Song of Solomon 4:15

“A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.] Somef293 take these words to be the words of Christ continued, speaking still of his church, and explaining and enlarging upon what he had said of her, (<220412>Song of Solomon 4:12); but they are rather the words of the church; who, upon hearing herself commended, and knowing that all her fruitfulness, and the flourishing condition she was in, were owing to the grace of Christ, breaks forth in these words, and ascribes all to him, saying, “O fountain of gardens, O well of living waters”, etc. for so the words may be rendered in the vocative casef294. By the “gardens” may be meant particular distinct churches, such as…”

“The loveliness and purity of the bride are now set forth under the image of a paradise or garden fast barred against intruders, filled with rarest plants of excellent fragrance, and watered by abundant streams. Compare Proverbs 5:15-20. Song of Solomon 4:12 A fountain sealed - i. e., A well-spring covered with a stone Genesis 29:3, and sealed with “the king’s own signet” (Daniel 6:17; compare Matthew 27:66). Song of Solomon 4:13 Orchard - This is the renderlng here and in Ecclesiastes 2:5 of “pardes” (see Nehemiah 2:8 note). The pomegranate was for the Jews a sacred fruit, and a characteristic product of the land of promise (compare Exodus 28:33-34; Numbers 20:5; Deuteronomy 8:8; 1 Kings…”

“Living water - Though my spouse be in some sort a fountain shut up, yet that is not so to be understood as if she kept her waters to herself, for she is like a fountain of living or running water, which flows into gardens, and makes its flowers and plants to flourish. The church conveys those waters of life which she receives from Christ to particular believers. Streams - Like those sweet and refreshing rivers which flow down from mount Lebanon, of which Jordan is one. Song of Solomon (Canticles) 4:16”

“fountain: Sol 4:12; Ecc 2:6 a well: Psa 36:8, Psa 36:9, Psa 46:4; Jer 2:13, Jer 17:13; Joh 4:10, Joh 4:14, Joh 7:38; Rev 22:1 streams: Jer 18:13, Jer 18:14 Song of Solomon (Canticles) 4:16”

“The panegyric returns now once more to the figure of a fountain. 15 A garden-fountain, a well of living water, And torrents from Lebanon. The tertium compar. in Sol 4:12 was the collecting and sealing up; here, it is the inner life and its outward activity. A fountain in gardens (גּנּים, categ. pl.) is put to service for the benefit of the beds of plants round about, and it has in these gardens, as it were, its proper sphere of influence. A well of living water is one in which that which is distributes springs up from within, so that it is indeed given to it, but not without at the same time being its own true property. נזל is related, according to the Semitic usus loq., to אזל, as…”