Song 5:6 | KingComments | STEP | In the previous verses we have seen that the bride has fallen asleep and is no longer paying attention to the groom. When the groom comes to her and wakes her up, she makes several excuses to stay in her cozy bedroom. The groom says who she is for him and what he has done for her. But the bride maintains: she doesn’t want to get out of her easy position and follow the groom outside. She has locked her room for him with her apologies. We have seen the application this has for us in our relationship with the Lord Jesus. In the verses we now have before us, we see that the groom, although he has been declined, continues to approach his bride. The bride sees her beloved extending his hand through the opening of the door ( ). She has locked the door for him. But he finds an opening in the room in which she has locked up herself. Through that opening he shows his hand. That touches her. It is the hand of her beloved, the hand that is busy for her. That hand wants to remove the bolt, so that the bride can come to him. This reminds us of the hands of the Lord Jesus that He shows to His own when they are afraid together ( ; ). It are the hands pierced for them. The Lord Jesus also knows how to find an opening in our lives to show us His pierced hand. If we see that hand, His hand, which was nailed to the cross for us, for me, it cannot leave us unmoved. It will make us, just like the bride, restless inside. Seeing the groom’s hand leads the bride to arise ( ). She wants to open the door for him. She takes the handle of the bolt. There appears to be myrrh on it. His hand has left that myrrh on it and it is now on her own hands and fingers. She comes into personal contact with it. It is myrrh in abundance, her hands “drip with myrrh”. It is also “liquid myrrh”, there is movement in it. She is – in picture – reminded of his suffering, to which the myrrh refers. This is also what we need when our love for the Lord Jesus is weakened. We need the remembrance of His suffering, not superficially, but the deep experience of it. Once again, I have to understand very well what He has suffered for me personally. The myrrh must drip, as it were, from my hands and fingers. This will lead me to commit myself once again entirely to Him and to give Him all my love. We see in Peter that he denies the Lord as soon as he gets into trouble. This is because he fell asleep in Gethsemane. Then the Lord shows him His love by looking at Him – while He suffers. Thus He pours, as it were, the myrrh over His hands. Through this personal encounter with the Lord in His suffering, Peter repents. Then the bride gets up to open ( ). When she opens the door to let him in, it turns out that it is no longer there. He is gone! Where is he? He has withdrawn. Why? He wants her to experience what her refusal to open up means to him. That is how it can be in our lives. When we finally come to open the door for Him and allow Him back into our lives, He suddenly cannot be found. Then we must learn that He also does this out of love for us, to teach us even more to realize Who He is. For He did not disappear forever, but He left to persuade us to seek Him. The bride has suddenly come to life. She is suddenly full of action to look for Him. How did that come about? She says it: “My heart went out [to him] as he spoke.” His voice, his words, have worked that out in her. That’s how it goes with us. The words of the Lord Jesus “are spirit and are life” ( ). He speaks living and life-giving words. Peter acknowledges this and therefore wants to go to none other than the Lord, for He has “words of eternal life” ( ). The bride goes out searching for him, but doesn’t find him. She calls, but he doesn’t answer. By leaving he tests her longing if she really wants to search for him. We also sometimes wonder why the Lord does not answer when we seek Him in prayer. One of the lessons He wants us to learn is that we ourselves cannot set the conditions for contact with Him. Sometimes God hides Himself from us, that is the feeling we have at least (cf. ), because we have hidden ourselves so often for Him. Sometimes God does not answer our calls, because so often we have not answered His speaking to us. It is His love that acts this way, for He wants to work dedication and arouse love. Therefore the Lord also lets us go through exercises to see if we miss Him and seek Him. He then tries us to see if it really matters to us that we want to have fellowship with Him. It is also possible that we only call to Him because we are in a bad situation. We want to be delivered from that and if God only just wants to do that. After that we can continue with our own life, in which He should not interfere too emphatically. If we really want to live a life in fellowship with Him, we will not be disappointed if He does not answer immediately or answers in a different way than we imagine. Then we continue to trust that He has the best for us and we persevere in our search for Him. We see that here with the bride. She continues her search. This brings her into circumstances through which she testifies to who the groom is to her, as the following verses show. The Lord Jesus also wants to work this in us through situations in which we, to our feelings, have lost Him.

‏ Song of Solomon 5:6

The Bolt Removed

In the previous verses we have seen that the bride has fallen asleep and is no longer paying attention to the groom. When the groom comes to her and wakes her up, she makes several excuses to stay in her cozy bedroom. The groom says who she is for him and what he has done for her. But the bride maintains: she doesn’t want to get out of her easy position and follow the groom outside. She has locked her room for him with her apologies. We have seen the application this has for us in our relationship with the Lord Jesus.

In the verses we now have before us, we see that the groom, although he has been declined, continues to approach his bride. The bride sees her beloved extending his hand through the opening of the door (Song 5:4). She has locked the door for him. But he finds an opening in the room in which she has locked up herself. Through that opening he shows his hand. That touches her. It is the hand of her beloved, the hand that is busy for her. That hand wants to remove the bolt, so that the bride can come to him.

This reminds us of the hands of the Lord Jesus that He shows to His own when they are afraid together (Lk 24:39; Zec 13:6). It are the hands pierced for them. The Lord Jesus also knows how to find an opening in our lives to show us His pierced hand. If we see that hand, His hand, which was nailed to the cross for us, for me, it cannot leave us unmoved. It will make us, just like the bride, restless inside.

Seeing the groom’s hand leads the bride to arise (Song 5:5). She wants to open the door for him. She takes the handle of the bolt. There appears to be myrrh on it. His hand has left that myrrh on it and it is now on her own hands and fingers. She comes into personal contact with it. It is myrrh in abundance, her hands “drip with myrrh”. It is also “liquid myrrh”, there is movement in it. She is – in picture – reminded of his suffering, to which the myrrh refers.

This is also what we need when our love for the Lord Jesus is weakened. We need the remembrance of His suffering, not superficially, but the deep experience of it. Once again, I have to understand very well what He has suffered for me personally. The myrrh must drip, as it were, from my hands and fingers. This will lead me to commit myself once again entirely to Him and to give Him all my love.

We see in Peter that he denies the Lord as soon as he gets into trouble. This is because he fell asleep in Gethsemane. Then the Lord shows him His love by looking at Him – while He suffers. Thus He pours, as it were, the myrrh over His hands. Through this personal encounter with the Lord in His suffering, Peter repents.

Then the bride gets up to open (Song 5:6). When she opens the door to let him in, it turns out that it is no longer there. He is gone! Where is he? He has withdrawn. Why? He wants her to experience what her refusal to open up means to him. That is how it can be in our lives. When we finally come to open the door for Him and allow Him back into our lives, He suddenly cannot be found. Then we must learn that He also does this out of love for us, to teach us even more to realize Who He is. For He did not disappear forever, but He left to persuade us to seek Him.

The bride has suddenly come to life. She is suddenly full of action to look for Him. How did that come about? She says it: “My heart went out [to him] as he spoke.” His voice, his words, have worked that out in her. That’s how it goes with us. The words of the Lord Jesus “are spirit and are life” (Jn 6:63). He speaks living and life-giving words. Peter acknowledges this and therefore wants to go to none other than the Lord, for He has “words of eternal life” (Jn 6:67-69).

The bride goes out searching for him, but doesn’t find him. She calls, but he doesn’t answer. By leaving he tests her longing if she really wants to search for him. We also sometimes wonder why the Lord does not answer when we seek Him in prayer. One of the lessons He wants us to learn is that we ourselves cannot set the conditions for contact with Him. Sometimes God hides Himself from us, that is the feeling we have at least (cf. Lam 3:8 ; 44), because we have hidden ourselves so often for Him. Sometimes God does not answer our calls, because so often we have not answered His speaking to us.

It is His love that acts this way, for He wants to work dedication and arouse love. Therefore the Lord also lets us go through exercises to see if we miss Him and seek Him. He then tries us to see if it really matters to us that we want to have fellowship with Him. It is also possible that we only call to Him because we are in a bad situation. We want to be delivered from that and if God only just wants to do that. After that we can continue with our own life, in which He should not interfere too emphatically.

If we really want to live a life in fellowship with Him, we will not be disappointed if He does not answer immediately or answers in a different way than we imagine. Then we continue to trust that He has the best for us and we persevere in our search for Him. We see that here with the bride. She continues her search. This brings her into circumstances through which she testifies to who the groom is to her, as the following verses show. The Lord Jesus also wants to work this in us through situations in which we, to our feelings, have lost Him.