Charles Ellicott Commentary Song Of Solomon 4:12

"A garden shut up is my sister, [my] bride; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed." — Song Of Solomon 4:12 (ASV)

A garden inclosed.—Compare with this passage Song of Solomon 4:12–15; Proverbs 5:15; Proverbs 5:21. The closed or walled garden and the sealed fountain appear to have been established metaphors for the pure and chaste wife. For the latter, at least, there is not only the above passage in Proverbs, but a prayer still in use in Jewish marriages: “Do not permit a stranger to enter into the sealed fountain,” etc.