Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Song of Solomon 5:1

Clarke's Commentary

CHAPTER V

The bridegroom calls on his spouse to admit him, 1-3.

She hesitates; but arising finds him gone, seeks him, and

is treated unworthily by the city watch, 4-7.

Inquires of the daughters of Jerusalem, who question her

concerning her beloved, 8, 9.

This gives her occasion to enter into a fine description of

his person and accomplishments, 10-16.

NOTES ON CHAP. V

Verse Song of Solomon 5:1. I am come into my garden — באתי bathi, I came, or have come; this should be translated in the past tense, as the other preterite verbs in this clause. I think the latter clause of the preceding verse should come in here: "Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. I have come into my garden, my sister, callah, or spouse; I have gathered my myrrh," c. I have taken thee for my spouse, and am perfectly satisfied that thou art pure and immaculate.

Eat, O friends-drink abundantly — These are generally supposed to be the words of the bridegroom, after he returned from the nuptial chamber, and exhibited those signs of his wife's purity which the customs of those times required. This being a cause of universal joy, the entertainment is served up and he invites his companions, and the friends of both parties, to eat and drink abundantly, as there was such a universal cause of rejoicing. Others think that these are the words of the bride to her spouse: but the original will not bear this meaning; the verbs are all plural.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

A wedding procession (3:6-5:1)

As the wedding day approaches, the girl pictures the coming of the bridegroom for her as a royal wedding procession - King Solomon in all his glory coming to this humble country town to claim his bride. She pictures the scene as the procession approaches amid clouds of perfumed incense. The centre of attraction is the king himself, carried on his gold and silver carriage and surrounded by fully armed royal guards in brilliant uniforms (6-11).
The bridegroom meets his bride and praises her in the most extravagant language (4:1-5). He looks forward to the first night with this one who, to him, is flawless, the one who fulfils all his ideals (6-7). In making his bride his own, he feels like a conqueror who has taken a person from a well defended stronghold. Yet he feels also like one who has himself been conquered, for his bride has stolen his heart (8-11). Everything about her is pure and lovely. She is like a fragrant garden where he can find delight and refreshment for ever (12-15).
In response the bride wishes that the wind would blow upon her ‘garden’, so that her lover might smell its fragrance and come into it (16). The bridegroom accepts the invitation, comes to his ‘garden’ (his bride) and takes the girl as his own. Friends then announce their blessing on the bridal couple (5:1).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"I 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."

Balchin interpreted this thus: "The Shulamite maiden's invitation is accepted by the Shepherd lover. He comes and eats with the bride. `Eat, O friends' is either spoken by the Shepherd inviting others to celebrate their love, or by a chorus."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 584. Note also that this celebration is not taking place in Jerusalem, but in Lebanon. Bunn read the passage as meaning that, "It relates a clandestine meeting between the lovers."Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972), Vol. 5, p. 141. However, the invitation for the whole community (`friends') to share the celebration denies that there was anything secretive about this.

In this writer's allegorical understanding of the Song, this little paragraph corresponds exactly with Christ's statement: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20). This is continually fulfilled in the Church's observance of the Lord's Supper.

Waddey understood the verse to mean, "That the marriage is now consummated (with the king)."James Waddey, p. 113 We agree that this celebrates a marriage, all right; but it is the Shulamite's marriage with the Shepherd, an allegory of the church's marriage with Christ. Why? The scene here is Lebanon. Those celebrating the marriage are citizens of a different nation from that of Solomon. Otherwise, the marriage would have been in Jerusalem. We do not find any word in the whole passage that indicates the scene as being anywhere else except in Lebanon. Did not Solomon plead with the maiden to go with him "from Lebanon"? (Song of Solomon 4:8). Where does the text say that she went with Solomon?

Redford likewise read the passage as a marriage ceremony, and wisely compared it to the marriage of Christ and his Church;The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 9d, p. 119 but he failed to see that no single one of a thousand consorts of Solomon could ever have symbolized that holy union between Christ and his Church, so he supposed the marriage to have been between Solomon and the maiden.

Delitzsch also commented that, "Solomon now triumphs in the final enjoyment which his ardent desire had found."C. F. Keil, Keil-Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), Vol. 6c, p. 88. These are indeed great scholars who advocate this understanding of the verse; but this writer finds it absolutely impossible to find Solomon in the Holy Bible as a type of the holy and sinless Son of God, and that only one single member of his godless harem should be accepted as a type of the universal Church of God.

Balchin correctly understood the passage as, "An account of the marriage between the Shepherd and the maiden, the wedding feast here celebrating the joy of the Church's union with Christ."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 584.

Even the scholars who insist on finding Solomon as the bridegroom here agree that what is symbolized is the union between Christ and the Church. Redford noted that, "The wine and the milk mentioned here are what God offers to the people without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1)."The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 119. These, of course, must be understood as symbols of the glorious gospel of salvation.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

My honeycomb - literally, “my reed” or “my wood,” i. e., the substance itself, or portions of it in which the comb is formed. The bees in Palestine form their combs not only in the hollows of trees and rocks, but also in reeds by the river-banks. The king’s meaning appears to be: “All pleases me in thee, there is nothing to despise or cast away.”

Eat, O friends - A salutation from the king to his assembled guests, or to the chorus of young men his companions, bidding them in the gladness of his heart Song of Solomon 3:11 partake of the banquet. So ends this day of outward festivity and supreme heart-joy. The first half of the Song of Songs is fitly closed. The second half of the poem commences Song of Solomon 5:2 with a change of tone and reaction of feeling similar to that of Song of Solomon 3:1. It terminates with the sealing Song of Solomon 8:6-7 of yet deeper love.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 5

Chapter 5, the bridegroom replies,

I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: 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 ( Song of Solomon 5:1 ).

Now the bride responds, and she said,

I sleep, but my heart is awake: it is the voice of my beloved that knocks, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? My beloved put his hand by the hole in the door, and I was moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick with love ( Song of Solomon 5:2-8 ).

And so the daughters of Jerusalem, the chorus now responds and answers her.

What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that you do so charge us? ( Song of Solomon 5:9 )

She charged them, if she finds him, tell him that she's just sick with love. And she answers now concerning her beloved as she describes him.

My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold; his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set: His cheeks are as the bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh: His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires: His legs are like pillars of marble, set in sockets of fine gold: and his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars: His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem ( Song of Solomon 5:10-16 ).

As she describes her lover. And thus again, in seeing the allegory of Christ in the church, as Jesus Christ has come to us to be the fairest of ten thousand. As He is become to us the all-together lovely One. And our love for Him. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Solomon exulted in the joy that union with his beloved had brought him, and he commended it to others. This interpretation seems preferable to the views that "the onlookers[?!] and guests," [Note: Carr, The Song . . ., p. 129.] or God, [Note: Deere, p. 1020.] or the poet (not Solomon) [Note: Glickman, p. 163.] spoke the words, "Eat . . . O lovers." The metaphors used express the fully satisfying nature of his sexual experience (cf. 2 Samuel 13:15).

"Biblically, when a lover gives himself to his beloved as these two have done, the relationship of each has changed to all the rest of the human race. That is why traditionally in our culture a wedding cannot be performed without witnesses. That is the reason behind the publishing of wedding bans [i.e., proclamations]. The taking of a woman by a man is a public matter.

"Furthermore, what one does with one’s sexuality is of concern to God (Exodus 20:14). Likewise, it is a concern to everyone else. The woman now belongs to the man and the man to the woman. This changes all other personal relationships. Thus the witnesses present at weddings represent the larger society. This is why weddings are considered legal matters.

"Self-giving love between the sexes is of social significance. Society must know. How else can marriage be a witness and testimony to the relationship of Christ and the church? One Savior, one spouse!" [Note: Kinlaw, pp. 1230-31.]

"These bold but tender scenes from Song of Solomon point up a major difference between the world’s concept of love to what was created and endorsed by God. In the former case the focus is on self-gratification. In the latter the emphasis is on the well-being of the loved one and the extolling of his or her virtues. No wonder Jewish and Christian interpreters alike have seen this kind of love as a type of God’s great love for His own dear ones." [Note: Merrill, p. 515.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

I am come into my garden, my sister, [my] spouse,.... This verse should rather have concluded the preceding chapter, being Christ's answer to the church's request, which was speedily and exactly granted as she desired; which shows it was according to the will of Christ, and of which he informs her; for sometimes he is present, when it is not known he is: of the titles used, see Song of Solomon 4:8; and of Christ's coming into his garden, Song of Solomon 4:16. What he did, when come into it, follows:

I have gathered my myrrh with my spice: to make an ointment of, and anoint his guests with, after invited, as was usual in those times and countries, Luke 7:38; "oil of myrrh" is mentioned, Esther 2:12; These may designs, either the sufferings of Christ; which, though like myrrh, bitter to him, are like spice, of a sweet smelling savour, to God and to the saints; the fruits of which, in the salvation of his people, are delightful to himself, and which he is now reaping with pleasure: or the graces of his Spirit in exercise in them, in which Christ delights; see Song of Solomon 4:13; and testifies by his presence; and having got in his harvest, or vintage, as the word q used signifies, he makes a feast for himself and friends, as was the custom of former times, and now is;

I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey: bread with honey, as the Septuagint version, dipped in honey, or honey put upon it; see

Ezekiel 16:13; or the sugar cane with the sugar, as Jarchi, approved by Gussetius r: the meaning may be, he plucked up a sugar cane and ate the sugar out of it, which is called by Arrianus, μελι καλαμινον, as Cocceius observes; or rather a piece of an honeycomb, full of honey, just taken out of the hive, had in great esteem with the Jews; see

Luke 24:42; the word for "honeycomb" properly signifies wood honey, of which there was plenty in Judea, 1 Samuel 14:25; though this was in a garden, where they might have their hives, as we have. By which may be meant the Gospel and its doctrines, sweeter than the honey and the honeycomb; and, being faith fully dispensed, is pleasing to Christ;

I have drunk my wine with my milk; a mixture of wine and milk was used by the ancients s; and which, Clemens Alexandria says t, is a very profitable and healthful mixture: by which also may be intended the doctrines of the Gospel, comparable to wine and milk; to the one, for its reviving and cheering quality; to the other, for its nourishing and strengthening nature; see Isaiah 55:1; and

Isaiah 55:1- :, and

Isaiah 55:1- :. Here is feast, a variety of sweet, savoury, wholesome food and drink; and all Christ's own, "my" myrrh, "my" spice, c. as both doctrines and graces be: with which Christ feasts himself, and invites his friends to eat and drink with him:

eat, O friends drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved; the individuals, of which the church consists, are the "friends" who are reconciled to God by the death of Christ, and to himself by his Spirit and grace; and whom he treats as such, by visiting them, and disclosing the secrets of his heart to them, John 15:14; and "beloved", beloved of God, and by Christ and by the saints there is a mutual friendship and love between Christ and his people: and these he invites to eat of the provisions of his house, of all the fruits of his garden, to which they are welcome; and of his love and grace, and all the blessings of it, which exceed the choicest wine; and of which they may drink freely, and without danger; "yea, be inebriated with loves" u, as the words may be rendered; see Ephesians 5:18. With the eastern people, it was usual to bid their guests welcome, and solicit them to feed on the provisions before them; as it is with the Chinese now, the master of the house takes care to go about, and encourage them to eat and drink w.

q אריתי ετρυγησα, Sept. "messui", V. L. r Comment. Ebr. p. 179, 337. s "Et nivei lactis pocula mista mero", Tibullus, l. 3. Eleg. 5. v. 34. t Paedagog. l. 1. c. 6. p. 107. u ושכרו דודים "et inebriamini amoribus", Mercerus, Schmidt, Cocceius, so Ainsworth. w Semedo's History of China, par. c. 1. 13.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: 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.

      These words are Christ's answer to the church's prayer in the close of the foregoing chapter, Let my beloved come into his garden; here he has come, and lets her know it. See how ready God is to hear prayer, how ready Christ is to accept the invitations that his people give him, though we are backward to hear his calls and accept his invitations. He is free in condescending to us, while we are shy of ascending to him. Observe how the return answered the request, and outdid it. 1. She called him her beloved (and really he was so), and invited him because she loved him; in return to this, he called her his sister and spouse, as several times before, Song of Solomon 4:1-16; Song of Solomon 4:1-16 Those that make Christ their best beloved shall be owned by him in the nearest and dearest relations. 2. She called the garden his, and the pleasant fruits of it his, and he acknowledges them to be so: It is my garden, it is my spice. When God was displeased with Israel he turned them off to Moses (They are thy people,Exodus 32:7); and he called the appointed feasts of the Lord their appointed feasts (Isaiah 1:14); but now that they are in his favour he owns them for his garden. "Though of small account, yet it is mine." Those that are in sincerity give up themselves and all they have and can do to Jesus Christ, he will do them the honour to stamp them, and what they have and do for him, with his own mark, and say, It is mine. 3. She invited him to come into his garden, and he says, I have come.Isaiah 58:9, Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. When Solomon prayed that God would come and take possession of the house he had built for him, he did come; his glory filled the house (2 Chronicles 7:2), and (Song of Solomon 5:16; Song of Solomon 5:16) he let him know that he had chosen and sanctified this house, that his name might be there for ever. Those that throw open the door of their souls to Jesus Christ shall find him ready to come in to them; and in every place where he records his name he will meet his people, and bless them, Exodus 20:24. 4. She desired him to eat his pleasant fruits, to accept of the sacrifices offered in his temple, which were as the fruits of his garden, and he does so, but finds they are not gathered and ready for eating, therefore he does himself gather them. As the fruits are his, so is the preparation of them; he finds his heart unready for his entertainment, but does himself draw out into exercise those gracious habits which he had planted there. What little good there is in us would be shed and lost if he did not gather it, and preserve it to himself. 5. She only desired him to eat the fruits of the garden, but he brought along with him something more, honey, and wine, and milk, which yield substantial nourishment, and which were the products of Canaan, Immanuel's land. Christ delights himself greatly in that which he has both conferred upon his people and wrought in them. Or we may suppose this to have been prepared by the spouse herself, as Esther prepared for the king her husband a banquet of wine; it is but plain fare, and what is natural, honey and milk, but, being kindly designed, it is kindly accepted; imperfections are overlooked; the honey-comb is eaten with the honey, and the weakness of the flesh passed by and pardoned, because the spirit is willing. When Christ appeared to his disciples after his resurrection he did eat with them a piece of a honey-comb (Luke 24:42; Luke 24:43), in which this scripture was fulfilled. He did not drink the wine only, which is liquor for men, for great men, but the milk too, which is liquor for children, little children, for he was to be the holy child Jesus, that had need of milk. 6. She only invited him to come himself, but he, bringing his own entertainment along with him, brings his friends too, and invites them to share in the provisions. The more the merrier, we say; and here, where there was so great a plenty, there was not the worse fare. When our Lord Jesus fed 5000 at once they did all eat and were filled. Christ invites all his friends to the wine and milk which he himself drinks of (Isaiah 55:1), to the feast of fat things and wines on the lees,Isaiah 25:6. The great work of man's redemption, and the riches of the covenant of grace, are a feast to the Lord Jesus and they ought to be so to us. The invitation is very free, and hearty, and loving: Eat, O friends! If Christ comes to sup with us, it is we that sup with him, Revelation 3:20. Eat, O friends! Those only that are Christ's friends are welcome to his table; his enemies, that will not have him to reign over them, have no part nor lot in the matter. Drink, yea, drink abundantly. Christ, in his gospel, has made plentiful provision for poor souls. He fills the hungry with good things; there is enough for all, there is enough for each; we are not straitened in him or in his grace, let us not therefore be straitened in our own bosoms. Open the mouth widely, and Christ will fill it. Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit,Ephesians 5:18. Those that entertain Christ must bid his friends welcome with him; Jesus and his disciples were called together to the marriage (John 2:2), and Christ will have all his friends to rejoice with him in the day of his espousals to his church, and, in token of that, to feast with him. In spiritual and heavenly joys there is no danger of exceeding; there we may drink abundantly, drink of the river of God's pleasures (Psalms 36:8), and be abundantly satisfied,Psalms 65:4.