he e.bid0B, spreads racliancy and loveliness concrete-" the mountains of separation," e.bout him," or "in whose footsteps roses i.e. the mouute.l.ns whioh separate. LXX. e.nd IiliC's cv0r blonm." At least, they are llp71 .-ciiv 1<01'/\a,p.a..-oi11," decusallted mountains.'1 expl'('.ssive of entire self-surrender and The Syrioo and 'l'heodotion tnke the word delight. She herself is e. lil.y, and the as• for blshamim, i.e. offerings of incense l>rlnrcd one feeds upon her beauty, purity, (6uµ,a.p.a..-wv). There is no such geogmphi- nn,l perfection. cal name known, though there is Bithron, Yn. 17.-Until the day be oool, and the east of Jorda.u, near M11.hllnuim (2 Sllm, ii. shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, e.nd 29). The Chaldee, Ibn-Ezm, Rllshi, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the many others reuder it ••separation" ( cf. mountains of Bather. This is generally Luther's scl1eideberge). lioolmrt ea.ye, supposed to be the voice of ihe maiden "Montes scissionis ita dicti propter ~"'XJl,ovs addressing her suitor, and bidding him et :xa.<rp.a..-il.." The rnecmiug ha.s been thus return in the evening, when the day cools, set forth: "The request of Shulllmith that e.nd when the lengthening shadows fe.11 into he should return to the mountains brellthes night. Some have seen in such words a self-denying humility, patient modesty, in- clear indication of a clandestine interview, ward joy in the joy or her beloved. She and would find in them a confirmation of will not claim him for herself till he have their hypothesis that the poem is founded acoomplished his work. But when he on a romantic story of Solomon's attempt to essociates with her in the evening, as with draw a shepherdess from her shepherd. But the Emmans disciples, she will rejoice if ha there is no necessity to disturb the flow of becomes her guide through the new-born the bride's loving recollections by such a world of spring. Perhaps we may say the fancy. She is recalling the visit of her Parousia of the Lord is here referred to in Jover. How, at first, she declined his invi- the evening of the world" (of. Luke x.xiv.). tation to go forth with him to the vineyards, On the whole, it seems most in hllrmony but with professions of love appealed to with the context to take the words as pre- him to return to the mountains, and in the paring us for what follows-the account of evening come once more and rejoice in her the ma.iden's distress when she woke up love. But the words may be rendered, and found not her beloved. We must not "during the whole day, and until the even- expect to be able to explain the language ing comes, turn thyself to me," which is the as though it were a clear historical com- view takeu by some critics. The lo.ngnage position. relating facts and incidents. The may be general; that is, "Turn, and I will real line of thought is the underlying con- follow." " The mountains of liether" are the nection of spiritual meaning. There is a rugged mountains; Betker, from u root "to separation of the lovers. The :soul wakes divide," "to cut," i.e. divided by ravines; up to feel that its object of delight is gone. or the word may be the abstract for the Then it complains.
HOMILETICS. Vers.1-1.-0onverse of the bridegroom and the bride continued. I. THE VOICE OF THE DUIDE. L The rose of Sharon. They were sitting, it s_eema, in a. forest gla.de at the foot of some lofty cedar, sheltered by its embowering branches; beneath was their grassy seat, bricrht with many flowers. The bride feels that she is as one of those fair flowers in the b~idecrroom's eyes. " I am the rose of Sharon," she says, in her artless acceptance of the bridegroom's loving approval. We cannot identify the flower called here and in Isa. x.xxv. 1, the rose. Our rose, we are told, was brought from Persia long after the time of Solomon; it is first mentioned in the Apocrypha (Ecclus. xxiv. 14; xxxiL 13; L 8). The rose of the canonical Scriptures ma.y be, as many have thought, the narcissus, which is very common in the Plain of Sh3:ron, and is ~till the fav~urite flower of the inhabitants. The word" Sharon" may mean simply" a plam;" but, as 1t has the article, it probably stands here for the famous Plain of Sharon, so celebrated in ancient times for its fertility and beauty. The bride is like a lowly 1lower of the field, not majestic like those lofty cedars, but yet lovely in the bridegroom's sight. The Ohristian is humble of heart; he is helpless and short-lived as a flower. "All fl~sh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass." But because Christ hath loved him and died for him, he knows that he is dear to his Saviour. -2. The lily of the valleys. Here, too, there is an uncertainty. The word rendered "lily" (sh1/,/Jha.n, tbo name of the famous Persian city, the "Shushan the p&lace" of the Book of Esther) is used of many bright-coloured. 6.owers. We infer from eh. v. 13 that this lily was red; hence some OH, II, 1..._17.] THE SONG OF SOLOMON. 43