3 On my bed by night
I sought him whom my soul loves;
I sought him, but found him not.
2 I will rise now and go about the city,
in the streets and in the squares;
I will seek him whom my soul loves.
I sought him, but found him not.
3 The watchmen found me
as they went about in the city.
“Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
4 Scarcely had I passed them
when I found him whom my soul loves.
I held him, and would not let him go
until I had brought him into my mother’s house,
and into the chamber of her who conceived me.
5 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
by the gazelles or the does of the field,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
6 What is that coming up from the wilderness
like columns of smoke,
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
with all the fragrant powders of a merchant?
7 Behold, it is the litter1 of Solomon!
Around it are sixty mighty men,
some of the mighty men of Israel,
8 all of them wearing swords
and expert in war,
each with his sword at his thigh,
against terror by night.
9 King Solomon made himself a carriage2
from the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its posts of silver,
its back of gold, its seat of purple;
its interior was inlaid with love
by the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go out, O daughters of Zion,
and look upon King Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
on the day of the gladness of his heart.
Section Overview: Greater Than Solomon
The plot of the first part of this scene (Song 3:1–4) differs little from the first three. Like 1:2–4; 1:5–2:7; 2:8–17, the scene closes in consummation. The bride has sought, found, and brought inside her beloved for lovemaking (3:4), which is then followed by a second warning for the virgins to wait (v. 5). What is new is the comparison of their ideal love with Solomon’s glorious arrival from the wilderness (vv. 6–11). The point of the comparison is to showcase the archetypal essence of the young couple’s relationship. Although they lack the external embellishments of Solomon’s majestic nuptial, their love is greater even than Solomon in all his glory!
Section Outline
IV. Greater Than Solomon (3:1–11)
A. She Sought, Found, and Brought (3:1–4)
B. Refrain (3:5)
C. Behold King Solomon in All His Glory (3:6–11)
Response
The Song is poetic fiction and not a historical narrative, and certainly not a theological treatise. Thus there is a higher risk of proposing applications without textual warrant. There is no explicit command here for Christian wives to be like this wife. The Scriptures, however, often express imperatives in ways other than via propositional statements. In Proverbs 31:10–31, although the writer gives no explicit command to wives, he is nevertheless instructing wives to emulate her. Likewise, the story of the Song, like the story of Ruth, surely teaches that imitation is appropriate. For example, just as Ruth sought, found, and married Boaz and was then brought to bed (“And he went in to her”; Ruth 4:13), we might learn from the Song that an aggressive wife is not an unorthodox one.
When the bride says, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth” (Song 1:2) at the beginning of the Song; when she later adds, “Be like a gazelle” and climb these “mountains” (2:17); and, here, when she gets out of bed to bring him to bed, our application is not that men must always make the first move. If 3:1–4 is a picture of anything it is a picture of her pursuit of him! She is not fanning herself in the drawing room, dressed in her vice-proof Victorian gown, waiting for her suitor to call on her. She is eager and aggressive. After she has abandoned comfort and even safety, she courageously ventures out to capture him, risking her life for the reward of love. Whatever else this story teaches, it certainly teaches that it is not unorthodox, unethical, or inappropriate for a married woman from time to time to move “from a passive desire to a focused determination to bring her [husband] to bed.”19
A second response, one less provocative—or at least less erotic—relates to Jesus Christ. In 2 Timothy 3:15, Paul claims that all “the sacred writings” (“Scripture”; 2 Tim. 3:16) are able to make us “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” While there are possible textual and thematic links between the heart of our text (Song 3:1–4) and John 20:15,20 a more generic gospel connection can be made.
Perhaps God designed this short scriptural song as an entry place for outsiders into his long love story. That is, part of the intention of this wisdom book is to make the world wise unto salvation by catching the attention of those who would not normally be interested in reading the Bible, going to church, or learning about religious themes (covenants, holy wars, temples, priests, the sacrifice of animals, etc.). Not only does the Song celebrate pure passion (for which all humans long), it also offers an antidote to immoral intimacies (with which we all struggle). And in this way, for those longing for true love and/or struggling with sexual brokenness, the Song challenges sinners to seek aggressively and find the “Beloved”—God’s beloved Son, Jesus—who is greater than Solomon in his wisdom, purity of heart, obedience, and sacrificial seeking of sinners. The Song implores all to embrace the Savior, who came to seek and find, and the King of kings, who will one day come upon the clouds at his glorious return to call his own deeply loved people to himself forever.Song of Solomon 3:1–11
Song of Solomon 4:1–5:1