This chapter begins with an ardent wish of the church for a free and intimate converse with Christ; declaring what she would do to him, and for him, should she have such an interview with him, So 8:1; what familiarity should be between them, So 8:3; charging the daughters of Jerusalem not to give him any disturbance, So 8:4.
Upon which they inquire who she was that was in such a posture they saw her in, So 8:5; when the church, instead of giving them an answer, says some things concerning her beloved, on whom they saw her leaning; and makes some requests to him for more nearness to him, and manifestations of his love to her; urged from the strength her love and affections to him, which was invincible, So 8:6.
Next follows a speech of the church about her little sister; expressing a concern for her, and what she would do to her and with her, So 8:8; and the answer of the little sister, declaring what she, was, and what she enjoyed, So 8:10; then the words of the church again, concerning her husband's vineyard; the place, keepers, and profit of it, So 8:11.
And the chapter, and with it the Song, is concluded with a request of Christ to the church, that he might hear her voice, So 8:13; and with a petition of hers to him, that he would come quickly to her, So 8:14.
Ver. 1. O that thou [wert] as my brother,.... Or, "who will give thee as a brother to me?" an usual form of wishing, De 5:29 Ps 14:7. The church here not only requests that Christ would be like a brother to her, but appear to be really one, and to act the part of one towards her; with whom she might as freely converse as brother and sister may.
Several Jewish writers own, that the King Messiah is intended here; and in such a relation Christ does stand to his church and people, by virtue of his incarnation, Heb 2:11; hence many of the ancients take this to be a wish of the Jewish church, for the coming of Christ in the flesh; and also through their adoption, he and they having one Father, Joh 20:17; and by being of a like nature, disposition, and practice, Mt 12:50; as well as on the score of love and friendship, Pr 18:24; and this relation Christ fills up, by the intimacy and familiarity he uses them with; by his compassion on them, and sympathy with them, in all their afflictions; by the help, aid, and relief, he gives them; by his condescension to their weaknesses, and by his great love and affection for them.
As a further description of him as a brother, it is added,that sucked the breasts of my mother; which may denote the truth and reality of Christ's incarnation, being a sucking infant: and the near relation of Christ to his people, being a brother by the mother's side, reckoned the nearest, and their affection to each other the strongest: by her "mother" may be meant Jerusalem above, the mother of us all; and, by her "breasts", the ordinances, of which Christ, as man, partook when on earth, and now may be said to suck, as formed in the hearts of his people;[when] I should find thee without; or, "in the street" ; in public ordinances, where Christ is to be found; or outside of Judea, in the Gentile world, where, after his coming in the flesh, his Gospel was preached, the ordinances administered, and he was there to be found; or in the most public place and manner, where she should not be ashamed to own him, his truths and ordinances, before men;I would kiss thee; not only with a kiss of approbation, Pr 24:16; but of love and affection, of faith and confidence, of homage and subjection, of worship and adoration; see Ps 2:12; this is an usage with relations and friends, brothers and sisters, at meeting; hence Heunischius refers this to the time when the saints shall meet Christ in the clouds, who will be admitted to the nearest embraces of him, with unspeakable pleasure, and enjoy him to all eternity;yea, I should not be despised; for taking such freedom with Christ, her brother.
Or, "they would not despise me" ; neither men nor angels, for such an action, and still less God, the Father, Son, and Spirit; which she might conclude from the relation between them, it being no more unseemly than for a sister to use such freedom with an own brother, even in the street; and from the reception she had reason to believe she should meet with from Christ: who would not turn away his face from her, when she offered to kiss him, which would occasion shame and blushing.
The whole expresses her boldness in professing Christ, without fear or shame, in the most public manner. Knty ym "quis det te?" Pagninus, Montanus, Marckius. Targum in loc. Zohar in Gen. fol. 104. 1.
Tzeror Hammor, fol. 73. 3. Caphtor Uperah, fol. 5. 2. Uwxb "in platen", Montanus, Brightman, Marckius; "in publico", Cocceius, Michaelis.