Charles Ellicott Commentary Song of Solomon 3
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Song of Solomon 3
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Song of Solomon 3
"By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not." — Song of Solomon 3:1 (ASV)
A reminiscence (elaborated in Song of Solomon 5:2 and following) 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.
"The watchmen that go about the city found me; [To whom I said], Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?" — Song of Solomon 3:3 (ASV)
The watchmen that go about the city.—“Henceforth until morning the streets are deserted and silent, with only here and there a company returning from a visit, with a servant bearing a lantern before them. The city-guard creeps softly about in utter darkness, and apprehends all found walking in the streets without a light” (Thomson, Land and Book, p. 32—in description of Beirut).
"It was but a little that I passed from them, When 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." — Song of Solomon 3:4 (ASV)
I held him ...—Bossuet, following Bede, regards this as prophetic of Mary Magdalen (type of the Church) on the morning of the Resurrection.
"Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness Like pillars of smoke, Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, With all powders of the merchant?" — Song of Solomon 3:6 (ASV)
Who is this that cometh. —The dramatic feeling is decidedly shown in the passage introduced by this verse. However, we still regard it as a scene passing only in the theater of the imagination. It was introduced by the poet in his Epithalamium, partly from his sympathy with all newly-wedded people and partly (as in Song of Solomon 8:11) to contrast the simplicity of his own wedding, where all the joy centered in true love, with the pomp and magnificence of a royal marriage, which was a State ceremony.
Wilderness. —Hebrew, midbar. The idea is that of a wide open space, with or without pasture: the country of nomads, as distinguished from that of a settled population. When used with the article (as it is here), it generally refers to the desert of Arabia, but also to the tracts of land on the frontiers of Palestine (Joshua 8:16; Judges 1:16; compare Matthew 3:1 and following). Here it means the country.
Like pillars of smoke. —The custom of heading a procession with incense is both very ancient and very general in the East; it is probably a relic of religious ceremonies where gods were carried in processions. For Frankincense, see Exodus 30:34.
"Behold, it is the litter of Solomon; Threescore mighty men are about it, Of the mighty men of Israel." — Song of Solomon 3:7 (ASV)
Bed. —Heb., mitta. Probably, from context, a litter.
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