14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, In the hiding places of the mountainside, Let me see your face. Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The secret places of the stairs - A hidden nook approached by a zig-zag path. The beloved urges the bride to come forth from her rock-girt home.
My dove - in the clefts of the rock - He compares his bride hiding herself in her secret chambers and closets to a dove in the clefts of the rock.
O my dove, [that art] in the (h) clefts of the rock, in the secret [places] of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet [is] thy voice, and thy countenance [is] comely.
(h) You who are ashamed of your sins, come and show yourself to me.
O my dove,.... An epithet sometimes used by lovers (q), and is a new title Christ gives to his church, to express his affection for her and interest in her; and to draw her out of her retirement, to go along with him. The dove is a creature innocent and harmless, beautiful, cleanly, and chaste; sociable and fruitful, weak and timorous, of a mournful voice, and swift in flying; all which is suitable to the church and people of God: they are harmless and inoffensive in their lives and conversations; they are beautiful through the righteousness of Christ on them, and the grace of the Spirit in them; they are clean through the word Christ has spoken, and having their hearts purified by faith; they are as chaste virgins espoused to Christ, and their love to him is single and unfeigned; they cleave to him, are fruitful in grace and good works; and the church being espoused to Christ brings forth many souls unto him in regeneration; saints carry on a social worship and delight in each other's company; they are weak and timorous, being persecuted and oppressed by the men of the world; and mourn for their own sins and others, and often for the loss of Christ's presence; and are swift in flying to him for safety and protection. Under this character the church is said to be
in the clefts of the rock, the usual place where the dove makes its nest, Jeremiah 48:28; or retires to it for safety (r). Adrichomius says (s), there was a stone tower near Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of Olives, called "petra columbarum", "the rock of the doves", where often five thousand were kept at once, to which there may be an allusion here; or else it may have respect to the place where doves are forced to fly when pursued by the hawk, even into a hollow rock, as described by Homer (t); and may be expressive of the state of the church under persecution, when obliged to flee into holes and corners, and caves of the earth; when the Lord is a hiding place to her, in his love, and grace, and power; and particularly Christ is the Rock of his people, so called for height, strength, and duration, and they are the inhabitants of this Rock; and who was typified by the rock in the wilderness, and particularly by that into the clefts of which Moses was put, when the glory of the Lord passed before him: moreover, the clefts of this rock may design the wounds of Christ, which are opened for the salvation of men; and where saints dwell by faith, and are secure from every enemy (u). The Ethiopic version is, "in the shadow of the rock", to which Christ is compared, Isaiah 32:2; and so the Septuagint version, "in the covering of the rock", which is no other than the shade of it. Likewise the church is said to be
in the secret places of the stairs; Christ is the stairs or steps by which saints ascend up to God, have access to and communion with him; and the secret places may have respect to the justifying righteousness of Christ, and atonement by him, hidden to other men, but revealed to them; and whither in distress they betake themselves, and are sheltered from sin, law, hell, and death, and dwell in safety. Though as such places are dark and dusty, and whither the dove, or any other creature, may in danger betake itself, so upon the whole both this and the preceding clause may design the dark, uncomfortable, and solitary condition the church was in through fear of enemies; in which situation Christ addresses her, saying,
let me see thy countenance, or "face"; and encourages her to appear more publicly in, his house and courts for worship, and present herself before him, and look him full in the face, and with open face behold his glory, and not be shamefaced and fearful; not to be afraid of any thing, but come out of her lurking holes, and be seen abroad by himself and others, since the stormy weather was over, and everything was pleasant and agreeable;
let me hear thy voice; in prayer to him and praise of him, commending the glories and: excellencies of his person, and giving thanks to him for the blessings of his grace;
for sweet is thy voice; pleasant, harmonious, melodious, having a mixture of notes in it, as the word signifies; and so exceeds the voice of a natural dove, which is not very harmonious: Herodotus (w) makes mention of a dove that spoke with a human voice; and such a voice Christ's dove speaks with, and it is sweet; that is, pleasant and delightful to him, who loves to hear his people relate the gracious experiences of his goodness, and speak well of his truths and ordinances; prayer is sweet music to him, and praise pleases him better than all burnt offerings;
and thy countenance is comely; fair and beautiful, and therefore need not cover her face, or hang down her head, as if ashamed to be seen, since she was in the eye of Christ a perfection of beauty.
(q) "Mea columba", Plauti Casina, Acts. 1. Sc. 1. v. 50. Doves were birds of Venus; her chariot was drawn by them, Chartar. de Imag. Deor. p. 218. Vid. Apulci Metamorph. l. 6. (r) "Quails spelunca subito commota columba, cui domus et dulces latebroso in pumice nidi", Virgil. Aeneid. 5. v. 213. (s) Theatrum Terrae S. p. 171. (t) Iliad. 21. v. 493, 494. (u) "In tegimento petrae", i.e. "tuta praesidio passionis meae et fidei munimento", Ambros. de Isaac, c. 4. p. 281. (w) Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 55.
The church is Christ's dove; she returns to him, as her Noah. Christ is the Rock, in whom alone she can think herself safe, and find herself easy, as a dove in the hole of a rock, when struck at by the birds of prey. Christ calls her to come boldly to the throne of grace, having a great High Priest there, to tell what her request is. Speak freely, fear not a slight or a repulse. The voice of prayer is sweet and acceptable to God; those who are sanctified have the best comeliness. The first risings of sinful thoughts and desires, the beginnings of trifling pursuits which waste the time, trifling visits, small departures from truth, whatever would admit some conformity to the world; all these, and many more, are little foxes which must be removed. This is a charge to believers to mortify their sinful appetites and passions, which are as little foxes, that destroy their graces and comforts, and crush good beginnings. Whatever we find a hinderance to us in that which is good, we must put away. He feedeth among the lilies; this shows Christ's gracious presence among believers. He is kind to all his people. It becomes them to believe this, when under desertion and absence, and so to ward off temptations. The shadows of the Jewish dispensation were dispelled by the dawning of the gospel day. And a day of comfort will come after a night of desertion. Come over the mountains of Bether, "the mountains that divide," looking forward to that day of light and love. Christ will come over every separating mountain to take us home to himself.
dove--here expressing endearment (Psalm 74:19). Doves are noted for constant attachment; emblems, also, in their soft, plaintive note, of softened penitents (Isaiah 59:11; Ezekiel 7:16); other points of likeness are their beauty; "their wings covered with silver and gold" (Psalm 68:13), typifying the change in the converted; the dove-like spirit, breathed into the saint by the Holy Ghost, whose emblem is the dove; the messages of peace from God to sinful men, as Noah's dove, with the olive branch (Genesis 8:11), intimated that the flood of wrath was past; timidity, fleeing with fear from sin and self to the cleft Rock of Ages (Isaiah 26:4, Margin; Hosea 11:11); gregarious, flocking together to the kingdom of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 60:8); harmless simplicity (Matthew 10:16).
clefts--the refuge of doves from storm and heat (Jeremiah 48:28; see Jeremiah 49:16). GESENIUS translates the Hebrew from a different root, "the refuges." But see, for "clefts," Exodus 33:18-23. It is only when we are in Christ Jesus that our "voice is sweet (in prayer, Song 4:3, Song 4:11; Matthew 10:20; Galatians 4:6, because it is His voice in us; also in speaking of Him, Malachi 3:16); and our countenance comely" (Exodus 34:29; Psalm 27:5; Psalm 71:3; Isaiah 33:16; 2-Corinthians 3:18).
stairs-- (Ezekiel 38:20, Margin), a steep rock, broken into stairs or terraces. It is in "secret places" and rugged scenes that Jesus Christ woos the soul from the world to Himself (Micah 2:10; Micah 7:14). So Jacob amid the stones of Beth-el (Genesis 28:11-19); Moses at Horeb (Exodus. 3:1-22); so Elijah (1-Kings 19:9-13); Jesus Christ with the three disciples on a "high mountain apart," at the transfiguration (Matthew 17:1); John in Patmos (Revelation 1:9). "Of the eight beatitudes, five have an afflicted condition for their subject. As long as the waters are on the earth, we dwell in the ark; but when the land is dry, the dove itself will be tempted to wander" [JEREMY TAYLOR]. Jesus Christ does not invite her to leave the rock, but in it (Himself), yet in holy freedom to lay aside the timorous spirit, look up boldly as accepted in Him, pray, praise, and confess Him (in contrast to her shrinking from being looked at, Song 1:6), (Ephesians 6:19; Hebrews 13:15; 1-John 4:18); still, though trembling, the voice and countenance of the soul in Jesus Christ are pleasant to Him. The Church found no cleft in the Sinaitic legal rock, though good in itself, wherein to hide; but in Jesus Christ stricken by God for us, as the rock smitten by Moses (Numbers 20:11), there is a hiding-place (Isaiah 32:2). She praised His "voice" (Song 2:8, Song 2:10); it is thus that her voice also, though tremulous, is "sweet" to Him here.
Solomon further relates how he drew her to himself out of her retirement:
My dove in the clefts of the rock,
In the hiding-place of the cliff;
Let me see thy countenance,
Let me hear thy voice!
For thy voice is sweet and thy countenance comely.
"Dove" (for which Castellio, columbula, like vulticulum, voculam) is a name of endearment which Shulamith shares with the church of God, Psalm 74:19; cf. Psalm 56:1; Hosea 7:11. The wood-pigeon builds its nest in the clefts of the rocks and other steep rocky places, Jeremiah 48:28.
(Note: Wetstein's Reisebericht, p. 182: "If the Syrian wood-pigeon does not find a pigeon-tower, περιστερεῶνα, it builds its nest in the hollows of rocky precipices, or in the walls of deep and wide fountains." See also his Nord-arabien, p. 58: "A number of scarcely accessible mountains in Arabia are called alkunnat, a rock-nest.")
That Shulamith is thus here named, shows that, far removed from intercourse with the world, her home was among the mountains. חגוי, from חגו, or also חגוּ, requires a verb הגה = (Arab.) khajja, findere. (סל, as a Himyar. lexicographer defines it, is a cleft into the mountains after the nature of a defile; with צוּר, only the ideas of inaccessibility and remoteness are connected; with סלע, those of a secure hiding-place, and, indeed, a convenient, pleasant residence. מדרגה is the stairs; here the rocky stairs, as the two chalk-cliffs on the Rgen, which sink perpendicularly to the sea, are called "Stubbenkammer," a corruption of the Slavonic Stupnhkamen, i.e., the Stair-Rock. "Let me see," said he, as he called upon her with enticing words, "thy countenance;" and adds this as a reason, "for thy countenance is lovely." The word מראיך, thus pointed, is sing.; the Jod Otians is the third root letter of ראי, retained only for the sake of the eye. It is incorrect to conclude from ashrēch, in Ecclesiastes 10:17, that the ech may be also the plur. suff., which it can as little be as êhu in Proverbs 29:18; in both cases the sing. ěshěr has substituted itself for ashrē. But, inversely, mǎraīch cannot be sing.; for the sing. is simply marēch. Also mǎrāv, Job 41:1, is not sing.: the sing. is marēhu, Job 4:16; Song 5:15. On the other hand, the determination of such forms as מראינוּ, מראיהם, is difficult: these forms may be sing. as well as plur. In the passage before us, מראים is just such a non-numer. plur. as פנים. But while panīm is an extensive plur., as Bttcher calls it: the countenance, in its extension and the totality of its parts, - marīm, like marōth, vision, a stately term, Exodus 40:2 (vid., Deitrich's Abhand. p. 19), is an amplificative plur.: the countenance, on the side of its fulness of beauty and its overpowering impression.
My dove - So the church is called, for her dove - like temper, and for her dove - like condition, because she is weak, and exposed to persecution, and therefore forced to hide herself in rocks. The stairs - In the holes of craggy and broken rocks, which resemble stairs. Let me see - Be not afraid to appear before me. Hear - Thy prayers and praises. For - Thy person and services are amiable in my sight.
*More commentary available at chapter level.