Song of Solomon 6:11

"I went down into the garden of nuts,

To see the green plants of the valley,

To see whether the vine budded,

And the pomegranates were in flower.

Before I was aware, my soul set me among the chariots of my princely people."

Before attempting to interpret this, one should be aware that, "It is very difficult to explain the relation of these verses, either to the context, or to each other. They are possibly misplaced";[5] or they may be a fragment of another song. The meaning of some of the words is disputed. The margin reads, "desire" instead of "soul."[6]

She may be referring to the story of her capture. "Innocently and unsuspecting she had gone down to inspect her garden, when she was whisked away by the king's men."[7] If this interpretation should be allowed, then we may paraphrase the verse: "I had gone down to the garden when desire (not her desire, but that of the king), `Set me in a chariot beside my prince.'"[8]

Redford thought the passage means, "That she lost her heart immediately when she saw king Solomon."[9] Waddey understood it to say that, "She had taken a stroll in the royal park, and remembering the folks back home, she longed to leave the palace and journey back to see her family."[10] Orr gave this ambiguous interpretation: "It is the bride's reminiscence of the moment when she suddenly realized how much she loved the youth who was destined to be her prince; her imagination rushed ahead; she would his queen at his side."[11] At least, he left Solomon out of it! Obviously, there is hardly room for dogmatism on what this means; however, Balchin's comment is in line with our interpretation of the allegory as a contest between two lovers, a king, and a shepherd, for the love of the Shulamite maiden, with Solomon standing for Satan in the analogy, and the shepherd standing for Jesus Christ our Lord. The maiden, of course, is the Church of our Lord.