Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love [is] strong as death; jealousy [is] cruel as the grave: the coals thereof [are] coals of fire, [which hath a] most vehement flame.
Ver. 6. Set me as a seal upon thine heart,] i.e., Be thou as "a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God." Hebrews 2:17 Exodus 28:21 ; Exo 28:29 Remember me for good, and make mention of me to thy father. Have me also in precious esteem, as great men have the signets upon their right hands; and as whatsoever is sealed with a seal, that is excellent in its own kind, as in Isaiah 28:25, hordeum signatum, excellent barley. Christ wears his people as a signet, or as great men wear their jewels, to make him glorious in the eyes of men; neither will he be plundered of them by the Church's enemies; to touch them is to "touch the apple of his eye," Zec 2:8 that tenderest piece of the tenderest part. The proverb is, Oculus et fama non patiuntur iocos; The eye and the good name can bear with no jests. As the saints are in Christ's heart, ad commoriendum et convivendum, so they are also "upon his arm"; so that if they do out come and say in any danger or difficulty, "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the ancient days," &c. Isa 51:9 he will "redeem his people with his arm"; Psa 77:15 yea, with his "outstretched arm," Exo 6:6 that is, with might and open manifestation of his love; he will "awake as one out of sleep, and like a man that shouteth by reason of wine." Psa 78:65
For love is strong as death.] And yet death is so strong that it passeth over all men, Rom 5:12 and devoureth them as sheep; Psa 49:14 as a rot it overruneth the whole flock, having for its motto Nulli cedo, I yield to none. Only love is "strong as death," nay, stronger. Jonathan would have died for the love of David, David of Absalom. Arsinoe interposed herself between the murderers' weapons, sent by Ptolemy, her brother, to kill her children. Priscilla and Aquila for St Paul's life laid down their own necks. Rom 16:4 Paul was "in deaths often" for Jesus' sake. Those primitive martyrs "loved not their lives unto the death." Rev 12:11 Certatim gloriosa in certamina ruebantur, saith Sulpicius; they were prodigal of their dearest lives, and even ambitious of martyrdom, that thereby they might seal up their entire love to the Lord Jesus. If every hair of mine head were a man, I would suffer death in the opinion and faith that I am now in, said John Ardley, martyr, to Bishop Bonner. a Ignis, crux, bestiarum conflictationes, ossium distractiones, &c. Let me suffer fire, cross, breaking of my bones, quartering of my members, crushing of my body, and all the torments that men or devils can devise, so I may enjoy my Lord Jesus Christ, saith holy Ignatius, whose motto was Amor meus crucifixus, My love was crucified. Love is itself a passion, and delights to show itself in suffering for the party beloved; yea, though it were to pass through a thousand deaths for his sake. And this is here yielded as a reason why the spouse first awakened Christ, and now desires to be so nearly knit unto him, to be "set as a seal upon his hand, yea, upon his heart." "The love of Christ constrained" her, and lay so hard upon her, that she could do no less than beg such a boon of him, than covet such a courtesy as a compensation of her dearest love to him. And surely to account Christ precious as a tree of life, although we be fastened to him as to a stake to be burned; this is love; and this our labour of love cannot be in vain in the Lord.
Jealousy is cruel as the grave.] Or, Zeal is hard as hell. This follows well upon the former, for, Non amat qui non zelat, saith Augustine. b Zeal is the extreme heat of love and other affections for and toward any whom we esteem; burning in our love to him, desire of him, delight in him, indignation against any that speak or do aught against him. The object of zeal is either man, as 2Co 7:7 Colossians 4:17; - Basil, venturing himself very far for his friend, and by some blamed for it, answered, Ego aliter amare non didici, I cannot love a man, but I must do mine utmost for him; or, secondly, God, as John 3:17 2Co 7:11 Revelation 3:19. And here our love will be, and must appear to be fervent, desire eager, delights ravishing, hopes longing, hatred deadly, anger fierce, fear terrible, grief deep, deeper than those black deeps (a place so called) at the Thames' mouth, whereinto Richard III caused the dead bodies of his two smothered nephews to be cast, being first closed up in lead, &c. c
The coals thereof are coals of fire.] Or, Fiery darts that set the soul all on a light fire, and turn it into a coal or lump of love to Christ. The word here used is elsewhere taken for fiery thunderbolts, Psa 78:48 and for brass tipped arrows, that gather heat by motion, Psa 76:3-4 also for a carbuncle or burning fever. Deu 32:24 The Church had said before, more than once, that she was "sick of love"; here she feels herself in a fever, as it were, or as if her liver were struck through with a love dart, by that "spirit of judgment and of burning" Isa 4:4 kindling this flame of God, as she calls it here, upon the hearth of her heart. The word signifies the consuming flame of God; and zeal may be very fitly so called. For as it comes from above, even from the Father of lights, as the fire of the altar did, so it tends to him, and ends in him; it carries a man up, as it were, in a fiery chariot, and consumes his corruptions by the way. It quencheth also those fiery darts of the devil (as the sunbeams will put out the kitchen fire), and sets the tongue awork, as the Holy Ghost set on fire the apostles' tongues, Act 2:2-4 whenas wicked men's tongues, full of deadly poison, are yet further "set on fire from hell"; Jam 3:6 yea, the whole man to work for God and his glory, as Elias with his Zelando zelavi (he sucked in fire with his mother's breast, as some have legended). St Paul is mad for God (so some misjudged him, 2Co 5:13), as ever he had once been against him. Act 26:11 Peter was a man made all of fire, walking among stubble, saith Chrysostom. And of one that desired to know what manner of man Basil was, it is said, there was presented in a dream a pillar of fire with this motto, Talis est Basilius; such a one is Basil. Such also was Savonarola, Farel, Luther, Latimer, that bold Valiant for Truth, who, when he was demanded the reason why there was so much preaching, and so little practised, answered roundly, deest ignis, the flame of God is wanting in men's hearts.
a Acts and Mon., fol. 1438.
b Contra Adamant., c. 13.
c Speed, 935.