Read-Post Through the Bible

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II. The complacency which Christ takes in his church thus beautified and adorned. She is lovely indeed if she be so in his eyes; as he puts the comeliness upon her, so it is his love that makes this comeliness truly valuable, for he is an unexceptionable judge.

1. He delighted to look upon his church, and to converse with it, rejoicing in that habitable part of his earth: The king is held in the galleries, and cannot leave them. This is explained by Psa_132:13, Psa_132:14, The Lord has chosen Zion, saying, This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell; and Psa_147:11, The Lord takes pleasure in those that fear him. And, if Christ has such delight in the galleries of communion with his people, much more reason have they to delight in them, and to reckon a day there better than a thousand.

2. He was even struck with admiration at the beauty of his church (Son_7:6): How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love! How art thou made fair! (so the word is), “not born so, but made so with the comeliness which I have put upon thee.” Holiness is a beauty beyond expression; the Lord Jesus is wonderfully pleased with it; the outward aspect of it is fair; the inward disposition of it is pleasant and highly agreeable, and the complacency he has in it is inexpressible. O my dearest for delights! so some read.

3. He determined to keep up communion with his church. (1.) To take hold of her as of the boughs of a palm-tree. He compares her stature to a palm-tree (Son_7:7), so straight, so strong, does she appear, when she is looked upon in her full proportion. The palm-tree is observed to flourish most when it is loaded; so the church, the more it has been afflicted, the more it has multiplied; and the branches of it are emblems of victory. Christ says, “I will go up to the palm-tree, to entertain myself with the shadow of it (Son_7:8 ) and I will take hold of its boughs and observe the beauty of them.” What Christ has said he will do, in favour to his people; we may be sure he will do it, for his kind purposes are never suffered to fall to the ground; and if he take hold of the boughs of his church, take early hold of her branches, when they are young and tender, he will keep his hold and not let them go.

(2.) To refresh himself with her fruits. He compares her breasts (her pious affections towards him) to clusters of grapes, a most pleasant fruit (Son_7:7), and he repeats it (Son_7:8 ): They shall be (that is, they shall be to me) as clusters of the vine, which make glad the heart. “Now that I come up to the palm-tree thy graces shall be exerted and excited.” Christ's presence with his people kindles the holy heavenly fire in their souls, and then their breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, a cordial to themselves and acceptable to him. And since God, at first, breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and breathes the breath of the new life still, the smell of their nostrils is like the smell of apples, or oranges, which is pleasing and reviving. The Lord smelt a sweet savour from Noah's sacrifice, Gen_8:21. And, lastly, the roof of her mouth is like the best wine (Son_7:9); her spiritual taste and relish, or the words she speaks of God and man, which come not from the teeth outward, but from the roof of the mouth, these are pleasing to God. The prayer of the upright is his delight. And, when those that fear the Lord speak one to another as becomes them, the Lord hearkens, and hears with pleasure, Mal_3:16. It is like that wine which is,

[1.] Very palatable and grateful to the taste. It goes down sweetly; it goes straightly (so the margin reads it); it moves itself aright, Pro_23:31. The pleasures of sense seem right to the carnal appetite, and go down smoothly, but they are often wrong, and, compared with the pleasure of communion with God, they are harsh and rough. Nothing goes down so sweetly with a gracious soul as the wine of God's consolations.

[2.] It is a great cordial. The presence of Christ by his Spirit with him people shall be reviving and refreshing to them, as that strong wine which makes the lips even of those that are asleep (that are ready to faint away in a deliquium), to speak. Unconverted sinners are asleep; saints are often drowsy, and listless, and half asleep; but the word and Spirit of Christ will put life and vigour into the soul, and out of the abundance of the heart that is thus filledthe mouth will speak. When the apostles were filled with the Spirit they spoke with tongues the wonderful works of God (Act_2:10, Act_2:12); and those who in opposition to being drunk with wine, wherein is excess, are filled with the Spirit, speak to themselves in psalms and hymns, Eph_5:18, Eph_5:19. When Christ is thus commending the sweetness of his spouse's love, excited by the manifestation of his, she seems to put in that word, for my beloved, as in a parenthesis. “Is there any thing in me that is pleasant or valuable? As it is from, so it is for my beloved.” Then he delights in our good affections and services, when they are all for him and devoted to his glory. — Henry 

Son 7:10-13 — The church, the believing soul, triumphs in its relation to Christ, and interest in him. She humbly desires communion with him. Let us walk together, that I may receive counsel, instruction, and comfort from thee; and may make known my wants and my grievances to thee, with freedom, and without interruption. Communion with Christ is what all that are made holy earnestly breathe after. And those who would converse with Christ, must go forth from the world. Wherever we are, we may keep up communion with God. Nor should we go where we cannot in faith ask him to go with us. Those who would go abroad with Christ, must begin early in the morning of their days; must begin every day with him, seek him early, seek him diligently. A gracious soul can reconcile itself to the poorest places, if it may have communion with God in them; but the most delightful fields will not satisfy, unless the Beloved is there. Let us not think to be satisfied with any earthly object. Our own souls are our vineyards; they should be planted with useful trees. We should often search whether we are fruitful in righteousness. Christ's presence will make the vine flourish, and the tender grapes appear, as the returning sun revives the gardens. If we can appeal to him, Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee; if his Spirit witness with our spirit, that our souls prosper, it is enough. And we must beg of him to search and try us, to discover us to ourselves. The fruits and exercises of graces are pleasant to the Lord Jesus. These must be laid up, and always ready; that by our bringing forth much fruit, he may be glorified. It is all from him, therefore it is fit it should be all for him. — MHCC

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Son 7:10-13 — These are the words of the spouse, the church, the believing soul, in answer to the kind expressions of Christ's love in the foregoing verses.

I. She here triumphs in her relation to Christ and her interest in him, and in his name will she boast all the day long. With what a transport of joy and holy exultation does she say (Son_7:10), “I am my beloved's, not my own, but entirely devoted to him and owned by him.” If we can truly say that Christ is our best beloved, we may be confident that we are his and he will save us, Psa_119:94. The gracious discoveries of Christ's love to us should engage us greatly to rejoice in the hold he has of us, his sovereignty over us and property in us, which is no less a spring of comfort than a bond of duty. Intimacy of communion with Christ should help clear up our interest in him. Glorying in this, that she is his, to serve him, and reckoning that her honour, she comforts herself with this, that his desire is towards her, that is, he is her husband; it is a periphrasis of the conjugal relation, Gen_3:16. Christ's desire was strongly towards his chosen remnant, when he came from heaven to earth to seek and save them; and when, in pursuance of his undertaking, he was even straitened till the baptism of blood he was to pass through for them was accomplished, Luk_12:50. He desired Zion for a habitation; this is a comfort to believers that, whosoever slights them, Christ has a desire towards them, such a desire as will again bring him from heaven to earth to receive them to himself; for he longs to have them all with him, Joh_17:24; Joh_14:3.

II. She humbly and earnestly desires communion with him (Son_7:11, Son_7:12): “Come, my beloved, let us take a walk together, that I may receive counsel, instruction, and comfort from thee, and may make known my wants and grievances to thee, with freedom, and without interruption.” Thus Christ can walk with the two disciples that were going to the village called Emmaus, and talked with them, till he made their hearts burn within them. Observe here,

1. Having received fresh tokens of his love, and full assurances of her interest in him, she presses forward towards further acquaintance with him; as blessed Paul, who desired yet more and more of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, Phi_3:8. Christ has made it to appear how much his desire is towards us, and we are very ungrateful if ours be not towards him. Note, Communion with Christ is that which all that are sanctified earnestly breathe after; and the clearer discoveries he makes to them of his love the more earnestly do they desire it. Sensual pleasures pall the carnal appetite, and soon give it surfeit, but spiritual delights whet the desires, the language of which is, Nothing more than God, but still more and more of him. Christ had said, I will go up to the palm-tree. Come, saith she, Let us go. The promises Christ has made us of communion with him are not to supersede, but quicken and encourage, our prayers for that communion.

2. She desires to go forth into the fields and villages to have this communion with him. Those that would converse with Christ must go forth from the world and the amusements of it, must avoid every thing that would divert the mind and be a hindrance to it when it should be wholly taken up with Christ; we must contrive how to attend upon the Lord without distraction (1Co_7:35), for therefore the spouse here covets to get out of the noise of the town. Let us go forth to him without the camp, Heb. 14:13. Solitude and retirement befriend communion with God; therefore Isaac went out into the field to meditate and pray. Enter into thy closet, and shut thy door. A believer is never less alone than when alone with Christ, where no eye sees.

3. Having business to go abroad, to look after their grounds, she desires the company of her beloved. Note, Wherever we are, we may keep up our communion with God, if it be not our own fault, for he is always at our right hand, his eye always upon us, and both his word and his ear always nigh us. By going about our worldly affairs with heavenly holy hearts, mixing pious thoughts with common actions, and having our eyes ever towards the Lord, we may take Christ along with us whithersoever we go. Nor should we go any whither where we cannot in faith ask him to go along with us.

4. She is willing to rise betimes, to go along with her beloved: Let us get up early to the vineyards. It intimates her care to improve opportunities of conversing with her beloved; when the time appointed has come, we must lose no time, but, as the woman (Mar_16:2), go very early, though it be to a sepulchre, if we be in hopes to meet him there. Those that will go abroad with Christ must begin betimes with him, early in the morning of their days, must begin every day with him, seek him early, seek him diligently.

5. She will be content to take up her lodging in the villages, the huts or cottages which the country people built for their shelter when they attended their business in the fields; there, in these mean and cold dwellings, she will gladly reside, if she may but have her beloved with her. His presence will make them fine and pleasant, and convert them into palaces. A gracious soul can reconcile itself to the poorest accommodations, if it may have communion with God in them.

6. The most pleasant delightful fields, even in the spring-time, when the country is most pleasant, will not satisfy her, unless she have her beloved with her. No delights on earth can make a believer easy, unless he enjoy God in all.

III. She desires to be better acquainted with the state of her own soul and the present posture of its affairs (Son_7:12): Let us see if the vine flourish. Our own souls are our vineyards; they are, or should be, planted with vines and pomegranates, choice and useful trees. We are made keepers of these vineyards, and therefore are concerned often to look into them, to examine the state of our own souls, to seek whether the vine flourishes, whether our graces be in act and exercise, whether we be fruitful in the fruits of righteousness, and whether our fruit abound. And especially let us enquire whether the tender grape appear and whether the pomegranates bud forth, what good motions and dispositions there are in us that are yet but young and tender, that they may be protected and cherished with a particular care, and may not be nipped, or blasted, or rubbed off, but cultivated, that they may bring forth fruit unto perfection. In this enquiry into our own spiritual state, it will be good to take Christ along with us, because his presence will make the vine flourish and the tender grape appear, as the returning sun revives the gardens, and because to him we are concerned to approve ourselves. If he sees the vine flourish, and the tender grape appear - if we can appeal to him, Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee, - if his Spirit witness with our spirit that our souls prosper, it is enough. And, if we would be acquainted with ourselves, we must beg of him to search and try us, to help us in the search, and discover us to ourselves.

IV. She promises to her beloved the best entertainment she can give him at her country seat; for he will come in to us, and sup with us, Rev_3:20. 1. She promises him her best affections; and, whatever else she had for him, it would utterly be contemned if her heart were not entire for him: “There therefore will I give thee my love; I will repeat the professions of it, honour thee with the tokens of it; and the out-goings of my soul towards thee in adorations and desires shall be quickened and enlarged, and my heart offered up to thee in a holy fire.”

2. She promises him her best provision, Son_7:13. “There we shall find pleasant odours, for the mandrakes give a smell;” the love-flowers or lovely ones (so the word signifies), or the love-fruits; it was something that was in all respects very grateful, so valuable that Rachel and Leah had like to have fallen out above it, Gen_30:14. “We shall also find that which is good for food, as well as pleasant to the eye, all the rarities that the country affords: At our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits.” Note, (1.) The fruits and exercises of grace are pleasant to the Lord Jesus.

(2.) These must be carefully laid up for him, devoted to his service and honour, must be always ready to us when we have occasion for them, as that which is laid up at our gates, that, by our bringing forth much fruit, he may be glorified, Joh_15:18.

(3.) There is a great variety of these pleasant fruits, with which our souls should be well stocked; we must have all sorts of them, grace for all occasions, new and old, as the good householder has in his treasury, not only the products of this year, but remainders of the last, Mat_13:52. We must not only have that ready to us, for the service of Christ, which we have heard, and learned, and experienced lately, but must retain that which we have formerly gathered; nor must we content ourselves only with what we have laid up in store in the days of old, but, as long as we live, must be still adding something new to it, that our stock may increase, and we may be thoroughly furnished for every good work.

(4.) Those that truly love Christ will think all they have, even their most pleasant fruits, and what they have treasured up most carefully, too little to be bestowed upon him, and he is welcome to it all; if it were more and better, it should be at his service. It is all from him, and therefore it is fit it should be all for him. — Henry 

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(Song 8 )  "O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised. {2} I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. {3} His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. {4} I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please.

{5} Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. {6} Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. {7} Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

{8} We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? {9} If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. {10} I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour. {11} Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver. {12} My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred. {13} Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it. {14} Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices."

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Song of Solomon 8 - The affections between Christ and his spouse are as strong and lively here, in this closing chapter of the song, as ever, and rather more so. 

I. The spouse continues her importunity for a more intimate communion and fellowship with him (Son_8:1-3). 

II. She charges the daughters of Jerusalem not to interrupt her communion with her beloved (Son_8:4); and they, thereupon, admire her dependence on him (Son_8:5). 

III. She begs of her beloved, whom she raises up by her prayers (Son_8:5), that he would by his grace confirm that blessed union with him to which she was admitted (Son_8:6, Son_8:7). 

IV. She makes intercession for others also, that care might be taken of them (Son_8:8, Son_8:9), and pleases herself with the thoughts of her own interest in Christ and his affection to her (Son_8:10). 

V. She owns herself his tenant for a vineyard she held of him at Baal-hamon (Son_8:11, Son_8:12). 

VI. The song concludes with an interchanging of parting requests. Christ charges his spouse that she should often let him hear from her (Son_8:13), and she begs of him that he would hasten his return to her (Son_8:14). — Henry 

Son 8:1-4 — The church wishes for the constant intimacy and freedom with the Lord Jesus that a sister has with a brother. That they might be as his brethren, which they are, when by grace they are made partakers of a Divine nature. Christ is become as our Brother; wherever we find him, let us be ready to own our relation to him, and affection for him, and not fear being despised for it. Is there in us an ardent wish to serve Christ more and better? What then have we laid up in store, to show our affection to the Beloved of our souls? What fruit unto holiness? The church charges all her children that they never provoke Christ to withdraw. We should reason with ourselves, when tempted to do what would grieve the Spirit. — MHCC

Son 8:1-4 — Here,

I. The spouse wishes for a constant intimacy and freedom with the Lord Jesus. She was already betrothed to him, but, the nuptials being yet not solemnized and published (the bride, the Lamb's wife, will not be completely ready till his second coming), she was obliged to be shy and to keep at some distance; she therefore wishes she may be taken for his sister, he having called her so (Son_5:1), and that she might have the same chaste and innocent familiarity with him that a sister has with a brother, an own brother, that sucked the breasts of the same mother with her, who would therefore be exceedingly tender of her, as Joseph was of his brother Benjamin. Some make this to be the prayer of the Old Testament saints for the hastening of Christ's incarnation, that the church might be the better acquainted with him, when, forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he should also himself likewise take part of the same, and not be ashamed to call them brethren. It is rather the wish of all believers for a more intimate communion with him, that they might receive the Spirit of sanctification, and so Christ must be as their brother, that is, that they might be as his brethren, which then they are when by grace they are made partakers of a divine nature, and he that sanctifies, and those that are sanctified, are both of one, Heb_2:11, etc. It becomes brethren and sisters, the children of the same parents, that have been nursed at the same breast, to be very loving to and tender of one another; such a love the spouse desires might be between her and her beloved, that she might call him brother.

2. She promises herself then the satisfaction of making a more open profession of her relation to him than at present she could make: “When I should find thee without, any where, even before company, I would kiss thee, as a sister does her own brother, especially her little brother that is now sucking the breasts of her mother” (for so some understand it); “I would use all the decent freedom with thee that could be, and should not be despised for it, as doing any thing unbecoming the modesty of my sex.” The church, since Christ's incarnation, can better own him than she could before, when she would have been laughed at for being so much in love with one that was not yet born. Christ has become as our brother; wherever we find him, therefore, let us be ready to own our relation to him and affection for him, and not fear being despised for it, nor regard that any more than David did when he danced before the ark. If this be to be vile, I will be yet more vile. Nay, let us hope that we shall not be despised so much as some imagine. Of the maid-servants of whom thou hast spoken I shall be had in honour. Wherever we find the image of Christ, though it be without, among those that do not follow him with us, we must love it, and testify that love, and we shall not be despised for it, but catholic charity will gain us respect.

3. She promises to improve the opportunity she should then have for cultivating an acquaintance with him (Son_8:2): “I would lead thee, as my brother, by the arm, and hang upon thee; I would show thee all the house of my precious things, would bring thee into my mother's house, into the church, into the solemn assemblies (Son_3:4), into my closet” (for there the saints have most familiar communion with Christ), “and there thou wouldst instruct me” (so some read it), as brethren inform their sisters of what they desire to be instructed in. Those that know Christ shall be taught of him; and therefore we should desire communion with Christ that we may receive instruction from him. He has come that he might give us an understanding. Or, “My mother would instruct me when I have thee with me.” It is the presence of Christ in and with his church that makes the word and ordinances instructive to her children, who shall all be taught of God.

4. She promises him to bid him welcome to the best she had; she would cause him to drink of her spiced wine and the juice of her pomegranate, and bid him welcome to it, wishing it better for his sake. The exercise of grace and the performance of duty are spiced wine to the Lord Jesus, very acceptable to him, as expressive of a grateful sense of his favours. Those that are pleased with Christ must study to be pleasing to him; and they will not find him hard to be pleased. He reckons hearty welcome his best entertainment; and, if he have that, he will bring his entertainment along with him.

5. She doubts not but to experience his tender care of her and affection to her (Son_8:3), that she should be supported by his power and kept from fainting in the hardest services and sufferings (His left hand shall be under my head) and that she should be comforted with his love - His right hand should embrace me. Thus Christ laid his right hand upon John when he was ready to die away, Rev_1:17. See also Dan_10:10, Dan_10:18. It may be read as it is Son_2:6, His left hand is under my head (for the words are the same in the original) and so it expresses an immediate answer to her prayer; she was answered with strength in her soul, Psa_138:3. While we are following hard after Christ his right hand sustains us, Psa_63:8. Underneath are the everlasting arms.

6. She charges those about her to take heed of doing any thing to interrupt the pleasing communion she now had with her beloved (Son_8:4), as she had done before, when he thus strengthened and comforted her with his presence (Son_2:7): Let me charge you, O you daughters of Jerusalem, and reason with you, Why should you stir up, and why should you awake, my love, until he will? The church, our common mother, charges all her children that they never do any thing to provoke Christ to withdraw, which we are very prone to do. Why should you put such an affront upon him? Why should you be such enemies to yourselves? We should thus reason with ourselves when we are tempted to do that which will grieve the Spirit. “What! Am I weary of Christ's presence, that I affront him and provoke him to depart from me? Why should I do that which he will take so unkindly and which I shall certainly repent of?” — Henry 

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Son 8:5-7 — The Jewish church came up from the wilderness, supported by Divine power and favour. The Christian church was raised from a low, desolate condition, by the grace of Christ relied on. Believers, by the power of grace, are brought up from the wilderness. A sinful state is a wilderness in which there is no true comfort; it is a wandering, wanting state: There is no coming out of this wilderness, but leaning on Christ as our Beloved, by faith; not leaning to our own understanding, nor trusting in any righteousness of our own; but in the strength of him, who is the Lord our Righteousness. The words of the church to Christ which follow, entreat an abiding place in his love, and protection by his power. Set me as a seal upon thine heart; let me always have a place in thine heart; let me have an impression of love upon thine heart. Of this the soul would be assured, and without a sense thereof no rest is to be found. Those who truly love Christ, are jealous of every thing that would draw them from him; especially of themselves, lest they should do any thing to provoke him to withdraw from them. If we love Christ, the fear of coming short of his love, or the temptations to forsake him, will be most painful to us. No waters can quench Christ's love to us, nor any floods drown it. Let nothing abate our love to him. Nor will life, and all its comforts, entice a believer from loving Christ. Love of Christ, will enable us to repel and triumph over temptations from the smiles of the world, as well as from its frowns. — Henry 

Son 8:5-7 — Here,

I. The spouse is much admired by those about her. It comes in in a parenthesis, but in it gospel-grace lies as plain, and as much above ground, as any where in this mystical song: Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Some make these the words of the bridegroom, expressing himself well pleased with her reliance on him and resignation of herself to his guidance. They are rather the words of the daughters of Jerusalem, to whom she spoke (Son_8:4); they see her, and bless her. The angels in heaven, and all her friends on earth, are the joyful spectators of her bliss. The Jewish church came up from the wilderness supported by the divine power and favour, Deu_32:10, Deu_32:11. The Christian church was raised up from a low and desolate condition by the grace of Christ relied on, Gal_4:27. Particular believers are amiable, nay, admirable, and divine grace is to be admired in them, when by the power of that grace they are brought up from the wilderness, leaning with a holy confidence and complacency upon Jesus Christ their beloved. This bespeaks the beauty of a soul, and the wonders of divine grace,

1. In the conversion of sinners. A sinful state is a wilderness, remote from communion with God, barren and dry, and in which there is no true comfort; it is a wandering wanting state. Out of this wilderness we are concerned to come up, by true repentance, in the strength of the grace of Christ, supported by our beloved and carried in his arms.

2. In the consolation of saints. A soul convinced of sin, and truly humbled for it, is in a wilderness, quite at a loss; and there is no coming out of this wilderness but leaning on Christ as our beloved, by faith, and not leaning to our own understanding, nor trusting to any righteousness or strength of our own as sufficient for us, but going forth, and going on, in the strength of the Lord God, and making mention of his righteousness, even his only, who is the Lord our righteousness.

3. In the salvation of those that belong to Christ. We must go up from the wilderness of this world having our conversation in heaven; and, at death, we must remove thither, leaning upon Christ, must live and die by faith in him. To me to live is Christ, and it is he that is gain in death.

II. She addresses herself to her beloved.

1. She puts him in mind of the former experience which she and others had had of comfort and success in applying to him.

(1.) For her own part: “I raised thee up under the apple tree, that is, I have many a time wrestled with thee by prayer and have prevailed. When I was alone in the acts of devotion, retired in the orchard, under the apple-tree” (which Christ himself was compared to, Son_2:3), as Nathanael under the fig-tree (Joh_1:48), “meditating and praying, then I raised thee up, to help me and comfort me,” as the disciples raised him up in the storm, saying, Master, carest thou not that we perish? (Mar_4:38), and the church (Psa_44:23), Awake, why sleepest thou? Note, The experience we have had of Christ's readiness to yield to the importunities of our faith and prayer should encourage us to continue instant in our addresses to him, to strive more earnestly, and not to faint. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, Psa_34:4.

(2.) Others also had like experience of comfort in Christ, as it follows there (Psa_34:5), They looked unto him, as well as I, and were lightened. There thy mother brought thee forth, the universal church, or believing souls, in whom Christ was formed, Gal_4:15. They were in pain for the comfort of an interest in thee, and travailed in pain with great sorrow (so the word here signifies); but they brought thee forth; the pangs did not continue always; those that had travailed in convictions at last brought forth in consolations, and the pain was forgotten for joy of the Saviour's birth. By this very similitude our Saviour illustrates the joy which his disciples would have in his return to them, after a mournful separation for a time, Joh_16:21, Joh_16:22. After the bitter pangs of repentance many a one has had the blessed birth of comfort; why then may not I?

2. She begs of him that her union with him might be confirmed, and her communion with him continued and made more intimate (Son_8:6): Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm.

(1.) “Let me have a place in thy heart, an interest in thy love.” This is that which all those desire above any thing that know how much their happiness is bound up in the love of Christ. (2.) “Let me never lose the room I have in thy heart; let thy love to me be ensured, as that deed which is sealed up not to be robbed. Let nothing ever prevail either to separate me from thy love, or, by suspending the communications of it, to deprive me of the comfortable sense of it.”

(3.) “Let me be always near and dear to thee, as the signet on thy right hand, not to be parted with (Jer_22:24), engraven upon the palms of thy hands (Isa_49:14), be loved with a peculiar love.”

(4.) “Be thou my high priest; let my name be written on thy breast-plate, nearer thy heart, as the names of all the tribes were engraven like the engravings of a signet in twelve precious stones on the breast-plate of Aaron, and also on two precious stones on the two shoulders or arms of the ephod,” Exo_28:11, Exo_28:12, Exo_28:21.

(5.) “Let thy power be engaged for me, as an evidence of thy love to me; let me be not only a seal upon thy heart, but a seal upon thy arm; let me be ever borne up in thy arms, and know it to my comfort.” Some make these to be the words of Christ to his spouse, commanding her to be ever mindful of him and of his love to her; however, if we desire and expect that Christ should set us as a seal on his heart, surely we cannot do less than set him as a seal on ours.

3. To enforce this petition, she pleads the power of love, of her love to him, which constrained her to be thus pressing for the tokens of his love to her.

(1.) Love is a violent vigorous passion.

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[1.] It is strong as death. The pains of a disappointed lover are like the pains of death; nay, the pains of death are slighted, and made nothing of, in pursuit of the beloved object. Christ's love to us was strong as death, for it broke through death itself. He loved us, and gave himself for us. The love of true believers to Christ is strong as death, for it makes them dead to every thing else; it even parts between soul and body, while the soul, upon the wings of devout affections, soars upward to heaven, an even forgets that it is yet clothed and clogged with flesh. Paul, in a rapture of this love, knew not whether he was in the body or out of the body. By it a believer is crucified to the world.

[2.] Jealousy is cruel as the grave, which swallows up and devours all; those that truly love Christ are jealous of every thing that would draw them from him, and especially jealous of themselves, lest they should do any thing to provoke him to withdraw from them, and, rather than do so, would pluck out a right eye and cut off a right hand, than which what can be more cruel? Weak and trembling saints, who conceive a jealousy of Christ, doubting of his love to them, find that jealousy to prey upon them like the grave; nothing wastes the spirits more; but it is an evidence of the strength of their love to him.

(3.) The coals thereof, its lamps, and flames, and beams, are very strong, and burn with incredible force, as the coals of fire that have a most vehement flame, a flame of the Lord (so some read it), a powerful piercing flame, as the lightning, Psa_29:7. Holy love is a fire that begets a vehement heat in the soul, and consumes the dross and chaff that are in it, melts it down like wax into a new form, and carries it upwards as the sparks towards God and heaven.

(2.) Love is a valiant victorious passion. Holy love is so; the reigning love of God in the soul is constant and firm, and will not be drawn off from him either by fair means or foul, by life or death Rom_8:38.

[1.] Death, and all its terrors, will not frighten a believer from loving Christ: Many waters, though they will quench fire, cannot quench this love, no, nor the floods drown it, Son_8:7. The noise of these waters will strike no terror upon it; let them do their worst, Christ shall still be the best beloved. The overflowing of these waters will strike no damp upon it, but it will enable a man to rejoice in tribulation. Though he slay me, I will love him and trust in him. No waters could quench Christ's love to us, nor any floods drown it; he waded through the greatest difficulties, even seas of blood. Love sat king upon the floods; let nothing then abate our love to him.

[2.] Life, and all its comforts, will not entice a believer from loving Christ: If a man could hire him with all the substance of his house, to take his love off from Christ and set it upon the world and the flesh again, he would reject the proposal with the utmost disdain; as Christ, when the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them were offered him, to buy him off from his undertaking, said, Get thee hence, Satan. It would utterly be contemned. Offer those things to those that know no better. Love will enable us to repel and triumph over temptations from the smiles of the world, as much as from its frowns. Some give this sense of it: If a man would give all the substance of his house to Christ, as an equivalent instead of love, to excuse it, it would be contemned. He seeks not ours, but us, the heart, not the wealth. If I give all my goods to feed the poor, and have not love, it is nothing, 1Co_13:1. Thus believers stand affected to Christ: the gifts of his providence cannot satisfy them without the assurances of his love. — Henry 

Son 8:8-12 — The church pleads for the Gentiles, who then had not the word of God, nor the means of grace. Those who are brought to Christ themselves, should contrive what they may do to help others to him. Babes in Christ are always seen among Christians, and the welfare of their weak brethren is an object of continual prayer with the stronger believers. If the beginning of this work were likened to a wall built upon Him the precious Foundation and Corner-stone, then the Gentile church would become as a palace for the great King, built of solid silver. If the first preaching of the gospel were as the making a door through the wall of partition, that door should be lasting, as cased with boards of durable cedar. She shall be carefully and effectually protected, enclosed so as to receive no damage. The church is full of care for those yet uncalled. Christ says, I will do all that is necessary to be done for them. See with what satisfaction we should look back upon the times and seasons, when we were in his eyes as those that find favour. Our hearts are our vineyards, which we must keep with all diligence. To Christ, and to his praise, all our fruits must be dedicated. All that work for Christ, work for themselves, and shall be unspeakable gainers by it. — MHCC

Son 8:8-12 — Christ and his spouse having sufficiently confirmed their love to each other, and agreed it to be on both sides strong as death and inviolable, they are here, in these verses, like a loving husband and his wife, consulting together about their affairs, and considering what they should do. Yoke-fellows, having laid their hearts together, lay their heads together, to contrive about their relations and about their estates; and, accordingly, this happy pair are here advising with one another about a sister, and a vineyard.

I. They are here consulting about their sister, their little sister, and the disposing of her.

1. The spouse proposes her case with a compassionate concern (Son_8:8 ): We have a little sister and she has no breasts (she has not grown up to maturity); what shall we do for this little sister of ours in the day that she shall be spoken for, so as that we may do well for her? (1.) This may be understood as spoken by the Jewish church concerning the Gentile world. God has espoused the church of the Jews to himself, and she was richly endowed, but what shall become of the poor Gentiles, the barren that has not borne, and the desolate? Isa_54:1. Their condition (say the pious Jews) is very deplorable and forlorn; they are sisters, children of the same fathers, God and Adam, but they are little, because not dignified with the knowledge of God; they have no breasts, no divine revelation, no scriptures, no ministers, no breasts of consolation drawn out to them, when they might suck, being strangers to the covenants of promise, no breasts of instruction themselves to draw out to their children, to nourish them, 1Pe_2:2. What shall we do for them? We can but pity them, and pray for them. Lord, what wilt thou do for them? The saints, in Solomon's time, might know, from David's psalms, that God had mercy in store for them, and they begged it might be hastened to them. Now the tables are turned; the Gentiles are betrothed to Christ, and ought to return the kindness by an equal concern for the bringing in of the Jews again, our eldest sister, that once had breasts, but now has none. If we take it in this sense, the unbelieving posterity of these pious Jews contradicted this prayer of their fathers; for, when the day came that the Gentiles should be spoken for and courted to Christ, instead of considering what to do for them they plotted to do all they could against them, which filled up the measure of their iniquity, 1Th_2:16. Or,

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(2.) It may be applied to any other that belong to the election of grace, but are yet uncalled. They are remotely related to Christ and his church, and sisters to them both, other sheep that are not of this fold, Joh_10:16; Act_18:10. They have no breasts, none yet fashioned (Eze_16:7), no affection to Christ, no principle of grace. The day will come when they shall be spoken for, when the chosen shall be called, shall be courted for Christ, by the ministers, the friends of the bridegroom. A blessed day it will be, a day of visitation. What shall we do, in that day, to promote the match, to conquer their coyness, and persuade them to consent to Christ and present themselves chaste virgins to him? Note, Those that through grace are brought to Christ themselves should contrive what they may do to help others to him, to carry on the great design of his gospel, which is to espouse souls to Christ and convert sinners to him from whom they have departed.

2. Christ soon determines what to do in this case, and his spouse agrees with him in it (Son_8:9): “If she be a wall, if the good work be once begun with the Gentiles, with the souls that are to be called in, if the little sister, when she shall be spoken for by the gospel, will but receive the word, and build herself upon Christ the foundation, and frame her doings to turn to the Lord, as the wall is in order to the house, we will build upon her a palace of silver, or build her up into such a palace; we will carry on the good work that is begun, till the wall become a palace, the wall of stone a palace of silver,” which goes beyond the boast of Augustus Caesar, that what he found brick he left marble. This little sister, when once she is joined to the Lord, shall be made to grow into a holy temple, a habitation of God through the Spirit, Eph_2:21, Eph_2:22. If she be a door, when this palace comes to be finished, and the doors of this wall set up, which was the last thing done (Neh_7:1), then we will enclose here with boards of cedar; we will carefully and effectually protect her, that she shall receive no damage. We will do it; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, all concur in contriving, carrying on, and crowning, the blessed work when the time comes. Whatever is wanting shall be set in order, and the work of faith shall be fulfilled with power. Though the beginnings of grace be small, the latter end shall greatly increase. The church is in care concerning those that are yet uncalled. “Let me alone,” says Christ; “I will do all that which is necessary to be done for them. Trust me with it.”

3. The spouse takes this occasion to acknowledge with thankfulness his kindness to her, Son_8:10. She is very willing to trust him with her little sister, for she herself had had great experience of his grace, and, for her part, she owed her all to him: I am a wall, and my breasts like towers. This she speaks, not as upbraiding her little sister that had no breasts, but comforting her concerning her, that he who had made her what she was, who had built her up upon himself and made her to grow up to maturity, could and would do the same kindness for those whose case she bore upon her heart. Then was I in his eyes as one that found favour. See,

(1.) What she values herself upon, her having found favour in the eyes of Jesus Christ. Those are happy, truly happy, and for ever so, that have the favour of God and are accepted of him.

(2.) How she ascribes the good work of God in her to the good-will of God towards her: “He has made me a wall and my breasts as towers, and then, in that instance more than in any thing, I experienced his love to me.” Hail, thou that art highly favoured, for in thee Christ is formed.

(3.) What pleasure God takes in the work of his own hands. When we are made as a wall, as a brazen wall (Jer_1:18; Jer_15:20), that stands firmly against the blast of the terrible ones (Isa_25:4), then God takes delight in us to do us good.

(4.) With what joy and triumph we ought to speak of God's grace towards us, and with what satisfaction we should look back upon the special times and seasons when we were in his eyes as those that find favour; these were days never to be forgotten.

II. They are here consulting about a vineyard they had in the country, the church of Christ on earth considered under the notion of a vineyard (Son_8:11, Son_8:12): Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon, had a kingdom in the possession of a multitude, a numerous people. As he was a type of Christ, so his vineyard was a type of the church of Christ. Our Saviour has given us a key to these verses in the parable of the vineyard let out to the unthankful husbandmen, Mat_21:33. The bargain was that, every one of the tenants having so much of the vineyard assigned him as would contain 1000 vines, he was to pay the annual rent of 1000 pieces of silver; for we read (Isa_7:23) that in a fruitful soil there were 1000 vines at 1000 silverlings. Observe,

1. Christ's church is his vineyard, a pleasant and peculiar place, privileged with many honours; he delights to walk in it, as a man in his vineyard, and is pleased with its fruits.

2. He has entrusted each of us with his vineyard, as keepers of it. The privileges of the church are that good thing which he has committed to us, to be kept as a sacred trust. The service of the church is to be our business, according as our capacity is. Son, go work today in my vineyard. Adam, in innocency, was to dress the garden, and to keep it.

3. He expects rent from those that are employed in his vineyard and entrusted with it. He comes, seeking fruit, and requires gospel-duty of all those that enjoy gospel-privileges. Every one, of what rank or degree soever, must bring glory and honour to Christ, and do some service to the interest of his kingdom in the world, in consideration of what benefit and advantage they enjoy by their share of the privileges of the vineyard.

4. Though Christ has let out his vineyard to keepers, yet still it is his, and he has his eye always upon it for good; for, if he did not watch over it night and day (Isa_27:1, Isa_27:2), the watchmen, to whom he has let it out, would keep it but in vain, Psa_127:1. Some take these for Christ's words (Son_8:12): My vineyard, which is mine, is before me; and they observe how he dwells upon his property in it: It is my vineyard, which is mine; so dear is his church to him, it is his own in the world (Joh_13:1), and therefore he will always have it under his protection; it is his own, and he will look after it.

5. The church, that enjoys the privileges of the vineyard, must have them always before her. The keeping of the vineyard requires constant care and diligence. They are rather the words of the spouse: My vineyard, which is mine, is before me. She has lamented her fault and folly in not keeping her own vineyard (Son_1:6), but now she resolves to reform. Our hearts are our vineyards, which we must keep with all diligence; and therefore we must have a watchful jealous eye upon them at all times.

6. Our great care must be to pay our rent for what we hold of Christ's vineyard, and to see that we do not go behind-hand, nor disappoint the messengers he sends to receive the fruits (Mat_21:34): Thou, O Solomon! must have 1000, and shalt have. The main of the profits belong to Christ; to him and his praise all our fruits must be dedicated.

7. If we be careful to give Christ the praise of our church-privileges, we may then take to ourselves the comfort and benefit of them. If the owner of the vineyard have had his due, the keepers of it shall be well paid for their cares and pains; they shall have 200, which sum, no doubt, was looked upon as a good profit. Those that work for Christ are working for themselves, and shall be unspeakable gainers by it. — Henry 

  The end of the Song of Solomon, To God be the glory.

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More  commentaries can be found at such places at those below:
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Adam Clarke on prophets

Isaiah - Introduction to the Book of the Prophet Isaiah

On the term prophet, and on the nature and several kinds of prophecy, I have already discoursed in different parts of this work. See the notes on Gen_15:1 (note); Gen_20:7 (note), and the preface to the four Gospels, and Acts of the Apostles. A few things only require to be recapitulated. נבא  naba signifies not only to foretell future events, but also to pray and supplicate; and נביא  nabi, the prophet, was by office not only a declarer of events still future, but the general preacher of the day; and as he frequently foresaw the approach of disastrous times, such was the wickedness of the people, he employed his time in counseling sinners to turn from the error of their ways, and in making strong prayer and supplication to God to avert the threatened judgments: for such predictions, however apparently positive in their terms, were generally conditional; strange as this may appear to some who, through their general ignorance of every thing but the peculiarities of their own creed, suppose that every occurrence is impelled by an irresistible necessity.

To his own conduct, in reference to such matters, God has been pleased to give us a key (see Jeremiah 18.) which opens all difficulties, and furnishes us with a general comment on his own providence. God is absolute master of his own ways; and as he has made man a free agent, whatever concerns him in reference to futurity, on which God is pleased to express his mind in the way of prophecy, there is a condition generally implied or expressed. As this is but seldom attended to by partial interpreters, who wish by their doctrine of fatalism to bind even God himself, many contradictory sentiments are put in the mouths of his prophets.

In ancient times those who were afterwards called Prophets were termed Seers; 1Sa_9:9. הראה  haroeh, the seeing person; he who perceives mentally what the design of God is. Sometimes called also חזה  chozeh, the man who has visions, or supernatural revelations; 1Ki_22:17; 2Ki_17:13. Both these terms are translated seer in our common Version. They were sometimes called men of God, and messengers or angels of God. In their case it was ever understood that all God’s prophets had an extraordinary commission and had their message given them by immediate inspiration.

In this the heathen copied after the people of God. They also had their prophets and seers; and hence their augurs and auguries, their haruspices, and priestesses, and their oracles; all pretending to be divinely inspired, and to declare nothing but the truth; for what was truth and fact among the former, was affected and pretended among the latter.

Many prophets and seers are mentioned in the sacred writings; but, fragments and insulated prophecies excepted, we have the works of only Sixteen; four of whom are termed the former or larger prophets, and twelve, the latter or minor prophets. They have these epithets, not from priority of time, or from minor importance, but merely from the places they occupy in the present arrangement of the books in the Bible, and from the relative size of their productions.

The Jews reckon forty-eight prophets, and seven prophetesses; and Epiphanius, in a fragment preserved by Cotelerius, reckons not fewer than seventy-three prophets, and ten prophetesses; but in both collections there are many which have no Scriptural pretensions to such a distinguished rank.
The succession of prophets in the Jewish Church is well worthy of note, because it not only manifests the merciful regards of God towards that people, but also the uninterrupted succession of the prophetic influence, at least from Moses to Malachi, if not before; for this gift was not withheld under the patriarchal dispensation; indeed we might boldly ask any man to show when the time was in which God left himself without a witness of this kind.
To show this succession, I shall endeavor to give the different prophets in order of time.

1.   The first man, Adam, has an undoubted right to stand at the head of the prophets, as he does at the head of the human race. His declaration concerning marriage, “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife,” is so truly prophetic, that no doubt can be formed on the subject. There was then nothing in nature or experience to justify such an assertion; and he could have it only by Divine inspiration. The millions of instances which have since occurred, and the numerous laws which have been founded on this principle among all the nations of the earth, show with what precision the declaration was conceived, and with what truth it was published to the world. Add to this, his correct knowledge of the nature of the different animals, so that he could impose on them names expressive of their respective natures or propensities; which proves that he must have acted under a Divine inspiration; for known only to God are all his works from the beginning.
2.   Enoch, the seventh from Adam, is expressly called a prophet; and St. Jude, Jud_1:14, Jud_1:15, has preserved a fragment of one of his prophecies, relative to the corruption of the ante-diluvian world, and the approaching judgments of God.
3.   Noah was a prophet and preacher of righteousness, and predicted the general deluge, and the time of respite which God in his mercy had granted to the offenders of that age.
4.   Abraham is expressly called a prophet also, Gen_20:7; and it appears from Psa_105:15, that he partook of the Divine anointing.
5.   Isaac, Gen_27:27, predicted the future greatness of his son Jacob, and of the race that was to spring from him.
6.   Jacob was so especially favored with the prophetic gift, that he distinctly foretold what should happen to each of his sons. See Genesis 49.
7.   Joseph was favored with several prophetic visions, and had the gift of interpreting dreams which portended future occurrences; (see Genesis 27, 40, 41.); and foretold the redemption of the Israelites from Egypt; Gen_50:25. Thus far the prophetic influence extended through the patriarchal dispensation for about two thousand three hundred and seventy years from the creation.
With the Jewish dispensation the prophetic gift revived; and,
8.   Moses became one of the most eminent prophets that had ever appeared. He not only enjoyed the continual prophetic afflatus, but had such visions of and intercourse with God as no other person either before or since was favored with; and by which he was highly qualified to perform the arduous work which God had given him to do, and to frame that Code of Laws which had no equal before the promulgation of the Gospel. See Deu_24:10. He predicted expressly the coming of the Messiah. See Deu_18:18.
9.   Aaron, the brother of Moses, his prime minister and God’s high priest, was also a partaker of his Divine influence, and declared the will of God to Pharaoh and the Israelites, not merely from information received from Moses, but also by immediate communication from God. See Exo_4:15.
10.   Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, is expressly called a prophetess, Exo_15:20; Num_12:2.
11.   Joshua, who succeeded Moses, was a partaker of the same grace. He was appointed by Moses under the especial direction of God; Num_27:18-23; Deu_34:9; and has always been reckoned among the Jews as one of the prophets. See Sirach 46:1-6. Though I cannot place them in the same rank, yet it is necessary to state that, by the Jews, several of the judges are classed among the prophets; such as Othniel, Ehud, Samson, and Barak.
12.   Deborah, the coadjutor of Barak, is called a prophetess, Jdg_4:4. During her time, and down to the days of Eli the high priest, prophecy had been very scarce, there having been very few on whom the Spirit of the Lord had rested; for “the word of the Lord was scarce in those days, and there was no open vision;” 1Sa_3:1.
13.   Hannah, the wife of Elkanah, is supposed to have partaken of the spirit of prophecy; and to have foretold, at least indirectly, the advent of the Messiah, and the glory that should be revealed under the Gospel. See her Song, 1Sa_2:1-10. And what renders this more likely is, that it is on the model, and with many of the expressions, of this song, that the blessed Virgin composed her Magnificat, Luk_1:46-55.
14.   Samuel, her son, was one of the most eminent of the Jewish prophets, and was the last, and indeed the greatest, of the judges of Israel. In his time the prophetic influence seems to have rested upon many; so that we find even whole schools or colleges of prophets which were under his direction. See 1Sa_10:5, 1Sa_10:10; 1Sa_19:20, and elsewhere.

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15.   David united in himself the character of prophet and king, in the most eminent manner; and from his reign down to the captivity the succession was not only not interrupted, but these extraordinary messengers of God became very numerous.
16.   Gad flourished under his reign, and was emphatically called David’s Seer, 2Sa_24:11; 1Ch_21:9, 1Ch_21:19, 1Ch_21:20; and it appears that he had written a Book of Prophecies, which is now lost, 1Ch_29:29.
17.   Nathan lived also under the same reign, 2Sa_7:2; and, in conjunction with Gad, composed a book of the acts of David, 1Ch_29:29.
18.   To Solomon also, son of David, the prophetic gift has been attributed. This might be implied in the extraordinary wisdom with which God had endowed him, 1Ki_3:5-9; 2Ch_1:7; 2Ch_7:12; and in his writings several prophetic declarations may be found, even independently of the supposed reference to Christ and his Church in the Song of Solomon.
19.   Iddo is termed a Seer, 2Ch_12:15; 2Ch_13:22; and was one of Solomon’s biographers.
20.   Shemaiah lived under Rehoboam; he is called a man of God, and to him the word of prophecy came relative to Judah and Benjamin, 1Ki_12:22-24. Some think this was the same person who was sent to Jeroboam relative to his idolatry; see 1Ki_13:1, etc.
21.   Ahijah, the Shilonite, prophesied to Jeroboam, 1Ki_11:29-39.
22.   Hanani the Seer prophesied under Azariah and Asa, 2Ch_16:7.
23.   Jehu, son of Hanani, prophesied under Jehoshaphat, 1Ki_16:1, 1Ki_16:7; 2Ch_16:7; 2Ch_19:2; and 2Ch_20:34.
24.   Azariah, the son of Oded, prophesied under Asa, 2Ch_15:1.
25.   Elijah prophesied under the reign of Ahab and Jezebel.
26.   Elisha succeeded Elijah under the same reigns. And these eminent men had many disciples on whom the spirit of prophecy rested. They, and their masters, Elijah and Elisha, prophesied in the kingdoms both of Israel and Judah. Their histories make a prominent part of the first and second Books of Kings; and are well known.
27.   Micaiah, the son of Imlah, prophesied under the same reign, 1Ki_21:9.
28.   Hosea prophesied under Jeroboam the second, king of Israel, and under the reign of Uzziah, king of Judah.
29.   Isaiah was contemporary with Hosea, but probably began to prophesy a little later than he did.
30.   Amos prophesied about the same time.
31.   Jonah, son of Amittai, is supposed to have been contemporary with the above.
32.   Eliezer, the son of Dodavah, prophesied against Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah, 2Ch_20:37.
33.   Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, prophesied against Judah and Israel under the same reign, 2Ch_20:14.
34.   Micah prophesied against Samaria and Jerusalem, in the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah.
35.   Oded, father of Azariah, prophesied against Asa, 2Ch_15:8.
36.   Nahum prophesied under Hezekiah.
37.   Joel, under Josiah.
38.   Jeremiah, about the same time.
39.   Zephaniah, under the same reign. See their prophecies.
40.   Huldah, the prophetess, was contemporary with the above.
41.   Igdaliah, called a man of God, and probably a prophet, was contemporary with Jeremiah, Jer_35:4.
42.   Habakkuk lived about the end of the reign of Josiah, or the beginning of that of Jehoiakim.
43.   Ezekiel lived under the captivity; and prophesied in Mesopotamia, about the time that Jeremiah prophesied in Jerusalem.
44.   Obadiah lived in Judea, after the capture of Jerusalem and before the desolation of Idumea by Nebuchadnezzar.
45.   Daniel prophesied in Babylon during the captivity.
46.   Haggai prophesied during and after the captivity.
47.   Urijah, the son of Shemaiah, prophesied under Jehoiakim. See Jer_26:20, Jer_26:21.
48.   Zechariah, son of Barachiah, flourished in the second year of Darius, after the captivity.
49.   Malachi lived under Nehemiah, and some time after Haggai and Zechariah.

Here is a succession of divinely inspired men, by whom God at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers, from the beginning of the world down to the restoration from the Babylonish captivity, a period of three thousand six hundred years. From the time of Malachi, who was the last of the prophets, till the advent of Christ, a period of nearly four hundred years elapsed without vision or prophecy: but during the whole of that interval the Jews had the law and the prophetical writings, to which, till the time of Christ, there was no necessity to add any thing; for God had with the writings of the last mentioned prophet completed the canon of the Old Testament, nothing being further necessary, till he should, in the fullness of time, superadd the Gospel; and this having taken place, vision and prophecy are now for ever sealed up, and the temple of God is established among all genuine believers in Christ Jesus.

It is not easy to ascertain the order in which the sixteen prophets, whose writings are preserved, have succeeded to each other. There are chronological notes prefixed to several of their prophecies, which assist to settle generally the times of the whole. Several were contemporary, as the reader has already seen in the preceding list. The major and minor prophets may be thus arranged: -

1.   Jonah, under the reign of Jeroboam the second.
2.   Hosea, under Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, etc.
3.   Joel, contemporary with Hosea.
4.   Amos, under Uzziah and Jeroboam the second.
5.   Isaiah, under Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.
6.   Micah, contemporary with Isaiah.
7.   Nahum, under the reign of Hezekiah.
8.   Habakkuk, under the reign of Manasseh or Josiah.
9.   Zephaniah, under Josiah.
10.   Jeremiah, from Josiah to Zedekiah.
11.   Daniel, under the captivity, after Zedekiah.
12.   Ezekiel, at the same time.
13.   Obadiah, during the captivity.
14.   Haggai began to prophecy in the second year of Darius.
15.   Zechariah, about the same time. See Zec_1:1; Zec_7:1.
16.   Malachi, under Nehemiah. The last of all the prophets.

The works of these prophets constitute the principal and most important part of what is called The Bible or Old Testament.

On the style of the prophets much has been said by several learned men; particularly Calmet, Lowth, Bishop Newton, Vitringa, Michaelis, and Houbigant. Their chief observations, and especially those most within the reach of the common people, have been selected and abridged with great care and industry by the Revelation Dr. John Smith, of Cambleton, in his little Tract entitled “A Summary View and Explanation of the Writings of the Prophets,” to which it forms preliminary observations, drawn up at the desire of the Scottish Society for propagating Christian Knowledge, in a small 8vo. 1804. From this work I thankfully borrow what concerns the present subject; taking occasion at the same time to recommend the whole to all Christian ministers, to private persons, and to all families who wish to read the prophets to their edification.

“The writings of the prophets, the most sublime and beautiful in the world, lose much of that usefulness and effect which they are so well calculated to produce on the souls of men, from their not being more generally understood. Many prophecies are somewhat dark, till events explain them. They are, besides, delivered in such lofty and figurative terms, and with such frequent allusions to the customs and manners of times and places the most remote, that ordinary readers cannot, without some help, be supposed capable of understanding them. It must therefore be of use to make the language of prophecy as intelligible as may be, by explaining those images and figures of speech in which it most frequently abounds; and this may be done generally, even when the prophecies themselves are obscure.

“Some prophecies seem as if it were not intended that they should be clearly understood before they are fulfilled. As they relate to different periods, they may have been intended for exciting the attention of mankind from time to time both to providence and to Scripture and to furnish every age with new evidence of Divine revelation; by which means they serve the same purpose to the last ages of the world that miracles did to the first. Whereas, if they had been in every respect clear and obvious from the beginning, this wise purpose had been in a great measure defeated. Curiosity, industry, and attention would at once be at an end, or, by being too easily gratified, would be little exercised.

“Besides, a great degree of obscurity is necessary to some prophecies before they can be fulfilled; and if not fulfilled, the consequence would not be so beneficial to mankind. Thus many of the ancient prophecies concerning the destruction of Jerusalem had a manifest relation to the remoter destruction by the Romans, as well as to the nearer one by the Chaldeans. Had the Jews perceived this, which was not indeed clear enough till the event explained it, they would probably have wished to have remained for ever in their captivity at Babylon, rather than expose themselves or their offspring a second time to a destruction so dreadful as that which they had already experienced.

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“With respect to our times, by far the greatest number of prophecies relate to events which are now past; and therefore a sufficient acquaintance with history, and with the language and style of prophecy, is all that is requisite to understand them. Some prophecies, however, relate to events still future; and these too may be understood in general although some particular circumstances connected with them may remain obscure till they are fulfilled. If prophecies were not capable of being understood in general, we should not find the seers so often blamed in this respect for their ignorance and want of discernment. That they did actually understand many of them when they chose to search the Scriptures we know. Daniel understood, from the prophecies of Jeremiah, the time at which the captivity in Babylon was to be at an end; and the scribes knew from Micah, and told Herod, where the Messiah was to be born. A very little attention might have enabled them in the same manner to understand others, as they probably did; such as the seventy weeks of Daniel; the destruction of the Babylonian empire, and of the other three that were to succeed; and also of the ruin of the people and places around them, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Egypt, and Idumea. Perhaps, indeed, a few enigmatical circumstances might have been annexed, which could not be understood till they were accomplished; but the general tenor of the prophecies they could be at no loss to understand. With regard to prophecies still future, we are in a similar situation. It is understood in general, that the Jews will be gathered from their dispersions, restored to their own land, and converted to Christianity; that the fullness of the Gentiles will likewise come in; that Antichrist, Gog and Magog, and all the enemies of the Church will be destroyed; after which the Gospel will remarkably flourish, and be more than ever glorified. But several circumstances connected with those general events must probably remain in the dark till their accomplishment shall clearly explain them.

“But this degree of obscurity which sometimes attends prophecy does not always proceed from the circumstances or subject; it frequently proceeds from the highly poetical and figurative style, in which prophecy is for the most part conveyed, and of which it will be proper to give some account. To speak of all the rhetorical figures with which the prophets adorn their style would lead us into a field too wide, and would be more the province of the rhetorician than of the commentator. It will be sufficient for our purpose at present to attend to the most common of them, consisting of allegory, parable, and metaphor, and then to consider the sources from which the prophets most frequently borrow their images in those figures, and the sense which they wish to convey by them.
“By allegory, the first of the figures mentioned, is meant that mode of speech in which the writer or speaker means to convey a different idea from what the words in their obvious and primary signification bear. Thus, ‘Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns,’ (Jer_4:3), is to be understood, not of tillage, but of repentance. And these words, ‘Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters, the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas,’ Eze_27:26, allude not to the fate of a ship, but of a city.

“To this figure the parable, in which the prophets frequently speak, is nearly allied. It consists in the application of some feigned narrative to some real truth, which might have been less striking or more disagreeable if expressed in plain terms. Such is the following one of Isaiah, Isa_5:1, Isa_5:2 : ‘My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine-press therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.’ The seventh verse tells us that this vineyard was the house of Israel, which had so ill requited the favor which God had shown it. On this subject see the dissertation at the end of the notes on Matthew 13 (note).

“There is, besides, another kind of allegory not uncommon with the prophets, called mystical allegory or double prophecy. Thus it is said of Eliakim, Isa_22:22 : ‘And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.’ In the first and obvious sense, the words relate to Eliakim; but in the secondary or mystical sense, to the Messiah. Instances of the same kind are frequent in those prophecies that relate to David, Zerubbabel, Cyrus, and other types of Christ. In the first sense the words relate to the type; in the second, to the antitype. The use of this allegory, however, is not so frequent as that of the former. It is generally confined to things most nearly connected with the Jewish religion; with Israel, Sion, Jerusalem, and its kings and rulers; or such as were most opposite to these, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Idumea, and the like. In the former kind of allegory the primitive meaning is dropped, and the figurative only is retained; in this, both the one and the other are preserved, and this is what constitutes the difference.

“But of all the figures used by the prophets the most frequent is the metaphor, by which words are transferred from their primitive and plain to a secondary meaning. This figure, common in all poetry and in all languages, is of indispensable necessity in Scripture, which, having occasion to speak of Divine and spiritual matters, could do it only by terms borrowed from sensible and material objects. Hence it is that the sentiments, actions, and corporeal parts, not only of man, but also of inferior creatures, are ascribed to God himself; it being otherwise impossible for us to form any conceptions of his pure essence and incommunicable attributes. But though the prophets, partly from necessity and partly from choice, are thus profuse in the use of metaphors, they do not appear, like other writers, to have the liberty of using them as fancy directed. The same set of images, however diversified in the manner of applying them, is always used, both in allegory and metaphor, to denote the same subjects, to which they are in a manner appropriated. This peculiar characteristic of the Hebrew poetry might perhaps be owing to some rules taught in the prophetic schools, which did not allow the same latitude in this respect as other poetry. Whatever it may be owing to, the uniform manner in which the prophets apply these images tends greatly to illustrate the prophetic style; and therefore it will be proper now to consider the sources from which those images are most frequently derived, and the subjects and ideas which they severally denote. These sources may be classed under four heads; natural, artificial, religious, and historical.

“I.   The first and most copious, as well as the most pleasing source of images in the prophetic writings, as in all other poetry, is nature; and the principal images drawn from nature, together with their application, are the following: -

“The sun, moon, and stars, the highest objects in the natural world, figuratively represent kings, queens, and princes or rulers; the highest in the world politic. ‘The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed;’ Isa_24:23. ‘I will cover the heavens, and make the stars thereof dark: I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light;’ Eze_32:7.
“Light and darkness are used figuratively for joy and sorrow, prosperity and adversity. ‘We wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness;’ Isa_59:9. An uncommon degree of light denotes an uncommon degree of joy and prosperity, and vice versa. ‘The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold;’ Isa_30:26. The same metaphors are likewise used to denote knowledge and ignorance. ‘If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them;’ Isa_8:20. ‘The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light;’ Isa_9:2.

“Dew, moderate rains, gentle streams, and running waters denote the blessings of the Gospel. ‘Thy dew is as the dew of herbs;’ Isa_26:19. ‘He shall come unto us as the rain;’ Hos_6:3. ‘I will water it every moment;’ Isa_27:3. ‘I will pour water on him that is thirsty;’ Isa_44:3.

“Immoderate rains on the other hand, hail, floods, deep waters, torrents, and inundations, denote judgments and destruction. ‘I will rain upon him an overflowing rain, and great hailstones,’ Eze_38:22. ‘Waters rise up out of the north, and shall overflow the land,’ Jer_47:2.

“Fire also, and the east wind, parching and hurtful, frequently denote the same. ‘They shall cast thy choice cedars into the fire,’ Jer_22:7. ‘He stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind,’ Isa_27:8.

“Wind in general is often taken in the same sense. ‘The wind shall eat up all thy pastures,’ Jer_22:22. Sometimes it is put for any thing empty or fallacious, as well as hurtful. ‘The prophets shall become wind,’ Jer_5:13. ‘They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind,’ Hos_8:7.

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“Lebanon and Carmel; the one remarkable for its height and stately cedars, was the image of majesty, strength, or anything very great or noble. ‘He shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one,’ Isa_10:34. ‘The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon,’ Eze_31:3. The other mountain (Carmel) being fruitful, and abounding in vines and olives, denoted beauty and fertility. ‘The glory of Lebanon shall be given it, the excellency of Carmel,’ Isa_35:2. The vine alone is a frequent image of the Jewish Church. ‘I had planted thee a noble vine,’ Jer_2:21.

“Rams and bullocks of Bashan, lions, eagles, sea-monsters, or any animals of prey, are figures frequently used for cruel and oppressive tyrants and conquerors. ‘Hear this word ye kine of Bashan, which oppress the poor,’ Amo_4:1. ‘The lion is come up from his thicket,’ Jer_4:7. ‘A great eagle came unto Lebanon, and took the highest branch of the cedar,’ Eze_17:3. ‘Thou art as a whale in the seas,’ Eze_32:2. ‘The unicorns shall come down, and their land shall be soaked with blood,’ Isa_34:7.

“II.   The ordinary occupations and customs of life, with the few arts practiced at the time, were another source from which the prophets derived many of their figures, particularly,

“From husbandry in all its parts, and from its implements. ‘Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy: break up your fallow ground,’ Hos_10:12. ‘Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe,’ Joe_3:13. ‘I am pressed under you, as a wain under a load of sheaves,’ Amo_2:13. Threshing was performed in various ways, (mentioned Isa_28:24, etc.), which furnish a variety of images denoting punishment. ‘Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make thine horn iron, and thy hoofs brass,’ etc., Mic_4:13. The operation was performed on rising grounds, where the chaff was driven away by the wind, while the grain remained; a fit emblem of the fate of the wicked, and of the salvation of the just. ‘Behold, I will make thee a new threshing-instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and thou shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them,’ Isa_41:15, Isa_41:16.

“The vintage and winepress also furnish many images, obvious enough in their application. ‘The press is full, the fats overflow, for their wickedness is great,’ Joe_3:13. ‘I have trod the winepress alone. I will tread down the people in mine anger,’ Isa_63:3, etc. As the vintage was gathered with shouting and rejoicing, the ceasing of the vintage-shouting is frequently one of the figures that denote misery and desolation. ‘None shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting,’ Jer_48:33.

“From the occupation of tending cattle we have many images. ‘Wo unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture,’ Jer_23:1. The people are the flock; teachers and rulers the pastors. ‘Israel is a scattered sheep, the lions have driven him away.’ ‘As a shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear,’ etc., Amo_3:12. Some of the images derived from husbandry, tending cattle, etc., may perhaps appear mean to us; though not to the Jews, whose manner of life was simple and plain, and whose greatest men (such as Moses, David, Gideon, etc.) were often husbandmen and shepherds. Accordingly, the Messiah himself is frequently described under the character of a shepherd.

[See Fleury’s Manners of the Israelites].

“It was customary in deep mournings to shave the head and beard, to retire to the housetops, which in those countries were flat, and furnished with little chambers adapted to the purposes of devotion or of sequestered grief; also to sing dirges at funerals, and to accompany them with a mournful sort of music; and from these and the like circumstances images are frequently borrowed by the prophets to denote the greatest danger, and the deepest distress. ‘Mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes.’ ‘Every head shall be bald, and every beard clipt - there shall be lamentation on all the house - tops of Moab,’ Jer_48:36-38; Isa_15:2, Isa_15:3.

“The mode of burying in the Jewish sepulchers, or ‘sides of the pit,’ and their Hades, or state of the dead, supplied many images of the same kind. See observations on Isaiah 14 (note), and Eze_26:20 (note).

“According to the barbarous custom of those times, conquerors drove their captives before them almost naked, and exposed to the intolerable heat of the sun, and the inclemencies of the weather. They afterwards employed them frequently in grinding at the handmill, (watermills not being then invented); hence nakedness, and grinding at the mill, and sitting on the ground (the posture in which they wrought) express captivity. ‘Descend and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; take the millstones - thy nakedness shall be uncovered,’ Isa_47:1-3.

“The marriage relation supplied metaphors to express the relation or covenant between God and his people. On the other hand adultery, infidelity to the marriage bed, etc., denoted any breach of covenant with God, particularly the love and worship of idols. ‘Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you,’ Jer_3:14. ‘There were two women, the daughters of one mother, and they committed whoredoms - with their idols have they committed adultery,’ etc., Ezekiel 23:2-37.

“The debility and stupefaction caused by intoxicating liquors suggested very apt images to express the terrible effects of the Divine judgments on those who are the unhappy objects of them. ‘Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness, with the cup of thy sister Samaria,’ Eze_23:33.

“From the method of refining metals in the furnace images are often borrowed to denote the judgments inflicted by God on his people, with a view to cleanse them from their sins, as metal from its dross. ‘Israel is dross in the midst of the furnace,’ Eze_22:18. ‘He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver,’ Mal_3:3.

“Among the other few arts from which the Hebrew poets derive some of their images, are those of the fuller and potter, Mal_3:2, etc.; Jer_18:1, etc.; of which the application is obvious. No less so is that of images derived from fishing, fowling, and the implements belonging to them; the hook, net, pit, snare, etc., which generally denote captivity or destruction. ‘I will send for many fishers, and they shall fish them; and for many hunters, and they shall hunt them; for their iniquity is not hid from mine eyes,’ Jer_16:16, Jer_16:17. ‘I will put hooks to thy jaws,’ Eze_29:4. ‘Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth,’ Isa_24:17.

“A few images are derived from building, as when the Messiah is denoted by a foundation and corner-stone, Isa_28:16. The next verse describes the rectitude of judgment by metaphors borrowed from the line and plummet; and by building with precious stones is denoted a very high degree of prosperity, whether applied to church or state, Isa_54:11, Isa_54:12.

“III.   Religion, and things connected with it, furnished many images to the sacred poets.

“From the temple and its pompous service, from the tabernacle, shechinah, mercy-seat, etc., are derived a variety of images, chiefly serving to denote the glory of the Christian Church, the excellency of its worship, God’s favor towards it, and his constant presence with it; the prophets speaking to the Jews in terms accommodated to their own ideas. ‘And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the glory shall be a covering,’ Isa_4:5. ‘Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean,’ Eze_36:25. “The ceremonial law, and especially its distinctions between things clean and unclean, furnished a number of images, all obvious in their application. ‘Wash ye, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings,’ Isa_1:16. ‘Their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman,’ Eze_36:17.

“The killing of sacrifices and feasting upon them, serve as metaphors for slaughter. ‘The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah,’ Isa_34:6; Eze_39:17.

“The pontifical robes, which were very splendid, suggested several images expressive of the glory of both the Jewish and Christian Church. ‘I clothed thee with broidered work,’ etc., Eze_16:10. ‘He clothed me with the garments of salvation,’ Isa_61:10. The prophets wore a rough upper garment; false prophets wore the like, in imitation of true ones; and to this there are frequent allusions. ‘Neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive,’ Zec_13:4.

“From the pots, and other vessels and utensils of the temple, are likewise borrowed a few metaphors obvious enough without explanation: ‘Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness,’ Zec_14:21.

“The prophets have likewise many images that allude to the idolatrous rites of the neighboring nations, to their groves and high places, Isa_27:9, and to the worship paid to their idols, Baal, Molech, Chemosh, Gad, Meni, Ashtaroth, Tammuz, etc., Eze_8:10-14.

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“IV.   Many of the metaphors and images used by the prophets are likewise borrowed from history, especially sacred.

“From the fall of angels: ‘How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning;’ Isa_14:12. ‘Thou art the anointed cherub, - thou wast upon the holy mountain of God;’ Eze_28:14. And from the fall of man: ‘Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God;’ Eze_28:13.

“From chaos: ‘I beheld the earth, and, lo! it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light;’ Jer_4:23. ‘He shall stretch over it the line of devastation, and the plummet of emptiness;’ Isa_34:11.

“From the deluge: ‘The windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake;’ Isa_24:18.

“From the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: ‘And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch;’ Isa_34:9. Also from the destruction of the Hivites and Amorites, etc., Isa_17:9.

“The exodus and deliverance from Egypt, is frequently used to shadow forth other great deliverances: ‘Thus saith the Lord, who maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters,’ etc.; Isa_11:15, Isa_11:16; Isa_43:16-19; Isa_51:9, Isa_51:10, etc.

“From the descent on Sinai: ‘Behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth; and the mountains shall be molten under him;’ Mic_1:3, Mic_1:4.
“From the resurrection, the end of the world, and the last judgment, are derived many images, of which the application is natural and obvious: ‘Thy dead men shall live, with my dead body shall they arise, - awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust,’ etc.; Isa_26:19. ‘And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host shall fall down as a leaf falleth from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree;’ Isa_34:4.

“The foregoing account of the images which most frequently occur in the writings of the prophets may be of considerable use in studying their style; but as a thorough knowledge of this must be allowed to be of the highest importance, a few general remarks are farther added, although some part of them may appear to be superseded by what has been already observed.

1.   Although the prophets use words so frequently in a figurative or metaphorical meaning; yet we ought not, without necessity, to depart from the primitive and original sense of language; and such a necessity there is, when the plain and original sense is less proper, less suitable to the subject and context, or contrary to other scriptures.

2.   By images borrowed from the world natural the prophets frequently understand something analogous in the world politic. Thus, the sun, moon, stars, and heavenly bodies denote kings, queens, rulers, and persons in great power; their increase of splendor denotes increase of prosperity; their darkening, setting, or falling denotes a reverse of fortune, or the entire ceasing of that power or kingdom to which they refer. Great earthquakes, and the shaking of heaven and earth, denote the commotion and overthrow of kingdoms; and the beginning or end of the world, their rise or ruin.

3.   The cedars of Lebanon, oaks of Bashan, fir-trees, and other stately trees of the forest, denote kings, princes, potentates, and persons of the highest rank; briers and thorns, the common people, or those of the meanest order.

4.   High mountains and lofty hills, in like manner, denote kingdoms, republics, states, and cities; towers and fortresses signify defenders and protectors; ships of Tarshish, merchants or commercial people; and the daughter of any capital or mother city, the lesser cities or suburbs around it. Cities never conquered are farther styled virgins.

5.   The prophets likewise describe kings and kingdoms by their ensigns; as Cyrus and the Romans by an eagle, the king of Macedon by a goat, and the king of Persia by a ram; these being the figures on their respective standards, or in the ornaments of their architecture.

6.   The prophets in like manner borrow some of their images from ancient hieroglyphics, which they take in their usual acceptation: thus, a star was the emblem of a god or hero; a horn, the emblem of great power or strength; and a rod, the emblem of royalty; and they signify the same in the prophets.

7.   The same prophecies have frequently a double meaning; and refer to different events, the one near, the other remote; the one temporal, the other spiritual, or perhaps eternal. The prophets having thus several events in their eye, their expressions may be partly applicable to one, and partly to another; and it is not always easy to mark the transitions. Thus, the prophecies relating to the first and second restoration of the Jews, and first and second coming of our Lord, are often interwoven together; like our Savior’s own prediction (Matthew 24.) concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world. What has not been fulfilled in the first, we must apply to the second; and what has been already fulfilled may often be considered as typical of what still remains to be accomplished.

8.   Almost all the prophecies of the Old Testament, whatever view they may have to nearer events, are ultimately to be referred to the New, where only we are to look for their full completion. Thus Babylon, under the Old Testament, was a type of mystical Babylon under the New; and the king of Syria, (Antiochus Epiphanes), a type of Antichrist; the temporal enemies of the Jews, types and figures of the spiritual enemies of Christians. We must not, however, expect to find always a mystical meaning in prophecy; and when the near and most obvious meaning is plain, and gives a good sense, we need not depart from it, nor be over-curious to look beyond it.

9.   In prophecies, as in parables, we are chiefly to consider the scope and design, without attempting too minute an explication of all the poetical images and figures which the sacred writers use to adorn their style.

10.   Prophecies of a general nature are applicable by accommodation to individuals; most of the things that are spoken of the Church in general being no less applicable to its individual members.

11.   Prophecies of a particular nature, on the other hand, admit, and often require, to be extended. Thus, Edom, Moab, or any of the enemies of God’s people, is often put for the whole; what is said of one being generally applicable to the rest.

12.   In like manner, what is said to or of any of God’s people, on any particular occasion, is of general application and use; all that stand in the same relation to God having an interest in the same promises.

13.   A cup of intoxicating liquor is frequently used to denote the indignation of God; and the effects of such a cup, the effects of his displeasure.

14.   As the covenant of God with his people is represented under the figure of marriage; so their breach of that covenant, especially their idolatry, is represented by whoredom, adultery, and infidelity to the marriage bed; on which the prophets sometimes enlarge, to excite detestation of the crime. The epithet strange does likewise, almost always, relate to something connected with idolatry.

15.   Persons or nations are frequently said in Scripture to be related to those whom they resemble in their life and conduct. In the same manner, men are denoted by animals whose qualities they resemble. A definite number, such as three, four, seven, ten, etc., is sometimes used by the prophets for an indefinite, and commonly denotes a great many.

16.   In the reckoning of time, a day is used by the prophets to denote a year; and things still future, to denote their certainty, are spoken of as already past.

17.   When the prophets speak of the last or latter days, they always mean the days of the Messiah, or the time of the Gospel dispensation. That day means often the same, and always some period at a distance.

18.   When places are mentioned as lying north, south, east, or west, it is generally to be understood of their situation with respect to Judea or Jerusalem, when the context does not plainly restrict the scene to some other place.

19.   By the earth, or the word so translated, the prophets frequently mean the land of Judea; and sometimes, says Sir Isaac Newton, the great continent of all Asia and Africa, to which they had access by land. By the isles of the sea, on the other hand, they understood the places to which they sailed, particularly all Europe, and probably the islands and seacoasts of the Mediterranean.

20.   The greatest part of the prophetic writings was first composed in verse, and still retains, notwithstanding all the disadvantages of a literal prose translation, much of the air and cast of the original, particularly in the division of the lines, and in that peculiarity of Hebrew poetry by which the sense of one line or couplet so frequently corresponds with that of the other. Thus: -

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I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness
As a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Isa_61:10.

“Attention to this peculiarity in sacred poetry will frequently lead to the meaning of many passages in the poetical parts of Scripture, in which it perpetually occurs, as the one line of a couplet, or member of a sentence, is generally a commentary on the other. Thus: -
The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah,
And a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
Isa_34:6.

“Here the metaphor in the first line is expressed in plain terms in the next: the sacrifice in Bozrah means the great slaughter in Idumea, of which Bozrah was the capital. “It must be observed that the parallelism is frequently more extended. Thus: -
For I will pour out waters on the thirsty,
And flowing streams upon the dry ground;
I will pour out my Spirit on thy seed,
And my blessing on thine offspring.
Isa_44:3.

“Here the two last lines explain the metaphor in the two preceding.”

As the gift of prophecy was the greatest which God gave to men upon earth, so the prophet, as being the immediate instrument of revealing the will of God to the people, was the greatest, the most important, the most august, venerable, and useful person in the land of Israel. Ipsi eis exeant, says St. Augustine, philosophi ipsi sapientes, ipsi theologi, ipsi prophetae, ipsi doctores probitatis ac pietatis; “They were to the people the philosophers, the wise men, the divines, the prophets, and the teachers of truth and godliness.” By their intercourse with God, they were his mediators with the people; and their persons, as well as their office, were considered as peculiarly sacred. They did not mix with the people, and only appeared in public when they came to announce the will of God. They were also a kind of typical persons - whatever occurred to them was instructive, so that they were for signs, metaphors, and portents.

Most of the ancient prophets were extraordinary messengers. They were not bred up to the prophetic function; as the office was immediately from God, as well as the message they were to deliver to the people, so they had no previous education, in reference to such an office, for no man knew whom the God of Israel might please to call to announce his righteousness to the people. Several of them were taken out of the walks of common life. Jonah appears to have been a private person at Gath-heper, in Galilee, before God called him to prophesy against Nineveh. Elisha was a ploughman at Abel-meholah (1Ki_19:16) when called to the prophetic function. Zechariah appears to have been a husbandman, and a keeper of cattle, Zec_13:5. Amos was a herdsman of Tekoa, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit; (Amo_1:1; Amo_7:14, Amo_7:15); and no doubt several others of the ancient prophets had an equally mean origin; but the office and the calling dignified the man. We know that our blessed Lord called not his disciples from the higher walks or offices of life; but out of fishermen, tax-gatherers, and tent-makers, he formed evangelists and apostles.

The prophets appear to have gone in mean clothing; either sack-cloth, hair-cloth, or coats of skin appear to have been their ordinary clothing. They spoke against the pride and vain-glory of man; and their very garb and manner gave additional weight to the solemn words they delivered. They lived in a retired manner; and, when not sent on special errands, they employed their vacant time in the instruction of youth; as this is probably what we are to understand by the schools of the prophets, such as those over which Elijah, Elisha, and Samuel presided; though no doubt there were some of their disciples that were made partakers of the prophetic gift.

The prophets do not appear to have been called to a life of celibacy. Isaiah was a married man, Isa_8:3; and so was Hosea, Isa_1:2; unless we are to understand the latter case enigmatically. And that the sons of the prophets had wives, we learn from 2Ki_4:1, etc.; and from this, as well as from the case of the apostles, we learn that the matrimonial state was never considered, either by Moses or the prophets, Christ or his apostles, as disqualifying men from officiating in the most holy offices; as we find Moses, Aaron, Isaiah, Zechariah, and Peter, all married men, and yet the most eminent of their order.

Of Isaiah, the writer of this book, very little is known. He is supposed to have been of the tribe of Judah, and of the royal family of David. Himself says that he was son of Amoz; and others tell us that this Amoz was the son of Joash, and brother of Amaziah, king of Judah. “Of his family and tribe we know nothing,” says R. D. Kimchi, “only our rabbins, of blessed memory, have received the tradition that Amoz and Amaziah were brothers;” and it is on this ground that he has been called the royal prophet. It has been also said that Isaiah gave his daughter in marriage to Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, king of Judah; and that himself was put to death by Manasseh, being sawn asunder with a wooden saw. But all these traditions stand on very slender authority, and are worthy of very little regard. Several commentators have thought that his prophecies afford presumptive evidence of his high descent and elegant education:

1.   Because his style is more correct and majestic than any of the other prophets.

2.   That his frequent use of images taken from royalty is a proof that this state was familiar to him, being much at court, as he must have been, had he been the brother of the king.

These things are spoken by many with much confidence; for my own part, I had rather look to his inspiration for the correctness of his language and the dignity of his sentiments, than to those very inferior helps. On the other hypothesis nothing is left to the Divine Spirit, except the mere matter of his prophecies. Suppositions of this kind are not creditable to Divine revelation.

Isaiah appears to have had two sons, who were typical in their names; one, Shear-jashub, “a remnant shall return,” Isa_7:3; and the other Maher-shalal-hash-baz, “haste to the spoil; quick to the prey;” Isa_8:3; and it is remarkable, that his wife is called a prophetess. Other matters relative to his character will appear in the notes on his prophecies.

In the notes on this book I have consulted throughout the commentary of Rabbi David Kimchi, and have made much use of Bishop Lowth, as the reader will perceive. His various readings I have re-collated with Dr. Kennicott, and B. De Rossi; in consequence of which I have been enabled in many cases to add double weight to the authorities by which the learned bishop was supported in the readings which he has either mentioned, or received into the text. Bishop Lowth could avail himself only of the collections of Dr. Kennicott - the sheets of Isaiah in the doctor’s edition of the Hebrew Bible, as they passed through the press, were sent by him to the Bishop; but the Collections of De Rossi, more numerous and more accurate than those of Dr. Kennicott, were not published till six years after the doctor had published his Bible, and about one year before this most learned and pious prelate went to his reward. I have also consulted some excellent Hebrew MSS. in my own library from six to eight hundred years old, which have afforded me additional help in estimating the worth and importance of the various readings in the above Collections of Kenicott and De Rossi, as far as they are employed in the illustration of this prophet. From the ancient English MS. Version of this prophet I have extracted several curious translations of select parts, which I have no doubt will meet with every reader’s approbation. Though I have followed Bishop Lowth chiefly, yet I have consulted the best commentators within my reach, in order to remove doubts and clear up difficult passages, but have studied to be as brief as possible, that the sacred text might not be encumbered either with the multitude or length of the notes, nor the reader’s time occupied with any thing not essentially necessary; besides, I wish to bring my work to as speedy a close as possible.

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This book, according to Vitringa, is twofold in its matter: 1. Prophetical; 2. Historical.

1.   The prophetical is divided into five parts:

Part 1: From Isaiah 1: to Isaiah 13: is directed to the Jews and Ephraimites, and contains five prophetic discourses.

Part 2: From Isaiah 13: to Isaiah 24: declares the fate of the Babylonians, Philistines, Moabites, Syrians, Egyptians, Tyrians, and others; and contains eight prophetic discourses.

Part 3: From Isaiah 24: to Isaiah 36: denounces judgments on the disobedient Jews, and consoles the true followers of God. This contains three discourses.

Part 4: From Isaiah 40: to Isaiah 49: refers to the Messiah and the deliverance of the Jews from the Babylonians; and contains four discourses.

Part 5: From Isaiah 49: to the end, points out the passion, crucifixion, and glory of the Messiah, and contains five discourses.

2.   The historical part begins with Isaiah 36, and ends with Isa_39:1-8, and relates some of the transactions of the prophet’s own times. On this analysis Vitringa explains the whole prophecy. For my own part I have little or no confidence in such technical arrangements.

Calmet takes a different view of it. He divides it into eight parts, viz.:

Part 1: he supposes to relate to Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah: this is included in the first six chapters. The prophet inveighs against the crimes of the Jews; declares the judgments of God against them; predicts a more auspicious time, which took place under Hezekiah, who was a type of Christ.

Part 2: concerns the reign of Ahaz, and comprehends the six following chapters, in which he speaks of the siege of Jerusalem by Pekah and Resin; of the birth of Immanuel, as a proof of the approaching deliverance of Judah; predicts the calamities that were to fall on the kingdoms of Syria and Israel, etc.

Part 3: contains many prophecies against Babylon, the Philistines, Moabites, etc.
Part 4: contains prophecies against Egypt, Babylon, Kedar, Arabia, etc.

Part 5: concerns the reign of Hezekiah, and especially the war of Sennacherib against the Jews, etc. The four historical chapters inserted here contain the account of the fulfillment of the preceding prophecy.

Part 6, included in Isaiah 40 to Isaiah 45 inclusive, contains the prophet’s discourses on the existence of God, the truth and perfection of the Jewish religion, the vanity of idolatry, the return of the people from captivity, and the coming of Christ.

Part 7: from Isaiah 49: to Isaiah 51, the prophet, personifying the Messiah, speaks of his sufferings, death, and burial; predicts the return from the Babylonish captivity, and the glory of the latter days.

Part 8: speaks of the coming of the Messiah, and the vocation of the Gentiles; the disgrace and confusion of all false prophets and teachers; and the establishment of a pure and holy Church, etc.
I might give other analyses of this book, but it is needless; from what is before the reader he will at once see how vain all attempts of this kind are, and how foolish to make divisions and subdivisions, partitions and classifications, where the Spirit of God has given no intimations of the kind, and where even the most learned men differ in their arrangement.

“God never left his work for man to mend.” The prophecies were given as they were necessary, and no classification was ever intended. We should take them up as we find them; and humbly endeavor to find out their objects and meaning, and how far ourselves are interested in these denunciations of Divine wrath; and in those glorious promises of mercy and salvation through Him who was once the hope of Israel, and now is salvation to the ends of the earth. 

Millbrook, Sept. 24, 1823. — Clarke  (abridged)

Isaiah - Isaiah prophesied in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He has been well called the evangelical prophet, on account of his numerous and full prophesies concerning the coming and character, the ministry and preaching, the sufferings and death of the Messiah, and the extent and continuance of his kingdom. Under the veil of the deliverance from Babylon, Isaiah points to a much greater deliverance, which was to be effected by the Messiah; and seldom does he mention the one, without alluding at the same time to the other; nay, he is often so much enraptured with the prospect of the more distant deliverance, as to lose sight of that which was nearer, and to dwell on the Messiah's person, office, character, and kingdom. — MHCC

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Isaiah - Introduction to the Prophetical Books, by A. R. Faussett

This constitutes the second division, the others being the Law and Hagiographa. It included Joshua, Judges, First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, called the former prophets; and Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc., to Malachi, the latter prophets. Daniel is excluded, because, though highly endowed with prophetic gifts, he had not filled the prophetic office: his book is therefore classed with the Hagiographa. Ezra probably commenced, and others subsequently completed, the arrangement of the canon. The prophets were not mere predictors. Their Hebrew name, nabi, comes from a root “to boil up as a fountain” (Gesenius); hence the fervor of inspiration (2Pe_1:21). Others interpret it as from an Arabic root (Exo_4:16, “spokesman” of God, the Holy Ghost supplying him with words); communicated by dreams (Joe_2:28; Job_33:14-17 - no instance of this occurs in Isaiah); or visions, the scene being made to pass before their mind (Isa_1:1); or trance, ecstasy (Num_24:4, Num_24:16; Eze_1:3; Eze_3:14); not depriving them, however, of free conscious agency (Jer_20:7, Jer_20:9; 1Co_14:32).

These Peculiar Forms of inspiration distinguish prophets, strictly so called, from Moses and others, though inspired (Num_12:6-8). Hence their name seers. Hence, too, the poetical cast of their style, though less restricted, owing to their practical tendency, by the outward forms observed in strictly poetical books. Hence, too, the union of music with prophesying (1Sa_10:5). This ecstatic state, though exalted, is not the highest: for Jesus Christ was never in it, nor Moses. It was rendered necessary by the frailty of the prophets, and the spiritual obtuseness of the people. It accordingly predominates in the Old Testament, but is subordinate in the New Testament, where the Holy Ghost by the fulness of His ordinary gifts renders the extraordinary less necessary. After the time of the Mosaic economy, the idea of a prophet was regularly connected with the prophetic office - not conferred by men, but by God. In this they differ from mystics whose pretended inspiration is for themselves: prophetism is practical, not dreamy and secluded; the prophet’s inspiration is theirs only as God’s messengers to the people. His ordinary servants and regular teachers of the people were the priests; the prophets distinguished from them by inspiration, were designed to rouse and excite. In Israel, however, as distinguished from Judah (as there was no true priesthood) the prophets were the regular and only ministers of God. Prophecy in Israel needed to be supported more powerfully: therefore the “schools” were more established; and more striking prophetic deeds (for example, Elijah’s and Elisha’s) are recorded, than in Judah. The law was their basis (Isa_8:16, Isa_8:20), both its form and spirit (Deu_4:2; Deu_13:1-3); at times they looked forward to a day when its ever-living spirit would break its then imperfect form for a freer and more perfect development (Jer_3:16; Jer_31:31); but they altered not a tittle in their own days. Eichorn well calls Moses’ song (Deu_32:1-47) the Magna Charta of prophecy. The fulfilment of their predictions was to be the sign of their being real prophets of God (Deu_18:22); also, their speaking in the name of no other but the true God (Deu_18:20). Prophecy was the only sanctioned indulgence of the craving after knowledge of future events, which is so prevalent in the East (Deu_18:10, Deu_18:11). For a momentary inspiration the mere beginning of spiritual life sufficed, as in Balaam’s case; but for a continuous mission, the prophet must be converted (Isa_6:7). In Samuel’s days (1Sa_10:8; 1Sa_19:20) begin the prophetic “schools.” These were associations of men, more or less endowed with the Spirit, in which the feebler were helped by those of greater spiritual powers: so at Beth-el and Gilgal (2Ki_2:3; 2Ki_4:38; 2Ki_6:21). Only the leaders stood in immediate communion with God, while the rest were joined to Him through their mediation (1Ki_19:15; 2Ki_8:13); the former acted through the latter as their instruments (1Ki_19:16; 2Ki_9:1, 2Ki_9:2). The bestowal of prophetic gifts was not, however, limited to these schools (Amo_7:14, Amo_7:15).

As to Symbolic Actions, many of them are not actual but only parts of the prophetic visions, internal not external facts, being impossible or indecent (Jer_13:1-10; Jer_25:12-38; Hos_1:2-11). Still the internal actions, when possible and proper, were often expressed externally (1Ki_22:11). Those purely internal express the subject more strikingly than a naked statement could.

Other Criteria of a true prophet, besides the two above, were, the accordance of his addresses with the law; his not promising prosperity without repentance; his own assurance of his divine mission (sometimes received reluctantly, Jer_20:8, Jer_20:9; Jer_26:12), producing that inward assurance of the truth in others, which is to them a stronger proof from the Spirit of God, than even outward miracles and arguments: his pious life, fortitude in suffering, and freedom from fanaticism, confirm these criteria. Miracles, though proofs, are not to be trusted without the negative criteria (Deu_13:2). Predictions fulfilled in the prophet’s lifetime established his authority thenceforth (1Sa_3:19; Jer_22:11-12; Eze_12:12, Eze_12:13; Eze_24:1-27).

As to their Promulgation, it was usually oral, before the assembled people, and afterwards revised in writing. The second part of Isaiah and Ezekiel 40-48 were probably not given orally, but in writing. Before Isaiah’s and his contemporaries’ time, prophecies were not written, as not being intended for universal use. But now a larger field was opened. To the worldly power of heathen nations which threatened to destroy the theocracy is henceforth opposed the kingdom of God, about to conquer all through Messiah, whose coming concerns all ages. The lesser prophets give the quintessence of the prophecies of their respective authors. An instance of the mode of collecting and publishing prophecies occurs (Jer_36:4-14). Those of the later prophets rest on those of the earlier (Zec_1:4; Zec_7:7, Zec_7:12). Ewald fancies that a great number of prophetic rolls have been lost. But the fact of the prophets often alluding to writings which we have, and never to those which it can be proved we have not, makes it likely that we have all those predictions which were committed to writing; the care bestowed on them as divine, and the exact knowledge of them long after (Jer_26:18, Jer_26:19), confirm this view.

The Arrangement is chronological; but as the twelve lesser prophets are regarded as one work, and the three last of them lived later than Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the former are put after the latter. The lesser prophets are arranged chronologically, except Hosea, who being the largest, is placed first, though some were earlier than he; also Jonah, who seems to have been the earliest of the latter prophets.

As to The Messiah, no single prophet gives a complete view of Him: this is made up of the various aspects of Him in different prophecies combined; just as His life in the Gospels is one under a fourfold aspect. In the first part of Isaiah, addressed to the whole people, the prominent idea is His triumph, as King, the design being there to remove their fears of the surrounding nations; in the second, addressed to the elect remnant, He is exhibited as Prophet and Priest, Himself being the sacrifice.