Songs 1:4-7 Draw me, we will run after you: the king has brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in you… The king hath brought me into his chambers, etc. If we may take this book as only an allegory, we find suggested in these verses this subject of the soul's joy. I. SUCH JOY IS BECAUSE OF THE KING'S CHAMBERS. He has opened for her the unsearchable riches of his grace, "filled with all pleasant and precious riches" (cf. Proverbs 24:4). II. IS VERY GREAT. She will be glad and rejoice. She will "remember" his "love more than wine." That is, the soul's joy is more than any earthly means of delight and exhilaration can afford. III. IS SHARED IN BY ALL THE SAINTS OF GOD. "The upright love thee." "No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." Our joy is heightened by the fact that those whom we most esteem count it their joy also. IV. HER OWN UNWORTHINESS DOES NOT SHUT HER OUT FROM IT. "I am black." "Since therefore I can hardly bear What in myself I see, How vile, how black, I must appear, Most holy God, to thee! "But oh! my Saviour stands between, In garments dyed in blood; Tis he instead of me is seen When I approach to God." The remembrance of her own unworthiness serves as a foil to set off the comeliness with which inwardly he has endowed her. "The king's daughter is all glorious within" (cf. Ezekiel 16:14). And as she thinks of her unworthiness she tells how it came to be so with her - by the cruelty of others and her own neglect. They made her serve in such way that she became "black." How often our foes are they of our own household! But she, too, was neglectful. "My own vineyard have I not kept." Nevertheless, the king loved her. V. HENCE SHE WILL BE SATISFIED WITH NOTHING LESS THAN HIMSELF. "Tell me where thou feedest?" etc. (ver. 7). She appeals to him to bring her where he is. She desires to know the rest he can give. His "companions" will not compensate for him (cf. "Whom have I in heaven but thee?" etc.; cf. Psalm 42:9; Ezekiel 34.; Psalm 25:4, 5; Psalm 16:2, 3). - S.C. Parallel Verses KJV: Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. |
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