The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
Flowers - tokens of anger past, and of grace come. 'The summoned bride is welcome,' say some Fathers: 'to weave from them garlands of beauty, wherewith she may adorn herself to meet the King.' Historically, the flowers, etc., only give promise; the fruit is not ripe yet: suitable to the reaching of John the Baptist, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand;" not yet fully come.
The time of ... singing - the rejoicing at the advent of Jesus Christ. Gregory Nyssenus refers the voice of the turtle dove to John the Baptist. It with the olive branch announced to Noah that "the rain was over and gone" (Genesis 8:11). So John the Baptist, spiritually. Its plaintive 'voice' answers to his preaching of repentance now in the seasonable "time" (Jeremiah 8:6-7; Luke 3:8-9). Vulgate and Septuagint translate (Hebrew, zaamiyr (H2158)), 'The time of pruning,' namely, spring (John 15:2). So Gesenius. The mention of the 'turtle's' cooing better accords with our text. The turtle is migratory (Jeremiah 8:7), and 'comes' early in May; emblem of love, and so of the Holy Spirit. Love, too, shall be the keynote of the "new song" hereafter (Isaiah 35:10; Revelation 1:5; Revelation 14:3; Revelation 19:6). In the individual believer now, joy and love are here set forth in their earlier manifestations (Mark 4:28).