Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. (12) Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.
The church is following up the sweet truth she had delivered in the foregoing verse, with putting forth in these an invitation to Christ. Jesus had before invited her to arise, and go with him. Song of Solomon 2:10, etc. And the church now in return invites her Lord. By the field, some have supposed is meant the scriptures, concerning which, if so, the sense of the church's invitation of Christ to go forth in the study of the word with her, is, that without his gracious instruction by his Holy Spirit, she could not read them profitably. By lodging in the villages, hath been thought, is intended the inviting Christ to the private communion and fellowship of saints. And by getting up early to the vineyards, is meant the public congregation of the faithful. And the motives, or intentions, immediately expressed by the church, seem without difficulty to give countenance to this interpretation of the passage. The church saith, her wishes for Christ to accompany her into the fields, and to lodge in the villages, and get up early to the vineyards, is, to see how the vine flourished, and whether the tender grape did appear; meaning the state of Jesus's family, amidst the various ages, characters, and diversities the Lord had appointed among them. And there, in the word, in sweet private communion, and in public worship, will I hope (saith the church), to tell my Lord how much and how greatly I love him. Reader, let you and I copy after the church in this most lovely employment. Wherever we are, however engaged in the church or in the house, in the field or in the city, at home or abroad, let us invite the Lord Jesus to be ever with us, Oh! Lord, if thou wilt but condescend to make one in our midst, surely I may then promise as the church did: There will I give thee my loves.