Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_600.lzh/4_643.TXT

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yea, even good men, Christ has the pre-eminence of
them, the sons of God by adopting grace; for he is so
in such a sense they are not; he is their Creator, Lord,
Head, Husband, and Saviour, and they have all their
fruit'from him; and so ministers of the word have
their gifts and grace from him, and therefore Christ
excels all that come under this appellation of sons.
Christ may be compared to an apple-tree, which is
very fruitful; and, when ftdl of fruit, very beautiful;
and whose fruit is very cooling, comtbrting, and re-
freshing. Christ is full of the fruits and blessings of
grace, whkh are to be ,'cached by the hand of faith, and
enjoyed; and as he is full of grace and truth, he looks
very beautiful and glorius in the eye of faith; and
which blessings of grace frofn him, being applied to a
poor sensible sinner, inflamed by the fiery law, and
filled with wrath and terror, sweetly cool, refresh, and
comtbrt him. The apple-tree has been accounted an
hieroglyphic of love, under which lovers used to meet.
and sit under its delightful shade, and entertain each
other with its fruit; to which the allusion may be;
see ch. viii. 5. the apple was sacred to love {l}. The
Targum renders it, the pome-citron, or citron-apple-I.
tree; which is a tree very large and beautiful; its
fruit is of a bitter taste, but of a good smell;
always fruit on it; is an excellent remedy against poi-
son, and good for the breath, as naturalists "{m} observe;
and so is a fit emblem of Christ, in the greatness of his
person, in the fairies, of his grace, in the virtue of his
blood, and righteousness and grace, which a,e a sove-
reign antidote against the poison ofsiu; and whose
presence, and communion with him, cure panting
souls, out of breath in seeking him; and whose medi-
ation perfumes their breath, their prayers, whereby
they become grateful to God, which otherwise would
be strange and disagreeable. I sat down under Iris
shadow with great delight: under the shadow of the
apple-tree, to which Christ is compared; whose per-
son, blood, and righteousness, cast a shadow, which is
a protecting one, from the heat of divine wrath, from
the curses of a fiery law, from the fiery darts of Satan,
and from the fury of persecutors, Isa. xxv. 4, 5. and is
a cooling, comforting, and refreshing one, like the
shadow of a great rock to a weary |raveller, Isa. xxxii.
2. and though the shadow of some trees, as Pliny
observes, is 'hurtful to plants that grow under them,
others are fructify|rig; and such is Christ; they that
dwell under his shadow shall revive and grow, &c. Hos.
xiv. 7. Sitting here supposes it was her choice; that
she preferred Christ to any other shadow, looking upon
him to be a suitable one in her circumstances, ch. i. 6.
7-it intimates that peace, quietness, satisfaction, and
security', she enjoyed under him; it denotes her con-
tinuance, and desire of abiding there, Psal. xci. 1. for
the words may be rendered, I desired, and I sat down {o};
she desired to sit under the shade of this tree, and she
did; she had what she wished for; and she sat with
great delight: having the presence of Christ, and fel-
lowship with him h, his word and ordinances, where
Christ is a delightful shade  to his people. And his
fruit was sweet to my taste; the fruit of the apple tree,
to which the allusion is. Solon {p} advised the bride to
eat a quince-apple before she wen|into the bridegroom,
as leaving an agreeable sayour; and intimating how
graceful the words of her mouth should be. By his
fruit here are ,neant the blessings of grace, which are
Christ's in acovenant way, come through his sufl'erings
and death, and are at his dispose; suh as peace, par-.
don, justitication, &c. and fresh discoveries and mani-
festations of his love, of which the apple is an emblem:
and these are sweet, pleasant, and delightful, to those
that have tasted that the l,ord is gracious; whose viii-
sled taste is changed by the grace of' God, and they
savour the things of the spirit of God.
Ver. 4. He brought me to the banqueting-house, &c.]
Or into it{q}. The house ofwine {r}, as it is literally in the
original; either the .wine-cellar {s}, as some, where stores
/o?' it were kept; or, the placc of' fastingt, as others,
and, as we render it, a banqueting- house.' where it was
distributed and drank; a banquet of wine being put
for a feast, and here the nuptial feast; and may design
the Gospel feast in the house of God, where there is
plenty of the wine or' Gospel truths, and provisions of
rich tbot{, with which believers are sweetly refreshed
and delightfully regaled: and to be brought hither,
under the drawings and influences of divine grace, is a
special privilege, a distinguishing layout; and shewa
great condescension in Christ, the King of kings, and
Lord of lords, to take his people by the hand, as it
were, and introduce them into his house, so well fur-
nished, and to a table so well spread: and so the
church relates it as an instance of divine fayour, and as
a fresh token of Christ's love to her; which further
appears by what tbllows: the covenant of grace and
the Scriptures of truth may be thought of as a banquet-
|rig-house, well stored with blessings, and promises,
and rich provisions; which, to be led and let into, is a
singular kindness. And .his banner over me was love;
signifying, that she was brought into the banquet|rig-
house in a grand, stately, and majestic mummer, with
flying colours; the motto on which inscribed was love;
the allusion may be to the names of generals being in-
scribed on the banners of their armies; so Vespasian's
name was inscribed on the banners throughout his
armies {u}. Christ's name, inscribed on his, was love,
his church's love; and by which his company or band
was distinguished from all others, even by electing,
redeeming, calling love. It may signify the security
and protection of the saints, whilst in the house of
God, and enjoying communion with him, being under
the banner of love, with which they are encompassed
as a shield; and it may denote the very manifest


{l} Scholiast. in Aristoph. Nubes, p. 180. The statue of Venus had
sometimes an apple in one hand, and a poppy in the other, Pausan.
Corinth. sive l. 2. p. 103.
{m} Athenaei Deipnosoph. l. 3. c. 7. p. 83.  Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 53.
& 12. c. 3. Solin. Polyhistor. c. 59. Macrob. Saturnal. l. 3. c. 19.
{n} Nat. Hist. l. 17. c. 12.
{o} \^ytbvyw ytdmx\^ · q'~t~,~ ,D'IDrI concupivi, & sedi, FaWninns, Montanus~ Mercerus,
Marckius.
{p} Plutarch. Conjug. Praecept. vol. 2. p. 138.
{q} \^la\^ in, Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Marckius, Mi-
chaelis.
{r} \^Nyyh tyb\^ domum vini, Pagninus, Montanus, &c.
{s} Cellam vinariam, Tigurine version.
{t} Locum convivii, Junius & Tremellius.
{u} Suetonii Vita Vespasian. c. 6.