Bible Commentaries

Song of Solomon 3:2

Prophetically, the whole of these verses may be taken as delineating the sorrow of the first disciples at the departure of Christ from the earth. But the passage has its fulfilment again and again. The leading idea is that of a temporary estrangement, real or imaginary, between Christ and His people, during which they seek Him, but cannot find Him.

I. There would be nothing remarkable in the Redeemer denying the consolations of His presence to those who were careless about Him. The remarkable point suggested by the text is that there is such a thing as desiring God, and being disappointed. It would seem an ordinary feature in God's providence to withdraw occasionally from the saints, in order to increase that very craving after Him which He declines to gratify. He suspends His operations on their behalf until what we call the last moment. There is a failing to discover God for which He will not condemn us, a failing which comes not of us but of Him, in the plenitude, not of wrath, but of mercy. Only be sure that you really struggle to do what He enjoins. Only resolve whether He pour upon you the sunshine of His favour, or leave you wrapped in clouds to be found in the path of duty, and the temporary gloom shall ere long fade, and a fairer morning break.

II. From the foregoing considerations there flows a very solemn thought. The Redeemer must personally engage Himself about every soul. The spirit of each man and woman is a separate planet in the spiritual system, whose summer and winter, whose storms and sunshine, are regulated by Deity alone. Hence the full meaning of that passage in which Christ Jesus is called the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. It intimates that the human soul is so fine and subtle a thing that none but He can supervise and tend it. His withdrawing Himself is a proof of His individual care.

Bishop Woodford, Occasional Sermons, vol. ii., p. 105.

References: Song of Solomon 3:4.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 275; Ibid., My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi, p. 207; J. Keble, Sermons on Various Occasions, p. 458; R. M. McCheyne, Memoirs and Remains, p. 412. Song of Solomon 3:4, Song of Solomon 3:5.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1035. Song of Solomon 3:5-8.—C. A. Fowler, Parochial Sermons, p. 119. Song of Solomon 3:6-11.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii., No. 482. Song of Solomon 3:7-8.—J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Song of Songs, p. 137. Song of Solomon 3:9, Song of Solomon 3:10.—Ibid., pp. 151, 360. Song of Solomon 3:10.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xix., No. 1134. Song of Solomon 3:11.—J. M. Neale, Sermons in Sackville College, vol. iii., p. 311. Song of Solomon 4:6.—Ibid., Sermons on the Song of Songs, pp. 159, 172. Song of Solomon 4:7.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, pp. 337, 338. Song of Solomon 4:10, Song of Solomon 4:11.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. v., No. 282. Song of Solomon 4:12.—Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 323; R. M. McCheyne, Memoirs and Remains, p. 337. Song of Solomon 4:12-15.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii., No. 431; J. M. Neale, Sermons on the Song of Songs, p. 184.