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The Bible’s Song Of Love Verse by verse through 4:12 Of her the Bridegroom says “A garden barred is my sister, my bride; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.” (mar.) A garden is a cultivated place, not originally or naturally a garden. It is chosen from uncultivated ground, walled round, planted, watered and transformed by the gardener into a place of beauty and rest. She is described as the garden itself or, as the Apostle Paul puts it, “ye are God’s tilled land.” (1 Cor.3:9 mar.) She is a garden which God hath barred for “know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for Himself.” (Psa.4:3) God spoke similarly of Natural Israel’s restoration to His favour. “Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” (Isa.58:11) The Bride is a spring shut up, a fountain sealed–the very picture of holiness. Water being scarce in the East, the owner of a spring sealed it with a stone bearing his signet. Jesus assures those who follow in His steps that “the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.” (John 4:13,14) “Now He that…anointed us, is God; who also sealed us, and gave us the earnest of the spirit in our hearts.” (2 Cor.1:21,22) “When a man died in a tent (Num.19:14,15) every ‘open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it shall be unclean.’ How true it is that we are in a place where moral death and corruption sheds its influence on everything. To be clean we must be covered vessels…we need to be ‘enclosed,’ ‘shut up,’ ‘sealed’… With those who have the affections of the spouse it is not merely a question of what is right or wrong—though surely there would be no carelessness as to that–but of what is pleasurable to Christ. We want His garden to be such as to yield Him the fullest possible satisfaction and delight, so that we may…invite Him to come in with assurance that He will find pleasure in doing so… ‘A spring shut up’...something which is for the Lord alone–a flow of affections and appreciations which He alone can estimate.” (C.A. Coates An outline of the Song of Songs) How precious is the thought that His espoused Bride is the source of His refreshment and joy. A garden enclosed for His use and pleasure; a spring to refresh the Beloved one. “What manner of persons ought ye to be.” 4:13 The Bridegroom now compares His church to an orchard. “Thy shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits;” “Herein” Jesus said, “is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” (John 15:8) “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” (Phil.1:11) “Henna, with spikenard plants” 4:14 “spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.” See what the Lord finds and expects to find, in His Church. What diversity of plants, and what choice fruits. The fruits of the spirit are manifold, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control.” (Gal.5:22-23 mar.) Reference to the full range of spices suggests that Christ looks for fragrance in every aspect of our characters. The special significance of the mention of these spices by name is that most of them were ingredients in the holy anointing oil and the sacred incense. This verse is a fitting culmination to the last three verses which beautifully describe God’s provision of a garden tended and cultivated by Him for the joy of His Son. This garden has been planted by God himself—to be enclosed—never plucked up or laid bare for “every plant which my heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up.” (Matt.15:13) 4:15 Having heard her Beloved describe her beauties she ascribes all the praise to Him “thou art a fountain of gardens,” she says “a well of living waters, and flowing streams from lebanon.” A garden that lacks moisture is soon dried up and languishing. Its fruitfulness is vitally concerned with its being well-watered. Incidentally most of the prophecies concerning the restoration of Israel speak directly of streams and rain or of reafforestation to preserve the natural moisture. The formation of this garden “is a well of living waters and...streams from Lebanon” at once springing up out of the believing soul, and floating down from above, as it were from the heights of Lebanon. This is very much like the Apostle’s thought expressed in the words “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights…” (James 1:17 KJV) The fountain deepens into a well; the well widens into streams.” Thus does she see in Him the source of all life and fruitfulness, deepening and widening and flowing out to “all nations of the earth.” The well-watered garden produces fragrance and the Bride desires that this fragrance shall flow out—just as His life-giving streams flow out freely to all who are called of God. 4:16 In a gesture of triumphant submission the Bride then goes on to say with the Apostle “I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound: in everything and in all things have I learned...both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want.” (Phil.4:12) But she expresses her thoughts in the words “awake, O north wind;” (of adversity) “and come, thou south (wind);” (of favour) “blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.” The evidence of fragrant characters is brought out by the north winds of adversity as well as by the south winds of encouragement and favour. Thus the Lord, in omniscient love, adapts these different experiences to the requirements of the various plants. At the right moment He bids the north wind to “awake” and the south wind to “come.” He knows exactly what each member can bear, the requisite pruning for each branch, the look which will soften a Peter’s heart, the reproof that will convince the unbelieving Thomas, the sympathy which will bind up the bleeding hearts of the bereaved sisters of Bethany etc… Such is her love for Him that she welcomes and invites just those experiences which will bring forth the fragrance in which He delights. (Rom.8:28; 5:3-5) “let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his precious fruits.” Can we not see the change? The Bride called it my garden first in verse 16. Now it is his garden. Mine when it was immature, his when the breezes have aroused it to life. It is untrue humility to deny the great things which God hath wrought in us. Thus we read that St. Paul “rehearsed one by one the things which God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry” (Acts 21:19) for, he said, “by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain…” (1 Cor.15:10) “The fruits of righteousness…are through Jesus Christ.” (Phil.1:11) The good things are wrought by God: and every good thing which is in us is so “in Christ Jesus.” (Philemon 6 KJV) No works of ours could be pleasant to the Lord, for the best are tainted with sin, and He can ‘eat’ nothing that is unclean. 5:1 To prove how acceptable is the prayer of His bride, He answers it immediately. “I am come into my garden, my sister, my bride: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk.” The association of sweet (honey) and bitter (myrrh) tells us that He gathers the fruits of bitter experience with those of soothing sweetness. Milk in scripture usually refers symbolically to the rudiments of God’s teaching—wine with doctrine. The association in this verse, however, suggests that the same emphasis is being given to milk as in 1 Pet.2:2 (KJV) where the Apostle contrasts “sincere” (Greek adolos—guileless) with “guile” (v.1) (Greek dolos), his emphasis being on the fact that the milk of the word is pure compared with worldly impurity. In the Song Christ appears to say “I have not only been able to feed on the graces of the spirit cultivated in my bride’s garden but I can also share with her the pure doctrine (wine) and the pure milk of the word which in her care is unpolluted.” There is something very striking in the oneness of sentiment and even language pervading this book, sweetly telling that “we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor.2:16) Thus the Bride had called Him her “Beloved” (Chap.4:16) now He calls her “my sister, my spouse.” (KJV) She called it “His garden” and He owns it as such—“I am come into my garden.” She invited Him to “eat His pleasant fruits” (KJV) and He says “I have eaten” etc. He also, most emphatically calls them all his own: “I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk.” We have nothing of our own: all we have and are is the Lord’s. (1 Cor.6:19,20) “What hast thou that thou didst not receive?” (1 Cor 4:7) But this is not all, for the fruits of the Christian life are to be shared by all who are in Christ. “Eat o friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, of love.” (mar.) The Apostle warned that we should “be filled with the spirit”, and not with wine. (Eph.5:18) There is no danger of excess in this spiritual feast; “eat…yea drink abundantly.” There is also comfort in the expression “friends.” I have not called you servants but friends. (John 15:15) “If there is a ministry from His saints to Him there will always be a ministry from Him to His saints…Whatever he received we may be sure that He will always be pre-eminent in love, and will give more than he receives…May the spiritual features, which are set forth in the exclusiveness and fruitfulness and fragrance of His garden, be so definitely formed in us that there may be a spot amid this desert waste to which He can come with deep pleasure, and find what His heart looks for in those whom He loves.” (C.A. Coates An outline of the Song of Songs) EEA/LB |
