The young woman goes in search for her handsome lover she longs for. She finds him and holds him fast, and brings him home to her mother.

1. CHAPTER 3 SONG OF SOLOMON
Written and edited by Glenn Pease
1 All night long on my bed I looked for the one my
heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him.
Message, "Restless in bed and sleepless through the night, I longed for my lover. I
wanted him desperately. His absence was painful."
1. Tyndale Commentary, "Chapter 3, obviously, starts with the girl waking up from
the dream that was described so beautifully in the previous verses. The tone of the
poem is very intense here. The way the NIV translates the first verse, the girl is in
bed alone and wakes up from her dream. Other translations suggest that the boy
had been with her but is no longer there." John Schultz wrote, "‘One night my lover
was missing from my bed. I got up to look for him but couldn’t find him.’“(TLB).
The latter rendering is probably the most compromising because it suggests that the
boy and the girl had been in the habit of sleeping together. It is true that in the
Hebrew “night” is in the plural. But the rendering “All night long,” as given by the
NIV is quite acceptable. If we see the girl’s reaction as a waking up from a sweet
dream into the reality of her loneliness, the text becomes quite
understandable......Separation of lovers is a form of death and death is the ultimate
separation. Love is expressed in intimacy and intimacy is impossible when there is
separation. Shakespeare may say that parting is sweet sorrow, but the French catch
it better in the proverb: “Leaving is like dying a little.”
1B. She pulls an all nighter looking for love, or for her lover. She is in bed longing
for his presence and so we see a sexual dream is unfolding here. It is not just sex,
however, for a woman wants more than sex in bed. She wants intimacy, and this
means talking and hugging too. Here is the torment of absent love. In 1848 that most
famous of poets, anonymous, wrote,
O were I a cross on thy snowy breast,
O were I a gem in thy woven hair;
O were I the soft-blowing wind of the west,
To play around thy bosom with cooling air.
2. Fear of losing something can cause us to dream of that, and this could be what is
going on here. Anxiety about something can produce these fear dreams. I had them
in college and feared to be late for a test, or not doing well etc. New brides have
dreams of the groom not showing up for the wedding.
"On my bed night after night I sought him Whom my soul loves; I sought him but

2. did not find him: Every night she longed to be with the shepherd. She longed to
search for him, but of course, without getting up and physically looking, she would
not find him. All she has been doing is thinking about him, and perhaps this can
include her dreams. But one night, which can refer either to an evening after dark
or early morning before dawn, she actually did get up and go to find him. It is all a
dream, but very real to her, for she is so lonely being in the city and away from her
country lover. It is like being homesick when you are away from your normal
surroundings and the people you love. You dream of being back home where you
feel comfortable and loved, and so it is with this young beauty. She is in Solomon's
castle and not at home with her shepherd lover where she longs to be.
3. Many great love stories are about the opposition to their love, and all of the
obstacles they have to overcome to be together. That is the essence of this story.
Hudson Taylor, founder of The China Inland Mission fell in love with a girl who
worked in a school for girls in China. He wanted to marry her, but the woman who
ran the school did all she could to keep them apart. Only a great storm that
threatened the safety of the women brought Hudson to the rescue, and he asked her
to marry him in that crisis situation. They had to write to her guardian, who was in
London, asking for permission, and it came back with permission granted, and they
were married. Frustration and obstacles are a part of many love stories, and this
seems to be the case here.
A mighty pain to love it is,
And tis a pain that pain to miss;
But of all pains, the greatest pain
It is to love, but love in vain. Abraham Cowley
4. There is a longing for more than sex here, but that was likely a part of it as she
lay in bed longing for his presence and his touch. The Jews did not look upon sexual
desire as negative at all. The Talmud encouraged the devout to begin the Sabbath by
reading the Song of Songs and engaging in the marital act. This would put them in a
more joyous mood for worship. Sex was not a hindrance to fellowship with God but
an aid. Jacob Emden, an 18th century Jewish scholar contrasted the Gentile view
with the Jewish view. “The wise men of the other nations claim that there is disgrace
in the sense of touch. This is not the view of our Torah and of its sages....to us the
sexual act is worthy, good, and beneficial even to the soul. No other human activity
compares with it; when performed with pure and clean intentions it is certainly
holy. There is nothing impure or defective about it, rather much exaltation.”
5. Margaret Sangster wrote a beautiful poem about how love of a man made her feel
never alone even when he was gone. It is true, but also true that one can miss that
love and feel lonely without it. There are mixed emotions with love that is not
present. She wrote,
There is a sound of laughter,
In places you have blessed
With your brief, vivid presence!
You fingers have caressed

3. Things into sudden beauty,
Chill things of wood and stone....
Oh, just because I’ve loved you,
I never am alone!
There is a sense of wonder,
In rooms where you have dwelt;
The books you read are hallowed,
The spots in which you knelt
Have taken on a feeling
That is the soul of prayer...
My heart is never empty,
Because you have been there!
What though I may not see you,
What though the heavy mist
of twilight shrouds your presence!
The lips that you have kissed
Will always be more tender,
Because their warmth had known
Your mouth......Because I’ve loved you,
I never am alone.
6. John Karmelich says the hunger to be with the one you love is a key ingredient in
the lives of those considering marriage. He wrote, "This set of verses is a good model
for those of you considering marriage:
Do you desire to be with your partner when he or she is away?
Do you long for that partner after being away for a while?
The same goes for our relationship with God:
Do you feel “empty” when you haven’t prayed or read God’s word for a while?
That is a true tale sign of your love for God and your commitment to Him. God
always desires a stronger relationship with Him as well as with our spouses.
7. Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote a poem about how hard it is to wait for the one you
love.

4. How can I wait until you come to me?
The once fleet mornings linger by the way,
Their sunny smiles touched with malicious glee
At my unrest; they seem to pause, and play
Like truant children, while I sigh and say,
How can I wait?
How can I wait? Of old, the rapid hours
Refused to pause or loiter with me long;
But now they idly fill their hands with flowers,
And make no haste, but slowly stroll among
The summer blooms, not heeding my one song,
How can I wait?
How can I wait? The nights alone are kind;
They reach forth to a future day, and bring
Sweet dreams of you to people all my mind;
And time speeds by on light and airy wing.
I feast upon your face, I no more sing,
How can I wait?
How can I wait? The morning breaks the spell
A pitying night has flung upon my soul.
You are not near me, and I know full well
My heart has need of patience and control;
Before we meet, hours, days, and weeks must roll.
How can I wait?
How can I wait? Oh, love, how can I wait
Until the sunlight of your eyes shall shine
Upon my world that seems so desolate?
Until your hand-clasp warms my blood like wine;
Until you come again, oh, love of mine,
How can I wait?
8. It is obvious that she is longing for her shepherd lover, for Solomon would not be
out in the city streets at night, and the watchmen not knowing of his whereabouts.
We see Solomon at the end of this chapter in all his glory, and not here as the lost
lover she is dreaming about and searching for.

5. 9. Spurgeon appllies this experience to our losing the presence of Christ. He wrote,
“Tell me where you lost the company of Christ, and I will tell you the most likely
place to find Him. Have you lost Christ in the closet by restraining prayer? Then it
is there you must seek and find Him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find
Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy
Spirit to mortify the member in which the lust doth dwell. Did you lose Christ by
neglecting the Scriptures? You must find Christ in the Scriptures. It is a true
proverb, "Look for a thing where you dropped it, it is there." So look for Christ
where you lost Him, for He has not gone away. But it is hard work to go back for
Christ. Bunyan tells us, the pilgrim found the piece of the road back to the Arbour
of Ease, where he lost his roll, the hardest he had ever travelled. Twenty miles
onward is easier than to go one mile back for the lost evidence.
Take care, then, when you find your Master, to cling close to Him. But how is it you
have lost Him? One would have thought you would never have parted with such a
precious friend, whose presence is so sweet, whose words are so comforting, and
whose company is so dear to you! How is it that you did not watch Him every
moment for fear of losing sight of Him? Yet, since you have let Him go, what a
mercy that you are seeking Him, even though you mournfully groan, "O that I knew
where I might find Him!" Go on seeking, for it is dangerous to be without thy Lord.
Without Christ you are like a sheep without its shepherd; like a tree without water
at its roots; like a sere leaf in the tempest--not bound to the tree of life. With thine
whole heart seek Him, and He will be found of thee: only give thyself thoroughly up
to the search, and verily, thou shalt yet discover Him to thy joy and gladness.
“But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for
him with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 4:29, NIV)
10. When Jesus, with his mighty love,
Visits my troubled breast,
My doubts subside, my fears remove,
And I’m completely blest;
I love the Lord with mind and heart,
His people and His ways;
Envy, and pride, and lust depart,
And all his works I praise;
Nothing but Jesus I esteem;
My soul is then sincere;
And everything that’s dear to him,

6. To me is also dear.
But ah! When those short visits end,
Though not quite left alone,
I miss the presence of my Friend,
Like one whose comfort’s gone.
I to my own return,
My wretched state to feel;
I tire, and faint, and mope, and mourn,
And am but barren still.
More frequent let thy visits be,
Or let them longer last;
I can do nothing without thee;
Make hast, O God, make haste.
- Hart
2 I will get up now and go about the city, through
its streets and squares; I will search for the one
my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not
find him.
Message, "So I got up, went out and roved the city, hunting through streets and
down alleys. I wanted my lover in the worst way! I looked high and low, and didn't
find him.
1. She is desperate to find her lover, but her search is in vain, for he is nowhere to be
found. If you have ever lost a child, or anything of great value to you, you can feel
the frustration of this girl as her search comes up empty time and time again.
Scholors debate wheather this is a literal search, or if it is a nightmare. It seems
more like a nightmare than literal reality.
2. If we think this book is a continuous narrative, we might think we’ve skipped the
love scene and now discover that the Shulamite’s lover has left the bed. She awakes
to find him gone and now pursues him. Or, we might think this yet another poetic
section of the young woman’s yearning for her lover. That “at night” could be
translated “night after night” (Bloch) would suggest the latter interpretation. Either

7. way, she longs for him on her own bed.
3. The scene is powerful … this young woman, awakened and stirred to love,
discovers her lover gone and longs to find him. Searching for him through the city,
she encounters the sentinels who are protecting the city. “Hey,” she says to them,
“did you happen to see the most beautiful man in the city?” She doesn’t report their
answer — why? Probably because she found him before they had a chance to speak.
Or perhaps because she had no time to pause for an answer. She was determined
and intent on finding her lover and that meant an all-out search.
4. David Walter has a powerful statement on the price of love. Love is not free, but
has a cost involved, and all the way from God's love down to our love for our mates
or friends. He wrote, "Love and Pain was an address about the difficulties and
hardships of caring deeply for someone. We looked at 3:1-5 and 5:2-8, seeing that
love is a two-sided coin, where we experience both the joy of love and the pain of
love, both ecstasy and agony. As a book about real life, Song of Songs speaks about
both. The passages are two dreams about the pain of separation. For this reason,
they group together nicely. In any relationship, there will be hurt, pain and
frustration. Romantic relationships can quickly founder and friendships can
splinter into indifference. The cost of love - loving and being loved - is exposure to
pain and grief, for in an imperfect world with imperfect people, where there's love,
there's pain. We see the incredible pain of God's amazing love in the cross - where
in his death Jesus bears the pain of God's love for sinners. Love is often messy and
relationships are hard. These dreams of love and pain are in Song of Songs to
prepare us for the pain of love, so that we won't be destroyed when love gets rough.
God has made us for relationships and we can enjoy them with our eyes wide open if
we know that where there's love, there's pain."
5. Only a scholar would know it, but here is what one found that most of us never
would. "There is a word-play in 3:2-3 between the verb (“I will go about”) and
(“those who go around”). This word-play draws attention to the ironic similarity
between the woman’s action and the action of the city’s watchmen. Ironically, she
failed to find her beloved as she went around in the city, but the city watchmen
found her. Rather than finding the one she was looking for, she was found."
3 The watchmen found me as they made their
rounds in the city. "Have you seen the one my
heart loves?"
Message, "And then the night watchmen found me as they patrolled the darkened
city."Have you seen my dear lost love?" I asked.
1. She would not be considered a very nice lady out in the streets at night looking for
a lover. Only the prostitutes would be doing this. She was not being very wise, but

8. often that is what love does. It acts very radical and not with adequate thought. If
you share in a small group what foolish things you have ever done because of love,
you will discover that is quite common to do stupid things in order to be with the
one you love.. I have purchased a car on the spot with no knowledge of its value to
get to see Lavonne, and one such rapidly purchased car only lasted for 20 miles, and
on another occassion I almost died in a storm to get to see her. Love makes us do
stupid things because our focus is so narrow that we do not see all of the
implications of the choices we make in desperation to be with our loved one.
2. John Karmelich, " Verse 3 is another proof-text that this is a dream. Imagine
asking a cop, “Have you seen the one I love?”It doesn’t make much sense from a
cop’s perspective. That is why most people believe this whole sequence is a dream.
The bride, in this dream...... goes out in the city desperately trying to find her man,
just so that she can be near him.
The watchmen of Mahanaim apparently receive her with some surprise. There is a
touch of agitation in her description of their encounter ("The watchmen found me
as they went about the city..."). Her request, "Have you seen him who my soul
loves?" is gentle and plaintive. One can believe Shulamith is someone the watchmen
know, someone they will treat with compassion. She will not be so kindly treated in
Jerusalem, where she is a stranger! Here again, this confirms that the action in the
two so-called "dream sequences" is literal." This is too strong a statement based on
the two dreams being different, for it is not necessary to assume that two similar
dreams must be alike to be valid dreams. It is just as easy to assume that one dream
is just different than the other.
4 Scarcely had I passed them when I found the
one my heart loves. I held him and would not let
him go till I had brought him to my mother's
house, to the room of the one who conceived me.
Message, "No sooner had I left them than I found him, found my dear lost love. I
threw my arms around him and held him tight, wouldn't let him go until I had him
home again, safe at home beside the fire."
1. Her search was not long, for as soon as she asked for help she didn't need it, for
she found him and grabed hold of him in joy, and in order to assure that she would
not lose him again. Her lover did not resist her clinging to him, for he followed her
to her mother's house, and then into the mother's room, and I think it is safe to
assume that mom was not home at the time. Most mother would not appreciate a
daughter bringing a man home, and then going off to her room. Again, it is hard to
escape the sexual implications of this.
2. It is pointed out be one commentator: "In that culture the women had quarters
separate from the men. A man would only be brought into such a place for one

9. thing. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent; and he took Rebekah
and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his
mother's death.Genesis 24:67 (NKJV)
3. John Schultz is not so sure about the above picture. He sees just the opposite as he
writes, "The girl brings her lover to her paternal home. “To my mother’s house, to
the room of the one who conceived me.” Had her intent been on sexual intimacy, she
would not have done so. The reference to the place establishes in a poetical way, a
chain of life. The sexual reference is not to her own experience, but to that of her
parents. It is the place where she was created, the place where she came into the
world. The suggestion is that the fruit of the marriage she anticipates will be the
birth of their own children. She sees herself as a link in the miracle chain of life. The
picture she paints is more than one of mere enjoyment of intimacy with her lover; it
is a picture of life. This is not the typical attitude of people in love. Young loverstend
to forget the consequences of their behavior. This girl is level-headed enough to
realize that if she and her lover would have pre-marital sex it would spoil the reality
of their love. This we understand from the following exhortation in vs. 5, “Do not
arouse or awaken love until it so desires.”
4. Net Bible, "There is debate about the reason why the woman brought her beloved
to her mother’s house. Campbell notes that the mother’s house is sometimes
referred to as the place where marital plans were made (Gen 24:28; Ruth 1:8). Some
suggest, then, that the woman here was unusually bold and took the lead in
proposing marriage plans with her beloved. This approach emphasizes that the
marriage plans in 3:4 are followed by the royal wedding procession (3:6-11) and the
wedding night (4:1-5:1). On the other hand, others suggest that the parallelism of
“house of my mother” and “chamber of she who conceived me” focuses on the
bedroom of her mother’s house. Fields suggests that her desire was to make love to
her beloved in the very bedroom chambers where she herself was conceived, to
complete the cycle of life/love. If this is the idea, it would provide a striking parallel
to a similar picture in 8:5 in which the woman exults that they had made love in the
very location where her beloved had been conceived: “Under the apple tree I
aroused you; it was there your mother conceived you, there she who bore you
conceived you.”
5. Here is a very aggressive female in love. She must have known her folks were out
of town and so she drags him to her parents house and into the bedroom. It is all a
part of the fantasy dream of a lovesick woman longing for the presence of her lover.
Dreams do not always make any sense, but what we see here is a happy ending to
her search, and the couple are reunited in their love after a separation. Why she
took him to her mother's house and to her mother's bed where she was conceived is
a mystery. Is she saying I want to conceive a baby right here where I was conceived?
Your guess is as good as mine.
6. It can be a valid and positive use of the imagination to go beyond the real to
experience the ideal. You can by means of the imagination be in a tropical setting on
the beach and have a level of pleasure your present setting does not provide. Day
dreaming can give you some escape from a negative situation. Fantasy is a childlike

10. ability to enter into a world of make believe. It is a gift that can be abused, but it is a
gift God gave to man, and it can be an escape and emotional outlet.
7. Writers use fantasy to help us see the unseen. It may be in the shapes of clouds
where we see things that are really not there, but give us pleasure. We can see
positive things in nature and in dreams that drive home spiritual truths. Alice in
Wonderland, Winnie-the -Pooh, and Mary Poppins are all full of interesting
surprises that are fun that comes through fantasy. Fantasy can be a good story, and
also have double meanings that convey truth and insight in a clever way that gets
our attention.
8. Einstein said, “When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the
conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for
abstract, positive thinking.” “It is incorrect to think that fantasy is useful only to the
poet. This is an insipid prejudice! It is useful even in mathematics-even differential
and integral calculus could not have been discovered without it. Fantasy is a quality
of the highest importance.”
9. “She sought him; she found him; she held him; and she brought him." She was in
control here, and that is one of the messages of this Song. A woman can be the one in
control. She does not need to be passive waiting for her lover to take control. She
can be the agressive one and go after him. She can iniatiate love making as well as
him. Maybe some men do not like an agressive woman, but masses of men would
love it if their wives were more agressive and dragged them to any room to make
love.
10. Dr. C. Mark Corts wrote, "You don’t have to be ashamed to talk about intimacy
in marriage. God made male and female. Amen? And aren’t you glad He did? What
if this world was just populated with just one or the other? "God made them male
and female." In Genesis chapter 2 God looked and saw that it was not good for man
to be alone. So He created a woman to be with the man. I know that some of you are
called to singleness, and some of you are single because of circumstances, and that’s
fine. God will take care of you. But when a man and a woman are together, God
intends for intimacy. So is it alright to talk about intimacy? Yes. Sex in marriage is
not bad. It was created for the blessing of mankind. We’ll all say an "Amen" to that.
Amen? If it’s in the Bible it’s alright. This book is just as inspired as Romans, did
you know that?
11. Pastor Corts goes on to stress the power of a woman. "You have no idea the
power you have over a man, lady. Take it from me, it’s an enormous power (and all
the men said, "Amen."). The first power is the power that comes from
communicating her passion. "By night on my bed I sought the one I love; I sought
him, but I did not find him." She was not afraid to speak of that. "I looked for my
lover! Where is he? I want him," she said. "I’m alone." This is the power that a
woman has to communicate her passion and when she does, when she communicates
that to man, an amazing thing happens. It affirms his manhood."
"I want you women to know that God gave you the power to express and

11. communicate that love you have to a man and many of you are sitting on it. You’ve
been taught that you should never express it. You’ve been taught that you should
never say it. "Wait for him to say it," but you’re married to a man who was raised
in a home where very little affection was shown. His father grew up during the
Depression. He thought you had to fight for everything you have. He thought you
don’t get too touchy-feely or you’ll get too sappy and spoil your children. In that
kind of a marriage, you can turn your husband’s attitude all the way around when
you learn how to communicate passion to him. Sometimes you just need to say to
him, "I really love you and I need you and I want you." When you say that with
passion the bells will go off clear to glory!"
"I like to take my wife in my arms and kiss her. But when my wife initiates that
passion and is unashamed to do that, that does something to me. That lights my
fires. Don’t be afraid to show your passion. Don’t be afraid to show your love. Don’t
be afraid to show who you are. Don’t be afraid to express yourself. Open up that
shell. Come out of the shell and do as God says a woman should do for a man,
expressing her love.It’s getting very silent in here. If I was preaching on hell this
morning, you’d all be shouting and saying "Amen!" But I preach on sex and you sit
there like dummies! The truth is that you think a whole lot more about sex than you
do about hell!"
12. Spurgeon, “Does Christ receive us when we come to Him, notwithstanding all
our past sinfulness? Does He never chide us for having tried all other refuges first?
And is there none on earth like Him? Is He the best of all the good, the fairest of all
the fair? Oh, then let us praise Him! Daughters of Jerusalem, extol Him with
timbrel and harp! Down with your idols, up with the Lord Jesus. Now let the
standards of pomp and pride be trampled under foot, but let the cross of Jesus,
which the world frowns and scoffs at, be lifted on high. O for a throne of ivory for
our King Solomon! let Him be set on high for ever, and let my soul sit at His
footstool, and kiss His feet, and wash them with my tears. Oh, how precious is
Christ! How can it be that I have thought so little of Him? How is it I can go abroad
for joy or comfort when He is so full, so rich, so satisfying. Fellow believer, make a
covenant with thine heart that thou wilt never depart from Him, and ask thy Lord
to ratify it. Bid Him set thee as a signet upon His finger, and as a bracelet upon His
arm. Ask Him to bind thee about Him, as the bride decketh herself with ornaments,
and as the bridegroom putteth on his jewels. I would live in Christ's heart; in the
clefts of that rock my soul would eternally abide. The sparrow hath made a house,
and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O
Lord of hosts, my King and my God; and so too would I make my nest, my home, in
Thee, and never from Thee may the soul of Thy turtle dove go forth again, but may
I nestle close to Thee, O Jesus, my true and only rest.
"When my precious Lord I find,
All my ardent passions glow;
Him with cords of love I bind,
Hold and will not let Him go."

12. 5 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the
gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse
or awaken love until it so desires.
Message, "Oh, let me warn you, sisters in Jerusalem, by the gazelles, yes, by all the
wild deer: Don't excite love, don't stir it up, until the time is ripe—and you're
ready."
1. John Karmelich, " A “charge” to the Daughters of Jerusalem is mentioned four
times in Song of Songs, with three of the four being the exact same quote. (Songs:
2:7, 3:5, and 8:4) She is charging the virgin girls of the city to not “go to fast” in
their love relationship. It is a plea to wait until marriage before making physical
love. Here in Chapter 3, she is telling of her longing in absence of her man. The
reunion heated up those sexual passions. I believe she is reminding herself, and
others, that one still needs to wait to the proper time to consummate the marriage,
period."
2. Love takes time to develop, and if people rush into a sexual relationship it can
burn out and the relationship will fail. Love has to be established as the foundation
of the relationship, and then sex will not become dull, for love will always provide
the spark. Many people try to build on sex and passion alone, but they lose the
motivation to stay together because they never developed their love. Sex by itself is
not a stable foundation, and those who build on it without love will regret not taking
their relationship slow so that love could grow first. The key to a lasting relationship
is to go slow, and don't think of sex until you have a strong loving commitment to
each other.
3."She again pleads with the daughters to refrain from pushing her toward someone
for whom she has no desire. The meaning of the language in this plea was explained
at verse 2:7 with the clear message that the Shulamite wants nothing to do with
Solomon's advances."
4. Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote a poem that describes the tug of war between reason
and emotion in the battle of love. This girl in the song has two men seeking her love,
and she is torn at times as she tries to reason out which one is the best choice for her,
but her heart always goes back to her shepherd lover, even though he cannot
provide all that Solomon could. This poem does not parallel her coflict entirely, but
it gives us a picture of the pressure she must have felt at times.
When my blood flows calm as a purling river,

13. When my heart is asleep and my brain has sway,
It is then that I vow we must part forever,
That I will forget you, and put you away
Out of my life, as a dream is banished
Out of the mind when the dreamer awakes;
That I know it will be, when the spell has vanished,
Better for both of our sakes.
When the court of the mind is ruled by Reason,
I know it is wiser for us to part;
But Love is a spy who is plotting treason,
In league with that warm, red rebel, the Heart.
They whisper to me that the King is cruel,
That his reign is wicked, his law a sin;
And every word they utter is fuel
To the flame that smoulders within.
And on nights like this, when my blood runs riot
With the fever of youth and its mad desires,
When my brain in vain bids my heart be quiet,
When my breast seems the centre of lava-fires,
Oh, then is the time when most I miss you,
And I swear by the stars and my soul and say
That I will have you and hold you and kiss you,
Though the whole world stands in the way.
6 Who is this coming up from the desert like a
column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and
incense made from all the spices of the merchant?
Message, " 6-10 What's this I see, approaching from the desert,
raising clouds of dust,
Filling the air with sweet smells
and pungent aromatics?
Look! It's Solomon's carriage,
carried and guarded by sixty soldiers,
sixty of Israel's finest,
All of them armed to the teeth,

14. trained for battle,
ready for anything, anytime.
King Solomon once had a carriage built
from fine-grained Lebanon cedar.
He had it framed with silver and roofed with gold.
The cushions were covered with a purple fabric,
the interior lined with tooled leather.
1. We do not know if she is still dreaming and this is all a part of the fantasy, or the
day dreaming she is doing, or a literal experience of seeing Solomon coming in his
carriage with all his warrior guards. If it is fantasy, then she is dreaming of what it
might be like to be a part of a great wedding with him. It would be something
beyond the wildest dreams of anyone in her family or neighborhood. It would be
awesome in its glory.
2. If it was a literal vision, then Solomon is trying to make an impression on her to
woo her in becoming his wife. The show of power and glory would wow most
women, and we know it worked on a good number of women. Someone wrote,
"Solomon is polygamous and seeks to woo as many women as he can. He enters into
marriage relationships as a recreational pursuit of his pleasure lust. Ec. 2:8, "I
provided for myself . . . the pleasures of men -- many concubines. Many of the
marriages were probably for political reasons, but in either case, Solomon was
simply pursuing, as he called it, "testing his heart with pleasure," (Ecc. 2:1). By the
end of his life he had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1Kngs 11:1-3). At the time of
our story, he had 60 queens and 80 concubines and a multitude of maidens (ripe for
the picking)." Song of Songs 6:8
3. Another author wrote, "The scene opens with the chorus bringing attention to the
arrival of Solomon into the city in festive formality. He has organized a great feast
in hopes that it will convince the Shulamite to accept his marriage proposal. During
this feast, Solomon will continue to woo her but she will continue to soliloquize
about her shepherd lover and reject Solomon's advances. As he comes into the city,
he is wearing his "wedding" crown which his mother gave to him, apparantly at the
time of his first marriage. Apparantly, he has continued to use the same crown for
the other 59 weddings and intends to turn this feast into wedding celebration
number 61."
4. John Karmelich likens this to the Jewish wedding procession. "I should talk a
little about the ancient Jewish wedding ritual. The ritual required that the bride not
know when the actual wedding is going to take place. She knew she was engaged,
but the actual date and time was not known. I suspect in close-knit communities,
she probably knew when it was soon. Prior to the groom showing up, she would wait
at home for the surprise of the groom and his wedding party coming to get her.
Then, a wedding procession, lead by the groom would come, say, in the middle of

15. the night to the bride’s home. She would be brisked away to the wedding ceremony.
For those of you who have seen the movie “Fiddler on the Roof”, you get some sort
of idea how the wedding procession would take place.
5. "A royal marriage procession is described (3:6-11). The "what" of 3:6 may also
be translated "who," as in the NIV The same idiom is used in 6:10 and 8:5, where
NASB translates "who." The "this" of 3:6 is a feminine pronoun and likely has
reference to the bride instead of the carriage. If so, we have a scene in which the
groom has sent for his bride, and she comes properly perfumed in a magnificently
appropriate carriage and with an impressive array of protecting attendants
(Kinlaw, Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 1227, fn 6).
6. Scot McKnight expresses the frustration at the complexity of the song at this
point, for it leaves so much unsaid that it is hard to be consistent in one's
interpretation. He wrote, "We enter into a difficulty at Song of Solomon 3:6-11: are
there two major characters (Shulamite woman and Solomon, her lover) or three
(Shulamite, her shepherd lover, and Solomon)? I have for a long time fallen prey to
the view that there are three characters and that by the time the Song is over, we see
the woman remaining faithful to her lover when Solomon woos her. This passage
strains that view, as other passages strain the two-character view.
Solomon is arriving — whether in reality or fantasy — in all his glory either to
consummate his marriage with the Shulamite woman or he is drawing near to woo
her or the woman draws attention to the opulence of Solomon’s wedding as a model
celebration for her own delight in her shepherd-lover. Or, does the woman paint her
shepherd-lover as “her own kind of Solomon”? Is the male who speaks at the
beginning of the next section, at 4:1, Solomon or the lover? If the former, we have a
two-character Song? If the latter, which I prefer, we have a three-character Song.
So, I stand here: either Solomon’s wedding is held up as a consummate display of
delight in lover (either in reality or fantasy of her own shepher-lover) or Solomon
comes to woo the woman from her shepherd-husband-lover. If the latter, she he will
say “No!” to Solomon and expose the hideous sinfulness of the Solomonic lifestyle.
But that will come later. Solomon’s wedding or his approach — the approach of the
man who wishes to take captive a woman already married, the approach of power
and of bravado and of sin — is seen in these items:
1. Extravagance and magnificence: his retinue arises like columns of smoke.
2. Might: sixty warriors surround his litter (3:7-8).
3. Opulence and fashion: his bed is made from the wood of Lebanon (3:9) with posts
of silver, upholstery of gold, a seat of purple cloth, its interrior with precious stones
(3:10).
4. Marvelous: she summons the women to gaze upon Solomon’s glory (3:10-11)."
7. Another author expresses the same frustration of questions that the text does not
answer, which forces you to choose one or the other of the one man, or two man
interpretation that changes the whole message of the song. "Virtually every
translator assigns these verses to a narrator. The NIV proposes Shulamith narrates

16. these verses; a very few commentators think a chorus does. Is this a wedding of
Solomon and a less-than-willing Shulamith (who allegedly dreams of her shepherd
lover in 3:1-4)? Or is this wedding the natural consequence of their mutual love?"
7 Look! It is Solomon's carriage, escorted by sixty
warriors, the noblest of Israel,
1. Net Bible, "A palanquin was a riding vehicle upon which a royal person sat and
which was carried by servants who lifted it up by its staffs. Royalty and members of
the aristocracy only rode in palanquins. The Illustrated Family Encyclopedia of the
Living Bible, 10:55, describes what the typical royal palanquin was made of and
looked like in the ancient world: “Only the aristocracy appear to have made use of
litters in Israel. At a later period, in Greece, and even more so in Rome,
distinguished citizens were carried through the city streets in splendid palanquins.
In Egypt the litter was known as early as the third millennium b.c., as is testified by
the one belonging to Queen Hetepheres, the mother of the Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops),
which was found at Gaza. This litter is made of wood and inlaid in various places
with gold decorations. Its total length is 6 ft. 10 in., and the length of the seat inside
is 3 ft. 3 in. An inscription on the litter, of gold set in ebony, lists the queen’s titles.”
2. Solomon was likely the richest man in the world at this point, and so he would
have nothing but the very best, for cost was no issue with him. It had to be an
awesome sight, and he is doing his best to overwhelm the shulamite girl with a show
of the kind of power and wealth that would be hers if she consented to be his wife.
3. John Schultz, " The Bible doesn’t mention Solomon’s carriage, although he must
have used one. The only mention is found in I King 10:26 where we read: “Solomon
accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve
thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in
Jerusalem.” The king must have gone overboard with his vehicles as he did in his
marriage to his one thousand wives. Undoubtedly, the chariots mentioned above
were vehicles of war. The girl does refer to an “armored car” in her description of
her lover’s mode oftransportation, but the carriage she describes is unique. It is not
one of fourteen hundred, but one of a kind."
4. Schultz goes on to write that this is the girls fantasy about her shepherd lover
playing the role of Solomon in her dream. This is really stretching to keep the
shepherd at the forefront. I agree with his view of the shepherd being her one and
only lover, whom she marries in the end, but this does seem as fanciful as those who
allagorize the whole song. He wrote, "She puts her lover in Solomon’s carriage and
surrounds him with a life guard. In modern terms we could say that the girls lets
her fiancee drive up to her house in a Cadillac." "The girl clothes her lover with
glory and makes him ride in Solomon’s carriage, because she sees the beauty and
splendor of his soul. This beauty is exteriorized by love. That is why God sees so
much more in us than we see in ourselves. The theme of protection from danger is

17. heard in the mentioning of the body guard, the “sixty warriors, the noblest of Israel,
all of them wearing the sword, all experienced in battle, each with his sword at his
side, prepared for the terrors of the night.” What the girl is saying is that she is not
afraid of the dark when the one she loves is with her."
"The girl brings her lover towards her in a carriage of love. The gold, silver and
inlaid motives are not material things but spiritual and emotional experiences of
love. The crowning of the king is not a description of the actual coronation of
Solomon either. It is true that Solomon’s mother interceded with David, which led to
Solomon’s coronation, but he was crowned by the high priest. We read in I Kings
1:39, “Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed
Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, ‘Long live
King Solomon!’“ The Hebrew word for crown here means “diadem” or “wreath”
like the decoration used at the Olympic games. The image probably refers to the
boy’s natural grace and royal bearing. His mother brought him into this world as a
boy who was destined to be the king of the girl’s life. We could compare the scene to
a modern marriage ceremony in which the bridegroom stands at the altar and sees
his bride come into the church on the arm of her father. In Jewish weddings it was
the groom who came to fetch his bride. But the thrill and joyful anticipation are the
same."
8 all of them wearing the sword, all experienced in
battle, each with his sword at his side, prepared
for the terrors of the night.
1. These are real warriors who have been in battle, and they are ready for any
trouble that might arise. If an enemy force tries to attack at night they will not be
sleeping, but fully awake and ready to defend Solomon. What we know about
Solomon's reign is that it was basically peaceful. He married the daughters of just
about every king and national leader, and so there was not much fear of war, for
they would not want to harm their own daughters by attacking Solomon. This
picture seems to be just for show, and to portray Solomon as powerful and in
control of all situations. The girl need not have any fear of being with him.
9 King Solomon made for himself the carriage; he
made it of wood from Lebanon.
1. This whole description of Solomon's carriage at the end of this chapter seems like
mere trivia about his creativity in making a beautiful chariot to ride in. It makes
you wonder, so what? What has this have to do with this wonderful love story? My
own feeling is that this is Solomon's last ditch effort to persuade this lovely girl to
forget her shepherd lover and become his bride. He is showing the glory of his
wealth, and what she could have if she would become his wife. She could become the

18. first lady of the kingdom and ride around Jerusalem in the most beautiful carriage
to be found anywhere. She could be royalty instead of a vineyard farmer's wife
wasting her life away with caring for sheep and picking grapes.
2. Net Bible, "material out of which their respective parts of the palanquin were
made: the posts, base, and seat. The elaborate and expensive nature of the
procession is emphasized in this description. This litter was constructed with the
finest and most expensive materials. The litter itself was made from the very best
wood: cedar and cypress from Lebanon. These were the same woods which Solomon
used in constructing the temple (1 Kgs 5:13-28). Silver was overlaid over the
“posts,” which were either the legs of the litter or the uprights which supported its
canopy, and the “back” of the litter was overlaid with gold. The seat was made out
of purple material, which was an emblem of royalty and which was used in the
tabernacle (Exod 26:1f; 27:16; 28:5-6) and in the temple (2 Chr 3:14). Thus, the
litter was made of the very best which Solomon could offer. Such extravagance
reflected his love for his Beloved who rode upon it and would be seen upon it by all
the Jerusalemites as she came into the city."
3. An unknown author shows us the debate going on here as the one man and two
man theories fight over the interpretation. He points out what he sees as the
weakness of the two man theory, and then gives his support for the one man theory.
He writes, "Finally, some exegetes (especially some "love-triangle" theorists) accuse
Solomon of betraying gross materialism throughout the Song -- and nowhere more
than at his wedding. This scene, they say, contrasts Solomon's opulence and the
simplicity of the shepherd (which simplicity is nearer to Shulamith's heart). Some
allege the wedding took place rather late in Solomon's life -- when he already had a
sizable harem as well as great wealth -- and some naturally connect it to the Queen
of Sheba's visit.
The music of the Song denies Solomon's materialism throughout -- and nowhere
more emphatically than here. It gives the wedding of the Lovers a highly spiritual
tone. The chant is lyrical, yet noble; the wedding, resplendent with royal pomp --
but also with holy idealism. This wedding must have occurred in Solomon's youth,
while Bathsheba was still alive (verse 11), long before his polygamy and his
materialistic experiments as the Preacher (and long before the Queen of Sheba
visited him as well)."
4. The argument that all of this took place before Solomon was into polygamy is
very weak, for the whole song involves his harem, and even if this girl was his first
wife, he went on to marry hundreds more women, and so how does this become an
ideal love story of the perfect marriage,and faithful to the end love? She was
betrayed hundreds of times over, and did not have a husband that was faithful to
her. And how does this make Solomon a type of Christ who is a faithful bridegroom
who will never be unfaithful to his bride the church. The only interpretation of this
song that makes any sense is the love story of this girl and her shepherd lover who
make it through a lot of obstacles, mainly the ones Solomon puts in their way, and
become the ideal mates who have chosen each other over all other options to be
faithful to each other for life. The one man theory glorifies polygamy, and not ideal

19. marriage of one man and one women for life.
10 Its posts he made of silver, its base of gold. Its
seat was upholstered with purple, its interior
lovingly inlaid by the daughters of Jerusalem.
1. Okay Solomon, we give you this one. You win when it comes to making a
beautiful chariot to ride in with great comfort. Too bad it did not win over the love
of the shepherd who takes the girl as his bride in the end. If anybody could pull off
enchanting a young girl to leave her country boy lover, it would be you. However,
money and wealth cannot buy love.
2. John Karmelich suggests that even the carvings on this portable bed were
suggestive of sex. Natually, a pleasure hunter like Solomon would have such things
to help him seduce his prey. He doubtless had used it to get other young women into
his harem. He wrote, "The interior had designs by the “daughters of Jerusalem.
Most commentators believe this is a wedding gift from the “daughters”. There was
an ancient custom to decorate or carve images into the wood. Some believe these
images are sexual in nature and are designed to sexually stimulate the bride and
groom."
3. Spurgeon, "Metaphor is suddenly dropped in this last item, and the result is a
complicated, but very expressive form of speech. Some regard the expression as
signifying a pavement of stone, engraved with hieroglyphic emblems of love, which
made up the floor of this travelling chariot; but this would surely be very
uncomfortable and unusual, and therefore others have explained the passage as
referring to choice embroidery, and dainty carpets, woven with cost and care, with
which the interior of the travelling-chair was lined. Into such embroidery, sentences
of love-poetry may have been worked.
Needlework was probably the material of which it was composed; skillful fingers
would therein set forth emblems and symbols of love. As the spouse in the second
chapter sings, "His banner over me was love," probably alluding to some love-word
upon the banner; so, probably, tokens of love were carved or embroidered, as the
case may have been, upon the interior of the chariot, so that "the interior thereof
was paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem." We need not, however, tarry
long over the metaphor, but endeavor to profit by its teaching.
This palanquin or traveling chariot in which the king is carried, represents the
covenant of grace, the plan of salvation, and, in fact, the whole system by which the
Lord Jesus comes down in mercy among men, and by which he bears his people
along with himself through the wilderness of this world, onward to the rest which he

20. has prepared for them. It is, in a word, the mediatorial work of Jesus.
The 'ark' was carried through the wilderness preceded by the pillar of cloud and
fire, as the symbol of the divine presence in mercy, and here we have a somewhat
similar representation of the great King of grace, borne in regal splendor through
the world, and bearing his elect spouse with him. May it be ours to be made to ride
like Jeshurun, upon the high places of the earth in happy fellowship with him whose
goings forth were of old, even from everlasting."
Charles Wesley
1 COME, let us ascend,
My companion and friend,
To a taste of the banquet above;
If thy heart be as mine,
If for Jesus it pine,
Come up into the chariot of love.
2 Who in Jesus confide,
We are bold to outride
The storms of affliction beneath;
With the prophet we soar
To the heavenly shore,
And outfly all the arrows of death.
3 By faith we are come
To our permanent home:
By hope we the rapture improve:
By love we still rise,
And look down on the skies,
For the heaven of heavens is love.
4 Who on earth can conceive
How happy we live,
In the palace of God, the great King?
What a concert of praise,
When our Jesus's grace
The whole heavenly company sing!
5 What a rapturous song,
When the glorified throng
In the spirit of harmony join:
Join all the glad choirs,
Hearts, voices, and lyres,
And the burden is, "Mercy divine!"
6 Hallelujah, they cry,
To the King of the sky,
To the great everlasting I AM;
To the Lamb that was slain,
And liveth again,

21. Hallelujah to God and the Lamb!
7 The Lamb on the throne,
Lo! he dwells with his own,
And to rivers of pleasure he leads;
With his mercy's full blaze,
With the sight of his face,
Our beatified spirits he feeds.
8 Our foreheads proclaim
His ineffable name;
Our bodies his glory display;
A day without night
We feast in his sight,
And eternity seems as a day!
11 Come out, you daughters of Zion, and look at
King Solomon wearing the crown, the crown with
which his mother crowned him on the day of his
wedding, the day his heart rejoiced.
1. Clarke wrote, "This is the exhortation of the companions of the bride to the
females of the city to examine the superb appearance of the bridegroom, and
especially the nuptial crown, which appears to have been made by Bathsheba, who
it is supposed might have lived till the time of Solomon's marriage with the daughter
of Pharaoh. It is conjectured that the prophet refers to a nuptial crown, Isaiah lxi.
10. But a crown, both on the bride and bridegroom, was common among most
people on such occasions. The nuptial crown among the Greeks and Romans was
only a chaplet or wreath of flowers.
2. If you read 1st Kings Chapter 1, you will note that King Solomon’s mother
arranged for Solomon to be crowned as king after his half-brother Adonijah tried to
seize the throne. The other view is that this refers to a special crown made just for
the wedding. Those who follow the one man theory see this as the crown he received
for his wedding here with the Shulamite girl, but those who follow the two man
theory see this as a crown that Bathsheba made for him for his first wedding, which
would have been 60 weddings back. The implication being that he wore it for all of
his weddings, and was ready to wear it again if he could persude this girl to be his
wife.
3. This chapter ends with Solomon in all his glory, but Jesus said that it did not
match the glory of the lily, and as we read on to the conclusion of the song, we see
that he lost the lily of this beautiful girl to the shepherd lover. All his power and

22. glory could not win her over, and she stayed faithful to her love, and thereby,
making this truly the song of songs about a pure love that will not let powerful
temptation lead her to forsake her first love. What a powerful example of the love
we are to have for our bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to resist all
temptations to be unfaithful to him, and let none of the world's attractions lead us to
betray or forsake him.
APPENDIX A
JAMES PRATT
Twas night, but e'er I thought of rest,
My own beloved — with heart oppressed —
I sought ; but sought in vain.
Alas ! how could I close these eyes ?
I cried, " Ah, let me now arise.
And look for him again."
I pass'd thro* all the city wards,
I met the night-patrolling guards.
Of them I askM with anguish keen,
" Oh, have, you my beloved one seen ? "
Scarce from the nightly watch I passM
When my beloved I found at last.
Soon on his neck I gladly hung,
Soon to his arm I fondly clung,
And with rapture past all telling,
Brought him- to my parentis ^ dwelling.
Daughters of Zion, by the swift gazelles
And gentle hinds that roam throughout our dells,
I charge you not to tempt my faithful heart
From my beloved one ever to depart.

23. III.
A Hall in the Kin^s Palace at yemsalein, and
afterwards in the outer Court in front of the
Palace?
The Shulamite, addressing the Daughters of
Jerusalem,
Oh say what is this from the country ascending
In pillars of smoke drawing nigh ?
The breezes sweet odours of incense are blending,
And wafting aloft to the sky.
The Daughters of Jerusalem.
Lo, 'tis the royal palanquin,
Around it three-score men are seen,
From Israel's hosts of might,
All fully arm^d, in war expert,
And with their glittering weapons girt.
Against the foe by night.
The king's rich palanquin behold,
Its wood from far-famed Lebanon brought,
Its silver pillars based in gold,
Its seat in costly purple wrought,

24. With lovely broidery all inlaid,
The work of many a Jewish maid.
The King's Attendants.
Daughters of Zion — beauteous train —
Come forth, the great King Solomon to see.
He wears upon his head again,
His mother's gift — the crown ' of royalty ;
His joyous marriage-day it graced,
When first upon his head 'twas placed.