My beloved is gone down into his garden - The answer of the bride to her companions.

My beloved is gone down into his garden,.... Which may be said by Solomon, in allusion to what he himself was wont to do, as Josephus (q) relates; who used to go very early in a morning in great pomp to Etham, about two miles from Jerusalem, a pleasant place, abounding with gardens and flows of water: or respect may be had to the king's gardens nearer Jerusalem, which were at the descent of Mount Zion, and reached to the lower pool (r); see Nehemiah 3:15; and which lying lower than the king's palace, he might be said to go down to it. And this may point at the low estate of the people of God on earth, depressed with sorrows, afflictions, and persecutions; and the condescension of Christ, in visiting them in their low estate, and granting them his gracious presence: of the garden of Christ, and of his coming into it; see Gill on Sol 4:12; See Gill on Sol 4:16; See Gill on Sol 5:1; and the church might remember what he said, "I am come into my garden", Sol 5:1; though she soon fell asleep and forgot it, and now calls it to mind, and so could direct the daughters where he was. She adds,

to the beds of spices; of odoriferous plants; to which particular believers, planted regularly in the churches of Christ, may be compared, for the excellency and fragrancy of their graces; and among whom Christ delights to be; see Sol 4:13. Gussetius (s) thinks the words, both here and in Sol 5:13, should be rendered "rivers of spices"; an hyperbolical expression, showing that a man walking by rivers of waters, where aromatic plants and fragrant flowers grow, perceives such a sweet odour, that, while he is refreshed with the moisture of the waters, he seems to be walking by rivers of spices. The end of her beloved's going thither is,

to feed in the gardens; to feed his flocks there: not on commons and in fields, but in gardens, which is unusual: and by which are meant particular churches, where Christ feeds his people, by his Spirit and by his ministers, word and ordinances, with himself, the bread of life; with the discoveries of his love, better than wine; and with the doctrines and promises of the Gospel: or to feed himself, or that "he himself might be fed" (t) there; by beholding with pleasure how the plants grow, and the spices flow out; by tasting the pleasant fruits of the garden; and by observing with delight the graces of the Spirit in his people in lively exercise;

and to gather lilies; to crop them with the hand (u); lilies are liable to be cropped, hence Horace (w) calls the lily "breve lilium", the short lived lily: to these saints may be compared, for the glory, splendour, and beauty, they receive from Christ; see Sol 2:2; there was a gathering of these at the death of Christ, Ephesians 2:10; and there is a gathering of them in effectual calling, and into a church state, and into nearer communion with Christ; but here it seems to signify a gathering them by death, when fully ripe, to enjoy everlasting fellowship with him.

(q) Antiqu. l. 8. c. 7. s. 3.((r) See Lightfoot's Chorograph. Inquiry on John, c. 5. s. 4. p. 509. (s) Ebr. Comment. p. 642. (t) "ut ubi pascatur", V. L. Munster, Mercerus. (u) , Theocrit. Idyll. 19. v. 32. (w) Carmin. l. 1. Ode 36, v. 16.

2 My beloved has gone down into the garden,

   To the beds of sweet herbs,

   To feed in the gardens

   And gather lilies.

He is certainly, she means to say, there to be found where he delights most to tarry. He will have gone down - viz. from the palace (Sol 6:11; cf. 1 Kings 20:43 and Esther 7:7) - into his garden, to the fragrant beds, there to feed in his garden and gather lilies (cf. Old Germ. "to collect rsen"); he is fond of gardens and flowers. Shulamith expresses this in her shepherd-dialect, as when Jesus says of His Father (John 15:1), "He is the husbandman." Flowerbeds are the feeding place (vid., regarding לרעות under Sol 2:16) of her beloved. Solomon certainly took great delight in gardens and parks, Ecclesiastes 2:5. But this historical fact is here idealized; the natural flora which Solomon delighted in with intelligent interest presents itself as a figure of a higher Loveliness which was therein as it were typically manifest (cf. Revelation 7:17, where the "Lamb," "feeding," and "fountains of water," are applied as anagogics, i.e., heavenward-pointing types). Otherwise it is not to be comprehended why it is lilies that are named. Even if it were supposed to be implied that lilies were Solomon's favourite flowers, we must assume that his taste was determined by something more than by form and colour. The words of Shulamith give us to understand that the inclination and the favourite resort of her friend corresponded to his nature, which is altogether thoughtfulness and depth of feeling (cf. under Psalm 92:5, the reference to Dante: the beautiful women who gather flowers representing the paradisaical life); lilies, the emblems of unapproachable grandeur, purity inspiring reverence, high elevation above that which is common, bloom there wherever the lily-like one wanders, whom the lily of the valley calls her own. With the words:

My beloved is gone down into his {a} garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

(a) That is, is conversant here in earth among men.

6:2 Is gone - The spouse had hitherto been at a loss for her beloved, but having diligently sought him, now at last she meets with a gracious answer from God, directing her where to find him. The garden may signify the church catholic, and the gardens, as it follows, as also the beds, the particular assemblies of the faithful, in which Christ affords his presence. Spices - In which the gifts and graces of God's spirit, fitly compared to spices, grow. To feed - To refresh and delight himself. Lillies - Which may denote either, particular believers, whom Christ gathers to himself in his church; or, the prayers and praises of his people in the publick congregations.

2. gone down-Jerusalem was on a hill (answering to its moral elevation), and the gardens were at a little distance in the valleys below.

beds of spices-(balsam) which He Himself calls the "mountain of myrrh," &c. (So 4:6), and again (So 8:14), the resting-place of His body amidst spices, and of His soul in paradise, and now in heaven, where He stands as High Priest for ever. Nowhere else in the Song is there mention of mountains of spices.

feed in . gardens-that is, in the churches, though He may have withdrawn for a time from the individual believer: she implies an invitation to the daughters of Jerusalem to enter His spiritual Church, and become lilies, made white by His blood. He is gathering some lilies now to plant on earth, others to transplant into heaven (So 5:1; Ge 5:24; Mr 4:28, 29; Ac 7:60).

6:2,3 Christ's church is a garden, enclosed, and separated from the world; he takes care of it, delights in it, and visits it. Those who would find Christ, must attend him in his ordinances, the word, sacraments, and prayer. When Christ comes to his church, it is to entertain his friends. And to take believers to himself: he picks the lilies one by one; and at the great day he will send forth his angels to gather all his lilies, that he may be for ever admired in them. The death of a believer is not more than the owner of a garden plucking a favourite flower; and He will preserve it from withering, yea, cause it to flourish for ever, with increasing beauty. If our own hearts can witness for us that we are Christ's, question not his being ours, for the covenant never breaks on his side. It is the comfort of the church, that he feeds among the lilies, that he takes delight in his people.