Song of Solomon 5:3

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

²I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: "Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one." My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night. ³I have taken off my robe-must I put it back on? I have washed my feet-must I soil them again?⁴My beloved put his hand to the latch; my heart pounded for him. ⁵I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with flowing myrrh on the handles of the bolt. ⁶I opened for my beloved, but he had turned and gone. My heart sank at his departure. I sought him, but did not find him. I called, but he did not answer. ⁷I encountered the watchmen on their rounds of the city. They beat me and bruised me; they took away my cloak, those guardians of the walls. ⁸O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

have put: Proverbs 3:28, Proverbs 13:4, Proverbs 22:13, Matthew 25:5, Matthew 26:38-43, Luke 11:7, Romans 7:22, Romans 7:23

I have washed: As the Orientals only wear sandals, they are obliged to wash their feet previously to their lying down. Hence a Hindoo, if called from his bed, often makes his excuse that he shall daub his feet.

Reciprocal: Haggai 1:2 - This

Cross-References

Genesis 4:25
And Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, "God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him."

Genesis 5:2
Male and female He created them, and He blessed them. And in the day they were created, He called them "man."

Genesis 5:3
When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son in his own likeness, after his own image; and he named him Seth.

Genesis 5:14
So Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:16
And after he had become the father of Jared, Mahalaleel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters.

Job 14:4
Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!

Job 25:4
How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?

Psalms 51:5
Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

Luke 1:35
The angel replied, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.

John 3:6
Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I have put off my coat,.... In order to lie down on her bed at night, and take her ease; meaning her conversation garments, which she had not been careful of to keep, but had betook herself to carnal ease and rest, and was off her watch and guard, Nehemiah 4:23; and being at ease, and free from trouble, affliction, and persecution, was unwilling to arise and go with her beloved, lest she should meet with the same trials and sufferings as before, for the sake of him and his Gospel; which may be greatly the sense of her next words;

how shall I put it on? which suggests an apprehension of difficulty in doing it, it being easier to drop the performance of duty than to take it up again; and shows slothfulness and sluggishness, being loath and not knowing how to bring herself to it; and an aversion of the carnal and fleshly part unto it; yea, as if she thought it was unreasonable in Christ to desire it of her, when it was but her reasonable service; or as if she imagined it was dangerous, and would be detrimental to her rest, and prejudicial to her health;

I have washed my feet; as persons used to do when come off of a journey, and about to go to bed e, being weary; as she was of spiritual exercises, and of the observance of ordinances and duties, and so betook herself to carnal ease, and from which being called argues,

how shall I defile them? by rising out of bed, and treading on the floor, and going to the door to let her beloved in; as if hearkening to the voice of Christ, obeying his commands, and taking every proper step to enjoy communion with him, would be a defiling her; whereas it was the reverse of these that did it: from the whole it appears, that not only these excuses were idle and frivolous, but sinful; she slighted the means Christ made use of to awaken her, by calling and knocking; she sinned against light and knowledge, sleeping on, when she knew it was the voice of her beloved; she acted a disingenuous part in inviting Christ into his garden, and then presently fell asleep; and then endeavoured to shift the blame from herself, as if she was no ways culpable, but what was desired was either difficult, or unreasonable, or unlawful; she appears guilty of great ingratitude, and discovers the height of folly in preferring her present ease to the company of Christ.

e Homer. Odyss. 19. v. 317.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

She makes trivial excuses, as one in a dream.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Song of Solomon 5:3. I have put off my coat — The bride must have been in a dream or in much disorder of mind to have made the frivolous excuses here mentioned. The words relate to the case of a person who had gone to take rest on his bed. As they wore nothing but sandals, they were obliged to wash their feet previously to their lying down. I have washed my feet, taken off my clothes, and am gone to bed: I cannot therefore be disturbed. A Hindoo always washes his feet before he goes to bed. If called from his bed, he often makes this excuse, I shall daub my feet; and the excuse is reasonable, as the floors are of earth; and they do not wear shoes in the house. - WARD.