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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
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Matthew Henry |
S O N G O F S O L O M O N.
CHAP. I.
In this chapter, after the title of the book
(ver. 1),
we have Christ and his church, Christ and a believer, expressing their
esteem for each other.
I. The bride, the church, speaks to the bridegroom
(ver. 2-4),
to the daughters of Jerusalem
(ver. 5, 6),
and then to the bridegroom,
II. Christ, the bridegroom, speaks in answer to the complaints and
requests of his spouse,
III. The church expresses the great value she has for Christ, and the
delights she takes in communion with him,
IV. Christ commends the church’s beauty,
V. The church returns the commendation,
Where there is a fire of true love to Christ in the heart this will be
of use to blow it up into a flame.
| The Title of the Book. | |
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1 The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
We have here the title of this book, showing,
1. The nature of it; it is a song, that it might the better
answer the intention, which is to stir up the affections and to heat
them, which poetry will be very instrumental to do. The subject is
pleasing, and therefore fit to be treated of in a song, in singing
which we may make melody with our hearts unto the Lord. It is
evangelical; and gospel-times should be times of joy, for gospel-grace
puts a new song into our mouths,
2. The dignity of it; it is the song of songs, a most excellent
song, not only above any human composition, or above all other songs
which Solomon penned, but even above any other of the scripture-songs,
as having more of Christ in it.
3. The penman of it; it is Solomon’s. It is not the song of fools, as
many of the songs of love are, but the song of the wisest of men; nor
can any man give a better proof of his wisdom than to celebrate the
love of God to mankind and to excite his own love to God and that of
others with it. Solomon’s songs were a thousand and five
those that were of other subjects are lost, but this of seraphic love
remains, and will to the end of time. Solomon, like his father, was
addicted to poetry, and, which way soever a man’s genius lies, he
should endeavor to honour God and edify the church with it. One of
Solomon’s names was Jedidiah—beloved of the Lord
and none so fit to write of the Lord’s love as he that had himself so
great an interest in it; none of all the apostles wrote so much of love
as he that was himself the beloved disciple and lay in Christ’s bosom.
Solomon, as a king, had great affairs to mind and manage, which took up
much of his thoughts and time, yet he found heart and leisure for this
and other religious exercises. Men of business ought to be devout men,
and not to think that business will excuse them from that which is
every man’s great business–to keep up communion with God. It is not
certain when Solomon penned this sacred song. Some think that he penned
it after he recovered himself by the grace of God from his
backslidings, as a further proof of his repentance, and as if by doing
good to many with this song he would atone for the hurt he had perhaps
done with loose, vain, amorous songs, when he loved many strange
wives; now he turned his wit the right way. It is more probable
that he penned it in the beginning of his time, while he kept close to
God and kept up his communion with him; and perhaps he put this song,
with his father’s psalms, into the hands of the chief musician, for the
service of the temple, not without a key to it, for the right
understanding of it. Some think that it was penned upon occasion of
his marriage with Pharaoh’s daughter, but that is uncertain; the tower
of Lebanon, which is mentioned in this book
(ch. vii. 4),
was not built, as is supposed, till long after the marriage. We may
reasonably think that when in the height of his prosperity he loved
the Lord
he thus served him with joyfulness and gladness of heart in the
abundance of all things. It may be rendered, The song of songs,
which is concerning Solomon, who as the son and successor of David,
on whom the covenant of royalty was entailed, as the founder of the
temple, and as one that excelled in wisdom and wealth, was a type of
Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge, and yet is a greater than Solomon; this is therefore a
song concerning him. It is here fitly placed after Ecclesiastes;
for when by the book we are thoroughly convinced of the vanity of the
creature, and its insufficiency to satisfy us and make a happiness for
us, we shall be quickened to seek for happiness in the love of Christ,
and that true transcendent pleasure which is to be found only in
communion with God through him. The voice in the wilderness, that was
to prepare Christ’s way, cried, All flesh is grass.
| The Love of the Church to Christ. | |
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2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love
is better than wine.
3 Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as
ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.
4 Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me
into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will
remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.
5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the
tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath
looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they
made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have
I not kept.
The spouse, in this dramatic poem, is here first introduced addressing
herself to the bridegroom and then to the daughters of Jerusalem.
I. To the bridegroom, not giving him any name or title, but beginning
abruptly: Let him kiss me; like Mary Magdalen to the supposed
gardener
(John xx. 15),
If thou have borne him hence, meaning Christ, but not naming
him. The heart has been before taken up with the thoughts of him, and
to this relative those thoughts were the antecedent, that good matter
which the heart was inditing,
Those that are full of Christ themselves are ready to think that others
should be so too. Two things the spouse desires, and pleases herself
with the thoughts of:–
1. The bridegroom’s friendship
(v. 2):
“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, that is, be
reconciled to me, and let me know that he is so; let me have the token
of his favour.” Thus the Old-Testament church desired Christ’s
manifesting himself in the flesh, to be no longer under the law as a
schoolmaster, under a dispensation of bondage and terror, but to
receive the communications of divine grace in the gospel, in which God
is reconciling the world unto himself, binding up and healing what by
the law was torn and smitten; as the mother kisses the child that she
has chidden. “Let him no longer send to me, but come himself, no longer
speak by angels and prophets, but let me have the word of his own
mouth, those gracious words
(Luke iv. 22),
which will be to me as the kisses of the mouth, sure tokens of
reconciliation, as Esau’s kissing Jacob was.” All gospel duty is summed
up in our kissing the Son
(Ps. ii. 12);
so all gospel-grace is summed up in his kissing us, as the father of
the prodigal kissed him when he returned a penitent. It is a kiss of
peace. Kisses are opposed to wounds
so are the kisses of grace to the wounds of the law. Thus all true
believers earnestly desire the manifestations of Christ’s love to their
souls; they desire no more to make them happy than the assurance of his
favour, the lifting up of the light of his countenance upon them
(Ps. iv. 6, 7),
and the knowledge of that love of his which surpasses knowledge; this
is the one thing they desire,
They are ready to welcome the manifestation of Christ’s love to their
souls by his Spirit, and to return them in the humble professions of
love to him and complacency in him, above all. The fruit of his
lips is peace,
Isa. lvii. 19.
“Let him give me ten thousand kisses whose very fruition makes me
desire him more, and, whereas all other pleasures sour and wither by
using, those of the Spirit become more delightful.” So bishop Reynolds.
She gives several reasons for this desire.
(1.) Because of the great esteem she has for his love: Thy love is
better than wine. Wine makes glad the heart, revives the
drooping spirits, and exhilarates them, but gracious souls take more
pleasure in loving Christ and being beloved of him, in the fruits and
gifts of his love and in the pledges and assurances of it, than any man
ever took in the most exquisite delights of sense, and it is more
reviving to them than ever the richest cordial was to one ready to
faint. Note,
[1.] Christ’s love is in itself, and in the account of all the saints,
more valuable and desirable than the best entertainments this world can
give.
[2.] Those only may expect the kisses of Christ’s mouth, and the
comfortable tokens of his favour, who prefer his love before all
delights of the children of men, who would rather forego those delights
than forfeit his favour, and take more pleasure in spiritual joys than
in any bodily refreshments whatsoever. Observe here the change of the
person: Let him kiss me; there she speaks of him as absent, or
as if she were afraid to speak to him; but, in the next words, she sees
him near at hand, and therefore directs her speech to him: “Thy
love, thy loves” (so the word is), “I so earnestly desire, because
I highly esteem it.”
(2.) Because of the diffuse fragrancy of his love and the fruits of it
(v. 3):
“Because of the savour of thy good ointment (the agreeableness
and acceptableness of thy graces and comforts to all that rightly
understand both them and themselves), thy name is as ointment poured
forth, thou art so, and all that whereby thou hast made thyself
known; thy very name is precious to all the saints; it is an ointment
and perfume which rejoice the heart.” The unfolding of Christ’s name is
as the opening of a box of precious ointment, which the room is filled
with the odour of. The preaching of his gospel was the manifesting
the savour of his knowledge in every place,
2 Cor. ii. 14.
The Spirit was the oil of gladness wherewith Christ was anointed
(Heb. i. 9),
and all true believers have that unction
so that he is precious to them, and they to him and to one another.
A good name is as precious ointment, but Christ’s name is
more fragrant than any other. Wisdom, like oil, makes the face to
shine; but the Redeemer outshines, in beauty, all others. The name
of Christ is not now like ointment sealed up, as it had been long
(Ask not after my name, for it is secret), but like ointment
poured forth, which denotes both the freeness and fulness of the
communications of his grace by the gospel.
(3.) Because of the general affection that all holy souls have to him:
Therefore do the virgins love thee. It is Christ’s love shed
abroad in our hearts that draws them out in love to him; all that
are pure from the corruptions of sin, that preserve the chastity of
their own spirits, and are true to the vows by which they have devoted
themselves to God, that not only suffer not their affections to be
violated but cannot bear so much as to be solicited by the world and
the flesh, those are the virgins that love Jesus Christ and follow
him whithersoever he goes,
Rev. xiv. 4.
And, because Christ is the darling of all the pure in heart, let
him be ours, and let our desires be towards him and towards the
kisses of his mouth.
2. The bridegroom’s fellowship,
v. 4.
Observe here,
(1.) Her petition for divine grace: Draw me. This implies sense
of distance from him, desire of union with him. “Draw me to thyself,
draw me nearer, draw me home to thee.” She had prayed that he would
draw nigh to her
(v. 2);
in order to that, she prays that he would draw her nigh to him.
“Draw me, not only with the moral suasion which there is in the
fragrancy of the good ointments, not only with the attractives of that
name which is as ointment poured forth, but with supernatural grace,
with the cords of a man and the bands of love,”
Christ has told us that none come to him but such as the Father draws,
We are not only weak, and cannot come of ourselves any further than we
are helped, but we are naturally backward and averse to come, and
therefore must pray for those influences and operations of the Spirit,
by the power of which we are unwilling made willing,
“Draw me, else I move not; overpower the world and the flesh
that would draw me from thee.” We are not driven to Christ, but drawn
in such a way as is agreeable to rational creatures.
(2.) Her promise to improve that grace: Draw me, and then we
will run after thee. See how the doctrine of special and effectual
grace consists with our duty, and is a powerful engagement and
encouragement to it, and yet reserves all the glory of all the good
that is in us to God only. Observe,
[1.] The flowing forth of the soul after Christ, and its ready
compliance with him, are the effect of his grace; we could not run
after him if he did not draw us,
[2.] The grace which God gives us we must diligently improve. When
Christ by his Spirit draws us we must with our spirits run after him.
As God says, I will, and you shall
so we must say, “Thou shalt and we will; thou shalt
work in us both to will and to do, and therefore we will work
out our own salvation”
not only we will walk, but we will run after thee, which denotes
eagerness of desire, readiness of affection, vigour of pursuit, and
swiftness of motion. When thou shalt enlarge my heart then I
will run the way of thy commandments
(Ps. cxix. 32);
when thy right hand upholds me then my soul follows hard
after thee
(Ps. lxiii. 8);
when with lovingkindness to us he draws us
we with lovingkindness to him must run after him,
Observe the difference between the petition and the promise: “Draw me,
and then we will run.” When Christ pours out his Spirit upon the church
in general, which is his bride, all the members of it do thence receive
enlivening quickening influences, and are made to run to him with the
more cheerfulness,
Or, “Draw me” (says the believing soul) “and then I will not only
follow thee myself as fast as I can, but will bring all mine along with
me: We will run after thee, I and the virgins that love
thee
(v. 3),
I and all that I have any interest in or influence upon, I and my
house
I and the transgressors whom I will teach thy ways,”
Those that put themselves forth, in compliance with divine grace, shall
find that their zeal will provoke many,
2 Cor. ix. 2.
Those that are lively will be active; when Philip was drawn to Christ
he drew Nathanael; and they will be exemplary, and so will win those
that would not be won by the word.
(3.) The immediate answer that was given to this prayer: The King
has drawn me, has brought me into his chambers. It is not so
much an answer fetched by faith from the world of Christ’s grace as an
answer fetched by experience from the workings of his grace. If we
observe, as we ought, the returns of prayer, we may find that
sometimes, while we are yet speaking, Christ hears,
The bridegroom is a king; so much the more wonderful is his
condescension in the invitations and entertainments that he gives us,
and so much the greater reason have we to accept of them and to run
after him. God is the King that has made the marriage-supper
for his Son
and brings in even the poor and the maimed, and even the most
shy and bashful are compelled to come in. Those that are drawn
to Christ are brought, not only into his courts, into his palaces
(Ps. xlv. 15),
but into his presence-chamber, where his secret is with them
(John xiv. 21),
and where they are safe in his pavilion,
Those that wait at wisdom’s gates shall be made to come
(so the word is) into her chambers; they shall be led into truth
and comfort.
(4.) The wonderful complacency which the spouse takes in the honour
which the king put upon her. Being brought into the chamber,
[1.] “We have what we would have. Our desires are crowned with
unspeakable delights; all our griefs vanish, and we will be glad and
rejoice. If a day in the courts, much more an hour in the
chambers, is better than a thousand, than ten thousand,
elsewhere.” Those that are, through grace, brought into covenant and
communion with God, have reason to go on their way rejoicing, as
the eunuch
and that joy will enlarge our hearts and be our strength,
[2.] All our joy shall centre in God: “We will rejoice, not in
the ointments, or the chambers, but in thee. It is God only that
is our exceeding joy,
Ps. xliii. 4.
We have no joy but in Christ, and which we are indebted to him for.”
Gaudium in Domino—Joy in the Lord, was the ancient
salutation, and Salus in Domino sempiterna—Eternal salvation
in the Lord.
[3.] “We will retain the relish and savour of this kindness of thine
and never forget it: We will remember thy loves more than wine;
no only thy love itself
(v. 2),
but the very remembrance of it shall be more grateful to us than the
strongest cordial to the spirits, or the most palatable liquor to the
taste. We will remember to give thanks for thy love, and it shall make
more durable impressions upon us than any thing in this world.”
(5.) The communion which a gracious soul has with all the saints in
this communion with Christ. In the chambers to which we are brought we
not only meet with him, but meet with one another
(1 John i. 7);
for the upright love thee; the congregation, the generation, of
the upright love thee. Whatever others do, all that are
Israelites indeed, and faithful to God, will love Jesus Christ.
Whatever differences of apprehension and affection there may be among
Christians in other things, this they are all agreed in, Jesus Christ
is precious to them. The upright here are the same with the
virgins,
v. 3.
All that remember his love more than wine will love him with a
superlative love. Nor is any love acceptable to Christ but the love of
the upright, love in sincerity,
II. To the daughters of Jerusalem,
v. 5, 6.
The church in general, being in distress, speaks to particular churches
to guard them against the danger they were in of being offended at the
church’s sufferings,
Or the believer speaks to those that were professors at large in the
church, but not of it, or to weak Christians, babes in Christ, that
labour under much ignorance, infirmity, and mistake, not perfectly
instructed, and yet willing to be taught in the things of God. She
observed these by-standers look disdainfully upon her because of her
blackness, in respect both of sins and sufferings, upon the account of
which they though she had little reason to expect the kisses she wished
for
(v. 2)
or to expect that they should join with her in her joys,
v. 4.
She therefore endeavors to remove this offence; she owns she is
black. Guilt blackens; the heresies, scandals, and offences,
that happen in the church, make her black; and the best saints
have their failings. Sorrow blackens; that seems to be especially
meant; the church is often in a low condition, mean, and poor, and in
appearance despicable, her beauty sullied and her face foul with
weeping; she is in mourning weeds, clothed with sackcloth, as the
Nazarites that had become blacker than a coal,
Lam. iv. 8.
Now, to take off this offence,
1. She asserts her own comeliness notwithstanding
(v. 5):
I am black, but comely, black as the tents of Kedar, in
which the shepherds lived, which were very coarse, and never whitened,
weather-beaten and discoloured by long use, but comely as the
curtains of Solomon, the furniture of whose rooms, no doubt, was
sumptuous and rich, in proportion to the stateliness of his houses. The
church is sometimes black with persecution, but comely in
patience, constancy, and consolation, and never the less amiable in the
eyes of Christ, black in the account of men, but comely in God’s
esteem, black in some that are a scandal to her, but
comely in others that are sincere and are an honour to her. True
believers are black in themselves, but comely in Christ,
with the comeliness that he puts upon them, black outwardly, for
the world knows them not, but all glorious within,
Ps. xlv. 13.
St. Paul was weak, and yet strong,
2 Cor. xii. 10.
And so the church is black and yet comely; a believer is
a sinner and yet a saint; his own righteousnesses are as filthy
rags, but he is clothed with the robe of Christ’s righteousness.
The Chaldee Paraphrase applies it to the people of Israel’s blackness
when they made the golden calf and their comeliness when they repented
of it.
2. She gives an account how she came to be so black. The blackness was
not natural, but contracted, and was owing to the hard usage that had
been given her: Look not upon me so scornfully because I am
black. We must take heed with what eye we look upon the church,
especially when she is in black. Thou shouldst not have looked upon
the day of thy brother, the day of his affliction,
Be not offended; for,
(1.) I am black by reason of my sufferings: The sun has
looked upon me. She was fair and comely; whiteness was her proper
colour; but she got this blackness by the burden and heat of the
day, which she was forced to bear. She was sun-burnt, scorched with
tribulation and persecution
and the greatest beauties, if exposed to the weather, are soonest
tanned. Observe how she mitigates her troubles; she does not say, as
Jacob
In the day the drought consumed me, but, The sun has looked
upon me; for it becomes not God’s suffering people to make the
worst of their sufferings. But what was the matter?
[1.] She fell under the displeasure of those of her own house: My
mother’s children were angry with me. She was in perils by false
brethren; her foes were those of her own house
(Matt. x. 36),
brethren by nature as men, by profession as members of the same sacred
corporation, the children of the church her mother, but not of God her
Father; they were angry with her. The Samaritans, who claimed
kindred to the Jews, were vexed at any thing that tended to the
prosperity of Jerusalem,
Note, It is no new thing for the people of God to fall under the anger
of their own mother’s children. It was thou, a man, my equal,
Ps. lv. 12, 13.
This makes the trouble the more irksome and grievous; from such it is
taken unkindly, and the anger of such is implacable. A brother
offended is hard to be won.
[2.] They dealt very hardly with her: They made me the keeper of the
vineyards, that is, First, “They seduced me to sin, drew me
into false worships, to serve their gods, which was like dressing the
vineyards, keeping the vine of Sodom; and they would not let me
keep my own vineyard, serve my own God, and observe those pure
worships which he gave me in charge, and which I do and ever will own
for mine.” These are grievances which good people complain most of in a
time of persecution, that their consciences are forced, and that those
who rule them with rigour say to their souls, Bow down, that we may
go over,
Isa. li. 23.
Or, Secondly, “They brought me into trouble, imposed that upon
me which was toilsome, and burdensome, and very disgraceful.” Keeping
the vineyards was base servile work, and very laborious,
Her mother’s children made her the drudge of the family. Cursed be
their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel.
The spouse of Christ has met with a great deal of hard usage.
(2.) “My sufferings are such as I have deserved; for my own vineyard
have I not kept. How unrighteous soever my brethren are in
persecuting me, God is righteous in permitting them to do so. I am
justly made a slavish keeper of men’s vineyards, because I have been a
careless keeper of the vineyards God has entrusted me with.” Slothful
servants of God are justly made to serve their enemies, that they
may know his service, and the service of the kings of the
countries,
2 Chron. xii. 8;
Deut. xxviii. 47, 48; Ezek. xx. 23, 24.
“Think not the worse of the ways of God for my sufferings, for I smart
for my own folly.” Note, When God’s people are oppressed and persecuted
it becomes them to acknowledge their own sin to be the procuring cause
of their troubles, especially their carelessness in keeping their
vineyards, so that it has been like the field of the
slothful.
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7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest,
where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I
be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?
8 If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way
forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the
shepherds’ tents.
9 I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in
Pharaoh’s chariots.
10 Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with
chains of gold.
11 We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.
Here is, I. The humble petition which the spouse presents to her
beloved, the shepherdess to the shepherd, the church and every believer
to Christ, for a more free and intimate communion with him. She turns
from the daughters of Jerusalem, to whom she had complained both
of her sins and of her troubles, and looks up to heaven for relief and
succour against both,
v. 7.
Here observe,
1. The title she gives to Christ: O thou whom my soul loveth.
Note, It is the undoubted character of all true believers that their
souls love Jesus Christ, which intimates both the sincerity and the
strength of their love; they love him with all their hearts; and
those that do so may come to him boldly and may humbly plead it with
him.
2. The opinion she has of him as the good shepherd of the sheep; she
doubts not but he feeds his flock and makes them rest at
noon. Jesus Christ graciously provides both repast and repose for
his sheep; they are not starved, but well fed, not scattered upon the
mountains, but fed together, fed in green pastures and in the
hot time of the day led by the still waters and made to lie down
under a cool refreshing shade. Is it with God’s people a noon-time of
outward troubles, inward conflicts? Christ has rest for them; he
carries them in his arms,
Isa. xl. 11.
3. Her request to him that she might be admitted into his society:
Tell me where thou feedest. Those that would be told, that would
be taught, what they are concerned to know and do, must apply to Jesus
Christ, and beg of him to teach them, to tell them. “Tell me where to
find thee, where I may have conversation with thee, where thou
feedest and tendest thy flock, that there I may have some of my
company.” Observe, by the way, We should not, in love to our friends
and their company, tempt them or urge them to neglect their business,
but desire such an enjoyment of them as will consist with it, and
rather, if we can, to join with them in their business and help to
forward it. “Tell me where thou feedest, and there I will sit
with thee, walk with thee, feed my flocks with thine, and not hinder
thee nor myself, but bring my work with me.” Note, Those whose souls
love Jesus Christ earnestly desire to have communion with him, by his
word in which he speaks to us and by prayer in which we speak to him,
and to share in the privileges of his flock; and we may learn from the
care he takes of his church, to provide convenient food and rest for
it, how to take care of our own souls, which are our charge.
4. The plea she uses for the enforcing of this request: “For why
should I be as one that turns aside by (or after) the flocks of
thy companions, that pretend to be so, but are really thy
competitors, and rivals with thee.” Note, Turning aside from Christ
after other lovers is that which gracious souls dread, and deprecate,
more than any thing else. “Thou wouldst not have me to turn
aside, no, nor to be as one that turns aside; tell me
then, O tell me, where I may be near thee, and I will never leave
thee.”
(1.) “Why should I lie under suspicion, and look as if I
belonged to some other and not to thee? Why should I be thought
by the flocks of our companions to be a deserter from thee, and
a retainer to some other shepherd?” Good Christians will be afraid of
giving any occasion to those about them to question their faith in
Christ and their love to him; they would not do any thing that looks
like unconcernedness about their souls; or uncharitableness towards
their brethren, or that savours of indifference and disaffection to
holy ordinances; and we should pray to God to direct us into and keep
us in the way of our duty, that we may not so much as seem to come
short,
Heb. iv. 1.
(2.) “Why should I lie in temptation to turn aside, as I
do while I am absent from thee?” We should be earnest with God for a
settled peace in communion with God through Christ, that we may not be
as waifs and strays, ready to be picked up by him that next passes
by.
II. The gracious answer which the bridegroom gives to this request,
v. 8.
See how ready God is to answer prayer, especially prayers for
instruction; even while she is yet speaking, he hears. Observe,
1. How affectionately he speaks to her: O thou fairest among
women! Note, Believing souls are fair, in the eyes of the Lord
Jesus, above any other. Christ sees a beauty in holiness, whether we do
or no. The spouse has called herself black, but Christ calls her fair.
Those that are low in their own eyes are so much the more amiable in
the eyes of Jesus Christ. Blushing at their own deformity (says Mr.
Durham) is a chief part of their beauty.
2. How mildly he checks her for her ignorance, in these words, If
thou know not, intimating that she might have known it if it had
not been her own fault. What! dost thou not know where to find me and
my flock? Compare Christ’s answer to a like address of Philip’s
(John xiv. 9),
Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? But,
3. With what tenderness he acquaints her where she might find him. If
men say, Lo, here is Christ, or, Lo, he is there, believe them not,
go not after them,
Matt. xxiv. 23, 26.
But,
(1.) Walk in the way of good men
(Prov. ii. 20),
follow the track, ask for the good old way, observe the footsteps of
the flock, and go forth by them. It will not serve to sit
still and cry, “Lord, show me the way,” but we must bestir ourselves to
enquire out the way; and we may find it by looking which way the
footsteps of the flock lead, what has been the practice of godly
people all along; let that practice be ours,
(2.) Sit under the direction of good ministers: “Feed thyself
and thy kids besides the tents of the under-shepherds. Bring thy
charge with thee” (it is probable that the custom was to commit the
lambs and kids to the custody of the women, the shepherdesses); “they
shall all be welcome; the shepherds will be no hindrance to
thee, as they were to Reuel’s daughters
(Exod. ii. 17),
but helpers rather, and therefore abide by their tents.” Note, Those
that would have acquaintance and communion with Christ must closely and
conscientiously adhere to holy ordinances, must join themselves to his
people and attend his ministers. Those that have the charge of families
must bring them with them to religious assemblies; let their
kids, their children, their servants, have the benefit of the
shepherds’ tents.
III. The high encomiums which the bridegroom gives of his spouse. To be
given in marriage, in the Hebrew dialect, is to be
praised
margin), so this spouse is here; her husband praises this
virtuous woman
he praises her, as is usual in poems, by similitudes.
1. He calls her his love
(v. 9);
it is an endearing compellation often used in this book: “My friend, my
companion, my familiar.”
2. He compares her to a set of strong and stately horses in
Pharaoh’s chariots. Egypt was famous for the best horses. Solomon
had his thence; and Pharaoh, no doubt, had the choicest the country
afforded for his own chariots. The church had complained of her own
weakness, and the danger she was in of being made a prey of by her
enemies: “Fear not,” says Christ; “I have made thee like a company
of horses; I have put strength into thee as I have done into the
horse
so that thou shalt with a gracious boldness mock at fear, and not be
affrighted, like the lion,
Prov. xxviii. 1.
The Lord has made thee as his goodly horse in the day of battle,
Zech. x. 3.
I have compared thee to my company of horses which triumphed
over Pharaoh’s chariots, the holy angels, horses of
fire.”
Thou didst walk through the sea with thy horses; and see
We are weak in ourselves, but if Christ make us as horses, strong and
bold, we need not fear what all the powers of darkness can do against
us.
3. He admires the beauty and ornaments of her countenance
(v. 10):
Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, the attire of the
head, curls of hair, or favourites (so some), or knots of ribbons;
thy neck also with chains, such as persons of the first rank
wear, chains of gold. The ordinances of Christ are the ornaments
of the church. The graces, gifts, and comforts of the Spirit, are the
adorning of every believing soul, and beautify it; these render it,
in the sight of God, of great price. The ornaments of the saints
are many, but all orderly disposed in rows and chains, in
which there is a mutual connexion with and dependence upon each other.
The beauty is not from any thing in themselves, from the neck or
from the cheeks, but from ornaments with which they are set off.
It was comeliness which I put upon thee, said the Lord God; for
we were born not only naked, but polluted,
IV. His gracious purpose to add to her ornaments; for where God has
given true grace he will give more grace; to him that has shall be
given. Is the church courageous in her resistance of sin, as the
horses in Pharaoh’s chariots? Is she comely in the
exercise of grace, as with rows of jewels and chains of
gold? She shall be yet further beautified
(v. 11):
We will make thee borders of gold, inlaid, or enamelled, with
studs of silver. Whatever is wanting shall be made up, till the
church and every true believer come to be perfect in beauty; see
This is here undertaken to be done by the concurring power of the three
persons in the Godhead: We will do it; like that
(Gen. i. 26),
“Let us make man; so let us new-make him, and perfect his
beauty.” The same that is the author will be the finisher of the good
work; and it cannot miscarry.
| Conference between Christ and His Church. | |
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12 While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth
forth the smell thereof.
13 A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie
all night betwixt my breasts.
14 My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the
vineyards of Engedi.
15 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair;
thou hast doves’ eyes.
16 Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant: also our
bed is green.
17 The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of
fir.
Here the conference is carried on between Christ and his spouse, and
endearments are mutually exchanged.
I. Believers take a great complacency in Christ, and in communion with
him. To you that believe he is precious, above any thing in this
world,
Observe,
1. The humble reverence believers have for Christ as their Sovereign,
He is a King in respect both of dignity and dominion; he wears
the crown of honour, he bears the sceptre of power, both which are the
unspeakable satisfaction of all his people. This King has his royal
table spread in the gospel, in which is made for all nations a feast
of fat things,
Isa. xxv. 6.
Wisdom has furnished her table,
Prov. ix. 1.
He sits at this table to see his guests
to see that nothing be wanting that is fit for them; he sups with
them and they with him
(Rev. iii. 20);
he has fellowship with them and rejoices in them; he sits at his
table to bid them welcome, and to carve for them, as Christ
broke the five loaves and gave to his disciples, that they might
distribute to the multitude. He sits there to receive petitions, as
Ahasuerus admitted Esther’s petition at the banquet of wine. He
has promised to be present with his people in his ordinances always.
Then believers do him all the honour they can, and study how to express
their esteem of him and gratitude to him, as Mary did when she anointed
his head with the ointment of spikenard that was very
costly, one pound of it worth three hundred pence, and so
fragrant that the house was filled with the pleasing odour of it
(John xii. 3),
which story seems as if it were designed to refer to this passage, for
Christ was then sitting at table. When good Christians, in any
religious duty, especially in the ordinance of the Lord’s supper, where
the King is pleased, as it were, to sit with us at his
own table, have their graces exercised, their hearts broken by
repentance, healed by faith, and inflamed with holy love and desires
toward Christ, with joyful expectations of the glory to be revealed,
then the spikenard sends forth the smell thereof. Christ is
pleased to reckon himself honoured by it, and to accept of it as an
instance of respect to him, as it was in the wise men of the east, who
paid their homage to the new-born King of the Jews by presenting to him
frankincense and myrrh. The graces of God’s Spirit in the hearts
of believers are exceedingly precious in themselves and pleasing to
Christ, and his presence in ordinances draws them out into act and
exercise. If he withdraw, graces wither and languish, as plants in the
absence of the sun; if he approach, the face of the soul is renewed, as
of the earth in the spring; and then it is time to bestir ourselves,
that we may not lose the gleam, not lose the gale; for nothing is done
acceptably but what grace does,
2. The strong affection they have for Christ as their beloved,
their well-beloved,
v. 13.
Christ is not only beloved by all believing souls, but is their
well-beloved, their best-beloved, their only beloved; he has
that place in their hearts which no rival can be admitted to, the
innermost and uppermost place. Observe,
(1.) How Christ is accounted of by all believers: He is a bundle of
myrrh and a cluster of camphire, something, we may be sure,
nay, every thing, that is pleasant and delightful. The doctrine of his
gospel, and the comforts of his Spirit, are very refreshing to them,
and they rest in his love; none of all the delights of sense are
comparable to the spiritual pleasure they have in meditating on Christ
and enjoying him. There is a complicated sweetness in Christ and an
abundance of it; there is a bundle of myrrh and a cluster of
camphire. We are not straitened in him whom there is all
fulness. The word translated camphire is copher, the
same word that signifies atonement or propitiation.
Christ is a cluster of merit and righteousness to all believers;
therefore he is dear to them because he is the propitiation
for their sins. Observe what stress the spouse lays upon the
application: He is unto me, and again unto me, all that
is sweet; whatever he is to others, he is so to me. He loved
me, and gave himself for me. He is my Lord, and my God.
(2.) How he is accepted: He shall lie all night between my
breasts, near my heart. Christ lays the beloved disciples in his
bosom; why then should not they lay their beloved Saviour in their
bosoms? Why should not they embrace him with both arms, and hold him
fast, with a resolution never to let him go? Christ must dwell in
the heart
(Eph. iii. 17),
and, in order to that, the adulteries must be put from between the
breasts
(Hos. ii. 2),
no pretender must have his place in the soul. He shall be as a
bundle of myrrh, or perfume bag, between my breasts, always
sweet to me; or his effigies in miniature, his love-tokens, shall be
hung between my breasts, according to the custom of those that
are dear to each other. He shall not only be laid their for a while,
but shall lie there, shall abide there.
II. Jesus Christ has a great complacency in his church and in every
true believer; they are amiable in his eyes
(v. 15):
Behold, thou art fair, my love; and again, Behold, thou art
fair. He says this, not to make her proud (humility is one
principal ingredient in spiritual beauty), but,
1. To show that there is a real beauty in holiness, that all who are
sanctified are thereby beautified; they are truly fair.
2. That he takes great delight in that good work which his grace has
wrought on the souls of believers; so that though they have their
infirmities, whatever they think of themselves, and the world thinks of
them, he thinks them fair. He calls them friends. The hidden man of
the heart, in that which is not corruptible, is in the sight of
God of great price,
1 Pet. iii. 4.
3. To comfort weak believers, who are discouraged by their own
blackness; let them be told again and again that they are fair.
4. To engage all who are sanctified to be very thankful for that grace
which has made them fair, who by nature were deformed, and changed the
Ethiopian’s skin. One instance of the beauty of the spouse is here
mentioned, that she has doves’ eyes, as
Those are fair, in Christ’s account, who have, not the piercing eye of
the eagle, but the pure and chaste eye of the dove, not like the
hawk, who, when he soars upwards, still has his eye upon the prey on
earth, but a humble modest eye, such an eye as discovers a simplicity
and godly sincerity and a dove-like innocency, eyes enlightened and
guided by the Holy Spirit, that blessed Dove, weeping eyes. I did
mourn as a dove,
Ezek. vii. 16.
III. The church expresses her value for Christ, and returns esteem
(v. 16):
Behold, thou art fair. See how Christ and believers praise one
another. Israel saith of God, Who is like thee?
Exod. xv. 11.
And God saith of Israel, Who is like thee?
Deut. xxxiii. 29.
Lord, saith the church, “Dost thou call me fair? No; if we speak
of strength, thou art strong
(Job ix. 19),
so, if of beauty, thou art fair. I am fair no otherwise than as
I have thy image stamped upon me. Thou art the great Original; I am but
a faint and imperfect copy, I am but thy umbra—the shadow of
thee,
John i. 16; iii. 34.
Thou art fair in thyself and (which is more) pleasant to all
that are thine. Many are fair enough to look at, and yet the sourness
of their temper renders them unpleasant; but thou art fair, yea,
pleasant.” Christ is pleasant, as he is ours, in covenant with us,
in relation to us. “Thou art pleasant now, when the King sits at his
table.” Christ is always precious to believers, but in a special
manner pleasant when they are admitted into communion with him, when
they hear his voice, and see his face, and taste his love. It is
good to be here. Having expressed her esteem of her husband’s
person, she next, like a loving spouse, that is transported with joy
for having disposed of herself so well, applauds the accommodations he
had for her entertainment, his bed, his house, his
rafters or galleries
(v. 16),
which may be fitly applied to those holy ordinances in which believers
have fellowship with Jesus Christ, receive the tokens of his love and
return their pious and devout affections to him, increase their
acquaintance with him and improve their advantages by him. Now,
1. These she calls ours, Christ and believers having a
joint-interest in them. As husband and wife are heirs together
so believers are joint-heirs with Christ,
Rom. viii. 17.
They are his institutions and their privileges; in them Christ and
believers meet. She does not call them mine, for a believer will
own nothing as his but what Christ shall have an interest in, nor
thine, for Christ has said, All that I have is thine,
Luke xv. 31.
All is ours if we are Christ’s. Those that can by faith lay
claim to Christ may lay claim to all that is his.
2. These are the best of the kind. Does the colour of the bed, and the
furniture belonging to it, help to set it off? Our bed is green,
a colour which, in a pastoral, is preferred before any other, because
it is the colour of the fields and groves where the shepherd’s business
and delight are. It is a refreshing colour, good for the eyes; and it
denotes fruitfulness. I am like a green olive-tree,
Ps. lii. 8.
We are married to Christ, that we should bring forth unto
God,
Rom. vii. 4.
The beams of our house are cedar
(v. 17),
which probably refers to the temple Solomon had lately built for
communion between God and Israel, which was of cedar, a strong
sort of wood, sweet, durable, and which will never rot, typifying the
firmness and continuance of the church, the gospel-temple. The
galleries for walking are of fir, or cypress, some sort
of wood that was pleasing both to the sight and to the smell,
intimating the delight which the saints take in walking with Christ and
conversing with him. Every thing in the covenant of grace (on which
foot all their treaties are carried on) is very firm, very fine, and
very fragrant.
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