Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_600.lzh/4_642.TXT

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and trodden under foot by them, and to be carried
away with the flood of persecution, were it not
guarded by divine power; and, being watered with
the dews of grace, it becomes flourishng and fruitful.
But the more commonly received opinion is, that these
are the words of Christ concerning himself; and which
indeed best become him, and are more agreeable to
his style and language, John xiv. 6. and xv. 9. and suit
best with the words in the following verse, as one ob-
serves {a} ' nor is it unfitly taken by the bridegroom to
himself, siuce it is sometimes given by lovers to men {b}.
Christ may be compared to a rose ibr its colour and
smell; to the rose ibr its red colour: and which may
be expressive of the truth of his humanity, and of his
bloody sufferings in it; and this, with the whiteness
of the lily, finishes the description of him for his
beauty, oh. v. 10. and tbr its sweet smell; which de-
notes the same things for which he is before compared
to spikenard, myrrh, and camphire. The rose, as
Pliny says {e}, delights not in fat soils and rich clays, but
in. rubbish, and roses that grow there are of the
sweetest smell; and such was the earth about Sharon {d];
and to a rose there Christ is compared, to shew  the
excellency and preferableaess of him to all others.
The word is only used here and in Isa. xxxv. 1,eWhere
it is in many versions rendered a lily: it seems to be
compotmded of two words; one which signifies to
cover and hide, and another which signifies a shadow;
and so may be rendered, the covering shadow: but for
what reason a rose should be so called is not easy to
ny; unless it can be thought to have the figure of an
umbrella; or that the rose-tree in those parts was so
large, as to be remarkable for its shadow; like that
Montfaucon {e} saw, in a garden at Ravenna, under the
shadow of the branches of which more than forty men
could stand: Christ is sometimes compared to trees for
their shadow, which is pleasant and reviving, as in
vet. 3. Hos. xiv. 7. Some render it, the flower of the
fieldt; which may be expressive of the meanness of
Christ in the eyes of men; of his not being of human
production; of his being accessible; and of his being
liable to be trampled upon, as he has been. And as he
is compared to a rose, so to a lily, for its colour,
height, and fruitfulness; expressive of his purity
in hlmself, of his superiority to angels and men, and
of his being filled with the fruits and blessings of
grace; and to a lily of the valleys, denoting his
wonderful condescension in his low estate of hu-
miliation, and his delight in dwelling with the humble
and lowly: some render the words, I am the rose of
Sharon, with the lily of the valleys {g}; by the former epi-
thet meaning himself; and by the latter his church,
his companion, in strict union and communion with
him; of whom the following words are spoken.
Vcr. o.. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among'
the daughters.] These are manifestly the words of
Christ concerning his church, whom he calls my love,
as in oh. i..9. see the note there; and was his love still,
though in such company, and in such an uncomfort-
able condition. In what sense she is comparable to a
lily has been shewn in the preceding verse; but here
she is coinpared to one among thorns: by which may be
meant wicked men, comparable to thorns for their un-.
fruitfulness and unprofitablehess; for their being hurtful
and pernicious to good men; and tbr their end, which
is to be burned; especially peVsecutors of religion,
who are very distressing to the saints who dwell among
them; see 2 Sam. xxiii. 6. and her being among such
serves for a foil, to set off her excellency the more:
and the simile is designed, not so much to observe that
Christ's lily grows among thorns, as to shew that the
church is as preferable to such persons as a lily is to
thorns; which is justly remarked by Carolus-Maria de
Veil; and which sense the comparison requires, as
appears by the reddillon, so is my love among the daugh-
ters: the nations and men of the wo,ld, and even car-
nal prot'essors, members of the visible church, whom
she as much exceeds in beauty, grace, and fruitfulness,
as the lily exceeds thorns. Ainsworth thinks the
tcoodbind or honeysucUe is recant, which grows in
thorn-hedges, and is sometimes called liliura inter spi-
nas, as Mercer observes; this is indeed of a sweet
smell, yet very weak, and cannot support itself; and
therefore twists and wraps itself about other trees,
their twigs and branches, convolvens se adminiculis
quibuscunque, as Pliny {h} says; hence we call it wood-
bind, and for the same reason its name in Greek is peri-
clymenon; so saints are of a sweet fragrance to Christ,
and, weak in themselves, cannot support themselves;
yet they twine about Christ, lean on him, and are up-
held by him, and depend on him fcr all good things.
But it is the same word as in the preceding verse, and
may be rendered lily here as there; and not a rose, as
it is in the Targum, from which it is there distin-
guished. The lily is often mentioned in this love-song;
it is said to be the delight of Venus {i}. Some call it
ambrosia..
Vet. 3. As the apple-tree among the trees of the
wood, &c.] As the apple-tree, in a garden or
orchard, excels and is preferable to the wild bar-
ren trees of a tbrest {k}, especially it appears so when
laden with choice fruit; so the church, who here
returns the commendation to Christ, asserts, that
he as much excels all the sons, the creatures of God,
angels or men: angels, as the Targum, who, though
sons of God by creation, Christ is the Son of God,
in a higher sense; he is their Creator, and the ob-
ject of their worship; they are confirmed by him in
the estate they are, and are ministerlug spirits to him;
and he is exalted above them in human nature: men
also, the greatest princes and monarchs of the earth,
are sometimes compared to large and lofty trees;
but Christ is higher than they, and is possessed of
far greater power, riches, glory, and majesty. All the
sons of Adam in general may be meant; wicked men,
who are like forest-trees, wild, barren, and unfruitful;


{a} Durham in loc.
{b} Mea rosa, Plauti Bacchides, Sc. 1. v. 50.  Asinaria, Act. 3. Sc. 3.                    Asinaria~ Act, 3, $c. 3.
v. 74. Curculio, Act. 1. Sc. 2. v. 6.
{c} Nat. Hist. l. 21. c. 4.
{d} Misnah Sotah, c. 8. s. 3.
{e}diar. Italic. c. 7. p. 100.
{f} \~anyov tou pediou\~, Sept. flos campi, V. L. Pagninus, Mercerus.
{g} Ego rosa Sharon lilio vallium, Marckius.
{h} Nat. Hist. l. 27. c. 12.
{i} Nicander apud Athenaeum, l. 15. c. 8. p. 683.
{k} Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi, Virgil. Bucolie.
Eclog. 1. v. 26. Lenta salix, &c. Eclog. 5. v. 16.