Song of Songs 5:7
“The watchmen who make the rounds in the city found me,
They struck me and wounded me;
The guardsmen of the walls took away my shawl from me.
The watchmen in the city had the responsibility to protect the citizens within the city from anyone who would want to harm them who was on the outside of the city. In the passage above we read that the watchmen actually attacked one of their own. When the bride went looking for the groom (an apparently lovers quarrel or lover's spat) the watchmen didn't protect her, but, thinking she was a not one of the citizens wounded her and, taking her shawl, embarrassed her. Since how you interpret the book determines many verse by verse application, it is difficult to find a majority interpretation of what is happening here. Since I believe that the best interpretation is that this is an actual story of love that "can be" applied to Christ and the Church, I believe the application in this verse is that sometimes those who are meant to protect hurt those who are in their same camp. Sometimes church members hurt each other in the name of protecting the church. Sometimes family members mistakenly hurt other families members, even though they are in the same family. Love, when lost in the hearts of men, sometimes isn't love at all. Instead of protection we have pilfering. What God is telling us here is that if you are the "watchmen" you need to watch who you harm and who you protect. If you are the "citizen" you need to be careful wandering the streets with no direction and recognition as a subject of the city. Be careful of of others. We should protect our own and do no harm.
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