Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Song of Solomon 3

Song of Solomon 3: a night search through the city and king Solomon's procession

General context

By night on her bed she sought him whom her soul loves and did not find him. She resolves to rise and go about the city, through the streets and broad ways, seeking him, and again does not find him. The watchmen who go about the city find her, and she asks them whether they have seen him whom her soul loves. A little after passing them she finds him, holds him and will not let him go until she has brought him into her mother's house, into the chamber of her that conceived her. She charges the daughters of Jerusalem by the roes and hinds of the field not to stir up or awake her love till he please. A voice asks who this is that comes out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense and all the powders of the merchant. The bed is Solomon's; threescore valiant men of the valiant of Israel are about it, all holding swords, expert in war, each with his sword on his thigh because of fear in the night. King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon, with pillars of silver, a bottom of gold, a covering of purple and its midst paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem. The daughters of Zion are told to go forth and look at king Solomon with the crown his mother crowned him with in the day of his espousals and the day of the gladness of his heart.

Cited passages: Song of Solomon 3:1, Song of Solomon 3:2, Song of Solomon 3:3, Song of Solomon 3:4, Song of Solomon 3:5, Song of Solomon 3:6, Song of Solomon 3:7, Song of Solomon 3:8, Song of Solomon 3:9, Song of Solomon 3:10, Song of Solomon 3:11

Song of Solomon 3 (KJV)

¹By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

²I 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.

³The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?

⁴It 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.

⁵I 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.

⁶Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?

⁷Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel.

⁸They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night.

⁹King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon.

¹⁰He 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.

¹¹Go 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.

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Historical context

Verses 1 to 5 are a first-person feminine account; the speaker brings the man into my mother's house and repeats the phrase him whom my soul loveth four times without naming him. The city, its streets and its watchmen are unnamed, and the text records no answer from the watchmen to her question. From verse 6 the speaker is not marked; the text does not say who asks who is this, nor who is coming out of the wilderness, since the verse describes the arrival only by smoke and perfume. Solomon is named three times in this chapter: his bed with threescore valiant men of Israel around it, his chariot of the wood of Lebanon, and king Solomon crowned by his mother on the day of his espousals. The text does not say that the man sought in verses 1 to 4 is Solomon; the two passages are placed side by side without a connecting statement. The bride of the espousals is not named, and the fear in the night that explains the swords is not explained further. The daughters of Zion in verse 11 are addressed where the rest of the book addresses the daughters of Jerusalem, who are named in verses 5 and 10.

Cited passages: Song of Solomon 3:4, Song of Solomon 3:1, Song of Solomon 3:3, Song of Solomon 3:6, Song of Solomon 3:7, Song of Solomon 3:9, Song of Solomon 3:11, Song of Solomon 3:8, Song of Solomon 3:10

Literary context

The night search is built on repetition. I sought him, but I found him not closes both of the first two verses, and him whom my soul loveth appears in each of the first four, so that the finding in verse 4 lands on the same phrase the searching used. The movement is from bed to city to streets to watchmen to mother's house, and the holding, I held him, and would not let him go, answers the losing. The charge to the daughters of Jerusalem repeats chapter 2 word for word and closes the scene. The second half changes register without transition: a question, who is this that cometh out of the wilderness, which the book asks again near its end, then a procession described through materials, smoke, myrrh, frankincense, swords, silver, gold, purple, with love set among the materials as what paves the chariot's midst. Fear in the night stands opposite the woman's search by night on my bed. The chapter ends not with a meeting but with a command to look, go forth and behold, and the phrase the gladness of his heart.

Cited passages: Song of Solomon 3:1, Song of Solomon 3:2, Song of Solomon 3:4, Song of Solomon 3:5, Song of Solomon 2:7, Song of Solomon 3:6, Song of Solomon 8:5, Song of Solomon 3:10, Song of Solomon 3:8, Song of Solomon 3:11

Key moments

Sought by night (Song of Solomon 3:1). On her bed by night she seeks the one her soul loves and does not find him.
The watchmen find her (Song of Solomon 3:3). The watchmen going about the city find her, and she asks if they have seen him.
Held and brought home (Song of Solomon 3:4). She finds him, will not let go, and brings him into her mother's house.
Charge to the daughters (Song of Solomon 3:5). She charges the daughters of Jerusalem not to awake love till he please.
Pillars of smoke from the wilderness (Song of Solomon 3:6). A voice asks who comes from the wilderness perfumed with myrrh and frankincense.
Sixty valiant men (Song of Solomon 3:7). Solomon's bed is surrounded by threescore armed men of Israel.
Crowned by his mother (Song of Solomon 3:11). The daughters of Zion are told to behold king Solomon crowned on the day of his espousals.

For reflection

A woman searching the streets at night for the one she loves is followed, with no connecting word, by king Solomon carried in a chariot with sixty armed men. What does the chapter ask a reader to make of setting these two scenes side by side?