Song of Solomon5chapter 5

Song of Solomon 5:1

“We read also in the Song of Songs: "Come, brothers, drink and be inebriated." And wine which gladdens the heart of man. This fleshly wine does not gladden the heart of man, but overwhelms it, and makes it mad. Indeed, it is written that those who are powerful should not drink wine. The apostle too writes that we ought not to drink wine and eat flesh. Again it is said to us: And wine gladdens the heart of man. But it speaks of a spiritual wine, which, if anyone drinks it, he is immediately inebriated.”

Song of Solomon 5:1

“My honeycomb - literally, “my reed” or “my wood,” i. e., the substance itself, or portions of it in which the comb is formed. The bees in Palestine form their combs not only in the hollows of trees and rocks, but also in reeds by the river-banks.”

Song of Solomon 5:1

No sooner does the spouse say, "Let my Beloved come into His garden," than her Lord answers, "I am come into My garden." "Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." When we desire our Lord Jesus to come to us, He has already come, in a measure—our desire is the result of His coming! He meets us in all our desires, for He waits to be gracious. Our, "Come," is no sooner uttered than it is lost in His, "Behold, I come quickly!"

Song of Solomon 5:1

“The great work of man's redemption, and the riches of the covenant of grace, are a feast to the Lord Jesus and they ought to be so to us. The invitation is very free, and hearty, and loving: Eat, O friends! If Christ comes to sup with us, it is we that sup with him, Rev. iii.”

Song of Solomon 5:2-5

“She is now awakened from sleep by him, although she was keeping watch with her heart so that she might hear his voice at once when he knocked. But while she was rising, she experienced a delay, because she could not match the swiftness of the Word. While she was opening the door, the Word passed by.”

Song of Solomon 5:2

“I sleep, but my heart waketh,.... Like persons that are half awake, half asleep, whom Cicero (x) calls "semisomni".”

Song of Solomon 5:2

“I sleep, but my heart waketh - This is a new part; and some suppose that the fifth day’s solemnity begins here. Though I sleep, yet so impressed is may heart with the excellences of my beloved, that my imagination presents him to me in the most pleasing dreams throughout the night.”

Song of Solomon 5:2

“Those that by faith are espoused to Christ he looks upon as his sisters, his loves, his doves, and all that is dear; and, being clothed with his righteousness, they are undefiled. This consideration should induce her to open to him. Christ's love to us should engage ours to him, even in the most self-denying instances.”

Song of Solomon 5:3

“In this night of the world the garment of corporeal life is first to be taken off as the Lord divested himself in his flesh that for you he might triumph over the dominions and powers of this world.”

Song of Solomon 5:3

“I have put off my coat - The bride must have been in a dream or in much disorder of mind to have made the frivolous excuses here mentioned. The words relate to the case of a person who had gone to take rest on his bed. As they wore nothing but sandals, they were obliged to wash their feet previously to their lying down. I have washed my feet, taken off my clothes, and am gone to bed: I cannot therefore be disturbed. A Hindoo always washes his feet before he goes to bed.”

Song of Solomon 5:3

“When, all too late, the bride did arise, she seems to have been more concerned to anoint herself with the liquid myrrh than to speedily welcome her waiting Lord.”

Song of Solomon 5:4

“My beloved put in his hand - If it were a real scene, which is mentioned in this and the two following verses, it must refer, from the well-known use of the metaphors, to matrimonial endearments. Or, it may refer to his attempts to open the door, when she hesitated to arise, on the grounds mentioned Son 5:3. But this also bears every evidence of a dream.”

Song of Solomon 5:4

“By the hole - He assayed to open the door. When his word would not prevail, his spirit, which is called the finger of God, Luke xi, 20, wrought inwardly upon my conscience.”

Song of Solomon 5:4

“Her compliance with these methods of divine grace at last: My bowels were moved for him. The will was gained by a good work wrought upon the affections: My bowels were moved for him, as those of the two disciples were when Christ made their hearts to burn within them. She was moved with compassion to her beloved, because his head was wet with dew.”

Song of Solomon 5:5

"I sleep, but my heart is awake." Let us learn what food and produce God feasts upon and in which ones he takes pleasure. He takes pleasure in this, if anyone dies to his sin, blots out his guilt, and destroys and buries his iniquities. The myrrh represents the burial of the dead, but sins are dead, for they cannot possess the sweetness of life. Moreover, some wounds of sinners are moistened with the ointments of Scripture and the stronger food of the word as with bread, and are treated with the sweeter word like honey.

Song of Solomon 5:5

“Sweet smelling myrrh - Or (as in the margin) “running myrrh,” that which first and spontaneously exudes, i. e., the freshest, finest myrrh. Even in withdrawing he has left this token of his unchanged love.”

Song of Solomon 5:5

“By which she signifies, that Christ, though he withdrew himself from her, yet left a sweet savour behind him. The handles - Hebrew. with myrrh passing or flowing upon the handles of the lock, which place the bridegroom had touched when he attempted to open it.”

Song of Solomon 5:5

“Christ will be sought while he may be found; if we slip our time, we may lose our passage. Note, (1.) Christ justly rebukes our delays with his denials, and suspends the communications of comfort from those that are remiss and drowsy in their duty. (2.) Christ's departures are matter of great grief and lamentation to believers.”

Song of Solomon 5:6

"I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had gone." What is this going? Simply that he has penetrated into the center of the mind as it was said to Mary, "And his sword will pierce your soul." For the living Word of God, as piercing as a sharp sword, comprehends both the limits of bodily thoughts and the secret places of the heart.

Song of Solomon 5:7

“Took away my veil - They tore it off rudely, to discover who she was. See on Son 5:2 (note). To tear the veil signifies, in Eastern phrase, to deflower or dishonor a woman.”

Song of Solomon 5:7

“Disconsolate saints are taken for sinners, and are censured and reproached as such. Thus Hannah, when she was praying in the bitterness of her soul, was wounded and smitten by Eli, one of the prime watchmen, when he said to her, How long wilt thou be drunken? so counting her a daughter of Belial, 1 Sam. i.”

Song of Solomon 5:8

“I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,.... Young converts, as before observed; who, upon the hideous outcry the church made in the streets, came to her to know what was the matter, whom she addressed as after related; this shows the humility and condescension of the church, in desiring the assistance of weaker saints in her present case, and her earnestness and resolution to make use of all ways and means she could to find her beloved; and it becomes saints to be assisting to one another; and conversation with one another, even with weak believers, is often useful.”

Song of Solomon 5:8

“I am sick of love - “I am exceedingly concerned for his absence; and am distressed on account of my thoughtless carriage towards him.” The latter clause may be well translated, “What should ye tell him?” Why, “that I am sick of love.” This ends the transactions of the third day and night.”

Song of Solomon 5:8

“Historically, His secret friends in the night of His withdrawal (Lu 23:27, 28). Inquirers may find ("if ye find") Jesus Christ before she who has grieved His Spirit finds Him again. tell--in prayer (Jas 5:16). sick of love--from an opposite cause (So 2:5) than through excess of delight at His presence; now excess of pain at His absence.”

Song of Solomon 5:8

“It is better to be sick of love to Christ than at ease in love to the world. (2.) What course she took in this condition. She did not sink into despair, and conclude that she should die of her disease, but she sent after her beloved; she asked the advice of her neighbours, and begged their prayers for her, that they would intercede with him on her behalf.”

Song of Solomon 5:9

“Section 5:9–6:3: The bride’s commendation of the beloved. In the allegorical interpretations of Jewish expositors all is here spoken by exiled Israel of the Holy One whose praise she sings “by the waters of Babylon” Psa 137:1. Christian interpreters apply the description directly to the Incarnate Son, partly in His Eternal Godhead, but chiefly in His risen and glorified Humanity.”

Song of Solomon 5:10

"My beloved is white and ruddy." It is fitting, O virgin, that you should fully know him whom you love, and should recognize in him all the mystery of his divine nature and the body which he has assumed. He is white fittingly, for he is the brightness of the Father; and ruddy, for he was born of a Virgin. The color of each nature shines and glows in him.

Song of Solomon 5:10

“My beloved is white and ruddy,.... This, and the following verses, contain the church's answer to the question of the daughters; she first gives a general description of her beloved, and then descends to particulars: the description of him in general is, that he is "white and ruddy"; having the whiteness of the lily, and the redness of the rose, Son 2:1; which make a perfect beauty.”

Song of Solomon 5:10

“My beloved is white and ruddy - Red and white, properly mixed, are essential to a fine complexion; and this is what is intimated: he has the finest complexion among ten thousand persons; not one in that number is equal to him. Literally, “He bears the standard among ten thousand men;” or “He is one before whom a standard is borne,” i.e., he is captain or chief of the whole.”

Song of Solomon 5:11

“His hair lifted like palm trees, etc. The hair of the beloved's head is the throng of saints, who adhere to God with faithful service; and deservedly are they compared to raised palm trees, because they expect the sweetness of perpetual reward. Hence it is …”

Song of Solomon 5:11

“His head is as the most fine gold - Perhaps in the sense of noble and precious as the finest gold. Lam 4:2. Bushy - Waving like branches of the palm.”

Song of Solomon 5:11

“We need not aim at a distinct application of this and the following particulars, unto some special excellency of Christ, because such things are mere conjectures, and the only design of this description is, to set forth the beauty of Christ under the notion of a most amiable person, in whom there is no defect or blemish, from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet.”

Song of Solomon 5:12

“In doves, the eyes are signified. For when it says, "doves over the abundance of the waters," it means this kind of bird when it comes to the waters. There it is accustomed to suffer the attacks of the hawk and to detect its hostile arrival in flight when it sees the shadow of its wings in the waters. And so it escapes the deceit of imminent peril by the keen vision of its eyes. For if you could thus look out for the snares of the devil and avoid them, you would offer "doves" as a sacrifice to God.”

Song of Solomon 5:12

“His eyes are as the eyes of doves - See on Son 4:1 (note). Washed with milk - The white of the eye, exceedingly white. By the use of stibium, in the East, the eye is rendered very beautiful; and receives such a lustre from the use of this article, that, to borrow the expression of a late traveler, “their eyes appear to be swimming in bliss.” I believe this expression to be the meaning of the text. Fitly set - Or, as the margin, very properly, sitting in fullness; not sunk, not contracted.”

Song of Solomon 5:13

“Sweet flowers - Better as in the margin, i. e., plants with fragrant leaves and flowers trained on trellis-work. Like lilies - Are lilies dropping liquid myrrh (see the Son 5:5 note). Perhaps the fragrance of the flowers, or the delicate curl of the lip-like petals, is here the point of comparison, rather than the color.”

Song of Solomon 5:13

“IN this chapter the spouse describes in detail the Person of her Beloved. She is not satisfied with saying, "He is altogether lovely," but she delights to talk of the charms of each part of His sacred Person and to picture the beauties of His Divine form and features, so that thereby she may, perhaps, win some other heart, first to admire and then to love Him. Dear Friends, there are some things about which you will be wise not to go into details.”

Song of Solomon 5:14

“His hands are like cylinders of gold, etc. After the lips, the Church praises the hands of her Redeemer, that is, His deeds after His words, because He showed by His actions that what He taught with words was to be believed. For instance, while …”

Song of Solomon 5:14

“His hands - gold rings set with the beryl - This really seems to refer to gold rings set with precious stones on the fingers, and perhaps to circlets or bracelets about the wrists. Some suppose it to refer to the roundness and exquisite symmetry of the hand and fingers. תרשיש tarshish, which we translate beryl, a gem of a sea-green tint, had better be translated chrysolite, which is of a gold color.”

Song of Solomon 5:14

"To the pure all things are pure." As in statuary to the artist the partly undraped figure is suggestive only of beauty, free from indelicacy, so to the saint the personal excellencies of Jesus Christ, typified under the ideal of the noblest human form.

Song of Solomon 5:14

“Beryl - Beautiful, and precious, and richly adorned, as it were with gold rings set with precious stones. Belly - Which seems to be here used, for the whole body, reaching from the neck to the bottom of the belly. Saphires - Of a pure and bright white colour, intermixt with blue veins; for some saphires are of a bright blue colour.”

Song of Solomon 5:15

Who indeed but Christ could dare to claim the church as his bride, whom he alone, and none other, has called from Libanus, saying, "Come here from Lebanon, my bride; come here from Lebanon"? Or of whom else could the church have said, "His throat is sweetness, and he is altogether desirable"? And seeing that we entered upon this discussion from speaking of the shoes of his feet, to whom else but the Word of God incarnate can those words apply? "His legs are pillars of marble, set upon bases of gold."

Song of Solomon 5:15

“From the several parts, she proceeds to the general effect of the whole person of Jesus Christ. Lebanon--so called from its white limestone rocks. excellent--literally, "choice," that is, fair and tall as the cedars on Lebanon (Eze 31:3, &c.). Majesty is the prominent thought (Ps 21:5).”

Song of Solomon 5:15

“Marble - White, and strait, and well shaped and strong. Gold - His feet are compared to gold, for their singular brightness, for which they are compared to fine-brass, Rev. i, 15. Countenance - Hebrew. his aspect or appearance, his form or person.”

Song of Solomon 5:15

“This sets forth the stateliness and magnificence of the goings of our God, our King, in his sanctuary ( Ps. lxviii. 24 ), and the steadiness and evenness of all his dispensations towards his people. The ways of the Lord are equal; they are all mercy and truth; these are the pillars of marble, more lasting than the pillars of heaven.”

Song of Solomon 5:16

“His mouth is most sweet,.... Or sweetness itself (k); yea, "sweetnesses" (l); exceeding sweet.”

Song of Solomon 5:16

His mouth is most sweet - His eloquence is great, and his voice is charming. Every word he speaks is sweetness, mildness, and benevolence itself. Then, her powers of description failing, and metaphor exhausted she cries out, “The whole of him is loveliness. This is my beloved, and this is my companion, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.”

Song of Solomon 5:16

“WHEN THE OLD PURITAN MINISTER had delivered his discourse, and dwelt upon firstly, and secondly, and thirdly, and perhaps upon twenty-fifthly, before he sat down he usually gave a comprehensive summary of all that he had spoken. Every one who carefully noted the summary would carry away the essence of the sermon. The summary was always looked upon by the Puritan hearer as one of the most valuable helps to memory, and consequently a most important part of the discourse. In these five words the spouse here gives you her summary.”

Song of Solomon 5:16

“Here is a true believer, [1.] Giving an entire consent to Christ: "He is mine, my Lord and my God ( John xx. 28 ), mine according to the tenour of the gospel-covenant, mine in all relations, bestowed upon me, to be all that to me that my poor soul stands in need of." [2.] Taking an entire complacency in Christ.”