Matthew Henry Commentary Song of Solomon 2
Matthew Henry Commentary
Song of Solomon 2
Matthew Henry Commentary
Song of Solomon 2
"I am a rose of Sharon, A lily of the valleys. As a lily among thorns, So is my love among the daughters. As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, And his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting-house, And his banner over me was love. Stay ye me with raisins, refresh me with apples; For I am sick from love. His left hand [is] under my head, And his right hand doth embrace me. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the roes, or by the hinds of the field, That ye stir not up, nor awake [my] love, Until he please." — Song of Solomon 2:1-7 (ASV)
Believers are beautiful, as clothed in the righteousness of Christ; and fragrant, as adorned with the graces of His Spirit; and they thrive under the refreshing beams of the Sun of Righteousness. The lily is a very noble plant in the East; it grows to a considerable height, but has a weak stem. The church is weak in herself, yet is strong in Him who supports her.
The wicked, the daughters of this world, who have no love for Christ, are like thorns, worthless and useless, noxious and hurtful. Corruptions are thorns in the flesh; but the lily, now among thorns, will be transplanted into that paradise where there is no brier or thorn. The world is a barren tree to the soul; but Christ is a fruitful one.
And when poor souls are parched with convictions of sin, with the terrors of the law, or with the troubles of this world, weary and heavy laden, they may find rest in Christ. It is not enough to pass by this shadow, but we must sit down under it. Believers have tasted that the Lord Jesus is gracious; His fruits are all the precious privileges of the new covenant, purchased by His blood and communicated by His Spirit; promises are sweet to a believer, and precepts also.
Pardons are sweet, and peace of conscience is sweet. If we have lost our taste for the pleasures of sin, divine consolations will be sweet to us. Christ brings the soul to seek and find comforts through His ordinances, which are like a banqueting-house where His saints feast with Him. The love of Christ, manifested by His death and by His word, is the banner He displays, and believers resort to it.
How much better it is for the soul when sick with love for Christ, than when surfeited with the love of this world! And though Christ seemed to have withdrawn, yet He was even then a very present help. All His saints are in His hand, which tenderly holds their aching heads. Finding Christ thus near to her, the soul takes great care that her communion with Him is not interrupted.
We easily grieve the Spirit by wrong tempers. Let those who have comfort fear sinning it away.
"The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh, Leaping upon the mountains, Skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: Behold, he standeth behind our wall; He looketh in at the windows; He glanceth through the lattice. My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past; The rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing [of birds] is come, And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land; The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs, And the vines are in blossom; They give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." — Song of Solomon 2:8-13 (ASV)
The church pleases herself with thoughts of further communion with Christ. No one else can speak to the heart. She sees him come. This may be applied to the prospect the Old Testament saints had of Christ's coming in the flesh. He comes as pleased with his own undertaking.
He comes speedily. Even when Christ seems to forsake, it is but for a moment; he will soon return with everlasting loving-kindness. The saints of old saw him, appearing through the sacrifices and ceremonial institutions. We see him through a glass darkly, as he manifests himself through the lattices.
Christ invites the new convert to arise from sloth and despondency, and to leave sin and worldly vanities, for union and communion with him. The winter may mean years passed in ignorance and sin, unfruitful and miserable, or storms and tempests that accompanied his conviction of guilt and danger. Even the unripe fruits of holiness are pleasant to Him whose grace has produced them.
All these encouraging tokens and evidences of divine favor are motives to the soul to follow Christ more fully. Arise then, and come away from the world and the flesh, come into fellowship with Christ. This blessed change is entirely due to the approaches and influences of the Sun of righteousness.
"O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, In the covert of the steep place, Let me see thy countenance, Let me hear thy voice; For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, That spoil the vineyards; For our vineyards are in blossom. My beloved is mine, and I am his: He feedeth [his flock] among the lilies. Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away, Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart Upon the mountains of Bether." — Song of Solomon 2:14-17 (ASV)
The church is Christ's dove; she returns to Him as her Noah. Christ is the Rock, in whom alone she can consider herself safe and find herself at ease, like a dove in the cleft of a rock when attacked by birds of prey. Christ calls her to come boldly to the throne of grace, having a great High Priest there, to state her request. Speak freely; do not fear being slighted or repulsed.
The voice of prayer is sweet and acceptable to God; those who are sanctified possess true beauty. The first stirrings of sinful thoughts and desires, the beginnings of trivial pursuits that waste time, frivolous visits, small departures from truth, and whatever might lead to some conformity with the world; all these, and many more, are the little foxes that must be removed. This is a charge to believers to mortify their sinful appetites and passions, which are like little foxes that destroy their graces and comforts and crush good beginnings.
Whatever we find to be a hindrance to us in what is good, we must put away. He feedeth among the lilies; this shows Christ's gracious presence among believers. He is kind to all His people. It is fitting for them to believe this when experiencing desertion and His absence, and thus to ward off temptations. The shadows of the Jewish dispensation were dispelled by the dawning of the gospel day.
And a day of comfort will come after a night of desertion. Come over the mountains of Bether, "the mountains that divide," looking forward to that day of light and love. Christ will come over every separating mountain to take us home to Himself.
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