Solomon's Song. The name by which Solomon calls this song, confirms me in it that it is more than an ordinary love song, and that it was designed for a divine song, and of divine authority; for we read, 1 Kings 4:32. that Solomon's songs were a thousand and five; this he calls the Song of songs, that is, the most excellent of all his songs, which it seems very probable to me to be upon that account, because it was a song of the most excellent subject, treating of the love, union, and communion between Christ and his church; of which, marriage and conjugal love was but a shadow. These are the most excellent lovers, and their love the most excellent love.
Mr. Henry, in the introduction to his Exp. of this book, says, "It appears that this book was taken in a spiritual sense by the Jewish church, for whose use it was first composed, as appears by the Chaldee paraphrase, and the most ancient Jewish expositors." In the same place he says, "In our belief both of the divine extraction and spiritual exposition of this book, we are confirmed by the ancient, constant, and convincing testimony, both of the church of the Jews, to whom were committed the oracles of God, and who never made any doubt of the authority of this book, and of the Christian church, which happily succeeded them in that trust and honour."
The Book of Solomon's Song. The divinity of this song is confirmed from the allusions there seem to be in the New testament to things herein contained; and particularly Christ, in John 4:10; John 4:14. speaking of a well of living water, seems to allude to 4:15 of this song, "a fountain of gardens, a well of living water." So in Ephesians 5:18. There seems to be an eye to chap. 5:1 of this song. See Notes on that passage in Ephesians.
It is one argument that the Book of Canticles is no common love song, that the bridegroom or lover there spoken of so often calls his beloved, "My sister, my spouse." This well agrees with Christ's relation to believers, who is become our brother and near kinsman by taking upon him our nature, and is our brother, and the son of our mother by his incarnation, as thereby he became a son of the church, and used the ordinances appointed in it, and so has sucked the breasts of our mother, and we are become his brothers also by the adoption of his Father. But this appellation would not well suit a common spouse among the Jews, who were so strictly forbidden to marry any that were near of kin to them, and particularly to marry a sister. Leviticus 18:9. "The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or the daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover." It is neither likely that the Jews would marry such in Solomon's time, nor that it would be the custom to compare their spouses to such, especially that they would insist so much on such an appellation as though it was an amiable thing, and a thing to be thought of and mentioned with delight and pleasure, to have a spouse that was a sister, when God's law taught them to dread and abhor the thought of it.
The Book of Solomon's Song, no common love song, but a divine song, respecting the union between the Messiah and the church. It is an argument of it that such figures of speech are made use of from time to time in this song, as are elsewhere used concerning the Messiah and the church. Song of Solomon 1:3. Grace is elsewhere compared to ointment. That, chap. 1:3, 4 Draw me, is parallel with Jeremiah 31:3. There the Lord, speaking to the church of Israel, under the name of the virgin of Israel, says, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore, with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." Verse 4. "The King hath brought me into his chambers;" and elsewhere the saints are represented as dwelling in the secret place of the Most High. Hosea 11:4. "I draw them¾with the bands of love." Representing the bridegroom as a shepherd, and the spouse's children as kids and lambs, chap. 1:7, 8. is agreeable to frequent representations of the Messiah and the church in the Old Testament. The ornaments of the spouse are here represented as jewels and chains of silver and gold, Song of Solomon 1:10; Song of Solomon 11:11; Song of Solomon 4:1-9. Compare these with Ezekiel 16:11; Ezekiel 16:12; Ezekiel 16:13. The excellencies both of bridegroom and bride are compared to spices, Song of Solomon 1:12-14; Song of Solomon 4:6; Song of Solomon 4:10; Song of Solomon 4:13; Song of Solomon 4:14; Song of Solomon 4:16; Song of Solomon 5:5; Song of Solomon 13:8. and ointment perfumed with spices, chap. 1:3. 4:10. The same spices were made use of to represent spiritual excellencies in the incense, and anointing oil in the tabernacle and temple, and also in the oil for the light. Exodus 30:28; Song of Solomon 1:16. "Our bed is green." This is agreeable to the figures of speech often used concerning the church. The comfort the spouse enjoyed in her bridegroom is compared to a shadow and the fruit of a tree. Song of Solomon 2:2 is agreeable to Isaiah 35:1; Isaiah 2:2; Isaiah 55:13. and Hosea 14:5; Song of Solomon 2:3; Song of Solomon 2:5. is agreeable to Proverbs 3:18. "She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy is every one that retaineth her;" and Proverbs 8:19. "My fruit is better than gold." So the Messiah, in the prophecies, is often compared to a tree and branch. The comforts the bridegroom and bride have in each other, are in this book often compared to wine. Song of Solomon 1:2; Song of Solomon 2:5; Song of Solomon 5:1. So wine was made use of in the tabernacle and temple service to represent both the comforts the church has in Christ, and also the gracious exercises and good works of the saints offered to God. See also Proverbs 9:2; Isaiah 27:2; Hosea 14:7; Zechariah 9:15; Zechariah 10:7. The comforts the bridegroom and bride here enjoy mutually in each other are in the song compared to wine and milk, agreeable to Isaiah 55:1, and also to the honey and honeycomb, agreeable to the frequent representations made of spiritual comforts in the Scripture. The spouse here is represented feasting with the bridegroom. Song of Solomon 2:4:; Song of Solomon 5:1. So the church of God is represented as feasting with him in the sacrifices and feasts appointed by Moses, and in the prophecies. Isaiah 25:6; Isaiah 55 at the beginning. God's saints are all spoken of as the priests of the Lord, Isaiah 61:6, but the priests eat the bread of God. What the spouse entertains her lover with is called fruits, Song of Solomon 4:16; Song of Solomon 7:13; Song of Solomon 8:2. as the good works of the saints abundantly are represented elsewhere as fruit which the church brings and offers to God. The spouse is here compared to fruitful trees, Song of Solomon 4:13, etc. chap. 7:7, 8. The saints are compared to the same, Psalms 1:3 and Jeremiah 17:8 and Isaiah 27:6 and other places innumerable. The spouse is compared to a flourishing fruitful vine, Song of Solomon 2:13; Song of Solomon 7:8. So is the church of God often compared to a vine. The spouse's excellency is compared to the smell of Lebanon, chap. 4:11. So is the excellency of the church, Hosea 14:6; Hosea 14:7. "His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return, they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine, the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon." The fruits of the spouse are often compared to pomegranates in this song. Song of Solomon 4:3; Song of Solomon 4:13; Song of Solomon 6:7; Song of Solomon 8:2. So the spiritual fruits of the church of God are represented by pomegranates in the tabernacle and temple. The spouse is in this song said to be like the palm-tree. Chap. 7:7, 8. So was the church of Israel, whose representation were the seventy elders, typified by seventy palm-trees. Exodus 15:27. So the temple was every where covered with cherubims and palm-trees, representing saints and angels. 1 Kings 6:29; 1 Kings 6:32; 1 Kings 6:35; 1 Kings 7:36; 2 Chronicles 3:5. So in Ezekiel's temple. Ezekiel 40:16. The spouse in this song is compared to a garden and orchard, to a garden of spices, and of aloes, in particular, Song of Solomon 4:12, to the end, and 5:1, and 6:2. which is agreeable to the representations made of the church. Numbers 24:5; Numbers 24:6. "How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel. As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted, as the cedar-trees beside the waters." The spouse is compared to a fountain, Song of Solomon 4:12; Song of Solomon 4:13. so is the church. Deuteronomy 33:28; Psalms 68:26. The twelve tribes of Israel are represented by twelve fountains of water. Exodus 15:27. The spouse is called a fountain of gardens, Song of Solomon 4:15. So the church of God is represented as a fountain in the midst of a land of corn and wine. Deuteronomy 33:28. And a stream among all trees of unfading leaves, and living fruit. And as a watered garden, Isaiah 58:11; Jeremiah 31:12. The spouse is called a well of living waters, Song of Solomon 4:15. The blessings granted to the church and by the church are represented by the same thing. Zechariah 14:8. "Living waters shall go out of Jerusalem." so Ezekiel 47 where we read of waters going out of the temple and city of Jerusalem that gave life to everything, and flowed in the midst of the trees of life. Another thing that is a very great evidence that this song is mystical, and that the spouse signifies not a person but a society, and the church of God in particular, is that she is compared to a city, and the city of Jerusalem in particular. Song of Solomon 6:4. "Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem;" and that particular parts of the spouse are compared to buildings, and strong buildings, as towers and walls. Chap. 4:4. "Thy neck is like the tower of David, builded for an armory whereon they hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men." Song of Solomon 7:4. "Thy neck is like a tower of ivory. - Thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon, which looketh towards Damascus." Chap. 8:10. "I am a wall, and my breasts like towers." We find elsewhere people and societies of men represented by buildings, houses, and cities, but never particular persons. And the church of God is a society or people often represented in Scripture by such similitudes, and particularly is often compared to a city with strong towers and bulwarks, and to the city Jerusalem especially, and that on the account of her many fortifications and strong bulwarks.
Again, it greatly confirms that the spouse is a people, and the church of God in particular, that she is compared to an army, an army terrible with banners. Song of Solomon 6:4; Song of Solomon 6:10. "And as a company of two armies, or the company of Mahanaim." So the church of God when brought out of Egypt through the wilderness to Canaan, was by God's direction in the form of an army with banners. So the psalms and prophecies often represent the church of God as going forth to battle, fighting under an ensign, and gloriously conquering their enemies, and conquering the nations of the world. And the company of Jacob, that was as it were the church of Israel, with the host of angels that met them and joined them, to assist them against Esau's host, was the company of Mahanaim, or company of two armies, so called by Jacob on that account, Genesis 32 at the beginning.
So it is a great evidence of the same thing, that the spouse is compared to war-horses, Song of Solomon 1:9, etc. which it is not in the least likely would ever be a comparison used to represent the beauty of a bride in a common epithalamium or love song. But this is exactly agreeable to a representation elsewhere made of the church of God. Zechariah 10:3. "The Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle." And verse 5. "And they shall be as mighty men which tread down their enemies, as the mire of the streets in the battle. And they shall fight because the Lord is with them." And verse 7. "And they of Ephraim shall be like mighty men."
These expressions show this song to be mystical. Song of Solomon 1. "My mother's children were angry with me." If it is supposed to be used of the church, they are easily accounted for; they are agreeable to accounts in Scripture history of Cain's enmity against Abel, and Esau's against Jacob; and their posterities' enmity against Israel; and the prophecies that represent the future persecutions of the church, by false brethren.
Another thing that shows this to be no common love song, is that the spouse seeks company in her love to the bridegroom, endeavours to draw other women to join with her in loving him, and rejoices in their communion with her in the love and enjoyment of her beloved. Song of Solomon 1:3; Song of Solomon 1:4. "Therefore the VIRGINS love thee." "Draw me; WE will run after thee." "The king hath brought me into his chambers; WE will be glad and rejoice in thee," "WE will remember thy love more than wine." " THE UPRIGHT love thee." Song of Solomon 6:1; Song of Solomon 6:2. "Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women; whither is thy beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with thee? My beloved is gone down into his garden," etc. - Chap. 8:13. "Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice."
The bridegroom in this song speaks of his willing people, Song of Solomon 6:12, which is agreeable to the language used concerning the people of the Messiah. Psalms 110:2. (See Psalms 45. No. 507.)
The Book of Canticles (Song of Solomon). The following places in the Psalms are a confirmation that by her, whom the bridegroom in this book calls "My love," "My dove," "My sister," "My spouse," and the like, is meant the church, viz. Psalms 22:20; Psalms 35:17; Psalms 60:4; Psalms 60:5; Psalms 108:6; Psalms 127:2; Psalms 74:19.