{"id":2181,"date":"2023-09-28T06:33:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-28T10:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/?p=2181"},"modified":"2023-09-27T22:32:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T02:32:07","slug":"the-interpreters-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/the-interpreters-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"The Interpreter’s Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"The<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

After this, he led them into his garden, where was great variety of flowers. And he said, \u201cDo you see all these?\u201d So Christiana said, \u201cYes.\u201d Then said he again, \u201cBehold the flowers are diverse in stature, in quality, in color, and smell, and virtue, and some are better than others. Also, where the gardener has set them, there they stand; and quarrel not one with another.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Notes and Commentary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the next lesson, the Interpreter leads the pilgrims into his garden. There they see a \u201cgreat variety of flowers.\u201d This imagery comes from Song of Solomon 4 where the Beloved sings a love song to his bride. In verse 4 he compares her beauty to an \u201cenclosed\u201d (protected and nurtured) garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A garden enclosed
Is my sister, my spouse,
A spring shut up,
A fountain sealed.
Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates
With pleasant fruits,
Fragrant henna with spikenard,
Spikenard and saffron,
Calamus and cinnamon,
With all trees of frankincense,
Myrrh and aloes,
With all the chief spices\u2014
A fountain of gardens,
A well of living waters,
And streams from Lebanon.
(Song of Solomon 4:12\u201315)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many commentators have recognized the parallel in the Song of Solomon between the Beloved\u2019s love for his bride and Christ\u2019s love for His church. Bunyan uses this imagery here in his allegory. The Garden represents the local church. The \u201cgreat variety of flowers\u201d signifies Christians, individual members of each church. Christ is the Gardener, and it is He who places each flower where He wills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue Reading Notes and Commentary<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The text for <\/strong>The Pilgrim’s Progress<\/strong><\/em> is public domain<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes and Commentary for Part II \u00a92014, 2023 Ken Puls<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from 
the New King James Version (NKJV) \u00a91982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Return to A Guide to John Bunyan\u2019s The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress Part 2<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After this, he led them into his garden, where was great variety of flowers. And he said, \u201cDo you see all these?\u201d So Christiana said, \u201cYes.\u201d Then said he again, \u201cBehold the flowers are diverse in stature, in quality, in color, and smell, and virtue, and some are better than others. Also, where the gardener […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[47,54,103,62,12,11,313],"class_list":["post-2181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-the-pilgrims-progress","tag-church","tag-church-membership","tag-contentment","tag-fellowship","tag-john-bunyan","tag-pilgrims-progress","tag-unity-and-diversity"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lLgO-zb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2183,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181\/revisions\/2183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}