Song of Solomon 5:7

“The watchmen that went about the city, found me, etc.] Of the city and the watchmen in it, and of their finding the church, (see Gill on “<220302>Song of Solomon 3:2-3”); they smote me, they wounded me; taking her for a night walker, they gave her ill words and hard blows this was not very becoming watchmen to use those of the city in this manner; for, as Platof325 says, keepers of cities should be mild and gentle towards their own, but to enemies rough and severe: if these were true ministers of Christ, this they did by reproaching her for and upbraiding her with her lukewarmness and unkindness to Christ, sharply reproving her for them; and, instead of comforting her with the doctrines of…”

“Watch - men - The governors of the church, who, though by their place they are obliged to comfort the faithful, do frequently discourage them. Smote - With bitter calumnies and persecutions. The keepers - The same with the watchmen, whose office it is to keep the gates and walls of the city. My vine - Which was an ornament of her sex, and an ensign of her relation to Christ. And so the taking of this veil away, signifies their contemptuous usage of her, and endeavours to represent her, as one that had no relation to Christ. Song of Solomon (Canticles) 5:8”

“5:7 The night watchmen . . . beat and bruised me: The watchmen who were protectors in 3:3 now become demonized characters in her dream (5:2). What they do describes how she feels—pummeled and wounded. • stripped off my veil: She feels that she has lost her dignity.”

“watchmen: Sol 3:3; Isa 6:10, Isa 6:11; Hos 9:7, Hos 9:8; Act 20:29, Act 20:30; Co2 11:13 they smote: Psa 141:5; Hos 6:5; Joh 16:2; Act 26:9, Act 26:10; Phi 3:6; Rev 17:5, Rev 17:6 the keepers: Sol 8:11; Isa 62:6; Mat 21:33-41, Mat 23:2, Mat 23:29-36 took: Luk 6:22; Act 5:40, Act 5:41; Co1 4:10-13; Heb 11:36, Heb 11:37, Heb 12:2; Pe1 4:14-16 Song of Solomon (Canticles) 5:8”

“7 The watchmen who go about in the city found me, They beat me, wounded me; My upper garment took away from me, The watchmen of the walls. She sought her beloved, not "in the midbar" (open field), nor "in the kepharim" (villages), but בעיר, "in the city," - a circumstance which is fatal to the shepherd-hypothesis here, as in the other dream. There in the city she is found by the watchmen who patrol the city, and have their proper posts on the walls to watch those who approach the city and depart from it (cf. Isa 62:6). These rough, regardless men, - her story returns at the close like a palindrome to those previously named, - who judge only according to that which is external, and have…”