyed. And how numerous the little foxes are! Little compromises with the world; disobedience to the still small voice in little things; little indulgences of the flesh to the neglect of duty; little strokes of policy; doing evil in little things that good may come; and the beauty and the fruitfulness of the vine are sacrificed!
We have a sad illustration of the deceitfulness of sin in the response of the bride. Instead of bounding forth to meet Him, she first comforts her own heart by the remembrance of His faithfulness, and of her union with Him:—
My Beloved is mine, and I am His:He feedethHis flockamong the lilies.
My position is one of security, I have no need to be concerned about it. He is mine, and I am His; and nought can alter that relationship. I can find Him now at any time, He feedeth His flock among the lilies. While the sun of prosperity shines upon me I may safely enjoy myself here without Him.Should trial and darkness come He will be sure not to fail me.
Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away,Turn, my Beloved, and be Thou like a gazelle or a young hartUpon the mountains of Bether.
Careless of His desire, she thus lightly dismisses Him, with the thought: A little later I may enjoy His love; and the grieved Bridegroom departs!
Poor foolish bride! she will soon find that the things that once satisfied her can satisfy no longer; and that it is easier to turn a deaf ear to His tender call than to recall or find her absentLord.
The day became cool, and the shadows did flee away; but He returned not. Then in the solemn night she discovered her mistake: It was dark, and she was alone. Retiring to rest she still hoped for His return—the lesson that worldliness is an absolute bar to full communion still unlearned.
By night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul loveth:I sought Him, but I found Him not!
She waits and wearies: His absence becomes insupportable:—
I said, I will rise now, and go about the city,In the streets and in the broad ways,I will seek Him whom my soul loveth:I sought Him, but I found Him not!
How different her position from what it might have been! Instead of seeking Him alone, desolate and in the dark, she might have gone forth with Him in the sunshine, leaning upon His arm. She might have exchanged the partial view of her Beloved through the lattice, when she could no longer say "Nothing between," for the joy of His embrace, and His public confession of her as His chosen bride!
The watchmen that go about the city found me:To whom I said, Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?It was but a little that I passed from them,When I found Him whom my soul loveth.
She had already obeyed His command, "Arise, and come away." Fearless of reproach, she was seeking Him in the dark; and when she began to confess herLord, she soon found Him and was restored to His favour:—
I held Him, and would not let Him go,Until I had brought Him into my mother's house,And into the chamber of her that conceived me.
Jerusalem above is the mother of us all. There it is that communion is enjoyed, not in worldly ways or self-willed indulgence.
Communion fully restored, the section closes, as did the first, with the loving charge of the Bridegroom that none should disturb His bride:—
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,By the roes, and by the hinds of the field,(By all that is loving and beautiful and constant),That ye stir not up, nor awake My love,Until she[3]please.
May we all, while living down here, in the world, but not of it, find our home in the heavenly places to which we have been raised, and in which we are seated together withChrist. Sent into the world to witness for ourMaster, may we ever be strangers there, ready to confess Him the true object of our soul's devotion.
How amiable are Thy tabernacles,OLordof hosts!My soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the courts of theLord;My heart and my flesh cry out unto the livingGod.Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house:They will be still praising Thee....A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of myGodThan to dwell in the tents of wickedness.For theLord Godis a Sun and Shield:TheLordwill give grace and glory:No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.OLordof hosts,Blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee!
Cant. iii. 6-v. 1
OJesu, Kingmost wonderful,ThouConquerorrenown'd,Thou sweetness most ineffable,In whom all joys are found!Thee,Jesu, may our voices bless;Thee may we love alone;And ever in our lives expressThe image of Thine own.
Wehave been mainly occupied in Sections I. and II. with the words and the experiences of the bride; in marked contrast to this, in this section our attention is first called to the Bridegroom, and then it is from Himself that we hear of the bride, as the object of His love, and the delight of His heart. The daughters of Jerusalem are the first speakers.
Who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke,Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,With all powders of the merchant?
They themselves give the reply:—
King Solomon made himself a car of stateOf the wood of Lebanon.He made the pillars thereof of silver,The bottom thereof of gold, the seat of it of purple,The midst thereof being paved with love (love-gifts),From the daughters of Jerusalem.Behold, it is the litter of Solomon;Threescore mighty men are about it,Of the mighty men of Israel,They all handle the sword,andare expert in war:Every man hath his sword upon his thigh,Because of fear in the night.
In these verses the bride is not mentioned; she is eclipsed in the grandeur and the state of her royal Bridegroom; nevertheless, she is both enjoying and sharing it. The very air is perfumed by the smoke of the incense that ascends pillar-like to the clouds; and all that safeguards the position of the Bridegroom Himself, and shows forth His dignity, safeguards also the accompanying bride, the sharer of His glory. The car of state in which they sit is built of fragrant cedar from Lebanon, and the finest of the gold and silver have been lavished in its construction. The fragrant wood typifies the beauty of sanctified humanity, while the gold reminds us of the divine glory of ourLord, and thesilver of the purity and preciousness of His redeemed and peerless Church. The imperial purple with which it is lined tells us of the Gentiles—the daughter of Tyre has been there with her gift; while the love-gifts of the daughters of Jerusalem accord with the prophecy, "Even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour."
These are the things that attract the attention of the daughters of Jerusalem, but the bride is occupied with the King Himself, and she exclaims:—
Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon,With the crown wherewith His mother hath crowned Him in the day of His espousals,And in the day of the gladness of His heart.
The crownedKingis everything to her, and she would have Him to be so to the daughters of Zion likewise. She dwells with delight on the gladness of His heart in the day of His espousals, for now she is not occupied with Him for herownsake, but rejoices in His joy in finding in herHissatisfaction. Do we sufficiently cultivate this unselfish desire to be all forJesus, and to do all for His pleasure? Or are we conscious that we principally go to Him for our own sakes, or at best for the sake of our fellow-creatures?How much of prayer there is that begins and ends with the creature, forgetful of the privilege of giving joy to the Creator! Yet it is only when He sees in our unselfish love and devotion to Him the reflection of His own that His heart can feel full satisfaction, and pour itself forth in precious utterances of love such as those which we find in the following words:—
Behold, thou art fair, My love; behold, thou art fair;Thine eyes areasdove's behind thy veil;Thy hair is as a flock of goats,That lie along the side of Mount Gilead;Thy teeth are like a flockof ewesthat arenewlyshorn,Which are come up from the washing.Which are all of them in pairs,And none is bereaved among them.Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,And thy speech is comely, etc. (See verses 3-5.)
We have already found the explanation of the fairness of the bride in her reflecting like a mirror the beauty of the Bridegroom. Well may He with satisfaction describe her beauty while she is thus occupied with Himself! The lips that speak only of Him are like a thread of scarlet; the mouth or speech which has no word of self, or for self, is comely in His sight.
How sweet His words of appreciation and commendation were to the bride we can well imagine; but her joy was too deep for expression; she was silent in her love. She would notnowthink of sending Him away until the day be cool and the shadows flee away.
Still less does the Bridegroom think of finding His joy apart from His bride. He says:—
Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away,I will get Me to the mountain of myrrh,And to the hill of frankincense.
Separation never comes from His side. He is always ready for communion with a prepared heart, and in this happy communion the bride becomes ever fairer, and more like to herLord. She is being progressively changed into His image, from one degree of glory to another, through the wondrous working of theHoly Spirit, until the Bridegroom can declare:—
Thou art all fair, My love;And there is no spot on thee.
And now she isfit for service, and to it the Bridegroom woos her; she will not now misrepresent Him:—
Come with Me from Lebanon,Mybride,With Me from Lebanon;Look from the top of Amana,From the top of Senir and Hermon,From the lions' dens,From the mountains of the leopards.
"Come with Me." It is always so. If ourSavioursays, "Go ye therefore and disciple all nations," He precedes it by, "All power is given unto Me," and follows it by, "Lo, I am with you always." Or if, as here, He calls His bride to come, it is still "with Me," and it isin connection with this loving invitationthat for the first time He changes the word "My love," for the still more endearing one, "My bride."
What are lions' dens when the Lion of the tribe of Judah is with us; or mountains of leopards, when He is at our side! "I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me." On the other hand, it is while thus facing dangers, and toiling with Him in service, that He says:—
Thou hast ravished My heart, My sister,Mybride;Thou hast ravished My heart with one look from thine eyes,With one chain of thy neck.
Is it not wonderful how the heart of our Beloved can be thus ravished with the loveof one who is prepared to accept His invitation, and go forth with Him seeking to rescue the perishing! The marginal reading of the Revised Version is very significant: "Thou hast ravished My heart," or "Thou hast given me courage." If the Bridegroom's heart may be encouraged by the fidelity and loving companionship of his bride, it is not surprising that we may cheer and encourage one another in our mutual service. St. Paul had a steep mountain of difficulty to climb when he was being led as a captive to Rome, not knowing the things that awaited him there; but when the brethren met him at the Appii Forum he thanked God and took courage. May we ever thus strengthen one another's hands in God!
But to resume. The Bridegroom cheers the toilsome ascents, and the steep pathways of danger, with sweet communications of His love:—
How fair is thy love, My sister,Mybride!How much better is thy love than wine!And the smell of thine ointments than all manner of spices!Thy lips, OMybride, drop as the honeycomb:Honey and milk are under thy tongue;And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.A garden shut up is My sister,Mybride;A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.Thy shoots are a paradise of pomegranates, with precious fruits;Henna with spikenard plants,Spikenard and saffron,Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense;Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.Thou arta fountain of gardens,A well of living waters,And flowing streams from Lebanon.
Engaged with the Bridegroom in seeking to rescue the perishing, the utterances of her lips are to Him as honey and the honeycomb; and figure is piled upon figure to express His satisfaction and joy. She is a garden full of precious fruits and delightful perfumes, but a garden enclosed; the fruit she bears may bring blessing to many, but the garden is for Himself alone; she is a fountain, but a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. And yet again she is a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and flowing streams from Lebanon: she carries fertility and imparts refreshment wherever she goes; and yet it is all of Him and for Him.
The bride now speaks for the second time in this section. As her first utterance was of Him, so now her second is for Him; self is found in neither.
Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south;Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.Let my Beloved come into His garden,And eat His precious fruits.
She is ready for any experience: the north wind and the south may blow upon her garden, if only the spices thereof may flow out to regale herLordby their fragrance. He has called her His garden, a paradise of pomegranates and precious fruits; let Him come into it and eat His precious fruits.
To this the Bridegroom replies:—
I am come into My garden, My sister,Mybride:I have gathered My myrrh with My spice;I have eaten My honeycomb with My honey;I have drunk My wine with My milk.
Now, when she calls, He answers at once. When she is only for herLord, He assures her that He finds all His satisfaction in her.
The section closes by the bride's invitation to His friends and hers, as well as to Himself:—
Eat, O friends;Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O Beloved.
The consecration of all to ourMaster, far from lessening our power to impart, increases both our power and our joy in ministration. The five loaves and two fishes of the disciples,first given up to and blessed by theLord, were abundant supply for the needy multitudes, and grew, in the act of distribution, into a store of which twelve hampers full of fragments remained when all were fully satisfied.
We have, then, in this beautiful section, as we have seen, a picture of unbroken communion and its delightful issues. May our lives correspond! First, one with theKing, then speaking of theKing; the joy of communion leading to fellowship in service, to a being all forJesus, ready for any experience that will fit for further service, surrendering all to Him, and willing to minister all for Him. There is no room for love of the world here, for union withChristhas filled the heart; there is nothing for the gratification of the world, for all has been sealed and is kept for theMaster'suse.
Jesus, my life is Thine!And evermore shall beHidden in Thee.For nothing can untwineThy life from mine.
Cant. v. 2-vi. 10
Thefourth section commences with an address of the bride to the daughters of Jerusalem, in which she narrates her recent sad experience, and entreats their help in her trouble. The presence and comfort of her Bridegroom are again lost to her; not this time by relapse into worldliness, but by slothful self-indulgence.
We are not told of the steps that led to her failure; of how self again found place in her heart. Perhaps spiritual pride in the achievements which grace enabled her to accomplish was the cause; or, not improbably, a cherished satisfaction in theblessingshe had received, instead of in theBlesserHimself, may have led to the separation. She seems to have been largely unconscious of her declension; self-occupied and self-contented, she scarcely noticed His absence; she was resting, resting alone,—never asking where He had gone, or how He was employed. And more than this, the door of her chamber was not only closed, but barred; an evidencethat His return was neither eagerly desired nor expected.
Yet her heart was not far from Him: there was a music in His voice that awakened echoes in her soul such as no other voice could have stirred. She was still "a garden shut up, a fountain sealed," so far as the world was concerned. The snare this time was the more dangerous and insidious because it was quite unsuspected. Let us look at her narrative:—
I was asleep, but my heart waked:It is the voice of my Beloved that knocketh saying,Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled:For My head is filled with dew,My locks with the drops of the night.
How often the position of the Bridegroom is that of a knocking Suitor outside, as in His epistle to the Laodicean[4]Church: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." It is sad that He should be outside a closed door—that He should need to knock; but still more sad that Heshould knock, and knock in vain at the door of any heart which has become His own. In this case it is not thepositionof the bride that is wrong; if it were, His word as before would be, "Arise, and come away"; whereas now His word is, "Open to Me, My sister, My love." It was herconditionof self-satisfaction and love of ease that closed the door.
Very touching are His words: "Open to Me, My sister" (He is the first-born among many brethren), "My love" (the object of My heart's devotion), "My dove" (one who has been endued with many of the gifts and graces of theHoly Spirit), "My undefiled" (washed, renewed, and cleansed for Me); and He urges her to open by reference to His own condition:—
My head is filled with dew,My locks with the drops of the night.
Why is it that His head is filled with the dew? Because His heart is a shepherd-heart. There are those whom theFatherhas given to Him who are wandering on the dark mountains of sin: many, oh, how many, have never heard theShepherd'svoice; many, too, who were once in the fold have wandered away—far away from its safe shelter. The heart that never canforget, the love that never can fail,mustseek the wandering sheep until the lost one has been found: "MyFatherworketh hitherto, and I work." And will she, who so recently was at His side, who joyfully braved the dens of lions and the mountains of leopards, will she leave Him to seek alone the wandering and the lost?
Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled:For My head is filled with dew,My locks with the drops of the night.
We do not know a more touching entreaty in the Word ofGod, and sad indeed is the reply of the bride:—
I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on?I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
How sadly possible it is to take delight in conferences and conventions, to feast on all the good things that are brought before us, and yet to be unprepared to go out from them to self-denying efforts to rescue the perishing; to delight in the rest of faith while forgetful to fight the good fight of faith; to dwell upon the cleansing and the purity effected by faith, but to have little thought for the poor souls struggling in the mire of sin. If we can put off our coat whenHe would have us keep it on; if we can wash our feet while He is wandering alone upon the mountains, is there not sad want of fellowship with ourLord?
Meeting with no response from the tardy bride, her
Beloved put in His hand by the hole of the door,And "her" heart was moved for Him.
But, alas, the door was not only latched, but barred; and His effort to secure an entrance was in vain.
I rose up to open to my Beloved;And my hands dropped with myrrh,And my fingers with liquid myrrh,Upon the handles of the bolt.I opened to my Beloved;But my Beloved had withdrawn Himself, and was gone.My soul had failed me when He spake.
When, all too late, the bride did arise, she seems to have been more concerned to anoint herself with the liquid myrrh than to speedily welcome her waitingLord; more occupied with her own graces than with His desire. No words of welcome were uttered, though her heart failed within her; and the grieved One had withdrawn Himself before she was ready to receive Him. Again (as in the third chapter) she had to go forth alone toseek herLord; and this time her experiences were much more painful than on the former occasion.
I sought Him, but I could not find Him;I called Him, but He gave me no answer.The watchmen that go about the city found me,They smote me, they wounded me;The keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me.
Her first relapse had been one of inexperience; if a second relapse had been brought about by inadvertence she should at least have been ready and prompt when summoned to obey. It is not a little thing to fall into the habit of being tardy in obedience, even in the case of a believer: in the case of the unbeliever the final issue of disobedience is inexpressibly awful:—
Turn you at My reproof:Behold, I will pour out MySpiritunto you,I will make known My words unto you.Because I have called, and ye refused;I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; ...I also will laugh in the day of your calamity....Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer;They shall seek Me diligently, but they shall not find Me.
The backsliding of the bride, though painful,was not final; for it was followed by true repentance. She went forth into the darkness and sought Him; she called, but He responded not, and the watchmen finding her, both smote and wounded her. They appear to have appreciated the gravity of her declension more correctly than she had done. Believers may be blinded to their own inconsistencies; others, however, note them; and the higher the position with regard to ourLordthe more surely will any failure be visited with reproach.
Wounded, dishonoured, unsuccessful in her search, and almost in despair, the bride turns to the daughters of Jerusalem; and recounting the story of her sorrows, adjuresthemto tell her Beloved that she is not unfaithful or unmindful of Him.
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved,That ye tell Him, that I am sick of love.
The reply of the daughters of Jerusalem shows very clearly that the sorrow-stricken bride, wandering in the dark, is not recognized as the bride of theKing, though her personal beauty does not escape notice.
What is thy Beloved more than another beloved,O thou fairest among women?What is thy Beloved more than another beloved,That thou dost so adjure us?
This question, implying that her Beloved was no more than any other, stirs her soul to its deepest depths; and, forgetting herself, she pours out from the fulness of her heart a soul-ravishing description of the glory and beauty of herLord.
My Beloved is white and ruddy,The chiefest among ten thousand.
(see verses 10-16, concluding with)
His mouth is most sweet: yea, He is altogether lovely.This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend,O daughters of Jerusalem.
It is interesting to compare the bride's description of the Bridegroom with the descriptions of "the Ancient of Days" in Dan. vii. 9, 10, and of our risenLordin Rev. i. 13-16. The differences are very characteristic.
In Dan. vii. we see the Ancient of Days seated on the throne of judgment; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool; His throne and His wheels were as burning fire, and a fiery stream issued and came forth from beforeHim. The Son of Man was brought near before Him, and received from Him dominion, and glory, and an everlasting kingdom that shall not be destroyed. In Rev. i. we see the Son of Man Himself clothed with a garment down to the foot, and His head and His hair were white as wool, white as snow; but the bride sees her Bridegroom in all the vigour of youth, with locks "bushy, and black as a raven." The eyes of the risenSaviourare described as "a flame of fire," but His bride sees them "like doves beside the water brooks." In Revelation "His voice is as the voice of many waters ... and out of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword." To the bride, His lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh, and His mouth most sweet. The countenance of the risenSaviourwas "as the sun shineth in his strength," and the effect of the vision on John—"when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one dead"—was not unlike the effect of the vision given to Saul as he neared Damascus. But to His bride "His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars." TheLionof the tribe of Judah is to His own bride theKingof love; and, with full heart and beaming face, she so recounts His beauties that the daughters of Jerusalem are seizedwith strong desire to seek Him with her, that they also may behold His beauty.
Whither is thy Beloved gone,O thou fairest among women?Whither hath thy Beloved turned Him,That we may seek Him with thee?
The bride replies:—
My Beloved is gone down to His garden, to the beds of spices,To feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine:He feedeth His flock among the lilies.
Forlorn and desolate as she might appear she still knows herself as the object of His affections, and claims Him as her own. This expression, "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine," is similar to that found in the second chapter, "My Beloved is mine, and I am His"; and yet with noteworthy difference. Then her first thought ofChristwas of her claim upon Him: His claim upon her was secondary. Now she thinks first of His claim; and only afterwards mentions her own. We see a still further development of grace in chap. vii. 10, where the bride, losing sight of her claim altogether, says:—
I am my Beloved's,And His desire is toward me.
No sooner has she uttered these words and acknowledged herself as His rightful possession—a claim which she had practically repudiated when she kept Him barred out—than her Bridegroom Himself appears; and with no upbraiding word, but in tenderest love, tells her how beautiful she is in His eyes, and speaks her praise to the daughters of Jerusalem.
To her He says:—
Thou art beautiful, O My love, as Tirzah,[the beautiful city of Samaria,]Comely as Jerusalem,[the glorious city of the greatKing,]Terrible [or rather brilliant] as an army with banners.Turn away thine eyes from Me,For they have overcome Me. (See vv. 4-7.)
Then, turning to the daughters of Jerusalem, He exclaims:—
There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines,And maidens without number.My dove, My perfect one, is but one;She is the only one of her mother;She is the choice one of her that bare her.The daughters saw her, and called her blessed;Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her, saying,Who is she that looketh forth as the morning,Fair as the moon,Clear as the sun,Brilliant as an army with banners?
Thus the section closes with communion fully restored; the bride reinstated and openly acknowledged by the Bridegroom as His own peerless companion and friend. The painful experience through which the bride has passed has been fraught with lasting good, and we have no further indication of interrupted communion, but in the remaining sections find only joy and fruitfulness.
Cant. vi. 11-viii. 4
Inthe second and fourth sections of this book we found the communion of the bride broken; in the former by backsliding into worldliness, and in the latter through slothful ease and self-satisfaction. The present section, like the third, is one of unbroken communion. It is opened by the words of the bride:—
I went down into the garden of nuts,To see the green plants of the valley,To see whether the vine budded,Andthe pomegranates were in flower.Or ever I was aware, my soul set meAmongthe chariots of my willing people.
As in the commencement of Section III., the bride, in unbroken communion with herLord, was present though unmentioned until she made her presence evident by her address to the daughters of Zion; so in this section the presence of theKingis unnoted until He Himself addresses His bride. But she is one with herLordas she engages in His service! His promise, "Lo, I am with you alway," is ever fulfilled to her; and He has no more to woo her to arise and come away; to tell her that His "head is filled with dew," His "locks with the drops of the night"; or to urge her if she love Him to feed His sheep and care for His lambs. Herself His garden, she does not forget to tend it, nor keep the vineyards of others while her own is neglected.WithHim as well asforHim, she goes to the garden of nuts. So thorough is the union between them that many commentators have felt difficulty in deciding whether the bride or the Bridegroom was the speaker, and really it is a point of little moment; for, as we have said, both were there, and of one mind;yet we believe we are right in attributing these words to the bride, as she is the one addressed by the daughters of Jerusalem, and the one who speaks to them in reply.
The bride and Bridegroom appear to have been discovered by their willing people while thus engaged in the happy fellowship of fruitful service, and the bride, or ever she was aware, found herself seated among the chariots of her people—herpeople as well asHis.
The daughters of Jerusalem would fain call her back:—
Return, return, O Shulammite;Return, return, that we may look upon thee.
There is no question now as to who she is, nor why her Beloved is more than another beloved; He is recognized as King Solomon, and to her is given the same name, only in its feminine form (Shulammite).
Some have seen in these words, "Return, return," an indication of the rapture of the Church; and explain some parts of the subsequent context, which appear inconsistent with this view, as resumptive rather than progressive. Interesting as is this thought, and well as it would explain the absence ofreferenceto theKingin the precedingverses, we are not inclined to accept it; but look on the whole song as progressive, and its last words as being equivalent to the closing words of the Book of Revelation, "Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come,Lord Jesus." We do not therefore look upon the departure of the bride from her garden as being other than temporary.
The bride replies to the daughters of Jerusalem:—
Why will ye look upon the Shulammite?
or, as in the Authorized Version,
What will ye see in the Shulamite?
In the presence of theKing, she cannot conceive why any attention should be paid to her. As Moses, coming down from the mount, was unconscious that his face shone with a divine glory, so was it here with the bride. But we may learn this very important lesson, that many who do not see the beauty of theLord, will not fail to admire His reflected beauty in His bride. The eager look of the daughters of Jerusalem surprised the bride, and she says, You might be looking "upon the dance of Mahanaim"—the dance of two companies of Israel's fairest daughters—instead of upon one who has noclaim for attention, save that she is the chosen, though unworthy, bride of the gloriousKing.
The daughters of Jerusalem have no difficulty in replying to her question, and recognizing her as of royal birth—"O Prince's daughter"—as well as of queenly dignity, they describe in true and Oriental language the tenfold beauties of her person; from her feet to her head they see only beauty and perfection. What a contrast to her state by nature! Once "from the sole of the foot even unto the head" was "but wounds, and bruises, and festering sores"; now her feet are "shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace," and the very hair of the head proclaims her a Nazarite indeed; "theKing" Himself "is held captive in the tresses thereof."
But One, more to her than the daughters of Jerusalem, responded to her unaffected question, "What will ye see in the Shulamite?" The Bridegroom Himself replies to it:—
How fair and how pleasant art thou,O love, for delights!
He sees in her the beauties and the fruitfulness of the tall and upright palm, of thegraceful and clinging vine, of the fragrant and evergreen citron. Grace has made her like the palm-tree, the emblem alike of uprightness and of fruitfulness. The fruit of the date-palm is more valued than bread by the Oriental traveller, so great is its sustaining power; and the fruit-bearing powers of the tree do not pass away; as age increases the fruit becomes more perfect as well as more abundant.
The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree:He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.They that are planted in the house of theLordShall flourish in the courts of ourGod.They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;They shall be full of sap and green.
But why are the righteous made so upright and flourishing?
To show that theLordis upright;He is myRock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
One with ourLord, it is ours toshow forthHis graces and virtues, to reflect His beauty, to be His faithful witnesses.
The palm is also the emblem of victory; it raises its beautiful crown towards the heavens, fearless of the heat of the sultry sun, or of the burning hot wind from the desert. From its beauty it was one of theornaments of Solomon's, as it is to be of Ezekiel's temple. When ourSaviourwas received at Jerusalem as theKingof Israel the people took branches of palm-trees and went forth to meet Him; and in the glorious day of His espousals, "a great multitude, which no man" can "number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," shall stand "before the throne and before theLamb, clothed with white robes"; and with palms of victory in their hands shall ascribe their "salvation to ourGodwhich sitteth upon the throne, and unto theLamb."
But if she resembles the palm she also resembles the vine. Much she needs the culture of the Husbandman, and well does she repay it. Abiding inChrist, the true source of fruitfulness, she brings forth clusters of grapes, luscious and refreshing, as well as sustaining, like the fruit of the palm—luscious and refreshing to Himself, the owner of the vineyard, as well as to the weary, thirsty world in which He has placed it.
The vine has its own suggestive lessons: it needs and seeks support; the sharp knife of the pruner often cuts away unsparingly its tender garlands, and mars its appearance,while increasing its fruitfulness. It has been beautifully written:—