שיר השירים ג׳:א׳-ה׳

על משכבי בלילות. בצר לי שישבתי אפילה כל שלשים ושמנה שנה שהיו ישראל נזופים:

On my bed at night. In my distress, when I lived in the darkness¹The Bnei Yisroel were left in darkness after the Clouds of Glory had withdrawn from them and the holy crown that had been given to them at Mt. Sinai was taken away. (Targum) for the entire thirty-eight years²After the sin of the spies it was declared that the Bnei Yisroel would wander in the wilderness for forty years. Since two years had already past, they had to wander for another thirty-eight years and during this time the Divine Presence was hidden from them. that the [Bnei] Yisroel were under reproach.

בקשתיו ולא מצאתיו. (שמות) כי אינני בקרבכם (שם) כי לא אעלה בקרבך:

I sought him but did not find him. “For I will not go up in your midst,”³Shemos 33:3. This was on account of the golden calf. [and] “for I am not in your midst.”⁴Devarim 1:42. This was on account of the spies.

אקומה נא. ואבקשה (שמות לג) ויחל משה (שם לב) אעלה אל ה':

I will rise now ... I will seek. “And Moshe prayed,”⁵Shemos 32:11. [and] “I will go up to the Adonoy.”⁶Ibid. 32:30.

מצאוני השומרים. משה ואהרן:

The watchmen found me. Moshe and Aharon.⁷They guarded the Bnei Yisroel from sin during the Egyptian exile. Also in reference to Ezra and Nechemyah who watched over the Bnei Yisroel during the exile of Bavel. (Alshich)

את שאהבה נפשי ראיתם. מה מצאתם בפיו:

Him whom my soul loves, have you seen him. What [message] did you find in His mouth?

כמעט שעברתי מהם. קרוב לפרישתם ממני לסוף ארבעים שנה:

Scarcely had I departed from them. Shortly after their parting from me,⁸I.e., shortly after the deaths of Moshe and Aharon. at the end of the forty years.

עד שמצאתי. שהיה עמי בימי יהושע לכבוש שלשים ואחד מלכים:

When I found. That He was with me in the days of Yehoshua to conquer the thirty-one kings.

אחזתיו ולא ארפנו. לא נתתי לו רפיון עד שהביאותיו אל משכן שילה בשביל כל זאת שעשה לי

I grasped him and would not let him go. I did not loosen my grasp on Him until I brought Him to the Tabernacle at Shiloh because of all this that He had done for me.

השבעתי אתכם. האומות בהיותי גולה ביניכם:

I bind you under oath. The nations, while I was exiled among you.

אם תעירו ואם תעוררו. אהבת דודי ממני על ידי פתוי והסתה לעוזבו לשוב מאחריו:

That you do not cause hatred nor disturb the love of my beloved from me through seduction or enticement, to forsake him and to turn away from following him.

עד שתחפץ. בעוד שאהבתו חפץ עלי

While it still pleases. As long as I still desire his love.