My beloved [is] unto me [as] a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi.
Ver. 14. My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire.] "My beloved," and "unto me." This particular application is the very quintessence and pith of faith. H πιστις ιδιοποιει ται τον Cριστον. It is the property of true faith to individuate Christ, to appropriate him to herself, as if he were wholly and solely hers. She adjudgeth him in special to herself, with "My beloved," "My strength, and my Redeemer," "My Lord, and my God." This, when Thomas did, "Now thou believest," said our Saviour. Joh 20:29 Were it not for this word of possession, mine, the devil might say the Creed to as good purpose: as any of us. He believes there is a God and a Christ; but that which torments him is, he can say my to never an article of faith. Wicked men likewise may Credere Deum, et Deo, sed non in Deum; they may hear with joy, and have a taste, yea, and apply the promises, but they do it presumptuously and sacrilegiously; because they accept not Christ upon Christ's terms, take not whole Christ in all his offices and efficacies - would have him as a Saviour but not as a Sovereign - they make not a total resignation of themselves to Christ as Paul did Gal 2:19-20
As a cluster of camphire.] Or, As the cypress berry, within its white flower - sweet, pleasant, and very fragrant. a They that talk here of the island Cyprus are as far from the sense as that island is from Engedi, which was a place in the land of Canaan, in the tribe of Judah, near unto the Dead Sea. Here fled David one time when Saul pursued him; and here Jehoshaphat had that notable victory over his enemies by the power of prayer. 2Ch 20:1-28 This was a fruitful soil for gardens and vineyards. Eze 47:10 Now the cypress tree, as also other aromatic trees, grow best in vineyards; and the Church, forgetting herself, as it were, and transported with love to Christ, heaps up thus one similitude upon another. Amor Christi est ecstaticus, neque iuris se sinit esse sui. R. Solomon Jarchi doth out of their Agada note that this cophir in the text is a tree that bringeth fruit four or five times yearly. Christ is that tree of life, that yields fruit every month, Rev 22:2 being more fruitful than the lemon tree, or the Egyptian fig tree, that bears seven times a year, as Solinus reporteth. b Our English Bibles call it camphire, which being smelled unto, doth naturally keep under or weaken carnal lust, saith one. Now, if that should be here intended, how fitly is it here placed among the vines of Engedi, that is a medicine for bridling lust too soon stirred up by wine, which one well calls lac Veneris, the milk of Venus: -
“ Et Venus in vinis, ignis ut igne, furit. ”
Even Venus in wine, so rages fire by fire.
a Plin., lib. xii. cap. 14.
b Sol., cap. 45.