Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 5:8
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I [am] sick of love.
8. I charge you ] Better, I adjure you, if ye find my beloved, what shall ye say unto him? That I am sick of love. The connexion here is difficult. The Shulammite’s loss was only in a dream, and how can the author represent her as carrying over her dream loss into real life? The answer made by some is, that this verse and the next contain matter which was inserted only to introduce the description of the Shulammite’s beloved. But even if that were the case we should still look for some rational and intelligible transition. That can be got only if we conceive of the dream being related by the Shulammite while she is still not quite awake. She is represented as not distinguishing between her dreams and reality.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The bride, now awake, is seeking her beloved. The dream of his departure and her feelings under it have symbolized a real emotion of her waking heart.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Son 5:8
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved, that ye tell Him, that I am sick of love.
Heavenly love-sickness
Sick! that is a sad thing; it moves your pity. Sick of love–love-sick! that stirs up other emotions which we shall presently attempt to explain. There is a twofold love-sickness. Of the one kind is that love-sickness which comes upon the Christian when he is transported with the full enjoyment of Jesus, even as the bride, elated by the favour, melted by the tenderness of her Lord, says in the fifth verse of the second chapter of the Song, Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. Another kind of love-sickness, widely different from the first, is that in which the soul is sick, not because it has too much of Christs love, but because it has not enough present consciousness of it; sick, not of the enjoyment, but of the longing for it; sick, not because of the excess of delight, but because of sorrow for an absent lover.
I. First, consider our text as the language of a soul longing for the view of Jesus Christ in grace.
1. Do ye ask me concerning the sickness itself: what is it? It is the.sickness of a soul punting after communion with Christ. Gracious souls are never perfectly at ease except they are in a state of nearness to Christ; for, mark you, when they are not near to Christ, they lose their peace. The nearer to Jesus, the nearer to the perfect calm of heaven; and the further from Jesus, the nearer to that troubled sea which images the continual unrest of the wicked. The heart when near to Jesus has strong pulsations, for, since Jesus is in that heart, it is full of life, of vigour, and of strength. Peace, liveliness, vigour–all depend upon the constant enjoyment of communion with Christ Jesus. The soul of a Christian never knows what joy means in its true solidity, except when she sits like Mary at Jesus feet. What the sun is to the day, what the moon is to the night, what the dew is to the flower, such is Jesus Christ to us. What the turtle is to her mate, what the husband is to his spouse, what the head is to the body, such is Jesus Christ to us; and therefore, if we have Him not, nay, if we are not conscious of having Him; if we are not one with Him, nay, if we are not consciously one with Him, little marvel if our spirit cries in the words of the Song, I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved, tell Him, that I am sick of love. Such is the character of this love-sickness. We may say of it, however, that it is a sickness which has a blessing attending it: Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness; and therefore, supremely blessed are they who thirst after the Righteous One–after Him who in the highest perfection embodies pure, immaculate, spotless righteousness. Blessed is that hunger, for it comes from God. Yet it is a sickness which, despite the blessing, causes much pain. The man who is sick after Jesus will be dissatisfied with everything else; he will find that dainties have lost their sweetness, and music its melody, and light its brightness, and life itself will be darkened with the shadow of death to him, till he finds his Lord, and can rejoice in Him. Ye shall find that this thirsting, this sickness, if it ever gets hold upon you, is attended with great vehemence. As lovers sometimes talk of doing impossibilities for their fair ones, so certainly a spirit that is set on Christ will laugh at impossibility, and say, It shall be done It will venture upon the hardest task, go cheerfully to prison and joyfully to death, if it may but find its beloved, and have its love-sickness satisfied with His presence.
2. What maketh a man s soul so sick after Christ? Understand that it is the absence of Christ which makes this sickness in a mind that really understands the preciousness of His presence. The spouse had been very wilful and wayward; she had taken off her garments, had gone to her rest, her sluggish, slothful rest, when her Beloved knocked at the door. Mingled with the sense of absence is a consciousness of wrong-doing. Something in her seemed to say, How couldst thou drive Him away? That heavenly Bridegroom who knocked and pleaded hard, how couldst thou keep Him longer there amidst the cold dews of night? O unkind heart I what if thy feet had been made to bleed by thy rising? What if all thy body had been chilled by the cold wind, when thou wast treading the floor? What had it been compared with His love to thee? So, too, mixed with this, was great wretchedness because He was gone. She had been for a little time easy in His absence. That downy bed, that warm coverlet, had given her a peace–a false, cruel, and a wicked peace–but she has risen now, the watchmen have smitten her, her veil is gone, and, without a friend, the princess, deserted in the midst of Jerusalems streets, has her soul melted for heaviness, and she pours out her heart within her as she pineth after her Lord. To gather up the causes of this love sickness in a few words, does not the whole matter spring from relationship? She is His spouse; can the spouse be happy without her beloved Lord? It springs from union; she is part of Himself. Can the hand be happy and healthy if the life-floods stream not from the heart and from the head? Fondly realizing her dependence, she feels that she owes all to Him, and gets her all from Him. If, then, the fountain be cut off, if the streams be dried, if the great source of all be taken from her, how can she but be sick? And there is besides this a life and a nature in her which makes her sick. There is a life like the life of Christ, nay, her life is in Christ, it is hid with Christ in God; her nature is a part of the Divine nature; she is a partaker of the Divine nature. Moreover she is in union with Jesus, and this piece, divided, as it were, from the body, wriggles, like a worm cut asunder, and pants to get back to where it came from.
3. What endeavours such love-sick souls will put forth. Those who are sick for Christ will first send their desires to Him. Go, go, sweet doves, with swift and clipping wings, and tell Him, I am sick of love. Then she would send her prayers. She is afraid they will never reach Him, for her bow is slack, and she knoweth not how to draw it with her feeble hands which hang down. So what does she? She has traversed the streets; she has used the means; she has done everything; she has sighed her heart out, and emptied her soul out in prayers. She is all wounds till He heals her; she is all a hungry mouth till He fills her; she is all an empty brook till He replenishes her once again, and so now she goeth to her companions, and she saith, If ye find my Beloved, tell Him, I am sick of love. This is using the intercession of the saints. But after all, how much better it would have been for her to tell Him herself. But, you say, she could not find Him. Nay, but if she had faith she would have known that her prayers could; for our prayers know where Christ is when we do not know, or rather, Christ knows where our prayers are, and when we cannot see Him they reach Him nevertheless.
4. Blessed love-sickness! we have seen its character and its cause, and the endeavours of the soul under it; let us just notice the comforts which belong to such a state as this. Briefly they are these–you shall be filled. It is impossible for Christ to sat you longing after Him without intending to give Himself to you. He makes you long: He will certainly satisfy your longings. Remember, again, that He will give you Himself all the sooner for the bitterness of your longings. The more pained your heart is at His absence the shorter will the absence be. Then, again, when He does come, as come He will, oh, how sweet it will be!
II. This love-sickness may be seen in a soul longing for a view of Jesus in His glory.
1. And here we will consider the complaint itself for a moment. This ailment is not merely a longing after communion with Christ on earth–that has been enjoyed, and generally this sickness follows that. It is the enjoyment of Esheols first-fruits which makes us desire to sit under our own vine and our own fig tree before the throne of God in the blessed land. This sickness is characterized by certain marked symptoms; I will tell you what they are. There is a loving and a longing, a loathing and a languishing. As the needle once magnetized will never be easy until it finds the pole, so the heart once Christianized never will be satisfied until it rests on Christ–rests on Him, too, in the fulness of the beatific vision before the throne.
2. As to its object–what is that? Tell Him, that I am sick of love; but what is the sickness for? When you and I want to go to heaven I hope it is the true love-sickness. The soul may be as sick as it will, without rebuke, when it is sick to be with Jesus. You may indulge this, carry it to its utmost extent without either sin or folly. What am I sick with love for? For the pearly gates?–No; but for the pearls that are in His wounds. What am I sick for? For the streets of gold?–No; but for His head, which is as much fine gold. For the melody of the harps and angelic songs?–No but for the melodious notes that come from His dear mouth. What am I sick for? For the nectar that angels drink?–No; but for the kisses of His lips. For the manna on which heavenly souls do feed?–No; but for Himself, who is the meat and drink of His saints; Himself, Himself–my soul pines to see Him.
3. Ask ye, yet again, what are the excitements of this sickness. What is it makes the Christian rang to be at home with Jesus? I do believe that all the bitters and all the sweets make a Christian, when he is in a healthy state, sick after Christ: the sweets make his mouth water for more sweets, and the bitters make him pant for the time when the last dregs of bitterness shall be over. Wearying temptations, as well as rapt enjoyments, all set the spirit on the wing after Jesus.
4. Well now, what is the cure of this love-sickness? Is it a sickness for which there is any specific remedy? There are some palliatives, and I will recommend them to you. Such, for example, is a strong faith that realizes the day of the Lord and the presence of Christ, as Moses beheld the promised land and the goodly heritage, when he stood on the top of Pisgah. If you do not get heaven when you want it, you may attain to that which is next door to heaven, and this may bear you up for a little season, if you cannot get to behold Christ face to face, it is a blessed make-shift for the time to see Him in the Scriptures, and to look at Him through the glass of the Word. These are palliatives, but I warn ye, I warn ye of them. I do not mean to keep you from them, use them as much as ever you can, but I warn you from expecting that it will cure that love-sickness. It will give you ease, but it will make you more sick still, for he that lives on Christ gets more hungry after Christ. But there is a cure, there is a cure and you shall have it soon–a black draught, and in it a pearl: a black draught called Death. Ye shall drink it, but ye shall not know it is bitter, for ye shall swallow it up in victory. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. I am sick of love.] “I am exceedingly concerned for his absence; and am distressed on account of my thoughtless carriage towards him.” The latter clause may be well translated, “What should ye tell him?” Why, “that I am sick of love.” This ends the transactions of the third day and night.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Daughters of Jerusalem; of whom See Poole “Son 1:5“, See Poole “Son 2:7“. The church having passed the watchmen, and patiently borne, and in a manner forgotten, their injuries, proceeds in the pursuit of her Beloved, and inquires of every particular believer or professor whom she meets concerning him.
That I am sick of love; that I am ready to faint for want of his presence, and the tokens of his favour. Use all your interest and importunity with him on my behalf.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. She turns from theunsympathizing watchmen to humbler persons, not yet themselvesknowing Him, but in the way towards it. Historically, His secretfriends in the night of His withdrawal (Luk 23:27;Luk 23:28). Inquirers mayfind (“if ye find”) Jesus Christ before she who hasgrieved His Spirit finds Him again.
tellin prayer (Jas5:16).
sick of lovefrom anopposite cause (So 2:5) thanthrough excess of delight at His presence; now excess of painat His absence.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,…. Young converts, as before observed; who, upon the hideous outcry the church made in the streets, came to her to know what was the matter, whom she addressed as after related; this shows the humility and condescension of the church, in desiring the assistance of weaker saints in her present case, and her earnestness and resolution to make use of all ways and means she could to find her beloved; and it becomes saints to be assisting to one another; and conversation with one another, even with weak believers, is often useful. And these the church “adjures”, or “causes to swear” p; charged them on oath, as they would answer it to God; which shows the strength of her love, her sincerity, and seriousness in her inquiry after him:
if ye find my beloved; who had but little knowledge of him, and communion with him, since at present he was yet to be found by them; and it was possible, notwithstanding, that they might find him before she did, as Christ showed himself to Mary Magdalene, before he did to the disciples. The charge she gave them is,
that ye tell him that I [am] sick of love; or, “what shall ye”, or “should ye tell him?” q not her blows and wounds, the injuries and affronts she had received from the watchmen and keepers of the wall; nor many things, only this one thing, which was most on her heart, uppermost in her mind, and under which she must die, if not relieved, “tell him that I [am] sick of love”; and that for him, through his absence, and her eager longing after him, and the discoveries of his love to her; and which, though not incurable, nor a sickness unto death, for Christ suffers none to die through love to him, yet is a very painful one; and is to be known by a soul’s panting after Christ, and its prodigious jealousy of his love, and by its carefulness, diligence, and industry, to enjoy the manifestations of it. Of this love sickness, [See comments on So 2:5].
p , Sept. “adjuro”, V. L. Pagninus, c. q “quid narrabitis ei?” Pagninus, Michaelis “quid indicabitis ei?” Montanus, Marckius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
All this Shulamith dreamed; but the painful feeling of repentance, of separation and misapprehension, which the dream left behind, entered as deeply into her soul as if it had been an actual external experience. Therefore she besought the daughters of Jerusalem:
8 I adjure you, ye daughters of Jerusalem,
If ye find my beloved, –
What shall ye then say to him?
“That I am sick of love.”
That is here not to be interpreted as the negative particle of adjuration (Bttch.), as at Son 2:7; Son 3:5, at once appears from the absurdity arising from such an interpretation. The or. directa, following “I adjure you,” can also begin (Num 5:19.) with the usual , which is followed by its conclusion. Instead of “that ye say to him I am sick of love,” she asks the question: What shall ye say to him: and adds the answer: quod aegra sum amore , or, as Jerome rightly renders, in conformity with the root-idea of : quia amore langueo ; while, on the other hand, the lxx: ( saucia ) , as if the word were , from . The question proposed, with its answer, inculcates in a naive manner that which is to be said, as one examines beforehand a child who has to order something. She turns to the daughters of Jerusalem, because she can presuppose in them, in contrast with those cruel watchmen, a sympathy with her love-sorrow, on the ground of their having had similar experiences. They were also witnesses of the origin of this covenant of love, and graced the marriage festival by their sympathetic love.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
THE CHARGE
Son. 5:8
I charge you,
O ye daughters of Jerusalem;
If ye find my beloved,
That ye tell him that I am sick of love.
Shulamite probably still relates her dream. Receiving stripes instead of sympathy from the watchmen, she addressed herself to the women of the city. Such incongruities natural in a dream. The language that of
1. Intense concern: I charge you, &c. A kind of adjuration, as in chap. Son. 2:7; Son. 3:5; Son. 8:4; indicative of the unity of the poem. Observe
(1) The soul seeking a missing Saviour, glad to find sympathy and obtain help wherever it can. Necessity neglects no means.
(2) Sad to find private Christians more sympathizing and helpful to exercised souls than the ministers of the Word.
(3) Backsliding makes a believer an inquirer when he ought to have been a teacher. Guilt seals a believers lips, which only a renewed sense of pardon can open (Psa. 51:12-15).
(4) In darkness and desertion, others supposed to know better how and where to find Christ, and to have more access to Him, than the soul who is seeking Him.
(5) Young believers sometimes found to have nearer access to Christ, and more sensible communion with Him, than those of greater experience. The strongest believers sometimes in a condition to be assisted by the weakest (Rom. 1:12). Times when the believer feels unable directly to address himself as usual to the Saviour. Power to pray not always present with the desire to pray.
(6) The duty and privilege of earnest seekers of Jesus to request the prayers and assistance of others. Pride often the hindrance to the anxious soul obtaining peace.
(7) Communion with Christians often the best way of finding a missing Christ. Believers to be able and ready to help others to find the Saviour.
2. Shulamites language indicative of confusion and distraction. If ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, &c.; literally: What shall ye tell him? that I am sick of love. Hardly knows what she wants, and what message to send, or how to express her feelings. A state of great perturbation and perplexity natural to a soul seeking a loved but offended and missing Saviour. Shulamites present case realized in Mary weeping beside the empty tomb, and addressing Jesus Himself as if He were the gardener: Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take Him away (Joh. 20:14-15). Neither knowing to whom she spoke, nor what she said. Her soul absorbed with one thought, and not even naming the object of her search.
3. Her language that of ardent affection. Tell him that I am sick of love. Formerly said in the enjoyment of Christs presence; now in distress for His absence (chap. Son. 2:5). Love to Christ not dependent on present enjoyment, or confined to happy frames. Pursues Him when absent, as well as rejoices in Him when present. Observe, in reference to
Love-sickness for Christ,
That it is
1. Natural and reasonable. This true, whether the sickness arise from the overpowering enjoyment of Christs presence, as in chap. Son. 2:5; or, as here, from the painful sense of His absence. No reason in nature why love-sickness should exist in reference to an imperfect creature, and not to the all-perfect Creator, who has, at the same time in His love to me, become my Brother. Natural that the more excellent, lovely, and loving the object of our love, the more intense and ardent that love should be. Love due from an intelligent creature to the infinitely excellent Creator. That love not to be a cold and languid, lukewarm and formal love; but one ardent and intensewith all the heart, and soul, and strength, and mindwith all the affection which He has Himself implanted in our nature, and of which He is infinitely worthy (Rev. 3:15-16). The claims of a Creator upon our most ardent love unspeakably enhanced by those of a Redeemer. An evidence how far sin has blinded the mind, depraved the heart, and deadened the soul, that love-sickness for Christ is not as extensively experienced as the Bible is read and the Gospel preached. If the Creator, who is love and excellence itself, humbling Himself, in love, for the deliverance and happiness of His creatures, so as to assume those creatures nature, and in that nature to be bound and spit upon, scourged and crucifiedis not ardently loved by those who profess to believe they have been the objects of suck love, the only reason must be that what the Bible declares about mans heart is true, that it is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. The day will declare what every truly awakened and enlightened soul even now sees to be true, that it is mans sin and shame that a creature should be loved with greater warmth, and longed for with greater intensity, than the Creator who died for them; and that the sentence pronounced by the inspired Apostle, and recorded in the Bible, is just: If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed (1Co. 16:22).
2. Blessed and desirable. A love sickness according to truth and righteousness, and sure to obtain its end. A pain which those who feel it would not exchange, even for a moment, for all the pleasures of the world and sin during a lifetime. Ask Mary weeping at the empty grave, and the woman of the city washing the Saviours feet with her tears. Love-sickness for Christ one of the evidences of spiritual health. Good to carry such sickness with us to the grave. Death only welcome and agreeable to those who love and long for Christ. Pauls experience: I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Death necessarily gain to the lovers of Christ, as it brings them to the sight and presence of Him whom having not seen they loved (1Pe. 1:8; 1Jn. 3:2). One of the strongest proofs of Christs love to a soul is to make that soul sick of love for Himself. The prayer of Dr. Chalmers that of true enlightenment: O God, spiritualize my affections: Give me an ardent love to Christ.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
TEXT 5:816
Adjuration to Court Ladies, Son. 5:8 (third)
Court Ladies, Challenge, Son. 5:9 (ironical)
Shulammite, Description of her beloved, Son. 5:10-16
8.
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
If ye find my beloved,
That ye tell him, that I am sick from love.
9.
What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
O thou fairest among women?
What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
That thou dost so adjure us?
10.
My beloved is white and ruddy,
The chiefest among ten thousand.
11.
His head is as the most fine gold; His locks are bushy, and black as a raven.
12.
His eyes are like doves beside the waterbrooks,
Washed with milk, and fitly set.
13.
His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as banks of sweet herbs;
His lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
14.
His hands are as rings of gold set with beryl:
His body is an ivory work overlaid with sapphires.
15.
His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold:
His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
16.
His mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 5:816
135.
The maiden seems to confuse her dream with reality. Has the shepherd ever truly been lost?
136.
She was lovesick from two causesread Son. 2:5 and compare with Son. 5:8what were these causes?
137.
The court ladies have not changed their attitude since Son. 1:8. What was it?
138.
What is meant by the expression white and ruddy?
139.
The chief among ten thousand would stand out in some conspicuous manner. What was it with the shepherd?
140.
What quality is suggested in describing his head as most fine gold?
141.
What is the meaning of the compliment as related to having bushy hair?
142.
His hair was black as compared to what other color?
143.
There is a beautiful figure of speech in verse twelve. Read it carefully and express it in your own words.
144.
Her beloved must have had a beardread verse thirteenhis lips were red anemoneswhat is represented by the myrrh?
145.
She describes his hands. What is the figure?
146.
His body is as a work in ivorybut morewhat is added?
147.
What is suggested by saying his legs are as pillars?
148.
His bearing is described in Son. 5:15 b. What was it?
149.
Is the sweetness of his mouth a reference to his kisseshis voice or his speech?
150.
She concludes by calling him more than her belovedhe is also my friend. What does this suggest?
PARAPHRASE 5:816
8.
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem!
That if ye should find my beloved . . .
What shall ye tell him?
(Tell him) that I am lovesick.
Court Ladies:
9.
What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
O thou fairest among women?
What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
That thou dost so adjure us?
Shulammite:
10.
My beloved is clear-skinned and ruddy,
Outstanding as a standard-bearer in an army of ten thousand.
11.
His head is as the purest gold;
His locks are wavy and raven-black;
12.
His eyes are like doves by the water brooks,
Bathed in milk and fitly set like gems;
13.
His (bearded) cheeks are like a raised bed of balsams,
As clustered aromatic plants;
His lips are red as anemones,
And his words like flowing myrrh;
14.
His fingers are cylinders of gold set with topaz;
His body like polished marble veined with lapis lazuli;
15.
His legs are like alabaster pillars
Set upon bases of refined gold;
His bearing is as Lebanon, majestic as its cedars,
16.
His voice is melodious;
Indeed, all of him is surpassingly lovely,
This is my beloved, yes, this is my companion,
O daughters of Jerusalem!
COMMENT 5:816
Son. 5:8. All this (Son. 5:1-7) Shulamith dreamed; but the painful feeling of repentance, of separation and misapprehension which the dream left behind, entered as deeply into her soul as if it had been an actual external experience. Therefore her words to the daughters of Jerusalem are not out of place. (Delitzsch)
In contrast with the watchmenat least the daughters of Jerusalem will understand her need. They have had similar experiences. She carries a deep love-sorrow without him all of life is out of focus. I am love-sick.
Son. 5:9. Do these women ask because they want to know or only because they wish to needle their rival? We believe it is the latter reason.
Son. 5:10. If Solomon is the author of this song (and we believe he is) the words that follow would be the most exaggerated of self-praise if they referred to himselfhowever, put in the mouth of the Shulammite concerning her shepherd lover, they become far more believable. She calls into use the kingdom of nature and art in her praise of this one who is altogether lovely. Whatever is precious, lovely, and grand, is all combined in the living beauty of his person. (Ibid) The rosy whiteness of his skin suggests perfect health. The term chiefest among ten thousand refers to the one who carries the banner in war. She is saying to the ladies of the court or harem you could easily pick him out . . . It would be as easy as seeing the banner-bearer among ten thousand.
Son. 5:11. To say that his head is precious fine gold is to immediately associate it with beauty-value and honorperhaps the imposing nobility of bearing is the point in comparison. The locks of his hair appear as a terraced hillsideor a series of hills seen at a distance, hill upon hill. Seen from his neck upwards, his hair forms in undulating lines, hill upon hill. In color, these locks of hair are black as a raven . . . the raven-blackness of the hair contrasts with the whiteness and redness of the countenance, which shines forth as from a black ground, from a black border. (Delitzsch)
Son. 5:12. The eyes in their glancing moistness, and in the movement of their pupils, are like doves which sip at the water-brooks, and move to and fro beside them . . . That the eyes are like a precious stone in its casket, does not merely signify that they fill the sockets . . . but that they are not sunk like the eyes of one who is sick . . . they appear full and large as they pass forward from wide and open eyelids. (ibid)
Son. 5:13. His cheeks are like a soft, raised flower bed, the impression received upon seeing them is like the fragrance which flows from such a flower bed, planted as it is with sweet-scented flowers. This latter allusion is probably to the practice of perfuming the beard. (Cf. Psa. 133:2) His lips are as blood-red as the scarlet anemone. His speech is as fragrant and sweet as the smell of myrrh.
Son. 5:14. His handsgolden cylinders, filled with stones of Tarshish. The fingers, full, round, fleshy in mould are compared to rods or bars of gold formed like rollers garnished with stones from Tarshish, to which the nails are likened. The transparent horn-plates of the nails, with the white segment of a circle at their roots, are certainly, when they are beautiful, an ornament to the hand, and without any need of being stained are worthy to be compared to the gold-yellow of topaz. His body is an ivory work of art, covered with sapphires. The term covered over perhaps should be with sapphires. The well formed body over which are the branching blue veins under the white skin.
Son. 5:15. His legs are white marble columns, set on bases of fine gold. Strength and stability as well as beauty are here symbolized. His whole bearing is noble, the impression one gets upon looking at him is the same as when we stand at the base of a giant cedar tree and looks up.
Son. 5:16. His mouth (or speech) is most sweet, this is a reference to the manner by which he addresses otherswith true sweetness. (Cf. Pro. 16:21)
To sum up her evaluation she can say he is altogether lovely. The women of the court wanted to know(or did they?) As she stands back before this full length portrait she can tell themThis (emphatically) is my beloved, and this is my friend.! She evidently had spent enough time with him in various circumstances so she could say she was describing not only his physical appearance, but his personality and character.
Marriage Son. 5:8-16
What a paragon of manhood! What hope is there for us poor, ordinary mortal husbands? Before we turn the page and look for more practical materialpause! Look again. The various parts of the body of the husband all relate to a quality of character we each can find in our lives as they relate to our wivesConsider: (1) A pure mind(refined gold)What a valuable, honorable, beautiful quality this is. A slavery to King Jesus by which He brings every thought into captivity is the answer here. Surely there is no greater gift we could offer our wives. (2) A single eyei.e., a healthy eyeThe eye is the window of the soul. A single resolute purpose in life is so important to marriage. If our Lord cannot supply such a purpose we shall never have it. (3) A pleasant faceit is possible to cultivate a happy cheerful expression on our face. An optimistic attitude in our general demeanor which is reflected on the face will be a very large help. Who can offer reason for such an expression? The fruit of His presence is joy. (4) Words of fragrant sweetness can be said. Many a bride wishes she were married to Barnabusi.e., the son of encouragement. One of the gifts of His presence is encouragement or exhortation. (5) Beautiful handsstrong and helpful. There are so many little areas of need where we can help. Show me your love apart from your works and I by my works will show thee my love. (6) A body like a work of artA work of art is only produced by the most careful cooperation and practice of the skills of an artist. Our whole person should be fashioned by the Master artist until we become like Him. Until we become in truth His own body, indwelt by His Spirit. (7) Strong legs by which and on which we stand.Our foundation is solid gold. Having done all to standto do that requires strong legs. He who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation can cause us to stand today. We stand in a beautiful, valuable place every time we let Him direct our posture.
So we can see with Him and through Him and because of Him we are altogether lovely. What wife wouldnt be delighted to share life with such a man?
Communion Son. 5:8-16
It is not at all difficult to see the application of this text to our heavenly husbandindeed, and in truth He is altogether lovely! We should like to attempt a paraphrase of the text as we relate it to our Lord: My beloved is pure and strong. The leader among all men. He carries the banner of His own conquest. He is the head of His body, the churchsuch a head is of value beyond estimate. He is eternally youthful and strong. His beauty is such a contrast to the environment in which He lives. What a refreshment it is to look into His eyes! His eyes are full of love and alive with interest in my life in all of it, all the time. He looks at me tenderlysoftly, like doves beside the water brookspeaceful, restful, yet full of life. He always is able to see what no one else could. Everything moves into its proper place when I look long enough into His eyes. All the love and care of my Father is seen in the face of my Lord. To know that even now I have the fragrant words that came from His lips is startling! What beautiful strong hands does my Lord have. Today His hands are my hands. His help is my help in our world. The body of my Lord is indeed a work of artnot of men but of God. I stand in the strength of His might. His total bearing is one of the King of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords. This is my beloved and my nearest, dearest Friend. How inadequately we have represented HimHe is moremuch more than we were able to say.
FACT QUESTIONS 5:816
185.
There is a carryover of the dream of Son. 5:1-7 into verse eight. What is it?
186.
The daughters of Jerusalem are contrasted to the watchmen. How?
187.
Why do the women of Solomons harem ask about the shepherd?
188.
It really does not seem sensible to think of these verses applying to Solomon as the groom. Why?
189.
What is meant by saying my beloved is white and ruddy?
190.
Explain the phrase the chiefest among ten thousand?
191.
Why say of his head: his head is as the most fine gold?
192.
Describe the hair of her beloved.
193.
His eyes are surely one of his most attractive features. Explain.
194.
Show how his cheeks were like a flower bed.
195.
What symbolism is used to describe his hands?
196.
What is taught by saying His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of gold?
197.
What does the bride say as she stands back to view the full length portrait she has just painted?
198.
Group the seven qualities of the husband here described and discuss three in one session and four in another as they relate to your husband-wife relationship.
199.
Please read over again our paraphrase in the description of our Lordnow make your own paraphrase by following the text and your own heart.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
8. Wayward as her dream had been, in her waking hours she was true. Of this she assures the ladies.
That ye tell him Better, What will ye tell him? A question abruptly inserted to give force to the thought.
Sick of love That is, utterly enthralled by it.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Son 5:8. I charge you, O daughters, &c. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my belovedWhat should you tell him, but that I am sick of love? Thus we have at beautiful aposiopesis, which is lost in the common translation. Houbigant gives part of these words to the virgins, thus; What should we tell him? SPOUSE. That I am sick of love.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
The Church had twice before in this Song given a charge to the daughters of Jerusalem. Son 2:7 . and Son 3:5 . But here she adds a more earnest request. Tell my Lord, saith she, that I am sick of love: which is, as if she had said, oh let my Lord know how truly sorry I am for my late ungrateful conduct. Tell him I cannot rest until I know that I have his pardoning mercy and his renewing grace. Oh! tell my Lord, if he will but come unto me and draw my soul out after him, that my soul will revive as the spring. But while Jesus is absent I can find neither peace within, nor comfort without. Reader! do you know anything of these soul-searching, soul-distressing feelings? Here is nothing of the cold lifeless form of prayer. This differs widely from that lukewarm frame of spirit; which the Laodicean Church had, and which the Redeemer declared himself so much displeased with, that he rejected it with abhorrence. Rev 3:15-16 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Son 5:8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I [am] sick of love.
Ver. 8. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem. ] Being evil entreated by her enemies, she turns her to her friends, those damsels or daughters of Jerusalem. See Son 2:7 ; Son 3:5 . So the Lord Christ, being tired out with the untractableness of his untoward hearers, turns him to his Father. Mat 11:25-26 Kings, as they have their cares and cumbers above other men, so they had of old their friends, by a specialty, as Hushai was David’s friend, 2Sa 15:37 to whom they might ease themselves, and “take sweet counsel.” Psa 55:14 The servants of God are “princes in all lands”; Psa 45:16 and as they have their crosses not a few, so their comforts, in and by the communion of saints. The very opening of their grievances one to another doth many times ease them, as the very opening of a vein cools the blood. Their mutual prayers one with and for another prevail much, if they be fervent, or thorough well wrought, a as in this case they likely will be; for as “iron whets iron, so doth the face of a man his friend.” Pro 27:17 And as ferrum potest quod aurum non potest, iron can do what sometimes gold cannot do – an iron key may open a chest wherein gold is laid up – so a meaner man’s prayer may be more effectual sometimes than a better man’s for himself. His own key may be rusty, or out of order, and another man’s do it better. Hence the Church is so importunate with the daughters of Jerusalem – who were far behind her in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, as appears by that which follows – to commend her and her misery to Christ, to tell him, wherever they meet with him, “Behold, she whom thou lovest is sick,” thy Church – in whom thy love is concentrated, as it were, and gathered to a head – doth even languish with love, and is in ill case. “Tell him,” saith she. “What shall ye tell him?” as the Hebrew hath it. An earnest and passionate kind of speech, somewhat like that in Hosea, “Give them, O Lord. What wilt thou give them?” Hos 9:14 as if she should say, Would you know what you should tell him even that which followeth, that “I am sick of love.” See Son 2:5 .
a . Jam 5:16
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I charge = I adjure.
you. See note on Son 2:7.
sick of love = love-sick.
of = with. love. Same word and sense as in Son 2:7; Son 3:5, and Son 8:4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
charge: Son 2:7, Son 8:4
if ye: Rom 15:30, Gal 6:1, Gal 6:2, Jam 5:16
that ye: Heb. what ye
I am: Psa 42:1-3, Psa 63:1-3, Psa 77:1-3, Psa 119:81-83
Reciprocal: 2Sa 13:2 – vexed 2Ch 9:4 – there was Psa 45:14 – virgins Psa 84:2 – soul Psa 119:20 – soul Psa 119:174 – longed Pro 13:12 – Hope Son 1:7 – O thou Son 2:5 – for Son 3:1 – him whom Son 8:6 – love Isa 26:8 – desire Mat 25:1 – ten Luk 5:34 – the children Luk 23:28 – daughters
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Son 5:8-9. I charge you, O daughters, &c. The church having passed the watchmen, proceeds in the pursuit of her beloved, and inquires of every particular believer, whom she meets, concerning him. Tell him, that I am sick, &c. That I am ready to faint for want of his presence. What is thy beloved, &c., more than another Wherein doth he excel them?
Believers might ask this, that they might be more fully informed of it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Son 5:8 to Son 6:3. Descriptive Poem (Wasf): The Strength and Beauty of the Bridegroom.On this view, Son 5:8 f. is taken as an introduction to the praises of the beloved, and whether there is any real connexion with the dream poem is uncertain.
Son 5:8. sick: from the disappointment and delays of love.
Son 5:9. Or, What kind of a beloved is thy beloved?
Son 5:10. dazzling white (Lam 4:7) and ruddy (1Sa 16:12).chiefest: the most conspicuous or distinguished.
Son 5:11. bushy: the word occurs only here; probably curly or wavy.
Son 5:12. Perhaps this should read: His eyes are like a pair of doves sitting by the water courses; Which are as if bathed in milk and sitting by full streams.
Son 5:13. spices: better balsam shrubs (Son 6:2).banks of sweet herbs: towers of perfume (mg.) is the literal rendering, but to follow the versions requires only a slight change in the pronunciation, viz. producing sweet odours (cf. Psa 133:2).lilies: scarlet flowers (see Son 2:1).
Son 5:14. His fingers are cylinders of gold set with topaz (mg.); his body was as beautiful as a piece of ivory work studded with sapphires.
Son 5:15. He is strong, handsome, and attractive in speech.
Son 5:16 b, c. surely a full answer to the question of Son 5:9.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
5:8 I charge you, {g} O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I [am] sick with love.
(g) She asks of them who are godly (as the law and salvation should come out of Zion and Jerusalem) that they would direct her to Christ.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
She told her friends to tell her husband, if they saw him, that she wanted his love again (cf. Son 2:5-6).
"’Lovesick’ here seems to describe frustration from sexual abstinence rather than exhaustion from sexual activity (cf. on Son 2:5). [Note: Hubbard, p. 317.]