Where lions have their dens and panthers prowl

(Henry Law, "The Song of Solomon" 1879)

"Come with Me from Lebanon, My bride. Come
down from the top of Mount Amana, from Mount
Senir and Mount Hermon, where lions have their
dens and panthers prowl." Song of Solomon 4:8

An earnest invitation is here, couched in tenderest
terms. The call seems to be addressed to one, who
pauses and lingers on the bleak and barren peaks of
the lofty range which parted Israel from the Gentile
world. In the recesses of these cliffs, ravenous beasts
formed their retreats, and rioted in vicious work.

In this call we hear the voice of Christ summoning
us to separate from a world, which lies beyond
His peaceful kingdom.

This range is infested by beasts delighting in savagely
torturing the prey. The emblem is dark in warning. The
summits of this range are bleak and barren.

Such is this cold world.

It is warmed by no gentle and genuine and generous
feelings. It looks with chilling indifference on the need
and misery of others.

It has no heart to sympathize.

It extends no hand to help.

Selfishness congeals the flow of tender emotion.

It cares little what the poor and needy suffer.

It seeks mainly its own contracted interests.

The mountain top is thus the portrait of this
wintry world.

The world, also, is a barren spot.

No pleasing verdure clothes this scene.

No flowers shed their fragrance.

No goodly fruits are ripened to refresh.

Briers and thorns are its poor produce.

Here we look in vain for the fertility of holy
words and works. Christ calls His people to
come apart, and to unite themselves to Him.

But these summits are not only scenes of frost
and unproductiveness. They have inhabitants,
who delight in cruelty and craftiness.

See the lion tearing the prey!

See the panther crouching to take the fatal spring.

Here again are the children of this world.

Cruelly they ruin souls.

With subtlety they lay wait to ensnare.

"Come with Me from Lebanon, My bride. Come
down from the top of Mount Amana, from Mount
Senir and Mount Hermon, where lions have their
dens and panthers prowl." Song of Solomon 4:8