Text -- The Song of Songs 4:14-16 (NET)

4:14 nard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon with every kind of spice, myrrh and aloes with all the finest spices. 4:15 You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water flowing down from Lebanon. 4:16 The Beloved to Her Lover: Awake, O north wind; come, O south wind! Blow on my garden so that its fragrant spices may send out their sweet smell. May my beloved come into his garden and eat its delightful fruit!

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Sos 4:14

Such trees as produce frankincense.

Wesley: Sos 4:15

Though my spouse be in some sort a fountain shut up, yet that is not so to be understood as if she kept her waters to herself, for she is like a fountain of living or running water, which flows into gardens, and makes its flowers and plants to flourish. The church conveys those waters of life which she receives from Christ to particular believers.

Wesley: Sos 4:15

Like those sweet and refreshing rivers which flow down from mount Lebanon, of which Jordan is one.

Wesley: Sos 4:16

These winds may signify the several dispensations of God's spirit.

Wesley: Sos 4:16

This verse is spoken by the spouse. And he calls the garden both hers and his, because of that oneness which is between them, Son 2:16.

Wesley: Sos 4:16

That my graces may be exercised.

Wesley: Sos 4:16

Let Christ afford his gracious presence to his church.

Wesley: Sos 4:16

And let him delight himself in that service which is given him, both by the religious worship, and by the holy conversation of his people.

JFB: Sos 4:14

"sweet cane" (Exo 30:23; Jer 6:20).

JFB: Sos 4:14

Ointments are associated with His death, as well as with feasts (Joh 12:7). The bride's ministry of "myrrh and aloes" is recorded (Joh 19:39).

JFB: Sos 4:15

This pleasure-ground is not dependent on mere reservoirs; it has a fountain sufficient to water many "gardens" (plural).

JFB: Sos 4:15

(Jer 17:8; Joh 4:13-14; Joh 7:38-39).

JFB: Sos 4:15

Though the fountain is lowly, the source is lofty; fed by the perpetual snows of Lebanon, refreshingly cool (Jer 18:14), fertilizing the gardens of Damascus. It springs upon earth; its source is heaven. It is now not "sealed," but open "streams" (Rev 22:17).

JFB: Sos 4:16

Literally, "arise." All besides is ready; one thing alone is wanted--the breath of God. This follows rightly after His death (Son 6:12; Act 2:1-4). It is His call to the Spirit to come (Joh 14:16); in Joh 3:8, compared to "the wind"; quickening (Joh 6:63; Eze 27:9). Saints offer the same prayer (Psa 85:6; Hab 3:2). The north wind "awakes," or arises strongly, namely, the Holy Ghost as a reprover (Joh 16:8-11); the south wind "comes" gently, namely, the Holy Ghost as the comforter (Joh 14:16). The west wind brings rain from the sea (1Ki 18:44-45; Luk 12:54). The east wind is tempestuous (Job 27:21; Isa 27:8) and withering (Gen 41:23). These, therefore, are not wanted; but first the north wind clearing the air (Job 37:22; Pro 25:23), and then the warm south wind (Job 37:17); so the Holy Ghost first clearing away mists of gloom, error, unbelief, sin, which intercept the light of Jesus Christ, then infusing spiritual warmth (2Co 4:6), causing the graces to exhale their odor.

JFB: Sos 4:16

The bride's reply. The fruit was now at length ripe; the last passover, which He had so desired, is come (Luk 22:7, Luk 22:15-16, Luk 22:18), the only occasion in which He took charge of the preparations.

JFB: Sos 4:16

Answering to Jesus Christ's "My." She owns that the garden is His, and the fruits in her, which she does not in false humility deny (Psa 66:16; Act 21:19; 1Co 15:10) are His (Joh 15:8; Phi 1:11).

Clarke: Sos 4:16

A fountain of gardens - Perhaps גנים gannim , "gardens,"was originally ציים chaiyim , "lives,"a living fountain, a continual spring. See Houbigant. But this is expressed afterwards; though there would be nothing improper in saying, "a living fountain, a well of living waters, and streams from Mount Lebanon."A fountain of gardens may mean one so abundant as to be sufficient to supply nany gardens, to water many plots of ground, an exuberant fountain. This is the allusion; the reference is plain enough.

Clarke: Sos 4:16

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south - It is granted that the south wind in Palestine, in the summer, is extremely hot and troublesome; therefore, another interpretation of this passage has been proposed by Mr. Harmer; who thinks בואי boi , which we render come, signifies enter into thy repositories; and, therefore, supposes the true interpretation of the words to be as follows: "Arise, thou north wind, (and retire, thou south), blow upon my garden; let the spices thereof flow forth, that my beloved may come into his garden, invited by the coolness and fragrancy of the air, and may eat his pleasant fruits; for, if the south wind blow, the excessive heat will forbid his taking the air, and oblige him to shut close the doors and windows of his apartments."Others think that he wishes the winds from all directions to carry throughout the land the fume of his spices, virtue, and perfections

Clarke: Sos 4:16

Let my beloved come into his garden - This is the invitation of the bride: and if we look not for far-fetched meanings, the sense is sufficiently evident. But commentators on this song sometimes take a literal sense where the metaphor is evident; at other times they build an allegory upon a metaphor. The Gitagovinda has an elegant passage similar to this. See the place, Part VII, beginning with Enter, sweet Radha

The whole of this chapter is considered to be unconnected with any particular time of the marriage ceremonies.

TSK: Sos 4:14

calamus : Exo 30:23; Eze 27:19

cinnamon : Pro 7:17; Rev 18:13

trees : Son 4:6, Son 5:1; Num 24:6

the chief : Son 6:2; Gen 43:11; 1Ki 10:10; 2Ch 9:9; Mar 16:1

TSK: Sos 4:15

fountain : Son 4:12; Ecc 2:6

a well : Psa 36:8, Psa 36:9, Psa 46:4; Jer 2:13, Jer 17:13; Joh 4:10, Joh 4:14, Joh 7:38; Rev 22:1

streams : Jer 18:13, Jer 18:14

TSK: Sos 4:16

Awake : Son 1:4; Ecc 1:6; Isa 51:9-11, Isa 64:1; Eze 37:9; Joh 3:8; Act 2:1, Act 2:2, Act 4:31

the spices : Son 4:13, Son 4:14, Son 7:12, Son 7:13; 2Co 9:10-15; Phi 1:9-11; Col 1:9-12; 1Th 2:12, 1Th 2:13; Heb 13:20, Heb 13:21; 2Pe 3:18

Let : Son 5:1, Son 8:12; Mat 26:10, Mat 26:12; Joh 5:8; Rom 15:16, Rom 15:28; 1Pe 2:5, 1Pe 2:9, 1Pe 2:10

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Sos 4:12-15

The loveliness and purity of the bride are now set forth under the image of a paradise or garden fast barred against intruders, filled with rarest plants of excellent fragrance, and watered by abundant streams. Compare Pro 5:15-20.

Son 4:12

A fountain sealed - i. e., A well-spring covered with a stone Gen 29:3, and sealed with "the king’ s own signet"(Dan 6:17; compare Mat 27:66).

Son 4:13

Orchard - This is the renderlng here and in Ecc 2:5 of "pardes"(see Neh 2:8 note). The pomegranate was for the Jews a sacred fruit, and a characteristic product of the land of promise (compare Exo 28:33-34; Num 20:5; Deu 8:8; 1Ki 7:18, 1Ki 7:20). It is frequently mentioned in the Song, and always in connection with the bride. It abounds to this day in the ravines of the Lebanon.

Camphire - Cyprus. See Son 1:14 note.

Son 4:13-15

Seven kinds of spices (some of them with Indian names, e. g. aloes, spikenard, saffron) are enumerated as found in this symbolic garden. They are for the most part pure exotics which have formed for countless ages articles of commerce in the East, and were brought at that time in Solomon’ s ships from southern Arabia, the great Indian Peninsula, and perhaps the islands of the Indian Archipelago. The picture here is best regarded as a purely ideal one, having no corresponding reality but in the bride herself. The beauties and attractions of both north and south - of Lebanon with its streams of sparkling water and fresh mountain air, of Engedi with its tropical climate and henna plantations, of the spice-groves of Arabia Felix, and of the rarest products of the distant mysterious Ophir - all combine to furnish one glorious representation, "Thou art all fair!"

Barnes: Sos 4:16

The bride’ s brief reply, declaring her affection for the king and willingness to belong to him.

Poole: Sos 4:14

Trees of frankincense such trees as produce frankincense. Or, as others, both ancient and modern, render it, trees of Lebanon ; such sweet-smelling trees and plants as grew in Lebanon, of which See Poole "Son 4:11" .

Poole: Sos 4:15

These are the words either,

1. Of the bride, who returns this answer to the Bridegroom. Thou callest me a fountain, but in truth thou only art that fountain from whence I derive all my streams of comfort; or rather,

2. Of the Bridegroom, who hath hitherto been speaking to and of the church, and still continues his speech. He seems to add this by way of correction to or exposition of what he said, Son 1:12 . Though my spouse be in some sort a fountain shut up or sealed, yet that is not so to be understood as if she kept her waters to herself, for she is like a fountain or well of living or running water, which floweth into gardens, and maketh tho flowers and plants to grow and flourish. The church conveyeth those waters of life which she receiveth from Christ unto particular believers and congregations.

Streams from Lebanon like those sweet and refreshing rivers which flow down from Mount Lebanon, of which Jordan is one.

Poole: Sos 4:16

Awake or, arise ; either,

1. To be gone, as being commonly hurtful to plants and gardens; or rather,

2. To come, as the next clause explains it. For both the north wind and the south wind have their several uses in gardens; the former to purge and cool the air, and to bring fair weather; the latter to warm and moisten the earth, and cherish the plants. And these winds may signify the several dispensations either of God’ s providence, or rather of his Spirit, which is compared to the wind, Joh 3:8 , whereby the following effects are produced.

My garden: this verse is spoken; by the spouse, as appears from the last clause of it. And she calls the garden both hers and his , because of that oneness which is between them, Son 2:16 , whereby they have a common interest one in another’ s person and concerns.

That the spices thereof may flow out that my graces may be exercised to thy glory, the edification of others, and my own comfort.

Let my Beloved come into his garden let Christ afford his gracious presence more and more to his church, and eat his pleasant fruit; and let him delight himself in that service and glory which is given to him, both by the religious worship and by the holy conversations of his people.

Haydock: Sos 4:14

Cinnamon. Very rare, Exodus xxx. 23. ---

Libanus, or "incense." (Hebrew)

Haydock: Sos 4:15

Libanus. The law of the gospel was proclaimed by the apostles, who were Jews. They explained the pure doctrine of the Scriptures, and converted many.

Haydock: Sos 4:16

Wind. At different times. Let all nations be convinced of thy beauty. (Calmet) ---

The holy Spirit enabled the apostles to convert the world. (Nys. Rupert.) ---

All temptations, whether proceeding from cruelty or deceit, "make constant souls more grateful to God." (Worthington)

Gill: Sos 4:14

Spikenard and saffron,.... The former is the best sort of nard, and therefore mentioned and repeated, to which saints may be compared, because of the graces of the Spirit in them; which, when exercised, give a sweet odour, and are exceeding grateful to Christ; see Son 1:12; and the latter, according to Schindler ^s, seems to have been read "carcos", the same with "crocus", and is a plant well known by us for its cheering nature; and has its name from the Arabic, "zaffran", because of its yellow or golden colour; but "crocus", from "Corycus" ^t, a mountain in Cilicia, where it grew; it is properly joined with spikenard, since itself is a "spica", and is sometimes called "spica Cilissa" ^u. Next follow

calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; "calamus" is the sweet cane in Isa 43:24; "cinnamon" is the rind or bark of a tree; both grow in India ^w and in Arabia ^x; as also trees of "frankincense", which are only in Arabia; hence one of the Arabias is called "thurifera" ^y, for they do not grow in all Arabia: the two first were ingredients in the holy anointing oil, and the latter in the holy perfume, Exo 30:23;

myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices; Solomon's gardens might be furnished with all these; and with the above trees, plants, and spices, from Arabia Felix, where, as Appianus ^z says, "cassia" grew in marshy places; myrrh and frankincense were gathered from trees, cinnamon from shrubs, and their meadows naturally produced nard; hence called "aromatifera", the spicy country ^a: myrrh was also an ingredient in the anointing oil; and aloes, according to the Targum, is the same with lign aloes; see Num 24:6; not the herb which has a very bitter juice, but the tree of a sweet odour, which Isidore ^b distinguishes, and is what is meant in Psa 45:8; and were both of a very fragrant smell. Now all these trees, plants, and spices, signify truly precious souls, possessed of the graces of the Spirit; comparable to them for their valuableness and excellency, their sweet smell, and the reviving and refreshing nature of them; which make the subjects of these graces very agreeable to Christ, and to one another. What a garden is the church thus planted!

Gill: Sos 4:15

A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Some ^c take these words to be the words of Christ continued, speaking still of his church, and explaining and enlarging upon what he had said of her, Son 4:12; but they are rather the words of the church; who, upon hearing herself commended, and knowing that all her fruitfulness, and the flourishing condition she was in, were owing to the grace of Christ, breaks forth in these words, and ascribes all to him, saying, "O fountain of gardens, O well of living waters", &c. for so the words may be rendered in the vocative case ^d. By the "gardens" may be meant particular distinct churches, such as were gathered in the first times of the Gospel, and since, as the churches of Asia, &c. separated from the world, and planted with trees of righteousness, such as are before described: and though there are many gardens or churches, there is but one "fountain" which supplies them all with gifts and grace, and that is Christ, and his fulness, the fountain from whence flow all grace, and the blessings of it: who also is the "well of living waters"; a well deep and large, fathomless and bottomless, dug by sovereign grace, and full of all grace; signified by "waters", for the abundance of it; and said to be "living", because by it dead sinners are quickened, and drooping saints revived; and is ever running ^e, ever flowing and overflowing; so that there is always a supply for all Christ's gardens, and for all believers in all ages; who, with the bucket of faith, draw water with joy out of this well, or wells of salvation, Isa 12:3; and the flows of grace from hence are like "streams from Lebanon", because of the abundance of it; the constant and continued supplies of it; the rapidity and force with which it comes, bearing down all obstacles in its way, and for the pleasure it gives, the flows of it being as delightful and grateful as streams of water in hot countries. Respect seems to be had to several places called by these names; there was one, called "the Fountain of Gardens", which flowed from Lebanon, six miles from Tripoli, and watered all the gardens, whence it had its name, and all the country that lay between these two places ^f; and there was another, called "the Well of living Waters", a little mile to the south of Tyre; it had four fountains, from whence were cut various aqueducts and rivulets, which watered all the plain of Tyre, and all its gardens; which fountains were little more than a bow's cast from the main sea, and in which space six mills were employed ^g: and there is a rupture in Mount Lebanon, as Mr. Maundrell ^h says, which runs up it seven hours' travelling; and which, on both sides, is steep and high, and clothed with fragrant greens from top to bottom; and everywhere refreshed with "fountains", falling down from the rocks, in pleasant cascades, the ingenious work of nature; and Rauwolff ⁱ, who was on this mountain in 1575, relates;

"we came (says he) into pleasant groves, by delightful "rivulets" that arose from "springs", that made so sweet a noise, as to be admired by King Solomon, Son 4:15;''

and these streams gave rise to some rivers, as Jordan, Eleutherus, &c. ^k to which the allusion is here. There were two cities, one in the tribe of Judah, and the other in the tribe of Issachar, called Engannim, the fountain of gardens, Jos 15:34.

Gill: Sos 4:16

Awake, O north wind,.... These words, according to some ^l, are the words of the church continued, praying for the spirit; to which sense the order and connection of the words seem to incline; though the language suits best with Christ, who has the command of the winds, and a right and property in the garden, the church: nor does it seem so agreeable, that the church should petition Christ to let loose the north wind upon her, if by that are meant afflictive dispensations of Providence; but agrees well enough with Christ, since these come not without his will and order, and by him made to work together for good; by which he nips the corruptions of his people, tries their graces, and causes them to come forth into exercise: though some ^m think this is a command to the north wind to remove, and be gone, and blow no longer, since it was spring, Son 2:11; and would be harmful to the plants in the garden; and the verb "blow" is singular, and only in construction with the south wind; and, besides, winds diametrically opposite ⁿ cannot blow together in the same horizon, with a continued blast: though others ^o are of opinion, that both winds are designed, being both useful to gardens; the one to scatter the clouds, and make the air clear and wholesome, and restrain the luxuriance of the plants; and the other, being moist and warming, of use to bring plants and fruits to maturity; and both may design the Spirit of God, in his different operations and effects, through the law and the terrors of it, and by the Gospel and its comforting doctrines;

and come, thou south, blow upon my garden; the church, Christ's property, as she asserts in the latter part of the verse: the Spirit of God is intended by the "south", or south wind; who is compared to the "wind", because it blows like that, freely, and as he pleases, when, where, and on whom, and imperceptibly, powerfully, and irresistibly, Joh 3:8; and to the "south wind", because it is a warm wind, brings serenity, and makes fruitful with showers of rain: so the Spirit of God warms the cold heart of a sinner; thaws his frozen soul, and comforts with the discoveries of divine love; brings quietness and peace into the conscience; and makes fruitful in grace and good works, by causing the rain of Gospel doctrines to descend and distil upon men. The end to be answered is,

that the spices thereof may flow out; the spices in the garden, the odoriferous plants, might emit a fragrant smell; though Virgil ^p represents the south wind as harmful to flowers; so it might be in Italy, where it dried them up, as Servius on the place observes; and yet be useful to them in Palestine, where it blew from the sea, and is sometimes so called, Psa 107:3. Spices denote the graces of believers, rare, precious, and odorous; and their "flowing out" the exercise of them, their evidence, increase, and the ripening of them; when they diffuse a sweet odour to Christ and others, and make it delightful to walk in his garden; as it is to walk in one after a delightful shower of rain, and when the wind gently blows upon it. And hence what is prayed for being granted, the church speaks again, and invites Christ, saying;

let my beloved come into his garden; which "coming" is to be understood, not of Christ's first, nor of his second coming; but of his spiritual coming, to visit his people, grant his presence, and manifest his love; which is very desirable by them; and, when granted, is reckoned a great favour, and is an instance of the condescending grace of Christ, Joh 14:22; the church is "his garden" by his own choice, his Father's gift, the purchase of his blood, and the power of his grace: and here he is invited to come,

and eat his pleasant fruits; meaning either the graces of the Spirit, which are his fruits; and called Christ's, because they come from him, and are exercised on him, and he is the author and finisher of them: or the good works of believers, which are performed by virtue of union to him, and abiding in him; are done in his strength, and designed for his glory: and both are "pleasant", that is, well pleasing and acceptable to him; the graces of the Spirit, when in exercise, as appears from Son 4:9; and good works, when done in faith, from a principle of love, and to his glory: and he may be said to eat them when he expresses his well pleasedness with them, and acceptation of them.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Sos 4:14

¹ tn Or “with all the finest balsam trees.” The Hebrew term בֹּשֶׂם (bosem) can refer either to the balsam tree, the spice associated with it, or by extension any fragrant aroma used as perfuming oil or incense.

NET Notes: Sos 4:15

¹ tn Heb “a fountain of gardens” or “a headwaters for gardens.” The term מַעְיַן (m’yan, “fountain”) denotes “source, headwaters” as the place of origin of streams (HALOT 612 s.v. מַעְיַן). The term does not refer to a water fountain such as commonly found in modern cultivated gardens or parks; rather, it refers to the headwaters of streams and rivers, such as Banyas as the headwaters of the Jordan. The genitive construct מַעְיַן גַּנִּים (m’yan gannim, “a fountain of gardens”) is an unusual expression that has been treated in various ways: (1) “a garden fountain,” that is, a fountain located in a garden (HALOT 198 s.v. גַּן); (2) “a fountain of gardens,” that is, the headwaters of many spring-watered gardens. The latter is preferred. In Song 4:12-14 the bride is figuratively described as a garden with exotic plants; however, in 4:15 the metaphor shifts to the source of the water for the garden: מַעְיַן (“headwaters”) and בְּאֵר (bÿ’er, “well”) of fresh water flowing down from Lebanon.

² tn Heb “a watering place” or “well of underground water.” The term בְּאֵר (bÿ’er, “well”) refers to an underground well that is dug in the ground to provide fresh water for humans and beasts (e.g., Gen 21:19, 25, 30; 26:15, 18, 19, 22, 32) (HALOT 106 s.v. I בְּאֵר; DCH 2:87 s.v. I בְּאֵר). The term is often used in parallelism with בּוֹר (bor, “cistern”), עַיִן (’ayin, “spring”), and שׁוּחָה (shukhah, “water-hole”).

³ tn Heb “living water.” The phrase מַיִם חַיִּים (mayim khayyim, “living water”) refers to flowing, fresh water in contrast to standing, stagnant water (Gen 26:19; Lev 14:5-6, 50-52; 15:13; Num 19:17; Jer 2:13; 17:13; Zech 14:8; Song 4:15; 1QH 8:7, 16; 4Q418 103.2:6; 4QDibHam^a 1.5:2; 11QT 45:16) (DCH 3:202 s.v. I חַי 1; HALOT 308 s.v. חיה 1; BDB 312 s.v. חַי f). The adjective חַיִּים (“living”) frequently refers to what is fresh (Gen 26:19), healthy (Sir 30:14), or thriving (Gen 43:7, 27). Fresh, flowing water is pictured as pure (Lev 14:5-6, 50-52; 15:13) and a source of refreshment (Gen 26:19). See P. Reymond, L’eau, sa vie, et sa signification dans l’Ancien Testament (VTSup), 136.

NET Notes: Sos 4:16

¹ tn Heb “may flow.”

Geneva Bible: Sos 4:15

^{( h )} A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.

^{( h )} The Church confesses that all her glory and beauty comes from Christ who is the true fountain of all grace.

Geneva Bible: Sos 4:16

Awake, O ^{( i )} north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, [that] its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.

^{( i )} She desires Christ to comfort her and to pour the graces of his Spirit on her, which is meant by the North and South wind.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Sos 4:1-16

1 Christ sets forth the graces of the church.

8 He shews his love to her.

16 The church prays to be made fit for his presence.

MHCC: Sos 4:8-15

Observe the gracious call Christ gives to the church. It is, 1. A precept; so this is Christ's call to his church to come off from the world. These hills seem pleasant, but there are in them lions' dens; they are mountains of the leopards. 2. As a promise; many shall be brought as members of the church, from every point. The church shall be delivered from her persecutors in due time, though now she dwells among lions, Psa 57:4. Christ's heart is upon his church; his treasure is therein; and he delights in the affection she has for him; its working in the heart, and its works in the life. The odours wherewith the spouse is perfumed, are as the gifts and graces of the Spirit. Love and obedience to God are more pleasing to Christ than sacrifice or incense. Christ having put upon his spouse the white raiment of his own righteousness, and the righteousness of saints, and perfumed it with holy joy and comfort, he is well pleased with it. And Christ walks in his garden unseen. A hedge of protection is made around, which all the powers of darkness cannot break through. The souls of believers are as gardens enclosed, where is a well of living water, Joh 4:14; Joh 7:38, the influences of the Holy Spirit. The world knows not these wells of salvation, nor can any opposer corrupt this fountain. Saints in the church, and graces in the saints, are fitly compared to fruits and spices. They are planted, and do not grow of themselves. They are precious; they are the blessings of this earth. They will be kept to good purpose when flowers are withered. Grace, when ended in glory, will last for ever. Christ is the source which makes these gardens fruitful; even a well of living waters.

MHCC: Sos 4:16

The church prays for the influences of the blessed Spirit, to make this garden fruitful. Graces in the soul are as spices in these gardens, that in them which is valuable and useful. The blessed Spirit, in his work upon the soul, is as the wind. There is the north wind of conviction, and the south wind of comfort. He stirs up good affections, and works in us both to will and to do that which is good. The church invites Christ. Let him have the honour of all the garden produces, and let us have the comfort of his acceptance of it. We can invite him to nothing but what is his own already. The believer can have no joy of the fruits, unless they redound some way or other to the glory of Christ. Let us then seek to keep separate from the world, as a garden enclosed, and to avoid conformity thereto.

Matthew Henry: Sos 4:8-14

These are still the words of Christ to his church, expressing his great esteem of her and affection to her, the opinion he had of her beauty and excellency, the desire he had of, and the delight he had in, her converse and society. And so ought men to love their wives as Christ loves the church, and takes pleasure in it as if it were spotless and had no fault, when yet it is compassed with infirmity. Now, observe here,

I. The endearing names and titles by which he calls her, to express his love to her, to assure her of it, and to engage and excite her love to him. Twice here he calls her My spouse (Son 4:8, Son 4:11) and three times My sister, my spouse, Son 4:9, Son 4:10, Son 4:12. Mention was made (Son 3:11) of the day of his espousals, and, after that, she is called his spouse, not before. Note, There is a marriage-covenant between Christ and his church, between Christ and every true believer. Christ calls his church his spouse, and his calling her so makes her so. "I have betrothed thee unto me for ever; and, as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee."He is not ashamed to own the relation, but, as becomes a kind and tender husband, he speaks affectionately to her, and calls her his spouse, which cannot but strongly engage her to be faithful to him. Nay, because no one relation among men is sufficient to set forth Christ's love to his church, and to show that all this must be understood spiritually, he owns her in two relations, which among men are incompatible, My sister, my spouse. Abraham's saying of Sarah, She is my sister, was interpreted as a denying of her to be his wife; but Christ's church is to him both a sister and a spouse, as Mat 12:50, a sister and mother. His calling her sister is grounded upon his taking our nature upon him in his incarnation, and his making us partakers of his nature in our sanctification. He clothed himself with a body (Heb 2:14), and he clothes believers with his Spirit (1Co 6:17), and so they become his sisters. They are children of God his Father (2Co 6:18) and so they become his sisters; he that sanctifies, and those that are sanctified, are all of one (Heb 2:11); and he owns them, and loves them, as his sisters.

II. The gracious call he gives her to come along with him as a faithful bride, that must forget her own people and her father's house, and leave all to cleave to him. Ubi tu Caius, ibi ego Caia - Where thou Caius art, I Caia will be. Come with me from Lebanon, Son 4:8.

1. It is a precept; so we take it, like that (Son 2:10, Son 2:13), Rise up, and come away. All that have by faith come to Christ must come with Christ, in holy obedience to him and compliance with him. Being joined to him, we must walk with him. This is his command to us daily: " Come with me, my spouse; come with me to God as a Father; come with me onward, heavenward; come forward with me; come up with me; come with me from Lebanon, from the top of Amana, from the lions' dens. "These mountains are to be considered, (1.) As seemingly delightful places. Lebanon is called that goodly mountain, Deu 3:25. We read of the glory of Lebanon (Isa 35:2) and its goodly smell, Hos 14:6. We read of the pleasant dew of Hermon (Psa 133:3) and the joy of Hermon (Psa 89:12); and we may suppose the other mountains here mentioned to be pleasant ones, and so this is Christ's call to his spouse to come off from the world, all its products, all its pleasures, to sit loose to all the delights of sense. All those must do so that would come with Christ; they must take their affections off from all present things; yea, though they be placed at the upper end of the world, on the top of Amana and the top of Shenir, though they enjoy the highest satisfactions the creature can propose to give, yet they must come away from them all, and live above the tops of the highest hills on earth, that they may have their conversation in heaven. Come from those mountains, to go along with Christ to the holy mountain, the mountain of myrrh, Son 4:6. Even while we have our residence on these mountains, yet we must look for them, look above them. Shall we lift up our eyes to the hills? No; our help comes from the Lord, Psa 121:1, Psa 121:2. We must look beyond them, to the things that are not seen (as these high hills are), that are eternal. From the tops of Shenir and Hermon, which were on the other side Jordan, as from Pisgah, they could see the land of Canaan; from this world we must look forward to the better country. (2.) They are to be considered as really dangerous. These hills indeed are pleasant enough, but there are in them lions' dens; they are mountains of the leopards, mountains of prey, though they seem glorious and excellent, Psa 76:4. Satan, that roaring lion, in the prince of this world; in the things of it he lies in wait to devour. On the tops of these mountains there are many dangerous temptations to those who would take up their residence in them; and therefore come with me from them; let us not set our hearts upon the things of this world, and then they can do us no hurt. Come with me from the temples of idolaters, and the societies of wicked people (so some understand it); come out from among them, and be you separate. Come from under the dominion of your own lusts, which are as lions and leopards, fierce upon us, and making us fierce.

2. It may be taken as a promise: Thou shalt come with me from Lebanon, from the lions' dens; that is, (1.) "Many shall be brought home to me, as living members of the church, from every point, from Lebanon in the north, Amana in the west, Hermon in the east, Shenir in the south, from all parts, to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, "Mat 8:11. See Isa 49:11, Isa 49:12. Some from the tops of these mountains, some of the great men of this world, shall give themselves to Christ. (2.) The church shall be delivered from her persecutors, in due time; though now she dwells among lions (Psa 57:4), Christ will take her with himself from among their dens.

III. The great delight Christ takes in his church and in all believers. He delights in them,

1. As in an agreeable bride, adorned for her husband (Rev 21:2), who greatly desires her beauty, Psa 45:11. No expressions of love can be more passionate than these here, in which Christ manifests his affection to his church; and yet that great proof of his love, his dying for it, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, goes far beyond them all. A spouse so dearly bought and paid for could not but be dearly loved. Such a price being given for her, a high value must needs be put upon her accordingly; and both together may well set us a wondering at the height and depth, and length and breadth, of the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that love in which he gave himself for us and gives himself to us. Observe, (1.) How he is affected towards his spouse: Thou hast ravished my heart; the word is used only here. Thou hast hearted me, or Thou has unhearted me. New words are coined to express the inexpressibleness of Christ's surprising love to his church; and the strength of that love is set forth by that which is a weakness in men, the being so much in love with one object as to be heartless to every thing else. This may refer to that love which Christ had to the chosen remnant, before the worlds were, when his delights were with the sons of men (Pro 8:31), that first love, which brought him from heaven to earth, to seek and save them at such vast expense, yet including the complacency he takes in them when he has brought them to himself. Note, Christ's heart is upon his church; so it has appeared all along. His treasure is in it; it is his peculiar treasure (Exo 19:5); and therefore there his heart is also. "Never was love like unto the love of Christ, which made him even mindless of himself, when he emptied himself of his glory, and despised all shame and pain, for our sakes. The wound of love towards us, which he had from eternity in himself, made him neglect all the wounds and reproaches of the cross;"so Bishop Reynolds. Thus let us love him. (2.) What it is that thus affects him with delight. [1.] The regard she has to him: Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thy eyes, those doves' eyes, clear and chaste (which were commended, Son 4:1), with one glance of those eyes. Christ is wonderfully pleased with those that look unto him as their Saviour, and through the eye of faith dart their affections to him, above any rival whatsoever, and whose eyes are ever towards him; he is soon aware of the first look of a soul towards him and meets it with his favours. [2.] The ornaments she has from him, that is, the obedience she yields to him, for that is the chain of her neck, the graces that enrich her soul, which are connected as links in chain, the exercise of these graces in a conversation which adorns both herself and the doctrine of Jesus Christ, which she professes to believe (as a gold chain is an ornament to persons of quality), and an entire submission to the commanding power of his love. Having shaken off the bands of our neck, by which we were tied to this world (Isa 52:2), and the yoke of our transgressions, we are bound with the cords of love, as chains of gold, to Jesus Christ, and our necks are brought under his sweet and easy yoke, to drawn in it. This recommends us to Jesus Christ, for this is that true wisdom which, in his account, is an ornament of grace unto the head and chains about the neck, Pro 1:9. [3.] The affection she has for him: How fair is thy love! how beautiful is it! Not only thy love itself, but all the fruits and products of it, its working in the heart, its works in the life. How well does it become a believer thus to love Christ, and what a pleasure does Christ take in it! Nothing recommends us to Christ as this does. How much better is thy love than wine, than all the wine that was poured out to the Lord in the drink-offerings! Hence the fruit of the vine is said to cheer God and man, Jdg 9:13. She had said of Christ's love, It is better than wine (Son 1:2), and now Christ says so of hers; there is nothing lost by praising Christ, nor will he be behindhand with his friends in kindness. [4.] The ointments, the odours wherewith she is perfumed, the gifts and graces of the Spirit, her good works, which are an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God, Phi 4:18. The smell of thy ointment is better than all spices, such as the queen of Sheba presented to Solomon, camel-loads of them (1Ki 10:2), or, rather, than all the spices that were used in compounding the holy incense which was burned daily on the golden altar. Love and obedience to God are more pleasing to Christ than sacrifice or incense. The smell of her garments too, the visible profession she makes of religion, and relation to Christ, before men, and wherein she appears to the world, this is very grateful to Christ, as the smell of Lebanon. Christ having put upon his spouse the white raiment of his own righteousness (Rev 3:18), and the righteousness of saints (Rev 19:8), and this perfumed with holy joy and comfort, he is well pleased with it. [5.] Her words, both in her devotion to God and her discourses with men (Son 4:11): Thy lips O my spouse! drop as the honeycomb, drop that which is very sweet, and drop it freely and plentifully. If what God speaks to us be sweeter to us than the honey and the honeycomb (Psa 19:10), what we say to him in prayer and praise shall also be pleasing to him: Sweet is thy voice. And if out of a good treasure in the heart we bring forth good things, if our speech be always with grace, if our lips use knowledge aright, if they disperse knowledge, they then, in Christ's account, even drop the honeycomb, out-drop it. Honey and milk (the two staple commodities of Canaan) are under thy tongue; that is, in thy heart, not only reserved there for thy own use as a sweet morsel for thyself, but ready there for the use of others. In the word of God there is sweet and wholesome nourishment, milk for babes, honey for those that are grown up. Christ is well-pleased with those that are full of his word.

2. As in a pleasant garden. And well may a very great delight be compared to the delight taken in a garden, when the happiness of Adam in innocency was represented by the putting of him into a garden, a garden of pleasure. This comparison is pursued, Son 4:12-14. The church is fitly compared to a garden, to a garden which, as was usual, had a fountain in it. Where Solomon made himself gardens and orchards he made himself pools of water (Ecc 2:5, Ecc 2:6), not only for curiosity and diversion, in water-works, but for use, to water the gardens. Eden was well watered, Gen 2:10; Gen 13:10. Observe, (1.) The peculiarity of this garden: It is a garden enclosed, a paradise separated from the common earth. It is appropriated to God; he has set it apart for himself; Israel is God's portion, the lot of his inheritance. It is enclosed for secresy; the saints are God's hidden ones, therefore the world knows them not; Christ walks in his garden unseen. It is enclosed for safety; a hedge of protection is made about it, which all the powers of darkness cannot either find or make a gap in. God's vineyard is fenced (Isa 5:2); there is a wall about it, a wall of fire. It has a spring in it, and a fountain, but it is a spring shut up and a fountain sealed, which sends its streams abroad (Pro 5:16), but is itself carefully locked up, that it may not by any injurious hand be muddied or polluted. The souls of believers are as gardens enclosed; grace in them is as a spring shut up there in the hidden man of the heart, where the water that Christ gives is a well of living water, Joh 4:14; Joh 7:38. The Old Testament church was a garden enclosed by the partition wall of the ceremonial law. The Bible was then a spring shut up and a fountain sealed; it was confined to one nation; but now the wall of separation is removed, the gospel preached to every nation, and in Jesus Christ there is neither Greek nor Jew. (2.) The products of this garden. It is as the garden of Eden, where the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, Gen 2:9. Thy plants, or plantations, are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, Son 4:13. It is not like the vineyard of the man void of understanding, that was all grown over with thorns and nettles; but here are fruits, pleasant fruits, all trees of frankincense, and all the chief spices, Son 4:14. Here is a great plenty of fruits and great variety, nothing wanting which might either beautify or enrich this garden, might make it either delightful or serviceable to its great Lord. Every thing here is the best of the kind. Their chief spices were much more valuable, because much more durable, than the choicest of our flowers. Solomon was a great master in botany as well as other parts of natural philosophy; he treated largely of trees (1Ki 4:33), and perhaps had reference to some specific qualities of the fruits here specified, which made them very fit for the purpose for which he alludes to them; but we must be content to observe, in general, the saints in the church, and graces in the saints, are very fitly compared to these fruits and spices; for, [1.] They are planted, and do not grow of themselves; the trees of righteousness are the planting of the Lord (Isa 61:3); grace springs from an incorruptible seed. [2.] They are precious and of high value; hence we read of the precious sons of Zion and their precious faith; they are plants of renown. [3.] They are pleasant, and of a sweet savour to God and man, and, as strong aromatics, diffuse their fragrancy. [4.] They are profitable and of great use. Saints are the blessings of this earth, and their graces are their riches, with which they trade as the merchants of the east with their spices. [5.] They are permanent, and will be preserved to good purpose, when flowers are withered and good for nothing. Grace, ripened into glory, will last for ever.

Matthew Henry: Sos 4:15-16

These seem to be the words of the spouse, the church, in answer to the commendations which Christ, the bridegroom, had given of her as a pleasant fruitful garden. Is she a garden?

I. She owns her dependence upon Christ himself to make this garden fruitful. To him she has an eye (Son 4:15) as the fountain of gardens, not only the founder of them, by whom they are planted and to whom they owe their being, but the fountain of them, by which they are watered and to which they own their continuance and well-being, and without whose constant supplies they would soon become like the dry and barren wilderness. To him she gives all the glory of her fruitfulness, as being nothing without him: O fountain of gardens! fountain of all good, of all grace, do not thou fail me. Does a believer say to the church, All my springs are in thee, in thee, O Zion? (Psa 87:7), the church transmits the praise to Christ, and says to him, All my springs are in thee; thou art the well of living waters (Jer 2:13), out of which flow the streams of Lebanon, the river Jordan, which had its rise at the foot of Mount Lebanon, and the waters of the sanctuary, which issued out from under the threshold of the house, Eze 47:1. Those that are gardens to Christ must acknowledge him a fountain to them, from whose fulness they receive and to whom it is owing that their souls are as a watered garden, Jer 31:12. The city of God on earth is made glad with the river that flows from this fountain (Psa 46:4), and the new Jerusalem has its pure river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, Rev 22:1.

II. She implores the influences of the blessed Spirit to make this garden fragrant (Son 4:16): Awake, O north wind! and come, thou south. This is a prayer, 1. For the church in general, that there may be a plentiful effusion of the Spirit upon it, in order to its flourishing estate. Ministers' gifts are the spices; when the Spirit is poured out these flow forth, and then the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, Isa 32:15. This prayer was answered in the pouring out of the Spirit on the day of pentecost (Act 2:1), ushered in by a mighty wind; then the apostles, who were bound up before, flowed forth, and were a sweet savour to God, 2Co 2:15. 2. For particular believers. Note, (1.) Sanctified souls are as gardens, gardens of the Lord, enclosed for him. (2.) Graces in the soul are as spices in these gardens, that in them which is valuable and useful. (3.) It is very desirable that the spices of grace should flow forth both in pious and devout affections and in holy gracious actions, that with them we may honour God, adorn our profession, and do that which will be grateful to good men. (4.) The blessed Spirit, in his operations upon the soul, is as the north and the south wind, which blows where it listeth, and from several points, Joh 3:8. There is the north wind of convictions, and the south wind of comforts; but all, like the wind, brought out of God's treasuries and fulfilling his word. (5.) The flowing forth of the spices of grace depends upon the gales of the Spirit; he stirs up good affections, and works in us both to will and to do that which is good; it is he that makes manifest the savour of his knowledge by us. (6.) We ought therefore to wait upon the Spirit of grace for his quickening influences, to pray for them, and to lay our souls under them. God has promised to give us his Spirit, but he will for this be enquired of.

III. She invites Christ to the best entertainment the garden affords: " Let my beloved then come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits; let him have the honour of all the products of the garden (it is fit he should), and let me have the comfort of his acceptance of them, for that is the best account they can be made to turn to."Observe, 1. She calls it his garden; for those that are espoused to Christ call nothing their own, but what they have devoted to him and desire to be used for him. When the spices flow forth then it is fit to be called his garden, and not till then. The fruits of the garden are his pleasant fruits, for he planted them, watered them, and gave the increase. What can we pretend to merit at Christ's hands when we can invite him to nothing but what is his own already? 2. She begs he would visit it, and accept of what it produced. The believer can take little pleasure in his garden, unless Christ, the beloved of his soul, come to him, nor have any joy of the fruits of it, unless they redound some way or other to the glory of Christ, and he will think all he has well bestowed upon him.

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 4:13-14

13 What sprouts forth for thee is a park of pomegranates,

With most excellent fruits;

Cypress flowers with nards;

14 Nard and crocus; calamus and cinnamon,

With all kinds of incense trees;

Myrrh and aloes,

With all the chief aromatics.

The common subject to all down to Son 4:15 inclusive is שׁלחיך ("what sprouts for thee"= "thy plants"), as a figurative designation, borrowed from plants, of all the "phenomena and life utterances"(Böttch.) of her personality. "If I only knew here,"says Rocke, "how to disclose the meaning, certainly all these flowers and fruits, in the figurative language of the Orient, in the flower-language of love, had their beautiful interpretation."In the old German poetry, also, the phrase steplang7 bluomen brechen to break flowers was equivalent to: to enjoy love; the flowers and fruits named are figures of all that the amata offers to the amator . Most of the plants here named are exotics; פּרדּס (heaping around, circumvallation, enclosing) is a garden or park, especially with foreign ornamental and fragrant plants - an old Persian word, the explanation of which, after Spiegel, first given in our exposition of the Song, 1851 (from pairi = περί , and dêz , R. diz , a heap), has now become common property (Justi's Handb. der Zendsprache , p. 180). מגדים פּרי (from מגד , which corresponds to The Arab. mejd , praise, honour, excellence; vid ., Volck under Deu 33:13) are fructus laudum , or lautitiarum , excellent precious fruits, which in the more modern language are simply called מגדים ( Shabbath 127 b , מיני מגדים , all kinds of fine fruits); cf. Syr. magdo , dried fruit. Regarding כּפר , vid ., under Son 1:14; regarding מר , under Son 1:13; also regarding נרדּ , under Son 1:12. The long vowel of נרדּ corresponds to the Pers. form nârd , but near to which is also nard , Indian nalada (fragrance-giving); the ē is thus only the long accent, and can therefore disappear in the plur. For נרדים , Grätz reads ירדים , roses, because the poet would not have named nard twice. The conjecture is beautiful, but for us, who believe the poem to be Solomonic, is inconsistent with the history of roses ( vid ., under Son 2:1), and also unnecessary. The description moves forward by steps rhythmically.

כּרוכם is the crocus stativus , the genuine Indian safran , the dried flower-eyes of which yield the safran used as a colour, as an aromatic, and also as medicine; safran is an Arab. word, and means yellow root and yellow colouring matter. The name כּרוכם , Pers. karkam , Arab. karkum , is radically Indian, Sanscr. kunkuma . קנה , a reed (from קנה , R. qn, to rise up, viewed intrans.),

(Note: In this general sense of "reed"(Syn. arundo ) the word is also found in the Gr. and Lat.: κάνναι ( κάναι ), reed-mats, κάνεον κάναστρον , a wicker basket, canna , canistrum , without any reference to an Indo-Germ. verbal stem, and without acquiring the specific signification of an aromatic plant.)

viz., sweet reed, acorus calamus , which with us now grows wild in marshes, but is indigenous to the Orient.

קנּמנן is the laurus cinnamomum , a tree indigenous to the east coast of Africa and Ceylon, and found later also on the Antilles. It is of the family of the laurineae , the inner bark of which, peeled off and rolled together, is the cinnamon-bark ( cannella , French cannelle ); Aram. קוּנמא , as also the Greek κιννάμοομον and κίνναμον , Lat. ( e.g. , in the 12th book of Pliny) cinnamomum and cinnamum , are interchanged, from קנם , probably a secondary formation from קנה (like בּם , whence בּמה , from בּא ), to which also Syr. qenûmā' , ὑπόστασις , and the Talm.-Targ. קנּוּם קונם , an oath (cf. קים ), go back, so that thus the name which was brought to the west by the Phoenicians denoted not the tree, but the reed-like form of the rolled dried bark. As "nards"refer to varieties of the nard, perhaps to the Indian and the Jamanic spoken of by Strabo and others, so "all kinds of incense trees"refers definitely to Indo-Arab. varieties of the incense tree and its fragrant resin; it has its name fro the white and transparent seeds of this its resin (cf. Arab. lubân , incense and benzoin, the resin of the storax tree, לבנה ); the Greek λίβανος , λιβανωτός (Lat. thus, frankincense, from θύω ), is a word derived from the Pheonicians.

אהלות or אהלים (which already in a remarkable way was used by Balaam, Num 24:6, elsewhere only since the time of Solomon) is the Semitized old Indian name of the aloe, agaru or aguru ; that which is aromatic is the wood of the aloe-tree ( aloëxylon agallochum ), particularly its dried root ( agallochum or lignum aloës , ξυλαλόη , according to which the Targ. here: אלואין אכסיל , after the phrase in Aruch) mouldered in the earth, which chiefly came from farther India.

(Note: Vid ., Lassen's Ind. Alterthumsk . I 334f. Furrer, in Schenkel's Bib. Lex ., understands אהלות of the liliaceae , indigenous to Palestine as to Arabia, which is also called aloë . But the drastic purgative which the succulent leaves of this plant yield is not aromatic, and the verb אחל "to glisten,"whence he seeks to derive the name of this aloe, is not proved. Cf. besides, the Petersburg Lex . under aguru ("not difficult"), according to which is this name of the amyris agallocha , and the aquilaria agallocha , but of no liliaceae . The name Adlerholz ("eagle-wood") rests on a misunderstanding of the name of the Agila tree. It is called "Paradiesholz," because it must have been one of the paradise trees ( vid ., Bereshith rabba under Gen 2:8). Dioskorides says of this wood: θυμιᾶται ἀντὶ λιβανωτοῦ ; the Song therefore places it along with myrrh and frankincense. That which is common to the lily-aloe and the wood-aloe, is the bitter taste of the juice of the former and of the resinous wood of the latter. The Arab. name of the aloe, ṣabir , is also given to the lily-aloe. The proverbs: amarru min eṣ -ṣabir , bitterer than the aloe, and es -sabr sabir , patience is the aloe, refer to the aloe-juice.)

עם , as everywhere, connects things contained together or in any way united (Son 5:1; cf. Son 1:11, as Psa 87:4; cf. 1Sa 16:12). The concluding phrase וגו כּל־ר , cum praestantissimis quibusque aromatibus , is a poet. et cetera . ראשׁ , with the gen. of the object whose value is estimated, denotes what is of meilleure qualité ; or, as the Talm. says, what is אלפא , ἄλφα , i.e. , number one. Ezek; Eze 27:22, in a similar sense, says, "with chief ( ראשׁ ) of all spices."

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 4:15

The panegyric returns now once more to the figure of a fountain.

15 A garden-fountain, a well of living water,

And torrents from Lebanon.

The tertium compar . in Son 4:12 was the collecting and sealing up; here, it is the inner life and its outward activity. A fountain in gardens ( גּנּים , categ. pl.) is put to service for the benefit of the beds of plants round about, and it has in these gardens, as it were, its proper sphere of influence. A well of living water is one in which that which is distributes springs up from within, so that it is indeed given to it, but not without at the same time being its own true property. נזל is related, according to the Semitic usus loq ., to אזל , as "steplang7 niedergehen "(to go down) to "steplang7 weggehen "(to go away) ( vid ., Pro 5:15); similarly related are (Arab.) sar , to go, and sal (in which the letter ra is exchanged for lam , to express the softness of the liquid), to flow, whence syl (sêl ), impetuous stream, rushing water, kindred in meaning to נזלים . Streams which come from Lebanon have a rapid descent, and (so far as they do not arise in the snow region) the water is not only fresh, but clear as crystal. All these figures understood sensuously would be insipid; but understood ethically, they are exceedingly appropriate, and are easily interpreted, so that the conjecture is natural, that on the supposition of the spiritual interpretation of the Song, Jesus has this saying in His mind when He says that streams of living water shall flow "out of the belly"of the believer, Joh 7:38.

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 4:16

The king's praise is for Shulamith proof of his love, which seeks a response. But as she is, she thinks herself yet unworthy of him; her modesty says to her that she needs preparation for him, preparation by that blowing which is the breath of God in the natural and in the spiritual world.

16 Awake, thou North (wind), and come, thou South!

Blow through my garden, cause its spices to flow -

Let my beloved come into his garden,

And eat the fruits which are precious to him.

The names of the north and south, denoting not only the regions of the heavens, but also the winds blowing from these regions, are of the fem. gender, Isa 43:6. The east wind, קדים , is purposely not mentioned; the idea of that which is destructive and adverse is connected with it ( vid ., under Job 27:21). The north wind brings cold till ice is formed, Sir. 43:20; and if the south wind blow, it is hot, Luk 12:55. If cold and heat, coolness and sultriness, interchange at the proper time, then growth is promoted. And if the wind blow through a garden at one time from this direction and at another from that, - not so violently as when it shakes the trees of the forest, but softly and yet as powerfully as a garden can bear it, - then all the fragrance of the garden rises in waves, and it becomes like a sea of incense. The garden itself then blows, i.e. , emits odours; for ( פּח = the Arab. fakh , fah , cf. fawh , pl. afwâh , sweet odours, fragrant plants) as in היּום רוּח , Gen 3:8, the idea underlies the expression, that when it is evening the day itself blows, i.e. , becomes cool, the causative הפיחי , connected with the object-accus. of the garden, means to make the garden breezy and fragrant. נזל is here used of the odours which, set free as it were from the plants, flow out, being carried forth by the waves of air. Shulamith wishes that in her all that is worthy of love should be fully realized. What had to be done for Esther (Est 2:12) before she could be brought in to the king, Shulamith calls on the winds to accomplish for her, which are, as it were, the breath of the life of all nature, and as such, of the life-spirit, which is the sustaining background of all created things. If she is thus prepared for him who loves her, and whom she loves, he shall come into his garden and enjoy the precious fruit belonging to him. With words of such gentle tenderness, childlike purity, she gives herself to her beloved.

Constable: Sos 3:6--5:2

III. THE WEDDING 3:6--5:1

Weddings in Israel took place before the local town elders rather than before the priests (e.g., Ruth 4:10-11). They transpired in homes rather than in the tabernacle or temple (or synagogue later). They were civil rather than religious ceremonies.

There were three parts to a wedding in the ancient Near East. First, the groom's parents selected a bride for their son. This involved securing the permission of the bride's parents and the approval of both the bride and the groom themselves. Though the parents of the young people arranged the marriage, they usually obtained the consent of both the bride and the groom. Second, on the wedding day the groom proceeded to the bride's house accompanied by a group of his friends. He then escorted her to the site of the wedding ceremony and finally took her to their new residence accompanied by their friends. Physical union consummated the marriage the night after the wedding ceremony took place. Third, the couple feasted with their friends usually for seven days following the wedding ceremony.⁵⁹

In the section before us (3:6-5:1) the writer mentioned the wedding procession (3:6-11) and the consummation (4:1-5:1).

". . . the book is framed by an inclusio involving the brothers' and the vineyard,' and at the heart of the book is the wedding day, framed by two dream' sections with noticeable parallels."⁶⁰

Constable: Sos 4:1--5:2

B. The Consummation 4:1-5:1

Our attention now turns from the public procession that took place on the wedding day to the private union that followed that night.

Constable: Sos 4:12-15

4. The bride's purity 4:12-15

4:12 Solomon praised his bride's virginity also. She had kept herself a virgin for the man she would marry.

4:13-14 She was like a garden full of beautiful and pleasing plants that was now open to Solomon.⁶⁸ These spices, fruits, and flowers probably represent her whole person rather than her individual parts.

"The most obvious feature of the Song of Songs is the sexually explicit nature of the material, sensitively guised in figurative language."⁶⁹

4:15 Though she had kept her most intimate parts from others in the past, they were now open to Solomon, and he experienced full satisfaction with her love.

Constable: Sos 4:16--5:2

5. The bride's surrender 4:16-5:1

4:16 The Shulammite invited Solomon to take her completely. She called on the winds to carry the scents to which Solomon had referred so he would find full satisfaction (cf. vv. 13-14).

5:1 Solomon exulted in the joy that union with his beloved had brought him, and he commended it to others. This interpretation seems preferable to the views that "the onlookers[?!] and guests,"⁷⁰ or God,⁷¹ or the poet (not Solomon)⁷² spoke the words, "Eat . . . O lovers." The metaphors used express the fully satisfying nature of his sexual experience (cf. 2 Sam. 13:15).

"Biblically, when a lover gives himself to his beloved as these two have done, the relationship of each has changed to all the rest of the human race. That is why traditionally in our culture a wedding cannot be performed without witnesses. That is the reason behind the publishing of wedding bans. The taking of a woman by a man is a public matter.

"Furthermore, what one does with one's sexuality is of concern to God (Exod 20:14). Likewise, it is a concern to everyone else. The woman now belongs to the man and the man to the woman. This changes all other personal relationships. Thus the witnesses present at weddings represent the larger society. This is why weddings are considered legal matters.

"Self-giving love between the sexes is of social significance. Society must know. How else can marriage be a witness and testimony to the relationship of Christ and the church? One Savior, one spouse!"⁷³

Introduction / Outline

JFB: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

The Song of Solomon, called in the Vulgate and Septuagint, "The Song of Songs," from the opening words. This title denotes its superior excellence, according to the Hebrew idiom; so holy of holies, equivalent to "most holy" (Exo 29:37); the heaven of heavens, equivalent to the highest heavens (Deu 10:14). It is one of the five volumes (megilloth) placed immediately after the Pentateuch in manuscripts of the Jewish Scriptures. It is also fourth of the Hagiographa (Cetubim, writings) or the third division of the Old Testament, the other two being the Law and the Prophets. The Jewish enumeration of the Cetubim is Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra (including Nehemiah), and Chronicles. Its canonicity is certain; it is found in all Hebrew manuscripts of Scripture; also in the Greek Septuagint; in the catalogues of MELITO, bishop of Sardis, A.D. 170 (EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 4.26), and of others of the ancient Church.

ORIGEN and JEROME tell us that the Jews forbade it to be read by any until he was thirty years old. It certainly needs a degree of spiritual maturity to enter aright into the holy mystery of love which it allegorically sets forth. To such as have attained this maturity, of whatever age they be, the Song of Songs is one of the most edifying of the sacred writings. ROSENMULLER justly says, The sudden transitions of the bride from the court to the grove are inexplicable, on the supposition that it describes merely human love. Had it been the latter, it would have been positively objectionable, and never would have been inserted in the holy canon. The allusion to "Pharaoh's chariots" (Son 1:9) has been made a ground for conjecturing that the love of Solomon and Pharaoh's daughter is the subject of the Song. But this passage alludes to a remarkable event in the history of the Old Testament Church, the deliverance from the hosts and chariots of Pharaoh at the Red Sea. (However, see on Son 1:9). The other allusions are quite opposed to the notion; the bride is represented at times as a shepherdess (Son 1:7), "an abomination to the Egyptians" (Gen 46:34); so also Son 1:6; Son 3:4; Son 4:8; Son 5:7 are at variance with it. The Christian fathers, ORIGEN and THEODORET, compared the teachings of Solomon to a ladder with three steps; Ecclesiastes, natural (the nature of sensible things, vain); Proverbs, moral; Canticles, mystical (figuring the union of Christ and the Church). The Jews compared Proverbs to the outer court of Solomon's temple, Ecclesiastes to the holy place, and Canticles to the holy of holies. Understood allegorically, the Song is cleared of all difficulty. "Shulamith" (Son 6:13), the bride, is thus an appropriate name, Daughter of Peace being the feminine of Solomon, equivalent to the Prince of Peace. She by turns is a vinedresser, shepherdess, midnight inquirer, and prince's consort and daughter, and He a suppliant drenched with night dews, and a king in His palace, in harmony with the various relations of the Church and Christ. As Ecclesiastes sets forth the vanity of love of the creature, Canticles sets forth the fullness of the love which joins believers and the Saviour. The entire economy of salvation, says HARRIS, aims at restoring to the world the lost spirit of love. God is love, and Christ is the embodiment of the love of God. As the other books of Scripture present severally their own aspects of divine truth, so Canticles furnishes the believer with language of holy love, wherewith his heart can commune with his Lord; and it portrays the intensity of Christ's love to him; the affection of love was created in man to be a transcript of the divine love, and the Song clothes the latter in words; were it not for this, we should be at a loss for language, having the divine warrant, wherewith to express, without presumption, the fervor of the love between Christ and us. The image of a bride, a bridegroom, and a marriage, to represent this spiritual union, has the sanction of Scripture throughout; nay, the spiritual union was the original fact in the mind of God, of which marriage is the transcript (Isa 54:5; Isa 62:5; Jer 3:1, &c.; Eze. 16:1-63; Eze. 23:1-49; Mat 9:15; Mat 22:2; Mat 25:1, &c.; Joh 3:29; 2Co 11:2; Eph 5:23-32, where Paul does not go from the marriage relation to the union of Christ and the Church as if the former were the first; but comes down from the latter as the first and best recognized fact on which the relation of marriage is based; Rev 19:7; Rev 21:2; Rev 22:17). Above all, the Song seems to correspond to, and form a trilogy with, Psalms 45 and 72, which contain the same imagery; just as Psalm 37 answers to Proverbs, and the Psalms 39 and 73 to Job. Love to Christ is the strongest, as it is the purest, of human passions, and therefore needs the strongest language to express it: to the pure in heart the phraseology, drawn from the rich imagery of Oriental poetry, will not only appear not indelicate or exaggerated, but even below the reality. A single emblem is a type; the actual rites, incidents, and persons of the Old Testament were appointed types of truths afterwards to be revealed. But the allegory is a continued metaphor, in which the circumstances are palpably often purely imagery, while the thing signified is altogether real. The clue to the meaning of the Song is not to be looked for in the allegory itself, but in other parts of Scripture. "It lies in the casket of revelation an exquisite gem, engraved with emblematical characters, with nothing literal thereon to break the consistency of their beauty" [BURROWES]. This accounts for the name of God not occurring in it. Whereas in the parable the writer narrates, in the allegory he never does so. The Song throughout consists of immediate addresses either of Christ to the soul, or of the soul to Christ. "The experimental knowledge of Christ's loveliness and the believer's love is the best commentary on the whole of this allegorical Song" [LEIGHTON]. Like the curiously wrought Oriental lamps, which do not reveal the beauty of their transparent emblems until lighted up within, so the types and allegories of Scripture, "the lantern to our path" [Psa 119:105], need the inner light of the Holy Spirit of Jesus to reveal their significance. The details of the allegory are not to be too minutely pressed. In the Song, with an Oriental profusion of imagery, numbers of lovely, sensible objects are aggregated not strictly congruous, but portraying jointly by their very diversity the thousand various and seemingly opposite beauties which meet together in Christ.

The unity of subject throughout, and the recurrence of the same expressions (Son 2:6-7; Son 3:5; Son 8:3-4; Son 2:16; Son 6:3; Son 7:10; Son 3:6; Son 6:10; Son 8:5), prove the unity of the poem, in opposition to those who make it consist of a number of separate erotic songs. The sudden transitions (for example, from the midnight knocking at a humble cottage to a glorious description of the King) accord with the alternations in the believer's experience. However various the divisions assigned be, most commentators have observed four breaks (whatever more they have imagined), followed by four abrupt beginnings (Son 2:7; Son 3:5; Son 5:1; Son 8:4). Thus there result five parts, all alike ending in full repose and refreshment. We read (1Ki 4:32) that Solomon's songs were "a thousand and five." The odd number five added over the complete thousand makes it not unlikely that the "five" refers to the Song of songs, consisting of five parts.

It answers to the idyllic poetry of other nations. The Jews explain it of the union of Jehovah and ancient Israel; the allusions to the temple and the wilderness accord with this; some Christians of Christ and the Church; others of Christ and the individual believer. All these are true; for the Church is one in all ages, the ancient typifying the modern Church, and its history answering to that of each individual soul in it. Jesus "sees all, as if that all were one, loves one, as if that one were all." "The time suited the manner of this revelation; because types and allegories belonged to the old dispensation, which reached its ripeness under Solomon, when the temple was built" [MOODY STUART]. "The daughter of Zion at that time was openly married to Jehovah"; for it is thenceforth that the prophets, in reproving Israel's subsequent sin, speak of it as a breach of her marriage covenant. The songs heretofore sung by her were the preparatory hymns of her childhood; "the last and crowning 'Song of Songs' was prepared for the now mature maiden against the day of her marriage to the King of kings" [ORIGEN]. Solomon was peculiarly fitted to clothe this holy mystery with the lovely natural imagery with which the Song abounds; for "he spake of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall" (1Ki 4:33). A higher qualification was his knowledge of the eternal Wisdom or Word of God (Pro. 8:1-36), the heavenly bridegroom. David, his father, had prepared the way, in Psalms 45 and 72; the son perfected the allegory. It seems to have been written in early life, long before his declension; for after it a song of holy gladness would hardly be appropriate. It was the song of his first love, in the kindness of his youthful espousals to Jehovah. Like other inspired books, its sense is not to be restricted to that local and temporary one in which the writer may have understood it; it extends to all ages, and shadows forth everlasting truth (1Pe 1:11-12; 2Pe 1:20-21).

"Oh that I knew how all thy lights combine, and the configurations of their glorie,

Seeing not only how each verse doth shine, but all the constellations of the storie."--HERBERT.

Three notes of time occur [MOODY STUART]: (1) The Jewish Church speaks of the Gentile Church (Son 8:8) towards the end; (2) Christ speaks to the apostles (Son 5:1) in the middle; (3) The Church speaks of the coming of Christ (Son 1:2) at the beginning. Thus we have, in direct order, Christ about to come, and the cry for the advent; Christ finishing His work on earth, and the last supper; Christ ascended, and the call of the Gentiles. In another aspect we have: (1) In the individual soul the longing for the manifestation of Christ to it, and the various alternations in its experience (Son 1:2, Son 1:4; Son 2:8; Son 3:1, Son 3:4, Son 3:6-7) of His manifestation; (2) The abundant enjoyment of His sensible consolations, which is soon withdrawn through the bride's carelessness (Son 5:1-3, &c.), and her longings after Him, and reconciliation (Son 5:8-16; Son 6:3, &c.; Son 7:1, &c.); (3) Effects of Christ's manifestation on the believer; namely, assurance, labors of love, anxiety for the salvation of the impenitent, eagerness for the Lord's second coming (Son 7:10, Son 7:12; Son 8:8-10, Son 8:14).

TSK: The Song of Songs 4 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Son 4:1, Christ sets forth the graces of the church; Son 4:8, He shews his love to her; Son 4:16, The church prays to be made fit for his presence.

Poole: The Song of Songs 4 (Chapter Introduction)

OF SOLOMON CHAPTER 4

Christ commendeth his church for her beauty, Son 4:1-7 . He calleth her to go with him, Son 4:8 , manifesting his love and affection for her, Son 4:9 . A further commendation of her, Son 4:10-15 . She prayeth for the effectual operation of his Holy Spirit on her to make her fruitful, Son 4:16 .

These and the following words are evidently spoken by the Bridegroom to and concerning his spouse.

Thou art fair not in thyself, but by my beauty, being clothed with my righteousness, and adorned with all the graces of my Spirit, which I acknowledge to be in thee.

Thou art fair he repeats it, both to confirm the truth of his assertion, and to show the sincerity and fervency of his affection to her.

Thou hast dove’ s eyes thou art harmless, chaste, &c., as appears by thine eyes, which commonly discover the temper of the mind or person. See more of this phrase Son 1:15 . And whereas the beauty of the spouse is here described in her several parts, we need not labour much about the application of each particular to some distinct member or grace of the church, this being the chief design of this description of a bride which is beautiful in all points, to show that completeness and absolute perfection which the church hath in part received, and shall more fully receive from Christ in the future life. Yet because the church is a body, consisting of divers members, and enriched with variety of gifts and graces, I know no reason but the several parts of this description may have a more special regard to one or other of them. And so her eyes may here note, either,

1. Her teachers, who are instead of eyes to her, as the phrase is, Num 10:31 , whence they are called seers and guides, &c. Or,

2. The disposition of her mind or heart, which is compared to the eye, Mat 6:22,23 , and is oft discerned in the eye.

Within thy locks which being decently composed, make the eyes appear more amiable: withal this intimates the modesty of her looks; her eyes are not wanton, and wandering, or lofty, but sober, and humble, and confined within their proper bounds, looking directly upon her husband, not looking asquint upon other lovers, nor minding other Gods or Christs. If the eyes signify teachers, the locks may note the people assembled together to hear their teachers, to whom they are a great ornament when they thrive by his teaching.

Thy hair the hair of thine head, which is a great ornament to the female sex, 1Co 11:15 . This hair may signify either,

1. The inward thoughts and meditations; or rather,

2. The outward conversation and visible fruits of holiness, which do greatly adorn the professors and profession of religion, as hair doth the head, as is implied, 1Ti 2:9,10 1Pe 3:3-5 .

As a flock of goats which are comely and orderly in going, Pro 30:29,31 , and afford a goodly prospect. Or rather, as the hair (which word is here to be understood, as appears both from the comparison itself, and from divers places where goats are put for goats’ hair, as it is in the Hebrew text, Exo 25:4 26:7 35:26 ) of a flock of goats , which in these parts was of extraordinary length, and thickness, and softness, and comeliness, and much more like to the hair of a man or woman than the hair of our goats is, as is evident both from Scripture, as Gen 27:16 1Sa 19:13 ; and from the testimony of other ancient writers, as Apulcius, Martial, &c.

That appear from Mount Gilead that feeding there, or coming down thence, or going up thither, show themselves evidently to those who stand below it, or near them. Or, as it is rendered in our margin, and by others, that eat , or graze of, or upon . He mentions it as a very fruitful place, and fit for the breeding of all sorts of cattle, as is manifest from Num 32:1 Jer 1 19 Mic 7:14 ; and especially of goats, partly because it was a hilly and woody, country, and partly because it abounded with resinous, and oily, and gummy trees, as appears from Gen 37:25 Jer 8:22 46:11 , wherewith the goats are much delighted, as Dioscorides observes. And some affirm that the hair of these goats was commonly of a yellow colour, as may seem probable from 1Sa 19:13,16 , compared with 1Sa 16:12 , and from Son 7:5 ; which also was in ancient times esteemed a beauty in men or women, as the learned know.

MHCC: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

This book is a Divine allegory, which represents the love between Christ and his church of true believers, under figures taken from the relation and affection that subsist between a bridegroom and his espoused bride; an emblem often employed in Scripture, as describing the nearest, firmest, and most sure relation: see Psalms 45; Isa 54:5, Isa 54:6; Isa 62:5; Jer 2:2; Jer 3:1; also in Ezekiel, Hosea, and by our Lord himself, Mat 9:15; Mat 25:1; see also Rev 21:2, Rev 21:9; Eph 5:27. There is no character in the church of Christ, and no situation in which the believer is placed, but what may be traced in this book, as humble inquirers will find, on comparing it with other Scriptures, by the assistance of God the Holy Spirit, in answer to their supplications. Much, however, of the language has been misunderstood by expositors and translators. The difference between the customs and manners of Europe, and those of the East, must especially be kept in view. The little acquaintance with eastern customs possessed by most of our early expositors and translators, has in many cases prevented a correct rendering. Also, the changes in our own language, during the last two or three centuries, affect the manner in which some expressions are viewed, and they must not be judged by modern notions. But the great outlines, rightly interpreted, fully accord with the affections and experience of the sincere Christian.

MHCC: The Song of Songs 4 (Chapter Introduction)

(Son 4:1-7) Christ sets forth the graces of the church.

(Son 4:8-15) Christ's love to the church.

(Son 4:16) The church desires further influences of Divine grace.

Matthew Henry: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Song of Solomon

All scripture, we are sure, is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for the support and advancement of the interests of his kingdom among men, and it is never the less so for there being found in it some things dark and hard to be understood, which those that are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction. In our belief both of the divine extraction and of the spiritual exposition of this book we are confirmed by the ancient, constant, and concurring testimony both of the church of the Jews, to whom were committed the oracles of God, and who never made any doubt of the authority of this book, and of the Christian church, which happily succeeds them in that trust and honour. I. It must be confessed, on the one hand, that if he who barely reads this book be asked, as the eunuch was Understandest thou what thou readest? he will have more reason than he had to say, How can I, except some man shall guide me? The books of scripture-history and prophecy are very much like one another, but this Song of Solomon's is very much unlike the songs of his father David; here is not the name of God in it; it is never quoted in the New Testament; we find not in it any expressions of natural religion or pious devotion, no, nor is it introduced by vision, or any of the marks of immediate revelation. It seems as hard as any part of scripture to be made a savour of life unto life, nay, and to those who come to the reading of it with carnal minds and corrupt affections, it is in danger of being made a savour of death unto death; it is a flower out of which they extract poison; and therefore the Jewish doctors advised their young people not to read it till they were thirty years old, lest by the abuse of that which is most pure and sacred ( horrendum dictu - horrible to say! ) the flames of lust should be kindled with fire from heaven, which is intended for the altar only. But, II. It must be confessed, on the other hand, that with the help of the many faithful guides we have for the understanding of this book it appears to be a very bright and powerful ray of heavenly light, admirable fitted to excite pious and devout affections in holy souls, to draw out their desires towards God, to increase their delight in him, and improve their acquaintance and communion with him. It is an allegory, the letter of which kills those who rest in that and look no further, but the spirit of which gives life, 2Co 3:6; Joh 6:63. It is a parable, which makes divine things more difficult to those who do not love them, but more plain and pleasant to those who do, Mat 13:14, Mat 13:16. Experienced Christians here find a counterpart of their experiences, and to them it is intelligible, while those neither understand it nor relish it who have no part nor lot in the matter. It is a song, an Epithalamium, or nuptial song, wherein, by the expressions of love between a bridegroom and his bride, are set forth and illustrated the mutual affections that pass between God and a distinguished remnant of mankind. It is a pastoral; the bride and bridegroom, for the more lively representation of humility and innocence, are brought in as a shepherd and his shepherdess. Now, 1. This song might easily be taken in a spiritual sense by the Jewish church, for whose use it was first composed, and was so taken, as appears by the Chaldee-Paraphrase and the most ancient Jewish expositors. God betrothed the people of Israel to himself; he entered into covenant with them, and it was a marriage-covenant. He had given abundant proofs of his love to them, and required of them that they should love him with all their heart and soul. Idolatry was often spoken of as spiritual adultery, and doting upon idols, to prevent which this song was penned, representing the complacency which God took in Israel and which Israel ought to take in God, and encouraging them to continue faithful to him, though he might seem sometimes to withdraw and hide himself from them, and to wait for the further manifestation of himself in the promised Messiah. 2. It may more easily be taken in a spiritual sense by the Christian church, because the condescensions and communications of divine love appear more rich and free under the gospel than they did under the law, and the communion between heaven and earth more familiar. God sometimes spoke of himself as the husband of the Jewish church (Isa 64:5, Hos 2:16, Hos 2:19), and rejoiced in it as his bride, Isa 62:4, Isa 62:5. But more frequently is Christ represented as the bridegroom of his church (Mat 25:1; Rom 7:4; 2Co 11:2; Eph 5:32), and the church as the bride, the Lamb's wife, Rev 19:7; Rev 21:2, Rev 21:9. Pursuant to this metaphor Christ and the church in general, Christ and particular believers, are here discoursing with abundance of mutual esteem and endearment. The best key to this book is the 45th Psalm, which we find applied to Christ in the New Testament, and therefore this ought to be so too. It requires some pains to find out what may, probably, be the meaning of the Holy Spirit in the several parts of this book; as David's songs are many of them level to the capacity of the meanest, and there are shallows in them learned, and there are depths in it in which an elephant may swim. But, when the meaning is found out, it will be of admirable use to excite pious and devout affections in us; and the same truths which are plainly laid down in other scriptures when they are extracted out of this come to the soul with a more pleasing power. When we apply ourselves to the study of this book we must not only, with Moses and Joshua, put off our shoe from off our foot, and even forget that we have bodies, because the place where we stand is holy ground, but we must, with John, come up hither, must spread our wings, take a noble flight, and soar upwards, till by faith and holy love we enter into the holiest, for this is no other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.

Matthew Henry: The Song of Songs 4 (Chapter Introduction)

In this chapter, I. Jesus Christ, having espoused his church to himself (Son 3:11), highly commends her beauty in the several expressions of it, concluding her fair, all fair (Son 4:1-5 and again, Son 4:7). II. He retires himself, and invites her with him, from the mountains of terror to those of delight (Son 4:6, Son 4:8). III. He professes his love to her and his delight in her affection to him (Son 4:9-14). IV. She ascribes all she had that was valuable in her to him, and depends upon the continued influence of his grace to make her more and more acceptable to him (Son 4:15, Son 4:16).

Constable: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title

In the Hebrew Bible the title of this book is "The Song of Songs." It comes from 1:1. The Septuagint and Vulgate translators adopted this title. The Latin word for song is canticum from which we get the word Canticles, another title for this book.

Some English translations have kept the title "Song of Songs" (e.g., NIV), but many have changed it to "Song of Solomon" based on 1:1 (e.g., NASB, AV, RSV, NKJV).

Writer and Date

Many references to Solomon throughout the book confirm the claim of 1:1 that Solomon wrote this book (cf. 1:4-5, 12; 3:7, 9, 11; 6:12; 7:5; 8:11-12; 1 Kings 4:33). He reigned between 971 and 931 B.C.

How could Solomon, who had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3), be the same faithful lover this book presents? He could be if he became polygamous after the events in this book took place. That seems a more likely explanation than that he was polygamous when these events occurred but just omitted reference to his other loves. Probably he wrote the book before he became polygamous. We do not know how old Solomon was when he married the second time. The history recorded in Kings and Chronicles is not in strict chronological order. The Shulammite was probably not Pharaoh's daughter (1 Kings 3:1; cf. Song of Sol. 4:8).¹

Interpretation

This book has received more varied interpretations than probably any other book in the Bible.² Some writers believed it presents the reader with the "greatest hermeneutical challenge" in the Old Testament.³ One excellent exegete called it "the most obscure book of the Old Testament."⁴

"Among the books of the Bible, the Song of Solomon is one of the smallest, most difficult, yet one of the most popular with both Jews and Christians. Over the centuries hundreds of books and commentaries have been written and unnumbered sermons preached on these 117 verses."⁵

Bible students have understood the Song of Solomon as an allegory, an extended type, a drama with either two or three main characters, or a collection of wedding songs. Others have thought it is a collection of pagan fertility cult liturgies or an anthology of songs extolling love, to name only the most common interpretations.⁶

Those who interpret the book allegorically--the majority of interpreters--believe that what the writer said is only a symbolic husk for a deeper spiritual meaning that the reader must discover. Jewish interpreters took this deeper revelation to be God's love for Israel. Christian scholars have frequently seen it as Christ's love for the church. However the text itself does not indicate that we should interpret this book differently than any other Bible book.⁷

Those who view it as an extended type believe the events recorded really took place, in contrast to the allegorical interpreters, but their primary significance lies in their illustrative value.⁸ The basic teaching Christian interpreters see is Christ's love for the church. Yet again the text itself does not indicate that this book requires a different interpretation than the other books of the Bible.

A careful analysis of the text has convinced most scholars that the Song of Solomon was not a drama.⁹ We really cannot break it down into acts and scenes in any presentable order. The action is too interwoven. There is also no evidence that the Hebrews had dramas of this type in Solomon's day.¹⁰

Some interpreters believe three main characters are in view, namely, Solomon, the Shulammite girl, and her shepherd lover.¹¹ However, what some scholars have attributed to the shepherd lover can just as easily refer to Solomon. It was not uncommon in ancient Near Eastern literature to refer to kings as shepherds since they served a pastoral function in relation to their people. Furthermore many of them did own many flocks (cf. 2:7).

Probably the Song of Solomon was a single love poem that the writer designed to deal primarily with the subject of human love and marriage. This was the viewpoint of many ancient Jewish rabbis.¹² It is also the conclusion most conservative commentators have come to who have sought to interpret this book in the same way they interpret other Bible books (i.e., literally, historically, and grammatically). It is also the conclusion of some liberal scholars who have analyzed the structure of the book.¹³ Love is an important subject of special revelation, and human love in particular is a central feature of it as well (cf. Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:36-39; John 13:34-35). Consequently it should not seem incredible that God gave us this book to help us understand this subject better.¹⁴

However, it seems clear that this book also has spiritual value, specifically to clarify divine-human love.

". . . it is widely acknowledged that the Bible is a book of faith and theology, and there is no place in the canon for atheological literature. . . .

"The literal approaches of Dillow, Glickman, and others are much more faithful to the intent of the book [than other approaches]. The limitations of these strictly literal approaches are the tendency to see sexuality as a more prominent feature of the Song than is justified by the text and the propensity to overreact to the absurdities of the allegorical method to the extent of missing justifiable [spiritual] analogy."¹⁵

Evidence of unity within the book argues against its being only a collection of poems that had general similarity to one another that the writer assembled into one song.¹⁶

Purpose

Probably God's primary purpose in inspiring this book of the Bible was to give us revelation concerning the way love between a man and a woman should look.¹⁷ The characters in the book behave toward one another the way men and women in love should conduct themselves in attitudes and activities.

"Solomon was a man of many lovers, and the Song of Songs is a record of one of the relationships that stood out above all others. . . .

"The Song of Songs hearkens back to God's prototypical design in the Garden of Eden of one man and one woman, in marriage, a relationship God designed to be mutually exclusive. This book, then, presents a most relevant and urgent message for today."¹⁸

"The prospect of children is not necessary to justify sexual love in marriage. Significantly, the Song of Solomon makes no reference to procreation. It must be remembered that the book was written in a world where a high premium was placed on offspring and a woman's worth was often measured in terms of the number of her children. Sex was often seen with reference to procreation; yet there is not a trace of that here. The song is a song in praise of love for love's sake and for love's sake alone. This relationship needs no justification beyond itself."¹⁹

The love relationship between a man and a woman is an illustration of the love relationship within the Godhead and between God and Israel and between Christ and the church (cf. Hos. 3:1; Eph. 5:32). Therefore part of the purpose of this book seems to be the revelation of those more basic love relationships for application by the reader.

"The use of the marriage metaphor to describe the relationship of God to his people is almost universal in Scripture. . . .

"Human love is thus a good pedagogical device to cast light on divine love."²⁰

"In creating man--male and female--in his own image and joining them together so that they become one flesh, God makes us copies both of himself in his trinitarian unity and distinction as one God and three persons and of himself in relation to the people of his gracious election. Analogically, what is between Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and what ought to be and is and shall be between God and Israel and Christ and the Church, is also what is meant to be in the relation of man and woman and more specifically of husband and wife. Neither the intratrinitarian relationship nor the union between the heavenly bridegroom and his bride is a good copy of a bad original. Earthly marriage as it is now lived out is a bad copy of a good original."²¹

"There is something proleptic and eschatological in human passion. We deal with symbols that image eternal realities here. Little wonder that this little book is in the canon."²²

Canonicity

There have been three primary reasons that some scholars have thought this book does not deserve to be in the Bible. First, it does not contain the name of God. However, God's name may appear in 8:6. Furthermore, what makes a book theological or religious is not just the presence of the divine name. God's name does not appear in the Book of Esther either.

Second, the presence of frank language describing physical intimacies seems inappropriate in the Bible to some people. Yet the Bible presents marriage as sacred, including its physical aspects.

Third, the difficulty of interpretation has caused some readers to reject it as non-canonical. This criticism fails to recognize that finite and fallen human beings may not easily comprehend the revelations of an infinite and omniscient God.

"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?"²³

Message²⁴

Contemporary culture has affected the interpretation of this book more than that of most other Bible books. For many years believers considered this book to be a revelation of God's love for the believer and the believer's love for God expressed in vivid metaphorical language. This was the predominant viewpoint for centuries during which time most people did not talk about the intimacies of human physical love publicly. With the sexual revolution that began in the 1960s there are many interpreters who now believe this book is a revelation of two human beings' love for each other primarily. Some have even suggested that it is an inspired marriage manual that God has given us to enable us to develop strong marriages.

Personally I believe God gave it to us so that we could understand the nature of love primarily. I think God wanted us to apply that understanding both in our love for our spouses and in our love for our Savior. In other words I believe the purpose is "both . . . and" rather than "either . . . or."

This book emphasizes the supremacy of love. Human life finds its highest fulfillment in the love of a man and a woman. Spiritual life finds its highest fulfillment in the love of a human being and God. Jesus Christ makes the fulfillment of love on both the human and the spiritual levels possible. He manifested God's love to us. Consequently we love Him, and we can love one another.

When Solomon originally wrote this book it was a poem about the love of two people, a man and a woman, for each other. Consequently what it reveals about love is applicable to human love. However since God revealed and inspired it as part of Scripture He also intended us to apply it to our spiritual lives, our relationship with God. That is the purpose of every other book of the Bible, and this was God's purpose in giving us this book as well. In Ephesians, Paul wrote that we should learn about Christ's love for the church from marriage (Eph. 5:32).

Let us look then at the values of this book that are primarily two.

First, the Song of Solomon is a revelation of the true nature of human love. It reveals four things about human love.

1. It reveals the foundation of love. According to this book the foundation of love is mutual satisfaction. The man and the woman in this book find perfect rest in each other. They satisfy one another in every way. Affection relates directly to this ability. We have an affection for people who satisfy some need or desire in us. We have supreme affection for one who satisfies us ultimately. That supreme affection is the basis for marriage. God intended it to be so. This book also reveals that mutual satisfaction is not only complementary, but it is also exclusive. The man and the woman in this book each saw the other as the only one for them (2:2-3). For satisfaction to be complete there must be a commitment to exclusivity. There is usually a promise to forsake all others in the wedding vows. When love is not exclusive, it is diluted (cf. 1 Tim. 3:2). The foundation of love then is mutual satisfaction that is both complementary and exclusive.

2. This book also reveals the strength of love. It is the strongest force in life (8:6-7). People will do for love what they will do for no other reason. However when mutual satisfaction breaks down, the strength of love grows weaker. If you want strong love in your marriage, commit yourselves to satisfying each other more than yourself.

3. This book also reveals how to love. It shows Solomon taking the initiative in reaching out to his loved one with intensity and protecting her. It also shows the Shulammite responding to her beloved by yielding to him and trusting in him. These are the usual actions and reactions of the male and the female in love. Sometimes there is a reversal of roles, but not usually. God intended these methods of expressing love to be instructive for us. They are applicable in both our love for our spouse and in our love for God.

4. Fourth, this book reveals the fruits of love. These are three.

a. In true love there is rest. There is a perfect contentment that turmoil outside or within cannot destroy. The home in which genuine love resides is a haven from the storms of life.

b. In true love there is joy. No matter what other conditions may exist (poverty, misery, etc.) real love fills the heart with song and brightens the darkest day.

c. In true love there is courage. Both individuals gain strength from their love to face circumstances boldly and to recover from their failures and go on. All three of these fruits of love are prominent in this book.

The second value of this book is that it reveals spiritual experience at its highest level.

This was the ultimate intention of the divine Author. This conclusion finds support in the fact that this was the belief of Jewish interpreters as well as Christian scholars in both Old and New Testament times. Furthermore the writers of Scripture used the example of a bride and groom, husband and wife, to describe God's relationship with His people in both Testaments (e.g., Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the bride of Christ; Eph. 5:25-32).

It is therefore important that we take these revelations concerning the nature of love and apply them to our relationship with God as well as to our relationship to our spouse.

1. The foundation of our love for God and His love for us is also mutual satisfaction. He satisfies our every need and our every want. Nevertheless He also finds satisfaction in us.

2. We see the strength of God's love for us when we look at Calvary. The strength of our love for God is the extent to which we respond to Him in obedience.

3. We see how to love in God's initiating love for us, His reaching out intensely and protectively. We express our love for Him by yielding to Him and trusting in Him.

4. The fruits of love are the same in our relationship with God as in our relationship with another human being. We enjoy rest, joy, and courage. God does too. He experiences courage in the sense of encouragement (cf. Zeph. 3:17).

Because of these revelations and emphases I would summarize the message of this book as follows. Human life and spiritual life find their greatest fulfillment in the experience of mutual love.

Love is the greatest experience in all human relationships and our spiritual relationship. Consequently God commands us to love Him and to love one another wholeheartedly (Matt. 22:37-39). We must give attention to loving. This is not how the world views love. The world thinks you fall into it and out of it; it comes and goes. The Bible says it requires continuing commitment.

This book also encourages us to view human love in the light of God's love for us and our love for Him. A person who has experienced the love of God can know best how to express and receive love on the human level. Human love is the child of divine love.

The opposite is true too. We can find help in loving God by learning from our human love. Our passion, abandonment, and fidelity to our mate on the human level should help us to practice these things in our relationship with God. I believe God created the family to help us understand our relationship with Himself. When we learn how to respond to one another, we learn how to respond to God, and vice versa.

Constable: The Song of Songs (Outline)

Outline

I. The superscription 1:1

II. The courtship 1:2-3:5

A. The beginning of love 1:2-11

1. Longing for the boyfriend 1:2-4

2. The girl's insecurity 1:5-8

3. Solomon's praise 1:9-11

B. The growth of love 1:12-3:5

1. Mutual admiration 1:12-2:7

2. Increased longing 2:8-17

3. The pain of separation 3:1-5

III. The wedding 3:6-5:1

A. The procession 3:6-11

B. The consummation 4:1-5:1

1. The bride's beauty 4:1-7

2. The groom's request 4:8

3. The bride's love 4:9-11

4. The bride's purity 4:12-15

5. The bride's surrender 4:16-5:1

IV. The maturing process 5:2-8:4

A. The problem of apathy 5:2-6:13

1. Indifference and withdrawal 5:2-8

2. Renewed affection 5:9-16

3. Steps toward reconciliation 6:1-3

4. Restoration of intimacy 6:4-13

B. Communicating affection 7:1-10

1. The wife's charms 7:1-6

2. The husband's desires 7:7-9

3. The ultimate unity 7:10

C. The wife's initiative 7:11-13

D. Increased intimacy 8:1-4

V. The conclusion 8:5-7

VI. The epilogue 8:8-14

A. The past 8:8-12

B. The present 8:13-14

Constable: The Song of Songs

Song of Solomon

Bibliography

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Carr, G. Lloyd. "Is the Song of Songs a Sacred Marriage' Drama?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 22:2 (June 1979):103-14.

_____. "The Love Poetry Genre in the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East: Another Look at Inspiration." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 25:4 (December 1982):489-98.

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_____. "A Wedding Song for Solomon." Journal of Biblical Literature 63 (1944):263-70.

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

SOLOMON'S CANTICLE OF CANTICLES.

INTRODUCTION.

This book is called the Canticle of Canticles, that is to say, the most excellent of all canticles: because it is full of high mysteries, relating to the happy union of Christ and his spouse; which is here begun by love; and is to be eternal in heaven. The spouse of Christ is the Church: more especially as to the happiest part of it, viz., perfect souls, every one of which is his beloved; but above all others, the immaculate and ever blessed Virgin mother [Mary]. (Challoner) --- The bridegroom is Christ, as God and man. His praises and those of his spouse are recorded by various speakers. Solomon has given us three works; for beginners, the more advanced, and the perfect; as the philosophers teach ethics, physics, and metaphysics. All the holy Scriptures contain spiritual food, but they are not all fit for every person, Hebrews v. 13. With what humility ought we not, therefore, to read this most perfect and mystical canticle, as the sentiments of spiritual love are expressed in the same words as that of worldlings, and we are more inclined to follow our own judgment and carnal notions! (Worthington) --- None, therefore, should dare to peruse this work, who has not mastered his passions, having his conversation in heaven. (Haydock) --- The Jews would not allow any ot read it before the age of thirty. (Origen and St. Jerome) --- Some of the fathers and commentators have even asserted that the mystical sense is the only one which pertains to this book, (Theodoret; Durham; Tirinus) and it is certainly the true and principal one, though allusion may be made to the marriage of Solomon with Pharao's daughter, (Calmet; Bossuet; Du Hamel) or with a Tyrian princess, (chap. iv. 8., and 3 Kings xiii. 5.) or with Abisag. (Rabbins) --- Grotius shews the corruption of his own heart in his impure comments, as Theodorus, of Mopsuestra, is blamed by the second Council of Const.[Constantinople?] iv. a. 68. The name of God never, indeed, occurs; as he is represented under the idea of the bridegroom, &c., and the piece is allegorical. It might be divided into seven scenes, or nights, as the marriage feast lasted so long, Genesis xxix. 22. During this time the bridegroom saw his spouse seldom, and with great reserve, (Calmet) as was the custom with the Lacedemonians. (Plut.[Plutarch?] in Lyc.) --- We might also refer all to six nights, or to the six ages of the Church, conformably to the system of De la Chetardie and Bishop Walmesley on the Apocalypse. --- I. Age. Chap i. 2., marks the ascension of Christ, and the propagation of Christianity; ver. 4, 5., persecutions; ver. 6, 7., vocation of the Gentiles; ver. 12., protection granted by Christ. II. Chap. ii. 3., peace under Constantine; ver. 11, 17., troubles excited by Arius. III. Chap. iii. 1., irruption of barbarians; ver. 4., does not overturn the Church; ver. 6., they are converted; ver. 11., and Christ is more glorified, as [in] Apocalypse xix. IV. Chap. iv. 5., the Latin and Greek Churches; ver. 8., the Chaldeans, lions, and Greeks, leopards, (Daniel) are converted; the Turks obtain dominion; ver. 12., the Greek schismatics cut off: ver. 16., the Church is persecuted, but protected. V. Chap. v. 2., Dew marks the cooling of charity, (St. Augustine) when Luther appeared; chap. vi. 3., yet the Church triumphs, particularly after the Council of Trent. VI. Chap. vi. 9., after the sounding of the sixth trumpet, the Jews are converted, and adorn the Church, in spite of antichrist's power; ver. 11., she addresses the synagogue, ver. 12. Chap. viii. 2., obtains leave to go into the house of her mother, as the apostles were of Jewish extraction; ver. 7., the constancy of the martyrs appears; (see Rondet.) ver. 8-14., the Church pants for her speedy union with her beloved. We may justly admire her authority, in preserving this and the former work of the canon, notwithstanding the internal and external evidence, and the ill use made of them by infidels, which seemed to militate against them. The Protestant Chateillon styles this "a wicked book." Several passages may, no doubt, be abused by a corrupt heart: but what is there so holy, which may not be perverted? When we meditate on this canticle, we ought to remember the admonition given by the Church in the Mass: "Let hearts be on high;" and Oh! that all might answer with truth: "We have them to the Lord!"

Gill: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO THE SONG OF SOLOMON

This book is entitled, in the Hebrew copies, "Shir Hashirim", the Song of Songs. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions call it, "the Song"; and the title of it in the Syriac version, is,

"the Wisdom of Wisdoms of the same Solomon;''

that is, the same who wrote the two preceding books. It has always been received and esteemed by the ancient Jews as a valuable part of the sacred writings, calling it "the Holy of Holies" ^a; forbidding their children to read it, because of the sublimity and mysteriousness of it, until they were at years to understand it: nor was there ever any controversy among them about the authenticity of it; but all their writers ^b, ancient and more modern, agree that it was written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The ancient Christian fathers and councils have held it as a part of the holy Scriptures, and have continued it in the canon of them; and it has been received as canonical by Christians in all ages, except a very few, as Theodore of Mopsuest, condemned calling it in question by the second council at Constantinople, in 553; and Castalio, in later times, who for the same was censured and exiled by the senate at Geneva; and Mr. Whiston, in our age, whose objections to it I have attempted to answer, in my larger Commentary on this book, published in 1728, and since republished: and I am very sorry I am obliged to take notice of an objection to the antiquity of it, and to its being Solomon's, made by a learned ^c man, very lately; who observes, that the word David, from its first appearance in Ruth, where it is written דוד, without the "yod", continues to be so written through the books of Samuel, Kings, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; but appears with a "yod", דויד, in the books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Zechariah; wherefore he suggests, that if it was customary to write this word without a "yod" till the captivity, and with one after it; then he thinks a strong argument may be drawn from hence against the antiquity of the Canticles, and its being made by Solomon, since this name is written with a "yod" in Son 4:4; the only place in it in which it is used: but in answer to this it must be said, that it is not fact that the word is invariably without a "yod" in the books mentioned, particularly the book of Kings: for the authors of the Masorah have observed, on 1Ki 3:14, that it is five times written in that book full, as they call it, that is, with a "yod", דויד; three of the places I have traced out, 1Ki 3:14; and have found it so written in all the printed copies I have seen; and so it is read by the eastern Jews, in Eze 37:24. This learned man is aware that it is so written, once in Hosea, and twice in Amos, books written two hundred years before the captivity; but then he observes, that in the two last places, in Bomberg's edition, it has a little circle (o) to mark it for an error, or a faulty word, though none over the word in Hosea: but it should be known, that that circle, in hundreds of places, is not used to point out anything faulty in the copy; but is only a mark referring to the margin, and what is observed there; and be it that it does point out an error, or a faulty word, the same circle is over the word in Canticles, and consequently shows it to be faulty there, and to be corrected and read without the "yod", as it was originally without it there; which observation destroys the argument from it: and so it is read in that place in the Talmud ^d without it, and in the ancient book of Zohar ^e; and indeed it seems as if it was read without the "yod" in the copies seen by the authors of the Little Masorah; since in their note on 1Ki 3:14; besides the five places in the Kings, where it is written full, or with the "yod", they say, it is so written throughout the Chronicles, the twelve minor prophets, and Ezra, which includes Nehemiah; but make no mention of Solomon's Song, which, one would think, they would have done, had it been so written there in the copies before them: so that, upon the whole, the argument, if it has any force in it, turns out for, and not against, the antiquity of Solomon's Song. This book of Canticles has plain marks of a divine original, and proofs of its being of divine inspiration: it was written by, one that was inspired of God, as appears by the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, written by him; the greatness of the matter contained in it, the dignity, sublimity, and majesty of its style, show it to be no human composure; the power and efficacy which it has had over the hearts of men, in reading it, and hearing it explained, is another evidence of its being the word of God, which is quick and powerful; the impartiality of it, the bride, who is introduced speaking in it, confessing and proclaiming her own failings and infirmities, is no inconsiderable proof of the same; to which may be added the agreement between this and other portions of Scripture, as particularly Psa 45:1; and there seem to be many allusions and references to various passages of this book in the New Testament; see Mat 9:13, &c. Joh 3:8 Col 2:17; compared with Son 1:3 Son 5:1. In what time of Solomon's life this book was written is not agreed on: some of the Jewish writers say the book of Proverbs was written first, then the Song of Songs, and last of all Ecclesiastes; others, that the Song was written first, then Proverbs, and then Ecclesiastes ^f; though their chronologer ^g says they were all written in his old age, as indeed the last book seems to be; but the Song rather seems to have been written in the middle part of his life, when in the most flourishing circumstances as to body, mind, and estate. Dr. Lightfoot ^h is of opinion it might be written in the thirtieth year of his reign, about ten years before his death, after he had built his summer house in Lebanon, to which he supposes respect is had in Son 4:8; and upon his bringing Pharaoh's daughter to the house prepared for her, 1Ki 9:24; but be this at it may, it was not a celebration of the amours between Solomon and her, since the literal sense, in many places, would be monstrous and absurd; and besides it must be written twenty years at least after that, if the house of the forest of Lebanon is referred to in the above places; nor does it set forth their amours, and the marriage between them, as typical of the inexpressible love and marriage union between Christ and his church; though there is a resemblance between natural and spiritual marriage, and the love of persons in such a relation to one another, and to which there may be an allusion in some passages. Nor is this book historical and prophetic, expressing either the state of the people of Israel, from the times of Abraham to Solomon, and so to the Messiah; in which way go many Jewish interpreters, as the Targum, Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and others: nor is it to be considered as describing the state of the church: of God, whether legal, from the times of David and Solomon, and before, in and after the captivity, to the birth and death of Christ; or the Gospel church, in its beginning, progress, various changes, and consummation, as Brightman and Cotton nor as setting forth the several ages and periods of the Christian church, in agreement with the seven churches of Asia, as Cocceius, and those that follow him, Horchius, Hofman, and Heunischius; which latter, particularly, makes this distribution of them:

(1) The Ephesian church, Son 1:5; from the ascension of Christ to heaven, A. C. 33, to 370. (2) The Smyrnaean church, Son 2:1; from A. C. 371, to 707; (3) The church at Pergamos, Son 3:1; from A. C. 708, to 1045. (4) The Thyatirian church, Son 4:1, from A. C. 1046, to 1383. (5) The Sardian church, Son 5:2, from A. C. 1384, to 1721. (6) The church at Philadelphia, Son 6:9, from A. C. 1722, to 2059. (7) The Laodicean church, Son 8:1, from A. C. 2060, and onwards.

But these senses are very arbitrary, uncertain, and precarious, and limit the several parts of it to certain periods; whereas it is applicable to believers in all ages of time. The whole is figurative and allegorical; expressing, in a variety of lively metaphors, the love, union, and communion, between Christ and his church; setting forth the several different frames, cases, and circumstances of believers, in this life; so that they can be in no case and condition spiritual whatever, but there is something in this Song suitable to them; and which serves much to recommend it, and shows the excellency of it; and that it justly claims the title it bears, the Song of Songs, the most excellent. M. Bossuet ⁱ is of opinion, that whereas the nuptial feast with the Hebrews was kept seven days, this Song is to be distributed into seven parts, a part to be sung, one each day, during the celebration: The first day, Son 1:1. The second day, Son 2:7. The third day, Son 3:1. The fourth day, Son 5:2. The fifth day, Son 6:10. The sixth day, Son 7:12. The seventh day, Son 8:4. The thought is ingenious, but seems too fanciful, and without foundation.

Gill: The Song of Songs 4 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO SONG OF SOLOMON 4

In this chapter is contained a large commendation of the church's beauty by Christ; first, more particularly, by an enumeration of several parts, as her eyes, hair, teeth, lips, temples, neck, and breasts, Son 4:1; and more generally, Son 4:7; And having observed where he himself was determined to go, he invites her to go with him; which he enforces, partly from the danger she was exposed unto where she was Son 4:6; and partly from the comeliness of her person and graces in his esteem; with which he was ravished, and therefore was extremely desirous of her company, Son 4:9; And then enters into some new descriptions of her; as a garden and orchard, as a spring and fountain, Son 4:12; all which she makes to be owing to him, Son 4:15; And the chapter is closed with an order from Christ to the winds to blow on his garden, and cause the spices of it to flow out; and with an invitation of the church to Christ, to come into his garden, and relax there, Son 4:16.