Section 542
I. The favor which she desires of him is, that he would turn unto her; which seems to intimate
As though he was about to leave her; which, upon some account or other, she had a suspicion of, therefore importunes him to stay With her; and seeing him upon the motion, upon the turn, ready to depart, she desires that he would turn again, and continue with her: or else it supposes that he was entirely gone, and that she was sensible of it; and having a great value for Christ's person and presence, desires that he would turn again to her: such a petition as this, under a sense of desertion, is frequently put up by the psalmist, particularly in Psalm 60:1, and 69:16, 17, and 86:16. though the word may be rendered, turn about or surround[3660] that is, with thy favor and loving kindness; let me always be under thy care and protection; be thou a wall of fire round about me; so shall I be safe and secure from all enemies, until the glorious and wished for day breaks, when I shall be out of fear, as well as out of danger: and this favor she desires might be speedily granted to her, and therefore says, "be thou like a roe or a young hart;" which are not only loving and pleasant, but also swift and nimble creatures. She had experienced Christ to be so before, and therefore might the more comfortably hope that he would be so to her now: she adds, "upon the mountains of Bether;" by which perhaps may be meant Bithron, of which we read in 2 Samuel 2:29. and was so called, because it wag parted or separated from Judea by the river Jordan; though some think it should be read Bethel, by a change of a letter; and so the Septuagint read it in verse 9 which is there an addition to the Hebrew text; though they here render it, ορη κοιλωκάτων, the mountains of cavities, that is, such that were full of clefts and hollow places; but be they what they will, it is certain that they were such places where roes and fawns used to skip and run. The words may be very well rendered, the mountains of division[3661] which, if referred to Christ's first coming in the days of his flesh, may regard the ceremonial law, which made and kept up the division between Jew and Gentile, was the partition wall between them, which was broken down by Christ Jesus: or else, the two people divided by it, to whom Christ came, for whom he made peace, to whom he preached it, and thereby made both one. But if we refer the words to Christ's spiritual coming in a way of special grace to visit his people; then these mountains of division, upon which Christ comes, and over which be leaps as a roe or a young hart, may be our sins and corruptions, which often separate between him and our souls; though, when he is pleased to come, they are no obstacles in his way, but are easily surmounted or removed by him: but if they be applied to Christ's second coming at the day of judgment; these mountains of division may intend the spacious heavens, in which Christ shall then appear, which at present interpose between him and us, and separate us from the enjoyment of his bodily presence; one part or branch of whose awful work then will be, to separate the sheep from the goats, But,