S
O N G O F S O L O M O N
CHAP. IV.
In
this chapter, I. Jesus Christ, having espoused his church to himself (ch.
iii. 11), highly commends her beauty in the several expressions of it,
concluding her fair, all fair, ver. 1-5 and again, ver. 7. II. He retires
himself, and invites her with him, from the mountains of terror to those of
delight, ver. 6, 8. III. He professes his love to her and his delight in her
affection to him, ver. 9-14. IV. She ascribes all she had that was valuable in
her to him, and depends upon the continued influence of his grace to make her
more and more acceptable to him, ver. 15, 16.
|
The
Beauty of the Church.
|
|
|
|
1 Behold, thou art fair, my love;
behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks:
thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.
2 Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which
came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is
barren among them. 3 Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,
and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a
pomegranate within thy locks. 4 Thy neck is like the tower
of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all
shields of mighty men. 5 Thy two breasts are like two young
roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies. 6 Until the day
break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and
to the hill of frankincense. 7 Thou art all fair, my love; there
is no spot in thee.
Here is, I. A large and particular account of the beauties of the church, and
of gracious souls on whom the image of God is renewed, consisting in the
beauty of holiness. In general, he that is a competent judge of beauty,
whose judgment, we are sure, is according to truth, and what all
must subscribe to, he has said, Behold, thou art fair. She had
commended him, and called all about her to take notice of his glories; and
hereby she recommends herself to him, gains his favour, and, in return for her
respects, he calls to all about him to take notice of her graces. Those that
honour Christ he will honour, 1 Sam. ii. 30.
1. He does not flatter her, nor design hereby either to make her proud of
herself or to court her praises of him; but, (1.) It is to encourage her under
her present dejections. Whatever others thought of her, she was amiable in his
eyes. (2.) It is to teach her what to value herself upon, not any external
advantages (which would add nothing to her, and the want of which would
deprive her of nothing that was really excellent), but upon the comeliness of
grace which he had put upon her. (3.) It is to invite others to think well of
her too, and to join themselves to her: "Thou art my love, thou
lovest me and art beloved of me, and therefore thou art fair." All
the beauty of the saints is derived from him, and they shine by reflecting his
light; it is the beauty of the Lord our God that is upon us, Ps.
xc. 17. She was espoused to him, and that made her beautiful. Uxor fulget
radiis mariti--The spouse shines in her husband's rays. It it
repeated, Thou art fair, and again, Thou art fair, denoting not
only the certainty of it, but the pleasure he took in speaking of it.
2. As to the representation here made of the beauty of the church, the images
are certainly very bright, the shades are strong, and the comparisons bold,
not proper indeed to represent any external beauty, for they were not designed
to do so, but the beauty of holiness, the new man, the hidden man of the
heart, in that which is not corruptible. Seven particulars are specified,
a number of perfection, for the church is enriched with manifold graces by the
seven spirits that are before the throne, Rev. i. 4; 1 Cor. i. 5,
7.
(1.) Her eyes. A good eye contributes much to a beauty: Thou hast
doves' eyes, clear and chaste, and often cast up towards heaven. It is not
the eagle's eye, that can face the sun, but the dove's eye, a humble,
modest, mournful eye, that is the praise of those whom Christ loves. Ministers
are the church's eyes (Isa. lii. 8, thy watchmen shall see eye to eye);
they must be like doves' eyes, harmless and inoffensive (Matt. x. 16),
having their conversation in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity.
Wisdom and knowledge are the eyes of the new man; they must be clear, but not
haughty, not exercised in things too high for us. When our aims and
intentions are sincere and honest, then we have doves' eyes, when we
look not unto idols (Ezek. xviii. 6), but have our eyes ever towards
the Lord, Ps. xxv. 15. The doves' eyes are within the locks, which
area as a shade upon them, so that, [1.] They cannot fully see. As long as we
are here in this world we know but in part, for a hair hangs in our
eyes; we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness; death will
shortly cut those locks, and then we shall see all things clearly. [2.] They
cannot be fully seen, but as the stars through the thin clouds. Some make it
to intimate the bashfulness of her looks; she suffers not her eyes to wander,
but limits them with her locks.
(2.) Her hair; it is compared to a flock of goats, which looked
white, and were, on the top of the mountains, like a fine head of hair; and
the sight was more pleasant to the spectator because the goats have not only
gravity from their beards, but they are comely in going (Prov. xxx.
29), but it was most pleasant of all to the owner, much of whose riches
consisted in his flocks. Christ puts a value upon that in the church, and in
believers, which others make no more account of than of their hair. He told
his disciples that the very hairs of their head were all numbered, as
carefully as men number their flocks (Matt. x. 30), and that not a hair of
their head should perish, Luke xxi. 18. Some by the hair here
understand the outward conversation of a believer, which ought to be comely,
and decent, and agreeable to the holiness of the heart. The apostle opposes
good works, such as become the professors of godliness, to the plaiting of
the hair, 1 Tim. ii. 9, 10. Mary Magdalen's hair was beautiful when she
wiped the feet of Christ with it.
(3.) Her teeth, v. 2. Ministers are the church's teeth; like
nurses, they chew the meat for the babes of Christ. The Chaldee paraphrase
applies it to the priests and Levites, who fed upon the sacrifices as the
representatives of the people. Faith, by which we feed upon Christ,
meditation, by which we ruminate on the word and chew the cud upon what we
have heard, in order to the digesting of it, are the teeth of the new man.
These are here compared to a flock of sheep. Christ called his
disciples and ministers a little flock. It is the praise of teeth to be
even, to be white, and kept clean, like sheep from the washing,
and to be firm and well fixed in the gums, and not like sheep that cast their
young; for so the word signifies which we translate barren. It is the
praise of ministers to be even in mutual love and concord, to be pure and
clean from all moral pollutions, and to be fruitful, bringing forth souls to
Christ, and nursing his lambs.
(4.) Her lips; these are compared to a thread of scarlet, v.
3. Red lips are comely, and a sign of health, as the paleness of the lips is a
sign of faintness and weakness; her lips were the colour of scarlet,
but thin lips, like a thread of scarlet. The next words explain it: Thy
speech is comely, always with grace, good, and to the use of
edifying, which adds much to the beauty of a Christian. When we praise God
with our lips, and with the mouth make confession of him to
salvation, then they are as a thread of scarlet. All our good works
and good words must be washed in the blood of Christ, dyed like the scarlet
thread, and then, and not till then, they are acceptable to God. The
Chaldee applies it to the chief priest, and his prayers for Israel on the day
of atonement.
(5.) Her temples, or cheeks, which are here compared to a piece of a
pomegranate, a fruit which, when cut in two, has rich veins or specks in
it, like a blush in the face. Humility and modesty, blushing to lift up our
faces before God, blushing at the remembrance of sin and in a sense of our
unworthiness of the honour put upon us, will beautify us very much in the eyes
of Christ. The blushes of Christ's bride are within her locks, which
intimates (says Mr. Durham) that she blushes when no other sees, and for that
which none sees but God and conscience; also that she seeks not to proclaim
her humility, but modestly covers that too; yet the evidences of all these, in
a tender walk, appear and are comely.
(6.) Her neck; this is here compared to the tower of David, v.
4. This is generally applied to the grace of faith, by which we are united to
Christ, as the body is united to the head by the neck; this is like the
tower of David, furnishing us with weapons of war, especially bucklers
and shields, as the soldiers were supplied with them out of that tower,
for faith is our shield (Eph. vi. 16): those that have it never
want a buckler, for God will compass them with his favour as with a
shield. When this neck is like a tower, straight, and stately, and
strong, a Christian goes on in his way, and works with courage and
magnanimity, and does not hang a drooping head, and he does when faith fails.
Some make the shields of the mighty men, that are here said to hang up
in the tower of David, to be the monuments of the valour of David's
worthies. Their shields were preserved, to keep in remembrance them and their
heroic acts, intimating that it is a great encouragement to the saints to hold
up their heads, to see what great things the saints in all ages have
accomplished and won by faith. In Heb. xi. we have the shields of the mighty
men hung up, the exploits of believers and the trophies of their
victories.
(7.) Her breasts; these are like two young roes that are twins, v.
5. The church's breasts are both for ornament (Ezek. xvi. 7) and for use; they
are the breasts of her consolation ( Isa. lxvi. 11), as she is said to suck
the breasts of kings, Isa. lx. 16. Some apply these to the two Testaments;
others to the two sacraments, the seals of the covenant of grace; others to
ministers, who are to be spiritual nurses to the children of God and to give
out to them the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby,
and, in order to that, are themselves to feed among the lilies where
Christ feeds (ch. ii. 16), that they may be to the babes of the church
as full breasts. Or the breasts of a believer are his love to Christ, which he
is pleased with, as a tender husband is with the affections of his wife, who
is therefore said to be to him as the loving hind and the pleasant roe,
because her breasts satisfy him at all times, Prov. v. 19. This
includes also his edifying others and communicating grace to them, which adds
much to a Christian's beauty.
II. The bridegroom's resolution hereupon to retire to the mountain of myrrh
(v. 6) and there to make his residence. This mountain of myrrh
is supposed to signify Mount Moriah, on which the temple was built, where
incense was daily burnt to the honour of God. Christ was so pleased with the
beauty of his church that he chose this to be his rest for ever; here he will
dwell till the day break and the shadows flee away. Christ's parting
promise to his disciples, as the representatives of the church, answer to
this: Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. Where the
ordinances of God are duly administered there Christ will be, and there we
must meet him at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Some make these to be
the words of the spouse, either modestly ashamed of the praises given her, and
willing to get out of the hearing of them, or desirous to be constant to the
holy hill, not doubting but there to find suitable and sufficient succour and
relief in all her straits, and there to cast anchor, and wish for the day,
which, at the time appointed, would break and the shadows flee away.
The holy hill (as some observe) is here called both a mountain of myrrh,
which is bitter, and a hill of frankincense, which is sweet, for there
we have occasion both to mourn and rejoice; repentance is a bitter sweet. But
in heaven it will be all frankincense, and no myrrh. Prayer is compared to
incense, and Christ will meet his praying people and will bless them.
III. His repeated commendation of the beauty of the spouse (v. 7): Thou
art all fair, my love. He had said (v. 1), Thou art fair;
but here he goes further, and, in review of the particulars, as of those of
the creation, he pronounces all very good: "Thou art all fair,
my love; thou art all over beautiful, and there is nothing amiss in thee,
and thou hast all beauties in thee; thou art sanctified wholly in every
part; all things have become new (2 Cor. v. 17); there is not only a
new face and a new name, but a new man, a new nature; there is no spot in
thee, as far as thou art renewed." The spiritual sacrifices must be
without blemish. There is no spot but such as is often the spot of
God's children, none of the leopard's spots. The church, when Christ shall
present it to himself a glorious church, will be altogether without spot or
wrinkle, Eph. v. 27.
|
The
Love of Christ to the Church.
|
|
|
|
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse,
with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and
Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.
9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished
my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. 10
How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love
than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! 11
Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are
under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of
Lebanon. 12 A garden inclosed is my sister, my
spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. 13 Thy plants are
an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with
spikenard, 14 Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with
all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
These are still the words of Christ to his church, expressing his great esteem
of her and affection to her, the opinion he had of her beauty and excellency,
the desire he had of, and the delight he had in, her converse and society. And
so ought men to love their wives as Christ loves the church, and takes
pleasure in it as if it were spotless and had no fault, when yet it is
compassed with infirmity. Now, observe here,
I. The endearing names and titles by which he calls her, to express his love
to her, to assure her of it, and to engage and excite her love to him. Twice
here he calls her My spouse (v. 8, 11) and three times My
sister, my spouse, v. 9, 10, 12. Mention was made (ch. iii.
11) of the day of his espousals, and, after that, she is called his spouse,
not before. Note, There is a marriage-covenant between Christ and his church,
between Christ and every true believer. Christ calls his church his spouse,
and his calling her so makes her so. "I have betrothed thee unto me for
ever; and, as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice
over thee." He is not ashamed to own the relation, but, as becomes a kind
and tender husband, he speaks affectionately to her, and calls her his spouse,
which cannot but strongly engage her to be faithful to him. Nay, because no
one relation among men is sufficient to set forth Christ's love to his church,
and to show that all this must be understood spiritually, he owns her in two
relations, which among men are incompatible, My sister, my spouse.
Abraham's saying of Sarah, She is my sister, was interpreted as a
denying of her to be his wife; but Christ's church is to him both a sister
and a spouse, as Matt. xii. 50, a sister and mother. His calling
her sister is grounded upon his taking our nature upon him in his
incarnation, and his making us partakers of his nature in our sanctification.
He clothed himself with a body (Heb. ii. 14), and he clothes believers
with his Spirit (1 Cor. vi. 17), and so they become his sisters.
They are children of God his Father (2 Cor. vi. 18) and so they become his sisters;
he that sanctifies, and those that are sanctified, are all of one (Heb. ii.
11); and he owns them, and loves them, as his sisters.
II. The gracious call he gives her to come along with him as a faithful bride,
that must forget her own people and her father's house, and leave all to
cleave to him. Ubi tu Caius, ibi ego Caia--Where thou Caius art, I
Caia will be. Come with me from Lebanon, v. 8.
1. It is a precept; so we take it, like that (ch. ii. 10, 13), Rise
up, and come away. All that have by faith come to Christ must come with
Christ, in holy obedience to him and compliance with him. Being joined to him,
we must walk with him. This is his command to us daily: "Come with me,
my spouse; come with me to God as a Father; come with me onward,
heavenward; come forward with me; come up with me; come with me from
Lebanon, from the top of Amana, from the lions' dens." These
mountains are to be considered, (1.) As seemingly delightful places. Lebanon
is called that goodly mountain, Deut. iii. 25. We read of the glory
of Lebanon (Isa. xxxv. 2) and its goodly smell, Hos. xiv. 6. We read of
the pleasant dew of Hermon (Ps. cxxxiii. 3) and the joy of Hermon
(Ps. lxxxix. 12); and we may suppose the other mountains here mentioned to be
pleasant ones, and so this is Christ's call to his spouse to come off from the
world, all its products, all its pleasures, to sit loose to all the delights
of sense. All those must do so that would come with Christ; they must take
their affections off from all present things; yea, though they be placed at
the upper end of the world, on the top of Amana and the top of
Shenir, though they enjoy the highest satisfactions the creature can
propose to give, yet they must come away from them all, and live above
the tops of the highest hills on earth, that they may have their
conversation in heaven. Come from those mountains, to go along with Christ
to the holy mountain, the mountain of myrrh, v. 6. Even while we
have our residence on these mountains, yet we must look for them, look above
them. Shall we lift up our eyes to the hills? No; our help comes
from the Lord, Ps. cxxi. 1, 2. We must look beyond them, to the things
that are not seen (as these high hills are), that are eternal. From
the tops of Shenir and Hermon, which were on the other side Jordan, as
from Pisgah, they could see the land of Canaan; from this world we must look
forward to the better country. (2.) They are to be considered as really
dangerous. These hills indeed are pleasant enough, but there are in them lions'
dens; they are mountains of the leopards, mountains of prey, though
they seem glorious and excellent, Ps. lxxvi. 4. Satan, that roaring
lion, in the prince of this world; in the things of it he lies in
wait to devour. On the tops of these mountains there are many dangerous
temptations to those who would take up their residence in them; and therefore come
with me from them; let us not set our hearts upon the things of this
world, and then they can do us no hurt. Come with me from the temples
of idolaters, and the societies of wicked people (so some understand it); come
out from among them, and be you separate. Come from under the dominion of
your own lusts, which are as lions and leopards, fierce upon us,
and making us fierce.
2. It may be taken as a promise: Thou shalt come with me from Lebanon, from
the lions' dens; that is, (1.) "Many shall be brought home to me, as
living members of the church, from every point, from Lebanon in the north,
Amana in the west, Hermon in the east, Shenir in the south, from all parts, to
sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," Matt. viii. 11. See Isa.
xlix. 11, 12. Some from the tops of these mountains, some of the great
men of this world, shall give themselves to Christ. (2.) The church shall be
delivered from her persecutors, in due time; though now she dwells among
lions (Ps. lvii. 4), Christ will take her with himself from among their
dens.
III. The great delight Christ takes in his church and in all believers. He
delights in them,
1. As in an agreeable bride, adorned for her husband (Rev. xxi. 2), who
greatly desires her beauty, Ps. xlv. 11. No expressions of love can be
more passionate than these here, in which Christ manifests his affection to
his church; and yet that great proof of his love, his dying for it, that he
might present it to himself a glorious church, goes far beyond them all. A
spouse so dearly bought and paid for could not but be dearly loved. Such a
price being given for her, a high value must needs be put upon her
accordingly; and both together may well set us a wondering at the height
and depth, and length and breadth, of the love of Christ, which surpasses
knowledge, that love in which he gave himself for us and gives
himself to us. Observe, (1.) How he is affected towards his spouse: Thou
hast ravished my heart; the word is used only here. Thou hast hearted
me, or Thou has unhearted me. New words are coined to express the
inexpressibleness of Christ's surprising love to his church; and the strength
of that love is set forth by that which is a weakness in men, the being so
much in love with one object as to be heartless to every thing else. This may
refer to that love which Christ had to the chosen remnant, before the worlds
were, when his delights were with the sons of men (Prov. viii. 31),
that first love, which brought him from heaven to earth, to seek and save
them at such vast expense, yet including the complacency he takes in them when
he has brought them to himself. Note, Christ's heart is upon his church; so it
has appeared all along. His treasure is in it; it is his peculiar treasure
(Exod. xix. 5); and therefore there his heart is also. "Never was love
like unto the love of Christ, which made him even mindless of himself, when he
emptied himself of his glory, and despised all shame and pain, for our sakes.
The wound of love towards us, which he had from eternity in himself, made him
neglect all the wounds and reproaches of the cross;" so Bishop Reynolds.
Thus let us love him. (2.) What it is that thus affects him with delight. [1.]
The regard she has to him: Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thy
eyes, those doves' eyes, clear and chaste (which were commended, v.
1), with one glance of those eyes. Christ is wonderfully pleased with those
that look unto him as their Saviour, and through the eye of faith dart their
affections to him, above any rival whatsoever, and whose eyes are ever
towards him; he is soon aware of the first look of a soul towards him and
meets it with his favours. [2.] The ornaments she has from him, that is, the
obedience she yields to him, for that is the chain of her neck, the
graces that enrich her soul, which are connected as links in chain, the
exercise of these graces in a conversation which adorns both herself and the
doctrine of Jesus Christ, which she professes to believe (as a gold chain is
an ornament to persons of quality), and an entire submission to the commanding
power of his love. Having shaken off the bands of our neck, by which we
were tied to this world (Isa. lii. 2), and the yoke of our transgressions,
we are bound with the cords of love, as chains of gold, to Jesus
Christ, and our necks are brought under his sweet and easy yoke, to draw in
it. This recommends us to Jesus Christ, for this is that true wisdom which, in
his account, is an ornament of grace unto the head and chains about the
neck, Prov. i. 9. [3.] The affection she has for him: How fair is thy
love! how beautiful is it! Not only thy love itself, but all the fruits
and products of it, its working in the heart, its works in the life. How well
does it become a believer thus to love Christ, and what a pleasure does Christ
take in it! Nothing recommends us to Christ as this does. How much better
is thy love than wine, than all the wine that was poured out to the Lord
in the drink-offerings! Hence the fruit of the vine is said to cheer God
and man, Judges ix. 13. She had said of Christ's love, It is better
than wine (ch. i. 2), and now Christ says so of hers; there is
nothing lost by praising Christ, nor will he be behindhand with his friends in
kindness. [4.] The ointments, the odours wherewith she is perfumed, the gifts
and graces of the Spirit, her good works, which are an odour of a sweet
smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God, Phil. iv. 18. The
smell of thy ointment is better than all spices, such as the queen
of Sheba presented to Solomon, camel-loads of them (1 Kings x. 2), or, rather,
than all the spices that were used in compounding the holy incense which was
burned daily on the golden altar. Love and obedience to God are more pleasing
to Christ than sacrifice or incense. The smell of her garments too, the
visible profession she makes of religion, and relation to Christ, before men,
and wherein she appears to the world, this is very grateful to Christ, as the
smell of Lebanon. Christ having put upon his spouse the white raiment
of his own righteousness (Rev. iii. 18), and the righteousness of saints
(Rev. xix. 8), and this perfumed with holy joy and comfort, he is well pleased
with it. [5.] Her words, both in her devotion to God and her discourses with
men (v. 11): Thy lips O my spouse! drop as the honeycomb, drop
that which is very sweet, and drop it freely and plentifully. If what God
speaks to us be sweeter to us than the honey and the honeycomb
(Ps. xix. 10), what we say to him in prayer and praise shall also be pleasing
to him: Sweet is thy voice. And if out of a good treasure in the
heart we bring forth good things, if our speech be always
with grace, if our lips use knowledge aright, if they disperse
knowledge, they then, in Christ's account, even drop the honeycomb,
out-drop it. Honey and milk (the two staple commodities of Canaan) are
under thy tongue; that is, in thy heart, not only reserved there for thy
own use as a sweet morsel for thyself, but ready there for the use of others.
In the word of God there is sweet and wholesome nourishment, milk for babes,
honey for those that are grown up. Christ is well-pleased with those that are
full of his word.
2. As in a pleasant garden. And well may a very great delight be compared to
the delight taken in a garden, when the happiness of Adam in innocency was
represented by the putting of him into a garden, a garden of pleasure. This
comparison is pursued, v. 12-14. The church is fitly compared to a garden,
to a garden which, as was usual, had a fountain in it. Where Solomon
made himself gardens and orchards he made himself pools of
water (Eccl. ii. 5, 6), not only for curiosity and diversion, in
water-works, but for use, to water the gardens. Eden was well
watered, Gen. ii. 10; xiii. 10. Observe, (1.) The peculiarity of this
garden: It is a garden enclosed, a paradise separated from the common
earth. It is appropriated to God; he has set it apart for himself;
Israel is God's portion, the lot of his inheritance. It is enclosed for secrecy;
the saints are God's hidden ones, therefore the world knows them not;
Christ walks in his garden unseen. It is enclosed for safety; a hedge of
protection is made about it, which all the powers of darkness cannot either
find or make a gap in. God's vineyard is fenced (Isa. v. 2); there is a
wall about it, a wall of fire. It has a spring in it, and a fountain, but it
is a spring shut up and a fountain sealed, which sends its
streams abroad (Prov. v. 16), but is itself carefully locked up, that
it may not by any injurious hand be muddied or polluted. The souls of
believers are as gardens enclosed; grace in them is as a spring shut
up there in the hidden man of the heart, where the water that
Christ gives is a well of living water, John iv. 14; vii. 38. The
Old-Testament church was a garden enclosed by the partition wall of the
ceremonial law. The Bible was then a spring shut up and a fountain
sealed; it was confined to one nation; but now the wall of separation is
removed, the gospel preached to every nation, and in Jesus Christ there is
neither Greek nor Jew. (2.) The products of this garden. It is as the
garden of Eden, where the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant
to the sight and good for food, Gen. ii. 9. Thy plants, or
plantations, are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, v.
13. It is not like the vineyard of the man void of understanding, that
was all grown over with thorns and nettles; but here are fruits,
pleasant fruits, all trees of frankincense, and all the chief spices,
v. 14. Here is a great plenty of fruits and great variety, nothing
wanting which might either beautify or enrich this garden, might make it
either delightful or serviceable to its great Lord. Every thing here is the
best of the kind. Their chief spices were much more valuable, because
much more durable, than the choicest of our flowers. Solomon was a great
master in botany as well as other parts of natural philosophy; he treated
largely of trees (1 Kings iv. 33), and perhaps had reference to some specific
qualities of the fruits here specified, which made them very fit for the
purpose for which he alludes to them; but we must be content to observe, in
general, the saints in the church, and graces in the saints, are very fitly
compared to these fruits and spices; for, [1.] They are planted, and do
not grow of themselves; the trees of righteousness are the planting
of the Lord (Isa. lxi. 3); grace springs from an incorruptible seed. [2.]
They are precious and of high value; hence we read of the precious sons of
Zion and their precious faith; they are plants of renown.
[3.] They are pleasant, and of a sweet savour to God and man, and, as strong
aromatics, diffuse their fragrancy. [4.] They are profitable and of great use.
Saints are the blessings of this earth, and their graces are their riches,
with which they trade as the merchants of the east with their spices. [5.]
They are permanent, and will be preserved to good purpose, when flowers are
withered and good for nothing. Grace, ripened into glory, will last for ever.
|
The
Love of the Church to Christ.
|
|
|
|
15 A fountain of gardens, a well of living
waters, and streams from Lebanon. 16 Awake, O north wind; and
come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow
out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.
These seem to be the words of the spouse, the church, in answer to the
commendations which Christ, the bridegroom, had given of her as a pleasant
fruitful garden. Is she a garden?
I. She owns her dependence upon Christ himself to make this garden fruitful.
To him she has an eye (v. 15) as the fountain of gardens, not
only the founder of them, by whom they are planted and to whom they owe their
being, but the fountain of them, by which they are watered and to which they
own their continuance and well-being, and without whose constant supplies they
would soon become like the dry and barren wilderness. To him she gives all the
glory of her fruitfulness, as being nothing with out him: O fountain of
gardens! fountain of all good, of all grace, do not thou fail me. Does a
believer say to the church, All my springs are in thee, in thee, O
Zion? (Ps. lxxxvii. 7), the church transmits the praise to Christ, and says to
him, All my springs are in thee; thou art the well of living waters
(Jer. ii. 13), out of which flow the streams of Lebanon, the river
Jordan, which had its rise at the foot of Mount Lebanon, and the waters of the
sanctuary, which issued out from under the threshold of the house,
Ezek. xlvii. 1. Those that are gardens to Christ must acknowledge him a
fountain to them, from whose fulness they receive and to whom it is owing that
their souls are as a watered garden, Jer. xxxi. 12. The city of God
on earth is made glad with the river that flows from this
fountain (Ps. xlvi. 4), and the new Jerusalem has its pure river of water
of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, Rev. xxii. 1.
II. She implores the influences of the blessed Spirit to make this garden
fragrant (v. 16): Awake, O north wind! and come, thou south.
This is a prayer, 1. For the church in general, that there may be a plentiful
effusion of the Spirit upon it, in order to its flourishing estate. Ministers'
gifts are the spices; when the Spirit is poured out these flow forth,
and then the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, Isa. xxxii. 15. This
prayer was answered in the pouring out of the Spirit on the day of
pentecost (Acts ii. 1), ushered in by a mighty wind; then the
apostles, who were bound up before, flowed forth, and were a sweet savour
to God, 2 Cor. ii. 15. 2. For particular believers. Note, (1.) Sanctified
souls are as gardens, gardens of the Lord, enclosed for him. (2.) Graces in
the soul are as spices in these gardens, that in them which is valuable and
useful. (3.) It is very desirable that the spices of grace should flow forth
both in pious and devout affections and in holy gracious actions, that with
them we may honour God, adorn our profession, and do that which will be
grateful to good men. (4.) The blessed Spirit, in his operations upon the
soul, is as the north and the south wind, which blows where it
listeth, and from several points, John iii. 8. There is the north wind of
convictions, and the south wind of comforts; but all, like the wind, brought out
of God's treasuries and fulfilling his word. (5.) The flowing forth
of the spices of grace depends upon the gales of the Spirit; he stirs up good
affections, and works in us both to will and to do that which is good; it is
he that makes manifest the savour of his knowledge by us. (6.) We ought
therefore to wait upon the Spirit of grace for his quickening influences, to
pray for them, and to lay our souls under them. God has promised to give us
his Spirit, but he will for this be enquired of.
III. She invites Christ to the best entertainment the garden affords: "Let
my beloved then come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits;
let him have the honour of all the products of the garden (it is fit he
should), and let me have the comfort of his acceptance of them, for that is
the best account they can be made to turn to." Observe, 1. She calls it his
garden; for those that are espoused to Christ call nothing their own, but what
they have devoted to him and desire to be used for him. When the spices flow
forth then it is fit to be called his garden, and not till then. The fruits of
the garden are his pleasant fruits, for he planted them, watered them, and
gave the increase. What can we pretend to merit at Christ's hands when we can
invite him to nothing but what is his own already? 2. She begs he would visit
it, and accept of what it produced. The believer can take little pleasure in
his garden, unless Christ, the beloved of his soul, come to him, nor have any
joy of the fruits of it, unless they redound some way or other to the glory of
Christ, and he will think all he has well bestowed upon him.
Contents
|
Next
Section
