I opened to my beloved
Which was what he desired, and was done in virtue of his putting
in his hand by the hole of the door; or by the exertion of his
efficacious grace, working in her both to will and to do, without
which it would not have been done; namely, her heart dilated, the
desires and affections of her soul enlarged towards Christ, and
every grace drawn forth and exercised on him; and though the
heart of a believer is sometimes shut to Christ, yet when it is
opened, it is only patent to him; the church thought Christ was
still at the door, and might be the more confirmed in it by what
she found on the handles of the lock; but lo her mistake,
but my beloved had withdrawn himself, [and] was
gone:
a sad disappointment this! she expected to have seen him, and
been received in his arms and embraced in his bosom; but instead
of that, he was gone out of sight and hearing: this withdrawing
was to chastise her for her former carriage, and to show her more
the evil of her sin, and his resentment of it; to try the truth
and strength of her grace to inflame her love the more, and
sharpen her desires after his presence, to prize it more when she
had it, and be careful not to lose it: her using two words of the
same import, "he turned himself" F8, and was gone, signifies that
he was really gone, and not in her imagination only; and that he
was gone suddenly, at an unawares, and, as she might fear, would
never return; and these words being without a copulative, "had
withdrawn himself, he was gone", show her haste in speaking, the
confusion she was in, thee strength of her passion, the greatness
of her disappointment and sorrow; it is as if she was represented
wringing her hands and crying, He is gone, he is gone, he is
gone;
my soul failed when he spake;
or "went out" F9; not out of her body, but she fell
into a swoon, and was as one dead; for a while; and this was "at"
or "through his word" F11, as it may be rendered; through
what he said when he turned about and departed, expressing his
resentment at her behavior; or rather at the remembrance of his
kind and tender language he used when he first called her to
arise, "saying, open to me, my sister, my spouse" ( Song of
Solomon 5:2 ) ; and when she called to mind how sadly she had
slighted and neglected him, it cut her to the heart, and threw
her into this fainting fit;
I sought him, but I could not find him;
in the public ordinances of his house; (See Gill on
Song of Solomon 3:2);
I called him, but he gave me no answer;
called him by his name as she went along the streets and broad
ways of the city, where she supposed he might be; praying aloud,
and most earnestly and fervently, that he would return to her;
but had no answer, at least not immediately, and thus be treated
her in the same manner she had treated him; he had called to her
and she disregarded him, and now she calls to him, and he takes
no notice of her; but this was not in a way of vindictive wrath
and punishment, as in ( Proverbs
1:24 Proverbs
1:28 ) ; but of chastisement and correction.
F8 (qmx) "verteret se", Pagninus; "circuerat", Montanus.
F9 (hauy) (exhlyen) , Sept. "egressa est", Pagninus, Montanus, Marckius.
F11 (wrbdb) (en logw autou) , Sept. "in loquela ejus", Marckius.