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Song of Songs 5: Summary and Commentary

Read Song of Songs 5 in NIV · NASB2020 · AMP · BSB · ASV

Song of Songs 5 has not been written up in our own words yet. Below are the notes on it from three commentaries — start with Tyndale, which is written in modern English for readers new to the Bible.

What the commentaries say about Song of Songs 5

Three commentaries, oldest last. Each is shown in full with its author and licence, and every scripture reference inside them links through to the verse.

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Song of Songs 5

Tyndale House Publishers, released openly in 2023

Short, plain-English notes written for people reading the Bible for the first time. They explain what a word meant to its original audience, why a detail is there, and where else in Scripture the same idea shows up. If you only read one set of notes on this page, read this one.

11 notes on Song of Songs 5

Verse 1

5:1 I have entered my garden . . . myrrh with my spices . . . honeycomb with my honey . . . wine with my milk: In penetrating the garden, the man finds that there is no limit to what he can enjoy. They are ecstatic over finally unlocking the vast enjoyment of intercourse. • drink deeply of your love! The young women of Jerusalem encourage the couple to enjoy their sexual union to the fullest; there can be no guilt or shame in the deepest pleasure between husband and wife.

Verse 2

5:2–6:3 One verse earlier, the couple are fully enjoying their intimate union. Now the woman feels the torment of separation. In the dramatic interpretation, the woman has been separated from the man twice before and has searched for him (1:4-7; 3:1-4). This last time, the separation takes place in her dreams—it is only a nightmare. Her dream seems to extend to 6:3, given the natural flow of questions and answers between the woman and the young women of Jerusalem. • If the Song is an anthology, these poems explore love rather than giving accounts of actual events. This poem reminds us that an intimate relationship is not always easy or perfectly satisfying.

5:2 I slept, but my heart was awake: This is an apt definition of a dream; she was physically asleep, but emotionally and psychologically awake. • my lover knocking . . . “Open to me”: Opening doors is a metaphor for sexual activity in the ancient Near East (see also 8:9). By describing the man as knocking at the door and requesting entry, the poem suggests that the man is requesting sexual union. He awaits permission; he does not presume.

Verse 4

5:4-6 My lover tried to unlatch the door, and my heart thrilled: The man persists in his attempts to arouse the woman, and she eventually responds positively to his overtures. However, by the time she responds, he has given up or become otherwise occupied. This is a powerful poetic picture of the struggles of two lovers to be sexually intimate with each other.

Verse 7

5:7 The night watchmen . . . beat and bruised me: The watchmen who were protectors in 3:3 now become demonized characters in her dream (5:2). What they do describes how she feels—pummeled and wounded. • stripped off my veil: She feels that she has lost her dignity.

Verse 8

5:8-9 The woman enlists the young women of Jerusalem to help her find her lover. They ask her to describe him, and this leads into the second descriptive poem (wasf) of the Song (see study note on 4:1–5:1).

5:8 I am weak with love: The woman’s trauma is an image for her lovesickness (cp. 2:5).

Verse 10

5:10-16 This extended portrayal of the lover in the Song emphasizes his worth to the woman.

5:10 dark and dazzling: He is radiantly healthy and deeply tanned. This description is not meant as an allusion to race; it likely reflects radiant health and exposure to the sun.

Verse 11

5:11-15 The woman describes the man as a statue made of gold, ivory, lapis lazuli, and marble pillars, suggesting that he is god-like in appearance, since statues of deities were composed of such precious metals in antiquity (Exod 32:1-4; 1 Kgs 12:28; Dan 2:32-33; 3:1).

Verse 13

5:13 His cheeks are like gardens of spices because they were covered by the full beard that was worn by all men of that culture. This beard would have been perfumed.

Verse 14

5:14 The man’s body is portrayed as beautiful and precious. • Beryl is an olive-green gem. • Lapis lazuli is a blue gem.

Verse 15

5:15 Lebanon was to the north of Israel and contained legendary cedar trees that were large, stately, and pleasantly fragrant.

Verse 16

5:16 The woman ends her description with an indication of her desire to kiss him.

Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Reformatted for the web by BibleHearth; wording unchanged. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Read the original

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on Song of Songs 5

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, 1871

Three Scottish scholars working phrase by phrase through the whole Bible. Where a translation had to choose one English wording, they tell you what the Hebrew or Greek actually says and what the alternatives were. Useful when you want to know why two Bibles word the same verse differently.

Before you start: Written in 1871 and organised around short quoted phrases followed by a dash, then the explanation. It reads more like reference notes than prose, and it assumes you have the verse in front of you.

Chapter overview of Song of Songs 5

What this chapter is doing

Answer to her prayer (Isa 65:24; Rev 3:20).

am come—already (Sol 4:16); "come" (Gen 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. (Mat 2:11; Mat 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" (Sol 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 (Sol 8:14; Rev 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 (Luk 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" (Psa 19:10; Pe1 2:2). "My" answers to "His" (Sol 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; Jo1 1:3).

drink abundantly—so as to be filled (Eph 5:18; as Hag 1:6).

friends— (Joh 15:15).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary (Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, 1871). Public domain. Reformatted for the web by BibleHearth; wording unchanged. Public domain · Read the original

Where to go deeper on Song of Songs 5

Both of these are free to read and neither can be reproduced here — The Gospel Coalition and BibleProject keep their work under their own copyright. They are worth the click, especially if you are new to reading the Bible.