I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.
Chapter 3 has followed the bride through a long search until she finds the one she loves and holds Him fast. Now she repeats the charge she gave in 2:7 — but who is the sleeper here, and why the warning?
A refrain that marks progress
The charge is not filler in a love song. Each time it appears, it opens something new — and it tells us who this bride is.
William KellyI have already shown the importance of this statement that comes in now and again in the book. It always introduces a fresh view of the matter and of the Lord as anticipated by the heart of Jerusalem. Here you must remember that Jerusalem is to be the chosen bride — not the Jerusalem on high, and not the Jerusalem that now is, but the Jerusalem that is to be, born of God. She is to be the bride of the King when He comes again into this world.
Watch what comes after each charge. The Lord's coming follows, and each time in a fuller way.
Andrew MillerThe same charge occurs in 8:4. Each time she gives it, the coming of the Lord follows at once. In chapter 2:7, it is the revelation of Himself. "The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes." It is Himself, personally, who is in view there. In 3:5, it is the Messiah coming in royal procession. He is the true Solomon, crowned King of Israel by the heart of the nation. In chapter 8:4, we see the bride leaving the wilderness united to Him. This is marked progress. "Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?"
Who must not be awakened
Older translations read "till he please". Commentators differ over who is resting. One takes the sleeper to be the bride, held safe in His arms.
The Song of SolomonThe Hebrew reads "till it please", and the context must make clear whether it is he or she. We have the same verse in chapter 2 verse 7. There the verse before it shows that it is she who rests in His strong embrace, asleep, while He watches with tender care that nothing disturbs her rest. So here also in 3:5. She leaves everything to search for Him alone. Having found Him, she brings Him into her own home. Then we find her fully at rest, asleep in His arms, while He watches that nothing disturbs her peace. She could not rest in her own bed without Him, but now in His arms — what rest, what peace is hers!
Another writer reads it the other way, and rests his case on the Hebrew word for love.
J. N. DarbyHere in chapter 3:5 and 8:4 the word is not the one used in verse 2 and elsewhere, but ahavah (the love). If it were ray-ah (love, or companion) the answer would have to be "she". But the feminine form of the verb depends on ahavah, so the sense must decide the question. I am inclined to think the English version is right. The beloved One rests in His love.
Why gazelles and does
Why swear by wild animals at all? Their nature is the whole point of the appeal.
Andrew MillerWhen the soul is occupied with Him in this way, He above all others is most careful that it should not be disturbed. The gazelles and the does are the most easily startled creatures in the field. Their hearing is so sharp that a distant sound of danger will alarm them. We should all be just as sensitive to the faintest approach of anything that would spoil our walk and communion with the Lord. We should be just as alert to whatever would turn us aside from paths of practical holiness and complete devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rest given, not worked for
Her rest began only when she found Him. That order explains why so many lose their rest.
Andrew MillerWhy is it that so many true Christians are strangers to solid peace and rest, not to mention joy and love? Simply because Christ Himself is not the one object before the mind and the heart. The moment Christ gets His right place in the heart, everything else drops into its own right place according to divine order. But if anything is allowed to come between the heart and Christ, the Holy Spirit is grieved, the soul is darkened, weakness and confusion follow, and the whole moral being gets out of order.
Summary
- Sought. She could not rest in her own bed without Him. Rest began only when she found Him.
- Found. Once she holds Him, the searching ends and the resting begins. His arms give what her effort could not.
- Guarded. The charge is sworn by the most easily startled animals in the field. Be that alert to anything that would break your communion with Him.
- Disputed. Commentators differ on who rests. Some read the bride asleep in His arms. Others read the Beloved resting in His love. The Hebrew leaves it to the sense.
- Repeated. The same charge returns in 2:7, 3:5 and 8:4. Each time the Lord's coming follows: first Himself, then the crowned King, then the bride leaning on Him out of the wilderness.