My beloved is gone down into his garden,.... Which may be said by Solomon, in allusion to what he himself was wont to do, as Josephus relates; who used to go very early in a morning in great pomp to Etham, about two miles from Jerusalem, a pleasant place, abounding with gardens and flows of water: or respect may be had to the king's gardens nearer Jerusalem, which were at the descent of Mount Zion, and reached to the lower pool ; see Ne 3:15; and which lying lower than the king's palace, he might be said to go down to it.
And this may point at the low estate of the people of God on earth, depressed with sorrows, afflictions, and persecutions; and the condescension of Christ, in visiting them in their low estate, and granting them his gracious presence: of the garden of Christ, and of his coming into it,See Gill on "So 4:12";See Gill on "So 4:16";See Gill on "So 5:1"; and the church might remember what he said, "I am come into my garden", So 5:1; though she soon fell asleep and forgot it, and now calls it to mind, and so could direct the daughters where he was.
She adds,to the beds of spices; of odoriferous plants; to which particular believers, planted regularly in the churches of Christ, may be compared, for the excellency and fragrancy of their graces; and among whom Christ delights to be; see So 4:13.
Gussetius thinks the words, both here and in So 5:13, should be rendered "rivers of spices"; an hyperbolical expression, showing that a man walking by rivers of waters, where aromatic plants and fragrant flowers grow, perceives such a sweet odour, that, while he is refreshed with the moisture of the waters, he seems to be walking by rivers of spices.
The end of her beloved's going thither is,to feed in the gardens; to feed his flocks there: not on commons and in fields, but in gardens, which is unusual: and by which are meant particular churches, where Christ feeds his people, by his Spirit and by his ministers, word and ordinances, with himself, the bread of life; with the discoveries of his love, better than wine; and with the doctrines and promises of the Gospel: or to feed himself, or that "he [himself] might be fed" there; by beholding with pleasure how the plants grow, and the spices flow out; by tasting the pleasant fruits of the garden; and by observing with delight the graces of the Spirit in his people in lively exercise;and to gather lilies; to crop them with the hand ; lilies are liable to be cropped, hence Horace calls the lily "breve lilium", the short lived lily: to these saints may be compared, for the glory, splendour, and beauty, they receive from Christ; see So 2:2; there was a gathering of these at the death of Christ, Eph 2:10; and there is a gathering of them in effectual calling, and into a church state, and into nearer communion with Christ; but here it seems to signify a gathering them by death, when fully ripe, to enjoy everlasting fellowship with him.
Antiqu. l. 8. c. 7. s. 3. See Lightfoot's Chorograph. Inquiry on John, c. 5. s. 4. p. 509. Ebr. Comment. p. 642. twerl "ut ubi pascatur", V. L. Munster, Mercerus. eupnoa leiria kersoi, Theocrit. Idyll.
19. v. 32. Carmin. l. 1. Ode 36, v.