FORWARD
THE SONG OF SOLOMON
INTRODUCTORY
THE TITLE
SECTION I
SECTION II
SECTION III
SECTION IV
SECTION V
SECTION VI
APPENDIX
This book is in the public domain
BY
J. HUDSON TAYLOR, M.R.C.S.
THE CHINA INLAND MISSION, LONDON
PHILADELPHIA, TORONTO, AND MELBOURNE
AGENTS: THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
4 BOUVERIE STREET, LONDON, E.C.4.
First printed in "China's
Millions." Reprinted in Book form-- First
and Second Editions, 6000 copies
Reprinted June 1914
Reprinted January 1918 Reprinted
June 1921 Reprinted November 1923
Reprinted May 1926
Reprinted January 1927 Reprinted
July 1929 Total, 19,000 copies
Printed in Great Britain by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.
This little book, whose design is
to lead the devout Bible student into the Green Pastures of the
Good Shepherd, thence to the Banqueting House of the King, and
thence to the service of the Vineyard, is one of the abiding
legacies of Mr. Hudson Taylor to the Church. In the power of an
evident unction from the Holy One, he has been enabled herein to
unfold in simplest language the deep truth of the believer's
personal union with the Lord, which under symbol and imagery is
the subject of The Song of Songs. And in so doing, he has
ministered an unfailing guidance to one of the most commonly
neglected and misunderstood of the Sacred Scriptures. For how
many have said in bewilderment at the richness of language and
profusion of figure which both conceal and reveal its meaning,
"How can I understand except some man should guide me?"
It is safe to say that these pages cannot fail to help and bless
all such.
To those who knew him, Mr. Hudson
Taylor's life was in the nature of emphasis upon the value of
this small volume. For what he here expounds he also exemplified.
If his words indicate the possibility and blessedness of union
with Christ, his whole life declared it in actual experience. He
lived as one who was "married to Another, even to Him Who is
raised from the dead"; and as the outcome of that union he
brought forth "fruit unto God." What he was has given a
meaning and confirmation to what he has here said, which cannot
be exaggerated. It is inevitable that there are those who will
read and reject as mystical and unpractical, that which is so
directly concerned with the intimacies of fellowship with the
unseen Lord. I would, however, venture to remind such that the
writer of these pages founded the China Inland Mission! He
translated his vision of the Beloved into life-long strenuous
service, and so kept it undimmed through all the years of a life
which has had hardly a parallel in these our days.
This is really the commendation of
the following short chapters. They proclaim an evangel which has
been distilled from experience, and form at least a track through
this fenced portion of God's Word, which will lead many an one
who treads it into the joys of Emmanuel's land.
ST. PAUL'S,
PORTMAN SQUARE, LONDON W.
June 1, 1914.
The great purpose towards which all
the dispensational dealings of God are tending, is revealed to us
in the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle of Paul to the
Corinthians: "That God may be all in all." With this
agrees the teaching of our Lord in John xvii. 3: "And this
is (the object of) life eternal, that they might know Thee the
only true God, and JESUS CHRIST, whom Thou hast sent." This
being so, shall we not act wisely by keeping this object ever in
view in our daily life and study of God's holy Word?
All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God and is profitable, and hence no part is, or
can be, neglected without loss. Few portions of the Word will
help the devout student more in the pursuit of this all-important
"knowledge of God" than the too-much neglected "Song
of Solomon." Like other portions of the Word of God, this
book has its difficulties. But so have all the works of God. Is
not the fact that they surpass our unaided powers of
comprehension and research a "sign-manual" of divinity?
Can feeble man expect to grasp divine power, or to understand and
interpret the works or the providences of the All-wise? And if
not, is it surprising that His Word also needs superhuman wisdom
for its interpretation? Thanks be to God, the illumination of the
HOLY GHOST is promised to all who seek for it: what more can we
desire?
Read without the key, this book is
specially unintelligible, but that key is easily found in the
express teachings of the New Testament. The Incarnate Word is the
true key to the written Word; but even before the incarnation,
the devout student of the Old Testament would find much help to
the understanding of the sacred mysteries of this book in the
prophetic writings; for there Israel was taught that her MAKER
was her HUSBAND. John the Baptist, the last of the prophets,
recognized the Bridegroom in the person of CHRIST, and said,
"He that hath the bride is the Bridegroom: but the friend of
the Bridegroom, which standeth and heareth Him, rejoiceth greatly
because of the Bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is
fulfilled." Paul, in the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the
Ephesians, goes still further, and teaches that the union of
CHRIST with His Church, and her subjection to Him, underlies the
very relationship of marriage, and affords the pattern for every
godly union.
In Solomon, the bridegroom king, as
well as author of this poem, we have a type of our LORD, the true
Prince of peace, in His coming reign. Then will be found not
merely His bride, the Church, but also a willing people, His
subjects, over whom He shall reign gloriously. Then distant
potentates will bring their wealth, and will behold the glory of
the enthroned KING, proving Him with hard questions, as once came
the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon; and blessed will they be to
whom this privilege is accorded. A brief glance will suffice them
for a lifetime; but what shall be the royal dignity and
blessedness of the risen and exalted bride! For ever with her
LORD, for ever like her LORD, for ever conscious that His desire
is toward her, she will share alike His heart and His throne. Can
a study of the book which helps us to understand these mysteries
of grace and love be other than most profitable?
It is interesting to notice the
contrast between this book and that preceding it. The Book of
Ecclesiastes teaches emphatically that "Vanity of vanities,
all is vanity": and thus the necessary introduction to the
Song of Solomon, which shows how true blessing and satisfaction
are to be possessed. In like manner our SAVIOUR'S teaching in the
fourth of John points out in a word the powerlessness of earthly
things to give lasting satisfaction, in striking contrast with
the flow of blessing that results from the presence of the HOLY
GHOST (whose work it is, not to reveal Himself but CHRIST as the
Bridegroom of the soul); "Whosoever drinketh of this water
shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst: but the water that I shall
give him shall be in him a well of water springing up"--overflowing,
on and on--"unto everlasting life."
We shall find it helpful to
consider the book in six sections:--
| I. | The Unsatisfied Life and its Remedy. | Chapter i. 2-ii. 7. | |
| II. | Communion Broken. Restoration. | Chapter ii. 8-iii. 5. | |
| III. | Unbroken Communion. | Chapter iii. 6-v. I. | |
| IV. | Communion Again Broken. Restoration | Chapter v. 2-vi. 10. | |
| V. | Fruits of Recognized Union. | Chapter vi. II-viii. 4. | |
| VI. | Unrestrained Communion. | Chapter viii. 5-14. |
In each of these sections we shall
find the speakers to be--the bride, the Bridegroom, and the
daughters of Jerusalem; it is not usually difficult to ascertain
the speaker, though in some of the verses different conclusions
have been arrived at. The bride speaks of the Bridegroom as
"her Beloved"; the Bridegroom speaks of her as "His
love," while the address of the daughters of Jerusalem is
more varied. In the last four sections they style her "the
fairest among women," but in the fifth she is spoken of as
"the Shulamite," or the King's bride, and also as the
"Prince's daughter."
The student of this book will find
great help in suitable Bible-marketing. A horizontal line marking
off the address of each speaker, with a double line to divide the
sections, would be useful, as also perpendicular lines in the
margin to indicate the speaker. We have ourselves ruled a single
line to connect the verses which contain the utterances of the
bride; a double line to indicate those of the Bridegroom, and a
waved line to indicate the addresses of the daughters of
Jerusalem.
It will be observed that the bride
is the chief speaker in Sections I., II., and is much occupied
with herself; but in Section III., where the communion is
unbroken, she has little to say, and appears as the hearer; the
daughters of Jerusalem give a long address, and the Bridegroom
His longest. In that section for the first time He calls her His
bride, and allures her to fellowship in service. In Section IV.,
the bride again is the chief speaker, but after her restoration
the Bridegroom speaks at length, and "upbraideth not."
In Section V., as we noticed, the bride is no longer called
"the fairest among women," but claims herself to be,
and is recognized as, the royal bride. In Section VI., the
Bridegroom claims her from her very birth, and not merely from
her espousals, as GOD in Ezekiel xvi. claimed Israel.
In
the secret of His presence
How
my soul delights to hide!
Oh,
how precious are the lessons
Which
I learn at JESUS'' side!
Earthly
cares can never vex me,
Neither
trials lay me low;
For
when Satan comes to vex me,
To
the secret place I go!
"The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's."
Well may this book be called the
Song of Songs! There is no song like it. Read aright, it
brings a gladness to the heart which is as far beyond the joy of
earthly things as heaven is higher than the earth. It has been
well said that this is a song which grace alone can teach, and
experience alone can learn. Our SAVIOUR, speaking of the union of
the branch with the vine, adds, "These things have I spoken
unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy
might be full" (John xv. II). And the beloved disciple,
writing of Him who "was from the beginning," who "was
with the FATHER, and was manifested unto us," in order that
we might share the fellowship which He enjoyed, also says, "These
things we write unto you, that your joy may be full." Union
with CHRIST, and abiding in CHRIST, what do they not secure?
Peace, perfect peace; rest, constant rest; answers to all our
prayers; victory over all our foes; pure, holy living; ever-increasing
fruitfulness. All, all of these are the glad outcome of abiding
in CHRIST. To deepen this union, to make more constant this
abiding, is the practical use of this precious Book.
THE UNSATISFIED LIFE AND ITS REMEDY
Cant. i. 2-ii. 7
There is no difficulty in recognizing the bride as the speaker
in verses 2-7. The words are not those of one dead in trespasses
and sins, to whom the LORD is as a root out of a dry ground--without
form and comeliness. The speaker has had her eyes opened to
behold His beauty, and longs for a fuller enjoyment of His love.
Let
Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth:
For
Thy love[1] is better than wine.
It is well that it should be so; it
marks a distinct stage in the development of the life of grace in
the soul. And this recorded experience gives, as it were, a
Divine warrant for the desire for sensible manifestations of His
presence--sensible communications of His love. It was not always
so with her. Once she was contented in His absence--other society
and other occupations sufficed her; but now it can never be so
again. The world can never be to her what it once was; the
betrothed bride has learnt to love her LORD, and no other society
than His can satisfy her. His visits may be occasional and may be
brief; but they are precious times of enjoyment. Their memory is
cherished in the intervals, and their repetition longed for.
There is no real satisfaction in His absence, and yet, alas! He
is not always with her: He comes and goes. Now her joy in Him is
a heaven below; but again she is longing, and longing in vain,
for His presence. Like the ever-changing tide, her experience is
an ebbing and flowing one; it may even be that unrest is the rule,
satisfaction the exception. Is there no help for this? must it
always continue so? Has He, can He have created these
unquenchable longings only to tantalize them? Strange indeed it
would be if this were the case. Yet are there not many of the
LORD'S people whose habitual experience corresponds with hers?
They know not the rest, the joy of abiding in CHRIST; and they
know not how to attain to it, nor why it is not theirs. Are there
not many who look back to the delightful times of their first
espousals, who, so far from finding richer inheritance in CHRIST
than they then had, are even conscious that they have lost their
first love, and might express their experience in the sad lament:--
Where
is the blessedness I knew
When
first I saw the Lord?
Others, again, who may not have
lost their first love, may yet be feeling that the occasional
interruptions to communion are becoming more and more unbearable,
as the world becomes less and He becomes more. His absence is an
ever-increasing distress. "Oh that I knew where I might find
Him!" "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth:
for Thy love is better than wine." Would that His love were
strong and constant like mine, and that He never withdrew the
light of His countenance!"
Poor mistaken one! There is a love
far stronger than thine waiting, longing for satisfaction. The
Bridegroom is waiting for thee all the time; the conditions that
debar His approach are all of thine own making. Take the right
place before Him, and He will be most ready, most glad, to "Satisfy
thy deepest longings, to meet, supply thine every need."
What should we think of a betrothed one whose conceit and self-will
prevented not only the consummation of her own joy, but of his
who had given her his heart? Though never at rest in his absence,
she cannot trust him fully; and she does not care to give up her
own name, her own rights and possessions, her own will to him who
has become necessary for her happiness. She would fain claim him
fully, without giving herself fully to him; but it can never be:
while she retains her own name, she can never claim his. She may
not promise to love and honour if she will not also promise to
obey: and till her love reaches that point of surrender she must
remain an unsatisfied lover--she cannot, as a satisfied bride,
find rest in the home of her husband. While she retains her own
will, and the control of her own possessions, she must be content
to live on her own resources; she cannot claim his.
Could there be a sadder proof of
the extent and reality of the Fall than the deep seated distrust
of our loving LORD and MASTER which makes us hesitate to give
ourselves entirely up to Him, which fears that He might require
something beyond our powers, or call for something that we should
find it hard to give or to do? The real secret of an unsatisfied
life lies too often in an unsurrendered will. And yet how foolish,
as well as how wrong, this is! Do we fancy that we are wiser than
He? or that our love for ourselves is more tender and strong than
His? or that we know ourselves better than He does? How our
distrust must grieve and wound afresh the tender heart of Him who
was for us the Man of Sorrows! What would be the feelings of an
earthly bridegroom if he discovered that his bride-elect was
dreading to marry him, lest, when he had the power, he should
render her life insupportable? Yet how many of the LORD'S
redeemed ones treat Him just so! No wonder they are neither happy
nor satisfied!
But true love cannot be stationary;
it must either decline or grow. Despite all the unworthy fears of
our poor hearts, Divine love is destined to conquer. The bride
exclaims:--
Thine
ointments have a goodly fragrance;
Thy
name is as ointment poured forth;
Therefore
do the virgins love Thee.
There was no such ointment as that
with which the High Priest was anointed: our Bridegroom is a
Priest as well as a King. The trembling bride cannot wholly
dismiss her fears; but the unrest and the longing become
unbearable, and she determines to surrender all, and come what
may to follow fully. She will yield her very self to Him, heart
and hand, influence and possessions. Nothing can be so
insupportable as His absence! If He lead to another Moriah, or
even to a Calvary, she will follow Him.
Draw
me: we will run after Thee!
But ah! what follows? A wondrously
glad surprise. No Moriah, no Calvary; on the contrary, a KING!
When the heart submits, then JESUS reigns. And when JESUS reigns,
there is rest.
And where does He head His bride?
The
King hath brought me into His chambers.
Not first to the banqueting house--that will come in due
season; but first to be alone with Himself.
How perfect! Could we be satisfied
to meet a beloved one only in public? No; we want to take such an
one aside--to have him all to ourselves. So with our MASTER: He
takes His now fully consecrated bride aside, to taste and enjoy
the sacred intimacies of His wondrous love. The Bridegroom of His
Church longs for communion with His people more than they long
for fellowship with Him, and often has to cry:--
Let
Me see thy countenance, let Me hear thy voice;
For
sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
Are we not all too apt to seek Him
rather because of our need than for His joy and pleasure? This
should not be. We do not admire selfish children who only think
of what they can get from their parents, and are unmindful of the
pleasure that they may give or the service that they may render.
But are not we in danger of forgetting that pleasing GOD means
giving Him pleasure? Some of us look back to the time when the
words "To please GOD" meant no more than not to sin
against Him, not to grieve Him; but would the love of earthly
parents be satisfied with the mere absence of disobedience? Or a
bridegroom, if his bride only sought him for the supply of her
own need?
A word about the morning watch may
not be out of place here. There is no time so profitably spent as
the early hour given to JESUS only. Do we give sufficient
attention to this hour? If possible, it should be redeemed;
nothing can make up for it. We must take time to be holy! One
other thought. When we bring our questions to GOD, do we not
sometimes either go on to offer some other petition, or leave the
closet without waiting for replies? Does not this seem to show
little expectation of an answer, and little desire for one?
Should we like to be treated so? Quiet waiting before GOD would
save from many a mistake and from many a sorrow.
We have found the bride making a
glad discovery of a KING--her KING--and not a cross, as she
expected; this is the first-fruit of her consecration.
We
will be glad and rejoice in Thee,
We
will make mention of Thy love more than of wine.
Rightly
do they love Thee.
Another discovery not less
important awaits her. She has seen the face of the KING, and as
the rising sun reveals that which was hidden in the darkness, so
His light has revealed her blackness to her. "Ah," she
cries, "I am black";--"But comely,"
interjects the Bridegroom, with inimitable grace and tenderness.
"Nay, `black as the tents of Kedar,'" she continues.
"Yet to Me," He responds, "thou art `comely as the
curtains of Solomon!'" Nothing humbles the soul like sacred
and intimate communion with the Lord; yet there is a sweet joy in
feeling that He knows all, and, notwithstanding,
loves us still. Things once called "little negligences"
are seen with new eyes in "the secret of His presence."
There we see the mistake, the sin, of not keeping our own
vineyard. This the bride confesses:--
Look
not upon me, because I am swarthy,
Because
the sun hath scorched me.
My
mother's sons were incensed against me,
They
made me keeper of the vineyards;
But
mine own vineyard have I not kept.
Our attention is here drawn to a
danger which is pre-eminently one of this day: the intense
activity of our times may lead to zeal in service, to the
neglect of personal communion; but such neglect will not only
lessen the value of the service, but tend to incapacitate us for
the highest service. If we are watchful over the souls of others,
and neglect our own--if we are seeking to remove the motes from
our brother's eye, unmindful of the beam in our own, we shall
often be disappointed with our powerlessness to help our brethren,
while our MASTER will not be less disappointed in us. Let us
never forget that what we are is more important than what we do;
and that all fruit borne when not abiding in CHRIST must be fruit
of the flesh, and not of the SPIRIT. The sin of neglected
communion may be forgiven, and yet the effect remain permanently;
as wounds when healed often leave a scar behind.
We now come to a very sweet
evidence of the reality of the heart-union of the bride with her
LORD. She is one with the GOOD SHEPHERD: her heart at once goes
instinctively forth to the feeding of the flock; but she would
tread in the footsteps of Him whom her soul loveth, and would
neither labour alone, nor in other companionship than His own:--
Tell
me, O Thou whom my soul loveth,
Where
Thou feedest Thy flock, where Thou makest it to
rest
at noon:
For
why should I be as one that is veiled
Beside
the flocks of Thy companions?
She will not mistake the society of His servants for that of
their MASTER.
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.
These are the words of the
daughters of Jerusalem, and give a correct reply to her
questionings. Let her show her love to her LORD by feeding His
sheep, by caring for His lambs (see John xxi. 15-17), and she
need not fear to miss His presence. While sharing with other
under-shepherds in caring for His flock she will find the CHIEF
SHEPHERD at her side, and enjoy the tokens of His approval. It
will be service with JESUS as well as for JESUS.
But far sweeter than the reply of
the daughters of Jerusalem is the voice of the Bridegroom, who
now speaks Himself. It is the living fruit of her heart-oneness
with Him that makes His love break forth in the joyful utterances
of verses 9-11. For it is not only true that our love for our
LORD will show itself in feeding His sheep, but that He who when
on earth said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the
least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me," has
His own heart-love stirred, and not infrequently specially
reveals Himself to those who are ministering for Him.
The commendation of the bride in
verse 9 is one of striking appropriateness and beauty:--
I
have compared thee, O My love,
To a
company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.
It will be remembered that horses originally came out of Egypt,
and that the pure breed still found in Arabia was during Solomon's
reign brought by his merchants for all the kings of the East.
Those selected for Pharaoh's own chariot would not only be of the
purest blood and perfect in proportion and symmetry, but also
perfect in training, docile and obedient; they would know no will
but that of the charioteer, and the only object of their
existence would be to carry the king whithersoever he would go.
So should it be with the Church of CHRIST; one body with many
members, indwelt and guided by one SPIRIT; holding the HEAD, and
knowing no will but His; her rapid and harmonious movement should
cause His kingdom to progress throughout the world.
Many years ago a beloved friend,
returning from the East by the overland route, made the journey
from Suez to Cairo in the cumbrous diligence then in use. The
passengers on landing took their places, about a dozen wild young
horses were harnessed with ropes to the vehicle, the driver took
his seat and cracked his whip, and the horses dashed off, some to
the right, some to the left, and others forward, causing the
coach to start with a bound, and as suddenly to stop, with the
effect of first throwing those sitting in the front seat into the
laps of those sitting behind, and then of reversing the operation.
With the aid of sufficient Arabs running on each side to keep
these wild animals progressing in the right direction the
passengers were jerked and jolted, bruised and shaken, until, on
reaching their destination, they were too wearied and sore to
take the rest they so much needed.
Is not the Church of GOD to-day
more like these untrained steeds than a company of horses in
Pharaoh's chariot? And while self-will and disunion are apparent
in the Church, can we wonder that the world still lieth in the
wicked one, and that the great heathen nations are barely touched?
Changing His simile, the Bridegroom
continues:--
Thy
cheeks are comely with plaits of hair,
Thy
neck with strings of jewels.
We
will make thee plaits of gold
With
studs of silver.
The bride is not only beautiful and
useful to her LORD, she is also adorned, and it is His delight to
add to her adornments. Nor are His gifts perishable flowers, or
trinkets destitute of intrinsic value: the finest of the gold,
the purest of the silver, and the most precious and lasting of
the jewels are the gifts of the Royal Bridegroom to His spouse;
and these, plaited amongst her own hair, increase His pleasure
who has bestowed them.
In verses 12-14 the bride responds:--
While
the King sat at His table
My
spikenard sent forth its fragrance.
It is in His presence and through His grace that whatever of
fragrance or beauty may be found in us comes forth. Of Him as its
source, through Him as its instrument, and to Him as its end, is
all that is gracious and divine. But HE HIMSELF is better far
than all His grace works in us.
My
Beloved is unto me as a bundle of myrrh,
That
lieth betwixt my breasts.
My
beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna-flowers
In
the vineyards of En-gedi.
Well is it when our eyes are filled
with His beauty and our hearts are occupied with Him. In the
measure in which this is true of us we shall recognize the
correlative truth that His great heart is occupied with us. Note
the response of the Bridegroom:--
Behold,
thou art fair, My love; behold, thou art fair;
Thine
eyes are as a dove's.
How can the Bridegroom truthfully use such words of one who
recognizes herself as
Black
as the tents of Kedar?
And still more strong are the Bridegroom's words in chapter iv.7:-
Thou
art all fair, My love;
And
there is no spot in thee.
We shall find the solution of this difficulty in 2 Cor. iii.
Moses in contemplation of the Divine glory became so transformed
that the Israelites were not able to look on the glory of his
countenance. "We all, with unveiled face (beholding and)
reflecting as a mirror the glory of the LORD, are transformed
into the same image from glory to glory (i.e. the brightness
caught from His glory transforms us to glory), even as from the
LORD the SPIRIT." Every mirror has two surfaces; the one is
dull and unreflecting, and is all spots, but when the reflecting
surface is turned towards us we see no spot, we see our own image.
So while the bride is delighting in the beauty of the Bridegroom
He beholds His own image in her; there is no spot in that: it is
all fair. May we ever present this reflection to His gaze, and to
the world in which we live for the very purpose of reflecting Him.
Note again His words:--
Thine
eyes are as dove's,
or
Thou
hast dove's eyes.
The hawk is a beautiful bird, and has beautiful eyes, quick
and penetrating; but the Bridegroom desires not hawk's eyes in
His bride. The tender eyes of the innocent dove are those which
He admires. It was as a dove that the HOLY SPIRIT came upon Him
at His baptism, and the dove-like character is that which He
seeks for in each of His people.
The reason why David was not
permitted to build the Temple was a very significant one. His
life was far from perfect; and his mistakes and sins have been
faithfully recorded by the HOLY SPIRIT. They brought upon him God's
chastenings, yet it was not any of these that disqualified him
from building the Temple, but rather his warlike spirit; and this
though many of his battles, if not all, were for the
establishment of GOD'S Kingdom and the fulfilment of His promises
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Solomom, the Prince of Peace, alone
could build the Temple. If we would be soul-winners and build up
the Church, which is His Temple, let us note this: not by
discussion nor by argument, but by lifting up CHRIST shall we
draw men unto Him.
We now come to the reply of the
bride. He has called her fair; wisely and well does she reply:--
Behold
Thou art fair, my Beloved, yea, pleasant:
Also
our couch is green.
The
beams of our house are cedars,
And
our rafters are firs.
I am
(but) a rose of Sharon,
A
lily of the valleys.
The last words are often quoted as
though they were the utterance of the Bridegroom, but we believe
erroneously. The bride says in effect, Thou callest me fair and
pleasant, the fairness and pleasantness are Thine; I am but a
wild flower, a lowly, scentless rose of Sharon (i.e. the autumn
crocus), or a lily of the valley.
To this the Bridegroom responds:
"Be it so; but if a wild flower, yet
As a
lily among thorns,
So is
My love among the daughters."
Again the bride replies:--
As
the apple tree (the citron) among the trees of the wood,
So is
my Beloved among the sons.
I sat
down under His shadow with great delight,
And
His fruit was sweet to my taste.
The citron is a beautiful evergreen,
affording delightful shade as well as refreshing fruit. A humble
wild flower herself, she recognizes her Bridegroom as a noble
tree, alike ornamental and fruitful. Shade from the burning sun,
refreshment and rest she finds in Him. What a contrast her
present position and feelings to those with which this section
commenced! He knew full well the cause of all her fears; her
distrust sprang from her ignorance of Himself, so He took her
aside, and in the sweet intimacies of mutual love her fears and
distrust have vanished, like the mists of the morning before the
rising sun.
But now that she has learned to
know Him, she has a further experience of His love. He is not
ashamed to acknowledge her publicly.
He
brought me to the banqueting house,
And
His banner over me was love.
The house of wine is now as
appropriate as the King's chambers were. Fearlessly and without
shame she can sit at His side, His acknowledged spouse, the bride
of His choice. Overwhelmed with His love she exclaims:--
Stay
ye me with raisins, comfort me with apples:
For I
am sick of love.
His
left hand is under my head,
And
His right hand doth embrace me.
Now she finds the blessedness of
being possessed. No longer her own, heart-rest is alike her right
and her enjoyment; and so the Bridegroom would have it.
I
adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By
the roes, and by the hinds of the field,
That
ye stir not up nor awake My love,
Until
she[2] please.
It is never by His will that our
rest in Him is disturbed.
You
may always be abiding,
If
you will, at Jesus' side;
in
the secret of His presence
You
may every moment hide.
There is no change in His love; He is the same yesterday, to-day,
and for ever. To us He promises, "I will never leave thee,
never fail thee, nor forsake thee"; and His earnest
exhortation and command is, "Abide in Me, and I in you."
Communion Broken--Restoration
Cant. ii. 8-iii.5
"Therefore we ought to give
the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest happly
we drift away from them."--Heb. ii. 1 (R.V.).
At the close of the first section we left the bride satisfied
and at rest in the arms of her Beloved, who had charged the
daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up nor awaken His love until
she please. We might suppose that a union so complete, a
satisfaction so full, would never be interrupted by failure on
the part of the happy bride. But, alas, the experience of most of
us shows how easily communion with CHRIST may be broken, and how
needful are the exhortations of our LORD to those who are indeed
branches of the true Vine, and cleansed by the Word which He has
spoken, to abide in Him. The failure is never on His side. "Lo,
I am with you alway." But, alas, the bride often forgets the
exhortation addressed to her in Ps. xiv:--
Hearken,
O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear;
Forget
also thine own people, and thy father's house;
So
shall the King greatly desire thy beauty;
For
He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.
In this section the bride has
drifted back from her position of blessing into a state of
worldliness. Perhaps the very restfulness of her new-found joy
made her feel too secure; perhaps she thought that, so far as she
was concerned, there was no need for the exhortation, "Little
children, keep yourselves from idols." Or she may have
thought that the love of the world was so thoroughly taken away
that she might safely go back, and, by a little compromise on her
part, she might win her friends to follow her LORD too. Perhaps
she scarcely thought at all: glad that she was saved and free,
she forgot that the current--the course of this world--was
against her; and insensibly glided, drifted back to that position
out of which she was called, unaware all the time of backsliding.
It is not necessary, when the current is against us, to turn the
boat,s head down the stream in order to drift; or for a runner in
a race to turn back in order to miss the prize.
Ah, how often the enemy succeeds,
by one device or another, in tempting the believer away from that
position of entire consecration to CHRIST in which alone the
fulness of His power and of His love can be experienced. We say
the fulness of His power and of His love; for he may not have
ceased to love his LORD. In the passage before us the bride still
loves Him truly, though not wholly; there is still a power in His
Word which is not unfelt, though she no longer renders instant
obedience. She little realizes how she is wronging her LORD, and
how real is the wall of separation between them. To her,
worldliness seems as but a little thing; she has not realized the
solemn truth of many passages in the Word of GOD that speak in no
measured terms of the folly, the danger, the sin of friendship
with the world. "Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the
FATHER is not in him." "Ye adulteresses, know ye not
that the friendship of the world is enmity with GOD? Whosoever
therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy
of GOD." "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for
what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what
communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath CHRIST
with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?.
. .Wherefore:--
Come
ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
And
touch no unclean thing;
And I
will receive you,
And
will be to you a FATHER,
And
ye shall be to Me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
We have to take our choice: we
cannot enjoy both the world and CHRIST.
The bride had not learned this: she
would fain enjoy both, with no thought of their incompatibility.
She observes with joy the approach of the Bridegroom.
The
voice of my Beloved! Behold He cometh
Leaping
upon the mountain, bounding over the hills.
My
Beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart;
Behold
He standeth behind our wall,
He
looketh in at the windows,
He
glanceth through the lattice.
The heart of the bride leaps on hearing the voice of her
Beloved, as He comes in search of her. He has crossed the hills;
He draws near to her; He stands behind the wall; He even looks in
at the windows; with tender and touching words He woes her to
come forth to Him. He utters no reproach, and His loving
entreaties sink deep in her memory.
My
Beloved spake, and said unto me,
Rise
up, My love, My fair one, and come away,
For,
lo, the winter is past,
The
rain is over and gone;
The
flowers appear on the earth;
The
time of the singing of birds is come,
And
the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
The
fig-tree ripeneth her green figs,
And
the vines are in blossom,
They
give forth their fragrance.
Arise,
My love, My fair one, and come away.
All nature is responsive to the return of the summer, wilt
thou, My Bride, be irresponsive to My love?
Arise,
My love, My fair one, and come away.
Can such pleading be in vain? Alas, it can, it was!
In yet more touching words the
Bridegroom continues:--
O My
dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the
steep place,
Let
Me see thy countenance, let Me hear thy voice!
For
sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
Wonderful thought! that GOD should desire fellowship with us;
and that He whose love once made Him the Man of Sorrows may now
be made the Man of Joys by the loving devotion of human hearts.
But strong as is His love, and His
desire for His bride, He can come no further. Where she now is He
can never come. But surely she will go forth to Him. Has He not a
claim upon her? She feels and enjoys His love, will she let His
desire count for nothing? For, let us notice, it is not here the
bride longing in vain for her LORD, but the Bridegroom who is
seeking for her Alas that He should seek in vain!
Take
us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards;
For
our vineyards are in blossom,
He continues. The enemies may be small, but the mischief done
great. A little spray of blossom, so tiny as to be scarcely
perceived, is easily spoiled, but thereby the fruitfulness of a
whole branch may be for ever destroyed. And how numerous the
little foxes are! Little compromises with the world; disobedience
to the still small voice in little things; little indulgences of
the flesh to the neglect of duty; little strokes of policy; doing
evil in little things that good may come; and the beauty and the
fruitfulness of the vine are sacrificed!
We have a sad illustration of the
deceitfulness of sin in the response of the bride. Instead of
bounding forth to meet Him, she first comforts her own heart by
the remembrance of His faithfulness, and of her union with Him:--
My
Beloved is mine, and I am His:
He
feedeth His flock among the lilies.
My position is one of security, I have no need to be concerned
about it. He is mine, and I am His; and nought can alter that
relationship. I can find Him now at any time, He feedeth His
flock among the lilies. While the sun of prosperity shines upon
me I may safely enjoy myself here without Him. Should trial and
darkness come He will be sure not to fail me.
Until
the day be cool, and the shadows flee away,
Turn,
my Beloved, and be Thou like a gazelle or a young hart.
Upon
the mountains of Bether.
Careless of His desire, she thus lightly dismisses Him, with
the thought: A little later I may enjoy His love; and the grieved
Bridegroom departs!
Poor foolish bride! she will soon
find that the things that once satisfied her can satisfy no
longer; and that it is easier to turn a deaf ear to His tender
call than to recall or find her absent LORD.
The day became cool, and the
shadows did flee away; but He returned not. Then in the solemn
night she discovered her mistake: It was dark, and she was alone.
Retiring to rest she still hoped for His return--the lesson that
worldliness is an absolute bar to full communion still unlearned.
By
night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul loveth:
I
sought Him, but I found Him not!
She waits and wearies: His absence becomes insupportable:--
I
said, I will rise now, and go about the city,
In
the streets and in the broad ways.
I
will seek Him whom my soul loveth:
I
sought Him, but I found Him not!
How different her position from what it might have been!
Instead of seeking Him alone, desolate and in the dark, she might
have gone forth with Him in the sunshine, leaning upon His arm.
She might have exchanged the partial view of her Beloved through
the lattice, when she could no longer say "Nothing between,"
for the joy of His embrace, and His public confession of her as
His chosen bride!
The
watchmen that go about the city found me:
To
whom I said, Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?
It
was but a little that I passed from them,
When
I found Him whom my soul loveth.
She had already obeyed His command, "Arise, and come away."
Fearless of reproach, she was seeking Him in the dark; and when
she began to confess her LORD, she soon found Him and was
restored to His favour:--
I
held Him, and would not let Him go,
Until
I had brought Him into my mother's house,
And
into the chamber of her that conceived me.
Jerusalem above is the mother of us all. There it is that
communion is enjoyed, not in worldly ways or self-willed
indulgence.
Communion fully restored, the
section closes, as did the first, with the loving charge of the
Bridegroom that none should disturb His bride:--
I
adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By
the roes, and by the hinds of the field,
(By
all that is loving and beautiful and constant)
That
ye stir not up, nor awake My love,
Until
she[3] please.
May we all, while living down here,
in the world, but not of it, find our home in the heavenly places
to which we are seated together with CHRIST. Sent into the world
to witness for our MASTER, may we ever be strangers there, ready
to confess Him the true object of our soul's devotion.
How
amiable are Thy tabernacles,
O
Lord of hosts!
My
soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord;
My
heart and my flesh cry out unto the living God,
Blessed
are they that dwell in Thy house:
They
will be still praising Thee. . .
A day
in Thy courts is better than a thousand.
I had
rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than
to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For
the Lord God in a Sun and Shield:
The
Lord will give grace and glory:
No
good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.
O
Lord of hosts,
Blessed
is the man that trusteth in Thee!
The Joy of Unbroken Communion
Cant. iii. 6-v. I
O
Jesus, King most wonderful,
Thou
Conqueror renown'd.
Thou
sweetness most ineffable,
In
whom all joys are found!
Thee,
Jesus, may our voices bless;
Thee
may we love alone;
And
ever in our lives express
The
image of Thine own.
We have been mainly occupied in Sections I and II with the
words and the experiences of the bride; in marked contrast to
this, in this section our attention is first called to the
Bridegroom, and then it is from Himself that we hear of the bride,
as the object of His love, and the delight of His heart. The
daughters of Jerusalem are the first speakers.
Who
is this that cometh up out of the wilderness like pillars of
smoke,
Perfumed
with myrrh and frankincense,
With
all powders of the merchant?
They themselves give the reply:--
King
Solomon made himself a car of state
Of
the wood of Lebanon.
He
made the pillars thereof of silver,
The
bottom thereof of gold, the seat of it of purple,
The
midst thereof being paved with love (love-gifts).
From
the daughters of Jerusalem.
Behold,
it is the litter of Solomon;
Threescore
mighty men are about it,
Of
the mighty men of Israel
They
all handle the sword, and are expert in war:
Every
man hath his sword upon his thigh,
Because
of fear in the night.
In these verses the bride is not
mentioned; she is eclipsed in the grandeur and the state of her
royal Bridegroom; nevertheless, she is both enjoying and sharing
it. The very air is perfumed by the smoke of the incense that
ascends pillar-like to the clouds; and all that safeguards the
position of the Bridegroom Himself, and shows forth His dignity,
safeguards also the accompanying bride, the sharer of His glory.
The car of state in which they sit is built of fragrant cedar
from Lebanon, and the finest of the gold and silver have been
lavished in its construction. The fragrant wood typifies the
beauty of sanctified humanity, while the gold reminds us of the
divine glory of our Lord, and the silver of the purity and
preciousness of His redeemed and peerless Church. The imperial
purple with which it is lined tells us of the Gentiles--the
daughter of Tyre has been there with her gift; while the love-gifts
of the daughters of Jerusalem accord with the prophecy, "Even
the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour."
These are the things that attract
the attention of the daughters of Jerusalem, but the bride is
occupied with the King Himself, and she exclaims:--
Go
forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon,
With
the crown wherewith His mother hath crowned Him in the day of His
espousals,
And
in the day of the gladness of His heart.
The crowned KING is everything to her, and she would have Him
to be so to the daughters of Zion likewise. She dwells with
delight on the gladness of His heart in the day of His espousals,
for now she is not occupied with Him for her own sake, but
rejoices in His joy in finding in her His satisfaction. Do
we sufficiently cultivate this unselfish desire to be all for
JESUS, and to do all for His pleasure? Or are we conscious that
we principally go to Him for our own sakes, or at best for the
sake of our fellow-creatures? How much of prayer there is that
begins and ends with the creature, forgetful of the privilege of
giving joy to the Creator! Yet it is only when He sees in our
unselfish love and devotion to Him the reflection of His own that
His heart can feel full satisfaction, and pour itself forth in
precious utterances of love such as those which we find in the
following words:--
Behold,
thou art fair, My love; behold, thou art fair;
Thine
eyes are as dove's behind thy veil;
Thy
hair is as a flock of goats,
That
lie along the side of Mount Gilead;
Thy
teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly shorn,
Which
are come up from the washing.
Which
are all of them in pairs,
And
none is bereaved among them.
Thy
lips are like a thread of scarlet,
And
thy speech is comely, etc. (See verses 3-5).
We have already found the
explanation of the bride in her reflecting like a mirror the
beauty of the Bridegroom. Well may He with satisfaction describe
her beauty while she is thus occupied with Himself! The lips that
speak only of Him are like a thread of scarlet; the mouth or
speech which has no word of self, or for self, is comely in His
sight.
How sweet His words of appreciation
and commendation were to the bride we can well imagine; but her
joy was too deep for expression; she was silent in her love. She
would not now think of sending Him away until the day be
cool and the shadows flee away.
Still less does the Bridegroom
think of finding His joy apart from His bride. He says:--
Until
the day be cool, and the shadows flee away,
I
will get Me to the mountain of myrrh,
And
to the hill of frankincense.
Separation never comes from His
side. He is always ready for communion with a prepared heart, and
in this happy communion the bride becomes ever fairer, and more
like to her LORD. She is being progressively changed into His
image, from one degree of glory to another, through the wondrous
working of the HOLY SPIRIT, until the Bridegroom can declare:--
Thou
art all fair, My love;
And
there is no spot on thee.
And now she is fit for service,
and to it the Bridegroom woos her; she will not now misrepresent
Him:--
Come
with Me from Lebanon, My bride,
With
Me from Lebanon;
Look
from the top of Amana,
From
the top of Senir and Hermon,
From
the lions' dens,
From
the mountains of the leopards.
"Come with Me." It is always so. If our SAVIOUR says,
"Go ye therefore and disciple all nations," He precedes
it by, "All power is given unto Me," and follows it by,
"Lo, I am with you always." Or if, as here, He calls
His bride to come, it is still "with Me," and it in in
connection with this loving invitation that for the first
time He changes the word "My love," for the still more
endearing one, "My bride."
What are lions' dens when the Lion
of the tribe of Judah is with us; or mountains of leopards, when
He is at our side! "I will fear no evil, for Thou art with
me." On the other hand, it is while thus facing dangers, and
toiling with Him in service, that He says:--
Thou
hast ravished My heart, My sister, My bride;
Thou
hast ravished My heart with one look from thine eyes,
With
one chain of thy neck.
Is it not wonderful how the heart of our Beloved can be thus
ravished with the love of one who is prepared to accept His
invitation, and go forth with Him seeking to rescue the perishing!
The marginal reading of the Revised Version is very significant:
"Thou hast ravished My heart," or "Thou hast given
me courage." If the Bridegroom's heart may be encouraged by
the fidelity and loving companionship of his bride, it is not
surprising that we may cheer and encourage one another in our
mutual service. St. Paul had a steep mountain of difficulty to
climb when he was being led as a captive to Rome, not knowing the
things that awaited him there; but when the brethren met him at
the Appii Forum he thanked God and took courage. May we ever thus
strengthen one another's hands in God!
But to resume. The Bridegroom
cheers the toilsome agents, and the steep pathways of danger,
with sweet communications of His love:--
How
fair is thy love, My sister, My bride!
How
much better is thy love than wine!
And
the smell of thine ointments than all manner of spices!
Thy
lips, O My bride, drop as the honeycomb:
Honey
and milk are under thy tongue;
And
the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
A
garden shut up is My sister, My bride;
A
spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
Thy
shoots are a paradise of pomegranates, with precious fruits;
Henna
with spikenard plants,
Spikenard
and saffron,
Calamus
and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense;
Myrrh
and aloes, with all the chief spices.
Thou
art a fountain of gardens,
A
well of living waters,
And
flowing streams from Lebanon.
Engaged with the Bridegroom in seeking to rescue the perishing,
the utterances of her lips are to Him as honey and the honeycomb;
and figure is piled upon figure to express His satisfaction and
joy. She is a garden full of precious fruits and delightful
perfumes, but a garden enclosed; the fruit she ears may bring
blessing to many, but the garden is for Himself alone; she is a
fountain, but a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. And yet again
she is a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and flowing
streams from Lebanon: she carries fertility and imparts
refreshment wherever she goes; and yet it is all of Him and for
Him.
The bride now speaks for the second
time in this section. As her first utterance was of Him, so now
her second is for Him; self is found in neither.
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 precious fruits.
She is ready for any experience: the north wind and the south
may blow upon her garden, if only the spices thereof may flow out
to regale her Lord by their fragrance. He has called her His
garden, a paradise of pomegranates and precious fruits; let Him
come into it and eat His precious fruits.
To this the Bridegroom replies:--
I am
come into My garden, My sister, My bride:
I
have gathered My myrrh with My spice;
I
have eaten My honeycomb with My honey;
I
have drunk My wine with My milk.
Now, when she calls, He answers at once. When she is only for
her LORD, He assures her that He finds all His satisfaction in
her.
The section closes by the bride's
invitation to His friends and her, as well as to Himself:--
Eat,
O friends;
Drink,
yea, drink abundantly, O Beloved.
The consecration of all to our MASTER, far from lessening our
power to impart, increases both our power and our joy in
ministration. The five loaves and two fishes of the disciples,
first given up to and blessed by the LORD, were abundant supply
for the needy multitudes, and grew, in the act of distribution,
into a store of which twelve hampers full of fragments remained
when all were fully satisfied.
We have, then, in this beautiful
section, as we have seen, a picture of unbroken communion and its
delightful issues. May our lives correspond! First, one with the
KING, then speaking of the KING; the joy of communion leading to
fellowship in service, to a being all for JESUS, ready for any
experience that will fit for further service, surrendering all to
Him, and willing to minister all for Him. There is no room for
love of the world here, for union with CHRIST has filled the
heart; there is nothing for the gratification of the world, for
all has been sealed and is kept for the MASTER'S use.
Jesus,
my life is Thine!
And
evermore shall be
Hidden
in Thee.
For
nothing can untwine
Thy
life from mine.
Communion again Broken--Restoration
Cant. v. 2-vi.10.
The fourth section commences with an address of the bride to
the daughters of Jerusalem, in which she narrates her recent sad
experience, and entreats their help in her trouble. The presence
and comfort of her Bridegroom are again lost to her; not this
time by relapse into worldliness, but by slothful self-indulgence.
We are not told of the steps that
led to her failure; of how self again found place in her heart.
Perhaps spiritual pride in the achievements which grace enabled
her to accomplish was the cause; or, not improbably, a cherished
satisfaction in the blessing she had received, instead of
in the BLESSER Himself, may have led to the separation. She seems
to have been largely unconscious of her declination; self-occupied
and self-contented, she scarcely noticed His absence; she was
resting, resting alone,--never asking where He had gone, or how
He was employed. And more than this, the door of her chamber was
not only closed, but barred; an evidence that His return was
neither eagerly desired nor expected.
Yet her heart was not far from Him;
there was a music in His voice that awakened echoes in her soul
such as no other voice could have stirred. She was still "a
garden shut up, a fountain sealed," so far as the world was
concerned. The snare this time was the more dangerous and
insidious because it was quite unsuspected. Let us look at her
narrative:--
I was
asleep, but my heart waked:
It is
the voice of my Beloved that knocketh saying,
Open
to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled:
For
My head is filled with dew,
My
locks with the drops of the night.
How often the position of the
Bridegroom is that of a knocking Suitor outside, as in His
epistle to the Laodicean[4] Church:
"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My
voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup
with him, and he with Me." It is sad that He should be
outside a closed door--that He should need to knock; but still
more sad that He should knock, and knock in vain at the door of
any heart which has become His own. In this case it is not the position
of the bride that is wrong; if it were, His word as before would
be, "Arise, and come away"; whereas now His word is,
"Open to Me, My sister, My love." It was her condition
of self-satisfaction and love of ease that closed the door.
Very touching are His words: "Open
to Me, My sister" (He is the first-born among many brethren),
"My love" (the object of My heart's devotion), "My
dove" (one who has been endued with many of the gifts and
graces of the HOLY SPIRIT), "My undefiled" (washed,
renewed, and cleansed for Me); and He urges her to open by
reference to His own condition:--
My
head is filled with dew,
My
locks with the drops of the night.
Why is it that His head is filled
with the dew? Because His heart is a shepherd-heart. There are
those whom the FATHER has given to Him who are wandering on the
dark mountains of sin: many, oh, how many, have never heart the
SHEPHERD'S voice; many, too, who were once in the fold have
wandered away--far away from its safe shelter. The heart that
never can forget, the love that never can fall, must seek
the wandering sheep until the lost one has been found: "My
FATHER worketh hitherto, and I work." And will she, who so
recently was at His side, who joyfully braved the dens of lions
and the mountains of leopards, will she leave Him to seek alone
the wandering and the lost?
Open
to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled:
For
My head is filled with dew,
My
locks with the drops of the night.
We do not know a more touching
entreaty in the Word of GOD, and sad indeed is the reply of the
bride:--
I
have put off my coat; how shall I put it on?
I
have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
How sadly possible it is to take
delight in conferences and conventions, to feast on all the good
things that are brought before us, and yet to be unprepared to go
out from them to self-denying efforts to rescue the perishing; to
delight in the rest of faith while forgetful to fight the good
fight of faith; to dwell upon the cleansing and the purity
effected by faith, but to have little thought for the poor souls
struggling in the mire of sin. If we can put off our coat when He
would have us keep it on; if we can wash our feet while He is
wandering alone upon the mountains, is there not sad want of
fellowship with our LORD?
Meeting with no response from the
tardy bride, her
Beloved
put in His hand by the hole of the door,
And
"her" heart was moved for Him.
But, alas, the door was not only
latched, but barred; and His effort to secure an entrance was in
vain.
I
rose up to open to my Beloved;
And
my hands dropped with myrrh,
And
my fingers with liquid myrrh,
Upon
the handles of the bolt.
I
opened to my Beloved;
But
my Beloved had withdrawn Himself, and was gone.
My
soul had failed me when He spake.
When, all too late, the bride did
arise,she seems to have been more concerned to anoint herself
with the liquid myrrh than to speedily welcome her waiting LORD;
more occupied with her own graces than with His desire. No words
of welcome were uttered, though her heart failed within her; and
the grieved One had withdrawn Himself before she was ready to
receive Him. Again (as in the third chapter) she had to go forth
alone to seek her LORD; and this time her experiences were much
more painful than on the former occasion.
I
sought Him, but I could not find Him;
I
called Him, but He gave me no answer.
The
watchmen that go about the city found me,
They
smote me, they wounded me;
The
keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me.
Her first relapse had been one of
inexperience; if a second relapse had been brought about by
inadvertence she should at least have been ready and prompt when
summoned to obey. It is not a little thing to fall into the habit
of being tardy in obedience, even in the case of a believer: in
the case of the unbeliever the final issue of disobedience is
inexpressibly awful:--
Turn
you at My reproof:
Behold,
I will pour out My Spirit unto you,
I
will make known My words unto you.
Because
I have called, and ye refused;
I
have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded;. . .
I
also will laugh in the day of your calamity. . .
Then
shall they call upon Me, but will I not answer;
They
shall seek Me diligently, but they shall not find Me.
The backsliding of the bride,
though painful, was not final; for it was followed by true
repentance. She went forth into the darkness and sought Him; she
called, but He responded not, and the watchmen finding her, both
smote and wounded her. They appear to have appreciated the
gravity of her declination more correctly than she had done.
Believers may be blinded to their own inconsistencies; others,
however, note them; and the higher the position with regard to
our LORD the more surely will any failure be visited with
reproach.
Wounded, dishonoured, unsuccessful
in her search, and almost in despair, the bride turns to the
daughters of Jerusalem; and recounting the story of her sorrows,
adjures them to tell her Beloved that she is not
unfaithful or unmindful of Him.
I
adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved,
That
ye tell Him, that I am sick of love.
The reply of the daughters of
Jerusalem shows very clearly that the sorrow-stricken bride,
wandering in the dark, is not recognized as the bride of the KING,
though her personal beauty does not escape notice.
What
is thy Beloved more than another beloved,
O
thou fairest among women?
What
is thy Beloved more than another beloved,
That
thou dost so adjure us?
This question, implying that her
Beloved was no more than any other, stirs her soul to its deepest
depths; and, forgetting herself, she pours out from the fulness
of her heart a soul-ravishing description of the glory and beauty
of her LORD.
My
Beloved is white and ruddy,
The
chiefest among ten thousand.
(see verses 10-16, concluding with)
His
mouth is most sweet; yea, He is altogether lovely.
This
is my Beloved, and this is my Friend,
O
daughters of Jerusalem.
It is interesting to compare the
bride's description of the Bridegroom with the descriptions of
"the Ancient of Days" in Dan. vii. 9, 10, and of our
risen LORD in Rev. I. 13-16. The differences are very
characteristic.
In Dan. vii. we see the Ancient of
Days seated on the throne of judgment; His garment was white as
snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool; His throne and
His wheels were as burning fire, and a fiery stream issued and
came forth from before Him. The Son of Man was brought near
before Him, and received from Him dominion, and glory, and an
everlasting kingdom that shall not be destroyed. In Rev. i. we
see the Son of Man Himself clothed with a garment down to the
foot, and His head and His hair were white as wool, white as snow;
but the bride sees her Bridegroom in all the vigour of youth,
with locks "bushy, and black as a raven." The eyes of
the risen SAVIOUR are described as "a flame of fire,"
but His bride sees them "like doves beside the water brooks."
In Revelation "His voice is as the voice of many waters. . .and
out of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword." To the
bride, His lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh, and His
mouth most sweet. The countenance of the risen SAVIOUR was "as
the sun shineth in his strength," and the effect of the
vision on John--"when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one
dead"--was not unlike the effect of the vision given to Saul
as he neared Damascus. But to His bride "His aspect is like
Lebanon, excellent as the cedars." The LION of the tribe of
Judah is to His own bride the KING of love; and, with full heart
and beaming face, she so recounts His beauties that the daughters
of Jerusalem are seized with strong desire to seek Him with her,
that they also may behold His beauty.
Whither
is thy Beloved gone,
O
thou fairest among women?
Whither
hath thy Beloved turned Him,
That
we may seek Him with thee?
The bride replies:--
My
Beloved is gone down to His garden, to the beds of spices,
To
feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
I am
my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine:
He
feedeth His flock among the lilies.
Forlorn and desolate as she might
appear she still knows herself as the object of His affections,
and claims Him as her own. This expression, "I am my Beloved's,
and my Beloved is mine," is similar to that found in the
second chapter, "My Beloved is mine, and I am His"; and
yet with noteworthy difference. Then her first thought of CHRIST
was of her claim upon Him: His claim upon her was secondary. Now
she thinks first of His claim; and only afterwards mentions her
own. We see a still further development of grace in chapter vii.
10, where the bride, losing sight of her claim altogether, says:--
I am
my Beloved's,
And
His desire is toward me.
No sooner has she uttered these
words and acknowledged herself as His rightful possession--a
claim which she had practically repudiated when she kept Him
barred out--than her Bridegroom Himself appears; and with no
upbraiding word, but in tenderest love, tells her how beautiful
she is in His eyes, and speaks her praise to the daughters of
Jerusalem.
To her, He says:--
Thou
art beautiful, O My love, as Tirzah,
(the
beautiful city of Samaria,)
Comely
as Jerusalem,
(the
glorious city of the great King,)
Terrible
(or rather brilliant) as an army with banners.
Turn
away thine eyes from Me,
For
they have overcome Me. (See vv. 4-7).
Then, turning to the daughters of
Jerusalem, He exclaims:--
There
are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines,
And
maidens without number.
My
dove, My perfect one, is but one;
She
is the only one of her mother;
She
is the choice one of her that bare her.
The
daughters saw her, and called her blessed;
Yea,
the queens and the concubines, and they praised her, saying,
Who
is she that looketh forth as the morning,
Fair
as the moon,
Clear
as the sun,
Brilliant
as an army with banners?
Thus the section closes with
communion fully restored; the bride reinstated and openly
acknowledged by the Bridegroom as His own peerless companion and
friend. The painful experience through which the bride has passed
has been fraught with lasting good, and we have no further
indication of interrupted communion, but in the remaining
sections only joy and fruitfulness.
Fruits of Recognized Union
Cant. vi. II-viii. 4.
In the second and fourth sections of this book we found the
communion of the bride broken; in the former by backsliding into
worldliness, and in the latter through slothful ease and self-satisfaction.
The present section, like the third, is one of unbroken communion.
It is opened by the words of the bride:--
I
went down into the garden of nuts,
To
see the green plants of the valley
To
see whether the vine budded.
And
the pomegranates were in flower.
Or
ever I was aware, my soul set me
Among
the chariots of my willing people.
As in the commencement of Section
III., the bride, in unbroken communion with her LORD, was present
though unmentioned until she made her presence evident by her
address to the daughters of Zion; so in this section the presence
of the KING is unnoted until He Himself addresses His bride. But
she is one with her LORD as she engages in His service! His
promise, "Lo, I am with you alway," is ever fulfilled
to her; and He has no more to woo her to arise and come away; to
tell her that His "head is filled with dew," His "locks
with the drops of the night"; or to urge her if she love Him
to feed His sheep and care for His lambs. Herself His garden, she
does not forget to tend it, nor keep the vineyards of others
while her own is neglected. With Him as well as for
Him, she goes to the garden of nuts. So thorough is the union
between them that many commentators have felt difficulty in
deciding whether the bride or the Bridegroom was the speaker, and
really it is a point of little moment; for, as we have said, both
were there, and of one mind; yet we believe we are right in
attributing these words to the bride, as she is the one addressed
by the daughters of Jerusalem, and the one who speaks to them in
reply.
The bride and Bridegroom appear to
have been discovered by their willing people while thus engaged
in the happy fellowship of fruitful service, and the bride, or
ever she was aware, found herself seated among the chariots of
her people--her people as well as His.
The daughters of Jerusalem would
fain call her back:--
Return,
return, O Shulammite;
Return,
return, that we may look upon thee.
There is no question now as to w
ho she is, nor why her Beloved is more than another beloved; He
is recognized as King Solomon, and to her is given the same name,
only in its feminine form (Shulammite).
Some have seen in these words,
"Return, return," an indication of the rapture of the
Church; and explain some parts of the subsequent context, which
appear inconsistent with this view, as presumptive rather than
progressive. Interesting as is this thought, and well as it would
explain the absence of reference to the KING in the
preceding verses, we are not inclined to accept it; but look on
the whole song as progressive, and its last words as being
equivalent to the closing words of the Book of Revelation, "Surely
I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, LORD JESUS." We do not
therefore look upon the departure of the bride from her garden as
being other than temporary.
The bride replies to the daughters
of Jerusalem:--
Why
will ye look upon the Shulammite?
or, as in the Authorized Version,
What
will ye see in the Shulammite?
In the presence of the KING, she
cannot conceive why any attention should be paid to her. As Moses,
coming down from the mount, was unconscious that his face shone
with a divine glory, so was it here with the bride. But we may
learn this very important lesson, that many who do not see the
beauty of the LORD, will not fail to admire His reflected beauty
in His bride. The eager look of the daughters of Jerusalem
surprised the bride, and she says, You might be looking "upon
the dance of Mahanaim"--the dance of two companies of Israel's
fairest daughters--instead of upon one who has no claim for
attention, save that she is the chosen, though unworthy, bride of
the glorious KING.
The daughters of Jerusalem have no
difficulty in replying to her question, and recognizing her as of
royal birth--"O Prince's daughter"--as well as of
queenly dignity, they describe in true and Oriental language the
tenfold beauties of her person; from her feet to her head they
see only beauty and perfection. What a contrast to her state by
nature! Once "from the sole of the foot even unto the head"
was "but wounds, and bruises, and festering sores"; now
her feet are "shod with the preparation of the Gospel of
peace," and the very hair of the head proclaims her a
Nazarite indeed; "the KING" Himself "is held
captive in the tresses thereof."
But One, more to her than the
daughters of Jerusalem, responded to her unaffected question,
"What will ye see in the Shulamite?" The Bridegroom
Himself replies to it:--
How
fair and how pleasant art thou,
O
love, for delights!
He sees in her the beauties and the
fruitfulness of the tall and upright palm, of the graceful and
clinging vine, of the fragrant and evergreen citron. Grace has
made her like the palm-tree, the emblem alike of uprightness and
of fruitfulness. The fruit of the date-palm is more valued than
bread by the Oriental traveller, so great is its sustaining power;
and the fruit-bearing powers of the tree do not pass away; as age
increases the fruit becomes more perfect as well as more abundant.
The
righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree:
He
shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They
that are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall
flourish in the courts of our God.
They
shall still bring forth fruit in old age;
They
shall be full of sap and green.
But why are the righteous made so
upright and flourishing?
To
show that the Lord is upright;
He is
my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
One with our LORD, it is ours to show
forth His graces and virtues, to reflect His beauty, to be
His faithful witnesses.
The palm is also the emblem of
victory; it raises its beautiful crown towards the heavens,
fearless of the heat of the sultry sun, or of the burning hot
wind from the desert. From its beauty it was one of the ornaments
of Solomon's, as it is to be of Ezekiel's temple. When our
SAVIOUR was received at Jerusalem as the KING of Israel the
people took branches of palm-trees and went forth to meet Him;
and in the glorious day of His espousals, "a great multitude,
which no man" can "number, of all nations, and kindreds,
and people, and tongues," shall stand "before the
throne and before the LAMB, clothed with white robes"; and
with palms of victory in their hands shall ascribe their "salvation
to our GOD which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the LAMB."
But if she resembles the palm she
also resembles the vine. Much she needs the culture of the
Husbandman, and well does she repay it. Abiding in CHRIST, the
true source of fruitfulness, she brings forth clusters of grapes,
luscious and refreshing, as well as sustaining, like the fruit of
the palm--luscious and refreshing to Himself, the owner of the
vineyard, as well as to the weary, thirsty world in which He has
placed it.
The vine has its own suggestive
lessons: it needs and seeks support; the sharp knife of the
pruner often cuts away unsparingly its tender garlands, and mars
its appearance, while increasing its fruitfulness. It has been
beautifully written:--
The
living Vine, Christ chose it for Himself:--
God
gave to man for use and sustenance
Corn,
wine, and oil, and each of these is good:
And
Christ is Bread of life and Light of life.
But
yet, He did not choose the summer corn,
That
shoots up straight and free in one quick growth,
And
has its day, is done, and springs no more;
Nor
yet the olive, all whose boughs are spread
In
the soft air, and never lose a leaf,
Flowering
and fruitful in perpetual peace;
But
only this, for Him and His is one,--
That
everlasting, ever-quickening Vine,
That
gives the heat and passion of the world,
Through
its own life-blood, still renewed and shed.
* *
* * * * *
The
Vine from every living limb bleeds wine;
Is it
the poorer for that spirit shed?
The
drunkard and the wanton drink thereof;
Are
they the richer for that gift's excess?
Measure
thy life by loss instead of gain;
Not
by the wine drunk, but the wine poured forth;
For
love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice;
And
whoso suffers most, hath most to give.
Yet one figure more is used by the
Bridegroom: "The smell of thy breath (is) like apples,"
or rather citrons. In the first section the bride exclaims:--
As
the citron-tree among the trees of the wood,
So is
my Beloved among the sons.
I
delighted and sat down under His shadow,
And
His fruit was sweet to my taste.
Here we find the outcome of that
communion. The citrons on which she had fed perfumed her breath,
and imparted to her their delicious odour. The Bridegroom
concludes his description:--
Thy
mouth (is) like the best wine,
That
goeth down smoothly--
For
my Beloved--
interjects the bride,
Causing
the lips of those that are asleep to move.
How wondrous the grace that has
made the bride of CHRIST to be all this to her Beloved! Upright
as the palm, victorious, and evermore fruitful as she grows
heavenward; gentle and tender as the Vine, self-forgetful and
self-sacrificing, not merely bearing fruit in spite of adversity,
but bearing her richest fruits through it;--feasting on her
Beloved, as she rests beneath His shade, and thereby partaking of
His fragrance;--what has grace not done for her! And what must be
her joy in finding, ever more fully, the satisfaction of the
glorious Bridegroom in the lowly wild flower He has made His
bride, and beautiful with His own graces and virtues!
I am
my Beloved's,
And
His desire is toward me,
she gladly exclaims. Now it is none of self or for self, but
all of Thee and for Thee. And if such be the sweet fruits of
going down to the garden of nuts, and caring for His garden with
Him, she will need no constraining to continue in this blessed
service.
Come,
my Beloved, let us go forth into the field;
Let
us lodge in the villages.
She is not ashamed of her lowly origin, for she fears no shame:
perfect love has cast out fear. The royal state of the King, with
its pomp and grandeur, may be enjoyed by and by: now, more sweet
with Him at her side to make the garden fruitful; to give to Him
all manner of precious fruits, new and old, which she has laid up
in store for Him; and best of all to satisfy Him with her own
love. Not only is she contented with this fellowship of service,
but she could fain wish that there were no honours and duties to
claim His attention, and for the moment to lessen the joy of His
presence.
Oh
that Thou wert as my brother,
That
sucked the breasts of my mother!
When
I should find Thee without, I would kiss Thee;
Yea,
and none would despise me.
Would that she could care for Him, and claim His whole
attention, as a sister might care for a brother. She is deeply
conscious that He has richly endowed her, and that she is as
nothing compared with Him; but instead of proudly dwelling upon
what she has done through Him, she would fain that it were
possible for her to be the giver and Him the receiver. Far
removed is this from the grudging thought, that must so grate
upon the heart of our LORD, "I do not think that GOD
requires this of me"; or, "Must I give up that, if I am
to be a Christian?" True devotion will rather ask to be
allowed to give, and will count as loss all which may not be
given up for the LORD'S sake--"I count all things but loss,
for the excellency of the knowledge of CHRIST JESUS my LORD."
This longing desire to be more to
Him does not, however, blind her to the consciousness that she
needs His guidance, and that He is her true, her only Instructor.
I
would lead Thee, and bring Thee into my mother's house,
That
Thou mightest instruct me;
I
would cause Thee to drink of spiced wine,
Of
the juice of my pomegranate.
I would give Thee my best, and yet would myself seek all my
rest and satisfaction in Thee.
His
left hand should be under my head,
And
His right hand should embrace me.
And thus the section closes. There is nothing sweeter to the
Bridegroom or to the bride than this hallowed and unhindered
communion; and again He adjures the daughters of Jerusalem, in
slightly different form:--
Why
should ye stir up, or why awake My love,
Until
she[5] please?
Hallowed communion indeed! May we ever enjoy it; and abiding
in CHRIST, we shall sing, in the familiar words of the well-known
hymn--
Both
Thine arms are clasped around me,
And
my head is on Thy breast;
And
my weary soul hath found Thee
Such
a perfect, perfect rest!
Blessed
Jesus,
Now I
know that I am blest.
Unrestrained Communion
Cant. viii. 5-14.
We have now reached the closing section of this book, which,
as we have seen is a poem describing the life of a believer on
earth. Beginning in Section I. (Cant. i. 2-ii. 7) with the
unsatisfied longings of an espoused one--longings which could
only be met by her unreserved surrender to the Bridegroom of her
soul--we find that when the surrender was made, instead of the
cross she had so much feared she found a King, the KING of LOVE,
who both satisfied her deepest longings, and found His own
satisfaction in her.
The second section (Cant. ii. 8-iii.
5) showed failure on her part; she was lured back again into the
world, and soon found that her Beloved could not follow her there;
then with full purpose of heart going forth to seek Him, and
confessing His name, her search was successful, and her communion
was restored.
The third section (Cant. iii. 6-v.
I) told of unbroken communion. Abiding in Christ, she was the
sharer of His security and His glory. She draws the attention,
however, of the daughters of Jerusalem from these outward things
to her KING Himself. And, while she is thus occupied with Him,
and would have others so occupied, she finds that her royal
Bridegroom is delighting in her, and inviting her to fellowship
of service, fearless of dens of lions and mountains of leopards.
The fourth section (Cant. v. 2-vi.
10), however, shows again failure; not as before through
worldliness, but rather through spiritual pride and sloth.
Restoration now was much more difficult; but again when she went
forth diligently to seek her LORD, and so confessed Him as to
lead others to long to find Him with her, He revealed Himself and
the communion was restored, to be interrupted no more.
The fifth section (Cant. vi. II-viii.
4), as we have seen, describes not only the mutual satisfaction
and delight of the bride and Bridegroom in each other, but the
recognition of her position and her beauty by the daughters of
Jerusalem.
And now in the sixth section (Cant.
viii. 5-14) we come to the closing scene of the book. In it the
bride is seen leaning upon her Beloved, asking Him to bind her
yet more firmly to Himself, and occupying herself in His vineyard,
until He calls her away from earthly service. To this last
section we shall now give our attention more particularly.
It opens, as did the third, by an
inquiry or exclamation of the daughters of Jerusalem. There they
asked, "Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like
pillars of smoke, etc.?" but then their attention was
claimed by the pomp and state of the KING, not by His person, nor
by that of His bride. Here they are attracted by the happy
position of the bride in relation to her Beloved, and not by
their surroundings.
Who
is this that cometh up from the wilderness,
Leaning
upon her Beloved?
It is through the bride that
attention is drawn to the Bridegroom; their union and communion
are now open and manifest. For the last time the wilderness is
mentioned; but sweetly solaced by the presence of the Bridegroom,
it is no wilderness to this bride. In all the trustfulness
of confiding love she is seen leaning upon her Beloved. He is her
strength, her joy, her pride, and her prize; while she is His
peculiar treasure, the object of His tenderest care. All His
resources of wisdom and might are hers; though journeying she is
at rest, though in the wilderness she is satisfied, while leaning
upon her Beloved.
Wonderful, however, as are the
revelations of grace and love to the heart taught by the HOLY
SPIRIT through the relationship of bride and Bridegroom, the
CHRIST of GOD is more than Bridegroom to His people. He who when
on earth was able to say, "Before Abraham was, I am,"
here claims His bride from her very birth, and not alone from her
espousals. Before she knew Him, He knew her; and of this He
reminds her in the words:--
I
raised thee up under the citron-tree;
There
thy mother brought thee forth.
He takes delight in her beauty, but that is not so much the
cause as the effect of His love; for He took her up when she had
no comeliness. The love that has made her what she is, and now
takes delight in her, is not a fickle love, nor need she fear its
change.
Gladly does the bride recognize
this truth, that she is indeed His own, and she exclaims:
Set
me as a seal upon Thine heart, as a seal upon Thine arm:
For
love is strong as death;
Jealousy
(ardent love) is cruel (retentive) as the grave;
The
flashes thereof are flashes of fire,
A
very flame of the Lord.
The High Priest bore the names of
the twelve tribes upon his heart, each name being engraved as a
seal in the costly and imperishable stone chosen by God, each
seal or stone being set in the purest gold; he likewise bore the
same names upon his shoulders, indicating that both the love and
the strength of the High Priest were pledged on behalf of the
tribes of Israel. The bride would be thus upborne by Him who is
alike her Prophet, Priest, and King, for love is strong as death;
and jealousy, or ardent love, retentive as the grave. Not that
she doubts the constancy of her Beloved, but that she has learned,
alas! the inconstancy of her own heart; and she would be bound to
the heart and arm of her Beloved with chains and settings of gold,
ever the emblem of divinity. Thus the Psalmist prayed, "Bind
the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar."
It is comparatively easy to lay the
sacrifice on the altar that sanctifies the gift, but it requires
divine compulsion--the cords of love--to retain it there. So here
the bride would be set and fixed on the heart and on the arm of
Him who is henceforth to be her all in all, that she may evermore
trust only in that love, be sustained only by that power.
Do we not all need to learn a
lesson from this? and to pray to be kept from turning to Egypt
for help, from trusting in horses and chariots, from putting
confidence in princes, or in the son of man, rather than in the
living GOD? How the Kings of Israel, who had won great triumphs
by faith, sometimes turned aside to heathen nations in their
later years! The LORD keep His people from this snare.
The bride continues: "The
flashes of love are flashes of fire, a very flame of the LORD."
It is worthy of note that this is the only occurrence of this
word "LORD" in this book.