Shir Hashirim 3:3

3 The shomrim (watchmen) that go about the city found me; to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my nefesh loveth?

Shir Hashirim 3:3 Meaning and Commentary

Song of Solomon 3:3

The watchmen that go about the city found me
By whom are meant the ministers of the Gospel; who are called watchmen, as the prophets were under the Old Testament, ( Isaiah 52:8 ) ( 62:6 ) ( Ezekiel 33:7 ) ; in allusion to watchmen in cities; and are so called in regard to themselves, it being their duty to watch over themselves; and to their doctrine, and all opportunities to preach it, and the success of it: their business with respect to others is to give the time of night; to point out the state and condition of the church; to give notice of danger to sinners in the broad road to destruction; and to saints, through the prevalence of error, heresy, and immorality; all which require sobriety, vigilance, prudence, courage, and faithfulness; and show the necessity and utility of the Gospel ministry, and the awfulness of it; and the care Christ takes of his churches, in providing such officers in them. These are said to "go about the city", denoting their industry and diligence; and being in the way of their duty, they "found" the church, fell upon her case in their ministry, and hit it exactly; which shows the efficacy of the word under a divine direction; which finds out sinners, and their sins; saints, and their particular cases, unknown to ministers; and the church, having met with something suitable to her case under their ministry, [to whom I said],
took an opportunity privately to discourse with them, and put this question to them, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?
meaning Christ; who was still the object of her love, and uppermost in her thoughts; whom she thus describes, without mentioning his name, as if he was the only "Him" in the world worthy of any regard; which shows how much he was in her mind, how much the desires and affections of her soul were towards him, and that these ministers needed no other description of him. No answer is returned to her question that is recorded; not because they were not able to give one, nor because they did not; and if they did not, it might be owing to her haste, not waiting for one; and if they did, she not being able to apply it to her case, no notice is taken of it: however, though she did not find immediate relief by them, yet she met with something from them that was of use to her afterwards, as appears by what follows.

Shir Hashirim 3:3 In-Context

1 In the nights on my bed I sought him whom my nefesh loveth; I sought him, but I found him not.

2 So I will rise then, and go about the city in the streets, and in the rechovot (open squares, places); I will seek him whom my nefesh loveth; I sought him, but found him not.

3 The shomrim (watchmen) that go about the city found me; to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my nefesh loveth?

4 Scarcely had I passed from them, when I found him whom my nefesh loveth; I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into the bais immi (the house of my mother), and into the cheder of her that conceived me.

5 I charge you, O ye banot Yerushalayim, by the gazelles, and by the deer of the sadeh, that ye arouse nor awake HaAhavah till it pleases [i.e., until its own time, see 2:7; 8:4].