Song of Solomon 5:2

5:2-8 Churches and believers, by carelessness and security, provoke Christ to withdraw. We ought to notice our spiritual slumbers and distempers. Christ knocks to awaken us, knocks by his word and Spirit, knocks by afflictions and by our consciences; thus, Re 3:20. When we are unmindful of Christ, still he thinks of us. Christ's love to us should engage ours to him, even in the most self-denying instances; and we only can be gainers by it. Careless souls put slights on Jesus Christ. Another could not be sent to open the door. Christ calls to us, but we have no mind, or pretend we have no strength, or we have no time, and think we may be excused. Making excuses is making light of Christ. Those put contempt upon Christ, who cannot find in their hearts to bear a cold blast, or to leave a warm bed for him. See the powerful influences of Divine grace. He put in his hand to unbolt the door, as one weary of waiting. This betokens a work of the Spirit upon the soul. The believer's rising above self-indulgence, seeking by prayer for the consolations of Christ, and to remove every hinderance to communion with him; these actings of the soul are represented by the hands dropping sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the locks. But the Beloved was gone! By absenting himself, Christ will teach his people to value his gracious visits more highly. Observe, the soul still calls Christ her Beloved. Every desertion is not despair. Lord, I believe, though I must say, Lord, help my unbelief.

His words melted me, yet, wretch that I was, I made excuses. The smothering and stifling of convictions will be very bitter to think of, when God opens our eyes. The soul went in pursuit of him; not only prayed, but used means, sought him in the ways wherein he used to be found. The watchmen wounded me. Some refer it to those who misapply the word to awakened consciences. The charge to the daughters of Jerusalem, seems to mean the distressed believer's desire of the prayers of the feeblest Christian. Awakened souls are more sensible of Christ's withdrawings than of any other trouble.

Song of Solomon 5:2 . I sleep — I was dull and sluggish; but my heart waketh — Yet in my very sleep my thoughts run upon my beloved. It is the voice of my beloved — Between sleeping and waking, I heard his voice; that knocketh — By his word, and providence, and Spirit, at the door of my heart; saying, Open to me — Inviting me to let him into my soul; my sister, my love, &c. — This heap of kind compellations signifies Christ’s fervent affection to his people. My head is filled with dew — While I wait without the door, which signifies his sufferings for the church’s good. My locks with the drops of the night — The dew which falls in the night.

(2) I sleep. —This begins the old story under an image already employed ( Song of Solomon 3:1 ). Here it is greatly amplified and elaborated. The poet pictures his lady dreaming of him, and when he seems to visit her, anxious to admit him. But, as is so common in dreams, at first she cannot. The realities which had hindered their union reappear in the fancies of sleep. Then, when the seeming hindrance is withdrawn, she finds him gone, and, as before, searches for him in vain. This gives opportunity to introduce the description of the charms of the lost lover, and so the end of the piece, the union of the pair, is delayed to Song of Solomon 6:3 . My head is filled with dew.—Anacreon, iii. 10 is often compared to this. “‘ Fear not,’ said he, with piteous din, ‘Pray ope the door and let me in. A poor unshelter’d boy am I, For help who knows not where to fly: Lost in the dark, and with the dews, All cold and wet, that midnight brews.’” (Comp. also Propert. i. 16-23; Ovid, Amor. Ii. 19-21.)

{b} I sleep, but my heart waketh: 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, and my locks with the drops of the {c} night. (b) The spouse says that she is troubled with the cares of worldly things, which is meant by sleeping. (c) Declaring the long patience of the Lord toward sinners.

Some time may be supposed to have elapsed since the bride's solemn espousals with the king Cant. 4:7-5:1. A transient cloud of doubt or estrangement is now passing over her soul, as by the relation of this dream she intimates to her friends. Ancient allegorical interpreters find here a symbol of the condition and feelings of Israel during the Babylonian captivity, when the glories and privileges of Solomon's Temple were no more, and the manifested presence of the Holy One had been withdrawn. Israel in exile seeks the Lord Sol 5:8, and will find Him again in the second temple Sol 6:3-9. I sleep, but my heart waketh - A poetical periphrasis for "I dream." Compare the ancient saying: "Dreams are the vigils of those who slumber, hopes are waking dreams." The voice - Or, "sound." Compare Sol 2:8, note. She hears him knocking before he speaks. My undefiled - literally, "my perfect one." Vulgate "immaculata mea." Compare Sol 4:7.

I sleep, Heb. I was asleep , i.e. I was dull, and sluggish, and insensible of his kind expressions and offers of grace. But my heart waketh; yet in my very sleep my thoughts were running upon my Beloved, as is not unusual in such cases, which at last awakened me. Thus she implies the conflict which was between the flesh and the Spirit, and the Spirit’s victory in the combat. It is the voice of my Beloved; between sleeping and waking I fancied that I heard his voice. That knocketh, by his word, and providence, and Spirit, at the door of mine heart, desirous that I would receive him by faith and love. Compare Revelation 3:20 . Saying, Open to me; inviting me to accept of his gracious offers, and to let him in to my soul. My sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: this heap of kind compellations signifies Christ’s sincere and fervent affection to his people, notwithstanding her manifold imperfections and infirmities. The title of dove signifies her chastity and constant faithfulness to her Husband, for which doves are famous. How she is undefiled, See Poole "Song of Solomon 4:7" . My head is filled with dew, whilst I wait without thy door. He alludes to the custom of lovers, which oft and willingly suffer such inconveniences for their hopes and desires of enjoying their beloved, and signifies his sufferings for the church’s good. The drops of the night; the dew which falls in the end of the night, or towards the morning, whence it is called morning dew , Hosea 6:4 .

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).

2 . I sleep, but my heart waketh ] This clause states the circumstances under which the succeeding action takes place. As the dream is narrated at a later time, the participles should be rendered by the past tense, I was sleeping , but my heart was awake . it is the voice of , &c.] Rather, Hark! my love is knocking . my sister ] Oettli says Solomon never calls the Shulammite by this intimate name. Budde thinks it significant that he does not here call her kallâh = ‘bride.’ Evidently he thinks that a post-nuptial word, but it is not necessarily so. my undefiled ] Rather, ‘my perfect’ or ‘immaculate one.’ filled with dew ] The dew in Palestine is often very heavy. Cp. Jdg 6:38 . From the fact that he about whom she dreamed is imagined to be in such a case, it is probable that the shepherd lover rather than Solomon is the object of her thoughts, and that she dreams of him as coming to her mother’s house. Chap. Song of Solomon 5:2 to Song of Solomon 6:3 . A Dream On the hypothesis we have adopted, a night must be supposed to intervene between Song of Solomon 5:1-2 . After the interview with the king and that with her lover night came; and as she slept she dreamed one of those troubled dreams consisting of a series of efforts frustrated, which so often follow on an agitated day. On the following morning she narrates the dream to the ladies of the court. Song of Solomon 5:2-7 relate the dream.

In Song of Solomon 5:8 the Shulammite, having just awaked and being still under the influence of her dream, asks the ladies, if they should find her lost lover, to tell him she is sick from love. In Song of Solomon 5:9 they reply, asking with surprise what there is in her lover that moves her in such a fashion. In Song of Solomon 5:10-16 she gives a description of her lover as he dwells in her brooding imagination, and concludes in triumph, “ This is my beloved and this is my friend.” In ch. Song of Solomon 6:1 , the court ladies ask eagerly whither this model of manly beauty is gone, and to this, in Song of Solomon 5:2-3 , the Shulammite replies vaguely and evasively, and claims her lover for herself alone. Now all this is quite in place if a love-tale is being presented in a series of songs, but in a collection of verses to be sung at weddings in general it is impossible that the bride could be made to speak thus. Such references to pre-nuptial love would be not only unbecoming, but impossible. But in still another way this song is fatal to Budde’s popular-song theory. In such a collection of wedding songs there is, of course, no connexion between the various lyrics. Each of them stands by itself, and there is no possibility of action of a dramatic kind on the part of the bride and bridegroom such as we undeniably have here.