Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_600.lzh/4_635.TXT

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the other. With respect to her blackness, she com-
pares herself to the tents of Kedar, to the inhabitants
of those tents, who were of a black or swarthy com-
plexion; Kedar signifies the name of a man whose
posterity these were, that dwelt in tents, even of Ke-
dar the second son of Ishmael, and who inhabited
some part of A. rabia; and, their employment being to
feed cattle, moved from place to place for the sake of
pasturage, and so dwelt in tents, which they could
easily remove, and hence were called Scenites; and the
tents they dwelt in being made of hair-cloth, and con-
tinually exposed to the sun and rain, were very
black, and yet a number of them made a line appear-
ance, as Dr. Shaw relates {z}; though black, yet were
beautiful to behold; hc says," the Bedoween Arabs at
"this day live in tents called hhymes, from the shelter
"which they afford the inhabitants; and beet el shaar,
"i. e. houses of hair, from the materials or webs of
"goats' hair whereof they were made; and are such
"hair-cloth as our coal-sacks are made of; the colour
"of them is beautifully alluded to, Cant. i. 5. for no-
" thing certainly can aiford (says he) a more delightful
"prospect than a large extensive plain, whether in its
"verdure, or even scorched up by the sunbeams, than,
"these movable habitations pitched in circles up0.d
"them; of which (he says) he has seen from three to
"three hundred." And for her comeliness the church
compares herself either to the curtains of Solomon,
about his bed, or to the rich hangi, ngs of tapestry in the
several apartments of his palace, which no doubt were
very costly and magnificent.
Ver. 6. Look not upon me, &c.] Meaning not with
scorn and disdain because of her meanness; nor as pry-
ing into her infirmities to expose her; nor with joy at
her trials and afflictions; neither of these can be sup-
posed in the daughters of Jerusalem addressed by her:
but rather, not look on her as amazed at her sufferings,
as though some strange thing had befallen her; not at
her blackness only, on one account or another, lest they
should be stumbled; but at her beauty also. Because
I am black; or blackish .. somewhat black {a}, but not so
black as might be thought, or as she was represented:
the radicals of the word being doubled, some under-
stand it as diminishing; but rather it increases the
signification; see Psal. xiv. 2. Prov. viii. 31. and so it
may be rendered yet!/black{b}, exceeding black; and this
she repeats for the sake of an opportunity of giving
the reason of it, as follows. Because the sun hath
looked upon me; and had burnt her, and made her
black; which effect the sun has on persons in some
countries, and especially on such who are much abroad
in the fields, and employed in rural services{e}; as she
was, being a keeper of vineyards, as in this verse, and
of flocks of sheep, as in the following. This may be un-
derstood of the sun of persecution that had beat upon her,
and had left such impressions on her, and had made her
in this hue, and which she bore patiently; nor was
she ashamed of it; nor should she be upbraided with it,
nor slighted on account of it, see Matt. xiii. 6, 2l.
My mother's children were angry with me; by whom
may be meant carnal professors, members of the same
society, externally children of the same mother, pre-
tend to godliness, but are enemies to it: these were
angry with the church tbr holding and defending the
pure doctrines of the Gospel; tbr keeping the ordi-
nances as they were delivered; and for faithful reproofs
and admonitions to them and others, tbr their disa-
greeable walk: and these grieved the church, and made
her go mourning, and in black; and more blackened
her character and reputation than any thing else what-
ever: though it may be understood of any carnal n,en,
who descend from mother Eve, or spring from mother
earth, angry with the church and her members
preciseness in religion; and particularly violent perse-
cutors of her, who yet would be thought to be reli-
gious, may be intended. They made me the/,eeper of
the vineyards; this is another thing that added to her
blackness, lying abroad in the fields to keep the vine-
yardsof others, by which may be meant false churches,
as true ones are sometimes signified by them; and her
c9.rfipliance with their corrupt worship and ordinances,
which was not voluntary, but ibrced; they made me,
obliged her, and this increased her blackness; as also
what follows. But mine own vineyard have I not kept;
which made her blacker still; her church-state, or the
spiritual affairs of her own, her duty and business in-
cumbent on hera, were sadly neglected by her: and
this sin of her's she does not pretend to extenuate by
the usage of her mother's children; but ingenuously
confesses the fault was her own, to neglect her own
vineyard and keep others, which was greatly preju-
dicial to her, and was resented by Christ; upon which
it seems he departed from her, since she was at a loss
to know where he was, as appears from the following
words. With the Romans, neglect of fields, trees, and
vineyards, came under the notice of the censors, and
was not to go unpunished {e}.
Ver. 7. Tell me, 0 thou whom my soul loveth, &c.]
With all her heart, cordially and sincerely; for, not-
withstanding her sinful compliance with others, and
neglect of her own afihirs, she had not lost her love to
Christ; and, being sensible of her sin and folly, w.here-
by she was deprived of his company, and communion
with him, applies to him to guide, direct, and restore
her wandering soul; and particularly inform her where,
says she, thou feedest; that is. his flock, like a shep-
herd: for this phrase supposes him to be a shepherd,
as he is, of God's choosing, appointing, and setting up,
the chief, the good, the great., and only Shepherd of the
sheep; and that he has a flock to feed, whic!. is but
one, and a little one, is his property, given him by
God, purchased by his blood, called a flock of slaugh-
ter, and yet a beautiful one, he has undertook to feed;
and feeding it includes the whole business of a shepherd,
in leading the sheep into pastures, protecting them from
all enemies, restoring them when wandering, healing
their diseases, watching over them in the night-seasons,
and making all necessary- provisions for them. Or, tell


{z} Travels, p. 220. edit. 2. See Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. Solin.
Polyhist. c. 46.
{a} \^trxrxv\^ paululum denigrata, Pagninus, Mercerus, Junius &
Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; so Ainsworth and Aben Ezra.
{b} Valde fusca, Bochart; prorsus vel valde, & tota nigra, Marckius,
Michaelis.
{c} Perusta solibus pernicis uxor, Horat. Epod. Ode 2. v. 41, 42.
\~aliokauston\~, Theocrit. Idyll. 10. v. 27.
{d} So Horace calls his own works Vineta, Epist. l. 2. Ep. 1. v. 220.
{e} A. Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 4. c. 12.