Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I aroused you. There your mother conceived you. There she was in labor and bore you.
Parallel Translations
-
Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I aroused you. There your mother conceived you. There she was in labor and bore you.
-
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.
-
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple-tree I awakened thee; there thy mother was in travail with thee; there was she in travail and brought thee forth.
Cross-references (28)
Passages linked to Song of Solomon 8:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Song of Solomon 3:6 Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant?
- Isaiah 40:3 The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.
- Psalms 63:8 My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up.
- Song of Solomon 2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, his fruit was sweet to my taste.
- Song of Solomon 3:4 I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, into the room of her who conceived me.
- Song of Solomon 6:10 Who is she who looks out as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners?
- Isaiah 26:3-4 You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you. Trust in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting Rock.
- Micah 3:11 Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”
- 2 Chronicles 32:8 An arm of flesh is with him, but Yahweh our God is with us to help us and to fight our battles.” The people rested themselves on the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
- Psalms 45:10-11 Listen, daughter, consider, and turn your ear. Forget your own people, and also your father’s house. So the king will desire your beauty, honor him, for he is your lord.
- Psalms 107:2-8 Let the redeemed by Yahweh say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary, And gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way. They found no city to live in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses, he led them also by a straight way, that they might go to a city to live in. Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
- Song of Solomon 3:11 Go out, you daughters of Zion, and see king Solomon, with the crown with which his mother has crowned him, in the day of his weddings, in the day of the gladness of his heart.
- Song of Solomon 8:1 Oh that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yes, and no one would despise me.
- Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
- Jeremiah 2:2 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
- Hosea 12:4 Indeed, he struggled with the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to him. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us,
- John 1:48-51 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I told you, ‘I saw you underneath the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these!” He said to him, “Most certainly, I tell you all, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
- John 13:23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was at the table, leaning against Jesus’ breast.
- Ephesians 1:12-13 to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ. In him you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
- 1 Peter 1:21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope might be in God.
- Song of Solomon 4:8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, 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.
- Isaiah 36:6 Behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt, which if a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
- Isaiah 49:20-23 The children of your bereavement will say in your ears, ‘This place is too small for me. Give me a place to live in.’ Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children and am alone, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought these up? Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’ ” The Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and lift up my banner to the peoples. They shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed.”
- Acts 27:23-25 For there stood by me this night an angel, belonging to the God whose I am and whom I serve, saying, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ Therefore, sirs, cheer up! For I believe God, that it will be just as it has been spoken to me.
- Romans 7:4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might produce fruit to God.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.
- Galatians 4:19 My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you—
- Revelation 12:6 The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that there they may nourish her one thousand two hundred sixty days.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Son 8:5 Who [is] this that cometh up from…
Son 8:5 Who [is] this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth [that] bare thee.
[Ver. 5. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness?] {See Trapp on "Son 3:6"} There are continual ascensions in the hearts of God’s people while here. And whereas the men of this world, "which have their portion here," {Psa 17:14} animus etiam incarnaverunt, as Bernard complaineth, and are borne downward to hell by their own weight; the saints of God are ever aspiring, and do "groan, being burdened," as knowing that "while they are at home in the body," such a home as it is, "they are absent from the Lord," {2Co 5:4; 2Co 5:6} from their heavenly home. Either Egypt was not Moses’s home, or but a miserable one; and yet, in reference to it, he called his son, born in Midian, Gershom - i.e., a "stranger there." If he so thought of his Egyptian home, where was nothing but bondage and tyranny, what marvel though the saints think of that home of theirs above, and hasten to it in their affections, where is nothing but rest and blessedness?
Read full note →
Leaning upon her beloved.] For otherwise she could not ascend, as unable to sustain her steps. {Jer 10:23} The Church, as the vine, is the most fruitful, but the weakest of all trees, and must have a supporter; hence she "leans upon her beloved," which phrase, beside recumbency, denotes a more than ordinary familiarity, qua solent amantes in sinus amasiorura se proiecere, like as lovers throw themselves sometimes into their sweethearts’ arms or bosoms. {a} Now thus to lean upon Christ is an act of faith, of "the faith of God’s elect." Others seem to lean upon Christ, but it is no otherwise than as the apricot, which leaneth against the walls, but is fast rooted in the earth. So these lean upon Christ for salvation, but are rooted in the world, in pride, filthiness, &c., and though they make some assays, yet, like the door upon the hinges, they will not come off. See the folly and confidence of these wretched men (the same Hebrew word signifies both, and may both ways be taken, Psa 49:13) graphically described by the prophet, "The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us." {Mic 3:11} These men perish by catching at their own catch, hanging on their own fancy, making a bridge of their own shadow; they will not otherwise believe but that Christ is their sweet Saviour, and so doubt not but they are safe, when it is no such matter. They grow aged and crooked with such false conceits, and can seldom or never be set straight again. These must know that to rely upon Christ is to be utterly unbottomed of a man’s self, and of every creature; and so to lean upon Christ alone, that if he fail thou sinkest, if he set not in thou art lost for ever. Papists think that as he that standeth on two firm branches of a tree is surer than he that standeth upon one; so he that trusteth to Christ and his own works too. But it must be considered, first, That he which looketh to be justified by the law is fallen from grace; "Christ is of no effect" unto him. {Gal 5:4} He will not mingle his purple blood with our puddle stuff, his rich robes with our tattered rags, his eagles’ feathers with our pigeons’ plumes. There can be but one sun in heaven, Sol quasi solus, and they set up rush candles to the sun that join other saviours to this Sun of righteousness. Secondly, He that hath one foot on a firm branch, another on a rotten one, stands not so sure as if wholly on that which is sound. Away then with all such mock stays. See the fruit of creature confidence, Job 6:17; Job 8:15, and know that no man trusts Christ at all that trusts him not alone. He that stands with one foot on a rock, and another foot on a quicksand, will sink and perish as certainly as he that standeth with both feet on a quicksand. See Psa 6:2; Psa 2:5-6.
I raised thee up under the apple tree, &c.] Here the bride answereth to the bridegroom’s question, Who is this? or, What woman is this that cometh up from the wilderness? &c., that goes in a right line to God, leaning on her beloved, that will not break the hedge of any commandment to avoid any piece of foul way? I am she, saith the Church, even the very same that raised thee up under the appletree, &c., viz., by mine earnest prayers. When thou wast asleep under the apple tree, and I had straightly charged the damsels of Jerusalem not to disquiet thee by their sins, yet I took the boldness to arouse thee, and say, as in Psa 44:23, "Awake; why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever"; and with those drowning disciples, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" Sometimes, saith one, God seems to lose his mercy, and then we must find it for him, as Isa 63:10, sometimes to sleep, and then we must waken him, quicken him. {Psa 40:17 Isa 62:7} God will come, but he will have his people’s prayers lead him, as in Dan 10:12, "I am come for thy words." Christ himself is the apple tree here mentioned, as Son 2:3. Though there are that interpret it as the cross, that tree whereon he "bare our sins in his own body." {1Pe 2:24} Others better, of the tree of offence, the forbidden fruit. {Gen 2:16-17} And that when Eve tasted of that fruit, which they herehence conclude to have been an apple, though the word be more general, Nux enim pomum dicitur, then, as Christ’s mother, she brought him forth, by believing the promise there made unto her, that Messiah of her seed should break the serpent’s head. Look how the Virgin Mary conceived Christ when she yielded her assent. When the angel spake to her, what said she presently? "Be it as thou hast said," let it be even so. She yielded her assent to the promise, that she should conceive a son, and she did conceive him. So Eve believed the promise of pardon and salvation, she "saw it afar off, was persuaded of it, and embraced it," {Heb 11:13} and is therefore said here to bear and bring forth Christ, yea, to travail of him with sorrow, as the word signifies; for as there is no other birth without pain, so neither is the newbirth. Those that have passed through the narrow womb of repentance, and been born again, will say as much. See Isa 26:17. If God broke David’s bones, and the angel’s back, saith one, he will break thy heart too, if ever he save thee. No sound heart ever went to heaven, as, in another sense, none but sound could ever come thither. Cot integrum cor scissum, "Rend your hearts."
{a} Brightman. Sunt qui exponunt dilicians.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness?…
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness? These Words are repeated from Son 3:6, See Poole "Son 3:6". This and the next clause are the words either,
1. Of the daughters of Jerusalem, or the friends of the bride and Bridegroom, admiring and congratulating this happy conjunction. Or,
Read full note →
2. Of the Bridegroom, who proposeth the question, that he may give the answer here following.
Leaning upon her Beloved; which implies both great freedom and familiarity, and fervent affection, and dependence upon him. If these be the Bridegroom’s words, he speaketh of himself in the third person, which is usual in the Hebrew language.
I raised thee up, when thou wast fallen, and laid low, and wert dead in trespasses, and in the depth of misery I revived thee.
Under the apple tree; under my own shadow; for she had compared him to an apple tree, and declared that under the shadow of the tree she had both delight and fruit, Son 2:3, which is the same thing with this raising up.
There thy mother brought thee forth; under that tree either the universal or the primitive church did conceive and bring thee forth.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Who - This and the next clause are the…
Who - This and the next clause are the words of the bridegroom, who proposes the question, that he may give the answer following. Her beloved - He speaks of himself in the third person, which is usual in the Hebrew language. I raised - When thou wast dead in trespasses and in the depth of misery. Under - Under my own shadow; for she had compared him to an apple tree, and declared, that under the shadow of the tree she had both delight and fruit, chap. ii, 3, which is the same thing with this raising up. There - Under that tree, either the universal or the primitive church, did conceive and bring thee forth.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. That cometh up from the wilderness] Perhaps…
Verse 5. That cometh up from the wilderness] Perhaps the words of the daughters of Jerusalem, who, seeing the bride returning from the country, leaning on the arm of her beloved, are filled with admiration at her excellent carriage and beauty.
I raised thee up under the apple tree] The original of this clause is obscure, and has given birth to various translations. The following is nearly literal: "Under the apple tree I excited thee (to espouse me:) there, thy mother contracted thee;-there, she that brought thee forth contracted thee (to me.) Or it may be understood of the following circumstance: The bridegroom found her once asleep under an apple tree, and awoke her; and this happened to be the very place where her mother, taken in untimely labour, had brought her into the world." And here the bridegroom, in his fondness and familiarity, recalls these little adventures to her memory.
Read full note →
The Vulgate gives this an abominable meaning.
Sub arbore malo suscitavi te: ibi corrupta est mater tua; ibi violata est genetrix tua; "I raised thee up under the apple tree: it was there that thy mother was corrupted; it was there that she who brought thee forth was violated." Spiritually, all this is applied to Eve losing her purity by sin; and Jesus as the promised seed raising her up by the promise of mercy, through the blood of his cross. But the text says nothing of this.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Son 8:5. Who is this, &c. — These seem…
Son 8:5. Who is this, &c. — These seem to be the words of the daughters of Jerusalem, or of the friends of the bride and bridegroom, admiring and congratulating this happy union: leaning upon her beloved — Which implies both great freedom and familiarity, and fervent affection and dependance upon him. I raised thee up — These are Christ’s words: when thou wast fallen, and laid low, and dead in trespasses and sins, and in the depth of misery, I revived thee: Under the apple-tree — Under my own shadow: for she had compared him to an apple-tree, and declared, that under the shadow of the tree she had both delight and fruit, (Son 2:3,) which is the same thing with this raising up. There — Under that tree, either the universal or the primitive church did conceive and bring thee forth.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The scene changes from Jerusalem to the birthplace of…
The scene changes from Jerusalem to the birthplace of the bride, where she is seen coming up toward her mother’s house, leaning on the arm of the great king her beloved.
Who is this - Compare and contrast with Son 3:6. In the former scene all was splendor and exaltation, but here condescension, humility, and loving charm.
Read full note →
I raised thee up ... - Beneath this apple-tree I wakened thee. The king calls the bride’s attention to a fruit-tree, which they pass, the trysting-spot of earliest vows in this her home and birthplace. The Masoretic pointing of the Hebrew text (the most ancient traditional interpretation) assigns these words to the bride, but the majority of Christian fathers to the king. The whole passage gains in clearness and dramatic expression by the latter arrangement.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Flowing. Thus speak the companions of the spouse; and…
Flowing. Thus speak the companions of the spouse; and the bridegroom, turning to her alone, reminds her of an adventure. The Jews would put this in the mouth of the spouse. (Calmet) --- Corrupted. Hebrew and Septuagint, "fell in labour, there she was delivered who bore thee." (Haydock) --- Christ redeemed Eve, who had been seduced to eat the forbidden fruit, and by his sacred blood on the cross, awoke and healed our fallen nature. (Calmet) --- The court of heaven admires the Church of the Gentiles, and every pious soul ascending from this world, particularly the blessed Virgin [Mary]. The synagogue was corrupt, when she called for the death of the Son of God, and said, His blood be upon us, &c. [Matthew xxvii. 25.] We have no king but Cæsar. [John xix. 15.] (Worthington) --- Grace must go before, that our free-will may also walk forward. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain The return home and the triumph of the chaste…
FIFTH SONG
The return home and the triumph of the chaste love of the wife over the unchaste feelings of her royal husband
Read full note →
Son_8:5-14
FIRST SCENE:
The Arrival Home
(Son_8:5-7)
Country people (in the fields at Shunem)
5 Who2 is this coming up out of the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved?
Solomon (entering arm in arm with Shulamith).
Under3 this4 apple tree I waked thee;5
there6 thy7 mother travailed8 with thee,
there travailed she that bare thee.
Shulamith (familiarly pressing up close to her lover)
6 Place9 me as a signet-ring upon thy heart,
as a signet-ring upon thine arm.
For strong as death is love,
hard as Sheol10 is jealousy
Its flames11 are flames of fire,
a blaze of Jehovah.12
7 Many waters cannot
quench love,
and rivers shall not wash13 it away.
If a man were to give
all the wealth of his house for love,
he would be utterly contemned.
SECOND SCENE:
Shulamith with her lover (in the circle of her friends.)
(Son_8:8-14)
Shulamith
8 A14 sister we have, little
and she has no breasts;
what shall we do for15 our sister
in the day that she shall be spoken for?16
Shulamith’s Brothers
9 If17 she be a wall,
we will build upon her a silver castle;
but if she be a door,
we will stop her up with a cedar board.
Shulamith
10 I18 was a wall
and my breasts like towers.
Then was I in his eyes
as one that finds peace.—
11 Solomon19 has20 a vineyard in Baal-hamon.
He committed the vineyard to the keepers,
each was to bring for its fruit
a thousand of silver.
12 My21 vineyard, my own,22 is before me;
the thousand is thine, Solomon,
and two hundred for the keepers of its fruit.
Solomon
13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens,
companions are listening for thy voice;
let me hear it.
Shulamith (singing)
14 Flee,23 my beloved,
and be like a gazelle,
or a young hart
upon mountains of spices.24
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Some of the more recent interpreters dismember this last act, by attaching part of it to the preceding section, and regarding the remainder as an appendix or epilogue to the whole. Thus Umbreit extends the last act of the piece to Son_8:7, which is then followed by Son_8:8-12 as a first appendix, “The shrewd old brothers and the naively jesting sister;” and Son_8:13-14 as a second appendix, “The unlucky trip to the country.” In like manner Renan, who regards the fifth act as ending with Son_8:7, and the remaining seven verses as forming an epilogue. On the contrary v. Hofmann connects Son_8:5-12 with his last main division of the whole (Son_6:1 to Son_8:12), and considers the last two verses only, Son_8:13-14, as an appendix.—Döpke and Magnus push the process of dismemberment to the greatest length, the former of whom divides this section into three separate songs (5–7; 8–12; 13, 14). The latter makes it consist of four small pieces, a lyric poem: “The parting” (5–7), two dramatic epigrams (8–10 and 11, 12), and a fragment with several glosses (13, 14).—A correct apprehension of the unity of this section as one whole, separated from the preceding by the solemn introductory formula מי זאת וגו “Who is this,” etc., is found in Ewald, Hitz., Del., Hengstenb., Vaih., Böttcher, Weissb. Only some of these, especially the last named, go too far in their assertion of the compactness and continuity of the passage, since they fail to recognize the difference between the two scenes, which it unmistakably contains. For in Son_8:5-7 there is evidently represented a return home, and in Son_8:8 ff. a transaction after arriving home. The former of these paragraphs exhibit the principal couple of the piece as still travelling, although quite near the end of their journey. The latter depicts their acts and doings at home in the circle of Shulamith’s family, where merry jests and peaceful enjoyment reign. The two scenes of such different character are therefore related exactly as in the third act; only there the excited tumult of the capital and the noisy bustle of the royal palace on Zion resounding with luxurious festivities, formed the background of the action, whilst here an innocent rural seclusion and simplicity, a cheerful, quiet life under apple trees, in gardens, and on mountains fragrant with spices, is depicted as a bright and peaceful termination of the whole matter.
2. With respect to the time and place of the action, no well grounded doubt can exist, on the supposition that the contents and meaning of the preceding act have been correctly understood. Solomon must have yielded to the urgent entreaties of his beloved, and immediately arranged a journey to her home and started with her, so that at the utmost there can only be an interval of three or four days between this and the foregoing act. Various indications suggest Shunem, the home of Shulamith, as the goal toward which the loving pair are journeying, and consequently as the locality of this act; especially the introductory passage, Son_8:5, rightly understood and interpreted, and also the mention of Shulamith’s little sister, Son_8:8 f., her “abiding in the gardens,” Son_8:13, as well as the “mountains of spices” or “mountains of balm,” Son_8:14, which remind us of Son_2:17.—Partly on account of the introductory words, which are identical with Son_3:6, “Who is this coming up out of the wilderness?” partly on account of the masc. suffixes in חבלתך אמך ,עוררתיךetc. (according to the Masoretic punctuation), which appear to show that the passage refers not to Shulamith’s but to Solomon’s birth-place, Weissbach (as also Döpke, etc., before him) explains and assumes the royal palace on Zion to be the place of this action; Son_8:5 ff. describe the arrival of the lovers there from the royal gardens (or more exactly from the “path or pasture ground of the royal flocks, which is to be sought between Zion and the king’s gardens”); the rest of the action is then performed on Zion itself. But the correctness of the Masoretic reading in that passage is more than doubtful (see just below, No. 3); and it is only by the greatest forcing that all that follows, especially Son_8:8 f., 11 ff. and Son_8:13, can be brought into harmony with this transfer of the scene to Jerusalem, as is sufficiently shown by the strange combinations of Weissbach with respect to the circumstances, under which Bathsheba had borne Solomon “under an apple tree” and the way that Shulamith had “waked” the king on this his native spot, comp. on Son_8:5 b.—The majority of recent interpreters are agreed with us in assuming Shunem to be the place of the action, only the advocates of the shepherd hypothesis, as might be expected, make not Solomon, but the shepherd and Shulamith arrive there and transact what follows;—a view, which is already sufficiently refuted by Son_8:12 where Solomon is evidently addressed as present (see in loc. as well as on Son_8:13), and which has as little foundation as Vaihinger’s assertion that Son_8:5-7 is performed at the house of Shulamith’s mother, and Son_8:8 ff. “on the eastern slope of little Mt. Hermon,” where her brothers may have had their pasture ground.—When Delitzsch, whose view of the position and import of this act is in every other respect correct and appropriate, finds represented merely “a visit of Shulamith with her husband to her home,” we must remark on the contrary that the entreaties and desires of Shulamith at the close of the preceding act certainly looked to more than a mere transient stay at her home, and that this was demanded by the whole state of the case.25 It was only in an actual settlement both of herself and of her husband in her home that she could find the needed guarantee of an undisturbed continuance of her relation to him of cordial and conjugal love.
3. First Scene. The arrival, vers.5–7.
Son_8:5. Who is this coming up out of the wilderness? So asked Son_3:6 the “daughters of Jerusalem,” the chorus of ladies of the court, who took part in the action until towards the end of the preceding act. This chorus could only have come to Shulamith’s home in company with the royal pair; and then the question before us would, be insupposable in their mouth26 (vs. Renan, etc.). Ewald, Böttcher, Hitzig, Delitzsch, etc. therefore correctly assume the speakers to be “shepherds,” or country people, or “inhabitants of the district,” whilst Umbreit and Meier arbitrarily suppose the question to be put by the poet himself; Weissb. by courtiers on Zion, Rosenm. by citizens of Jerusalem.—מִדְבָּר lit. “place to which cattle are driven, pasture ground” (in opposition to cultivated land, comp. Isa_32:15; Joe_1:19; Psa_65:13) is here used in a different sense from Son_3:6 where it referred to the barren tracts north and east of Jerusalem. It is here a designation of the plain of Esdraëlon or Merj ibn ’Amir, lying southward from Shunem to Jezreel, which is still for the most part untilled and traversed by Bedouins (Robinson, Pal. II. 324, 362). For through this plain the travellers coming from the capital must ultimately pass.—Leaning upon her beloved. The long journey, though she may have got over part of it in her sedan, has wearied the delicate lady who therefore supports herself upon the arm of her husband. Failing to recognize this situation so clear in itself and so easily conceivable, the old translators have variously altered the sense of the passage. In this way we may explain the glosses to be found in the text of the Sept. and Vulg.,λελευκανθισμένη (=מִתְבָּרֶרֶת) and deliciis affluens (=מִתְפִַּנֱקת), which are in both cases followed again by the correct translation of מִתְִרַפֶּקֶת עַל־דּוֹדָהּ.—Under this apple tree I waked thee. The pointing עוֹרַרְתִּיךָ, like that of the following verb implies that Solomon is the person addressed and that Shulamith is the speaker, but the consonants admit also of the reverse, and the old Syriac version seems actually to have read fem suffixes. Most of the older as well as of the more recent interpreters, following the Masoretic text conceive Shulamith to be the speaker, whilst Hitzig, Böttcher (who to be sure assigns a part of the verse to Shulamith’s mother), Delitzsch, Rebenst., Sanders, etc. make her lover speak. In favor of the latter assumption it may be urged 1) that if Solomon were the person addressed, the absurd sense would result of his birth under an apple tree—a sense which is certainly not made any more tolerable by Weissbach’s supposition of a “temporary sojourn of Bathsheba in the royal gardens with a view to her confinement;” 2) that in case the young shepherd were addressed the entire absence of any mention of his mother in what precedes, would be somewhat surprising and is not relieved by the parallels adduced by Ewald Gen. 35:48, Donati, vit. virg. c. 1, etc.; 3) that Son_8:6-7 confessedly spoken by Shulamith would require to be more closely connected with Son_8:5 b than they actually are, in case Son_8:5 b was also spoken by her: 4) that the expression “travail” or “conceive” (חַבֵּל) seems fitter in the mouth of a man than of a woman, in like manner as עוררתיך when correctly explained only appears appropriate in the mouth of the lover. For this expression, which we therefore read עוֹרַרְתִּיךְ, as is shown by its likeness to תְּעֹרְריּ Son_8:4, is not to be understood of a literal awakening out of sleep (Ewald, Heiligst., Hitzig, Vaih. etc.) but of waking a previously slumbering affection, the stirring up of love. “I waked thee” is here equivalent to “I excited thy love, I won thy heart” (Döpke, Del., Hengstenb. etc.). The circumstance, to which Solomon here alludes, is manifestly identical with that described by Shulamith Son_2:8 ff. We must, therefore, imagine the apple tree to be immediately adjoining the house of Shulamith’s mother, and probably shading one of its windows; the following statement is thus too more easily explained.—There thy mother travailed with thee, there travailed she that bare thee. “There,” i.e. not precisely under the apple tree as though the birth had taken place in the open air (Döpke), but more indefinitely, there, where that apple tree stands, in the dwelling shaded by it.
Son_8:6. Place me as a signet-ring upon thy heart. This is manifestly said by Shulamith in ardently loving response to what her lover had said to her, by which she had been reminded of the commencement of her relation to him. She thereupon presses familiarly and closely to him, illustrating the meaning of her words by a corresponding action. חוֹתָם the seal or signet-ring (Gen_38:18) is here as in Jer_22:24, and Hag_2:23 (which latter passage is probably an imitation of that before us) a symbol of close inseparable connection and most faithful preservation. Reference is had to the custom attested by Gen. loc. cit. of wearing signet-rings on a string upon the breast as well as to the like custom of binding them to the arm or right hand (see Jer. loc. cit., Sir_49:11); not to the use of the signet-ring for sealing, as though the sense were “press me closely to thy breast and in thy arms” (Hitzig), and quite as little to the impression taken from the seal (Herder, Döpke), or to an elegantly engraved bracelet (Weissb.), or even to the high priest’s breastplate (Golz, Hahn, etc.) For strong as death is love, hard as Sheol is jealousy. The request that he would keep her firmly and faithfully as his inalienable possession is here based by Shulamith on a reference to the death-vanquishing power and might of her love, or rather of love (אַהֲבָה absolutely), of true love in general. “The adjectives עַזָּה and קָשָׁה stand together also in Gen_49:7 to designate the passionate anger and fiery zeal of Simeon and Levi as one which was too strong and invincible to be repressed. As our poet probably (?) had this passage in mind, he doubtless designed עַזָּה to be understood here too of the all-conquering power and קָשָׁה (literally hard, resisting all impressions) of the constancy of love which baffles every attempt to suppress or to extirpate it. The comparisons also tend to the same conclusion; for death overcomes all things and the nether world (hell, sheol) cannot be subdued, comp. Job_7:9; Wis_2:1; Mat_16:18; 1Co_15:55.” Thus Weissbach, who is substantially correct, only he goes too far perhaps, in regarding Gen_49:7 as the model, which the poet designedly follows in this passage. On קִנְאָה zeal, zealous love, comp. Pro_6:34; Pro_27:4, where however the expression is used in a bad sense of love that has cooled, jealousy. In this passage it intensifies the idea of love, just as “death” and “hell” stand to each other in the relation of climax, and as “strong” (i.e. invincible) indicates a lower degree of the passion of love than “hard, unyielding” (i.e. inexorable, not to be appeased, like the realm of death, which never gives up anything that it possesses). Comp. Hitzigin loc.—Its flames are flames of fire, a blaze of Jehovah. On רְשָׁפִים “sparks, rays, flames,” comp. Job_5:7 (בְּנֵֹי רֶשֶׁף “sons of the flame,” i.e. sparks of fire); Psa_76:4 (“flashes” or “sparks of the bow,” i.e. arrows); Deu_32:24; Hab_3:5, etc. Love or rather its intenser synonym קִנְאָה (comp. Zep_1:18), appears here as a brightly blazing fire, which sends forth a multitude of sparks or flames into the hearts of men and thus verifies its invincible power and its inextinguishable intensity. And this quality belongs to it because it is not natural fire, but a “blaze of Jehovah,” flame kindled and sustained by God Himself. Observe that the name of God is mentioned only in this one passage of the Song, which must, however, prove to be just the radiant apex in the development of its doctrinal and ethical contents (comp. Doct. and Eth. No. 2). As parallels to this verse may be adduced: Motanebbi (edit. v. Hammer) p. Song of Solomon 3 :
In the heart of the lover flames the blaze of desire
Fiercer than the flames of hell, which are but ice in comparison.
Also Anacreon: “νικᾳ δὲ καὶ σιδηρὸν καὶ πῦρ.” Likewise Theocritus, Id. 2, 133.
——ἔρως δ’ ἄρα καὶ Λιπαρίου
Πολλάκις ‘Αφαίστοιο σέλας φλογερώτερον αἴθει.
And many other expressions of Arabic, Greek and Roman poets. See Magnusin loc.
Son_8:7. Many waters cannot quench love, and rivers shall not wash it away. It is here shown more particularly in what respect love is a divine flame, a fire greater than any kindled by a human hand, comp. 1Ki_18:38. To the figure of a blazing fire was readily added that of the inability of floods of water to extinguish this fire, and therefore in explanation of this new figure we need neither refer (as Hitzig does) to Isa_43:16, a passage which is different in every respect, nor (with Vaihinger and others) explain the floods of water of the enticements of Solomon in particular, by which he would have turned Shulamith away from her lover. The “rivers” (נְהָרוֹת) do not form a climax to the “many waters,” as Hölemann supposes (see e.g. on the contrary Jon_2:3); but in the latter case the thing chiefly regarded is the great mass of the element hostile to fire and in the former its rapidity and violence.—If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,i.e. with the view of exciting love and producing it artificially where it does not exist. Here we might really see something to favor the shepherd hypothesis, if a statement of the impossibility of purchasing true love was not appropriate in the mouth of Shulamith on our assumption likewise. But that this is the case, may be learned from the contrast between Shulamith’s genuine, invincibly strong love for Solomon and the mere semblance of love which had previously subsisted between this king and his other wives; comp. the sentence referring to this very contrast, Son_2:7; Son_3:5; Son_8:4, by which Shulamith represents to the ladies of the court how impossible it was for them by means of their amorous arts really to gain the king’s heart (see on Son_2:7, p. 63). On the expression comp. Num_22:18; Pro_6:31, which latter passage was probably drawn from this. On אִישׁ “a man, any one,” comp. Exo_16:29. That it is here an indefinite subject seems the more certain from the fact that in the apodosis also a universal statement follows with an impersonal form of the verb (יָבוּזוּ לוֹ). Vaihinger, Hölem., etc., therefore translate without good reason “If some man,” etc.—He would be utterly contemned; lit., “contemning they would contemn him.” The impersonal plural expresses, as in the similar passage Pro_6:30, the universal sentiment not merely that of those in particular who were solicited by false love and with money. The repetition of the verb by means of the Infin. absol. expresses the very high degree of contempt, which such an one as is here spoken of would encounter.
4. Second Scene.—a.Shulamith’s little sister, Son_8:8-10. Weissbach is alone in attempting to point out an intimate connection between these verses and the preceding. He says: “What was uttered Son_8:7 c, d as a universal proposition (viz. that money and property have no value as compared with love) is now Son_8:8-9 conditionally illustrated in the sister who is still young and destitute of charms, whilst Shulamith represents herself, Son_8:10, as the antithesis.” As this view can only be based on a very artificial interpretation of Son_8:8-9, we shall have to abide by the looser connection maintained, e.g., by Delitzsch and Hahn. They suppose that the sense expressed by Shulamith, Son_8:6-7, of the high happiness which she possesses and enjoys in her love for the king, reminded her of her young sister who was still debarred from such loving enjoyment, and she accordingly expresses her solicitude for her future conduct and fortunes. Upon this assumption the unmistakable dramatic progress receives due acknowledgment without the sundering of all connection between the new scene which begins here and that which preceded it, as is the case, e.g., in Umbreit’s view, according to which Son_8:6-7 constitute the closing sentiment of the drama (spoken by the poet himself) and Son_8:8-14 a twofold supplement to it. So in the similar views of Renan, Döpke, Magnus (comp. above No. 1) and no less so finally on the assumption of Döderlein, Ewald, Heiligstedt, Meier and Rocke, that Shulamith narrates in Son_8:8-9 what had formerly been said by the brothers in relation to her little sister. In opposition to this latter opinion, according to which Son_8:8-9 are to be regarded as recitative, and Shulamith’s own words do not begin again until Son_8:10, Delitzsch correctly urges: “It would be vain to appeal to Son_3:2; Son_5:3 to prove the possibility of this view; in both those passages the introduction of the language of another without any formal indication of the fact, occurs in the course of a narrative, whilst Son_8:8 f. is only converted into a narrative by the “fratres aliquando dixerunt” (Heiligstedt) understood. There is nothing to justify such an insertion. The only seeming necessity for it might be found in Son_6:9, according to which Shulamith herself appears to be the “little sister.” It is not, however, said in Son_6:9 that “Shulamith was the only daughter of her mother, but only that her mother did not possess or know her equal,” (comp. in loc.). Hitzig, too, emphatically opposes understanding the passage as a narration, but assumes that both verses, Son_8:9, as well as Son_8:8, were spoken by Shulamith’s brothers, which is contrary to the relation of the two verses as question and answer. Nevertheless this assumption, shared also by Vaihinger, especially if one brother is supposed to speak in Son_8:8, and the other in Son_8:9, would be far more tolerable than Böttcher’s view, which makes Shulamith’s mother put the question in Son_8:8, and one of her sons answer it in Son_8:9; or than the opinion of Hengstenberg that both Son_8:8-9 were spoken by Solomon; or than the view of Starke, and of many of the older interpreters, that Son_8:8 belongs to Shulamith, and Son_8:9 to Solomon.
Son_8:8. We have a sister, little, and she has (as yet) no breasts. On קָטָן “little” in the sense of young, belonging to the period of childhood, comp. Gen_9:24; Gen_27:15; 1Ki_3:7; and in relation to the breasts as the criterion of virgin maturity, Eze_16:7.—What shall we do. … in the day that she shall be spoken for? The day that a maiden is sued for, is when she becomes of a marriageable age. The suit was addressed in the first instance to the father of the damsel, or to her brothers, not directly to herself (Gen_34:11; Gen_34:13; Gen_24:50, etc.).
Son_8:9. If she be a wall, we will build upon her a silver castle; but if she be a door, we will stop her up with a cedar board.Delitzsch correctly paraphrases these words: “If she opposes a firm and successful resistance to all immoral suggestions, we will build on her, as on a solid wall, a castle of silver, i.e., we will bestow upon her the freedom and honor due to her virgin purity and steadfastness, so that she may shine forth in the land like a stately castle on a lofty wall which is seen far and wide. But if she is a door, i.e., open and accessible to the arts of seduction, we will block her up with cedar boards, i.e., watch her so that she cannot be approached by any seducer, nor any seducer approached by her.”—As soon as we suppose the brothers to give this answer respecting their younger sister, it loses the strange or even offensive appearance which its figures would certainly have in the mouth of Shulamith. Then, too, we shall not be compelled to seek for a closer connection between this sentiment and the main action of the poem (as the advocates of the shepherd hypothesis do), but can abide by the simple assumption that what is here said, as in general, all from Son_8:8 onward, is simply designed to form a cheerful and sportive termination of the whole matter. Least of all need we take refuge in the over-refined view of Weissbach that Son_8:9 is a continuation of the language of Shulamith, who supposes two questions to be put to her by certain men respecting her sister when marriageable, and immediately replies to them both—so that the sentences run thus:
…. What shall we do then in respect to our sister when they ask about her:
(a) “Is she a wall?”
Ans. We will build a little silver wall around her (?);
(b) “Is she a door?”
Ans. We will construct around her (?) a cedar frame (?)—
As to the particulars observe further: The wall חוֹמָה is not designed to set forth the idea of lofty stature (קוֹמָה7:8), or the impossibility of being scaled, but simply that of the firm resistance which checks the further advance of foes (Hitzig correctly, vs. Weissbach).—The “castle of silver” טִירַת כֶּסֶף to be built on the wall is, of course, only to be conceived of as a small but strong castle, tower or bulwark (comp. טִירָה in Num_31:10; Eze_25:4, etc.), or if any prefer as a “pinnacle” or “battlement crowning the wall” (Hitzig, Heiligstedt, Magn., Meier, Hölem.—comp. the Sept.:ἔπαλξις),—not as a “palace” (Goltz) [so Eng. Ver.] or “habitation” (Hengstenberg), or “court-yard” (Böttcher), or “low fence” (Weissbach). The meaning of the figure is admirably illustrated by Hitzig by a reference to our proverbial form of speech, “He (or she) deserves to be set in gold.” He also not inappropriately suggests an allusion to the way that oriental ladies to this day decorate their head-dress with strings of silver coins or with horn-like ornaments of embossed silver and the like (comp. on Son_4:4 above). On the contrary the sense which Vaihinger would attribute to the expression is undemonstrable and in bad taste: “we will seek to obtain a large dowry by her.” And Weissbach’s explanation is perfectly absurd and trifling: “we will carry up a silver wall around her, who needs no such protection.”—The door presents a fitting contrast to the wall, because it is easily opened and admits everything through it; an expressive emblem of unchastity which is open to every amorous seduction. “Stopping up” or “blocking” (Hitzig: “barricading”) this door with a “cedar board” naturally means a determined warding off of those seductive influences, and rendering all dissoluteness impossible by the most sedulous care. By this is not to be understood a “fore-door or vestibule door in front of the proper door” (Hug), nor a “cedar post” (Weissb.), nor a tablet to be put on the door as an ornament (Hölem.), but quite certainly a plank or board to be put against the door on the inside to prevent it from turning and opening. This board was to be of cedar, because this wood is a particularly strong building material and not liable to rot.27
Son_8:10. I was a wall and my breasts like towers. This is evidently said by Shulamith, whose thoughts were turned back to her own maiden state by her brothers’ faithful care shown for the honor and purity of her little sister. Looking back upon this time, which now lies in the past, she can joyfully affirm that all seduction recoiled from her as from a solid wall, and that no one had dared to venture an assault upon her pure and awe-inspiring charms (her breasts as inaccessible and hard to be scaled as towers upon walls, comp. Son_7:9 b).—Then was I in his eyes as one that finds peace,i.e., this careful preservation of my chastity, this keeping my charms pure and sacred procured me his, the king’s, favor and inmost love. שָׁלוֹם “welfare, peace,” is here as in אִישׁ שְׁלוֹמִיPsa_41:10, a synonym of חֵן “favor” or חֶסֶד “kindness” (comp. מָצָא חֵןGen_6:8; Gen_19:19; Jer_31:2, as well as חֶסֶד וָחֵןEst_2:17) and is not without a delicate allusion to the name of Solomon. There is also a certain refinement in the expression that Shulamith does not exactly say אָז מָצָאתִי בְעֵינָיו שָׁלוֹם “then I found peace in his eyes,” but with a modest circumlocution: “then was I as one (כְּ as in כְּאָח8:1) that finds peace in his eyes,” then I appeared to him worthy of his cordial affection (comp. Delitzsch and Hölemannin loc.). The expression contains no allusion, therefore, to the preceding comparison of herself to a wall surmounted by towers, or to a fortification. If the poet intended by אז הייתי בעיניו כמוצאת שלום to express the meaning: “then he finally left me in peace, instead of assailing me further,” he did so in a most strange and unintelligible manner (vs. Hitzig), and to regard חוֹמָה “wall” as the subject of מוֹצֵאת “found” (Ewald, Weissbach) will not answer on account of this word being too remote; and such a form of speech as “a wall or fortress finds peace—it surrenders or it is spared,” receives no confirmation from the Old Testament elsewhere, or from oriental literature generally.
5. Continuation.—b.Shulamith’s intercession for her brothers, Son_8:11-12.—These difficult verses can only be explained in accordance with the context, and with the whole course and tenor of the piece, by assuming with Delitzsch that the “vineyard of Solomon in Baal-hamon,” mentioned in Son_8:11, is simply adduced by way of example; that the speaker’s “own vineyard,” as in Son_1:6 (comp. Son_4:12 ff.), is a figurative designation of herself and her charms, which she devotes to the king; and finally that the “keepers of its fruit” (Son_8:12 b) is a designation of her brothers, the faithful and zealous guardians of her innocence; and consequently the whole must be taken to be an intercession of Shulamith on behalf of her brothers. This intercession fitly connects itself with their tender care for her little sister, just now manifested; and it likewise refers back in a suitable manner to the mention before made of her brothers, Son_1:6, and thus helps to bring about a termination of the whole, in which everything shall be satisfactorily adjusted and harmonized. We therefore reject the following divergent explanations of this brief section: 1) Shulamith declares that she has herself guarded her virgin innocence better than Solomon his vineyard in Baal-hamon, whose keepers had secretly retained, besides the fruit, two hundred shekels for themselves; she therefore needs no other keepers, not even the guardianship of her brothers (Herder, Umbreit,Döpke, Hitzig, Rocke). 2) Shulamith protests that she disdains all the wealth and the treasures of Solomon, which, like his vineyard in Baal-hamon, he is obliged to entrust to the guardianship of others; her vineyard, i.e., her innocence and virtue is under her own control, and in this possession of hers she has enough (Dathe, Rosenmueller, Ewald, Heiligstedt, etc.). 3) Shulamith triumphantly relates that Solomon offered her the rich vineyard at Baal-hamon, whither she had been carried to his pleasure-palace, with all its produce, and the entire park as her own property, if she would be his; he was even willing to release her from the payment of the two hundred shekels due to each of its keepers; but she had renounced the whole for the sake of her lover, who now, as her own chosen vineyard(!) stood before her (Vaihinger). 4) Shulamith means to say, Solomon must have his distant vineyard in Baal-hamon kept for him, and must therefore pay away considerable of its proceeds; but she, on the contrary, kept her own vineyard, that is to say Solomon (!), herself, and hence possessed his love alone without being obliged to share it with others (Hölemann). 5) Shulamith intends by Solomon’s vineyard in Baal-hamon herself, and by her own vineyard the shepherd, her lover; she means to say, Solomon did indeed get Shulamith into his power at Shulem (=Baal-hamon), and offered her one thousand shekels by each of the ladies of the court as her keepers; but he may keep this money, for her proper keeper, the shepherd, now stands before her again (Meier). 6) Shulamith means to say that Solomon, who has let out his vineyard to keepers, receives as the owner one thousand silverlings in cash from each keeper, whilst the keepers retain for their pay five times as much in fruit = five thousand shekels. But Shulamith, who keeps her own vineyard, i.e., herself with all her personal charms, and consequently might, as both owner and keeper, retain the entire produce for herself, gives the use of the fruit, consequently the five parts, in this case = 1000 (!) to Solomon, and only retains for herself as keeper the 200, i.e., the possession; the usufruct shall be his, she will only be the keeper of her vineyard (Weissbach). 7) Solomon’s vineyard in Baal-hamon denotes the kingdom of God founded in the midst of the world, in the midst of the savage masses of heathen population. The keepers of this vineyard are the several Christian nations, each of which has to pay one thousand shekels to the heavenly Solomon as the product of his labor. Each must therefore produce as much fruit as the people of Israel, the tenants of the vineyard mentioned, Son_8:12, which forms one part of the great vineyard of the Church. Each people then receives in return a reward of grace of two hundred shekels, that is to say, a fifth part of the produce of his portion; and the people of Israel receives no more, comp. Mat_20:1-16 (Hengstenberg). 8) Solomon’s vineyard at Baal-hamon denotes the Church of the Lord in the midst of the world. Its keepers are the prophets, apostles, pastors and teachers of Christendom, to whom two-tenths (twice as much, therefore, as under the Old Testament) shall be given as a reward of grace for their faithful raising of fruit, or for their leading many thousand souls to the heavenly Solomon (Calov, Michael., Marck., Berleb. Bib., and in general most of the old allegorists). 9) The vineyard at Baal-hamon denotes the Gentile world, generally, Shulamith’s vineyard, Son_8:12, Japhetic gentilism as one half of this Gentile world, the two hundred silverlings the spiritual peace granted by the king to Japhetic humanity in regard for their loving submission to him, etc.28 (Hahn).
Son_8:11. Solomon has a vineyard in Baal-hamon. Baal-hamon is, without doubt, the place not far from Dothaim in the south of the tribe of Issachar, which is called Βελαμὼν or Βαλαμὼν, Jdt_8:3, a locality therefore not very remote from Shunem. It derived its name from the Syro-Egyptian god, Ammon הָמוֹן (=אָמוֹןJer_46:25), which may have been worshipped there, just as Baal-gad (Jos_11:17; Jos_12:7, etc.) was named from Gad, the well-known Babylonish god of fortune. Baal-hamon scarcely signifies “the populous” (Vulg., Weissb., etc.), and it is still more improbable that it is to be identified, as many of the older writers assumed, with Baalbec in Cœle-Syria (where vineyards could hardly ever have flourished), or with Hammon, חַמּוֹן, Jos_19:28, or with Baalgad, Jos_11:17, etc. But if that locality near Shunem is intended, it by no means follows that Shulamith had been carried off to just that spot by Solomon, and detained there for some time as a prisoner in a pleasure-palace of the king, as Vaih. strangely supposes. But Shulamith only names this vineyard as an instance very near her home of a royal property let out on high rent, in order afterwards to illustrate by it her relation to the king as well as to her brothers.—He committed the vineyard to the keepers—i.e., to several at once, amongst whom the piece of ground was parcelled out in greater or smaller portions. That these keepers rented the property is shown by what follows.—Each was to bring for its fruit a thousand of silver—i.e., a thousand shekels of silver. From the high rent may be inferred the productiveness of the property; for that its annual yield corresponded to the agreement is certainly presupposed, as well as that a part of the produce of his piece annually remained for each tenant—that is, on an average, about two hundred shekels (see Son_8:12).
Son_8:12. My vineyard, my own, is before me—i.e., I take charge myself of my own vineyard, viz., of myself and my womanly charms, of myself as an object of men’s admiration and courtship. Since I came to maturity, I have been my own keeper, and have with entire freedom transferred to my royal husband this right of mine to dispose of myself. I have no longer any other keepers but him, who is one with me (comp. on Son_1:6, p. 56).—The thousand is thine, O Solomon, and two hundred for the keepers of its fruit—i.e., the entire proceeds are due to thee; I remain wholly thine own with all that I am and have. But they who kept my fruit, i.e., my innocence and virtue, before I was thine, should not go empty away. These trusty brotherly guardians of my maidenhood, who once watched over me as they now faithfully and sedulously watch over our little sister (Son_8:9), must be commended to thy love and favor, as in my heart they hold the next place after thee.—This explanation, it is true, does not completely remove all difficulties; but it involves fewer doubtful and forced assumptions than the other attempted explanations adduced above.
6. Conclusion.—c.The cheerful pleasantry and singing of the royal couple, Son_8:13-14.—These two concluding verses contain, according to Herder, the fragment of a conversation; according to Umbreit the serenade of a young man from the city with the answer of his lady-love in the country; according to Döpke a “small duet” belonging to the initial period of Shulamith’s love, and here appended by the poet; according to Magnus, a glossed and mutilated fragment of a love-song; while most of the advocates of the shepherd hypothesis see in it a colloquy between the lover and Shulamith, consisting of an invitation to sing on the part of the former, and a song of a roguish and playful character, which Shulamith thereupon sings (Ewald, Hitzig, Vaihinger, etc.). This last view evidently has the most in its favor on account of the recurrence of הַשְׁמִיעֵנִי “let me hear,” from Son_2:14, and the unmistakable resemblance of the song in Son_8:14 to Son_2:17 (and partly also to Son_2:15). Only there is no reason to suppose the person, who invites her to sing and whom Shulamith addresses in her song as דּוֹדִי “my beloved,” to be a young shepherd. The epithet which he bestows upon her, “thou that dwellest in the gardens,” makes it seem far more likely that he was a citizen of rank, and even resident in a palace, a man of royal race exalted greatly above her station in life. But little reason as there is to regard another than Solomon as the “beloved” who speaks in Son_8:13 and is then addressed in the sprightly little song, there is quite as little for assigning this occurrence with Hitzig to a period considerably later than the one recorded just before, or for assuming with Böttcher that the bridegroom, in quitting the merry engagement feast in the house of Shulamith’s mother, wanted to hear one more song from his bride before he left her for the last brief interval prior to the celebration of their marriage. Delitzsch and Weissbach understand the passage correctly, only the latter preposterously imagines the locality of the action here as in the final section generally to be the royal palace in Jerusalem (comp. p. 127).—Thou that dwellest in the gardens.—Literally, “thou sitting in the gardens,” i.e., thou resident in gardens, who art opposed to living in populous cities and splendid palaces (comp. Son_1:16 f.; Son_4:6; Son_5:7; Son_7:12 ff.). Solomon here evidently means to allude with pleasant raillery to the fact that his beloved, who had so often before exhibited her longing for the gardens and meadows of her home, was now exactly in her element, and ought therefore to be in the best of moods.—Companions are listening for thy voice; let me hear it.—The חֲבֵרִים “companions” are, according to Magnus, “neighbors,” or “the family;” according to Hufnagel, “female friends;” according to Moldenh., Ewald, Ren., etc., “bridemen” (des paranymphes, Renan); according to Vaihinger, “shepherds, fellow-pasturers;” according to Weissbach, Solomon himself, who here jestingly represents himself as a shepherd, or rather in the plural as “shepherds!” and finally, according to Herder, Hug, Delitzsch, “playmates” or “youthful associates” of Shulamith. This last view has most in its favor; only it is a matter of course that the companions of Shulamith’s youth were likewise those of her brothers; they are consequently in all likelihood shepherds and country people from Shunem and its vicinity. They were probably, therefore, the same as the speakers in Son_8:5 a of this chapter; on the contrary they are not the companions of Solomon (comp. Son_5:1), of whom Shulamith spoke Son_1:7 (vs. Ewald).
Son_8:14. Flee, my beloved. The words sound like sending off, or if any prefer “scaring away” or at least “urging out into the open ground” (Delitzsch). They do not, however, by any means express seriously intended coyness, as is shown by the very form of the address דּוֹדִי “my beloved.” They rather invite to hasten and range with the singer over the mountains and plains as is shown by what follows. ברח is not, however, exactly equivalent to “hasten, up!” as is maintained by Vaihinger and Weissbach, who refer to Num_24:11, Isa_30:16, etc. For even in these passages, as well as in Gen_27:43; Amo_7:12, the primary signification of this verb “to flee” is clearly apparent. Ewald arbitrarily: the meaning is that “he should cut across, leave his companions and not stay opposite to her but hasten to her side,” etc.—And be like a gazelle,etc. comp. on Son_2:17. In place of the “mountains of separation” or “cleft mountains” there mentioned we here have balsam mountains or “heights of scented herbs” (Weissbach), which to be sure are meant in a different sense from Son_4:6. Shulamith here calls by this name the mountains and hills of her home (comp. Son_2:8) because they were just then in the season of spring or early summer covered with fragrant flowers of all sorts and accordingly filled with balmy odors (comp. Son_2:12 f., Son_6:11).—On the import of this verse as the conclusion of the entire poem, comp. Delitzsch, p. Song 153: “Amid the cheerful notes of this song we lose sight of the pair rambling over the flowery heights, and the graceful spell of the Song of Songs, which bounds gazelle-like from one scene of beauty to another, vanishes with them.”
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The allegorical exegesis is in this section less able than ever to bring all into a form possessing unity and regular structure, and to reach really certain results, as the attempts above exhibited (p. 132) to give an allegorical explanation of Son_8:11-12 have evinced. Not only in this passage but in other parts of this section this mode of interpretation shows a very great multiplicity and divergence of opinions among its various advocates. The “little sister,” Son_8:8 f. is by some made to denote the first-fruits of Jews and Gentiles received into the church immediately after the ascension of Christ (Cassiodorus, Beza, Gregory, Rupert v. Deutz, etc.;) by others the entire body of the Jews and Gentiles yet to be converted (Heunisch, Reinhard, Rambach, likewise Hahn, who refers it particularly to “Hamitic Gentilism”); by others the weak in faith and young beginners in Christianity belonging to every period of the church in their totality (Marck., Berleb. Bib., Starke); and finally by others the daughter of Zion at the time of the first beginnings of her conversion to the heavenly Solomon (Hengst. and others). “The wall and the door,” Son_8:9, are indeed mostly understood of the steadfast and faithful keeping of the word of God and of its zealous proclamation to the Gentiles (according to 1Co_16:9, etc.); but some also explain them of the valiant in faith and the weak in faith, or of the learned and simple, or of faithful Christians and such as are recreant and easily accessible to the arts of seduction. And then according to these various interpretations the “silver bulwarks” are now the miracles of the first witnesses of Jesus, now the distinguished teachers of the church, now pious Christian rulers, now the testimonies of Holy Scripture by which faith is strengthened, etc. And again by the “cedar board” are sometimes understood the ten commandments or the law, sometimes Christian teachers, sometimes the examples of the saints, sometimes the salutary discipline of the cross and sufferings for Christ’s sake, etc. (comp. Starke in loc.). By the “companions” or “associates” who listen for the voice of the bride, Son_8:13, Piscator in all seriousness understands God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost; whilst the followers of Cocceius for the most part referred it to the angels; some of them, however, to true Christians; and the two most recent interpreters of this class suppose that the Gentile world before the time of Christ is intended by the expression, but with this difference that one (Hahn) has in mind chiefly the Gentiles as hostile to revelation, the other (Hengstenberg) as kindly disposed to the people of God and His revelation.
2. It is apparent from the exegetical explanations given above, that this divergence in the allegorical exegesis is matched by an equal variety of opinions and uncertain guess-work on the part of the merely historical interpreters of this chapter; and in fact it is scarcely possible by even the most cautious procedure to arrive at perfectly certain results in respect to the meaning and the connection of the sentences of this section with their fragment-like brevity and obscurity. This, however, only makes it the more necessary with a view to its practical application to adhere to its leading and most perspicuous passage which formulates the fundamental thought not only of the closing act, but of the entire poem with solemn emphasis and with an elevation and pathos of language purposely rising to a climax. We mean the spirited encomium contained in Son_8:6-7 of love between man and woman as a mysterious divine creation, and a power superior to death, Shulamith’s exalted panegyric of conjugal and wedded love, the culminating point of the entire poem, and the only true key to its meaning according to the unanimous assumptions, of interpreters of all schools. Delitzsch (p. 182 f.) has given the best exposition of the thought contained in this leading passage, which has in it the gist of the whole matter: “Shulamith herself here declares how she loves Solomon and how she wishes to be loved by him. This spontaneous testimony discloses to us the intermingling of human freedom and of divine necessity in true love between man and woman. Love is a שׁלהבת יה, a flame kindled by God Himself. Man cannot produce it in himself, and though he employ all his wealth for the purpose, he cannot kindle it in others. She is speaking, of course, of true love, which is directed to the person and not to any mere things. Man cannot create this love by his own agency. It is an operation of God—a divine flame, which seizes upon a man like death with irresistible power, and can neither be quenched nor extinguished by any calamity or by any hostile force. There is thus evinced in true love an inevitable and invincible power of divine necessity. But this divine necessity has for its other side human freedom. It is the inmost and truest ego of a man, from which this divine flame of love blazes forth. Whilst a man becomes a lover by a resistless divine energy, the lover’s passionate desire for the possession of the beloved object is as vehement and inflexible as the resistless and all-devouring grave. The lover loves because he must, but love is at the same time his most pleasurable volition, a return of love his most ardent desire. Smitten with love to Shulamith Solomon exclaims: How beautiful and how comely art thou, O love, among delights (Son_7:7); and smitten with love to Solomon Shulamith prays: Place me as a signet upon thy heart, as a signet ring upon thine arm (Son_8:6).” In this declaration of Shulamith, which gathers up all the main elements in the idea of wedded love and experience, and accordingly formulates the fundamental thought of the entire poem there is no allusion indeed to the blessing of children as the resplendent consummation of the wedded communion of man and wife, as also no express mention is made of this matter elsewhere throughout the piece. For to see an allusion to it in what Shulamith says, Son_8:12, of the “thousand” due to her husband from the produce of his vineyard, would evidently be forced and arbitrary. But Delitzsch properly remarks in relation to this omission of an apparently essential particular: “The author of Canticles has avoided everything, which would look to an externalizing of the relation, which he describes. He makes no mention of children; for a marriage in which the parties who conclude it are not an end to each other, but merely a means for obtaining posterity, does not correspond to its idea. Children are by divine blessing the sparks which result, when the flames of two souls flash into one. The latter is the main thing in marriage.” It is also a delicate feature of great psychological as well as æsthetic value, that Shulamith, the chaste and pure-minded maiden, though silent respecting the blessing of children, mentions instead with tender love and solicitude her little sister and her brothers, the same who had previously been angry with her and treated her harshly (Son_1:6), and consults with her brothers respecting the future of the former and in her intercession with her royal husband lays to heart the future of her brothers. This overplus of love, which with all the ardent fervor of her devotion to her husband, she still preserves for her own family (see Son_8:12); this touching sisterly love, which is essentially identical with her faithful and pious filial devotion to her mother repeatedly shown in the previous portion of the Song; this combined with her gladsome, cheery, playful disposition, which expresses itself in her concluding words, adds the finishing touch, sweetly transfiguring this noble picture which the poet would sketch of her character as the ideal of a bride and of a young wife, and by which—an unconscious organ of the Holy Spirit—he has set forth the idea and mystery of marriage itself as a sacred and divine institution.
3. From this luminous and revered female figure there proceeds a transfiguring radiance, in which the form of her royal husband, the enthusiastic admirer and spirited singer of her love and her loveliness also shines with a clear and pleasing light. But yet for the sake of, a complete and thoroughly correct typical estimate of the transaction, the sad truth must not be left out of the account, that the bond of love so purely and holily regarded by her was nevertheless at last desecrated and broken by him. For that this was the case, can scarcely be doubted from the manner in which both the historians of the Old Testament record the final fortunes of Solomon and the end of his life (1Ki_11:1-43, 2Ch_9:22-31). Of a sincere and permanent conversion of this monarch to a God-fearing and virtuous walk in the evening of his days neither the book of Kings nor Chronicles has anything to relate, the latter of which would scarcely have omitted to note a similarity in the life of Solomon to that of Manasseh in this respect. That no proof can be drawn from the book of Ecclesiastes for this view, a favorite one with many of the older theologians, the introduction to this book may teach us (§ 4). We must stand by the assumption confirmed by 1 Kings 11 and contradicted by no other testimony, that the unhappy king afterwards proceeded from that stage of polygamous degeneracy indicated in this Song, especially in Son_6:8, to still grosser extravagances in this direction, and thus at last filled up the measure of his sins, and brought upon himself and upon his house the corresponding judgment beginning with the revolt of Jeroboam. He must accordingly have deeply wounded Shulamith’s heart by a speedy return to the criminally voluptuous and idolatrous manners of his court and have repaid her love so pure and ardent with base infidelity. This deplorable condition of things casts a light not very creditable to him upon his relation to his antitype in the history of redemption, the Messiah. Love for the purest and best of the daughters of his people, whom he adorned with the crown royal and raised from an humble station to the throne of David, could not permanently purify and hallow the earthly Solomon and rescue him from the abyss of crime into which he was in danger of sinking. The heavenly Solomon, on the contrary, must laboriously lift the Church, which He is gathering to Himself from amongst mankind, step by step to the luminous elevation of His own holiness and truth; He must have great indulgence for her weakness, must pardon her many relapses into her old walk of sin, must absolutely despair of presenting His bride perfectly pure, without spot or wrinkle, so long as she remains in this present world. In the Old Testament type, therefore, we find a sad contrast between the fidelity of the wife and the unfaithfulness of her husband. Of the Messianic archetype, on the other hand, it is written with perfect truth: “Though we be unfaithful, yet He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (2Ti_2:13). In the type no really pure, complete and durable realization of the idea of marriage is reached, but the natural relation existing for a time is only too speedily perverted to its opposite by the fault of the husband. In the fulfilment of the type it is the husband, the new Adam, the Son of Man who came down from heaven and yet is essentially in heaven (Joh_3:13), who not merely concludes the marriage covenant with mankind, but likewise preserves, confirms, refines and conducts it step by step to its ideal consummation, which is at the same time the palingenesia and perfection of humanity. To our human consciousness this parallel, which strictly carried out leaves scarcely more than a faint glimmer of resemblance between the type and the archetype, has in it something deeply humiliating. But it may nevertheless operate to the strengthening of faith in our heart, for it points us to the one divine helper and physician, who heals all our diseases; it drives us into the arms of the one mediator and comforter, who is rich in mercy unto all them that call upon Him; it encourages us to childlike confidence in the heavenly author and finisher of our faith, whose grace worketh all in all according to His word of promise (Joh_5:15; Php_1:6; Php_2:12, etc.).
His love no end nor measure knows,
No change can turn its course,
Immutably the same it flows,
From one eternal source.
Footnotes:
[1][Williams: She suggests a wish that her relation to him were rather that of an infant brother than a husband; that she might be at liberty to express her affection in the strongest and most public manner, without incurring the charge of forwardness or indecorum.]
[2][Wicl.: The voice of the synagogue, of the church. Mat.: The synagogue speaking of the church.]
[3][Wicl.: The voice of Christ to the synagogue, of the holy cross. Under an apple tree I reared thee. Mat.: The voice of the spouse before the spousess. Cov., Mat.: I am the same that waked thee up among the apple trees. Bish.: I waked thee up among, etc. Genev.: I raised thee up under an [Eng. Ver.: the] apple tree.]
[4] הַתַּכּוּחַ deictic: “this apple tree.”
[5]We read עוֹרַרְתִּיךְ.
[6] שָׁמָּה we take to be synonymous with שָׁם as in Jer_18:2 : 2Ki_23:8, etc.
[7]Here too we read the fem. suf. חִבְּלָתֶךְ אמֵּךְ and at the end of the verse יְלָדָתֶךְ (or with the Sept., Vulg., Syr. יֹלַדְתֵּךְ)
[8] חכל here as well as in Psa_7:15 is taken by Ibn Ezra and Hitzig in the sense of “conceiving” [so Genev.: conceived]; but the meaning of writhing with pain, travailing (ὠδἰνελν) is more obvious and better confirmed by חֲבָלִים ,חֵבֶל. At all events, we must reject Meier’s explanation: “there thy mother betrothed thee” (in like manner Schultens, J. D. Michaelis, Magnus) [so too Percy, Good, Williams, Burrowes and others]; for even if the sense of pledging or betrothing were certainly established for the Piel of חבל, it would still require לִי to me, for its more exact limitation. The Vulg. (corrupta est, violata est) with still less propriety has taken חבל in the sense of “corrupting” (in like manner Aquila: διεφἀρη). On the contrary, the Sept. correctly: έκεῖ ωδἰνησέν σε ἡ μἠτηρ σον. [Wicl.: there shamed is thy mother, there defiled is she that gat thee. Dow.: “there thy mother was corrupted, there she was deflowered that bare thee;” to which is appended the note: “under the apple tree I raised thee up; that is, that Christ redeemed the Gentiles at the foot of the cross, where the synagogue of the Jews (the mother church) was corrupted by their denying Him and crucifying Him.”]
[9][Mat.: The church speaking to Christ.]
[10][Wicl., Cov., Mat., Cran., Bish., Dow.: hell. Genev., Eng. Ver.: the grave.]
[11][Wicl., Dow.: lamps. Other English versions: coals.]
[12]In שַׁלְהֶתֶתְיָהּ the Masorah has connected the genitive יָהּ with the construct, as in מַאְכֵּלְיָה Jer_2:31, and as in proper names compounded with יָה or יָהוּ (the abbreviation of יהוה). The recension of Ben Asher retains this mode of writing the expression as a compound, while that of Ben Naphtali separates the words. The φλὀγεζ αν̓τῆζ of the Septuagint is based upon this contraction into one word. Ewald and Hitzig needlessly conjecture that the original reading was שַׁלְהֲבֹתֶיהָ שַׁלְחֲבוֹת יָהּ “its flames are flames of God.” The analogy of the preceding sentences rather requires, as Weissbach correctly observes, the giving of two predicates to the single subject רְשָׁכֶּיהָ. It is, therefore, properly to be translated “its flames are flames of fire, they are a blaze of God.” On the etymology of שַׁלְהֶבֶת as a compound of אֵשׁ and לְהָבָה compare Weissbach in loc. [The שׁ is servile, such as marks the Shaphel species in Chald. and Syr. See Gesen. and Fuerst’s Lexicons. Cov., Mat.: a very flame of the Lord. Genev.: a vehement flame. Eng. Ver.: a most vehement flame.]
[13] שׁטף is neither “to deluge” (Ewald), nor “overflow” (Delitzsch, Hengstenberg), nor “choke up” with sediment (Rosenm.), but “wash away, sweep away,” as is shown by Job_14:19; comp. Isa_28:17 f .; Eze_16:9.
[14][Wicl.: The voice of Christ to the lineage of holy church. Mat.: Christ speaking of the church to the synagogue. Note in Geneva Bible: The Jewish church speaketh this of the church of the Gentiles. Cov., Mat.: When our love is told our young sister, whose breasts are not yet grown, what shall we do unto her?]
[15]On מַה־נַּעֲשֶׂה לְ “what shall we do in respect to,” etc., comp. 1Sa_10:2; also Gen_27:37.
[16] דִּבֶּר בְּ is neither “to speak to any one,” nor “to speak about any one,” whether in a good or a bad sense (Doederl., Weissb.), but simply and only “to speak for any one” (בְּ prep. of the end or aim, as in 7 b), i.e., to sue for any one, to woo a maid (1Sa_25:39).
[17][Mat.: The answer of Christ for the church.]
[18][Wicl.: The voice of the church answering. Mat.: The church answereth to the synagogue. Cov., Mat.: If I be a wall and my breasts like towers, then am I as one that hath found favor in his sight.]
[19][Wicl.: The synagogue of the church saith. Vine she was to peaceable in her that hath peoples; she took it to the keepers; a man taketh away for the fruit of it, a thousand silver plates. Dow.: The peaceable had a vineyard in that which hath people. Mat.: The synagogue speaking to the church.]
[20] כֶּרֶם הָיָה לִשׁלֹמֹה literally “a vineyard became Solomon’s,” i.e., he has it now (comp. Psa_119:56; Psa_119:83; also Eze_16:8), not, he had it once, as though Solomon were here spoken of as a ruler long since dead (Ewald, Hitzig, etc.).
[21][Wicl.: Christ to the church saith. Mat.: The voice of Christ. Cov., Mat.: But my vineyard, O Solomon, giveth thee a thousand, and two hundred to the keepers of the fruit. Thou that dwellest in the garaens, O let me hear thy voice, that my companions may hearken to the same.]
[22]On the different explanations of כַּרְמִי שֶׁלִּי see on Son_1:6, p. 56.
[23][Wicl., Mat.: The voice of the church to Christ. Wicl.: Flee thou, my love; be thou likened to a capret and to an hart, calf of harts, upon the mountains of sweet spices. Cov., Mat.: O get thee away, my love, as a roe or a young hart unto the sweet smelling mountains. The end of the Ballet of Ballets of Solomon, called in Latin Canticum Canticorum.]
[24]On the general usage of בְּשָׂמִים comp. Son_4:14; Son_5:13; Son_6:2.
[25][The transparent absurdity of this hypothesis of Solomon going to Shunem not merely for a visit but to reside, involving the abandonment of his capital and the neglect of the affairs of government, renders any scheme of the book untenable of which it is a necessary part.—Tr.]
[26][Zöckler has repeatedly argued before that the recurrence of the same language implies the same speaker and the same subject: see his comment on Son_4:1; Son_4:6; Son_6:9; Son_6:10 and several times elsewhere. Whatever force there is in this consideration makes against the locality and the speakers that he here assumes. The wilderness here spoken of should not without some obvious necessity be regarded as different from that in Son_3:6. And that the queen appears on foot leaning on her royal husband’s arm is surely not suggestive of the termination of a long and wearisome journey.—Tr.]
[27][Thrupp quotes in opposition to the view above given of this verse the language of Renan: “This interpretation is pressed by serious difficulties. I do not insist on its vapid and feeble character. We may admit contrary to all probability, that the silver battlements of which the brothers speak might denote a sort of ornament as a recompense of the young girl’s virtue, it will still remain a trait whose signification is an enigma. If the brothers wish to punish their sister in case she should commit any fault, why do they menace her with panels of cedar? It is evident that this implies an idea of riches and luxury. Battlements of silver, panels of cedar answer to one another. Neither of these alternatives includes an idea of punishment or recompense.” Thrupp himself supposes it to be the language of the bridegroom, and its meaning to be: “We will build her up, and that in full glory. The walls and the doors come into view as two of the most obvious features of every edifice. As for her wall of enclosure, we will fence her around with silver; as for her doors, of cedar alone and of no inferior wood, shall they be constructed.” Burrowes: “Her nature should be adorned with ornaments, giving more beauty and strength than turrets of silver, or a richly carved door of the most elegant cedar.” Moody Stuart: “They liken the little sister to two of the principal parts of a building or temple—first, the wall without which there is no stability, no house; and second, the door without which there is no entrance to the house, and no use of it. The wall is the image of stability on which, with its solid strength, is to be built a silver palace for habitation and for beauty. The door is the image of accessibleness; but a door-way without the wooden frame work, requires cedar boards to distinguish it from a mere open thoroughfare.” Good understands by the “silver turrets:” “The prominent charm of an ample dowry shall immediately be her own;” and by the “door encased in cedar:” “She shall be the graceful entrance to my favor and friendship.” Harmer, who supposes the little sister to be Pharaoh’s daughter espoused to Solomon, imagines that the “wall” and the door” are emblems of the political consequences of the alliance as on the one hand “a guard and defence, giving a new security to Judæa,” and on the other opening “a free communication between Egypt and the Jewish country.”]
[28][Good finds in these verses a request made of Solomon by his royal bride that he would “consign the estate which, prior to her marriage, she had possessed in Baal-hamon, and which now appertained to himself as a part of the dowry she had brought him, to her younger and unendowed sister.” Burrowes: “While Solomon’s tenants were obliged to pay the stipulated rent, the spouse speaks of a vineyard which was her own, but which she would nevertheless so keep under her own control and management, as to be able while paying the keepers equitable wages, to offer yearly to the king a thousand pieces of silver as a testimonial of her love.” Moody Stuart: “Solomon is the Messiah, and Baal-hamon is no doubt either Jerusalem or the land of Israel. The vineyard was let to keepers, who were to render its fruits to the king—they were to render them, but the silence as to the fulfilment implies that the covenant was not kept. The New Testament church now declares, that by the Lord’s grant the vineyard is hers, and undertakes, through grace, that she will never lose sight of it. She further engages to assign to those who labor in it a suitable and moderate maintenance, and allots ‘two hundred pieces of silver to those that keep the fruit of it.’ At the same time she promises that the full revenue shall only be the Lord’s, and that she will never attempt, like her predecessor, to claim the vineyard as her own.” The same author also calls attention to the “remarkable agreement between this passage and the reference to the Lord’s vineyard, in the fifth chapter of Isaiah,” and adds: “The Song of Solomon was evidently much in the mind of Isaiah, and he refers to it more or less directly in every page of his prophecies.” This last statement is verified through several pages filled with passages from Isaiah, which bear more or less affinity in language or ideas to expressions in the Song of Solomon. The interesting relation thus suggested as existing between these two books, has its importance in determining the estimate put upon the Song of Solomon, and the interpretation given to it in Old Testament times and by inspired men.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. The wilderness — Hebrew, the plain. Dismissed now…
5. The wilderness — Hebrew, the plain. Dismissed now from the palace, the people of the village — the Homeric τις — the casual group, ask of each other this question. Not hearing — certainly not heeding — any words of theirs, they pass on in tender musing’s, until a dear old trysting place, an apple tree, calls out a remark.
I raised thee up — Hebrew, I incited thee to love. The common people of the East live much in the open air, and it is not extraordinary that the Beloved may have been born under the apple tree, (Hebrew, this apple tree,) where, in years long after, the speaker won his heart. The repetition here given makes the identification of the tree the more forcible.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. the wilderness] i.e. the uncultivated open pasture lands…
5. the wilderness] i.e. the uncultivated open pasture lands round the village. This again is an insurmountable difficulty for Budde, as the same word in Son_3:6 was. Siegfried boldly tries to get over the difficulty by saying that the threshing-floor lay in the midhbâr, and in Wetzstein’s account the marriage procession is said to move from the chaff-barn towards the threshing-floor. But unfortunately, the procession, if procession it be, is described as coming from the midhbâr. Moreover, to make the threshing-floor a part of the midhbâr is unheard of.
leaning upon her beloved] i.e. she was supporting herself as weary with the journey.
Read full note →
I raised thee] The pronouns thee and thy in the last clauses of this verse are masculine in the Massoretic text, and consequently make the Shulammite address the bridegroom. But the Syriac, which is followed by many commentators, reads the pronouns as feminine. The question is one of vowels, as the consonantal text is the same for both readings, and in all probability the feminine suffixes are correct, for no one’s mother but the bride’s has hitherto been spoken of, and the words are better suited to the bridegroom than to the bride. The clause should be rendered as in the R.V. I awakened thee. The lover, as he approaches the maiden’s home, points out places that are memorable to him. Under this apple tree he had, perhaps, kissed her awake. Cp. Tennyson’s Sleeping Beauty. This is better than, ‘here I first aroused thy love.’
there] i.e. yonder, not under the apple tree, but in the house they are approaching.
thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee] Better, as in the R.V., thy mother was in travail with thee, there was she in travail that brought thee forth.
Chap. Son_8:5-7. The Return in the Might of Love
The scene depicted in these verses is the return of the Shulammite with her lover to the village. As they draw near she leans upon him in weariness, and they are observed by some of the villagers, who ask the question in Son_8:5 a. The lovers meantime come slowly on, and as they come he points out an apple tree under which he had once found her sleeping and awaked her, and then as they come in sight of it, he points to her birthplace, her mother’s home. In Son_8:6-7 the Shulammite utters that great panegyric of love which is the climax and glory of the book. Because of this power of love which she feels in her heart she beseeches her lover to bind her closely to himself. For the Wetzstein-Budde theory these verses are full of insuperable difficulty. Such personal details as we have here cannot be made to fit into a collection of general wedding songs, and the advocates of that view have simply to give them up as a mere congeries of fragments. Taken as above, everything is simple, intelligible and natural.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) Who is this that cometh.—This begins a new…
(5) Who is this that cometh.—This begins a new section, which contains the most magnificent description of true love ever written by poet. The dramatic theory encounters insuperable difficulties with this strophe. Again we presume that the theatre and the spectators are imaginary. It is another sweet reminiscence, coming most naturally and beautifully after the last. The obstacles have been removed, the pair are united, and the poet recalls the delightful sensations with which he led his bride through the scenes where the youth of both had been spent, and then bursts out into the glorious panegyric of that pure and perfect passion which had united them.
Leaning upon her beloved . . .—The LXX. add here shining white, and the Vulgate, flowing with delights.
Read full note →
I raised thee up.—Literally, aroused: i.e., I inspired thee with love. For this sense of exciting a passion, given to the Hebrew word, compare Pro_10:12; Zec_9:13. Delitzsch restores from the Syriac what must have been the original vowel-pointing, making the suffixes feminine instead of masculine.
There thy mother . . .—Not necessarily under the apple-tree, which is commemorated as the scene of the betrothal, but near it. The poet delights to recall these early associations, the feelings with which he had watched her home and waited her coming. The Vulg. has here ibi corrupta est mater tua, ibi violata est genetrix tua, which savours of allegory. So in later times the tree has been taken to stand for the Cross, the individual excited to love under it the Gentiles redeemed at the foot of the Cross, and the deflowered and corrupted mother the synagogue of the Jews (the mother of the Christian Church), which was corrupted by denying and crucifying the Saviour.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 5-14. Part V CONCLUSION. THE BRIDEGROOM AND THE…
Vers. 5-14. Part V CONCLUSION. THE BRIDEGROOM AND THE BRIDE IN THE SCENE OF THEIR FIRST LOVE.
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? We must compare this question with the corresponding one in Son_3:6. In that case the inhabitants of Jerusalem are supposed to be looking forth, and behold the bridal procession approaching the capital. In this case the scene is transferred to the country, to the neighbourhood of the bride"s home, where she has desired to be with her lord. The country people, or the group of her relatives, are supposed to be gazing at the pair of lovers, not coming in royal state, but in the sweet simplicity of true affection, the bride leaning with loving confidence on the arm of her husband, as they were seen before in the time of their "first love." The restoration of "first love" is often the prayer of the disciple, feeling how far he falls short of the affection which such a Master should call forth. The first feelings of the heart when it is won to Christ are very delightful. "Where is the blessedness I knew When first I saw the Lord? Where is the soul-refreshing view Of Jesus and his Word?
Read full note →
It is a blessedness when we come up from the wilderness. It is a joy to ourselves and a matter of praise to our fellow believers when we are manifestly filled with a sense of the Saviour"s presence and fellowship. The word midhbaur, translated "wilderness," does not, however, necessarily mean a desolate and barren desert, but rather the open country, as the Valley of Jezreel The LXX had either a different reading in the Hebrew or has mistaken it. They have rendered the last clause "clothed in white," which perhaps Jerome has followed with his deliciis affluens. The word is, however, from the root rauvaq, which in the hiph. is "to support one"s self." The meaning, therefore, is, "leaning for support." It might, however, be intended to represent the loving confidence of married life, and therefore would be equivalent in meaning to the Greek and Latin renderings, that is, "Who is this? Evidently a young newly married wife with her husband." Perhaps this is the best explanation of the words as preparing for what follows, as the bridegroom begins at once to speak of the first love. Some think that the road in which the loving pair are seen to be walking brings their footsteps near to the apple tree over against Shulamith"s house where they had first met. But there is no necessity for that supposition. It is sufficient if we imagine the apple tree to be in sight.
Under the apple tree I awakened thee; there thy mother was in travail with thee; there was she in travail that brought thee forth. I awakened thee; i.e. I stirred thee up to return the affection which I showed thee. (cf. Son_2:7) The Masoretic reading prints the verb as with the masculine suffix, but this renders the meaning exceedingly perplexed. The bride would not speak of awakening Solomon, but it was he who had awakened her. The change is very slight, the becoming and is supported by the Old Syriac Version. It must be remembered that the bridegroom immediately addresses the bride, speaking of her mother. The apple tree would certainly be most naturally supposed to be situated somewhere near the house where the bride was bore perhaps overshadowing it or branching over the windows, or trained upon the trellis surrounding the house. The bridegroom points to it. "See, there it is, the familiar apple tree beside the house where thy dear self wast born. There, yonder, is where thy mother dwelt, and where thou heartiest my first words of affection as we sat side by side just outside the house under the shade of the apple tree." The language is exquisitely simple and chaste, and yet so full of the tender affection of the true lover. The spot where the first breathings of love came forth will ever be dear in the remembrance of those whose affection remains faithful and fond. The typical view certainly finds itself supported in these words. Nothing is more delightful and more helpful to the believer than to go over in thought, again and again, and especially when faith grows feeble, when the heart is cold and fickle under the influence of worldly temptations and difficulties of the Christian course, the history of the first beginning of the spiritual life. We recall how dear the Lord was to us then, how wonderful his love seemed to us, how condescending and how merciful. We reproach ourselves that we faint and fail; we cry out for the fulness of grace, and it is given us.
Vers. 5-14. Entire union of wedded love.
I COMMUNION OF THE BRIDEGROOM AND THE BRIDE.
1. Approach of the bride. "Who is this?" The question is asked for the third time. (see Son_3:6 Son_6:10) In Son_3:6 the chorus of youths asks the question as the bride is borne in royal state to meet the king in the city of his kingdom; it occurs again in Son_6:10, when the maidens of the chorus are struck with admiration of her queenlike, majestic beauty. Now, apparently, we have a narrative of a visit to the scenes of the bride"s early life, according to her invitation in Son_7:11; and the question, "Who is this?" is repeated once more. Here the circumstances are changed; there is no magnificence as in So 3; the bride is alone with the king; she is seen coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved. So the Church, the bride of Christ, cometh up from the wilderness, leaning on the heavenly Bridegroom. So the Church of the Old Testament went up from Babylon when the wilderness was glad for them, when the ransomed of the Lord returned and went up with singing to Zion. So the Church of the New Testament came up from the wilderness of persecution, leaning on the strength of Christ; so the same Church shall come up at the call of the same holy Saviour to the heavenly Zion when that blessed promise is fulfilled, "Upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Hades, the abode of the dead, shall not be able to retain within its grasp the bride of Christ. For he saith, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave Sheol, or Hades; I will redeem them from death: O death, where are thy plagues? O grave, where is thy destruction? Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes". (Hos_13:14) And so now each Christian soul cometh up, one after another, out of the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved. When he calls us and bids us come to him, we feel that the world is indeed a wilderness; that it hath nothing to satisfy our cravings, our needs. And the soul cometh, drawn by the Saviour"s love. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." The soul cometh up; it is a continual ascent. As the Lord was lifted up from the earth, so the soul cometh up, away from the world, nearer to the cross. Christ is calling us upwards. The holiness to which he bids us aspire is very high; it seems above our reach; it can be reached only by persevering effort; by climbing, little by little, ever higher; by making all the little matters of daily life opportunities of self-denial, means of disciplining our human wills into submission to the holy will of God. The effort must be continuous, conscious, real; there must be no looking back to the wilderness; no hankering after the flesh pots of Egypt; no longing for the other masters, the world, the flesh, and the devil, which we renounced when we gave our heart to Christ. The soul cometh up from the wilderness. It is a solemn thing; a sight which causes joy in heaven, for the angels know the meaning of that ascent; they know the perils of the wilderness, the utter vanity of its seeming pleasures; they know the toil, the difficulty of that ascent; they know the great glory and gladness reserved for those that have achieved it; they know, too, how very precious every Christian soul is in the sight of the Lord, who bought it with his blood. At rest in heaven themselves, they watch with a deep interest the heavenward progress of each true disciple of the Lord. The long procession upwards of the ransomed saints must be a spectacle of varied and intense interest in the presence of the angels of God. And they see what was once seen by the King of Babylon, "Behold, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God". (Dan_3:25) The angels see that each soul that cometh up is leaning on her Beloved. The journey is long and wearisome; the ascent is steep and rugged; but the soul that has found Christ, and clung to him with the embrace of faith the soul that can say, "My Beloved is mine, and I am his," is not left alone in its weakness. There is a strong arm, unseen by the outward eye, but felt and realized by faith; there is a hand stretched forth to help the hand that once caught the sinking Peter, and lifted him up out of the depths. Each faithful soul leaneth on her Beloved. We need that support always, at every point of the long, wearisome path; at every step of the toilsome, upward climbing. Without Christ we can do nothing; we sink backwards; we become listless and slothful. But while we feel his presence while by faith we lean upon him, resting our weakness on his strength, then our progress is assured. We need that presence always, in all the little trials of our daily lives, in the greater sorrows and perplexities that emerge from time to time. That presence transfigures our life, turning troubles into blessings; making sorrows so many steps upwards, ever nearer to God. To realize that presence, the Lord Jesus must be my Beloved;" I must give him my whole heart; I must know him with that holy knowledge with which the true sheep know the good Shepherd; and to gain the excellency of that blessed knowledge I must be content, like St. Paul, to count all things else as dross, as very dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him. "I need thy presence every passing hour: What but thy grace can foil the tempter"s power? Who like thyself my guide and stay can be? Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me. "I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless; Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness; Where is death"s sting? where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, if thou abide with me.
2. The voice of the bridegroom. According to the present pointing of the Hebrew, the second clause of ver. 5 is an utterance of the bride. Many of the Fathers and other Christian writers assign it to the bridegroom. This last arrangement seems by far the most natural. The king points out the birthplace of the bride; he recalls to her remembrance an incident of their early attachment he shows her the tree under which they first met. So man and wife now, when united in a happy marriage, love to visit the early haunts of one another, and especially the places endeared to both by the memory of their first vows and promises. So to the Christian those places must be always full of sacred interest where the heavenly Bridegroom first won the love of his bride, the Church Bethlehem, Gethsemane, Calvary. So to each Christian soul those spots are hallowed ground which are connected with events in our own religious life our baptism, our confirmation, our first communion; or associated with any great and abiding impressions or influences for good which Almighty God has been pleased to grant to us from time to time.
3. The response of the bride. The bride is leaning on the bridegroom"s arm; perhaps she was reclining her head upon his breast. She would ever remain in that dear embrace, near to him as the seal which was attached to the arm or neck. The seal of the king had great weight and value; it gave his authority to the document which bore it; (Dan_7:17) it was precious and sacred, and would, of course, be jealously guarded. The king himself would wear it; it would be fastened on his arm, or it would be suspended from his neck and rest upon his heart. There the bride would ever be, encircled with her husband"s arms, pressed close to his heart; it is her rightful place, for she is bound to him by the indissoluble ties of holy wedlock. So the Church, the bride of Christ, clings to her Lord. Without him she can do nothing; but, borne up in the everlasting arms, she hath a strength not her own. She would be near to him as a seal. She hath the seal of God, for she is "sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance". (Eph_1:13, Eph_1:14) She is God"s foundation upon the holy hills, (Psa_87:1) built upon the Rock of ages; and "the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity". (2Ti_2:19) So each Christian longs to be borne up in the arms of Christ those arms that were opened wide upon the cross, as if to fold his chosen in the embrace of his love; so each Christian longs to rest, as once St. John rested, upon the Saviour"s breast; to be dear to him, cherished as a seal that lies in its owner"s bosom; so each Christian hopes to bear the impress of that sacred seal stamped more and more deeply into his inner life, that being now sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, he may one day stand among the blessed, sealed with the seal of the living God upon his forehead. (Rev_7:3)
4. Her praise of love. Why does she desire to be so close to the bridegroom, to be as a seal upon his heart? Because, she says, "love is strong as death." She has given him her love, and that love entirely fills and dominates her soul; she has taken him to be her husband till death; she loves him with a love like that of Ruth: "The Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me". (Rth_1:17) That love, strong as death, the love of those wedded souls who in true affection have plighted their troth, either to other, "till death us do part," is a figure of the holy love that is betwixt Christ and his Church. Indeed, the love of the heavenly Bridegroom was stronger than death; stronger than a death of lingering torture, a death of ignominy and horror. "We love him, because he first loved us." His Church, drawn by the constraining power of his most holy love, has striven to return it. Many of his saints have loved him with a love strong as death; they have proved by the martyr"s death the strength of their love. How should we have acted if we had lived in those days of fiery trial? It is a question which we should often and earnestly press upon ourselves, for the Lord has taught us that "he that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal". (Joh_12:25) St. Stephen, and the long line of saints who followed him, the noble army of martyrs, loved not their lives unto the death. How would it be with the many half-hearted, careless Christians who come to church, and call themselves disciples of the crucified Saviour, but have not learned to take up the cross and deny themselves for his sake how would it be with them if they were suddenly summoned to choose between Christ and death? Which of us would be faithful unto death? Which of us would deny his Lord? It is an awful question a question full of the deepest interest; for it is only such a love, a love strong as death, which can give us strength to overcome temptation, and to fight the good fight of faith. He who for the love of Christ endures hardness now, who puts aside his own wishes, and does habitually for Christ"s sake things which but for the love of Christ he would not have done; he who habitually for Christ"s sake leaves undone things which but for the love of Christ he would have gladly done, he is learning to love Christ with a love strong as death, a love which is giving him strength to kill out of his heart worldly thoughts and earthly ambitions, so that, dying unto the world, he may live unto Christ. We must all pray and strive for that love strong as death; it should be the object of our highest ambition, our most fervent longing. We need it now as much as the Mints and martyrs of the Lord needed it in the old times. For if they had to lay down their lives for Christ, we have now to give him our hearts, our lives; and to do that always, in times of anxiety, or sickness, or lassitude, requires a great love; a love strong as death; a love which we can only learn of the Master who loved us with a love stronger than death, who himself set us the high example of self-sacrificing love, and now helps and teaches us by the gracious influences of the Holy Ghost, the other Comforter, whom he sendeth to abide forever with his people. Love is strong as death, and jealousy is hard as the grave (Sheol, or Hades). Death is strong; he is the last enemy, the king of terrors. Hades is hard and stern; it is rapacious; it hath never enough; it holds its prisoners firm. But love is strong as death and Hades. Christ, who is Love, hath overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; the gates of Hades shall not prevail against his Church. Neither death nor life can separate from his love those who love him with a true love, a love strong as death; they, too, are more than conquerors through him who loved them. And when love is strong as death, the jealousy (in the good sense of the word), which is one of its developments, is hard, tenacious, as Hades. God is love, the infinite love, and he is a jealous God. "Thou shalt worship no other God: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God". (Exo_34:14) He asks for our whole heart; he is jealous of a divided service; he will not accept a service to be shared with another master. Such a service is stigmatized in Holy Scripture with the stern name of adultery. "Ye adulteresses," says St. James, in language of awful severity, "know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?... Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The Spirit which he hath made to dwell within us, jealously yearneth after us?" or, as the words may also be rendered, "he jealously yearneth for the spirit which he made to dwell within us". (Jam_4:4, Jam_4:5) God once-breathed into man"s nostrils the breath of life. He gave to man as his distinguishing possession s spirit. "I pray God," says St. Paul to the Thessalonians, "that your whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ". (1Th_5:23) That spirit, his special gift, should be wholly his. It is that part of our complex nature which is receptive of the Holy Spirit of God, which, when illumined by his presence, can attain unto such knowledge of God as is now granted to us, ("Now we see through a glass, darkly... now I know in part," 1Co_13:12) and dwell in communion with God. God jealously desires the possession of that spirit. Therefore the Christian"s love for God must be a jealous love; he must be very jealous of the intrusion of other loves, other ambitions, into the heart, which should be given wholly to God; he must keep his heart for God with a godly jealousy (see 2Co_11:2) jealousy stern as that with which Hades retains its prisoners. And this holy jealousy is ardent, too ardent as flames of fire; "a very flame of the Lord" (ver. 6, Revised Version). For its ardour comes from him; it is he who gives that ardent zeal that zeal for the Lord which has urged his holiest servants to do and dare such great things for his love"s sake. The great love of the Lord Jesus for our souls calls for something more than the lukewarmness of Laodicea. "Be zealous," it says to us; "be zealous and repent". (Rev_3:19) The name of God occurs only in this one place in the song; we read it here in the shortened form (Jah) of the adorable name, as if to teach us the sacred lesson of the disciple whom Jesus loved, that "God is love: and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him". (1Jn_4:16) Holy love comes only from him. "Love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth. (1Jn_4:7) Such love cannot be quenched. It is so even with pure human love. "Many waters cannot quench it, neither can the floods drown it." The many waters of trouble, suffering, old age, cannot stifle love; it lives on still. It cannot be bought. "If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, he would utterly be contemned." Love cannot be bought or forced; it is essentially free and spontaneous; it springs up spontaneously in the heart, ("when it pleases," ver. 4; also Son_2:7 Son_3:5) in response to love, at the presence of an object capable of calling it forth. So it is with the holy love of God. God"s love for us cannot be quenched. The many waters of our unbelief, ingratitude, and sin have not blessed be his holy Name quenched his gracious love. It cannot be bought; we cannot buy it with earthly gifts, with gold or silver, or external good works; it is given freely, graciously, and it abides in those who live in the faith of the Son of God. Our love for God is a faint reflection of his blessed love for us. It is called forth by that holy love. "We love him, because he first loved us." The waters of trouble and sorrow and temptation cannot drown it if it is true and real. These verses are the Old Testament psalm of love (see Psalm 45, title), corresponding to 1Co 13 or the First Epistle of St. John, in the New Testament. They have a singular power and beauty; they are treasured in the memories of God"s people; they have brought peace and comfort to many a death bed.
II INTERCESSIONS OF THE BRIDE.
1. For her sister. The bride has a sister not yet of marriageable years. What shall be done for her? If she be a wall, firm and steadfast, she shall be richly dowered; but if she be a door, too easily opened, too accessible, she must be carefully guarded. The bride herself is a wall, strong and steadfast in her virtue; therefore it was that she found peace in the bridegroom"s eyes. There may possibly be an allusion here to the name Solomon, which follows in the next verse: the bride found peace in the eyes of the peaceful one. The bride is the Church, the little sister perhaps the Gentiles. Those Gentile Churches that will be steadfast in the faith, like Smyrna or Philadelphia, shall be built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief Cornerstone. (Eph_2:20) Those that are like Thyatira, Sardis, or Laodicea, still open to those other masters, the world, the flesh, and the devil, must be treated with wholesome severity; they must be carefully guarded and fenced in, and closed against the enemies of the Lord. The bride intercedes for her little sister. She herself has set a good example. Christian people must make intercession for the heathen, that they may be converted; for missionary work, that it may be prospered; and while they pray, they must be very careful to set a good example themselves, that the great work may not be hindered by any fault of theirs, but may go on and prosper till the earth be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.
2. For her brothers. She had spoken of their harshness. (Son_1:6) "They made me," she said, "keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard literally, as here, "my vineyard, which is mine have I not kept." Now she intercedes with the king for them. She would have them to be keepers of her vineyard, and to receive a suitable recompense. She compares King Solomon"s vineyard with her own. The king, she says, had one of great extent and value; every one of the keepers was to bring him a thousand shekels. Then she adds, "My vineyard, which is mine, is before me." Her vineyard was small; it lay before her eyes. It now passes into the hand of Solomon; it is his. He must have a thousand shekels from it. She wishes the keepers (her brothers, apparently) to have two hundred. The greater than Solomon, the heavenly Bridegroom, has a vineyard. It is the world. (comp. Mat_13:38, "The field is the world Solomon"s vineyard was at Baal-hamon, which means "the Lord of the multitude." We may perhaps see in the word an allusion to him who is called in Holy Scripture "the prince of this world". (Joh_14:30) The Lord has a vineyard in the world, which Satan strives to rule. And men have still, as in Elijah"s time, to choose whom they will serve. "If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him". (1Ki_18:21) But though Satan is called the prince of this world, and in one place (2Co_4:4) "the god of this world," he is a usurper; the vineyard is the Lord"s. And the Lord has done all that could be done for his vineyard: "he has hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen". (Mat_21:33) The husbandmen were to bring him in due time of the fruits of his vineyard. They were to do so, but, alas! they did not; they served Baal, many of them, rather than the Lord. The Church"s vineyard is before her; it lies within a comparatively narrow space; it does not cover a third of the population of the world. It belongs now to the heavenly Bridegroom, for the Church is his. He loved the Church, and gave himself for her; and that unspeakable gift, that stupendous ransom, has made her and all that she has wholly his. The fruits which that vineyard brings forth must be paid duly to the Lord of the vineyard. Those fruits are souls converted, sanctified, saved. The keepers too, if they are found faithful, have their reward. The souls saved through their means, their warnings, their example, their preaching, their labours, are their best and most precious reward in this world, (1Co_3:14) and in the world to come, "when the chief Shepherd shall appear, they shall receive a crown of glory which fadeth not away". (1Pe_5:4) Each Christian soul is the Lord"s vineyard; it must be cultivated for him, not for Baal. It may be a vineyard in Baal-hamon, set among a multitude who follow the prince of this world; but it is the Lord"s, bought with his most precious blood. It must not bring forth wild grapes, fit only for the world, the flesh, and the devil; it must bring forth good fruit fruit meet to be rendered to the Lord, to be treasured in his granary; the fruit of the Spirit love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. And the soul itself which keepeth the fruit; the soul that treasures up the graces of the good Spirit of God, that listens with reverent attention to his gracious warnings, and follows his guidance; the soul that worketh out its own salvation with fear and trembling through the grace of God, who worketh within both to will and to do, that soul shall receive of the fruit; for "blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Love, trustfulness, obedience rendered to Christ, bring their own great reward in the irradiating presence of the Saviour. "If any man love me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him.
III FINAL WORDS OF LOVE.
1. The voice of the bridegroom. He addresses the bride as "Thou that dwellest in the gardens" meaning, apparently, the vineyard which she had just mentioned. She has dune her best for it. He accepts her past service. Now the king and his companions were listening for her voice; it was sweet to hear. "Cause me to hear it," the king says, meaning, it seems, that the voice of the bride was very sweet to him; he loved to hear it; and perhaps also implying that he was ready to grant any request that she might make, as well as that which she had already made. When the Church does her duty, dwelling in the gardens of the Lord, tending his vineyard, then there is joy in heaven, joy in the presence of the angels of God; they hearken to the prayers and praises of the Church. The Lord himself, the heavenly Bridegroom, delights to hear the voice of the bride; her prayers and adorations are as the holy incense, acceptable to him. (Rev_8:3, Rev_8:4) The Lord would have all Christian men to pray, and that constantly, His will is that men should pray always, and not faint. He graciously listens to the voice of his people when they speak to themselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, when they make melody in their hearts unto the Lord. (Eph_5:19) And he grants their requests. "If ye ask anything in my Name," he says, "I will do it;" "Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full;" "Whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive," We must claim his blessed promise; we must make him hear our voice while we are "dwelling in the gardens," while we are labouring in the Lord"s vineyard. True prayer leads to faithful work; faithful work stimulates prayer, and gives it energy and devotion. He will hear our prayers for ourselves, our intercessions for others, if only they are offered up in faith, in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
2. The response of the bride. The king sought to hear the voice of the bride. She in response repeats the last clause of her song in Son_2:17; but she makes one important change the mountains are no longer "mountains of Bether," which means "separation," but "mountains of Besamin" ("spices"). Perhaps there is a reference to "the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense" in the royal gardens. (Son_4:6) The bride no longer thinks of the possibility of separation. Formerly her beloved was separated from her for a while in his hunting excursions; now he is to be as bright and exultant as of old, but with her in their common haunts. The Church prays, "Thy kingdom come" Her prayer is that God of his gracious goodness would be pleased shortly to accomplish the number of his elect, and to hasten his kingdom. The Christian prays and longs for the coming of the Lord, beseeching him in ever-deepening earnestness to come, first in the kingdom of grace, into his people"s hearts, then in the kingdom of glory, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of God and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever, King of kings, and Lord of lords.
The home coming.
"Who is this that cometh up," etc.? The end of this pastoral song is approaching. The speaker in the former versos has finished her recital with words telling of her yearning love for her beloved, and an adjuration to those listening to her that they should not attempt to alter her mind towards him (vers. 3, 4). They are the same as in Son_2:7 Son_3:5. And now the scene changes. She has been rescued from or permitted to leave her gilded but none the less hated captivity in Solomon"s palace, and with her beloved is returning to her old home. A band of friends exclaim, "Who is this," etc.? Applying the words spiritually, we may take them of the soul"s home coming. And they tell
I WHITHER SUCH SOUL COMES. It is ever an upward coming. For all the characteristics of the soul"s true home are far above the soul"s natural condition. For here, assuredly, we have not peace. "Man is born," not to peace, but "to trouble." Who knows not that? For sin is the great troubler.
Therefore, for the soul to have what it so desires, it must come up and away from the wilderness. Purity, likewise. How here can we keep ourselves undefiled? Who amongst men unregenerate and unsaved ever does so? But as the soul in coming home enters into the peace of God, so also shall it partake of his purity. Rest. The trials, crosses, and disappointments of life, its manifold adversities, all ceaselessly proclaim to the soul, "This is not your rest." But "there remaineth a rest for the people of God." And the soul, uprising in faith and love towards God, does even here know much of the truth of Christ"s promise, "I will give you rest." And then there is the course and consummation of all these in the presence of God eternally in heaven. Here we have pledges and foretastes, but there only are we made perfect.
II WHENCE. "From the wilderness." How fit that word for the soul"s condition here ere it is redeemed by Christ! Are not the distress of conscience, the sense of guilt, the tyranny and cruelty of sin, the trials of life, and at length the grave, are not all these wilderness like things? But when the soul comes home, it comes away from all these. It is not a coming in them, as every soul has to make acquaintance with them when it is born into the world; nor is it a coming through them that is what we are occupied in now whilst we linger here; but it is coming from them, leaving them all behind. Oh, blessed home coming of the soul!
III How. "Leaning upon her beloved." This tells of the souls relation to Christ. He is "her Beloved." Of its union with him. As it were linked lovingly together as the soul leans upon him. Of its dependence upon Christ. It is a long, rough, lonely, and difficult way that the soul has to traverse. It needs, therefore, that the Lord should be her "arm" every day. (Isa_33:2) Of its communion with Christ. Note the affectionate converse of the next verse. The maiden is represented as coming to a particular tree where once she had awaked him from a noonday slumber, and where, too, he had been bern. "In Oriente non raro accidit at mulieres in aperto pariant". (cf. Gen_35:16) And they talk of these reminiscences. It was natural, and tells of the familiar intercourse, the happy communion, which the soul enjoys with Christ. Yes, it is thus that we make our way homeward, heavenward. In union, in dependence, in communion, with Christ. Thus we come up from the wilderness leaning on our beloved Lord. S.C.
HOMILIES BY J.D. DAVIES Ver. 5. The Christian pilgrim.
Life with every man is a journey; a march from the cradle to the grave. To the pious man this journey is religious; it has a moral character. It is not simply the inevitable moving on from year to year; beside this, it is a progress in knowledge, faith, holiness, and usefulness. The grave is not the Christian"s goal. His goal is perfection perfect excellence and perfect joy. Every day"s experience is related to the great eternity. Each duty well discharged, each sin conquered, each trouble patiently endured, is a distinct step heavenward. It is not merely a movement onward; it is also a movement upward. The journey of the Hebrews through the wilderness to the earthly Canaan furnishes many instructive analogies with the Christian"s passage to the skies. We, who possess the new life within, "seek a country, that is, a heavenly.
I OBSERVE THE CHRISTIAN"S FORMER STATE. It is described as a "wilderness.
1. It is a wilderness on account of its barrenness. So in our unregenerate condition there was in us no fertility and no beauty. There may have been a few barren stalks of common morality; but they yielded no fragrance, they bore no fruit. In this wilderness there was nothing to satisfy the desires and aspirations of the soul. This world has its possessions, its pleasures, its honours, its shows, but none of these please or elevate the soul. We aspire after righteousness, after moral excellence, after the friendship of God; and with respect to these things this world is barren and empty. No man can lie down fully contented in it. It is not suitable for us as a possession; so that most men, burdened with care and infirmity, sigh out, "I would not live alway." "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver." The vapid joys of this world soon pall upon the appetite. They do not increase the capacity for joy; they diminish it. And many a man who has taken his fill of this world"s pleasure concludes life with this dismal verdict on his lips, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity!
2. Moreover, this wilderness is infested with foes. If in the Arabian desert the Hebrews were exposed to human foes, to wild beasts and fierce serpents, so in this world many foes infest the way. Many and subtle are the snares which the enemy sets for our feet. We are liable to ten thousand annoyances. Evil men tempt us with a view to ruin us. "Satan goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." We have need for perpetual watchfulness. We have to fight with many adversaries. Clearly "this is not our rest.
II MARK THE CHRISTIAN"S PRESENT ASCENT. "He cometh up." "Tis an ascent.
1. Progress is the only way to perfection. It is true that God might have brought about perfection by some other way; but, as a fact, he has ordained this way, and this only. All the similitudes employed in Scripture to set forth the Christian life describe it as a thing of progress. The progress may be slow or more rapid; nevertheless, if there is life there is growth. In some believers the processes of enlightenment, conversion, and edification may be more rapid than in others (just as in some climates the processes of budding, blossoming, and ripening in fruit trees are more rapid than in our own land); still, in every instance perfection is attained by distinct stages. The life of every Christian is a progress along the heavenly way.
2. Discomfort is incident to a pilgrimage. No one expects to find the same comforts on a journey which he finds at home. On a journey one is content with the bare necessaries of existence. Would it not be madness to encumber one"s self with soft couches and luxurious indulgences while on a journey? Would not such things seriously impede our progress? And is it not the one desire of a pilgrim to advance as rapidly as possible? To reach the end of his pilgrimage at the earliest hour is the uppermost desire of every true pilgrim. Therefore needless burdens are left behind. This is how ordinary pilgrims conduct themselves. And should not every Christian be more eager to advance along the way than to cumber himself with lands, or houses, or worldly honours? He who is bent on heavenly progress is bent also on self-denial. To grow like Christ, that is the Christian"s daily business. Every day another step.
3. The pilgrim often pursues a solitary path. He is much alone. In the vision of the text only one is seen "coming up from the wilderness." She had left the broad path where many were found. She had left her old friends and companions. More and more the Christian has to walk alone. When first he resolved to follow Jesus he had to abandon former acquaintances; and, as often as he essays to reach a loftier level, he has to part with some comrades. He has learnt the art of personal decision. If others will not ascend with him to the higher planes of holy living, he must go alone. He would rather miss the company of a hundred than lose the company of his Well-beloved. Hence the frequent solitariness of the pilgrim. So far as outward connection with Christ"s disciples is concerned, he will not separate himself. He cultivates all possible bonds of unity. He fosters Church life. But with regard to the inner life of his soul, i.e. his personal fellowship with Jesus, he is much alone. Yet, when most alone, he has the best society.
III NOTE THE CHRISTIAN"S HELPFUL COMPANION. "Leaning on her Beloved.
1. This leaning implies a sense of Christs nearness. We cannot lean upon anything that is not close at hand, yea, in actual touch with us. Though we cannot perceive Jesus with the organ of the body, we have a stronger proof still of his nearness. The experience of the soul is far more real and far more reliable than any sensation of the body. No organ is more easily deceived than the eye. Certainly our Immanuel gains immediate entrance to the heart. This fact is contained in his name, "God with us." So, without the intervention of words or other vehicle, he imparts good cheer and strength straight to the soul. He comes nearer than any human friend can come. He knows all the secret doors by which to pass in. He touches all the secret springs of life and reanimates them. He comes "to give life, to give it more abundantly.
2. Leaning means the transference of all our weakness to Jesus. To lean is to find support in another. If I am too weak to walk a distance of fifty miles, and I take a seat in a railway train, I transfer my weakness to that steam engine, and I take the benefit of its strength. At the outset of our Christian life we laid the whole weight of our sin upon our Substitute. We said, "God be merciful, for the sake of Jesus!" This was the foundation of our hope. As we grow in grace we learn more and more to leave our burdens in the hand of Jesus. We overcome the tempter, not by our own native strength, but through Christ, "who strengtheneth us." "I live," said St. Paul: "yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." This righteousness I have is Christ"s righteousness. This love for sinful men is Christ"s love "shed abroad in my heart." This wisdom to instruct and guide others is Christ"s wisdom. I am "leaning on my Beloved." He takes on him all my weaknesses. He imparts to me his all-sufficient strength. It is a sacred and a vital partnership. Faith is perpetual dependence.
3. This leaning implies that Jesus is a consenting party. He loves to be used, loves to be trusted. Our weakness can never be a strain upon him, for his strength is omnipotence. He cannot fail, for such faithfulness was never seen among men no, nor among angels. I could not trust to him for my eternal well being if I did not know that he shared in the Godhead. Clearly he is fully competent to take the whole weight of my salvation. And equally certain is it that he is willing. His love is as great as his power. His patience has often been severely tried, but it has proved abundantly adequate. The sun may cease to shine, the mountains may bow their snowy crests, the sea may vacate its bed; yet his loving kindness and his faithfulness eternally abide these cannot fail. It is to him a real delight to help the weak and needy. After fifty or sixty years" experience of his tender grace, he says to us, "You have never half used me yet; you have never trusted me half enough. Hitherto you have asked nothing, comparatively nothing. Ask, and ye shall receive." So that our response ought to be spontaneous, "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him" As the ivy clings for support to the oak, or as the limpet clings to the solid rock, so may we in our native weakness cling to the eternal Strength. As our faith grown, so will grow our love; and love, again, will encourage faith. There is a beautiful interaction. We lean upon Jesus because he is our Well-beloved. D.
"Leaning upon her beloved.
As a skilled artist by two or three strokes brings some incident vividly and picturesquely before the eye, so does the poet here by a few words picture before us a scene harmonious with the whole composition, and depict the mutual relation of the two personages of this exquisite dramatic idyll. We see the bride returning to the home of her youth, quitting the familiar pastures, and approaching the dear abode; she is "leaning upon her beloved." If true love is suggestive of true religion, as is not to be doubted, then we may regard this attitude as having its analogue in the Christian"s wonted experience as related to his Lord.
I THE CHURCH"S INNATE WEAKNESS. Men sometimes use extravagant language regarding the Church, as though in itself it were great and powerful. But the juster view to take is that suggested by the posture of the beloved coming up out of the wilderness. All the Church has is derived; she can neither stand nor walk alone; her steps would falter if unsupported, would stray and err if unguided.
II THE CHURCH"S DIVINE FRIEND AND HELPER. Christ, who has called his Church into fellowship with himself, is alone able and willing to take her under his protection and control. He knows the way in which she is to walk, the enemies she will encounter, the dangers by which she will be assailed. And he has all resources of spiritual strength and wisdom, encouragement and love. Every earthly counsellor and friend has limited powers, which sooner or later will surely fail. There is no measure to Christ"s capacity to save and bless.
III THE CHURCH"S WILLING, GRATEFUL, AND CLINGING DEPENDENCE. They who would fain go alone are not Christ"s. So surely as he chooses his own, so surely does he put within them a spirit of subjection and attachment to himself. A cry for leading and for support comes up from the depths of the spiritual nature a cry to which Christ is never indifferent, to which Christ always responds. He bids her "lean hard" upon him.
IV THE CHURCH"S HAPPY SECURITY. Having given herself into his keeping, she knows that she is safe; that he will lead her aright, that he will never leave and never forsake her; that if she stumbles, she will not be allowed to fall; that if she is faint and weary, he will uphold her tottering steps; that if she is fearful, his words and his smile will banish her apprehensions and restore her peace. T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,…
Son_8:5
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?
Read full note →
The state and attitude of a believer
I. The believers spiritual state. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness? From this desolate wilderness, the Church, and by consequence every believer, is represented as departing. The deliverance is not complete, the departure is not entire, while the follower of Christ is in the present state of being.
II. The attitude of a believers soul.
1. Dependence on Christ. By faith, believers lean upon the person of their glorious Redeemer for acceptance with God; upon His power for help; upon His love for joy; upon His faithfulness for hope.
2. Delighted affection.
3. Entire devotedness. (R. P. Buddicom, M. A.)
The Christian renouncing the world
I. The representation here given of the world; it is called a wilderness. By the world, I mean the things of the world, regarded as sources of happiness and satisfaction. It is totally insufficient for the supply of true and lasting happiness.
II. The conduct of every true Christian with respect to the world.
1. The true Christian no longer seeks his chief happiness from worldly things.
2. The real Christian uses great moderation, in his enjoyment even of lawful things. He does not venture to the edge of forbidden ground, but keeps at a cautious distance. He allows himself no gratification which is of a doubtful character. And even when he has reduced his cares and his pleasures to a much smaller compass than his worldly neighbours would think needful, he still sets a guard over his heart, lest it should be betrayed into too great an attachment to the things which remain.
3. The real Christian longs for his final translation to a better world.
III. The secret source and spring of the Christians conduct.
1. He is influenced to do this by the Love of Christ.
2. He is encouraged by the promises of Christ.
3. He is strengthened by the grace of Christ. (J. Jowett, M. A.)
True believers, espoused to Christ, turning their back on the world, and walking heavenward with Him, are a mystery, a strange sight in the world
I. I shall premise some things for right understanding the doctrine. Sin turned this world into an enemys country in respect of heaven, and so into a wilderness. This her going away up from the wilderness with her espoused Husband, is a going away in heart and affections; it is the souls motion heavenwards in this life, the last step of which is made at death. Christs bride at her waygoing, and ongoing with Him thus, is a mystery, a strange sight in the world.
II. I shall show in what respects believers are a mystery, a strange sight in the world; the power of godliness appearing in their walk at this rate, so that it is said of them, Who is this? There is something very amiable about them, as we are told of the primitive Christians (Act_2:46-47), that they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, etc. They are like foreigners in a country, apt to become a gazing-stock, a wonder, about which the natives cannot satisfy themselves.
III. I shall give the reasons of the point, that true believers are a mystery, a strange sight in the world.
1. Because they are so unlike the world, they are like speckled birds among the rest (1Pe_4:4).
2. Because they are so unlike themselves in former times.
3. Because they are very rare in the world; they are but here and there one for a marvel (Jer_3:14).
use
I. Of information.
1. Serious souls need not think it strange, if they become a wonder to many (Psa_71:7).
2. The world is no idle spectator of those who have given themselves to Christ, and profess to follow Him.
3. Those who shall still walk after the course of the world, continue sons of earth, not making away heavenward in the tenor of their life and conversation, are not espoused to Christ; though they have given Him the hand, they have not given Him the heart.
Use
II. Of exhortation. O Christians, communicants, walk so as the world may bear witness, that ye are going up out of the wilderness, leaning on your Beloved; that your faces and hearts are heavenward; that ye have set off from them, and are no more theirs. And further, if ye be clothed with humility and with humanity, meek, ruling your own spirit, doing good to all, even to those that wrong you; and are patient under trouble, and living by faith. (T. Boston, D. D.)
The life of believers as espoused to Christ, is a going up from the wilderness of this world, with Him, to His Fathers house in the heavenly Canaan
I. I shall take notice of some things supposed in this doctrine.
1. As soon as a soul is espoused to Christ, it is loosed from the world.
2. The soul espoused to Christ, being loosed from the world, is set in motion heavenwards, away from the world (Psa_84:5-7).
3. The believers journeying heavenwards is attended with many difficulties. It is an up-going, and that through a wilderness.
4. The believers passage to heaven is also a work of time. It is not a leaping out of the wilderness into Canaan, but a going up out of it by degrees. It cost Israel long forty years in the wilderness.
5. Christ is with the believer in the journey. It is a weary land they have to go through, but they are not alone in it (Son_4:8).
6. The end of this journey is a most comfortable one (Joh_14:2).
II. I shall unfold the believers life, as a going up from the wilderness of this world, typified by the Israelites going up from the wilderness to Canaan.
1. I shall show you how believers are brought unto the wilderness. The world is not a wilderness to them and in their esteem, till they be brought out of the Egyptian bondage of their natural state. Then, and not till then, they enter into their wilderness-state.
2. I shall show how the believer is set into the wilderness. When once converting grace has made a fair separation betwixt the sinner and the world, presently he enters into a wilderness-state.
(1) He cares not for the world as he was wont (Gal_6:14).
(2) The world cares not for him as before (Gal_6:14).
(3) Then it becomes, by Gods appointment, the place of trial for him, as the wilderness was to the Israelites (Deu_8:2).
(4) It is no more his home or his rest; but the place of his pilgrimage, the place he must travel through in his way home to his eternal rest (Heb_11:13).
3. I shall show how the believer is going up from the wilderness.
(1) By the course of nature, which is swift as a post, a ship, and as an eagles flight.
(2) In the habitual bent of his heart and affections. Believers hearts are turned off the world, and set on things above.
(3) In progressive sanctification (Pro_4:18).
(4) In obtaining victory over the world (1Jn_5:4).
4. The hardships and inconveniencies of the wilderness-road, which the believer must lay his account with, while he goes up from the wilderness. It is a difficult way through the wilderness. The road the travellers must go will try their patience, their strength, etc.
5. I now come to show the advantages and conveniencies of the wilderness-road. The people of God, while in the wilderness-world, have as much allowed them from heaven as may balance the hardships of the wilderness.
(1) The pillar of cloud to go before them in the wilderness.
(2) They have provision allowed them from heaven in the waste wilderness. The Kings country affords them provision for their journey.
(3) Sometimes they are allowed a song in the weary land, for their comfort and recreation by the way (Psa_119:54).
(4) The Lord is their banner in the wilderness, and so they may be sure of victory, they shall be conquerors in the war (Exo_17:15).
(5) There is healing in the wilderness for them, for the wounds got there.
(6) We must not forget the tabernacle in the wilderness, which was the comfort of the godly Israelites there. The tabernacle of Gospel-ordinances is the great comfort of the travellers towards Zion.
Use
I. Of information.
1. The people of God need not be surprised, that they meet with many hardships and trials in the world, and that it is a strange world to them. While they are in it, they are in a wilderness. How, then, can they expect other than a wilderness-life?
2. They have good reason to bear all the hardships of their wilderness-lot patiently, and with Christian fortitude and cheerfulness. And that
(1) Because they will not last, they will be over ere long; they are going up from the wilderness.
(2) Because the heavenly Canaan which the wilderness-read leads to, will make amends for all.
(3) Their lot is a wise mixture, take it at the worst.
3. They are not Israelites indeed, nor espoused to Christ, who are not going up from this world as a wilderness, in heart and affection, in life and conversation.
Use
II. Of caution. While ye are in the wilderness, beware of wilderness sins and snares.
1. Unbelief (Psa_68:22).
2. Murmuring (1Co_10:10).
3. Lusting (1Co_10:6).
4. Looking back to Egypt (Num_14:4).
5. Fawning and flattering enemies (Num_25:17-18).
6. The mixed multitude (Exo_12:38).
Use
III. Of exhortation.
1. Ye who profess to be espoused to Christ, evidence the reality of it by your going up from the wilderness-world with Him in heart and affection, in the progress of sanctification, and contempt of the world, holding off from the ways of it.
2. Strangers to Christ, be espoused to Him, that ye may go up with Him from this wilderness-world, to His Fathers house in the heavenly Canaan; believe that Christ is offered in an everlasting marriage-covenant to you. Embrace ye and accept, and so close with Him as your Head and Husband, for time and eternity. (T. Boston, D. D.)
The believers journey from the wilderness of this world to the heavenly Canaan
I. The character of a soul truly espoused to Christ. He is one that is aye breathing to more and more nearness to the Lord, and a more intimate fellowship and acquaintance with Him. The soul espoused to Christ is one who is bending his course heavenwards, and has his back turned upon this world as a howling wilderness. He is one whose life in this world is a life of faith and dependence on Christ.
II. The place of the present residence of the spouse of Christ; it is a wilderness, a very unheartsome lodging.
III. The course that the spouse is taking, or the earth toward which she is bending while in the wilderness; she is not going down, but coming up from the wilderness. And this, I conceive, may imply these things following.
1. That believers, or those who have really taken Christ by the hand, have, turned their back on the ways of sin, which lead down to the chambers of death.
2. That believers are pilgrims on the earth, and that this world is not their home.
3. A dissatisfaction with, and a disesteem of, this world, and all things in it; and therefore she has her back turned upon it, and her face toward a better earth.
4. That though she could find no rest nor quiet hereaway, yet she expected a quiet rest on the other side, or beyond the wilderness.
5. This coming up from the wilderness implies motion, and progress in her motion heavenwards.
6. This phrase of coming up from the wilderness implies, that religion is an up-the-hill work and way; for the, spouses way here is represented under the notion of an ascent.
IV. The spouses posture; she comes up leaning on her Beloved. It is the life of faith upon the Son of God that is here intended. And this expression of faith implies these particulars following.
1. The spouses weakness and inability in herself to grapple with the difficulties of her way through the Wilderness; that she could never surmount them by the strength of natural, or yet of any created grace in her.
2. That however weak and insufficient she was in herself, yet there was almighty strength in her Husband and Head, on whom she leaned.
3. A blessed knowledge or acquaintance with the Lord Jesus.
4. The expression implies not only knowledge, but intimacy and familiarity; for we use to lean upon them with whom we are intimately acquainted.
5. This leaning posture implies Christs nearness to the spouse; for we cannot well lean upon a person that is at a distance.
6. It implies a trusting, resting, or recumbency of her soul upon him, under all her weights and burdens, which she rolls over on Christ (Psa_55:22; Mat_11:28; Psa_37:7).
7. It implies, that there is something in Christ that the hand or arm of faith stays and leans upon, as we come up from the wilderness. Sometimes faith stays itself on the person of Christ, as He is Emmanuel, God with us; sometimes upon His love, which passeth knowledge (Psa_36:7). Sometimes it stays itself upon His name; for they that know His name will put their trust in Him: sometimes on His mission, as the Sent of God, the great Apostle of our profession; it takes Him up as Gods legate, His ambassador-extraordinary, sent to seek and to save that which was lost. It leans upon His general office as Mediator, for peace and reconciliation with God; upon His prophetical office, for instruction and illumination in the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom; upon His priestly office, for reconciliation and acceptance; upon His regal or kingly office, for sanctification and deliverance from the power of sin and Satan. (E.Erskine.)
Leaning upon her Beloved.
Leaning on our Beloved
In the verses which precede my text, the spouse had been particularly anxious that her communion with her Lord might not be disturbed. Her language is intensely earnest, I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my Love, until He please. She valued much the fellowship with which her Beloved solaced her; she was jealously alarmed lest she should endanger the continuance of it; lest any sin on her part or on the part of her companions should cause the Beloved to withdraw Himself in anger. Now it is a very striking fact that immediately after we read a verse so full of solicitous care concerning the maintenance of communion, we immediately fall upon another verse in which the upward progress of that selfsame spouse is the theme of admiration; she who would not have her Beloved disturbed is the selfsame bride who cometh up from the wilderness, leaning herself upon Him; from which it is clear that there is a most intimate connection between communion with Christ and progress in grace, and therefore the more careful we are to maintain fellowship with our Lord, the more successful shall we be in going from strength to strength in all those holy graces which are landmarks on the road to glory.
I. We notice the heavenly pilgrim and her dear companion. Who is that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved? Every soul that journeys towards heaven has Christ for its associate. Jesus suffers no pilgrim to the New Jerusalem to travel unattended. He is with us in sympathy. He has trodden every step of the way before us; whatever our temptations, He has been so tempted; whatever our afflictions, He has been so afflicted. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, having been tempted in all points like as we are. Nor is Jesus near us in sympathy alone, He is with us to render practical assistance. When we least perceive Him, He is often closest to us. When the howling tempest drowns His voice, and the darkness of the night hides His person, still He is there, and we need not be afraid. Courage, then,ye wayfarers who traverse the vale of tears; you come up from the wilderness in dear company, for One like unto the Son of God is at your side. Note the title that is given to the Companion of the spouse. Her Beloved. Indeed, He of whom the Song here speaks is beloved above all others. He was the Beloved of His Father or ever the earth was; He was declared to be the Lords Beloved, in the waters of Jordan, and at other times, when out of the excellent glory, there came the voice, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Beloved of His Father now, our Jesus sits for ever glorious at Gods right hand. Jesus is the Beloved of every angel, and of all the bright seraphic spirits that crowd around the throne of His august majesty, casting their crowns before His feet, and lifting up their ceaseless hymns. He is the Beloved of every being of pure heart and holy mind.
II. We have said that the pilgrim has a dear Companion, but that much of the blessedness of the text lies in her posture towards him. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her Beloved? Her posture, then, is that of leaning. His relation to her is that of a Divine supporter. What does this leaning mean? Why, first of all, there can be no leaning on another unless we believe in that others presence and nearness. A man does not lean on a staff which is not in his hand, nor on a friend of whose presence he is not aware. Christ Jesus is with thee; though thou hearest not His voice, and seest not His face, He is with thee. Try to grasp that truth, and to realize it clearly, for thou wilt never lean until thou dost. Leaning also implies nearness. We cannot lean on that which is far off and unapproachable. Now, it is a delightful help to us in believing repose if we cannot understand that Christ is not only with us, but to an intense degree near us. A sacred unity exists between thee and Him, so that thou dost drink of His cup, and art baptized with His baptism, and in all thy sorrows and thine afflictions He Himself doth take His share. These two things being attended unto, leaning now becomes easy. To lean implies the throwing of ones weight from oneself on to another, and this is the Christian s life. The leaning place of a Christian is, first of all, Christs person. We depend upon the Lord Jesus as God and as man. As God, He must be able to perform every promise, and to achieve every covenant engagement. We lean upon that Divinity which bears up the pillows of the universe. Our dependence is upon the Almighty God, incarnate in human form, by whom all things were created, and by whom all things consist. We lean also upon Christ as man; we depend upon His generous human sympathies. Of a woman born, He is partaker of our flesh; He enters into our sicknesses and infirmities with a pitiful compassion, which He could not have felt if He had not been the Son of man. We depend upon the love of His humanity as well as upon the potency of His deity. We lean upon our Beloved as God and man. We lean upon Christ Himself in all His offices. We lean upon Him as Priest; we expect our offerings, and our praises, and our prayers to be received, because they are presented through Him. Our leaning for acceptance is on Him. We lean upon Him as our Prophet. We do not profess to know or to be able to discover truth of ourselves, but we sit at His feet, and what He teaches that we receive as certainty. We lean upon Him as our King. He shall fight our battles for us, and manage all the affairs of our heavenly citizenship. We have no hope of victory but in the strength of Him who is the Son of David and the King of kings. We lean upon Christ in all His attributes. Sometimes it is His wisdom--in our dilemmas He directs us; at other times it is His faithfulness--in our strong temptations He abides the same. At one time His power gleams out like a golden pillar, and we rest on it, and at another moment his tenderness becomes conspicuous, and we lean on that. There is not a trait of His character, there is not a mark of His person, whether human or divine, but what we feel it safe to lean upon, because He is as a whole Christ, perfections own self, lovely and excellent beyond all description. We lean our entire weight upon HIM, not on His arm; not on any part of His person, but upon Himself do we depend.
III. Her reasons for thus leaning. She leaned on her Beloved because she was weak. Strength will not lean, conscious strength scorns dependence. My soul, dost thou know anything of thy weakness? It is a sorrowful lesson to learn; but oh! it is a blessed and profitable lesson, which not only must be learned, but which it were well for thee to pray to learn more and more, for there is no leaning upon Christ except in proportion as you feel you must. She leaned, again, on her Beloved, because the way was long. She had been going through the wilderness. It was a long journey, and she began to flag, and therefore she leaned; and the way is long with us, we have been converted to God now some of us these twenty years, others these forty, and there are some who have known the Lord more than sixty years, and this is a long time in which to be tempted and tried, for sin is mighty and flesh is weak. She leaned, again, because the road was perilous. Did you notice, she came up from the wilderness? The wilderness is not at all a safe place for a pilgrim. Here it is that the lion prowls, and the howl of the wolf is heard, but she leaned on her Beloved, and she was safe. If the sheep fears the wolf, he had better keep close to the shepherd, for then the shepherds rod and staff will drive the wolf away. There is no safety for us except in close communion with Christ. Again, she leaned on the Beloved because her route was ascending. Did you notice it? Coming up. The Christians way is up--never content with past attainments, but up; not satisfied with graces to which he has reached, but up. If we are to go up, we must lean. Christ is higher than we are; if we lean, we shall rise the more readily to His elevation. He comes down to us that we, leaning upon Him, may go up to Him. He is made of God unto you sanctification as well as redemption. Again the spouse leaned on her Beloved because her walk was daily separating her more and more from the whole host of her other companions. The Church is in the wilderness, but this traveller was coming up from the wilderness. She was getting away from the band marching through the desert, getting more and more alone. It is so, and you will find it so; the nearer you get to Christ, the more lonely you must necessarily be in certain respects. The spouse leaned upon her Beloved because she felt sure that He was strong enough to bear her weight. He upon whom she leaned was no other than God over all blessed for ever, who cannot fail, nor be discouraged. She leaned yet again, because He was her Beloved. She would have felt it unwise to lean if He were not mighty; she would have been afraid to lean if He had not been dear to her. So it is, the more you love the more you trust, and the more you trust the more you love.
IV. The person and the pedigree of her who leaned upon her Beloved. The text says, Who is this? What made them inquire, Who is this? It was because they were so astonished to see her looking so happy and so little wearied. Nothing amazes worldlings more than genuine Christian joy. Who, then, is this that leans on her Beloved? Her name was once called outcast, whom no man seeketh after, but according to this old book her name is now Hephzibah, for the Lord delighteth in her. The name of the soul that trusts in God, and finds peace in so doing, was by nature a name of shame and sin. We were afar off from God even as others; and if any soul is brought to trust in Christ, it is not from any natural goodness in it, or any innate propensity towards such trusting; it is because grace has wrought a wondrous transformation, and God the Holy Ghost has made those who were not a people to be called the people of God. Good news this for any of you who feel your guilt this morning. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Son_8:5. I raised thee up under the apple tree:…
Notes
Son_8:5. I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth; there the brought thee forth that bare thee.
Read full note →
‘I raised thee up,’ עוֹרַרְתִּיךָ ’orarlicha, Pilel of עוּר to be awake; literally, I awaked thee out of sleep; according to many moderns, here applied to awakening the previously slumbering affections. So ZÖCKLER. I incited thee [to love]; discovering mine to thee, I obtained thine. GESENIUS. I inspired thee with love; properly, aroused thee. DE WETTE, BOOTHROYD. Excited thee to love. WILLIAMS. Wooed thee. PERCY, GOOD. FRY: Raised thee up; perhaps, resuscitated thee,—the Bride originally found by her husband an exposed infant (Eze_16:3-6). The Masoretic pointing in our Hebrew Bibles probably in this case faulty, as determining the speaker to be the Bride instead of the Bridegroom, to whom the words appear much more naturally to belong, and to whom they are ascribed by all the Greek Fathers, and many of the Latins. ‘Under the apple-tree.’ Under this apple-tree,—pointing to it; one immediately adjoining her mother’s house, and probably shading one of the windows. ZÖCKLER. This apple-tree one among many other places recalling their first love-intercourse. DELITZSCH. Reminding her of their first interview. BOOTHROYD. Referring to the place of her birth. SANDERS. In the woods, as rustic and poor. SANCTIUS. Reminding her of her humble origin. FRY. Refers to the scene in chap. Son_2:3. WILLIAMS. SEPTUAGINT, and VULGATE: Under an apple-tree I awoke thee up (ἑξηγειρα). COVERDALE and MATTHEWS: I am the same that awakened thee up among the apple-trees. EWALD prefers adhering to the Masoretic pointing, and understands by the apple-tree the place where the Bride sometimes awoke the Bridegroom when resting at mid-day, and which had seen him born.—‘There she brought thee forth that bare thee.’ חִבְּלָתְךָ khibbelatheeha; Piel of חָבַל, to bend, twist; hence Piel, to bring forth with pain. So GESENIUS and most. There, where that apple-tree stands, or the dwelling shaded by it, she travailed with thee. ZÖCKLER. Others, however, understand the verb as From חָבַל to plight, as Exo_22:26; Deu_24:6; Deu_24:17; ‘pledged or contracted thee to me.’ So HOUBIGANT, MICHAELIS, A. CLARKE, GOOD, BOOTHROYD, &c. DELITZSCH. Under the same tree, Shulamite received from her mother her life, from Solomon his love. WILLIAMS. Reference to the scene in chap. Son_2:3, where we may suppose the Bride’s mother to have been present, and some ceremony here alluded to have taken place. PERCY. Bridegroom makes a solemn recapitulation of the contract they had entered into. SEPTUAGINT. There thy mother travailed with thee (ὡδίνησέ σε). VULGATE, using a different reading: Was corrupted. Followed by the DOUAI version. COVERDALE. Bare thee. So LUTHER, DIODATI, MARTIN, and the DUTCH version. PAGNINUS. Conceived thee. PISCATOR, JUNIUS, and TREMELLIUS: Was in labour with thee. Allegorically:—WICKLIFFE. ‘The voice of Christ to the synagogue; of the holy cross. DOUAI. Christ redeemed the Gentiles at the foot of the cross. MATTHEWS. Voice of the Spouse before the spouseless. DEL RIO. Bridegroom relates that the beginning and increase of his love to his beloved had manifested itself under the apple-tree; reminding her of her original misery and poverty, in order to keep her from pride and elation. FROMONDI. I raised thee up when dead under the forbidden tree, by sprinkling thee with the blood of my cross; that as death reigned by one tree, he might be conquered by another. SANCTIUS. I raised thee up when abandoned by thy mother to perish (Eze_16:3-6). DAVIDSON. Raised thee up after the fall; or, by the preaching of the Gospel. WEISS. I, the risen Saviour, aroused thee under the apple or citron tree; the cross, where the sleeping Church was aroused; for example, John, Joseph, Nicodemus, the thief, &c. GILL. The apple-tree Christ Himself, or the ordinances of the Gospel. RASHI, following the Rabbinical pointing. The Bride seeks to stir up the love of her Beloved. COCCEIUS. The Bride arouses Christ by her prayers in time of trouble and persecution, as the disciples did in the storm. J. H. MICHAELIS. Arouses Him by earnest prayer to shew Himself more than formerly. AINSWORTH. Taking hold of the covenant of grace and the promises of life in Christ, the apple-tree of life and grace (chap. Son_2:3), she surred Him up by prayer for her help and comfort. GILL: Not finding Him in ordinances, she raised Him up by earnest prayer. FAUSSET: I excited thy comparsion to come and save me from my sin and misery under the apple-tree in Eden;—spoken by converted Israel as the type of the whole redeemed humanity. M. STUART: She reminds the king of his own outcast condition. HAHN: Pledges herself solemnly to the king for ever, and the king himself to her, in the cool shade of the apple-tree of the garden (chap. Son_6:11); in his home-land in Canaan, her misery out in the open field moved his loving heart to sympathy. According to AMBROSE and others: The synagogue the Church’s mother, who brought forth the Church, by shedding the blood of Christ through which she is born again. THEODORET: The grace of the Holy Spirit in connection with baptism. HONORIUS: The flesh of Eve or human nature. DURHAM: Believers the mother of Christ, as bringing forth His image in the souls of men, and so giving Him a being in their heart. AINSWORTH: By the preaching of the Gospel, attended with labour, sorrow, and difficulty. J. H. MICHAELIS: By doing the Father’s will, and conceiving in themselves the image of Christ by a true faith. MERCER: When fleeing to Him for refuge. M. STUART: Refers to the time of sorrow or birth—pangs that preceded Christ’s resurrection from the dead. HAHN: With pain His people brought Him forth to themselves as their King.
Son_8:6. The coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame. ‘The coals thereof.’ רְשָׁפֶיהָ reshapheha, plural of רֶשֶׁף resheph, a flame; from the unused root רָשַׁף to inflame or kindle. GESENIUS, ZÖCKLER. A blaze or flush of lightning. (Deu_32:24; Job_5:7; Hab_3:5) WEISS. EWALD derives rather from רשף to creep, creep forth; applied to the plague, and so the heat of the plague: hence, heat or flame in general. SEPTUAGINT: Its wings. VULGATE and AQUILA: Its lamps and torches. SYMMACHUS: its attacks. SYRIAC: Its sparks. LUTHER: Its flame or heat. DIODATI and MARTIN: Its burning coals. So the Rabbins, who make it like רֶצֶף retseph, a coal, and who are followed by PAGNINUS, MONTANUS, MERCER, PISCATOR, &c. MUNSTER has ‘torches.’ AINSWORTH: Burning coals or darts of love that pierce and enflame the heart. So PATRICK: Darts of arrows. PERCI prefers ‘sparks.’ SANCTIUS applies it to ‘jealousy’, which tortures like fire.—‘Which hath a most vehement flame.’ שַׁלְהֶבֶתיָה shalhebhethyah, from לֶהָבָה lehabhah, a ‘flame’ with שׁ ‘which.’ Another reading, the Recension of Ben Naphtali, divides it into two words, שַׁלהֶבֶת יָהּ, shalhebheth Yah, ‘the flame of Yah, or Jehovah.’ EWALD thinks that probably both words were originally read, (‘its flames are the flames of Jehovah,’) and that one of them dropped out; and remarks that יָה for יהוה was seldom used before Solomon’s time, its use having risen when the name of Jehovah began to be added as a surname; and that it occurs only once in the Pentateuch (Exo_15:2). ZÖCKLER, who translates, a ‘blaze of Jehovah,’ observes that this name of God is mentioned only in this passage of the Song, ‘the radiant apex in the developement of its doctrinal and ethical contents.’ According to ZÖCKLER, the flame not natural, but kindled and sustained by God Himself; love, and jealousy, its intense synonym, appearing here like a brightly blazing fire, sending forth a multitude of sparks or flames into men’s hearts. So DELITZSCH: A flame of Jehovah, as kindled by Him; hence unquenchable. PATRICK: ‘Fire of the flame of the Lord,’ i.e., mighty and exceedingly scorching. SIMON derives the word from the Chaldee or Syriac שלהב to burn; the ש servile marking the Shaphal species (GREEN). PARKHURST derives it from של to loose, and להב a flame,—a dissolving fire WEISS, in like manner reading as one word, explains as ‘a stream, volume or torrent of flame, as Eze_20:47; a conflagration of flames (Job_15:30). PERCY: ‘A flame of Jah,’—which Jehovah kindles in the clouds,—a most vehement flame (Job_1:16). WILLIAMS refers the expression to the sacrificial flame, which, according to Jewish tradition, no rain could extinguish. The SEPTUAGINT has simply: ‘Its flames.’ VULGATE: ‘And of flames,’ connecting with ‘fire.’ TARGUM: Like the coals of the fire of hell, which the Lord shall kindle at the last day. COVERDALE and MATTHEWS: A very flame of the Lord. GENEVA: A vehement flame. DUTCH: As a flame of the Lord. DIODATI: A very great flame. MARTIN: A very vehement flame. TIRGURINE: Which have been kindled by the flame of God. MERCER and MONTANUS: A flame of the Lord. JUNIUS and TREMELLIUS: A Divine flame. COCCEIUS: A flame of God,—bright and inextinguishable. PAGNINUS: A most vehement flame. GROTIUS: As a flame of God, i.e., a whole burnt-offering. VATABLUS: As the flame of Jab or God, i.e, most vehement. PISCATOR: Which Jehovah kindles; the genitive of Authorship. JUNIUS: The greatest flame, as being the Spirit’s most powerful light, to endure for ever. AINSWORTH: The vehement consuming flame of the Lord; piercing and devouring lightning; the fire of His Spirit. PATRICK: Burning with a violent and inextinguishable heat; mightily moved by the Lord.
SCENS SECOND. Place: The Country in the neighbourhood of Shulamite’s native home. Speakers: The King, Shulamite, and Country People.
CHAPTER 8 Son_8:5-7
SHULAMITE ADMIRED BY THE COUNTRY PEOPLE
Son_8:5
COUNTRY PEOPLE
Who is this
That cometh up out of the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
Shulamite’s proposal to go forth into the country lovingly accepted by the King. The journey commenced, and now nearly completed. The happy pair now arrived at the neighbourhood of Shulamite’s native home. Seen approaching, as she leans on her husband’s arm. The Bride an object of admiration to the rustic inhabitants, who exclaim: ‘Who is this?’ &c. Beautiful and instructive picture of the believer while in this world. True always; especially true in the Pentecostal or primitive age of the Church. Notice in regard to
The Believer’s Posture.
I. The POSTURE itself. Two features—
1. ‘Coming up out of the wilderness.’
(1) ‘Coming.’ The life of believers a journey, Like Moses to Hobab: ‘We are journeying to the place,’ &c. Sinners not pardoned to sit still. Brought up out of the horrible pit, and our feet set upon the rock, our ‘goings’ are established. The healed and pardoned paralytic takes up his couch and goes to his house. Believers have a home, and they go to it.
(2) Coining ‘up.’ The journey of believers an upward one, Their home on high. The ‘heavenly Jerusalem;’ the house with ‘many mansions;’ the ‘better country, that is, an heavenly.’ Their affections set on things above. Their journey an ascent. Their motto, Excelsior. Higher and higher. Progress heavenward characteristic of the believer. On the ladder, and ascending by it. Ascent often difficult and laborious. Descent easy, and requiring little effort. Salvation to be wrought out with fear and trembling. All diligence required to add to our faith, virtue, &c.
(3) Coming up ‘out of the wilderness.’ The world in which the believer find himself, a wilderness. So Israel’s journey to Canaan lay through a desert. A wilderness is—(i.) A place of hunger and thirst. (ii.) A place of thorns and briars. (iii.) A place of danger both for man and beast. The world unable to satisfy the wants and cravings of the soul. Full of trials and temptations. The place of the roaring lion, who seeks whom he may devour. An enemy’s country. Believers, like others, once abiding in the wilderness. Willing to remain in it, though finding neither rest nor satisfaction. Aroused by a gracious voice: ‘Arise and depart ye; this is not your rest.’ Made to see it to be a wilderness. Like the prodigal son, they see their misery, and think of a home. Taking Jesus as their Saviour, they set out for it. Their back now to the wilderness, and their face to heaven. In the world, but no longer of it.
2. ‘Leaning on her Beloved.’ Implies—
(1) The company of her Beloved. Christ’s presence promised to His people in their journey through the wilderness. ‘Fear not, for I am with thee.’ ‘I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.’ ‘I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.’ Hence their fearlessness. ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me’ (Psa_2:3-4).
(2) The support of her Beloved. Christ the ‘strength,’ as well as ‘righteousness,’ of His people. His promise: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee; My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Believers taught the ‘happy art’ of depending on Christ for all things. ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.’ Believers ‘lean’ on Christ—(i.) for acceptance with God, through His perfect obedience. (ii.) For holiness and victory over sin, through the grace of His Spirit; (iii.) For protection and preservation, by His Almighty power. (iv.) For strength and grace for the performance of every duty, and the endurance of every trial. Constant supplies of grace needed and received out of Christ’s fulness for the wilderness journey. Great part of heavenly wisdom to lean on Christ at every step, and at every turn of the road. The life of believers a life of faith and dependence on Christ. The part of faith to lay the whole weight of our salvation, and the burden of every duty and difficulty on the Beloved. Believers only go upward as they lean on Christ. Resting on Christ essential to progress in holiness. Spiritual growth marked by conscious weakness leaning on perfect strength. Hence Milton’s paradox: ‘The omnipotence of human weakness.’ Christ honoured and pleased by such dependence. To further it, He often removes from us every other support. Hence Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh.’
The believer’s life therefore—
(1) A laborious one. An upward journey through a wilderness.
(2) A pleasant one. The company of the Beloved. Pleasant company makes pleasant travel.
(3) A safe one. An Almighty arm to lean upon.
II. The ENQUIRY. ‘Who is this?’ The sight—
(1) A rare one. Far from common to see an individual going up from the wilderness, with his back to the world and his face to heaven, and especially as leaning on Jesus as his Beloved. The opposite of the character of the world. The sight everywhere met with is, worldliness, pride, and self-dependence.
(2) A beautiful and engaging one. Beautiful in itself, and beautiful in the eyes of God, angels, and all right-minded persons, to see an individual giving up sin and the world, and with Jesus as his Beloved and only trust, earnestly proceeding on his way to heaven. Believers most amiable when seen going up out of the wilderness leaning on their Beloved. Worldliness and pride the blight and bane of the Church. A proud and worldly-minded professor a stumbling-block to the world. A humble and heavenly walk attractive even in the eyes of ungodly men.
(3) An open and conspicuous one. Believer, going up from the wilderness leaning on Jesus, not able to be hid. A city set on a hill. The Master’s will that they should be seen. ‘Let your light so shine before men,’ &c. The object not that they should be admired, but that God their Father should be glorified. Believers to be ‘living Epistles of Christ, known and read of all men.’ ‘He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.’ Believers to be God’s witnesses in a sinful world. Their holy and heavenly life to be His constant testimony. Men to take knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus. Made a ‘spectacle to the world’ for God’s glory and the world’s good. The heathen’s testimony to the early Church: ‘See how these Christians love one another.’ Men to be drawn to Christ not merely by the preacher’s lips, but by the believer’s life.
THE REMINISCENCE
Son_8:5
THE KING.
To Shulamite, who enters with him, leaning on his arm.
I raised thee up under the apple tree:
There thy mother brought thee forth,
There she brought thee forth that bare thee.
One of the obscurest passages in the poem. Apart from Jewish pointing, nothing in the form of the words to indicate who is the speaker. That pointing, comparatively modern, makes the words to be addressed to the King, and thus to be spoken by Shulamite. More reason, however, with all the Greek Fathers, and many of the Latin ones, to regard the King himself as the speaker, and Shulamite the party addressed. Moved, perhaps, by the sight of a familiar object as they approach her mother’s dwelling, he reminds his beloved of what took place there at an early period of their connection; points her to the apple or citron-tree growing near the house, which had witnessed his endeavours, under its pleasant shade, to gain her affections, and his subsequent happiness when he there received her as his betrothed at her mother’s hand. ‘I raised thee up (or ‘excited thee’ to love) under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth (rather ‘pledged thee’ to me), there she brought thee forth (pledged thee) that ‘bare thee.’ Observe—
1. First love and espousals between Christ and the believer never to be forgotten. Never forgotten on Christ’s side. ‘I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals’ (Jer_2:2). Believer’s first love greatly prized and fondly looked back upon by the Saviour. ‘I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love’ (Rev_2:4). Believers, on their part, to cherish the remembrance of Christ’s early gracious dealings with their soul, and of their early affection and surrender of themselves to Him.
2. Christ the first mover in the saving connection between a soul and Himself. ‘I raised thee up’—excited thee to love. ‘Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.’ The first spark of love to Christ in the soul kindled by Christ Himself. ‘We love Him because He first loved us.’ ‘I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.’ ‘I will betroth thee unto Me in lovingkindness and in mercies’ (Hos_2:19; Jer_31:3). The soul espoused by Christ first ‘raised up’ by Him from spiritual death. ‘Raised up’ from a state of degradation and misery. Raised as a ‘beggar from the dunghill, to inherit the throne of glory’ (1Sa_2:8). ‘Raised up’ from the deep spiritual sleep into which sin has cast mankind’ (Eph_5:14). ‘Raised up,’ finally, from the dejection and despondency common upon conviction of sin’ (Act_2:37-38; Act_16:30-31).
3. Those places precious and memorable to the believer that are associated with his early love and espousals to Christ. The place of the altar where the Lord first appeared to Abraham in Canaan fondly remembered by him. Jacob reminded by the Lord Himself of the place where He first appeared to him as his covenant God. Those places of early love and communion afterwards gratefully visited. Their frequent remembrance profitable to the reviving and stimulating of love and devotedness to the Saviour.
4. Spiritual ordinances, in which Christ meets and espouses souls to Himself, fitly compared to an
Apple Tree.
(1) Because full of Christ, the True Apple Tree (chap. Son_2:3).
(2) From the sweet refreshment afforded in them to quickened souls. The apple or citron tree distinguished for its refreshing fragrance.
(3) From the rich and reviving fruit enjoyed in connection with them. ‘Thy words were found unto me, and I did eat them; and Thy words were the joy and rejoicing of my heart.’ ‘My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.’
(4) From the comfort and strength afforded in them in times of temptation and trial. The citron-tree remarkable for its shade. The Psalmist’s experience: ‘One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple: for in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion. Mine head shall be lifted up above mine enemies round about me’ (Psa_27:4-6).
5. The part of the Church of Christ not only to ‘bring forth,’ but to ‘pledge’ souls to Him as His Bride. The Church to be a mother of children, who, with herself and through her instrumentality, shall be espoused to Christ. Paul, as a minister of Christ, a representative of the Church when he says: ‘My little children, of whom I travail in birth, until Christ be formed in you.’ ‘I have espoused you to one husband.’ The Church never to forget her high calling, and never to be satisfied unless ‘pledging’ souls to Christ as His Bride.
6. The divinely instituted ordinances of the Church, the means by which souls are ordinarily ‘brought forth’ to a spiritual life and pledged to Christ as His Bride. ‘There thy mother brought thee forth’ (pledged thee). The ordinances of the Church instituted by Christ Himself for this purpose (Eph_4:8-12). ‘In Christ Jesus have I begotten you by the Gospel.’ Paul and Barnabas at Iconium ‘so spake that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed’ (Act_14:1).
THE BRIDE’S REQUEST
Son_8:6-7
SHULAMITE, to the King
Set me as a seal upon thy heart,
As a seal upon thine arm:
For love is strong as death,
Jealousy is cruel as the grave:
The coals thereof are coals of fire,
Which hath a most vehement flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
Neither can the floods drown it.
If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
It would utterly be contemned.
Shulamite, still leaning on her Beloved, and taking occasion from the tender recollection he had just uttered, expresses on her side a desire indicative of the ardour and steadfastness of her affection. ‘Set me as a seal upon thine heart,’ &c. As a plea for her request, she urges the nature of true love. ‘For love is strong as death, &c. Observe—
I. The REQUEST. ‘Set me as a seal,’ &c. Seals well-known to have been used, as they still are, for ratifying and confirming covenants (Neh_9:38; Jer_32:10; Jer_32:44; Rom_4:11). Used also for security (Deu_32:34; Job_14:17; Mat_27:66; Rom_15:28). May here allude to the practice of impressing marks upon the person with henna dye, or other material (Rev_7:3; Rev_14:1; Rev_20:3). Shulamite’s desire to have her name or likeness stamped upon her Beloved’s heart and arm; on his heart or breast as the seat of affection, and on his arm, where it might be constantly in view. The desire of every loving heart to be kept in affectionate remembrance by one who is the object of its love. Love must have love in return. A fear, however, that love might be diminished by distance, especially where it may have rivals. Love trembles at the thought of the proverb proving true: ‘Out of sight, out of mind.’ The believer’s strongest desire to be loved and affectionately remembered by his Saviour. ‘Lord, remember me,’ a prayer both in the Old and New Testament (Psa_106:8; Luk_23:42). The believer conscious how unworthy he is of Christ’s love, yet cannot live without an assurance of it. That assurance granted in the words of the inspired prophet: ‘Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, she may forget; yet will I not forget thee. Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me’ (Isa_49:14-16). Typical of this fact, the names of the twelve tribes were engraved on the High Priest’s breast-plate and shoulder-pieces, and carried with him into the Holy of Holies before the Lord (Exo_28:6-30). The import of the request—
(1) Preciousness and dearness in the sight of the Beloved (Jer_22:24; Hag_2:23).
(2) Nearness to, or rather oneness with, Him.
(3) An unchanging and permanent place in His affection.
(4) A constant remembrance by Him. Observe—
1. Present communion to be improved by importunate pleading.
2. Love evinces its reality and ardour by seeking greater nearness and unchanging steadfastness.
3. The believer’s earnest desire and distinguished privilege to be cherished by Christ’s heart, and supported by Christ’s arm.
II. The PLEA. ‘For love is strong as death,’ &c. The ardour and strength of Shulamite’s affection, the reason of the desire to have an abiding place in that of her Beloved. Ardent love can only live on love. Conscious of the ardour and steadfastness of her own affection, she desires it to be reciprocal. Love which is not ardent and steadfast unworthy of the name. Hence Shulamite’s descant on the
Nature of True Love.
1. Its strength and irresistibleness in the subject of it. ‘Strong as death.’ Love no more to be resisted in its approaches than death. Shulamite under the power of it in regard to her Beloved. Unable to resist it, she must love and be loved in return, or die. Like death, love must have its object. So Christ gave up His own life in order to have the Church whom He loved (Joh_15:13; Eph_5:25). Believers must have Christ, or die.
2. Its tenacity. ‘Jealousy is cruel as the grave.’ Jealousy an intense, vehement love, that cannot brook a rival (Pro_6:34). Same word rendered ‘zeal.’ Is ‘cruel’—severe, unyielding, and tenacious, ‘as the grave.’ Like the grave, love will not quit its hold but at the command of Omnipotence. Jealousy implies—
(1) Ardent affection;
(2) Fervent desire of enjoyment;
(3) Impatience of anything coming between love and its object;
(4) Grief for any apparent want of return. Such the case with Christ’s love and the believer’s. Jealousy of Christ’s love a proof of the strength of our own. Love to Christ makes us jealous of all that would come betwixt Him and us. Christ’s love to His people can endure no rival in theirs to Him. ‘I would thou wert either cold or hot.’ Believers too apt unjustly to suspect Christ’s love to them, while Christ has too much cause to be jealous of their love to Him.
3. Its ardour and intensity. The coals (or rather ‘flames’) thereof are coals (flames) of fire, which hath a most vehement flame’ (or, ‘a flame of Jah,’ or Jehovah,—expressive either of its greatness, or its origin). The comparison common to all countries. The Song itself an exemplification of the text. True love not only intense, but painful and consuming, unless able to obtain its object. Believers not to be satisfied with a lukewarm love to Christ. Everything in Him to beget a fervent, burning love. Such a love sought by Him (Joh_21:15-17; Rev_3:15). Christ infinitely lovely and infinitely loving. Conjugal love to be ardent, intense, and self-sacrificing: love to Christ to be still more so. Christ’s own love of that nature. ‘The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up’ ‘He loved the Church, and gave Himself for it.’ True, holy love, a ‘flame of Jehovah,’ from its origin as well as its ardour. Especially true of love to Christ. No true love to Christ which has not been kindled by the Holy Ghost. A divine flame of love to Christ kindled in the breast of every believer.
‘There let it to Thy glory burn,
With inextinguishable blaze;
And, trembling to its source return,
In ardent love and forvent praise.’
The text the only passage in the Song apparently containing the divine name: ‘a flame of Jah.’ This, if the correct translation, perhaps intended to afford the key to the whole book. The Song of Solomon not only a ‘Song of Loves,’ but a Song of divine loves—of the love of Jehovah-Jesus to His Church, and the Church’s love to Him, as kindled by the Holy Ghost.
4. Its unquenchableness. ‘Many waters cannot quench love,’ &c. True love survives all discouragements, and even coolness on the part of its object. Superior to all suffering endured on account of it. The love of Shulamite and the King had stood both tests. To exhibit, under an allegory, the unquenchableness of the love between Christ and His Church, probably one great object of the poem. A leading feature in love or charity, as described by Paul, that it ‘suffereth long, beareth all things, endureth all things, and never faileth’ (1Co_13:4; 1Co_13:7-8). The unquenchableness of the believer’s love to Christ exhibited by ‘the noble army of martyrs’ (Rom_8:35-37; Rev_12:11). By Paul himself (Act_20:24; Act_21:13). By many among the Jews, in the persecutions by Antiochus Epiphanes (Dan_11:32-33). Love’s unquenchableness exhibited in its perfection by the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph_5:25; Joh_13:1). His love not drowned by the floods of suffering that men, or devils, or God Himself, as the righteous Judge dealing with the sinner’s Surety, could pour upon it (Psa_69:1-2).
5. Its unpurchaseableness and preciousness. ‘If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.’ Three ideas—
(1) Love cannot be purchased by money or external gifts. Too precious to be bought. Love will beget love, but money cannot buy it. ‘Money answereth all things;’ but cannot purchase love. The poorest peasant possessed of a treasure which the wealth of a millionaire cannot buy. A man’s body and labour may be purchased, but not his love. Kind words and acts may generate it. Self-denying devotedness may give a claim to it, and may win it. But no money can be accepted as its price. Riches may gain the hand, but not the heart. Shulamite’s love, though that of a humble peasant, not won by Solomon’s crown and kingdom, but by his excellence and love. Believer’s love Christ not for what He has, but for what He is. God is loved not because He is the greatest, but because He is the best of beings. Christ’s goodness rather than His gifts, wins the sinner’s heart. His cross the ‘apple-tree’ under which He gains the believer’s love. Sinners drawn by the cords of a man and the bands of love (Hos_11:4). ‘We love Him, because He first loved us.’ Christ gave for the sinner’s love, not the ‘substance of His house,’ but the blood of His heart (Rev_1:5; Rev_5:9).
(2) Nothing can be given or accepted as a substitute for love. Solomon’s whole kingdom despised by Shulamite if offered in the place of his love. The riches of the universe contemptible to a quickened soul as a substitute for Christ’s love. Heaven itself, with all its glory, were it possible, without the love of heaven’s King, but a poor gift to the soul that loves Him. Hell made heaven with the enjoyed love of Christ, and heaven no heaven without it. ‘In His favour is life.’ ‘Thy loving kindness is better than life.’ On the part of man, all his gifts, without love, contemptible. (1Co_13:3). Love the pearl in the oyster-shell. The shell without the pearl contemptible.
(3) Love not to be detached by the gifts of another. True love superior to flattering promises as well as threatened penalties. Satan’s bait only successful where love to Christ is nominal. The world able to withdraw Demas from his profession, but not John from his love. The believer not to be separated from the love of Christ by the height of prosperity, any more than by the depth of adversity. The believer’s love, like Christ’s own, superior to all enticements. His language, even at the stake, with a pardon offered for apostasy: ‘If you love my soul, away with it.’ ‘None but Christ, none but Christ!’ Love rejects with disdain the most flattering temptations to withdraw the soul from Christ. Esteems the reproach of Christ greater riches that the treasures of Egypt. Prefers a dungeon with Christ to a palace without Him.
This brief didactic discourse on the nature of true love, remarkable as here introduced into the Song. Apparently intended to give the key to the whole book. Remarkable also for its resemblance to Paul’s discourse on the same subject in 1 Corinthians 13. The passage probably a prophetic intimation of that exhibition of Divine love to be made in the fulness of time, in the incarnation, suffering, and death of the Son of God, as the Bridegroom of His Church, and the Saviour of the world.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Memories. The Close
Memories. The Close
5. The chorus enquire who this happy bride may be. And the bridegroom points her to the apple-tree where he had once found her asleep, and to the spot where she was born. These are lovers' reminiscences, sweet to them, trivial to others.
Read full note →
6, 7. Her passionate clinging to him, and her assertion of the irresistibleness, the indestructibleness, the unselfishness of genuine love.
6. She would fain be as inseparable from him as the seal-cylinder, which men wore on a cord round the neck, or the seal-ring on the right hand (Gen_38:18; Jer_22:24;). Love is strong as resistless death. Jealousy can be hard as Sheol (RV), the place of the dead.
'Turning all love's delight to miserie,
Through feare of loosing his felicitie.'
And this is especially true of Orientals: 'A son of the East cannot quietly enjoy his inward felicity, cannot love without being consumed with the suspicion that others will rob him of this sweet treasure; and jealousy, the passion which gives birth to hatred and blood-feuds, establishes its way in his heart, growing apparently out of a morbid excess of sentiment.' Othello kills the person he most dearly loves. It is 'a very flame of the Lord' (RV), resistless, fierce, consuming (Gen_23:6; Psa_80:10; Jon_3:2; Act_7:20).
7. Render, 'If a man were ready to give the whole substance of his house for love, could any one despise him? 'No. It is better worth the purchase than anything else on earth.
8, 9. The solicitude which the brothers once felt concerning their sister. If she repels all improper advances they will do her honour: if she is weak they will carefully guard her. When she hath no breasts, she is not of marriageable age. To be spoken foris to be asked in marriage.
10. Our heroine can proudly assert her purity, and her beloved honours her.
11, 12. In figurative speech he expresses his contentment. King Solomon has a fertile and profitable vineyard at Baal-hamon (perhaps the town mentioned in Jos_19:28). Any one would give for its produce a thousand shekels (about £130). Those to whom it is entrusted will not make less than two hundred shekels profit. But the happy lover is well satisfied that Solomon should have his thousand shekels and the keepers their two hundred, provided he may have his dear one. The Arab poet sings, 'Take away all roses; one little garden is enough for me.' Solomon here is the typical wealthy king, the Croesus of Hebrew fancy (1Ki_10:21): cp. also Sir_12:5.
13. The bridegroom once more (see Son_2:14) begs her to sing. His companions are the young men (Jdg_14:11) who attended him all through the festivities.
14. Her final word, of invitation to her husband, is a slightly modified repetition of the refrain Son_2:17.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Blissful Union in Heaven
The Blissful Union in Heaven
v. 5. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved? supported by Him as they, united in love, approach their home above. I raised Thee up under the apple-tree, stimulating His jealous zeal; there Thy mother brought Thee forth; there she brought Thee forth that bare Thee, namely, that Brother who now was her Husband. Therefore she makes a powerful appeal:
Read full note →
v. 6. Set me as a seal upon Thine heart, like a signet-ring worn on a cord over the heart, as a seal upon Thine arm; for love, in its essence, in the absoluteness of its perfection, is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave, hard and unyielding in persistence; the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame, its fiery flames are a blaze of Jehovah.
v. 7. Many waters cannot quench love, as found in Jehovah, neither can the floods drown it, the rivers washing it away. If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, hoping to buy or gain it with such a price, it would utterly be condemned, for all the riches of this world are insufficient and inadequate to pay for it.
v. 8. We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts; what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? when suitors for her hand would appear.
v. 9. If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver; and if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar, to prevent access.
v. 10. I am a wall, so Shulamith answers, and my breasts like towers; then was I in His eyes as one that found favor; because she had kept her charms intact, she found peace in the love of the King.
v. 11. Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon, the "city of tumult"; he let out the vineyard unto keepers, placing it in the charge of several at once; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver, the full product of the vineyard. Answering this statement of the bride, the King says:
v. 12. My vineyard, which is Mine, is before Me, in the person of the bride. That is as it should be, the bride says: Thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred, as a payment for their faithful work. In conclusion the Bridegroom once more issues His kind invitation:
v. 13. Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice; cause Me to hear it. And the bride answers in the eagerness of her love:
v. 14. Make haste, my Beloved, and be Thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices, those known for the scent of their balsam. It is the last fond cry of the Church as she looks forward to the delights of heaven.
We have here both a climax and a summary. The Church, accompanied by Christ, her Bridegroom, is pictured as approaching the end of her course, nearing her heavenly home, where the marriage will take place. The Church, in reviewing her history, reminds Christ of the time when her conduct provoked Him to a jealous zeal. But as she was lying there, in the misery of her sinful condition, Christ came, being born into the lowliness and curse of this earthly life, in order to deliver mankind, and especially those that are His own, from the condemnation which men had brought upon themselves. Her consideration of these blessings causes the Church to exclaim that she is the seal of His love and His power. She adds an overwhelming cry of praise concerning the love of Jehovah as shown in the sending of the Messiah for the salvation of mankind, His love being the supernatural strength and divine persistence, a blaze of perfect and enduring affection for all lost and condemned sinners. The great floods of the world’s sins and misery were not able to extinguish this love as revealed in Jesus Christ, altogether unmerited as it was on the part of men.
The Bridegroom, in turn, reviews the history of His relation to the Church. He found the Church when she was still without comeliness and beauty, Eze 16:7, and immediately had compassion upon her. When suitors of a false kind approached her, when the false wisdom of this world tried to influence her, when the lusts of the world tried to insinuate themselves into her favor, He sheltered her. This the Church acknowledges with gratitude; she has been kept faithful and well ornamented by virtue of His mercy. At the same time she meditates upon the vineyard which the heavenly Solomon had in the midst of the world, the city of turmoil, in which He had His watchmen, apostles, preachers, and teachers, who delivered its fruits to the Lord. Christ answers that He has His vineyard before His eyes, that the bride is His kingdom of glory and perfection. To this she assents, reminding Christ, at the same time, of the reward of mercy which the faithful watchmen should have, Luk 8:23. In conclusion the situation as at present existing is once more pictured in a single glance. The Church is still living in gardens, in many congregations scattered over the world; there she must still proclaim the message of salvation in preparing many souls for the bliss of heaven. Therefore she prays to the Lord to hasten the course of His Word far and wide in the world, in order that the last elect may soon be won for the truth and the heavenly marriage take place. When that day comes, all believing hearts, united in the Church as the bride of Christ, will meet the great Bridegroom of their souls and be with Him in everlasting joy and happiness.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Here begins Part Six of the book, the final part
Read full note →
Who is this who is coming up
They are using this question to say that they think the young woman is amazing. A similar phrase was translated in in Song of Songs 6:10. AT: "Look at this amazing woman as she comes up" (See: Rhetorical Question)
I awakened you
"I woke you up" or "I aroused you"
the apricot tree
a tree that produces a small yellow fruit that is very sweet. If your readers will not know what this is, you could use the word for another fruit tree or the general word "fruit tree." See how you translated this in Song of Songs 2:3.
there
under the apricot tree
she delivered you
"she bore you"
translationWords
desert
beloved
conceive
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 8:5 I aroused you under the apple tree: The…
8:5 I aroused you under the apple tree: The apple tree is a symbol of fertility because it is fruit-bearing (see 2:3, 5; 7:8). • where your mother gave you birth: Mentioning his mother may be a subtle way of suggesting procreation as a fruit of sexual love (cp. 8:2).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.