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Song of Songs 3: Summary and Commentary

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Song of Songs 3 has not been written up in our own words yet. Below are the notes on it from three commentaries — start with Tyndale, which is written in modern English for readers new to the Bible.

What the commentaries say about Song of Songs 3

Three commentaries, oldest last. Each is shown in full with its author and licence, and every scripture reference inside them links through to the verse.

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Song of Songs 3

Tyndale House Publishers, released openly in 2023

Short, plain-English notes written for people reading the Bible for the first time. They explain what a word meant to its original audience, why a detail is there, and where else in Scripture the same idea shows up. If you only read one set of notes on this page, read this one.

5 notes on Song of Songs 3

Verse 2

3:2 The poem is partly about a lover’s being willing and able to overcome all obstacles in order to be with the beloved. • Since the women of Jerusalem are mentioned frequently (3:5), the city is probably Jerusalem. Searching in all its streets and squares was an ambitious effort. • The king of Israel would probably not be outside in the city at night, and if he had his sixty-man entourage with him (3:7-8), she would find him easily. Rather, the woman appears to be looking for a common man in common places.

Verse 3

3:3 The watchmen of ancient towns or cities were roughly equivalent to police. Guardians of social custom and law, they were posted on the city walls to look out for attack and to assure that any traffic in or out of the city was not threatening. • The woman may have been stopped because she was not a resident of the city and was not recognized. It was not considered appropriate for a woman to be out alone at night. The scene accentuates the strong desire that the woman must have felt toward the man as she ignored social conventions and safety considerations.

Verse 6

3:6-11 According to the three-character dramatic interpretation, Solomon’s humility and generosity show in his attending this wedding of a woman who preferred a common shepherd’s love over his. With Solomon in attendance, this ordinary wedding becomes a magnificent ceremony. • If the Song is an anthology, this poem describes what appears to be Solomon’s wedding procession. People are amazed by the opulence of his carriage and the power represented by his entourage. All of this reflects on the significance of marriage in the same way that expensive and beautiful wedding dresses and tuxedos do in modern marriages.

Verse 9

3:9-10 The materials out of which King Solomon’s carriage was made befit his wealth and power, including the same expensive Lebanese wood that was used in building the Temple (1 Kgs 5:5-6). • decorated with love by the young women of Jerusalem: Beyond all his splendor, Solomon was admired and served with love, even by his servants.

Verse 11

3:11 This is the only explicit mention of a wedding in the Song. The woman is called a “bride” in 4:8-12; 5:1.

Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Reformatted for the web by BibleHearth; wording unchanged. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Read the original

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on Song of Songs 3

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, 1871

Three Scottish scholars working phrase by phrase through the whole Bible. Where a translation had to choose one English wording, they tell you what the Hebrew or Greek actually says and what the alternatives were. Useful when you want to know why two Bibles word the same verse differently.

Before you start: Written in 1871 and organised around short quoted phrases followed by a dash, then the explanation. It reads more like reference notes than prose, and it assumes you have the verse in front of you.

Chapter overview of Song of Songs 3

What this chapter is doing

By night—literally, "By nights." Continuation of the longing for the dawn of the Messiah (Sol 2:17; Psa 130:6; Mal 4:2). The spiritual desertion here (Sol 2:17; Sol 3:5) is not due to indifference, as in Sol 5:2-8. "As nights and dews are better for flowers than a continual sun, so Christ's absence (at times) giveth sap to humility, and putteth an edge on hunger, and furnisheth a fair field to faith to put forth itself" [RUTHERFORD]. Contrast Sol 1:13; Psa 30:6-7.

on . . . bed—the secret of her failure (Isa 64:7; Jer 29:13; Amo 6:1, Amo 6:4; Hos 7:14).

loveth—no want of sincerity, but of diligence, which she now makes up for by leaving her bed to seek Him (Psa 22:2; Psa 63:8; Isa 26:9; Joh 20:17). Four times (Sol 3:1-4) she calls Jesus Christ, "Him whom my soul loveth," designating Him as absent; language of desire: "He loved me," would be language of present fruition (Rev 1:5). In questioning the watchmen (Sol 3:3), she does not even name Him, so full is her heart of Him. Having found Him at dawn (for throughout He is the morning), she charges the daughters not to abridge by intrusion the period of His stay. Compare as to the thoughtful seeking for Jesus Christ in the time of John the Baptist, in vain at first, but presently after successful (Luk 3:15-22; John 1:19-34).

found him not—Oh, for such honest dealings with ourselves (Pro 25:14; Jde 1:12)!

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary (Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, 1871). Public domain. Reformatted for the web by BibleHearth; wording unchanged. Public domain · Read the original

Where to go deeper on Song of Songs 3

Both of these are free to read and neither can be reproduced here — The Gospel Coalition and BibleProject keep their work under their own copyright. They are worth the click, especially if you are new to reading the Bible.