Who [is] this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth [that] bare thee.
[Ver. 5. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness?] See Trapp on " Son 3:6 " There are continual ascensions in the hearts of God's people while here. And whereas the men of this world, "which have their portion here," Psa 17:14 animus etiam incarnaverunt, as Bernard complaineth, and are borne downward to hell by their own weight; the saints of God are ever aspiring, and do "groan, being burdened," as knowing that "while they are at home in the body," such a home as it is, "they are absent from the Lord," 2Co 5:4 ; 2Co 5:6 from their heavenly home. Either Egypt was not Moses's home, or but a miserable one; and yet, in reference to it, he called his son, born in Midian, Gershom - i.e., a "stranger there." If he so thought of his Egyptian home, where was nothing but bondage and tyranny, what marvel though the saints think of that home of theirs above, and hasten to it in their affections, where is nothing but rest and blessedness?
Leaning upon her beloved.] For otherwise she could not ascend, as unable to sustain her steps. Jer 10:23 The Church, as the vine, is the most fruitful, but the weakest of all trees, and must have a supporter; hence she "leans upon her beloved," which phrase, beside recumbency, denotes a more than ordinary familiarity, qua solent amantes in sinus amasiorura se proiecere, like as lovers throw themselves sometimes into their sweethearts' arms or bosoms. a Now thus to lean upon Christ is an act of faith, of "the faith of God's elect." Others seem to lean upon Christ, but it is no otherwise than as the apricot, which leaneth against the walls, but is fast rooted in the earth. So these lean upon Christ for salvation, but are rooted in the world, in pride, filthiness, &c., and though they make some assays, yet, like the door upon the hinges, they will not come off. See the folly and confidence of these wretched men (the same Hebrew word signifies both, and may both ways be taken, Psa 49:13) graphically described by the prophet, "The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us." Mic 3:11 These men perish by catching at their own catch, hanging on their own fancy, making a bridge of their own shadow; they will not otherwise believe but that Christ is their sweet Saviour, and so doubt not but they are safe, when it is no such matter. They grow aged and crooked with such false conceits, and can seldom or never be set straight again. These must know that to rely upon Christ is to be utterly unbottomed of a man's self, and of every creature; and so to lean upon Christ alone, that if he fail thou sinkest, if he set not in thou art lost for ever. Papists think that as he that standeth on two firm branches of a tree is surer than he that standeth upon one; so he that trusteth to Christ and his own works too. But it must be considered, first, That he which looketh to be justified by the law is fallen from grace; "Christ is of no effect" unto him. Gal 5:4 He will not mingle his purple blood with our puddle stuff, his rich robes with our tattered rags, his eagles' feathers with our pigeons' plumes. There can be but one sun in heaven, Sol quasi solus, and they set up rush candles to the sun that join other saviours to this Sun of righteousness. Secondly, He that hath one foot on a firm branch, another on a rotten one, stands not so sure as if wholly on that which is sound. Away then with all such mock stays. See the fruit of creature confidence, Job 6:17; Job 8:15, and know that no man trusts Christ at all that trusts him not alone. He that stands with one foot on a rock, and another foot on a quicksand, will sink and perish as certainly as he that standeth with both feet on a quicksand. See Psalms 6:2; Psalms 2:5,6 .
I raised thee up under the apple tree, &c.] Here the bride answereth to the bridegroom's question, Who is this? or, What woman is this that cometh up from the wilderness? &c., that goes in a right line to God, leaning on her beloved, that will not break the hedge of any commandment to avoid any piece of foul way? I am she, saith the Church, even the very same that raised thee up under the appletree, &c., viz., by mine earnest prayers. When thou wast asleep under the apple tree, and I had straightly charged the damsels of Jerusalem not to disquiet thee by their sins, yet I took the boldness to arouse thee, and say, as in Psalms 44:23, "Awake; why sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us not off for ever"; and with those drowning disciples, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" Sometimes, saith one, God seems to lose his mercy, and then we must find it for him, as Isaiah 63:10, sometimes to sleep, and then we must waken him, quicken him. Psa 40:17 Isa 62:7 God will come, but he will have his people's prayers lead him, as in Daniel 10:12, "I am come for thy words." Christ himself is the apple tree here mentioned, as Song of Solomon 2:3. Though there are that interpret it as the cross, that tree whereon he "bare our sins in his own body." 1Pe 2:24 Others better, of the tree of offence, the forbidden fruit. Gen 2:16-17 And that when Eve tasted of that fruit, which they herehence conclude to have been an apple, though the word be more general, Nux enim pomum dicitur, then, as Christ's mother, she brought him forth, by believing the promise there made unto her, that Messiah of her seed should break the serpent's head. Look how the Virgin Mary conceived Christ when she yielded her assent. When the angel spake to her, what said she presently? "Be it as thou hast said," let it be even so. She yielded her assent to the promise, that she should conceive a son, and she did conceive him. So Eve believed the promise of pardon and salvation, she "saw it afar off, was persuaded of it, and embraced it," Heb 11:13 and is therefore said here to bear and bring forth Christ, yea, to travail of him with sorrow, as the word signifies; for as there is no other birth without pain, so neither is the newbirth. Those that have passed through the narrow womb of repentance, and been born again, will say as much. See Isaiah 26:17. If God broke David's bones, and the angel's back, saith one, he will break thy heart too, if ever he save thee. No sound heart ever went to heaven, as, in another sense, none but sound could ever come thither. Cot integrum cor scissum, " Rend your hearts."
a Brightman. Sunt qui exponunt dilicians.