Song of Solomon 5:2 - Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Bible Comments

Some time may be supposed to have elapsed since the bride’s solemn espousals with the king Song of Solomon 4:7-5. A transient cloud of doubt or estrangement is now passing over her soul, as by the relation of this dream she intimates to her friends. Ancient allegorical interpreters find here a symbol of the condition and feelings of Israel during the Babylonian captivity, when the glories and privileges of Solomon’s Temple were no more, and the manifested presence of the Holy One had been withdrawn. Israel in exile seeks the Lord Song of Solomon 5:8, and will find Him again in the second temple Song of Solomon 6:3-9.

I sleep, but my heart waketh - A poetical periphrasis for “I dream.” Compare the ancient saying: “Dreams are the vigils of those who slumber, hopes are waking dreams.”

The voice - Or, “sound.” Compare Song of Solomon 2:8, note. She hears him knocking before he speaks.

My undefiled - literally, “my perfect one.” Vulgate “immaculata mea.” Compare Song of Solomon 4:7.

Song of Solomon 5:2

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.