Song of Solomon 3:4

“[It was] but a little that I passed from them, etc.] Either a small moment of time, as the Targum and Aben Ezra; or a little distance of place, that is, from the watchmen or ministers, from whom she passed; not through disrespect to them, much less contempt of them; nor because she received no benefit at all from them; but her going on shows she did not rest in means, but looked beyond them, and went on further in the exercise of her faith, and hope of finding her beloved: and meeting with him a little after she had passed from the ministers suggests that Christ is not far from his ministers and ordinances; for it follows, but I found him whom my soul loveth; which she expresses with the…”

“I held him - This begins the fourth stanza. The bride’s mother is mentioned again in Song of Solomon 6:9; Song of Solomon 8:2. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Found him - Christ met me, and manifested his love to me. Mother's house - As the spouse here, signifies particular believers, so her mother is the universal church, or the true Jerusalem, which hath its rise from above, which is the mother of us all, Gal 4:26, in which Christ and believers are united, and have sweet communion together in holy ordinances, into which believers are said to bring Christ, by faith and prayer. Conceived me - Christ is as it were the father that begets, and the church the mother that conceives and brings forth believers. Song of Solomon (Canticles) 3:6”

“but: Sol 6:12; Pro 8:17; Isa 45:19, Isa 55:6, Isa 55:7; Jer 29:13; Lam 3:25; Mat 7:7 I held: Sol 7:5; Gen 32:26; Pro 4:13; Hos 12:3, Hos 12:4; Mat 28:9; Joh 20:16, Joh 20:17; Rev 3:11, Rev 3:12 I had: Isa 49:14-18, Isa 54:1-3; Gal 4:26 Song of Solomon (Canticles) 3:5”

“4 Scarcely had I passed from them, When I found him whom my soul loveth. I seized him, and did not let him go Until I brought him into the house of my mother, And into the chamber of her that gave me birth. כּמעט = paululum, here standing for a sentence: it was as a little that I passed, etc. Without שׁ, it would be paululum transii; with it, paululum fuit quod transii, without any other distinction than that in the latter case the paululum is more emphatic. Since Shulamith relates something experienced earlier, אחזתּי is not fitly rendered by teneo, but by tenui; and ארפּנּוּ dna ;iune לאו, not by et non dimittam eum, but, as the neg. of וארפנו, et dimisi eum, - not merely et non dimittebam…”