Song of Solomon 5

So 5:1-16.

1. Answer to her prayer

(Isa 65:24;

Re 3:20).

am come--already

(So 4:16);

"come"

(Ge 28:16).

sister . . . spouse--As Adam's was created of his flesh, out of his

opened side, there being none on earth on a level with him, so the bride

out of the pierced Saviour

(Eph 5:30-32).

have gathered . . . myrrh--His course was already complete; the

myrrh, &c.

(Mt 2:11; 26:7-12;

Joh 19:39),

emblems of the indwelling of the anointing Holy Ghost, were already

gathered.

spice--literally, "balsam."

have eaten--answering to her "eat"

(So 4:16).

honeycomb--distinguished here from liquid "honey" dropping from

trees. The last supper, here set forth, is one of espousal, a pledge

of the future marriage

(So 8:14;

Re 19:9).

Feasts often took place in gardens. In the absence of sugar, then

unknown, honey was more widely used than with us. His eating honey with

milk indicates His true, yet spotless, human nature from infancy

(Isa 7:15);

and after His resurrection

(Lu 24:42).

my wine--

(Joh 18:11)

--a cup of wrath to Him, of mercy to us, whereby God's Word and

promises become to us "milk"

(Ps 19:10;

1Pe 2:2).

"My" answers to "His"

(So 4:16).

The myrrh (emblem, by its bitterness, of repentance), honey,

milk (incipient faith), wine (strong faith), in reference

to believers, imply that He accepts all their graces, however various

in degree.

eat--He desires to make us partakers in His joy

(Isa 55:1, 2;

Joh 6:53-57;

1Jo 1:3).

drink abundantly--so as to be filled

(Eph 5:18;

as

Hag 1:6).

friends--

(Joh 15:15).

CANTICLE

IV.--

(So 5:2-8:4)

--FROM THE AGONY OF GETHSEMANE TO THE CONVERSION OF

SAMARIA.

2. Sudden change of scene from evening to midnight, from a betrothal

feast to cold repulse. He has gone from the feast alone; night is come;

He knocks at the door of His espoused; she hears, but in sloth does not

shake off half-conscious drowsiness; namely, the disciples' torpor

(Mt 26:40-43),

"the spirit willing, the flesh weak" (compare

Ro 7:18-25;

Ga 5:16, 17, 24).

Not total sleep. The lamp was burning beside the

slumbering wise virgin, but wanted trimming

(Mt 25:5-7).

It is His voice that rouses her

(Jon 1:6;

Eph 5:14;

Re 3:20).

Instead of bitter reproaches, He addresses her by the most endearing

titles, "my sister, my love," &c. Compare His thought of Peter

after the denial

(Mr 16:7).

dew--which falls heavily in summer nights in the East (see

Lu 9:58).

drops of the night--

(Ps 22:2;

Lu 22:44).

His death is not expressed, as unsuitable to the allegory, a

song of love and joy;

So 5:4

refers to the scene in the judgment hall of Caiaphas, when Jesus Christ

employed the cock-crowing and look of love to awaken Peter's sleeping

conscience, so that his "bowels were moved"

(Lu 22:61, 62);

So 5:5, 6,

the disciples with "myrrh," &c.

(Lu 24:1, 5),

seeking Jesus Christ in the tomb, but finding Him not, for He has

"withdrawn Himself"

(Joh 7:34; 13:33);

So 5:7,

the trials by watchmen extend through the whole night of His withdrawal

from Gethsemane to the resurrection; they took off the "veil" of

Peter's disguise; also, literally the linen cloth from the young man

(Mr 14:51);

So 5:8,

the sympathy of friends

(Lu 23:27).

undefiled--not polluted by spiritual adultery

(Re 14:4;

Jas 4:4).

3. Trivial excuses

(Lu 14:18).

coat--rather, the inmost vest, next the skin, taken off before going

to bed.

washed . . . feet--before going to rest, for they had

been soiled, from the Eastern custom of wearing sandals, not shoes.

Sloth

(Lu 11:7)

and despondency

(De 7:17-19).

4. A key in the East is usually a piece of wood with pegs in it

corresponding to small holes in a wooden bolt within, and is put through

a hole in the door, and thus draws the bolt. So Jesus Christ "puts forth

His hand (namely, His Spirit,

Eze 3:14),

So 2:9)

the hole"; in "chastening"

(Ps 38:2;

Re 3:14-22,

singularly similar to this passage), and other unexpected ways letting

Himself in

(Lu 22:61, 62).

bowels . . . moved for him--It is His which are first troubled for us,

and which cause ours to be troubled for Him

(Jer 31:20;

Ho 11:8).

5. dropped with myrrh--The best proof a bride could give her lover

of welcome was to anoint herself (the back of the hands especially, as

being the coolest part of the body) profusely with the best perfumes

(Ex 30:23;

Es 2:12;

Pr 7:17);

"sweet-smelling" is in the Hebrew rather, "spontaneously

exuding" from the tree, and therefore the best. She designed

also to anoint Him, whose "head was filled with the drops of night"

(Lu 24:1).

The myrrh typifies bitter repentance, the fruit of the Spirit's

unction

(2Co 1:21, 22).

handles of the lock--sins which closed the heart against Him.

6. withdrawn--He knocked when she was sleeping; for to

have left her then would have ended in the death sleep; He

withdraws now that she is roused, as she needs correction

(Jer 2:17, 19),

and can appreciate and safely bear it now, which she could not then.

"The strong He'll strongly try"

(1Co 10:13).

when he spake--rather, "because of His speaking"; at the remembrance

of His tender words

(Job 29:2, 3;

Ps 27:13; 142:7),

or till He should speak.

no answer--

(Job 23:3-9; 30:20; 34:29;

La 3:44).

Weak faith receives immediate comfort

(Lu 8:44, 47, 48);

strong faith is tried with delay

(Mt 15:22, 23).

7. watchmen--historically, the Jewish priests, &c. (see on

So 5:2);

spiritually, ministers

(Isa 62:6;

Heb 13:17),

faithful in "smiting"

(Psalm 141. 5),

but (as she leaves them,

{v.} 8)

too harsh; or, perhaps, unfaithful; disliking her zeal wherewith she

sought Jesus Christ, first, with spiritual prayer, "opening" her heart

to Him, and then in charitable works "about the city"; miscalling it

fanaticism

(Isa 66:5),

and taking away her veil (the greatest indignity to an Eastern lady),

as though she were positively immodest. She had before sought Him by

night in the streets, under strong affection

(So 3:2-4),

and so without rebuff from "the watchmen," found Him immediately; but

now after sinful neglect, she encounters pain and delay. God forgives

believers, but it is a serious thing to draw on His forgiveness; so the

growing reserve of God towards Israel observable in Judges, as His

people repeat their demands on His grace.

8. She turns from the unsympathizing watchmen to humbler persons,

not yet themselves knowing Him, but in the way towards it. 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.

9. Her own beauty

(Eze 16:14),

and lovesickness for Him, elicit now their enquiry

(Mt 5:16);

heretofore "other lords besides Him had dominion over them"; thus they

had seen "no beauty in Him"

(Isa 26:13; 53:2).

10.

(1Pe 3:15).

white and ruddy--health and beauty. So David (equivalent to

beloved), His forefather after the flesh, and type

(1Sa 17:42).

"The Lamb" is at once His nuptial and sacrificial name

(1Pe 1:19;

Re 19:7),

characterized by white and red; white, His spotless manhood

(Re 1:14).

The Hebrew for white is properly "illuminated by the

sun," white as the light" (compare

Mt 17:2);

red, in His blood-dyed garment as slain

(Isa 63:1-3;

Re 5:6; 19:13).

Angels are white, not red; the blood of martyrs does not enter heaven;

His alone is seen there.

chiefest--literally, "a standard bearer"; that is, as conspicuous

above all others, as a standard bearer is among hosts

(Ps 45:7; 89:6;

Isa 11:10; 55:4;

Heb 2:10;

compare

2Sa 18:3;

Job 33:23;

Php 2:9-11;

Re 1:5).

The chief of sinners needs the "chiefest" of Saviours.

11. head . . . gold--the Godhead of Jesus Christ, as distinguished

from His heel, that is, His manhood, which was "bruised" by Satan;

both together being one Christ

(1Co 11:3).

Also His sovereignty, as Nebuchadnezzar, the supreme king was "the head

of gold"

(Da 2:32-38;

Col 1:18),

the highest creature, compared with Him, is brass, iron, and clay.

"Preciousness" (Greek,

1Pe 2:7).

bushy--curled, token of Headship. In contrast with her

flowing locks

(So 4:1),

the token of her subjection to Him

(Ps 8:4-8;

1Co 11:3, 6-15).

The Hebrew is (pendulous as) the branches of a palm,

which, when in leaf, resemble waving plumes of feathers.

black--implying youth; no "gray hairs"

(Ps 102:27; 110:3, 4;

Ho 7:9).

Jesus Christ was crucified in the prime of vigor and manliness. In

heaven, on the other hand, His hair is "white," He being the Ancient of

days

(Da 7:9).

These contrasts often concur in Him

(So 5:10),

"white and ruddy"; here the "raven"

(So 5:12),

the "dove," as both with Noah in the ark

(Ge 8:11);

emblems of judgment and mercy.

12. as the eyes of doves--rather, "as doves"

(Ps 68:13);

bathing in "the rivers"; so combining in their "silver" feathers the

whiteness of milk with the sparkling brightness of the

water trickling over them

(Mt 3:16).

The "milk" may allude to the white around the pupil of the eye. The

"waters" refer to the eye as the fountain of tears of sympathy

(Eze 16:5, 6;

Lu 19:41).

Vivacity, purity, and love, are the three features typified.

fitly set--as a gem in a ring; as the precious stones in the

high priest's breastplate. Rather, translate as Vulgate (the

doves), sitting at the fulness of the stream; by the full

stream; or, as MAURER (the eyes) set in

fulness, not sunk in their sockets

(Re 5:6),

("seven," expressing full perfection),

(Zec 3:9; 4:10).

13. cheeks--the seat of beauty, according to the Hebrew meaning

[GESENIUS]. Yet men smote and spat on them

(Isa 50:6).

bed--full, like the raised surface of the garden bed; fragrant with

ointments, as beds with aromatic plants (literally, "balsam").

sweet flowers--rather, "terraces of aromatic

herbs"--"high-raised parterres of sweet plants," in parallelism to

"bed," which comes from a Hebrew root, meaning "elevation."

lips--

(Ps 45:2;

Joh 7:46).

lilies--red lilies. Soft and gentle

(1Pe 2:22, 23).

How different lips were man's

(Ps 22:7)!

dropping . . . myrrh--namely, His lips, just as the sweet dewdrops

which hang in the calyx of the lily.

14. rings set with . . . beryl--Hebrew, Tarshish, so called from

the city. The ancient chrysolite, gold in color (Septuagint), our

topaz, one of the stones on the high priest's breastplate, also in the

foundation of New Jerusalem

(Re 21:19, 20;

also

Da 10:6).

"Are as," is plainly to be supplied, see in

So 5:13

a similiar ellipsis; not as MOODY STUART: "have gold rings." The hands bent in are

compared to beautiful rings, in which beryl is set, as the nails are in

the fingers. BURROWES explains the rings as

cylinders used as signets, such as are found in Nineveh, and

which resemble fingers. A ring is the token of sonship

(Lu 15:22).

A slave was not allowed to wear a gold ring. He imparts His

sonship and freedom to us

(Ga 4:7);

also of authority

(Ge 41:42;

compare

Joh 6:27).

He seals us in the name of God with His signet

(Re 7:2-4),

compare below,

So 8:6,

where she desires to be herself a signet-ring on His arms; so

"graven on the palms," &c., that is, on the signet-ring in His hand

(Isa 49:16;

contrast

Hag 2:23,

with Jer 22:24).

belly--BURROWES and

MOODY

STUART translate, "body."

NEWTON, as it is

elsewhere, "bowels"; namely, His compassion

(Ps 22:14;

Isa 63:15;

Jer 31:20;

Ho 11:8).

bright--literally, "elaborately wrought so as to shine," so His

"prepared" body

(Heb 10:5);

the "ivory palace" of the king

(Ps 45:8);

spotless, pure, so the bride's "neck is as to tower of ivory"

(So 7:4).

sapphires--spangling in the girdle around Him

(Da 10:5).

"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. As, however, the

bride and bridegroom are in public, the usual robes on the person,

richly ornamented, are presupposed

(Isa 11:5).

Sapphires indicate His heavenly nature (so

Joh 3:13,

"is in heaven"), even in His humiliation, overlaying or

cast "over" His ivory human body

(Ex 24:10).

Sky-blue in color, the height and depth of the love of

Jesus Christ

(Eph 3:18).

15. pillars--strength and steadfastness. Contrast man's "legs"

(Ec 12:3).

Allusion to the temple

(1Ki 5:8, 9; 7:21),

the "cedars" of "Lebanon"

(Ps 147:10).

Jesus Christ's "legs" were not broken on the cross, though the thieves'

were; on them rests the weight of our salvation

(Ps 75:3).

sockets of fine gold--His sandals, answering to the bases of the

pillars; "set up from everlasting"

(Pr 8:22, 23).

From the head

(So 5:11)

to the feet, "of fine gold." He was tried in the fire and found without

alloy.

countenance--rather, "His aspect," including both mien and

stature (compare

2Sa 23:21,

Margin; with

1Ch 11:23).

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).

Also the cedars' duration

(Heb 1:11);

greenness

(Lu 23:31),

and refuge afforded by it

(Eze 17:22, 23).

16. Literally, "His palate is sweetness, yea, all over

loveliness," that is, He is the essence of these qualities.

mouth--so

So 1:2,

not the same as "lips"

(So 5:13),

His breath

(Isa 11:4;

Joh 20:22).

"All over," all the beauties scattered among creatures are

transcendently concentrated in Him

(Col 1:19; 2:9).

my beloved--for I love Him.

my friend--for He loves me

(Pr 18:24).

Holy boasting

(Ps 34:2;

1Co 1:31).