Chapter 8
The 8th chapter is a kind of conclusion to the book, as the 1st chapter is a kind of preface; but still there are some important words in it, and I will endeavor just to say briefly a little upon them before I close.
"O that Thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find Thee without, I would kiss Thee; yea, I should not be despised." There the bride expresses the love that she had expressed from the first. Here again is a proof that, as yet, the marriage had not taken place, because there would be nothing to be ashamed of when it did. But you see here it is different. You see how the marriage not having yet taken place, and she having no right, if I may so say, from a settled relationship, this is her feeling. We have, therefore, a kind of going briefly over the ground that we have traversed before, as a conclusion of the whole matter.
"I would lead Thee, and bring Thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me." v. 2. I need not, of course, repeat what I have already said. "I would cause Thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. His left hand should be under my head, and His right hand should embrace me." And then, for the last time, comes her charge. "I charge you, 0 daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until He please. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness?" But is He now simply "like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?" Chap. 3:6. No. There is another object. It is now "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?" Here we see that it is not now the Bridegroom, but she has a vision of herself-of herself united to the Bridegroom. Before, it was rather His coming to her, or for her; but now, "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?" She sees the bride, as it were, in spirit, and the Bridegroom.
"I raised thee up"-here is His answer. "I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth; there she brought thee forth that bare thee." v. 5. We saw the apple tree, or the citron tree, in the 2nd chapter. Here we have it again; and the meaning appears to be that, instead of Israel's being viewed, or rather, instead of the bride's being viewed, according to her former associations, it is not the bride connected with being brought out of Egypt. We find that, historically, was the case. Israel was brought as a vine out of Egypt. Is that the case here? Oh, no. Again, it is not mount Sinai. It is not that there she was brought forth. Not so. It is no longer deliverance from Egypt. It is no longer being put under the covenant of law. It is under Christ. It is Messiah in the new covenant now. It is there that she is found, and there only. It is under the citron tree. That is the great spring of all fruit- of all real fruit for God-the one source of all true fruit bearing. And so He answers, "Set Me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm."
Then comes another word which might not be easily apprehended, but on which I must say a little. "We have a little sister" (v. 8). Now who is this little sister-this little sister that was not yet grown like the bride? It is the ten tribes, not the two. It is not Jerusalem, it is Ephraim. It is the house of Joseph. And why is it the house of Joseph? I refer to it now particularly to guard you from those nauseous publications that are floating about, talking about the lost ten tribes, as if that was anything for a Christian, as regards our connection with it. I hope there is not a single heart here that meddles with such trash-such delusive trash. Why, beloved friends, I think I can say that I never saw a more lowering, debasing, worldly thing in its character than a pamphlet that was, I suppose, sent for my edification only last night. Just turning over the leaves of it I found the one object to be the glory of man as he is now- the dragging down people from the heavenly place which they have got-the heavenly place in Christ-to glorify themselves because they have got a big city like this, and an active commercial country like this; to think that these are the glories of the ten tribes of Israel! I can hardly conceive anything more debasing to Christian persons than that kind of thing; and you will excuse me, therefore, if I speak in these strong and peremptory terms of it, because it is not everybody that is able to discern the character of a thing. But if the Lord gives me any light at all on spiritual or scriptural subjects, I am bound to say that that is my judgment of what I have seen and read of this foolish, absurd, and groundless attempt to trace the ten tribes of Israel in the Anglo-Saxon race.
Well, here we have Ephraim according to God, and not according to these terms of men. This is the way in which the Lord speaks of her-as a little sister. Why? Because she was undeveloped. Oh, the wonderful grace of God! Why were the Jews-the two tribes-developed, and why not Ephraim or the ten? Ah, the Jews had dealings with the Messiah. It is always the Messiah that develops either good or ill. If the Messiah be approached in unbelief, oh how terrible! And so it was with the Jew. But so it will not be in the day that is coming.
They will, therefore, have had the double experience-the bitter experience of incredulity, with all its horrors, and the destruction that it brought upon them, and the blessed experience of those whose heart has now been drawn to Him before He comes. For the Lord will give them that; and this book of the Song of Solomon is the drawing of the heart to the Messiah before He appears in glory-the fitting of them to receive Him, for it is quite a mistake that the Jew will be converted when the Lord appears in glory-quite a mistake. The Jew will be established when the Lord appears in glory; the Jew will be blessed and accepted when the Lord thus appears, but conversion and dealing with the affection and with the conscience in the remnant, the Jerusalem that we are speaking of here, the bride- all this will have preceded His coming. But with Ephraim it will not be so. That is the reason why she is spoken of as this little sister that was not yet marriageable. She had gone through none of this experience. She remained just a little one. There was nothing to draw her out, so to speak, either in good or ill. There she was in her littleness-in her want of understanding-in her want of experience in every way. It is she that is referred to, but then the Lord will bring Ephraim out of the hiding place and will allure her, as it is said, into the wilderness-will deal with Ephraim there. That is fully entered into in the prophets, and so it is alluded to here. The book would not be complete, as we can see, without showing this.
Just one word more. If we apply the Song of Solomon to the Church, pray who is the little sister? You see the thing does not hold for one moment; but when you have Jerusalem as the bride, then Ephraim is indeed the little sister. If it is a question of Ephraim's dealing with the Gentiles, Ephraim will be the warrior, so to speak; but if it is in relation to Christ, then Jerusalem is viewed as the grown sister-the spouse, "My sister My spouse." Ephraim is the little sister. It is in relation, of course, to Christ's love. So here then it is entered into briefly.
But finally "Solomon," we are told, had a vineyard at Baalhamon-a remarkable expression. The meaning of the word "Baal-hamon" is "lord of the peoples." And I think it is a very important expression at this point. The children of Israel -the Jew-ought to have been, I will not say, "lord of the peoples," but truly to have been a blessing to every nation under heaven. Were they so? "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." "In thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed." Was that true of Israel-the Jew? The very reverse. They lost the blessing themselves because they refused Christ, and they have been the great spreaders of incredulity against Christ wherever they have gone, to this day. There are no such decided enemies of the gospel, for they bear the same character as in the early days of Christianity, and they do the same work, because the same unbelief prevails to this moment. But when He comes-when Solomon, the true Solomon comes-He will have a vineyard, and His vineyard will be fruitful indeed. And here we find it with its connection. The vineyard is at Baalhamon. It is in relation to all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, that the blessing of Christ will surely come.
The blessing may have tarried, as the vision has; but as surely as the vision will come and not tarry, so the blessing will flow like rivers to every nation and tribe and tongue, but not till that day. It is at Baal-hamon, and it is in connection with Solomon-for this is the point. It is the Lord Jesus and not the Church that is to be the true means of blessing to all nations. I admit that it will be when the Church is with Him assuredly. I admit that it will be when the Jew is converted to Him, loves Him, knows Him, most surely. But the one that causes all the difference is not the Jew, and it is not the Church. It is Christ. And it is Christ then come-Christ as King. That is what is spoken of here, and why He is spoken of as Solomon. "Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver," because there will be blessed fruit in that day. Everything will flourish.
It will be the day when, if it is the figure of a net cast into the sea, there will be all sorts of fishes (not small ones, too, but great), and the net will not be broken. Now the net is broken. There may be, no doubt, a plentiful catch, but everything fails. The net is broken, and the ship would sink entirely if it were not for Him; but here in the passage before us, nothing fails. That will be its character. "My vineyard, which is mine, is before me." This is the language of the bride-of Jerusalem—because she too has a vineyard. "My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, 0 Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred." She wishes to have no vineyard apart from Him. She is identified with Him. The Jew will have no pleasure, no joy, no fruit, except in connection with Christ.
What a change! How blessed to think that that long-settled love, that disappointed love of the Savior, will then be found, and will have awakened a love that flows from His own, and will be according to His own, in its measure, in the heart of her who was loved so long, and was so long unbelieving! But the unbelief will pass, the failure will pass, and the good will abide. Good is destined to triumph. Even now we know that God overcomes evil with good, but in that bright day there will be no evil even to overcome. Good will have its own bright and unalloyed way, and that will be forever.
And so this beautiful book closes with the call of the bride, "Make haste, my beloved, and be Thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices." She desires, earnestly desires, that He shall come.
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