Song 4:12 | KingComments | STEP | The groom now compares his bride to “a garden locked” and “a rock garden locked’ or, better, “a source locked”, and “a spring sealed up”. That is to say, he sees her as exclusively for himself, as someone who is only open to him. She does not allow anyone else to approach her. Thus is she a refreshment for his heart. How much he appreciates this is reflected in the way he addresses her again: “My sister, [my] bride” ( ; ). This again gives a picture of how the Lord Jesus sees His own. He sees them as only for Him. Whoever loves Him wants to share his love with Him alone, and shuts himself off from other objects of love. This is also important in marriage. In it, husband and wife must be a closed garden, which means that they do not allow anyone else in their life to share their love. When a married man or woman falls in love with someone else, they are no longer a closed garden and a closed and sealed source or fountain. One cause for this ‘opening up’ may be, for example, that the woman does not receive attention from her own husband and does receive that attention from another man. It may then happen that she ‘opens her garden’ to that other person and breaks the ‘seal of the fountain’. The man is guilty of it, but the woman has no excuse either. There is never an apology for opening up the ‘garden’. In the book of Proverbs Solomon also speaks to his son about the wife as a source of joy for her husband ( ). In a different approach, but with the same tenor, he warns his son not to go to another source, but to always be enraptured by her love ( ). He tells him to be satisfied with his own wife. In his own house he has a source that can quench his thirst. By this he means his own wife. Thus, he will held “marriage in honor …, and the [marriage] bed undefiled” ( ). Solomon asks him the question, the answer to which is contained in the question: “Should your springs be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets?” ( ). When the man leaves his house and his wife to go to a strange woman, he leaves his ‘closed garden’ and goes ‘outside’ to ‘the water streams on the squares’. The sources that are outside, i.e. the woman who seduces him, are available to everyone. But the source of refreshment should only be his own wife. It should not be an option for his love to go out to a strange woman. The spiritual application, as here in the Song of Songs, is that the Lord Jesus and He alone is sufficient for us. He loves us unconditionally and exclusively and also counts on our unconditional, exclusive love ( ). True satisfaction of every desire only can be found in Christ’s love. As we grow older, our love for our wife will not diminish, but rather increase, just like our love for Christ. If it’s good, the life of the believer is like a garden in which the Lord Jesus wants to have fellowship with him. The closed fountain in the garden is a picture of the Word of God being pondered under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The believer who is like a closed garden is one in whom the word of Christ, the word of the Beloved, dwells richly ( ). We may well ask ourselves whether we are such a closed garden for the Lord Jesus. Is our life, is my life, all alone for Him? We will have to admit that it is not always the case, but is it our deepest desire that He experiences joy from our lives? The believer is also like “a spring sealed up”. What is sealed belongs to the one to whom the seal belongs. The believer is “sealed … with the Holy Spirit of promise” ( ; ) and belongs to the Lord Jesus. Through the Spirit he is firmly connected to Christ and will discover more and more of the glory of Christ. After all, the Spirit came to earth to bear witness to Christ ( ). From the sealed spring, living water flows through the teaching of the Spirit from the inside of the believer to refreshment of the Lord Jesus and his surroundings ( ). We can also be closed in the wrong way. This is the case when our life and the Christian community of which we are part are not governed by God’s Word and God’s Spirit, but by human traditions, by dead orthodoxy. We maintain rules for our own life and for others which do not come from Scripture itself, but from explanations of Scripture, which are by definition human work. Then we will no longer be open to the activity of the Holy Spirit. The appearance then becomes the yardstick by which spiritual life is measured. The inner life, the relationship with the Lord Jesus and the love for God’s Word, is of no importance. In Scripture, a court or garden is a place where God wants to have fellowship with man. We already see that in paradise ( ). It is a garden made entirely by Him as a pleasure garden for Himself. In it are united the highest blessings of creation. Man may enjoy in it and of it together with Him. He comes to him for this “in the cool of the day” ( ). Because of the fall into sin, nothing of the enjoyment of the garden remained for God. Man has not kept the garden closed, and has given up his fellowship with God. He has disobeyed his task to work and maintain the garden as a garden of lust for God ( ). He did not refuse the devil access, but allowed him to enter and talk to him ( ). At next ‘gardens’ we see the same picture. For example with Israel that God has made a vineyard for Himself ( ). In it have come men who have cast Him out to own the vineyard themselves ( ). Yet today there is, and there will be in the future, a group of people who form for Him the garden that is exclusively for Him. We may be that as believers. That we are, if we open our lives to the working of God’s Word and God’s Spirit. The result is that our hearts and minds are turned to Christ. It is about Him in God’s Word, and about Him it is with the work of the Spirit. Israel will be such a garden for Him in the future ( ).

‏ Song of Solomon 4:12

A Garden Locked

The groom now compares his bride to “a garden locked” and “a rock garden locked’ or, better, “a source locked”, and “a spring sealed up”. That is to say, he sees her as exclusively for himself, as someone who is only open to him. She does not allow anyone else to approach her. Thus is she a refreshment for his heart. How much he appreciates this is reflected in the way he addresses her again: “My sister, [my] bride” (Song 4:12; Song 4:9).

This again gives a picture of how the Lord Jesus sees His own. He sees them as only for Him. Whoever loves Him wants to share his love with Him alone, and shuts himself off from other objects of love. This is also important in marriage. In it, husband and wife must be a closed garden, which means that they do not allow anyone else in their life to share their love.

When a married man or woman falls in love with someone else, they are no longer a closed garden and a closed and sealed source or fountain. One cause for this ‘opening up’ may be, for example, that the woman does not receive attention from her own husband and does receive that attention from another man. It may then happen that she ‘opens her garden’ to that other person and breaks the ‘seal of the fountain’. The man is guilty of it, but the woman has no excuse either. There is never an apology for opening up the ‘garden’.

In the book of Proverbs Solomon also speaks to his son about the wife as a source of joy for her husband (Pro 5:15-19). In a different approach, but with the same tenor, he warns his son not to go to another source, but to always be enraptured by her love (Pro 5:19). He tells him to be satisfied with his own wife. In his own house he has a source that can quench his thirst. By this he means his own wife. Thus, he will held “marriage in honor …, and the [marriage] bed undefiled” (Heb 13:4a).

Solomon asks him the question, the answer to which is contained in the question: “Should your springs be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets?” (Pro 5:16). When the man leaves his house and his wife to go to a strange woman, he leaves his ‘closed garden’ and goes ‘outside’ to ‘the water streams on the squares’. The sources that are outside, i.e. the woman who seduces him, are available to everyone. But the source of refreshment should only be his own wife. It should not be an option for his love to go out to a strange woman.

The spiritual application, as here in the Song of Songs, is that the Lord Jesus and He alone is sufficient for us. He loves us unconditionally and exclusively and also counts on our unconditional, exclusive love (2Cor 11:2). True satisfaction of every desire only can be found in Christ’s love. As we grow older, our love for our wife will not diminish, but rather increase, just like our love for Christ.

If it’s good, the life of the believer is like a garden in which the Lord Jesus wants to have fellowship with him. The closed fountain in the garden is a picture of the Word of God being pondered under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The believer who is like a closed garden is one in whom the word of Christ, the word of the Beloved, dwells richly (Col 3:16).

We may well ask ourselves whether we are such a closed garden for the Lord Jesus. Is our life, is my life, all alone for Him? We will have to admit that it is not always the case, but is it our deepest desire that He experiences joy from our lives?

The believer is also like “a spring sealed up”. What is sealed belongs to the one to whom the seal belongs. The believer is “sealed … with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Eph 1:13; 2Cor 1:21-22) and belongs to the Lord Jesus. Through the Spirit he is firmly connected to Christ and will discover more and more of the glory of Christ. After all, the Spirit came to earth to bear witness to Christ (Jn 16:13-14). From the sealed spring, living water flows through the teaching of the Spirit from the inside of the believer to refreshment of the Lord Jesus and his surroundings (Jn 7:37-39).

We can also be closed in the wrong way. This is the case when our life and the Christian community of which we are part are not governed by God’s Word and God’s Spirit, but by human traditions, by dead orthodoxy. We maintain rules for our own life and for others which do not come from Scripture itself, but from explanations of Scripture, which are by definition human work. Then we will no longer be open to the activity of the Holy Spirit. The appearance then becomes the yardstick by which spiritual life is measured. The inner life, the relationship with the Lord Jesus and the love for God’s Word, is of no importance.

In Scripture, a court or garden is a place where God wants to have fellowship with man. We already see that in paradise (Gen 2:8). It is a garden made entirely by Him as a pleasure garden for Himself. In it are united the highest blessings of creation. Man may enjoy in it and of it together with Him. He comes to him for this “in the cool of the day” (Gen 3:8a).

Because of the fall into sin, nothing of the enjoyment of the garden remained for God. Man has not kept the garden closed, and has given up his fellowship with God. He has disobeyed his task to work and maintain the garden as a garden of lust for God (Gen 2:15). He did not refuse the devil access, but allowed him to enter and talk to him (Gen 3:1-6). At next ‘gardens’ we see the same picture. For example with Israel that God has made a vineyard for Himself (Isa 5:1-7). In it have come men who have cast Him out to own the vineyard themselves (Mt 21:33-39).

Yet today there is, and there will be in the future, a group of people who form for Him the garden that is exclusively for Him. We may be that as believers. That we are, if we open our lives to the working of God’s Word and God’s Spirit. The result is that our hearts and minds are turned to Christ. It is about Him in God’s Word, and about Him it is with the work of the Spirit. Israel will be such a garden for Him in the future (Isa 51:3).