32 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
How fair is thy love, [my] sister, my spouse!.... Of these titles, [See comments on So 4:8]; [See comments on So 4:9]; and of the love of the church to Christ, [See comments on So 1:3]; here said to be "fair", lovely and delightful, grateful and acceptable; as it is to Christ, in the several acts and effects of it, and therefore the word is...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! Hearest thou that, O Spouse of Christ? Thy love is often very cold, and very feeble, and even at the best it is not what thou wouldst have it to be, nor what it ought to be; yet Jesus values it highly, and says, “How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! “ Son_4:10. How much better is thy love than...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thy lips, O [my] spouse, drop [as] the honeycomb,.... Words, for sweetness, delight, and pleasure, like that; so the speech of persons, flowing from their mouth and tongue, is said to be sweeter than the honeycomb (s); and lovers are said to be sweeter to one another than the sweet honey (t): so the lips or words of the church in prayer, as the...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
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. Oh, that my heart were like that at this moment! Jesus, shut the gates, and shut out the world, and every wandering, wayward,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
A garden enclosed [is] my sister, [my] spouse,.... At a little distance from Bethlehem are pools of water, and below these runs a narrow rocky valley, enclosed on both sides with high mountains which the friars, as Mr. Maundrell says (d) will have to be the enclosed garden here alluded to; but it is more likely that the allusion is to a garden...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thy plants [are] an orchard of pomegranates,.... These plants are the members of the church, true converts, believers in Christ; pleasant plants, plants of renown, planted in the church by Christ's heavenly Father, and shall never be plucked up; or, thy gardens, as it may be rendered (n); particular churches, well taken care of and watered; these...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
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: Oh, that this were fully true of us, — that all our thoughts, and words, and notions, which are like the fruits of the garden, were as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Spikenard and saffron,.... The former is the best sort of nard, and therefore mentioned and repeated, to which saints may be compared, because of the graces of the Spirit in them; which, when exercised, give a sweet odour, and are exceeding grateful to Christ; see So 1:12; and the latter, according to Schindler (s), seems to have been read...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Some (c) take these words to be the words of Christ continued, speaking still of his church, and explaining and enlarging upon what he had said of her, So 4:12; but they are rather the words of the church; who, upon hearing herself commended, and knowing that all her...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Such should the whole Church and each individual believer be. O my soul, be thou not only shut up for Christ, but be thou when the time comes, opened to do good to all the world! Oh, that I might be like a well of living waters in my speech at all times; and that you, my...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Awake, O north wind,.... These words, according to some (l), are the words of the church continued, praying for the spirit; to which sense the order and connection of the words seem to incline; though the language suits best with Christ, who has the command of the winds, and a right and property in the garden, the church: nor does it seem so...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
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. The Church here, you see, desires to feel two opposite winds. Though it should be the rough north wind of affliction that blows upon her, if it will but make her spices flow, she...