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GARDEN inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. 13 Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, 14 Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: 15 A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. (Song of Solomon 4:12-15)
The Scriptures contain many metaphoric and allegorical allusions. In the case of our text today, the garden is a metaphoric (prosopopeia) reference to the heart and even to the Church. There is an array of different individuals with different talents that come together to form the Church just as the garden contains a variety of foods that altogether provide a complete and healthy diet for the body. But I will address my devotion today to the manner in which the heart itself can be compared to that garden rich is nutritious viands.
When watered by the rains of Heaven and warmed by the radiant rays of the sun, the well-kept garden flourishes and provides blessings to its owner. So is the heart that is watered by the Word of God and warmed by His Holy Spirit. But the Garden of the Heart is one that is shut up (guarded) and whose seal is the Fountain of Life.
Make my heart a little garden,
Where the fairest virtues grow,
Open there a fountain, springing
From the depths of life and light, and singing
Let its waters ever flow.
Henry Van Dyke, DD
All of the herbs of the garden are intended for healing. So are the sweet lullings of the Holy Spirit to the heart committed to her Lord Jesus Christ. The herbs of the heart are faith, love, charity, patience, hope, grace, compassion, etc. These are all parts of the whole of the heart belonging to God.
But see, the garden is enclosed! It is separated from the wilderness of the world. It is set apart for a purpose. And so it is with the Christian heart set apart for a purpose. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) The Church is the enclosure for such a heart – it is hedged about by the owner of the Vineyard. The owner of the Garden of the Heart is the Lord: Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein. (Isaiah 5:1-2a)
The well-beloved is the only Begotten of the Father. The tower in the midst are His ministers who preach the pure Word of God with love and without compromise.
The Garden is planted on a fruitful hill. That good soil of the Garden is made reference to in the Kingdom chapter of the Gospels – Matthew 13: But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (Matthew 13:23)
There are two kinds of herbs and spices in the Garden of the heart: Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices. The first are of the fragrant and tasty variety. The fragrance of a devoted Christian heart gives a good-smelling savor to all around. His or her testimony is as certain as the Woman at the Well whose testimony led to the conversion of her entire village of Samaria. The second herbs of the Garden are herbs of labor and sacrifice - frankincense; myrrh and aloes. The smoke of the frankincense represents the prayers of the penitent ascending to Heaven. Myrrh is a herb used in preparing a body for burial. We die daily, as Paul says, to self and live for others. Aloes is a herb that heals hurts and wounds. The garden heart of the Christian is filled with a healing balm for the lost and down-hearted.
A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. That which we plant, so shall we reap: 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. (Isaiah 61:11) The waters of the Jordon River are fed by the melting springs of Mount Hermon. The blessings of Galilee are fed by those waters from on high: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
If we partake of those living waters, we, too, will become a spring of living waters to others.
