In Song of Solomon 2:12 the time of mating is called the “time of the singing.” This book is the love song of Jesus and his future Bride. As the time nears for the marriage, the focal rays of prophecy converge in a climactic fashion, and there comes a quickening need for these predictions to terminate in prophetic events. As the birds begin to flock together, fast and more numerous fulfillments are to be expected. All the evidences picture the near approach of God’s Kingdom and the marriage of the Lamb, which is the Song of Songs.

Isaiah 34:16 states, “Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded ‘ “ This means God’s word is sent like a bird on an errand; it will not return unto Him void but will accomplish that for which it was sent. Not one prophecy will fail because each one will be mated. In this analogy one bird represents prophecy foretold, and the other, prophecy fulfilled.

The following verses from Isaiah 21 are a corrected translation:

5. Prepare the table, watch in the lookout, eat, drink: Arise ye princes [Psalms 82:6, 7], and anoint [that is, grease with the oil of the Holy Spirit] the shield [thus deflecting more readily the darts of the enemy].

The action taken here is somewhat comparable to the preparation made by Gideon and his three hundred men in their conquest of the Midianites (Judges 7). Both pictures will have their prophetic fulfillment at the very end of the gospel dispensation.

6-9. For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go set a lookout, let him declare what he seeth. when he seeth a rider, [in the forefront (Rev. 19:11), and behind him a cavalry of] horsemen in double rank [that is, paired], a rider on an ass [a symbol of kingship (Zech. 9:9)], a rider on a camel [frequently referred to as a “ship” in the ocean-desert (cf Isa. 21:1)]; let him hearken diligently, very diligently, and then cry as a lion. Upon a watchtower I stand, 0 Lord, continually by day, and at my post I am stationed whole nights. Then: Behold, here cometh a rider-a man. Horsemen in double rank [also]. So he began and said, Has fallen, has fallen Babylon, and all the graven images of her gods, he [the Lord] hath shattered to the ground.

The camels and the asses (verses 7 and 9) are portrayed as marching side by side in double-file formation, each camel being paired with an ass, and a horseman on each animal. In other words, there was a column of camels down the line on one side, and there was a column of asses or horses down the line on the other side. They approached on the horizon like a train, each pair after the other.

When the watchman, with prophetic foresight, saw the animals thus mated together in pairs, he emphatically announced Babylon’s utter destruction. The setting of the vision is this: the watchman (the seventh messenger to the Church) “hearkened diligently with much heed” to future events, which he understood long in advance of other Bible students. Even the religious publication of which he was the founding editor was called The Watch Tower. But what is there in this particular vision to suggest that Babylon indeed had fallen? No booty or trophy of war is described to ostensibly indicate the cavalcade was returning from the scene of Babylon’s destruction.

The key is this: a rider on a camel was paired with a rider on an ass. But what is the significance of such an odd mating? Each member of the very elect rides both a camel and an ass. The camel, a conveyor of water in the desert, is a symbol of spiritual transport in the wilderness of sin and a reminder of Rebecca, who, picturing a class, rode such an animal to meet her bridegroom Isaac, a representation of Christ (Gen. 24:61-64). On the other hand, the ass is associated with victory and rulership. The judges of Israel rode on white asses (Judges 5:10). Therefore, each one who faithfully suffers with Christ during this Gospel Age will symbolically ride on the white horse of kingship (Rev. 19:14). Each animal wants its mate. If the individual is faithful in performing the one task, he is assured of the honor of participating in the other. The rider on the camel and the rider on the ass are one and the same person! In verse 7 of the prophecy, the rider on the ass is mentioned before the rider on the camel to indicate that which most recently is seen to occur. The camel represents the former fleshly condition, in which the promise of future reward was foretold, and the other animal portrays the performance faithfully fulfilled. Throughout his ministry the watchman (seventh messenger) consistently taught that the true Church would pass beyond the veil of human experience before Babylon’s final fall. Therefore, the sight in the vision of the two animals paired throughout the line of march indicates the destruction of Babylon as a past event.

10. O thou my threshing the [bruised] sons of my floor: that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.

The “threshing” and “corn of my floor” refer to the harvesting and winnowing of the wheat class at the end of the age. The interjection and infusion of sympathy, as expressed in these words, come from Christ, the chief reaper (Matt. 13:30). So far in the harvest period, there has been a remarkable lack of the kind of persecuting experiences that have occurred in past ages -on the whole, there has not been the violence or the special crushing of the Dark Ages. However, this Scripture, as well as others, seems to unmistakably indicate that in the end time “the heel” members of the Little Flock will be bruised. In other words, the millstone will grind again before it is cast into the sea (Jer. 51:63, 64). Some of the Lord’s people will find themselves between the upper and nether millstones (Rev. 18:21).

–Frank Shallieu, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”

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