The Pulpit Commentary — Song of Songs — Section 155

complcdns while he is u.bsont; but when be Lriclo was liko tl,e streams and fl,,;,cr.,, ll19 comes nn,l reveals himself, clelighting in his bircls and flocks, of beautiful Galile0; " poople, their beu.uty, which is a roHection society of believing peasants untouche,l 1,y of his, will shine forth as the sun for ever the cnnvontionalitiea of J udma, and rcarly t,, nnd evor. Tho word which is employecl, respond to the gram! mountain-like earnccst- "terrible," is from the root "to be impe- ness and heavenly purity of the new Prophet, tuous," " to press impetuously upon,"" to in- the Shepherd of Israel, "who feedeth h ia fuse terror," LXX., av,i,r,-epoiiv, "to make to flock e.mong the lilies." There is a corre- start up," referring to the fle.shofthe eyes, the spondence in the early Church, before cor- overpowering brightness of the countenance. ruption crept in and sophistication obscured Bo the purity and excellence of the Churan the simplicity of faith and life amoncr shall delight the Lord, and no ee.rthly power Christiane, to this description of the brid~ shu.11 be able to stand before it. Heaven the Lamb's wife. There must he a return e.nd earth she.11 meet in the latter days. to that primitive ideal before there ca.n bo Wickedness she.11 fly before righteousness e.s the rapturous joy of the Cl,urch which is e. defeated host before a victorious army. promised. We are too much turned asiclo Is there not something like a practical com- from the Bridegroom to false and worthlesa mentary on these words in the history of all attractions which do not delight the Beloved great revive.le of religion e.nd eras of refor- One. When he sees bis bricle as he first mation? Are there not signs even now that saw her, he will renew his praises ancl lift the beauty of the Church is becoming more her up to himself. e.nd more e.rmy-like, and bearing down Vera. 8, 9.-There are three score queans, opposition? The remainder of the descrip- e.nd fonr acore concubines, and virgins with- tion is little more the.n a. repetition of what out number. My dove, my undefiled is but has gone before, with some di1ferences. one; she is the only one of he!' mother, she is Mount Gilead is here simply Gilead. The the ohoice one of her that bare her. The flock of shorn sheep is here the flock of ewes daughters saw her, and ce.lled her blessed; with their young. Perhaps there is intended yen, the queens and the concubines, e.nd they to be a special significance in tue use of the praised her. The account given us of same description. The bride is the same, Solomon's harem in 1 Kings xi. 3 represents and therefore the same terms apply to her; the number as much larger. Is not that be- but she ie more bee.utiful than ever in the cause the time referred to in the poem was eyes of the bridegroom. le it not a delicate early in the reign? The words are an echo mode of se.ying, "Though my e.bsence from of what we read in Prov. xxxi. 28 aucl Gen. thee has made thee complain for a while, xxx. 13. Perhaps the general meaning is thou art still the so.me to me"? There is merely to celebrate the surpassing beauty of scope here for variety of interprete.tion the new bride. But there certainly is a. which there ie no need to follow. Some special stress laid on her pnrity and inno- would say the reference is to the ste.te of cence. There is no necessity to seek for anv the Church e.t different periods-as e.g. to exu.ct interpretation of the queens anJ con- the primitive Church in its simplicity and cubines. They represent female beauty in purity, to the Church of the empire in its its variety. The true Church is in closer splendour and growing dominion. The relation to the Bridegroom than all the rest Jewish expositors apply it to the different of the world. Even in the he1tthen and un- stages in the history of Isre.el, "the oongre- converterl world there is a reveh,tion of the ge.tion" being the bride, e.s uncler the first Word, or, as the o.ucientFathers of the Church temple and under the second temple. lhn said, e. A&-yos <T11'<pµ«T<teos. He was then "s Ezra, and indeed e.11 expositors, recognize light, though the darkness comprehended him the reason for the repetition as in the same- not. The perfection of the true bride of the ness of affection. "The beloved repeats Lamb will be e.cknowledged even by those the same things here to show that it is still who are not professedly Christian. his own true bride to whom he speaks, the Ver. 10.-Who is she that looketh forth as sameness in the features proving it.". So the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the the 'fargum. The flock of goats, the flock of sun, terrible as e.n army with be.nners ! This, ewes, the piece of pomegrane.te, all suggest of course, is the pre.ise which comes from the the simple purity of country life in which lips of the queens ancl concubines, the ladies the king found so much satisfaction. He of the ha.rem, the daughters of Jerusalem. is wrapt up in his northern bee.uty, and Tho word rendered "looketh forth" is lite- idolizes her. One cannot help thinking rally " bendeth forward," i.e. in order to look of the early Jewish Ohuroh coming forth out or forth (of. Pa. xiv. 2), LX.X., IK1<tnrToiirT«: from Ge.lilee, when all spoke of the freshness Venet., ,rap«1<u11"Toii<Ta(cf. Jas. i. 25," stooping 11.ud genuineness of a simple-hearteu piety down and looking into the Word as into a dru.wn forth by the preaching of the Son of well"). The idea seems to be that of a risiug l\lury-the virgin-born Bridegrooin whose lurnimuy, looking forth from the background, 80NO Of BOJ:,OM0?-1, L  146 TTIE SONG OF SOLOMON, [ell. VI, 1-13,