Notes
Song of Solomon 5:4: My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door. ‘By the hole of the door’ (מִן־הָחוֹר, min ha-khor; literally ‘from the hole’). Through the latticed window. ZÖCKLER. The opening which served for a window. EWALD. At the window or casement. PATRICK. Probably rather a hole in the door. The hole in or near the door. RASHI. Above the lock. HAHN. In the wall. HITZIG. The attempt made to open the lock inside. Oriental houses still made with a hole in the door, or rather door-post, by which the master and domestics open the locks by putting in their hand, while strangers neither dare nor know how to do so, the locks being variously made; at night, additional bolts and bars so fasten the door that it cannot be opened from without. WEISS. When the bolt was too strong for the finger to move, or the hole too small, a key was used: otherwise, the finger inserted into the hole could move the bolt and open the door: at night, a pin was passed before the fore part of the bolt, to prevent its being opened on the outside: the Bridegroom had put in his finger to see if this had been omitted. DEL RIO. A key in the East usually a piece of wood with pegs or pins in it corresponding to small holes in a wooden bolt within, and is inserted through a hole in the door to push back the bolt. FAUSSET. The locks are placed on the inside of the doors of gardens and outer courts, and even on those of inner rooms of some places. To enable the owner to open them, a hole is cut in the door, through which he thrusts his arm and inserts the key. THOMSON, Land and Book. SEPTUAGINT: Withdrew his hand from, &c. So BURROUGHS and GINSBURG. VULGATE, followed by MARTIN. Put his hand. LUTHER, DIODATI, WICKLIFF: Through the hole. GENEVA: Through the hole of the door. PISCATOR and MONTANUS: From the hole. JUNIUS and TREMELLIUS: Had put down his hand from, &c. THEODORET: To awaken the Bride. PISCATOR: To effect an opening. SANCTIUS: To remove the bolt. PATRICK: As if attempting to draw her out of her bed, or threatening to punish her. HITZIG: As if intending to climb in by the window. HENGSTENBERG and WORDSWORTH: Forcibly to break a hole through the wall, like Ezekiel 8:7-8. Allegorically: His hand, the Divine energy. THEODORET. A secret inspiration on the heart. FROMONDI. Something tending to awaken the Church. BRIGHTMAN. To arouse the lingering and fearful. COCCEIUS. His vengeance in the days of Ahaz. RASHI. Efficacious grace. GILL. Historically, the reference to the incarnation. HONORIUS. To the scene in the judgment-hall of Caiaphas. M. STUART, FAUSSET. To the resurrection of Christ. PHILO, To the inward working of His Spirit, as at Antioch (Acts 2:19; Acts 2:21. AINSWORTH, FAUSSET.
LOVE’S CONQUEST
My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door,
And my bowels were moved for him.
Shulamite continues her narrative. The Bridegroom, unwilling to take a refusal, employs further means for obtaining admission. Inserts his hand, through the hole made for opening the door in the inside. The sight of his hand gains the desired compliance.
Observe—
1. Christ unwilling to take a refusal on the part of redeemed sinners, and especially of His believing though backslidden people. His patience unwearied, because His love is unchangeable (Hosea 11:7-9).
2. A work of Omnipotence needed as well for restoring saints as for converting sinners. The hand to be employed as well as the voice; the power of the Spirit as well as the call of His Word. Preachers successful because the Lord works with them, giving testimony to the Word of His grace, and confirming that Word with signs following. ‘The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord’ (Acts 11:21; Acts 14:3). The Lord’s hand also often put forth in Providence, when His voice is not hearkened to in His Word. The secret springs of the soul in the Saviour’s hand. ‘He that openeth, and no man shutteth: and shutteth and no man openeth.
3. Christ turns the heart, but employs suitable means and rational motives in doing so. The Bridegroom shewed his hand; but left the Bride to draw back the bolt herself ‘Christ puts no force upon our nature, but upon our ill nature.’—Henry. His people willing in the day of His power. God, in a work of grace, does His part, and leaves us to do ours. Believers to work out their salvation, because God works in them ‘both to will and to do.’ The apostles ‘so spake that many believed.’ The Lord opened Lydia’s heart, that she attended to the things spoken by Paul. The believing connected with the speaking as its result. The Lord opens the heart, but Lydia attends to what is spoken (Acts 14:24; Acts 16:14). Christ’s voice raised Lazarus from the dead, but the people were to remove the stone from the grave, and then to ‘loose him from his grave-clothes and let him go’ (John 11:39-44).
4. Faithful preachers not to despond. If one means or message fails, another may be made successful. ‘In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper.’ ‘If the axe be blunt, he putteth forth more strength.’ Sometimes a providence successful where the preacher has failed.
5. Christ acquainted with the best means of reaching the heart. Sometimes the least likely means the most successful. The Lord’s mere look broke Peter’s heart. The mere sight of the Bridegroom’s hand did more to melt the heart of the Bride than either his repeated knock or his imploring call. A preacher’s loving earnestness often the means of moving the careless more than the words be utters.
6. Inward motions necessary to outward action. ‘My bowels were moved for him’ (or, ‘in me’). The Spirit, in conversion or restoration, acts upon the conscience and feelings. The three thousand at Pentecost pricked in their hearts, and then cried: ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ The moving of Peter’s bowels the turning point of his second conversion.
7. The exhibition of Christ and His love the most effectual way of leading to true repentance. ‘My bowels were moved for, or on account of him.’ ‘They shall look on Him whom they have pierced, and shall mourn because of Him’ (Zechariah 12:10). Preaching Christ, and Him crucified, the readiest as well as most Scriptural way of moving mens’ hearts.
8. Great and palpable effects on the soul under the Holy Spirit’s operation. ‘The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof.’
9. Believers able to mark and record the operations of the Spirit on their heart, and their inward experience in relation to Christ.