As the lily among thorns, so [is] my love among the daughters.
Ver. 2. As the lily among the thorns.] The lily is white, pure, and pleasant, having six leaves (and thence its name a in Hebrew), and seven golden-coloured grains within it. The 45th Psalm (of like argument with this song) is dedicated to him that excelleth upon Shoshannim, or upon this six-leaved flower, the lily. Moreover, the chief city of Persia was called Shushan, from the multitude of lilies growing there. b Here Alexander found fifty thousand talents of gold; the very stones of it are said to have been joined together with gold. c The Church is far richer, and fuller of beauty and bravery, but beset with thorns, such as Abimelech was; a right bramble indeed, that grew in the base hedge row of a concubine, and scratched and drew blood to purpose. Wicked men are called briers, Mic 7:4 thorns twisted and folded, Nah 1:10 that hurt the earth and those that handle them. Indeed, they cannot "be taken with hands," but the "man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear." But God shall "thrust them all away," scil., into hell, and "they shall be utterly burnt with fire in the same place." 2Sa 23:6-7 In the mean space, "who will set the briers and thorns against me in battle?" saith the Lord Christ, being jealous for his spouse with a great jealousy Zec 1:14 - who dare do it? "I would march against them, I would burn them together." Isa 27:4 Sin or Sinai, a thorny place in the desert, where it rained down quails and manna from heaven, was a type of the Church flourishing in the midst of her enemies, "like a lily among thorns."
So is my love among the daughters,] i.e., False sisters, quae dicuntur spinae propter malignitatem morum; dicuntur filiae, propter communionem sacramentorum, saith Augustine; d these are called thorns for the malignity of their manners, and daughters for their profession and outward privileges. These prick, sting, and nettle the Church; they cannot but do their nature, till God take an order with them, till he "bind them in bundles, and cast them into the furnace." Mat 13:40 But as the lily is fresh and beautiful, and looks pleasantly (even that wild lily that we call woodbine) though among thorns; so should we amidst trouble. God hedgeth us about with these briers, that he may keep us within compass; he pricks us with these thorns, that he may let out our ill humours. O felices tribulos tribulationum! e O happy thorns of tribulation, that open a vein for sin to gush out at! "Be not weary, my son, of God's correction," saith Solomon. Pro 3:11 Ne eius castigationes ut spinas quasdam existimes tibi molestas, so Kabvenaki renders and expounds that text. Feel not God's corrections troublesome to thee, as thorns in thine eyes, or prickles in thy sides. Especially since, as Gideon, by thrashing those churls of Succoth with thorns and briers of the wilderness, "taught" them better behaviour; Jdg 8:16 so God deals by his people. His house of correction is his school of instruction. Psa 94:12 See my Love Tokens, p. 144, 145, &c. God sets these thorns, as he did those four horns Zec 1:18-21 to afflict his people which way soever they fled. Howbeit, when they had pushed them to the Lord, there were four carpenters set a-work to cut them short enough for ever doing any further hurt. Zec 1:19-21
a Shoshannah.
b Schindler.
c Cassidor., lib. vii. var. eph 15.
d Aug., Epist. 48.
e Augustine.