;:,,,pcl to cYery creature," that first ce.lled the Gentiles into the city of God. Till he enlb us ~ve arc like the bride in the song, immersed in worldly pursuits and earthly cnrcs; be brings us into the new Jerusalem and makes us fellow-citizens with the saint,. ,ve must remember always that" By the grace of God I am what I am;" that whate\"er we may have done of good or right, it was "Not I, but t.be grace of (,,,J which was with me" (1 Cor. xv. 10). "By grace are ye saved through faith i nnd that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Eph. ii. 8). 'l.'be bride was poor i ri this world's goods; we Christians must be "poor in spirit." 'l'hat holy poverty, that sense of our own helplessness and need of the Saviour, is very blessed; it bas tbe first ple.ce in the Beatitudes. 2. Her exaltation. "I knew not," she says, "my s0ul made me the chariots of my people, a princely [people]." She uses a military figure, perhaps suggested by the words twice addressed to her in this chapter, " Terrible as an army with banners." In a sense she accepts the metaphor. Elijah aud Elisha had been severally called "the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof" (2 Kings ii. 12; xiii. 14). So now the bride had been raised to a lofty position, and was awe-inspiring in her majesty, like a bannered host, or the chariots of a princ-ely people. Her soul, she says, had made her this; she means her soul's loYe for the bridegroom, whom she so often describes as "him whom my soul loveth" ( eh. i. 7; iii. 1, 2, 3, 4). The king saw her and loved her. His love won her innocent "\ieart; and that pure, artless love of hers, the love which filled her soul, the seat of the affections, had lifted her up into the very highest place in the affections of the king, so that now in her queenly majesty she was not only fair as the moon, but awe-inspiring as a bannered host, as the war-chariots of a princely people. So it is love that makes one man better than another in the sight of God; not riches, or refinement, or learning, but love. There is, as it were, a hierarchy of love in the universe. Good men love, angels love more, but God is love-the infinite, ever- lasting Love. "He prayetb best:who loveth best." He is nearest to God who by his Spirit bas learned the great grace of love. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting lire" (John iii. 16). The love of Christ draws forth the love of his people. Their love, given in response to his most holy love, lifts them nearer to the King; it makes them take up the cross and follow him_as his faithful soldiers, quitting themselves like men in the good fight of faith; it makes them terrible to the powers of evil as a bannered host, as the war-chariots of iron were in the days of the Judges (Judg. i. 19; iv. 3). III. SHORT DIALOGUE CONCLUDING THE ooNVEBBATION. 1. Request of the chorus. The bride retires; the maidens of the chorus eagerly call her back; they desire to look again upon her beauty. They call her for the first and only time, "0 Shula.mite I" What is the meaning of the word? Is it equivalent to Shunamite? Was the bride a native of Sbunem in the Plain of Esdraelon, where Elisha afterwards was wont to sojourn (2 Kings iv. 8-12)? And if so, can it be that the historical basis of the song is the love of Solomon for Abishag the fair Shunamite of 1 Kings i. 3? Or, again, is it possible, as some scholars have suggested, that the Hebrew name Shula- mith may have been chosen as a near approach to the feminine form (Shelomith) of Solomon (Shelomoh), signifying the bride's relationship to the great monarch? But the bride seen.JS to belong to the Lebanon district; and wives were not then accustomed to take their husband's name. Again, Shulamith may possrbly have been the original name of the maiden, though it occurs nowhere else as a proper name. It is enough for our purpose that the word suggests the meaning "peaceful;" the Vulgate rendering is pacijica. The bride is modest and quiet, she is peaceful; such should Christiane be. 2. Question of the bride. She repeats the name given to her by the chorus, and asks, "What will ye see in the Shula.mite?" The question is asked in modesty. The last clause of the verse, whether taken as part of the question or as the answer of the chorus, is exceedingly difficult. The word translated "company" is the second part of Abel-mebolah (" the meadow of the dance"), the home of Elisha (l Kings xix. 16). The Hebrew for "two armies" may be the name of the town in Gilead, "Mabauaim," so called by Jacob when "the angels of God met him" there (Gen. xxxii. 2). Hence the tramlation of the Revised Version, "Why will ye luok upon the Shulamite e.s upon the dance of Mahanaim?" as if the chorus was inviting cm. v,. 1-18.] 'rHE: SONG OF SOLOMON. 1/53
the bride to dance eome etately measure called from the Gileadite town. Somo commentators who take this view understand the bride's words as a modest refusal ; others, that Rhe complies with their request. But the second Hebrew word has the definite article, which woulrl scarcely be used here if it were the name of the city. And if the first word must mean "dance," ae it elsewhere docs, may it not be taken in connection with the preceding titles of praise, "the bannered host" and "thf' chariots of a princely people," as a martial dance, or as the stately and well-orderef! evolutions of two bands of warriors? This interpretation, which is suggested with much doubt, may perhaps be regarded as yielding a more suitable explanation than that of the dance, though this last is the view of many accomplished scholars. The chorus looks upon the bride with the interest and delight with which they would watch the evolutions of two hosts with banners and chariots. Warlike images occur several times in the song (eh. i. 9; vi. 4, 10, 12). To the Christian the words recall the onward march of the army of the soldiers of the cross with the attendant escort of angels, the two hosts (Mahanaim) of Gen. xxxii. 2. J!'or the angels of God still, as in the times of old, encamp round about them that fear him to deliver them (Ps. xxxiv. 7). .And still, if our eyes were opened, we should see, as the servant of Elisha once saw, "chariots and horses of fire round about" the faithful. "They that be with us are more than they that be with" the enemy (2 Kings vi. 16, 17).