---
title: "Ellicott"
description: "III. (1) A reminiscence (elaborated in Song of Solomon 5:2 seq.) of the intensity of their love before their union, put by the poet into his lady’s mouth."
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/song-of-solomon/3"
---

**III.**
(1) A reminiscence (elaborated in [Song of Solomon 5:2](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/5/2) *seq.*)**of the intensity of their love before their union, put by the poet into his lady’s mouth. She “arises from dreams” of him, and goes to find him.

(3) **The watchmen that go about the city**.—“Henceforward until morning the streets are deserted and silent, with only here and there a company returning from a visit, with a servant bearing a lantern before them. The city-guard creeps softly about in utter darkness, and apprehends all found walking in the streets without a light” (Thomson, *Land and Book,*p. 32—in description of Beirût).

(4) **I held him**. . .—Bossuet, following Bede, regards this as prophetic of Mary Magdalen (type of the Church) on the morning of the Resurrection.

(6) **Who is this that cometh.**—The dramatic feeling is decidedly shown in the passage introduced by this verse, but we still regard it as a scene passing only in the theatre of the fancy, introduced by the poet in his Epithalamium, partly from his sympathy with all newly-wedded people, partly (as [Song of Solomon 8:11](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/8/11)) to contrast the simplicity of his own espousals, of which all the joy centred in true love, with the pomp and magnificence of a royal marriage, which was a State ceremony.
**Wilderness.**—Heb., *midbar.*The idea is that of a wide open space, with or without pasture: the country of nomads, as distinguished from that of a settled population. With the article (as here) generally of the desert of Arabia, but also of the tracts of country on the frontiers of Palestine ([Joshua 8:16](../../../kjv/joshua/8/16); [Judges 1:16](../../../kjv/judges/1/16); comp. [Matthew 3:1](../../../kjv/matthew/3/1), &c). Here *= the country.*
**Like pillars of smoke.**—The custom of heading a cortege with incense is both very ancient and very general in the East: probably a relic of religious ceremonials where gods were carried in processions. For *Frankincense,*see [Exodus 30:34](../../../kjv/exodus/30/34).

(7) **Bed.**—Heb., *mitta.*Probably, from context, a *litter.
*

(8) **Because of fear**—*i.e.,*because of the alarms common at night. For *fear*in the sense of object of fear, comp. [Psalms 91:5](../../../kjv/psalms/91/5); [Proverbs 3:25](../../../kjv/proverbs/3/25).

(9) **A chariot.**—Marg., *bed;*Heb., *appiryôn.*A word of very doubtful etymology. Its derivation has been sought in Hebrew, Persian, Greek, and Sanskrit. The LXX. render φορεῖον; Vulg., *ferculum;*and it seems natural, with Gesenius, to trace the three words to the root common in *parah,*φέρω*,*fero, fahren, bear, and possibly the sign of such a common origin in the Sanskrit *pargana = a saddle*(Hitzig). At all events, *appiryôn*must be a *palanquin,*or *litter,*both from the context, which describes the approach of a royal cortége, and from the description given of it, where the word translated *covering*suggests the notion of a movable litter, rather than of a State bed.

(10) **Bottom.**—Heb., *rephidah = supports.*Probably the back of the litter on which the occupant leaned.
**The midst thereof**. . .—Literally, *its interior paved love from the daughters of Jerusalem.*There are three possible renderings. (1) Its interior made bright by a lovely girl of, &c; and (2) its interior paved in a lovely way by, &c; (3) its interior tesselated as a mark of love by, &c. The last of these does the least violence to the text as it stands, but very possibly some words have dropped out between *ratzuph,*paved, and *ahabah,*love.

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