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ACT II (VERSES 3.1-4) |
ACT II (VERSES 3.1-4): Shulamith’s experiences a “troubled night”. (This should be typical of the onset of the End Times.)
Shulamith recounts to her companions, the Daughters of
Jerusalem, a troubled night in which she fitfully sought her shepherd/lover but
was unable to find him (3.1). She rose and went about the city in the streets
and squares, seeking but not finding him (3.2). She inquired of the city
watchmen, "Have you seen the one I love" (3.3)? But then scarcely had
she thought to pass by them, that she found her lover, holding him tightly, then
bringing him to the home of her mother (3.4).
In one sense, the “troubled night” might be thought to depict the earthly sojourn of the Body of Christ throughout the entire Church age, for Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16.33). Yet, we recall that the Church Age itself is typically masked in Old Testament prophecy, and Israel does not come into view until the onset of the End Times. Therefore, the Hebrew perspective of the Song of Songs moves us to focus on the arrival of the End Times, during the final years of the Church Age, as the historic interval, which should most probably be assigned to Shulamite’s first “troubled night”. It was this period that brought a heightened period of trouble to the Jews, when sin and spiritual darkness came upon the whole world to an intensified degree. The Prophets Speak associates the beginning of the End Times with the onset of World War II in 1939, and the time following leading up to Daniel’s 70th Week, a period spoken of in the Olivet Discourse as a time of Great Tribulation, when there would arise many false Christ’s and false prophets.
It
is not immediately clear whether Shulamith’s story, recounted to the Daughters
of Jerusalem, is a dream or something she actually experienced. However, if the
story is to be typical of the Body of Christ during those final years of the
Church Age, another Scripture speaking of the Body of Christ may provide some additional insight, for Paul
tells us that “while we (the Body of Christ), are at home in the
body, we are absent from the Lord” (II Corinthians 5.6-8). Therefore, if
the account of the “troubled night” intends to typify the Body of Christ
during the period of the End Times, they must have been “at home
in the body” at its beginning (3.1-3), but “absent from the body”
at its conclusion, since they are finally found present with their Lord (3.4a).
Consequently, the story under consideration would appear to be appropriate for
those of the Body of Christ who live and die prior to the Lord’s indicated
epiphany during Daniel’s 70th Week. In this sense, the wording does
not define a specific time when they put aside their earthly tabernacles, but
indicates simply that they are found in the presence of their Lord at some time
during this period.
Verse (3.4b) supports this placement of Shulamite’s first “troubled night” to be in the End Times, because after finding him, she immediately brings her “lover/king” to the house of her “mother”. Recall from Act I, Scene 2, that Shulamith’s “mother” should typify Israel; therefore the proposed connection between this present verse and the End Times finds her bringing the Lord to Israel during the End Times. This is also in accordance with the finding in The Prophets Speak that the advent of the End Times marked the occasion when the Lord again turned His attention to the Jews, first during their persecution in World War II, then with Israel’s rebirth in the Land of their inheritance in 1948.