Song of Solomon and Isaiah – Alexander Moody Stuart

Introduction

I have had the privilege of preaching a sermon series on the Song of Solomon on Lord’s Day afternoons. We are coming to the end of that series, but preparing and delivering these sermons has been a tremendous blessing to my own soul, for in this precious book we find the mutual love of Christ and his Church.

Now, in the preparation for every sermon, I would also select Old and New Testament readings that reinforce the theme of the portion of the Song I would be preaching on. I would often marvel that invariably, I could find a portion of Isaiah suited to the text.

I was struck thinking that Isaiah is God’s response to the petitions and desires of the Song of Solomon that the Bride brings forth.

So, I was quite pleased to see that Alexander Moody Stuart (19th Century Free Church minister) brought forth many of the parallels between Isaiah and the Song in his commentary on the Song of Solomon.

I have taken his list and formatted it in parallel columns with the Scripture references. There are forty five Scripture pairs by my count. May it be a blessing to you.

Alexander Moody Stuart

The Song of Solomon was evidently much in the mind of Isaiah, and he refers to it more or less directly in almost every page of his prophecies.

The following is his list formatted as a table:

Song of Solomon	Isaiah
1:4 – The king hath brought me into his chambers	26:20 – Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers
2:1 – I am the rose of Sharon	35:1–2 – The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose, the excellency of Sharon
1:7 – Tell me where thou feedest thy flock	63:11; 40:11 – Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? He shall feed his flock like a shepherd
1:10 – Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels	61:10 – As a bride adorneth herself with her jewels
2:3 – His fruit was sweet to my taste	4:2 – The branch of the Lord shall be glorious, and the fruit of the earth excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel
2:4, 7 – His banner over me was love; I charge you that ye stir not up nor awake my love	11:10 – There shall be a root of Jesse for an ensign to the people, and his rest shall be glorious
2:8 – Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills	40:10, 4 – Behold, the Lord God will come; every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low
2:10–11 – Rise up, my love, for the rain is over and gone	54:9 – This is as the waters of Noah unto me; I have sworn that I would not be wroth with thee
2:10, 13 – Arise, my fair one	60:1 – Arise, shine, for thy light is come
2:14 – O my dove, let me see thy countenance	60:8 – Who are these that fly as doves to their windows?
3:1 – By night on my bed I sought him	26:9 – With my soul have I desired thee in the night
2:17; 4:6 – Until the day break and the shadows flee away	9:2 – They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined
3:3; 5:7 – The watchmen that go about the city	62:6 – I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem
3:4 – I held him, I would not let him go	64:7 – There is none that stirreth himself up to take hold of thee
3:4 – I brought him to my mother’s house	50:1 – Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement?
3:6 – Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness?	63:1 – Who is this that cometh from Edom?
3:10 – The covering thereof of purple	63:1 – With dyed garments from Bozrah?
3:6 – Like pillars of smoke	4:5 – The Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion a cloud and smoke by day
3:11 – In the day of his espousals and in the day of the gladness of his heart	62:5 – As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee
3:11; 5:16 – Behold King Solomon! The king is held in the galleries, he is altogether lovely	33:17 – Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty
4:3 – Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet	6:5–7 – Woe is me, for I am of unclean lips; thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged
4:4; 7:4 – Thy neck is like the tower of David, like a tower of ivory	52:2 – Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck; shake thyself from the dust
4:8; 5:1 – Come with me, my spouse	54:5–6 – The Lord hath called thee as a wife of youth; thy Maker is thine husband
4:13–14 – Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with all trees of frankincense	41:19; 61:3 – I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah-tree, the myrtle, and the oil-tree, trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord
4:15 – A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon	1:30; 55:1 – A garden that hath no water; Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters
4:16 – Awake, O north wind, and come thou south	51:9 – Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord
5:1 – I have drunk my wine with my milk, I have eaten my honeycomb	7:15 – Butter and honey shall he eat
5:1 – Eat, O friends, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved	55:1–2 – Come, yea come buy wine and milk without money; eat ye that which is good
5:11 – His head is as the most fine gold	13:12 – I will make a man more precious than fine gold
5:13 – His cheeks are as a bed of spices	50:6 – I gave my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair
5:9 – What is thy beloved more than another beloved?	53:1 – Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the Lord revealed?
5:15 – His countenance is as Lebanon, his form excellent as the cedars	35:2; 52:14 – The glory of Lebanon; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men
6:4 – Thou art beautiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners	54:12; 26:1 – I will make thy windows of agates, and all thy borders of pleasant stones; we have a strong city, salvation for walls and bulwarks
6:9 – The queens saw and praised her	52:15 – The kings shall shut their mouths at him
6:10 – Who is this that looketh forth as the morning?	58:8 – Then shall thy light break forth as the morning
6:11 – I went down into the garden of nuts, to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates budded	61:11 – For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations
7:1 – O Shulamite, how beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter	52:7 – How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that publisheth peace
7:4 – Thine eyes are like the fish-pools in Heshbon	16:9 – I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon
7:5 – Thine head upon thee is like Carmel	35:2 – The excellency of Carmel
7:8 – Thy breasts shall be as the clusters of the vine	66:11 – That ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations
8:1 – O that thou wert as my brother	64:1 – O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down
8:6 – Set me as a seal upon thine arm	49:16 – I have graven thee on the palms of my hands
8:6 – The coals thereof are coals of fire	64:2 – As when the melting fire burneth
8:8 – We have a little sister and she hath no breasts	54:1; 19:24 – Sing, O barren that bearest not; in that day Israel shall be third with Egypt and Assyria

Then there is the vineyard which is referred to throughout the Song of Solomon, and throughout the prophecy of Isaiah. The reader, if so disposed, will probably be able to find many more similar allusions, as we have attempted no regular comparison of the two books. The Spirit of God, in raising up new men to utter his mind, ever causes them to give special heed to his words already uttered; and it would seem as if the literal outward affinity between the Song of Solomon and the prophecies of Isaiah, in being placed beside each other in our Bibles, were not closer than the mental and spiritual affinity subsisting between the inspired writers of both. Their utterances, indeed, are often in the way of contrast; and the whole of the fifty-third of Isaiah appears to be the inspired outburst of a full heart that had been engaged in deep meditation on the beauty of Immanuel, as described by Solomon as the chiefest among ten thousand and altogether lovely,—‘Who hath believed the report? for he is without form or comeliness, or beauty that we should desire him.’

A. Moody Stuart, The Song of Songs: An Exposition of the Song of Solomon (Philadelphia: Wm. S. Rentoul, 1869), 486–489

Conclusion

The prophesies concerning our Lord Jesus Christ are found in the Song of Solomon as well as Isaiah. These two books together show us the love of Christ for his wayward Bride. They give an assurance of the Redeemer’s care for his people. If you are new to understanding the Song of Songs in the “traditional” view of it as an allegory of the Love of Loves, I would refer you to the following commentaries:

• James Durham
• Alexander Moody Stuart
• George Burrowes
• John Gill (separate commentary from his whole Bible commentary)
• Matthew Poole
• Matthew Henry
• Reformation Heritage Study Bible notes (brief, but helpful)
• Geneva Bible notes (even more brief)

As mentioned, I anticipate concluding a sermon series on the whole Song shortly. Here is a link to that on SermonAudio.

https://www.sermonaudio.com/series/191993

For more on Alexander Moody Stuart’s Life and Ministry, I would commend the memoir written by his son that has been republished by the Banner of Truth:

https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/history-biography/alexander-moody-stuart/?srsltid=AfmBOopMjUTIrG27H8g_nGaXB4R8Cr2Oh0a14MKKzgAOxli_cgUYMxBs