Song of Solomon 5

The Bride and Her Beloved

The Bridegroom

¹I have come to 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.

The Friends

Eat, O friends, and drink;

drink freely, O beloved.

• SONG 5:1[NOTE]EAT, O FRIENDS. A voice blesses the new couple, maybe the wedding guests. Some think it is God Himself. Either way, the marriage is good and blessed.

The Bride

²I sleep, but my heart is awake.

A sound! 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.”

• SONG 5:2[HEART]I sleep, but my heart is awake. Love keeps the heart listening for the one it loves.
• SONG 5:2[NOTE]OPEN TO ME. Many Christians hear Jesus here: Behold, I stand at the door and knock, Revelation 3:20.

³I have taken off my robe—

must I put it back on?

I have washed my feet—

must I soil them again?

⁴My beloved put his hand to the latch;

my heart pounded for him.

• SONG 5:4[TEXT]MY HEART. The Hebrew says my insides, the deep feelings. The KJV says my bowels were moved for him. The meaning is the same.

⁵I rose up to open for my beloved.

My hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with flowing myrrh

on the handles of the bolt.

⁶I opened for my beloved,

but he had turned and gone.

My heart sank at his departure.

I sought him but did not find him.

I called, but he did not answer.

• SONG 5:6[TEXT]MY HEART SANK. The Hebrew says my soul went out, nephesh. The KJV says my soul failed.

⁷I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city.

They beat me and bruised me;

they took away my cloak,

those guardians of the walls.

• SONG 5:7[NOTE]THE WATCHMEN. This time the night search goes wrong. Many read 5:2 to 8 as a bad dream, like 3:1 to 5.

⁸O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you,

if you find my beloved,

tell him I am sick with love.

The Friends

⁹How is your beloved better than others,

O most beautiful among women?

How is your beloved better than another,

that you charge us so?

The Bride

¹⁰My beloved is dazzling and ruddy,

outstanding among ten thousand.

• SONG 5:10[NOTE]TEN THOUSAND. A way to say he stands out from everybody. In 5:10 to 16 she praises him from head to toe, the way he praised her.

¹¹His head is purest gold;

his hair is wavy and black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves

beside the streams of water,

bathed in milk

and mounted like jewels.

¹³His cheeks are like beds of spice,

towers of perfume.

His lips are like lilies,

dripping with flowing myrrh.

¹⁴His arms are rods of gold

set with beryl.

His body is polished ivory

bedecked with sapphires.

¹⁵His legs are pillars of marble

set on bases of pure gold.

His appearance is like Lebanon,

as majestic as the cedars.

¹⁶His mouth is most sweet;

he is altogether lovely.

This is my beloved, and this is my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem.

• SONG 5:16[FORESHADOW]The Altogether Lovely One → EPH 5:25-27; 5:32MEDIUM