galleries--(so [So 1:17], Margin; [Re 21:3]). But Maurer translates here, "flowing ringlets"; with these, as with "thongs" (so Lee, from the Arabic translates it) "the King is held" bound ([So 6:5]; [Pr 6:25]). Her purple crowns of martyrdom especially captivated the King, appearing from His galleries ([Ac 7:55], ). As Samson's strength was in his locks ([Jud 16:17]). Here first the daughters see the King themselves.
6. Nearer advance of the daughters to the Church ([Ac 2:47]; , end). Love to her is the first token of love to Him ([1Jo 5:1], end).
delights--fascinating charms to them and to the King ([So 7:5]; [Is 62:4], Hephzi-bah). Hereafter, too ([Zep 3:17]; Mal 3:12; [Re 21:9]).
7. palm tree--([Psa 92:12]). The sure sign of water near ([Ex 15:27]; [Joh 7:38]).
clusters--not of dates, as Moody Stuart thinks. The parallelism ([So 7:8]), "clusters of the vine," shows it is here clusters of grapes. Vines were often trained (termed "wedded") on other trees.
8. The daughters are no longer content to admire, but resolve to lay hold of her fruits, high though these be. The palm stem is bare for a great height, and has its crown of fruit-laden boughs at the summit. It is the symbol of triumphant joy ([Joh 12:13]); so hereafter ([Re 7:9]).
breasts--([Is 66:11]).
the vine--Jesus Christ ([Ho 14:7], end; [Joh 15:1]).
nose--that is, breath; the Holy Ghost breathed into her nostrils by Him, whose "mouth is most sweet" ([So 5:16]).
apples--citrons, off the tree to which He is likened ([So 2:3]).
9. roof of thy mouth--thy voice ([Pr 15:23]).
best wine--the new wine of the gospel kingdom ([Mr 14:25]), poured out at Pentecost ([Ac 2:4], 13, 17).
for my beloved--([So 4:10]). Here first the daughters call Him theirs, and become one with the bride. The steps successively are ([So 1:5]) where they misjudge her ([So 3:11]); [So 5:8], where the possibility of their finding Him, before she regained Him, is expressed; [So 5:9] ([So 6:1]; , ; [Joh 4:42]).
causing ... asleep to speak--([Is 35:6]; [Mr 5:19], ; [Ac 2:47]; [Ep 5:14]). Jesus Christ's first miracle turned water into "good wine kept until now" ([Joh 2:10]); just as the Gospel revives those asleep and dying under the law ([Pr 31:6]; [Ro 7:9], 10, 24, 25; ).
10. Words of the daughters of Jerusalem and the bride, now united into one ([Ac 4:32]). They are mentioned again distinctly ([So 8:4]), as fresh converts were being added from among enquirers, and these needed to be charged not to grieve the Spirit.
his desire is toward me--strong assurance. He so desires us, as to give us sense of His desire toward us ([Psa 139:17], ; [Lu 22:15]; [Ga 2:20]; [1Jo 4:16]).
11. field--the country. "The tender grape (Maurer translates, flowers) and vines" occurred before ([So 2:13]). But here she prepares for Him all kinds of fruit old and new; also, she anticipates, in going forth to seek them, communion with Him in "loves." "Early" implies immediate earnestness. "The villages" imply distance from Jerusalem. At Stephen's death the disciples were scattered from it through Judea and Samaria, preaching the word ([Ac 8:4-25]). Jesus Christ was with them, confirming the word with miracles. They gathered the old fruits, of which Jesus Christ had sown the seed ([Joh 4:39-42]), as well as new fruits.
lodge--forsaking home for Jesus Christ's sake ([Mt 19:29]).
12. ([Mr 1:35]; [Joh 9:4]; [Ga 6:10]). Assurance fosters diligence, not indolence.
13. mandrakes--Hebrew, dudaim, from a root meaning "to love"; love apples, supposed to exhilarate the spirits and excite love. Only here and [Ge 30:14-16]. Atropa mandragora of Linnæus; its leaves like lettuce, but dark green, flowers purple, root forked, fruit of the size of an apple, ruddy and sweet-smelling, gathered in wheat harvest, that is, in May (Mariti, ii. 195).
gates--the entrance to the kiosk or summer house. Love "lays up" the best of everything for the person beloved ([1Co 10:31]; [Php 3:8]; [1Pe 4:11]), thereby really, though unconsciously, laying up for itself ([1Ti 6:18], ).
Chapter 8
[So 8:1-14].
1. He had been a brother already. Why, then, this prayer here? It refers to the time after His resurrection, when the previous outward intimacy with Him was no longer allowed, but it was implied it should be renewed at the second coming ([Joh 20:17]). For this the Church here prays; meanwhile she enjoys inward spiritual communion with Him. The last who ever "kissed" Jesus Christ on earth was the traitor Judas. The bride's return with the King to her mother's house answers to [Ac 8:25], after the mission to Samaria. The rest spoken of ([So 8:4]) answers to [Ac 9:31].
that sucked ... mother--a brother born of the same mother; the closest tie.
2. Her desire to bring Him into her home circle ([Joh 1:41]).
who would instruct me--rather, "thou wouldest instruct me," namely, how I might best please thee ([Is 11:2], ; ; [Lu 12:12]; [Joh 14:26]; ).
spiced wine--seasoned with aromatic perfumes. Jesus Christ ought to have our choicest gifts. Spices are never introduced in the song in His absence; therefore the time of His return from "the mountain of spices" ([So 8:14]) is contemplated. The cup of betrothal was given by Him at the last supper; the cup or marriage shall be presented by her at His return ([Mt 26:29]). Till then the believer often cannot feel towards, or speak of, Him as he would wish.
3-4. The "left and right hand," &c., occurred only once actually ([So 2:6]), and here optatively. Only at His first manifestation did the Church palpably embrace Him; at His second coming there shall be again sensible communion with Him. The rest in [So 8:4], which is a spiritual realization of the wish in [So 8:3] ([1Pe 1:8]), and the charge not to disturb it, close the first, second, and fourth canticles; not the third, as the bridegroom there takes charge Himself; nor the fifth, as, if repose formed its close, we might mistake the present state for our rest. The broken, longing close, like that of the whole Bible ([Re 22:20]), reminds us we are to be waiting for a Saviour to come. On "daughters of Jerusalem," see on [So 7:10].
Canticle V.--([So 8:5-14])--From The Call of the Gentiles to the Close of Revelation.
5. Who is this--Words of the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, the churches of Judea; referring to Paul, on his return from Arabia ("the wilderness"), whither he had gone after conversion ([Ga 1:15-24]).
I raised thee ... she ... bare thee--([Ac 26:14-16]). The first words of Jesus Christ to the bride since her going to the garden of nuts ([So 6:9], ); so His appearance to Paul is the only one since His ascension, [So 8:13] is not an address of Him as visible: her reply implies He is not visible ([1Co 15:8]). Spiritually, she was found in the moral wilderness ([Eze 16:5]; [Ho 13:5]); but now she is "coming up from" it ([Jr 2:2]; [Ho 2:14]), especially in the last stage of her journey, her conscious weakness casting itself the more wholly on Jesus Christ ([2Co 12:9]). "Raised" ([Ep 2:1-7]). Found ruined under the forbidden tree ([Ge 3:22-24]); restored under the shadow of Jesus Christ crucified, "the green tree" ([Lu 23:31]), fruit-"bearing" by the cross ([Is 53:11]; [Joh 12:24]). "Born again by the Holy Ghost" "there" ([Eze 16:3-6]). In this verse, her dependence, in the similar verse, [So 3:6], &c., His omnipotence to support her, are brought out ([De 33:26]).
6. Implying approaching absence of the Bridegroom.
seal--having her name and likeness engraven on it. His Holy Priesthood also in heaven ([Ex 28:6-12, 15]-; [He 4:14]); "his heart" there answering to "thine heart" here, and "two shoulders" to "arm." (Compare [Jr 22:24], with [Hag 2:23]). But the Holy Ghost ([Ep 1:13], ). As in [So 8:5], she was "leaning" on Him, that is, her arm on His arm, her head on His bosom; so she prays now that before they part, her impression may be engraven both on His heart and His arm, answering to His love and His power ([Psa 77:15]; see [Ge 38:18]; [Is 62:3]).
love is strong as death--([Ac 21:13]; [Ro 8:35-39]; [Re 12:11]). This their love unto death flows from His ([Joh 10:15]; ).
jealousy ... the grave--Zealous love, jealous of all that would come between the soul and Jesus Christ ([1Ki 19:10]; [Psa 106:30], ; [Lu 9:60]; ; [1Co 16:22]).
cruel--rather, "unyielding" hard, as the grave will not let go those whom it once holds ([Joh 10:28]).
a most vehement flame--literally, "the fire-flame of Jehovah" ([Psa 80:16]; [Is 6:6]). Nowhere else is God's name found in the Song. The zeal that burnt in Jesus Christ ([Psa 69:9]; [Lu 12:49], ) kindled in His followers ([Ac 2:3]; [Ro 15:30]; [Php 2:17]).
7. waters--in contrast with the "coals of fire" ([So 8:6]; [1Ki 18:33-38]). Persecutions ([Ac 8:1]) cannot quench love ([He 10:34]; [Re 12:15], ). Our many provocations have not quenched His love ([Ro 8:33-39]).
if ... give all the substance ... contemned--Nothing short of Jesus Christ Himself, not even heaven without Him, can satisfy the saint ([Php 3:8]). Satan offers the world, as to Jesus Christ ([Mt 4:8]), so to the saint, in vain (1Jo 2:15-17; 5:4). Nothing but our love in turn can satisfy Him ([1Co 13:1-3]).
8. The Gentile Church ([Eze 16:48]). "We," that is, the Hebrew Church, which heretofore admitted Gentiles to communion, only by becoming Judaic proselytes. Now first idolatrous Gentiles are admitted directly ([Ac 11:17-26]). Generally, the saint's anxiety for other souls ([Mr 5:19]; [Joh 4:28], ).
no breasts--neither faith nor love as yet (see on [So 4:5]), which "come by hearing" of Him who first loved us. Not yet fit to be His bride, and mother of a spiritual offspring.
what shall we do--the chief question in the early Church at the first council ([Ac 15:23-29]). How shall "the elder brother" treat the "younger," already received by the Father ([Lu 15:25-32])? Generally ([2Sa 15:15]; [Joh 9:4]; [Ac 9:6]; [Ga 6:10]).
In the day ... spoken for--that is, when she shall be sought in marriage ([Jud 14:7]), namely, by Jesus Christ, the heavenly bridegroom.
9. wall ... door--the very terms employed as to the Gentile question ([Ac 14:27]; [Ep 2:14]). If she be a wall in Zion, founded on Jesus Christ ([1Co 3:11]), we will not "withstand God" ([Ac 11:17]; [15:8-11]). But if so, we must not "build" ([Ac 15:14-17]) on her "wood, hay, stubble" ([1Co 3:12]), that is, Jewish rites, &c., but "a palace of silver," that is, all the highest privileges of church communion ([Ga 2:11-18]; [Ep 2:11-22]). Image from the splendid turrets "built" on the "walls" of Jerusalem, and flanking the "door," or gateway. The Gentile Church is the "door," the type of catholic accessibleness ([1Co 16:9]); but it must be not a mere thoroughfare but furnished with a wooden framework, so as not merely to admit, but also to safely enclose: cedar is fragrant, beautiful, and enduring.