Song of Solomon 5:6

I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) When he spake.—We can suppose an ejaculation of disappointment uttered by the lover as he goes away, which catches the ear of the heroine as she wakes.

Benson Commentary

Song of Solomon 5:6. My beloved had withdrawn — Denied me his comfortable presence, as a just punishment for my former neglect. My soul failed — Hebrew, went out of me. I fainted, and was ready to die away; when he spake — Or, for what he spake; for those endearing expressions related Song of Solomon 5:2, which then I did not heed. I sought him — By diligent inquiry and importunate prayer.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:2-8 Churches and believers, by carelessness and security, provoke Christ to withdraw. We ought to notice our spiritual slumbers and distempers. Christ knocks to awaken us, knocks by his word and Spirit, knocks by afflictions and by our consciences; thus, Re 3:20. When we are unmindful of Christ, still he thinks of us. Christ's love to us should engage ours to him, even in the most self-denying instances; and we only can be gainers by it. Careless souls put slights on Jesus Christ. Another could not be sent to open the door. Christ calls to us, but we have no mind, or pretend we have no strength, or we have no time, and think we may be excused. Making excuses is making light of Christ. Those put contempt upon Christ, who cannot find in their hearts to bear a cold blast, or to leave a warm bed for him. See the powerful influences of Divine grace. He put in his hand to unbolt the door, as one weary of waiting. This betokens a work of the Spirit upon the soul. The believer's rising above self-indulgence, seeking by prayer for the consolations of Christ, and to remove every hinderance to communion with him; these actings of the soul are represented by the hands dropping sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the locks. But the Beloved was gone! By absenting himself, Christ will teach his people to value his gracious visits more highly. Observe, the soul still calls Christ her Beloved. Every desertion is not despair. Lord, I believe, though I must say, Lord, help my unbelief. His words melted me, yet, wretch that I was, I made excuses. The smothering and stifling of convictions will be very bitter to think of, when God opens our eyes. The soul went in pursuit of him; not only prayed, but used means, sought him in the ways wherein he used to be found. The watchmen wounded me. Some refer it to those who misapply the word to awakened consciences. The charge to the daughters of Jerusalem, seems to mean the distressed believer's desire of the prayers of the feeblest Christian. Awakened souls are more sensible of Christ's withdrawings than of any other trouble.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Sweet smelling myrrh - Or (as in the margin) "running myrrh," that which first and spontaneously exudes, i. e., the freshest, finest myrrh. Even in withdrawing he has left this token of his unchanged love.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. withdrawn—He knocked when she was sleeping; for to have left her then would have ended in the death sleep; He withdraws now that she is roused, as she needs correction (Jer 2:17, 19), and can appreciate and safely bear it now, which she could not then. "The strong He'll strongly try" (1Co 10:13).

when he spake—rather, "because of His speaking"; at the remembrance of His tender words (Job 29:2, 3; Ps 27:13; 142:7), or till He should speak.

no answer—(Job 23:3-9; 30:20; 34:29; La 3:44). Weak faith receives immediate comfort (Lu 8:44, 47, 48); strong faith is tried with delay (Mt 15:22, 23).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Withdrawn himself; denied me his gracious and comfortable presence, as a just punishment for my former neglect and folly.

And was gone; either she repeats the same thing to show how deeply she was affected with it; or this is added to imply that he had not only stepped aside, but was quite gone away.

My soul failed, Heb. went out of me. I fainted and was ready to die away through excessive passion, as this phrase is used, Genesis 35:18 42:28, and elsewhere.

When he spake; or, for what he spoke; for those endearing expressions related Song of Solomon 5:2, which then I did not heed, but this sad occasion brings them to my remembrance; as ofttimes that word which is ineffectual when it is preached, is afterwards brought to a man’s mind, and, produceth blessed effects.

I sought him by diligent inquiry and importunate prayer. He gave me no answer; that so he might both chastise her folly, and quicken her desires, and prepare the way for a more hearty welcome, and his longer abode with her.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I opened to my beloved,.... Which was what he desired, and was done in virtue of his putting in his hand by the hole of the door; or by the exertion of his efficacious grace, working in her both to will and to do, without which it would not have been done; namely, her heart dilated, the desires and affections of her soul enlarged towards Christ, and every grace drawn forth and exercised on him; and though the heart of a believer is sometimes shut to Christ, yet when it is opened, it is only patent to him; the church thought Christ was still at the door, and might be the more confirmed in it by what she found on the handles of the lock; but lo her mistake,

but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: a sad disappointment this! she expected to have seen him, and been received in his arms and embraced in his bosom; but instead of that, he was gone out of sight and hearing: this withdrawing was to chastise her for her former carriage, and to show her more the evil of her sin, and his resentment of it; to try the truth and strength of her grace to inflame her love the more, and sharpen her desires after his presence, to prize it more when she had it, and be careful not to lose it: her using two words of the same import, "he turned himself" (h), and was gone, signifies that he was really gone, and not in her imagination only; and that he was gone suddenly, at an unawares, and, as she might fear, would never return; and these words being without a copulative, "had withdrawn himself, he was gone", show her haste in speaking, the confusion she was in, thee strength of her passion, the greatness of her disappointment and sorrow; it is as if she was represented wringing her hands and crying, He is gone, he is gone, he is gone;

my soul failed when he spake; or "went out" (i); not out of her body, but she fell into a swoon, and was as one dead; for a while; and this was "at" or "through his word" (k), as it may be rendered; through what he said when he turned about and departed, expressing his resentment at her behavior; or rather at the remembrance of his kind and tender language he used when he first called her to arise, "saying, open to me, my sister, my spouse", &c. Sol 5:2; and when she called to mind how sadly she had slighted and neglected him, it cut her to the heart, and threw her into this fainting fit;

I sought him, but I could not find him; in the public ordinances of his house; See Gill on Sol 3:2;

I called him, but he gave me no answer; called him by his name as she went along the streets and broad ways of the city, where she supposed he might be; praying aloud, and most earnestly and fervently, that he would return to her; but had no answer, at least not immediately, and thus be treated her in the same manner she had treated him; he had called to her and she disregarded him, and now she calls to him, and he takes no notice of her; but this was not in a way of vindictive wrath and punishment, as in Proverbs 1:24; but of chastisement and correction.

(h) "verteret se", Pagninus; "circuerat", Montanus. (i) Sept. "egressa est", Pagninus, Montanus, Marckius. (k) , Sept. "in loquela ejus", Marckius.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. had withdrawn himself] Lit. had turned away. This disappointment is just such as comes in dreams.

my soul failed when he spake] R.V. My soul had failed me when he spake. This is the explanation of his departure. She had fainted when she heard his voice, and when she came to herself and opened the door he was gone. This seems to be the simple explanation of a clause which has greatly vexed interpreters. Hitzig, Ewald, and Oettli would read for bĕdhabbĕrô = ‘when he spake,’ bĕdhobhrô, in the sense ‘when he turned away.’ But this is an Aramaic meaning, and though, according to the Oxford Heb. Lex. this is probably the root meaning of the word from which all the others are derived, the verb is not found in Heb. in this sense. As the ordinary signification of the verb gives a good meaning here it seems unnecessary to go beyond it.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone. My soul had failed me when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. The meaning is this - The voice of my beloved struck my heart; but in the consciousness that I had estranged myself from him I could not openly meet him, I could not offer him mere empty excuses. Now I am made sensible of my own deficiency. I call after him. I long for his return, but it is in vain (cf. the two disciples going to Emmaus, Luke 24, "Did not our heart burn within us," etc.?). Similar allusion to the effect of the voice of the beloved is found in Terence, 'And.,' 1:5, 16, "Oratio haec," etc. The failing or departing of the soul at the sound of the voice must refer to the lack of response at the time, therefore it was that she sought him and cried out after him. When he spake; literally, in his speaking; i.e. when he said, "I will not now come because at first refused;" cf. Proverbs 1:20-33, the solemn warning against the loss of opportunity. It is a coincidence between the two books of Solomon which cannot be disregarded. If there is any spiritual meaning at all in Solomon's Song, it certainly is a book which he who wrote the first chapter of Proverbs is likely to have written. Song of Solomon 5:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

6 I opened to my beloved;

   And my beloved had withdrawn, was gone:

   My soul departed when he spake -

   I sought him, and found him not;

   I called him, and he answered me not.

As the disciples at Emmaus, when the Lord had vanished from the midst of them, said to one another: Did not our heart burn within us when He spake with us? so Shulamith says that when he spake, i.e., sought admission to her, she was filled with alarm, and almost terrified to death.

Love-ecstasy (ἐκστῆναι, as contrast to γενέσθαι ἐν ἑαυτῷ) is not here understood, for in such a state she would have flown to meet him; but a sinking of the soul, such as is described by Terence (And. I 5. 16):

"Oratio haec me miseram exanimavit metu."

The voice of her beloved struck her heart; but in the consciousness that she had estranged herself from him, she could not openly meet him and offer empty excuses. But now she recognises it with sorrow that she had not replied to the deep impression of his loving words; and seeing him disappear without finding him, she calls after him whom she had slighted, but he answers her not. The words: "My soul departed when he spake," are the reason why she now sought him and called upon him, and they are not a supplementary remark (Zckl.); nor is there need for the correction of the text בּדברו, which should mean: (my soul departed) when he turned his back (Ewald), or, behind him (Hitz., Bttch.), from דּבר equals (Arab.) dabara, tergum vertere, praeterire, - the Heb. has the word דּביר, the hinder part, and as it appears, דּבּר, to act from behind (treacherously) and destroy, 2 Chronicles 22:10; cf. under Genesis 34:13, but not the Kal דּבר, in that Arab. signification. The meaning of חמק has been hit upon by Aquila (ἔκλινεν), Symmachus (ἀπονεύσας), and Jerome (declinaverat); it signifies to turn aside, to take a different direction, as the Hithpa. Jeremiah 31:22 : to turn oneself away; cf. חמּוּקים, turnings, bendings, Sol 7:2. חבק and אבק (cf. Genesis 32:25), Aethiop. ḥaḳafa, Amhar. aḳafa (reminding us of נקץ, Hiph. הקּיף), are usually compared; all of these, however, signify to "encompass;" but חמק does not denote a moving in a circle after something, but a half circular motion away from something; so that in the Arab. the prevailing reference to fools, aḥamḳ, does not appear to proceed from the idea of closeness, but of the oblique direction, pushed sideways. Turning himself away, he proceeded farther. In vain she sought him; she called without receiving any answer. ענני is the correct pausal form of ענני, vid., under Psalm 118:5. But something worse than even this seeking and calling in vain happened to her.