Seeking and finding the beloved; marriage covenant
See the Song home page. The book is mostly the same as it is in this commentary.
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Night
It is a time of spiritual darkness.
Sought him ... found him not During the long centuries of the middle ages, the Scriptures which reveal Christ were not available to the common people. Church leaders gave only their interpretations which were based largely on tradition. |
| 2 I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. | I will rise now Notice the shift from past to future. The centuries of darkness are ending. Now she is ready to fully respond to the call given in 2:10. |
| 3 The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? | Watchmen
The spiritual leaders who were responsible for the people.
City The daughters of Jerusalem are seen in 1:5. Seeing the city as host, the daughters would be its inhabitants. The city is God's professed people. See ps048. |
| .4 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. | Passed
from them They could not help her. See jn0539,
da1204.
Found The Scriptures reveal Christ jn0539 and bring joy je1516. Daniel was to shut up the words and seal the book of prophecy which would be opened at the time of the end. Until ... into the chamber Isaac took his bride into his mother's tent for their union as husband and wife ge2467. But the lady in our story would have to wait. See the next verse. Conceived me Remembering that Solomon and his bride represent Christ and His church we may see a new era for Christ's followers, one of returning to the pure doctrines of the early church. In Revelation we would see this as the remnant of the woman's seed re1217. |
| .5
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.
5 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the does of the field, Do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases. (NKJV) |
Charge
See so0207a.
Stir not ... my love Now the end of another prophetic period is approaching. In Daniel 8:13 the question is asked, "How long shall be the vision ... to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?" And in response: "Unto two thousand three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed" (verse 14). People from many churches who studied the prophecies preached that Christ would come in 1844 to judge and to cleanse the earth with fire. They were obviously wrong, but the movement is certainly significant in religious history. And no matter how one interprets the prophecy of Daniel 8, the charge comes in the Song of Songs sequence at a second time when love was awaiting fulfillment. See the article "Prophetic Time Periods." |
| .6 ¶ Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? | Who is this that cometh? The pronoun and the verb is feminine. Both the bride and the bed are feminine in grammatical form. The "bed" is no doubt the correct choice. |
| .7 ¶ Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. | Bed The Hebrew word is better translated "couch." It is a place for sitting or reclining. But Solomon wasn't on the couch. He would have been more important than the couch and would normally have been mentioned if he were being carried. See v9. Symbolism drawn from the coronation of Joash 2ki11. |
| 8 They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. | Swords
Spiritual battles use the Scriptures to combat darkness. ep0617.
The swords of the 60 men defended the coming of Solomon who represents
Christ. At least they thought they knew how he would come.
Night The night was coming when the time for working would be past jn0904. See 2pe0119. |
 .9
King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.
Solomon made himself He knew the manner of his coming as does Christ. Chariot Or a palanquin (portable chair). He had been presented by the sixty valiant men as coming on a couch v7. In contrast to the bed or couch, we find him here making himself a portable chair suitable for his royalty 2ch0917. If we consider the palanquin as a portable throne and the couch as the marriage bed, then the contrast may illustrate his coming for judgment instead of for the completion of the marriage as had been expected. This is consistent with interpretations suggested for the disappointment in 5:6. In considering the previous scene with couch, we assume that Solomon was on it, but the text (verse 7) mentions only the couch. Lebanon He got wood from Lebanon for the temple. 1ki0502-6, 1ki0609. Image of palanquins
(sedan chairs) from China early 1800s
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| .10
He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the
covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for
the daughters of Jerusalem.
10 He made its pillars of silver, Its support of gold, Its seat of purple, Its interior paved with love By the daughters of Jerusalem. (NKJV) |
Covering
From merkab meaning "seat." See the word translated as "saddle"
in le1509.
Interior [covered] In preparing the ark for the sanctuary, Moses had been instructed to put the mercy seat on the ark as a lid and to place inside the two stone tablets on which the ten commandments were written ex2521. Also ps08914, is1605. What a beautiful representation of God's judgment throne! ps00907. The ark of the covenant has the justice of His law represented at its heart and is covered with mercy in love for us who seek his forgiveness. Here in Exodus 25, God was instructing Moses for setting up the tabernacle sanctuary. The ark was located in the inner room where the high priest ministered before the presence of the Lord on the yearly Day of Atonement. See le1629. Love for the daughters of Jerusalem The preposition "for" is consistent with v9. See lu2328. These are represented in mt2501 as the ten virgins waiting for the wedding. They are you and me who await entry into the wedding feast. |
| .11
Go forth, O ye 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.
With the crown The daughters of Jerusalem or Zion see Him after the crowning. Christ's work of intercession in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary he0801 is seen as judgment, da0719. It is the time of His being "near before" the Ancient of Days in da0713. When He comes out those judged as righteous are recognized as members of his kingdom da0714. Then He comes to receive us and we see Him face to face! jn1401, 1jo0302. He will be our forever king! |
Mother
crowned him. Christ and the One who sent Him to this earth are represented
in the Bible as Son and Father jn0828.
Because of the wedding motif in the Song of Songs, parental roles are played
by the mothers. Thus the Father to whom Christ ascended jn2017
and whose throne he sat down on re0321
may here be seen as His Mother who crowned Him.
Crowned Solomon recorded counsel in the book of Proverbs which involves a person's mother as well as his father pr0108. When would Jesus have been crowned? He was anointed a number of times. For example mt0316. He was inaugurated at Pentecost as priest and judge – found worthy to open the seals re0505. But it is not until the end of the preadvent judgment that He receives the kingdom. See on da0714. Then, with many crowns, He rides the white horse slaying the end-time wicked with the sword of His mouth re1912. At the end of the thousand years He becomes the uncontested Lord da0727, ph0210, he0209. Espousals From a word occurring only once in the Bible. We may see it as the time discussed above. The time of Christ's gladness may be seen when the redeemed are found to have been in the judgment da0714 (already linked). See is5311. |
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