Bibelkommentare

INTRODUCTION

The Song of Solomon, called in the Vulgate and Septuagint, "The Song of Songs," from the opening words. This title denotes its superior excellence, according to the Hebrew idiom; so holy of holies, equivalent to "most holy"

(Ex 29:37);

the heaven of heavens, equivalent to the highest heavens

(De 10:14).

It is one of the five volumes (megilloth) placed immediately after the Pentateuch in manuscripts of the Jewish Scriptures. It is also fourth of the Hagiographa (Cetubim, writings) or the third division of the Old Testament, the other two being the Law and the Prophets. The Jewish enumeration of the Cetubim is Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra (including Nehemiah), and Chronicles. Its canonicity is certain; it is found in all Hebrew manuscripts of Scripture; also in the Greek Septuagint; in the catalogues of MELITO, bishop of Sardis, A.D. 170 (EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 4.26), and of others of the ancient Church.

ORIGEN and JEROME tell us that the Jews forbade it to be read by any until he was thirty years old. It certainly needs a degree of spiritual maturity to enter aright into the holy mystery of love which it allegorically sets forth. To such as have attained this maturity, of whatever age they be, the Song of Songs is one of the most edifying of the sacred writings. ROSENMULLER justly says, The sudden transitions of the bride from the court to the grove are inexplicable, on the supposition that it describes merely human love. Had it been the latter, it would have been positively objectionable, and never would have been inserted in the holy canon. The allusion to "Pharaoh's chariots"

(So 1:9)

has been made a ground for conjecturing that the love of Solomon and Pharaoh's daughter is the subject of the Song. But this passage alludes to a remarkable event in the history of the Old Testament Church, the deliverance from the hosts and chariots of Pharaoh at the Red Sea. (However, see on

So 1:9).

The other allusions are quite opposed to the notion; the bride is represented at times as a shepherdess

(So 1:7),

"an abomination to the Egyptians"

(Ge 46:34);

so also

So 1:6; 3:4; 4:8; 5:7

are at variance with it. The Christian fathers, ORIGEN and THEODORET, compared the teachings of Solomon to a ladder with three steps; Ecclesiastes, natural (the nature of sensible things, vain); Proverbs, moral; Canticles, mystical (figuring the union of Christ and the Church). The Jews compared Proverbs to the outer court of Solomon's temple, Ecclesiastes to the holy place, and Canticles to the holy of holies. Understood allegorically, the Song is cleared of all difficulty. "Shulamith"

(So 6:13),

the bride, is thus an appropriate name, Daughter of Peace being the feminine of Solomon, equivalent to the Prince of Peace. She by turns is a vinedresser, shepherdess, midnight inquirer, and prince's consort and daughter, and He a suppliant drenched with night dews, and a king in His palace, in harmony with the various relations of the Church and Christ. As Ecclesiastes sets forth the vanity of love of the creature, Canticles sets forth the fullness of the love which joins believers and the Saviour. The entire economy of salvation, says HARRIS, aims at restoring to the world the lost spirit of love. God is love, and Christ is the embodiment of the love of God. As the other books of Scripture present severally their own aspects of divine truth, so Canticles furnishes the believer with language of holy love, wherewith his heart can commune with his Lord; and it portrays the intensity of Christ's love to him; the affection of love was created in man to be a transcript of the divine love, and the Song clothes the latter in words; were it not for this, we should be at a loss for language, having the divine warrant, wherewith to express, without presumption, the fervor of the love between Christ and us. The image of a bride, a bridegroom, and a marriage, to represent this spiritual union, has the sanction of Scripture throughout; nay, the spiritual union was the original fact in the mind of God, of which marriage is the transcript

(Isa 54:5; 62:5; Jer 3:1, &c.; Eze 16:1-63; 23:1-49;

Mt 9:15; 22:2; 25:1, &c.; Joh 3:29; 2Co 11:2; Eph 5:23-32,

where Paul does not go from the marriage relation to the union of Christ and the Church as if the former were the first; but comes down from the latter as the first and best recognized fact on which the relation of marriage is based;

Re 19:7; 21:2; 22:17).

Above all, the Song seems to correspond to, and form a trilogy with,

Psalms 45 and 72,

which contain the same imagery; just as

Psalm 37

answers to Proverbs, and the

Psalms 39 and 73

to Job. Love to Christ is the strongest, as it is the purest, of human passions, and therefore needs the strongest language to express it: to the pure in heart the phraseology, drawn from the rich imagery of Oriental poetry, will not only appear not indelicate or exaggerated, but even below the reality. A single emblem is a type; the actual rites, incidents, and persons of the Old Testament were appointed types of truths afterwards to be revealed. But the allegory is a continued metaphor, in which the circumstances are palpably often purely imagery, while the thing signified is altogether real. The clue to the meaning of the Song is not to be looked for in the allegory itself, but in other parts of Scripture. "It lies in the casket of revelation an exquisite gem, engraved with emblematical characters, with nothing literal thereon to break the consistency of their beauty" [BURROWES]. This accounts for the name of God not occurring in it. Whereas in the parable the writer narrates, in the allegory he never does so. The Song throughout consists of immediate addresses either of Christ to the soul, or of the soul to Christ. "The experimental knowledge of Christ's loveliness and the believer's love is the best commentary on the whole of this allegorical Song" [LEIGHTON]. Like the curiously wrought Oriental lamps, which do not reveal the beauty of their transparent emblems until lighted up within, so the types and allegories of Scripture, "the lantern to our path"

[Ps 119:105],

need the inner light of the Holy Spirit of Jesus to reveal their significance. The details of the allegory are not to be too minutely pressed. In the Song, with an Oriental profusion of imagery, numbers of lovely, sensible objects are aggregated not strictly congruous, but portraying jointly by their very diversity the thousand various and seemingly opposite beauties which meet together in Christ.

The unity of subject throughout, and the recurrence of the same expressions

(So 2:6, 7; 3:5; 8:3, 4; 2:16; 6:3; 7:10; 3:6; 6:10; 8:5),

prove the unity of the poem, in opposition to those who make it consist of a number of separate erotic songs. The sudden transitions (for example, from the midnight knocking at a humble cottage to a glorious description of the King) accord with the alternations in the believer's experience. However various the divisions assigned be, most commentators have observed four breaks (whatever more they have imagined), followed by four abrupt beginnings

(So 2:7; 3:5; 5:1; 8:4).

Thus there result five parts, all alike ending in full repose and refreshment. We read

(1Ki 4:32)

that Solomon's songs were "a thousand and five." The odd number five added over the complete thousand makes it not unlikely that the "five" refers to the Song of songs, consisting of five parts.

It answers to the idyllic poetry of other nations. The Jews explain it of the union of Jehovah and ancient Israel; the allusions to the temple and the wilderness accord with this; some Christians of Christ and the Church; others of Christ and the individual believer. All these are true; for the Church is one in all ages, the ancient typifying the modern Church, and its history answering to that of each individual soul in it. Jesus "sees all, as if that all were one, loves one, as if that one were all." "The time suited the manner of this revelation; because types and allegories belonged to the old dispensation, which reached its ripeness under Solomon, when the temple was built" [MOODY STUART]. "The daughter of Zion at that time was openly married to Jehovah"; for it is thenceforth that the prophets, in reproving Israel's subsequent sin, speak of it as a breach of her marriage covenant. The songs heretofore sung by her were the preparatory hymns of her childhood; "the last and crowning 'Song of Songs' was prepared for the now mature maiden against the day of her marriage to the King of kings" [ORIGEN]. Solomon was peculiarly fitted to clothe this holy mystery with the lovely natural imagery with which the Song abounds; for "he spake of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall"

(1Ki 4:33).

A higher qualification was his knowledge of the eternal Wisdom or Word of God

(Pr 8:1-36),

the heavenly bridegroom. David, his father, had prepared the way, in

Psalms 45 and 72;

the son perfected the allegory. It seems to have been written in early life, long before his declension; for after it a song of holy gladness would hardly be appropriate. It was the song of his first love, in the kindness of his youthful espousals to Jehovah. Like other inspired books, its sense is not to be restricted to that local and temporary one in which the writer may have understood it; it extends to all ages, and shadows forth everlasting truth

(1Pe 1:11, 12; 2Pe 1:20, 21).

"Oh that I knew how all thy lights combine, and the configurations of their glorie,

Seeing not only how each verse doth shine, but all the constellations of the storie."--HERBERT.

Three notes of time occur [MOODY STUART]: (1) The Jewish Church speaks of the Gentile Church

(So 8:8)

towards the end; (2) Christ speaks to the apostles

(So 5:1)

in the middle; (3) The Church speaks of the coming of Christ

(So 1:2)

at the beginning. Thus we have, in direct order, Christ about to come, and the cry for the advent; Christ finishing His work on earth, and the last supper; Christ ascended, and the call of the Gentiles. In another aspect we have: (1) In the individual soul the longing for the manifestation of Christ to it, and the various alternations in its experience

(So 1:2, 4; 2:8; 3:1, 4, 6, 7)

of His manifestation; (2) The abundant enjoyment of His sensible consolations, which is soon withdrawn through the bride's carelessness

(So 5:1-3,

&c.), and her longings after Him, and reconciliation

(So 5:8-16; 6:3, &c.; So 7:1,

&c.);

(3) Effects of Christ's manifestation on the believer; namely, assurance, labors of love, anxiety for the salvation of the impenitent, eagerness for the Lord's second coming

(So 7:10, 12; 8:8-10, 14).

So 1:1-17.

CANTICLE I.--

(So 1:2-2:7)

--THE BRIDE SEARCHING FOR AND FINDING THE KING.

1. The song of songs--The most excellent of all songs, Hebrew idiom

(Ex 29:37; De 10:14).

A foretaste on earth of the "new song" to be sung in glory

(Re 5:9; 14:3; 15:2-4).

Solomon's--"King of Israel," or "Jerusalem," is not added, as in the opening of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, not because Solomon had not yet ascended the throne [MOODY STUART], but because his personality is hid under that of Christ, the true Solomon (equivalent to Prince of Peace). The earthly Solomon is not introduced, which would break the consistency of the allegory. Though the bride bears the chief part, the Song throughout is not hers, but that of her "Solomon." He animates her. He and she, the Head and the members, form but one Christ [ADELAIDE NEWTON]. Aaron prefigured Him as priest; Moses, as prophet; David, as a suffering king; Solomon, as the triumphant prince of peace. The camp in the wilderness represents the Church in the world; the peaceful reign of Solomon, after all enemies had been subdued, represents the Church in heaven, of which joy the Song gives a foretaste.

2. him--abruptly. She names him not, as is natural to one whose heart is full of some much desired friend: so Mary Magdalene at the sepulchre

(Joh 20:15),

as if everyone must know whom she means, the one chief object of her desire

(Ps 73:25; Mt 13:44-46; Php 3:7,8).

kiss--the token of peace from the Prince of Peace

(Lu 15:20);

"our Peace"

(Ps 85:10; Col 1:21; Eph 2:14).

of his mouth--marking the tenderest affection. For a king to permit his hands, or even garment, to be kissed, was counted a great honor; but that he should himself kiss another with his mouth is the greatest honor. God had in times past spoken by the mouth of His prophets, who had declared the Church's betrothal; the bride now longs for contact with the mouth of the Bridegroom Himself

(Job 23:12; Lu 4:22; Heb 1:1, 2).

True of the Church before the first advent, longing for "the hope of Israel," "the desire of all nations"; also the awakened soul longing for the kiss of reconciliation; and further, the kiss that is the token of the marriage contract

(Ho 2:19, 20),

and of friendship

(1Sa 20:41; Joh 14:21; 15:15).

thy love--Hebrew, "loves," namely, tokens of love, loving blandishments.

wine--which makes glad "the heavy heart" of one ready to perish, so that he "remembers his misery no more"

(Pr 31:6, 7).

So, in a "better" sense, Christ's love

(Hab 3:17, 18).

He gives the same praise to the bride's love, with the emphatic addition, "How much"

(So 4:10).

Wine was created by His first miracle

(Joh 2:1-11),

and was the pledge given of His love at the last supper. The spiritual wine is His blood and His spirit, the "new" and better wine of the kingdom

(Mt 26:29),

which we can never drink to "excess," as the other

(Eph 5:18;

compare

Ps 23:5; Isa 55:1).

3. Rather, "As regards the savor of thy ointments, it is good" [MAURER]. In

So 4:10, 11,

the Bridegroom reciprocates the praise of the bride in the same terms.

thy name--Christ's character and office as the "Anointed"

(Isa 9:6; 61:1),

as "the savor of ointments" are the graces that surround His person

(Ps 45:7, 8).

Ec 7:1,

in its fullest sense, applies to Him. The holy anointing oil of the high priest, which it was death for anyone else to make (so

Ac 4:12),

implies the exclusive preciousness of Messiah's name

(Ex 30:23-28, 31-38).

So Mary brake the box of precious ointment over Him, appropriately

(Mr 14:5),

the broken box typifying His body, which, when broken, diffused all grace: compounded of various spices, &c.

(Col 1:19; 2:9);

of sweet odor

(Eph 5:2).

poured--

(Isa 53:12; Ro 5:5).

therefore--because of the manifestation of God's character in Christ

(1Jo 4:9, 19).

So the penitent woman

(Lu 7:37, 38, 47).

virgins--the pure in heart

(2Co 11:2; Re 14:4).

The same Hebrew is translated, "thy hidden ones"

(Ps 83:3).

The "ointment" of the Spirit "poured forth" produces the "love of Christ"

(Ro 5:5).

4. (1) The cry of ancient Israel for Messiah, for example, Simeon, Anna, &c. (2) The cry of an awakened soul for the drawing of the Spirit, after it has got a glimpse of Christ's loveliness and its own helplessness.

Draw me--The Father draws

(Joh 6:44).

The Son draws

(Jer 31:3; Ho 11:4; Joh 12:32).

"Draw" here, and "Tell"

(So 1:7),

reverently qualify the word "kiss"

(So 1:2).

me, we--No believer desires to go to heaven alone. We are converted as individuals; we follow Christ as joined in a communion of saints

(Joh 1:41, 45).

Individuality and community meet in the bride.

run--Her earnestness kindles as she prays

(Isa 40:31; Ps 119:32, 60).

after thee--not before

(Joh 10:4).

king . . . brought me into--

(Ps 45:14, 15; Joh 10:16).

He is the anointed Priest

(So 1:3);

King

(So 1:4).

chambers--Her prayer is answered even beyond her desires. Not only is she permitted to run after Him, but is brought into the inmost pavilion, where Eastern kings admitted none but the most intimate friends

(Es 4:11; 5:2; Ps 27:5).

The erection of the temple of Solomon was the first bringing of the bride into permanent, instead of migratory, chambers of the King. Christ's body on earth was the next

(Joh 2:21),

whereby believers are brought within the veil

(Eph 2:6; Heb 10:19, 20).

Entrance into the closet for prayer is the first step. The earnest of the future bringing into heaven

(Joh 14:3).

His chambers are the bride's also

(Isa 26:20).

There are various chambers, plural

(Joh 14:2).

be glad and rejoice--inward and outward rejoicing.

in thee--

(Isa 61:10; Php 4:1, 4).

Not in our spiritual frames

(Ps 30:6, 7).

remember--rather, "commemorate with praises"

(Isa 63:7).

The mere remembrance of spiritual joys is better than the present enjoyment of carnal ones

(Ps 4:6, 7).

upright--rather, "uprightly," "sincerely"

(Ps 58:1; Ro 12:9);

so Nathanael

(Joh 1:47);

Peter (Joh 21:17);

or "deservedly" [MAURER].

5. black--namely, "as the tents of Kedar," equivalent to blackness

(Ps 120:5).

She draws the image from the black goatskins with which the Scenite Arabs ("Kedar" was in Arabia-Petræa) cover their tents (contrasted with the splendid state tent in which the King was awaiting His bride according to Eastern custom); typifying the darkness of man's natural state. To feel this, and yet also feel one's self in Jesus Christ "comely as the curtains of Solomon," marks the believer

(Ro 7:18, &c.; 8:1);

1Ti 1:15,

"I am chief"; so she says not merely, "I was," but "I am"; still black in herself, but comely through His comeliness put upon her

(Eze 16:14).

curtains--first, the hangings and veil in the temple of Solomon

(Eze 16:10);

then, also, the "fine linen which is the righteousness of saints"

(Re 19:8),

the white wedding garment provided by Jesus Christ

(Isa 61:10; Mt 22:11; 1Co 1:30; Col 1:28; 2:10; Re 7:14).

Historically, the dark tents of Kedar represent the Gentile Church

(Isa 60:3-7,

&c.). As the vineyard at the close is transferred from the Jews, who had not kept their own, to the Gentiles, so the Gentiles are introduced at the commencement of the Song; for they were among the earliest enquirers after Jesus Christ

(Mt 2:1-12):

the wise men from the East (Arabia, or Kedar).

daughters of Jerusalem--professors, not the bride, or "the virgins," yet not enemies; invited to gospel blessings

(So 3:10, 11);

so near to Jesus Christ as not to be unlikely to find Him

(So 5:8);

desirous to seek Him with her

(So 6:1;

compare

So 6:13; 7:1, 5, 8).

In

So 7:8, 9,

the bride's Beloved becomes their Beloved; not, however, of all of them

(So 8:4;

compare

Lu 23:27, 28).

6. She feels as if her blackness was so great as to be gazed at by all.

mother's children--

(Mt 10:36).

She is to forget "her own people and her father's house," that is, the worldly connections of her unregenerate state

(Ps 45:10);

they had maltreated her

(Lu 15:15, 16).

Children of the same mother, but not the same father [MAURER],

(Joh 8:41-44).

They made her a common keeper of vineyards, whereby the sun looked upon, that is, burnt her; thus she did "not keep her own" vineyard, that is, fair beauty. So the world, and the soul

(Mt 16:26; Lu 9:25).

The believer has to watch against the same danger

(1Co 9:27).

So he will be able, instead of the self-reproach here, to say as in

So 8:12.

7. my soul loveth--more intense than "the virgins" and "the upright love thee"

(So 1:3, 4; Mt 22:37).

To carry out the design of the allegory, the royal encampment is here represented as moving from place to place, in search of green pastures, under the Shepherd King

(Ps 23:1-6).

The bride, having first enjoyed communion with him in the pavilion, is willing to follow Him into labors and dangers; arising from all absorbing love

(Lu 14:26);

this distinguishes her from the formalist

(Joh 10:27; Re 14:4).

feedest--tendest thy flock

(Isa 40:11; Heb 13:20; 1Pe 2:25; 5:4; Re 7:17).

No single type expresses all the office of Jesus Christ; hence arises the variety of diverse images used to portray the manifold aspects of Him: these would be quite incongruous, if the Song referred to the earthly Solomon. Her intercourse with Him is peculiar. She hears His voice, and addresses none but Himself. Yet it is through a veil; she sees Him not

(Job 23:8, 9).

If we would be fed, we must follow the Shepherd through the whole breadth of His Word, and not stay on one spot alone.

makest . . . to rest--distinct from "feedest"; periods of rest are vouchsafed after labor

(Isa 4:6; 49:10; Eze 34:13-15).

Communion in private must go along with public following of Him.

turneth aside--rather one veiled, that is, as a harlot, not His true bride

(Ge 38:15),

[GESENIUS]; or as a mourner

(2Sa 15:30),

[WEISS]; or as one unknown [MAURER]. All imply estrangement from the Bridegroom. She feels estranged even among Christ's true servants, answering to "thy companions"

(Lu 22:28),

so long as she has not Himself present. The opposite spirit to

1Co 3:4.