Typed by: Kathy Sewell ksewell@gate.net, May 20, 1997
This book is in the public domain
BY
THE CHINA INLAND MISSION, LONDON
PHILADELPHIA, TORONTO, AND MELBOURNE
AGENTS: THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
4 BOUVERIE STREET, LONDON, E.C.4.
First
printed in "China's Millions."
Reprinted
in Book form--
First
and Second Editions, 6000 copies
Reprinted
June 1914
Reprinted
January 1918
Reprinted
June 1921
Reprinted
November 1923
Reprinted
May 1926
Reprinted
January 1927
Reprinted
July 1929
Total,
19,000 copies
Printed in Great Britain by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.
ST. PAUL'S,
PORTMAN SQUARE, LONDON W.
June 1, 1914.
The great purpose towards which all the
dispensational dealings of God are tending, is revealed to us in the fifteenth
chapter of the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "That God may be all
in all." With this agrees the teaching of our Lord in John xvii. 3: "And this
is (the object of) life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God,
and JESUS CHRIST, whom Thou hast sent." This being so, shall we not act wisely
by keeping this object ever in view in our daily life and study of God's holy
Word?
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and
is profitable, and hence no part is, or can be, neglected without loss. Few
portions of the Word will help the devout student more in the pursuit of this
all-important "knowledge of God" than the too-much neglected "Song of Solomon."
Like other portions of the Word of God, this book has its difficulties. But so
have all the works of God. Is not the fact that they surpass our unaided powers
of comprehension and research a "sign-manual" of divinity? Can feeble man
expect to grasp divine power, or to understand and interpret the works or the
providences of the All-wise? And if not, is it surprising that His Word also
needs superhuman wisdom for its interpretation? Thanks be to God, the
illumination of the HOLY GHOST is promised to all who seek for it: what more
can we desire?
Read without the key, this book is specially
unintelligible, but that key is easily found in the express teachings of the
New Testament. The Incarnate Word is the true key to the written Word; but even
before the incarnation, the devout student of the Old Testament would find much
help to the understanding of the sacred mysteries of this book in the prophetic
writings; for there Israel was taught that her MAKER was her HUSBAND. John the
Baptist, the last of the prophets, recognized the Bridegroom in the person of
CHRIST, and said, "He that hath the bride is the Bridegroom: but the friend of
the Bridegroom, which standeth and heareth Him, rejoiceth greatly because of
the Bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled." Paul, in the fifth
chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians, goes still further, and teaches that
the union of CHRIST with His Church, and her subjection to Him, underlies the
very relationship of marriage, and affords the pattern for every godly
union.
In Solomon, the bridegroom king, as well as
author of this poem, we have a type of our LORD, the true Prince of peace, in
His coming reign. Then will be found not merely His bride, the Church, but also
a willing people, His subjects, over whom He shall reign gloriously. Then
distant potentates will bring their wealth, and will behold the glory of the
enthroned KING, proving Him with hard questions, as once came the Queen of
Sheba to King Solomon; and blessed will they be to whom this privilege is
accorded. A brief glance will suffice them for a lifetime; but what shall be
the royal dignity and blessedness of the risen and exalted bride! For ever with
her LORD, for ever like her LORD, for ever conscious that His desire is toward
her, she will share alike His heart and His throne. Can a study of the book
which helps us to understand these mysteries of grace and love be other than
most profitable?
It is interesting to notice the contrast between
this book and that preceding it. The Book of Ecclesiastes teaches emphatically
that "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity": and thus the necessary introduction
to the Song of Solomon, which shows how true blessing and satisfaction are to
be possessed. In like manner our SAVIOUR'S teaching in the fourth of John
points out in a word the powerlessness of earthly things to give lasting
satisfaction, in striking contrast with the flow of blessing that results from
the presence of the HOLY GHOST (whose work it is, not to reveal Himself but
CHRIST as the Bridegroom of the soul); "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall
thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of
water springing up"--overflowing, on and on--"unto everlasting life."
We shall find it helpful to consider the book in
six sections:--
Chapter i. 2-ii. 7.
Chapter ii. 8-iii. 5.
Chapter iii. 6-v. I.
Chapter v. 2-vi. 10.
Chapter vi. II-viii. 4.
Chapter viii. 5-14.
In each of these sections we shall find the
speakers to be--the bride, the Bridegroom, and the daughters of Jerusalem; it
is not usually difficult to ascertain the speaker, though in some of the verses
different conclusions have been arrived at. The bride speaks of the Bridegroom
as "her Beloved"; the Bridegroom speaks of her as "His love," while the address
of the daughters of Jerusalem is more varied. In the last four sections they
style her "the fairest among women," but in the fifth she is spoken of as "the
Shulamite," or the King's bride, and also as the "Prince's daughter."
The student of this book will find great help in
suitable Bible-marketing. A horizontal line marking off the address of each
speaker, with a double line to divide the sections, would be useful, as also
perpendicular lines in the margin to indicate the speaker. We have ourselves
ruled a single line to connect the verses which contain the utterances of the
bride; a double line to indicate those of the Bridegroom, and a waved line to
indicate the addresses of the daughters of Jerusalem.
It will be observed that the bride is the chief
speaker in Sections I., II., and is much occupied with herself; but in Section
III., where the communion is unbroken, she has little to say, and appears as
the hearer; the daughters of Jerusalem give a long address, and the Bridegroom
His longest. In that section for the first time He calls her His bride, and
allures her to fellowship in service. In Section IV., the bride again is the
chief speaker, but after her restoration the Bridegroom speaks at length, and
"upbraideth not." In Section V., as we noticed, the bride is no longer called
"the fairest among women," but claims herself to be, and is recognized as, the
royal bride. In Section VI., the Bridegroom claims her from her very birth, and
not merely from her espousals, as GOD in Ezekiel xvi. claimed Israel.
In
the secret of His presence
How
my soul delights to hide!
Oh,
how precious are the lessons
Which
I learn at JESUS'' side!
Earthly
cares can never vex me,
Neither
trials lay me low;
For
when Satan comes to vex me,
To
the secret place I go!
"The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's."
Well may this book be called the Song
of Songs! There is no song like it. Read aright, it brings a gladness to the
heart which is as far beyond the joy of earthly things as heaven is higher than
the earth. It has been well said that this is a song which grace alone can
teach, and experience alone can learn. Our SAVIOUR, speaking of the union of
the branch with the vine, adds, "These things have I spoken unto you, that My
joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John xv. II). And
the beloved disciple, writing of Him who "was from the beginning," who "was
with the FATHER, and was manifested unto us," in order that we might share the
fellowship which He enjoyed, also says, "These things we write unto you, that
your joy may be full." Union with CHRIST, and abiding in CHRIST, what do they
not secure? Peace, perfect peace; rest, constant rest; answers to all our
prayers; victory over all our foes; pure, holy living; ever-increasing
fruitfulness. All, all of these are the glad outcome of abiding in CHRIST. To
deepen this union, to make more constant this abiding, is the practical use of
this precious Book.
THE UNSATISFIED LIFE AND ITS REMEDY
Cant. i. 2-ii. 7
There is no difficulty in recognizing the bride as the speaker in verses 2-7.
The words are not those of one dead in trespasses and sins, to whom the LORD is
as a root out of a dry ground--without form and comeliness. The speaker has had
her eyes opened to behold His beauty, and longs for a fuller enjoyment of His
love.
Let Him kiss me
with the kisses of His mouth:
For Thy love[1] is better than wine.
It is well that it should be so; it marks
a distinct stage in the development of the life of grace in the soul. And this
recorded experience gives, as it were, a Divine warrant for the desire for
sensible manifestations of His presence--sensible communications of His love.
It was not always so with her. Once she was contented in His absence--other
society and other occupations sufficed her; but now it can never be so again.
The world can never be to her what it once was; the betrothed bride has learnt
to love her LORD, and no other society than His can satisfy her. His visits may
be occasional and may be brief; but they are precious times of enjoyment. Their
memory is cherished in the intervals, and their repetition longed for. There is
no real satisfaction in His absence, and yet, alas! He is not always with her:
He comes and goes. Now her joy in Him is a heaven below; but again she is
longing, and longing in vain, for His presence. Like the ever-changing tide,
her experience is an ebbing and flowing one; it may even be that unrest is the
rule, satisfaction the exception. Is there no help for this? must it always
continue so? Has He, can He have created these unquenchable longings only to
tantalize them? Strange indeed it would be if this were the case. Yet are there
not many of the LORD'S people whose habitual experience corresponds with hers?
They know not the rest, the joy of abiding in CHRIST; and they know not how to
attain to it, nor why it is not theirs. Are there not many who look back to the
delightful times of their first espousals, who, so far from finding richer
inheritance in CHRIST than they then had, are even conscious that they have
lost their first love, and might express their experience in the sad
lament:--
Where is the
blessedness I knew
When first I saw
the Lord?
Others, again, who may not have lost their
first love, may yet be feeling that the occasional interruptions to communion
are becoming more and more unbearable, as the world becomes less and He becomes
more. His absence is an ever-increasing distress. "Oh that I knew where I might
find Him!" "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth: for Thy love is
better than wine." Would that His love were strong and constant like mine, and
that He never withdrew the light of His countenance!"
Poor mistaken one! There is a love far stronger
than thine waiting, longing for satisfaction. The Bridegroom is waiting for
thee all the time; the conditions that debar His approach are all of thine own
making. Take the right place before Him, and He will be most ready, most glad,
to "Satisfy thy deepest longings, to meet, supply thine every need." What
should we think of a betrothed one whose conceit and self-will prevented not
only the consummation of her own joy, but of his who had given her his heart?
Though never at rest in his absence, she cannot trust him fully; and she does
not care to give up her own name, her own rights and possessions, her own will
to him who has become necessary for her happiness. She would fain claim him
fully, without giving herself fully to him; but it can never be: while she
retains her own name, she can never claim his. She may not promise to love and
honour if she will not also promise to obey: and till her love reaches that
point of surrender she must remain an unsatisfied lover--she cannot, as a
satisfied bride, find rest in the home of her husband. While she retains her
own will, and the control of her own possessions, she must be content to live
on her own resources; she cannot claim his.
Could there be a sadder proof of the extent and
reality of the Fall than the deep seated distrust of our loving LORD and MASTER
which makes us hesitate to give ourselves entirely up to Him, which fears that
He might require something beyond our powers, or call for something that we
should find it hard to give or to do? The real secret of an unsatisfied life
lies too often in an unsurrendered will. And yet how foolish, as well as how
wrong, this is! Do we fancy that we are wiser than He? or that our love for
ourselves is more tender and strong than His? or that we know ourselves better
than He does? How our distrust must grieve and wound afresh the tender heart of
Him who was for us the Man of Sorrows! What would be the feelings of an earthly
bridegroom if he discovered that his bride-elect was dreading to marry him,
lest, when he had the power, he should render her life insupportable? Yet how
many of the LORD'S redeemed ones treat Him just so! No wonder they are neither
happy nor satisfied!
But true love cannot be stationary; it must
either decline or grow. Despite all the unworthy fears of our poor hearts,
Divine love is destined to conquer. The bride exclaims:--
Thine ointments
have a goodly fragrance;
Thy name is as
ointment poured forth;
Therefore do the
virgins love Thee.
There was no such ointment as that with which the
High Priest was anointed: our Bridegroom is a Priest as well as a King. The
trembling bride cannot wholly dismiss her fears; but the unrest and the longing
become unbearable, and she determines to surrender all, and come what may to
follow fully. She will yield her very self to Him, heart and hand, influence
and possessions. Nothing can be so insupportable as His absence! If He lead to
another Moriah, or even to a Calvary, she will follow Him.
Draw me: we will
run after Thee!
But ah! what follows? A wondrously glad surprise.
No Moriah, no Calvary; on the contrary, a KING! When the heart submits, then
JESUS reigns. And when JESUS reigns, there is rest.
And where does He head His bride?
The King hath
brought me into His chambers.
Not first to the banqueting house--that will come in due season; but first to
be alone with Himself.
How perfect! Could we
be satisfied to meet a beloved one only in public? No; we want to take such an
one aside--to have him all to ourselves. So with our MASTER: He takes His now
fully consecrated bride aside, to taste and enjoy the sacred intimacies of His
wondrous love. The Bridegroom of His Church longs for communion with His people
more than they long for fellowship with Him, and often has to cry:--
Let Me see thy
countenance, let Me hear thy voice;
For sweet is thy
voice, and thy countenance is comely.
Are we not all too apt to seek Him rather because
of our need than for His joy and pleasure? This should not be. We do not admire
selfish children who only think of what they can get from their parents, and
are unmindful of the pleasure that they may give or the service that they may
render. But are not we in danger of forgetting that pleasing GOD means giving
Him pleasure? Some of us look back to the time when the words "To please GOD"
meant no more than not to sin against Him, not to grieve Him; but would the
love of earthly parents be satisfied with the mere absence of disobedience? Or
a bridegroom, if his bride only sought him for the supply of her own need?
A word about the morning watch may not be out of
place here. There is no time so profitably spent as the early hour given to
JESUS only. Do we give sufficient attention to this hour? If possible, it
should be redeemed; nothing can make up for it. We must take time to be holy!
One other thought. When we bring our questions to GOD, do we not sometimes
either go on to offer some other petition, or leave the closet without waiting
for replies? Does not this seem to show little expectation of an answer, and
little desire for one? Should we like to be treated so? Quiet waiting before
GOD would save from many a mistake and from many a sorrow.
We have found the bride making a glad discovery
of a KING--her KING--and not a cross, as she expected; this is the first-fruit
of her consecration.
We will be glad and
rejoice in Thee,
We will make
mention of Thy love more than of wine.
Rightly do they
love Thee.
Another discovery not less important awaits her.
She has seen the face of the KING, and as the rising sun reveals that which was
hidden in the darkness, so His light has revealed her blackness to her. "Ah,"
she cries, "I am black";--"But comely," interjects the Bridegroom, with
inimitable grace and tenderness. "Nay, `black as the tents of Kedar,'" she
continues. "Yet to Me," He responds, "thou art `comely as the curtains of
Solomon!'" Nothing humbles the soul like sacred and intimate communion with the
Lord; yet there is a sweet joy in feeling that He knows all, and,
notwithstanding, loves us still. Things once called "little negligences" are
seen with new eyes in "the secret of His presence." There we see the mistake,
the sin, of not keeping our own vineyard. This the bride confesses:--
Look not upon me,
because I am swarthy,
Because the sun
hath scorched me.
My mother's sons
were incensed against me,
They made me keeper
of the vineyards;
But mine own
vineyard have I not kept.
Our attention is here drawn to a danger which is
pre-eminently one of this day: the intense activity of our times may lead to
zeal in service, to the neglect of personal communion; but such neglect
will not only lessen the value of the service, but tend to incapacitate us for
the highest service. If we are watchful over the souls of others, and neglect
our own--if we are seeking to remove the motes from our brother's eye,
unmindful of the beam in our own, we shall often be disappointed with our
powerlessness to help our brethren, while our MASTER will not be less
disappointed in us. Let us never forget that what we are is more important than
what we do; and that all fruit borne when not abiding in CHRIST must be fruit
of the flesh, and not of the SPIRIT. The sin of neglected communion may be
forgiven, and yet the effect remain permanently; as wounds when healed often
leave a scar behind.
We now come to a very sweet evidence of the
reality of the heart-union of the bride with her LORD. She is one with the GOOD
SHEPHERD: her heart at once goes instinctively forth to the feeding of the
flock; but she would tread in the footsteps of Him whom her soul loveth, and
would neither labour alone, nor in other companionship than His own:--
Tell me, O Thou
whom my soul loveth,
Where Thou feedest
Thy flock, where Thou makest it to
rest at noon:
For why should I be
as one that is veiled
Beside the flocks
of Thy companions?
She will not mistake the society of His servants for that of their
MASTER.
If thou know not, O
thou fairest among women,
Go thy way forth by
the footsteps of the flock,
And feed thy kids
beside the shepherds' tents.
These are the words of the daughters of
Jerusalem, and give a correct reply to her questionings. Let her show her love
to her LORD by feeding His sheep, by caring for His lambs (see John xxi.
15-17), and she need not fear to miss His presence. While sharing with other
under-shepherds in caring for His flock she will find the CHIEF SHEPHERD at her
side, and enjoy the tokens of His approval. It will be service with
JESUS as well as for JESUS.
But far sweeter than the reply of the daughters
of Jerusalem is the voice of the Bridegroom, who now speaks Himself. It is the
living fruit of her heart-oneness with Him that makes His love break forth in
the joyful utterances of verses 9-11. For it is not only true that our love for
our LORD will show itself in feeding His sheep, but that He who when on earth
said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren,
ye have done it unto Me," has His own heart-love stirred, and not infrequently
specially reveals Himself to those who are ministering for Him.
The commendation of the bride in verse 9 is one
of striking appropriateness and beauty:--
I have compared
thee, O My love,
To a company of
horses in Pharaoh's chariots.
It will be remembered that horses originally came out of Egypt, and that the
pure breed still found in Arabia was during Solomon's reign brought by his
merchants for all the kings of the East. Those selected for Pharaoh's own
chariot would not only be of the purest blood and perfect in proportion and
symmetry, but also perfect in training, docile and obedient; they would know no
will but that of the charioteer, and the only object of their existence would
be to carry the king whithersoever he would go. So should it be with the Church
of CHRIST; one body with many members, indwelt and guided by one SPIRIT;
holding the HEAD, and knowing no will but His; her rapid and harmonious
movement should cause His kingdom to progress throughout the
world.
Many years ago a beloved friend,
returning from the East by the overland route, made the journey from Suez to
Cairo in the cumbrous diligence then in use. The passengers on landing took
their places, about a dozen wild young horses were harnessed with ropes to the
vehicle, the driver took his seat and cracked his whip, and the horses dashed
off, some to the right, some to the left, and others forward, causing the coach
to start with a bound, and as suddenly to stop, with the effect of first
throwing those sitting in the front seat into the laps of those sitting behind,
and then of reversing the operation. With the aid of sufficient Arabs running
on each side to keep these wild animals progressing in the right direction the
passengers were jerked and jolted, bruised and shaken, until, on reaching their
destination, they were too wearied and sore to take the rest they so much
needed.
Is not the Church of GOD to-day more like these
untrained steeds than a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariot? And while
self-will and disunion are apparent in the Church, can we wonder that the world
still lieth in the wicked one, and that the great heathen nations are barely
touched?
Changing His simile, the Bridegroom
continues:--
Thy cheeks are
comely with plaits of hair,
Thy neck with
strings of jewels.
We will make thee
plaits of gold
With studs of
silver.
The bride is not only beautiful and useful to her
LORD, she is also adorned, and it is His delight to add to her adornments. Nor
are His gifts perishable flowers, or trinkets destitute of intrinsic value: the
finest of the gold, the purest of the silver, and the most precious and lasting
of the jewels are the gifts of the Royal Bridegroom to His spouse; and these,
plaited amongst her own hair, increase His pleasure who has bestowed them.
In verses 12-14 the bride responds:--
While the King sat
at His table
My spikenard sent
forth its fragrance.
It is in His presence and through His grace that whatever of fragrance or
beauty may be found in us comes forth. Of Him as its source, through Him as its
instrument, and to Him as its end, is all that is gracious and divine. But HE
HIMSELF is better far than all His grace works in
us.
My Beloved is unto
me as a bundle of myrrh,
That lieth betwixt
my breasts.
My beloved is unto
me as a cluster of henna-flowers
In the vineyards of
En-gedi.
Well is it when our eyes are filled with His
beauty and our hearts are occupied with Him. In the measure in which this is
true of us we shall recognize the correlative truth that His great heart is
occupied with us. Note the response of the Bridegroom:--
Behold, thou art
fair, My love; behold, thou art fair;
Thine eyes are as a
dove's.
How can the Bridegroom truthfully use such words of one who recognizes herself
as
Black as the tents
of Kedar?
And still more strong are the Bridegroom's words in chapter
iv.7:-
Thou art all fair,
My love;
And there is no
spot in thee.
We shall find the solution of this difficulty in 2 Cor. iii. Moses in
contemplation of the Divine glory became so transformed that the Israelites
were not able to look on the glory of his countenance. "We all, with unveiled
face (beholding and) reflecting as a mirror the glory of the LORD, are
transformed into the same image from glory to glory (i.e. the brightness caught
from His glory transforms us to glory), even as from the LORD the SPIRIT."
Every mirror has two surfaces; the one is dull and unreflecting, and is all
spots, but when the reflecting surface is turned towards us we see no spot, we
see our own image. So while the bride is delighting in the beauty of the
Bridegroom He beholds His own image in her; there is no spot in that: it is all
fair. May we ever present this reflection to His gaze, and to the world in
which we live for the very purpose of reflecting
Him.
Note again His words:--
Thine eyes are as
dove's,
or
Thou hast dove's
eyes.
The hawk is a beautiful bird, and has beautiful eyes, quick and penetrating;
but the Bridegroom desires not hawk's eyes in His bride. The tender eyes of the
innocent dove are those which He admires. It was as a dove that the HOLY SPIRIT
came upon Him at His baptism, and the dove-like character is that which He
seeks for in each of His people.
The reason
why David was not permitted to build the Temple was a very significant one. His
life was far from perfect; and his mistakes and sins have been faithfully
recorded by the HOLY SPIRIT. They brought upon him God's chastenings, yet it
was not any of these that disqualified him from building the Temple, but rather
his warlike spirit; and this though many of his battles, if not all, were for
the establishment of GOD'S Kingdom and the fulfilment of His promises to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Solomom, the Prince of Peace, alone could build the
Temple. If we would be soul-winners and build up the Church, which is His
Temple, let us note this: not by discussion nor by argument, but by lifting up
CHRIST shall we draw men unto Him.
We now come to the reply of the bride. He has
called her fair; wisely and well does she reply:--
Behold Thou art
fair, my Beloved, yea, pleasant:
Also our couch is
green.
The beams of our
house are cedars,
And our rafters are
firs.
I am (but) a rose
of Sharon,
A lily of the
valleys.
The last words are often quoted as though
they were the utterance of the Bridegroom, but we believe erroneously. The
bride says in effect, Thou callest me fair and pleasant, the fairness and
pleasantness are Thine; I am but a wild flower, a lowly, scentless rose of
Sharon (i.e. the autumn crocus), or a lily of the valley.
To this the Bridegroom responds: "Be it so; but
if a wild flower, yet
As a lily among
thorns,
So is My love among
the daughters."
Again the bride replies:--
As the apple tree
(the citron) among the trees of the wood,
So is my Beloved
among the sons.
I sat down under
His shadow with great delight,
And His fruit was
sweet to my taste.
The citron is a beautiful evergreen,
affording delightful shade as well as refreshing fruit. A humble wild flower
herself, she recognizes her Bridegroom as a noble tree, alike ornamental and
fruitful. Shade from the burning sun, refreshment and rest she finds in Him.
What a contrast her present position and feelings to those with which this
section commenced! He knew full well the cause of all her fears; her distrust
sprang from her ignorance of Himself, so He took her aside, and in the sweet
intimacies of mutual love her fears and distrust have vanished, like the mists
of the morning before the rising sun.
But now that she has learned to know Him, she has
a further experience of His love. He is not ashamed to acknowledge her
publicly.
He brought me to
the banqueting house,
And His banner over
me was love.
The house of wine is now as appropriate as
the King's chambers were. Fearlessly and without shame she can sit at His side,
His acknowledged spouse, the bride of His choice. Overwhelmed with His love she
exclaims:--
Stay ye me with
raisins, comfort me with apples:
For I am sick of
love.
His left hand is
under my head,
And His right hand
doth embrace me.
Now she finds the blessedness of being
possessed. No longer her own, heart-rest is alike her right and her enjoyment;
and so the Bridegroom would have it.
I adjure you, O
daughters of Jerusalem,
By the roes, and by
the hinds of the field,
That ye stir not up
nor awake My love,
Until she[2] please.
It is never by His will that our rest in Him is
disturbed.
You may always be
abiding,
If you will, at
Jesus' side;
in the secret of
His presence
You may every
moment hide.
There is no change in His love; He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
To us He promises, "I will never leave thee, never fail thee, nor forsake
thee"; and His earnest exhortation and command is, "Abide in Me, and I in
you."
Communion Broken--Restoration
Cant. ii. 8-iii.5
At the close of the first section we left the bride satisfied and at rest in
the arms of her Beloved, who had charged the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir
up nor awaken His love until she please. We might suppose that a union so
complete, a satisfaction so full, would never be interrupted by failure on the
part of the happy bride. But, alas, the experience of most of us shows how
easily communion with CHRIST may be broken, and how needful are the
exhortations of our LORD to those who are indeed branches of the true Vine, and
cleansed by the Word which He has spoken, to abide in Him. The failure is never
on His side. "Lo, I am with you alway." But, alas, the bride often forgets the
exhortation addressed to her in Ps. xiv:--
Hearken, O
daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear;
Forget also thine
own people, and thy father's house;
So shall the King
greatly desire thy beauty;
For He is thy Lord;
and worship thou Him.
In this section the bride has drifted back
from her position of blessing into a state of worldliness. Perhaps the very
restfulness of her new-found joy made her feel too secure; perhaps she thought
that, so far as she was concerned, there was no need for the exhortation,
"Little children, keep yourselves from idols." Or she may have thought that the
love of the world was so thoroughly taken away that she might safely go back,
and, by a little compromise on her part, she might win her friends to follow
her LORD too. Perhaps she scarcely thought at all: glad that she was saved and
free, she forgot that the current--the course of this world--was against her;
and insensibly glided, drifted back to that position out of which she was
called, unaware all the time of backsliding. It is not necessary, when the
current is against us, to turn the boat,s head down the stream in order to
drift; or for a runner in a race to turn back in order to miss the prize.
Ah, how often the enemy succeeds, by one device
or another, in tempting the believer away from that position of entire
consecration to CHRIST in which alone the fulness of His power and of His love
can be experienced. We say the fulness of His power and of His love; for he may
not have ceased to love his LORD. In the passage before us the bride still
loves Him truly, though not wholly; there is still a power in His Word which is
not unfelt, though she no longer renders instant obedience. She little realizes
how she is wronging her LORD, and how real is the wall of separation between
them. To her, worldliness seems as but a little thing; she has not realized the
solemn truth of many passages in the Word of GOD that speak in no measured
terms of the folly, the danger, the sin of friendship with the world. "Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world,
the love of the FATHER is not in him." "Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the
friendship of the world is enmity with GOD? Whosoever therefore would be a
friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of GOD." "Be not unequally yoked
with unbelievers; for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what
communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath CHRIST with Belial?
or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?. . .Wherefore:--
Come ye out from
among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
And touch no
unclean thing;
And I will receive
you,
And will be to you
a FATHER,
And ye shall be to
Me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
We have to take our choice: we cannot
enjoy both the world and CHRIST.
The bride had not learned this: she would fain
enjoy both, with no thought of their incompatibility. She observes with joy the
approach of the Bridegroom.
The voice of my
Beloved! Behold He cometh
Leaping upon the
mountain, bounding over the hills.
My Beloved is like
a gazelle or a young hart;
Behold He standeth
behind our wall,
He looketh in at
the windows,
He glanceth through
the lattice.
The heart of the bride leaps on hearing the voice of her Beloved, as He comes
in search of her. He has crossed the hills; He draws near to her; He stands
behind the wall; He even looks in at the windows; with tender and touching
words He woes her to come forth to Him. He utters no reproach, and His loving
entreaties sink deep in her memory.
My Beloved spake,
and said unto me,
Rise up, My love,
My fair one, and come away,
For, lo, the winter
is past,
The rain is over
and gone;
The flowers appear
on the earth;
The time of the
singing of birds is come,
And the voice of
the turtle is heard in our land;
The fig-tree
ripeneth her green figs,
And the vines are
in blossom,
They give forth
their fragrance.
Arise, My love, My
fair one, and come away.
All nature is responsive to the return of the summer, wilt thou, My Bride, be
irresponsive to My love?
Arise, My love, My
fair one, and come away.
Can such pleading be in vain? Alas, it can, it
was!
In yet more touching words the Bridegroom
continues:--
O My dove, that art
in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place,
Let Me see thy
countenance, let Me hear thy voice!
For sweet is thy
voice, and thy countenance is comely.
Wonderful thought! that GOD should desire fellowship with us; and that He whose
love once made Him the Man of Sorrows may now be made the Man of Joys by the
loving devotion of human hearts.
But strong as
is His love, and His desire for His bride, He can come no further. Where she
now is He can never come. But surely she will go forth to Him. Has He not a
claim upon her? She feels and enjoys His love, will she let His desire count
for nothing? For, let us notice, it is not here the bride longing in vain for
her LORD, but the Bridegroom who is seeking for her Alas that He should seek in
vain!
Take us the foxes,
the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards;
For our vineyards
are in blossom,
He continues. The enemies may be small, but the mischief done great. A little
spray of blossom, so tiny as to be scarcely perceived, is easily spoiled, but
thereby the fruitfulness of a whole branch may be for ever destroyed. And how
numerous the little foxes are! Little compromises with the world; disobedience
to the still small voice in little things; little indulgences of the flesh to
the neglect of duty; little strokes of policy; doing evil in little things that
good may come; and the beauty and the fruitfulness of the vine are
sacrificed!
We have a sad illustration of the
deceitfulness of sin in the response of the bride. Instead of bounding forth to
meet Him, she first comforts her own heart by the remembrance of His
faithfulness, and of her union with Him:--
My Beloved is mine,
and I am His:
He feedeth His
flock among the lilies.
My position is one of security, I have no need to be concerned about it. He is
mine, and I am His; and nought can alter that relationship. I can find Him now
at any time, He feedeth His flock among the lilies. While the sun of prosperity
shines upon me I may safely enjoy myself here without Him. Should trial and
darkness come He will be sure not to fail
me.
Until the day be
cool, and the shadows flee away,
Turn, my Beloved,
and be Thou like a gazelle or a young hart.
Upon the mountains
of Bether.
Careless of His desire, she thus lightly dismisses Him, with the thought: A
little later I may enjoy His love; and the grieved Bridegroom
departs!
Poor foolish bride! she will soon
find that the things that once satisfied her can satisfy no longer; and that it
is easier to turn a deaf ear to His tender call than to recall or find her
absent LORD.
The day became cool, and the shadows did flee
away; but He returned not. Then in the solemn night she discovered her mistake:
It was dark, and she was alone. Retiring to rest she still hoped for His
return--the lesson that worldliness is an absolute bar to full communion still
unlearned.
By night on my bed
I sought Him whom my soul loveth:
I sought Him, but I
found Him not!
She waits and wearies: His absence becomes
insupportable:--
I said, I
will rise now, and go about the city,
In the streets and
in the broad ways.
I will seek Him
whom my soul loveth:
I sought Him, but I
found Him not!
How different her position from what it might have been! Instead of seeking Him
alone, desolate and in the dark, she might have gone forth with Him in the
sunshine, leaning upon His arm. She might have exchanged the partial view of
her Beloved through the lattice, when she could no longer say "Nothing
between," for the joy of His embrace, and His public confession of her as His
chosen bride!
The watchmen that
go about the city found me:
To whom I
said, Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?
It was but a little
that I passed from them,
When I found Him
whom my soul loveth.
She had already obeyed His command, "Arise, and come away." Fearless of
reproach, she was seeking Him in the dark; and when she began to confess her
LORD, she soon found Him and was restored to His
favour:--
I held Him, and
would not let Him go,
Until I had brought
Him into my mother's house,
And into the
chamber of her that conceived me.
Jerusalem above is the mother of us all. There it is that communion is enjoyed,
not in worldly ways or self-willed
indulgence.
Communion fully restored, the
section closes, as did the first, with the loving charge of the Bridegroom that
none should disturb His bride:--
I adjure you, O
daughters of Jerusalem,
By the roes, and by
the hinds of the field,
(By all that is
loving and beautiful and constant)
That ye stir not
up, nor awake My love,
Until she[3] please.
May we all, while living down here, in the
world, but not of it, find our home in the heavenly places to which we are
seated together with CHRIST. Sent into the world to witness for our MASTER, may
we ever be strangers there, ready to confess Him the true object of our soul's
devotion.
How amiable are Thy
tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longeth,
yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my
flesh cry out unto the living God,
Blessed are they
that dwell in Thy house:
They will be still
praising Thee. . .
A day in Thy courts
is better than a thousand.
I had rather be a
doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than to dwell in
the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God in
a Sun and Shield:
The Lord will give
grace and glory:
No good thing will
He withhold from them that walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
Blessed is the man
that trusteth in Thee!
The Joy of Unbroken Communion
Cant. iii. 6-v. I
We have been mainly occupied in Sections I and II with the words and the
experiences of the bride; in marked contrast to this, in this section our
attention is first called to the Bridegroom, and then it is from Himself that
we hear of the bride, as the object of His love, and the delight of His heart.
The daughters of Jerusalem are the first
speakers.
Who is this that
cometh up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke,
Perfumed with myrrh
and frankincense,
With all powders of
the merchant?
They themselves give the reply:--
King Solomon made
himself a car of state
Of the wood of
Lebanon.
He made the pillars
thereof of silver,
The bottom thereof
of gold, the seat of it of purple,
The midst thereof
being paved with love (love-gifts).
From the daughters
of Jerusalem.
Behold, it is the
litter of Solomon;
Threescore mighty
men are about it,
Of the mighty men
of Israel
They all handle the
sword, and are expert in war:
Every man hath his
sword upon his thigh,
Because of fear in
the night.
In these verses the bride is not
mentioned; she is eclipsed in the grandeur and the state of her royal
Bridegroom; nevertheless, she is both enjoying and sharing it. The very air is
perfumed by the smoke of the incense that ascends pillar-like to the clouds;
and all that safeguards the position of the Bridegroom Himself, and shows forth
His dignity, safeguards also the accompanying bride, the sharer of His glory.
The car of state in which they sit is built of fragrant cedar from Lebanon, and
the finest of the gold and silver have been lavished in its construction. The
fragrant wood typifies the beauty of sanctified humanity, while the gold
reminds us of the divine glory of our Lord, and the silver of the purity and
preciousness of His redeemed and peerless Church. The imperial purple with
which it is lined tells us of the Gentiles--the daughter of Tyre has been there
with her gift; while the love-gifts of the daughters of Jerusalem accord with
the prophecy, "Even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour."
These are the things that attract the attention
of the daughters of Jerusalem, but the bride is occupied with the King Himself,
and she exclaims:--
Go forth, O ye
daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon,
With the crown
wherewith His mother hath crowned Him in the day of His espousals,
And in the day of
the gladness of His heart.
The crowned KING is everything to her, and she would have Him to be so to the
daughters of Zion likewise. She dwells with delight on the gladness of His
heart in the day of His espousals, for now she is not occupied with Him for her
own sake, but rejoices in His joy in finding in her His
satisfaction. Do we sufficiently cultivate this unselfish desire to be all for
JESUS, and to do all for His pleasure? Or are we conscious that we principally
go to Him for our own sakes, or at best for the sake of our fellow-creatures?
How much of prayer there is that begins and ends with the creature, forgetful
of the privilege of giving joy to the Creator! Yet it is only when He sees in
our unselfish love and devotion to Him the reflection of His own that His heart
can feel full satisfaction, and pour itself forth in precious utterances of
love such as those which we find in the following
words:--
Behold, thou art
fair, My love; behold, thou art fair;
Thine eyes are as
dove's behind thy veil;
Thy hair is as a
flock of goats,
That lie along the
side of Mount Gilead;
Thy teeth are like
a flock of ewes that are newly shorn,
Which are come up
from the washing.
Which are all of
them in pairs,
And none is
bereaved among them.
Thy lips are like a
thread of scarlet,
And thy speech is
comely, etc. (See verses 3-5).
We have already found the explanation of the
bride in her reflecting like a mirror the beauty of the Bridegroom. Well may He
with satisfaction describe her beauty while she is thus occupied with Himself!
The lips that speak only of Him are like a thread of scarlet; the mouth or
speech which has no word of self, or for self, is comely in His sight.
How sweet His words of appreciation and
commendation were to the bride we can well imagine; but her joy was too deep
for expression; she was silent in her love. She would not now think of
sending Him away until the day be cool and the shadows flee away.
Still less does the Bridegroom think of finding
His joy apart from His bride. He says:--
Until the day be
cool, and the shadows flee away,
I will get Me to
the mountain of myrrh,
And to the hill of
frankincense.
Separation never comes from His side. He
is always ready for communion with a prepared heart, and in this happy
communion the bride becomes ever fairer, and more like to her LORD. She is
being progressively changed into His image, from one degree of glory to
another, through the wondrous working of the HOLY SPIRIT, until the Bridegroom
can declare:--
Thou art all fair,
My love;
And there is no
spot on thee.
And now she is fit for service, and
to it the Bridegroom woos her; she will not now misrepresent Him:--
Come with Me from
Lebanon, My bride,
With Me from
Lebanon;
Look from the top
of Amana,
From the top of
Senir and Hermon,
From the lions'
dens,
From the mountains
of the leopards.
"Come with Me." It is always so. If our SAVIOUR says, "Go ye therefore and
disciple all nations," He precedes it by, "All power is given unto Me," and
follows it by, "Lo, I am with you always." Or if, as here, He calls His bride
to come, it is still "with Me," and it in in connection with this loving
invitation that for the first time He changes the word "My love," for the
still more endearing one, "My bride."
What are
lions' dens when the Lion of the tribe of Judah is with us; or mountains of
leopards, when He is at our side! "I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me."
On the other hand, it is while thus facing dangers, and toiling with Him in
service, that He says:--
Thou hast ravished
My heart, My sister, My bride;
Thou hast ravished
My heart with one look from thine eyes,
With one chain of
thy neck.
Is it not wonderful how the heart of our Beloved can be thus ravished with the
love of one who is prepared to accept His invitation, and go forth with Him
seeking to rescue the perishing! The marginal reading of the Revised Version is
very significant: "Thou hast ravished My heart," or "Thou hast given me
courage." If the Bridegroom's heart may be encouraged by the fidelity and
loving companionship of his bride, it is not surprising that we may cheer and
encourage one another in our mutual service. St. Paul had a steep mountain of
difficulty to climb when he was being led as a captive to Rome, not knowing the
things that awaited him there; but when the brethren met him at the Appii Forum
he thanked God and took courage. May we ever thus strengthen one another's
hands in God!
But to resume. The Bridegroom
cheers the toilsome agents, and the steep pathways of danger, with sweet
communications of His love:--
How fair is thy
love, My sister, My bride!
How much better is
thy love than wine!
And the smell of
thine ointments than all manner of spices!
Thy lips, O
My bride, drop as the honeycomb:
Honey and milk are
under thy tongue;
And the smell of
thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
A garden shut up is
My sister, My bride;
A spring shut up, a
fountain sealed.
Thy shoots are a
paradise of pomegranates, with precious fruits;
Henna with
spikenard plants,
Spikenard and
saffron,
Calamus and
cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense;
Myrrh and aloes,
with all the chief spices.
Thou art a
fountain of gardens,
A well of living
waters,
And flowing streams
from Lebanon.
Engaged with the Bridegroom in seeking to rescue the perishing, the utterances
of her lips are to Him as honey and the honeycomb; and figure is piled upon
figure to express His satisfaction and joy. She is a garden full of precious
fruits and delightful perfumes, but a garden enclosed; the fruit she ears may
bring blessing to many, but the garden is for Himself alone; she is a fountain,
but a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. And yet again she is a fountain of
gardens, a well of living waters and flowing streams from Lebanon: she carries
fertility and imparts refreshment wherever she goes; and yet it is all of Him
and for Him.
The bride now speaks for the
second time in this section. As her first utterance was of Him, so now her
second is for Him; self is found in neither.
Awake, O north
wind; and come, thou south;
Blow upon my
garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.
Let my Beloved come
into His garden,
And eat His
precious fruits.
She is ready for any experience: the north wind and the south may blow upon her
garden, if only the spices thereof may flow out to regale her Lord by their
fragrance. He has called her His garden, a paradise of pomegranates and
precious fruits; let Him come into it and eat His precious
fruits.
To this the Bridegroom replies:--
I am come into My
garden, My sister, My bride:
I have gathered My
myrrh with My spice;
I have eaten My
honeycomb with My honey;
I have drunk My
wine with My milk.
Now, when she calls, He answers at once. When she is only for her LORD, He
assures her that He finds all His satisfaction in her.
The section closes by the bride's invitation
to His friends and her, as well as to Himself:--
Eat, O friends;
Drink, yea, drink
abundantly, O Beloved.
The consecration of all to our MASTER, far from lessening our power to impart,
increases both our power and our joy in ministration. The five loaves and two
fishes of the disciples, first given up to and blessed by the LORD, were
abundant supply for the needy multitudes, and grew, in the act of distribution,
into a store of which twelve hampers full of fragments remained when all were
fully satisfied.
We have, then, in this
beautiful section, as we have seen, a picture of unbroken communion and its
delightful issues. May our lives correspond! First, one with the KING, then
speaking of the KING; the joy of communion leading to fellowship in service, to
a being all for JESUS, ready for any experience that will fit for further
service, surrendering all to Him, and willing to minister all for Him. There is
no room for love of the world here, for union with CHRIST has filled the heart;
there is nothing for the gratification of the world, for all has been sealed
and is kept for the MASTER'S use.
Jesus,
my life is Thine!
And
evermore shall be
Hidden
in Thee.
For
nothing can untwine
Thy
life from mine.
Communion again Broken--Restoration
Cant. v. 2-vi.10.
The fourth section commences with an address of the bride to the daughters of
Jerusalem, in which she narrates her recent sad experience, and entreats their
help in her trouble. The presence and comfort of her Bridegroom are again lost
to her; not this time by relapse into worldliness, but by slothful
self-indulgence.
We are not told of the steps
that led to her failure; of how self again found place in her heart. Perhaps
spiritual pride in the achievements which grace enabled her to accomplish was
the cause; or, not improbably, a cherished satisfaction in the blessing
she had received, instead of in the BLESSER Himself, may have led to the
separation. She seems to have been largely unconscious of her declination;
self-occupied and self-contented, she scarcely noticed His absence; she was
resting, resting alone,--never asking where He had gone, or how He was
employed. And more than this, the door of her chamber was not only closed, but
barred; an evidence that His return was neither eagerly desired nor
expected.
Yet her heart was not far from Him; there was a
music in His voice that awakened echoes in her soul such as no other voice
could have stirred. She was still "a garden shut up, a fountain sealed," so far
as the world was concerned. The snare this time was the more dangerous and
insidious because it was quite unsuspected. Let us look at her narrative:--
I was asleep, but
my heart waked:
It is the voice of
my Beloved that knocketh saying,
Open to Me, My
sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled:
For My head is
filled with dew,
My locks with the
drops of the night.
How often the position of the Bridegroom
is that of a knocking Suitor outside, as in His epistle to the Laodicean[4] Church: "Behold, I stand at the door, and
knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and
will sup with him, and he with Me." It is sad that He should be outside a
closed door--that He should need to knock; but still more sad that He should
knock, and knock in vain at the door of any heart which has become His own. In
this case it is not the position of the bride that is wrong; if it were,
His word as before would be, "Arise, and come away"; whereas now His word is,
"Open to Me, My sister, My love." It was her condition of
self-satisfaction and love of ease that closed the door.
Very touching are His words: "Open to Me, My
sister" (He is the first-born among many brethren), "My love" (the object of My
heart's devotion), "My dove" (one who has been endued with many of the gifts
and graces of the HOLY SPIRIT), "My undefiled" (washed, renewed, and cleansed
for Me); and He urges her to open by reference to His own condition:--
My head is filled
with dew,
My locks with the
drops of the night.
Why is it that His head is filled with the
dew? Because His heart is a shepherd-heart. There are those whom the FATHER has
given to Him who are wandering on the dark mountains of sin: many, oh, how
many, have never heart the SHEPHERD'S voice; many, too, who were once in the
fold have wandered away--far away from its safe shelter. The heart that never
can forget, the love that never can fall, must seek the wandering sheep
until the lost one has been found: "My FATHER worketh hitherto, and I work."
And will she, who so recently was at His side, who joyfully braved the dens of
lions and the mountains of leopards, will she leave Him to seek alone the
wandering and the lost?
Open to Me, My
sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled:
For My head is
filled with dew,
My locks with the
drops of the night.
We do not know a more touching entreaty in
the Word of GOD, and sad indeed is the reply of the bride:--
I have put off my
coat; how shall I put it on?
I have washed my
feet; how shall I defile them?
How sadly possible it is to take delight
in conferences and conventions, to feast on all the good things that are
brought before us, and yet to be unprepared to go out from them to self-denying
efforts to rescue the perishing; to delight in the rest of faith while
forgetful to fight the good fight of faith; to dwell upon the cleansing and the
purity effected by faith, but to have little thought for the poor souls
struggling in the mire of sin. If we can put off our coat when He would have us
keep it on; if we can wash our feet while He is wandering alone upon the
mountains, is there not sad want of fellowship with our LORD?
Meeting with no response from the tardy bride,
her
Beloved put in His
hand by the hole of the door,
And "her" heart was
moved for Him.
But, alas, the door was not only latched,
but barred; and His effort to secure an entrance was in vain.
I rose up to open
to my Beloved;
And my hands
dropped with myrrh,
And my fingers with
liquid myrrh,
Upon the handles of
the bolt.
I opened to my
Beloved;
But my Beloved had
withdrawn Himself, and was gone.
My soul had failed
me when He spake.
When, all too late, the bride did
arise,she seems to have been more concerned to anoint herself with the liquid
myrrh than to speedily welcome her waiting LORD; more occupied with her own
graces than with His desire. No words of welcome were uttered, though her heart
failed within her; and the grieved One had withdrawn Himself before she was
ready to receive Him. Again (as in the third chapter) she had to go forth alone
to seek her LORD; and this time her experiences were much more painful than on
the former occasion.
I sought Him, but I
could not find Him;
I called Him, but
He gave me no answer.
The watchmen that
go about the city found me,
They smote me, they
wounded me;
The keepers of the
walls took away my mantle from me.
Her first relapse had been one of
inexperience; if a second relapse had been brought about by inadvertence she
should at least have been ready and prompt when summoned to obey. It is not a
little thing to fall into the habit of being tardy in obedience, even in the
case of a believer: in the case of the unbeliever the final issue of
disobedience is inexpressibly awful:--
Turn you at My
reproof:
Behold, I will pour
out My Spirit unto you,
I will make known
My words unto you.
Because I have
called, and ye refused;
I have stretched
out My hand, and no man regarded;. . .
I also will laugh
in the day of your calamity. . .
Then shall they
call upon Me, but will I not answer;
They shall seek Me
diligently, but they shall not find Me.
The backsliding of the bride, though
painful, was not final; for it was followed by true repentance. She went forth
into the darkness and sought Him; she called, but He responded not, and the
watchmen finding her, both smote and wounded her. They appear to have
appreciated the gravity of her declination more correctly than she had done.
Believers may be blinded to their own inconsistencies; others, however, note
them; and the higher the position with regard to our LORD the more surely will
any failure be visited with reproach.
Wounded, dishonoured, unsuccessful in her search,
and almost in despair, the bride turns to the daughters of Jerusalem; and
recounting the story of her sorrows, adjures them to tell her Beloved
that she is not unfaithful or unmindful of Him.
I adjure you, O
daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved,
That ye tell Him,
that I am sick of love.
The reply of the daughters of Jerusalem
shows very clearly that the sorrow-stricken bride, wandering in the dark, is
not recognized as the bride of the KING, though her personal beauty does not
escape notice.
What is thy Beloved
more than another beloved,
O thou fairest
among women?
What is thy Beloved
more than another beloved,
That thou dost so
adjure us?
This question, implying that her Beloved
was no more than any other, stirs her soul to its deepest depths; and,
forgetting herself, she pours out from the fulness of her heart a
soul-ravishing description of the glory and beauty of her LORD.
My Beloved is white
and ruddy,
The chiefest among
ten thousand.
(see verses 10-16, concluding with)
His mouth is most
sweet; yea, He is altogether lovely.
This is my Beloved,
and this is my Friend,
O daughters of
Jerusalem.
It is interesting to compare the bride's
description of the Bridegroom with the descriptions of "the Ancient of Days" in
Dan. vii. 9, 10, and of our risen LORD in Rev. I. 13-16. The differences are
very characteristic.
In Dan. vii. we see the Ancient of Days seated on
the throne of judgment; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head
like the pure wool; His throne and His wheels were as burning fire, and a fiery
stream issued and came forth from before Him. The Son of Man was brought near
before Him, and received from Him dominion, and glory, and an everlasting
kingdom that shall not be destroyed. In Rev. i. we see the Son of Man Himself
clothed with a garment down to the foot, and His head and His hair were white
as wool, white as snow; but the bride sees her Bridegroom in all the vigour of
youth, with locks "bushy, and black as a raven." The eyes of the risen SAVIOUR
are described as "a flame of fire," but His bride sees them "like doves beside
the water brooks." In Revelation "His voice is as the voice of many waters. .
.and out of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword." To the bride, His
lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh, and His mouth most sweet. The
countenance of the risen SAVIOUR was "as the sun shineth in his strength," and
the effect of the vision on John--"when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one
dead"--was not unlike the effect of the vision given to Saul as he neared
Damascus. But to His bride "His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the
cedars." The LION of the tribe of Judah is to His own bride the KING of love;
and, with full heart and beaming face, she so recounts His beauties that the
daughters of Jerusalem are seized with strong desire to seek Him with her, that
they also may behold His beauty.
Whither is thy
Beloved gone,
O thou fairest
among women?
Whither hath thy
Beloved turned Him,
That we may seek
Him with thee?
The bride replies:--
My Beloved is gone
down to His garden, to the beds of spices,
To feed in the
gardens, and to gather lilies.
I am my Beloved's,
and my Beloved is mine:
He feedeth His
flock among the lilies.
Forlorn and desolate as she might appear
she still knows herself as the object of His affections, and claims Him as her
own. This expression, "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine," is similar
to that found in the second chapter, "My Beloved is mine, and I am His"; and
yet with noteworthy difference. Then her first thought of CHRIST was of her
claim upon Him: His claim upon her was secondary. Now she thinks first of His
claim; and only afterwards mentions her own. We see a still further development
of grace in chapter vii. 10, where the bride, losing sight of her claim
altogether, says:--
I am my
Beloved's,
And His desire is
toward me.
No sooner has she uttered these words and
acknowledged herself as His rightful possession--a claim which she had
practically repudiated when she kept Him barred out--than her Bridegroom
Himself appears; and with no upbraiding word, but in tenderest love, tells her
how beautiful she is in His eyes, and speaks her praise to the daughters of
Jerusalem.
To her, He says:--
Thou art beautiful,
O My love, as Tirzah,
(the beautiful city
of Samaria,)
Comely as
Jerusalem,
(the glorious city
of the great King,)
Terrible (or rather
brilliant) as an army with banners.
Turn away thine
eyes from Me,
For they have
overcome Me. (See vv. 4-7).
Then, turning to the daughters of Jerusalem, He
exclaims:--
There are
threescore queens, and fourscore concubines,
And maidens without
number.
My dove, My perfect
one, is but one;
She is the only one
of her mother;
She is the choice
one of her that bare her.
The daughters saw
her, and called her blessed;
Yea, the queens and
the concubines, and they praised her, saying,
Who is she that
looketh forth as the morning,
Fair as the
moon,
Clear as the
sun,
Brilliant as an
army with banners?
Thus the section closes with communion
fully restored; the bride reinstated and openly acknowledged by the Bridegroom
as His own peerless companion and friend. The painful experience through which
the bride has passed has been fraught with lasting good, and we have no further
indication of interrupted communion, but in the remaining sections only joy and
fruitfulness.
Fruits of Recognized Union
Cant. vi. II-viii. 4.
In the second and fourth sections of this book we found the communion of the
bride broken; in the former by backsliding into worldliness, and in the latter
through slothful ease and self-satisfaction. The present section, like the
third, is one of unbroken communion. It is opened by the words of the
bride:--
I went down into
the garden of nuts,
To see the green
plants of the valley
To see whether the
vine budded.
And the
pomegranates were in flower.
Or ever I was
aware, my soul set me
Among the
chariots of my willing people.
As in the commencement of Section III.,
the bride, in unbroken communion with her LORD, was present though unmentioned
until she made her presence evident by her address to the daughters of Zion; so
in this section the presence of the KING is unnoted until He Himself addresses
His bride. But she is one with her LORD as she engages in His service! His
promise, "Lo, I am with you alway," is ever fulfilled to her; and He has no
more to woo her to arise and come away; to tell her that His "head is filled
with dew," His "locks with the drops of the night"; or to urge her if she love
Him to feed His sheep and care for His lambs. Herself His garden, she does not
forget to tend it, nor keep the vineyards of others while her own is neglected.
With Him as well as for Him, she goes to the garden of nuts. So
thorough is the union between them that many commentators have felt difficulty
in deciding whether the bride or the Bridegroom was the speaker, and really it
is a point of little moment; for, as we have said, both were there, and of one
mind; yet we believe we are right in attributing these words to the bride, as
she is the one addressed by the daughters of Jerusalem, and the one who speaks
to them in reply.
The bride and Bridegroom appear to have been
discovered by their willing people while thus engaged in the happy fellowship
of fruitful service, and the bride, or ever she was aware, found herself seated
among the chariots of her people--her people as well as His.
The daughters of Jerusalem would fain call her
back:--
Return, return, O
Shulammite;
Return, return,
that we may look upon thee.
There is no question now as to w ho she
is, nor why her Beloved is more than another beloved; He is recognized as King
Solomon, and to her is given the same name, only in its feminine form
(Shulammite).
Some have seen in these words, "Return, return,"
an indication of the rapture of the Church; and explain some parts of the
subsequent context, which appear inconsistent with this view, as presumptive
rather than progressive. Interesting as is this thought, and well as it would
explain the absence of reference to the KING in the preceding verses, we
are not inclined to accept it; but look on the whole song as progressive, and
its last words as being equivalent to the closing words of the Book of
Revelation, "Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, LORD JESUS." We do not
therefore look upon the departure of the bride from her garden as being other
than temporary.
The bride replies to the daughters of
Jerusalem:--
Why will ye look
upon the Shulammite?
or, as in the Authorized Version,
What will ye see in
the Shulammite?
In the presence of the KING, she cannot
conceive why any attention should be paid to her. As Moses, coming down from
the mount, was unconscious that his face shone with a divine glory, so was it
here with the bride. But we may learn this very important lesson, that many who
do not see the beauty of the LORD, will not fail to admire His reflected beauty
in His bride. The eager look of the daughters of Jerusalem surprised the bride,
and she says, You might be looking "upon the dance of Mahanaim"--the dance of
two companies of Israel's fairest daughters--instead of upon one who has no
claim for attention, save that she is the chosen, though unworthy, bride of the
glorious KING.
The daughters of Jerusalem have no difficulty in
replying to her question, and recognizing her as of royal birth--"O Prince's
daughter"--as well as of queenly dignity, they describe in true and Oriental
language the tenfold beauties of her person; from her feet to her head they see
only beauty and perfection. What a contrast to her state by nature! Once "from
the sole of the foot even unto the head" was "but wounds, and bruises, and
festering sores"; now her feet are "shod with the preparation of the Gospel of
peace," and the very hair of the head proclaims her a Nazarite indeed; "the
KING" Himself "is held captive in the tresses thereof."
But One, more to her than the daughters of
Jerusalem, responded to her unaffected question, "What will ye see in the
Shulamite?" The Bridegroom Himself replies to it:--
How fair and how
pleasant art thou,
O love, for
delights!
He sees in her the beauties and the
fruitfulness of the tall and upright palm, of the graceful and clinging vine,
of the fragrant and evergreen citron. Grace has made her like the palm-tree,
the emblem alike of uprightness and of fruitfulness. The fruit of the date-palm
is more valued than bread by the Oriental traveller, so great is its sustaining
power; and the fruit-bearing powers of the tree do not pass away; as age
increases the fruit becomes more perfect as well as more abundant.
The righteous shall
flourish like the palm-tree:
He shall grow like
a cedar in Lebanon.
They that are
planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in
the courts of our God.
They shall still
bring forth fruit in old age;
They shall be full
of sap and green.
But why are the righteous made so upright
and flourishing?
To show that the
Lord is upright;
He is my Rock, and
there is no unrighteousness in Him.
One with our LORD, it is ours to show
forth His graces and virtues, to reflect His beauty, to be His faithful
witnesses.
The palm is also the emblem of victory; it raises
its beautiful crown towards the heavens, fearless of the heat of the sultry
sun, or of the burning hot wind from the desert. From its beauty it was one of
the ornaments of Solomon's, as it is to be of Ezekiel's temple. When our
SAVIOUR was received at Jerusalem as the KING of Israel the people took
branches of palm-trees and went forth to meet Him; and in the glorious day of
His espousals, "a great multitude, which no man" can "number, of all nations,
and kindreds, and people, and tongues," shall stand "before the throne and
before the LAMB, clothed with white robes"; and with palms of victory in their
hands shall ascribe their "salvation to our GOD which sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the LAMB."
But if she resembles the palm she also resembles
the vine. Much she needs the culture of the Husbandman, and well does she repay
it. Abiding in CHRIST, the true source of fruitfulness, she brings forth
clusters of grapes, luscious and refreshing, as well as sustaining, like the
fruit of the palm--luscious and refreshing to Himself, the owner of the
vineyard, as well as to the weary, thirsty world in which He has placed it.
The vine has its own suggestive lessons: it needs
and seeks support; the sharp knife of the pruner often cuts away unsparingly
its tender garlands, and mars its appearance, while increasing its
fruitfulness. It has been beautifully written:--
The living Vine,
Christ chose it for Himself:--
God gave to man for
use and sustenance
Corn, wine, and
oil, and each of these is good:
And Christ is Bread
of life and Light of life.
But yet, He did not
choose the summer corn,
That shoots up
straight and free in one quick growth,
And has its day, is
done, and springs no more;
Nor yet the olive,
all whose boughs are spread
In the soft air,
and never lose a leaf,
Flowering and
fruitful in perpetual peace;
But only this, for
Him and His is one,--
That everlasting,
ever-quickening Vine,
That gives the heat
and passion of the world,
Through its own
life-blood, still renewed and shed.
* * * * * * *
The Vine from every
living limb bleeds wine;
Is it the poorer
for that spirit shed?
The drunkard and
the wanton drink thereof;
Are they the richer
for that gift's excess?
Measure thy life
by loss instead of gain;
Not by the wine
drunk, but the wine poured forth;
For love's
strength standeth in love's sacrifice;
And whoso
suffers most, hath most to give.
Yet one figure more is used by the
Bridegroom: "The smell of thy breath (is) like apples," or rather citrons. In
the first section the bride exclaims:--
As the citron-tree
among the trees of the wood,
So is my Beloved
among the sons.
I delighted and sat
down under His shadow,
And His fruit was
sweet to my taste.
Here we find the outcome of that
communion. The citrons on which she had fed perfumed her breath, and imparted
to her their delicious odour. The Bridegroom concludes his description:--
Thy mouth (is) like
the best wine,
That goeth down
smoothly--
For my Beloved--
interjects the bride,
Causing the lips of
those that are asleep to move.
How wondrous the grace that has made the
bride of CHRIST to be all this to her Beloved! Upright as the palm, victorious,
and evermore fruitful as she grows heavenward; gentle and tender as the Vine,
self-forgetful and self-sacrificing, not merely bearing fruit in spite of
adversity, but bearing her richest fruits through it;--feasting on her Beloved,
as she rests beneath His shade, and thereby partaking of His fragrance;--what
has grace not done for her! And what must be her joy in finding, ever more
fully, the satisfaction of the glorious Bridegroom in the lowly wild flower He
has made His bride, and beautiful with His own graces and virtues!
I am my
Beloved's,
And His desire is
toward me,
she gladly exclaims. Now it is none of self or for self, but all of Thee and
for Thee. And if such be the sweet fruits of going down to the garden of nuts,
and caring for His garden with Him, she will need no constraining to continue
in this blessed service.
Come, my Beloved,
let us go forth into the field;
Let us lodge in the
villages.
She is not ashamed of her lowly origin, for she fears no shame: perfect love
has cast out fear. The royal state of the King, with its pomp and grandeur, may
be enjoyed by and by: now, more sweet with Him at her side to make the garden
fruitful; to give to Him all manner of precious fruits, new and old, which she
has laid up in store for Him; and best of all to satisfy Him with her own love.
Not only is she contented with this fellowship of service, but she could fain
wish that there were no honours and duties to claim His attention, and for the
moment to lessen the joy of His presence.
Oh that Thou wert
as my brother,
That sucked the
breasts of my mother!
When I
should find Thee without, I would kiss Thee;
Yea, and none would
despise me.
Would that she could care for Him, and claim His whole attention, as a sister
might care for a brother. She is deeply conscious that He has richly endowed
her, and that she is as nothing compared with Him; but instead of proudly
dwelling upon what she has done through Him, she would fain that it were
possible for her to be the giver and Him the receiver. Far removed is this from
the grudging thought, that must so grate upon the heart of our LORD, "I do not
think that GOD requires this of me"; or, "Must I give up that, if I am to be a
Christian?" True devotion will rather ask to be allowed to give, and will count
as loss all which may not be given up for the LORD'S sake--"I count all things
but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of CHRIST JESUS my
LORD."
This longing desire to be more to Him
does not, however, blind her to the consciousness that she needs His guidance,
and that He is her true, her only Instructor.
I would lead Thee,
and bring Thee into my mother's house,
That Thou mightest
instruct me;
I would cause Thee
to drink of spiced wine,
Of the juice of my
pomegranate.
I would give Thee my best, and yet would myself seek all my rest and
satisfaction in Thee.
His left hand
should be under my head,
And His right hand
should embrace me.
And thus the section closes. There is nothing sweeter to the Bridegroom or to
the bride than this hallowed and unhindered communion; and again He adjures the
daughters of Jerusalem, in slightly different
form:--
Why should ye stir
up, or why awake My love,
Until she[5] please?
Hallowed communion indeed! May we ever enjoy it; and abiding in CHRIST, we
shall sing, in the familiar words of the well-known
hymn--
Both Thine arms are
clasped around me,
And my head is on
Thy breast;
And my weary soul
hath found Thee
Such a perfect,
perfect rest!
Blessed Jesus,
Now I know that I
am blest.
Unrestrained Communion
Cant. viii. 5-14.
We have now reached the closing section of this book, which, as we have seen is
a poem describing the life of a believer on earth. Beginning in Section I.
(Cant. i. 2-ii. 7) with the unsatisfied longings of an espoused one--longings
which could only be met by her unreserved surrender to the Bridegroom of her
soul--we find that when the surrender was made, instead of the cross she had so
much feared she found a King, the KING of LOVE, who both satisfied her deepest
longings, and found His own satisfaction in
her.
The second section (Cant. ii. 8-iii. 5)
showed failure on her part; she was lured back again into the world, and soon
found that her Beloved could not follow her there; then with full purpose of
heart going forth to seek Him, and confessing His name, her search was
successful, and her communion was restored.
The third section (Cant. iii. 6-v. I) told of
unbroken communion. Abiding in Christ, she was the sharer of His security and
His glory. She draws the attention, however, of the daughters of Jerusalem from
these outward things to her KING Himself. And, while she is thus occupied with
Him, and would have others so occupied, she finds that her royal Bridegroom is
delighting in her, and inviting her to fellowship of service, fearless of dens
of lions and mountains of leopards.
The fourth section (Cant. v. 2-vi. 10), however,
shows again failure; not as before through worldliness, but rather through
spiritual pride and sloth. Restoration now was much more difficult; but again
when she went forth diligently to seek her LORD, and so confessed Him as to
lead others to long to find Him with her, He revealed Himself and the communion
was restored, to be interrupted no more.
The fifth section (Cant. vi. II-viii. 4), as we
have seen, describes not only the mutual satisfaction and delight of the bride
and Bridegroom in each other, but the recognition of her position and her
beauty by the daughters of Jerusalem.
And now in the sixth section (Cant. viii. 5-14)
we come to the closing scene of the book. In it the bride is seen leaning upon
her Beloved, asking Him to bind her yet more firmly to Himself, and occupying
herself in His vineyard, until He calls her away from earthly service. To this
last section we shall now give our attention more particularly.
It opens, as did the third, by an inquiry or
exclamation of the daughters of Jerusalem. There they asked, "Who is this that
cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, etc.?" but then their
attention was claimed by the pomp and state of the KING, not by His person, nor
by that of His bride. Here they are attracted by the happy position of the
bride in relation to her Beloved, and not by their surroundings.
Who is this that
cometh up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her
Beloved?
It is through the bride that attention is
drawn to the Bridegroom; their union and communion are now open and manifest.
For the last time the wilderness is mentioned; but sweetly solaced by the
presence of the Bridegroom, it is no wilderness to this bride. In all
the trustfulness of confiding love she is seen leaning upon her Beloved. He is
her strength, her joy, her pride, and her prize; while she is His peculiar
treasure, the object of His tenderest care. All His resources of wisdom and
might are hers; though journeying she is at rest, though in the wilderness she
is satisfied, while leaning upon her Beloved.
Wonderful, however, as are the revelations of
grace and love to the heart taught by the HOLY SPIRIT through the relationship
of bride and Bridegroom, the CHRIST of GOD is more than Bridegroom to His
people. He who when on earth was able to say, "Before Abraham was, I am," here
claims His bride from her very birth, and not alone from her espousals. Before
she knew Him, He knew her; and of this He reminds her in the words:--
I raised thee up
under the citron-tree;
There thy mother
brought thee forth.
He takes delight in her beauty, but that is not so much the cause as the effect
of His love; for He took her up when she had no comeliness. The love that has
made her what she is, and now takes delight in her, is not a fickle love, nor
need she fear its change.
Gladly does the
bride recognize this truth, that she is indeed His own, and she exclaims:
Set me as a seal
upon Thine heart, as a seal upon Thine arm:
For love is strong
as death;
Jealousy (ardent
love) is cruel (retentive) as the grave;
The flashes thereof
are flashes of fire,
A very flame of the
Lord.
The High Priest bore the names of the
twelve tribes upon his heart, each name being engraved as a seal in the costly
and imperishable stone chosen by God, each seal or stone being set in the
purest gold; he likewise bore the same names upon his shoulders, indicating
that both the love and the strength of the High Priest were pledged on behalf
of the tribes of Israel. The bride would be thus upborne by Him who is alike
her Prophet, Priest, and King, for love is strong as death; and jealousy, or
ardent love, retentive as the grave. Not that she doubts the constancy of her
Beloved, but that she has learned, alas! the inconstancy of her own heart; and
she would be bound to the heart and arm of her Beloved with chains and settings
of gold, ever the emblem of divinity. Thus the Psalmist prayed, "Bind the
sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar."
It is comparatively easy to lay the sacrifice on
the altar that sanctifies the gift, but it requires divine compulsion--the
cords of love--to retain it there. So here the bride would be set and fixed on
the heart and on the arm of Him who is henceforth to be her all in all, that
she may evermore trust only in that love, be sustained only by that power.
Do we not all need to learn a lesson from this?
and to pray to be kept from turning to Egypt for help, from trusting in horses
and chariots, from putting confidence in princes, or in the son of man, rather
than in the living GOD? How the Kings of Israel, who had won great triumphs by
faith, sometimes turned aside to heathen nations in their later years! The LORD
keep His people from this snare.
The bride continues: "The flashes of love are
flashes of fire, a very flame of the LORD." It is worthy of note that this is
the only occurrence of this word "LORD" in this book. But how could it be
omitted here? For love of GOD, and GOD is love.
To her request the Bridegroom replies with
reassuring words:
Many waters cannot
quench love,
Neither can the
floods drown it:
If a man would give
all the substance of his house for love,
It would utterly be
condemned.
The love which grace has begotten in the
heart of the bride is itself divine and persistent; many waters cannot quench
it, nor the floods drown it. Suffering and pain, bereavement and loss may test
its constancy, but they will not quench it. Its source is not human or natural;
like the fire, it is hidden with CHRIST in GOD. What "shall separate us from
the love of CHRIST? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword?. . .Nay, in all these things we are more than
conquerors, through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creation (R.V. margin), shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in CHRIST JESUS our LORD." Our love to GOD is secured by
GOD'S love to us. To the soul really rescued by grace, no bribe to forsake
GOD'S love will be finally successful. "If a man would give all the substance
of his house for love, it would utterly be condemned."
Freed from anxiety on her own account, the happy
bride next asks guidance, and fellowship in service with her LORD, on behalf of
those who have not yet reached her favoured position.
We have a little
sister,
And she hath no
breasts:
What shall we do
for our sister
In the day when she
shall be spoken for?
How beautifully her conscious union with
the Bridegroom appears in her expressions. "We have a little sister,"
not I have, etc.; "what shall we do for our sister," etc.? She
has now no private relationships nor interests; in all things she is one with
Him. And we see a further development of grace in the very question. Towards
the close of the last section she recognized the Bridegroom as her Instructor.
She will not now make her own plans about her little sister, and ask His
acquiescence in them; she will rather learn what his thoughts are, and have
fellowship with Him in His plans.
How much anxiety and care the children of God
would be spared if they learned to act in this way! Is it not too common to
make the best plans that we can, and to carry them out as best we may, feeling
all the while a great burden of responsibility, and earnestly asking the LORD
to help us? Whereas if we always let Him be our Instructor in
service, and left the responsibility with Him, our strength would not be
exhausted with worry and anxiety, but would all be at His disposal, and
accomplish His ends.
In the little sister, as yet immature, may we not
see the elect of GOD, given to CHRIST in God's purpose, but not yet brought
into saving relation to Him? And perhaps also those babes in CHRIST who as yet
need feeding with milk and not with meat, but who, with such care, will in due
time become experienced believers, fitted for the service of the LORD? Then
they will be spoken for, and called into that department of service for which
He has prepared them.
The Bridegroom replies:--
If she be a
wall,
We will build upon
her battlements of silver;
And if she be a
door,
We will enclose her
with boards of cedar.
In this reply the Bridegroom sweetly
recognizes His oneness with His bride, in the same way as she has shown her
conscious oneness with Him. As she says, "What shall we do for our
sister?" so He replies, "We will build . . . we will enclose,"
etc. He will not carry out His purposes of grace irrespective of His bride, but
will work with and through her. What can be done for this sister, however, will
depend upon what she becomes. If she be a wall, built upon the true foundation,
strong and stable, she shall be adorned and beautiful with battlements of
silver; but if unstable and easily moved to and fro like a door, such treatment
will be as impossible as unsuitable; she will need to be enclosed with boards
of cedar, hedged in with restraints, for her own protection.
The bride rejoicingly responds, "I am a wall";
she knows the foundation on which she is built, there is no "if" in her case;
she is conscious of having found favour in the eyes of her Beloved. Naphtali's
blessing is hers: she is "satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of
the LORD."
But what is taught by the connection of this
happy consciousness with the lines which follow?
Solomon had a
vineyard at Baal-hamon;
He let out the
vineyard unto keepers;
Every one for the
fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.
My vineyard, which
is mine, is before me;
Thou, O Solomon,
shalt have the thousand,
And those that keep
the fruit thereof two hundred.
The connection is, we believe, one of
great importance, teaching us that what she was (by grace) was more
important than what she did; and that she did not work in order to earn
favour, but being assured of favour, gave her love free scope to show itself in
service. The bride knew her relationship to her LORD, and His love to her; and
in her determination that He should have the thousand pieces of silver, her
concern was that her vineyard should not produce less for her Solomon than His
vineyard at Baal-hamon; her vineyard was herself, and she desired for her LORD
much fruit. She would see, too, that the keepers of the vineyard, those who
were her companions in its culture, and who ministered in word and doctrine,
were well rewarded; she would not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn; a
full tithe, nay a double tithe, was to be the portion of those who kept the
fruit and laboured with her in the vineyard.
How long this happy service continues, and how
soon it is to be terminated, we cannot tell; He who calls His servants to dwell
in the gardens, and cultivate them for Him--as Adam of old was placed in the
paradise of GOD--alone knows the limit of this service. Sooner or later the
rest will come, the burden and heat of the last day will have been borne, the
last conflict will be over, and the voice of the Bridegroom will be heard
addressing His loved one:--
Thou that dwellest
in the gardens,
The companions
hearken to thy voice:
Cause Me to hear
it.
Thy service among the companions is
finished; thou hast fought the good fight, thou hast kept the faith, thou hast
finished thy course; henceforth there is laid up for thee the crown of
righteousness, and the Bridegroom Himself shall be thine exceeding great
reward!
Well may the bride let Him hear her voice, and,
springing forth in heart to meet Him, cry:--
Make haste, my
Beloved,
And be Thou like to
a roe or to a young hart
Upon the mountains
of spices!
She no longer asks Him, as in the second
section:--
Turn, my Beloved,
and be Thou like a roe or a young hart
Upon the mountains
of Bether (separation).
She has never again wished Him to turn away from her, for there are no
mountains of Bether to those who are abiding in CHRIST; now there are mountains
of spices. He who inhabits the praises of Israel, which rise, like the incense
of spices, from His people's hearts, is invited by His bride to make haste, to
come quickly, and be like a roe or young hart upon the mountains of
spices.
Very sweet is the presence of our
LORD, as by His SPIRIT He dwells among His people, while they serve Him below;
but here there are many thorns in every path which call for watchful care; and
it is meet that now we should suffer with our LORD, in order that we may
hereafter be glorified together. The day, however, is soon coming in which He
will bring us up out of the earthly gardens and associations to the palace of
the great KING. There His people "shall hunger no more, neither thirst any
more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the LAMB, which is
in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living
fountains of waters; and GOD shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."
The SPIRIT and the
bride say, Come!. . .
Surely I come
quickly.
Amen; even so,
come, LORD JESUS!
The Daughters of Jerusalem
The question is frequently asked, Who are represented by the daughters of
Jerusalem?
They are clearly not the bride, yet
they are not far removed from her. They know where the Bridegroom makes His
flock to rest at noon; they are charged by the Bridegroom not to stir up nor
awaken His love when she rests, abiding in Him; they draw attention to the
Bridegroom as with dignity and pomp He comes up from the wilderness; their
love-gifts adorn His chariot of state; they are appealed to by the bride for
help in finding her Beloved, and, stirred by her impassioned description of His
beauty, they desire to seek Him with her; they describe very fully the beauty
of the bride, but, on the other hand, we never find them occupied with the
person of the Bridegroom; He is not all in all to them; they mind
outward and earthly things.
Do they not represent those who, if not actually
saved, are very near it; or, if saved, are only half-saved? who are for the
present more concerned about the things of this world than the things of GOD?
To advance their own interests, to secure their own comfort, concerns them more
than to be in all things pleasing to the LORD. They may form part of
that great company spoken of in Rev. vii. 9-17, who come out of the great
tribulation, but they will not form part of the 144,000, "the first-fruits unto
GOD and to the LAMB" (Rev. xiv. 1-5). They have forgotten the warning of our
LORD in Luke xxi. 34-36; and hence they are not "accounted worthy to escape all
these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the SON of Man." They
have not, with Paul, counted "all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of CHRIST JESUS the LORD," and hence they do not "attain unto"
that resurrection from among the dead, which Paul felt he might miss,
but aimed to attain unto.
We wish to place on record our solemn conviction
that not all who are Christians, or think themselves to be such, will attain to
that resurrection of which St Paul speaks in Phil. iii. II, or will thus meet
the LORD in the air. Unto those who by lives of consecration manifest that they
are not of the world, but are looking for Him, "He will appear without sin unto
salvation."
[1]
Loves = endearments, caresses.
[2] The pronoun here and in chapter iii. 5, and viii. 4, should not be "he" as A. V., nor "it" as R.V., but "she".
[3] See note on page 26.
[4] The Church of Popular Opinion, as pointed out by the Rev. Charles Fox in an address at Keswick, as the Church of Philadelphia is the Church of Brotherly Love.
[5] See note on page 26.