Song 5:7 | KingComments | STEP | The bride continues searching in the city ( ). There the watchmen make the rounds. So it is still night. She doesn’t search for them, but they find her and act harshly against her. We have met the watchmen before ( ). There they are not as harshly in their actions as here. Now they wound the bride. When distance has come between the Lord and us, we sometimes have to make painful experiences. Then the Lord lets this happen to bring us back to Him. Being struck and wounded, which literally happens to the bride here, can also happen on a figurative level, for example by making severe reproaches. Accusatory words can cut hard. They wound the soul, they hurt within. That happens when we are in a place where we do not belong. If the bride had immediately risen and had opened the groom, this would not have happened, then she would have been spared this suffering and shame. The guardsmen also take her shawl or veil from her. The veil is a picture of complete dedication to the groom. The veil means: I am only for Him. But that is not true. It is her profession, but not her practice. Therefore, the veil must be removed. If there is hypocrisy in our life, the Lord must denounce it and take it away. For example, we say that we only come together in the Name of the Lord Jesus. But it is hypocrisy if we still give our own interpretation to the meetings. Or we have our established habits from which it is not allowed to deviate. Then the Spirit of God cannot work and the veil must be removed. In this case, the veil is not a sign of dedication and surrender, but a kind of bolt. These kinds of bolts, which give the appearance of dedication, but in reality block the Lord’s and the Spirit’s access to our life, must be taken away. If the Lord sometimes uses hard-handed methods for this, let us not blame the other who is used by the Lord for it. The ‘guardsmen’ who find us can be all kinds of people. Even though they are people who, like the guardsmen, have no idea what they are doing to us, it is still important to see the Lord’s hand in them. He is busy bringing us back to a living relationship with Him. We see the effect with the bride. She is not confused, but accepts the treatment she gets. She knows it is her own fault. That is where the return begins. She has come at a low point and is starting to make her way up. We also see it with Samson. His long hair – the outward sign of his dedication and separation to God – was cut off and removed ( ). His eyes are gouged out and he grinds flour in the Philistine prison ( ). Deeper he could not sink. But then we read that the hair of his head began to grow again ( ). If we have become sincere and honest, that is a new beginning. Our first dedication was good at first, but gradually it became a cover, a bolt. When this is seen, the time has come for a new dedication. That is what the Lord wants to work with you and me. From a prophetic point of view, this will happen to the remnant in the end time from the side of the antichrist and his followers. They will chastise the remnant, the bride, because she does not join them in following the antichrist. They are a means in God’s hand for this, without realizing it themselves. After this humiliating lesson, the bride does not take a defeatist attitude. She continues to search. She did not ask the guardsmen for help. She has no relation with them at all. They found her and engaged with her uninvited. This is different with “the daughters of Jerusalem” ( ). She turns to them and asks if they want to tell the groom that she is lovesick when they find him. In doing so, she indicates how much she desires his presence. She said that once before ( ), but there she is in the arms of the groom. Here she says it while she misses him and he had to leave her as a result of her own fault. She is not ashamed of her weakness and asks for help in her search from those who do not have that intimate relationship with the groom (cf. ). Acknowledgment of weakness does not take away anything from our beauty, but forces respect. If we have any self-knowledge, we are aware that we are only very weak in living out our privileges. We owe nothing to ourselves, but everything to the Lord. The daughters of Jerusalem see a special beauty in the bride ( ). They address her with “o most beautiful among the women”. We would say: she doesn’t look like that. After all, she was taken firmly in hand by the guardsmen and wounded. The fact that the daughters of Jerusalem address her in this way is because she is full of the groom. That is noted. If we are full of the Lord Jesus, all the things in our life that would otherwise stand out will disappear into the background. We can think of things we have done for which we are ashamed. But when we have truly confessed them and we are full of the Lord Jesus, the testimony of Him shines through everything. Instead of contempt, the question then arises as to what is special about Him of Whom our heart is so full, thus dwarfing every other love. Her answer comes in the following verses. Therein the bride gives a description of the groom. She says wonderful things about him. This goes beyond just saying what she has received from Him. She speaks of Himself, as He is. Her description of Him is the spiritual fruit of the trial she underwent as a result of leaving Him.

‏ Song of Solomon 5:7

Searching For the Groom

The bride continues searching in the city (Song 5:7). There the watchmen make the rounds. So it is still night. She doesn’t search for them, but they find her and act harshly against her. We have met the watchmen before (Song 3:1-3). There they are not as harshly in their actions as here. Now they wound the bride. When distance has come between the Lord and us, we sometimes have to make painful experiences. Then the Lord lets this happen to bring us back to Him.

Being struck and wounded, which literally happens to the bride here, can also happen on a figurative level, for example by making severe reproaches. Accusatory words can cut hard. They wound the soul, they hurt within. That happens when we are in a place where we do not belong. If the bride had immediately risen and had opened the groom, this would not have happened, then she would have been spared this suffering and shame.

The guardsmen also take her shawl or veil from her. The veil is a picture of complete dedication to the groom. The veil means: I am only for Him. But that is not true. It is her profession, but not her practice. Therefore, the veil must be removed. If there is hypocrisy in our life, the Lord must denounce it and take it away.

For example, we say that we only come together in the Name of the Lord Jesus. But it is hypocrisy if we still give our own interpretation to the meetings. Or we have our established habits from which it is not allowed to deviate. Then the Spirit of God cannot work and the veil must be removed. In this case, the veil is not a sign of dedication and surrender, but a kind of bolt. These kinds of bolts, which give the appearance of dedication, but in reality block the Lord’s and the Spirit’s access to our life, must be taken away.

If the Lord sometimes uses hard-handed methods for this, let us not blame the other who is used by the Lord for it. The ‘guardsmen’ who find us can be all kinds of people. Even though they are people who, like the guardsmen, have no idea what they are doing to us, it is still important to see the Lord’s hand in them. He is busy bringing us back to a living relationship with Him.

We see the effect with the bride. She is not confused, but accepts the treatment she gets. She knows it is her own fault. That is where the return begins. She has come at a low point and is starting to make her way up.

We also see it with Samson. His long hair – the outward sign of his dedication and separation to God – was cut off and removed (Jdg 16:17-19). His eyes are gouged out and he grinds flour in the Philistine prison (Jdg 16:21). Deeper he could not sink. But then we read that the hair of his head began to grow again (Jdg 16:22). If we have become sincere and honest, that is a new beginning. Our first dedication was good at first, but gradually it became a cover, a bolt. When this is seen, the time has come for a new dedication. That is what the Lord wants to work with you and me.

From a prophetic point of view, this will happen to the remnant in the end time from the side of the antichrist and his followers. They will chastise the remnant, the bride, because she does not join them in following the antichrist. They are a means in God’s hand for this, without realizing it themselves.

After this humiliating lesson, the bride does not take a defeatist attitude. She continues to search. She did not ask the guardsmen for help. She has no relation with them at all. They found her and engaged with her uninvited. This is different with “the daughters of Jerusalem” (Song 5:8). She turns to them and asks if they want to tell the groom that she is lovesick when they find him. In doing so, she indicates how much she desires his presence. She said that once before (Song 2:5), but there she is in the arms of the groom. Here she says it while she misses him and he had to leave her as a result of her own fault.

She is not ashamed of her weakness and asks for help in her search from those who do not have that intimate relationship with the groom (cf. Song 6:1). Acknowledgment of weakness does not take away anything from our beauty, but forces respect. If we have any self-knowledge, we are aware that we are only very weak in living out our privileges. We owe nothing to ourselves, but everything to the Lord.

The daughters of Jerusalem see a special beauty in the bride (Song 5:9). They address her with “o most beautiful among the women”. We would say: she doesn’t look like that. After all, she was taken firmly in hand by the guardsmen and wounded. The fact that the daughters of Jerusalem address her in this way is because she is full of the groom. That is noted.

If we are full of the Lord Jesus, all the things in our life that would otherwise stand out will disappear into the background. We can think of things we have done for which we are ashamed. But when we have truly confessed them and we are full of the Lord Jesus, the testimony of Him shines through everything. Instead of contempt, the question then arises as to what is special about Him of Whom our heart is so full, thus dwarfing every other love.

Her answer comes in the following verses. Therein the bride gives a description of the groom. She says wonderful things about him. This goes beyond just saying what she has received from Him. She speaks of Himself, as He is. Her description of Him is the spiritual fruit of the trial she underwent as a result of leaving Him.