Song of Solomon 4

Song of Solomon 4:3

Song of Solomon 4:3. “Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet.” There is probably a special respect to the speech of the saints in prayer, which is dyed in the blood of Christ, and by this means becomes pleasant and acceptable, and of an attractive influence, like a scarlet cord to draw down blessings. The prayers of saints are lovely and prevalent only through the incense of Christ’s merits. Song of Solomon 4:3. “Thy neck is like the tower of David, builded for an armory, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.” This probably represents faith, for it is that by which the church is united to her head. For Christ is her head; or if we look at ministers as a subordinate head, yet they are so no otherwise than as they represent Christ, and act as his ministers, and the same that is the union of believers to Christ in their union to ministers, and in receiving them they receive him. It is by the same faith whereby they receive Christ, and obey his word, that they receive and obey the instructions of ministers, for their instructions are no other than the word of Christ by them. Faith is the church’s life, and strength, and constant support, and supply, as the neck is to the body. Faith is the church’s shield; Ephesians 6:16.; it is the church’s armory furnishing her with shields, because it provides them out of Christ’s fulness which is contained in the promises.

Song of Solomon 4:5

Song of Solomon 4:5

Song of Solomon 4:5. “Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.” Like two young roes, i.e. fair, loving, and pleasant. See Proverbs 5:19. Roes which feed among the lilies, not in a wilderness, but in a good pasture, or a pleasant garden, fair and flourishing. And by their being the white unspotted lilies for their nourishment, may also represent her chastity and purity, that her breasts are not defiled by an impure love. By the church’s breasts are meant means of grace; see Son 8:1; Son 8:8; Isaiah 66:11; 1 Peter 2:2. These two breasts may signify the same with the two olive-trees, with the golden pipes emptying the golden oil out of themselves, and the two anointed ones, Zechariah 4:3; Zechariah 4:11-14. and the two witnesses in Revelation, the two testaments, and two sacraments; another thing meant is love, the two breasts are love to God and love to men.

Song of Solomon 4:8

Song of Solomon 4:8

Song of Solomon 4:8. “Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, come with me from Lebanon, look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.” This call and invitation of Jesus Christ may be looked upon as directed either to her that is already actually the spouse of Christ, or her that is called and invited to be his spouse, that is, already his spouse no otherwise than in his gracious election. So the Gentiles are called a sister in the last chapter of this song, even before they were in a church estate, before she had any breasts. So in Isaiah 43, where respect is had to the calling of the Gentiles, God calls those his sons and daughters, that were so as yet only in his decree of election. Verse 6. “I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.” Lebanon, Amana, Shenir, and Hermon, were certain noted mountains in the wilderness, in the confines of the land of Canaan, that were wild and uninhabited. Hence the wonderful work of God in turning barbarous and heathenish countries to Christianity, is compared to the turning such a wild forest as Lebanon into a fruitful field. Isaiah 29:17, “Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?” They were mountains that were haunts of wild beasts, and probably some of them at least very much frequented by lions and leopards, those most fierce and terrible of wild beasts; they were places where lions had their dens, and either these or some other noted mountains in the wilderness, were so frequented by leopards, that they were called the mountains of the leopards. It is from such places as these that the spouse, or she that is invited to be the spouse, is invited to look to Jesus Christ, where she was without the limits of the pleasant land of Canaan, wandering and lost in a howling wilderness, where she was in continual danger of being devoured and falling a prey to those terrible creatures. Christ graciously calls and invites her to look to him from the tops of these desolate mountains towards the land of Canaan, and towards the holy city Jerusalem, where he dwelt, though far off; yea, to come with him; for Christ is come into this wilderness to seek and to save her that is lost, to come and leave those horrid places, and come and dwell with him in the pleasant land, yea, in the city Jerusalem, that is the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth. Yea, though the lions had actually seized her, and carried her into their dens, there to be a feast for them, yet Christ calls and encourages her to look to him from the lions’ dens. David represents his praying to God in a state of exile and in distressing circumstances, by his remembering God from the land of the Hermonites. Psalms 42:6. Christ saves souls out of the dens of lions, as he did Daniel, and out of the mouths of wild beasts, as David did the lamb from the mouth of the lion and the bear. He invites sinners that are naturally under the dominion of Satan, that roaring lion that goes about seeking whom he may devour; and invites saints under the greatest darkness, and distresses, and temptations, and buffetings of Satan, to look to him.

Song of Solomon 4:9

Song of Solomon 4:9

Song of Solomon 4:9. “Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.” What that one chain of the spouse’s neck is, that does so peculiarly ravish the heart of Christ, we may learn by Psalms 45:10; Psalms 45:11. “Forget thine own people, and thy Father’s house; so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty.” The thing here recommended to the spouse, in order to the king’s greatly desiring or being ravished with her beauty, is poverty of spirit. That this peculiarly delights and attracts the heart of Christ, is agreeable to many scriptures. 1 Peter 3:2; 1 Peter 3:3. “Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and wearing of gold, and putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” This is in a peculiar manner a sweet savor to God. Psalms 51:17. This in a peculiar manner draws the eye of God, Isaiah 60:2, and attracts his presence. Isaiah 57:15; Psalms 34:18. Or perhaps it may be the eye of faith that includes poverty of spirit and love. These graces being exercised in faith, are peculiarly acceptable; faith derives beauty from Christ’s righteousness, by which all mixture of deformity is hid.