Notes
Song of Solomon 4:9. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse: thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. ‘Thou hast ravished my heart’ (לִבַּבְתִּנִי libbabhtini, a verb formed from לִבֵּב libbebh, from the noun לבב lebhabh, a heart); ‘thou hast wounded or taken away my heart.’ GESENIUS. ‘Hast enchanted me, made me wholly thine own.’ ZÖCKLER, DELITZSCH. According to this view the Pril form of the verb has a privative signification like סִכֵּל (sikkel), to clear away stones; or שֵרֵשׁ (sheresh), to uproot, According to others לִבָּב, like the same in Syriac, denotes to give heart or encourage. So the niphal form of the verb in Job 11:12. נִלְבַב, to get a heart or wisdom. So GREGORY. COCCEIUS, EWALD, and others: Thou hast heartened, or emboldened me. WORDSWORTH and some Rabbins: Behearted me—coupled my heart to thine. SEPTUAGINT: Thou hast hearted us. SYMMACHUS: Hast emboldened me. VULGATE, followed by COVERDALE, MATTHEWS, GENEVA and DOUAI versions: Hast wounded my heart. CRANMER and BISHOP’S Bible: Hast bewitched my heart. LUTHER, MONTANUS, PISCATOR, MERCER: Hast taken away my heart. DIODATI and DUTCH Version: Hast robbed me of my heart. MARTIN: Hast ravished my heart. So JUNIUS and TREMELLIUS, PARKHURST, PERCY, GOOD, BOOTHROYD. MUNSTER: Hast fascinated my heart. TIRINUS and TIGURINE version: Hast taken possession of my heart. So PATRICK. ABEN EZRA: Hast taken away my heart KIMCHI: Hast wounded it with the arrow of thine eyes. RASHI: Hast drawn my heart to thee. TARGUM: Written on the tablet of my heart is thy love. AINSWORTH: Thou hast taken, pierced, wounded my heart, ravishing it with love and delight. DE WETTE: Hast robbed me of my heart. NOYES: Hast taken my heart captive. UMBREIT: Hast robbed me of courage. HAHN: Hast unhearted me. WEISS: Hast cherished, known, esteemed, and loved me. CLAY: The word not found elsewhere in the Bible in this form and sense: Christ’s love so unspeakable, new words to be coined to express it.—‘With one of thine eyes’: (בְּאַחַת מֵעֵיַנִיךְ be-akhadh me-enaik) ‘With one of the glances proceeding from thine eyes.’ ZÖCKLER, HENGSTENBERG. So JUNIUS, LE CLERC, PERCY, GOOD, &c.; supposing that something, as ראי, has either been dropped out of the text, or is to be understood after בְאַחַד. Masorites proposed reading באחת instead of באחד, עין being teminine. So the Keri and many MSS. EWALD: With a single one of thy glances. DELITZSCH: With one of thy looks. AINSWORTH: Even a side or profile view of her face charms him. So WILLIAMS. PARKHURST: The least glance I have of thee and of thy beauty. KENNICOTT: At once with thine eyes. So BOOTHROYD, COBBIN, HODGSON. RASHI: I would have loved thee with only one of thy charms. SANCTIUS: Perhaps one eye hidden by the veil or crown. Eastern women un-unveiled only one eye in conversation. TERTULLIAN, NIEBUHR, NOYES.—‘With one chain of thy neck’ (בְאַחַד עֲנָק מִצַּוְרֹוַיִךְ. be-akhadh’ anaq mits-tsavronaik). עֲנָק (anaq) a collar, from עָנַק, ‘to adorn or clothe the neck’ (Psalms 73:6). GESENIUS. With one chain of thy necklace; Shulamite’s neck looking so charmingly in it. ZÖCKLER. The word however only to be taken figuratively. PERCY. With one stone of thy necklace. EWALD. In Eastern descriptions, the dress and ornaments quite as much praised as the person: so in our own old ballads. “Bride of Christ.” PATRICK understands a ‘wreath of hair.’ So HITZIG: A ringlet or lock of the first hair hanging down on the neck. A. CLARKE thinks the reference to the play of the muscles of the neck. So GOOD and PERCY: With one turn of thy neck. BOOTHROYD: At once with the turning of thy neck. צַוְרוֹן (tsavron), a diminutive of endearment, from צַוָּאר (tsavvar); ‘thy tiny neck.’ GESENIUS, EWALD. The dual or plural used to indicate the hair hanging on both sides of the neck. AINSWORTH. SEPTUAGINT: With one ornament of thy neck. SYMMACHUS: With one necklace. AQUILA: One lock. VULGATE: One hair or ringlet. LUTHER: One of thy neckchains. DIODATI and MARTIN: One of the necklaces of thy neck. So MERCER, PAGNINUS, &c. MUNSTER: With one fillet.
‘My sister, my spouse.’ A bride also called ‘sister’ among the later Arabians: so soror applied to a mistress in Tibullus. GESENIUS. The designation of a certain relationship: the spouse now Solomon’s lawful wife, and next to him as a sister to a brother. ZÖCKLER. ‘My sister,’ a word of tenderness and endearment, used by husbands to their wives: so Tob. 7:16; Tob. 8:4; Tob. 8:7. PATRICK. Relations and kinspeople called by the Jews brethren and sisters. GILL. The Church Christ’s sister by His assumption of our nature; His spouse, by love and marriage-covenant. BEDE. The Church so called out of love, and in respect to regeneration and adoption (Hebrews 2:11). AINSWORTH. The Lord’s heart drawn by even one right thought directed towards Him. SANCTIUS. Christ easily and willingly overcome by His own. DURHAM. The Bride’s poverty of spirit looking forth behind the veil of her dove-like eyes, one of the two great features of her beauty that won the heart of the King; her humility of spirit the other. HAHN.
THE KING HAPPY IN HIS BRIDE
Thou hast ravished my heart,
My sister, my spouse;
Thou hast ravished my heart,
With one of thine eyes,
With one chain of thy neck.
How fair is thy love,
My sister, my spouse!
How much better is thy love than wine;
And the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
Thy lips, O my spouse,
Drop as the honeycomb;
Honey and milk are under thy tongue;
And the smell of thy garments
Is like the smell of Lebanon.
A garden enclosed
Is my sister, my spouse;
A spring shut up
A fountain sealed.
Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates,
With pleasant fruits;
Camphire with spikenard,
Spikenard and saffron,
Calamus and cinnamon,
With all trees of frankincense;
Myrrh and aloes,
With all the chief spices.
A fountain of gardens,
A well of living waters,
And streams of Lebanon.
The climax of the King’s admiration of, and delight in, his Bride. Realization of the words of the forty-fifth Psalm, the Song of Loves: ‘So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty.’ The happy Bridegroom had already described the charms of his Bride; he now declares, in the language of impassioned affection, the effect which these produced upon him: ‘Thou hast ravished my heart.’ Literally ‘Thou hast hearted me.’ A new word coined to show the intensity of Christ’s love to and delight in His believing people. Christ’s heart in the possession of the loving believer. His love to His people that of the most ardent lover; yet calm, deep, and holy His Church His peculiar treasure. (Exodus 14:5). The King, in addressing his Bride, combines terms expressive of the nearest and tenderest relations, each supplementary to the other. ‘My sister, my spouse;’ or, ‘my sister spouse.’ Names of nearest kindred employed in the East as terms of affection. These combined terms immediately afterwards repeated by the King in order to indicate the reality of the relationship, the intensity of his affection, and his delight in employing the title. The believer not to forget that he belongs to Christ, both as his Brother and his Bridegroom. Is at once both the sister and the spouse of Jesus. His sister, as having the same Father and the same nature; Christ assuming the believer’s human nature and imparting to him His Divine one. His spouse, as now united in a marriage-bond with Himself, having been betrothed by Him in an everlasting covenant (Hosea 2:19; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Romans 7:4). In the believer the ardour of a spouse’s love combined with the purity of a sister’s. Typified in Eve, at once the sister and the spouse of Adam. The ardour of Christ’s love to His people grounded—
(1) On the relation in which they stand to Him as the Bride given Him by the Father.
(2) On the fact that, as His Bride, He has brought them from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the curse of a broken law, by the price of His own agony and blood.
(3) On the holy beauty which, as His blood-bought Bride, He imparts to them by the renewing and transforming grace of His Holy Spirit, more especially the beauty of their faith and love. What costs most, usually most beloved. The Shepherd rejoices most over the sheep which He had lost, but with much toil and trouble had found. A saved soul an addition to the happiness of heaven. The Saviour’s joy bound up in the sinner whom He saves. The grounds of the King’s admiration of and delight in his Bride, rapturously indicated by himself:—
1. Her beauty. More especially that of her ‘eyes’ and ‘neck,’ the one directed to himself in a tender affection, the other bowed in humility and self-surrender: ‘Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.’ One, as indicating the perfection of beauty and redundancy of charms beheld in the Bride. One believing penitent look of the sinner sufficient to secure the Saviour’s love. (Zechariah 12:12). Christ overcome by the look of the Syro-Phœnician woman and of the dying thief. The Bride’s eyes and neck contrasted with the wanton and adulterous eyes, and the stiff and stubborn neck of an impenitent world.
2. Her love. ‘How fair is thy love,’ &c. Literally ‘loves,’ as in chap. 1, Song of Solomon 4:4. Probably expressions and manifestations of love. The term and the comparison following formerly applied by the Bride to the King’s love; now returned to her with tender emphasis. The love of the loved one the sweetest enjoyment of the lover. The love of the saved soul the joy and reward of the Saviour. The faith and love of the forgiven woman in the Pharisee’s house, infinitely sweeter and more refreshing to Him than the wine on Simon’s table, and even the precious ointment with which she anointed His feet. His wine-cup on the cross the love of a pardoned sinner.
3. Her savoury spirit. ‘The smell of thine ointments is better than all spices.’ The fragrance of her spirit properly her own ointments. This sweeter to the king than all the ‘powders of the merchant’ with which she might perfume her person. ‘The smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon,’ celebrated for its odoriferous trees (Hosea 14:5; Hosea 14:7). Her garments properly her spirit and deportment. ‘Be ye clothed with humility.’ ‘Put on, as the elect of God, bowels of mercies.’ ‘Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Garments, in the East, often richly perfumed, especially on marriage and other festive occasions. So those of the King Himself (Psalms 45:8). The ‘ointments’ both of the King and of the Bride the graces of the Spirit, imparted first to Christ, without measure, then to His members, ‘according to the measure of the gift of Christ.’ The precious ointment poured on the head of Aaron runs down upon the beard, ‘even to the skirts of his garments’ (Psalms 133:2). The ‘smell’ of the Bride’s garments, the sweetness of the actings and exercises of those graces. The part of believers, as having Christ and His Spirit in them, to carry about with them a spiritual fragrance, sweet to Christ and profitable to men.
4. Her speech and conversation. ‘Thy lips, O my spouse drop as the honeycomb,’ &c. An enlarged repetition of the commendation already given,—‘Sweet is thy voice,’ ‘thy speech is comely.’ Shulamite’s speech the index of her soul. ‘Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.’ A wife’s sweet, savoury, enlightened conversation the delight of an intelligent husband. Especial attention paid by Christ to the speech of His people. ‘Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard’ (Malachi 3:17). Believers to be of circumcised lips as well as heart. Their lips touched with the live coal from off the altar (Isaiah 6:4). The poison of asps is changed for the honey and milk of the Holy Spirit. Honey and milk under the tongue, when the milk of God’s Word is in the heart. Christ’s Word dwelling richly in us shows itself in sweet and wholesome conversation. The sweetest honey gathered from the flowers of Holy Scripture. To have honey dropping from our lips, we must have the honeycomb in our heart. The honey first under the tongue, then on it. Meditation on the Word the best means for speech that shall minister pleasure to Christ and ‘grace to the hearers.’
5. On her general excellence and beneficial influence. This represented under four comparisons—
(1.) An Enclosed Garden. ‘A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse.’ A garden a place for pleasure. An Oriental garden a scene of special beauty. A garden enclosed indicative of—(i.) Its preciousness; (ii.) The care taken of it; (iii.) Its preservation for the owner’s exclusive enjoyment. The Church and each individual believer Christ’s enclosed pleasure-garden. ‘I will walk in them;’ not merely with them. His Church the object of His special care. ‘I, the Lord, will keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day’ (Isaiah 27:3). Believers set apart for His own enjoyment. ‘The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself’ (Psalms 4:3). The Church, as a garden, distinguished from the world. The world, apart from Christ’s Church, a moral desert. That Church enclosed for its safety and defence. Safe, though surrounded by wild beasts and raging enemies. God Himself a wall of fire round about her (Zechariah 2:5). Believers ‘kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.’
(2.) A locked-up Spring and a sealed Fountain. ‘A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.’ Such locked and sealed fountains frequently found in the East. The lock and seal indicate value, care, and exclusive use. The fountains thus kept from being dried up by the heat, defiled by animals, or employed by strangers. Springs and fountains especially valuable in the East. The special delight of Orientals during the heat of summer. Gardens and courts usually provided with them. The Church of living and loving souls a spring of delight to Christ, as He is to His people. ‘I will sup with him and he with me.’ The believer’s heart shut up to all but Christ. The Bride exclusively for her husband (Proverbs 5:15-18). Believers ‘holiness to the Lord.’ Their life hid with Christ in God. Sealed by the Holy Ghost to the day of redemption. The motto of the seal: ‘The Lord knoweth them that are His.’ Under the Old dispensation the fountain scaled in one nation; under the New, spread over all the world.
(3.) An Orchard of fruit trees and spices. ‘Thy plants are an orchard,’ &c., ‘with pleasant fruits,’ or ‘fruit of excellence,’ or ‘precious things’ (Deuteronomy 33:13-16). ‘Camphor,’ cypress, or henna (chap. Song of Solomon 1:14). ‘Calamus,’ or sweet cane (Jeremiah 6:20; Exodus 30:23). ‘Frankincense,’ employed in the composition of the holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:34). ‘Myrrh,’ distilling from an Arabian shrub, and hardening into a gum. ‘Aloes,’ a costly and sweet-smelling wood; connected with myrrh also in Psalms 45:9; Proverbs 7:17; John 19:39. Solomon, familiar with orchards, fruit trees, and spices (Ecclesiastes 2:5), saw in these only a picture of the excellencies found in his beloved Shulamite. Such Christ’s estimate of His Church. His Church to Him the antitype of Eden (Genesis 2:8-9). Believers ‘trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.’ Represented as olives and vines, palms and cedars, firs and myrtles. The Church collectively an orchard containing a variety of trees, and each believer one containing a rich variety of Christian graces (Galatians 5:22). All the fruits of the Spirit found in believers in a greater or less degree of development. Their duty to cultivate each, and to seek its maturity. To ‘abound in every good word and work’ (Colossians 1:9). To be ‘filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God.’ To abound in every grace (2 Corinthians 8:7). The object for which Christ gave himself for His Church (Ephesians 5:27; Titus 2:14. The Church and each believer to produce not only ‘fruits,’ but ‘spices.’ A believer’s life, spirit and conversation, to be not only pure, holy, and upright, but sweet and savoury. Believers to exhibit not merely what is sterling and excellent, but also what is lovely and attractive.
(4.) A Fountain sending forth refreshing and fertilizing streams. ‘A fountain of gardens’—by which gardens are watered, hence affording an abundant supply (Jeremiah 31:12; Isaiah 58:11). ‘A well of living waters’—always full and always flowing. ‘Streams from Lebanon’—such as those in the Zebdani Valley, or the ‘Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus,’ fed by the snows of Lebanon (Jeremiah 18:14). The Bride in one sense a ‘sealed fountain;’ in another a fountain sending forth its streams for the general benefit (Proverbs 5:15-16). The virtuous woman not only the confidence and joy of her husband, but kind to all, and the benefactor of the poor (Proverbs 31:11-12; Proverbs 31:20; Proverbs 31:26). The Church, while the delight of Christ, a blessing to others. Christ, the fountain of living waters, makes the believer a well of living water by being in him. The Holy Spirit in believers as a well of living water (John 4:14). Renders them a means of life, strength, and comfort to others. Believers not only recipients of the living water, but channels for the communication of it to their fellow men and fellow Christians (John 7:38). Made receivers in order to be givers. Receive the manifestation of the Spirit for the benefit of others (1 Corinthians 11:7). Believers to be refreshed by one another (Philemon 1:7; Philemon 1:20). To comfort and edify one another. One believer like Harlan Page, the means of life and blessing to a whole neighbourhood. The Church the means of spiritual verdure and fruitfulness to the world at large. Through Christian missions, the desert made to rejoice and blossom as the rose. Believers watered themselves while watering others, and in order that they may do so (Proverbs 11:25). ‘Living water’ indicative of (i.) the perpetuity; (ii.) the excellence; (iii.) the wholesomeness; (iv.) the exhaustless nature, of Christ’s grace. The voice or breath of prayer the first bubbling up of the ‘well of living water’ (Acts 9:11). Grace in a believer makes him as.
Streams from Lebanon.
The streams visible; their source hidden from human view. What is good, holy, and spiritually beneficial, communicated by Christ through His Spirit to the believer, and from the believer to the world. Grace in the Church exhibited as ‘streams.’ Indicative of—(i.) the fulness; (ii.) the freeness; (iii.) the liveliness; (iv.) the beauty; (v.) the abundance; (vi.) the refreshing nature—of Christ’s grace. The ‘streams from Lebanon’ in the Zebdani Valley, among the most beautiful things in nature, and making all beautiful in their neighbourhood. The most beautiful as well as the most beneficial things in Creation employed by Christ to set forth the excellence of His Church, and the grace which produces it.
Important questions suggested by the passage: Does Christ take delight in me and in what He sees in me? Is it my aim to afford joy to Him as my Saviour and Bridegroom? Are my feelings towards Him those of a bride towards her husband? Am I seeking to cultivate all the various fruits of the Spirit? And not only the fruits, but the ‘spices?’ Am I endeavouring, through the Spirit of Christ in me, to practice not only what is pure, and just, and honest, but also what is lovely, and of good report? Am I careful not only as to what I do, but the manner and spirit in doing it? Is my life useful to others, as ‘streams from Lebanon,’ beautifying and refreshing those I come in contact with? ‘Strike out of my heart, O God, a well of living water!’—Dr. Chalmers.
BRIDEGROOM’S PRAYER FOR HIS GARDEN
Awake, O north wind,
And come, thou south!
Blow upon my garden,
That the spices thereof may flow out.
The Bride still viewed by the Bridegroom as his garden. That garden one of spices as well as fruits. Her spirit and conversation sweet and refreshing to her husband. His desire that that sweetness may be fully exhibited in all their intercourse with each other. The fragrance of aromatic plants not always evolved alike. Some circumstances more favourable for its evolution than others. Its evolution chiefly dependent on the state of the atmosphere, and the kind and degree of wind flowing. Hence the Bridegroom’s wish poetically expressed: ‘Awake, O north wind,’ &c. The north wind, perhaps, thus called to depart and give place to the south wind, as more favourable for the emission of the fragrance. Possibly, however, the call equally to both, as both alike needful to that emission.
Not enough that gracious dispositions, or the fruits of the Spirit be implanted in a believer’s soul. These not to be latent and dormant, but to be drawn forth in lively exercise, so that Christ may be glorified and find pleasure. That exercise dependent, in some degree, on external circumstances, on the situation in which the believer may be placed, and even on his physical health. More especially, however, on the degree of divine influence which he may at any time enjoy. The breath of the spiritual wind as necessary for the lively exercise of the gracious affections, as that of the natural one for the exhalation of the fragrance of a bed of spices. The spiritual wind the Holy Spirit. The Spirit frequently in Scripture compared to a wind (John 3:8; Acts 2:2; Ezekiel 37:9). That Spirit the ‘spirit of love, power, and a sound mind.’ Hence essential to a believer’s spiritual prosperity, and to the gracious and beneficial influence he may exercise on the world. Equally important to personal happiness, domestic peace, and conjugal comfort. Especially necessary to Christ’s enjoyment of His Church, both collectively and individually. Hence, the text a call on the part of Christ for the gracious influence of the Spirit upon the Church and the believer’s soul. These again viewed as
The Garden of Christ.
The text presents to our notice—
I. The GARDEN itself. The Church and the believing soul is—
1. A Garden. It is so, as being—
(1) Reclaimed from the world. Originally the children of wrath, even as others. Separated by distinguishing grace. Chosen out of the world. Called out of darkness into marvellous light. ‘We are of God, but the whole world lieth in wickedness’ (1 John 5:19).
(2) Safely enclosed. Hedged round by divine protection. ‘Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.’ ‘A vineyard of red wine; I the Lord do keep it.’ ‘The Lord is thy keeper.’ ‘I will be a wall of fire round about her.’ ‘Salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.’ ‘The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’
(3) Carefully cultivated. A Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost—engaged in its cultivation. ‘My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.’ ‘I will water it every moment.’ For its cultivation also, a number of human labourers, for various departments of work, employed in the garden. ‘He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.’
(4.) Planted with choice plants Every believer a tree of righteousness. The fruits of the Spirit produced in the garden: ‘Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,’ &c. The loveliest specimens of humanity found in Christ’s garden. Naturally, because sanctified and renewed humanity. ‘The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree; they shall grow as the cedar in Lebanon. They that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing’ (Psalms 92:12, &c).
(5.) Designed for the pleasure and enjoyment of the Master and his friends. The garden in the text, with its beds of spices and flowers a pleasure-garden. So the Church and a believer’s soul. ‘I will walk in them!’ ‘The Lord taketh pleasure in His people.’ The name given by Himself to the Church, ‘Hephzibah’—‘my delight is in her.’ ‘This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it.’ The Lord in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save; He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing (Zephaniah 3:17).
(6.) Kept clean and orderly. Weeds not suffered to grow or continue in it. ‘Lay aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisy, and envies (or grudges), and all evil speakings.’ ‘Purge out the old leaven.’ ‘Put off the old man, with his deeds, which are corrupt.’ ‘Putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour.’ ‘Ye also put off all these—anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication, out of your mouth.’ ‘Looking diligently lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you.’ ‘Keep yourselves in the love of God, hating the garment spotted by the flesh.’ Believers to keep themselves unspotted from the world. In the Church all things to be done ‘decently and in order’ (1 Corinthians 14:40).
2. Christ’s Garden. As being—
(1) Chosen and given to Him by the Father (Ephesians 1:3; John 10:30).
(2) Chosen by Himself for His own. ‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.’
(3) Purchased by His blood. ‘He loved the Church, and gave himself for it.’ ‘The Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.’ The Church, like the rest of the world, originally under sentence of death through sin. That sentence removed by the substitution of Christ in their stead.
(4) Reclaimed by the Spirit. The Church not only redeemed by price, but separated by power. The Spirit given to Christ for that purpose. The instrumentality employed, the truth of the Gospel in the lips and lives of believers.
(5) Employed for His own use and pleasure. ‘This people have I formed for myself.’ Believers the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
II. The CALL. Observe—
1. The Called. The Call addressed to
The Holy Spirit as a Wind.
So John 3:8; Acts 2:2; Ezekiel 37:9. The Spirit so represented—
(1) From His invisibility (John 3:8).
(2) From His power. ‘A mighty rushing wind’ (Acts 2:2). Nothing able to resist the wind in Nature, or the Spirit in grace.
(3) From the universality of His operations. The wind blows everywhere, over the whole earth. The Holy Spirit’s operations confined to no land place, class, age, condition, or circumstances.
(4) From the mysterious character of His movements and operations. The general nature of the wind as air in motion, and the general principle of its movements, tolerably understood. But its local changes and varieties among the most difficult things in Nature to account for. Blown in every possible variety of direction. Sometimes changes from one direction to another entirely opposite. Sometimes from opposite directions at once. Sometimes in one form and degree, sometimes in another. Two winds here mentioned: the North and the South. The North wind cold to those in the Northern hemisphere, as from the region of ice about the Pole. In the East, a healthful and refreshing wind (Proverbs 25:3; Job 27:21-22). The South wind warm, as from the regions about the Equator, always greatly heated by the direct rays of the sun (Job 37:17). The effects of these opposite winds consequently of an opposite character. The tendency of the one to bind up and restrain; that of the other to loosen and disengage, the odours of aromatic plants. So the operations of the Holy Spirit various in their character and effects. Sometimes as a piercing North wind, convincing, reproving, awakening, disturbing, shaking. Sometimes as a soft and balmy South wind, melting, softening, soothing, comforting. Under His convincing operation, the multitude at Pentecost cried: Men and brethren, what shall we do? Under His comforting agency, they gladly received the word of reconciliation, and experienced peace (Acts 2:37; Acts 2:47). The dispensation of the Law, and its application to the individual conscience, one operation of the Holy Spirit; the dispensation of the Gospel, and its application to the heart, another. Both North and South wind necessary in the economy of Nature; and both the convincing and comforting operations of the Spirit needful for the Church and the individual soul. The first rather preparatory to the second. The warm and quieting South wind more suited for the evolution of the spices of the garden. So the fruits of the Spirit brought forth in the Church and in the believer rather under the Gospel than under the Law; under the still small voice of evangelical consolations, than under the whirlwind of legal terrors. Yet the latter often necessary to the former.
2. The Caller. Christ Himself. His constant concern and care about His Church’s spiritual prosperity. None so interested in its fruitfulness and beauty. Never forgetful of His Church’s interests. While on earth His constant prayer to His Father on its behalf. Still walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks, as the High Priest of His Church, attending to their proper condition. Intercedes for His people at God’s right hand. Prays also on earth in the person of His members. The Holy Spirit given in answer to such prayer. The disciples waited in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father; but waited in prayer and supplication, for ten days. Their prayer the Call of Christ in them: ‘Awake, O North wind,’ &c. The Spirit only given in His fulness after Jesus had completed His work of atonement (Luke 12:49-50; John 7:39; John 16:7). The Spirit committed into His hands after His ascension into heaven. His added title then—He that hath the Seven Spirits of God (Revelation 3:1). As if to point to the words of the Song and to intimate their meaning, the Spirit’s descent on the Day of Pentecost like that of ‘a mighty rushing wind’ (Acts 2:2). Still continues the part of Christ to call for the Spirit to blow upon His garden, the Church, in answer to the fervent, believing prayers of his people. ‘Ask of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain: so shall the Lord make bright clouds (or lightnings), and give them showers of rain.’ ‘If men who are evil know how to give good gifts unto their children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? (Zechariah 10:1; Luke 11:13). The Church’s duty not only to pray for the Spirit, but to seek the removal of every hindrance to His effusion. ‘Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and prove me herewith; if I will not open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it’ (Malachi 3:10)
3. The Call itself. ‘Awake—come—blow.’ The Holy Spirit, though given, not always and alike in actual operation. Never entirely absent from the Church. Believers His permanent abode. May be present, however, in different degrees and in different ways. In the Old Testament dispensation, as a spirit of bondage; in the New, as a spirit of liberty. Through defective faith and careless walking, may still be a spirit of bondage. Hence different states of the Church and of individual believers. The Spirit given in the greatest measure yet known on and after Pentecost. Often greatly withheld from the Church’s unfaithfulness, unwatchfulness, and unprayerfulness. The candlestick in danger of being removed from its place. Churches and individual believers aroused at times to a sense of their need of the Spirit, and to earnest prayer for His gracious and powerful operation. This usually the first indication of the Spirit’s visitation. Earnest and persevering prayer for the Spirit’s effusion the token that that effusion will be bestowed. Such prayer either the call of the Bridegroom in the text or its happy precursor. Fervent prayer for spiritual blessing the voice of His Spirit in the believer’s heart (Romans 8:26-27).
III. The OBJECT of the Call. ‘That the spices thereof may flow out.’ Not enough that the spice-plants are there. The odours may be shut up in their cells and no fragrance be emitted. The pores to be opened and the odorous particles to be exhaled. Grace given to believers to be exercised and made sensible. Not enough that a Church exists, and that grace is in it. The Church to be in a spiritually lively state, and the grace of believers to be in lively exercise. Only thus may Christ enjoy the fellowship and works of the Churches. See his epistles to the seven churches of Asia (Revelation 1:2). The Church at Laodicea in a condition only to be spued out of His mouth. Neither a church nor a believer to be satisfied with a lifeless and lukewarm state. Lukewarmness—a state between hot and cold—Christ’s greatest abhorrence. Yet too often the state of Churches and professors when enjoying rest and outward prosperity. The state most agreeable to the carnal mind. The duty and privilege of believers not only to have life, but to have it ‘more abundantly.’ A divine injunction: ‘Be ye filled with the Spirit.’ Churches and believers in a spiritual and lively condition such as Christ delights to dwell in, and such as He can employ for the conversion of others. The Spirit promised to the disciples, that they might be His witnesses to the end of the earth. David’s prayer and resolution: ‘Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit; then will I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee’ (Psalms 51:12-13). A lively and spiritually prosperous state or the Church and of believers the result of the Spirit’s gracious operation, in obedience to the Call in the text. As the Holy Spirit blows, the Church’s odour flows. Hence His gracious and abundant effusion to be earnestly and perseveringly sought. ‘For this will I be inquired by the house of Israel to do it for them’ (Ezekiel 36:37). Believers to stir themselves up ‘to take hold of God and His gracious power. Their’s to awaken the arm of the Lord, to put on strength as in the days of old’ (Isaiah 51:9). His will that they should not keep silence, and should give Him no rest till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. ‘Concerning the work of my hands, command ye me.’ ‘Ye have not, because ye ask not’ (Isaiah 45:11; Isaiah 62:6-7; James 4:2).