The BRIDEGROOM accepts her invitation _ “ 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.”_ Having finally made love and tasted of her delights the bridegroom assures his bride that h... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS. Her BELOVED seeks to join her in her room, but she lets him go away. She is too filled with her own comfort and her own delightfulness. _ ‘I was asleep, but my heart awoke, It is the voice of my beloved who knocks, saying, “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefile... [ Continue Reading ]
SECTION 4. HER SECOND NIGHTMARE (Song of Solomon 5:2 to Song of Solomon 6:3). Sadly the original warmth of the marriage appears at some stage to have grown cold, for we find now that she has a nightmare that when her beloved comes to enjoy her love, she cannot be bothered to open the door to him,... [ Continue Reading ]
_ ‘I have put off my garment, How shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, How shall I defile them?'_ Her drowsy voice reaches her beloved. Does he not realize how thoughtless he is being? She has undressed. Does he really expect her to put her clothes on again? She has washed her feet. Does he re... [ Continue Reading ]
_ ‘My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, And my heart was moved for him.'_ In her drowsiness she realized that her beloved was reaching through the hole by which the inner bolt could be opened from the outside (typical of ancient bolts), and her heart missed a beat. But the bolt would... [ Continue Reading ]
_ ‘I rose up to open to my beloved, And my hands dropped with myrrh, And my fingers with liquid myrrh, Upon the handles of the bolt.'_ Rising from her bed she swiftly clad herself and then went to draw back the bolt, but all the time conscious of the myrrh that dropped on to her hand and fingers ev... [ Continue Reading ]
_ ‘I opened to my beloved, But my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone. My soul had failed me when he spoke, I sought him, but I could not find him, I called him, but he gave me no answer. The watchmen that go about the city found me, They smote me, they wounded me, The keepers of the walls t... [ Continue Reading ]
The nightmare continues, for in her nightmare the women merely taunt her: _ “What is your beloved more than another beloved, O you fairest among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, That you do so adjure us?”_ The women who had once fawned on her now mock her status and ask why h... [ Continue Reading ]
In her continuing dream the YOUNG WIFE gives her response _ “My beloved is white and ruddy, The chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, His locks are curly, and black as a raven. His eyes are like doves beside the water-brooks, Washed with milk, and fitly set. His cheeks are... [ Continue Reading ]