John Wesley

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.

“If - This is Christ's answer. Go - Observe and follow the paths which my sheep have trodden before thee, my faithful servants, Abraham, and others.”

How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.

“Behold - This is the speech of Christ. The words are doubled to manifest his fervent affection for her. Doves eyes - Which are mild and harmless, chaste and faithful.”

Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men.

“The trees - Which are barren. I sat - I confidently reposed myself under his protection. His fruit - The benefits which I received by him, remission of sins, faith, grace, and assurance of glory.”

Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.

“Flaggons - With wine, which is a good cordial. Apples - With odouriferous apples, the smell whereof was grateful to persons ready to faint. By this understand the application of the promises, and the quickening influences of the Spirit.”

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…

“My dove - So the church is called, for her dove-like temper, and for her dove-like condition, because she is weak, and exposed to persecution, and therefore forced to hide herself in rocks.”

Catch for us the foxes—the little foxes that ruin the vineyards—for our vineyards are in bloom.

“Take us - The bridegroom gives this charge to his bridemen or friends. By whom he understands those magistrates and ministers to whom, under Christ, the custody of the vineyards, the churches, principally belong.”

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

“The watch-men - The ministers of Christ, and rulers of the church. Go about - To prevent disorders and dangers.”

All are skilled with the sword, experienced in warfare. Each has his sword at his side prepared for the terror of the night.

“Every man - Is prepared and ready to fight, to prevent those dangers which are frequent in the night season.”

King Solomon has made his carriage out of the timber of Lebanon.

“By this chariot he seems to understand the word of Christ dispensed by his ministers, whereby Christ rides triumphantly in the world, and believers are carried into heavenly glory.”

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

“A garden - For order and beauty, for pleasant walks, and flowers, and fruits. Inclosed - Defended by the care of my providence: and reserved for my proper use.”

You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water flowing down from Lebanon.

“Living water - Though my spouse be in some sort a fountain shut up, yet that is not so to be understood as if she kept her waters to herself, for she is like a fountain of living or running water, which flows into gardens…”

My beloved put his hand to the latch; my heart pounded for him.

“By the hole - He assayed to open the door. When his word would not prevail, his spirit, which is called the finger of God, Luke xi, 20, wrought inwardly upon my conscience.”

I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt.

“By which she signifies, that Christ, though he withdrew himself from her, yet left a sweet savour behind him. The handles - Hebrew.”

His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.

“We need not aim at a distinct application of this and the following particulars, unto some special excellency of Christ, because such things are mere conjectures, and the only design of this description is, to set forth the beauty of Christ under the notion of…”

His arms are rods of gold set with beryl. His body is an ivory panel bedecked with sapphires.

“Beryl - Beautiful, and precious, and richly adorned, as it were with gold rings set with precious stones. Belly - Which seems to be here used, for the whole body, reaching from the neck to the bottom of the belly.”

His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars.

“Marble - White, and strait, and well shaped and strong. Gold - His feet are compared to gold, for their singular brightness, for which they are compared to fine-brass, Rev. i, 15. Countenance - Hebrew. his aspect or appearance, his form or person.”

Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.

“Turn away - It is a poetical expression, signifying how beautiful the church was in Christ's eyes. Thy hair - This clause, and the whole following verse are repeated from, chap. iv, 1, 2.”

There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number,

“Threescore - A certain number for an uncertain. The sense seems to be this, there are many beautiful queens and concubines in the world, in the courts of princes, but none of them is to be compared with my spouse.”

Come back, come back, O Shulammite! Come back, come back, that we may gaze upon you. Why do you look at the Shulammite, as on the dance of Mahanaim?

“Return - Christ recalls his spouse, who as when Christ was gone, she pursued after him, so now when Christ was coming to her, she was ready to wander from him.”

Your neck is like a tower made of ivory; your eyes are like the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim; your nose is like the tower of Lebanon…

“The tower - Which was in all probability built by Solomon in the mountain of Lebanon, the northern border of the land of Israel towards Damascus; and therefore a very fit place for a watch- tower.”

Your stature is like a palm tree; your breasts are clusters of fruit.

“Palm-tree - Tall and strait, or upright. And he seems to mention the palm-tree, rather than any other, because it is constantly green and flourishing, and grows upward in spite of all pressures.”

I said, “I will climb the palm tree; I will take hold of its fruit.”

“I will - Climb up, that so I may take hold of the boughs, which do not grow out of the sides, as in other trees, but only at the top of it.”

Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vine has budded, if the blossom has opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom—there I will give you my…

“Early - The church having lost her beloved by her former laziness, now doubles her diligence. Vineyards - To particular congregations.”

The mandrakes send forth a fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, new as well as old, that I have treasured up for you, my beloved.

“Mandrakes - This Hebrew word is used Gen. xxx, 14, 15, and the signification of it is very much doubted and disputed by interpreters.”

Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? I roused you under the apple tree; there your mother conceived you; there she travailed and brought you…

“Who - This and the next clause are the words of the bridegroom, who proposes the question, that he may give the answer following. Her beloved - He speaks of himself in the third person, which is usual in the Hebrew language.”