Son 4:8-5:1
Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.
A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.
Solomon is painting a picture in our minds of his spouse and expressing what she is like to him and thereby the Holy Ghost is painting a picture of what Christ thinks of his spouse, The Church. To Christ we are a garden enclosed, a spring shut up and a fountain sealed. All of these things were very useful things. From the following verses this wasn’t just a garden for beauty but for productivity. Fruits were grown in this garden and spices of the costliest sort and the King would not allow the wild beast of the field to come in and destroy his choicest of gardens, neither could he allow thieves to enter in and pluck the fruit that he had planted for his own taste. A fountain had great usefulness in that day and it is said that Kings would find a source of water somewhere and because of its purity they would seal it up so that no other passer byes would poison or contaminate it and so no unsuspecting animal fall in, die, and ruin the water in that fountain. Springs or brooks especially for the Kings use and enjoyment would have fences built around them and even the words “shut up” means to set bars around, while the words sealed up means literally to seal up tightly. The idea being of a brook that had fences set around it for the same reasons the fountain was sealed, and the garden enclosed; for protection of its productivity and beauty.
So it is with the Church, we are to Christ a garden and not just for beauty but we are to bear the fruits of the Spirit. The costliest of fruits should be hanging from our limbs. A garden of spices, that is when we are crushed and pounded by life’s blows that we release a pleasantness and not a bitterness, we glory in the oft infirmities and necessities that crush us and make us meet for the masters use. Be sure that from the day you became his you were enclosed, there has not been one foot or hand slip through the fence without royal decree, he has metered every visit and knows exactly who and what has entered in. We like a fountain have been sealed until the day of redemption, the day that he found us he sealed us so that nothing in this dirty world we live in can fall into our eternal soul and spoil the work he has done there. There may be many beast pass over and the door may become dirty, like a jar that has fruit sealed inside of it. The outside gets dirty from time to time but the fruit that is sealed remains as fresh as the day it was sealed. Like a spring we have had a battalion of angels set round about us to ensure our purity and safety. Dear believer we have been enclosed, sealed and surround by the grace of God and although the gates of hell may fight against us and although Satan may desire to sift us as wheat, rest assured we are sealed till the day of redemption, and the gates of hell can not prevail against the Church, the bride of Christ.
Then we hear a request, a prayer even, from the bride, “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.”
If this garden is so exclusively his then let the wind of Heaven blow upon us so that all the graces, he has planted in us may flow out and he can see the benefit of the work he has done in our lives. It seems to me in this book that scent could be a representative of worship. Smells are something that can transport us to a place and resurrect memories from decades ago. I like to think that when Christ sees us acting like him, giving like him and worshipping him it reminds him of the high price paid and he communes with us in sweet fellowship. How many times have we shared the gospel or given to someone. The Holy Ghost “blew” on our hearts to go or give or to pray and we were obedient, and we were met with the sweet presence of God. His wind blew upon our garden and the fruits were put to good use and the next thing you knew the felt presence of the King was in his “garden.” So it is in this verse, because in one verse she is praying for the wind to stir and that this would encourage the king to come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits and in the very next verse He is in the garden.
Listen to what he has to say from the garden.
“I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.”
He is there in the garden, and he is holding a banquet and now he is inviting his friends to enjoy the cultivation of this garden. Come and eat, come and drink. What a wonderful picture of Jesus in the Church. He is in the Church, and he says to all those who are hungry come and eat I am the bread of life, Come and drink I am the water life. The Spirit and the bride say come! He reminds us in the closing verse of this canticle that what he has done in us and the fruits we bare are not only for him but for this world. The fruit hanging in our life ought to entice the ones outside of the church to desire such fruit, the banqueting we enjoy with our savior causes a hungering for such joy and fellowship in all those who are on the outside looking in. Then he says come my friends, all that are thirsty. I will put in you rivers of living water and a fountain sealed up you can be, a garden enclosed and a spring shut up I will make you. We end with the same request that bride had:
“Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.”