Song of Solomon 2:17

1. "My beloved is mine, and I am his, who feeds among the lilies: until the day breathes, and the shadows decline" (Song 2:16-17). Only the last part of this chapter remains to be treated, and I hesitate at the very entrance as to which …

1. "Return; be like, my beloved, to a roe or to a young hart of the stags" (Song 2:17). What? Just now he goes, and now you call him back? What sudden thing has emerged in so short a time? Has she forgotten something? Indeed …

1. "Return," she says (Song 2:17). It is clear that he whom she calls back is not present; yet that he had been present, and that not long before: inasmuch as he who is still going away seems to be called back. An untimely calling-back, …

The day will then breathe, and the shadows will decline, when eternal life appears and the present life comes to an end. For that will be day, but here is night; because here we are dim in our vision, but there the day itself, which …

Until the day breaks, etc. That is, until the eternal light of the future age arises, and the shadows of this present life, that is, of ignorance or error, under which even we faithful now walk, who use the lamp of the word of God, …

Return, be like, my beloved, a roe or a young deer, etc. Because, he says, you have stirred and provoked me to cultivate the vineyards, that is, to instruct and multiply the faithful people, who have been ordered to drive away the cunning plots of …

Such are the three hierarchies which this Sun enlightens in a threefold manner. Hence, the sun, three times as much, burneth the mountains. These are the mountains of Bether, as explained in the Canticle: My lover, like a gazelle or a young stag, upon the …

Until - Until the morning of that blessed day of the general resurrection, when all the shadows, not only of ignorance, and sin, and calamity, but even of outward administrations, shall cease. For although Christ had come to her, and she had gladly received him, yet he was gone again, as is here implied, and evidently appears from the following verse.

Until the day break, and the shadows flee away,.... Which may be connected with Son 2:16; either with the former part, "my beloved is mine", &c.

Until the day break - Literally, until the day breathe; until the first dawn, which is usually accompanied with the most refreshing breezes. The shadows flee away - Referring to the evening or setting of the sun, at which all shadows vanish. The mountains of Bether - Translated also mountains of division, supposed to mean the mountains of Beth-horon. There was a place called Bithron, 2Sa 2:29, on the other side of Jordan; and as the name signifies Partition, it might have had its name from the circumstance of its being divided or separated from Judea by the river Jordan.

2:25, 38); at His rising, the shadows of the law (Col 2:16, 17; Heb 10:1) were to "flee away." So we wait for the second coming, when means of grace, so precious now, shall be superseded by the Sun of righteousness (1Co 13:10, 12; The Word is our light until then (2Pe 1:19).

THE spouse sings, "Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away," so the beloved of the Lord may be in the dark. It may be night with her who has a place in the heart of the Well-Beloved. A child of God, who is a child of light, may be, for a while, in darkness. First, darkness comparatively, as compared with the light he has sometimes enjoyed, for days are not always equally bright. Some days are bright with a clear sunshine, other days may be overcast.

THE spouse sings, "Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away," so the beloved of the Lord may be in the dark. It may be night with her who has a place in the heart of the Well-Beloved. A child of God, who is a child of light, may be, for a while, in darkness. First, darkness comparatively, as compared with the light he has sometimes enjoyed, for days are not always equally bright. Some days are bright with a clear sunshine, other days may be overcast. So the child of God may one day walk with full assurance of faith, in close fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, and at another time he may be questioning his interest in the Covenant of Grace and may be rather sighing than singing, rather mourning than rejoicing. The child of God may be, then, in comparative darkness. Yes, and he may be in positive darkness. It may be very black with him and he may be obliged to cry, "I see no signs of returning day." Sometimes, neither sun nor moon appears for a long season to cheer the Believer in the dark. This may arise partly through sickness of body. There are sicknesses of the body which, in a very peculiar way, touch the soul— exquisite pain may yet be attended with great brightness and joy—but there are certain other illnesses which influence us in another way. Terrible depressions come over us. We walk in darkness and see no light. I should not like to guess how heavy a true heart may sometimes become—sometimes it is necessary we are in heaviness through manifold trials. There is not only a necessity for the trials, but also for the heaviness which comes out of them. It is not always that a man can gather himself together and defy the fierce blasts and walk through fire and through water with heavenly equanimity.

[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon, upon parts of the same passage, are #1190, Volume 20—A SONG AMONG THE LILIES; #2442, Volume 41—"MY BELOVED IS MINE" and #2477, Volume 42—DARKNESS BEFORE THE DAWN.] IT has been well said that if there is a happy verse in the Bible, it is this one—"My Beloved is mine, and I am His: He feeds among the lilies."

[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon, upon parts of the same passage, are #1190, Volume 20—A SONG AMONG THE LILIES; #2442, Volume 41—"MY BELOVED IS MINE" and #2477, Volume 42—DARKNESS BEFORE THE DAWN.] IT has been well said that if there is a happy verse in the Bible, it is this one—"My Beloved is mine, and I am His: He feeds among the lilies." So peaceful, so full of assurance, so bursting with happiness and contentment is it, that it might well have been written by the same hand which penned the 23rd Psalm—"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures: He leads me beside the still waters." The verse savors of Him who, just before He went to Gethsemane, said to His disciples, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you...In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Let us ring the silver bell of this verse again, for its notes are exquisitely sweet! "My Beloved is mine, and I am His: He feeds among the lilies." Yet there is a shadow in the latter part of the text. The prospect is exceedingly fair and lovely—earth cannot show its superior—but it is not entirely a sunlit landscape! There is a cloud in the sky which casts a shadow over the scene. It does not dim it—everything is clear and stands out sharply and brightly—"My Beloved is mine, and I am His." That is clear enough, yet I say again that it is not altogether sunlight—there are shadows—"Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away." There is also a mention of the "mountains of Bether"—the mountains of division—and to have anything like division is bitterness. I see here a paschal lamb, but I see bitter herbs with it. I see the lily, but I think I see it still among the thorns.