The Pulpit Commentary — Song of Songs — Section 106

nht1unded in that district, especially lions perfection? As the Church advances in her and pnnthcrs. They were found in tho likeness t,o her Lord, she bcoomos more and clcfh nnd defiles of the rocks. Lions, how- more the objeot of his delight, aud as the cYcr. !JR'l"e now altoget.her disappeared. In soul receiYes more and more grace, so le thr name Amana some think there is an her fellowship with Christ more and more nllusion to truth (amen) (see Hos. ii. 22); assured rtnd joyful. but that would be too obscure. The general Vera. I 0, I 1.-How fair is thy love, my intention of the passage is simple and plain sister, my bride! How muoh better is thy --Leave !.he rough places, and come to my love than wine! and the smell of thine palace. The ~•ords "with me" ('!"~) are ointments than all manner of spioes I Thy tnken by the LXX. and Vnlgat.e as tliough lips, 0 my bride, drop as the honeycomb; 'll'ritten •;:,~, the imperative of "~!$, "to honey and milk are ll.llder thy tongue ; and corn<'," as a word of in'<itation, o•vpo. The the smell of thy garments is liko the smell usc of the rnrb •15i:ir;i, "thon shalt come," of Lebanon. The expression of thy love, that i.B. thou hast come and be content, renders is, the endearments, the embraces, are de- it improbable that such should be the read- lightful. The allusion to the lips may be a ing, whereas the preposition with the pro- mere amplifico.tion of the word "love," but noun is quite in place. The spiritual 1man- it ma.y also refer to speech, aud we think of ing is not fo.r to ;ceck. The life that we the uineteentll psalm and the description of live without Christ is at best a life among the words and testimony of the Lord, the wild, untamed impulses of nature, and " more to be desired than gold, and sweeter in the rough and dangerous places of the than honey and the droppings of the honey- world. He invites us to go with him to the comb" (cf. Gen. xxvii. 27; Hos. iv. 7; place which he has prepared for us. And Ps. xiv. 9). The words of pure, inward joy so the Church will leave its crude thoughts flowing forth from the lips may be 80 de- and undeveloped life, and seek, in the love scribed. So the Lord has said, in Isa. !xii. 5, of Christ and in the gifts of his Spirit, a that he rejoiceth over his people as tbe truer reflection of his nature and will (see bridegroom rejoiceth over. the bri<le. Eph. 1v. 14-16). The Apocalypse is based Ver. 12.-A garden shut up is my sister, upon the same idea, the advancement of the my bride ; a spring shut np, a folllltaill kingdom of Christ from the place of lions sealed. We must bear in mind that these words are supposed to . be spoken on the and panthers to ihe new Jerusalem, with its journey in the marriage procession. The perfection of beauty and its eternal peace. bride is not yet brought to the royal pale.oe. Ver. 9.-Thou hast ravished my heart, She is still travelling in the royal palanquin. my sister, my bride; thou hast ravished my The idea of a paradise or garden is carried heart with one of thi.n.e eyes, with one chain from the beginning of Scripture to th& end, of thy neck. The bridegroom still continues the symbol of perfect blessedness. The his uddre:ss of love, which we must not, of figure of the closed or shut-up garden re- conroe, press too closely, though it is notice- presents the bridegroom's delight in tho able tlu,t the language becomes somewhat sense of absolute and(.sole possession-for wore sober in tone, as tbougll the writer himself and no other. .The language is were conscious of the higher application to very natural at such a time, when the bride which it would be put. Some translators is being taken from her home. We may take the first clause as though the word . compare with the figul'es here employed "ravished" should be rendered "elllbold- tllose in Prov. v. 15-20. • ened." Symmachus, ,eaprrwa.s µ.,. The He- . Vers. 13, 14.-Thy shoots are an orohard brew word :i~~. literally, "heartened," way of pomegranates, with preoioue fruits; henna mean, ne in Aramaic, " ma.ke courageous." with spikenard plants, apikenard and saft'ron, Love in the beginning overpowers, unhearts, -oalamaa and cinnamon, with all trees of but the general idea must be that of frankincense ; myrrh and aloos, with .all the "smitten" or "captured." So the LXX., Ve- chief spices. Thy shoots; i.e. that which netian, and Jerome, ,,ca.p5/.,,rras µ.,, vvl11erasti comes iorth from thee, thy plants, or, ns cor meum (cf. Ps. xiv. 6). My ¥i.8ter, rny bride, Bottcher puts it, "all the phenomena and is, of course, the same as "my sisterly L,ride," life-utterances of her personality." All the a step beyond "my betrothed." GeseuilIB plants had their meaning in flower hmguage, thiukB that "one of thine eyes" should be They are mostly exotios. But 'it 'is difficult "oue look of thine;" but may it not refer to now to suggest meaning~, though. they may the eye appearing through the veil, as age.in have been fawiliar t,o Jewish readers e.t the fine chain of the uook may glitter and time. • The pardes, "park, or enclosure," WM attract e.11 the more that the whole orna- adorned especially with foreign and fragr,,nt mentation <lid not appear in view? If but plants of great beauty. It is an Old Pcl'sian 11, portion of her beauty 80 overpowers, what word, perhaps, as Delitzilch suggests, from will be thf effect of the whole blaze of her pairi (1r,pl) and dez (Pers. diz), "e. heap," CB, IV, 1-10,) 'l'IlE SONG OF SOLmlO~. !)5