I sleep, but my heart waketh
Like persons that are half awake, half asleep, whom Cicero
F24 calls "semisomni". Christ and the
church having feasted together at his invitation, she soon after
fell asleep, as the disciples did after a repast with their Lord;
yet not so fast asleep but that she was sensible of it; for this
was not the dead sleep of sin, in which unconverted men are, and
are insensible of; nor a judicial slumber some are given up unto,
and perceive it not, yet a frame of spirit unbecoming saints, and
displeasing to Christ; though consistent with grace, which at
such a time is not, or very little, in exercise; they are
slothful in duty, and backward to it; the phrase is sometimes
used to describe a sluggish, slothful man F25; they
are indifferent and lukewarm about divine things, content
themselves with the bare externals of religion, without the
lively exercise of grace, and without fervency and spirituality
in them, and seem willing to continue so; (See Gill on
Matthew
25:6); but the church here was not so overcome with sleep
but her "heart was awake". Jarchi, and some ancient Jewish
writers F26, interpret this and the former
clause of different persons; the former, "I sleep", of the bride;
this, "my heart waketh", of the bridegroom; and then the sense
is, though I am in a sleepy frame, he who is "my heart", a phrase
used by lovers F1, my soul, my life, my all, he never
slumbers nor sleeps, he watches over me night and day, lest any
hurt me; but both clauses are rather to be understood of the same
person differently considered, as having two principles of grace
and corruption, as the church has, which are represented as two
persons; see ( Romans 7:18 Romans 7:20 ) (
Ephesians 4:22 Ephesians
4:24 ) ( Galatians
5:17 ) ; as the carnal part in her prevailed, she was the
"sleeping I"; as the new man, or principle of grace appeared, her
"heart [was] awake"; for, notwithstanding her sleepy frame, she
had some thoughts of Christ, and stirring of affection to him;
Some convictions of her sin, and some desires of being in her
duty perhaps, though overpowered by the fleshly part; the spirit
was willing, but the flesh weak. Christ's response to his church
in this case follows, and is observed by her; he spoke to her so
loud, that though sleepy she heard him, and owns it, [it
is] the voice of my beloved:
in the ministration of the Gospel, which is to be distinguished
from the voice of a stranger, even when dull and sleepy under
hearing it, and little affected with it. Christ was the church's
beloved still, had an affection for him, though not thoroughly
awaked by his voice, but sleeps on still; this method failing, he
takes another, or repeats the same with an additional
circumstance, that knocketh,
saying, "open to me": which is to be understood not so much of
his knocking by the ministry of the word to awaken her out of
sleep, but in a providential way, by taking in his hand the rod
of affliction, or scourge of persecution, and lashing therewith
in order to bring her out of her carnal security; see ( Revelation
3:20 ) ; and he not only knocked but called, [saying],
open to me,
open the door unto me, and let me in; so lovers are represented
as at the door or gate to get admittance, and know not which to
call most hard and cruel, the door or their lover F2: there
is an emphasis on the word "me"; me, thy Lord, thy head, thy
husband, thy friend, that loves thee so dearly; to whom her heart
was shut, her affections contracted, her desires towards him
languid; wherefore he importunes her to "open" to him, which
denotes an enlarging of her affections to him, an exercise of
grace on him, an expression of the desires of her soul unto him;
which yet could not be done without efficacious grace exerted, as
in ( Song of
Solomon 5:4 ) ; but, the more to win upon her, he gives her
good words, and the most endearing titles, expressive of love and
relation, my sister, my love, my dove, my
undefiled,
which are all made use of before, excepting the last; see (
Song of Solomon 1:9
Song of Solomon
1:14 ) ( 4:9 )
; that is, "my undefiled", which she was, not as a descendant of
Adam, nor as in herself, but as washed in the blood of Christ,
justified by his righteousness, and sanctified by his Spirit; and
as having been enabled by divine grace to preserve her chastity,
and keep the "bed undefiled", ( Hebrews 13:4
) ; not guilty of spiritual adultery among all her infirmities,
even idolatry and superstition; see ( Revelation
14:4 ) ; or "my perfect one" F3; not in a legal, but in an
evangelical sense, being completely redeemed, perfectly
justified, fully pardoned, and sanctified in every part, though
not to the highest degree; and perfect in Christ, though not in
herself: other arguments follow to engage her attention to his
request; for head is filled with dew, [and] my locks with
the drops of the
night;
through standing so long at the door, in the night season,
waiting to be let in; so lovers represent their case in such
circumstances, as dealt very hardly with F4: by
which may be meant the sufferings of Christ, either in the
persons of his ministers, who are exposed to the rage and
reproach of men for ministering in his name to the church; or
which he endured in his own person, in his estate of humiliation;
and particularly in the night he was betrayed, and during the
time of darkness he hung upon the cross, when he bore the sins of
his people, and his Father's wrath; compared to "dew", and "drops
of the night", because of the multitude of them he endured in
soul and body, and because so uncomfortable to human nature;
though as dew is useful and fructifying to the earth, so were
these the means of many fruits and blessings of grace, and of
bringing many souls to glory; now though these arguments were
expressed in the most strong, moving, and melting language, yet
were ineffectual.
F24 Familiar. Epist. l. 7. Ep. 1.
F25 "Qui vigilans dormiat", Plauti Pseudolus, Act. 1. Sc. 3. v. 151.
F26 Pesikta in Jarchi, & Tanchama in Yalkut in loc.
F1 "Meum mel, meum cor", Plauti Poenulus, Act. 1. Sc. 2. v. 154, 170, 175. "Meum corculum, melliculum", ibid. Casina, Act. 4. Sc. 4, v. 14.
F2 "Janua vel domina", &c, Propert. Eleg. 16. v. 17, 18, 19.
F3 (ytmt) (teleia mou) , Sept. "perfecta mea", Montanus, Tigurine version, Marckius; "integra mea", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis.
F4 "Me mediae noctes" Propert. ut supra. (Eleg. 16.) v. 22, &c.