Another Dream-Poem. It is not certain where the division should be made here, but it is possible to treat these verses as a separate poem and regard Song of Solomon 5:8 f. as the introduction to the wasf on the bridegroom (Song of Solomon 5:10 to Song of Solomon 6:3). The originality of Song of Solomon 5:7 has been questioned as an expansion of Song of Solomon 3:3, but it may well be part of a troubled dream. The description is very vivid and beautiful. The voice of the beloved heard at an untimely hour, his plaintive appeal, the delay, natural under the circumstances, the disappointment and adventurous search, the rough usage by the watchmen which brings the crisis; and lo it was a dream with all the excitement of reality.
Song of Solomon 5:2. Note the piling up of epithets: undefiled, lit, as mg., perfect, my paragon. dew, the heavy night-mist of Palestine.
Song of Solomon 5:3. coat or tunic, the single undergarment, longer in the case of women than men, worn next the skin; at night it was taken off and the somelah (Exodus 22:16) thrown over the body. washed, etc. cf. Luke 7:44.
Song of Solomon 5:4. hole: probably in the lattice for peeping out rather than one in the door for unfastening the lock. bowels (mg. and AV) is more literal; in OT psychology the heart is the seat of thought and the bowels of intense feeling (Jeremiah 4:19). Spake: in this passage there is a bare possibility that the word may mean turned away, or should the line stand before Song of Solomon 5:5 a?
Song of Solomon 5:7. She received the rough treatment due to a suspicious character (2 Samuel 18:24; Isaiah 62:6; Psalms 127:1).