Chapter 5

1 Christ awaketh the church with his calling. 2 The church having a taste of Christ’s love is sick of love. 9 A description of Christ by his graces.

1. Into my garden. This verse belongs properly in the preceding chapter. It is Solomon’s response to the maid’s consent to marriage.

Eat, O friends. Evidently spoken to the guests at the wedding feast.

2. I sleep. Here begins a new section. The bride relates a troubled dream. She dreams that her beloved came to her at night, and by a moment’s delay she lost him. This is similar to the dream related in ch. 3:1–5, only here the emphasis is on the trouble rather than on the happy outcome.

3. I have put off my coat. She seems to be saying, “I have retired for the night; do not disturb me.”

4. Of the door. These words are supplied and perhaps correctly so. Some think he may have extended his hand through the latticed window of her home.

5. I rose. Presumably still in her dream.

6. When he spake. We may suppose an expression of disappointment as the lover goes away.

I sought him. Probably still in her troubled dream.

7. Took away my veil. Evidently to see who she was.

8. Daughters of Jerusalem. In her dream she finds herself accosting the daughters of Jerusalem to help her find her beloved.

10. Chiefest among ten thousand. A fitting title of Christ (see DA 827; MB 79, 100; COL 339).

The description of the bridegroom continues through v. 16 and reaches a climax in the expression “He is altogether lovely.” This description is frequently coupled with the title, “chiefest among ten thousand,” when referring to Christ (see in addition to the above references, Ed 69; 6T 175; CT 67).

Ellen G. White comments

10, 16 AA 275; CH 529; COL 339; CT 67; DA 827; Ed 69; Ev 186, 346; FE 526; MB 69, 79, 100; ML 114; MM 213; PK 321; 6T 175

16   MB 146