Song of Solomon 3:1

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. Song of Solomon 3:1 BY NIGHT - literally, 'By nights.' Continuation of the losing for the dawn of Messiah (). The spiritual desertion here (; ). is not due to indifference, as in Song of Solomon 5:2. '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' (Rutherf...

1-5 It was hard to the Old Testament church to find Christ in the ceremonial law; the watchmen of that church gave little assistance to those who sought after him. The night is a time of coldness, darkness, and drowsiness, and of dim apprehensions concerning spiritual things. At first, when uneasy, some feeble efforts are made to obtain the comfort of communion with Christ. This proves in vain; the believer is then roused to increased diligence. The streets and broad-ways seem to imply the means of grace in which the Lord is to be sought. Application is made to those who watch for men's souls. Immediate satisfaction is not found. We must not rest in any means, but by faith apply directly to Christ. The holding of Christ, and not letting him go, denotes earnest cleaving to him. What prevails is a humble, ardent suing by prayer, with a lively exercise of faith on his promises. So long as...

CHAPTER III _The bride mentions the absence of her spouse, her search after_ _him, and her ultimate success_, 1-5. _A description of the bridegroom, his bed, chariot, c._, 6-11. NOTES ON CHAP. III Verse Song of Solomon 3:1. _BY NIGHT ON MY BED I SOUGHT HIM_] It appears that the bridegroom only saw the bride _by night_: that on the night referred to here he did not come as usual. The bride troubled on the account, rose and sought him, inquired of the city guards, and continued to seek till at last she found him, and brought him to her apartment, Song of Solomon 3:2.

BY NIGHT - i. e., In the night-hours....

EXPOSITION SONG OF SOLOMON 3:1 BY NIGHT ON MY BED I SOUGHT HIM WHOM MY SOUL LOVETH: I SOUGHT HIM, BUT I FOUND HIM NOT. The bride is probably relating a dream. The time referred to is the close of the day on which she had been visited by her lover. She is retired to rest, and dreams that she searches for the beloved object in the neighbouring city (cf. Job 33:15). It is another way of telling her love. She is always longing for the beloved one. She had been waiting for him, and he came not, and retired to rest with a heart troubled and anxious because her lover did not appear as she expected at the evening hour. The meaning may be "night after night (לֵילוֹת)" (cf. So...

BY NIGHT ON MY BED I SOUGHT HIM WHOM MY SOUL LOVETH,.... The day being not yet broke, the night of Jewish darkness still on the church, and the shadow of the ceremonial law as yet stretched upon her; and having some knowledge of Christ by types and prophecies, desires more, and seeks it in the use of means: though the words may be taken in a more large sense, and represent the state and condition of the church and of all true believers in any age, and at one time as well as another; who, when their beloved is absent, it is "night" with them; as Christ's presence makes day, his absence makes night; and it was now night with the Church, either of affliction, or of darkness and desertion, and indeed of both. The word is plural, "by nights" i; one night after another, successively, she sought her beloved; which both expresses the continuance of her state, and her diligence and constancy in s...

Song of Solomon 3:1. _By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. 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. The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?_ The same question over and over again only that. one thought, «Where is he?» Ministers were nothing; streets of ordinances were nothing; what the soul wanted was to find a personal Christ, and to have personal fellowship with him. Song of Solomon 3:4. _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,_ Jacob's wrestlings ar

CHAPTER 3 The scene changes. The bride is now alone and in the darkness of the night. She is seeking her Beloved and is unable to find Him. Her heart is filled with the same love she exhibits in the previous chapter, but the joy and comfort she lacks. We see her walking through the streets and in the broadways, looking for Him whom her soul loveth; she sought Him but found Him not; Then the watchmen of the night which pass through the street came across the seeking one and she eagerly inquires, “Have ye seen Him whom my soul loveth?” They have no answer for her, probably they knew not what she meant. No sooner had she passed them by, when she found Him. All this is prophetic, as it reveals the soul exercise of that godly remnant of Israel during the night of tribulation. There is no need of giving a meaning to every detail. As already stated, His coming described in So

A DREAM OF LOVE. The adjuration Song of Solomon 3:5 (_cf._ Song of Solomon 2:7) may have been added to adapt the passionate poem to the wedding week, in which there was much noisy revelling. For another song with similar motive _cf_. Song of Solomon 5:2 ff. The bride tells a dream which came to her, night after night, and was a reflection of the love that moved her spirit in its waking hours. It is the story of the oft-repeated and at last successful search for him who was the object of her love, till they were happy in her mother's home. _The city_ may be any town or village; the BROAD WAYS are the open spaces in contrast to the narrow lanes. WATCHMEN (cf

_By night_ Lit. IN THE NIGHTS. In Psalms 16:7 the same phrase is translated "in the night seasons," and some understand it here of the night hours. But in none of the few passages in which the plural _lçlôth_occurs, is it used in this sense. In all it refers to more nights than one, not to the several parts of one night. It would therefore seem that she means to say, that one night after another she dreamt that she missed and sought her lover. More than once that had come to her, so that more than one night must have passed before she told the dream. _on my bed_ This means that the dream came to her when she was in her bed. The repetition of _I sought_expresses well the continued and repeated searching always ending in failure, which is so characteristic of dreams and so painful. The place where she first looked for him is left indeterminate as it often is in dreams.