The Bride. (Vss. 8-9).
(Vs. 8). “The voice of my Beloved! Behold, He cometh.”
The first canticle presents a day scene with the King sitting at His table: in the second canticle the enjoyment of love in the presence of the King is past, and it opens with the bride reposing in her home in the plains, with its latticed windows. In the absence of the Bridegroom, she has turned back to her own home, in her own land; like Peter, in a later day, who said, in the absence of Christ, "I go a-fishing." He turned back to circumstances that once he had left to follow Christ. Others follow him, only to find on "that night they caught nothing." The bride is aroused by hearing the voice of her Beloved, which tells that He is coming. Then in the distance He is seen approaching over the mountains: a little later He stands behind the wall of the house, then He shows himself through the lattice.
How often, in the history of the Lord's people, a time of great joy and blessing is followed by a season of spiritual torpor. The banqueting house of the King gives place to the latticed home of the bride. Communion with the King at His table is followed by the solitary longings of the bride in her own home.
How soon the early freshness of the church passed away. When "the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul;" when the saints were marked by "great power " and "great grace;" when they continued daily with "one accord," "breaking bread from house to house," and "did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart" (Acts 2:4646And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, (Acts 2:46)), may we not say, they were in the banqueting-house, with the King at His table. But when this early freshness passed away, when all sought their own, and not the things of Jesus Christ, must we not admit that spiritual night had fallen upon the saints, that they had lost all sense of their high calling, and settled down in their own homes in the plains of the world?
And what is true of the church as a whole is often true, alas, of the individual. After the early freshness of first love how often the young convert settles down at a low spiritual level, in which, though the outward routine of service may be kept up, yet the constraining love of Christ—the true motive for all service—is lacking.
Such are the conditions portrayed in this second canticle. But further, we see the way love takes to meet this condition, how the King reawakens bridal affections in the heart of the bride. And herein there is rich instruction for our souls, to which we do well to take heed.
The affections of the bride are first awakened by the voice of the Bridegroom. Drowsy though she may be, at once she recognizes the voice of her beloved. So with the Lord's sheep: they may wander from Him, but it ever remains true "they know His voice" (John 10:44And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. (John 10:4)). Peter, and those who follow him, may turn back to their poor fisherman's life; but when recalled by the visit of the Lord, at once they discern "it is the Lord."
The voice proclaims that He is coming. Could anything awaken the affections like the news that He is coming? What would so quicken the affections of a wife as the knowledge that at last her husband from overseas is coming? What will quicken the affections of Israel's godly remnant, in the day to come, like the glorious announcement, "The King is coming"? "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh" (Zech. 9:99Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. (Zechariah 9:9)). So, too, the affections of Christ's waiting church are awakened by the truth that He is coming. All the majestic unfoldings in the Revelation, by elders and angels, of solemn events, of coming glories and eternal blessings, are heard with calm if rapt attention; but when every other voice is hushed, and we hear Jesus Himself saying, "Surely I come quickly," then, at last, the affections of the church are aroused, and the cry goes back, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20-2120He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 21The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. (Revelation 22:20‑21)).
(Vss. 8-9). Leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills,
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart.
With the energy of a gazelle or a young hart, leaping form rock to rock on the mountains and the hills, so the earnest desire of the King, to claim His bride, is presented as overcoming every obstacle. The bride may sleep, but not so the King. Israel may sleep, but "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." Four times over does the Lord say to His church, "Behold I come quickly;" and does not this word "quickly " bespeak the earnest desire of the Lord for that great day when "the marriage of the Lamb is come"?
(Vs. 9). “Behold, He standeth behind our wall,
He looketh in through the windows,
Glancing through the lattice.”
Not only does the King awaken the affections of the bride by the sound of His voice, but, in patience, He stands waiting at the wall of the house; and then, showing Himself through the lattice, attracts her by the beauty of His person. Was it not thus that Christ dealt with those two disappointed saints on the way to Emmaus? He first made their hearts burn within them as He talked with them by the way. Then He stands at the threshold of their house as a wayfaring man, and at last He reveals Himself to them -just a glance, as it were, through the lattice -and He is gone. And in like manner He deals with His beloved people to-day. He awakens our drooping affections by making His still small voice of love to be heard in the secret of our souls, and in wonderful patience He often stands at our doors, even as He stood at the door of the poor Laodicean, waiting to show Himself and attract our hearts by His excellencies.
The Bridegroom. (Vss. 10-15).
(Vs. 10). “My Beloved spake and said unto me,
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.”
Hitherto the bride could only catch the sound of His voice, but now she hears the words of His mouth, and gladly repeats what her Beloved says. The King would no longer be without His bride; He would call her away from the dark wintry plains to fairer, brighter scenes. His first word would arouse her from her circumstances: "Rise up." His next word proclaims how precious she is in His sight: "My love, My fair one." And lastly, she hears the clear, definite call: "Come away"—telling of the longing of His heart.
And is it not thus the Lord is speaking to His people to-day? Can we not hear His voice saying to us, "Rise up," as He seeks to arouse us from the spiritual torpor that overcomes us and holds us down to earth? Is He not saying to us, "Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest" (Micah 2:1010Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction. (Micah 2:10))? And again, we are reminded by the Apostle, "Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed" (Romans 13:1111And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. (Romans 13:11)).
But further, does not the Lord remind us how precious we are in His sight when He tells us how He loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church? Should it not move our hearts to their very depths to hear Him still call His bride, "My love, My fair one," in spite of all our coldness, our wanderings, and our breakdown?
Moreover, do we not hear Him calling us away from this poor world, as He says, "Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world" (John 15:1919If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. (John 15:19))? And shall we not very soon hear His voice saying, "Come away," as He calls us to meet Him in the air?
(Vss. 11-13). “For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth,
The time of singing is come,
And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land.
The fig-tree melloweth her winter figs,
And the vines in bloom give forth their fragrance.
Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away!”
The King not only calls the bride from her home in the plains, but He unfolds to her a new world of blessing, where neither storm nor winter's blast can ever come, where all is beautiful to the eye, sweet to the ear, and pleasant to the taste—the land of flowers and singing, the land of green figs and the new wine. The presence of the bride is all that is lacking to complete the blessedness of that scene, and therefore the King concludes with the call, "Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away!"
When the Lord gathered His sorrowing disciples around Him, on that last sad night before He left the world, He poured comfort into their troubled hearts by unfolding before them another world, a home that He was going to prepare, beyond this world's wintry night. The storm that was over our heads was about to burst on His Head, and He can look beyond the darkness and the judgment and open to our vision a new home, where faith will be changed to sight—the flowers will appear; where the time of weeping will be past, and the time of singing will be come; where the voice of the dove will be heard, as the saints join to sing the new song of glory to the Lamb. There indeed we shall feed on heaven's fruit and drink of the new wine. And to complete the blessedness of that scene there only wants the presence of the bride, the Lamb's wife. Long has been the waiting-time—the patience of Christ—but ere He went He said, "I will come again and receive you unto Myself" (John 14:33And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3)), and soon, very soon, the winter-time will be past, the waiting-time will be over, He will come to fetch His bride, and we shall hear His call, "Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away!" Well may we sing, with such a prospect before us: —
"Beyond the storms I'm going,
Beyond this vale of tears,
Beyond the flood's o'erflowing,
Beyond the changing years,
I'm going to the better land,
By faith long since possessed,
The glory shines before me,
For this is not my rest."
(Vs. 14). “My dove, in the clefts of the rock.
In the covert of the precipice,”
The King has told the bride of a land of sunshine and song, when the winter will be past and the rain will be over and gone; but in the meantime, she is yet in the land of winter and storm. But the One who is coming for her is the One who protects her. He likens His bride to a dove hiding in the cleft of the rock, and finding shelter from the storm in the covert of the precipice. And even so to-day, while waiting for the Lord, His people have enemies to oppose, and storms to face; but grace has provided a hiding-place and a covert from the storm. As we read, "A Man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land" (Isa. 32:22And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. (Isaiah 32:2)). In the cleft of that Rock—the Man Christ Jesus, with the pierced side—how safe from the storm are the Lord's poor people, who may truly be likened to a timid dove. Well may we sing: —
"O Lamb of God, still keep us
Close to Thy pierced side,
'Tis only there in safety
And peace we can abide."
“Let me see Thy countenance, let me hear thy voice;
For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.”
Through the lattice of her home, the King had revealed Himself to the bride, and spoken to her; but this will not satisfy His heart. He would fain see her countenance, and hear her voice. To His ear her voice is sweet, and in His sight her countenance is fair. May we not say the Lord is not content to reveal His glories to His people and converse with them? He longs for the day when His people will be presented to Him all-glorious, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing—perfect through the comeliness that He has put upon them. And He longs to hear them unite in saying, "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever" (Rev. 5:1313And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:13)).
(Vs. 15). “Take us the foxes,
The little foxes, that spoil the vineyards;
For our vineyards are in bloom.”
The King has expressed His longing to see the face of His bride, and to hear her voice; but as the foxes, with their young, spoil the vineyards as they break into bloom, so oftentimes evils, of a secret and subtle nature, may be at work which hinder the bride from yielding refreshment to the heart of the King.
Christ longs for the company of His people, His desire is to sup with them and they with Him. To sit at His feet and hold communion with Him, is the " one thing needful." Our busy service He can dispense with, but our company He will not be without. Mary yielded this pleasant fruit to the Lord, but not so Martha. For the moment a fox had made her unfruitful. And how often our case is like Martha's. Some fox—it may be, as nature counts, a little fox—is allowed to work unheeded in the secret of our hearts. Pride, covetousness, lust, unkind and bitter' thoughts, murmuring and discontent, irritability and impatience, jealousy and envy, or vanity and levity, may be allowed unjudged, and communion is hindered, and the life becomes unfruitful. We need to keep a sharp watch against the inroads of these foxes, and expel them with ruthless hand if they appear.
The Bride. (Vss. 2:16-3:5)
(Vs. 16). “My Beloved is mine, and I am His.”
The King had paid a brief visit to His bride and was gone; but in that short interview He had awakened her affections, even as in a later day -a resurrection day—the Lord, at another short interview, could turn "slow hearts" into burning hearts. The King had revealed Himself to the bride through the lattice; He had poured into her ear the report of a land of sunshine and flowers, a land of rest and song, a land of joy and plenty; He had called her to arise and come away to that happy land; He had disclosed the longings of His heart to see her face and hear her voice, and as she listens to those wonderful unfoldings, her heart is stirred, her love is awakened, and in the realization of His love and devotion, she exclaims, "My Beloved is mine, and I am His." He becomes the absorbing object of her heart, through the realization that she is an object to Him. And thus it is that Christ deals with His own to-day. He reveals Himself to us; He unfolds to us all that His heart has purposed for us; He tells us how He longs to have us with Him face to face, and to hear our voices as we raise the new song, and thus once again, as He talks with us by the way, He makes our slow hearts burn, and gives us the deep consciousness that He is ours and we are His. And thus, not through the bare statement of a truth, but, through the experimental realization of His love He speaks to our hearts in such wise that each one is compelled to own with great delight, "My beloved is mine, and I am His."
(Vss. 16-17). “He feedeth among the lilies.
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away.”
The King has already likened the bride to the lily, and has unfolded to her all the thoughts of His heart, and thus she is brought to realize that His food and His delight is in herself. During the night of His absence and until the marriage-day, "He feedeth among the lilies." During the night of Christ's absence what is there to minister to His heart save His beloved people? It is still true, "He feedeth among the lilies, until the day break and the shadows flee away." He would indeed have us with Himself in the glory where He is according to His prayer, "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am" (John 17:2424Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24)), but, during the time of shadows, He delights to come to His own, according to that other sweet word, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (John 14:1818I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (John 14:18)). How true are the words of an old divine, "The believer hath a heartsome life, and a rich inheritance, Christ here, and Christ hereafter."
(Vs. 17). “Turn, my Beloved: be thou like a roe, or a young hart,
Upon the mountains of Bether.”
The bride expresses the longing of her heart for other visits from the King even as the roes and the harts come down from the mountains by night to feed in the plains. So, indeed, may we welcome every occasion on which the Lord comes into the midst of His people as they pass through this dark world.
(Ch. 3:1). “By night, on my bed,
I sought Him whom my soul loveth:
I sought Him, but I found Him not.”
The night visit of the King has awakened the affections of the bride. But it was only a visit; He had revealed Himself through the lattice; He had unfolded to His bride the vision of another and a brighter world—a world of sunshine and song; He had called her to arise and come to that good land beyond the mountains and the hills; and then, having awakened her affections, He had withdrawn to His own place, and the bride is left behind in the night. She has heard of the day and looks forward to the daybreak, but she is yet in the night. The presence of the King will bring the day, even as His absence makes the night. So too we may say it is the presence of Jesus makes our day, and it is the absence of Jesus makes our night. But if the bride is left behind in the night, she is left with deep yearnings of heart for her Beloved. She has been aroused from her slumbers. Love has been awakened, and now she delights to speak of her Beloved as the One that her soul loveth. Four times over she uses the expression, "Him whom my soul loveth."
But awakened love is not content without its object. Love makes her a seeker. Hitherto the Bridegroom has been the seeker, but now at last the bride is the one that seeks. As with a hardened sinner, so with a sleeping saint. Christ must first be the seeker. There would be no seeking sinner, if there was not first a seeking Savior. If the Son of Man had not first come to seek and save the lost, we never should have heard of the poor publican who "sought to see Jesus." If "Jesus Himself " had not drawn nigh to the two sorrowing saints on the road to Emmaus, they never would have returned to Jerusalem, that same night, to find "Jesus Himself" in the midst of His own.
Further, we do well to remark that it is the Bridegroom Himself that is sought by the bride. It is not the daybreak, the time of singing, or the land of song, that she seeks; it is a person, Himself that she longs to see. In her eyes, He is fairer than the fairest land, and better than all the blessings that He brings when love is awakened.
Christ alone can satisfy the heart of the Christian. As home-sick saints we welcome the thought that soon the last tear will be wiped away, the last sorrow will be passed, and the last enemy overcome; but as love-sick saints we want "Jesus Himself." To the dying thief, saved by grace, the Lord could not only say, "To-day shalt thou be in paradise," but "Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:4343And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. (Luke 23:43)). The heavenly city, with its walls of jasper, its gates of pearl, and its streets of gold, would be no heaven without Christ. There, indeed, will be "songs and everlasting joy" (Isa. 35:1010And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35:10)), but Christ is the theme of the song and the source of the joy. "The Lamb is the light thereof" (Rev. 21:2323And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. (Revelation 21:23)).
But this seeking bride will yield us further instruction. Love has been awakened; love has made her a seeker, but she does not at once obtain the object of her quest. Though she sought the Bridegroom she has to admit, more than once, "I found Him not." Why is this? Is she not seeking the right person? Indeed she is, but at first she seeks Him in a wrong way. She says, "On my bed, I sought Him." She sought Him, but, at the same time, she sought to retain her ease. She was not at first prepared to forego her own comfort in the quest of her Beloved. How many of us would like to have Christ if we could spare the flesh. The love of Christ would impel us to follow after Christ, but the love of ease would hold us back. We seek Him, as it were, on our bed; and therefore, we find Him not. We forget the word which declares, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:2323And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. (Luke 9:23)).
(Vs. 2). “I will rise now and go about the city,
In the streets and in the broadways
Will I seek Him whom my soul loveth:
I sought Him, but I found Him not.”
The power of love prevails with the bride, and she says, "I will rise now and go about the city." She overcomes her love of ease, but only to fail again. She had sought her Beloved in a wrong way, she now seeks Him in a wrong place. He is not to be found in the city streets and broad highways; He feeds among the lilies. And we too may fall into the same snare. We would like to have Christ, but, we would like to have Christ and the broad highways of this world. But if we cannot have Christ and spare the flesh, neither can we have Christ and retain the world. If the cross witnesses to the dying love of Christ, it also expresses the undying hatred of the world to Christ. Cast out by the world, He has "suffered without the gate," and if we would find Christ we must "go forth, therefore, unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Heb. 13:12-1312Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. 13Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. (Hebrews 13:12‑13)).
(Vs. 3). “The watchmen that go about the city found me:-
Have ye seen Him whom my soul loveth?”
For the third time the bride fails in her quest. She has sought the Bridegroom in the wrong way, she has sought Him in the wrong place, now she appeals to the wrong people. The business of the watchmen is to govern and keep order. They may administer righteousness, but they cannot help in the quest of love. "If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness," the Gallio’s of this world will deal with it; but if it is a matter of "love" and "Jesus," then, in the world's sight, it is only "a question of words and names," and the world "will be no judge of such matters" (Acts 18:14-1514And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: 15But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. (Acts 18:14‑15)). Or if at times they turn judge in such matters, it will only be to persecute the seeker after Christ. In vain, therefore, do we appeal to an arm of flesh, though Christians from early times have fallen into this snare, only to learn that the princes of this world have crucified the Lord of glory. Like the blind man of Bethsaida, with his partly restored sight, we are apt to view men out of all proportion to their true importance. We "see men as trees, walking" (Mark 8:2424And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. (Mark 8:24)). But the love of Christ would bring us, like the disciples of old, to see "no man any more, save Jesus only" (Mark 9:88And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. (Mark 9:8)).
(Vs. 4). “It was but a little that I passed from them,
When I found Him whom my soul loveth;
I held Him, and would not let Him go
Until I had brought Him into my mother's house,
And into the chamber of her that conceived me.”
When every hindrance is overcome—the bed, the city, the watchmen—it was but a little ere the bride found her Beloved. And when found she "held Him, and would not let Him go." And may we not say, in our day, the one great need of the Lord's people is this same energy of love, which, overcoming every hindrance, links the soul to Christ, and will not let Him go. But alas, in the light of the prevailing apathy and lack of affection for Christ, we have once again to cry with Isaiah, "There is none... that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee" (Isa. 64:77And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. (Isaiah 64:7)). In the day of His presence on earth there came a time when many professed followers "went back and walked no more with Him"; but the twelve "held Him, and would not let Him go." The Lord asks, "Will ye also go away?" And they reply, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." And in these days of His absence in glory, when the love of many grows cold, when hands hang down, and knees grow feeble, when again many turn back and walk no more with Him, how imperative it is that we should stir ourselves up "to take hold of Him;" and, having taken hold of Him in the affection of our hearts, refuse to let Him go.
In the close of the first canticle, the Bridegroom conducts the bride into the banqueting house of the King, but in this closing scene the bride conducts the Bridegroom into her mother's house. For the earthly bride the mother represents the nation of Israel (Rev. 12). Not until God's earthly people give the King His rightful place in connection with the nation will they come into blessing. For Christians, Jerusalem, which is above, is the mother of us all. We may attempt to bring Christ back to earth—in other words, we may seek to connect Christ's name and authority with this world—but it will be in vain. Christ is not to be found in the city and broadways of this world, and if He is not found here, He cannot be enjoyed here. He can only be known, and enjoyed, in connection with the heavenly scene where He is and to which we belong. If, as we have seen, He can only be found "without the camp," the "mother's house" would teach us that He can only be enjoyed "within the veil" (Heb. 6:1919Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; (Hebrews 6:19)).
(Vs. 5). “I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem
By the roes, and by the hinds of the field,
That ye stir not up, nor awaken love till it please.”
The canticle closes, like the first, with the earnest appeal to the daughters of Jerusalem, that nothing should be allowed to disturb the enjoyment of love between the Bridegroom and the bride. And in like spirit we may well sing:-
"Take Thou our hearts, and let them be
Forever closed to all but Thee;
Thy willing servants, let us wear
The seal of love forever there."