1. _"Sing ye unto her."_ It is taken for granted that the spiritual
condition of the Church is pleasing to God, but that the feeling of
His people is in a low state. Sometimes the Lord directs His servant
to reprimand them: "Show unto my people their transgressions." A
Church may need comfort while some of its members deserve correction.
Possibly the faulty members are the cause of the discomfort to the
Church, and render it desirable that she should be comforted. It is
so in the family. We comfort the family when a member of it has
transgressed. The fact that one member needs correction causes the
others to need consolation. In some cases, it requires much wisdom to
decide whether an encouragement or a reproof should be given. We have
seen the rod used when a kind word would have been more suitable; and
some are singing songs while it would be more appropriate to sound an
alarm. There is need for rightly dividing the Word of truth. "A word
in its season," &c.
Possibly the accurate expositor will ask who is commanded to sing. Is
it the prophets, or the priests, or the choir of the Temple? This is
a poetical book, and sometimes it calls on the heavens, the
mountains, and the trees of the field to sing. In this respect I
would rather let the command of the text remain undecided, and say to
everybody and everything, "Sing unto her!"
2. _What should be sung to this vineyard?_ Remind her in this song
that she is "the vineyard of the Lord of hosts." The Old Testament is
full of references to a vineyard, to vines, and to wine. The reason
for this is, that the Bible is an Eastern book. A vineyard supposes--
_Separation._ Not the superiority of its soil to that of the
surrounding country makes the vineyard, but its separation. It is not
because the saints are by nature better than others that they are
God's vineyard, but because they are set apart by Him. The idea of
separation as regards the Church is made conspicuous in every age.
The saints, the disciples, constitute the flock and the vineyard of
the Old Testament, the Church of the New. When I speak of a separated
Church, of course I do not allude to any sect, but to the Church in
general. There are hypocrites in the Churches, but none in _the_
Church. It is in the world, but not of the world. The soul is in the
body, but not of the body "Wherefore, come out from among them, and
be ye separate, saith the Lord" (2 Cor. vi. 17). Ceremonials cannot
plant the vine; there are necessarily ordinances, but circumcision
could not make the Jews a godly people, and there were thousands of
ungodly people partaking every year of the Passover. A change of
heart, a change in the condition of the soul, constitutes the
planting in the vineyard; not a ceremonial separation, but a change
of mind; not the affixing of the stamp of a sect, but the impartation
of the image of God (H. E. I. 1171-1183).