The church's fight and victory in temptation, 1-5. The church glories in Christ, 6-11.
[Lady:]
1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves./
I sought him, but I did not find him.
2 I will rise now and go throughout the city in the streets,/
and in the broad ways/
I will seek him whom my soul loves./
I sought him, but I did not find him.
3 The watchmen who go throughout the city found me,/
to whom I said, "Did you see him whom my soul loves?"
4 It was but a little that I passed from them,/
but I found him whom my soul loves./
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 who conceived me.
5 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,/
by the gazelles and by the does of the field,/
that you do not stir up or awake my love/
until he pleases.
6 Who is this who comes out of the wilderness/
like pillars of smoke,/
perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,/
with all powders of the merchant?
7 Behold his bed, which is Solomon's./
Sixty valiant men are around it,/
of the valiant of Israel.
8 They all hold swords, being expert in war./
Every man has his sword upon his thigh/
because of fear in the night.
9 King Solomon made himself a chariot/
of the wood of Lebanon.
10 He made its pillars of silver,/
its back of gold, its seat of purple,/
its midst being covered with love/
from the daughters of Jerusalem.
11 Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon/
with the crown with which his mother crowned him/
in the day of his espousals/
and in the day of the gladness of his heart.
Matthew Henry Commentary - Song of Solomon, Chapter 3[➚]
John Gill's Chapter Summary:
In this chapter an account is given of an adventure of the church in quest of her beloved, of the time when, places where, and the persons of whom she sought him, and of her success upon the whole, with a charge she give to the daughters of Jerusalem (Song of Solomon 3:1-5); by whom she is commended (Song of Solomon 3:6); and then Christ, her beloved, is described by her, by his bed and the guard about it (Song of Solomon 3:7-8); by the chariot he rode in (Song of Solomon 3:9-10); and by the crown he wore on his coronation day (Song of Solomon 3:11).