Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 5:4
My beloved put in his hand by the hole [of the door], and my bowels were moved for him.
4. by the hole of the door] Lit. from the hole, i.e. the hole usually to be found in doors. This was not an opening through which the hand was inserted to unbolt the door, but one through which women could look out upon and speak with men, without being unduly exposed to observation themselves. Through this the Shulammite’s lover puts his hand, either to beckon to her, or as an expression of his longing to be near her.
my bowels were moved for him ] R.V. my heart was moved for him. The heart ( lbh) was for the Hebrew the seat of the intellect. The viscera or internal organs ( m‘m) were regarded as the seat of the affections, and were named where we should say ‘the heart.’ Cp. Psa 40:8, “Thy law is within my m‘m,” i.e. within my heart. Budde proposes to add the third clause of Son 5:6 to this verse, because he thinks it out of place there. He would read
“My love sent forth his hand, And his right hand from the hole.
And my heart was moved for him, My soul went forth when he spake.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Put in his hand – Through (literally from) the hole (of the lock), in order to raise the pins by which the bolt was fastened. The Oriental lock is a hollow piece of wood attached to the doorpost, into which a sliding-bolt is made to run. As soon as the bolt has been driven home a number of pins drop into holes prepared in it for their reception. To raise these pins, and so enable the bolt to be withdrawn, is to unfasten the lock. This is commonly done by means of the key (literally opener), but may often be accomplished by the fingers if dipped in paste or some other adhesive substance. For such a purpose the beloved inserts his fingers here anointed with the costly unguent, which will presently distil on those of the bride when she rises to open to him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. My beloved put in his hand] If it were a real scene, which is mentioned in this and the two following verses, it must refer, from the well-known use of the metaphors, to matrimonial endearments. Or, it may refer to his attempts to open the door, when she hesitated to arise, on the grounds mentioned So 5:3. But this also bears every evidence of a dream.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
My Beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door; he assayed to open the door. When his word would not prevail, his Spirit, which is called the finger of God, Luk 11:20, compared with Mat 12:28, wrought inwardly upon my conscience, and affected mine heart. My bowels were moved for him, with compassion for him and his sufferings, and with affection to him; for both these ways is this phrase off used, as Job 37:1; Phi 2:1,2, &c.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. A key in the East is usuallya piece of wood with pegs in it corresponding to small holes in awooden bolt within, and is put through a hole in the door, and thusdraws the bolt. So Jesus Christ “puts forth His hand (namely,His Spirit, Eze 3:14), by(Hebrew, ‘from,’ so in So2:9) the hole”; in “chastening” (Psa 38:2;Rev 3:14-22, singularlysimilar to this passage), and other unexpected ways letting Himselfin (Luk 22:61; Luk 22:62).
bowels . . . moved for himItis His which are first troubled for us, and which cause ours to betroubled for Him (Jer 31:20;Hos 11:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
My beloved put in his hand by the hole [of the door],…. To remove the bolt or bar which kept him from entering in. By the “door” is meant the door of her heart, which was in a great measure shut against Christ, through the prevalence of corruption; and the “hole” in it shows that it was not entirely shut up, there was a little love broke out from her to him; a little light broke in from him upon her; but her heart was much narrowed and straitened, her grace low in exercise, yet there were some faith, some love, c. wherefore Christ takes the advantage of the little hole or crevice there was, and “put in his hand” which is to be understood of powerful and efficacious grace, and the exertion of it on her; which is as necessary to awake a drowsy saint, and reclaim a backsliding professor, and to quicken to the exercise of grace, and performance of duty, as to the conversion of a sinner, Ac 11:22; and this is a proof of the greatness of Christ’s love to his church; that notwithstanding her rude carriage to him, he does not utterly forsake her, but left something behind that wrought upon her; as well as of his mighty power, in that what calls, knocks, raps, good words, and melting language, could not do, his hand did at once;
and my bowels were moved for him; the passions of her soul; her grief and sorrow for sin, in using him in so ill a manner; her shame for being guilty of such ingratitude; her fear lest he should utterly depart from her; her love, which had been chill and cold, now began to kindle and appear in flames; her heart, and the desires of it, were in motion towards him; and a hearty concern appeared that he should be used so unfriendly by her; that his company and communion with him should be slighted, who had so greatly loved her, and endured so much for her; other effects follow.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4 My beloved stretched his hand through the opening,
And my heart was moved for him.
,
(Note: Cf. the Arab. ghawr ( ghor ), as a sinking of the earth, and khawr ( khor ), as a breaking through, and, as it were, a piercing. The mouth of a river is also called khor , because there the sea breaks into the riv.)
from the verb , in the sense of to break through (R. , whence also , Son 1:10, and , Arab. kharam , part. broken through, e.g., of a lattice-window), signifies foramen, a hole, also caverna (whence the name of the Troglodytes, , and the Haurn, ), here the loophole in the door above (like khawkht , the little door for the admission of individuals in the street or house-door). It does not properly mean a window, but a part of the door pierced through at the upper part of the lock of the door (the door-bolt). is understood from the standpoint of one who is within; “by the opening from without to within,” thus “through the opening;” stretching his hand through the door-opening as if to open the door, if possible, by the pressing back of the lock from within, he shows how greatly he longed after Shulamith. And she was again very deeply moved when she perceived this longing, which she had so coldly responded to: the interior of her body, with the organs which, after the bibl. idea, are the seat of the tenderest emotions, or rather, in which they reflect themselves, both such as are agreeable and such as are sorrowful, groaned within her, – an expression of deep sympathy so common, that “the sounding of the bowels,” Isa 63:15, an expression used, and that anthropopathically of God Himself, is a direct designation of sympathy or inner participation. The phrase here wavers between and (thus, e.g., Nissel, 1662). Both forms are admissible. It is true we say elsewhere only naphshi ‘alai , ruhi ‘alai , libbi ‘alai , for the Ego distinguishes itself from its substance (cf. System d. bibl. Psychologie, p. 151f.); meai ‘alai , instead of bi ( ), would, however, be also explained from this, that the bowels are meant, not anatomically, but as psychical organs. But the old translators (lxx, Targ., Syr., Jerome, Venet.) rendered , which rests on later MS authority ( vid., Norzi, and de Rossi), and is also more appropriate: her bowels are stirred, viz., over him, i.e., on account of him (Alkabez: ). As she will now open to him, she is inwardly more ashamed, as he has come so full of love and longing to make her glad.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Notes
Son. 5:4 : My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door. By the hole of the door (, min ha-khor; literally from the hole). Through the latticed window. ZCKLER. The opening which served for a window. EWALD. At the window or casement. PATRICK. Probably rather a hole in the door. The hole in or near the door. RASHI. Above the lock. HAHN. In the wall. HITZIG. The attempt made to open the lock inside. Oriental houses still made with a hole in the door, or rather door-post, by which the master and domestics open the locks by putting in their hand, while strangers neither dare nor know how to do so, the locks being variously made; at night, additional bolts and bars so fasten the door that it cannot be opened from without. WEISS. When the bolt was too strong for the finger to move, or the hole too small, a key was used: otherwise, the finger inserted into the hole could move the bolt and open the door: at night, a pin was passed before the fore part of the bolt, to prevent its being opened on the outside: the Bridegroom had put in his finger to see if this had been omitted. DEL RIO. A key in the East usually a piece of wood with pegs or pins in it corresponding to small holes in a wooden bolt within, and is inserted through a hole in the door to push back the bolt. FAUSSET. The locks are placed on the inside of the doors of gardens and outer courts, and even on those of inner rooms of some places. To enable the owner to open them, a hole is cut in the door, through which he thrusts his arm and inserts the key. THOMSON, Land and Book. SEPTUAGINT: Withdrew his hand from, &c. So BURROUGHS and GINSBURG. VULGATE, followed by MARTIN. Put his hand. LUTHER, DIODATI, WICKLIFF: Through the hole. GENEVA: Through the hole of the door. PISCATOR and MONTANUS: From the hole. JUNIUS and TREMELLIUS: Had put down his hand from, &c. THEODORET: To awaken the Bride. PISCATOR: To effect an opening. SANCTIUS: To remove the bolt. PATRICK: As if attempting to draw her out of her bed, or threatening to punish her. HITZIG: As if intending to climb in by the window. HENGSTENBERG and WORDSWORTH: Forcibly to break a hole through the wall, like Eze. 8:7-8. Allegorically: His hand, the Divine energy. THEODORET. A secret inspiration on the heart. FROMONDI. Something tending to awaken the Church. BRIGHTMAN. To arouse the lingering and fearful. COCCEIUS. His vengeance in the days of Ahaz. RASHI. Efficacious grace. GILL. Historically, the reference to the incarnation. HONORIUS. To the scene in the judgment-hall of Caiaphas. M. STUART, FAUSSET. To the resurrection of Christ. PHILO, To the inward working of His Spirit, as at Antioch (Act. 2:19; Act. 2:21. AINSWORTH, FAUSSET.
LOVES CONQUEST
Son. 5:4
My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door,
And my bowels were moved for him.
Shulamite continues her narrative. The Bridegroom, unwilling to take a refusal, employs further means for obtaining admission. Inserts his hand, through the hole made for opening the door in the inside. The sight of his hand gains the desired compliance.
Observe
1. Christ unwilling to take a refusal on the part of redeemed sinners, and especially of His believing though backslidden people. His patience unwearied, because His love is unchangeable (Hos. 11:7-9).
2. A work of Omnipotence needed as well for restoring saints as for converting sinners. The hand to be employed as well as the voice; the power of the Spirit as well as the call of His Word. Preachers successful because the Lord works with them, giving testimony to the Word of His grace, and confirming that Word with signs following. The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord (Act. 11:21; Act. 14:3). The Lords hand also often put forth in Providence, when His voice is not hearkened to in His Word. The secret springs of the soul in the Saviours hand. He that openeth, and no man shutteth: and shutteth and no man openeth.
3. Christ turns the heart, but employs suitable means and rational motives in doing so. The Bridegroom shewed his hand; but left the Bride to draw back the bolt herself Christ puts no force upon our nature, but upon our ill nature.Henry. His people willing in the day of His power. God, in a work of grace, does His part, and leaves us to do ours. Believers to work out their salvation, because God works in them both to will and to do. The apostles so spake that many believed. The Lord opened Lydias heart, that she attended to the things spoken by Paul. The believing connected with the speaking as its result. The Lord opens the heart, but Lydia attends to what is spoken (Act. 14:24; Act. 16:14). Christs voice raised Lazarus from the dead, but the people were to remove the stone from the grave, and then to loose him from his grave-clothes and let him go (Joh. 11:39-44).
4. Faithful preachers not to despond. If one means or message fails, another may be made successful. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper. If the axe be blunt, he putteth forth more strength. Sometimes a providence successful where the preacher has failed.
5. Christ acquainted with the best means of reaching the heart. Sometimes the least likely means the most successful. The Lords mere look broke Peters heart. The mere sight of the Bridegrooms hand did more to melt the heart of the Bride than either his repeated knock or his imploring call. A preachers loving earnestness often the means of moving the careless more than the words be utters.
6. Inward motions necessary to outward action. My bowels were moved for him (or, in me). The Spirit, in conversion or restoration, acts upon the conscience and feelings. The three thousand at Pentecost pricked in their hearts, and then cried: Men and brethren, what shall we do? The moving of Peters bowels the turning point of his second conversion.
7. The exhibition of Christ and His love the most effectual way of leading to true repentance. My bowels were moved for, or on account of him. They shall look on Him whom they have pierced, and shall mourn because of Him (Zec. 12:10). Preaching Christ, and Him crucified, the readiest as well as most Scriptural way of moving mens hearts.
8. Great and palpable effects on the soul under the Holy Spirits operation. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof.
9. Believers able to mark and record the operations of the Spirit on their heart, and their inward experience in relation to Christ.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(4) By the holei.e., through (Heb. min), as in Son. 2:9. The hole is the aperture made in the door above the lock for the insertion of the hand with the key. The ancient lock was probably like the one in use in Palestine now. It consists of a hollow bolt or bar, which passes through a staple fixed to the door and into the door-post. In the staple are a number of movable pins, which drop into corresponding holes in the bolt when it is pushed home, and the door is then locked. To unlock it, the key is slid into the hollow bolt, and the movable pins pushed back by other pins in it, corresponding in size and form, which fill up the holes, and so enable the bolt to be withdrawn. It is said that, in lieu of a proper key, the arm can be inserted into the hollow bolt and the pins be pushed up by the hand, if provided with some soft material, as lard or wax, to fill up the holes, and keep the pins from falling back again till the bolt is withdrawn. This offers one explanation of Son. 5:5. Coming to the door and having no key, the lover is supposed to make use of some myrrh, brought as a present, in trying to open the door, and, not succeeding, to go away. The sweet smelling (Marg., passing, or running about) is the myrrh that drops from the tree naturally, before any incision is made in the bark, and is considered specially fine. Others explain Son. 5:5 by comparison with the heathen custom alluded to in Lucretius iv. 1173:
At lacrimans exclusus amator limina spe
Floribus et sertis operit posteisque superbos
Unguet amaricino, et foribus miser oscula figit.
(Comp. Tibullus, 1:2-14.) Perhaps Pro. 7:17 makes the comparison allowable, but the first explanation is preferable.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Put in his hand The Land and the Book tells us that Eastern house-doors usually lock from within only, and a hole in the doorframe is left by which one can reach the keyhole from without. The Beloved will not enter unbidden, from a sense of true delicacy.
By the hole Hebrew, From the hole; that is, to withdraw the bolt. It is simply astonishing that this language, so expressive of modesty, the more beautiful because found in humble life, has ever been thought to have a character directly opposite. My bowels, etc. The Hebrew word signifies the upper viscera, and chiefly the heart. It means, figuratively, the sympathies, the anxieties. As soon as the Beloved had departed, her disquiet began.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘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 not move because the pins were in place, so that he remained unable to open the door. However, she knew now that she could not leave him outside, for she still loved him, even if not quite as much as before.
We have here a clear picture of the backholding and lukewarm heart (compare Hos 4:16, ‘Israel is backholding, like a backholding heifer’). It is not that we do not want to serve Him, it is just that we do not want our luxurious form of living to be disturbed, with the result that we have locked Him out. But our beloved is not satisfied with that and constantly seeks to find His way to us, even reaching though the door so that He can approach us, only to find it locked. Then we have to choose what we will do. Will we open to Him immediately, or will we tell Him to go away and return at some more convenient time? But we must remember that if we do continue to refuse Him access we must not be surprised if we then find that He has hidden Himself from us.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Son 5:4. Put in his hand by the hole of the door Through the opening of the door.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.
See Reader! the sovereignty of grace, and behold at the same time the whole source of our mercies. All calls, all entreaties, are lost upon our poor unthinking hearts, until the Lord that calls makes willing also in the day of his power. But until the voice that ere long shall wake the dead, now wakes the sinner, dead in trespasses and sins; no heart will open to him, nor feet move towards him. How blessed to see the Church having her very inside turned towards Christ, when by his Almighty love he had opened her soul. The prophet describes a beautiful instance of this, in the case of Ephraim: Jer 31:13-20 . And the Evangelist another, in the case of the Prodigal Luk 15:17-24 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Son 5:4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole [of the door], and my bowels were moved for him.
Ver. 4. My beloved put in his hand by the hole. ] Or, He let fall his hand from the hole, a where he was lifting at the latch, or seeking to put by the bar; he took it so unkindly to be so ill answered, that he departed in displeasure, and would be no further troublesome. “Sleep on now,” quoth he, as Mar 14:41 “and take your rest.” He that will hear, let him hear, and he that hath a mind to forbear, let him forbear. Eze 3:27 but at his own peril; the best that can come of it is repentance, that fair and happy daughter of an ugly and odious mother. b Delicata res est Spiritus Dei, saith one, The Spirit of God is a delicate thing; and he that grieves that holy thing whereby he is sealed, by giving way to a spirit of sloth and slumber, may lose his joy of faith, and go mourning to his grave. And although with much ado he may get assurance of pardon, yet his conscience will be still trembling, as David’s, Psa 51:1-19 till God at length speak further peace. Even as the water of the sea after a storm is not presently still, but moves and trembles a good while after the storm is over. Take heed, therefore: Cavebis autem si pavebis Moreover, if you are terrified, you will beware. Rom 11:21 But to take the words as they are here translated, “My beloved put in his hand by the hole”; that is, he touched mine earthly heart by his Holy Spirit; and notwithstanding my discourteous dealing with him, left a sweet remembrance of himself behind him. As he would not away, but continued still knocking till he had an answer, so, though the answer pleased him not, yet he called not for his lovetokens back again, he cast her not off, as Ahasuerus did Vashti – no, “he hates putting away”; Mal 2:16 but as the sun with his bright beams follows the passenger that hath turned his back upon it, so deals Christ by his backsliding people. Jer 3:22 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, Psa 23:6 saith David; follow me, though I forsake mine own mercies, saith Jonah. Jon 2:8 And as the same sunbeams do convey the heat and influence thereof to the earth, thereby calling out the herbs and flowers, and healing those deformities that winter had brought upon it, so doth Christ, that sun of righteousness, arise (to his servants that are benighted with sin and sorrow) “with healing in his wings”; that is, with the gracious influence of his Holy Spirit, conveying the virtues of his blood to their consciences, and causing them, as by a new spring of holy desires and endeavours, to reflourish. Php 4:10
And my bowels were moved for him.
a Dimissit manus a foramine.
b . – De Pompeio Romano ap. Plutarch.
c H .
d Hac congerie impenitentia Esaui describitur. – Piscat.
e To dye, colour, or stain with woad, sometimes (in dyeing) as a ground for another colour.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
put in his hand, &c. = withdrew his hand. Hebrew “sent away his hand from the hole”. So the Septuagint and Rashbam.
my bowels were moved for him = my heart was disquieted within me.
for him. Many codices read “within me”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
put: Son 1:4, Psa 110:3, Act 16:14, 2Co 8:1, 2Co 8:2, 2Co 8:16, Phi 2:13
my bowels: Gen 43:30, 1Ki 3:26, Isa 26:8, Isa 26:9, 1Jo 3:16, 1Jo 3:17
for him: or – as some readin me
Reciprocal: Son 5:6 – my soul Jer 31:20 – my bowels 2Co 7:15 – inward affection is
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Son 5:4-5. By the hole He assayed to open the door. When his word would not prevail, his Spirit, which is called the finger of God, (Luk 11:20,) wrought inwardly upon my conscience. My bowels were moved With compassion for him and his sufferings, and with affection to him. I rose I went forth to receive him. My hands dropped with myrrh With oil or ointment made of myrrh, which dropped from the bridegrooms hand upon the door in great abundance, when he put it into the hole of the door And consequently upon her hands and fingers when she touched the door to open it. By which she signifies, that Christ, though he withdrew himself from her, yet left a sweet savour behind him. Upon the handles of the lock Hebrew, with myrrh passing, or flowing, upon the handles of the lock, which place the bridegroom had touched when he attempted to open it.