# 29 2024 Dev. SS.3:2.The Heart Searches! Read all of chapter three first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.
SS.3:2 “I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him.”
Song of Songs. For centuries this book has been controversial in terms of how to read it. Is this a literal description of human relationships or is it allegorical, a rendering of the relationship of God and Israel or for Christians, Christ and the church? We have seen all three aspects are displayed.
SS.3 A woman searching, it is like a dream, longing for the one her heart loves, The church searching for Christ, and Christ is calling to us. He finds her, we are found, the church exists and the song culminates in the wedding of the lamb and His bride.
V.1 “All night long on my bed…” Is she dreaming? Dreaming of searching and finding?
V.2-4 “I will get up now and go about the city…” She is awake and goes out to search for her lover, metaphorically those searching for truth, for peace, for relief from this worldly life, looking for what will fulfill the human longing for purpose, for meaning and for contentment.
She doesn’t find him, “the watchmen found me”, strong attractions in this life are no help. “Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves.” No, he found her! She “held him and would not let him go” until the relationship is validated. Eph. 5:25-33 is the New Test. explanation; we quote only verse 31-32.“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[c]This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.”
V.5 Again there is a warning; a legitimate warning for lovers, as we mentioned in the last chapter, love, a potential for pleasure and procreation and a potential for great pain. Also, the love of Christ, salvation and eternal life, and the possibility of rejection by grieving the Holy Sprit.
Vs.6-10 “Who is coming up from the wilderness…” Is this the woman or is this the daughters of Jerusalem who speak? “Perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchants.” Very expensive but very desirable at this time and a simile for prayer and worship.
“Look! It is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty warriors.” David had thirty escorts. It is a wedding procession. The carriage is described as exceptionally ornate, and heavy. Some commentators think that maybe a bed room is being described or a throne room. Be that as it may the daughters of Jerusalem are addressed; “come out, and look, you daughters of Zion.” That is a term used for Israel. “ Look on King Solomon… on the day of his wedding…” Again, the New Test. informs us: “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah!’ For our Lord God Almighty reigns! Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.) Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” (Rev.19:6-9)
Are you invited???
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