Song of Solomon 5:11-16

The woman describes Solomon to her friends. Her description may seem strange to us. But she is describing things that people thought to be very beautiful. Or, things that were very special.

Some of her descriptions sound like gardens. There are trees and flowers. There are beautiful smells. There are birds. And there are streams of water.

Other descriptions sound like a building. And the building contains the most expensive materials. There are gold and *jewels. There are *ivory and *marble. There are bases and columns.

Solomon was a very rich king. His workmen built great palaces and other buildings in Jerusalem. He used wood from Lebanon. The workmen cut flower shapes into the wood. And he used much gold (1 Kings Chapter s 6-7). So perhaps the woman was describing an actual building in Jerusalem. Or perhaps she was describing the gardens near the great buildings Ecclesiastes 2:4-6).

‘Everything about him is lovely’ (verse 16). These are good words for Christians to use when they praise God. God is perfect. He deserves our honour. Nobody is like him. He is really wonderful. We should always praise him.

December 2005

myrrh ~ something that comes from trees; people use it in incense.
incense ~ a spice that produces a sweet smell.
spice ~ a special plant that has a strong smell and taste. People use spices to make incense and perfume.
perfume ~ a sweet smell.
spice ~ a special plant that has a strong smell and taste. People use spices to make incense and perfume.
incense ~ a spice that produces a sweet smell.
perfume ~ a sweet smell.
bee ~ a type of insect.
dear ~ someone that you love in a special way.
dove ~ a bird.
dew ~ small amounts of water that appear on the ground during the night.
myrrh ~ something that comes from trees; people use it in incense.
incense ~ a spice that produces a sweet smell.
spice ~ a special plant that has a strong smell and taste. People use spices to make incense and perfume.
perfume ~ a sweet smell.
raven ~ a black bird.
jewel ~ a precious stone.
perfume ~ a sweet smell.
lotus ~ a flower.
jewel ~ a precious stone.
ivory ~ part of an elephant (called the ‘tusk’). It is hard and white. People use ivory to make beautiful things.
marble ~ a very hard material; it is similar to stone; it can have colours.
cedar ~ a type of tall tree, or wood from the cedar tree.

The Beautiful Woman behind the Veil

Song of Songs

Sarah Ruth

Chapter 5

Man

v1a I have come into my garden, my sister and my new wife.

I have taken my *myrrh with my *spice.

I have eaten my *honeycomb and my *honey.

I have drunk my *wine and my milk.

Almost all the songs are about how the woman feels. But here we read about how the man feels. He is saying, ‘I have done it!’

Yes! It has certainly been very good!

The man uses the word ‘my’. The man and his wife feel so near to each other that they feel like one person.

The Writer

v1b Eat, friends, and drink. You love each other!

Drink until you no longer need a drink.

Verse 1 is the middle of the Song. It is also an important point in the story. It is the greatest event until now. They have enjoyed sex completely.

The man and his wife are certainly very happy! Oh! They have known a lot of pleasure! It was like a drink of the best *wine and a meal of the best food. They enjoyed all of it together.

What the man and his wife are doing is right and good. They may enjoy each other’s love for as long as they want to. They can give pleasure to each other many times.

God wants a man and his wife to stay together. If they do, they can enjoy sex many times. We see that, in this story, it has been good the first time. So the man and his wife will want to continue.

The woman sleeps. She has another dream. The woman is telling her friends about her dream.

Woman

v2 I slept but my *heart was awake.

Listen! The man who loves me is knocking.

‘Open the door for me, my sister’, he said.

‘You are my best friend that I love the most.

To me you are like a *dove.

Nobody is lovelier than you.

Water from the night air covers my head.

My hair is very wet.’

v3 I said, ‘I have taken off my day clothes.

I do not want to put them on again.

I have washed my feet.

I do not want them to get dirty again.’

v4 The man who loves me pushed his hand through the hole in the door.

My heart began to go quicker for him.

I could feel it and I could almost hear it.

v5 I stood up to open the door for the man who loves me.

My hands were wet with *myrrh.

*Myrrh was dropping from my fingers onto the door handle.

The woman has started to dream. Her mind and her *heart are still awake in some ways. She has enjoyed a night of sex with her husband. So, in the dream story, she has good thoughts about this. She wants her husband very much.

Woman

v6 I opened the door for the man who loves me. But he had left.

He was gone.

I felt full of love for him when he spoke.

I looked for him but I did not find him.

I spoke his name loudly but he did not answer.

The lovely dream, about the time when the man came to her, now changes. It is a very bad dream. She no longer thinks good thoughts.

Now she dreams, instead, that her husband has gone. She is very sad. She thinks that she will not see her husband again. She will do anything that she can to find him.

It is worse than the dream in chapter 3 because this is after her marriage. She has enjoyed sex with him.

For another man and woman this might be a fact, not a dream. Sometimes a man and a woman have sex. It is the first time. Then the next morning the man leaves the woman. He does not love her and he no longer wants her. This is not good for the woman. She will feel very bad. The woman will think, ‘I am like something that the man has used. He used me once and then he threw me out.’ She will not even feel like a person. God’s idea for sex is not like this.

The woman continues to dream.

Woman

v7 The *security guards were working.

They found me while they were walking through the streets of the city.

They hit me and they hurt me.

And the marks on my body show this.

Those *security guards of the walls took away my *shawl.

v8 Please find the man who loves me, *Daughters of Jerusalem!

If you find him, please speak to him about me.

Please tell him that I am weak with love.

When the woman was with her husband, she was sure about his love. But perhaps this dream shows that she is still not very sure about herself. She is still afraid of many things. Her life with her brothers was not good. They should have watched over her but they were not kind to her. Maybe other men had been cruel to her or they had hurt her.

In the same way, the *security guards should have watched over her. But instead, they hit her. This shows that the woman needs more of her husband’s love. She needs him to be very kind to her.

The woman tells her friends about the dream. Then they know how the woman feels.

Friends

v9 You are the most beautiful among women.

How is the man that you love better than other men?

How is he better than other men, that you ask us to say this?

Woman

v10 His face and his body shine because of the sun.

He is the greatest among 10 000 men.

v11 His head is valuable like *pure gold.

The hairs on his head are black, but they are not straight.

They are black like the night with no moon.

v12 His eyes are like *doves by the water streams.

They are like *doves that someone has washed in milk.

They sometimes shine like valuable stones.

v13 The sides of his face are like *spice plants in the ground that have a lovely smell.

His lips are like *lilies with *myrrh that falls from them.

v14 His arms are like long round pieces of gold

and some valuable stones are over them.

His body is like *ivory that someone has caused to shine.

A few valuable, blue stones make it even more beautiful.

v15 His legs are straight and strong like round pieces of beautiful stone.

His feet are of *pure gold.

He is tall like Lebanon, quite as handsome as its best *cedars.

v16 His mouth is very nice in every way.

Everything about him is lovely.

This is the man who loves me.

This is my friend, *Daughters of Jerusalem.

The woman describes her husband from his head to his feet. He has good health. And he has a red-brown face because he is often outside. He is handsome and tall like a tree. He is strong. He is as strong as he will ever be. His arms, legs and body are hard when anyone touches them. So maybe he works a lot. People will see him easily in a crowd.

But it will not be easy for anyone to find him! She has not described carefully what his face and his body are like. Rather, she has described what he is like as a person. This tells us how she thinks about him. He is very sure in his *spirit. He knows what he wants. Nobody can change his mind.

The woman feels safe with him because he is kind. She describes his eyes like *doves in a quiet place. His eyes show that he wants to be kind. And so she understands that she is special to him. She likes his mouth. Maybe he smiles at her. And she likes his kisses!

To her there is nobody greater! She finds that everything about him is lovely. So she has said that parts of his body are like valuable metals and stones. She finishes with, ‘This is the man who loves me. This is my friend.’ She is sure that nobody will argue with her.

myrrh ~ something that has a lovely strong smell. People get it from a plant. They use it to make incense or perfume.
incense ~ something that makes a lovely smell when it burns.
perfume ~ something that has a very nice smell; people put it on their bodies.
spices ~ people get these from plants. When someone puts them into food, the food tastes stronger and better than before.
honeycomb ~ the insects make honey in this.
honey ~ some insects make this from flowers’ sugar. It is thick when someone pours it.
honey ~ some insects make this from flowers’ sugar. It is thick when someone pours it.
wine ~ a drink that has alcohol in it. People make it from grapes.
grape ~ a small soft fruit.
heart ~ here it does not mean the part of us that sends blood round our body; it means the part inside us where we feel love for someone.
doves ~ small, beautiful birds. They move their wings quickly when they fly.
wings ~ parts of a bird. The bird uses them to fly.
myrrh ~ something that has a lovely strong smell. People get it from a plant. They use it to make incense or perfume.
incense ~ something that makes a lovely smell when it burns.
perfume ~ something that has a very nice smell; people put it on their bodies.'security guards ~ men who usually work at night. They walk round the walls of a city to watch over it. If bad people come, they can send them away; or they can lock them in a prison. Security guards are like policemen.
shawl ~ a piece of cloth that women may wear over their shoulders. It is like a veil.
veil ~ a piece of thin cloth that covers the face. The person who is wearing it can see through it. Or it may not cover the eyes.'Daughters of Jerusalem ~ this is a name for the woman’s friends.'pure gold ~ clean gold; gold when someone has taken out everything else.
lily ~ a pretty flower.
ivory ~ material that is almost white; people got it from the large teeth of some animals.
cedar ~ a tall, strong tree. People get good wood from it. This tree grows in Lebanon.
spirit ~ the part of us that lives when our body dies. It is the person himself, his nature.