The Bunyan figure of the Beulah-land.
Hephzi-bah was the wife of Hezekiah, and mother of Manasseh. Very uncertain tradition says she was a daughter of the Prophet Isaiah. The name means, "My delight is in her," and Dr. C. Geikie says, "Her name, whether given at her marriage or earlier, wakes a thought of old-world tenderness and poetry. Was it a fond reminiscence of one he had loved and respected, when Isaiah tells us that Jehovah will make Zion, after her long desolation, once more his Hephzi-bah?" The word "Beulah" means "married," and the figure rests upon the Eastern notion of the desolate condition of a maiden or a widow, and the happy satisfied state of the married woman, who has husband and home. A "married" land is one watched over, tended, cared for, and loved. Bunyan uses the name to represent the "waiting time" of old age, or of frailty, in which God's people tarry awhile ere they pass over the river. If somewhat fanciful, his picture is both beautiful and suggestive. "Now I saw in my dream, that by this time the pilgrims were got over the Enchanted Ground, and entering into the country of Beulah; … whose air was very sweet and pleasant; the way lying directly through it, they solaced themselves there for a season. Yea, here they heard continually the singing of birds, and, saw every day the flowers appear in the earth, and heard the voice of the turtle in the land. In this country the sun shineth night and day: wherefore this was beyond the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and also out of the reach of Giant Despair; neither could they from this place so much as see Doubting Castle. Here they were within sight of the city they were going to: also here met them some of the inhabitants thereof; for in this land the shining ones commonly walked, because it was upon the borders of heaven. In this land also the contract between the Bride and the Bridegroom was renewed; yea, here 'as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so doth thy God rejoice over thee.' Here they had no want of corn and wine; for in this place they met with abundance of what they had sought for in all their pilgrimages." This passage is taken from the first part of the 'Pilgrim's Progress,' but a similar passage at the close of the second part should be examined. The following divisions may serve as guides in the spiritualizing of this Beulah-figure.
I. BEULAH-LAND REPRESENTS TIMES OF PEACE AFTER CONFLICT WITH SIN. Such times come in various parts of our life, and are times of refreshing.
II. BEULAH-LAND REPRESENTS TIMES OF COMFORT AND REST AFTER DIVINE CHASTISEMENTS. God is very tender over the healing of his smitten ones, and gives seasons when the very heavens drop balm.
III. BEULAH-LAND REPRESENTS TIMES OF WAITING WHEN EARTH'S TOIL IS ENDED. The beautiful time of holy old age, full of sweet memories and patient trust.—R.T.
The work of the praying men amongst us.
"Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchers; all day and all night they are never silent: ye that are Jehovah's remembrancers, take ye no rest, and give no rest to him, until he establish and until he make Jerusalem a renown in the earth" (Cheyne). If the watchers are men, the idea is that during all the years of Israel's captivity, her watchmen, remembrancers, or praying men, are to keep at their work without ceasing, as it were, every day reminding God of his people and of his promise. The figure of the verse is taken from the temple-service, in which there was appointed a constant watch day and night by the Levites. The watches in the East, even to this day, are performed by a loud cry from time to time by the watchmen, both to mark the time and to show that they are constantly attentive to their duty. Possibly the first reference of the figure is to angel-guards appointed by Jehovah; but we may reasonably use the figure for the earth-messengers of Jehovah, the pious praying souls who are his intercessors among his people. As intercessors, these men—
I. KEEP GOD REMINDED OF HIS PEOPLE. It is a small objection, indicating very superficial thinking, that "God cannot need to be reminded of anything." The answer is easy. If God is pleased graciously to reveal himself in certain relations, he graciously condescends to accept all the conditions involved in those relations. Children tell their parents what the parents know, and both children and parents are blessed in the telling. The prayers preserved for us in the Bible are full of things which God must know. It might be a thought full of help and cheer to us all that while, busied with our earth-cares, we may be forgetting God, our pious brothers and sisters, our praying men and women, Zion's watchmen, are keeping God reminded of us. The bells that sound for morning prayers throughout our land are a voice that God hears as truly as man. Praying men keep Zion's walls ever before her King.
II. KEEP GOD'S PEOPLE EVER REMINDED OF THEIR GOD. Of this there is abundant necessity. Both prosperity and adversity tend to make us forgetful of our God. Even the steady ongoing, that has no ups and. downs, makes the thought of God fade in our minds. So we need the witness of our watchers, our praying men, and their muezzin, or call to prayer. Especially bring out that we need to be kept in mind of the Lord's provisions and promises—the assurance of our full and final redemption. They who pray amongst us, "Thy kingdom come," keep us constantly reminded that there is a necessary preparation for all who are to share in the kingdom.—R.T.