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Song of Solomon 5 · a question people ask

Why did the watchmen beat the one they found in 5:7?

In the text

The verse doesn't say. "The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me" (5:7). It gives no reason, says nothing of what the watchmen knew or thought, and passes no verdict on them. These notes supply no reason and pass no verdict either, and they don't apply the verse to anyone's experience today. The same words, "The watchmen who go about the city found me", came in 3:3, and there the speaker asked them a question (3:3). Here the next verse turns to the daughters of Jerusalem: "I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love" (5:8). If the verse touches your own pain, or the pain of someone you read with, make room for it.

The verses

“The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me. I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love.”
Song of Solomon 5:7-8 · World English Bible
“The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?””
Song of Solomon 3:3 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Song of Solomon 5

Song of Solomon 5: My beloved and my friend

The WEB's heart comes three times in 5:2-6, and in Hebrew each is a different word; "My heart went out when he spoke" (5:6) has nefesh, the soul of "whom my soul loves" (3:1). And "Eat, friends!" (5:1) and "this is my friend" (5:16) are the Song's only two uses of rea, friend.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions