Song of Solomon 5 explained: A Missed Knock and a Portrait of Love

The garden enjoyed (v. 1)

He enters his 'garden', the image chapter 4 used for her, and enjoys its spice, honey, wine and milk, a poetic picture of the couple's union that is often read as their wedding night. A voice then blesses them, though no one knows for sure who speaks, and translations differ on whether the last line says 'love' or calls them 'beloved'.

Knocking in the night (vv. 2-3)

'I slept but my heart was awake' suggests she is half asleep, and many scholars read this scene as a dream. He calls her loving names ('sister' was a common word for a bride in ancient love poems), but she hesitates because she is already undressed, with her feet washed for bed.

Opening too late (vv. 4-6)

He reaches through the opening by the latch, and she rises with her hands dripping with myrrh, a costly perfume. Some scholars hear sexual double meanings in these lines while others read them plainly, but either way he is gone when she opens, and her calls go unanswered.

Beaten by the watchmen (vv. 7-8)

As she searches, the city guards beat her, wound her and take her cloak, a harsh turn from chapter 3, where she soon found him, and the poem never explains it. Some read this as a bad dream and others as the real danger to a woman alone at night, yet her only message to the women of Jerusalem is that she is faint with love.

Asked what makes him special (vv. 9-10)

The women ask why her beloved is better than any other, and her answer becomes the Song's only full description of him. She starts with his whole appearance, 'radiant' or 'white' depending on the translation, and ruddy, a healthy reddish tone, so that he stands out among ten thousand.

Head to toe (vv. 11-16)

With a head of gold, raven black hair, eyes like doves, fragrant lips and limbs of gold, ivory and marble, she pictures him almost like a precious statue, though translations differ on some details (arms or hands, topaz or beryl) because the Hebrew is uncertain. She ends by calling him her friend as well as her beloved, and Christians who read the Song as being about Christ have often applied 'altogether lovely' to Jesus.

Key verse: Song of Solomon 5:16

Where Christians differ

Readers differ on whether this chapter is mainly human love poetry about desire and longing, an allegory of divine love (Jewish readers have seen God and Israel, many Christians Christ and the church or the soul), or both at once.

Something to think about

What do you think hesitating, waiting or losing someone for a while does to love?