We have a little sister,
And she hath no breasts:
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she shall be spoken for?
How beautifully her conscious union with the Bridegroom appears in her expressions. "We have a little sister," not I have, etc.; "what shall we do for our sister," etc.? She has now no private relationships nor interests; in all things she is one with Him. And we see a further development of grace in the very question. Towards the close of the last section she recognized the Bridegroom as her Instructor. She will not now make her own plans about her little sister, and ask His acquiescence in them; she will rather learn what his thoughts are, and have fellowship with Him in His plans.
How much anxiety and care the children of God would be spared if they learned to act in this way! Is it not too common to make the best plans that we can, and to carry them out as best we may, feeling all the while a great burden of responsibility, and earnestly asking the Lord to help us? Whereas if we always let Him be our Instructor in service, and left the responsibility with Him, our strength would not be exhausted with worry and anxiety, but would all be at His disposal, and accomplish His ends.
In the little sister, as yet immature, may we not see the elect of God, given to Christ in God's purpose, but not yet brought into saving relation to Him? And perhaps also those babes in Christ who as yet need feeding with milk and not with meat, but who, with such care, will in due time become experienced believers, fitted for the service of the Lord? Then they will be spoken for, and called into that department of service for which He has prepared them.
The Bridegroom replies:—
If she be a wall,
We will build upon her battlements of silver;
And if she be a door,
We will inclose her with boards of cedar.
In this reply the Bridegroom sweetly recognizes His oneness with His bride, in the same way as she has shown her conscious oneness with Him. As she says, "What shall we do for our sister?" so He replies, "We will build ... we will inclose," etc. He will not carry out His purposes of grace irrespective of His bride, but will work with and through her. What can be done for this sister, however, will depend upon what she becomes. If she be a wall, built upon the true foundation, strong and stable, she shall be adorned and beautified with battlements of silver; but if unstable and easily moved to and fro like a door, such treatment will be as impossible as unsuitable; she will need to be inclosed with boards of cedar, hedged in with restraints, for her own protection.
The bride rejoicingly responds, "I am a wall"; she knows the foundation on which she is built, there is no "if" in her case; she is conscious of having found favour in the eyes of her Beloved. Naphtali's blessing is hers: she is "satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the Lord."
But what is taught by the connection of this happy consciousness with the lines which follow?
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
He let out the vineyard unto keepers;
Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.
My vineyard, which is mine, is before me:
Thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand,
And those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.