Song of Solomon 3
McGeeCHAPTER 3As we begin chapter 3 we are still in the second song, but I would say that we have come to the second stanza of it. However, this does begin a new section, which is set in an altogether different scene. At the beginning of this book we were up in the hill country of Ephraim where we saw a girl and her family who were tenant farmers. Now Solomon has won her heart and has brought her back with him to Jerusalem.
Song of Solomon 3:1
THE MIDNIGHT SEARCHNow the scene has shifted to the palace in Jerusalem to which the king has taken her. She has been left alonethe king, perhaps, being away on business. What is recorded here is a dream that reflects the anguish of their separation in which she finally goes out to look for him in the streets of the city. “By night on my bed I sought him.” This has a marvelous spiritual application to our relationship with Christ. When we have a big day ahead of us, we think we must have a good night’s sleep. If sleep is preferred to Christ, we may get in our eight hours, but we have lost Him who is far better than rest. A. Moody Stuart has put it like this: “But if Christ is first and best and most necessary, if he is more to us than food or sleep, he is often, though not always, quickly found, without actual loss either of the time or of the sleep which we were willing to sacrifice for his sake. Our sleep is then sweet unto us and refreshing, for the Lord himself is dwelling in us, and resting with us.” “I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets.” The getting out of bed and going about the city in her search indicates a determination to seek the Lord. “I sought him, but I found him not.” This is her honest confession. A great many folk never find Christ because they never seek Him. Oh, how many Christians sit in a church pew every Sunday and never face honestly the fact: “I found Him not.” However, He has promised that He will be found of those who seek Him with their whole heart. Or, as James put it, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you …” (Jas_4:8).
Song of Solomon 3:3
The watchmen seem to have been helpful in directing her to the Beloved. At least, it was only a short distance from them that she found Him.
Song of Solomon 3:4
Oh, my friend, what a tremendous reward for her search"I found him whom my soul loveth!" Again I quote A. Moody Stuart (p. 231): “I found himI, a man, found the Lord of Glory; I, a slave to sin, found the great Deliverer; I, the child of darkness, found the Light of life; I, the uttermost of the lost, found my Savior, and my God; I, widowed and desolate, found my Friend, my Beloved, my Husband! Go and do likewise, sons and daughters of Zion, and He will be found of you, ‘for then shall ye find, when ye search with all your heart.’” “I held him, and would not let him go.” Maintaining unbroken fellowship with Christ requires effort on our part. It is easy to let other interests crowd into our lives so that we lose the sense of His presence. Stuart has well said, “Unheld, the King will go away; He is willing to be held, yet not willing to remain without being held.” (This, of course, has no reference to a believer losing his salvation, but of losing his fellowship with Christ.) “I …brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.” When she found Him, she went right back to the place where she had been born, where she had met Him. Many of us need to get back to that first love. Do you remember when you came to Christ? Do you remember how much He meant to you then?
Song of Solomon 3:5
Now that wonderful fellowship with Him is restored.
Song of Solomon 3:6
THE ENTRANCE OF SOLOMON WITH HIS BRIDEThis last part of the chapter is a little gem in itself. It depicts the return of the king for his bride. This little Shulamite girl had waited a long time for the return of the shepherd to whom she had given her heart. One day she is out in the vineyard working. Down the road there comes a pillar of smoke, and the cry is passed along from one group of peasants to another, “Behold, King Solomon is coming!“but she has work to do. Then someone comes to her excitedly, saying, “Oh, King Solomon is asking for you!” Mystified, she says, “Asking for me? I don’t know King Solomon!” But when she is brought into his presence, she recognizes that he is her shepherd-lover who has come for her. He places her at his side in the royal chariot and the procession sweeps on, leaving the amazed country folk speechless at the sudden change in the position of her who had been just one of them. How beautifully this pictures the glorious reality of the return of Christ, our Beloved, when He comes for His own. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1Th_4:16-17). This is a description of Solomon as he rides into Jerusalem with his bride. The glory that was Solomon’s is beyond description. We will get a glimpse of it in the next few verses. We as believers are to go through this world as witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. As witnesses we are made new in Christ. Each of us is like the bride who is brought before the Bridegroom and the fragrance of Christ should be upon us as we witness to the world"perfumed with myrrh and frankincense.” How wonderful the Lord Jesus is! The myrrh speaks of His death and the frankincense of His life. Both were sweet; both were glorious.
Song of Solomon 3:7
His “bed” is the traveling couch in which the King is carried by bearers. “Threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.” They are living in days of danger. These are the guards, and they are there for his protection. They are the Secret Service men who have charge of his person to watch over him. May I say that I think that we need to guard the person of the Lord Jesus. In other words we need to declare our belief in the deity of Jesus Christ, that He was God manifest in the flesh. We must reject the teaching of liberalism. We must reject anything that makes Him just a human Jesus. He was God manifest in the flesh.
Song of Solomon 3:8
Notice that the guards all have swords. The Scriptures tell us that our sword is the Word of God. They are “expert in war.” And we need to know how to use the Word of God. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, and that is the weapon of a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
Song of Solomon 3:9
He has a chariot made out of the cedars of Lebanon. “The bottom thereof of gold"imagine, the floor made of gold! “The midst thereof being paved with love, for [or from] the daughters of Jerusalem.” Solomon’s chariot is adorned by the needlework of the women of Jerusalem. What beauty there is. But, also, what tremendous emotion and love is displayed there.
Song of Solomon 3:11
It says, “his mother crowned him.” If you go back to the story in 1 Kings 1, you will find that David didn’t really want to crown him. Another son of David, Adonijah, was carrying on a bit of strategy and was trying to get to the throne himself. David was an old man, and he didn’t do anything at all about the situation. His favorite son, Absalom, had been killed, and David just didn’t seem to have much heart for Solomon. So Nathan the prophet went to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, and said, “We’d better get busy or Adonijah may become the new king.” So Bathsheba and Nathan went to King David, and King David said, “Well, bring him in. We’ll make him the king.” That is the way Solomon was made the king of Israel.
I like the way it is stated here: “his mother crowned him.” It was his mother who was interested in him. I really think that David was not much interested in making Solomon the new king, even though he was David’s son. “Behold king Solomon.” This is a picture of Christ. Behold Him. Behold Him in His birth. Behold Him in His life. Behold Him in His death. Behold Him in His resurrection. Behold Him in His glory today. And behold Him as the One who is coming again for His bride.