I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples;
Ver. 8. I said, I will go up to the palm tree, &c.] I said it, and I will do it; for Christi dicere est facere, together with Christ's word there goes forth a power, as it did. Luk 5:17 David said he "would confess his sins," and "take heed to his ways," Psalms 32:5 ; Psa 39:1 and accordingly he did it. Shall Christ purpose and promise mercy to his people, and not perform it? Is he yea and nay? 2Co 1:19 Can he say and unsay? Doth not the constant experience of all ages fully confute any such fond conceit of him? The saints will not lie, Isa 63:8 Christ cannot. Tit 1:2 a He will not suffer his faithfulness to fail, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips. Psa 89:33 All his sayings are the issue of a most faithful and right will, void of all insincerity and falsehood. Now when Christ promiseth to climb his palm tree, and to take hold of the boughs thereof, he meaneth that he will dwell most familiarly with his Church, even in the branches thereof, pruning and trimming it, and accepting the fruits of his Spirit in his spouse. Or thus, he will so join himself unto his Church, as he may cause her to be fruitful; he will lay hold on her boughs, which are very fit and apt to climb, so covertly and elegantly noting the work of spiritual generation. The effect follows.
Now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine.] Whatsoever they have been heretofore, now at this time, and for ever hereafter, they shall be delightful to me, and nourishable to thy children, who shall "suck and be satisfied." Isa 66:11 Albeit some interpreters of good note conceive that all this is nothing else but a figurative description of Christ's perfect conjunction with his Church in the kingdom of heaven, and of the unspeakable pleasure which Christ will take in her for ever.
And the smell of thy nose like apples,] i.e., The breath that comes out of thy nostrils is sweet as spice apples. The breath that the Church draweth into her lungs, and sends out again, is the spirit of grace, without which she can as little live as we can without air. This sweet spirit is the joy of her heart and the breath of her nostrils, and thereby she draws many into her company. If that be true that one here noteth, that the fruit of the palm partaketh of the nature both of the grape, having a sweet and pleasant juice, and of the apple, for pleasant meat, it may well signify that the Word of God is both meat and drink to the soul.
a αφευδης