By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him.
I will get up 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 I didn’t find him.
The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
I had scarcely passed from 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, into the room of her who conceived me.
I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up nor awaken love, until it so desires.
Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all spices of the merchant?
Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage! Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel.
They all handle the sword, and are expert in war. Every man has his sword on his thigh, because of fear in the night.
King Solomon made himself a carriage of the wood of Lebanon.
He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, the middle of it being paved with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem.
Go out, you daughters of Zion, and see king Solomon, with the crown with which his mother has crowned him, in the day of his weddings, in the day of the gladness of his heart.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 The Church by night, that is, in troubles, seeketh…
The Church by night, that is, in troubles, seeketh to Christ, but is not incontinently heard.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–11 Son 3:1 By night on my bed I sought…
Son 3:1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.
Ver. 1. By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth.] She had not a name good enough for him, she therefore makes use of this powerful periphrasis. Before he had been "her beloved," but now "the love of her soul," because now he had withdrawn himself. It was night with her now; she "walked in darkness, and had no light," as Isa 50:10, and as before daybreak the darkness is greatest, so was it now with the woeful spouse. She was indeed upon her bed of ease, but to her in this case it was a little ease, a bed of unrest; her soul was tossed and troubled with solitary seeking, longing and looking after him whom "her soul loved." "By night," therefore, or "night after night," sundry nights together, as some read it, "she sought and sought," being constant, instant, and indefatigable in the search; she sought him early and earnestly, with utmost attention and affection, with her "whole heart and soul," {Jer 29:13} according to the measure of her love to him, which was modus sine modo, as Bernard hath it. Now whatsoever a man loves, that he desires, and what he desires, that he seeks after, especially if he apprehend some singular worth in it. "In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." {Col 2:3} He is "better than rubies," saith Solomon, "and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared unto him." {Pro 8:11} Hence the good soul seeks him as eagerly as the mammonist seeks silver, the ambitionist honour, the famished man bread, the condemned prisoner a pardon, or as one that seeks for a lost jewel, he overlooks all till he hath found it; Christ I must have, saith she, whatever it cost me - this gold cannot be bought too dear. She longeth sore, as David did, saying, "Oh that one would give me of the water of the well of Bethlehem!" {1Ch 11:17} Oh for a blessed armful of the babe of Bethlehem! such as Simeon once had; give me Christ or else I die. None but Christ, none but Christ. All is but dung and dross to Christ. {Php 3:8} God offered Moses an angel to go along with them in the wilderness; he would have no angel, nor stir a step unless God himself would conduct them. Barak would not march without Deborah, &c.
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I found him not,] i.e., I had not so full a presence nor so fast hold of him as I desired. He had got behind the wall or the window, as in the former chapter, and, Joseph like, concealed his love out of increasement of love, as also that he may stir up strong affections after him in the hearts of his people, for he well enough knows how to commend his mercies to us, as Laban did his daughter Rachel to Jacob - by holding us off - by suspending us for a season. Even barren Leah, when unloved and unlooked on, becomes fruitful; and the drowsy spouse, when she misseth her beloved, becomes restless till she have recovered him. "In their affliction they will seek me early." {Hos 5:15} Affliction excites devotion, and makes the saints seek again with a redoubled diligence, as here. See Psa 78:34-35. It fares with the best sometimes as it did with St Paul and his company in the shipwreck, {Act 27:20} when they saw neither sun nor stars for many days and nights together. In this dismal and disconsolate condition, if they can but cast anchor and pray still for day, Christ will appear (as here, Son 3:3), and all shall clear up; the day will dawn, and the daystar appear in their hearts. "Mourning lasteth but till morning," {Psa 30:5} and "the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: it will surely come, it will not tarry." {Hab 2:3} But what shall we do in the meanwhile? may some say. How shall we sustain our spirits, since "hope deferred makes the heart sick?" "Though it tarry, wait for it," saith the prophet. Have patience, and learn to "live by faith. The just shall live by his faith." {Son 3:4} We are usually too hasty, and do antedate the promises. Neither will any reason satisfy us, unless we may have all Christ’s sweetness at once, and at present. Excellent is that discourse that Mr Bradford the martyr makes in a consolatory letter to a good woman that was troubled in conscience. {a} You are not content, saith he, to kiss Christ’s feet, with Magdalen, but you would be kissed even with the kisses of his mouth. You would see his face, with Moses, forgetting how he biddeth to seek his face, {Psa 27:8} yea, and that for ever, {Psa 105:4} which signifieth no such sight as you desire to see in this present life, which would see God now face to face, whereas he cannot be seen but covered under something, yea, sometime in that which is clean contrary unto God, as to see his mercy in his anger, &c. How did Job see God, but, as ye would say, under Satan’s cloak? &c. You know that Moses, when he went to the mount to talk with God, he entered into a dark cloud; and Elias had his face covered when God passed by. Both these dear friends of God heard God, but saw him not. But you would be preferred before them. See now, my dear heart, how covetous you are. All, be thankful! be thankful! But, God be thanked, your covetousness is Moses’ covetousness. Well, with him you shall be satisfied. But when? Forsooth when he shall appear, &c. God would have his people discontentedly contented with what measures of grace and feelings they have attained unto, and to know that tota vita boni Christiani sanctum desiderium est, {b} the whole life of a good Christian is a holy desire after more, and that those very pantings, inquietations, and dissatisfaction cannot but spring from truth of grace and some taste of Christ.
{a} Acts and Mon., 1490.
{b} Bernard.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–11 By night on my bed; either,
By night on my bed; either,
1. In a time of tribulation, which is commonly signified by the night, and sometimes by a bed, as Rev 2:22. Or,
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2. When I expected to find him; for the husband who by his occasions is oft forced to be absent from his wife in the day time, but at night returns to her, and beds with her. Or,
3. When others compose themselves to rest and sleep, my thoughts were troubled and my affections were working towards him, and I was very desirous to enjoy him.
I sought him; I sought for Christ’s gracious and powerful presence, in and by the word, and prayer, and meditation. I sought him: this repetition notes her perseverance and unweariedness in seeking him.
But I found him not; for he had withdrawn himself and the manifestations of his love from me, either because I had not sought him diligently, or because I had abused his favour, or to try and exercise my faith, and patience, and love, and other graces.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 The church seeks Christ, finds him, and resolves not…
The church seeks Christ, finds him, and resolves not to displease him again, ver. 1-5. Christ's coming out of the wilderness; his bed, guard and chariot, ver. 6-10. An invitation of the church to the kingdom of glory, ver. 11.
By night - When others compose themselves to sleep, my affections were working towards him. I sought - I sought for Christ's gracious and powerful presence. I sought - This repetition denotes her perseverance and unweariedness in seeking him. Found him not - For he had withdrawn the manifestations of his love from me, either because I had not sought him diligently, or because I had abused his favour.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 The bride mentions the absence of her spouse, her…
CHAPTER III
The bride mentions the absence of her spouse, her search after
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him, and her ultimate success, 1-5.
A description of the bridegroom, his bed, chariot, &c., 6-11.
NOTES ON CHAP. III
Verse 1. By night on my bed I sought him] It appears that the bridegroom only saw the bride by night: that on the night referred to here he did not come as usual. The bride troubled on the account, rose and sought him, inquired of the city guards, and continued to seek till at last she found him, and brought him to her apartment, So 3:2-4.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11 Son 3:1. By night on my bed — When…
Son 3:1. By night on my bed — When others compose themselves to sleep, my affections were working toward him. I sought him — I sought for Christ’s gracious and powerful presence. I sought him — This repetition denotes her perseverance and unweariedness in seeking him; but found him not — For he had withdrawn the manifestations of his love from me, either because I had not sought him diligently, or because I had abused his favour.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6 By night - i. e., In the night-hours.
By night - i. e., In the night-hours.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 Bed. The Church, finding Christ by his own revelation,…
Bed. The Church, finding Christ by his own revelation, and not by philosophy, holds him fast. (Worthington) --- He had delayed coming at the usual hour, to give us to understand, that he is not found amid delights, nor in a crowd, but that we must seek him diligently, like Magdalene, John xx. (St. Ambrose, de Isaac.) --- The apostles endeavoured to convert the synagogue, but their offers were rejected, and the guards, or princes, persecuted them. (Menochius) (Chap. v. 7.) (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–11 1. By night — When night veils all things,…
1. By night — When night veils all things, and the soul is driven in upon itself, fond memory brings the light of other days, and our emotions, especially of tenderness and anxiety, become stronger. Even should be prefixed to this verse, and still be inserted before sought. She looked anxiously at her lattice, but he did not appear. “Next to love’s joys, are wakeful, anxious fears.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–11 1. By night] Lit. In the nights. In Psa_16:7…
1. By night] Lit. In the nights. In Psa_16:7 the same phrase is translated “in the night seasons,” and some understand it here of the night hours. But in none of the few passages in which the plural lçlôth occurs, is it used in this sense. In all it refers to more nights than one, not to the several parts of one night. It would therefore seem that she means to say, that one night after another she dreamt that she missed and sought her lover. More than once that had come to her, so that more than one night must have passed before she told the dream.
on my bed] This means that the dream came to her when she was in her bed. The repetition of I sought expresses well the continued and repeated searching always ending in failure, which is so characteristic of dreams and so painful. The place where she first looked for him is left indeterminate as it often is in dreams.
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Chap. Son_3:1-5. A Dream
Almost all commentators agree that we have here a dream narrated to some persons, in which the Shulammite seems to herself to have sought her lover in the city and failed to find him. Those who take the dramatic view think of it as narrated to the women of the court. Oettli’s view is that the Shulammite expected her lover to return at sunset. He did not come, and so her agitated heart sought him in this dream, which she tells to her companions, adding the refrain already used in Son_2:7, which deprecates the stirring up of love before it arises spontaneously. Ewald, who regards the end of ch. 2 as dealing only with a waking dream, and not a real incident, thinks of this as a narrative of what she remembered to have dreamed during her sad night in the king’s palace. Delitzsch again, who thinks of the lover as Solomon, considers the dream to be one that came to her night after night, when she had become doubtful of the king’s love for her. Budde’s view is one that entirely contradicts his theory that lovers could not meet and have such intercourse as is depicted in the book before marriage. He makes this a strong point in his criticism of the dramatic theory, yet here he says of this section, “The bride speaks. She narrates a dream she had as a girl, for what she narrates can be understood only as a dream. She had so loved her husband for a length of time that she dreamt she was married to him.” Martineau, because of a misunderstanding of the passage and on other insufficient grounds, would strike out the verses altogether. In any case they describe a dream, and of all the suggestions as to the occasion Oettli’s seems the best.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (1) A reminiscence (elaborated in Son_5:2 seq.) of the…
III.
(1) A reminiscence (elaborated in Son_5:2 seq.) of the intensity of their love before their union, put by the poet into his lady’s mouth. She “arises from dreams” of him, and goes to find him.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 By night on my bed I sought him whom…
By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. The bride is probably relating a dream. The time referred to is the close of the day on which she had been visited by her lover. She is retired to rest, and dreams that she searches for the beloved object in the neighbouring city. (cf. Job_33:15) It is another way of telling her love. She is always longing for the beloved one. She had been waiting for him, and he came not, and retired to rest with a heart troubled and anxious because her lover did not appear as she expected at the evening hour. The meaning may be "night after night (twOlyle)", (cf. Son_3:8) or the plural maybe used poetically for the singular. Ginsburg observes that "by night on my bed" is opposed to midday couch, (cf. 2Sa_4:5) merely to express what came into her thoughts at night in her dreams or as the result of a dream. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the bride intends to represent herself as suffering from self-reproach in having grieved her lover and kept him away from her. In that case the typical meaning would be simple and direct. The soul grieves when it is conscious of estrangement from him whom it loves, and the sense of separation becomes intolerable, impelling to new efforts to deepen the spiritual life.
Vers. 1-5. The dream of the bride.
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I THE ABSENCE OF THE BELOVED.
1. The bride"s distress. In the last chapter the bride related to her female friends some of the incidents of her early love; here she seems to be relating a dream of those same well remembered days. The whole narrative, like that of Son_5:2-8, has a dream-like character. The circumstances are not such as would be likely to occur in real life; but the longing, the wandering, the search, represent in a vivid truthful way the images of dreams. She was lying asleep on her bed; her thoughts were full of the absent bridegroom. "I sought him," she says," but I found him not." We notice the dream-like repetition, the dwelling upon phrases. Four times in these five verses we have the fond description of the bridegroom, which occurred for the first time in Son_1:7, "him whom my soul loveth." Twice we have the utterance of unsatisfied longing, "I sought him, but I found him not." She was sleeping, but (as in Son_5:2, "I sleep, but my heart waketh her thoughts were busy and active. Her whole heart was given to her beloved. Those oft-repeated words, "him whom my soul loveth," imply a very deep affection, a great love. The believer remembers God in the watches of the night. The psalmist says, "In the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life;" and again, "I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search". (Psa_42:8 Psa_77:6) If our heart is given to the heavenly Bridegroom, we shall think of him as we lie on our beds; our first waking thoughts will be of him. Alas! our love for Christ is not like the bride"s love in the Song of Songs. How few of us can in truth speak of the Saviour as "him whom my soul loveth"! The bride dwelt upon those words as the simple truth, the sincere expression of her feelings. We dwell upon them, too; but, alas! with a sense of much coldness and ingratitude, a remembrance of much insincerity and unreality. "God only knows the love of God; Oh that it now were shed abroad In this poor stony heart! For love I sigh, for love I pine; This only portion, Lord, be mine, Be mine this better part.
The Christian dwells on the words, longing for grace to make them his own, the utterance of his inmost heart. Here is the spiritual value of the Song of Songs. We see what a great love is; how it absorbs the heart and fills the soul. Such should be our love to Christ; such should be our "songs in the night". (Job_35:10) The bride sought her beloved in the visions of the night. We seem sometimes in our dreams to be going on long trackless journeys, wandering ever in search of something we know not what. So the bride could not find him whom her soul loved. Such are sometimes the experiences of the Christian soul. So Job once complained, "Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even unto his seat!... Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him". (Job_23:3, Job_23:8) The Lord has said, "Seek, and ye shall find;" "Every one that seeketh findeth." But he has also said, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able." Those who seek shall surely find at last; but the seeking must be diligent seeking, patient, persevering; there must be striving too, struggling to Overcome obstacles, wrestling against the spiritual enemies who would bar our way. It is not enough to seek by night on our beds; there must be effort, sustained effort, not mere dreamy aspirations; and that not only by night, not only in the hour of darkness: "in the day of my trouble I sought the Lord". (Psa_77:2) We must seek the Lord always; in the hour of health and strength, in the days of our youth; giving him our best, doing all things to his glory. Such seeking will surely find him.
2. The search. "I will rise now," she says. The Hebrew tense is cohortative. She is addressing herself, arousing herself. Dreaming as she is, she feels that this is not the way to seek; she must leave her bed, she must rise. Perhaps she remembered the bridegroom"s words spoken in the freshness of their first love: "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." She seems to rise; in her dreams she goes about the city in the streets, seeking him whom her soul loved. We must arise and seek the Lord; we must not lie still in careless slumber; we must seek him wherever his providence has set us, whether in the quiet country or in the bustling, crowded city. We may find him in any place, provided it be one where a Christian may safely tread; in any employment, provided it be lawful and innocent; in the city, in the streets, and in the broadways. "There are in this loud stunning tide Of human care and crime, With whom the melodies abide Of the everlasting chime; Who carry music in their heart Through dusky lane and wrangling mart, Plying their daily task with busier feet, Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat.
Still the bride found not the beloved; she repeats her first lament like a plaintive refrain: "I sought him, but I found him not." The soul does not always find the Lord at once when it first feels its need of the Saviour. We try one plan after another; we make effort after effort; but for a time all our efforts are vain. We know that he may be found, that others have found him and have felt the blessedness of his love. But the search seems long fruitless. God would have our search to be sincere, thoughtful, earnest. Therefore he tries our faith. He proves us, as once he proved Abraham; as the Lord Jesus tried the faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman. Again and again she sought his help, but for some time there was no response; silence at first, then what seemed to be a stern refusal. Still she persevered, she urged her prayer; her case was like that of the bride she sought him, but she found him not. We must follow her example, remembering the Lord"s teaching, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. We must imitate the bride in her dream, and seek on, though for a long season our search may seem unsuccessful though we find him not.
II THE ULTIMATE SUCCESS OF THE BRIDE"S SEARCH.
1. She meets the watchmen. The watchmen found her. (as again in Son_5:7) She asks them the question which was so near her heart, "Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?" They were going about the city; they might be able to guide her to the object of her search. But they were like the watchman of Ps 127, waking but in vain for the bride"s purpose, unable to help her. It is not always that Christian friends, or the ministers of God"s holy Word and sacraments, who "watch for our souls", (Heb_13:17) can help us in our search for Christ. We ask them, we seek their help; it is right to do so; sometimes they can help us. But each soul must find Christ for itself. "Work out your own salvation," St. Paul said to the Philippians; and that, "not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence". (Php_2:12)
2. She finds the bridegroom. The watchmen could give her no good tidings; but she did not faint; she did not return home or throw herself down in despair; she continued her search alone. She would search on till she found the beloved of her soul. And her search was rewarded at last. "It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth." God is not far from us even in the hour of deepest gloom, when we seem to strain our eyes through the darkness, and can see no light. If we seek him earnestly we shall surely find him at the last; for he, we know, is seeking us. The Lord Jesus Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost. He seeketh the lost sheep until he find it. He giveth his life for the sheep. Then we may be quite sure that he who loved us with such a love, a love stronger than death, will not suffer any penitent soul that seeketh him in faith, in sorrow for the past, in earnest painful longings for forgiveness, to lose its way, to wander on without finding, to inquire everywhere without result, "Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?" He will surely manifest himself according to his blessed promise, as he did to the two disciples who on the first Easter Day were mourning for their lost Master, and would not be comforted by the words of the women who "had seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive." He will come in his gracious love, and then our heart will burn within us as he manifests himself, and our eyes shall be opened, and we shall know him; and that knowledge is eternal. (Joh_17:3)
3. She brings him to her home. The long wanderings of the dream were over. She had found him whose love filled her waking thoughts, of whom her dreams were full when she slept. She would not let him go. The anguish of that long, almost despairing search should not be in vain. She held him fast, and brought him to her own home, into its inmost chambers. The soul that once has found Christ clings to him with the strong embrace of faith. He may "make as though he would go further", (Luk_24:28) to try our faith, that we may feel our need of him. But as the two disciples then "constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent," so the soul holds him and will not let him go. The soul, weak as Jacob was weak, struggles with the strength that the sense of weakness gives. "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." "Yield to me now, for I am weak, But confident in self-despair: Speak to my heart, in blessings speak; Be conquered by my instant prayer: Speak! or thou never hence shalt move, And tell me if thy name is Love. My prayer hath power with God: the grace Unspeakable I now receive; Through faith I see thee face to face, I see thee face to face, and live! In vain I have not wept and strove: Thy nature and thy name is Love.
This noble hymn of Charles Wesley"s expresses the feelings of a soul that has found Christ. We must not let him go, not for any perplexities, not for any temptations. St. Paul tells us that no difficulties can draw us back from him if we really give him our heart. "I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord". (Rom_8:38, Rom_8:39) Then we must cling very closely to him, not letting go any one desire to serve him better and to love him more. We must stimulate every such desire into activity by actual self-denying effort. We must try with all our heart to realize his presence always, at all times and in all places, in our business, our amusements, our intercourse with friends and relations, as well as in the hour of private prayer or public worship. We must try with conscious effort to please him always; seeking, indeed, to serve him much, like Martha, but still more to please him perfectly, like Mary. And we must bring him into our home, into the very inmost chambers of our heart, opening them all to him, dedicating them all, every purpose of ours, every hope, every aspiration, to him, beseeching him to accept our imperfect offering, to make our hearts his temple, to fulfil in us his blessed promise, "If any man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode our dwelling, our abiding place with him". (Joh_14:23) And now we have again the adjuration of Son_2:7. The bride has related her dream to the daughters of Jerusalem. The subject of that dream was love pure and innocent love; its sorrows and its joys; separation and blessed reunion. It is a sacred thing. The daughters of Jerusalem were to listen in silent sympathy; they were not to praise or to blame; they were not to endeavour to stimulate or increase the love of bride or bridegroom; they were to leave it to its free spontaneous growth in the heart. Human love is a holy thing. The love that is between Christ and his Church, the love that is between the Lord of our redemption and every elect soul, is holier yet by far. It is not to be much talked of; it is to be treasured in the heart; it is the inmost spring of that life which is hidden with Christ in God. It must not be stirred by irreverent talk or disclosure; it must rest unseen "till it please till the fit time shall come for speaking of its blessedness.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY Vers. 1-5. Love"s dream.
It is a dream that is told of in these verses. It was natural for her who tells it to have dreamt such a dream. Lifting up the story to the higher level of things spiritual, what these verses say suggests
I CONCERNING DREAMS GENERALLY. They are often revelations of life and character. Sometimes they are mere folly, the misty vapours exhaled by a gross and over-fed body. But at other times, as here, they have a deeper meaning. They show the manner of a man"s life, the bent of his inclinations, the character of his soul. Our dreams never play us false.
The motives that govern their acts are the motives that govern ours. A man dreams about the sins he loves too well; about the sorrows that haunt his life; about the joys on which his heart is set. Dreams have played a large part in God"s governance of men. They often show us what we should avoid and what we should seek after. Though some are foolish, we cannot afford to despise them as if all were so.
II CONCERNING THIS DREAM. In both its stages it reveals the fervent love of the dreamer.
1. It began sorrowfully. She thought she had lost her beloved (vers. 1, 2). This the deepest of distresses to the renewed soul. (cf. Psa_77:1-4) If heaven would cease to be heaven, as it would were Christ"s presence withdrawn, how much more must this life be all dark and drear if we have him not! And she tells how she sought him.
(1) In the city, amid the business and turmoil of men. But it is but little that he is there. They would most probably crucify him if they found him, so deadly is the hate the world hath for him. It is not true that virtue needs only to be seen to be loved. As our Lord was dealt with, so would it be.
(2) And in the assemblies, in society. And we cannot be surprised that he was not there. Society! does that word summon up the idea of a community who would cherish Christ"s presence?
(3) But even the watchmen could not tell her of him. How wrong this! Zion"s watchmen, and not know where Christ is to be found! They had found her, and very likely found fault with her, but they could not help her to find him. Such pastors there are, and to them "the hungry sheep look up, and are not fed." We can picture the soul"s distress when these failed her. To have gone to the house of God hungering for direction Christwards, and to come back with none at all that is a sorrow not unknown nor slight. But her dream did not end so.
2. It ended joyfully.
(1) Her beloved revealed himself to her. She found him. " But what is our finding other than his showing? (cf. the four findings of Christ told of in Joh 1) How often when we have "passed from" Sundays and services and sermons, and have not found Christ, he is found of us in some other season, place, and circumstances! If he be found of them that seek him not as he says he is how much more will he fulfil his word, "They that seek me shall find me"!
(2) And she clave to him. "I held him," etc. The soul thus holds her Lord by her prayers, her trust, her communion, her service, her self-surrender. These grasp the Beloved, and will not let him go.
(3) And she will be content with nothing less than the full assurance of his love (ver. 4). We should resolve to have a religion that makes the soul happy. The religion that does not do this does but little at all. Cf. the elder son in the parable of the prodigal, he had a religion, but it was all gloom. Let us not be satisfied so. And if we seek, and find, and cleave, and so continue as set forth here, the joy of the Lord shall be ours.
III CONCERNING THE AWAKING. Ver. 5 shows that she is awake, and conscious of the love of her beloved, and would not be torn therefrom until he pleased. (cf. on Son_2:7) But, awake, the soul finds that what was sad in her dream was but a dread, but what was joyful is an abiding reality. We cannot lose Christ really, though we may think we do; and the soul that seeks him shall find him. S.C.
HOMILIES BY J.D. DAVIES Vers. 1-4. The search for the true King.
When once the Spirit of truth has begun his work in the heart, there is a strong yearning after Jesus. In fulfilling his mission as the Revealer of Christ, the Spirit excites within us intense longings to have the friendship of Jesus. We take this as clear proof that a work of grace has begun in us if we feel that none but Christ can satisfy. Now we can part with all we have to obtain this goodly pearl. As the man who had inadvertently slain a fellow flees with lightning speed toward the city of refuge, feeling that the blood avenger is at his heels, so the convicted sinner has an eye for only one object Christ. This persistent search for the Saviour is a token for good. The tree that does not easily languish in summer drought, but grows, blossoms, unfolds its fruit, has most certainly deep roots in the soil; so, if under manifold discouragements we steadily seek after Christ, we may be sure that we are planted in the soil of grace by the Lord"s right hand. Three main thoughts are in this text.
I JESUS SOUGHT. "I sought him whom my soul loveth.
1. True love to Christ glows brightly ever, in his absence. Genuine love is of all things the most unselfish. We love him not so much for the benefit to be obtained; we love him because he is lovable. Having once known him, we cannot restrain our love. To give the shrine of the heart to another would be self-degradation, idolatry. On this account it may be that Jesus keeps away. He sees some growing rivalry within. He sees some need for our self-purging. He wants the soul to realize a deeper need. He wants to make his love more prized. Many worthy reasons has Jesus for hiding himself. "Tis a temporary winter in order to bring about a more prolific harvest. So, whether we have any assurance of his love or not, we will love him; we will seek after him.
2. The absence of Jesus makes midnight for the soul. "By night... I sought him." If Jesus has been our Sun of Righteousness, then his departure makes our night. All the things relating to the spiritual world are dark to us if Jesus be absent. We cannot see the face of our Father. We cannot read our titles clear to the heavenly inheritance. There is no growth of holy virtues in us. We cannot run the heavenly race. It is a time of wintry darkness and wintry barrenness if Jesus keeps away. No artificial light can take the place of Immanuel.
3. There is sound resolution. The soul has reached a noble resolution. "I will rise now." Some resolutions which we make are worthless. They are made under excited feeling, or from a passing fear, or they are the outcome of a shallow nature, which lightly esteems a pledge. But a resolution made in the strength of God is a firm step taken in advance. It is the first step in a series; for the strength of God is behind it. Genuine resolution never waits. It moves onward at once. No sooner had the prodigal boy resolved to return, than "he arose and came to his father." So here the bride says in the same breath, "I will seek him I sought him." The future is instantly translated into the present. Good resolution is not a pillow to sleep on; it is a horse which we should instantly mount.
4. There is active and persistent search. No journey is too great if we can only find our Beloved. Thousands travel every year over hot sands to Mecca in the hope of getting nearer to Mohammed, and so gaining his empty favour. Sharp privations are gladly endured in order to purchase this worthless merit. Gold seekers will voyage to the antipodes, and will run a thousand risks to obtain the virgin ore. Then does not highest wisdom impel us to seek the "unsearchable riches of Christ"? Shall the common adventurers of earth put us to shame? We must seek everywhere, in all likely places. If in one search we have been disappointed, we must try another. Columbus was not easily daunted when he was on the search for a new continent. Many noble lives have been sacrificed in the effort to find a searoute over the North Pole. Joseph and Mary did not easily abandon the search for the child Jesus. Pressed down with sorrow, they sought him in one company after another, nor gave up their effort until they found the lad. "The subtle chemist can dissect And strip the creature naked till he find The callow principles within their nest. What hath not man sought out and found But his dear God?
5. First disappointments will not deter us. "I sought him, but I found him not." The earnest seeker after Christ is not easily daunted. The first hindrance will not depress him, nor the second, nor the twentieth. Delays in finding Jesus only whet his appetite, and spur him on to fresh search. Failure in finding Christ is in no sense a detest. It is a gain in knowledge. It is helpful in experience. It is part of the process in the attainment of success. Difficulties make the man. If one road does not lead to righteousness and rest, another road will; for there is a road. And Christ is watching us carefully to see if we are faint hearted. The first experiment to utilize electricity for illuminating a city did not succeed, nor the second; yet mechanicians persevered until they reached the goal. And every awakened sinner is resolved to find Christ, or to die in the attempt. Our own blunders, as a rule, are the cause of delay.
6. There will be inquiry for Christ from qualified persons. "The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?" These watchmen fifty represent the pastors of the Church. They know the haunts and habits of the Prince. They know the proneness of man"s heart to err. They know the subtleties of the adversary and the deceitfulness of sin. Therefore a faithful pastor is a good guide for seeking souls. These under-shepherds are ever on the look out for Christ-seekers. We read, "They found me." Then they were searching for such. This is their business. As a man who has navigated a ship a hundred times through an intricate rocky channel makes the best pilot, so they who have themselves found Christ and walk daily with him are best qualified to lead wanderers into his fold. Shrink not from asking counsel. Avail yourself of every help.
II JESUS FOUND. "I found him whom my soul loveth.
1. Jesus uses consecrated men to bring his chosen ones into his presence. Those who know him best are honoured to be chamberlains in his palace, and to introduce guests to his banquet table. His employment of us in this sacred and noble work is an unspeakable honour. A consecrated man is sure to become a guide to others, whether he fill an office in the Church or not. The pious women who talked with each other of Christ in the cottage porch at Elstow led John Bunyan into the friendship of Christ. As men who have travelled through a terra incognita erect guide posts for those who may follow, so every friend of Christ will find a heavenly pleasure in guiding wayward feet into the right way. Never was Paul the apostle a nobler man than when he put into words the burning desire of his heart, "I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
2. Diligent search is always rewarded. If, in self-diffidence, we follow the light of Scripture, sooner or later we are sure to succeed. "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord." Men have searched long for the philosopher"s stone and for the secret of perpetual motion have searched long, and searched in vain. But no sincere lover of Christ yet sought him and failed to find him. Not more surely may you expect a harvest where you have sown good seed than success from seeking Christ. It prevails with the uniform regularity of law. "Then shall we find him when we seek him with all the heart." When there is a seeking sinner and a seeking Saviour, they are sure to meet ere long. Calvary is an old trysting place.
3. Genuine love appropriates Christ. "I held him." We naturally value anything a great deal more if we have taken many pains to acquire it. A jewel is valued for its rarity as well as for its intrinsic beauty. There is but one Christ; hence when we find him we hold him fast. But in what way can we hold him? We hold him by frequent communing with him. We hold him fast when we hourly try to please him. We hold him if our love is strong and fragrant. We hold him if in our heart garden there are ripe fruits of holiness. We hold him if there is harmony of purpose, will, and life. He loves companionship.
4. Every attempt of Jesus to depart is energetically resisted. "I would not let him go." In this way Jesus often tests our love. We have displeased him, and he rises to depart. Then will we confess the evil thing? Will we make some fresh self-sacrifice in order to detain him? He is not easily offended. He hateth putting away. But he loves to see in us a delicate sensitiveness of feeling. He delights to find a tender and childlike affection. It is for our highest good that he should be appreciated. As he did at Emmaus he sometimes deals with us: "he made as though he would have gone further; but they constrained him." And now he gladly yields to our constraints. It brings him delicious joy to feel the embraces of our love. If he can only strengthen and elevate our love, he has conferred on us the very highest good. If love grows, every grace will grow. If love grows, we grow like Christ. And this is love"s firm resolve, "I would not let him go.
III JESUS MADE KNOWN. "Until I had brought him into my mother"s house.
1. We wish our best friend to accompany us everywhere. The genuine disciple desires to take Jesus with him into every circle and into every occupation. He is not content to have Jesus only on sabbath days and on special occasions. He wants Jesus always at his side yea, better, always in his heart, he has no friend whom he cannot introduce to Jesus. He has no occupation, no recreation, he wants to keep from the eye of Jesus. Into every chamber of the house Jesus is welcome. He is a fitting Guest for every room, a fit Companion on every journey, a fitting Partner in every enterprise. We do all things in the name of Jesus.
2. This language suggests benevolent effort for our households. Love is generous. Having found such spiritual treasure in Jesus, we want every member in our household, viz. children, parents, servants, to share in the "unsearchable riches." "I brought him into my mother"s house." Happy the man who can testify that! If we are under tremendous obligations to earthly parents, how can we better discharge the debt than by making them partakers of Christ?
3. This language suggests our usefulness to the Church. As we give to the imagery of this book a spiritual interpretation, so may we properly regard our mother"s house as the Church on earth. This is our true Alma Mater. We bring the Bridegroom with us into the Church. We cannot enjoy our piety alone. We inspire the whole Church with a nobler life. Our sacred love to Jesus is a contagion. Others feel the heavenly charm, and they desire to have Jesus too. And from the Church the benefit extends to the whole world. Would that all men knew our Lord! D.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON Ver. 1. The soul"s love.
This whole book is a glorification of love; it teaches that human love, if true, is sacred, ennobling, and inspiring; it shows the excellence of human love, that it is worthy of being the emblem of that love which is spiritual and Divine. As St. John has taught us, "He that loveth not knoweth not God: for God is love." The Object of the Christian"s love is Christ, in whom the love of God has been revealed and communicated to us.
I THE GROUNDS OF THE SOUL"S LOVE TO CHRIST. The soul that loves the Redeemer is not prompted by blind, unreasonable impulse; such love as that expressed in the language of the text is rational and justifiable.
1. The soul loves Christ for his own Divine, unapproachable excellence, for what he is in himself. He is worthy above all to be thus loved. With an "intellectual love," as the English Platonist phrased it, does the illumined and living soul love him who is the Effulgence of the Father"s glory and the Revelation of the Father"s heart.
2. The soul loves Christ in gratitude for Divine compassion, ministry, and sacrifice. The cycle of Christian doctrine concerning the Person and mediation of the Redeemer is an exhibition as much of God"s love as of his holiness and his wisdom. What our Saviour has done for us is an appeal to the soul which awakens the response of grateful affection.
3. The soul loves Christ because of the revelations of Divine friendship made to the individual nature. The language of the Canticles is rich in portraying the personal element in the relation between the Lord and humanity as redeemed by him. And every Christian is prompted to affection by those intimate displays of Divine affection which experience records in the recesses of the spiritual nature.
II THE PROOFS OF THE SOUL"S LOVE TO CHRIST. An emotion such as this cannot take possession of the mind, and dwell in the mind, without becoming a principle, controlling and inspiring the nature, and prompting to manifestations of marked, decisive import.
1. The soul keeps him whom it loveth in perpetual memory.
2. The soul takes an ever-growing delight in his society; places the highest happiness in spiritual fellowship with Christ.
3. The soul proves the sincerity of its love to Christ by treasuring up his precepts, by seeking to live under the inspiring influence of his presence and character, by yielding to him a cheerful, constant, and unquestioning obedience. Whom the soul loveth the hand serveth, the tongue witnesseth unto, the whole life honoureth by obeying and glorifying. T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11 I sought Him, but I found Him not.
Son_3:1-3
I sought Him, but I found Him not.
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Hidings of God
Prophetically these verses may be taken as delineating the sorrow of the first disciples at the departure of Christ from the earth. Between Easter Day and Pentecost the infant Church was very much as here described. We would not, however, limit the application of this passage to the apostolic age. It has its fulfilment, we believe, again and again. The leading idea is that of a temporary estrangement, real or imaginary, between Christ and His people, during which they seek Him but cannot find Him.
I. There would be nothing remarkable in the Redeemer denying the consolations of His Presence to those who were careless about Him. The remarkable point suggested by the text is that there is such a thing as desiring ,God and being disappointed. Now it would seem to be an ordinary feature in God s providence to withdraw occasionally from the saints, in order to increase that very craving after Him which He declines to gratify. He suspends His operations in their behalf until what we call the last moment (Joh_2:4; Joh_6:5-6). Again and again have dangers and distresses thickened round about the Church. The heathen have furiously raged together. The kings of the earth have stood up, and the rulers taken counsel together. The tyranny of despotic monarchs has well-nigh crushed the Church at some periods: at others, heresies have prevailed so widely that the whole community has appeared tainted. This was the case with Arianism in the fourth century. They who maintained sound doctrine cried unto the Lord, and apparently in vain. They sought Him, but they found Him not. And this is no solitary instance. How often has it happened with those who have gone to bear the cross into heathen lands! They have laboured and toiled, and caught nothing. For months and years they have preached, and made no converts. Nor is it difficult to perceive that all this is a discipline to the souls of the faithful; nay, not only a discipline, but a test of the reality of their faith. How could the fervour of a mans heart be proved, if he was heard at the first petition? How could the depth of the souls yearning after the Divine Being be manifested, if He was to be found as soon as sought for? Again, it is not unusual to find persons complaining that they are at times quite unable to experience pleasure or consolation in religious exercises. They go through the service of the Church without once being able to realize the presence of God, or the solemnity of what they are about. Their hearts respond not to the words of thanksgiving or of prayer. Everything seems heavy, wearisome, and cold. People are frequently discouraged when they find their souls thus chilled and lifeless--utterly unable to rise to the level of their work; but if you get possessed of the principle which we are illustrating, there will be no need for this discouragement. We are not always to blame when we are listless and cold in Church. If we do not try or desire to be otherwise, of course the fault is our own; but if we try to be devout and cannot, it may be only that God is dealing with us--that He is subjecting us to a discipline which He sees necessary. For example, He may be teaching us not to rely upon warm emotions--not to build overmuch upon feelings, however good.
II. Now from the foregoing considerations there flows a very solemn thought. We have said that, as well to individuals as to the Christian Church at large, the Redeemer applies a sort of discipline in modifying at times or altogether withholding the consolations of His Presence. What follows? Why, that He must personally engage Himself about every soul. The spirit of each man and woman is a separate planet in the spiritual system whose summer and winter, whose storms and sunshine are regulated by Deity alone. Hence the full meaning of that passage in which Christ Jesus is called the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. It intimates that the human soul is so fine and subtle a thing that none but He can supervise and tend it. From the moment of our new birth He takes us in hand. Every trial and temptation has been appointed by Him; every annoyance and disaster has been weighed out by Him. His seat is in heaven, yet is His hand upon each one of us. He shrouds Himself from the gaze of the seraphim, but He is about the path and bed of every child in this assembly. And this is what we would have you learn secondarily from the text, I sought Him, but I found Him not. His withdrawing Himself is a proof of His individual care. When anything happens out of the common course, it speaks to us of God. When with all our exertions we fail to find Christ, it is evidence that He is working in and about us. We recur to the main lesson involved in what has been said, which we desire especially to enforce. It is this. We are not to expect to find always great delight in the path of duty; we are not to be anxious about our feelings, if our actions are right. Daily service and weekly communion will often be attended coldly, and as we fear without heart. It must be so. It is the tendency of repetition to diminish ecstatic emotions; still we are to go on steadfastly on our road. The spiritual life is very like the natural, it has its bright days and its gloomy, its calm and its storm, its hours of exultation and depression. Let us take each as it comes, doing our work in each with care and sobriety and perseverance. Yet a little while and these variations shall be no more. We are travelling onward to a land where the sun never goes down, and the noise of the waterfloods is never heard. (Bp. Woodford.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 6 The Missing One Found
The Missing One Found
Chapter 3 Son_3:1-5
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PROBABLY A DREAM RELATED BY SHULAMITE TO THE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM
By night on my bed
I sought him whom my soul loveth;
I sought him, but I found him not.
I will rise now, and go about the city;
In the streets, and in the broadways thereof,
Will I seek him whom my soul loveth.
I sought him, but I found him not.
The watchmen that go about the city found me; to whom I said:
Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
It was but a little that I passed from them,
But I found him whom my soul loveth.
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 that conceived me.
I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
By the roes and by the hinds of the field.
That ye stir not up nor awake my love,
Till he please.
This section probably the narration of a dream, given in a song by Shulamite in presence of the Daughters of Jerusalem or Ladies of the Court. ‘By night (Hebrew, ‘nights’) on my bed,’ &c. (So Dan_4:10; Dan_4:13). ‘A dream cometh by the multitude of business;’ and Shulamite’s, from the occupation of her thoughts with the prospect of the approaching nuptials, and the preparations for them. Indicates how her waking thoughts were possessed by her Beloved, here again characterized by her as ‘he whom my soul loveth,’ as already in Chap. Son_1:7; and reveals her great desire to enjoy his society, and her fear lest anything should occur to prevent it. From the passage, viewed in its spiritual aspect, observe—
1. Natural that believers, especially in the ardour of their first love, should have their thoughts much occupied with Christ, and that as a consequence He should be present to them even in their dreams. Their experience expressed by the prophet: ‘With my soul have I desired Thee in the night: yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early’ (Isa_26:9).
2. The believer’s great desire, when it is well with his soul, for the presence and fellowship of the Saviour whom he loves; and his great concern not to lose it, or do anything that may occasion its loss.
3. Times when the believing soul is warranted and constrained to open up to others the treasures of her spiritual experience, and to narrate both her conflicts and her victories, her sorrows and her joys (Psa_66:16).
4. The fellowship of Christ not always and uninterruptedly enjoyed by the believer in this world. Many causes of its interruption—a corrupt nature, a tempting devil, and a world lying in wickedness.
5. Dark seasons and dull frames no proof of a Christless state. Christ always present with a believer, but not always sensibly so. Our union with Christ not affected by our want of communion with Him. Our interest in His love not dependent on our feelings, but on His faithfulness.
6. A precious mercy to be aroused to seek an absent Christ.
7. The mark of a living and loving soul, not to be satisfied with an absent Saviour.
8. Seeking Christ to be diligent and earnest, in order to be successful. The soul to stir itself up to take hold of God when He appears to be absent (Isa_64:7). Christ not always readily found when missed. Not readily found in order to increase our earnestness in seeking, and our carefulness in retaining Him. A missing Christ makes prized ordinances.
9. Suitable means to be employed and inquiry made, in order to find a missing Christ. The part of a true pastor to direct inquiring souls. That direction to be sought and found both in private conference and in attendance on the public ordinances of God’s house (Joh_12:21; Psa_27:4). The likeliest place to find the missing Jesus was in His Father’s house (Luk_2:46). ‘Christ to be found in the streets and broad ways of the city, not in the blind by-ways outside of it.’—(Henry).
10. Ministers to know Christ themselves in order to direct others to Him. A Christless minister a poor guide to a Christ-seeking soul. Ministers expected by their people to be familiar with Christ, and with the exercises of those who are earnestly seeking Him.
11. Ministers to be accessible to their people, and to be diligent in their duty. ‘The watchmen that go about the city found me.’
12. Earnest and diligent search after Christ not long unsuccessful. ‘It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found Him,’ &c. Christ not far from a faithful ministry and an earnestly seeking soul.
13. Means to be employed, but not rested in. ‘I passed from them.’ The seeking soul to go beyond the minister. Means and ministers, like finger-posts, pointing to something beyond them. Ordinances only means. Angels unable to satisfy Mary at the empty sepulchre. The Bride hastens past the servant to the master.
14. Inexpressible joy in finding a missing and sought-for Saviour. ‘I found Him’—the language of exultation. Like Archimedes in the bath—‘I have found it, I have found it.’ So Andrew and Philip in regard to the Messiah (Joh_1:41; Joh_1:45). So the wise men rejoiced in the Star (Mat_2:10).
15. Care to be taken by those who have found Christ in order to retain Him. ‘I held him,’ &c. The language—
(1) Of love and affection to the Saviour (Rth_1:16).
(2) Fear and jealousy of losing Him.
(3) Earnest resolution to hold Him. Implies on Christ’s part—
(1) An apparent inclination to depart (Gen_32:26; Luk_24:28; Mar_6:48).
(2) Gracious condescension—the Almighty allowing Himself to be held by a creature.
16. Believers who find Christ, and enjoy His fellowship, to endeavour that others also may profit by it. ‘I brought him to my mother’s house.’ Both natural and spiritual kindred to be made partakers of the benefit. A proof that Jesus is dear to ourselves when we seek to make Him known to others. A family or congregation to be the better by any member of it that rejoices in a found Saviour. Only a present and enjoyed Christ the life of a Church or congregation.
17. Watchfulness, resolution, and care necessary, on the part of the believer, to avoid whatever may disturb his enjoyment of Christ’s presence and fellowship; and on the part of the Church, to avoid whatever may grieve him away from its ordinances. ‘I charge you,’ &c. Danger of disturbing a found and present Christ especially to be apprehended from the ‘daughters of Jerusalem.’ The flesh Christ’s greatest enemy, whether in the believer’s own heart or in the Church or congregation.
18. Easy to provoke Christ to withdraw from the soul or the Church while He is visiting it. ‘By the roes and by the hinds of the field,’—the most timid creatures, and most easily disturbed and frightened away.
Observe from the whole passage in regard to
A Missing Saviour.
I. The PERSON who misses him. One who loves him. ‘I sought him whom my soul loveth.’ The character of a believer and a regenerated soul that he loves Christ. He loves Him—
(1) Sincerely, with his ‘soul;’ not in mere sentiment or profession.
(2) Ardently, with warmest affection; his ‘soul’ loves Him. Christ loved with the ‘soul’ the proof of a soul that loves Christ. Christ only loved by a new nature. The carnal mind enmity to God, and so to Christ. Love to Christ generated by the Holy Spirit’s revelation of him to the soul in his preciousness as a Saviour. The soul that loves Christ most ready to miss Him, and most pained at losing Him. That only missed which has been prized and possessed. The condemnation and curse of men who have heard the Gospel that they do not love Christ (Joh_3:19; 1Co_16:22).
II. The MEANS employed to find him.
(1) Diligent attendance on public ordinances: These ordinances the ‘streets and broadways’ of the city of the great King. Christ to be found in these. ‘Wherever two or three are gathered together,’ &c. (Mat_18:20). ‘Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, &c. For whoso findeth me, findeth life,’ &c. (Pro_8:34-35).
(2) Private inquiry of spiritual guides. Pastors and teachers appointed by Zion’s King to direct anxious souls to Himself. ‘Remember them which have the rule (margin, are the guides) over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God,’ &c. (Heb_13:7-8; Heb_13:17).
(3) Searching the Scriptures. The written Word the standing direction of inspired guides. The voice of the watchmen of Zion heard in the Bible. The Scriptures testify of Christ. None long in finding Christ who search for Him in the ‘testimony of the Gospel.’
(4) Earnest prayer for divine light and guidance (Psa_43:3). Shulamite turns from the watchmen to the King himself (Son_3:4).
III. The RESULT of the search. Christ found. ‘I found him whom my soul loveth.’ Such success is
(1) certain. Promised by Him that cannot lie. ‘Then shall ye seek me and find me, when ye search for me with all your heart’ (Jer_29:13). ‘If thou criest after knowledge, &c. Then shalt thou find the knowledge of God’ (Pro_2:3-5.
(2) Speedy. ‘It was but a little,’ &c. ‘Before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear’ (Isa_65:24). ‘I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, &c. My bowels are troubled for him.’ (Jer_31:18-20).
IV. The IMPROVEMENT of the success. Threefold.
(1) A holding him fast, so as not again to lose Him. ‘I held Him, &c. That likely to be most carefully treasured and kept which has been once lost and found again. A believer not more known by finding Christ than by his care to keep Him when He is found. Care to be taken to retain a mercy as well as to obtain it. Care to retain Christ as precious in his sight as anxiety to obtain Him. And equally necessary. Enough in the world, the flesh, the devil, and the carnality of the ‘daughters of Jerusalem,’ to render such care necessary.
(2) An endeavour to make others partakers of the blessing. Our mother’s house to share the benefit of a found Christ. A living believer rejoicing in a found Christ, a blessing to a whole congregation. The found treasure not to be hid. ‘Many shall see it, and fear and trust in the Lord.’ ‘Come and hear, All ye that fear God; and I will declare what he hath done for my soul’ (Psa_40:3; Psa_66:16). Our kindred not to be forgotten. ‘Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee’ (Mar_5:19).
(3). Watchfulness and resolution to guard against anything that might shorten Christ’s fellowship and presence. I charge you,’ &c. Spiritual blessings to be held with a vigilant eye and a resolute hand. A cooling of first love sufficient to grieve a loving Saviour, and to endanger the continuance of the ‘candlestick’ (Rev_2:4-5).
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Prophetically, the whole of these verses may be taken…
Son 3:2
Prophetically, the whole of these verses may be taken as delineating the sorrow of the first disciples at the departure of Christ from the earth. But the passage has its fulfilment again and again. The leading idea is that of a temporary estrangement, real or imaginary, between Christ and His people, during which they seek Him, but cannot find Him.
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I. There would be nothing remarkable in the Redeemer denying the consolations of His presence to those who were careless about Him. The remarkable point suggested by the text is that there is such a thing as desiring God, and being disappointed. It would seem an ordinary feature in God’s providence to withdraw occasionally from the saints, in order to increase that very craving after Him which He declines to gratify. He suspends His operations on their behalf until what we call the last moment. There is a failing to discover God for which He will not condemn us, a failing which comes not of us but of Him, in the plenitude, not of wrath, but of mercy. Only be sure that you really struggle to do what He enjoins. Only resolve whether He pour upon you the sunshine of His favour, or leave you wrapped in clouds to be found in the path of duty, and the temporary gloom shall ere long fade, and a fairer morning break.
II. From the foregoing considerations there flows a very solemn thought. The Redeemer must personally engage Himself about every soul. The spirit of each man and woman is a separate planet in the spiritual system, whose summer and winter, whose storms and sunshine, are regulated by Deity alone. Hence the full meaning of that passage in which Christ Jesus is called the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. It intimates that the human soul is so fine and subtle a thing that none but He can supervise and tend it. His withdrawing Himself is a proof of His individual care.
Bishop Woodford, Occasional Sermons, vol. ii., p. 105.
References: Son 3:4.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 275; Ibid., My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi, p. 207; J. Keble, Sermons on Various Occasions, p. 458; R. M. McCheyne, Memoirs and Remains, p. 412. Son 3:4, Son 3:5.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1035. Son 3:5-8.—C. A. Fowler, Parochial Sermons, p. 119. Son 3:6-11.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii., No. 482. Son 3:7-8.—J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Song of Songs, p. 137. Son 3:9, Son 3:10.—Ibid., pp. 151, 360. Son 3:10.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xix., No. 1134. Son 3:11.—J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. iii., p. 311. Son 4:6.—Ibid., Sermons on the Song of Songs, pp. 159, 172. Son 4:7.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, pp. 337, 338. Son 4:10, Son 4:11.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. v., No. 282. Son 4:12.—Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 323; R. M. McCheyne, Memoirs and Remains, p. 337. Son 4:12-15.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii., No. 431; J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Song of Songs, p. 184.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Night Thoughts and an Interlude
Night Thoughts and an Interlude
1-4. There is a charming lightness of touch and quickness of movement in the story she tells, and it is all the more interesting for our having to supply the prosaic connecting links. 'The Unrest of Love' is an apt title. We can only understand it as a maiden's dream.
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2. The broad ways are what we should call the squares; wide, open spaces by the city gates and elsewhere.
4. The 'mother's house' is the women's apartments, into which a strange man dare not enter.
6-11. It is possible that this is a song of the bridegroom's companions on the morrow of the wedding, when the throne is set up for the bridal pair. But more probably it is a kind of interlude, intended to convey the sense of contrast between the simple, fearless life of the happy pair, and the luxurious but anxious state which the most magnificent of Hebrew kings had kept. The singer sees in imagination King Solomon's procession. He makes us hear the questions and remarks of the crowd, as in the last scene of Shakespeare's 'Henry the Fourth.'
6. One man asks, 'What is this litter (RV) that is coming out of the wilderness, the uncultivated grazing land? 'The pillars of smoke are caused by the burning of sweet perfumes. Frankincense was an aromatic gum-resin obtained from balsamic plants which grow in Arabia and Eastern Africa. The powders of the merchant are powdered perfumes. The question of Son_3:6 is answered in Son_3:7-8, and possibly we have a third speaker in 9, 10. In any case, another word is here used for 'litter' (RV), a word which came afterwards to be specially employed for the litter in which the bride was carried in procession.
9. King Solomon's palanquin (RV) is made of the costly woods of Lebanon, cedar and Cyprus.
10. The pillars supporting the canopy are of silver, the arms of gold, the seat (RV) covered with a costly purple fabric. And, as the Hebrew words for love and 'ebony' are very similar, the closing part of the description may originally have run, 'inlaid with ebony from the daughters of Jerusalem.'
11. The women of the chorus are to fancy themselves meeting the procession and feasting their eyes with the sight of the king in all his glory. At a Jewish wedding both bride and groom wear crowns: in Syria, at the present day, the bride wears one; in Bulgaria she has a crown of alloyed silver.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 The scene changes. The bride is now alone and…
CHAPTER 3
The scene changes. The bride is now alone and in the darkness of the night. She is seeking her Beloved and is unable to find Him. Her heart is filled with the same love she exhibits in the previous chapter, but the joy and comfort she lacks. We see her walking through the streets and in the broadways, looking for Him whom her soul loveth; she sought Him but found Him not; Then the watchmen of the night which pass through the street came across the seeking one and she eagerly inquires, “Have ye seen Him whom my soul loveth?” They have no answer for her, probably they knew not what she meant. No sooner had she passed them by, when she found Him. All this is prophetic, as it reveals the soul exercise of that godly remnant of Israel during the night of tribulation. There is no need of giving a meaning to every detail.
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As already stated, His coming described in Son 3:6-11 is His coming as King Messiah. In the last verse we have the key. “Go forth, daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon, with the crown wherewith His mother crowned Him, in the day of His espousals, and in the day of the gladness of His heart,” His mother is Israel. Israel gave birth to Him according to the flesh, as it is also seen in the great vision of the Apocalypse Rev 12:1-17. In that day when He comes up from the wilderness, like pillars of smoke, in the Shekinah cloud, when He comes the mighty victor, yet the true Solomon, the Prince of Peace, who speaks peace to the nations, His mother Israel will crown Him Lord of all.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 6 Reverses and New Hopes for the Church.
Reverses and New Hopes for the Church.
The Church in Difficulties
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v. 1. By night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul loveth, she contemplated ways and means of finding Him whom she had apparently lost; I sought Him, but I found Him not, the Lord’s visitation of grace had seemingly come to an end.
v. 2. I will rise now and go about the city in the streets, on the marketplaces, and in the broad ways, the chief avenues of the city; I will seek Him whom my soul loveth. I sought Him, but I found Him not.
v. 3. The watchmen that go about the city, the nightly guardians of the public safety, found me; to whom I said, Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth? literally, "Whom my soul loves, have ye seen?" the question being inserted without introduction, even without the common particle of questioning, to show the extreme anxiety of her heart.
v. 4. It was but a little that I passed from them, she had scarcely passed from the watchmen, but I found Him whom my soul loveth; I held Him, grasping Him in an eager embrace, and would not let Him go until I had brought Him into my mother’s house and into the chamber of her that conceived me, that being the thought which she had, to lead her Bridegroom into the women’s apartments, to open her home and her heart to Him.
v. 5. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up nor awake My love till he please, "till it please," 2, 7, for the words are evidently those of the Bridegroom, who in His joy over this renewed proof of the bride’s love, has her comfort and encouragement in mind.
The Church Militant is here described as she appears in the midst of the storms, battles, and trials of this world. Night has fallen after the beautiful spring day described in the previous section, and the Church is surrounded by so many and such grievous difficulties that she deems herself forsaken by the Lord. He, on His part, hides His mercy for a while, in order to stimulate her to the most careful search. She finds nothing but empty spaces, a dead religion of works, a spiritless piety, many and serious offenses. Even the watchmen, the leaders of the Church, are infected with the general lethargy and take no interest in the search for the Lord, in a living Christianity. History shows that this condition obtained more than once, not only in the ancient Church, but in the modern as well. But the Lord has not utterly forsaken His bride; He permits Himself to be found, He turns back His countenance in mercy to His Church. His conduct thus stimulates the faith and love of the Church, and she declares her allegiance to Him in terms of the highest affection, while lie, on His part, grants her a period of rest and refreshment, lest she be tempted above that she is able, 1 Corinthians 10, 13.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10 I was longing for him ... could not find…
I was longing for him ... could not find him
"I had a strong desire to be with him ... loves, but he was not there"
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him whom my soul loves
The soul is a metonym for the whole person. Here it makes a stronger statement of the woman's love for the man than "my beloved" (Song of Songs 1:14). (See: Metonymy)
go through the city
"walk through the city"
through the streets and squares
The word "squares" indicates the center area of a town where streets or roads come together. It is often an area where people sell items, a market, and a place where people come together to talk.
will search
"will to look for"
translationWords
love
beloved
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2, 3, 6, 9, 11 3:2 The poem is partly about a lover’s being…
3:2 The poem is partly about a lover’s being willing and able to overcome all obstacles in order to be with the beloved. • Since the women of Jerusalem are mentioned frequently (3:5), the city is probably Jerusalem. Searching in all its streets and squares was an ambitious effort. • The king of Israel would probably not be outside in the city at night, and if he had his sixty-man entourage with him (3:7-8), she would find him easily. Rather, the woman appears to be looking for a common man in common places.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.