Text -- The Song of Songs 7:2-13 (NET)

7:2 Your navel is a round mixing bowl– may it never lack mixed wine! Your belly is a mound of wheat, encircled by lilies. 7:3 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. 7:4 Your neck is like a tower made of ivory. Your eyes are the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-Rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon overlooking Damascus. 7:5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel. The locks of your hair are like royal tapestries– the king is held captive in its tresses! 7:6 How beautiful you are! How lovely, O love, with your delights!

The Palm Tree and the Palm Tree Climber

7:7 The Lover to His Beloved: Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like clusters of grapes. 7:8 I want to climb the palm tree, and take hold of its fruit stalks. May your breasts be like the clusters of grapes, and may the fragrance of your breath be like apricots! 7:9 May your mouth be like the best wine, flowing smoothly for my beloved, gliding gently over our lips as we sleep together.

Poetic Refrain: Mutual Possession

7:10 The Beloved about Her Lover: I am my beloved’s, and he desires me!

The Journey to the Countryside

7:11 The Beloved to Her Lover: Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside; let us spend the night in the villages. 7:12 Let us rise early to go to the vineyards, to see if the vines have budded, to see if their blossoms have opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom– there I will give you my love. 7:13 The mandrakes send out their fragrance; over our door is every delicacy, both new and old, which I have stored up for you, my lover.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Sos 7:4

Full, and clear, and quiet, and pleasant.

Wesley: Sos 7:4

A pleasant and well watered city, beyond Jordan.

Wesley: Sos 7:4

Which was in all probability built by Solomon in the mountain of Lebanon, the northern border of the land of Israel towards Damascus; and therefore a very fit place for a watch - tower.

Wesley: Sos 7:4

There was another tower or building in or near Jerusalem, which was called the house of the forest of Lebanon, 1Ki 7:2.

Wesley: Sos 7:5

Eminent and pleasant to the eye, and fruitful as mount Carmel was. Which may denote that her mind was replenished with knowledge, and other excellent gifts of the Holy Ghost.

Wesley: Sos 7:5

Which colour was anciently much esteemed.

Wesley: Sos 7:5

In which he walks, and having once espied thee, is unable to take off his eyes from thee.

Wesley: Sos 7:6

For those various lovely features which, are in thee.

Wesley: Sos 7:7

tree - Tall and strait, or upright.

Wesley: Sos 7:7

tree, rather than any other, because it is constantly green and flourishing, and grows upward in spite of all pressures.

Wesley: Sos 7:8

Within myself, I resolved.

Wesley: Sos 7:8

Climb up, that so I may take hold of the boughs, which do not grow out of the sides, as in other trees, but only at the top of it.

Wesley: Sos 7:8

Partly to prune and dress them, and partly to gather the fruit.

Wesley: Sos 7:8

Of thy breath; which is often called the breath of a man's nostrils.

Wesley: Sos 7:9

Thy speech, the palate being one of the principal instruments of speech.

Wesley: Sos 7:9

Grateful and refreshing for thee my beloved, who reapest the comfort and benefit of that pleasure which I take in thee.

Wesley: Sos 7:9

The most dull, and stupid, and sleepy persons to speak.

Wesley: Sos 7:10

This and the following verses contain the words of the bride, in answer to the bridegroom's endearing expressions delivered in the foregoing verses.

Wesley: Sos 7:11

That being retired from the crowd, we may more freely and sweetly converse together.

Wesley: Sos 7:12

The church having lost her beloved by her former laziness, now doubles her diligence.

Wesley: Sos 7:12

To particular congregations.

Wesley: Sos 7:12

Let us inquire into the success of our labours, what souls are brought in and built up, and how they prosper and grow in grace.

Wesley: Sos 7:12

There I will discover the fervency of my affections to thee, and maintain communion with thee in thy holy ordinances.

Wesley: Sos 7:13

This Hebrew word is used Gen 30:14-15, and the signification of it is very much doubted and disputed by interpreters. The word here signifies sweet and pleasant flowers, and therefore if it be understood of mandrakes, they were of another sort than ours, as flowers of the same kind in several climates have very different natures and qualities.

Wesley: Sos 7:13

Brought thither by divers persons to congratulate our nuptials.

Wesley: Sos 7:13

Fruits of this year and of the former. Which seems to be meant of the various fruits and operations of the Spirit, and degrees of grace in several believers.

JFB: Sos 7:2

Rather, "girdle-clasp," called from the part of the person underneath. The "shoes" (Son 7:1) prove that dress is throughout presupposed on all parts where it is usually worn. She is "a bride adorned for her husband"; the "uncomely parts," being most adorned (1Co 12:23). The girdle-clasp was adorned with red rubies resembling the "round goblet" (crater or mixer) of spice-mixed wine (not "liquor," Son 8:2; Isa 5:22). The wine of the "New Testament in His blood" (Luk 22:20). The spiritual exhilaration by it was mistaken for that caused by new wine (Act 2:13-17; Eph 5:18).

JFB: Sos 7:2

That is, the vesture on it. As in Psa 45:13-14, gold and needlework compose the bride's attire, so golden-colored "wheat" and white "lilies" here. The ripe grain, in token of harvest joy, used to be decorated with lilies; so the accumulated spiritual food (Joh 6:35; Joh 12:24), free from chaff, not fenced with thorns, but made attractive by lilies ("believers," Son 2:2; Act 2:46-47; Act 5:13-14, in common partaking of it). Associated with the exhilarating wine cup (Zec 9:17), as here.

JFB: Sos 7:3

The daughters of Jerusalem describe her in the same terms as Jesus Christ in Son 4:5. The testimonies of heaven and earth coincide.

JFB: Sos 7:3

Faith and love.

JFB: Sos 7:4

In Son 4:4, Jesus Christ saith, "a tower of David builded for an armory." Strength and conquest are the main thought in His description; here, beauty and polished whiteness; contrast Son 1:5.

JFB: Sos 7:4

Seen by BURCKHARDT, clear (Rev 22:1), deep, quiet, and full (1Co 2:10, 1Co 2:15).

JFB: Sos 7:4

East of Jordan, residence of the Amorite king, Sihon (Num 21:25, &c.), afterwards held by Gad.

JFB: Sos 7:4

"daughter of a multitude"; a crowded thoroughfare. Her eyes (Son 4:1) are called by Jesus Christ, "doves' eyes," waiting on Him. But here, looked on by the daughters or Jerusalem, they are compared to a placid lake. She is calm even amidst the crowd (Pro 8:2; Joh 16:33).

JFB: Sos 7:4

Or, face.

JFB: Sos 7:4

A border-fortress, watching the hostile Damascus. Towards Jesus Christ her face was full of holy shame (see on Son 4:1; Son 4:3); towards spiritual foes, like a watchtower (Hab 2:1; Mar 13:37; Act 4:13), elevated, so that she looks not up from earth to heaven, but down from heaven to earth. If we retain "nose," discernment of spiritual fragrance is meant.

JFB: Sos 7:5

The headdress "upon" her.

JFB: Sos 7:5

Signifying a well-cultivated field (Isa 35:2). In Son 5:15 He is compared to majestic Lebanon; she here, to fruitful Carmel. Her headdress, or crown (2Ti 4:8; 1Pe 5:4). Also the souls won by her (1Th 2:19-20), a token of her fruitfulness.

JFB: Sos 7:5

Royalty (Rev 1:6). As applied to hair, it expresses the glossy splendor of black hair (literally, "pendulous hair") so much admired in the East (Son 4:1). While the King compares her hair to the flowering hair of goats (the token of her subjection), the daughters of Jerusalem compare it to royal purple.

JFB: Sos 7:5

(so Son 1:17, Margin; Rev 21:3). But MAURER translates here, "flowing ringlets"; with these, as with "thongs" (so LEE, from the Arabic translates it) "the King is held" bound (Son 6:5; Pro 6:25). Her purple crowns of martyrdom especially captivated the King, appearing from His galleries (Act 7:55-56). As Samson's strength was in his locks (Jdg 16:17). Here first the daughters see the King themselves.

JFB: Sos 7:6

Nearer advance of the daughters to the Church (Act 2:47; Act 5:13, end). Love to her is the first token of love to Him (1Jo 5:1, end).

JFB: Sos 7:6

Fascinating charms to them and to the King (Son 7:5; Isa 62:4, Hephzi-bah). Hereafter, too (Zep 3:17; Mal 3:12; Rev 21:9).

JFB: Sos 7:7

(Psa 92:12). The sure sign of water near (Exo 15:27; Joh 7:38).

JFB: Sos 7:7

Not of dates, as MOODY STUART thinks. The parallelism (Son 7:8), "clusters of the vine," shows it is here clusters of grapes. Vines were often trained (termed "wedded") on other trees.

JFB: Sos 7:8

The daughters are no longer content to admire, but resolve to lay hold of her fruits, high though these be. The palm stem is bare for a great height, and has its crown of fruit-laden boughs at the summit. It is the symbol of triumphant joy (Joh 12:13); so hereafter (Rev 7:9).

JFB: Sos 7:8

(Isa 66:11).

JFB: Sos 7:8

Jesus Christ (Hos 14:7, end; Joh 15:1).

JFB: Sos 7:8

That is, breath; the Holy Ghost breathed into her nostrils by Him, whose "mouth is most sweet" (Son 5:16).

JFB: Sos 7:8

Citrons, off the tree to which He is likened (Son 2:3).

JFB: Sos 7:9

Thy voice (Pro 15:23).

JFB: Sos 7:9

The new wine of the gospel kingdom (Mar 14:25), poured out at Pentecost (Act 2:4, Act 2:13, Act 2:17).

JFB: Sos 7:9

(Son 4:10). Here first the daughters call Him theirs, and become one with the bride. The steps successively are (Son 1:5) where they misjudge her (Son 3:11); Son 5:8, where the possibility of their finding Him, before she regained Him, is expressed; Son 5:9 (Son 6:1; Son 7:6, Son 7:9; Joh 4:42).

JFB: Sos 7:9

(Isa 35:6; Mar 5:19-20; Act 2:47; Eph 5:14). Jesus Christ's first miracle turned water into "good wine kept until now" (Joh 2:10); just as the Gospel revives those asleep and dying under the law (Pro 31:6; Rom 7:9-10, Rom 7:24-25; Rom 8:1).

JFB: Sos 7:10

Words of the daughters of Jerusalem and the bride, now united into one (Act 4:32). They are mentioned again distinctly (Son 8:4), as fresh converts were being added from among enquirers, and these needed to be charged not to grieve the Spirit.

JFB: Sos 7:10

Strong assurance. He so desires us, as to give us sense of His desire toward us (Psa 139:17-18; Luk 22:15; Gal 2:20; 1Jo 4:16).

JFB: Sos 7:11

The country. "The tender grape (MAURER translates, flowers) and vines" occurred before (Son 2:13). But here she prepares for Him all kinds of fruit old and new; also, she anticipates, in going forth to seek them, communion with Him in "loves." "Early" implies immediate earnestness. "The villages" imply distance from Jerusalem. At Stephen's death the disciples were scattered from it through Judea and Samaria, preaching the word (Acts 8:4-25). Jesus Christ was with them, confirming the word with miracles. They gathered the old fruits, of which Jesus Christ had sown the seed (Joh 4:39-42), as well as new fruits.

JFB: Sos 7:11

Forsaking home for Jesus Christ's sake (Mat 19:29).

JFB: Sos 7:12

(Mar 1:35; Joh 9:4; Gal 6:10). Assurance fosters diligence, not indolence.

JFB: Sos 7:13

Hebrew, dudaim, from a root meaning "to love"; love apples, supposed to exhilarate the spirits and excite love. Only here and Gen 30:14-16. Atropa mandragora of LINNÆUS; its leaves like lettuce, but dark green, flowers purple, root forked, fruit of the size of an apple, ruddy and sweet-smelling, gathered in wheat harvest, that is, in May (Mariti, ii. 195).

JFB: Sos 7:13

The entrance to the kiosk or summer house. Love "lays up" the best of everything for the person beloved (1Co 10:31; Phi 3:8; 1Pe 4:11), thereby really, though unconsciously, laying up for itself (1Ti 6:18-19).

Clarke: Sos 7:2

Thy navel is like a round goblet - This may also refer to some ornamental dress about the loins. These suppositions are rendered very probable from hundreds of the best finished and highly decorated drawings of Asiatic ladies in my own collection, where every thing appears in the drawings, as in nature

Clarke: Sos 7:2

A heap of wheat set about with lilies - This is another instance of the same kind. The richly embroidered dresses in the above drawings may amply illustrate this also. Ainsworth supposes the metaphor is taken from a pregnant woman; the child in the womb being nourished by means of the umbilical cord or navel string, till it is brought into the world. After which it is fed by means of the mother’ s breasts, which are immediately mentioned. Possibly the whole may allude to the bride’ s pregnancy.

Clarke: Sos 7:3

Thy two breasts - Where the hair and breasts are fine, they are the highest ornaments of the person of a female.

Clarke: Sos 7:4

Thy neck - as a tower of ivory - High, white, and ornamented with jewellery, as the tower of David was with bucklers. See on Son 4:4 (note)

Clarke: Sos 7:4

The fish - pools in Heshbon - Clear, bright, and serene. These must have been very beautiful to have been introduced here in comparison. These two fountains appear to have been situated at the gate that led from Heshbon to Rabba, or Rabboth Ammon. There is a propriety in this metaphor, because fountains are considered to be the eyes of the earth

Clarke: Sos 7:4

Thy nose - as the tower of Lebanon - There was doubtless a propriety in this similitude also, which cannot now be discerned. If we are to understand the similitude as taken from the projecting form of the nose, even here I see nothing striking in the metaphor; for surely the tower of Lebanon did not project from the mountain as the human nose does from the face. It is better to acknowledge that there was undoubtedly some fit resemblances; but in what circumstance we know not. But some commentators are always extolling the correctness of the imagery in those very difficult places, where no soul sees the similitude but themselves.

Clarke: Sos 7:5

Shine head - like Carmel - Rising majestically upon thy neck, and above thy shoulders, as Mount Carmel does in its district. Carmel was the name of the mountain where Elijah had his contest with the prophets of Baal. See 1Ki 18:19, etc

Clarke: Sos 7:5

The hair of thine head like purple - Ornamented with ribbons and jewellery of this tint

Clarke: Sos 7:5

The king is held in the galleries - Or is detained in the antechamber. His heart is captivated by thy person and conduct. Some understand the ringlets of the bride’ s hair.

Clarke: Sos 7:6

How fair and how pleasant - Thou art every way beautiful, and in every respect calculated to inspire pleasure and delight.

Clarke: Sos 7:7

Like to a palm tree - Which is remarkably straight, taper, and elegant

Clarke: Sos 7:7

And thy breasts to clusters of grapes - Dates are the fruit of the palm tree; they grow in clusters; and it is these, not grapes, which are intended.

Clarke: Sos 7:8

I will go up to the palm tree - I will take hold on the boughs of this tree, and climb up by them, in order to gather the clusters of dates at the top. The rubric here in the old MS. interprets this of the cross of Christ.

Clarke: Sos 7:9

The roof of thy mouth like the best wine - The voice or conversation of the spouse is most probably what is meant

Clarke: Sos 7:9

Causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak - As good wine has a tendency to cause the most backward to speak fluently when taken in moderation; so a sight of thee, and hearing the charms of thy conversation, is sufficient to excite the most taciturn to speak, and even to become eloquent in thy praises.

Clarke: Sos 7:10

I am my beloved’ s, and his desire is toward me - It is worthy of remark that the word which we translate his desire is the very same used Gen 3:16 : Thy desire, thy ruling appetite, תשוקתך teshukathech , shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. This was a part of the woman’ s curse. Now here it seems to be reversed; for the bride says, I am my beloved’ s, and his desire or ruling appetite and affection, תשוקתו teshukatho , is עלי ali , Upon Me. The old MS. translates this with considerable force: - "I to my leef, and to me the turnynge of him".

Clarke: Sos 7:11

Let us go forth into the field - It has been conjectured that the bridegroom arose early every morning, and left the bride’ s apartment, and withdrew to the country; often leaving her asleep, and commanding her companions not to disturb her till she should awake of herself. Here the bride wishes to accompany her spouse to the country, and spend a night at his country house.

Clarke: Sos 7:12

Let us get up early to the vineyards - When in the country, we shall have the better opportunity to contemplate the progress of the spring vegetation; and there she promises to be peculiarly affectionate to him.

Clarke: Sos 7:13

The mandrakes give a smell - See the note on Gen 30:14, where the mandrake is particularly described; from which this passage will receive considerable light. The reader is requested to consult it

Clarke: Sos 7:13

All manner of pleasant fruits - Fruits new and old; flowers and herbs of every kind which the season could yield. The literal sense, allowing for the concealing metaphors, is, I believe, of a widely different nature from what is generally given. But this must be left to the reader’ s sagacity and prudence.

Defender: Sos 7:11

In the intimacy of the wedding dance, the Shulamite feels free to initiate the full physical union with her husband."

Defender: Sos 7:13

Mandrakes, mentioned elsewhere only in Gen 30:14-16, were plants known in the ancient Middle East, and were believed to be an aphrodisiac."

TSK: Sos 7:2

navel : Pro 3:8

liquor : Heb. mixture

thy belly : Son 5:14; Psa 45:16; Isa 46:3; Jer 1:5; Rom 7:4

TSK: Sos 7:3

Son 4:5, Son 6:6

TSK: Sos 7:4

neck : Son 1:10, Son 4:4

ivory : Son 5:14; 1Ki 10:18, 1Ki 10:22, 1Ki 22:39; Psa 45:8, Psa 144:12

thine eyes : That is, ""Thine eyes are dark, deep, clear, and serene, as the fish-pools in Heshbon. ""Son 4:1, Son 4:9, Son 6:5; Eph 1:17, Eph 1:18, Eph 3:18, Eph 3:19

Heshbon : Num 21:25; Isa 54:4

thy nose : That is, ""Thy nose is as finely formed as the tower of Lebanon.""Phi 1:9, Phi 1:10; Heb 5:14

the tower : Son 4:8, Son 5:15; 1Ki 7:2, 1Ki 9:19; 2Ch 8:6

Damascus : Gen 15:2; 2Sa 8:6

TSK: Sos 7:5

head : Isa 35:2; Eph 1:22, Eph 4:15, Eph 4:16; Col 1:18, Col 2:19

Carmel : or, crimson, Mic 7:14

the hair : Son 4:1, Son 5:11; Rev 1:14

the king : Son 1:17 *marg. Gen 32:26; Psa 68:24, Psa 87:2; Mat 18:20, Mat 28:20

held : Heb. bound

TSK: Sos 7:6

Son 7:10, Son 1:15, Son 1:16, Son 2:14, Son 4:7, Son 4:10; Psa 45:11; Isa 62:4, Isa 62:5; Zep 3:17

TSK: Sos 7:7

thy stature : Psa 92:12; Jer 10:5; Eph 4:13

thy breasts : Son 7:3, Son 7:8, Son 1:13, Son 4:5, Son 8:8; Isa 66:10; Eph 3:17

TSK: Sos 7:8

I will go : Son 4:16, Son 5:1; Jer 32:41; Joh 14:21-23

the smell : Son 1:3, Son 2:3; 2Co 2:14

TSK: Sos 7:9

the roof : Son 2:14, Son 5:16; Pro 16:24; Eph 4:29; Col 3:16, Col 3:17, Col 4:6; Heb 13:15

the best : Isa 62:8, Isa 62:9; Zec 9:15-17; Act 2:11-13, Act 2:46, Act 2:47, Act 4:31, Act 4:32, Act 16:30-34

sweetly : Heb. straightly

those that are asleep : or, the ancient, Son 5:2; Rom 13:11; 1Th 4:13, 1Th 4:14; Rev 14:13

TSK: Sos 7:10

my : Son 2:16, Son 6:3; Act 27:23; 1Co 6:19, 1Co 6:20; Gal 2:20

his : Son 7:5, Son 7:6; Job 14:15; Psa 45:11, Psa 147:11; Joh 17:24

TSK: Sos 7:11

let us go : Son 1:4, Son 2:10-13, Son 4:8

TSK: Sos 7:12

get : Pro 8:17; Ecc 9:10

let us see : Son 6:11; Pro 24:30, Pro 24:31; Act 15:36; 2Co 13:5; 1Th 3:5, 1Th 3:6; Heb 12:15

the tender : Son 2:13, Son 2:15; Isa 18:5

appear : Heb. open

there will I give thee : Son 7:6, Son 4:16; Exo 25:22; Psa 43:4, Psa 63:3-8, Psa 73:25, Psa 122:5; Eze 20:40, Eze 20:41; Rom 5:11; 2Co 5:14, 2Co 5:15; Eph 6:24; Heb 4:16

TSK: Sos 7:13

mandrakes : Gen 30:14

at our : Son 4:16, Son 5:1; Joh 15:8; Gal 5:22, Gal 5:23; Eph 5:9; Phi 1:11

new : Mat 13:52

I have : Isa 23:18, Isa 60:6, Isa 60:7; Mat 25:40; Rom 15:25-27; 1Co 2:9, 1Co 16:2, 1Co 8:8, 1Co 8:9; Col 3:17; 1Pe 4:11

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Sos 7:2

Or, Thy lap is like a moon-shaped bowl where mixed wine faileth not."The wine in the bowl rising to the brim adds to the beauty of the vessel, and gives a more pleasing image to the eye. Some interpret, "thy girdle is like a moon-shaped bowl,"or "bears a moon-shaped ornament"(compare Isa 3:18).

Set about with lilies - The contrast is one of colors, the flowers, it may be, representing the purple of the robe. "The heap of wheat is not seen because covered by the lilies."

Barnes: Sos 7:4

A tower of ivory - The tower of ivory, the allusion being to some particular tower, built probably by Solomon 1Ki 10:21.

Fishpools in Heshbon - Or, simply pools. Among the ruins to the south of Heshbon still remain a number of deep wells cut in the rock, and a large reservoir of water. The simile well sets forth the appearance of a large clear liquid eye (compare Son 5:12 note).

Gate of Bath-rabbim - Perhaps the gate looking toward Rabbath-Ammon on the north side of the city, though this does not agree with the wells above mentioned; or, the gate of the city "full of people"Lam 1:1; or, an expression indicating the gate itself as the scene of numerous gatherings.

Nose - Better perhaps "face "or "brow."

The tower of Lebanon - Possibly "the house of the forest of Lebanon"or part of it 1Ki 7:2; 1Ki 9:19, built by Solomon in the early part of his reign; or possibly a watchtower erected by David to overawe Damascus after his war with Hadadezer 2Sa 8:6.

Barnes: Sos 7:5

Compare and contrast with Son 5:15. The rendering in the margin takes "Carmel"as the name of a color, equivalent to "carmine"(rendered "crimson"in 2Ch 2:7, 2Ch 2:14; 2Ch 3:14). This interpretation is favored by the parallelism with "purple,"but removes a beautiful image.

Purple - A deep violet black.

The king ... - Rather, "A king is bound in the tresses or windings of thy hair."These last words indicate the king’ s approach.

Barnes: Sos 7:6-10

A brief dialogue; Son 7:6-9 are spoken by the king, Son 7:9 and Son 7:10 by the bride.

Son 7:6

A general sentiment.

How fair, and what a charm hast thou,

O love! Among delightsome things!

Compare Son 2:7, note; Son 8:6-7, note.

Son 7:7

This thy stature - The king now addresses the bride, comparing her to palm, vine, and apple-tree for nobility of form and pleasantness of fruit; and the utterances of her mouth to sweetest wine.

Son 7:9

For my beloved, that goeth down sweetly - Words of the bride interrupting the king, and finishing his sentence, that goeth smoothly or pleasantly for my beloved. Compare Pro 23:31.

Son 7:10

His desire is toward me - All his affection has me for its object. The bride proceeds to exercise her power over his loving will.

Poole: Sos 7:2

Thy navel is like a round goblet, to which it is not unfitly compared, because it is of a round form, and hollow, and hath windings and circlings in it,

which wanteth not liquor thy navel is not only comely, but fruitful. For the navel is the proper instrument of nourishing the child or children which are in the womb. And so this seems to signify the church’ s fruitfulness, partly in herself, in cherishing and improving all the graces and good motions of God’ s Spirit within her; and principally in reference to those many children which she bears and feeds in her womb with the wholesome liquor of God’ s ordinances. Thy belly, in which thy children are for a time contained and fed, is like a heap of wheat, i.e. of wheat corn, round and swelling, as it is in women with child, and full of nourishment, not only of liquor, as was last said, but also of meat, which may note the various provisions which Christ hath laid up in his church according to the several capacities of her children, milk for babes, and stronger meat for those who are grown up. Set about with lilies; not for defence, which the church doth not need, having the strong God for her Protector, but for ornament and beauty; whereby is implied that she is not only fruitful, but beautiful, and that her children are not only numerous and well fed, but also comely and delightful to the eye, as lilies are, and withal pure and innocent, in which respect both Christ and the church are compared to lilies, Son 2:1,2 .

Poole: Sos 7:3

Which is repeated from Son 4:5 , where it is explained.

Poole: Sos 7:4

Thy neck of which See Poole "Son 4:4" ,

is as a tower of ivory clear, and smooth, and long, and straight, and erected.

Thine eyes See Poole "Son 1:15"; See Poole "Son 4:1" ,

like the fishpools full, and clear, and quiet, and pleasant. Possibly here were two fish-pools, which being conveniently seated in a large field, might bear some resemblance to the eyes placed in the head.

Heshbon a pleasant and well-watered city, beyond Jordan, as we may guess from Nu 32 , where doubtless there were some eminent and well-known fish-pools, as further appears by the exact description of the particular place here following, in which they were.

Thy nose the instrument of smelling, and discerning between pleasant and loathsome things; which may signify the church’ s sagacity in discerning between good and evil;

is as the tower of Lebanon which though it be not elsewhere mentioned, was in all probability built by Solomon in the mountain of Lebanon, which was the northern border of the land of Israel towards Damascus, and therefore a very fit place for a watch-tower. To this tower her nose is compared, not for its greatness, but for its comely and convenient proportions, and beautiful aspect, which doubtless were in this as well as in the rest of Solomon’ s buildings.

Which looketh toward Damascus which words seem to be added to distinguish this from another tower or building in or near to Jerusalem, which was called the house of the forest of Lebanon, 1Ki 7:2 .

Poole: Sos 7:5

Thine head which may signify the church’ s mind or understanding, which is seated in the head,

upon thee which is upon thee, or above the rest of thy body,

is like Carmel eminent and pleasant to the eye, and fruitful as Mount Carmel was, as hath been formerly noted; which may note that her mind was adorned and replenished with knowledge and other excellent gifts of the Holy Ghost. Or, as others render it, like crimson or purple , which is called Carmel , 2Ch 2:7 3:14 , because those fishes out of which they had their purple were taken in the sea bordering upon Mount Carmel. And so the same thing is repeated in the next clause in other words.

Like purple which colour was anciently much esteemed and commended, as by sacred, so also by profane writers.

The king is held in the galleries in which he walketh, and having once espied thee, is captivated by thee, and unable or unwilling either to depart or to take off his eyes from thee, as if he were fast bound and chained to thee. The galleries may note either the ordinances, or rather the churches, in which Christ walketh, Rev 2:1 , in which Christ and believers converse together.

Poole: Sos 7:6

How fair and how pleasant art thou? it were infinite to reckon up all the particulars of thy beauty; in one word, thou art universally amiable beyond expression.

For delights for those various lovely features which are in thee, and for the great and manifold delights which are or may be enjoyed in conversing with thee.

Poole: Sos 7:7

Like to a palm tree tall and straight, or upright, as a tree. And he seems to mention the palm tree rather than any other, partly because it grows more directly upward than other trees; and partly because it is constantly green and flourishing, and groweth upward in spite of all pressures, and therefore was used in festival solemnities, Lev 23:40 Joh 12:13 , and was a symbol of victory, Rev 7:9 ; in all which respects it fitly represents the state of believers.

Clusters large, and round, and full of juice. See Poole "Son 7:3" . This particular is added as an evidence of her maturity and married estate, and of her fruitfulness.

Grapes which word may easily be supplied out of the next verse. Although the fruit of the palm tree also is said to grow in clusters.

Poole: Sos 7:8

I said within myself, I resolved,

I will go up to the palm tree I will climb up, that so I may

take hold as it follows, of the boughs, which do not grow out of the sides, as in other trees, but only at the top of it.

I will take hold of the boughs thereof partly to prune and dress them, and partly to gather the fruit; whereby is signified Christ’ s care of his church, and his delight in her.

Of thy nose of thy breath; which is oft called the breath of or in a man’ s nostrils, Gen 7:22 Isa 2:22 Lam 4:20 .

Like apples either,

1. Common apples, which sometimes yield a very pleasant smell. Or,

2. Odoriferous apples. See Poole "Son 2:5" .

Poole: Sos 7:9

The roof of thy mouth either,

1. Thy speech, the palate being one of the principal instruments of speech; or rather,

2. Thy taste, whereof the palate or roof of the mouth is the most proper and principal instrument, Job 34:3 . But then this is not to be understood actively of her taste, but passively of the taste or relish which her Beloved had of her; as in the foregoing clause, the smell of her nose was not meant subjectively or actively of that sense of smelling which was seated in her nose, but objectively or passively of the breath of her nostrils, which was sweet to the smell of her Beloved.

Like the best wine grateful and refreshing. For my beloved; either,

1. For thee my beloved, who reapest the comfort and benefit of that pleasure which I take in time; or,

2. For me thy Beloved, or, according to thy usual expression,

for my Beloved which words Christ takes as it were out of her mouth, and repeats them emphatically; which agrees very well to the style and usage of these dramatical and amaropious writings. And this clause further intimates the church’ s loyalty or faithfulness to Christ, that she reserves herself and all her loves for Christ alone.

That goeth down sweetly whereas bad wine either goeth down slowly and tediously, or is not permitted to go down at all; Heb. that walketh directly ; or, that moveth itself aright; which is given as the character of good wine, Pro 23:31 .

Causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak causing the most dull, and stupid, and sleepy-headed persons to speak, and that fluently and eloquently, which is a common effect of good wine.

Poole: Sos 7:10

This and the following verses contain the words of the bride, in answer to the Bridegroom’ s most endearing expressions delivered in the foregoing verses.

His desire is toward me I perceive, and am fully satisfied, that he heartily loves me. It is my duty to have my desire towards him as my Husband, according to God’ s sentence, Gen 3:16 , but it is a wonderful condescension in him, that his desire is towards me.

Poole: Sos 7:11

Let us go forth into the field that being retired from the crowd, we may more freely and sweetly converse together, and may observe the state of the fruits of the earth. In the villages; in one of the villages, as cities is put for one of the cities, Jud 12:7 .

Poole: Sos 7:12

Let us get up early: the church having offended and lost her Beloved by her former laziness, now doubles her diligence, and discovers how earnestly she was set upon the following work.

To the vineyards to particular congregations. See Son 6:11 Isa 5:1 .

Let us see if the vines flourish &c.; let us inquire into the success of our labours, what souls are brought in and built up, how they prosper and grow in grace, whether they abound in good works, &c.

There will I give thee my loves there I will discover the sincerity and fervency of my affections to thee, and maintain communion with thee in thy holy ordinances.

Poole: Sos 7:13

Mandrakes: this Hebrew word is used Gen 30:14,15 , and the signification of it is very much doubted and disputed by interpreters; of which see my Latin Synopsis on that place. But this is certain, that the word signifies sweet and pleasant flowers; and therefore if it be understood of mandrakes, they were of another sort than ours, as it is no unusual thing for flowers of the same kind in several climates to have very differing natures and qualities.

At our gates either,

1. Growing there upon the walls, or in gardens, or orchards, near the door of our dwellinghouse. Or rather,

2. Brought thither by divers persons to congratulate and adorn our nuptials, or laid up for our entertainment, as may be gathered from the nature of the fruits, which were not only new, and growing, but also old , and laid up, as it here follows.

Fruits new and old fruits of this year and of the former, that the variety might delight; which seems to be spiritually meant of the various fruits and operations of the Spirit and degrees of grace in several believers.

Which I have laid up for thee which have been produced by my ministry for thy service and glory.

PBC: Sos 7:11

See Philpot: THE WALK IN THE FIELDS AND AMONG THE VINEYARDS

Haydock: Sos 7:4

Ivory. Preachers communicate the sentiments of the Church, (Calmet) which prevails against the gates of hell. [Matthew xvi. 18.] (Cassiodorus)

Haydock: Sos 7:5

Carmel. Shaded with trees. (Calmet) ---

Hebrew, "purple," which colour was sometimes given to the hair. (Propertius ii. 18.) ---

Channels. Of the dyers. Hebrew, "to beams." (Calmet) ---

Protestants, "the king is held in the galleries" to view thee. (Haydock) ---

Christ was all charity, and the faithful are twice dyed, with the love of God, and of their neighbour. (Menochius)

Haydock: Sos 7:7

Grapes. The Church triumphs over her adversaries, and feeds her children. (Calmet)

Haydock: Sos 7:8

Up. Christ shed his blood on the cross, and enabled his Church, composed of Jews and Gentiles, who were before barren, to produce a numerous progeny. (Calmet) ---

Mouth. Hebrew and Septuagint, "nose."

Haydock: Sos 7:9

Lips. Septuagint, "sufficient for my lips and teeth." (Haydock) ---

The wine in that country was very thick, when kept a long time. It here denotes charity, or the gospel truths, Luke v. 37., and Acts ii. 13. Hebrew, "causing the lips of them who sleep to speak," (Calmet) as the apostles did, in transports of zeal. (Theodoret) ---

Yet the reading of the Septuagint, Aquila, &c., seems preferable. (Calmet)

Haydock: Sos 7:10

Turning. The Church is submissive to Jesus Christ, and is entirely actuated by the Spirit. (Calmet) ---

She takes the words, as it were out of his mouth, (ver. 9.) and answers, worthy, &c., acknowledging that all the praise belongs to him.

Haydock: Sos 7:13

Mandrakes. Hebrew dodai comes from the same root as dodi, "my breasts or loves," ver. 12. (Haydock) ---

It may denote oranges, as mandrakes are not spring-fruits, Genesis xxx. 14. (Calmet) ---

Yet (Haydock) married women eagerly sought after mandrakes. Here they may signify such as are fit to gain souls to Christ. (Menochius) ---

And the old. Or great abundance, Leviticus xxvi. 10., and Matthew xiii. 52. (Calmet) ---

She acknowledges Christ to be the Saviour of all, under the Old and the New Testament. (Worthington) ---

A doctor of the Church shews Christ in the prophets, and figures of the law, as well as manifested in the gospel. (Aponius, &c.) (Calmet)

Gill: Sos 7:2

Thy navel is like a round goblet,.... According to some, not the navel itself is meant; but a covering of it, a jewel or plate of gold in the shape of it; and because the word for "round", in the Chaldee language, signifies the "moon", and so Ben Melech interprets it, some have thought of the "round tire like the moon", Isa 3:18; though that was rather an ornament about the neck. Bishop Patrick is of opinion that it refers to "the clothing of wrought gold", Psa 45:13; which had, on the part that covered the belly, a raised embossed work, resembling a heap or sheaves of wheat; about which was an embroidery of curious flowers, particularly lilies; and, in the midst of the whole, a fountain or conduit, running with several sorts of liquor, into a great bowl or basin: and Fortunatus Scacchus ⁿ interprets it of a garment, covering this part, embroidered with lilies. All which may represent the beautiful robe of Christ's righteousness the church is adorned with. But rather the part itself is meant, and designs the ministers of the Gospel; who, in the administration of the word and ordinances, are that to the church as the navel is to a human body; that is in an eminent part of it, is the strength of the intestines, conduces much to the health of the body, and by which the child in the womb is supposed to receive its nourishment: ministers are set in the highest place in the church; are strong in themselves, through the grace and power of Christ and the means of strengthening others; and of keeping the church a good plight and healthful state, by the wholesome words and sound doctrines they preach; and also of nourishing souls in embryo, and when new born, with the sincere milk of the word: and as the navel is said to be like a "round goblet", cup, bowl, or basin, this aptly describes that part; and may express the perfection of Gospel ministers, their gifts and grace, not in an absolute, but comparative sense, the round or circular form being reckoned the most perfect; and also the workmanship bestowed on them, the gifts and grace of the Spirit, a round goblet being turned and formed by some curious artist; and likewise their capacity to hold and retain Gospel truths. And they are compared, not to an empty one, but to one

which wanteth not liquor; meaning the large and never failing supplies of gifts and grace from Christ; so that they never want the liquor, the oil and wine of Gospel truths, to communicate to others, Zec 4:12. The word used signifies a "mixture", or a "mixed liquor" ^o, as of wine and milk, Son 5:1; or rather of wine and water, much used in the eastern countries; so the wine of Sharon used to be mixed, two parts water and one wine ^p: and this designs, not a mixture of divine truths and human doctrines, which ought not to be made; but the variety of Gospel truths ministers deliver to others, and that in a manner they are most capable of receiving them. Some ^q render the words as a wish, "let there not want", &c. and so they declare the tender concern of Christ, that his church might have a continual supply in the ministry of the word;

thy belly is like a heap of wheat; which denotes the fruitfulness of the church in bringing souls to Christ, comparable to a pregnant woman; and whose fruit, young converts born in her, are compared to "a heap of wheat" for their number, choiceness, and solidity, being able to bear the fan of persecution: it was usual with the Jews to scatter wheat on the heads of married persons at their weddings, three times, saying, "increase and multiply" ^r; see Isa 66:8. This heap of wheat is said to be "set about", or "hedged, with lilies" ^s; which suggests, that it was not a heap of wheat on the corn floor which is meant, but a field of standing wheat, enclosed and fenced, not with thorns, but lilies; and these lilies may signify grown saints, who are often compared to lilies in this book, by whom young converts are encompassed and defended; or the beauties of holiness, in which they appear as soon as born again, Psa 110:3.

Gill: Sos 7:3

Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins. See Gill on Son 4:5.

Gill: Sos 7:4

Thy neck is as a tower of ivory,.... Two things recommend the neck, erectness and whiteness; both are here expressed, the one by a "tower", the other by "ivory"; hence a fine beautiful neck is called an ivory one ^t; and for the same reason it sometimes has the epithet of "snowy" ^u, and sometimes of "marble" ^w. Of the church's neck, as it may design either the ministers of the word, or the Scriptures of truth; see Gill on Son 4:4; where it is compared to "the tower of David", and here to "a tower of ivory": Marckius conjectures that they may be the same, or that this is the name of, vine ancient structure known at this time; however, it is used as expressive of the purity of the lives of Gospel ministers, and the evenness of their doctrines, and of the purity, beauty, glory, axial harmony of the Scriptures;

thine eyes like the fish pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim; Heshbon was formerly the seat of Sihon, king of the Amorites, Num 22:26; of which Bathrabbim was one of its gates; so called, either because it led to Rabbath, a city near it, and mentioned with it, Jer 49:3; or because of the great numbers that went in and out by it; for it may be rendered, "the daughter of many", or "of great ones" ^x: near this gate, it seems, were very delightful fish pools, to which the eyes of the church are compared. In the Hebrew language, the word for eyes and fountains is the same; the eyes having humours in them, and so fitly compared to fish pools. Of the eyes of the church, as they may design either the ministers of the word, or the eyes of her understanding, particularly faith; see Gill on Son 1:15; here they are said to be like "fish pools", whose waters are clear, quiet, constant and immovable; and, seen at a distance, between trees and groves, look very beautiful: and, if applied to ministers, may denote the clearness of their sight in discerning the truths of the Gospel; and their being filled with the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ; and their being blessings to the churches of Christ, and to the souls of men the word for "fish pools" comes from a word which signifies "to bless" ^y; and such being observed as were near the gate of Bathrabbim, may have respect to the multitude that attend their ministry, and receive benefit by it; in which they are constant and invariable, and all of a piece, and appear very beautiful to those to whom they are useful. And if applied to the church's eyes of understanding, those of faith and knowledge, may denote the perspicuity of them, in the discernment of spiritual things; and the fixedness and immovableness of them on the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ; looking alone to him, and off of every other object, and so very attractive to him, and beautiful in his sight, as well as their abounding with the waters of evangelic repentance and humiliation; see Son 4:9;

thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon, which looketh towards Damascus; a tower on that part of Mount Lebanon which faced Damascus, which lay in a plain, and so open to view, as well as exposed to winds; hence called, by Lucan ^z, Ventosa Damascus; which tower was so high, as Adrichomius ^a says, that from thence might be numbered the houses in Damascus: by which also may be meant the ministers of the word; nor need it seem strange that the same should be expressed by different metaphors, since the work of ministers is of different parts; who, as they are as eyes to see, so like the nose to smell; and having a spiritual discerning of Gospel truths, both savour them themselves, and diffuse the savour of them to others; and are both the ornament and defence of the church: the former is signified by the "nose", which is an ornament of the face, and the latter by the "tower of Lebanon", and this is looking towards Damascus, the inhabitants of which were always enemies to the people of Israel; and so may denote the vigilance and courage of faithful ministers, who watch the church's enemies, and their motions, and, with a manful courage, face and attack them. Moreover, this description may respect the majesty and magnanimity of the church herself; the former may be intimated by her nose, which, when of a good size, and well proportioned, adds much grace and majesty to the countenance; and the latter by its being compared to the impregnable tower of Lebanon, looking towards Damascus, signifying that she was not afraid to look her worst enemies in the face: or the whole may express her prudence and discretion in spiritual things: by which she can distinguish truth from error, and espy dangers afar off, and guard against them.

Gill: Sos 7:5

Thine head upon thee is like Carmel,.... Set with hair, thick and long, as Carmel with plants and trees. Now Christ is the church's Head in various senses; he is her federal and representative Head in eternity and time; her political Head, as a King to his subjects; an economical Head, as the husband to the wife, as parents to their children, and a master to servants; and, as such, may be compared to Carmel; for the multitude dependent on him, whom he represents, and is connected with under various relations; for his height, being higher than the kings of the earth, and all other heads; and for fruitfulness, all the fruits of the church, and of all true believers, coming from him. Some render the word, "as crimson", or "scarlet" ^b; which may set forth his royal dignity and majesty, this colour being wore by kings and great personages; or the ardent love of Christ to his body, the church, and the members of it; or his bloody sufferings for them;

and the hair of thine head like purple; purple coloured hair has been in great esteem. Of this colour was the hair of King Nysus, according to the fable ^c; and so the hair of Evadne, and of the Muses ^d, were of a violet colour; the hair of Ulysses is said ^e to be like to the hyacinth flower, which is of a purple or violet colour; and Milton ^f calls the first Adam's hair hyacinthine locks; and here, in a figurative sense, the second Adam's hair is said to be like purple. By which believers that grow on Christ, the Head of the church, nay be meant, who have their dependence on him, and their strength and nourishment from him; see Son 4:1; and these may be said to be like "purple", because of their royal dignity, being made kings unto God by Christ; and because of their being washed in the purple blood of Christ; and because of the sufferings they endure for his sake; and especially such may be so compared, who have spilt their blood and laid down their lives on his account;

the king is held in the galleries; the same with the Head of the church, the King of Zion, and King of saints, whose kingdom is a spiritual and everlasting one: and by the "galleries" in which he is held may be meant the ordinances of the Gospel; where Christ and his people walk and converse together; where he discloses the secrets of his heart to them, leads them into a further acquaintance with his covenant, and the blessings and promises of it; and from whence they have delightful views of his person and fulness; see the King in his beauty, and behold the good land which is afar off: the same word as here is rendered "rafters", and by some "canals", in Son 1:17; See Gill on Son 1:17. Now Christ being said to be "held in these galleries" may signify his fixed habitation in his house and ordinances; where he has promised to dwell, and delights to be; and where he is as it were fastened to them, and hatred in them.

Gill: Sos 7:6

How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights! These are the words of the King in the galleries, wondering at the church's beauty, it being incomparable and inexpressible, it could not be said well how great it was; and expressing the strength of his love to her, which was invariably the same as ever. Of the "fairness" of the church, and of this title, "love", see Son 1:9; and here she is said also to be "pleasant" to him, as his spouse and bride, in whom he takes infinite delight and pleasure, loving her with a love of complacency and delight; and therefore adds, "for delights", which he had in her before the world was, Pro 8:31. She was all delight ^g to him; her words, her actions and gestures, her comely countenance, her sweet and pleasant voice in prayer and praise, her ravishing looks of faith and love, her heavenly airs, and evangelic walk; in all which she appeared beautiful and delightful, beyond all human thought and expression.

Gill: Sos 7:7

This thy stature is like to a palm tree,.... Made up of the above parts commended, and others had in view, as appears from the relative "this". The word for "stature" properly signifies height, tallness, and erectness; and which were reckoned agreeable in women, as well as men; See Gill on 1Sa 9:2; hence methods are often made use of to make them look taller, as by their head dresses, their shoes, and by stretching out their necks, Isa 3:16; and the simile of a tree is not an improper one: and so Galatea is, for height and tallness, compared to an alder and to a plane tree ^h; and Helena, to a cypress tree in a garden ⁱ, on the same account; and here the church to a palm tree: the Egyptian palm tree is said to be the best ^k; and if Solomon here has any reference to Pharaoh's daughter, his wife, he might think of that, which is described

"of body straight, high, round, and slender ^l,''

and fitly expresses a good shape and stature. The church's stature is no other than the "stature of the fulness of Christ", Eph 4:13; which will be attained unto when all the elect are gathered in, and every member joined to the body, and all filled with the gifts and graces of the spirit designed for them, and are grown up to a just proportion in the body; and in such a state Christ seems to view his church, and so commends her by this simile: saints are oftentimes compared to palm trees in Scripture on other accounts; see Psa 92:12;

and thy breasts to clusters of grapes; on a vine which might be planted by and run up upon a palm tree, as Aben Ezra suggests: though rather clusters of dates, the fruit of the palm tree, are designed, since this fruit, as Pliny ^m observes, grows in clusters; and to clusters of the vine the church's breasts are compared in Son 7:8. And by these "breasts" may be meant either the ministers of the Gospel, who communicate the sincere milk of the word to souls; and may be compared to clusters for their numbers, when there is plenty of them, which is a great mercy to the church; and for their unity, likeness, and agreement in their work, in their ministrations, and in the doctrine they preach, though their gifts may be different; or else the two Testaments, full of the milk of the word; and comparable to "clusters" of grapes or dates, because of the many excellent doctrines and precious promises in them; which, when pressed by hearing, reading, meditation, and prayer, yield both delight and nourishment to the souls of men. Some think the two ordinances of the Gospel, baptism and the Lord's supper, are intended, which are breasts of consolation; and, when the presence of Christ, and the manifestations of his love, are enjoyed in them, they afford much pleasure and satisfaction; and as those breasts are full in themselves, they are beautiful in the eye of Christ, and as such commended; See Gill on Son 4:5.

Gill: Sos 7:8

I said, I will go up to the palm tree,.... Which is easy of ascent; having, in the bark of the trunk or body of the tree, rings like steps, whereby the eastern people climb it with incredible swiftness, as Pliny ⁿ relates: these steps are made by the lower boughs being lopped off, whose knots, or "pollices", as Dr. Shaw ^o calls them, being gradually left upon the trunk of the tree, serve, like so many rungs of a ladder, to climb up the tree; either to fecundate it, or to lop it, or to gather the fruit; and Lucian says ^p,

"those that have seen how men get up into palm trees, in Arabia, Egypt, and other places, must needs understand what he says about climbing the Phalli, in the temple of Hierapolis in Syria, he is describing.''

By the "palm tree" may be meant the church militant, who yet gets the victory over all her enemies, of which the palm tree is an emblem; and Christ's "going up" to it is expressive of his right to it, and property in it, which he has by his Father's gift, his own purchase, and the power of his grace, and may go up to it when he pleases; also of his presence with his church, and of the delight he takes in her, viewing her stature, fruit, and flourishing circumstances;

I will take hold of the boughs thereof; either to crop them, the tops of them, which, of the first year's growth, are very tender and sweet, and may be eaten ^q; the top of the palm tree is said to be very sweet ^r; and which some call the "cerebrum", or brain of it, and is spoken of as very pleasant and nourishing ^s: or to gather the fruit on them; his own grace in exercise, and good works performed under the influence of it; see Son 4:16; or to prune them; which he does by the ministry of the word, reproving sin, and refuting error; and, by afflictive providences, purging away sin; and by suffering persecution to befall his churches, whereby he clears them of carnal professors, and lops off withered and fruitless branches;

now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine; round, full, soft, and succulent, like the berries of the vine tree, the grapes that grow in clusters on it; of these; see Gill on Son 7:7;

and the smell of thy nose like apples; See Gill on Son 7:4. Here it may denote the inward constitution and outward conduct of the church, which were sound and healthful; she had an inward principle of grace, from whence proceeded a savoury conduct, a savoury breath, a holy breathing after divine and spiritual things: or it may intend the things she had a savour of, as divine truths and excellent doctrines, comparable to "apples", Son 2:5; and all spiritual and heavenly things, when they have the presence of Christ, and the quickening influences of his Spirit.

Gill: Sos 7:9

And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine,.... Which may intend, either her taste, as the word is rendered in Son 2:3; by which she can distinguish good wine from bad, truth from error; or her breath, sweet and of a good smell, like the best wine; the breathings of her soul in prayer, which are sweet odours, perfumed with the incense of Christ's mediation; or rather her speech, the words of her mouth; the roof of the mouth being an instrument of speech; the same word is sometimes rendered "the mouth", Son 5:16; and may denote both her speech in common conversation, which is warming, refreshing, comforting, and quickening; and in prayer and praise, which is well pleasing and delightful to Christ; and especially the Gospel preached by her ministers, comparable to the best wine for its antiquity, being an ancient Gospel; for its purity, unadulterated, and free from mixture, and as faithfully dispensed; its delight, flavour, and taste, to such who have their spiritual senses exercised; and for its cheering, refreshing, and strengthening nature, to drooping weary souls. It follows,

for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly; is received and taken down with all readiness, by those who have once tasted the sweetness and felt the power of it. Or, "that goeth to righteousnesses" ^t; leading to the righteousness of Christ for justification, and teaching to live soberly and righteously: or, "that goeth to my beloved, straightway" or "directly" ^u; meaning either to his Father, Christ calls his beloved, to whose love the Gospel leads and directs souls, as in a straight line, as to the source of salvation, and all the blessings of grace; or to himself, by a "mimesis", whom the church calls so; the Gospel leading souls directly to him, his person, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, for peace, pardon, justification, and atonement: or, "that goeth to my beloved to uprightnesses" ^w; that is, to the church, who is Christ's beloved, consisting of upright men in heart and life, whom Christ calls his beloved and his friends, Son 5:1; and whom Christ treats with his best wine, his Gospel; and which is designed for them, their pleasure, profit, comfort, and establishment:

causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak; either such who are in the dead sleep of sin; who, when the Gospel comes with power, are quickened by it; and it produces in them humble confessions of sin; causes them to speak in praise of Christ, and his grace, and of the salvation which he has procured for lost sinners; it brings them to Zion, to declare what great things God has done for them: or else drowsy professors, in lifeless frames, and much gone back in religion; who, when aroused and quickened by the Gospel, and brought out of their lethargy, are ready to acknowledge their backslidings with shame; to speak meanly and modestly of themselves, and very highly of Christ and his grace, who has healed their backslidings, and still loves them freely; none more ready to exalt and magnify Christ, and speak in praise of what he has done for them. Some render the words, "causing the lips of ancient men to speak" ^x; whose senses are not so quick, nor they so full of talk, as in their youthful days: wherefore this serves to commend this wine; that it should have such an effect as to invigorate ancient men, and give them a juvenile warmth and sprightliness, and make them loquacious, which is one effect of wine, when freely drunk ^y; and softens the moroseness of ancient men ^z: wine is even said to make an ancient man dance ^a.

Gill: Sos 7:10

I am my beloved's,.... These are the words of the church, strongly expressing the assurance of faith she had of her union to Christ, and interest in him; which shows that "that" grace is attainable, and that there may be a continuation of the exercise of it; it may be expressed again and again, as it is by the church in this Song, Son 2:16; and that the exercise of it often follows, upon the enjoyment of Christ's presence, as here, upon his going tap to the palm tree; and that this grace has no tendency to licentiousness, but excites to duty, and makes more careful in it, of which Son 7:11 is a proof, "Come, let us go forth", &c. Moreover, these words may be considered as a modest acknowledgment of the church's, that all she were and had were Christ's, and came from him; all the beauty he had commended in her; all fruitfulness in grace, and strength in the exercise of it; her light and knowledge in divine truths; her zeal and courage to defend them; her upright stature, and holy walk and conversation, and every good thing else, were owing to his grace. And here she also makes a voluntary surrender of all to him again; as she received all from him, she devotes all to him:

and his desire is towards me; and only to her, as his spouse and bride: it was towards her from everlasting, when he asked her of his Father, and he gave her to him; and so it was in time, to procure her salvation; hence he became incarnate, and suffered and died in her stead: his desire is towards his people before conversion, waiting to be gracious to them; and, after conversion, to have their company, and their grace exercised on him, and to behold their beauty; nor will his desires be fully satisfied until he has got them all with him in glory. And this phrase not only signifies the conjugal relation of the church to Christ, he being her husband, and she his wife, the desire of his eyes, as a wife is called, Eze 24:16; but takes in the whole care and concern of Christ for her, as her husband; who sympathizes with her under all her distresses; protects her from all dangers and enemies; and provides everything necessary for her, for time and eternity. Some render the words, "seeing his desire is towards me" ^b; therefore she expresses her faith in him, and gives up herself to him.

Gill: Sos 7:11

Come, my beloved,.... The word come is often used by Christ, and here by the church, in imitation of him; see Son 2:10. This call is the call of the church upon Christ, to make good his promise, Son 7:8; and is an earnest desire after the presence of Christ, and the manifestations of his love; which desire is increased the more it is enjoyed; and it shows the sense she had of her own insufficiency for the work she was going about: she knew that visiting the several congregations of the saints would be to little purpose, unless Christ was with her, and therefore she urges him to it; not that he was backward and unwilling to go with her, but he chooses to seem so, to make his people the more earnest for his presence, and to prize it the more when they have it; and it is pleasing to him to hear them ask for it. The endearing character, "my beloved", is used by the church, not only to express her affection for Christ, and faith of interest in him, but as an argument to engage him to go along with her. Her requests follow;

let us go forth into the field; from the city, where she had been in quest of Christ, and had now found him, Son 5:7; into the country, for recreation and pleasure: the allusion may be to such who keep their country houses, to which they retire from the city, and take their walks in the fields, to see how the fruits grow, and enjoy the country air. The church is for going abroad into the fields; but then she would have Christ with her; walking in the fields yields no pleasure unless Christ is there; there is no recreation without him: the phrase expresses her desire of his presence everywhere, at home and abroad, in the city and the fields; and of her being with him alone, that she might tell him all her mind, and impart her love to him, which she could better do alone than in company it may also signify her desire to have the Gospel spread in the world, in the barren parts of it, which looked like uncultivated fields, the Gentile world; and so, in one of the Jewish Midrashes ^c, these "fields", and the "villages" in the next clause, are interpreted of the nations of the world;

let us lodge in the villages; which, though places of mean entertainment for food and lodging, yet, Christ being with her, were more eligible to her than the greatest affluence of good things without him; and, being places of retirement from the noise and hurry of the city, she chose them, that she might be free of the cares of life, and enjoy communion with Christ, which she would have continued; and therefore was desirous of "lodging", at least all night, as in Son 1:13. Some ^d render the words, "by", "in", or "among the Cyprus trees"; see Son 1:14; by which may be meant the saints, comparable to such trees for their excellency, fragrancy, and fruitfulness; and an invitation to lodge by or with these could not be unwelcome to Christ, they being the excellent in the earth, in whom is all his delight.

Gill: Sos 7:12

Let us get up early to the vineyards,.... After a night's lodging in the fields, or among the "Cyprus trees". By which "vineyards" may be meant particular churches, gathered according to Gospel order, and distinguished from the world, planted with fruitful vines, and fenced by almighty power: hither the church proposes to "get up early", very early in the morning; being willing to take the first and most seasonable opportunity of visiting the saints, to know their state and condition; and, that her visit might not be in vain, she is for taking Christ along with her;

let us see if the vine flourish; true believers in Christ; who, though weak and worthless in themselves, yet being ingrafted in Christ, the true vine, bring forth fruit, and become flourishing in grace and good works; of the flourishing or flowering of the vine; see Gill on Son 2:13;

whether the tender grape appear; or when "the flower of the vine opens" ^e, and goes off, and the small grape appears: by which young converts may be meant, who are tender, and have but a small degree of faith and knowledge; and yet these are not overlooked, much less despised, by Christ and his church, but are delighted with the promising appearance they make;

and the pomegranates bud forth; stronger believers, taller and more fruitful than the former; see Son 4:13; the actings and exercise of whose grace are signified by "budding forth", in an open and visible manner: the church is concerned for the good and welfare of the saints of all ranks and sizes; of vines and pomegranates, as well as tender grapes; and of the budding of the one, as well as of the opening and flowering of the other. And seeing these ends proposed by her are the same with Christ's, Son 6:11; she might conclude they would prevail upon him to go with her, particularly what follows:

there will I give thee my loves; in the fields, villages, and vineyards, when alone, and observing the state and condition of particular churches and saints; and having communion with Christ, the church might hope and expect to have her heart enlarged, and drawn forth in love to Christ more abundantly; and that she should be able to manifest it more largely to him, and give clearer and fuller proofs of it: and this she observes in order to gain her point, and get him to go along with her; knowing that her love, in the actings and exercise of it, was very acceptable to him, Son 4:10; I see not why the word for "loves" may not be rendered "my lovely flowers"; as a word nearly the same, in Son 7:13, is by some rendered, "these lovely flowers give a good smell", which seems to refer to the flowers here; such as were to be met with in plenty, in fields and vineyards, among vines and pomegranates, as lilies, violets, &c. and may be an allusion to lovers, who used to give to those they loved sweet smelling flowers ^f; and here may signify the graces of the Spirit, and the actings of them, which are fragrant, and acceptable to Christ.

Gill: Sos 7:13

The mandrakes give a smell,.... Or, "those lovely flowers", as Junius and Tremellius, and Piscator, translate the words; even those the church proposed to give to her beloved, when in the fields Some take them to be violets; others, jessamine; others, more probably, lilies ^g; as the circumstances of time and place, when and where they flourished, and their fragrant smell, and figure like cups, show. Ravius ^h contends, that the word signifies, and should be rendered, "the branches put forth their sweet smelling flowers"; and thinks branches of figs are meant, which give a good smell, agreeably to Son 2:13; and which he supposes to be the use of the word in Jer 24:1; and to his sense Heidegger ⁱ agrees; only he thinks the word "branches" is not to be restrained to a particular species, but may signify branches of sweet smelling flowers, and fruits in general. Ludolphus ^k would have the fruit the Arabians, call "mauz", or "muza", intended; which, in the Abyssine country, is as big as a cucumber, and of the same form and shape, fifty of which grow upon one and the same stalk, and are of a very sweet taste and smell; from which cognation of a great many on the same stalk he thinks it took the name of "dudaim", the word here used, and in Gen 30:14. But the generality of interpreters and commentators understand by it the mandrakes; and so it is rendered by the Septuagint, and in both the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, on Gen 30:14; but it is questionable whether the same plant that is known among us by that name is meant, since it is of a strong ill scented and offensive smell; and so Pliny says ^l of it: though Dioscorides, Levinus, Lemnius ^m, and Augustine ⁿ (who says he saw the plant and examined it), say it is of a very sweet smell; which though it does not agree with the plant that now bears the name, yet it does with that here intended; for though it is only said to give a smell, no doubt a good one is meant, and such Reuben's mandrakes gave. And by them here may be intended, either the saints and people of God, compared to them for their fragrancy, being clad with the garments of Christ, which smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, and are anointed with the savoury ointments of the grace of the Spirit; whose prayers are sweet odours; and their works, with their persons, accepted with God in Christ: or rather the graces of the Spirit in lively exercise may be meant; such as those lovely flowers of faith, hope, love, repentance, patience, self-denial, humility, thankfulness, and others;

and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits; in distinction from the mandrakes and flowers in the fields Gen 30:14; and in allusion to a custom, in many countries, to garnish the posts of the door of newly married persons with branches of trees, and fruits, and flowers; and at other festivals, besides nuptial ones ^o, which made it inviting to enter in: and these "all manner of pleasant fruits" may denote the plenty, variety, and excellency of the blessings of grace, and of the graces of the Spirit, believers have from Christ; and of the doctrines and ordinances of the Gospel, which are for their use; and may be said to be "at our gates", as being ready at hand, in the hearts of saints, and in the mouths of Gospel ministers; and open and visible, held forth to public view in the word and ordinances; and which are administered at Wisdom's gates, the gates of Zion, where they are to be met with and had. And which are

new and old; denoting the plenty of grace and blessings of it, of old laid up in Christ, and from whom there are fresh supplies continually: or rather the doctrines of the Old and New Testament; which, for matter and substance, are the same; and with which the church, and particularly her faithful ministers, being furnished, bring forth out of their treasure things new and old, Mat 13:52;

which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved; Christ, whom her soul loved; for though the above fruits, the blessings, promises, and doctrines of grace, which she laid up in her heart, mind, and memory, to bring forth and make use of at proper times and seasons, were for her own use and benefit, and of all believers, yet in all for the honour and glory of Christ, the author and donor of them. Respect may be had to a custom with lovers, to lay up fruits for those they love; at least such custom may be compared with this ^p.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Sos 7:2

¹ tn The noun שֹׁרֶר (shorer) is a hapax legomenon, appearing in the OT only here. There is debate whether it means “navel” or “vulva”: (1) Lys and Pope suggest that שֹׁרֶר is related to Arabic srr (“secret place, pudenda, coition, fornication”). They suggest that this is contextually supported by three factors: (a) His descriptive praise of her is in ascending order, beginning with her feet and concluding with her hair. The movement from her thighs (7:1b), to her vulva (7:2a), and then to her waist (7:2b) would fit this. (b) The descriptive comparison to a glass of wine would be grotesque if her navel were in view – her navel was moist or filled with liquid? – but appropriate if her vulva were in view. (c) The navel would be a somewhat synonymous reference to the belly which is already denoted by בִּטְנֵךְ (bitnekh, “belly”) in the following line. Because 7:1-7 does not use synonymous parallelism, the term שֹׁרֶר would have to refer to something other than the belly. (2) The term שֹׁרֶר denotes “navel”: (a) It may be related to the bi-consonantal noun שֹׁר (shor, “navel, umbilical cord”) (Prov 3:8; Ezek 16:4). (b) Mishnaic Hebrew שָׁרָר (sharar) denotes “navel, umbilical cord” (Jastrow 1634 s.v. שָׁרָר). For example, in a midrash on the Book of Numbers, the noun שֹׁרֶר appears in an allusion to Song 7:3 to justify the seating of the Sanhedrin in the middle of the synagogue: “As the navel (שֹׁרֶר) is placed in the centre of the body, so are the Sanhedrin…” (Num. Rab. 1:4). On the other hand, the meaning “vulva” never appears in Mishnaic Hebrew. Therefore, apart from this disputed usage there is no evidence that this term was ever used in this manner in Hebrew. (c) Rather than שֹׁרֶר being related to Arabic sirr (“pudenda”), it could just as easily be related to the Arabic noun surr “navel.” It is methodologically more sound to define שֹׁרֶר as “navel” than as “vulva.” (d) The nuance “navel” is not as out of line contextually as Lys and Pope suggest. The navel would not be out of place in the ascending order of praise because the בִּטְנֵךְ (“abdomen”) which follows may be viewed as both above and below the navel. The figurative association of the שֹׁרֶר as a mixing bowl filled with wine does not imply that this bodily part must actually be moist or filled with liquid as Pope suggests. The point of comparison is not physical or visual but one of function, i.e., it is intoxicating. The comparison of the navel to a mixing bowl of wine is no more out of line than the comparison of the belly to a heap of wheat in the next line. In fact, the two go together – she is both the “drink” and “food” for Solomon. The shape of the navel is as congruent with the metaphor of the “round bowl” as the vulva; both are round and receding. (3) Since both terms are derived from the same geminate root – Hebrew שֹׁרֶר and Arabic srr – it is more prudent to take the term as a synecdoche of whole (lower region) for the parts (including navel and vulva). The attempt to decide between these two options may be illegitimately splitting hairs. See K&D 18:123; J. S. Deere, “Song of Solomon,” BKCOT, 199-200; D. Lys, “Notes sur de Cantique,” VTSup 17 (1969): 171-78; M. H. Pope, Song of Songs (AB), 617; G. L. Carr, Song of Solomon (TOTC), 157.

² sn The expression אַגַּן הַסַּהַר (’aggan hassahar, “round mixing bowl”) refers to a vessel used for mixing wine. Archaeologists have recovered examples of such large, deep, two handled, ring-based round bowls. The Hebrew term אַגַּן (“mixing bowl”) came into Greek usage as ἂγγος (angos) which designates vessels used for mixing wine (e.g., Homer, Odyssey xvi 16) (LSJ 7). This is consistent with the figurative references to wine which follows: “may it never lack mixed wine.” Selected Bibliography: J. P. Brown, “The Mediterranean Vocabulary for Wine,” VT 19 (1969): 158; A. M. Honeyman, “The Pottery Vessels of the Old Testament,” PEQ 80 (1939): 79. The comparison of her navel to a “round mixing bowl” is visually appropriate in that both are round and receding. The primary point of comparison to the round bowl is one of sense, as the following clause makes clear: “may it never lack mixed wine.” J. S. Deere suggests that the point of comparison is that of taste, desirability, and function (“Song of Solomon,” BKCOT, 202). More specifically, it probably refers to the source of intoxication, that is, just as a bowl used to mix wine was the source of physical intoxication, so she was the source of his sexual intoxication. She intoxicated Solomon with her love in the same way that wine intoxicates a person.

³ tn The phrase אַל־יֶחְסַר (’al-yekhsar) has traditionally been taken as an imperfect: “it never lacks mixed wine” (M. H. Pope, Song of Songs [AB], 619); “which wanteth not liquor” (KJV); “in which liquor is never lacking” (RSV); “that never lacks mixed wine” (JB); “with no lack of wine” (NEB); “that shall never want for spiced wine” (NEB); “that never lacks blended wine” (NIV). This is also how LXX understood it: μὴ ὑστερούμενος κρᾶμα (mh usteroumenos, “not lacking liquor”). However, the negative אַל (’al) normally precedes a jussive expressing a wish or request: “May it never lack mixed wine!” (J. S. Deere, “Song of Solomon,” BKCOT, 202). This approach is adopted by several translations: “that should never lack for mixed wine” (NASB) and “Let mixed wine not be lacking!” (NJPS).

⁴ sn The term מָזֶג (mazeg, “mixed wine”) does not refer to wine mixed with water to dilute its potency, but to strong wine mixed with weaker wine. The practice of mixing wine with water is not attested in the Hebrew Bible. Both מָזֶג and מֶסֶךְ (mesekh) refer to strong wine mixed with weaker wine. The rabbis later distinguished between the two, stating that מָזֶג was strong wine mixed with weak wine, while מֶסֶךְ was wine mixed with water (Aboda Zara 58b). However, both types of wine were intoxicating. Mixed wine was the most intoxicating type of wine. In a midrash on the Book of Numbers a comment is made about the practice of mixing strong wine with weaker wine (e.g., Isa 5:22; Prov 23:30), stating its purpose: “They used to mix strong wine with weak wine so as to get drunk with it” (Num. Rab. 10:8). See J. P. Brown, “The Mediterranean Vocabulary of Wine,” VT 19 (1969): 154. The comparison of a wife’s sexual love to intoxicating wine is common in ancient Near Eastern love literature. Parallel in thought are the words of the Hebrew sage, “May your fountain be blessed and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer – may her love (or breasts) always intoxicate you, may you ever stagger like a drunkard in her love” (Prov 5:18-19).

⁵ tn Alternately, “your waist.” The term בִּטְנֵךְ (bitnekh) probably refers to the woman’s “belly” rather than “waist.” It is associated with a woman’s abdominal/stomach region rather than her hips (Prov 13:25; 18:20; Ezek 3:3). The comparison of her belly to a heap of wheat is visually appropriate because of the similarity of their symmetrical shape and tannish color. The primary point of comparison, however, is based upon the commonplace association of wheat in Israel, namely, wheat was the main staple of the typical Israelite meal (Deut 32:14; 2 Sam 4:6; 17:28; 1 Kgs 5:25; Pss 81:14; 147:14). Just as wheat satisfied an Israelite’s physical hunger, she satisfied his sexual hunger. J. S. Deere makes this point in the following manner: “The most obvious commonplace of wheat was its function, that is, it served as one of the main food sources in ancient Palestine. The Beloved was both the ‘food’ (wheat) and ‘drink’ (wine) of the Lover. Her physical expression of love nourished and satisfied him. His satisfaction was great for the ‘mixed wine’ is intoxicating and the ‘heap of wheat’ was capable of feeding many. The ‘heap of wheat’ also suggests the harvest, an association which contributes to the emotional quality of the metaphor. The harvest was accompanied with a joyous celebration over the bounty yielded up by the land. So also, the Beloved is bountiful and submissive in giving of herself, and the source of great joy” (“Song of Solomon,” BKCOT, 203-204).

⁶ tn Heb “fenced around by.”

NET Notes: Sos 7:4

¹ tn Alternately, “the ivory tower.” The noun הַשֵּׁן (hashshen, “ivory”) is a genitive of composition, that is, a tower made out of ivory. Solomon had previously compared her neck to a tower (Song 4:4). In both cases the most obvious point of comparison has to do with size and shape, that is, her neck was long and symmetrical. Archaeology has never found a tower overlaid with ivory in the ancient Near East and it is doubtful that there ever was such a tower. The point of comparison might simply be that the shape of her neck looks like a tower, while the color and smoothness of her neck was like ivory. Solomon is mixing metaphors: her neck was long and symmetrical like a tower; but also elegant, smooth, and beautiful as ivory. The beauty, elegance, and smoothness of a woman’s neck is commonly compared to ivory in ancient love literature. For example, in a piece of Greek love literature, Anacron compared the beauty of the neck of his beloved Bathyllus to ivory (Ode xxxix 28-29).

² sn It is impossible at the present time to determine the exact significance of the comparison of her eyes to the “gate of Bath-Rabbim” because this site has not yet been identified by archaeologists.

NET Notes: Sos 7:5

¹ tn Heb “your head [is] upon you.”

² sn The Carmel mountain range is a majestic sight. The mountain range borders the southern edge of the plain of Esdraelon, dividing the Palestinian coastal plain into the Plain of Acco to the north and the Plains of Sharon and Philistia to the south. Its luxuriant foliage was legendary (Isa 33:9; Amos 1:2; Nah 1:4). Rising to a height of approximately 1750 feet (525 m), it extends southeast from the Mediterranean for 13 miles (21 km). Due to its greatness and fertility, it was often associated with majesty and power (Isa 35:2; Jer 46:18). The point of the comparison is that her head crowns her body just as the majestic Mount Carmel rested over the landscape, rising above it in majestic and fertile beauty. See ZPEB 1:755; C. F. Pfeiffer and H. F. Vos, Wycliffe Historical Geography of Bible Lands, 100.

³ sn The term דַּלָּה (dallah, “locks, hair”) refers to dangling curls or loose hair that hangs down from one’s head (HALOT 222-23 s.v. I דַּלָּה). The Hebrew term is from a common Semitic root meaning “to hang down,” and is related to Arabic tadaldala “dangle” and Ethiopic delul “dangling curls” (KBL 222-23).

⁴ tn Heb “like purple” or “like purple fabric.” The term אַרְגָּמָן (’argaman, “purple fabric”) refers to wool dyed with red purple (HALOT 84 s.v. אַרְגָּמָן). It is used in reference to purple threads (Exod 35:25; 39:3; Esth 1:9) or purple cloth (Num 4:13; Judg 8:26; Esth 8:15; Prov 31:22; Jer 10:9; Song 3:10). NASB translates it as “purple threads,” while NIV nuances this term as “royal tapestry.” M. H. Pope (The Song of Songs [AB], 629-30) adduces several ancient Near Eastern texts and suggests that it refers to purple hair-dye. The comparison is to hair which entangles Solomon like binding cords and therefore, it seems most likely that the idea here must be purple threads. The Hebrew noun is a loanword from Hittite argaman “tribute,” which is reflected in Akkadian argamannu “purple” (also “tribute” under Hittite influence), Ugaritic argmn “tax, purple,” Aramaic argwn “purple” (HALOT 84). Purple cloth and threads were considered very valuable (Ezek 27:7, 16) and were commonly worn by kings as a mark of their royal position (Judg 8:26).

⁵ tn Alternately, “captivated.” The verb אָסַר (’asar, “to bind, capture, hold captive, put in prison”) is commonly used of binding a prisoner with cords and fetters (Gen 42:34; Judg 15:10-13; 16:5-12; 2 Kgs 17:4; 23:33; 25:7; 2 Chr 33:11) (HALOT 75 s.v. אסר). It is frequently used as a figure to depict absolute authority over a person (Ps 105:22). The passive participle סוּר means “to be bound, held captive, imprisoned” (2 Sam 3:34; Jer 40:1; Job 36:8). Like a prisoner bound in cords and fetters and held under the complete control and authority of his captor, Solomon was captivated by the spellbinding power of her hair. In a word, he was the prisoner of love and she was his captor. Similar imagery appears in an ancient Egyptian love song: “With her hair she throws lassoes at me, with her eyes she catches me, with her necklace she entangles me, and with her seal ring she brands me” (Song 43 in the Chester Beatty Cycle, translated by W. K. Simpson, ed., The Literature of Ancient Egypt, 324). J. S. Deere suggests, “The concluding part of the metaphor, ‘The king is held captive by your tresses,’ is a beautiful expression of the powerful effect of love. A strong monarch was held prisoner by the beauty of his Beloved” (“Song of Solomon,” BKCOT, 206-207). This is a startling statement because Solomon emphasizes that the one who was being held captive like a prisoner in bonds was the “king”! At this point in world history, Solomon was the ruler of the most powerful and wealthy nation in the world (1 Kgs 3:13; 10:23-29). And yet he was held totally captive and subject to the beauty of this country maiden!

NET Notes: Sos 7:6

¹ tn Alternately, “O beloved one.” Consonantal אהבה is vocalized by the Masoretes as אַהֲבָה (’ahavah, “love”). However, a variant Hebrew ms tradition preserves the vocalization of the passive form אֲהֻבָה (’ahuvah, “beloved one, one who is loved”), as is also reflected in the Vulgate and Syriac. The term אַהֲבָה (“love”) usually refers to sexual (2 Sam 13:15; Prov 5:19) or emotional love between a man and a woman (2 Sam 1:26; Song 8:6-7) (HALOT 18 s.v. I אַהֲבָה).

² tc The MT preserves a syntactically difficult reading בַּתַּעֲנוּגִים (batta’anugim, “in/with delights”). A variant Hebrew textual tradition preserves the alternate reading בַּת תַּעֲנוּגִים (bat ta’anugim, “daughter of delights” or “delightful daughter”). The textual variant is either due to haplography (mistakenly writing ת once instead of twice) or dittography (mistakenly writing ת twice instead of once). The alternate textual tradition is reflected in Aquila θυγάτηρ τρυφῶν (qugarhr trufwn, “daughter of delights”). However, the MT reading אַהֲבָה בַּתַּעֲנוּגִים (’ahavah batta’anugim, “O love, in your delights”) is אַהֲבָה בַּתַּעֲנוּגִים (“O love, in your delights”) is supported by LXX (Old Greek) ἀγάπη, ἐν τρυφαῖς σου (agaph, en trufais sou, “O love, in your delights”).

tn The term תַּעֲנוּג (ta’anug, “luxury, daintiness, exquisite delight”) is used in reference to: (1) tender love (Mic 1:16); (2) the object of pleasure (Mic 2:9); (3) erotic pleasures (Eccl 2:8); (4) luxury befitting a king (Prov 19:10). The term may have sexual connotations, as when it is used in reference to a harem of women who are described as “the delights” of the heart of a man (Eccl 2:8) (BDB 772 s.v. תַּעֲנוּג).

NET Notes: Sos 7:7

¹ tn The term קוֹמָתֵךְ (qomatek, “stature”) indicates the height of an object, e.g., tall person (1 Sam 16:7; Ezek 13:8), tall tree (2 Kgs 19:23; Isa 10:33; Ezek 31:3-5, 10-14), a towering vine (Ezek 19:11).

² sn The term תָּמָר (tamar, “palm tree”) refers to the date palm tree (Phoenix dactyliferia) that can reach a height of 80 feet (24 m). It flourished in warm moist areas and oases from Egypt to India. Ancient Iraq was the leading grower of date palms and dates in the ancient world, as today (M. H. Pope, The Song of Songs [AB], 633). There is also a hint of eroticism in this palm tree metaphor because the palm tree was often associated with fertility in the ancient world. The point of comparison is that she is a tall, slender, fertile young woman. The comparison of a tall and slender lady to a palm tree is not uncommon in love literature: “O you, whose height is that of a palm tree in a serail” (Homer, Odyssey vi 162-63) (S. H. Stephan, “Modern Palestinian Parallels to the Song of Songs,” JPOS 2 [1922]: 76).

³ tn Alternately “clusters of figs.” The term אַשְׁכֹּלוֹת (’ashkolot, “clusters”) usually refers to (1) clusters of grapes, that is, the stalk on which the bunch of grapes grow and the bunch of grapes themselves (Gen 40:10; Num 13:23-24; Deut 32:32; Isa 65:8; Mic 7:1) or (2) the berry on a cluster of henna bush (Song 1:14) (HALOT 95 s.v. I אַשְׁכּוֹל). It is possible that this is an anomalous usage in reference to a cluster of dates rather than to a cluster of grapes for three reasons: (1) the תָּמָר (tamar, “palm tree”) referred to in 7:7 is a date palm, (2) the term סַנְסִנִּים (sansinnim, “fruit stalks”) in 7:8a refers to the fruit stalk of dates (Rademus dactylorum), being related to Akkadian sissinnu (“part of the date palm”), and (3) the reference to climbing the palm tree in 7:8a is best understood if it is a date palm and its fruit are dates. The comparison between her breasts and clusters of dates probably has to do with shape and multiplicity, as well as taste, as the rest of this extended metaphor intimates. M. H. Pope (The Song of Songs [AB], 634) notes: “The comparison of the breasts to date clusters presumably intended a pair of clusters to match the dual form of the word for ‘breasts.’ A single cluster of dates may carry over a thousand single fruits and weigh twenty pounds or more. It may be noted that the multiple breasts of the representations of Artemis of Ephesus look very much like a cluster of large dates, and it might be that the date clusters here were intended to suggest a similar condition of polymasty.”

NET Notes: Sos 7:8

¹ tn Heb “I said, ‘I will climb….’” The verb אָמַר (’amar, “to say”) is often used metonymically in reference to the thought process, emphasizing the spontaneity of a decision or of an idea which has just entered the mind of the speaker moments before he speaks (Gen 20:11; 26:9; 44:28; Exod 2:14; Num 24:11; Ruth 4:4; 1 Sam 20:4, 26; 2 Sam 5:6; 12:22; 2 Kgs 5:11). M. H. Pope renders it appropriately: “Methinks” (Song of Songs [AB], 635).

² sn A Palestinian palm tree grower would climb a palm tree for two reasons: (1) to pluck the fruit and (2) to pollinate the female palm trees. Because of their height and because the dates would not naturally fall off the tree, the only way to harvest dates from a palm tree is to climb the tree and pluck the fruit off the stalks. This seems to be the primary imagery behind this figurative expression. The point of comparison here would be that just as one would climb a palm tree to pluck its fruit so that it might be eaten and enjoyed, so too Solomon wanted to embrace his Beloved so that he might embrace and enjoy her breasts. It is possible that the process of pollination is also behind this figure. A palm tree is climbed to pick its fruit or to dust the female flowers with pollen from the male flowers (the female and male flowers were on separate trees). To obtain a better yield and accelerate the process of pollination, the date grower would transfer pollen from the male trees to the flowers on the female trees. This method of artificial pollination is depicted in ancient Near Eastern art. For example, a relief from Gozan (Tel Halaf) dating to the 9th century b.c. depicts a man climbing a palm tree on a wooden ladder with his hands stretched out to take hold of its top branches to pollinate the flowers or to pick the fruit from the tree. The point of this playful comparison is clear: Just as a palm tree grower would climb a female tree to pick its fruit and to pollinate it with a male flower, Solomon wanted to grasp her breasts and to make love to her (The Illustrated Family Encyclopedia of the Living Bible, 10:60).

³ tn Heb “of the vine.”

⁴ tn The Hebrew noun תַּפּוּחַ (tappukha) has been traditionally been translated as “apple,” but modern botanists and the most recent lexicographers now identify תַּפּוּחַ with the “apricot” (BDB 656 s.v. I תַּפּוּחַ). This might better explain the association with the sweet smelling scent,
especially since the term is derived from a Semitic root denoting “aromatic scent.” Apricots were often associated with their sweet scent in the ancient world (Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 92-93).

NET Notes: Sos 7:9

¹ tn The term חֵךְ (khek, “palate, mouth”) is often used as a metonymy for what the mouth produces, e.g., the mouth is the organ of taste (Ps 119:103; Job 12:11; 20:13; 34:3; Prov 24:13; Song 2:3), speech (Job 6:30; 31:30; 33:2; Prov 5:3; 8:7), sound (Hos 8:1), and kisses (Song 5:16; 7:10) (HALOT 313 s.v. חֵךְ; BDB 335 s.v. חֵךְ). The metonymical association of her palate/mouth and her kisses is made explicit by RSV which translated the term as “kisses.”

² tc The MT reads שִׁפְתֵי יְשֵׁנִים (shifte yÿshenim, “lips of those who sleep”). However, an alternate Hebrew reading of שְׂפָתַי וְשִׁנָּי (sÿfata vÿsinna, “my lips and my teeth”) is suggested by the Greek tradition (LXX, Aquila, Symmachus): χείλεσίν μου καὶ ὀδοῦσιν (ceilesin mou kai odousin, “my lips and teeth”). This alternate reading, with minor variations, is followed by NAB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, NLT.

tn Or “his lips as he falls asleep.” Heb “the lips of sleepers.” Alternately, “over lips and teeth” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

NET Notes: Sos 7:10

¹ tn Heb “his desire is for me” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

NET Notes: Sos 7:13

¹ sn In the ancient Near East the mandrake was a widely used symbol of erotic love because it was thought to be an aphrodisiac and therefore was used as a fertility drug. The unusual shape of the large forked roots of the mandrake resembles the human body with extended arms and legs. This similarity gave rise to the popular superstition that the mandrake could induce conception and it was therefore used as a fertility drug. It was so thoroughly associated with erotic love that its name is derived from the Hebrew root דּוֹד (dod, “love”), that is, דּוּדָאִים (duda’im) denotes “love-apples.” Arabs used its fruit and roots as an aphrodisiac and referred to it as abd al- sal’m (“servant of love”) (R. K. Harrison, “The Mandrake and the Ancient World,” EQ 28 [1956]: 188-89; Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 138-39).

² sn Her comparison of their love to fruit stored “over our door” reflects an ancient Near Eastern practice of storing fruit on a shelf above the door of a house. In the ancient Near East, fruits were stored away on shelves or cupboards above doorways where they were out of reach and left to dry until they became very sweet and delectable. The point of comparison in this figurative expression seems to be two-fold: (1) She was treasuring up special expressions of her sexual love to give to him, and (2) All these good things were for him alone to enjoy. See M. H. Pope, The Song of Songs [AB], 650.

Geneva Bible: Sos 7:3

^{( b )} Thy two breasts [are] like two young roes [that are] twins.

^{( b )} See Son 4:5

Geneva Bible: Sos 7:5

Thy head upon thee [is] like Carmel, and the hair of thy head like purple; the king [is] ^{( c )} held captive by [its] locks of hair.

^{( c )} He delights to come near you, and to be in your company.

Geneva Bible: Sos 7:10

^{( d )} I [am] my beloved's, and his desire [is] toward me.

^{( d )} This the spouse speaks.

Geneva Bible: Sos 7:12

Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the ^{( e )} vine flourisheth, [whether] the tender grape appeareth, [and] the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.

^{( e )} If the people that are called to Christ bring forth any fruit.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Sos 7:1-13

1 A further description of the church's graces.

10 The church professes her faith and desire.

MHCC: Sos 7:1-9

The similitudes here are different from what they were before, and in the original refer to glorious and splendid clothing. Such honour have all his saints; and having put on Christ, they are distinguished by their beautiful and glorious apparel. They adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things. Consistent believers honour Christ, recommend the gospel, and convince and awaken sinners. The church resembles the stately and spreading palm; while her love for Christ, and the obedience resulting therefrom, are precious fruit of the true Vine. The King is held in the galleries. Christ takes delight in the assemblies and ordinances of his people; and admires the fruit of his grace in them. When applied to the church and to each faithful Christian, all this denotes that beauty of holiness, in which they shall be presented to their heavenly Bridegroom.

MHCC: Sos 7:10-13

The church, the believing soul, triumphs in its relation to Christ, and interest in him. She humbly desires communion with him. Let us walk together, that I may receive counsel, instruction, and comfort from thee; and may make known my wants and my grievances to thee, with freedom, and without interruption. Communion with Christ is what all that are made holy earnestly breathe after. And those who would converse with Christ, must go forth from the world. Wherever we are, we may keep up communion with God. Nor should we go where we cannot in faith ask him to go with us. Those who would go abroad with Christ, must begin early in the morning of their days; must begin every day with him, seek him early, seek him diligently. A gracious soul can reconcile itself to the poorest places, if it may have communion with God in them; but the most delightful fields will not satisfy, unless the Beloved is there. Let us not think to be satisfied with any earthly object. Our own souls are our vineyards; they should be planted with useful trees. We should often search whether we are fruitful in righteousness. Christ's presence will make the vine flourish, and the tender grapes appear, as the returning sun revives the gardens. If we can appeal to him, Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee; if his Spirit witness with our spirit, that our souls prosper, it is enough. And we must beg of him to search and try us, to discover us to ourselves. The fruits and exercises of graces are pleasant to the Lord Jesus. These must be laid up, and always ready; that by our bringing forth much fruit, he may be glorified. It is all from him, therefore it is fit it should be all for him.

Matthew Henry: Sos 7:1-9

The title which Jesus Christ here gives to the church is new: O prince's daughter! agreeing with Psa 45:13, where she is called the king's daughter. She is so in respect of her new birth, born from above, begotten of God, and his workmanship, bearing the image of the King of kings, and guided by his Spirit. She is so by marriage; Christ, by betrothing her to himself, though he found her mean and despicable, has made her a prince's daughter. She has a princely disposition, something in her truly noble and generous; she is daughter and heir to the prince of the kings of the earth. If children, then heirs. Now here we have,

I. A copious description of the beauty of the spouse, which, some think, is given by the virgins her companions, and that those were they who called upon her to return; it seems rather to be given by Christ himself, and to be designed to express his love to her and delight in her, as before, Son 4:1, etc., and Son 6:5, Son 6:6. The similitudes are here different from what they were before, to show that the beauty of holiness is such as nothing in nature can reach; you may still say more of it, and yet still come short of it. That commendation of the spouse, ch. 4, was immediately upon the espousals (Son 3:11), this upon her return from a by-path (Son 6:13); yet this exceeds that, to show the constancy of Christ's love to his people; he loves them to the end, since he made them precious in his sight and honourable. The spouse had described the beauty of her beloved in ten particulars (Son 5:11, etc.); and now he describes her in as many, for he will not be behindhand with her in respects and endearments. Those that honour Christ he will certainly honour, and make honourable. As the prophet, in describing the corruptions of degenerate Israel, reckons from the sole of the foot even unto the head (Isa 1:6), so here the beauties of the church are reckoned from foot to head, that, as the apostle speaks, when he is comparing the church, as here, to the natural body (1Co 12:23), more abundant honour might be bestowed on those parts of the body which we think to be less honourable, and which therefore lacked honour, 1Co 12:24. 1. Her feet are here praised; the feet of Christ's ministers are beautiful in the eyes of the church (Isa 52:7), and her feet are here said to be beautiful in the eyes of Christ. How beautiful are thy feet with shoes! When believers, being made free from the captivity of sin (Act 12:8), stand fast in the liberty with which they are made free, preserve the tokens of their enfranchisement, have their feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and walk steadily according to the rule of the gospel, then their feet are beautiful with shoes; they tread firmly, being well armed against the troubles they meet with in their way. When we rest not in good affections, but they are accompanied with sincere endeavors and resolutions, then our feet are beautified with shoes. See Eze 16:10. 2. The joint of the thighs are here said to be like jewels, and those curiously wrought by a cunning workman. This is explained by Eph 4:16 and Col 2:19, where the mystical body of Christ is said to be held together by joints and bands, as the hips and knees (both which are the joints of the thighs ) serve the natural body in its strength and motion. The church is then comely in Christ's eyes when those joints are kept firm by holy love and unity, and the communion of saints. When believers act in religion from good principles, and are steady and regular in their whole conversation, and turn themselves easily to every duty in its time and place, then the joints are like jewels. 3. The navel is here compared to a round cup or goblet, that wants not any of the agreeable liquor that one would wish to find in it, such as David's cup that ran over (Psa 23:5), well shaped, and not as that miserable infant whose navel was not cut, Eze 16:4. The fear of the Lord is said to be health to the navel. See Pro 3:8. When the soul wants not that fear then the navel wants not liquor. 4. The belly is like a heap of wheat in the store-chamber, which perhaps was sometimes, to make show, adorned with flowers. The wheat is useful, the lilies are beautiful; there is every thing in the church which may be to the members of that body either for use or for ornament. All the body is nourished from the belly; it denotes the spiritual prosperity of a believer and the healthful constitution of the soul all in good plight. 5. The breasts are like two young roes that are twins, Son 7:3. By the breasts of the church's consolations those are nourished who are born from its belly (Isa 46:3), and by the navel received nourishment in the womb. This comparison we had before, Son 4:5. 6. The neck, which before was compared to the tower of David (Son 4:4), is here compared to a tower of ivory, so white, so precious; such is the faith of the saints, by which they are joined to Christ their head. The name of the Lord, improved by faith, is to the saints as a strong and impregnable tower. 7. The eyes are compared to the fish-pools in Heshbon, or the artificial fish-ponds, by a gate, either of Jerusalem or Heshbon, which is called Bath-rabbim, the daughter of a multitude, because a great thoroughfare. The understanding, the intentions of a believer, are clean and clear as these ponds. The eyes, weeping for sin, are as fountains (Jer 9:1), and comely with Christ. 8. The nose is like the tower of Lebanon, the forehead or face set like a flint (Isa 50:7), undaunted as that tower was impregnable. So it denotes the magnanimity and holy bravery of the church, or (as others) a spiritual sagacity to discern things that differ, as animals strangely distinguish by the smell. This tower looks towards Damascus, the head city of Syria, denoting the boldness of the church in facing its enemies and not fearing them. 9. The head like Carmel, a very high hill near the sea, Son 7:5. The head of a believer is lifted up above his enemies (Psa 27:6), above the storms of the lower region, as the top of Carmel was, pointing heaven-ward. The more we get above this world, and the nearer to heaven, and the more secure and serene we become by that means, the more amiable we are in the eyes of the Lord Jesus. 10. The hair of the head is said to be like purple. This denotes the universal amiableness of a believer in the eyes of Christ, even to the hair, or (as some understand it) the pins with which the hair is dressed. Some by the head and the hair understand the governors of the church, who, if they be careful to do their duty, add much to her comeliness. The head like crimson (so some read it) and the hair like purple, the two colours worn by great men.

II. The complacency which Christ takes in his church thus beautified and adorned. She is lovely indeed if she be so in his eyes; as he puts the comeliness upon her, so it is his love that makes this comeliness truly valuable, for he is an unexceptionable judge. 1. He delighted to look upon his church, and to converse with it, rejoicing in that habitable part of his earth: The king is held in the galleries, and cannot leave them. This is explained by Psa 132:13, Psa 132:14, The Lord has chosen Zion, saying, This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell; and Psa 147:11, The Lord takes pleasure in those that fear him. And, if Christ has such delight in the galleries of communion with his people, much more reason have they to delight in them, and to reckon a day there better than a thousand. 2. He was even struck with admiration at the beauty of his church (Son 7:6): How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love! How art thou made fair! (so the word is), "not born so, but made so with the comeliness which I have put upon thee."Holiness is a beauty beyond expression; the Lord Jesus is wonderfully pleased with it; the outward aspect of it is fair; the inward disposition of it is pleasant and highly agreeable, and the complacency he has in it is inexpressible. O my dearest for delights! so some read. 3. He determined to keep up communion with his church. (1.) To take hold of her as of the boughs of a palm-tree. He compares her stature to a palm-tree (Son 7:7), so straight, so strong, does she appear, when she is looked upon in her full proportion. The palm-tree is observed to flourish most when it is loaded; so the church, the more it has been afflicted, the more it has multiplied; and the branches of it are emblems of victory. Christ says, " I will go up to the palm-tree, to entertain myself with the shadow of it (Son 7:8) and I will take hold of its boughs and observe the beauty of them."What Christ has said he will do, in favour to his people; we may be sure he will do it, for his kind purposes are never suffered to fall to the ground; and if he take hold of the boughs of his church, take early hold of her branches, when they are young and tender, he will keep his hold and not let them go. (2.) To refresh himself with her fruits. He compares her breasts (her pious affections towards him) to clusters of grapes, a most pleasant fruit (Son 7:7), and he repeats it (Son 7:8): They shall be (that is, they shall be to me) as clusters of the vine, which make glad the heart. "Now that I come up to the palm-tree thy graces shall be exerted and excited."Christ's presence with his people kindles the holy heavenly fire in their souls, and then their breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, a cordial to themselves and acceptable to him. And since God, at first, breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and breathes the breath of the new life still, the smell of their nostrils is like the smell of apples, or oranges, which is pleasing and reviving. The Lord smelt a sweet savour from Noah's sacrifice, Gen 8:21. And, lastly, the roof of her mouth is like the best wine (Son 7:9); her spiritual taste and relish, or the words she speaks of God and man, which come not from the teeth outward, but from the roof of the mouth, these are pleasing to God. The prayer of the upright is his delight. And, when those that fear the Lord speak one to another as becomes them, the Lord hearkens, and hears with pleasure, Mal 3:16. It is like that wine which is, [1.] Very palatable and grateful to the taste. It goes down sweetly; it goes straightly (so the margin reads it); it moves itself aright, Pro 23:31. The pleasures of sense seem right to the carnal appetite, and go down smoothly, but they are often wrong, and, compared with the pleasure of communion with God, they are harsh and rough. Nothing goes down so sweetly with a gracious soul as the wine of God's consolations. [2.] It is a great cordial. The presence of Christ by his Spirit with him people shall be reviving and refreshing to them, as that strong wine which makes the lips even of those that are asleep (that are ready to faint away in a deliquium), to speak. Unconverted sinners are asleep; saints are often drowsy, and listless, and half asleep; but the word and Spirit of Christ will put life and vigour into the soul, and out of the abundance of the heart that is thus filled the mouth will speak. When the apostles were filled with the Spirit they spoke with tongues the wonderful works of God (Act 2:10, Act 2:12); and those who in opposition to being drunk with wine, wherein is excess, are filled with the Spirit, speak to themselves in psalms and hymns, Eph 5:18, Eph 5:19. When Christ is thus commending the sweetness of his spouse's love, excited by the manifestation of his, she seems to put in that word, for my beloved, as in a parenthesis. "Is there any thing in me that is pleasant or valuable? As it is from, so it is for my beloved." Then he delights in our good affections and services, when they are all for him and devoted to his glory.

Matthew Henry: Sos 7:10-13

These are the words of the spouse, the church, the believing soul, in answer to the kind expressions of Christ's love in the foregoing verses.

I. She here triumphs in her relation to Christ and her interest in him, and in his name will she boast all the day long. With what a transport of joy and holy exultation does she say (Son 7:10), " I am my beloved's, not my own, but entirely devoted to him and owned by him."If we can truly say that Christ is our best beloved, we may be confident that we are his and he will save us, Psa 119:94. The gracious discoveries of Christ's love to us should engage us greatly to rejoice in the hold he has of us, his sovereignty over us and property in us, which is no less a spring of comfort than a bond of duty. Intimacy of communion with Christ should help clear up our interest in him. Glorying in this, that she is his, to serve him, and reckoning that her honour, she comforts herself with this, that his desire is towards her, that is, he is her husband; it is a periphrasis of the conjugal relation, Gen 3:16. Christ's desire was strongly towards his chosen remnant, when he came from heaven to earth to seek and save them; and when, in pursuance of his undertaking, he was even straitened till the baptism of blood he was to pass through for them was accomplished, Luk 12:50. He desired Zion for a habitation; this is a comfort to believers that, whosoever slights them, Christ has a desire towards them, such a desire as will again bring him from heaven to earth to receive them to himself; for he longs to have them all with him, Joh 17:24; Joh 14:3.

II. She humbly and earnestly desires communion with him (Son 7:11, Son 7:12): " Come, my beloved, let us take a walk together, that I may receive counsel, instruction, and comfort from thee, and may make known my wants and grievances to thee, with freedom, and without interruption."Thus Christ can walk with the two disciples that were going to the village called Emmaus, and talked with them, till he made their hearts burn within them. Observe here, 1. Having received fresh tokens of his love, and full assurances of her interest in him, she presses forward towards further acquaintance with him; as blessed Paul, who desired yet more and more of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, Phi 3:8. Christ has made it to appear how much his desire is towards us, and we are very ungrateful if ours be not towards him. Note, Communion with Christ is that which all that are sanctified earnestly breathe after; and the clearer discoveries he makes to them of his love the more earnestly do they desire it. Sensual pleasures pall the carnal appetite, and soon give it surfeit, but spiritual delights whet the desires, the language of which is, Nothing more than God, but still more and more of him. Christ had said, I will go up to the palm-tree. Come, saith she, Let us go. The promises Christ has made us of communion with him are not to supersede, but quicken and encourage, our prayers for that communion. 2. She desires to go forth into the fields and villages to have this communion with him. Those that would converse with Christ must go forth from the world and the amusements of it, must avoid every thing that would divert the mind and be a hindrance to it when it should be wholly taken up with Christ; we must contrive how to attend upon the Lord without distraction (1Co 7:35), for therefore the spouse here covets to get out of the noise of the town. Let us go forth to him without the camp, Heb. 14:13. Solitude and retirement befriend communion with God; therefore Isaac went out into the field to meditate and pray. Enter into thy closet, and shut thy door. A believer is never less alone than when alone with Christ, where no eye sees. 3. Having business to go abroad, to look after their grounds, she desires the company of her beloved. Note, Wherever we are, we may keep up our communion with God, if it be not our own fault, for he is always at our right hand, his eye always upon us, and both his word and his ear always nigh us. By going about our worldly affairs with heavenly holy hearts, mixing pious thoughts with common actions, and having our eyes ever towards the Lord, we may take Christ along with us whithersoever we go. Nor should we go any whither where we cannot in faith ask him to go along with us. 4. She is willing to rise betimes, to go along with her beloved: Let us get up early to the vineyards. It intimates her care to improve opportunities of conversing with her beloved; when the time appointed has come, we must lose no time, but, as the woman (Mar 16:2), go very early, though it be to a sepulchre, if we be in hopes to meet him there. Those that will go abroad with Christ must begin betimes with him, early in the morning of their days, must begin every day with him, seek him early, seek him diligently. 5. She will be content to take up her lodging in the villages, the huts or cottages which the country people built for their shelter when they attended their business in the fields; there, in these mean and cold dwellings, she will gladly reside, if she may but have her beloved with her. His presence will make them fine and pleasant, and convert them into palaces. A gracious soul can reconcile itself to the poorest accommodations, if it may have communion with God in them. 6. The most pleasant delightful fields, even in the spring-time, when the country is most pleasant, will not satisfy her, unless she have her beloved with her. No delights on earth can make a believer easy, unless he enjoy God in all.

III. She desires to be better acquainted with the state of her own soul and the present posture of its affairs (Son 7:12): Let us see if the vine flourish. Our own souls are our vineyards; they are, or should be, planted with vines and pomegranates, choice and useful trees. We are made keepers of these vineyards, and therefore are concerned often to look into them, to examine the state of our own souls, to seek whether the vine flourishes, whether our graces be in act and exercise, whether we be fruitful in the fruits of righteousness, and whether our fruit abound. And especially let us enquire whether the tender grape appear and whether the pomegranates bud forth, what good motions and dispositions there are in us that are yet but young and tender, that they may be protected and cherished with a particular care, and may not be nipped, or blasted, or rubbed off, but cultivated, that they may bring forth fruit unto perfection. In this enquiry into our own spiritual state, it will be good to take Christ along with us, because his presence will make the vine flourish and the tender grape appear, as the returning sun revives the gardens, and because to him we are concerned to approve ourselves. If he sees the vine flourish, and the tender grape appear - if we can appeal to him, Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee, - if his Spirit witness with our spirit that our souls prosper, it is enough. And, if we would be acquainted with ourselves, we must beg of him to search and try us, to help us in the search, and discover us to ourselves.

IV. She promises to her beloved the best entertainment she can give him at her country seat; for he will come in to us, and sup with us, Rev 3:20. 1. She promises him her best affections; and, whatever else she had for him, it would utterly be contemned if her heart were not entire for him: " There therefore will I give thee my love; I will repeat the professions of it, honour thee with the tokens of it; and the out-goings of my soul towards thee in adorations and desires shall be quickened and enlarged, and my heart offered up to thee in a holy fire."2. She promises him her best provision, Son 7:13. "There we shall find pleasant odours, for the mandrakes give a smell; "the love-flowers or lovely ones (so the word signifies), or the love-fruits; it was something that was in all respects very grateful, so valuable that Rachel and Leah had like to have fallen out above it, Gen 30:14. "We shall also find that which is good for food, as well as pleasant to the eye, all the rarities that the country affords: At our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits. "Note, (1.) The fruits and exercises of grace are pleasant to the Lord Jesus. (2.) These must be carefully laid up for him, devoted to his service and honour, must be always ready to us when we have occasion for them, as that which is laid up at our gates, that, by our bringing forth much fruit, he may be glorified, Joh 15:18. (3.) There is a great variety of these pleasant fruits, with which our souls should be well stocked; we must have all sorts of them, grace for all occasions, new and old, as the good householder has in his treasury, not only the products of this year, but remainders of the last, Mat 13:52. We must not only have that ready to us, for the service of Christ, which we have heard, and learned, and experienced lately, but must retain that which we have formerly gathered; nor must we content ourselves only with what we have laid up in store in the days of old, but, as long as we live, must be still adding something new to it, that our stock may increase, and we may be thoroughly furnished for every good work. (4.) Those that truly love Christ will think all they have, even their most pleasant fruits, and what they have treasured up most carefully, too little to be bestowed upon him, and he is welcome to it all; if it were more and better, it should be at his service. It is all from him, and therefore it is fit it should be all for him.

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 7:2

2 Thy navel is a well-rounded basin -

Let not mixed wine be wanting to it

Thy body is a heap of wheat,

Set round with lilies.

In interpreting these words, Hitzig proceeds as if a "voluptuary"were here speaking. He therefore changes שׁררך into שׁררך , "thy pudenda ."But (1) it is no voluptuary who speaks here, and particularly not a man, but women who speak; certainly, above all, it is the poet, who would not, however, be so inconsiderate as to put into the mouths of women immodest words which he could use if he wished to represent the king as speaking. Moreover (2) שׁר = (Arab.) surr , secret (that which is secret; in Arab. especially referred to the pudenda, both of man and woman), is a word that is

(Note: Vid ., Tebrîzi, in my work entitled Jud.-Arab. Poesien, u.s.w . (1874), p. 24.)

foreign to the Heb. language, which has for "Geheimnis "secret the corresponding word סוד ( vid ., under Psa 2:2; Psa 25:14), after the root-signification of its verbal stem (viz., to be firm, pressed together); and (3) the reference - preferred by Döpke, Magnus, Hahn, and others, also without any change of punctuation - of שׁר to the interfeminium mulieris , is here excluded by the circumstance that the attractions of a woman dancing, as they unfold themselves, are here described. Like the Arab. surr , שׁר (= shurr ), from שׁרר , to bind fast, denotes properly the umbilical cord, Eze 16:4, and then the umbilical scar. Thus, Pro 3:8, where most recent critics prefer, for לשׁרּך , to read, but without any proper reason, לשׁרך = לשׁארך , "to thy flesh,"the navel comes there into view as the centre of the body, - which it always is with new-born infants, and is almost so with grown-up persons in respect of the length of the body, - and as, indeed, the centre. whence the pleasurable feeling of health diffuses its rays of heat. This middle and prominent point of the abdomen shows itself in one lightly clad and dancing when she breathes deeply, even through the clothing; and because the navel commonly forms a little funnel-like hollow (Böttch.: in the form almost of a whirling hollow in the water, as one may see in nude antique statues), therefore the daughters of Jerusalem compare Shulamith's navel to a "basin of roundness," i.e. , which has this general property, and thus belongs to the class of things that are round. אגּן does not mean a steplang7 Becher (a cup), but a steplang7 Bechen (basin), pelvis ; properly a washing basin, ijjanah (from אגן = ajan , to full, to wash = כּבּס ); then a sprinkling basin, Exo 24:6; and generally a basin, Isa 22:24; here, a mixing basin, in which wine was mingled with a proportion of water to render it palatable ( κρατήρ , from κεραννύναι , temperare ), - according to the Talm. with two-thirds of water. In this sense this passage is interpreted allegorically, Sanhedrin 14 b , 37 a , and elsewhere ( vid ., Aruch under מזג ). מזג .)מז is not spiced wine, which is otherwise designated (Son 8:2), but, as Hitzig rightly explains, mixed wine, i.e. , mixed with water or snow ( vid ., under Isa 5:22). מזג is not borrowed from the Greek μίσγειν (Grätz), but is a word native to all the three chief Semitic dialects, - the weaker form of מסך , which may have the meaning of "to pour in;"but not merely "to pour in,"but, at that same time, "to mix"( vid ., under Isa 5:22; Pro 9:2). סהר , with אגּן , represents the circular form (from סהר = סחר ), corresponding to the navel ring; Kimchi thinks that the moon must be understood (cf. שׂהרון , lunula ): a moon-like round basin; according to which the Venet., also in Gr., choosing an excellent name for the moon, translates: ῥἀντιστρον τῆς ἑκάτης . But "moon-basin"would be an insufficient expression for it; Ewald supposes that it is the name of a flower, without, however, establishing this opinion. The "basin of roundness"is the centre of the body a little depressed; and that which the clause, "may not mixed wine be lacking,"expresses, as their wish for her, is soundness of health, for which no more appropriate and delicate figure can be given than hot wine tempered with fresh water.

The comparison in 3b is the same as that of R. Johanan's of beauty, Mezîa 84 a : "He who would gain an idea of beauty should take a silver cup, fill it with pomegranate flowers, and encircle its rim with a garland of roses."

(Note: See my Gesch. d. Jüd. Poesie , p. 30 f. Hoch (the German Solomon) reminds us of the Jewish marriage custom of throwing over the newly-married pair the contents of a vessel wreathed with flowers, and filled with wheat or corn (with money underneath), accompanied with the cry, פּרוּ וּרבוּ be fruitful and multiply.)

To the present day, winnowed and sifted corn is piled up in great heaps of symmetrical half-spherical form, which are then frequently stuck over with things that move in the wind, for the purpose of protecting them against birds. "The appearance of such heaps of wheat,"says Wetstein ( Isa . p. 710), "which one may see in long parallel rows on the thrashing-floors of a village, is very pleasing to a peasant; and the comparison of the Song; Son 7:3, every Arabian will regard as beautiful."Such a corn-heap is to the present day called ṣubbah , while ‛aramah is a heap of thrashed corn that has not yet been winnowed; here, with ערמה , is to be connected the idea of a ṣubbah , i.e. , of a heap of wheat not only thrashed and winnowed, but also sifted (riddled). סוּג , enclosed, fenced about (whence the post-bibl. סיג , a fence), is a part. pass. such as פּוּץ , scattered ( vid ., under Psa 92:12). The comparison refers to the beautiful appearance of the roundness, but, at the same time, also the flesh-colour shining through the dress; for fancy sees more than the eyes, and concludes regarding that which is veiled from that which is visible. A wheat-colour was, according to the Moslem Sunna, the tint of the first created man. Wheat-yellow and lily-white is a subdued white, and denotes at once purity and health; by πυρός wheat one thinks of πῦρ - heaped up wheat developes a remarkable heat, a fact for which Biesenthal refers to Plutarch's Quaest . In accordance with the progress of the description, the breasts are now spoken of:

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 7:3

3 Thy two breasts are like two fawns,

Twins of a gazelle.

Son 4:5 is repeated, but with the omission of the attribute, "feeding among lilies,"since lilies have already been applied to another figure. Instead of תּאומי there, we have here מּאמי (taǒme ), the former after the ground-form ti'âm , the latter after the ground-form to'm (cf. נּאלי , Neh 8:2, from גּאל = גּאל ).

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 7:4

4a Thy neck like an ivory tower.

The article in חשּׁן may be that designating species ( vid ., under Son 1:11); but, as at Son 7:5 and Son 4:4, it appears to be also here a definite tower which the comparison has in view: one covered externally with ivory tablets, a tower well known to all in and around Jerusalem, and visible far and wide, especially when the sun shone on it; had it been otherwise, as in the case of the comparison following, the locality would have been more definitely mentioned. So slender, so dazzlingly white, is imposing, and so captivating to the eye did Shulamith's neck appear. These and the following figures would be open to the objection of being without any occasion, and monstrous, if they referred to an ordinary beauty; but they refer to Solomon's spouse, they apply to a queen, and therefore are derived from that which is most splendid in the kingdom over which, along with him, she rules; and in this they have the justification of their grandeur.

4 b a Thine eyes pools in Heshbon,

At the gate of the populous (city).

Hesbhon , formerly belonging to the Amorites, but at this time to the kingdom of Solomon, lay about 5 1/2 hours to the east of the northern point of the Dead Sea, on an extensive, undulating, fruitful, high table-land, with a far-reaching prospect. Below the town, now existing only in heaps of ruins, a brook, which here takes it rise, flows westward, and streams toward the Ghôr as the Nahr Hesbán . It joins the Jordan not far above its entrance into the Dead Sea. The situation of the town was richly watered. There still exists a huge reservoir of excellent masonry in the valley, about half a mile from the foot of the hill on which the town stood. The comparison here supposes two such pools, but which are not necessarily together, though both are before the gate, i.e. , near by, outside the town. Since שׁער , except at Isa 14:31, is fem., רבּים־בּים , in the sense of עם רבּתי , Lam 1:1 (cf. for the non-determin. of the adj., Eze 21:25), is to be referred to the town, not to the gate (Hitz.); Blau's

(Note: In Merx' Archiv. III 355.)

conjectural reading, bath -'akrabbim , does not recommend itself, because the craggy heights of the "ascent of Akrabbim"(Num 34:4; Jos 15:3), which obliquely cross

(Note: Vid ., Robinson's Phys. Geogr. p. 51.)

the Ghôr to the south of the Dead Sea, and from remote times formed the southern boundary of the kingdom of the Amorites (Jdg 1:36), were too far off, and too seldom visited, to give its name to a gate of Heshbon. But generally the crowds of men at the gate and the topography of the gate are here nothing to the purpose; the splendour of the town, however, is for the figure of the famed cisterns like a golden border. בּרכה (from בּרך , to spread out, vid ., Genesis , p. 98; Fleischer in Levy , I 420 b ) denotes a skilfully built round or square pool. The comparison of the eyes to a pool means, as Wetstein

(Note: Zeitschr. für allgem. Erdkunde , 1859, p. 157 f.)

remarks, "either thus glistening like a water-mirror, or thus lovely in appearance, for the Arabian knows no greater pleasure than to look upon clear, gently rippling water."Both are perhaps to be taken together; the mirroring glance of the moist eyes (cf. Ovid, De Arte Am . ii. 722):

"Adspicies obulos tremulo fulgore micantes,

Ut sol a liquida saepe refulget aqua"

and the spell of the charm holding fast the gaze of the beholder.

4 b b Thy nose like the tower of Lebanon,

Which looks towards Damascus.

This comparison also places us in the midst of the architectural and artistic splendours of the Solomonic reign. A definite town is here meant; the art. determines it, and the part. following appositionally without the art., with the expression "towards Damascus"defining it more nearly ( vid ., under Son 3:6), describes it. הלּמנון designates here "the whole Alpine range of mountains in the north of the land of Israel"(Furrer); for a tower which looks in the direction of Damascus ( פּני , accus., as את־פּני , 1Sa 22:4) is to be thought of as standing on one of the eastern spurs of Hermon, or on the top of Amana (Son 4:8), whence the Amana (Barada) takes its rise, whether as a watch-tower (2Sa 8:6), or only as a look-out from which might be enjoyed the paradisaical prospect. The nose gives to the face especially its physiognomical expression, and conditions its beauty. Its comparison to a tower on a lofty height is occasioned by the fact that Shulamith's nose, without being blunt or flat, formed a straight line from the brow downward, without bending to the right or left (Hitzig), a mark of symmetrical beauty combined with awe-inspiring dignity. After the praise of the nose it was natural to think of Carmel; Carmel is a promontory, and as such is called anf el -jebel ("nose of the mountain-range").

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 7:5

5 a a Thy head upon thee as Carmel.

We say that the head is "on the man"(2Ki 6:31; Judith 14:18), for we think of a man ideally as the central unity of the members forming the external appearance of his body. Shulamith's head ruled her form, surpassing all in beauty and majesty, as Carmel with its noble and pleasing appearance ruled the land and sea at its feet. From the summit of Carmel, clothed with trees) Amo 9:3; 1Ki 18:42), a transition is made to the hair on the head, which the Moslem poets are fond of comparing to long leaves, as vine leaves and palm branches; as, on the other hand, the thick leafy wood is called ( vid ., under Isa 7:20) comata silva (cf. Oudendorp's Apuleii Metam . p. 744). Grätz, proceeding on the supposition of the existence of Persian words in the Song, regards כרמל as the name of a colour; but (1) crimson is designated in the Heb.-Pers. not כרמל , but כרמיל , instead of תולעת שׁני ( vid ., under Isa 1:18; Pro 31:21); (2) if the hair of the head (if ראשׁך might be directly understood of this) may indeed be compared to the glistening of purple, not, however, to the listening of carmese or scarlet, then red and not black hair must be meant. But it is not the locks of hair, but the hair in locks that is meant. From this the eulogium finally passes to the hair of the head itself.

5 a b The flowing hair of thy head like purple -

A king fettered by locks.

Hitzig supposes that כרמל reminded the poet of כּרמיל (carmese), and that thus he hit upon ארגּמן (purple); but one would rather think that Carmel itself would immediately lead him to purple, for near this promontory is the principal place where purple shell-fish are found (Seetzen's Reisen , IV 277 f.). דּלּה (from דּלל , to dangle, to hang loose, Job 28:4, Arab. tadladal ) is res pendula , and particularly coma pendula . Hengst. remarks that the "purple"has caused much trouble to those who understand by דלה the hair of the head. He himself, with Gussetius, understand by it the temples, tempus capitis ; but the word רקּה is used (Son 4:3) for "temples,"and "purple-like"hair hanging down could occasion trouble only to those who know not how to distinguish purple from carmese. Red purple, ארגּמן (Assyr. argamannu , Aram., Arab., Pers., with departure from the primary meaning of the word, ארגּון ,drow eht ), which derives this name from רגם = רקם , material of variegated colour, is dark-red, and almost glistening black, as Pliny says ( Hist. Nat . ix. 135): Laus ei (the Tyrian purple) summa in colore sanguinis concreti, nigricans adspectu idemque suspectu (seen from the side) refulgens, unde et Homero purpureus dicitur sanguis . The purple hair of Nisus does not play a part in myth alone, but beautiful shining dark black hair is elsewhere also called purple, e.g. , πυρφύρεος πλόκαμος in Lucian, πορφυραῖ χαῖται in Anacreon. With the words "like purple,"the description closes; and to this the last characteristic distinguishing Shulamith there is added the exclamation: "A king fettered by locks!"For רהטים , from רהט , to run, flow, is also a name of flowing locks, not the ear-locks (Hitz.), i.e. , long ringlets flowing down in front; the same word (Son 1:17) signifies in its North Palest. form רחיט (Chethı̂b ), a water-trough, canalis . The locks of one beloved are frequently called in erotic poetry "the fetters"by which the lover is held fast, for "love wove her net in alluring ringlets"(Deshâmi in Joseph and Zuleika ).

(Note: Compare from the same poet: "Alas! thy braided hair, a heart is in every curl, and a dilemma in every ring"( Deut. Morg. Zeit . xxiv. 581).)

Goethe in his Westöst. Divan presents as a bold yet moderate example: "There are more than fifty hooks in each lock of thy hair;"and, on the other hand, one offensively extravagant, when it is said of a Sultan: "In the bonds of thy locks lies fastened the neck of the enemy." אסוּר signifies also in Arab. frequently one enslaved by love: asîruha is equivalent to her lov.

(Note: Samaschshari, Mufaṣṣal , p. 8.)

The mention of the king now leads from the imagery of a dance to the scene which follows, where we again hear the king's voice. The scene and situation are now manifestly changed. We are transferred from the garden to the palace, where the two, without the presence of any spectators, carry on the following dialogue.

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 7:6

6 How beautiful art thou, and how charming,

O love, among delights!

It is a truth of all-embracing application which is here expressed. There is nothing more admirable than love, i.e. , the uniting or mingling together of two lives, the one of which gives itself to the other, and so finds the complement of itself; nor than this self-devotion, which is at the same time self-enrichment. All this is true of earthly love, of which Walther v. d. Vogelweide says: "steplang7 minne ist sweier herzen wünne "love is the joy of two hearts, and it is true also of heavenly love; the former surpasses all earthly delights (also such as are purely sensuous, Ecc 2:8), and the latter is, as the apostle expresses himself in his spiritual "Song of Songs,"1Co 13:13, in relation to faith and hope, "greater than these,"greater than both of them, for it is their sacred, eternal aim. In יפית it is indicated that the idea, and in נעמתּ that the eudaemonistic feature of the human soul attains its satisfaction in love. The lxx, obliterating this so true and beautiful a promotion of love above all other joys, translate ἐν ταῖς τρυφαῖς σου (in the enjoyment which thou impartest). The Syr., Jerome, and others also rob the Song of this its point of light and of elevation, by reading אהמה O beloved! instead of אהבה . The words then declare (yet contrary to the spirit of the Hebrew language, which knows neither אהוּמה nor אהוּמתי as vocat.) what we already read at Son 4:10; while, according to the traditional form of the text, they are the prelude of the love-song, to love as such, which is continued in Son 8:6.

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 7:7-8

When Solomon now looks on the wife of his youth, she stands before him like a palm tree with its splendid leaf-branches, which the Arabians call ucht insân (the sisters of men); and like a vine which climbs up on the wall of the house, and therefore is an emblem of the housewife, Psa 128:3.

7 Thy stature is like the palm tree;

And thy breasts clusters.

8 I thought: I will climb the palm,

Grasp its branches;

And thy breasts shall be to me

As clusters of the vine,

And the breath of thy nose like apples,

Shulamith stands before him. As he surveys her from head to foot, he finds her stature like the stature of a slender, tall date-palm, and her breasts like the clusters of sweet fruit, into which, in due season its blossoms are ripened. That קומתך (thy stature) is not thought of as height apart from the person, but as along with the person (cf. Eze 13:18), scarcely needs to be remarked. The palm derives its name, tāmār , from its slender stem rising upwards ( vid ., under Isa 17:9; Isa 61:6). This name is specially given to the Phoenix dactylifera , which is indigenous from Egypt to India, and which is principally cultivated ( vid ., under Gen 14:7), the female flowers of which, set in panicles, develope into large clusters of juicy sweet fruit. These dark-brown or golden-yellow clusters, which crown the summit of the stem and impart a wonderful beauty to the appearance of the palm, especially when seen in the evening twilight, are here called אשׁוכלות (connecting form at Deu 32:32), as by the Arabians 'ithkal , plur. 'ithakyl ( botri dactylorum ). The perf. דּמתה signifies aequata est = aequa est ; for דּמה , R. דם , means, to make or to become plain, smooth, even. The perf. אמרתּי , on the other hand, will be meant retrospectively. As an expression of that which he just now purposed to do, it would be useless; and thus to notify with emphasis anything beforehand is unnatural and contrary to good taste and custom. But looking back, he can say that in view of this august attractive beauty the one thought filled him, to secure possession of her and of the enjoyment which she promised; as one climbs ( עלה with בּ , as Psa 24:3) a palm tree and seizes ( אחז , fut. אחז , and אאחז with בּ , as at Job 23:11) its branches ( סנסנּים , so called, as it appears,

(Note: Also that סנסן is perhaps equivalent to סלסל ( זלזל , תלתל ), to wave hither and thither, comes here to view.)

after the feather-like pointed leaves proceeding from the mid-rib on both sides), in order to break off the fulness of the sweet fruit under its leaves. As the cypress ( sarwat ), so also the palm is with the Moslem poets the figure of a loved one, and with the mystics, of God;

(Note: Vid ., Hâfiz, ed. Brockhaus, II p. 46.)

and accordingly the idea of possession is here particularly intended. ויהיוּ־נא denotes what he then thought and aimed at. Instead of בּתּמר , Son 7:9 , the punctuation בּתּמר is undoubtedly to be preferred. The figure of the palm tree terminates with the words, "will grasp its branches."It was adequate in relation to stature, but less so in relation to the breasts; for dates are of a long oval form, and have a stony kernel. Therefore the figure departs from the date clusters to that of grape clusters, which are more appropriate, as they swell and become round and elastic the more they ripen. The breath of the nose, which is called אף , from breathing hard, is that of the air breathed, going in and out through it; for, as a rule, a man breathes through his nostrils with closed mouth. Apples present themselves the more naturally for comparison, that the apple has the name תּפּוּח (from נפח , after the form תּמכוּף ), from the fragrance which it exhales.

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 7:9

9 a a And thy palate like the best wine.

יין הטּוב is wine of the good kind, i.e. , the best, as רע אושׁת , Pro 6:24, a woman of a bad kind, i.e. , a bad woman; the neut. thought of as adject. is both times the gen. of the attribute, as at Pro 24:25 it is the gen. of the substratum . The punctuation כּיּין הטּוב (Hitz.) is also possible; it gives, however, the common instead of the delicate poetical expression. By the comparison one may think of the expressions, jungere salivas oris (Lucret.) and oscula per longas jungere pressa moras (Ovid). But if we have rightly understood Son 4:11; Son 5:16, the palate is mentioned much rather with reference to the words of love which she whispers in his ears when embracing her. Only thus is the further continuance of the comparison to be explained, and that it is Shulamith herself who continues it.

9 a b Which goes down for my beloved smoothly,

Which makes the lips of sleepers move.

The dramatic structure of the Song becomes here more strongly manifest than elsewhere before. Shulamith interrupts the king, and continues his words as if echoing them, but again breaks off. The lxx had here לדודי in the text. It might notwithstanding be a spurious reading. Hitzig suggests that it is erroneously repeated, as if from Son 7:11. Ewald also ( Hohesl . p. 137) did that before, - Heiligstedt, as usual, following him. But, as Ewald afterwards objected, the line would then be "too short, and not corresponding to that which follows."But how shall לדודי now connect itself with Solomon's words? Ginsburg explains: "Her voice is not merely compared to wine, because it is sweet to everybody, but to such wine as would be sweet to a friend, and on that account is more valuable and pleasant."But that furnishes a thought digressing εἰς ἄλλο γένος ; and besides, Ewald rightly remarks that Shulamith always uses the word דודי of her beloved, and that the king never uses it in a similar sense. He contends, however, against the idea that Shulamith here interrupts Solomon; for he replies to me ( Jahrb . IV 75): "Such interruptions we certainly very frequently find in our ill-formed and dislocated plays; in the Song, however, not a solitary example of this is found, and one ought to hesitate in imagining such a thing."He prefers the reading לדּודים beloved ones, although possibly לדודי , with î , abbreviated after the popular style of speech from îm, may be the same word. But is this ledodim not a useless addition? Is excellent wine good to the taste of friends merely; and does it linger longer in the palate of those not beloved than of those loving? And is the circumstance that Shulamith interrupts the king, and carried forward his words, not that which frequently also occurs in the Greek drama, as e.g. , Eurip. Phoenissae , v. 608? The text as it stands before us requires an interchange of the speakers, and nothing prevents the supposition of such an interchange. In this idea Hengstenberg for once agrees with us. The Lamed in ledodi is meant in the same sense as when the bride drinks to the bridegroom, using the expression ledodi . The Lamed in למישׁרים is that of the defining norm, as the Beth in במי , Pro 23:31, is that of the accompanying circumstance: that which tastes badly sticks in the palate, but that which tastes pleasantly glides down directly and smoothly. But what does the phrase וגו דּובב שׂף mean? The lxx translate by ἱκανούμενος χείλεσί μου καὶ ὀδοῦσιν , "accommodating itself (Sym. προστιθέμενος ) to my lips and teeth."Similarly Jerome (omitting at least the false μου ), labiisque et dentibus illius ad ruminandum , in which דּבּה , rumor , for דובב , seems to have led him to ruminare . Equally contrary to the text with Luther's translation: "which to my friend goes smoothly goes, and speaks of the previous year;"a rendering which supposes ישׁנים (as also the Venet.) instead of ישׁנים (good wine which, as it were, tells of former years), and, besides, disregards שׁפתי . The translation: "which comes at unawares upon the lips of the sleepers,"accords with the language (Heiligst., Hitz.). But that gives no meaning, as if one understood by ישׁנים , as Gesen. and Ewald do, una in eodem toro cubantes ; but in this case the word ought to have been שׁכבים . Since, besides, such a thing is known as sleeping through drink or speaking in sleep, but not of drinking in sleep, our earlier translation approves itself: which causes the lips of sleepers to speak. This interpretation is also supported by a proverb in the Talm. Jebamoth 97 a , Jer. Moeed Katan , iii. 7, etc., which, with reference to the passage under review, says that if any one in this world adduces the saying of a righteous man in his name ( רוחשׁות or מרחשׁות ), שׂפתותיו דובבות בקבר . But it is an error inherited from Buxtorf, that דובבות means there loquuntur , and, accordingly, that דובב of this passage before us means loqui faciens . It rather means ( vid ., Aruch), bullire , stillare , manare (cogn. זב , טף , Syn. רחשׁ ), since, as that proverb signifies, the deceased experiences an after-taste of his saying, and this experience expresses itself in the smack of the lips; and דּובב , whether it be part. Kal or Po . = מדובב , thus: brought into the condition of the overflowing, the after-experience of drink that has been partaken of, and which returns again, as it were, ruminando . The meaning "to speak"is, in spite of Parchon and Kimchi (whom the Venet., with its φθεγγόμενος , follows), foreign to the verb; for דּבּה also means, not discourse, but sneaking, and particularly sneaking calumny, and, generally, fama repens . The calumniator is called in Arab. dabûb , as in Heb. רכיל .

We now leave it undecided whether in דובב , of this passage before us, that special idea connected with it in the Gemara is contained; but the roots דב and זב are certainly cogn., they have the fundamental idea of a soft, noiseless movement generally, and modify this according as they are referred to that which is solid or fluid. Consequently דּבב , as it means in lente incedere (whence the bear has the name דּב ), is also capable of being interpreted leniter se movere , and trans. leniter movere , according to which the Syr. here translates, quod commovet labia mea et dentes meos (this absurd bringing in of the teeth is from the lxx and Aq.), and the Targ. allegorizes, and whatever also in general is the meaning of the Gemara as far as it exchanges דובבות for רוחשות ( vid ., Levy under רחשׁ ). Besides, the translations qui commovet and qui loqui facit fall together according to the sense. For when it is said of generous wine, that it makes the lips of sleepers move, a movement is meant expressing itself in the sleeper speaking. But generous wine is a figure of the love-responses of the beloved, sipped in, as it were, with pleasing satisfaction, which hover still around the sleepers in delightful dreams, and fill them with hallucinations.

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 7:10

10 I am my beloved's

And to me goeth forth his desire.

After the words "I am my beloved's,"we miss the "and my beloved is mine"of Son 6:3, cf. Son 2:16, which perhaps had dropped out. The second line here refers back to Gen 3:16, for here, as there, תּשׁוּקה , from שׁוּק , to impel, move, is the impulse of love as a natural power. When a wife is the object of such passion, it is possible that, on the one side, she feels herself very fortunate therein; and, on the other side, if the love, in its high commendations, becomes excessive, oppressed, and when she perceive that in her love-relation she is the observed of many eyes, troubled. It is these mingled feelings which move Shulamith when she continues the praise so richly lavished on her in words which denote what she might be to the king, but immediately breaks off in order that, as the following verse now shows, she might use this superabundance of his love for the purpose of setting forth her request, and thus of leading into another path; her simple, child-like disposition longs for the quietness and plainness of rural life, away from the bustle and display of city and court life.

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 7:11

11 Up, my lover, we will go into the country,

Lodge in the villages.

Hitzig here begins a new scene, to which he gives the superscription: "Shulamith making haste to return home with her lov."The advocate of the shepherd-hypothesis thinks that the faithful Shulamith, after hearing Solomon's panegyric, shakes her head and says: "I am my beloved's."To him she calls, "Come, my beloved;"for, as Ewald seeks to make this conceivable: the golden confidence of her near triumph lifts her in spirit forthwith above all that is present and all that is actual; only to him may she speak; and as if she were half here and half already there, in the midst of her rural home along with him, she says, "Let us go out into the fields,"etc. In fact, there is nothing more incredible than this Shulamitess, whose dialogue with Solomon consists of Solomon's addresses, and of answers which are directed, not to Solomon, but in a monologue to her shepherd; and nothing more cowardly and more shadowy than this lover, who goes about in the moonlight seeking his beloved shepherdess whom he has lost, glancing here and there through the lattices of the windows and again disappearing. How much more justifiable is the drama of the Song by the French Jesuit C. F. Menestrier (born in Sion 1631, died 1705), who, in his two little works on the opera and the ballet, speaks of Solomon as the creator of the opera, and regards the Song as a shepherd-play, in which his love-relation to the daughter of the king of Egypt is set forth under the allegorical figures of the love of a shepherd and a shepherdess!

(Note: Vid ., Eugène Despris in the Revue politique et litteraire 1873. The idea was not new. This also was the sentiment of Fray Luis de Leon; vid ., his Biographie by Wilkens (1866), p. 209.)

For Shulamith is thought of as a רעה shepherdess, Son 1:8, and she thinks of Solomon as a רעה shepherd. She remains so in her inclination even after her elevation to the rank of a queen. The solitude and glory of external nature are dearer to her than the bustle and splendour of the city and the court. Hence her pressing out of the city to the country. השׂדה is local, without external designation, like rus (to the country). כּפרים (here and at 1Ch 27:25) is plur. of the unused form כּפר (constr. כּפר , Jos 18:24) or כּפר , Arab. kafar (cf. the Syr. dimin. kafrûno , a little town), instead of which it is once pointed כּפר , 1Sa 6:18, of that name of a district of level country with which a multitude of later Palest. names of places, such as כּפר נחוּם , are connected. Ewald, indeed, understands kephārim as at Son 4:13 : we will lodge among the fragrant Al-henna bushes. But yet בּכּף cannot be equivalent to תּחת הכפרים ; and since לין (probably changed from ליל ) and השׁכים , Son 7:13 , stand together, we must suppose that they wished to find a bed in the henna bushes; which, if it were conceivable, would be too gipsy-like, even for a pair of lovers of the rank of shepherds ( vid ., Job 30:7). No. Shulamith's words express a wish for a journey into the country: they will there be in freedom, and at night find shelter ( בכף , as 1Ch 27:25 and Neh 6:2, where also the plur. is similarly used), now in this and now in that country place. Spoken to the supposed shepherd, that would be comical, for a shepherd does not wander from village to village; and that, returning to their home, they wished to turn aside into villages and spend the night there, cannot at all be the meaning. But spoken of a shepherdess, or rather a vine-dresser, who has been raised to the rank of queen, it accords with her relation to Solomon, - they are married, - as well as with the inexpressible impulse of her heart after her earlier homely country-life. The former vine-dresser, the child of the Galilean hills, the lily of the valley, speaks in the verses following.

Keil-Delitzsch: Sos 7:12-13

12 In the morning we will start for the vineyards,

See whether the vine is in bloom,

Whether the vine-blossoms have opened,

The pomegranates budded -

There will I give thee my love.

13 The mandrakes breathe a pleasant odour,

And over our doors are all kinds of excellent fruits,

New, also old,

Which, my beloved, I have kept for thee.

As the rising up early follows the tarrying over night, the description of that which is longed for moves forward. As השׁכּים is denom. of שׁכם , and properly signifies only to shoulder, i.e. , to rise, make oneself ready, when early going forth needs to be designated it has generally בּבּקר (cf. Jos 6:15) along with it; yet this word may also be wanting, 1Sa 9:26; 1Sa 17:16. נשׁךּ לכּר = נשׁב ונלך לבר , an abbreviation of the expression which is also found in hist. prose, Gen 19:27; cf. 2Ki 19:9. They wished in the morning, when the life of nature can best be observed, and its growth and progress and striving upwards best contemplated, to see whether the vine had opened, i.e. , unfolded (thus, Son 6:11), whether the vine-blossom ( vid ., at Son 2:13) had expanded (lxx ἤνθησεν ὁ κυπρισμός ), whether the pomegranate had its flowers or flower-buds ( הנצוּ , as at Son 6:11); פּתּח is here, as at Isa 48:8; Isa 60:11, used as internally transitive: to accomplish or to undergo the opening, as also (Arab.) fattaḥ

(Note: Vid ., Fleischer, Makkari , 1868, p. 271.)

is used of the blooming of flowers, for (Arab.) tafttaḥ (to unfold). The vineyards, inasmuch as she does not say כּרמינוּ , are not alone those of her family, but generally those of her home, but of her home; for these are the object of her desire, which in this pleasant journey with her beloved she at once in imagination reaches, flying, as it were, over the intermediate space. There, in undisturbed quietness, and in a lovely region consecrating love, will she give herself to him in the entire fulness of her love. By דּדי she means the evidences of her love ( vid ., under Son 4:10; Son 1:2), which she will there grant to him as thankful responses to his own. Thus she speaks in the spring-time, in the month Ijjar, corresponding to our steplang7 Wonnemond (pleasure-month, May), and seeks to give emphasis to her promise by this, that she directs him to the fragrant "mandragoras,"and to the precious fruits of all kinds which she has kept for him on the shelf in her native home.

דּוּדי (after the form לוּלי ), love's flower, is the mandragora officinalis , L., with whitish green flowers and yellow apples of the size of nutmegs, belonging to the Solanaceae; its fruits and roots are used as an aphrodisiac, therefore this plant was called by the Arabs abd al -sal'm , the servant of love, postillon d'amour ; the son of Leah found such mandrakes (lxx Gen 30:14, μῆλα μανδραγορῶν ) at the time of the vintage, which falls in the month of Ijjar; they have a strong but pleasant odour. In Jerusalem mandrakes are rare; but so much the more abundantly are they found growing wild in Galilee, whither Shulamith is transported in spirit. Regarding the מגדים (from מגד , occurring in the sing. exclusively in the blessing of Moses, Deut 33), which in the Old Testament is peculiar to the Song, vid ., Son 4:13, Son 4:16. From "over our doors,"down to "I have kept for thee,"is, according to the lxx, Syr., Jerome, and others, one sentence, which in itself is not inadmissible; for the object can precede its verb, Son 3:3 , and can stand as the subject between the place mentioned and the verb, Isa 32:13 , also as the object, 2Ch 31:6, which, as in the passage before us, may be interpunctuated with Athnach for the sake of emphasis; in the bibl. Chald. this inverted sequence of the words is natural, e.g. , Dan 2:17 . But such a long-winded sentence is at least not in the style of the Song, and one does not rightly see why just "over our doors"has the first place in it. I therefore formerly translated it as did Luther, dividing it into parts: "and over our doors are all kinds of precious fruits; I have,"etc. But with this departure from the traditional division of the verse nothing is gained; for the "keeping"(laying up) refers naturally to the fruits of the preceding year, and in the first instance can by no means refer to fruits of this year, especially as Shulamith, according to the structure of the poem, has not visited her parental home since her home-bringing in marriage, and now for the first time, in the early summer, between the barley harvest and the wheat harvest, is carried away thither in her longing. Therefore the expression, "my beloved, I have kept for thee,"is to be taken by itself, but not as an independent sentence (Böttch.), but is to be rendered, with Ewald, as a relative clause; and this, with Hitz., is to be referred to ישׁנים (old). Col refers to the many sorts of precious fruits which, after the time of their ingathering, are divided into "new and old"(Mat 13:52). The plur. "our doors,"which as amplif. poet. would not be appropriate here, supposes several entrances into her parents' home; and since "I have kept"refers to a particular preserving of choice fruits, al does not (Hitzig) refer to a floor, such as the floor above the family dwelling or above the barn, but to the shelf above the inner doors, a board placed over them, on which certain things are wont to be laid past for some particular object. She speaks to the king like a child; for although highly elevated, she yet remains, without self-elation, a child.

Constable: Sos 5:2--8:5

IV. THE MATURING PROCESS 5:2--8:4

In this last major section of the book the married love of Solomon and the Shulammite is in view. This stage of love is not without its share of problems. However the king and his bride worked through them, and these chapters provide insight into dealing effectively with basic marriage difficulties.

"Here we are given the beloved's perspective. Of the 111 lines, 80 in this section are the words of the girl. This is really her book."⁷⁴

Constable: Sos 7:1-10

B. Communicating Affection 7:1-10

This section that provides a window into the intimate relationship of Solomon and his wife shows how their love had matured since their wedding (cf. 4:1-11).

Constable: Sos 7:1-6

1. The wife's charms 7:1-6

7:1-2 These verses contain both physical and metaphorical compliments. Verse 1 seems to refer to the Shulammite's body, but verse 2 goes beyond that. It seems to convey the idea that she was Solomon's drink and food, "that her physical expressions of love nourished and satisfied him."⁸¹

7:3-4 Heshbon was a Moabite city famous for its refreshing ponds.

"The soft glance of her eyes reflects the peace and beauty of the Heshbon pools."⁸²

Bath-rabbim is unknown today. The tower of Lebanon was evidently a beautiful tower that marked the unusually attractive city of Damascus. Similarly the Shulammite's nose attractively represented her total beauty.

7:5-6 Mt. Carmel was majestic (cf. Isa. 35:2; Jer. 46:18), as was she. In Solomon's day, people considered purple threads most beautiful, precious, and regal.

Constable: Sos 7:7-9

2. The husband's desires 7:7-9

Even today we speak of "graceful palm trees." Verse 9b voices the wife's eager response. All these verses reflect the increased freedom in sexual matters that is a normal part of the maturation of marital love. A husband has the freedom to enjoy his wife's body (cf. 5:10-16; cf. 1 Cor. 7:3-5), though not to abuse this privilege, of course.

Constable: Sos 7:10

3. The ultimate unity 7:10

The Shulammite exulted in her complete abandonment to her husband and in his complete satisfaction with her (cf. 2:16; 6:3). These joys increase through the years of a healthy marriage.

"Far from being the objectionable condition alleged by many women today, Shulamith obviously basked in her position of subordination. This does not suggest that her personality had been dissolved in Solomon's like a drop of honey in the ocean or that she considered herself mere chattel. This is apparent from her self-assertiveness documented in 5:3. However, it does suggest that she found in her position sustaining comfort."⁸³

Constable: Sos 7:11-13

C. The Wife's Initiative 7:11-13

Secure in her love the Shulammite now felt free to initiate sex directly rather than indirectly as earlier (cf. 1:2a, 2:6). The references to spring suggest the freshness and vigor of love. Mandrakes were fruits that resembled small apples and were traditionally aphrodisiacs (cf. Gen. 30:14-16).

Introduction / Outline

JFB: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

The Song of Solomon, called in the Vulgate and Septuagint, "The Song of Songs," from the opening words. This title denotes its superior excellence, according to the Hebrew idiom; so holy of holies, equivalent to "most holy" (Exo 29:37); the heaven of heavens, equivalent to the highest heavens (Deu 10:14). It is one of the five volumes (megilloth) placed immediately after the Pentateuch in manuscripts of the Jewish Scriptures. It is also fourth of the Hagiographa (Cetubim, writings) or the third division of the Old Testament, the other two being the Law and the Prophets. The Jewish enumeration of the Cetubim is Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra (including Nehemiah), and Chronicles. Its canonicity is certain; it is found in all Hebrew manuscripts of Scripture; also in the Greek Septuagint; in the catalogues of MELITO, bishop of Sardis, A.D. 170 (EUSEBIUS, Ecclesiastical History, 4.26), and of others of the ancient Church.

ORIGEN and JEROME tell us that the Jews forbade it to be read by any until he was thirty years old. It certainly needs a degree of spiritual maturity to enter aright into the holy mystery of love which it allegorically sets forth. To such as have attained this maturity, of whatever age they be, the Song of Songs is one of the most edifying of the sacred writings. ROSENMULLER justly says, The sudden transitions of the bride from the court to the grove are inexplicable, on the supposition that it describes merely human love. Had it been the latter, it would have been positively objectionable, and never would have been inserted in the holy canon. The allusion to "Pharaoh's chariots" (Son 1:9) has been made a ground for conjecturing that the love of Solomon and Pharaoh's daughter is the subject of the Song. But this passage alludes to a remarkable event in the history of the Old Testament Church, the deliverance from the hosts and chariots of Pharaoh at the Red Sea. (However, see on Son 1:9). The other allusions are quite opposed to the notion; the bride is represented at times as a shepherdess (Son 1:7), "an abomination to the Egyptians" (Gen 46:34); so also Son 1:6; Son 3:4; Son 4:8; Son 5:7 are at variance with it. The Christian fathers, ORIGEN and THEODORET, compared the teachings of Solomon to a ladder with three steps; Ecclesiastes, natural (the nature of sensible things, vain); Proverbs, moral; Canticles, mystical (figuring the union of Christ and the Church). The Jews compared Proverbs to the outer court of Solomon's temple, Ecclesiastes to the holy place, and Canticles to the holy of holies. Understood allegorically, the Song is cleared of all difficulty. "Shulamith" (Son 6:13), the bride, is thus an appropriate name, Daughter of Peace being the feminine of Solomon, equivalent to the Prince of Peace. She by turns is a vinedresser, shepherdess, midnight inquirer, and prince's consort and daughter, and He a suppliant drenched with night dews, and a king in His palace, in harmony with the various relations of the Church and Christ. As Ecclesiastes sets forth the vanity of love of the creature, Canticles sets forth the fullness of the love which joins believers and the Saviour. The entire economy of salvation, says HARRIS, aims at restoring to the world the lost spirit of love. God is love, and Christ is the embodiment of the love of God. As the other books of Scripture present severally their own aspects of divine truth, so Canticles furnishes the believer with language of holy love, wherewith his heart can commune with his Lord; and it portrays the intensity of Christ's love to him; the affection of love was created in man to be a transcript of the divine love, and the Song clothes the latter in words; were it not for this, we should be at a loss for language, having the divine warrant, wherewith to express, without presumption, the fervor of the love between Christ and us. The image of a bride, a bridegroom, and a marriage, to represent this spiritual union, has the sanction of Scripture throughout; nay, the spiritual union was the original fact in the mind of God, of which marriage is the transcript (Isa 54:5; Isa 62:5; Jer 3:1, &c.; Eze. 16:1-63; Eze. 23:1-49; Mat 9:15; Mat 22:2; Mat 25:1, &c.; Joh 3:29; 2Co 11:2; Eph 5:23-32, where Paul does not go from the marriage relation to the union of Christ and the Church as if the former were the first; but comes down from the latter as the first and best recognized fact on which the relation of marriage is based; Rev 19:7; Rev 21:2; Rev 22:17). Above all, the Song seems to correspond to, and form a trilogy with, Psalms 45 and 72, which contain the same imagery; just as Psalm 37 answers to Proverbs, and the Psalms 39 and 73 to Job. Love to Christ is the strongest, as it is the purest, of human passions, and therefore needs the strongest language to express it: to the pure in heart the phraseology, drawn from the rich imagery of Oriental poetry, will not only appear not indelicate or exaggerated, but even below the reality. A single emblem is a type; the actual rites, incidents, and persons of the Old Testament were appointed types of truths afterwards to be revealed. But the allegory is a continued metaphor, in which the circumstances are palpably often purely imagery, while the thing signified is altogether real. The clue to the meaning of the Song is not to be looked for in the allegory itself, but in other parts of Scripture. "It lies in the casket of revelation an exquisite gem, engraved with emblematical characters, with nothing literal thereon to break the consistency of their beauty" [BURROWES]. This accounts for the name of God not occurring in it. Whereas in the parable the writer narrates, in the allegory he never does so. The Song throughout consists of immediate addresses either of Christ to the soul, or of the soul to Christ. "The experimental knowledge of Christ's loveliness and the believer's love is the best commentary on the whole of this allegorical Song" [LEIGHTON]. Like the curiously wrought Oriental lamps, which do not reveal the beauty of their transparent emblems until lighted up within, so the types and allegories of Scripture, "the lantern to our path" [Psa 119:105], need the inner light of the Holy Spirit of Jesus to reveal their significance. The details of the allegory are not to be too minutely pressed. In the Song, with an Oriental profusion of imagery, numbers of lovely, sensible objects are aggregated not strictly congruous, but portraying jointly by their very diversity the thousand various and seemingly opposite beauties which meet together in Christ.

The unity of subject throughout, and the recurrence of the same expressions (Son 2:6-7; Son 3:5; Son 8:3-4; Son 2:16; Son 6:3; Son 7:10; Son 3:6; Son 6:10; Son 8:5), prove the unity of the poem, in opposition to those who make it consist of a number of separate erotic songs. The sudden transitions (for example, from the midnight knocking at a humble cottage to a glorious description of the King) accord with the alternations in the believer's experience. However various the divisions assigned be, most commentators have observed four breaks (whatever more they have imagined), followed by four abrupt beginnings (Son 2:7; Son 3:5; Son 5:1; Son 8:4). Thus there result five parts, all alike ending in full repose and refreshment. We read (1Ki 4:32) that Solomon's songs were "a thousand and five." The odd number five added over the complete thousand makes it not unlikely that the "five" refers to the Song of songs, consisting of five parts.

It answers to the idyllic poetry of other nations. The Jews explain it of the union of Jehovah and ancient Israel; the allusions to the temple and the wilderness accord with this; some Christians of Christ and the Church; others of Christ and the individual believer. All these are true; for the Church is one in all ages, the ancient typifying the modern Church, and its history answering to that of each individual soul in it. Jesus "sees all, as if that all were one, loves one, as if that one were all." "The time suited the manner of this revelation; because types and allegories belonged to the old dispensation, which reached its ripeness under Solomon, when the temple was built" [MOODY STUART]. "The daughter of Zion at that time was openly married to Jehovah"; for it is thenceforth that the prophets, in reproving Israel's subsequent sin, speak of it as a breach of her marriage covenant. The songs heretofore sung by her were the preparatory hymns of her childhood; "the last and crowning 'Song of Songs' was prepared for the now mature maiden against the day of her marriage to the King of kings" [ORIGEN]. Solomon was peculiarly fitted to clothe this holy mystery with the lovely natural imagery with which the Song abounds; for "he spake of trees, from the cedar in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall" (1Ki 4:33). A higher qualification was his knowledge of the eternal Wisdom or Word of God (Pro. 8:1-36), the heavenly bridegroom. David, his father, had prepared the way, in Psalms 45 and 72; the son perfected the allegory. It seems to have been written in early life, long before his declension; for after it a song of holy gladness would hardly be appropriate. It was the song of his first love, in the kindness of his youthful espousals to Jehovah. Like other inspired books, its sense is not to be restricted to that local and temporary one in which the writer may have understood it; it extends to all ages, and shadows forth everlasting truth (1Pe 1:11-12; 2Pe 1:20-21).

"Oh that I knew how all thy lights combine, and the configurations of their glorie,

Seeing not only how each verse doth shine, but all the constellations of the storie."--HERBERT.

Three notes of time occur [MOODY STUART]: (1) The Jewish Church speaks of the Gentile Church (Son 8:8) towards the end; (2) Christ speaks to the apostles (Son 5:1) in the middle; (3) The Church speaks of the coming of Christ (Son 1:2) at the beginning. Thus we have, in direct order, Christ about to come, and the cry for the advent; Christ finishing His work on earth, and the last supper; Christ ascended, and the call of the Gentiles. In another aspect we have: (1) In the individual soul the longing for the manifestation of Christ to it, and the various alternations in its experience (Son 1:2, Son 1:4; Son 2:8; Son 3:1, Son 3:4, Son 3:6-7) of His manifestation; (2) The abundant enjoyment of His sensible consolations, which is soon withdrawn through the bride's carelessness (Son 5:1-3, &c.), and her longings after Him, and reconciliation (Son 5:8-16; Son 6:3, &c.; Son 7:1, &c.); (3) Effects of Christ's manifestation on the believer; namely, assurance, labors of love, anxiety for the salvation of the impenitent, eagerness for the Lord's second coming (Son 7:10, Son 7:12; Son 8:8-10, Son 8:14).

TSK: The Song of Songs 7 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

Son 7:1, A further description of the church’s graces; Son 7:10, The church professes her faith and desire.

Poole: The Song of Songs 7 (Chapter Introduction)

OF SOLOMON CHAPTER 7

A further description of the church’ s graces, Son 7:1-7 . This design to visit the church, with the blessed effect thereof, Son 7:8,9 . She professeth her faith and desire, Son 7:10 . She inviteth him to communion with her, Son 7:11 . The end thereof, Son 7:12,13 .

The Bridegroom, who spake the last words, here continueth his speech, and breaks forth into an elegant and particular description and commendation of the spouse, partly from the parts of her body, and partly from her ornaments; in which the same thing is to be observed which was noted concerning her description of the Bridegroom, that there is no necessity of a distinct application of every parcel of it, the design being only this, to describe the beauty and glory of the church under the representation of a beautiful and noble woman. This also is observable, that in the description of Christ she begins at the head, and so goeth downward, Son 5:11 , &c., but Christ in the description of the spouse proceedeth from the feet upwards.

Feet being the chief instrument of our motion from place to place, is oft used metonymically for the motion itself, and so may here signify either the inward motions, the workings of the affections, or the outward motions, the steps or actions of the life, both which are right and amiable in believers.

Shoes were anciently evidences of a free and comfortable state, whereas slaves and mourners use to go barefoot, 2Sa 15:30 Isa 20:4 , which also in women of high quality were adorned with gold and other ornaments; of which see Isa 3:18 . These may also signify that the feet of believers should be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace , Eph 6:15 . Prince’ s daughter , both by birth, being born of God, and by disposition and deportment agreeable to that quality.

The joints of thy thighs either,

1. The hollow place in which the hip or thigh-bone moveth and turneth itself; or rather,

2. The hip or thighbone which moveth there; for this is more fitly compared to a jewel well set. Some understand this of some ornaments worn by women upon those parts; for the word rendered joints may signify girdles , or any ornament which encompasseth any part of the body, and the same words which signify thighs are both in Hebrew and other languages sometimes used concerning the legs ; which being admitted, this might seem to be understood of the bride’ s garters, about her legs, which not unfitly follows the shoes upon her feet last mentioned. But this sense seems not to suit so well with the following comparison as the former doth.

Like jewels the work of the hands of a cunning workman ; like jewels orderly and excellently set by a skillful artist. So this signifies the uprightness and decency of her going, which depends very much upon the right situation of the hip or thigh-bone, which when it is dislocated or disordered causeth a lameness or uncomeliness in going; whereby he understands the orderliness and amiableness of her conversation.

MHCC: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

This book is a Divine allegory, which represents the love between Christ and his church of true believers, under figures taken from the relation and affection that subsist between a bridegroom and his espoused bride; an emblem often employed in Scripture, as describing the nearest, firmest, and most sure relation: see Psalms 45; Isa 54:5, Isa 54:6; Isa 62:5; Jer 2:2; Jer 3:1; also in Ezekiel, Hosea, and by our Lord himself, Mat 9:15; Mat 25:1; see also Rev 21:2, Rev 21:9; Eph 5:27. There is no character in the church of Christ, and no situation in which the believer is placed, but what may be traced in this book, as humble inquirers will find, on comparing it with other Scriptures, by the assistance of God the Holy Spirit, in answer to their supplications. Much, however, of the language has been misunderstood by expositors and translators. The difference between the customs and manners of Europe, and those of the East, must especially be kept in view. The little acquaintance with eastern customs possessed by most of our early expositors and translators, has in many cases prevented a correct rendering. Also, the changes in our own language, during the last two or three centuries, affect the manner in which some expressions are viewed, and they must not be judged by modern notions. But the great outlines, rightly interpreted, fully accord with the affections and experience of the sincere Christian.

MHCC: The Song of Songs 7 (Chapter Introduction)

(Son 7:1-9) The graces of the church.

(Son 7:10-13) The delight of the church in Christ.

Matthew Henry: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Song of Solomon

All scripture, we are sure, is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for the support and advancement of the interests of his kingdom among men, and it is never the less so for there being found in it some things dark and hard to be understood, which those that are unlearned and unstable wrest to their own destruction. In our belief both of the divine extraction and of the spiritual exposition of this book we are confirmed by the ancient, constant, and concurring testimony both of the church of the Jews, to whom were committed the oracles of God, and who never made any doubt of the authority of this book, and of the Christian church, which happily succeeds them in that trust and honour. I. It must be confessed, on the one hand, that if he who barely reads this book be asked, as the eunuch was Understandest thou what thou readest? he will have more reason than he had to say, How can I, except some man shall guide me? The books of scripture-history and prophecy are very much like one another, but this Song of Solomon's is very much unlike the songs of his father David; here is not the name of God in it; it is never quoted in the New Testament; we find not in it any expressions of natural religion or pious devotion, no, nor is it introduced by vision, or any of the marks of immediate revelation. It seems as hard as any part of scripture to be made a savour of life unto life, nay, and to those who come to the reading of it with carnal minds and corrupt affections, it is in danger of being made a savour of death unto death; it is a flower out of which they extract poison; and therefore the Jewish doctors advised their young people not to read it till they were thirty years old, lest by the abuse of that which is most pure and sacred ( horrendum dictu - horrible to say! ) the flames of lust should be kindled with fire from heaven, which is intended for the altar only. But, II. It must be confessed, on the other hand, that with the help of the many faithful guides we have for the understanding of this book it appears to be a very bright and powerful ray of heavenly light, admirable fitted to excite pious and devout affections in holy souls, to draw out their desires towards God, to increase their delight in him, and improve their acquaintance and communion with him. It is an allegory, the letter of which kills those who rest in that and look no further, but the spirit of which gives life, 2Co 3:6; Joh 6:63. It is a parable, which makes divine things more difficult to those who do not love them, but more plain and pleasant to those who do, Mat 13:14, Mat 13:16. Experienced Christians here find a counterpart of their experiences, and to them it is intelligible, while those neither understand it nor relish it who have no part nor lot in the matter. It is a song, an Epithalamium, or nuptial song, wherein, by the expressions of love between a bridegroom and his bride, are set forth and illustrated the mutual affections that pass between God and a distinguished remnant of mankind. It is a pastoral; the bride and bridegroom, for the more lively representation of humility and innocence, are brought in as a shepherd and his shepherdess. Now, 1. This song might easily be taken in a spiritual sense by the Jewish church, for whose use it was first composed, and was so taken, as appears by the Chaldee-Paraphrase and the most ancient Jewish expositors. God betrothed the people of Israel to himself; he entered into covenant with them, and it was a marriage-covenant. He had given abundant proofs of his love to them, and required of them that they should love him with all their heart and soul. Idolatry was often spoken of as spiritual adultery, and doting upon idols, to prevent which this song was penned, representing the complacency which God took in Israel and which Israel ought to take in God, and encouraging them to continue faithful to him, though he might seem sometimes to withdraw and hide himself from them, and to wait for the further manifestation of himself in the promised Messiah. 2. It may more easily be taken in a spiritual sense by the Christian church, because the condescensions and communications of divine love appear more rich and free under the gospel than they did under the law, and the communion between heaven and earth more familiar. God sometimes spoke of himself as the husband of the Jewish church (Isa 64:5, Hos 2:16, Hos 2:19), and rejoiced in it as his bride, Isa 62:4, Isa 62:5. But more frequently is Christ represented as the bridegroom of his church (Mat 25:1; Rom 7:4; 2Co 11:2; Eph 5:32), and the church as the bride, the Lamb's wife, Rev 19:7; Rev 21:2, Rev 21:9. Pursuant to this metaphor Christ and the church in general, Christ and particular believers, are here discoursing with abundance of mutual esteem and endearment. The best key to this book is the 45th Psalm, which we find applied to Christ in the New Testament, and therefore this ought to be so too. It requires some pains to find out what may, probably, be the meaning of the Holy Spirit in the several parts of this book; as David's songs are many of them level to the capacity of the meanest, and there are shallows in them learned, and there are depths in it in which an elephant may swim. But, when the meaning is found out, it will be of admirable use to excite pious and devout affections in us; and the same truths which are plainly laid down in other scriptures when they are extracted out of this come to the soul with a more pleasing power. When we apply ourselves to the study of this book we must not only, with Moses and Joshua, put off our shoe from off our foot, and even forget that we have bodies, because the place where we stand is holy ground, but we must, with John, come up hither, must spread our wings, take a noble flight, and soar upwards, till by faith and holy love we enter into the holiest, for this is no other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven.

Matthew Henry: The Song of Songs 7 (Chapter Introduction)

In this chapter, I. Christ, the royal bridegroom, goes on to describe the beauties of his spouse, the church, in many instances, and to express his love to her and the delight he has in her conversation (Son 7:1-9). II. The spouse, the church, expresses her great delight in him, and the desire that she had of communion and fellowship with him (Son 7:10-13). Such mutual esteem and endearment are there between Christ and believers. And what is heaven but an everlasting interchanging of loves between the holy God and holy souls!

Constable: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title

In the Hebrew Bible the title of this book is "The Song of Songs." It comes from 1:1. The Septuagint and Vulgate translators adopted this title. The Latin word for song is canticum from which we get the word Canticles, another title for this book.

Some English translations have kept the title "Song of Songs" (e.g., NIV), but many have changed it to "Song of Solomon" based on 1:1 (e.g., NASB, AV, RSV, NKJV).

Writer and Date

Many references to Solomon throughout the book confirm the claim of 1:1 that Solomon wrote this book (cf. 1:4-5, 12; 3:7, 9, 11; 6:12; 7:5; 8:11-12; 1 Kings 4:33). He reigned between 971 and 931 B.C.

How could Solomon, who had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3), be the same faithful lover this book presents? He could be if he became polygamous after the events in this book took place. That seems a more likely explanation than that he was polygamous when these events occurred but just omitted reference to his other loves. Probably he wrote the book before he became polygamous. We do not know how old Solomon was when he married the second time. The history recorded in Kings and Chronicles is not in strict chronological order. The Shulammite was probably not Pharaoh's daughter (1 Kings 3:1; cf. Song of Sol. 4:8).¹

Interpretation

This book has received more varied interpretations than probably any other book in the Bible.² Some writers believed it presents the reader with the "greatest hermeneutical challenge" in the Old Testament.³ One excellent exegete called it "the most obscure book of the Old Testament."⁴

"Among the books of the Bible, the Song of Solomon is one of the smallest, most difficult, yet one of the most popular with both Jews and Christians. Over the centuries hundreds of books and commentaries have been written and unnumbered sermons preached on these 117 verses."⁵

Bible students have understood the Song of Solomon as an allegory, an extended type, a drama with either two or three main characters, or a collection of wedding songs. Others have thought it is a collection of pagan fertility cult liturgies or an anthology of songs extolling love, to name only the most common interpretations.⁶

Those who interpret the book allegorically--the majority of interpreters--believe that what the writer said is only a symbolic husk for a deeper spiritual meaning that the reader must discover. Jewish interpreters took this deeper revelation to be God's love for Israel. Christian scholars have frequently seen it as Christ's love for the church. However the text itself does not indicate that we should interpret this book differently than any other Bible book.⁷

Those who view it as an extended type believe the events recorded really took place, in contrast to the allegorical interpreters, but their primary significance lies in their illustrative value.⁸ The basic teaching Christian interpreters see is Christ's love for the church. Yet again the text itself does not indicate that this book requires a different interpretation than the other books of the Bible.

A careful analysis of the text has convinced most scholars that the Song of Solomon was not a drama.⁹ We really cannot break it down into acts and scenes in any presentable order. The action is too interwoven. There is also no evidence that the Hebrews had dramas of this type in Solomon's day.¹⁰

Some interpreters believe three main characters are in view, namely, Solomon, the Shulammite girl, and her shepherd lover.¹¹ However, what some scholars have attributed to the shepherd lover can just as easily refer to Solomon. It was not uncommon in ancient Near Eastern literature to refer to kings as shepherds since they served a pastoral function in relation to their people. Furthermore many of them did own many flocks (cf. 2:7).

Probably the Song of Solomon was a single love poem that the writer designed to deal primarily with the subject of human love and marriage. This was the viewpoint of many ancient Jewish rabbis.¹² It is also the conclusion most conservative commentators have come to who have sought to interpret this book in the same way they interpret other Bible books (i.e., literally, historically, and grammatically). It is also the conclusion of some liberal scholars who have analyzed the structure of the book.¹³ Love is an important subject of special revelation, and human love in particular is a central feature of it as well (cf. Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:36-39; John 13:34-35). Consequently it should not seem incredible that God gave us this book to help us understand this subject better.¹⁴

However, it seems clear that this book also has spiritual value, specifically to clarify divine-human love.

". . . it is widely acknowledged that the Bible is a book of faith and theology, and there is no place in the canon for atheological literature. . . .

"The literal approaches of Dillow, Glickman, and others are much more faithful to the intent of the book [than other approaches]. The limitations of these strictly literal approaches are the tendency to see sexuality as a more prominent feature of the Song than is justified by the text and the propensity to overreact to the absurdities of the allegorical method to the extent of missing justifiable [spiritual] analogy."¹⁵

Evidence of unity within the book argues against its being only a collection of poems that had general similarity to one another that the writer assembled into one song.¹⁶

Purpose

Probably God's primary purpose in inspiring this book of the Bible was to give us revelation concerning the way love between a man and a woman should look.¹⁷ The characters in the book behave toward one another the way men and women in love should conduct themselves in attitudes and activities.

"Solomon was a man of many lovers, and the Song of Songs is a record of one of the relationships that stood out above all others. . . .

"The Song of Songs hearkens back to God's prototypical design in the Garden of Eden of one man and one woman, in marriage, a relationship God designed to be mutually exclusive. This book, then, presents a most relevant and urgent message for today."¹⁸

"The prospect of children is not necessary to justify sexual love in marriage. Significantly, the Song of Solomon makes no reference to procreation. It must be remembered that the book was written in a world where a high premium was placed on offspring and a woman's worth was often measured in terms of the number of her children. Sex was often seen with reference to procreation; yet there is not a trace of that here. The song is a song in praise of love for love's sake and for love's sake alone. This relationship needs no justification beyond itself."¹⁹

The love relationship between a man and a woman is an illustration of the love relationship within the Godhead and between God and Israel and between Christ and the church (cf. Hos. 3:1; Eph. 5:32). Therefore part of the purpose of this book seems to be the revelation of those more basic love relationships for application by the reader.

"The use of the marriage metaphor to describe the relationship of God to his people is almost universal in Scripture. . . .

"Human love is thus a good pedagogical device to cast light on divine love."²⁰

"In creating man--male and female--in his own image and joining them together so that they become one flesh, God makes us copies both of himself in his trinitarian unity and distinction as one God and three persons and of himself in relation to the people of his gracious election. Analogically, what is between Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and what ought to be and is and shall be between God and Israel and Christ and the Church, is also what is meant to be in the relation of man and woman and more specifically of husband and wife. Neither the intratrinitarian relationship nor the union between the heavenly bridegroom and his bride is a good copy of a bad original. Earthly marriage as it is now lived out is a bad copy of a good original."²¹

"There is something proleptic and eschatological in human passion. We deal with symbols that image eternal realities here. Little wonder that this little book is in the canon."²²

Canonicity

There have been three primary reasons that some scholars have thought this book does not deserve to be in the Bible. First, it does not contain the name of God. However, God's name may appear in 8:6. Furthermore, what makes a book theological or religious is not just the presence of the divine name. God's name does not appear in the Book of Esther either.

Second, the presence of frank language describing physical intimacies seems inappropriate in the Bible to some people. Yet the Bible presents marriage as sacred, including its physical aspects.

Third, the difficulty of interpretation has caused some readers to reject it as non-canonical. This criticism fails to recognize that finite and fallen human beings may not easily comprehend the revelations of an infinite and omniscient God.

"Like other portions of the Word of God, this book has its difficulties. But so have all the works of God. Is not the fact that they surpass our unaided powers of comprehension and research a sign-manual' of divinity? Can feeble man expect to grasp divine power, or to understand and interpret the works or the providences of the All-wise? And if not, is it surprising that His Word also needs superhuman wisdom for its interpretation? Thanks be to God, the illumination of the Holy Ghost is promised to all who seek for it: what more can we desire?"²³

Message²⁴

Contemporary culture has affected the interpretation of this book more than that of most other Bible books. For many years believers considered this book to be a revelation of God's love for the believer and the believer's love for God expressed in vivid metaphorical language. This was the predominant viewpoint for centuries during which time most people did not talk about the intimacies of human physical love publicly. With the sexual revolution that began in the 1960s there are many interpreters who now believe this book is a revelation of two human beings' love for each other primarily. Some have even suggested that it is an inspired marriage manual that God has given us to enable us to develop strong marriages.

Personally I believe God gave it to us so that we could understand the nature of love primarily. I think God wanted us to apply that understanding both in our love for our spouses and in our love for our Savior. In other words I believe the purpose is "both . . . and" rather than "either . . . or."

This book emphasizes the supremacy of love. Human life finds its highest fulfillment in the love of a man and a woman. Spiritual life finds its highest fulfillment in the love of a human being and God. Jesus Christ makes the fulfillment of love on both the human and the spiritual levels possible. He manifested God's love to us. Consequently we love Him, and we can love one another.

When Solomon originally wrote this book it was a poem about the love of two people, a man and a woman, for each other. Consequently what it reveals about love is applicable to human love. However since God revealed and inspired it as part of Scripture He also intended us to apply it to our spiritual lives, our relationship with God. That is the purpose of every other book of the Bible, and this was God's purpose in giving us this book as well. In Ephesians, Paul wrote that we should learn about Christ's love for the church from marriage (Eph. 5:32).

Let us look then at the values of this book that are primarily two.

First, the Song of Solomon is a revelation of the true nature of human love. It reveals four things about human love.

1. It reveals the foundation of love. According to this book the foundation of love is mutual satisfaction. The man and the woman in this book find perfect rest in each other. They satisfy one another in every way. Affection relates directly to this ability. We have an affection for people who satisfy some need or desire in us. We have supreme affection for one who satisfies us ultimately. That supreme affection is the basis for marriage. God intended it to be so. This book also reveals that mutual satisfaction is not only complementary, but it is also exclusive. The man and the woman in this book each saw the other as the only one for them (2:2-3). For satisfaction to be complete there must be a commitment to exclusivity. There is usually a promise to forsake all others in the wedding vows. When love is not exclusive, it is diluted (cf. 1 Tim. 3:2). The foundation of love then is mutual satisfaction that is both complementary and exclusive.

2. This book also reveals the strength of love. It is the strongest force in life (8:6-7). People will do for love what they will do for no other reason. However when mutual satisfaction breaks down, the strength of love grows weaker. If you want strong love in your marriage, commit yourselves to satisfying each other more than yourself.

3. This book also reveals how to love. It shows Solomon taking the initiative in reaching out to his loved one with intensity and protecting her. It also shows the Shulammite responding to her beloved by yielding to him and trusting in him. These are the usual actions and reactions of the male and the female in love. Sometimes there is a reversal of roles, but not usually. God intended these methods of expressing love to be instructive for us. They are applicable in both our love for our spouse and in our love for God.

4. Fourth, this book reveals the fruits of love. These are three.

a. In true love there is rest. There is a perfect contentment that turmoil outside or within cannot destroy. The home in which genuine love resides is a haven from the storms of life.

b. In true love there is joy. No matter what other conditions may exist (poverty, misery, etc.) real love fills the heart with song and brightens the darkest day.

c. In true love there is courage. Both individuals gain strength from their love to face circumstances boldly and to recover from their failures and go on. All three of these fruits of love are prominent in this book.

The second value of this book is that it reveals spiritual experience at its highest level.

This was the ultimate intention of the divine Author. This conclusion finds support in the fact that this was the belief of Jewish interpreters as well as Christian scholars in both Old and New Testament times. Furthermore the writers of Scripture used the example of a bride and groom, husband and wife, to describe God's relationship with His people in both Testaments (e.g., Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the bride of Christ; Eph. 5:25-32).

It is therefore important that we take these revelations concerning the nature of love and apply them to our relationship with God as well as to our relationship to our spouse.

1. The foundation of our love for God and His love for us is also mutual satisfaction. He satisfies our every need and our every want. Nevertheless He also finds satisfaction in us.

2. We see the strength of God's love for us when we look at Calvary. The strength of our love for God is the extent to which we respond to Him in obedience.

3. We see how to love in God's initiating love for us, His reaching out intensely and protectively. We express our love for Him by yielding to Him and trusting in Him.

4. The fruits of love are the same in our relationship with God as in our relationship with another human being. We enjoy rest, joy, and courage. God does too. He experiences courage in the sense of encouragement (cf. Zeph. 3:17).

Because of these revelations and emphases I would summarize the message of this book as follows. Human life and spiritual life find their greatest fulfillment in the experience of mutual love.

Love is the greatest experience in all human relationships and our spiritual relationship. Consequently God commands us to love Him and to love one another wholeheartedly (Matt. 22:37-39). We must give attention to loving. This is not how the world views love. The world thinks you fall into it and out of it; it comes and goes. The Bible says it requires continuing commitment.

This book also encourages us to view human love in the light of God's love for us and our love for Him. A person who has experienced the love of God can know best how to express and receive love on the human level. Human love is the child of divine love.

The opposite is true too. We can find help in loving God by learning from our human love. Our passion, abandonment, and fidelity to our mate on the human level should help us to practice these things in our relationship with God. I believe God created the family to help us understand our relationship with Himself. When we learn how to respond to one another, we learn how to respond to God, and vice versa.

Constable: The Song of Songs (Outline)

Outline

I. The superscription 1:1

II. The courtship 1:2-3:5

A. The beginning of love 1:2-11

1. Longing for the boyfriend 1:2-4

2. The girl's insecurity 1:5-8

3. Solomon's praise 1:9-11

B. The growth of love 1:12-3:5

1. Mutual admiration 1:12-2:7

2. Increased longing 2:8-17

3. The pain of separation 3:1-5

III. The wedding 3:6-5:1

A. The procession 3:6-11

B. The consummation 4:1-5:1

1. The bride's beauty 4:1-7

2. The groom's request 4:8

3. The bride's love 4:9-11

4. The bride's purity 4:12-15

5. The bride's surrender 4:16-5:1

IV. The maturing process 5:2-8:4

A. The problem of apathy 5:2-6:13

1. Indifference and withdrawal 5:2-8

2. Renewed affection 5:9-16

3. Steps toward reconciliation 6:1-3

4. Restoration of intimacy 6:4-13

B. Communicating affection 7:1-10

1. The wife's charms 7:1-6

2. The husband's desires 7:7-9

3. The ultimate unity 7:10

C. The wife's initiative 7:11-13

D. Increased intimacy 8:1-4

V. The conclusion 8:5-7

VI. The epilogue 8:8-14

A. The past 8:8-12

B. The present 8:13-14

Constable: The Song of Songs

Song of Solomon

Bibliography

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

SOLOMON'S CANTICLE OF CANTICLES.

INTRODUCTION.

This book is called the Canticle of Canticles, that is to say, the most excellent of all canticles: because it is full of high mysteries, relating to the happy union of Christ and his spouse; which is here begun by love; and is to be eternal in heaven. The spouse of Christ is the Church: more especially as to the happiest part of it, viz., perfect souls, every one of which is his beloved; but above all others, the immaculate and ever blessed Virgin mother [Mary]. (Challoner) --- The bridegroom is Christ, as God and man. His praises and those of his spouse are recorded by various speakers. Solomon has given us three works; for beginners, the more advanced, and the perfect; as the philosophers teach ethics, physics, and metaphysics. All the holy Scriptures contain spiritual food, but they are not all fit for every person, Hebrews v. 13. With what humility ought we not, therefore, to read this most perfect and mystical canticle, as the sentiments of spiritual love are expressed in the same words as that of worldlings, and we are more inclined to follow our own judgment and carnal notions! (Worthington) --- None, therefore, should dare to peruse this work, who has not mastered his passions, having his conversation in heaven. (Haydock) --- The Jews would not allow any ot read it before the age of thirty. (Origen and St. Jerome) --- Some of the fathers and commentators have even asserted that the mystical sense is the only one which pertains to this book, (Theodoret; Durham; Tirinus) and it is certainly the true and principal one, though allusion may be made to the marriage of Solomon with Pharao's daughter, (Calmet; Bossuet; Du Hamel) or with a Tyrian princess, (chap. iv. 8., and 3 Kings xiii. 5.) or with Abisag. (Rabbins) --- Grotius shews the corruption of his own heart in his impure comments, as Theodorus, of Mopsuestra, is blamed by the second Council of Const.[Constantinople?] iv. a. 68. The name of God never, indeed, occurs; as he is represented under the idea of the bridegroom, &c., and the piece is allegorical. It might be divided into seven scenes, or nights, as the marriage feast lasted so long, Genesis xxix. 22. During this time the bridegroom saw his spouse seldom, and with great reserve, (Calmet) as was the custom with the Lacedemonians. (Plut.[Plutarch?] in Lyc.) --- We might also refer all to six nights, or to the six ages of the Church, conformably to the system of De la Chetardie and Bishop Walmesley on the Apocalypse. --- I. Age. Chap i. 2., marks the ascension of Christ, and the propagation of Christianity; ver. 4, 5., persecutions; ver. 6, 7., vocation of the Gentiles; ver. 12., protection granted by Christ. II. Chap. ii. 3., peace under Constantine; ver. 11, 17., troubles excited by Arius. III. Chap. iii. 1., irruption of barbarians; ver. 4., does not overturn the Church; ver. 6., they are converted; ver. 11., and Christ is more glorified, as [in] Apocalypse xix. IV. Chap. iv. 5., the Latin and Greek Churches; ver. 8., the Chaldeans, lions, and Greeks, leopards, (Daniel) are converted; the Turks obtain dominion; ver. 12., the Greek schismatics cut off: ver. 16., the Church is persecuted, but protected. V. Chap. v. 2., Dew marks the cooling of charity, (St. Augustine) when Luther appeared; chap. vi. 3., yet the Church triumphs, particularly after the Council of Trent. VI. Chap. vi. 9., after the sounding of the sixth trumpet, the Jews are converted, and adorn the Church, in spite of antichrist's power; ver. 11., she addresses the synagogue, ver. 12. Chap. viii. 2., obtains leave to go into the house of her mother, as the apostles were of Jewish extraction; ver. 7., the constancy of the martyrs appears; (see Rondet.) ver. 8-14., the Church pants for her speedy union with her beloved. We may justly admire her authority, in preserving this and the former work of the canon, notwithstanding the internal and external evidence, and the ill use made of them by infidels, which seemed to militate against them. The Protestant Chateillon styles this "a wicked book." Several passages may, no doubt, be abused by a corrupt heart: but what is there so holy, which may not be perverted? When we meditate on this canticle, we ought to remember the admonition given by the Church in the Mass: "Let hearts be on high;" and Oh! that all might answer with truth: "We have them to the Lord!"

Gill: The Song of Songs (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO THE SONG OF SOLOMON

This book is entitled, in the Hebrew copies, "Shir Hashirim", the Song of Songs. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions call it, "the Song"; and the title of it in the Syriac version, is,

"the Wisdom of Wisdoms of the same Solomon;''

that is, the same who wrote the two preceding books. It has always been received and esteemed by the ancient Jews as a valuable part of the sacred writings, calling it "the Holy of Holies" ^a; forbidding their children to read it, because of the sublimity and mysteriousness of it, until they were at years to understand it: nor was there ever any controversy among them about the authenticity of it; but all their writers ^b, ancient and more modern, agree that it was written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The ancient Christian fathers and councils have held it as a part of the holy Scriptures, and have continued it in the canon of them; and it has been received as canonical by Christians in all ages, except a very few, as Theodore of Mopsuest, condemned calling it in question by the second council at Constantinople, in 553; and Castalio, in later times, who for the same was censured and exiled by the senate at Geneva; and Mr. Whiston, in our age, whose objections to it I have attempted to answer, in my larger Commentary on this book, published in 1728, and since republished: and I am very sorry I am obliged to take notice of an objection to the antiquity of it, and to its being Solomon's, made by a learned ^c man, very lately; who observes, that the word David, from its first appearance in Ruth, where it is written דוד, without the "yod", continues to be so written through the books of Samuel, Kings, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel; but appears with a "yod", דויד, in the books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Zechariah; wherefore he suggests, that if it was customary to write this word without a "yod" till the captivity, and with one after it; then he thinks a strong argument may be drawn from hence against the antiquity of the Canticles, and its being made by Solomon, since this name is written with a "yod" in Son 4:4; the only place in it in which it is used: but in answer to this it must be said, that it is not fact that the word is invariably without a "yod" in the books mentioned, particularly the book of Kings: for the authors of the Masorah have observed, on 1Ki 3:14, that it is five times written in that book full, as they call it, that is, with a "yod", דויד; three of the places I have traced out, 1Ki 3:14; and have found it so written in all the printed copies I have seen; and so it is read by the eastern Jews, in Eze 37:24. This learned man is aware that it is so written, once in Hosea, and twice in Amos, books written two hundred years before the captivity; but then he observes, that in the two last places, in Bomberg's edition, it has a little circle (o) to mark it for an error, or a faulty word, though none over the word in Hosea: but it should be known, that that circle, in hundreds of places, is not used to point out anything faulty in the copy; but is only a mark referring to the margin, and what is observed there; and be it that it does point out an error, or a faulty word, the same circle is over the word in Canticles, and consequently shows it to be faulty there, and to be corrected and read without the "yod", as it was originally without it there; which observation destroys the argument from it: and so it is read in that place in the Talmud ^d without it, and in the ancient book of Zohar ^e; and indeed it seems as if it was read without the "yod" in the copies seen by the authors of the Little Masorah; since in their note on 1Ki 3:14; besides the five places in the Kings, where it is written full, or with the "yod", they say, it is so written throughout the Chronicles, the twelve minor prophets, and Ezra, which includes Nehemiah; but make no mention of Solomon's Song, which, one would think, they would have done, had it been so written there in the copies before them: so that, upon the whole, the argument, if it has any force in it, turns out for, and not against, the antiquity of Solomon's Song. This book of Canticles has plain marks of a divine original, and proofs of its being of divine inspiration: it was written by, one that was inspired of God, as appears by the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, written by him; the greatness of the matter contained in it, the dignity, sublimity, and majesty of its style, show it to be no human composure; the power and efficacy which it has had over the hearts of men, in reading it, and hearing it explained, is another evidence of its being the word of God, which is quick and powerful; the impartiality of it, the bride, who is introduced speaking in it, confessing and proclaiming her own failings and infirmities, is no inconsiderable proof of the same; to which may be added the agreement between this and other portions of Scripture, as particularly Psa 45:1; and there seem to be many allusions and references to various passages of this book in the New Testament; see Mat 9:13, &c. Joh 3:8 Col 2:17; compared with Son 1:3 Son 5:1. In what time of Solomon's life this book was written is not agreed on: some of the Jewish writers say the book of Proverbs was written first, then the Song of Songs, and last of all Ecclesiastes; others, that the Song was written first, then Proverbs, and then Ecclesiastes ^f; though their chronologer ^g says they were all written in his old age, as indeed the last book seems to be; but the Song rather seems to have been written in the middle part of his life, when in the most flourishing circumstances as to body, mind, and estate. Dr. Lightfoot ^h is of opinion it might be written in the thirtieth year of his reign, about ten years before his death, after he had built his summer house in Lebanon, to which he supposes respect is had in Son 4:8; and upon his bringing Pharaoh's daughter to the house prepared for her, 1Ki 9:24; but be this at it may, it was not a celebration of the amours between Solomon and her, since the literal sense, in many places, would be monstrous and absurd; and besides it must be written twenty years at least after that, if the house of the forest of Lebanon is referred to in the above places; nor does it set forth their amours, and the marriage between them, as typical of the inexpressible love and marriage union between Christ and his church; though there is a resemblance between natural and spiritual marriage, and the love of persons in such a relation to one another, and to which there may be an allusion in some passages. Nor is this book historical and prophetic, expressing either the state of the people of Israel, from the times of Abraham to Solomon, and so to the Messiah; in which way go many Jewish interpreters, as the Targum, Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and others: nor is it to be considered as describing the state of the church: of God, whether legal, from the times of David and Solomon, and before, in and after the captivity, to the birth and death of Christ; or the Gospel church, in its beginning, progress, various changes, and consummation, as Brightman and Cotton nor as setting forth the several ages and periods of the Christian church, in agreement with the seven churches of Asia, as Cocceius, and those that follow him, Horchius, Hofman, and Heunischius; which latter, particularly, makes this distribution of them:

(1) The Ephesian church, Son 1:5; from the ascension of Christ to heaven, A. C. 33, to 370. (2) The Smyrnaean church, Son 2:1; from A. C. 371, to 707; (3) The church at Pergamos, Son 3:1; from A. C. 708, to 1045. (4) The Thyatirian church, Son 4:1, from A. C. 1046, to 1383. (5) The Sardian church, Son 5:2, from A. C. 1384, to 1721. (6) The church at Philadelphia, Son 6:9, from A. C. 1722, to 2059. (7) The Laodicean church, Son 8:1, from A. C. 2060, and onwards.

But these senses are very arbitrary, uncertain, and precarious, and limit the several parts of it to certain periods; whereas it is applicable to believers in all ages of time. The whole is figurative and allegorical; expressing, in a variety of lively metaphors, the love, union, and communion, between Christ and his church; setting forth the several different frames, cases, and circumstances of believers, in this life; so that they can be in no case and condition spiritual whatever, but there is something in this Song suitable to them; and which serves much to recommend it, and shows the excellency of it; and that it justly claims the title it bears, the Song of Songs, the most excellent. M. Bossuet ⁱ is of opinion, that whereas the nuptial feast with the Hebrews was kept seven days, this Song is to be distributed into seven parts, a part to be sung, one each day, during the celebration: The first day, Son 1:1. The second day, Son 2:7. The third day, Son 3:1. The fourth day, Son 5:2. The fifth day, Son 6:10. The sixth day, Son 7:12. The seventh day, Son 8:4. The thought is ingenious, but seems too fanciful, and without foundation.

Gill: The Song of Songs 7 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO SONG OF SOLOMON 7

In this chapter Christ gives a fresh commendation of the beauty of his church, in a different order and method than before; beginning with her "feet", and so rising upwards to the "hair" of her head, and the roof of her mouth, Son 7:1; And then the church asserts her interest in him, and his desire towards her, Son 7:10; and invites him to go with her into the fields, villages, and vineyards, and offers various reasons, by which she urges him to comply with her invitation, Son 7:11.