World English Bible
- I have 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. Friends Eat, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved.
- I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night.”
- I have taken off my robe. Indeed, must I put it on? I have washed my feet. Indeed, must I soil them?
- My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening. My heart pounded for him.
- I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock.
- I opened to my beloved; but my beloved left, and had gone away. My heart went out when he spoke. I looked for him, but I didn’t find him. I called him, but he didn’t answer.
- The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.
- I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love.
- How is your beloved better than another beloved, you fairest among women? How is your beloved better than another beloved, that you do so adjure us?
- My beloved is white and ruddy. The best among ten thousand.
- His head is like the purest gold. His hair is bushy, black as a raven.
- His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, washed with milk, mounted like jewels.
- His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
- His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl. His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires.
- His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
- His mouth is sweetness; yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.
The chapter opens with abundance: garden, spices, honey, wine, and milk. The lovers’ delight is welcomed rather than shamed. Scripture treats faithful marital desire as part of God’s good creation. Yet the scene suddenly darkens: “I was asleep, but my heart was awake” (Song of Solomon 5:2, World English Bible). This is likely the language of a dream—a place where longing and fear speak without restraint.
The beloved arrives wet with the night’s dew, but she hesitates. Her robe is removed; her feet are clean. These details sound almost trivial, and that is the point. Great losses may begin with small reluctances. Love knocks, but comfort calculates the inconvenience.
Ancient doors were secured by wooden bars, sometimes reached through a small opening. When the beloved puts his hand near the latch, her desire awakens. She opens the door, her fingers dripping with myrrh—but he has vanished. The myrrh may be perfume he left upon the lock. Absence has a fragrance; the beloved is gone, yet evidence of his nearness remains.
Christians have long heard a spiritual echo here. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote of seasons when the divine Word seems to withdraw, not because grace has ceased, but because love must learn to seek God himself rather than merely enjoy spiritual sweetness. Revelation 3:20 also presents Christ as the Bridegroom standing outside and knocking. Yet we should not turn every absence into punishment. Sometimes the soul opens late; sometimes God simply feels hidden. Faith must live through both.
The watchmen then beat and expose the woman. They were appointed to guard the city, but they wound the very person seeking love. This is one of Scripture’s severe warnings about religious authority: those entrusted with walls can mistake a wounded seeker for a threat. Her abuse is not the beloved’s discipline, nor is it justified by her hesitation. God does not ask us to rename cruelty as correction.
Remarkably, violence does not receive the final word. When the daughters of Jerusalem ask what makes her beloved unique, she begins to describe him. The poem becomes a wasf, an ancient head-to-foot song of praise. Gold, ivory, jewels, marble, and Lebanon’s cedars portray dignity, strength, and splendor. But the catalogue ends not with wealth or physical beauty: “This is my beloved, and this is my friend” (verse 16, World English Bible).
The Hebrew word translated “altogether lovely” is maḥămaddîm, an intensified form suggesting everything desirable and precious. Yet her greatest treasure is friendship. Covenant love is not merely the fire of desire; it is the wonder of being known and accompanied.
When you cannot find Christ as you once did, name what you know of him. Remember his mercy, truth, wounds, resurrection, and friendship. Sometimes testimony does not follow renewed sight; sometimes testimony is how the heart learns to see again.
Suggested cross-references: Psalm 63:1–8; John
19:39; John 20:11–18; Revelation 3:20
Suggested hymn: “Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts”
Beloved Lord, awaken my heart when comfort makes me slow. Heal the wounds caused by false watchmen, and teach me to seek you without despair. When you seem absent, help me remember your beauty and rest in your faithful friendship. Amen.
Narrated version of this devotional on Song of Solomon Chapter 5