O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
Here are several very grand parts in this verse. Jesus here calls his beloved by a new name, that of the dove, perhaps from several causes. The dove is considered the most harmless of creatures. Hence Jesus enjoined his disciples to be harmless as doves. Matthew 10:16. And as the dove is harmless, so is it a beautiful creature in its plumage, exceedingly social also and attached in its affection, but timid to an excess. Now on all these accounts there should seem a great aptness in the Lord's comparison of his church to the dove, For what so weak as a poor believer, so fearful, so apprehensive, and full of doubting? What so lovely or beautiful as a soul washed in the blood of Christ, and made comely in his righteousness? And who so attached as the believer when brought into the privilege of an union with Christ? The clefts of the rock have been thought by some the enclosed and eternally secured purposes of God in Christ, the rock of ages. And if so, the secretness of it may be well understood in allusion to the other expression, of the stairs. It must be confessed, that as Jehovah hath from everlasting ordered all things according to the counsel of his own will; there seems a great propriety in this view. And Jesus calling to his dove in this sense seems to be as if he had said, O thou beautiful, but timid and fearful creature, thou art in the clefts of the rock, eternally secured in me; as in my side pierced by the soldier's spear; there I have placed thee, and there from everlasting thou art secret. I do not presume to decide upon a point of such sublimity; but I conceive that there is no impropriety in the thought. And under this idea was not Moses the man of God, somewhat typical of this, when the Lord God in passing-by and making his glory to appear before him in the mount put him in the cleft of the rock? Exodus 33:22. The next thing to be considered in this verse is, what Christ said to the church. Jesus had called her his dove; and had said where she was; he now bids her to let him see her countenance, and hear her voice, and adds as a reason that the former was sweet, and the latter comely. If it be supposed that the church was mourning like a dove, when Jesus thus calls her, it should seem to imply, that the cries and mournings of his people for sin are noticed, and come up with acceptance before him. And the blushing countenance of the penitent is what the Lord regards. A beautiful view we have of it in Ezra 9:5-15. And in the prophet's account of Ephraim, Jeremiah 31:18-20. Reader! it is truly comfortable and encouraging to God's people, to consider, that however vile and refuse they may be esteemed by the world, yet, in the eyes of Jesus they are lovely. Oh! Lord Jesus! to be countenanced by thee, to be noticed by my Lord, how preferable to all the honours and distinctions of men!