1 Christ awakes the church with his calling. 2 The church having a taste of Christ’s love is sick of love. 9 A description of Christ by his graces.
1Son 5:1 I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat, friends, and drink; drink your fill of love.
This verse belongs properly in the preceding chapter. It is Solomon’s response to the maid’s consent to marriage.
Eat, friends. Evidently spoken to the guests at the wedding feast.
The Bride Searches for Her Beloved
Son 5:2 I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”
Here begins a new section. The bride relates a troubled dream. She dreams that her beloved came to her at night, and by a moment’s delay she lost him. This is similar to the dream related in ch. 3:1–5, only here the emphasis is on the trouble rather than on the happy outcome.
Son 5:3 I have taken off my robe— must I put it on again? I have washed my feet— must I soil them again?
She seems to be saying, “I have retired for the night; do not disturb me.”
Son 5:4 My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening; my heart began to pound for him.
These words are supplied and perhaps correctly so. Some think he may have extended his hand through the latticed window of her home.
Son 5:5 I arose to open for my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh, on the handles of the bolt.
Son 5:6 I opened for my beloved, but my beloved had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer
Called him. We may suppose an expression of disappointment as the lover goes away. I sought him. Probably still in her troubled dream.
Son 5:7 The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen of the walls!
Took away my cloak. Evidently to see who she was.
Son 5:8 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you— if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love.
In her dream she finds herself speak to the daughters of Jerusalem to help her find her beloved.
Son 5:9 How is your beloved better than others, most beautiful of women? How is your beloved better than others, that you so charge us?
The Bride Praises Her Beloved
Son 5:10 My beloved is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand.
A fitting title of Christ. The description of the bridegroom continues through v. 16 and reaches a climax in the expression “He is altogether lovely.” This description is frequently coupled with the title, “chiefest among ten thousand,” when referring to Christ .
Son 5:11 His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven.
Son 5:12 His eyes are like doves by the water streams, washed in milk, mounted like jewels.
Son 5:13 His cheeks are like beds of spice yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh.
Son 5:14 His arms are rods of gold set with topaz. His body is like polished ivory decorated with lapis lazuli.
Son 5:15 His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.
Son 5:16 His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.