Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
The Hebrew has no "is." Here she is distinct from the garden (Song of Solomon 5:1), yet identified with it (Song of Solomon 4:16) as being one with Him in His sufferings. Historically the Paradise, into which the soul of Jesus Christ entered at death; and the tomb of Joseph, in which His body was laid amid "myrrh," etc. (Song of Solomon 4:6), situated in a nicely kept garden (compare "gardener," John 20:15); "sealed" with a stone (Matthew 27:66); in which it resembles "wells" in the East (Genesis 29:3, Genesis 29:8). It was in a garden of light Adam fell; in a garden of darkness, Gethsemane, and chiefly that of the tomb, the second Adam retrieved us. Spiritually the garden is the gospel kingdom of heaven. Here all is ripe; previously (Song of Solomon 2:13) it was "the tender grape." The garden is His, though He calls the plants hers (Song of Solomon 4:13) by His gift (Isaiah 61:3, end).
spring . . . fountain—Jesus Christ (John 4:10) sealed, while He was in the sealed tomb: it poured forth its full tide on Pentecost (John 7:37-39). Still He is a sealed fountain until the Holy Ghost opens it to one (I Corinthians 12:3). The Church also is "a garden enclosed" (Psalms 4:3; Isaiah 5:1, etc.). Contrast Psalms 80:9-12. So "a spring" (Isaiah 27:3; Isaiah 58:11); "sealed" (Ephesians 4:30; II Timothy 2:19). As wives in the East are secluded from public gaze, so believers (Psalms 83:3; Colossians 3:3). Contrast the open streams which "pass away" (Job 6:15-18; II Peter 2:17).
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Song of Solomon 4:12:
Song of Solomon 4:11
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