Song of Solomon 4:16a
Song of Solomon 4:16a
Former part. Awake, O north wind, and come thou south, blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out—
Christ having taken notice of the fruitfulness of his garden, the church, in 14, and she, in verse 15, having acknowledged that it was all owing to himself, who is the fountain of gardens; he, in this verse, that nothing may be wanting to continue and increase the fruitfulness thereof, calls to the north and south winds, the one to awake, and the other to "come and blow upon his garden, that the spices thereof may flow out." The reason why I take these words to be the words of Christ, and not of the church, as some,[3867] are, 1. Because the language seems best to suit with him; who has created the winds, and gathered them in his fist, and holds them there; who opens his hand and lets them loose, and can and does recall them at his pleasure; Who has his storehouse and magazines of them, and, when he pleases, brings them forth out of his treasures; who, in the days of his flesh, gave a surprising instance of his power over them, in rebuking the wind and sea, and commanding a calm, when the disciples, with others, were in imminent danger; which occasioned the men to say, "What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him!" he can shut up and let loose the winds, when he thinks fit; he has them at his command, and uses them as he pleases; so that it may be truly said of him, what the heathen poet[3868] said of his Jove:
Protinus AEoliis aquilonem claudit in antris, Emittitque notum; madidis notus evolat alis.
2. It does not appear so agreeable that the church should petition Christ to let loose the north wind upon her; especially, if by it we understand, as I think we must, some rough dispensation of providence, as afflictions, temptations, etc., which though Christ knows they are wholesome and useful to his people, and he makes them so, and therefore in his wisdom and grace sends them; yet they are not desirable to the saints; they do not pray for them. 3. The person here speaking, claims a right and property in this garden, on which the south wind, is to blow. Now the church is not her own garden, but Christ's, as she in the following part of the verse acknowledges; therefore it appears to be Christ who here speaks, and says, "blow upon my garden." Taking them then to be his words, I shall now consider what he says. And,