Song of Solomon 1:14

xperiences he grounds a petition for divine instruction: " Teach me good judgment and knowledge, that, by thy grace, I may render again, in some measure, according to the benefit done unto me." Teach me a good taste (so the word signifies), a good relish, to discern things that differ, to distinguish between truth and falsehood, good and evil; for the ear tries words, as the mouth tastes meat. We should pray to God for a sound mind, that we may have spiritual senses exercised, Heb. v. 14 . Many have knowledge who have little judgment; those who have both are well fortified against the snares of Satan and well furnished for the service of God and their generation. 3. This petition is backed with a plea: " For I have believed thy commandments, received them, and consented to them that they are good, and submitted to their government; therefore, Lord, teach me. " Where God has given a good heart a good head too may in faith be prayed for. 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. David here tells us what he had experienced, 1. Of the temptations of a prosperous condition: " Before I was afflicted, while I lived in peace and plenty, and knew no sorrow, I went astray from God and my duty." Sin is going astray; and we are most apt to wander from God when we are easy and think ourselves at home in the world. Prosperity is the unhappy occasion of much iniquity; it makes people conceited of themselves, indulgent of the flesh, forgetful of God, in love with the world, and deaf to the reproofs of the word. See Ps. xxx. 6 . It is good for us, when we are afflicted, to remember how and wherein we went astray before we were afflicted, that we may answer the end of the affliction. 2. Of the benefit of an afflicted state: " Now have I kept thy word, and so have been