Discovery BoxThe Song of Songs 5:1
ContextThe Lover to His Beloved:
5:1 I have entered my garden, O my sister, my bride;
I have gathered my myrrh with my balsam spice.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
I have drunk my wine and my milk!
The Poet to the Couple: 1
Eat, friends, and drink! 2
Drink freely, O lovers!
Isaiah 55:1-7
Context55:1 “Hey, 3 all who are thirsty, come to the water!
You who have no money, come!
Buy and eat!
Come! Buy wine and milk
without money and without cost! 4
55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? 5
Why spend 6 your hard-earned money 7 on something that will not satisfy?
Listen carefully 8 to me and eat what is nourishing! 9
Enjoy fine food! 10
55:3 Pay attention and come to me!
Listen, so you can live! 11
Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to 12 you,
just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. 13
55:4 Look, I made him a witness to nations, 14
a ruler and commander of nations.”
55:5 Look, you will summon nations 15 you did not previously know;
nations 16 that did not previously know you will run to you,
because of the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, 17
for he bestows honor on you.
55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; 18
call to him while he is nearby!
55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle 19
and sinful people their plans. 20
They should return 21 to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, 22
and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. 23
Mark 16:15-16
Context16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16:16 The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned.
Revelation 3:20
Context3:20 Listen! 24 I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into his home 25 and share a meal with him, and he with me.
Revelation 22:17
Context22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say: “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wants it take the water of life free of charge.
[5:1] 1 sn There is no little debate about the identity of the speaker(s) and the audience addressed in 5:1b. There are five options: (1) He is addressing his bride. (2) The bride is addressing him. (3) The wedding guests are addressing him and his bride. (4) He and his bride are addressing the wedding guests. (5) The poet is addressing him and his bride. When dealing with this issue, the following factors should be considered: (1) the form of both the exhortations and the addressees are plural. This makes it unlikely that he is addressing his bride or that his bride is addressing him. (2) The exhortation has an implicitly sexual connotation because the motif of “eating” and “drinking” refers to sexual consummation in 5:1a. This makes it unlikely that he or his bride are addressing the wedding guests – an orgy is quite out of the question! (3) The poet could be in view because as the writer who created the Song, only he could have been with them – in a poetic sense – in the bridal chamber as a “guest” on their wedding night. (4) The wedding guests could be in view through the figurative use of apostrophe (addressing an audience that is not in the physical presence of the speaker). While the couple was alone in their wedding chambers, the wedding guests wished them all the joys and marital bliss of the honeymoon. This is supported by several factors: (a) Wedding feasts in the ancient Near East frequently lasted several days and after the couple had consummated their marriage, they would appear again to celebrate a feast with their wedding guests. (b) The structure of the Song is composed of paired-dialogues which either begin or conclude with the words of the friends or daughters of Jerusalem (1:2-4, 5-11; 3:6-11; 5:9-16; 6:1-3, 4-13; 7:1-10) or which conclude with an exhortation addressed to them (2:1-7; 3:1-5; 8:1-4). In this case, the poetic unit of 4:1-5:1 would conclude with an exhortation by the friends in 5:1b.
[5:1] 2 sn The physical love between the couple is compared to eating and drinking at a wedding feast. This is an appropriate figure of comparison because it would have been issued during the feast which followed the wedding and the consummation. The term “drink” refers to intoxication, that is, it compares becoming drunk on wine with enjoying the physical love of one’s spouse (e.g., Prov 5:19-20).
[55:1] 3 tn The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments and is often prefixed to judgment oracles for rhetorical effect. But here it appears to be a simple interjection, designed to grab the audience’s attention. Perhaps there is a note of sorrow or pity. See BDB 223 s.v.
[55:1] 4 sn The statement is an oxymoron. Its ironic quality adds to its rhetorical impact. The statement reminds one of the norm (one must normally buy commodities) as it expresses the astounding offer. One might paraphrase the statement: “Come and take freely what you normally have to pay for.”
[55:2] 5 tn Heb “for what is not food.”
[55:2] 6 tn The interrogative particle and the verb “spend” are understood here by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
[55:2] 7 tn Heb “your labor,” which stands by metonymy for that which one earns.
[55:2] 8 tn The infinitive absolute follows the imperative and lends emphasis to the exhortation.
[55:2] 9 tn Heb “good” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[55:2] 10 tn Heb “Let your appetite delight in fine food.”
[55:3] 11 tn The jussive with vav (ו) conjunctive following the imperative indicates purpose/result.
[55:3] 12 tn Or “an eternal covenant with.”
[55:3] 13 tn Heb “the reliable expressions of loyalty of David.” The syntactical relationship of חַסְדֵי (khasde, “expressions of loyalty”) to the preceding line is unclear. If the term is appositional to בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”), then the Lord here transfers the promises of the Davidic covenant to the entire nation. Another option is to take חַסְדֵי (khasde) as an adverbial accusative and to translate “according to the reliable covenantal promises.” In this case the new covenantal arrangement proposed here is viewed as an extension or perhaps fulfillment of the Davidic promises. A third option, the one reflected in the above translation, is to take the last line as comparative. In this case the new covenant being proposed is analogous to the Davidic covenant. Verses 4-5, which compare David’s international prominence to what Israel will experience, favors this view. In all three of these interpretations, “David” is an objective genitive; he is the recipient of covenantal promises. A fourth option would be to take David as a subjective genitive and understand the line as giving the basis for the preceding promise: “Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, because of David’s faithful acts of covenantal loyalty.”
[55:4] 14 sn Ideally the Davidic king was to testify to the nations of God’s greatness (cf. Pss 18:50 HT [18:49 ET]; 22:28 HT [22:27 ET]). See J. H. Eaton, Kingship in the Psalms (SBT), 182-84.
[55:5] 15 tn Heb “a nation,” but the singular is collective here, as the plural verbs in the next line indicate (note that both “know” and “run” are third plural forms).
[55:5] 16 tn Heb “a nation,” but the singular is collective here, as the plural verbs that follow indicate.
[55:5] 17 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
[55:6] 18 tn Heb “while he allows himself to be found.” The Niphal form has a tolerative force here.
[55:7] 19 tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.
[55:7] 20 tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.
[55:7] 21 tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”
[55:7] 22 tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.
[55:7] 23 sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.
