The song of Solomon compared with other parts of scripture...

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Preface

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We may be quite as safe, though we realise our interest in Christ only as our Saviour from the guilt and condemnation of sin ; or if we know him only one step further, as the Captain of our Salvation, making us more than conquerors in fighting the good fight of faith. But it is our privilege [and a great one) to know him in a world that passeth away, wherein we are but strangers and pilgrims, ever learning the bitterness of creature-disappointments, and the drying up of creature- streams of happiness — as the one object in whom our affections may supremely centre with no danger of excess, no fear of disappointment, no possibility of coolness or variableness in return • but rather, in whose love we shall meet with a response that shall make our love as nothing, by reason of the love that excelleth !

This is our privilege — a purchased privilege — ours • in virtue of our relationship in Jesus.

The question is never once raised throughout the Book whether indeed it is so or not. Grief and sadness arise from other causes. For, as the one grand aim of the Bride throughout is the enjoyment of free, uninterrupted, and constant communion with the Beloved, so the grand source of sorrow and distress is when seasons of coldness, lukewarmness, and drowsiness ever and anon creep over the soul, coming vi

PREFACE.

betiveen it and Jesus, like clouds which hide the sun — not, indeed, affecting its bright shining, but effectually hindering the genial warmth of its cheering, enlightening, and life-giving iuys from reaching the soul.

One of the most striking features of this Book is the development of the onward, ripening progress of Christian experience, as traced through the spring, summer, and autumnal seasons (chap, ii., iv., and vi.) " First the blade, then the ear ; after that the full corn in the ear."

And one of its most prominent characteristics is, that the person of Christ is dwelt on, rather than his work and offices. He is loved, so to speak, for his own sake. It is " his own self" that is the muchloved object.

May our affections more and more centre in Jesus ; and may he be the constant companion and friend of our otherwise desolate and unsatisfied hearts, " until the day break and the shadows flee away," and " the marriage of the Lamb" be come!

CHAPTER I. Ver. 1. " The Song of songs } which is Solomon sT

" Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto the Lord" (Col. iii. 16; Eph. v. 19). " For it is a good thing ... to sing praises unto thy name, 0 most High " (Ps. xeii. 1-3; lxxxix. 1).

It was thus that Moses sang, to celebrate the exodus and redemption of Israel from the land of Egypt (Ex. xv.) It was thus that Deborah sang, to celebrate the victory of Barak over Sisera (Judges v. )

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THE SONG OF SOLOMON.

It was thus David sang, " in the day that God delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies " (2 Sam. xxii.) It was thus that Paul and Silas, even in the prison, " sang praises unto God " at midnight (Acts xvi.) Israel shall, in like manner, sing " in the land of Judah" the song that is prepared for them in the coming day of their restoration (Isa. xxvi.)

And yet all these are but foretastes of the heavenly song which shall be sung by the redeemed out of " all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues " (Rev. y. 9, (fee.) — " a new song " — u the song of the Lamb ! " (Rev. xiv. 4, and xy. 2-4.)

The heavenly song will be sung by the Church of Christ in glory ; " the Song of songs, which is Solomon's, 5 ' is the song they sing here upon earth.

Pre-eminence is given to it above every other, when it is called " the Song of songs," which double rendering is very emphatic in the Hebrew. Thus Jehovah is called the 6i God of gods and Lord of lords " (Deut. x. 17) ; and Christ is called "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Rev. xix. 16). So also the "'most holy place " is called " the holy of holies," signifying that it was the treasury of the highest and most sacred mysteries of God. And St Paul has explained to us how great is the mystery contained in this " Song of songs," when he declares, " for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery ;

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but I speak concerning Christ and the Church " (Eph. v. 29-32).

The mystic union is involved in the attributing of the song to Solomon ; for it is uttered mutually by Christ and by his Church, but it is attributed to him only, for they are not twain, but one. And she is lost sight of in him. The same Spirit actuates both ; for the Head and the members form but one Christ. The song is, therefore, emphatically " Solomon's," or Christ's.

The Bride.

Yer. 2. " Let him lass me with the kisses of his mouth"'

This abrupt commencement bespeaks the impassioned affections of the Bride. She is so wholly engrossed with thoughts of her Beloved, that she does not stay to explain of whom she speaks. Just as Mary at the sepulchre, looking for Jesus, addressed herself to one whom she believed to be the gardener, exclaiming, " If thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away " — as though every one must know v;hom she sought (John xx. 15) — as though there were but one object to be cared for — One for whom she would count all things else but loss (Phil. iii. 7, S) ; and one pearl of great price, to buy which she would sell all that she had (Matt. xiii. 44-46). For, " Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is

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none upon earth that I desire beside thee,' must ever be the language of the Bride of Christ,

" Let him kiss me." A kiss is a token of very near and intimate friendship, or of relationship. It. therefore, bespeaks, in this instance, the intimacy and closeness of the relationship between Jesus and his Church. We have a striking representation of it in the case of David and Jonathan, in 1 Sam. xx. 41 : " They kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded."

But a kiss is also a token of reconciliation, which we have beautifully brought before us in the Prodigal Son returning to his father's house : — ci When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and Jdssed him,'" <fcc. (Luke xv. 20). And a similar instance of reconciliation occurs in the history of Joseph, who, in making himself known to them, " hissed all his brethren, and wept upon them : and after that, his brethren talked with him " (Gen. xlv. 15). u God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" (2 Cor. v. 18-21; Rom. v. 10, 11 : Col. i. 21 j Heb. ii. 17).

u With the kisses of his mouth;" for " his mouth is most sweet" (Cant. v. 16) ; "Neither was guile found in his mouth ; " " All bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth " (Luke iv. 22 ; 1 Pet. ii. 22 ; Matt, iv. 4). And, therefore, Job declares : " I have

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esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food 5 ' (Job xxiii. 12).

Contrast "his mouth" with ours (James iii. 2-10).

" For thy love is letter than wine.'''

" Thy love" — the love of Jesus — truly it is sweet. Very tender is the love between the Husband and his Bride ; therefore she exclaims, " Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." Dearer is such love than the choicest earthly good — more refreshing, more reviving, more strengthening. It is " an everlasting love" (Jer. xxxi. 3). "Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end " (John xiii. 1). How unlike a mere earthly passion, producing a sudden flash of excitement, and dying away again S "Thy love is better than wine " — "'Thy loving-kindness is better than life" (Ps. lxiii. 3). Oh! to comprehend more of "'the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge ! " " Greater love hath no man." It was love " strong as death" (John xv. 13 ; Cant. viii. 6). It was the very same love as that wherewith the Father loved the Son ! — " as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you ; ' (John xv. 9). Well, therefore, may we exclaim with David, "How excellent is thy loving-kindness, 0 God ! " for " thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures" (Ps. xxxvi. 7-10), an exhanstless stream — " better than wine ! "

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Ver. 3. " Because of the savour of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointmen t poured forth."

"When Mary brake the box of ointment of spikenard, very costly, we read that " the honse was filled with the odour of the ointment" (John xii. 3). It is thus when the "name" of Jehovah is revealed : "thy name is as ointment poured forth"

For God's name is the expression of his nature, character, and attributes, as we may learn from the proclamation of it to Moses (Ex. xxxiv. 5—7). But it is essentially Jesus : " thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, is, God with us" (Matt. i. 23) ; in him the ointment is "poured forth," the name of God is exhibited ; and wheresoever Jesus comes, the place is filled with the sweet odour of "the name" of our God. Thus it is written, " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory;" there was, as it were, the breaking of the box, that the ointment might be "poured forth." God revealed his name in the person of his dear Son (Isa. vii. 14 ; ix. 6).

It is compared to ointment because it was

1. Most precious and costly (Ex. xxx. 23-25 : Ps.

cxxxiii. 2 ; Mark xiv. 3 ; John xii. 3 ; 1 Pet. ii. 7). " Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious."

2. Of sweet odour (Eph. v. 2). " Christ also hath

loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling savour" (John xii. 3).

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3. Compounded of a variety of parts (Ex. xxx.

23-28). " It pleased the Father that in Mm

should all fulness dwell 5 ' (Col. i. 19 j ii. 9). -4. It had healing properties (Acts hi. 16). " His

name, through faith in his name, hath made

this man strong."

Lastly, Xothing was ever to be made like it (Ex.

xxx. 31-33, 37, 38). " There is none other

name under heaven given among men whereby

we must be saved" (Acts iv. 12).

" Therefore do the virgins love thee."

It is as the Father is Icnown in the person of Christ that he is loved. " This is life eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ. whom thou hast sent" (John xvii. 3). Because in Jesus there is such a full manifestation and exhibition of the character and name of God, like ointment poured forth, " therefore do the virgins love thee." (Compare 1 John iv. 9, 19.) "We love him because he first loved us." (See also Luke vii. 47.)

" The virgins " are so called for their spiritual chastity. " That I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. xi. 3). The same word is rendered " thy hidden ones," in Ps. Ixxxiii. 3.

Ver. 4. Draw me, we will run after thee"

The word ci draw " rather signifies precede, or go before me. Thus we should follow Jesus as our " forerunner," who has gone before, " leaving us an

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example, that we should follow his steps" (1 Pet. i. 21. SeeHeb. vi. 20).

The prayer implies a sense of helplessness — " draw me i " it implies also a looking to God for the needed help—" Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord," &c. (Ps. xxv. 15). " Send out thy light and thy truth ; let them lead me, let them bring me," &c. (Ps. xliii. 3). It further implies a sense of restlessness at a distance from God, and an earnest desire for closer communion with him : " It is good for me to draw near unto God" (Ps. lxxiii. 28).

" Draw me." And how truly the God of our mercy does "prevent" us! (Ps. lix. 10.) "I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love ; " " With loving-kindness have I drawn thee" (Hos. xi. 4 ; Jer. xxxi. 3). So again, in Deut. i. 33, " Who went in the way before you,''' &e. It is his own promise, " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me" (John xii. 32). And yet the necessity for the prayer is evident, for that he hath also said, " No man can come unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him " (John vi. 44). But wherever the cry is sincere, it is a sure earnest of the Spirit in the heart already ; and we know that whatsoever we ask according to his will, or according to the intercession of the Spirit in us, he will give it us (1 John v. 13, 14). And the soul appears to realise this, being quickened in the lively exercise of faith, even whilst in the very act of prayer. For, instead of inertness,

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the following words suggest the idea of more than ordinary activity — " Draw me, we will run after thee."

It expresses something of the energetic spirit of Peter, in John xxi. 7, who, as soon as he heard that it was the Lord, i( cast himself into the sea," as though he could not soon enough find himself at his Lord's feet. He was unable to restrain his ardent love whilst they drew the ship to land.

Thus David also says, " I will run in the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart " (Ps. cxix. 32) ; and, again, " I made haste, and delayed not," &c. (ver. 60). And St Paul says, " This one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark," &c. (Phil. hi. 13, 14).

We have likewise the word of exhortation — " so run that ye may obtain " (1 Cor. ix. 24, 25). " Let us run with patience the race that is set before us " (Heb. xii. 1, 2). u iSTot slothful in business, but fervent in spirit" (Kom. xii. 11). And there is a precious promise and word of encouragement in Isa. xl. 31, " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength : they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint."

Only we must see that we " run after " our Lord, and not hefore him ; that is, not marking out for ourselves a way of our own, but treading in His

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steps. "When he putteth forth his own sheep, he (joeth before them, and the sheep follow him " (John x. 4, 5, 27).

" The King hath brought me into his chambers."

The prayer is answered, and answered in God's own way, far exceeding even our own desires, We are permitted not only to follow after, but to enter in with our Beloved to his royal chambers ! Here is the soul " entering into the holiest by the blood of Jesus," having access within the vail (Heb. x. 19, 20). For, by virtue of our marriage anion with Jesus, we are "kings and priests." " He hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. ii. 6), being " of the household of God " (ii. 19); and it is our amazing privilege to dwell " in the secret place of the Most High " (Ps. xci. 1 ; xxvii. 4, 5 ; lxv. 4). " Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts," &c. Surely it is here that Jesus manifests himself unto us as he doth not unto the world (John xiv. 18, 23). And it is here we taste the sweet anticipations of being hereafter admitted into the " many mansions " of the le Father's house," in glory (John xiv. 3). We are now, as it were, abiding for a season in the antechamber through faith; but Jesus is preparing a place for us, when the earthly house (or hut) of this tabernacle is dissolved, where we shall sit down with him in his throne, and reign for ever and ever in

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the royal presence chamber of our King ! " They shall see his face, .... and they shall reign for ever and ever" (Rev. iii. 21; 2 Cor. v. 1 ; Rev. xxii. 4, o). " They shall enter into the King's palace!" (Ps. xlv. 16.)

Jesus is seen as the Priest (in ver. 3), seated on his throne as " the King " (in ver. 4), for he is our Melchizedec, our royal High Priest, in the temple made without hands.

" We will be glad and rejoice in thee."

There is here the inward feeling and the outward expression of joy. The gladuess is the same as in Ps. civ. 34, " My meditation of him shall be sweet. I will be glad in the Lord " — a joy in the inmost recesses of the soul — " My heart is glad " (Ps. xvi. 9). So the rejoicing is the outward manifestation of it, "and my glory rejoiceth " (Ps. xvi. 9). These two commonly go together ; — " My soul shall make her boast iu the Lord ; " there is the inward feeling : " the humble shall hear thereof and be glad ; " there is the outward manifestation of it (Ps. xxxiv. 2; xxxiii. 1). But it is all "in, thee" — "in the Lord." " 1 will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God" (Isa. lxi. 10; Hab. iii. 17, 18 ; 1 Sam. ii. 1 ; Phil. iv. 1, 4). If we rejoice at any time in frames and feelings, in earthly prosperity, or in spiritual welfare (see Ps. xxx. 6, 7), it cannot be abiding joy. " Rejoice in the Lord alway," for in him there is "alway" cause of rejoic-

THE SOXG OF SOLOMON.

ing, but in none else. We should seek to share Jesus' joy : " that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves" (John xvii. 13).

(< We will remember thy love more than ivineP

" There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. For thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased" (Ps. iv. 6. 7).

The believer feels that the Lord's love is " more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb." Thus he can rejoice in the love of his God, " though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine," &c. (Hab. iii. 17, 18). He has a fountain of living waters to draw from, therefore he needs not to go to the well for water j earthly treasures can no longer charm him. " If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned " (Cant. viii. 7). " We will remember thy love more than wine."

But the term " remember" implies past experience looked back upon ; it is contemplation, and not seeking for some new thing : " I remember the days of old," ifcc. (Ps. cxliii. 5 ; lxiii. 6 ; Ixxvii. 10, 11).

The Lord's Supper is a special act of remembrance. "Do this in remembrance of me." u To the end that we should alway remember the exceeding great love of our Master and only Saviour, Jesus Christ, thus

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dying for us .... he hath instituted and ordained holy mysteries as pledges of his love, and for a continual remembrance of his death, to our great and endless comfort." It is a most precious ordinance for the strengthening and refreshing of the soul, as the body is refreshed by the bread and wine.

(l The upright love thee"

" Let love be without dissimulation" (Eom. xii. 9). There must be integrity and ichole-heartedness, where there is true love to the Lord Jesus. Not "a heart and a heart," for we cannot love God and Mammon. Is it not so even among men, that if any man will marry, our Church inquires, "Wilt thou love her, comfort her, <fec. ; and, forsaking all other, keep thee only unto her 1 " &c. And how much more, then, when we are espoused to the Lord Jesus Christ ! Very great is the blessedness of integrity and uprightness. "Xo good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly (Ps. lxxxiv. 11). "The integrity of the upright shall guide them " (Prov. xi. 3), Oh, for grace to be able at all times to say with an upright heart, u Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee" ! (John xxi. 17.)

Ver. 5. " I am black, but comely, 0 ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.'''

The contemplation of uprightness seems to have

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turned the thoughts of the Bride aside for a moment, to reply to some who appear to have charged or suspected her of a different character. These " daughters of Jerusalem" are frequently mentioned throughout the book, and may, most probably, represent professors ; those who compose a part of the visible, but not the true, Church of Christ on earth. They are "daughters of Jerusalem," but they are not "the Bride — the Lamb's Wife." They partake of the outward privileges, but they know not the vital union of the Bride with her Beloved ; and, therefore, they fail to understand much of her experience.

She therefore unfolds to them here one of the fundamental truths of Christianity — the utter blackness of the child of God in himself together with his completeness and beauty in Christ. " I am black, but comely." "I am black" — here is the full acknowledgment of her state by nature. "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Ps. li. 5 ; Bom. iii. 10. &c. ; Jer. xvii. 9 ; Gen. viii. 21 ; Mark vii. 21, 23, &c. &c.)

And even after conversion, it is equally true of us, as it was of St Paul, " For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing " (Bom. vii. 18 ; see also Isa. vi. 5).

And it appears to be in this latter sense that the expression is intended here ; for the original word is literally " dark " as the dawn of day, justly representing the state of the Church of Christ on earth, emerging, as it were, from the ruins of the tomb,

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from a death in trespasses and sins, but awaiting the light of day in the morning of the Resurrection.

None are so ready to say of themselves, " I am black/' as the most advanced Christians. St Paul had been one for thirty years when he declared himself the chief of sinners (1 Tim. i. 15) ; and the better we know ourselves, the more deeply we feel, "I am black"

" Black — as the tents of Kedar." There is great force in this illustration. " The tents of the Arabs are of a dark or nearly black colour, being made of the shaggy hair of their black goats." And what could be a fitter representation of the Church of Christ in the eyes of the world 2 " Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom V (James ii. 5.)

" Poor and afflicted, Lord, are tliine, Among the great they seldom shine."

They have nothing to render them outwardly attractive — to the eye of sense they are " as the tents of Kedar." They have no earthly city to dwell in — they are literally " strangers and pilgrims " on the earth, sojourning in " tents" and content with the traveller's fare, for they seek a city.

But if destitute of exterior beauty, like the Arab tents, they are richly adorned within, " as the curtains of Solomon " (1 Pet. iii. 4). Xone saw the exquisite loveliness of those curtains, save those who entered within the tabernacle or temple. Even Jesus was "without form or comeliness" to those who

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looked only on his outward lowly garb of suffering humanity. But his Bride discovered such charms in her Beloved, that, at a loss for words to express it, she exclaimed, " Yea, he is altogether lovely !"

And it is in his comeliness she is comely. " I am black, but comely" — "Perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God " (Ezek. xyi. 14).

Precious truth ! "Without one of the filthy rags of their own righteousness, they are " covered with the robe of his righteousness," and " clothed with the garments of salvation" (Isa. lxi. 10) — a Accepted in the beloved" (Eph. i. 7) — "Perfect in Christ Jesus" (Col. i. 28) — Yea, "complete in him' (Col. ii. 10). " I am black but comely."

" Since, therefore. I can hardly bear

What in myself I see, How vile, how black, must I appear,

Most Holy God, to thee !

But, oh ! my Saviour stands between,

In garments dyed in blood : 'Tis He instead of me is seen,

When I approach to God." — Newton.

Yer. 6. " Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother s children icere angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept."

The offence of the Cross has not ceased. " All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. hi. 12). — " In the world ye shall

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have tribulation" (John xvi. 33 ; see also John xvii. 14 j John xv. 19 ; 1 John hi. 13).

Nay more, "A man's foes shall be they of his own household" (Matt. x. 36 j Mic. vii. 6) — "My mother's children were angry with me." And there is no persecution so hard as this, arising not from avowed enemies, but from professed friends or relatives.

A large part of Job's trial arose from it j he was misunderstood and bitterly reproached by his own friends. And it has been truly remarked that " Moses knew the trial of the camp, even beyond that of the wilderness." To be looked down upon by fellow-Christians (or those professing to be such), is indeed an arrow that pierces the heart very keenly.

But it is a great sin to despise one of the Lord's little ones (Matt, xviii. 10). The judgments on Edom were very sore and terrible, for having thus lightly esteemed his brother Jacob. " Thou shouldest not have looked upon the day of thy brother, in the day that he became a stranger ; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity," &c. (Obad. 12, 13, &c.)

Yet the Lord oft-times turns this day of affliction into a day of blessing to his people, inasmuch as it leads them to self-conviction of grievous shortcoming, and the many times in which they have " given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme,'' " Mine own vineyard have I not kept."

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Yer. 7. " Tell me, 0 thou ivhom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon; for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions f The Bride soon returns to address herself to her Beloved; and we have in these words a full turning of the heart to Jesus, in whom the soul alone finds rest, when all others are against her. The cry seems to arise out of solitude of experience ; for none else could understand or sympathise with her. By the flocks of his companions she was as one veiled (see marg.) They could not read the secrets of her heart, but he could ; and in full confidence of heart she appeals to him — " Tell me, 0 thou whom my soul loveth."