Bride Opens the Door as Her Beloved LeavesBibleWorld
5:3Song of Solomon 5:3
I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
The verse belongs to a dialogue in a poem that uses vivid, warm, Oriental imagery. The Song is an Oriental love poem whose experiences of Solomon set forth in type the love of Christ for His church, giving a poetic picture of Christ and His church. The foot-washing in the verse reflects the custom in which people washed their own feet with water provided for them, not a host washing a guest's feet. The knocking in the verse reflects the earlier arrangement in which people knock and have the door opened to them, in contrast with the later picture of Christ Himself standing at the door and knocking.
The church's love for Christ is a response to His wonderful love, but it is often lacking in faithfulness and constancy. The verse gives the church's hesitant answer to Christ's call to open the door: she hears Him but is unwilling to rise, and her excuses about her coat and washed feet show she is not ready to welcome Him. This sleepy hesitation is the response of the Laodicean church to Christ's knock.
By the time she is roused and opens the door, Christ has withdrawn and left, so she opens to find her Beloved gone. After finding Him gone, she searches for Him in the streets and asks the watchmen where He is. The scene is a solemn warning to respond to Christ before it is too late. For a soul seeking Christ, opening the door to Him does not immediately end the experience of His absence and the search for Him.
The verse belongs to a dialogue in a poem that uses vivid, warm, Oriental imagery. The Song is an Oriental love poem whose experiences of Solomon set forth in type the love of Christ for His church, giving a poetic picture of Christ and His church. The foot-washing in the verse reflects the custom in which people washed their own feet with water provided for them, not a host washing a guest's feet. The knocking in the verse reflects the earlier arrangement in which people knock and have the door opened to them, in contrast with the later picture of Christ Himself standing at the door and knocking.
The church's love for Christ is a response to His wonderful love, but it is often lacking in faithfulness and constancy. The verse gives the church's hesitant answer to Christ's call to open the door: she hears Him but is unwilling to rise, and her excuses about her coat and washed feet show she is not ready to welcome Him. This sleepy hesitation is the response of the Laodicean church to Christ's knock.
By the time she is roused and opens the door, Christ has withdrawn and left, so she opens to find her Beloved gone. After finding Him gone, she searches for Him in the streets and asks the watchmen where He is. The scene is a solemn warning to respond to Christ before it is too late. For a soul seeking Christ, opening the door to Him does not immediately end the experience of His absence and the search for Him.