Song Of Songs 3

CHAPTER 3

A Night Search (3:1–5)

1–5 The scene again shifts, and the beloved is dreaming in her bed; it is almost a nightmare she is having:her lover is lost! She goes out and searches everywhere in the city, like a mother searching for a lost child. So deep is her love that she feels she has lost a part of herself.

And then she finds her lover! She takes him to her home, to her mother’s room. But again, at the moment of intimacy, the call goes out: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires (verse 5)—that is, until the time is right (see Song of Songs 2:7).

The Bridal Procession (3:6–11)

6–11 In this section, the poet describes a wedding procession; the speaker is probably a friend who is witnessing the arrival of the bride in Solomon’s carriage¹⁰ (verse 7). King Solomon is here to meet her; he is wearing the crown, the wedding wreath, which his mother has placed on his head (verse 11). The daughters of Zion (people of Jetrusalem) are invited to gaze upon their king.