9. sister ... spouse--This title is here first used, as He is soon about to institute the Supper, the pledge of the nuptial union. By the term "sister," carnal ideas are excluded; the ardor of a spouse's love is combined with the purity of a sister's ([Is 54:5]; compare [Mr 3:35]).
one--Even one look is enough to secure His love ([Zec 12:10]; [Lu 23:40-43]). Not merely the Church collectively, but each one member of it ([Mt 18:10], ; [Lu 15:7], [24, 32]).
chain--necklace ([Is 62:3]; Mal 3:17), answering to the "shields" hanging in the tower of David ([So 4:4]). Compare the "ornament" ([1Pe 3:4]); "chains" ([Pr 1:9]; ).
10. love--Hebrew, "loves"; manifold tokens of thy love.
much better--answering to her "better" ([So 1:2]), but with increased force. An Amoebean pastoral character pervades the Song, like the classic Amoebean idylls and eclogues.
wine--The love of His saints is a more reviving cordial to Him than wine; for example, at the feast in Simon's house ([Lu 7:36], ; [Joh 4:32]; compare [Zec 10:7]).
smell of ... ointments than all spices--answering to her praise ([So 1:3]) with increased force. Fragrant, as being fruits of His Spirit in us ([Ga 5:22]).
11. drop--always ready to fall, being full of honey, though not always ([Pr 10:19]) actually dropping ([So 5:13]; [De 32:2]; [Mt 12:34]).
honeycomb--([Pr 5:3]; ).
under thy tongue--not always on, but under, the tongue, ready to fall ([Psa 55:21]). Contrast her former state ([Psa 140:3]; [Ro 3:13]). "Honey and milk" were the glory of the good land. The change is illustrated in the penitent thief. Contrast [Mt 27:44] with [Lu 23:39], &c. It was literally with "one" eye, a sidelong glance of love "better than wine," that he refreshed Jesus Christ ([So 4:9], ). "To-day shalt thou be with Me (compare [So 4:8]) in Paradise" ([So 4:12]), is the only joyous sentence of His seven utterances on the cross.
smell of ... garments--which are often perfumed in the East ([Psa 45:8]). The perfume comes from Him on us ([Psa 133:2]). We draw nigh to God in the perfumed garment of our elder brother ([Ge 27:27]; see Jude 23).
Lebanon--abounding in odoriferous trees ([Ho 14:5-7]).
12. The Hebrew has no "is." Here she is distinct from the garden ([So 5:1]), yet identified with it ([So 4:16]) as being one with Him in His sufferings. Historically the Paradise, into which the soul of Jesus Christ entered at death; and the tomb of Joseph, in which His body was laid amid "myrrh," &c. ([So 4:6]), situated in a nicely kept garden (compare "gardener," [Joh 20:15]); "sealed" with a stone ([Mt 27:66]); in which it resembles "wells" in the East ([Ge 29:3], ). It was in a garden of light Adam fell; in a garden of darkness, Gethsemane, and chiefly that of the tomb, the second Adam retrieved us. Spiritually the garden is the gospel kingdom of heaven. Here all is ripe; previously ([So 2:13]) it was "the tender grape." The garden is His, though He calls the plants hers ([So 4:13]) by His gift ([Is 61:3], end).
spring ... fountain--Jesus Christ ([Joh 4:10]) sealed, while He was in the sealed tomb: it poured forth its full tide on Pentecost ([Joh 7:37-39]). Still He is a sealed fountain until the Holy Ghost opens it to one ([1Co 12:3]). The Church also is "a garden enclosed" ([Psa 4:3]; [Is 5:1], &c.). Contrast [Psa 80:9-12]. So "a spring" ([Is 27:3]; ); "sealed" ([Ep 4:30]; [2Ti 2:19]). As wives in the East are secluded from public gaze, so believers ([Psa 83:3]; [Col 3:3]). Contrast the open streams which "pass away" ([Job 6:15-18]; [2Pe 2:17]).
13. orchard--Hebrew, "a paradise," that is, a pleasure-ground and orchard. Not only flowers, but fruit trees ([Joh 15:8]; [Php 1:11]).
camphire--not camphor ([So 1:14]), hennah, or cypress blooms.
14. calamus--"sweet cane" ([Ex 30:23]; [Jr 6:20]).
myrrh and aloes--Ointments are associated with His death, as well as with feasts ([Joh 12:7]). The bride's ministry of "myrrh and aloes" is recorded ([Joh 19:39]).
15. of--This pleasure-ground is not dependent on mere reservoirs; it has a fountain sufficient to water many "gardens" (plural).
living--([Jr 17:8]; [Joh 4:13], ; , ).
from Lebanon--Though the fountain is lowly, the source is lofty; fed by the perpetual snows of Lebanon, refreshingly cool ([Jr 18:14]), fertilizing the gardens of Damascus. It springs upon earth; its source is heaven. It is now not "sealed," but open "streams" ([Re 22:17]).
16. Awake--literally, "arise." All besides is ready; one thing alone is wanted--the breath of God. This follows rightly after His death ([So 6:12]; [Ac 2:1-4]). It is His call to the Spirit to come ([Joh 14:16]); in [Joh 3:8], compared to "the wind"; quickening ([Joh 6:63]; [Eze 27:9]). Saints offer the same prayer ([Psa 85:6]; [Ha 3:2]). The north wind "awakes," or arises strongly, namely, the Holy Ghost as a reprover ([Joh 16:8-11]); the south wind "comes" gently, namely, the Holy Ghost as the comforter ([Joh 14:16]). The west wind brings rain from the sea ([1Ki 18:44], ; [Lu 12:54]). The east wind is tempestuous ([Job 27:21]; [Is 27:8]) and withering ([Ge 41:23]). These, therefore, are not wanted; but first the north wind clearing the air ([Job 37:22]; [Pr 25:23]), and then the warm south wind ([Job 37:17]); so the Holy Ghost first clearing away mists of gloom, error, unbelief, sin, which intercept the light of Jesus Christ, then infusing spiritual warmth ([2Co 4:6]), causing the graces to exhale their odor.
Let my beloved, &c.--the bride's reply. The fruit was now at length ripe; the last passover, which He had so desired, is come ([Lu 22:7], [15, 16], ), the only occasion in which He took charge of the preparations.
his--answering to Jesus Christ's "My." She owns that the garden is His, and the fruits in her, which she does not in false humility deny ([Psa 66:16]; [Ac 21:19]; [1Co 15:10]) are His ([Joh 15:8]; [Php 1:11]).
Chapter 5
[So 5:1-16].
1. Answer to her prayer ([Is 65:24]; [Re 3:20]).
am come--already ([So 4:16]); "come" ([Ge 28:16]).
sister ... spouse--As Adam's was created of his flesh, out of his opened side, there being none on earth on a level with him, so the bride out of the pierced Saviour ([Ep 5:30-32]).
have gathered ... myrrh--His course was already complete; the myrrh, &c. ([Mt 2:11]; 26:7-12; [Joh 19:39]), emblems of the indwelling of the anointing Holy Ghost, were already gathered.
spice--literally, "balsam."
have eaten--answering to her "eat" ([So 4:16]).
honeycomb--distinguished here from liquid "honey" dropping from trees. The last supper, here set forth, is one of espousal, a pledge of the future marriage ([So 8:14]; [Re 19:9]). Feasts often took place in gardens. In the absence of sugar, then unknown, honey was more widely used than with us. His eating honey with milk indicates His true, yet spotless, human nature from infancy ([Is 7:15]); and after His resurrection ([Lu 24:42]).
my wine--([Joh 18:11])--a cup of wrath to Him, of mercy to us, whereby God's Word and promises become to us "milk" ([Psa 19:10]; [1Pe 2:2]). "My" answers to "His" ([So 4:16]). The myrrh (emblem, by its bitterness, of repentance), honey, milk (incipient faith), wine (strong faith), in reference to believers, imply that He accepts all their graces, however various in degree.
eat--He desires to make us partakers in His joy ([Is 55:1], 2; [Joh 6:53-57]; [1Jo 1:3]).
drink abundantly--so as to be filled ([Ep 5:18]; as [Hag 1:6]).
friends--([Joh 15:15]).
Canticle IV.--(So 5:[2-8:4])--From the Agony of Gethsemane to the Conversion of Samaria.
2. Sudden change of scene from evening to midnight, from a betrothal feast to cold repulse. He has gone from the feast alone; night is come; He knocks at the door of His espoused; she hears, but in sloth does not shake off half-conscious drowsiness; namely, the disciples' torpor ([Mt 26:40-43]), "the spirit willing, the flesh weak" (compare [Ro 7:18-25]; [Ga 5:16], 17, 24). Not total sleep. The lamp was burning beside the slumbering wise virgin, but wanted trimming ([Mt 25:5-7]). It is His voice that rouses her ([Jon 1:6]; [Ep 5:14]; [Re 3:20]). Instead of bitter reproaches, He addresses her by the most endearing titles, "my sister, my love," &c. Compare His thought of Peter after the denial ([Mr 16:7]).
dew--which falls heavily in summer nights in the East (see [Lu 9:58]).
drops of the night--([Psa 22:2]; [Lu 22:44]). His death is not expressed, as unsuitable to the allegory, a song of love and joy; [So 5:4] refers to the scene in the judgment hall of Caiaphas, when Jesus Christ employed the cock-crowing and look of love to awaken Peter's sleeping conscience, so that his "bowels were moved" ([Lu 22:61], ); [So 5:5], , the disciples with "myrrh," &c. ([Lu 24:1], ), seeking Jesus Christ in the tomb, but finding Him not, for He has "withdrawn Himself" ([Joh 7:34]; ); [So 5:7], the trials by watchmen extend through the whole night of His withdrawal from Gethsemane to the resurrection; they took off the "veil" of Peter's disguise; also, literally the linen cloth from the young man ([Mr 14:51]); [So 5:8], the sympathy of friends ([Lu 23:27]).
undefiled--not polluted by spiritual adultery ([Re 14:4]; [Jas 4:4]).
3. Trivial excuses ([Lu 14:18]).
coat--rather, the inmost vest, next the skin, taken off before going to bed.
washed ... feet--before going to rest, for they had been soiled, from the Eastern custom of wearing sandals, not shoes. Sloth ([Lu 11:7]) and despondency ([De 7:17-19]).