Reflections on Song of Solomon 3

Song of Solomon 03 (Contemporary English Version)


1. While in bed at night, I reached for the one I love with heart and soul. I looked for him, but he wasn't there.
   
2. So I searched through the town for the one I love. I looked on every street, but he wasn't there.
   
3. I even asked the guards patrolling the town, "Have you seen the one I love so much?"
   
4. Right after that, I found him. I held him and would not let go until I had taken him to the home of my mother.
   
5. Young women of Jerusalem, promise me by the power of deer and gazelles, never to awaken love before it is ready.
   
6. What do we see approaching from the desert like a cloud of smoke? With it comes the sweet smell of spices, including myrrh and frankincense.
   
7. It is King Solomon carried on a throne, surrounded by sixty of Israel's best soldiers.
   
8. Each of them wears a sword. They are experts at fighting, even in the dark.
   
9. The throne is made of trees from Lebanon.
   
10. Its posts are silver, the back is gold, and the seat is covered with purple cloth. You women of Jerusalem have taken great care to furnish the inside.
    
11. Now come and see the crown given to Solomon by his mother on his happy wedding day.
    

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In the closing scene of chapter 2 the lover returned to Jerusalem following a visit to his beloved at her home in the country. Now, in the opening verses of chapter 3 the beloved is missing him and has a dream of him at night. In her dream she looks and cannot find him so she goes to the city (Jerusalem) to look for him there. At first she cannot find him, even asking the guards if they had seen him, but they had not. Just as she left the guards she found him. Having found him, she holds him tight and then takes him to her mother's house, a place of security.

In verse 5 the beloved again tells the other young women not to stir up love until the appropriate time. Besides giving wise counsel, the statement marks the ending of the courtship section and the beginning of the wedding section. The next verses describe the wedding procession. As one continues to read they will find missing the wedding ceremony. In the ancient Near East there was no wedding ceremony. A civil marriage contract was made, the groom led a wedding process to the bride's house to get her and escort her to their new residence, and a week-long feast took place. Despite the lengthy festivities, the couple consummated their marriage the first night they were together.

Since Solomon is the lover in this account, his name is now provided regarding the wedding procession which includes his armor guard of 60 warriors. It is a truly regal scene with King Solomon in his sedan chair made of imported wood from Lebanon with silver and gold trimmings and purple seat. It is a scene the lover wishes to share with her friends, so she invites the "young women of Zion (Jerusalem)" to see the king wearing his crown, a crown given him by his mother on this special day.