The Pulpit Commentary — Song of Songs — Section 23

tents or Kedar, the tents of goat's he.ir in which the wandering Arab11 lived. The Ohristia.n soul knows its gui!L Worship begins ever with confession; when we draw nea.r to Christ, we are most sensible of the pla.gne of our own hearts. Christians wU: find help ood comfo!'t in communion with the like-minded; they will tell them their spiritual troubles; but such holy communion can be held only with the like-minded, with the daughters of JeruAalem. Christians sometimes have home troubles; they seem unable to keep their own vineyard, to attend to their own spiritual needs, because other work is forced upon them, because their time is taken up in matters which seem not to belon·g to their peace; they must be patient and meek, and wait for the Bridegroom's call. 2. "But comely." In her artless simplicity she mentions her own beauty: Rho is fair as the curtnins of Solomon. The king, we may suppose, had a. stately pavilion in the Lebanon country, near the dwelling of the bride. Tbe Christian recognizes with humble and adoring thankfulness the working of the Spirit of God within his soul. "By the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed on me was not in vain ; but I laboured more abundantly than they a.II : yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." If God is drawing us nearer to himself we must know it. True unaffected humility recognizes hie working in our unworthy hearts, and longs to be found in Christ, "not having mine own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." The bride compares herself to the curtains of Solomon; the Christian owes whatever he may possess of the beauty of holiness to his communion with the King of saints . .H. THE BRIDE'S LONGING FOR THE BRIDEGROOM'S PRESENCE. 1. Her seeking love. He is not with her n'ow, but her soul goeth forth to him; she apostrophizes her absent lord, and pours forth her yearning in the presence of her companions. (1) The address: " Thou whom my soul loveth." It is an expression of intense affection, repeated several tiines in the song (eh. iii. 1, 2, 3, 4). The love of Christ is the life-spring of the Christian heart. 'l'hat love, when real and trne, makes the Christian seek always, every day and every hour, the blessed presence of the Saviour. That love is the soul's love. It is not a thing of words and phrases, not a matter of outward form and observance; it is treasured deep in the .heart; it is the mainspring of life anrl action; it comes to Christ with the question, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" and that in the ordinary concerns of life, in the trifles, the little joys and sorrows of everyday life, as well as in the emergencies that come now and then, the dangers and distresses which cross our path from time to time. That true, deep love is exceedingly precious ; it is the perfect love that casteth out fear; it can answer like St. Peter, "Lord, thou knowest all thiags; ·thou knowest that I love thee." It is of all graces the holiest and the best; it is the first·of the fruits of the Spirit; it is granted to the believer in answer to fervent persevering prayer. May we whose hearts have long been so cold and dead seek it, and gain it to be our own through the forgiving mercy of our God I (2) She asks where he feeds his flock. The King of Israel is represented as a. shepherd like his father David. The bride thinks more of his love than of his magnificence; she would have loved him with the same entire devotion had he been in her own 1.owly position. Perhaps it was a relief to her to regard him sometimes not as a king, but as a shepherd; perbaps th13 great king bad been pleased to assume such a character for a time to give pleasure to his beloved one. The bride seems sometimes to hint tlrnt this description is figurative (eh. ii. 16; vi. 2, 3); she speaks of the son of David in language like that which David himself had used of Almighty God (Ps. xxiii. 1, 2). The Lord Jesus Christ is the good Shepherd ; he laid down his life for the sheep; he knoweth his own, and his own know him. . He is King of kings and Lord of lords ; but it is a relief to the soul, dazzled by the awful glory of the Godhead, to remember that be laid his glory by that he might save us; and to think of him as made like unto us in all things, sirr only excepted, and therefore touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and able to succour them that are tempted, She asks where he feeds his flock. It is like the aspiration of Job, "Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat I" The Christian soul yearns for the good Shepherd, to draw ever nearer to him, to share his love and mercy. He maketh his sheep to lie down in green pastures; he leadetb them beside the waters of rest. He feeds them; for he is the Bread of w·c-the Bread that came down from heaven to give life unto the world. Their prayer is," Lord, ever- more give us this bread." They feed on him in the daily life of faith, and in the blesscJ  12 THE SONG OF SOLOMON. [CIR, I, 1-17,