Song of Solomon 4:12-5:612A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. 13Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, 14Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: 15A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. 16Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. 1I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. 2I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. 3I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? 4My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. 5I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. 6I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. (Song of Solomon 4:12‑5:6)SOS 4:11Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead. (Song of Solomon 4:1)2SOS 4:12
As it is with the fountain sealed, so with the garden enclosed; it is that which is reserved for the special delight and refreshment of the bridegroom. It is planted with choice plants, each with its own peculiar preciousness to the owner: collected together they form the garden of his delights.
In Eph. 5, the assembly as a whole was loved by Christ and made His by giving Himself for it. And then He continues to care for it, sanctifying and cleansing it with the washing of water by the Word, So here the owner of the garden calls for the north wind with its purifying sharpness to blow upon it. How often do we, as the plants of His care, need the purifying effects of sorrows and trials to enable us to bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness!
Then He calls for the south wind also to blow that by means of the warm breath of His tender cherishing tow, He might call forth its fragrant spices so pleasing to Himself, the response of love to His own love. "We love Him, because first loved us.
All being thus brought out in sweetness as the result of his wisdom and loving care, the spouse calls upon her beloved to "come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits." To this invitation he gives a ready response. "I am come into my garden.”
The bridegroom having thus, as it were, gathered the first fruits, like the first love which belongs to him alone, calls upon others to rejoice with him and share his delights. "Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." Does not this remind us of John the Baptist's words, "He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled." John 3:2929He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. (John 3:29).
In verse 2 of chapter 5 of the Song, drowsiness falls upon the bride whose heart is nevertheless awake towards himself. He calls on his love, his undefiled to open to him. On his part there has been no shadow of slumbering. His locks were wet with the drops of the night. With her there is a measure of slackness, "I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on?" What is the bridegroom's way of dispelling that slackness? "My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door." Ah! The sight of that hand once pierced in love for her rouses her and she says, "My bowels were moved for him." She rises up to open to her beloved, her fingers dropping with sweet smelling myrrh. She is made to feel, however, her slackness by his withdrawing himself for a time. Surely this is a lesson to us to be ever alert to the whispers of His love, and that we might be so waiting and watching for Him, that when in the night He says, "Surely I come quickly," our hearts as the bride, stirred up by an un-grieved Spirit, may at once reply, "Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
Mr. Whittle