Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.
The church is in this verse called upon, most probably by the daughters of Jerusalem, to return. But it doth not so immediately appear what the church is called upon to return to; some, therefore, have accepted the call as the words of Christ; and in this sense the words are certainly much more plain and obvious; for then the object of the return, that we may look upon thee, will be that all the Persons of the God-head, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, may behold the fair beauty of the church, robed in the apparel of her Husband. I do not presume to determine the exact sense of the passage, or to which they refer. But, when the church is called Shulamite, it should seem it means a woman of Salem, or Jerusalem; for the word is the same. And as the bride of Jesus, she is the Shulamite indeed. Solomon, as the name of a man, is precisely the same as Shulamite for a woman. Now as the Lord Jesus, in one scripture, is called the Lord our righteousness, and in another passage of the same prophet, the church is so called, all this seems to throw a light upon the subject, in explaining why the church is called Shulamite. Jeremiah 33:16; Jeremiah 33:16. The answer of the church is a most beautiful proof of grace, and her humbleness of soul. What will ye see, saith the church, but as a company of two armies, or as the margin of the Bible hath it, of Mahanaim, two hosts, such as the patriarch Jacob noticed, Genesis 32:1-2. The conflict between grace and nature is very aptly represented by two armies, and in a warfare that ends not but with death. Blessed Jesus, it is well that it ends then; and everlasting praises be to thy name the victory is not doubtful; for thy people are more than conquerors, through thy grace making them so. Romans 8:37-39
REFLECTIONS
Here Reader, let us pause; and before we close the chapter, take into one view, some at least of the many blessed things contained in it for our instruction. Are we earnest in our enquiries for Jesus? Do we now seek after him from a knowledge of him, and a conviction of our need of him, and our utter ruin without him? Then let us learn from hence, where we are to seek Christ, and the earnestness with which we should enquire after him. There is a generation that seek the Lord, and of whom he saith, he will not be sought in vain. And very blessed it is to have this assurance from the Lord himself; while in a day of much heresy the cry is, Lo! here is Christ, or lo, he is there! Reader! let us not be discouraged with these things. A real love for Christ, and the going forth of real desires after Christ; both are of Jesus's own giving: and the grace he gives, he will perfect. And if, as the church speaks, Jesus is gone down into his garden, his church; let us in ordinances, and in all the several means of grace there, seek him, where his name is as ointment poured forth, and where his glory and his salvation are the chief and only object regarded; and we shall find that, ere we are aware, our souls will be made like the chariot of Amminadib. And oh for grace, like the church, to arrive at that blessedness of assurance founded in the Father's love, the Redeemer's grace, and the Spirit's fellowship, that each may say for himself as the church: I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine.
Precious Jesus! is thy church indeed lovely and beautiful as Tirzah? is she comely as Jerusalem; and in thy strength terrible as an army with banners? Surely then, blessed Lord, the whole is derived from thee! What grace, what endowment, what ornament can our poor polluted nature have but in, and from thee. In thy light, Lord, we shalt see light; and in thy strength we are strong: but without thee we are nothing. Cause thy redeemed to come up as a flock of sheep from the washing, and let there be not one barren among them.
I praise thee, my blessed Lord and Saviour, for this account of thy church, that she is but one and undefiled; and the choice one of her that bare her; and oh! for grace to bear about with me this precious mark of unity. One, Lord, with thee, and one, with thy people: one faith, one hope, one baptism; and all thy redeemed shall be found in one spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling. And although, thou glorious Head of thy body the church, all thy redeemed here below are like the Shulamite, always in the conflict as of two armies; yet already in thy strength we have overcome. Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ! And therefore now we would begin the Song, until in the full assembly of the church above we come to sing with a louder, fuller, sweeter strain: Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.