Song of Solomon 5 — Summary & Meaning

Their union complete, the bridegroom rejoices, 'I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse,' and the wedding guests are bidden to eat and drink abundantly. A night of trouble follows, for the bride, half asleep, is slow to open when her beloved knocks, and when she rises he has withdrawn himself, so that she seeks him through the city and is wounded by the watchmen who take away her veil. Pressed by the daughters of Jerusalem to say what her beloved is more than another, she answers with lingering praise, 'white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand... yea, he is altogether lovely,' and names him her beloved and her friend. The chapter shows that covenant love endures absence and hurt, its longing only sharpened by separation, a faithfulness that mirrors the soul's pursuit of the LORD whom it loves.

Historical backdrop

Solomon's Israel sat astride the trade routes that carried spices north from Arabia and India, and the Song is scented with them: myrrh and frankincense, nard and saffron, cinnamon and aloes brought from far countries. It is the world of a kingdom at peace, of walled gardens and the cedars of Lebanon and the vineyards of Engedi, where such wealth of perfume could furnish the very language of love.

Matthew Henry on Song of Solomon 5

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Song of Solomon 5

The Church Fathers on Song of Solomon 5

Cited by the confessions

¹I am come into 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. Eat, O friends; Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

²I was asleep, but my heart waked: 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, My locks with the drops of the night.

³I have put off my garment; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

⁴My beloved put in his hand by the holeof the door, And my heart was moved for him.

⁵I rose up to open to my beloved; And my hands dropped with myrrh, And my fingers with liquid myrrh, Upon the handles of the bolt.

⁶I opened to my beloved; But my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone. My soul had failed me when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

⁷The watchmen that go about the city found me, They smote me, they wounded me; The keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me.

⁸I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved, That ye tell him, that I am sick from love.

⁹What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, That thou dost so adjure us?

¹⁰My beloved is white and ruddy, The chiefest among ten thousand.

¹¹His head isasthe most fine gold; His locks are bushy, and black as a raven.

¹²His eyes are like doves beside the water-brooks, Washed with milk, and fitly set.

¹³His cheeks are as a bed of spices, Asbanks of sweet herbs: His lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.

¹⁴His hands areasrings of gold set with beryl: His body isasivory work overlaid with sapphires.

¹⁵His legs areaspillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

¹⁶His mouth is most sweet; Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

What is Song of Solomon 5 about?