Blunt lesson here: Once you have surrendered to your man, you are no longer your own. As he is yours, you are his. That’s how God sees it.
The chapter begins with the groom declaring he is making love to his bride. After a few lines, the narrator tells them both to have a great time. This is good and right in God’s eyes.
Next comes a cautionary tale. The bride falls asleep after love-making and dreams a warning from God. The symbolism is obvious within the Hebrew culture. She is slow to respond when her husband calls to her, perhaps at the worst time of the night for her. It represents little more than an inconvenience. Finally she gets up and comes to find him no longer there. In this case, the symbolism is her lack of eagerness disappoints him. He loses interest. Too late she tries to hunt him down and win back his favor.
The concept of guardians is ambivalent, shifting in emphasis with the context. In this case, the image of wandering guards is angelic. They punish her and take away her covering before the Lord. Ladies, whatever it is God adds to your life in marriage depends on that moral covering. It’s more than mere sex, but starts with that. If you lose your eagerness for your husband, you lose God’s moral protection.
But God always leaves a path of repentance. The bride calls on her support network to help her repair the damage. When the maidens ask what difference it makes to her, she waxes lyrical about what she has lost. She describes him as the man of men.
