Song 3:4 | KingComments | STEP | It is night when the bride leaves her bed and enters the city ( ), looking for the groom. She doesn’t find the groom, but others, the watchmen of the city, find her ( ). She addresses them without any introduction. She doesn’t mention a name, but asks the watchmen of the city if they ‘have seen him whom her soul loves’. After the bride has searched her groom in the wrong way and in the wrong place, she is now also looking for him with the wrong people. How can people who guard the city and have no connection with the groom answer her question? How can those who do not know him tell her where he is? We do not read that the watchmen answer. We can apply this to believers with mental problems who go to unbelieving counsellors – psychologists and psychiatrists – and ask them for a solution. But how can they offer a solution? After all, these people have no living relationship with the Lord Jesus. They do not believe in Him. If that relationship is not there, the whole quest is in vain. And the emptiness grows. The watchmen can also represent religious leaders, people who, in the eyes of people and also in their own eyes, have knowledge of the matter. They are the so-called caretakers of ‘their’ church, but they cannot help either. The general lesson we can learn here is: “Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation” ( ). In Mark 5, we read about “a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse” ( ). The many doctors she has visited in the hope of healing have only increased her suffering, while she has invested her entire property to pay for that help. Instead of recovery there has been worsening. Finally, she goes to the Lord Jesus. She says: “If I just touch His garments, I will get well” ( ). This means that it comes down to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is able to fill the void in our heart. It seems that the bride in has come out of town and there she finds her beloved. He can be found outside the city, in the field where he pastures the flock between the lilies, as she said before ( ). She forgot that, so she searched in the wrong places and with the wrong people. Now that she is free from the wrong, she runs into his arms. She has found him. So the Lord Jesus is not to be found in all kinds of man-made systems or with prominent spiritual leaders, but in the place of rejection. We can think of the cross of Calvary, which stood “outside the gate” of Jerusalem ( ). There the Lord is pleased to be found. Whosoever is not prepared to find and follow Him there, at the place of rejection, will never find Him. Efforts must be made to find Him there. But if one searches with longing and perseverance, trusting that He will let Himself be found, then He will let Himself be found. He has promised: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” ( ; ; ). The bride went out and left the city and all people behind. We can see this as escaping the hectic of life in the city with all its noise, being absorbed in all kinds of activities, without a moment of rest. The necessary and desired rest is found outside the city in the presence of the Lord. We all need those times of rest with the Lord. Many are lived by social media and do not have one moment of rest because they think they should always be available. There should be an immediate response when a message comes in. Social media determine life. Imagine that I would miss something, I have to be constantly informed. In this way, rest is increasingly taken away from us. Do we still have time to be alone with the Word of God and with the Lord Jesus? Only then will we find Him, not in the city, but outside the city. Then we get the strength to go back into the city to be a witness. When she has found him, she holds on to him ( ; ). She doesn’t want to lose him again. She is very careful about that now. Together with him she goes to her mother’s house. She goes back, so to speak, to the beginning of her existence, where her life began and she had her upbringing. If we have departed from the Lord, we must go back to the beginning of our life with Him. We must remember our first encounters with Him, our first love for Him ( ). The bride returns with her groom not only to her mother’s house, but to the room of her, “who conceived” her. That is all the way back to the beginning, to the moment of the birth of the new life. It is as Israel must always do, after the people have been delivered from Egypt. Each year they have to celebrate the Passover as a reminder of the deliverance from Egypt. So we can do this every Sunday, when we proclaim the Lord’s death, remembering what He has done for us. But we must also think about it every day, not forgetting that we are redeemed and how it happened, and thank the Lord for redeeming us from our sins and eternal judgment. Are we (still) grateful? Do we remember when and where our first real meeting with the Lord Jesus took place? Do we remember the joy and peace it has given us that the heavy burden of our sins has been taken away from us and that we have been born again and become children of God? When something drastic happens in the world, people are sometimes asked later where they were or what they were doing at that moment. They often remember that too. The turning from idols to God is the most profound event in the life of a person which he consciously experiences. Then the Lord Jesus with His love and authority enters his life and changes it completely. It gets a totally different perspective. In she addresses the same persons with the same words as in Song of Songs 2 ( ). It therefore sounds like a refrain. Yet it is not the same. Here, in Song of Songs 3, she speaks these words after the lost connection with the groom has been restored. So there is restoration of fellowship. Now that she has found him again and brought him into the room of her mother’s house, she hangs the sign DO NOT DISTURB on the door, as it were. She let it be known that she does not want to let in any elements that could disturb her regained fellowship with him again. Fellowship with the Lord Jesus is not a matter of speed. It takes time, even when the relationship is restored, to grow in it. Growing in faith should not be stimulated artificially. Thus, the use of loud, psychedelic music in a service works that the Beloved disappears. This is also the case with soft music that responds to the emotions. Fellowship with the Lord Jesus requires rest and peace, not incitement. The Spirit of God is present and works in “a gentle blowing”, not in “a great and strong wind”, “an earthquake” or “a fire” ( ). Love needs time to grow, even when cooled love is awakened again.

‏ Song of Solomon 3:4

Sought and Found

It is night when the bride leaves her bed and enters the city (Song 3:1-2), looking for the groom. She doesn’t find the groom, but others, the watchmen of the city, find her (Song 3:3). She addresses them without any introduction. She doesn’t mention a name, but asks the watchmen of the city if they ‘have seen him whom her soul loves’.

After the bride has searched her groom in the wrong way and in the wrong place, she is now also looking for him with the wrong people. How can people who guard the city and have no connection with the groom answer her question? How can those who do not know him tell her where he is? We do not read that the watchmen answer.

We can apply this to believers with mental problems who go to unbelieving counsellors – psychologists and psychiatrists – and ask them for a solution. But how can they offer a solution? After all, these people have no living relationship with the Lord Jesus. They do not believe in Him. If that relationship is not there, the whole quest is in vain. And the emptiness grows.

The watchmen can also represent religious leaders, people who, in the eyes of people and also in their own eyes, have knowledge of the matter. They are the so-called caretakers of ‘their’ church, but they cannot help either. The general lesson we can learn here is: “Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation” (Psa 146:3).

In Mark 5, we read about “a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse” (Mk 5:25-26). The many doctors she has visited in the hope of healing have only increased her suffering, while she has invested her entire property to pay for that help. Instead of recovery there has been worsening. Finally, she goes to the Lord Jesus. She says: “If I just touch His garments, I will get well” (Mk 5:28). This means that it comes down to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is able to fill the void in our heart.

It seems that the bride in Song 3:4 has come out of town and there she finds her beloved. He can be found outside the city, in the field where he pastures the flock between the lilies, as she said before (Song 2:16). She forgot that, so she searched in the wrong places and with the wrong people. Now that she is free from the wrong, she runs into his arms. She has found him.

So the Lord Jesus is not to be found in all kinds of man-made systems or with prominent spiritual leaders, but in the place of rejection. We can think of the cross of Calvary, which stood “outside the gate” of Jerusalem (Heb 13:12-13). There the Lord is pleased to be found. Whosoever is not prepared to find and follow Him there, at the place of rejection, will never find Him.

Efforts must be made to find Him there. But if one searches with longing and perseverance, trusting that He will let Himself be found, then He will let Himself be found. He has promised: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Mt 7:7-8; Jer 29:12-13; Isa 45:19).

The bride went out and left the city and all people behind. We can see this as escaping the hectic of life in the city with all its noise, being absorbed in all kinds of activities, without a moment of rest. The necessary and desired rest is found outside the city in the presence of the Lord. We all need those times of rest with the Lord.

Many are lived by social media and do not have one moment of rest because they think they should always be available. There should be an immediate response when a message comes in. Social media determine life. Imagine that I would miss something, I have to be constantly informed. In this way, rest is increasingly taken away from us.

Do we still have time to be alone with the Word of God and with the Lord Jesus? Only then will we find Him, not in the city, but outside the city. Then we get the strength to go back into the city to be a witness.

When she has found him, she holds on to him (Mt 28:9; Pro 3:18). She doesn’t want to lose him again. She is very careful about that now. Together with him she goes to her mother’s house. She goes back, so to speak, to the beginning of her existence, where her life began and she had her upbringing. If we have departed from the Lord, we must go back to the beginning of our life with Him. We must remember our first encounters with Him, our first love for Him (Rev 2:4-5).

The bride returns with her groom not only to her mother’s house, but to the room of her, “who conceived” her. That is all the way back to the beginning, to the moment of the birth of the new life. It is as Israel must always do, after the people have been delivered from Egypt. Each year they have to celebrate the Passover as a reminder of the deliverance from Egypt.

So we can do this every Sunday, when we proclaim the Lord’s death, remembering what He has done for us. But we must also think about it every day, not forgetting that we are redeemed and how it happened, and thank the Lord for redeeming us from our sins and eternal judgment.

Are we (still) grateful? Do we remember when and where our first real meeting with the Lord Jesus took place? Do we remember the joy and peace it has given us that the heavy burden of our sins has been taken away from us and that we have been born again and become children of God? When something drastic happens in the world, people are sometimes asked later where they were or what they were doing at that moment. They often remember that too. The turning from idols to God is the most profound event in the life of a person which he consciously experiences. Then the Lord Jesus with His love and authority enters his life and changes it completely. It gets a totally different perspective.

In Song 3:5 she addresses the same persons with the same words as in Song of Songs 2 (Song 2:7). It therefore sounds like a refrain. Yet it is not the same. Here, in Song of Songs 3, she speaks these words after the lost connection with the groom has been restored. So there is restoration of fellowship. Now that she has found him again and brought him into the room of her mother’s house, she hangs the sign DO NOT DISTURB on the door, as it were. She let it be known that she does not want to let in any elements that could disturb her regained fellowship with him again.

Fellowship with the Lord Jesus is not a matter of speed. It takes time, even when the relationship is restored, to grow in it. Growing in faith should not be stimulated artificially. Thus, the use of loud, psychedelic music in a service works that the Beloved disappears. This is also the case with soft music that responds to the emotions. Fellowship with the Lord Jesus requires rest and peace, not incitement. The Spirit of God is present and works in “a gentle blowing”, not in “a great and strong wind”, “an earthquake” or “a fire” (1Kgs 19:11-13). Love needs time to grow, even when cooled love is awakened again.