Song of Solomon 5:6

Son 5:6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, [and] was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

Ver. 6. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone.] Or, "He was gone, he was gone"; a passionate complaint for his departure, which lay so much the heavier upon her spirit, because, by her unworthy usage of him, she had foolishly occasioned it. "Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquity, are afflicted." And when affliction comes with a sting in the tail, it is very grievous. But then they "cry unto the Lord in their trouble; he saveth them out of their distress; he sendeth his word and healeth them," {Psa 107:17-20} he sendeth for them by his Spirit, and brings them back again into his own bosom, "that his banished be not expelled from him," {2Sa 14:14} though to themselves and others they may for the present seem to be as "water spilled on the ground, that cannot be gathered up again." Those fragrant footsteps and heart attracting stamps of his favour, that sweet smelling myrrh, mentioned in the former verse, had so eneagered and edged her affections, that she could not rest till she had recovered him. She opened unto her beloved, and, presuming upon his patience, was in good hope to have had him at hand; but patientia loesa fit furor, Christ will not always bear with our evil manners, {a} "but hide his face from us, like as we have behaved ourselves evil in our doings." {Mic 3:4} And whereas spiritual desertions are of three sorts, (1.) Cautional, for preventing of sin, as Paul’s seems to be; (2.) Probational, for trial and exercise of grace, as Job’s; (3.) Penal, for chastisement of spiritual sloth and sluggishness, as here in the Church; this last is far the heaviest.

My soul failed when he spake.] Or, Because of his speech, that sweet speech of his when he so passionately wooed her. {Son 5:2} Then he could have no audience nor admittance; now, if he would but offer himself he might be sure of both. The word spoken doth not always presently take effect in the hearers, but lies long as the seed under a clod, till Christ the good husbandman come with some temptation, as with his clotting beetle, and give it room to rise. Then as the water casts up her dead after a time, so do their memories cast up that which seemed buried therein, by the help of the Holy Ghost, their remembrancer. {Joh 14:26 Joh 2:22} The new birth of some, the recovery of others out of their relapses, is like the birth of the elephant, fourteen years after the seed is inserted into the womb. Peter remembered Christ’s words and repented. {Mat 26:75} If we remember not what hath been preached unto us, all is lost. {1Co 15:2} If we leak, {b} and let slip, actum est de nobis. The deed is by us. {Heb 2:1} If we keep the word, the word will keep us. {Pro 6:22}

I sought him.] So soon as recovered out of my swoon, I set to seek him. The Church went not to bed again to sleep as before, neither stays she longer within than to cast her veil or her scarf over her head; without any further dress, abroad she gets to seek him whom her soul loveth. She sought him by serious and set meditation of the word and promises; but after all that toil and travail she took therein she found him not. This is the greatest grief that can befall a good heart in this present world; it is to such little better than hell itself. "Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled" saith David. {Psa 30:8} Non frustra praedicant mentes hominum nitere liquido die, coacta nube flaccescere, saith Symmachus. Men’s minds are either clear or cloudy, as the weather is; but more truly, good men’s minds are as God’s countenance is. It is with the godly in desertion, as with vapours drawn up by the sun, which, when the extracting force of the sun leaves them, fall down again to the earth. And as in an eclipse of the sun there is a drooping in the whole frame of nature; so it is with the saints, when Christ withdraws himself. Hell itself is said to be a separation from his presence; the pain of loss there is worse than the pain of sense, the tears of hell are not sufficient to bewail the loss of heaven. Laetemur igitur in Domino, sed caveamus a recidivo. {c}

I called him, but he gave me no answer.] And it was but just, for she had dealt so by him. {Son 5:2} Christ loves to retaliate. Such a proportion many times one may see between sins and punishments, that you may say, such a sin brought forth this affliction, it is so like the father. Howbeit, "his ear is not heavy that he cannot hear; but your iniquities have hid his face from you that he will not hear." {Isa 59:1-2} And this the saints take, as well they may, for a sore affliction, {Lam 3:8} when to all other their miseries, he addeth this, that he will not come at them, that he casteth out their prayers, that he deals by them as the lionness doth by her young ones, which she seems sometimes to leave, till they have almost killed themselves with roaring. This is to make them more careful another time. None look at the sun but when it is in the eclipse; neither prize we, for the most part, God’s loving countenance till we have lost it. In this case, the course is to set up a loud cry after him, as Micah did after his gods. {Jdg 18:23} Or rather as the Church here doth after her beloved, in many strong cries and bitter tears, continuing instant in prayer. {Rom 12:12} The Greek word {d} imports a metaphor from hunting dogs, that do not stop pursuing the game till they have got it. For encouragement, see the happy success the Church here had; and further, take that saying of Brentius, Etiamsi fides tua nec lucem hominibus, nec calorem cordi tuo afferat, tamen non abiecit Christus, modo incrementum ores, i.e., Although thy faith, as smoking flax, yield neither light to others nor heat to thine own heart, yet Christ will not cast thee off, so thou pray for more and follow thy work close till thou have gotten it.

{a} Heu rara hora, et parva mora. - Bernard.

{b} μηποτε παραρυωμεν.

{c} Bernard.

{d} προσκαρτερουντες.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Son 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 Son 5:2, which then I did not heed. I sought him — By diligent inquiry and importunate prayer.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Notes

Son_5:6. ‘My soul failed when He spate.’

‘My soul failed.’ נַפְשִׁי יָצְאָה naphshi yatseah, literally, ‘went forth.’ Failed, or fainted; breath forsook me; my soul almost went out of me. ZÖCKLER, EWALD, DELIZTSCH. Sunk. BURROUGHS. I swooned away, and was like a dead body (Gen_35:18). FRY. I was not in my senses. DE WETTE, NOYES, SANCTIUS. My soul melted with anguish. ROWE. With sweet effusion of love. FROMONDI. Left me and flew away to my Bridegroom. DEL RIO. Was in great terror. COCCEIUS, Was in suspense. THRODORET. There remained no more spirit in her. DAVIDSON. VULGATE: My soul was melted. LUTHER: Went out. MARTIN: Fainted. DIODATI: I was out of myself. COVERDALE and MATTHEWS: My heart could not refrain. TIGURINE: My mind was disturbed. ‘When be spake.’ בְּדַבְּרוֹ bedhabbero, ‘at his speaking;’ from דִּבֵּר dibber, to speak. So GESENIUS. When he spoke. EWALD, DELITZSCH. While he yet spoke. WEISS, MERCER, LE CLERC, &c. When he was speaking, i.e., through the window. ZOCKLER. Had failed as he spoke; a supplementary remark. DOPKE. SEPTUAGINT: At his word. VULGATE: When he spoke. SYMMACHUS: While be spoke. WICKLIFF: As he spake COVERDALE and MATTHEWS: Now like as aforetime when he spake. LUTHER: After his word. DUTCH: On account of his word. MARTIN: From having heard him speak. RASHI: When he spoke this word. JUNIUS: On account of the word with which he addressed me. Assembly’s Annotations: My neglect of his speech troubled me when he was gone. BRIGHTMAN, AINSWORTH. BOOTHROYD: On remembering his words. BURROUGHS: In consequence of what he had said. SCOTT: Either remembering his tender and affectionate apeal or hearing a reproving word as he withdrew. NOYES and DE WETTE: I was not in my senses while he spoke—acted insanely in not admitting my beloved at his request. EWALD proposes to read בְּדָבְרוֹ ‘at his going away. HITZIG views the word as equivalent to אַחֲרָיו ‘after him.’ UMBREIT: ‘In order to follow him; from דִּבֵּר to follow. Some propose בִּדְבָרוֹ ‘on his account.’

THE DISAPPOINTMENT

Son_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.

Shulamite’s delay has disappointment for its fruit. Christ’s call not to be trifled with. Duty may be attempted too late to be immediately successful. God forgives His sinning people, though He may see fit to chasten them. Indulgence of the flesh, even for a short time, may bear bitter fruit. David’s short sin produced long sorrow. Falls, though not fatal, may bring broken bones. Samson, awaking from his sleep in Delilah’s lap, ‘wist not that his strength was departed from him’ Observe, in regard to

Divine Withdrawings,

1. These withdrawings real. A fact stated. ‘My beloved had withdrawn himself.’ Such a thing as God hiding His face.

2. These withdrawings such as to be observed and known. The Bride bears testimony to the fact. She knew it. Believers to know their case.

3. Well for believers and others to know when the Lord withdraws Himself. The saddest case for a man when God withdraws from him, and he either does not know it or pays no attention to it. Israel’s misery that ‘grey hairs were here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not’ (Hos_7:9). An ill sign for men when God’s anger ‘sets them on fire round about, and they know it not; when it burns them, and they lay it not to heart’ (Isa_42:25).

4. The withdrawings of Christ, in the case of a believer, the result of love. The greatest sign of wrath when men are allowed to sleep and sin on. ‘As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.’

5. These withdrawings in wisdom, as well as in love. Wise as well as gracious reasons for them.

(1) To teach the sin of neglecting divine calls and invitations. Such sin to be seen and lamented (Jer_2:19; Hos_5:15).

(2) To make His presence more prized. The value of a blessing best known when it has been withdrawn. The misery of Christ’s absence to be sometimes learned by experience. Lamented absence better than slighted presence.

(3) To prove the believer’s love. Love unable to endure absence.

(4) To render more watchful and careful in the future.

6. Divine withdrawings the believer’s greatest distress. My soul failed (or fainted, as Gen_42:28) when He spake (or, at His speaking—at the remembrance of what He had said). So with Peter (Mat_26:75). The Bride’s felt calamity indicated by a double expression: ‘Had withdrawn himself, and was gone.’ The sweeter the past enjoyment of Christ, the greater the pain of His present withdrawal.

7. In the case of a believer, the joy of Christ’s presence withdrawn, but not His love. David mourned the loss of the joy of God’s salvation, but not of the salvation itself (Psa_51:10).

Other lessons from the passage—

1. The remembrance of a Saviour’s slighted calls, one day the bitterest ingredient in the sinner’s cup. ‘My soul failed when he spake.’ Well when the remembrance is here, and not hereafter. An awful word to the rich man in hell: ‘Son, remember’ (Luk_16:25). One element of a true repentance, in the case of hearers of the Gospel, is the remembrance of a slighted Christ. The remembrance of past guilt an aggravation of present trouble.

2. Christ still loved by the believer in the midst of His withdrawing. ‘My beloved,’ &c. True love made more ardent by the withdrawing of its object. One of the lessons of the Song. Realized in the disciples after the Saviour’s resurrection. The proof of a believer that he loves even an absent Christ.

3. Better to follow Christ in sorrow, than to live at case in sin.

4. The more the soul has tasted of Christ’s love, the more deeply it repents its coldness.

5. Means to be diligently employed to recover a missing Christ. ‘I called,’ &c.

6. The prayer of a penitent believer not always immediately answered. ‘He gave me no answer.’

7. A withdrawn Christ not immediately found. ‘I sought Him, but I found Him not.’ The Saviour’s threatening to the Jews: ‘Ye shall seek me but ye shall not find me.’

8. Sin often visited with a corresponding chastisement. The Bridegroom had called, and the Bride had not answered. Now she calls to him, but receives no answer. Observe in regard to

Answers to Prayer.

1. Answers to prayer, and the contrary, to be carefully noted and recorded.

2. Prayers not immediately answered not therefore rejected. Efforts not immediately successful not therefore in vain. The promise of finding made not to search begun, but persevered in. Believers’ prayers often only apparently rejected. Never really unanswered without a greater benefit being bestowed. Moses not permitted to enter Canaan, but taken direct to a better land. Paul’s thorn in the flesh not removed, but more of Christ’s grace imparted to him. Direct answers to prayer often withheld for the best and wisest reasons (Job_30:20; Psa_22:2; Lam_3:8; Lam_3:44). Prayer often answered by terrible things in righteousness (Psa_65:5).

3. Strength and grace given a believer still to pray even when no answer is received. Such grace often an equivalent for a direct answer. The greatest praise bestowed by Christ in the Gospels on one who still prayed earnestly after repeated repulses (Mat_15:21-28).

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

(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.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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, Gen 35:18; 42:28, and elsewhere.

When he spake; or, for what he spoke; for those endearing expressions related Son 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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. My soul failed, etc. — Hebrew, Departed because he had so spoken; had solicited admission and been slighted. She goes out in search of him. In just this way Virgil represents Dido, after her rejection by AEneas, as dreaming of following in vain pursuit of him through desert lands, until her dream turns to sick and weary despair.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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. Pro_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.

The dream of distress.

No passage in the Canticles is more pathetic than this. Whilst the prevalent tone of the Song of Songs is a tone of joyful love, we meet here with the sentiment of anxious sorrow. We are reminded of the grief of Mary, when, on the resurrection-morn, she exclaimed, "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." A true transcript of the moods to which experience is subject! And not without spiritual lessons which may be turned to true profit.

I A TRANSIENT ESTRANGEMENT AND BRIEF WITHDRAWAL. There have been periods in the history of the Church of Christ, resembling the captivity of Israel in the East, when the countenance of the Lord has been hidden from the sight of his people. The heart, which knoweth its own bitterness, is now and again conscious of a want of happy fellowship with the best and dearest Friend. But it is not Christ who changes. When the sun is eclipsed, it does not cease to shine, though its beams may not reach the earth. And when Christ is hidden, he remains himself "the same yesterday, and today, and forever." But something has come between the Sun of Righteousness and. the soul which derives all its spiritual light from him, and the vision is obscured. Selfishness, worldliness, unbelief, may hinder the soul from enjoying the Saviour"s presence and grace. The fault is not his, but ours.

II DISTRESSING SYMPTOMS OF SUCH ESTRANGEMENT AND WITHDRAWAL. How simple and how touching is the complaint of the bride! "I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer." Yet it is the nature of Christ to delight in the quest and the cry of those he loves, to reveal himself to such as ever ready to approach and to bless. There may, however, be a reason, and faith cannot question that there is a reason, for the withholding of an immediate response. There may be on the Saviour"s part a perception that a stronger confidence, a more evident desire, a truer love, are needed, and are thus only to be called forth. It may be well that for a season the soul should suffer for its sin, that it may be encouraged to deeper penitence and to more fervent prayer.

III AFFECTIONATE YEARNING THE EARNEST OF SPEEDY RECONCILIATION AND RENEWED HAPPINESS. The parable represents the bride as sad and anxious, as enduring hitter disappointment, as oppressed by the heartless insult and injury of those indifferent to her woes; yet as retaining all her love, and only concerned as soon as may be to find her beloved. A true picture of the devout and affectionate friend of Christ, who is only drawn to him the Closer by the sorrowful experiences and repeated trials of life. When the Christian offends his Lord, it is a good sign that he is not really forsaken, it is an earnest of the restoration of fellowship, if he ardently desires reconciliation, and takes measures to recover the favour which for a season he has lost. The beauty of Christ appears the more inimitable and supreme, the fellowship of Christ appears the mere precious and desirable. And this being so, the hour is surely near when the face of Christ shall appear in unclouded benignity, when the voice of Christ shall be heard uttering Divine assurances and promises in tones of kindliest friendship. T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

With-drawn - Denied me his comfortable presence, as a just punishment for my former neglect. Faded - Hebrew. went out of me: I fainted and was ready to die away, for those endearing expressions related, ver. 2, which then I did not heed. I sought - By diligent enquiry and importunate prayer.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

I sought him

Observe, it is now the Bridegroom Himself who occupies her heart, not His gifts-- myrrh and washed feet Joh 13:2-9.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

The woman continues to describe her dream.

my beloved

See how you translated this in Song of Songs 1:13.

My heart sank

The heart is a metaphor for the person, and sinking, going down, is a metaphor for becoming weak or sad. AT: "I was very sad" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

beloved

turn

heart

call

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

but my beloved had hidden and was gone Heb. חָמַק, was hidden and concealed from me, like (below 7:2): “the curves (חֲמוּקֵי) of your thighs,” the hidden places of your thighs, because the thigh is hidden. [Also] (Jer. 31:21): “How long will you hide (תִתְחַמָּקִי),” will you hide and cover yourself because of the shame that you betrayed Me?

my soul went out when he spoke for he said, “I will not come into your house because at first you did not wish to open.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.