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Song of Solomon 5

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1
I am come into my garden, my sister, my bride: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends; Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. ​

The Beloved's Hesitation and Regret 2–8

2
I was asleep, but my heart waked: It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; For my head is filled with dew, My locks with the drops of the night. ​
3
I have put off my garment; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? ​
4
My beloved put in his hand by the holeof the door, And my heart was moved for him. ​
5
I rose up to open to my beloved; And my hands dropped with myrrh, And my fingers with liquid myrrh, Upon the handles of the bolt.
6
I opened to my beloved; But my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone. My soul had failed me when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. ​
7
The watchmen that go about the city found me, They smote me, they wounded me; The keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me. ​
8
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved, That ye tell him, that I am sick from love. ​

The Daughters' Inquiry and the Beloved's Praise 9–16

9
What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, That thou dost so adjure us? ​
10
My beloved is white and ruddy, The chiefest among ten thousand. ​
11
His head isasthe most fine gold; His locks are bushy, and black as a raven. ​
12
His eyes are like doves beside the water-brooks, Washed with milk, and fitly set. ​
13
His cheeks are as a bed of spices, Asbanks of sweet herbs: His lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh. ​
14
His hands areasrings of gold set with beryl: His body isasivory work overlaid with sapphires. ​
15
His legs areaspillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. ​
16
His mouth is most sweet; Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Song of Solomon 5

Verse 1

I am come into my garden — The garden (gan) is the bride of 4:12, 'A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse', who asked in 4:16, 'Let my beloved come into his garden'. 'Spouse' is kallah, bride, as in Isa 61:10, 'as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels'. Wine and milk together recall Isa 55:1: 'buy wine and milk without money and without price.'

Verse 2

my heart waketh — The verb uwr is that of 'nor awake my love' (2:7; 3:5); here her heart is awake in sleep. 'Knocketh' (dafaq) is also used of those who 'beat at the door' in Judg 19:22. 'Undefiled' is tam, blameless, the word of Job 1:1, 'perfect and upright'. Christ uses the same picture: 'I stand at the door, and knock' (Rev 3:20).

Verse 3

I have put off my coat — Kuttoneth, the long garment, the word of Joseph's 'coat of many colours' (Gen 37:3). Her two excuses are questions, each opening with the same word: 'how shall I put it on?' and 'how shall I defile them?' 'Defile' (tame) is to make unclean.

Verse 4

my bowels were moved for him — 'Bowels' (me'im) are the inward parts as the seat of feeling, and 'were moved' (hamah) is to stir or sound. The same two words stand in Jer 31:20: 'my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him.' The 'hole of the door' (chor) is the opening through which he puts his hand.

Verse 6

I sought him, but I could not find him — The search of 3:1–2 returns, with a door now opened. 'Withdrawn himself' is chamaq, to turn away, found elsewhere only in Jer 31:22 ('go about'). 'Failed' is literally 'went out' (yatsa), as a soul goes out in death: 'as her soul was in departing' (Gen 35:18).

Verse 7

the keepers of the walls — The watchmen of 3:3 meet her again, now they 'smote' (nakah) and 'wounded' (patsa) her. 'Veil' (redid) is a wrap, found only here and in Isa 3:23 ('the hoods, and the vails'). Isa 62:6 uses the same word, shomerim, for the 'watchmen' set on Jerusalem's walls.

Verse 8

I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem — The oath of 2:7 and 3:5, with a new content: here they are to carry a message, not to leave love undisturbed. 'Sick of love' is the phrase of 2:5. 'Find' (matsa) is the verb of her failed search (3:1–2; 5:6), and 'tell' (nagad) is to declare.

Verse 9

fairest among women — The daughters call her this again in 6:1, and the same words stand in 1:8. Their question, 'What is thy beloved more than another beloved?', is asked twice and answered in vv.10–16, the fullest description of him in the Song. 'Charge' (shaba) is the oath of v.8.

Verse 10

the chiefest among ten thousand — Dagal is to bear a banner, found in Ps 20:5, 'we will set up our banners', and in 6:4, 10; he stands out as the standard stands over an army. 'Ten thousand' is revavah, the number of Deut 32:30. 'White' (tsach) is clear or dazzling. Ps 45:2 says of the king, 'Thou art fairer than the children of men.'

Verse 11

most fine gold — The phrase joins two words for refined gold, ketem and paz; paz is the 'fine gold' of Ps 19:10 and of the 'sockets' in v.15. 'Bushy' (taltal) occurs only here. 'Locks' (qevutsot) is the word of v.2 and found only in these two verses. The 'raven' (orev) is the bird sent out in Gen 8:7.

Verse 12

the eyes of doves — The comparison is made of her eyes in 1:15 and 4:1. 'Rivers' (afiq) are watercourses. 'Fitly set' is millet, fullness: the eye sits full in its socket, like the stones 'set in gold in their inclosings' on the high priest's breastplate (Ex 28:20). 'Washed with milk' describes their whiteness.

Verse 13

his lips like lilies — Shoshan, the flower of 2:1–2 and 2:16, where he 'feedeth among the lilies'. 'Bed' (arugah) is a garden plot, the word of 6:2. 'Dropping' (nataf) is used of speech, as in Job 29:22: 'my speech dropped upon them.'

Verse 14

set with the beryl — Tarshish is a stone of the high priest's breastplate: 'the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper' (Ex 28:20). Sappir, 'sapphires', is the stone beneath God's feet in Ex 24:10 and of the throne in Ezek 1:26. 'Belly' (me'im) is the same word as the 'bowels' of v.4.

Verse 15

sockets of fine gold — Adan is the foot-socket of the tabernacle's boards, 'sockets of silver' in Ex 26:19; here they are gold. 'Marble' (shesh) is the white stone of the 'pillars of marble' in Esth 1:6. 'Excellent' is bachar, to choose, so 'chosen as the cedars'.

Verse 16

altogether lovely — Machamaddim, 'desirable things', comes from chamad, the verb of 'great delight' in 2:3. 'Most sweet' (mamtaqqim) is a plural from mathoq, sweetness (2:3; Ps 19:10), found elsewhere only in Neh 8:10. 'Friend' (rea) is the word of the 'friends' of v.1 and the 'neighbour' of Lev 19:18.