Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and lodge in the villages;
Up to now the King has done the calling. Here the bride calls Him — out of the city and into open country — in what commentators treat as the high point of the Song.
Whose voice speaks
Every earlier stage of the Song had the King calling and the bride hesitating. Here the direction of the invitation flips.
The Christian's FriendThe work is done; she understands and accepts association now. "I am my Beloved's, and His desire is toward me." No longer "He is mine." All is on His side, and self is forgotten. No longer does He have to say, "Rise up, My fair one, come away;" she invites Him. "Come, my Beloved, let us go forth into the field." True exchange of affection and communion happens only in the wilderness. There she rests in company with her Beloved, and from there she comes up leaning on His arm.
What produced the change was not effort on her side but everything He had done with her.
Hamilton SmithThe result of all the King's dealings with his bride is to lead her to think his thoughts, to express his desires, and to share his affections. In the past he had said to her, "Come away," and she was slow to respond. Now she takes up his word and says, "Come, my Beloved." She longs to be with him and to enjoy the communion of love. She says, "Let us go forth," "Let us lodge," "Let us get up," and "Let us see." Nothing would ever part her from him again. Wherever they go, wherever they dwell, whatever they do, whatever they see, it must be together.
Rest first, then interest in His vineyard
Her concern for the vines does not come from anxiety about herself. It comes after she stops thinking about herself at all.
The Christian's Friend Commentary on CanticlesNow her heart is fully at rest. She knows she is his, and that his desire is toward her. She is no longer thinking of herself, or of her love for him, however much or little it is. She thinks only of him, and of the great fact that He has chosen her to be His very own and has set His heart's affection on her. She is the object of his unchanging love. Here the heart finds rest. And being now delivered from thoughts of herself, she becomes deeply interested in the state of his vineyard.
Another writer makes the same point about how the words are pitched: she now speaks only of what she knows pleases Him, and her faith has risen to the level of His own thoughts about her — and that, he says, is the true ground of communion.
With Him, not just for Him
The repeated "let us" is where the practical weight falls. She is eager, but she will not set out alone.
The Christian's Friend Commentary on CanticlesThere are many who are very zealous and active in their work for the Lord who are far too self-reliant. We would be glad to see even more zeal, but what is needed is not so much that one works for the Lord as that one works with the Lord — to be a co-worker with Him. It is His work, not ours; He works and we are to work with Him. We must leave all the planning and the direction in His hand. When we work with the Lord, we leave the results with Him whose work it is. Our one concern is to carry out His will and to keep near Him in what we do… However interested, however zealous, she was to take every step with him.
Fields and villages: blessing that spreads
The place she names matters. She calls Him not to the palace but to open country beyond the city. One writer links this to the millennium — the coming age of Messiah's reign.
Andrew MillerThe expression "Let us go forth into the fields, let us lodge in the villages" seems to show that the blessings and glories of the millennium are spreading beyond the limits of Israel. The fields and the villages are outside the city. Jerusalem and the cities of Judah are the earthly centre of Messiah's glory, and they will no doubt be filled with it first. But from that centre the glory will spread out to the right and to the left, until it fills the whole earth. The special sweetness of this truth is that the Jews share this wide-spreading glory with their Messiah. They are formed for each other, and together they spread, witness, enjoy, and delight in all the blessings of the earth.
Another commentator describes the same outward movement as Israel's renewed mission — "the going out of heart for the blessing of others," and joy for all the families of the earth when the ancient promise is fulfilled in its full extent.
Where love is given
The verse ends by naming the place where she will give Him her love: out in the vineyards, not in private seclusion.
The Christian's Friend Commentary on CanticlesYes, that after all is the only true way of giving Him our love. How else can we show it? Note that it does not simply say love but loves. It is to keep repeating itself, a continual activity. That is what brings real results.
Summary
- Settled — Rest in His love comes first. A heart that has stopped watching itself is free to care about His vineyard.
- Reversed — She once hesitated when He called. Now she calls Him, because His dealings taught her to think His thoughts.
- Together — Every verb is "let us." The danger is not too little zeal but too much self-reliance. Work with Him, and leave the planning and the results in His hand.
- Outward — The fields and villages lie outside the city. Blessing starts at one centre and spreads until His glory fills the whole earth.
- Wilderness — She learns true communion out in the wilderness: resting in His company, and coming up leaning on His arm.