Song of Solomon 5:5

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

rose: Song of Solomon 5:2, Luke 12:36, Ephesians 3:17, Revelation 3:20

my hands: Song of Solomon 5:13, Song of Solomon 3:6, Song of Solomon 4:13, Song of Solomon 4:14, 2 Corinthians 7:7, 2 Corinthians 7:9-11

sweet smelling: Heb. passing, or running about

Reciprocal: Psalms 45:8 - All Song of Solomon 1:3 - the savour Song of Solomon 1:13 - bundle Song of Solomon 3:2 - will rise Song of Solomon 4:10 - the smell Mark 14:3 - of ointment Revelation 18:13 - cinnamon

Cross-References

Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground-because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return."

Genesis 5:7
And after he had become the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:8
So Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:10
And after he had become the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:11
So Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.

Genesis 5:12
When Kenan was 70 years old, he became the father of Mahalaleel.

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

Genesis 5:21
When Enoch was 65 years old, he became the father of Methuselah.

Genesis 5:22
And after he had become the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:32
After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I rose up to open to my beloved,.... As soon as touched by the hand of mighty grace, she not only resolved to rise, but actually rose, and that directly, not being easy to lie any longer on her bed of carnal security; being now made heartily and thoroughly willing to let in her beloved, who she supposed was still at the door; but in that she was mistaken; however she met with a rich experience of his grace and goodness;

and my hands dropped [with] myrrh, and my fingers [with] sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock; when she put her hand upon it to draw it back, and let her beloved in; the myrrh, which he had gathered, Song of Solomon 5:1, and left there when he put in his hand at the hole of the door: the allusion seems to be to lovers shut out, who used to cover the threshold of the door with flowers, and anoint the door posts with sweet smelling ointment f: as by the "door" is meant the heart of the church, so by the "lock", which fastened and kept it shut, unbelief may be designed; and by the "handles" of it lukewarmness and sluggishness, which strengthen unbelief, and keep the heart closer shut against Christ; and by her "hands" and "fingers", faith in exercise, attended with the fruits of it, attempting to draw back the lock of unbelief; which while the church was trying to do, she met with some fresh experience of the grace of Christ: her "hands [and] fingers dropped with sweet smelling myrrh, passing" or "current" g; such as weeps and drops from the tree of itself, and, being liquid, runs upon and overflows the hands and fingers; and being excellent and valuable, is passing or current as money; and the odour of it diffusive, it passes afar off: now this is either to be understood of myrrh brought by the church, a pot of ointment of it to anoint her beloved with, who had been long waiting at her door in the night season, to refresh him with it; and this pot being broke unawares, or designedly, or being in a panic her hands shook, the myrrh run over her hands and fingers as she was drawing back the lock; which may denote that her grace was now in exercise and on the flow, in great abundance; which put her on her duty, and which became odorous and acceptable to Christ: or it may signify myrrh brought and left there by Christ; and may express the abundance of grace from him, communicated by him, to draw and allure her to him, to supple and soften her hard heart, to take off the stiffness of her will, and the rustiness of her affections, and make the lock of unbelief draw back easier, and so open a way for himself into her heart; and to excite grace in her, her faith and love, and cause her to come forth in exercise on him: and her hands and fingers "dropping" herewith shows that all the grace a believer has is from Christ, from whom, in the way of his duty, he receives a large measure of it: while the church was on her bed of sloth there was no flow of sweet smelling myrrh; but, now she is up and doing her duty, her hands and fingers are overflowed with it.

f "At lachrymans exclusus amator,----posteisque superbos unguit amaracino", Lucret. l. 4. prope finem. g מור עבר "myrrham transeuntem", Pagninus, Montanus, c. "probam", Tigurine version "lachrymantem", Bochart; "quam Dioscorides vocat Myrrham Galiraeam".

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Sweet smelling myrrh - Or (as in the margin) “running myrrh,” that which first and spontaneously exudes, i. e., the freshest, finest myrrh. Even in withdrawing he has left this token of his unchanged love.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Song of Solomon 5:5. My hands dropped with myrrh — It was a custom among the Romans, as Brissonius, Isidore, and others relate, to conduct the bride to the house of the bridegroom with lighted torches; and those who brought her anointed the door-posts with fragrant oils, whence the name uxor, or as it was formerly written unxor, for a wife or married woman, because of the anointing which took place on the occasion; for sometimes the bride herself anointed the door-posts, and sometimes those who brought her; probably both at the same time. The same custom might have existed among the Jews. See Vossius' Etymologicon.