The Song of Solomon : and the Lamentations of Jeremiah

MYSTICAL INTERPRETATIONS 45
is especially prominent in the writings of Jeremiah^
and Hosea.^ The forty-fifth psalm is an epithalamium
commonly read with a Messianic signification. John
the Baptist describes the coming Messiah as the
Bridegroom,^ and Jesus Christ accepts the title for
Himself'' Our Lord illustrates the blessedness of the
Kingdom of Heaven in a parable of a wedding feast.^
With St. Paul the union of husband and wife is an
earthly copy of the union of Christ and His Church.
The marriage of the Lamb is a prominent feature in
the Book of the Revelation.'^
Further, it may be maintained that the experience
of Christians has demonstrated the aptness of the
expression of the deepest spiritual truths in the imagery
of the Song of Solomon. Sad hearts disappointed in
their earthly hopes have found in the religious reading
of this poem as a picture of their relation to their
Saviour the satisfaction for which they have hungered,
and which the world could never give them. Devout
Christians have read in it the very echo of their own
emotions. Samuel Rutherford's Letters^ for example,
are in perfect harmony with the religious interpretation
of the Song of Solomon ; and these letters stand in the
first rank of devotional works. There is certainly some
force in the argument that a key which seems to fit the
lock so well must have been designed to do so.
On the other hand, the objections to a mystical,
religious interpretation are very strong. In the first
place, we can quite account for its appearance apart
from any justification of it in the original intention of
' E.g. Jer. iii. i-ii. '' Mark. ii. 19.
2 Hosea ii. 2 ; iii. 3.
^ John iii, 29.
"^ Eph. v. 22-33.
^ Matt. xxii. 1-14. ' Rev. xxi. 9.