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Whom my soul loveth, notwithstanding all these discouragements mid afflictions which I suffer for thy sake, and for my love to thee. Being reproached and persecuted by others, I flee to thee, O my only refuge and joy, and I beg direction and help from thee.
Where thou feedest, understand, thy flock, as Gen_29:7 37:16. Seeing false teachers and churches bear thy name, Mar_13:21,22, and thy true church sometimes lies hid, Rev_12:14, discover to me which is thy true church, and which are those assemblies and people where thou art present, and where thine ordinances are dispensed in purity and power, and where thou dost and wilt command the blessing, even life for evermore, as it is expressed, Psa_133:3, that I may join myself to them. This is the request of particular believers. For it must be minded, as that which will be useful to explain really difficulties in this book, that the church in this book is sometimes considered, and speaketh, or is spoken of, as one entire body, and sometimes with respect unto and in the name of her particular members, and that promiscuously; and in which of these capacities each place is to be understood is left to the prudent and diligent reader to gather out of the words and context.
At noon; in the heat of the day, when the shepherds in those hot countries used to carry their flocks into shady places; whereby he means the time of hot persecution, when it is hard to find and discover the true church, partly because she is deformed by it, and partly because she is obscured and driven into the wilderness, as is said, Rev_12:14.
Be as one, i.e. be really one, the particle as being here a note of truth, as it is in many other places. Why wilt thou by withdrawing thyself from me, and denying thy direction to me, suffer me, or give occasion to me, to be such a one?
One that turneth aside; or, a wanderer, or vagabond, like a neglected and forlorn creature, exposed both to censure and danger, from both which it belongs to thee, my Husband, to protect and save me. By, or about, or towards, as this particle is elsewhere used, the flocks of thy companions; the assemblies of corrupt and false teachers and worshippers, by which I am like to be insnared, if thou dost forsake me. These he calls Christ’s companions, partly because they profess the name of Christ, and their conjunction with him in God’s worship; and partly because they set themselves up in Christ’s stead, and usurp his power in delivering and imposing their own laws and doctrines upon men’s consciences, and behave themselves like his equals or companions, not as becometh his subjects.