Matthew Henry

The fragrance of your perfume is pleasing; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens adore you.

“Wisdom, like oil, makes the face to shine; but the Redeemer outshines, in beauty, all others.”

Take me away with you—let us hurry! May the king bring me to his chambers. We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine.

“(2.) Her promise to improve that grace: Draw me, and then we will run after thee. See how the doctrine of special and effectual grace consists with our duty, and is a powerful engagement and encouragement to it, and yet reserves all the glory of…”

I am dark, yet lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.

“St. Paul was weak, and yet strong, 2 Cor. xii. And so the church is black and yet comely; a believer is a sinner and yet a saint; his own righteousnesses are as filthy rags, but he is clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness.”

If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.

“Christ sees a beauty in holiness, whether we do or no. The spouse has called herself black, but Christ calls her fair. Those that are low in their own eyes are so much the more amiable in the eyes of Jesus Christ.”

My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi.

“We are not straitened in him whom there is all fulness. The word translated camphire is copher, the same word that signifies atonement or propitiation.”

I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley.

“Christ is the rose of Sharon, where probably the best roses grew and in most plenty, the rose of the field (so some), denoting that the gospel salvation is a common salvation; it lies open to all; whoever will may come and gather the rose-buds…”

Listen! My beloved approaches. Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills.

“The nearer the time came the clearer discoveries were made of it; and those that waited for the consolation of Israel with an eye of faith saw him come, and triumphed in the sight: Behold, he comes; for they had heard him say ( Ps.”

My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.

“He that was the substance was not far off from the shadows, Col. ii. The saw him looking through the windows of the ceremonial institutions and smiling through those lattices; in their sacrifices and purifications Christ discovered himself to them, and gave them intimations and…”

For now the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.

“Even the rain that drowned the world was over and gone at last ( Gen. viii. 1-3 ), and God promised to drown the world no more, which was a type and figure of the covenant of grace, Isa. liv.”

The flowers have appeared in the countryside; the season of singing has come, and the cooing of turtledoves is heard in our land.

“Christ's gospel warms that which was cold, makes that fruitful which before was dead and barren; when it comes to any place it puts a beauty and glory upon that place ( 2 Cor. iii. 7, 8 ) and furnishes occasion for joy.”

O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet…

“He has assured us that the prayer of the upright is his delight; he smelled a sweet savour from Noah's sacrifice, and the spiritual sacrifices are no less acceptable, 1 Pet. ii.”

My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies.

“All he is is theirs, and all he has, all he has done, and all he is doing; all he has promised in the gospel, all he has prepared in heaven, all is yours. (2.)”

On my bed at night I sought the one I love; I sought him, but did not find him.

“She failed in her endeavour. Sometimes he is found of those that seek him not ( Isa. lxv. 1 ), but here he is not found of one that sought him, either for punishment of her corruptions, her slothfulness and security (we miss of comfort…”

I will arise now and go about the city, through the streets and squares. I will seek the one I love. So I sought him but did not find him.

“We must seek in the city, in Jerusalem, which was a type of the gospel-church. The likeliest place to find Christ is in the temple ( Luke ii.”

I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city: “Have you seen the one I love?”

“Note, We must evince the sincerity of our love to Christ by our solicitous enquiries after him. The children of the bride-chamber will mourn when the bridegroom is taken away ( Matt. ix.”

I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, to…

“How desirous she was to make others acquainted with him: " I brought him to my mother's house, that all my relations, all who are dear to me, might have the benefit of communion with him."”

O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

“Some make this to be Christ's charge to the daughters of Jerusalem not to disturb or disquiet his church, nor trouble the minds of the disciples; for Christ is very tender of the peace of his church, and all the members of it, even the…”

Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, scented with myrrh and frankincense from all the spices of the merchant?

“What a monument of mercy is this! The graces and comforts with which she is perfumed are called the powders of the merchant, for they are far-fetched and dear-bought, by our Lord Jesus, that blessed merchant, who took a long voyage, and was at vast…”

Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep coming up from the washing; each has its twin, and not one of them is lost.

“The Chaldee paraphrase applies it to the priests and Levites, who fed upon the sacrifices as the representatives of the people.”

Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your mouth is lovely. Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.

“All our good works and good words must be washed in the blood of Christ, dyed like the scarlet thread, and then, and not till then, they are acceptable to God.”

Before the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will make my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.

“The holy hill (as some observe) is here called both a mountain of myrrh, which is bitter, and a hill of frankincense, which is sweet, for there we have occasion both to mourn and rejoice; repentance is a bitter sweet.”

You are altogether beautiful, my darling; in you there is no flaw.

“There is no spot but such as is often the spot of God's children, none of the leopard's spots. The church, when Christ shall present it to himself a glorious church, will be altogether without spot or wrinkle, Eph. v. 27 .”

My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed.

“The Old-Testament church was a garden enclosed by the partition wall of the ceremonial law. The Bible was then a spring shut up and a fountain sealed; it was confined to one nation; but now the wall of separation is removed, the gospel preached to…”

Your branches are an orchard of pomegranates with the choicest of fruits, with henna and nard,

“It is not like the vineyard of the man void of understanding, that was all grown over with thorns and nettles; but here are fruits, pleasant fruits, all trees of frankincense, and all the chief spices,”

I have come to my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.

“The great work of man's redemption, and the riches of the covenant of grace, are a feast to the Lord Jesus and they ought to be so to us. The invitation is very free, and hearty, and loving: Eat, O friends!”