The third chapter of The Song of Songs is perhaps the strangest of the entire book. It has two distinct parts divided by the quasi-chorus ("do not stir up love until it pleases") that appears in some form or another throughout the entire poem. The first half details Rayati's search for Dodi, or perhaps a dream of her search for him, while the second half pulls away from the lovers entirely to describe a procession of King Solomon. These two segments at first seem entirely disconnected, but there is a tenuous narrative strand between the two.

Chapter 3 begins with Rayati in her bed at night, dreaming. This passage is often misinterpreted thanks to a fairly silly mistranslation. While the common translation is "By night on my bed I searched for him" this is incorrect because the word "night" is actually in the plural and there is no mention of a bed, at least not exactly. The word used is mishkahvi, more or less meaning "bedroom". The proper translation would be "In my room for many nights I tried to find the one my soul loves, but I didn't find him." This translation helps clarify what happens in the next few lines. While the usual interpretation is that all of Chapter 2 is a dream from which Rayati wakes, this makes no sense as Chapter 2 is in both Rayati's and Dodi's voice. Furthermore, the events in Chapter 3 are completely inexplicable. As it follows, Rayati leaves her home, wanders the streets looking for Dodi, asks the city guard for directions and then finally finds Dodi and either goes to bed with him or possibly introduces him to her parents.

Let's take a moment to consider this series of events. Even if Rayati could wander the streets, alone, in the middle of night safely (and we will see in a later chapter why this is impossible), we know from Chapter 2 that Dodi does not live in the same city as her. She would potentially have to cross a mountain range to find him. Were she to somehow find him, why would she bring him to meet her family in the dead of night? It should be clear at this point that it is the first half of Chapter 3, not the contents of Chapter 2, that is Rayati's dream. In her longing for Dodi, she dreams nightly of going out to find him. In this recurring dream she also gets her parents' approval, marries him and endeavors to start a family with him. To put a fine point on this idea, the dream description ends with a slightly altered version of the chorus, "Do not awaken, no stir up love until it pleases". "Do not awaken" is the added phrase.

The second half of the chapter begins with something of a stinging pun. While Rayati has her powerful, romantic dream in her own bed, the second half starts with an image of Solomon emerging from the woods on his lavish carriage. The word used for the carriage is mitahto, the word mitah meaning "bed". Solomon on his carriage/bed is surrounded by thirty armed men. They are described as each having a sword because of "the night's awe" or possibly "the night's fear". The later passages more or less describe Solomon with his well-known reputation as something of a philanderer, saying that he inlaid his carriage with "love from the daughters of Jerusalem". It then goes on to remind the reader that Solomon was technically crowned king by his mother and not by his father, David. Given this imagery and these references, it is hard to see this passage as anything but The Song's writer mocking Solomon.

There is an interesting parallel here. The chapter begins with the poem's heroine displaying passion, courage and a devotion to her one true love, then ends with depicting Solomon as both sexually impure and full of fear for the same mysterious night Rayati would gladly brave alone. If this poem is even partly an assault on Solomon's character, as I strongly suspect it is, this chapter is when The Song's writer stops pulling punches.