Song of Solomon 5 · ESV Study Bible

Together in the Garden of Love

SONG OF SOLOMON 5 [†] I g came to my garden, my h sister, my bride,

I gathered my i myrrh with my spice,

I ate my j honeycomb with my honey,

I k drank my wine with my milk.

Others

Eat, l friends, drink,

and be drunk with love!

She

2[†] I slept, but my heart was awake.

A sound! My beloved is m knocking.

“Open to me, my n sister, my o love,

my p dove, my q perfect one,

for my head is wet with dew,

my r locks with the drops of the night.”

3[†] s I had put off my garment;

how could I put it on?

I had t bathed my feet;

how could I soil them?

4[†] My beloved put his hand to the latch,

and my heart was thrilled within me.

5 I arose to open to my beloved,

and my hands dripped with myrrh,

my fingers with u liquid myrrh,

on the handles of the bolt.

6 I opened to my beloved,

but my beloved had turned and gone.

My soul failed me when he v spoke.

w I sought him, but found him not;

x I called him, but he gave no answer.

7 y The watchmen found me

as they went about in the city;

they beat me, they bruised me,

they took away my veil,

those watchmen of the walls.

8[^][†] I z adjure you, O a daughters of Jerusalem,

if you find my beloved,

that you tell him

b I am sick with love.

Others

9[†] What is your beloved more than another beloved,

O c most beautiful among women?

What is your beloved more than another beloved,

that you thus z adjure us?

She

10[^][†] My beloved is radiant and d ruddy,

e distinguished among ten thousand.

11 His head is the finest gold;

f his locks are wavy,

black as a raven.

12 His g eyes are like doves

beside streams of water,

bathed in milk,

sitting beside a full pool. [1]

13[†] His i cheeks are like j beds of spices,

mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.

His lips are k lilies,

dripping u liquid myrrh.

14[†] His arms are rods of gold,

set with l jewels.

His body is polished ivory, [2]

bedecked with m sapphires. [3]

15 His legs are alabaster columns,

set on bases of gold.

His appearance is like o Lebanon,

choice as the cedars.

16 His p mouth [4] is most sweet,

and he is altogether desirable.

This is my beloved and this is my friend,

O a daughters of Jerusalem.

Others

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 5:1 I came to my garden. The man responds predictably and partakes of all that he described in 4:16, to the joyful acclaim of the chorus (who echo themes from 4:16–5:1). According to the reading strategy advocated in the Introduction, 4:16–5:1 represents the continuation of the dream sequence (see 5:2: “I slept, but my heart was awake”), with the sexual consummation of the marriage yet to come in 8:5 (“Under the apple tree I awakened you”). Many who follow the Shepherd Hypothesis, however, read 4:16–5:1 as referring to a visit (real or imagined) of the shepherd boy, for whom the girl really longs (see Introduction: Alternative Interpretations). Other approaches take this passage as describing the sexual consummation of the marriage of the two young people. Those who follow this approach base their interpretation in part on the fact that the consummation of the marriage would then fall in the structural center of the book, as an indication of the centrality of marriage in the literary structure of the book, but also as an indication of the centrality of marriage in the creation of man and woman.

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 5:14–16 The continued description of the man refers to precious materials that are often used in statues and in the temple (gold, jewels, ivory, alabaster, and cedars from Lebanon). The man is thus clearly the object of great praise in this section; the woman considers him to be altogether desirable.

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 5:3 Her initial response of petty objections could be a tease, or just a reluctance that comes from weariness, but it is more likely the kind of befuddlement that one encounters in a dream, leading to the confusing episode in vv. 4–7.

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 5:8 In 2:5 the man was present when the woman uttered the words: sick with love. Now he is absent, suggesting that she is referring to her desire to be with him, and to the way that she, as a woman, can feel overwhelming physical weakness at the thought of her beloved, sometimes described as making the knees go weak as water. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem. The wording of this verse is a variation of the refrain (also found in 2:7; 3:5; 8:4).

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 5:13 The description of his cheeks as beds of spices would apply more appropriately to a beard than to skin. Given that men in ancient Israel almost always had beards, this seems the likely meaning. As with many other metaphors in the Song of Solomon, the referent has an aromatic quality (spices and sweet-smelling herbs). On myrrh, see note on 1:13.

SONG OF SOLOMON—NOTE ON 5:4–7 After warming to the man’s approach, but delaying to open the door to him, the woman soon realizes he has gone and she goes in pursuit of him, at which point the watchmen find her and, unlike in 3:3, they beat her, leaving her bruised (5:7). If this were an actual event, it would be unclear why the watchmen did this. If it is part of a dream, though, it would simply be a nightmarish episode, perhaps reflecting the woman’s fear of public hostility toward the couple or toward her pursuit of him: it underscores the painfulness of their separation.