Bible Commentaries

So 8:1-14.

1. He had been a brother already. Why, then, this prayer here? It refers to the time after His resurrection, when the previous outward intimacy with Him was no longer allowed, but it was implied it should be renewed at the second coming

(Joh 20:17).

For this the Church here prays; meanwhile she enjoys inward spiritual communion with Him. The last who ever "kissed" Jesus Christ on earth was the traitor Judas. The bride's return with the King to her mother's house answers to

Ac 8:25,

after the mission to Samaria. The rest spoken of

(So 8:4)

answers to

Ac 9:31.

that sucked . . . mother--a brother born of the same mother; the closest tie.

2. Her desire to bring Him into her home circle

(Joh 1:41).

who would instruct me--rather, "thou wouldest instruct me," namely, how I might best please thee

(Isa 11:2, 3; 50:4; Lu 12:12; Joh 14:26; 16:13).

spiced wine--seasoned with aromatic perfumes. Jesus Christ ought to have our choicest gifts. Spices are never introduced in the song in His absence; therefore the time of His return from "the mountain of spices"

(So 8:14)

is contemplated. The cup of betrothal was given by Him at the last supper; the cup or marriage shall be presented by her at His return

(Mt 26:29).

Till then the believer often cannot feel towards, or speak of, Him as he would wish.

3, 4. The "left and right hand," &c., occurred only once actually

(So 2:6),

and here optatively. Only at His first manifestation did the Church palpably embrace Him; at His second coming there shall be again sensible communion with Him. The rest in

So 8:4,

which is a spiritual realization of the wish in

So 8:3

(1Pe 1:8),

and the charge not to disturb it, close the first, second, and fourth canticles; not the third, as the bridegroom there takes charge Himself; nor the fifth, as, if repose formed its close, we might mistake the present state for our rest. The broken, longing close, like that of the whole Bible

(Re 22:20),

reminds us we are to be waiting for a Saviour to come. On "daughters of Jerusalem," see on

So 7:10.

CANTICLE V.--

(So 8:5-14)

--FROM THE CALL OF THE GENTILES TO THE CLOSE OF REVELATION.

5. Who is this--Words of the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, the churches of Judea; referring to Paul, on his return from Arabia ("the wilderness"), whither he had gone after conversion

(Ga 1:15-24).

I raised thee . . . she . . . bare thee--

(Ac 26:14-16).

The first words of Jesus Christ to the bride since her going to the garden of nuts

(So 6:9, 10);

so His appearance to Paul is the only one since His ascension,

So 8:13

is not an address of Him as visible: her reply implies He is not visible

(1Co 15:8).

Spiritually, she was found in the moral wilderness

(Eze 16:5; Ho 13:5);

but now she is "coming up from" it

(Jer 2:2; Ho 2:14),

especially in the last stage of her journey, her conscious weakness casting itself the more wholly on Jesus Christ

(2Co 12:9).

"Raised"

(Eph 2:1-7).

Found ruined under the forbidden tree

(Ge 3:22-24);

restored under the shadow of Jesus Christ crucified, "the green tree"

(Lu 23:31),

fruit-"bearing" by the cross

(Isa 53:11; Joh 12:24).

"Born again by the Holy Ghost" "there"

(Eze 16:3-6).

In this verse, her dependence, in the similar verse,

So 3:6,

&c., His omnipotence to support her, are brought out

(De 33:26).

6. Implying approaching absence of the Bridegroom.

seal--having her name and likeness engraven on it. His Holy Priesthood also in heaven

(Ex 28:6-12, 15-30; Heb 4:14);

"his heart" there answering to "thine heart" here, and "two shoulders" to "arm." (Compare

Jer 22:24, with Hag 2:23).

But the Holy Ghost

(Eph 1:13, 14).

As in

So 8:5,

she was "leaning" on Him, that is, her arm on His arm, her head on His bosom; so she prays now that before they part, her impression may be engraven both on His heart and His arm, answering to His love and His power

(Ps 77:15;

see

Ge 38:18; Isa 62:3).

love is strong as death--

(Ac 21:13; Ro 8:35-39; Re 12:11).

This their love unto death flows from His

(Joh 10:15; 15:13).

jealousy . . . the grave--Zealous love, jealous of all that would come between the soul and Jesus Christ

(1Ki 19:10; Ps 106:30, 31; Lu 9:60; 14:26; 1Co 16:22).

cruel--rather, "unyielding" hard, as the grave will not let go those whom it once holds

(Joh 10:28).

a most vehement flame--literally, "the fire-flame of Jehovah"

(Ps 80:16; Isa 6:6).

Nowhere else is God's name found in the Song. The zeal that burnt in Jesus Christ

(Ps 69:9; Lu 12:49, 50)

kindled in His followers

(Ac 2:3; Ro 15:30; Php 2:17).

7. waters--in contrast with the "coals of fire"

(So 8:6; 1Ki 18:33-38).

Persecutions

(Ac 8:1)

cannot quench love

(Heb 10:34; Re 12:15, 16).

Our many provocations have not quenched His love

(Ro 8:33-39).

if . . . give all the substance . . . contemned--Nothing short of Jesus Christ Himself, not even heaven without Him, can satisfy the saint

(Php 3:8).

Satan offers the world, as to Jesus Christ

(Mt 4:8),

so to the saint, in vain

(1Jo 2:15-17; 5:4).

Nothing but our love in turn can satisfy Him

(1Co 13:1-3).

8. The Gentile Church

(Eze 16:48).

"We," that is, the Hebrew Church, which heretofore admitted Gentiles to communion, only by becoming Judaic proselytes. Now first idolatrous Gentiles are admitted directly

(Ac 11:17-26).

Generally, the saint's anxiety for other souls

(Mr 5:19; Joh 4:28, 29).

no breasts--neither faith nor love as yet (see on

So 4:5),

which "come by hearing" of Him who first loved us. Not yet fit to be His bride, and mother of a spiritual offspring.

what shall we do--the chief question in the early Church at the first council

(Ac 15:23-29).

How shall "the elder brother" treat the "younger," already received by the Father

(Lu 15:25-32)?

Generally

(2Sa 15:15; Joh 9:4; Ac 9:6; Ga 6:10).

In the day . . . spoken for--that is, when she shall be sought in marriage

(Jud 14:7),

namely, by Jesus Christ, the heavenly bridegroom.

9. wall . . . door--the very terms employed as to the Gentile question

(Ac 14:27; Eph 2:14).

If she be a wall in Zion, founded on Jesus Christ

(1Co 3:11),

we will not "withstand God"

(Ac 11:17; 15:8-11).

But if so, we must not "build"

(Ac 15:14-17)

on her "wood, hay, stubble"

(1Co 3:12),

that is, Jewish rites, &c., but "a palace of silver," that is, all the highest privileges of church communion

(Ga 2:11-18; Eph 2:11-22).

Image from the splendid turrets "built" on the "walls" of Jerusalem, and flanking the "door," or gateway. The Gentile Church is the "door," the type of catholic accessibleness

(1Co 16:9);

but it must be not a mere thoroughfare but furnished with a wooden framework, so as not merely to admit, but also to safely enclose: cedar is fragrant, beautiful, and enduring.