For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, as with studies elsewhere, each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read on the main Bible page.

The main male and female speakers (identified primarily on the basis of the gender of the relevant Hebrew forms) are indicated by the captions He and She respectively. The words of others are marked Friends. In some instances the divisions and their captions are debatable.[NIV text]

Passage:  5:2-6

She

2 I slept but my heart was awake.
    Listen! 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.”
3 I have taken off my robe—
    must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet—
    must I soil them again?
4 My beloved thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
    my heart began to pound for him.
5 I arose to open for my beloved,
    and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
    on the handles of the bolt.
6 I opened for my beloved,
    but my beloved had left; he was gone.
    My heart sank at his departure.
I looked for him but did not find him.
    I called him but he did not answer.

A. Find Out

• 1. What had she been doing and then what happened? v.2a,b
• 2. What was her state? v.2v
• 3. What thoughts went through her mind? v.3
• 4. What did she hear happening? v.4
• 5. So what did she do? v.5
• 6. Yet what happened? v.6

B. Think:

• 1. How would you describe her initial reaction to him coming?
• 2. So how would you say she went about getting up?
• 3. So why did she miss him?

C. Comment:

This is one of the most poignant and challenging episodes in this Song.  She is in her house, sleeping, when her lover comes. Whether this was but a horrible dream or it actually happened is unclear, but the opening words of verse 2 indicate it could have been a dream. If it was a dream she dreams of sleeping and then being awoken by the sounds of her lover coming to the door.

She is suddenly aware of her state: she is hot, perspiring from the warmth of the night; she does not look her best. That is the first thing. Then there comes a slight sense of irritation at being caught in this state. Verse 3 has a sense of irritation about it: oh, I’m going to have to get up, I’m going to have to get dressed!  But, as she hears the sound and realises who it is, her love for him beats strongly and so she hastens to get up. She pauses to put of on perfume, to make herself more presentable, more acceptable, but then when she gets downstairs, he is not there, he has gone, she has missed him.

Spiritually the parallels are concerning: the Holy Spirit draws near, Jesus calls to us, and it’s not when we are expecting. We hesitate, we almost grumble, and we eventually respond, but then it seems he is no longer there. Have we missed him because of our “self”?

D. Prayer Suggestion:

Oh Lord, please help me to be sensitive to your voice so I don’t miss you when you call.

Passage:  5:6-8

6 I opened for my beloved,
    but my beloved had left; he was gone.
    My heart sank at his departure.
I looked for him but did not find him.
    I called him but he did not answer.
7 The watchmen found me
    as they made their rounds in the city.
They beat me, they bruised me;
    they took away my cloak,
    those watchmen of the walls!
8 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you—
    if you find my beloved,
what will you tell him?
    Tell him I am faint with love.

A. Find Out

• 1. What had happened? v.6a
• 2. So what did she do? v.6b
• 3. Who found her? v.7a
• 4. What did they do to her? v.7b
• 5. Who does she appeal to? v.8a
• 6. What she say to say? v.8b

B. Think:

• 1. Where did she evidently go looking for her lover?
• 2. When was it?
• 3. Why do you thin they beat her?

C. Comment:

She has missed her lover when he came, so she gets up, gets dressed and goes out looking for him, but it is night, it’s a time when she ought not to be out. The only people who were normally out were the watchmen, whose duty it was to patrol the streets against the unrighteous, and the unrighteous themselves.  In her desperation to find him, therefore, she puts herself in a place of risk, a place where she may receive rebuke or worse. Such is the intensity of her desire for him!  is that the sort of desire we have for Jesus? That we don’t care what people think about us, we don’t care what happen to us because of our devotion to him?  Are we willing to put ourselves in a place of seeking after him, of holding onto righteousness, that others (ungodly) might object and even oppose us?

The watchmen beat her, they chastise her, and so she appeals to others who are like her, to tell her lover that she simply desires him. Perhaps for us the equivalent is when we are receiving rough treatment from the world, and we are to call on fellow believers to cry out to the Lord on our behalf, to tell him we are all out for him, but we are finding it difficult to find him in it all.  Fellowship in prayer is a vital part of Christian fellowship. Do we use it?

D. Prayer Suggestion:

Oh Lord, I want to seek after you with a whole heart, regardless of what others might be doing.

Passage:  5:9-16

Friends

9 How is your beloved better than others,
    most beautiful of women?
How is your beloved better than others,
    that you so charge us?

She

10 My beloved is radiant and ruddy,
    outstanding among ten thousand.
11 His head is purest gold;
    his hair is wavy
    and black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves
    by the water streams,
washed in milk,
    mounted like jewels.
13 His cheeks are like beds of spice
    yielding perfume.
His lips are like lilies
    dripping with myrrh.
14 His arms are rods of gold
    set with topaz.
His body is like polished ivory
    decorated with lapis lazuli.
15 His legs are pillars of marble
    set on bases of pure gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
    choice as its cedars.
16 His mouth is sweetness itself;
    he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, this is my friend,
    daughters of Jerusalem.

A. Find Out

• 1. What do the friends ask? v.9
• 2. How does she generally describe him in her reply? v.10
• 3. How does she describe his head, arms, body and legs? v.11,14,15
• 4. How does she describe his features? v.11-13
• 5. How does she finally describe him? v.16b

B. Think:

• 1. Think who he is. Why are different colours attributed to him?
• 2. What do the other descriptions of his features tell us?
• 3. What does her final description of him tell us of their relationship?

C. Comment:

Perhaps it would be better here, to leave some of the details for your personal meditation because there is so much, and simply focus on overall descriptions.

The “chorus” of the friends asks her why they should bother with her lover, what makes him stand out that they should look for him particularly?  She replies that he is outstanding among men. Observe the description of his body: gold head and arms and feet, ivory body and marble legs. He was a shepherd, frequently out in the sun. Those parts of his body frequently exposed to the sun were gold. The parts more often covered are ivory or marble. Very obvious, but beautiful descriptions of this young outside worker.

When she describes his hair, his eyes, his cheeks, and his lips, there is almost a brilliant clarity about each of the descriptions. These are the descriptions of one who acutely observes her lover with the heightened awareness of love. Meditate on each description.

Finally she describes him as her lover and friend. How lovely! This indicates far more than just a physical relationship, he is also her friend. To be a friend, you need to share your thoughts, your ideas, your whole heart. Oh that  young people (and older ones too!) would look for friendship in their closest of relationships!

D. Prayer Suggestion:

Oh Lord, all I learn about you stirs my heart, and I just want to tell you that I love you.