Song of Songs Ch.5 Devotional
by Pastor Lawrence
We are not told just how long Adam and Eve dwelt together in the joy of the Lord in the Garden of Eden, but we certainly know how their relationship changed when sin entered into the world and they were cast out of paradise. If chapter four of Song of Solomon describes the paradisiacal honeymoon, surely, by chapter five the honeymoon is over, for the husband and wife seem to be entering into their first conflict in marriage. Now we see that there are unmet expectations and foolish decisions made by both spouses.
The first verse of chapter five is actually a continuation of the previous chapter in which the new husband and wife are expressing their love for and delight in each other. And the wedding party celebrates their love assuring us that the marriage bed should be held in honor among all, as the writer of Hebrews would say. However, there is a clear transition in verse two. She speaks of being asleep and her husband being away from home for some reason. Some have seen this as a second dream sequence similar to the one in chapter three. In both situations, the beloved is looking for her lover in the city and is accosted by the night watchmen, but this encounter is much more dangerous.
It all begins with her husband knocking at the door, speaking tenderly to her to open up to him, for he is in the mood for love, but she is too tired. She makes the excuse that she has already taken off her garments and bathed her feet. But eventually his pleas entice her to get up and let him in. Apparently, she now is in the mood for love, for she covers herself in myrrh in anticipation. But when she opens the door, to her surprise, he is nowhere to be found. It seems that he got tired of waiting for her and left, perhaps, in anger.
When he gave no answer, she hastily put on some garment in the middle of the night and soiled her feet walking through the city streets in pursuit of him. But this time when the watchmen found her, they abused her, likely assuming that she was an unsavory woman given the time of night and the type of bed clothes she was wearing. But that did not stop her from searching for her lover, for she then found some of her closest maids and pleaded with them to look for him and to tell him that she was sick with love for him. They don’t appear that eager to help their friend, though, perhaps because they blame him for her abuse given the fact that he had abandoned her at the door. They say to her in v.9 “What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us?” And the final section is the bride’s response to that question, clearly showing that she is still very much in love with him.
Just as he had described his beloved from head to toe in the previous chapter, so she now describes his beauty to her friends, without, of course, mentioning the more intimate parts of his physique. She says that he is distinguished among ten thousand men and describes him as jewel in the rough more precious than gold. But not only is her beloved her lover, he is also her friend. Thus she adjures her maids to seek out this man who is altogether precious in her eyes.
Certainly, any young couple could learn something about the danger of expectations in marriage in how desires can quickly turn into demands, and how those sinful demands can lead to misery and actually harm the intimate fellowship of a husband and wife. There are a great number of expectations each spouse brings with them into the marriage relationship, some of them realistic and some not so much. It is only as the individuals are walking in the Spirit that they can truly learn to love one another, overlooking each other’s flaws and seeing them for the gem that they are. But it is the conflict in marriage that teaches us patience and forbearance, leading us to give and not always to take. As strange as this episode seems to be, I’m glad that it was included in this book to show that even the most heavenly relationships have to work through these mundane matters, and at some point, we all have to get our feet dirty.
In terms of our relationship with Christ, in Revelation 3:20 Jesus is pictured just outside the doors of the church standing and knocking, saying to the believers, “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Of course, the implication is that the Lord desires an intimate fellowship with the Church, who is his bride, but that either she doesn’t hear his voice because she is asleep in the light, or else she hears it but would rather ignore it, since she has sought out other lovers. Oh, may the Lord continue to speak tenderly to his bride and allure her to open the door, for, truly, he is distinguished among ten thousand others. He is more beautiful than diamonds, more precious than silver and more costly than gold. Indeed, nothing that we desire on earth can compare with our heavenly bridegroom. But is his church as love sick for him as he is for her? If so, then, perhaps, she will pray for help in finding him, when she has abandoned the love that she had first.