Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it.
The verse belongs to a love poem written as a dialogue between different speakers, also called Canticles, one of the one thousand and five songs or poems written by Solomon, expressed in vivid, warm Eastern figurative imagery. Its warm imagery belongs to the time when it was written, when it would not have drawn the objections sometimes raised against it now. It is to be read alone with God with its picture of Christ and His church in mind.
In poetic form it pictures Christ and His church, showing His wonderful love and her love in response, though hers is often lacking in faithfulness and constancy. Solomon's experiences in the poem may serve as types of Christ and His church.
In its immediate picture, one speaker asks to hear the voice of the woman who dwells in the gardens, whose voice her companions are eagerly waiting to hear. Applied to Christ, it shows His gracious call and the response of those who listen for His voice and follow Him. It also serves as a prayer for a soul made spiritually sick by sin or backsliding, who can no longer hear or distinguish Christ's voice from the world, the flesh, and the devil, to ask to hear His voice again and then to stay close to Him.
The verse belongs to a love poem written as a dialogue between different speakers, also called Canticles, one of the one thousand and five songs or poems written by Solomon, expressed in vivid, warm Eastern figurative imagery. Its warm imagery belongs to the time when it was written, when it would not have drawn the objections sometimes raised against it now. It is to be read alone with God with its picture of Christ and His church in mind.
In poetic form it pictures Christ and His church, showing His wonderful love and her love in response, though hers is often lacking in faithfulness and constancy. Solomon's experiences in the poem may serve as types of Christ and His church.
In its immediate picture, one speaker asks to hear the voice of the woman who dwells in the gardens, whose voice her companions are eagerly waiting to hear. Applied to Christ, it shows His gracious call and the response of those who listen for His voice and follow Him. It also serves as a prayer for a soul made spiritually sick by sin or backsliding, who can no longer hear or distinguish Christ's voice from the world, the flesh, and the devil, to ask to hear His voice again and then to stay close to Him.