Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_600.lzh/4_668.TXT

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withdrawn himself, and was gone: a sad disappointtnent
this ! she expected to have seen him, and bcco received
in his at,as. and embraced in his bosom; but instead
of that, he was gone out of sight and hearing: this
withdrawtnent was to chastise her for her ibrmcr car-
riage, and to shew her more the evil of her sin, and
his resentment of it; to try the truth and strength of
her grace. to inflame her love the more, and sharpen
her ,lesires after his presence, to prize it more when
she had it, and be careful not to lose it: her using two
words or' the saine import, he turned himself {h}, and 'was
gone, signtiles that he was really gone, and not in her
imagination only; and that he was gone suddenly, at
an unawares, and, as she might fear, would never re-
turn; and these words being without a copulative.
had withdrawn himself, he was gone, shew her haste in
speaking, the confusion she was in, thee strength of her
passion, the greatness of her disappoiutment and sor-
row; it is as if she was represented wringing her hands
and crying, He is gone, he is gone, he is gone. My
soul failed .when he spake ; or went outi; not out of her
1;ody, but she fell into a swoon, and was as one dead;
.for a while; and this Was at or through his Word{k}, as it
ma, be rendered; vl
    y '              , o ~, ~ x mt he satil when he turned
about and departed, expressing his resentment at her
carriage; or rather at the remembrance or' his k.ind
and tender language he used when he first called her to
arise, saying, open to me, my sister, my spouse, &c.; and
when she called to mind how sadly she had slighted
and neglected him, it cut her to the heart, and threw
her into this fainting fit. I sought him, but I could not
find him; in th public ordinanees of his house; see
the note on ch. iii. 2. I called him, but he gave me
noahsleet; called him by his name as she went along
the streets and broad ways of' the city, where she sup-
posed he might be; praying aloud, and most earnestly
and fervently, that he would return to her; but had
no answer, at least not immediately,and thus be treated
her in the same manner she had treated him; he had
called to her. and she disregarded him, and now she
calls to him, and he takes no notice of her; but this
was not in a way of vindictive wrath and puuish-
raent, as in Prov. i. 24, 28. but of chastisement and
correction.
Ver. 7. The watchmen that went about the city ,found
me, &c.] Of the city and the watchmen in it, and of
their' finding the church, see the notes on ch, iii. 2, 3.
They smote me, they wounded me; taking.her for a
night-walker, they gave her ill words and hard blows
this was not very. becoming watchmen to use those of
the.city in this manner; for, as Plato {l} says, keepers of
cities should be mild and gentle. towards their own,
but to enernics rough and severe: if thes.e were true
ministers of Christ, this they did by reproaching her
.for and upbraiding her with her lukewarmness an.d un-
kindness to Christ, sharply reproving her for them;
and, instead of comforting her with the doctrines of.
grace, cut and wounded her with the .terrors of the
law; or else hearing some sweet discourses from them
concerning the person and grace of Christ, her heart
was str:ittcn and wounded therewith; and hence she
charges the tlaughters of Jerusalcm, in the next verse,
that if they fouml her belovetl, that they would tell
him, that she was sick of or wounded wit/t love: but as
they rather appear to be false teachers, since the churctt
would have shunned them, nor did she make any ap-
plication to them, nor any inquiry of' them about her
beloved, and tnet with cruel and unkind usage from
them, they may be said to smite and wonted her by
their false doctrines and scandalous lives, by the divi-
sions they made, and by the censures and reproach.es
they cast upon her, the odious names they gave her.
and by stirring up the civil magistrates against her; all
which agree with antichristian ministers. The keepers
of the walls took away my veil from me; there were
two sorts of watchmen in a city, one that went about
to see that all was right and safe within; and others
placed on the walls of it, who kept their stand, and
whose business it was to give notice of an enemy
proaching, an,l to defend the city from outward attacks
upon it; and such are the ministers of the word, Isa.
lxii. 6. but here false teachers are meant as before, as
appears froth their abuse of the church, taking away
her veil from her, such as women worc fbr ornament.
or as a sign of modcsty or as a token of subjection to
their husbands, Isa. iii. 23. Gen. xxiv. 65. 1 Cot. xi.
6--10. and may here design either thcir falsely accusing
her good conversation, which n;as her outward cover.
ing; or their attetnpt to take away from her the doc-
trine of Christ's imputed righteousness, which is her
covering, the wedding garment, the nuptial robe, as
Gregory Nyssene" calls the veil here: and such a veil
was given by the bridegroom with the Romans, and
was called fiammeum, from its being of a flame-colour
either yel'{ow or rcd, expressive of the blushing
modesty of the new-married bride °; and the like cus-
tom might obtain with the Jews.
Ver. S. I charge you, 0 daughters of 3erasalem, &c.]
Young converts, as before observed; who, upon the
hideous outcry the church made in the streets, came
to her to know what was the matter, whom she ad-
dressed as after related; this shews the humility and
condescension of the church, iu desiring the assistance
of weaker saints in '
tier present case, and her earnest-
ness and resolution to make use of all ways and means
she could to find her beloved; and it becomes saints to
be assisting to one another; and conversation with
one another, even with weak believers, is often use-
ful. And these the church adjures, or causes to
swe ar{p}; charged them on oath, as they would answer
it to God; which shews the strength of her love,
her sincerity, and seriousness in her inquiry after
him: zfyefind my beloved; who had but little know-
ledge of him, and communion with him, since at pre-.
sent he was yet to be found by them; and it was pos-
sible, notwithstanding, that they might find him be-
fore she did, as Christ shewed himself to Mary Mag-
dalen, before he did to the disciples. The charge she


{h} \^qmx\^ verteret se, Pagninus; circuierat, Montanus.
{i} \^hauy\^ \~exhlyen\~, Sept. egressa est, Pagninus, Montanus, Marckius.
{k} \^wrbdb\^ \~en logw autou\~, Sept.; in loquela ejus, Marckius.
{l} De Legibus, l. 2. p. 602.
{m} Homil. 12. in Cant. p. 651.
{n} Non timidum nuptae leviter tinctura pudorem, lutea demissos
velarunt flammea vultus, Lucan. Pharsal. l. 2. v. 360, 361. Vid. Plin.
Nat. Hist. l. 21. c. 8. Uti tibi corycio glomerarem fiammea luto, Vir-
gil. Cyris. Vid. Barthii ad Claudian. Fescen. Ode 4. v. 4.
{o} Vid. Chartarium de Imag. Deorum, p. 84, 89. & Kipping. Antiqu
Roman. l. 4. c. 2. p. 693, 694.
{p} \^ytebvh\^ \~wrkisa\~, Sept.; adjuro, V. L. Pagninus, &c.