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In this chapter, I. Christ speaks both concerning himself and concerning his church, So 2:1,2. II. The church speaks, 1. Remembering the pleasure and satisfaction she has in communion with Christ, So 2:3,4. 2. Entertaining herself with the present tokens of his favour and taking care that nothing happen to intercept them, So 2:5-7. 3. Triumphing in his approaches towards her, So 2:8,9. 4. Repeating the gracious calls he had given her to go along with him a walking, invited by the pleasures of the returning spring (So 2:10-13), out of her obscurity (So 2:14), and the charge he had given to the servants to destroy that which would be hurtful to his vineyard, So 2:15. 5. Rejoicing in her interest in him, So 2:16. 6. Longing for his arrival, So 2:17. Those whose hearts are filled with love to Christ, and hope of heaven, know best what these things mean.

A description of the bridegroom, and his love to the bride, Sol 2:1-9. A fine description of spring, Sol 2:10-13. The mutual love of both, Sol 2:14-17.

INTRODUCTION TO SONG OF SOLOMON 2

Here begins a new colloquy between Christ and his church; in which they alternately set forth the excellencies of each other; and express their mutual affection for, and delight and pleasure they take in, each other's company. Christ seems to begin, in an account of himself and his own excellencies, and of the church in her present state, Sol 2:1; then she, in her turn, praises him, and commends him above all others relates some choice proofs she had had of his love to her, and of communion with him in his house and ordinances, to such a degree as to overcome her, Sol 2:3; and then either he or she gives a charge to the daughters of Jerusalem, not to disturb either the one or the other in their sweet repose, Sol 2:7. Next the church relates how she heard the voice of Christ, and had a sight of him on the hills and mountains, at some distance; then more nearly, behind her wall, and through the lattices, Sol 2:8; and expresses the very words in which he spake to her, and gave her a call to come away with him; making use of arguments from the season of the year, the signs of which are beautifully described, Sol 2:10; and requests that she would come out of her solitude, that he might enjoy her company, whose countenance and voice are so delightful to him; and gives a charge to her and her friends, to seize on such as were harmful and prejudicial to their mutual property, Sol 2:14. And she closes the chapter with expressing her faith of interest in Christ; and with a petition for his speedy approach to her, and continued presence with her, Sol 2:16.

So 2:1-17.

1. rose--if applied to Jesus Christ, it, with the white lily (lowly,

2Co 8:9),

answers to "white and ruddy"

(So 5:10).

But it is rather the meadow-saffron: the Hebrew means radically a plant with a pungent bulb, inapplicable to the rose. So Syriac. It is of a white and violet color [MAURER, GESENIUS, and WEISS]. The bride thus speaks of herself as lowly though lovely, in contrast with the lordly "apple" or citron tree, the bridegroom

(So 2:3);

so the "lily" is applied to her

(So 2:2),

Sharon--

(Isa 35:1, 2).

In North Palestine, between Mount Tabor and Lake Tiberias

(1Ch 5:16).

Septuagint and Vulgate translate it, "a plain"; though they err in this, the Hebrew Bible not elsewhere favoring it, yet the parallelism to valleys shows that, in the proper name Sharon, there is here a tacit reference to its meaning of lowliness. Beauty, delicacy, and lowliness, are to be in her, as they were in Him

(Mt 11:29).

The division of the chapters is unfortunate; Cant. 2 ought to have begun at Sol 1:15, or Cant. 1 to have been continued to Sol 2:7. The bride replies, "And I am like a lovely wild flower springing at the root of the stately forest-trees." The majority of Christian fathers assigned this verse to the King (Christ). Hebrew commentators generally assign it to the bride. It is quite uncertain what flower is meant by the word rendered (here and Isaiah 35:1) "rose." The etymology is in favor of its being a bulbous plant (the white narcissus, Conder). "Sharon" is usually the proper name of the celebrated plain from Joppa to Caesarea, between the hill-country and the sea, and travelers have remarked the abundance of flowers with which this plain is still carpeted in spring. But in the time of Eusebius and Jerome there was a smaller plain of Sharon (Saron) situated between Mount Tabor and the sea of Tiberias, which would be very near the bride's native home if that were Shunem.

I am the rose of Sharon - Sharon was a very fruitful place, where David's cattle were fed, 1 Chronicles 27:29. It is mentioned as a place of excellence, Isaiah 35:2, and as a place of flocks, Isaiah 65:10, Perhaps it would be better, with almost all the versions, to translate, "I am the rose of the field." The bridegroom had just before called her fair; she with a becoming modesty, represents her beauty as nothing extraordinary, and compares herself to a common flower of the field. This, in the warmth of his affection, he denies, insisting that she as much surpasses all other maidens as the flower of the lily does the bramble, Sol 2:2.

I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. Whether Christ, or the church, is here speaking, is not certain: most of the Jewish writers (t), and some Christian interpreters (u), take them to be the words of the church, expressing the excellency of her grace, loveliness, and beauty, she had from Christ; and intimating also her being in the open fields, exposed to many dangers and enemies, and so needed his protection. The church may be compared to a "rose", for its beautiful colour and sweet odour (w), and for its delight in sunny places, where it thrives best, and is most fragrant. This figure is exceeding just; not only the beauty of women is expressed by the colour of the rose (x), as is common in poems of this kind; to give instances of it would be endless (y); some have had the name of Rhoda from hence; see Acts 12:13. No rose can be more beautiful in colour, and delightful to the eye, than the church is in the eyes of Christ, as clothed with his righteousness, and adorned with the graces of his Spirit: nor is any rose of a more sweet and fragrant smell than the persons of believers are to God and Christ, being considered in him; and even their graces, when in exercise, yea, their duties and services, when performed in faith; and, as the rose, they grow and thrive under the warming, comforting, and refreshing beams of the sun of righteousness, where they delight to be. The church may also be compared to a "lily of the valleys", as she is, in the next verse, to one among thorns. This is a very beautiful flower; Pliny (z) says it is next in nobleness to the rose; its whiteness is singularly excellent; no plant more fruitful, and no flower exceeds it in height; in some countries, it rises up three cubits high; has a weak neck or body, insufficient to bear the weight of its head. The church may be compared to a lily, for her beauty and fragrance, as to a rose; and the redness of the rose, and the whiteness of the lily, meeting in her, make her somewhat like her beloved, white and ruddy; like the lily, being arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness of the saints; and like it for fruitfulness, as it is in good works, under the influence of divine grace, and grows up on high into her head, Christ Jesus; and though weak in herself, yet strong in him, who supports her, and not she him: and the church may be compared to a "lily of the valleys"; which may not describe any particular lily, and what we now call so; but only expresses the place where it grows, in low places, where plants are in danger of being plucked and trodden upon; though they may have more moisture and verdure than those in higher places; so the church of Christ is sometimes in a low estate, exposed to enemies, and liable to be trampled and trodden under foot by them, and to be carried away with the flood of persecution, were it not guarded by divine power; and, being watered with the dews of grace, it becomes flourishing and fruitful. But the more commonly received opinion is, that these are the words of Christ concerning himself; and which indeed best become him, and are more agreeable to his style and language, John 14:6; and suit best with the words in the Sol 2:2, as one observes (a); nor is it unfitly taken by the bridegroom to himself, since it is sometimes given by lovers to men (b). Christ may be compared to a rose for its colour and smell; to the rose for its red colour: and which may be expressive of the truth of his humanity, and of his bloody sufferings in it; and this, with the whiteness of the lily, finishes the description of him for his beauty, Sol 5:10; and for its sweet smell; which denotes the same things for which he is before compared to spikenard, myrrh, and camphire. The rose, as Pliny says (c), delights not in fat soils and rich clays, but in rubbish, and roses that grow there are of the sweetest smell; and such was the earth about Sharon (d); and to a rose there Christ is compared, to show the excellency and preferableness of him to all others. The word is only used here and in Isaiah 35:1. Where it is in many versions rendered a "lily": it seems to be compounded of two words; one which signifies to "cover" and hide, and another which signifies a "shadow"; and so may be rendered, "the covering shadow": but for what reason a rose should be so called is not easy to say; unless it can be thought to have the figure of an umbrella; or that the rose tree in those parts was so large, as to be remarkable for its shadow; like that Montfaucon (e) saw, in a garden at Ravenna, under the shadow of the branches of which more than forty men could stand: Christ is sometimes compared to trees for their shadow, which is pleasant and reviving, as in Sol 2:3. Some render it, "the flower of the field" (f); which may be expressive of the meanness of Christ in the eyes of men; of his not being of human production; of his being accessible; and of his being liable to be trampled upon, as he has been. And as he is compared to a rose, so to a "lily", for its colour, height, and fruitfulness; expressive of his purity in himself, of his superiority to angels and men, and of his being filled with the fruits and blessings of grace; and to a lily of the valleys, denoting his wonderful condescension in his low estate of humiliation, and his delight in dwelling with the humble and lowly: some render the words, "I am the rose of Sharon, with the lily of the valleys" (g); by the former epithet meaning himself; and by the latter his church, his companion, in strict union and communion with him; of whom the following words are spoken.

(t) Zohar in Gen. fol. 46. 2. Targum, Aben Ezra, & Yalkut in loc. (u) Ainsworth, Brightman, Vatablus; Cocceius; Michaelis. (w) The rose, by the Arcadians, was called that is, "sweet-smelling", Timachidas apud Athenaei Deipnosophist. l. 15. c. 8. p. 682. and "rosy" is used for "beautiful"; "rosea cervice refulsit", Virgil. Aeneid. l. 1. Vid. Servium in ibid. (x) So Helena, for her beauty, is called , in Theocrit. Idyll. 19. The rose was sacred to Venus, Pausaniae Eliac. 2. sive l. 6, p. 391. (y) Vid. Barthii Animadv. ad Claudian. de Nupt. Honor. v. 247. (z) Nat. Hist. l. 21. c. 5. (a) Durham in Ioc. (b) "Mea rosa", Plauti Bacchides, Sc. 1. v. 50. Asinaria, Acts 3, Sc. 3. v. 74. Curculio, Acts 1. Sc. 2. v. 6. (c) Nat. Hist. l. 21. c. 4. (d) Misnah Sotah, c. 8. s. 3.((e) Diar. Italic, c. 7. p. 100. (f) , Sept. "flos campi", V. L. Pagninus, Mercerus. (g) "Ego rosa Sharon lilio vallium", Marckius.

The excellency of the majesty of Christ, Song of Solomon 2:1, and of his church, Song of Solomon 2:2. The benefits which the church receives from him, Song of Solomon 2:3. Christ’s love to his church, Song of Solomon 2:4. The church sick of love; her prayer for help, Song of Solomon 2:5. His ears for her in this condition, Song of Solomon 2:6. The hope and calling of the church, Song of Solomon 2:10-13. Christ’s care of the church, Song of Solomon 2:14,15. The profession of the church; her faith and hope, Song of Solomon 2:16,17.

These are the words either,

1. Of the spouse, continuing her discourse. Or rather,

2. Of the bridegroom, drawing forth the church’s affections to him. He compares himself to the rose and lily, for fragrancy and beauty. Nor is it in the least degree indecent that Christ should thus commend himself, partly because his excellency is so transcendently great, that he is free from all suspicion of vanity and self-flattery; and partly because it is suitable to the style of such writings, and to the present design of recommending himself to the affection of his spouse. He mentions the rose of Sharon, which was a very fruitful place, as is evident from 1 Chronicles 27:29 Isaiah 33:9 65:10, and famous for roses, as may seem probable from Isaiah 35:1,2. Or, as others translate it, the rose of the field, which may note that Christ is not only pleasant and beautiful, but free and communicative, offering himself to all that come to him. The

lily is a beautiful and glorious creature, Matthew 6:29, especially to one who beholds it through a magnifying glass. He saith,

the lily of the valleys, because they grew and flourished best in such low and waterish grounds.