In the last section the Lord was brought "into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me," and He remained there for a long time. This is a place where the Lord can rest. Although the maiden's grasping is not altogether good, it is a place where the Lord can stay. Everything is of love and grace. Here she sees her own vanity and that everything comes out of God's love and grace. Who can count the lessons we learn in God's love and grace? The number of lessons Christ teaches us in God's love and grace is unlimited. Since the maiden is able to remain quiet for a while and stay with the Lord in her mother's house and in "the chamber of her that conceived me," she must have passed her test and learned the lessons she was supposed to learn in the second section. Because of His love, God gives her the grace and the power to learn what He requires of her. We have to realize that with a seeker of the Lord, there is more than one experience of the second section. We may have to experience it a few times or even many times. However, God's Spirit does not repeat the record of these experiences, even though failures and dealings are unavoidably repetitious. Everything, including failures and dealings, issues from God's love and is accomplished through God's grace. We can always find His plans in His love, and we can always find the help in His grace. Therefore, we do not have to compare similar experiences; we just need to realize that she is under God's love and grace. God's love is not dead; His grace is working in an aggressive way all the time. In the following section, we see her advance in an unprecedented way. Her life and living are clearly on a higher level than the first section. We do not know who the speaker is in 3:6-11. The words are not spoken by the maiden, nor by the beloved, but by a third party. The Holy Spirit expresses His observation of the maiden through the mouth of a bystander. This shows the result of the repeated lessons that the maiden has learned in her mother's house and through the dealings in the previous section. (Verse 4 includes her history of learning the experience of remaining quietly in her mother's house.)
Verse 6 says, "Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?" "This" is feminine. The maiden gradually leaves the life in the wilderness (the wandering life) behind and enters into full rest. The wilderness is a place of wandering. She gradually comes out of the wilderness and step by step leaves the wandering life behind and enters the Lord's rest. Darby's New Translation says, "Who is this, [she] that cometh up from the wilderness." In the Bible, the wilderness is always in the south and close to Egypt, whereas Canaan is in the north. This is why it says that she comes "up." Coming up means coming up from the south and leaving Egypt. This is not instantaneous, but a gradual progression, a step-by-step forsaking of the wandering life and of all worldly influences to reach the possession God has given to the believers. She started the wilderness journey in her mother's house. (All her wilderness experiences came to her through God's love and grace.) Now she is about to live the heavenly life.
What is she like? She is "like pillars of smoke." A pillar of smoke comes from fire (Joel 2:30). It refers to the power of the Spirit (cf. Acts 2:3-4, which gives the manifestation of the descending of the Holy Spirit). Smoke is easily dispersed. But this verse speaks of pillars of smoke, which means that she is unshakable. She comes from the wilderness, yet the smoke is in the shape of pillars. This means that she is full of the power of the Holy Spirit. Although human beings are not trustworthy, she has become a pillar. A pillar is something sure and secure (Rev. 3:12; to be a pillar in the temple of God means to go no more out).