Song of Solomon 4:9

4:8-15 Observe the gracious call Christ gives to the church. It is, 1. A precept; so this is Christ's call to his church to come off from the world. These hills seem pleasant, but there are in them lions' dens; they are mountains of the leopards. 2. As a promise; many shall be brought as members of the church, from every point. The church shall be delivered from her persecutors in due time, though now she dwells among lions, Ps 57:4. Christ's heart is upon his church; his treasure is therein; and he delights in the affection she has for him; its working in the heart, and its works in the life. The odours wherewith the spouse is perfumed, are as the gifts and graces of the Spirit. Love and obedience to God are more pleasing to Christ than sacrifice or incense. Christ having put upon his spouse the white raiment of his own righteousness, and the righteousness of saints, and perfumed it with holy joy and comfort, he is well pleased with it. And Christ walks in his garden unseen. A hedge of protection is made around, which all the powers of darkness cannot break through. The souls of believers are as gardens enclosed, where is a well of living water, Joh 4:14; 7:38, the influences of the Holy Spirit. The world knows not these wells of salvation, nor can any opposer corrupt this fountain. Saints in the church, and graces in the saints, are fitly compared to fruits and spices. They are planted, and do not grow of themselves. They are precious; they are the blessings of this earth.

Song of Solomon 4:9-10 . My sister, my spouse — So he calls her to show the greatness of his love, which could not sufficiently be expressed by any one relation. With one of thine eyes — With one glance. One chain of thy neck — With one of those other graces and perfections wherewith thou art adorned. How fair is thy love — How amiable and acceptable to me. The smell of thine ointments — Of the gifts and graces of God’s Spirit, wherewith thou art anointed.

(9) Ravished. —Marg., taken away, whereas many (including Herder, Ewald, &c) give an exactly opposite sense: “thou hast given me heart, emboldened me.” The literal, “thou hast hearted ( libabtinî ) me,” if we can so say, may mean either; the language of love would approve either stolen my heart or given me thine. But the reference to “chain”— anak (a form occurring also in Judges 8:26 ; Proverbs 1:9 ) seems to confirm the rendering of the Authorised Version. His heart has been caught, the poet playfully says, by the neck-chain. Tennyson’s “Thy rose lips and full-blown eyes Take the heart from out my breast,” gives the feeling of the passage.

Thou hast ravished my heart, my {e} sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thy {f} eyes, with one chain of thy neck. (e) Christ calls his Church sister in respect that he had taken the flesh of man. (f) In that he made his Church beautiful and rich, he loved his gifts in her.

Thou hast ravished my heart; I am overcome with thy beauty, and therefore am so desirous of thy company. My sister; so he calls her, partly because both he and she had one and the same father, to wit, God, yea, and mother too, being both at this time born in and of the commonwealth and church of Israel; and partly to show the greatness of his love to her, which is such, as cannot be sufficiently expressed by any one relation, but must borrow the perfections and affections of all to describe it. With one of thine eyes; with one glance of one of thine eyes: by which phrase he intimates the modesty and humility of the church, which was ashamed or afraid to look fully and directly upon the Bridegroom with both her eyes; and withal alludes to the ancient custom of virgins, who used to cover their faces with a veil, and to look out only with one of their eyes for the direction of their steps. By this one eye he seems to mean that fundamental grace of faith, by which Christians look upon Christ, and discern his beauty, and which is precious in the sight of God and of Christ. With one chain of thy neck; with one of those other graces and perfections wherewith thou art adorned. How then should I be ravished if thou didst discover both thine eyes, and thy whole countenance, and all thy excellent gifts and graces!

9. sister … spouse—This title is here first used, as He is soon about to institute the Supper, the pledge of the nuptial union. By the term "sister," carnal ideas are excluded; the ardor of a spouse's love is combined with the purity of a sister's (Isa 54:5; compare Mr 3:35). one—Even one look is enough to secure His love (Zec 12:10; Lu 23:40-43). Not merely the Church collectively, but each one member of it (Mt 18:10, 14; Lu 15:7, 24, 32). chain—necklace (Isa 62:3; Mal 3:17), answering to the "shields" hanging in the tower of David (So 4:4). Compare the "ornament" (1Pe 3:4); "chains" (Pr 1:9; 3:22).

9 . Thou hast ravished my heart ] This clause is represented by one word in Heb., a denom. Piel verb, formed from the noun lçbhâbh = ‘heart.’ According to usage this might mean either ‘thou hast heartened me,’ i.e. as R.V. marg., given me courage , or ‘thou hast disheartened me,’ or stolen my heart away. The latter is the view of the A.V. and the preferable view. The translation, ravish , with its primary meaning ‘to carry off by violence,’ and its secondary one ‘to enchant’ or ‘charm,’ exactly corresponds to the Heb. my sister , my spouse ] R.V. my bride . The double name, as Budde remarks, can hardly have any other signification than an increase of tenderness, cp. Song of Solomon 8:1 , “O that thou wert my brother.” My sister bride occurs only in this chap. and in ch. Song of Solomon 5:1 , but, as Budde observes, in the ancient Egyptian love-songs, edited by Maspéro and Spiegelberg, ‘my sister’ and ‘my brother’ are the standing names for the lovers. with one of thine eyes ] From the use of the prep. min =‘from,’ with eyes here, and from the fact that in the text achaih , the masculine form of the numeral, stands, it is probable that some word such as ‘glance’ should be understood. Then we should translate, with one glance of thine eyes . with one chain of thy neck ] Chain here means a part of the necklace, but whether it means a single chain of the necklace, or a pearl or pendant is uncertain.

Verse 9. - Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my bride; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. The bridegroom still continues his address of love, which we must not, of course, press too closely, though it is noticeable that the language becomes somewhat more sober in tone, as though the writer were conscious of the higher application to which it would be put. Some translators take the first clause as though the word "ravished" should be rendered "emboldened." Symmachus, ἐθαρσύνας με . The Hebrew word לִבֵּב , literally, "heartened," may mean, as in Aramaic, "make courageous." Love in the beginning overpowers, unhearts , but the general idea must be that of "smitten" or "captured." So the LXX., Venetian, and Jerome, ἐκαρδίωσας με , vulnerasti cor meum (cf. Psalm 45:6 ). My sister, my bride , is, of course, the same as "my sisterly bride," a step beyond "my betrothed." Gesenius thinks that "one of thine eyes" should be "one look of thine;" but may it not refer to the eye appearing through the veil, as again one chain of the neck may glitter and attract all the more that the whole ornamentation did not appear in view? If but a portion of her beauty so overpowers, what will be the effect of the whole blaze of her perfection?