←Song of Solomon 5→BSB

In This Chapter 10 places 4 terms

Places

    Key Terms

    Swear 5 Love 2 To Love Love (Appreciation)

    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.

    The Bride

    ⓘ One verse earlier, the couple fully enjoys their...

    • One verse earlier, the couple fully enjoys their intimate union. Now the woman feels the pain of separation. In the dramatic interpretation, the woman has been separated from the man twice before and has searched for him (Song of Solomon 1:4–7; 3:1–4). This last time, the separation occurs in her dreams—it is only a nightmare. Her dream seems to continue to Song of Solomon 6:3, given the natural flow of questions and answers between the woman and the young women of Jerusalem.

    • If the Song is a collection of poems, these poems explore love rather than recounting actual events. This poem reminds us that an intimate relationship is not always easy or perfectly satisfying.
    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.”
    3I have taken off my robe—must I put it back on?I have washed my feet—must I soil them again?
    ⓘ My beloved put his hand to the latch;...

    My beloved put his hand to the latch; my heart pounded for him: The man keeps trying to excite the woman, and she eventually responds positively. However, by the time she responds, he has either given up or become busy with something else. This is a strong poetic image of the challenges two lovers face in becoming intimate with each other.
    4My beloved put his hand to the latch;my heart pounded for him.5I rose up to open for my beloved.My hands dripped with myrrh,my fingers with flowing myrrhon 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.
    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.
    ⓘ The woman asks the young women of Jerusalem...

    The woman asks the young women of Jerusalem to help find her lover. They ask her to describe him, leading to the second descriptive poem (wasf) of the Song (see study note on Song of Solomon 4:1–5:1).
    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

    ⓘ This detailed description of the lover in the...

    This detailed description of the lover in the Song highlights his value to the woman.
    10My beloved is dazzling and ruddy,outstanding among ten thousand.
    ⓘ The woman describes the man as a statue...

    The woman describes the man as a statue made of gold, ivory, lapis lazuli, and marble pillars. This suggests he looks god-like, as ancient statues of deities used these precious materials (Exodus 32:1–4; 1 Kings 12:28; Daniel 2:32233; 3:1).
    11His head is purest gold;his hair is wavy and black as a raven.12His eyes are like dovesbeside the streams of water,bathed in milkand 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 goldset with beryl.His body is polished ivorybedecked with sapphires.15His legs are pillars of marbleset 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.