Song of Solomon 8

So 8:1-14.

1. He had been a brother already. Why, then, this prayer here?

It refers to the time after His resurrection, when the previous

outward intimacy with Him was no longer allowed, but it was

implied it should be renewed at the second coming

(Joh 20:17).

For this the Church here prays; meanwhile she enjoys inward

spiritual communion with Him. The last who ever "kissed" Jesus Christ

on earth was the traitor Judas. The bride's return with the King to her

mother's house answers to

Ac 8:25,

after the mission to Samaria. The rest spoken of

(So 8:4)

answers to

Ac 9:31.

that sucked . . . mother--a brother born of the same mother; the

closest tie.

2. Her desire to bring Him into her home circle

(Joh 1:41).

who would instruct me--rather, "thou wouldest instruct me," namely,

how I might best please thee

(Isa 11:2, 3; 50:4;

Lu 12:12;

Joh 14:26; 16:13).

spiced wine--seasoned with aromatic perfumes. Jesus Christ ought to

have our choicest gifts. Spices are never introduced in the song in His

absence; therefore the time of His return from "the mountain of spices"

(So 8:14)

is contemplated. The cup of betrothal was given by Him at the last

supper; the cup or marriage shall be presented by her at His return

(Mt 26:29).

Till then the believer often cannot feel towards, or speak of, Him as

he would wish.

3, 4. The "left and right hand," &c., occurred only once actually

(So 2:6),

and here optatively. Only at His first manifestation did the Church

palpably embrace Him; at His second coming there shall be again

sensible communion with Him. The rest in

So 8:4,

which is a spiritual realization of the wish in

So 8:3

(1Pe 1:8),

and the charge not to disturb it, close the first, second, and fourth

canticles; not the third, as the bridegroom there takes charge Himself;

nor the fifth, as, if repose formed its close, we might mistake

the present state for our rest. The broken, longing close, like that of

the whole Bible

(Re 22:20),

reminds us we are to be waiting for a Saviour to come. On "daughters of

Jerusalem," see on

So 7:10.

CANTICLE

V.--

(So 8:5-14)

--FROM

THE

CALL OF THE

GENTILES TO THE

CLOSE OF

REVELATION.

5. Who is this--Words of the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, the

churches of Judea; referring to Paul, on his return from Arabia ("the

wilderness"), whither he had gone after conversion

(Ga 1:15-24).

I raised thee . . . she . . . bare thee--

(Ac 26:14-16).

The first words of Jesus Christ to the bride since her going to the

garden of nuts

(So 6:9, 10);

so His appearance to Paul is the only one since His ascension,

So 8:13

is not an address of Him as visible: her reply implies He is not

visible

(1Co 15:8).

Spiritually, she was found in the moral wilderness

(Eze 16:5;

Ho 13:5);

but now she is "coming up from" it

(Jer 2:2;

Ho 2:14),

especially in the last stage of her journey, her conscious weakness

casting itself the more wholly on Jesus Christ

(2Co 12:9).

"Raised"

(Eph 2:1-7).

Found ruined under the forbidden tree

(Ge 3:22-24);

restored under the shadow of Jesus Christ crucified, "the green tree"

(Lu 23:31),

fruit-"bearing" by the cross

(Isa 53:11;

Joh 12:24).

"Born again by the Holy Ghost" "there"

(Eze 16:3-6).

In this verse, her dependence, in the similar verse,

So 3:6,

&c., His omnipotence to support her, are brought out

(De 33:26).

6. Implying approaching absence of the Bridegroom.

seal--having her name and likeness engraven on it. His Holy Priesthood

also in heaven

(Ex 28:6-12, 15-30;

Heb 4:14);

"his heart" there answering to "thine heart" here, and "two shoulders"

to "arm." (Compare

Jer 22:24,

with Hag 2:23).

But the Holy Ghost

(Eph 1:13, 14).

As in

So 8:5,

she was "leaning" on Him, that is, her arm on His arm, her head

on His bosom; so she prays now that before they part, her

impression may be engraven both on His heart and His arm,

answering to His love and His power

(Ps 77:15;

see

Ge 38:18;

Isa 62:3).

love is strong as death--

(Ac 21:13;

Ro 8:35-39;

Re 12:11).

This their love unto death flows from His

(Joh 10:15; 15:13).

jealousy . . . the grave--Zealous love, jealous of all that would

come between the soul and Jesus Christ

(1Ki 19:10;

Ps 106:30, 31;

Lu 9:60; 14:26;

1Co 16:22).

cruel--rather, "unyielding" hard, as the grave will not let go those

whom it once holds

(Joh 10:28).

a most vehement flame--literally, "the fire-flame of Jehovah"

(Ps 80:16;

Isa 6:6).

Nowhere else is God's name found in the Song. The zeal that

burnt in Jesus Christ

(Ps 69:9;

Lu 12:49, 50)

kindled in His followers

(Ac 2:3;

Ro 15:30;

Php 2:17).

7. waters--in contrast with the "coals of fire"

(So 8:6;

1Ki 18:33-38).

Persecutions

(Ac 8:1)

cannot quench love

(Heb 10:34;

Re 12:15, 16).

Our many provocations have not quenched His love

(Ro 8:33-39).

if . . . give all the substance . . .

contemned--Nothing short of Jesus Christ Himself, not even heaven

without Him, can satisfy the saint

(Php 3:8).

Satan offers the world, as to Jesus Christ

(Mt 4:8),

so to the saint, in vain

(1Jo 2:15-17; 5:4).

Nothing but our love in turn can satisfy Him

(1Co 13:1-3).

8. The Gentile Church

(Eze 16:48).

"We," that is, the Hebrew Church, which heretofore admitted Gentiles to

communion, only by becoming Judaic proselytes. Now first

idolatrous Gentiles are admitted directly

(Ac 11:17-26).

Generally, the saint's anxiety for other souls

(Mr 5:19;

Joh 4:28, 29).

no breasts--neither faith nor love as yet

(see on

So 4:5),

which "come by hearing" of Him who first loved us. Not yet fit to be His

bride, and mother of a spiritual offspring.

what shall we do--the chief question in the early Church at the first

council

(Ac 15:23-29).

How shall "the elder brother" treat the "younger," already received by

the Father

(Lu 15:25-32)?

Generally

(2Sa 15:15;

Joh 9:4;

Ac 9:6;

Ga 6:10).

In the day . . . spoken for--that is, when she shall be

sought in marriage

(Jud 14:7),

namely, by Jesus Christ, the heavenly bridegroom.

9. wall . . . door--the very terms employed as to the Gentile question

(Ac 14:27;

Eph 2:14).

If she be a wall in Zion, founded on Jesus Christ

(1Co 3:11),

we will not "withstand God"

(Ac 11:17; 15:8-11).

But if so, we must not "build"

(Ac 15:14-17)

on her "wood, hay, stubble"

(1Co 3:12),

that is, Jewish rites, &c., but "a palace of silver," that is, all the

highest privileges of church communion

(Ga 2:11-18;

Eph 2:11-22).

Image from the splendid turrets "built" on the "walls" of Jerusalem,

and flanking the "door," or gateway. The Gentile Church is the "door,"

the type of catholic accessibleness

(1Co 16:9);

but it must be not a mere thoroughfare but furnished with a wooden

framework, so as not merely to admit, but also to safely enclose: cedar

is fragrant, beautiful, and enduring.

10. The Gentile Church's joy at its free admission to gospel

privileges

(Ac 15:30, 31).

She is one wall in the spiritual temple of the Holy Ghost, the Hebrew

Church is the other; Jesus Christ, the common foundation, joins them

(Eph 2:11-22).

breasts . . . towers--alluding to the silver palace, which the bridal

virgins proposed to build on her

(So 8:9).

"Breasts" of consolation

(Isa 66:11);

faith and love

(1Th 5:8);

opposed to her previous state, "no breasts"

(So 8:8;

2Th 1:3).

Thus

Eze 16:46, 61

was fulfilled, both Samaria and the Gentiles being joined to the Jewish

gospel Church.

favour--rather, "peace." The Gentile Church too is become the Shulamite

(So 6:13),

or peace-enjoying bride of Solomon, that is, Jesus Christ, the

Prince of Peace

(Ro 5:1;

Eph 2:14).

Reject not those whom God accepts

(Nu 11:28;

Lu 9:49;

Ac 15:8, 9).

Rather, superadd to such every aid and privilege

(So 8:9).

11. The joint Church speaks of Jesus Christ's vineyard. Transference

of it from the Jews, who rendered not the fruits, as is implied by the

silence respecting any, to the Gentiles

(Mt 21:33-43).

Baal-hamon--equivalent to the owner of a multitude; so Israel in

Solomon's day

(1Ki 4:20);

so

Isa 5:1,

"a very fruitful hill"

abounding in privileges, as in numbers.

thousand pieces--namely, silverlings, or shekels. The vineyard

had a thousand vines probably; a vine at a silverling

(Isa 7:23),

referring to this passage.

12. "mine" by grant of the true Solomon. Not merely "let out to

keepers," as in the Jewish dispensation of works, but "mine" by

grace. This is "before me," that is, in my power [MAURER]. But though no longer under constraint of

"keeping" the law as a mere letter and covenant of works, love

to Jesus Christ will constrain her the more freely to render all to

Solomon

(Ro 8:2-4;

1Co 6:20;

Ga 5:13;

1Pe 2:16),

after having paid what justice and His will require should be paid to

others

(1Co 7:29-31; 9:14).

"Before me" may also mean "I will never lose sight of it" (contrast

So 1:6)

[MOODY STUART]. She will not

keep it for herself, though so freely given to her, but for His use and

glory

(Lu 19:13;

Ro 6:15; 14:7-9;

1Co 12:7).

Or the "two hundred" may mean a double tithe (two-tenths of the

whole paid back by Jesus Christ) as the reward of grace for our

surrender of all (the thousand) to Him

(Ga 6:7;

Heb 6:10);

then she and "those that keep" are the same [ADELAIDE NEWTON]. But Jesus Christ

pays back not merely two tithes, but His all for our all

(1Co 3:21-23).

13. Jesus Christ's address to her; now no longer visibly present.

Once she "had not kept" her vineyard

(So 1:6);

now she "dwells" in it, not as its owner, but its superintendent under

Jesus Christ, with vinedressers ("companions"), for example, Paul, &c.

(Ac 15:25, 26),

under her

(So 8:11, 12);

these ought to obey her when she obeys Jesus Christ. Her voice in

prayer and praise is to be heard continually by Jesus Christ, if her

voice before men is to be effective

(So 2:14,

end;

Ac 6:4; 13:2, 3).

14. (See on

So 2:17).

As she began with longing for His first coming

(So 1:2),

so she ends with praying for His second coming

(Ps 130:6;

Php 3:20, 21;

Re 22:20).

MOODY STUART makes the roe

upon spices to be the musk deer. As there are four gardens, so four

mountains, which form not mere images, as Gilead, Carmel, &c., but part

of the structure of the Song: (1) Bether, or division

(So 2:17),

God's justice dividing us from God. (2) Those "of leopards"

(So 4:8),

sin, the world, and Satan. (3) That "of myrrh and aloes"

(So 4:6, 14),

the sepulchre of Calvary. (4) Those "of spices," here answering to "the

hill of frankincense"

(So 4:6),

where His soul was for the three days of His death, and heaven,

where He is a High Priest now, offering incense for us on the fragrant

mountain of His own finished work

(Heb 4:14, 7:25;

Re 8:3, 4);

thus He surmounts the other three mountains, God's justice, our sin,

death. The mountain of spices is as much greater than our sins, as

heaven is higher than earth

(Ps 103:11).

The abrupt, unsatisfied close with the yearning prayer for His

visible coming shows that the marriage is future, and that to

wait eagerly for it is our true attitude

(1Co 1:7;

1Th 1:10;

Tit 2:13;

2Pe 3:12).

Send Addenda, Corrigenda, and Sententiae to

the editor