A Commentary in Simple English on Song of Songs

The Third Poem: Chapter 3:1-5

In verse 1, the young girl seems to dream. (See also 5:2-8.) ‘All night long’ or perhaps ‘night after night’ she dreams about the young man she loves. Still, she does not get out of bed to find him. She does not try very hard. We can see from the next verse that she is no longer out in the country. She is in the city now.

There are times when our love for Christ is like this. We have a real love for him. We know that we want to pray. We want to know that he is close to us. Yet we do nothing about it.

In verse 2, the young girl decides that she will do more. It is night. The streets are dark and almost empty of people. The ‘squares’ of a city were between the two city walls at the gates. She is perhaps not wise to go out at night. So she looks for the man she loves. She does not find him.

Instead in verse 3, the ‘watchmen’ found her. They were rather like police. They went round the streets at night to make sure that nothing went wrong. So she asks them whether they have seen her lover. It seems that they say nothing to her. Then in verse 4, she goes a little further and she finds her man.

We can think of the ‘watchmen’ as Christian ministers. We may turn to them when we want to find Christ for ourselves. They may be able to help us. Sometimes they cannot. We should not give up. We should go a little further. Jesus went a ‘little farther’ to help us. (Think about Mark 1:19; 6:48; 14:35 and Luke 24:28.)

A good minister helps people to find Jesus. A man who makes people argue with each other is probably of little use.

So the girl will not let go of the man she loves. (Think about Genesis 32:26 and John 20:17.) Notice that she brings him to her mother’s house. Her father seems to play no part in the story. (See 8:2; Genesis 24:28 and Ruth 1:8.)

The bright light and colours in the sky when the sun rises will soon fade away. The warm joy, which we feel when we first know that Jesus is with us, may not last very long. We can do a little to keep it. We can share it with ‘the daughters of Jerusalem’, that is, with other Christians (verse 5). We must not be tempted to keep away from other Christians.