Introduction: In our last study, the shepherd said that his beloved was, according to 4:12, "A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed."
As she was the love prisoner of Solomon, the shepherd compared her to a garden, a spring, and a fountain, each barred and shut in. In essence, he told her it was wrong for her to be enclosed as a prisoner.
Then, in verse 16, he said, "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out..." In other words, he wanted her released.
She then responds with an invitation at the end of verse 16, "...Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits."
* Remember the Parton translation here, "If we can get me out of this place, we can get married, and you can have all the water and fruit you want!"
This brings us to chapter 5 and his response to the Shulamite's invitation.
1. The shepherd's response. - Song 5:1a
"I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk..."
- In a nutshell, he says he is on the way.
- The tenses here are perfect. Here, they indicate a past event still happening:* I am coming...
* I am gathering...
* I am eating...
* I am drinking...- How wise of the Holy Spirit to inspire this in this manner!
- The shepherd was in the process that very moment preparing to come and get her and take her away!
2. The harem's response. - Song 5:1b
"Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved."
- Listening to this story, the court ladies respond.
- He said she was an enclosed garden; she said for him to come and get her out of this place so they could get married, and he could have all the water and fruit he wanted; he said he was on his way; the court ladies said, "Go for it!"
- "O beloved" is masculine denoting their words are encouraging him to come to where she is.
3. Her dream. - Song 5:2-8
- Continuing with her story in the form of a song, the Shulamite tells the harem about a dream she once had about her shepherd.
- Verse 2, "I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night."* She said she was sleepy, but her heart was wide awake.
* "My beloved" is masculine indicating, once again, it is the Shulamite talking about her shepherd.
* In her dream, she heard him say, "Open up; it's me. I want to see you."
* "My love" means "my friend."- Verse 3, "I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?"
* She continues quoting what the shepherd said to her in her dream.
- Verses 4-7, "My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me."
* While he was standing at the door and attempting to open it, she said to the court ladies that she was moved for him. "Bowels" here is used in reference to "the place of emotions or distress or love." How fitting a reference!
* When she rose up to open the door, she found that the shepherd was gone. Dreams often make little sense at the time. Here, the man, who so wanted to see her, is gone for whatever the reason.
* This made her heart-sick for her shepherd.
* As her dream progresses, she leaves the house and seeks for him but never finds him.
* Sadly, the city watchmen attacked her and bruised her. Even the guards of the wall removed her veil from her. This was one of the worst insults Eastern women could endure.- Verse 8, "I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love."
* Having told her dream to them, she charges the rest of the harem to tell her where he is because she is "sick of love," that is, "love sick." In other words, she had it bad! This refers back to chapter 2:5 where she first said, "...I am sick of love." She is weak because of love.
- As it was in chapter 2:7, verse 8 is a jab at the rest of the harem. She again addresses them with masculine words, "I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem." (Like our saying to a group of girls, "Hey, guys," only stronger. A drill sergeant might call his men "girls" when addressing them.)
Conclusion: Though only a dream, it upset her. The one she loved had withdrawn himself from her presence. What a precious picture of Jesus!
This same picture is seen in Job 23:8-10, "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."
Again, in Isaiah 54:6-7, "For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee."
- The disappearance of the shepherd caused the Shulamite to seek him with all her heart.
- With Job, the fact that the Lord hid Himself from him, caused him to seek everywhere for the Lord.
- In Isaiah, the Lord left Israel alone for only a short time so Israel would seek Him once again.
Do you still seek the Lord?