Song of Solomon 5:2
Song of Songs
Hebrew Bible
1 The Lover to His Beloved: 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: Eat, friends, and drink! Drink freely, O lovers! 2 The Beloved about Her Lover: I was asleep, but my mind was dreaming. Listen! My lover is knocking at the door! The Lover to His Beloved: “Open for me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one! My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”
Date: 3rd Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Revelation 3:20
New Testament
19 All those I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent! 20 Listen! I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into his home and share a meal with him, and he with me. 21 I will grant the one who conquers permission to sit with me on my throne, just as I, too, conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Date: 92-96 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Texts in Conversation
Revelation 3:20 uses the image of a figure knocking and asking to be let in, a scene that echoes Song of Songs 5:2. Both feature a nighttime visitor seeking entry and a plea for the door to be opened. In the Song, the delayed response leads to a moment of loss, as the lover vanishes. Revelation appears to draw on this literary motif but omits the disappointment.
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Notes and References
"... The imagery in the first part of Revelation 3:20 is widely thought to be dependent on Song of Songs 5:2, which has the two motifs of knocking for admission (on an implied closed door) and an appeal to the one within to open the door for the visitor ... When the beloved opens the door, however, the knocking suitor is nowhere to be found, even after a fruitless and dangerous outdoor search (verses 6–7), suggesting that the beloved had dreamed the whole episode (made explicit in the opening phrase “I sleep, but my heart is awake”). If this passage is the source of the imagery in Revelation 3:20, then the unhappy outcome has been passed over in silence: when the door was opened, no one was there. Judaism transformed the originally erotic poetry of the song of songs for inclusion in the biblical canon by interpreting the entire poem as an allegory of the love of God for Israel (b. Avodah Zarah 29a). Early Christians tended to read the song of songs analogously, probably influenced by Jewish exegesis ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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