Song of Solomon 5 Study Notes: A Second Search and the Beloved Praised
The woman hesitates when her beloved knocks at night, and by the time she opens he has gone. Searching the city, she is struck by the watchmen and asks the daughters of Jerusalem to tell him of her longing. When they ask what makes him special, she praises him and calls him her beloved and friend.
General
At the close of her praise of him to the daughters, how does she sum up who he is to her (Song of Solomon 5:16)?
Answer: He is both her beloved and her friend
Asked what sets her beloved apart (5:9), she answers with a long series of rich images showing how splendid and lovely he is to her, the finest among many thousands (5:10-16). She closes by telling the daughters of Jerusalem that this man is both her beloved and her friend (5:16). Her love for him includes delight, but also companionship. Earlier she had declared that he is hers and she is his (2:16), and her words now move the daughters to offer to seek him with her (6:1).
- Song of Solomon 5:9 (BSB)“How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so?”Her praise answers the daughters’ question about what makes him better than others.
- Song of Solomon 2:16 (BSB)“My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies.”She had already declared that they belong to each other.
- Song of Solomon 6:1 (BSB)“Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Which way has he turned? We will seek him with you.”Her description moves the daughters to offer to seek him with her.
Theological
How does the woman conclude her description of her beloved to the daughters of Jerusalem (Song of Solomon 5:16)?
Answer: He is both her beloved and her friend
In answer to the daughters’ question (5:9), she offers an extended poetic portrait of his excellence (5:10-16), ending with the summary that he is both her beloved and her friend (5:16). Romantic love and true friendship are joined in her description. The statement fits her earlier declaration of mutual belonging (2:16), and afterward the daughters offer to help her seek him (6:1).
- Song of Solomon 5:9 (BSB)“How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so?”Her praise answers the daughters’ question about what makes him better than others.
- Song of Solomon 2:16 (BSB)“My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies.”She had already declared that they belong to each other.
- Song of Solomon 6:1 (BSB)“Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Which way has he turned? We will seek him with you.”Her description moves the daughters to offer to seek him with her.
General
What do the daughters of Jerusalem ask her in response to her charge (Song of Solomon 5:9)?
Answer: What makes her beloved finer than any other man
The daughters answer her charge with a question of their own, asked twice: what sets her beloved above any other man, that she binds them with such a solemn charge (5:9)? They call her the most beautiful of women, much as she is addressed elsewhere (1:8; 6:1). Their question gives her the opening to praise him (5:10-16). After hearing her answer, they offer to help her look for him (6:1).
- Song of Solomon 5:9 (BSB)“How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so?”The daughters ask what makes her beloved better than others.
- Song of Solomon 1:8 (BSB)“If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.”She is addressed elsewhere as the fairest of women.
- Song of Solomon 6:1 (BSB)“Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Which way has he turned? We will seek him with you.”After her answer, the daughters offer to help her seek him.
Theological
How do the daughters of Jerusalem reply to the woman’s solemn charge (Song of Solomon 5:9)?
Answer: What makes her beloved finer than any other man
The daughters respond with a twofold question: in what way does her beloved surpass any other, that she binds them with such a charge (5:9)? Addressing her as the fairest of women (compare 1:8; 6:1), they invite the praise of him that follows (5:10-16), and after her answer they offer to join her search (6:1).
- Song of Solomon 5:9 (BSB)“How is your beloved better than others, O most beautiful among women? How is your beloved better than another, that you charge us so?”The daughters ask what makes her beloved better than others.
- Song of Solomon 1:8 (BSB)“If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.”She is addressed elsewhere as the fairest of women.
- Song of Solomon 6:1 (BSB)“Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Which way has he turned? We will seek him with you.”After her answer, the daughters offer to help her seek him.
General
What message does she ask the daughters of Jerusalem to give her beloved if they find him (Song of Solomon 5:8)?
Answer: That she is lovesick and longing for him
Having searched and called without success (5:6), she turns to the daughters of Jerusalem, a group of young women she speaks to throughout the poem. She solemnly charges them that if they find her beloved, they must tell him she is faint with longing for him (5:8). Her other solemn charges to them concern waiting for love’s proper time (2:7), but this one is a plea for help. Even after his absence and the watchmen’s blows, her love for him has not cooled.
- Song of Solomon 5:8 (BSB)“O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.”She charges the daughters of Jerusalem to tell her beloved of her love.
- Song of Solomon 5:6 (BSB)“I opened for my beloved, but he had turned and gone. My heart sank at his departure. I sought him but did not find him. I called, but he did not answer.”Her search for him had brought no answer.
- Song of Solomon 2:7 (BSB)“O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.”Her other solemn charges to the daughters of Jerusalem concern love’s proper time.
Theological
What does the woman charge the daughters of Jerusalem to tell her beloved should they find him (Song of Solomon 5:8)?
Answer: That she is lovesick and longing for him
Her search having failed (5:6), she binds the daughters of Jerusalem with a solemn charge: if they find her beloved, they are to tell him that she is lovesick (5:8). Elsewhere her formal charges to them concern not stirring love before its time (2:7); here the same solemn form carries an appeal for help. Neither his departure nor the watchmen’s harshness has diminished her devotion.
- Song of Solomon 5:8 (BSB)“O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.”She charges the daughters of Jerusalem to tell her beloved of her love.
- Song of Solomon 5:6 (BSB)“I opened for my beloved, but he had turned and gone. My heart sank at his departure. I sought him but did not find him. I called, but he did not answer.”Her search for him had brought no answer.
- Song of Solomon 2:7 (BSB)“O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.”Her other solemn charges to the daughters of Jerusalem concern love’s proper time.
General
When her beloved knocks at night and asks her to open, how does she first respond (Song of Solomon 5:2-3)?
Answer: She holds back, saying she has already settled in for the night
The scene opens with the woman asleep, yet with her heart still alert (5:2). Her beloved knocks and calls to her with tender names, asking her to open, since his head is wet with dew. Instead of rising at once, she makes excuses: she has already settled in for the night and does not want to get up again (5:3). When she finally opens, he has already gone (5:6). An earlier night scene also ended with her searching for the one she loves (3:1-2).
- Song of Solomon 5:2 (BSB)“I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! 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.””Her beloved knocks at night and asks her to open to him.
- Song of Solomon 5:6 (BSB)“I opened for my beloved, but he had turned and gone. My heart sank at his departure. I sought him but did not find him. I called, but he did not answer.”By the time she opens, he has gone.
- Song of Solomon 3:1 (BSB)“On my bed at night I sought the one I love; I sought him, but did not find him.”An earlier night scene also began with her seeking him and not finding him.
Theological
How does the woman first answer her beloved’s knocking and request to be let in (Song of Solomon 5:2-3)?
Answer: She holds back, saying she has already settled in for the night
The night scene begins with the woman sleeping while her heart remains wakeful (5:2). Her beloved knocks and pleads tenderly to be let in, his hair soaked with the night’s dew. She answers with reluctance, explaining that she has already settled in for the night and would rather not rise (5:3). By the time she opens, he has gone (5:6), and the episode recalls the earlier night when she sought him and at first could not find him (3:1-2).
- Song of Solomon 5:2 (BSB)“I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! 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.””Her beloved knocks at night and asks her to open to him.
- Song of Solomon 5:6 (BSB)“I opened for my beloved, but he had turned and gone. My heart sank at his departure. I sought him but did not find him. I called, but he did not answer.”By the time she opens, he has gone.
- Song of Solomon 3:1 (BSB)“On my bed at night I sought the one I love; I sought him, but did not find him.”An earlier night scene also began with her seeking him and not finding him.
General
What happened when she finally opened the door to her beloved (Song of Solomon 5:6)?
Answer: He had left, and though she searched and called, he gave no reply
When she rose and opened, her beloved had already turned away and left, and her heart sank (5:6). She went looking for him and called out, but there was no reply. The scene echoes her earlier night search, when she went through the city looking for the one she loved and at first could not find him (3:1-2). This time the search is more painful, and it leads to her urgent charge to the daughters of Jerusalem (5:8).
- Song of Solomon 5:6 (BSB)“I opened for my beloved, but he had turned and gone. My heart sank at his departure. I sought him but did not find him. I called, but he did not answer.”She opens, but he has turned and gone, and her search brings no answer.
- Song of Solomon 3:1 (BSB)“On my bed at night I sought the one I love; I sought him, but did not find him.”Her earlier search at night also began without finding him.
- Song of Solomon 3:2 (BSB)“I will arise now and go about the city, through the streets and squares. I will seek the one I love. So I sought him but did not find him.”In that earlier scene she went through the city seeking him and did not find him at first.
- Song of Solomon 5:8 (BSB)“O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.”Her failed search leads her to ask the daughters of Jerusalem for help.
Theological
What did the woman discover when she at last opened to her beloved (Song of Solomon 5:6)?
Answer: He had left, and though she searched and called, he gave no reply
By the time she opens, her beloved has withdrawn, and her heart fails within her (5:6). Her search and her calling bring no answer. The episode parallels the earlier night search through the city, which also began without success (3:1-2), but here the absence is sharper and drives her to enlist the daughters of Jerusalem (5:8).
- Song of Solomon 5:6 (BSB)“I opened for my beloved, but he had turned and gone. My heart sank at his departure. I sought him but did not find him. I called, but he did not answer.”She opens, but he has turned and gone, and her search brings no answer.
- Song of Solomon 3:1 (BSB)“On my bed at night I sought the one I love; I sought him, but did not find him.”Her earlier search at night also began without finding him.
- Song of Solomon 3:2 (BSB)“I will arise now and go about the city, through the streets and squares. I will seek the one I love. So I sought him but did not find him.”In that earlier scene she went through the city seeking him and did not find him at first.
- Song of Solomon 5:8 (BSB)“O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.”Her failed search leads her to ask the daughters of Jerusalem for help.
General
True or False: In this night search, the city’s watchmen help her find her beloved (Song of Solomon 5:7).
Answer: False
This is false. In the earlier night search, she met the watchmen, asked them about the one she loved, and found him just after passing them (3:3-4). Here the outcome is very different: the guards making their rounds strike and bruise her and take away her cloak (5:7). The text does not explain their harshness. Her search costs her dearly before she turns to the daughters of Jerusalem for help (5:8).
- Song of Solomon 5:7 (BSB)“I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city. They beat me and bruised me; they took away my cloak, those guardians of the walls.”This time the watchmen strike her and take her cloak.
- Song of Solomon 3:3 (BSB)“I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city: “Have you seen the one I love?””In the earlier search she met the watchmen and asked them about him.
- Song of Solomon 3:4 (BSB)“I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me.”That time she found him just after passing the watchmen.
- Song of Solomon 5:8 (BSB)“O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.”After the watchmen, she turns to the daughters of Jerusalem.
Theological
True or False: During her second night search, the watchmen assist the woman in finding her beloved (Song of Solomon 5:7).
Answer: False
This is false. In the first night search she simply asked the watchmen her question, and she found her beloved just beyond them (3:3-4). In this second search the guards treat her harshly, striking and bruising her and removing her cloak (5:7). The text gives no reason for their conduct. Her longing for him has exposed her to suffering, and she next turns to the daughters of Jerusalem (5:8).
- Song of Solomon 5:7 (BSB)“I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city. They beat me and bruised me; they took away my cloak, those guardians of the walls.”This time the watchmen strike her and take her cloak.
- Song of Solomon 3:3 (BSB)“I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city: “Have you seen the one I love?””In the earlier search she met the watchmen and asked them about him.
- Song of Solomon 3:4 (BSB)“I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let go until I had brought him to my mother’s house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me.”That time she found him just after passing the watchmen.
- Song of Solomon 5:8 (BSB)“O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.”After the watchmen, she turns to the daughters of Jerusalem.