1 The mutual love of Christ and his church. 8 The hope, 10 and calling of the church. 14 Christ’s care of the church. 16 The profession of the church, her faith and hope.
Son 2:1 I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
The chapter division has led some to associate v. 1 with what follows. Thus, Solomon would be the speaker in this verse. Hence, by spiritual application, both the titles “rose of Sharon” and “lily of the valleys” have been referred to Christ. Grammatically and contextually, however, it is more natural to consider this verse a statement of the bride.
The word for “lily” may have either a masculine or a feminine form. The feminine form occurs here, whereas the masculine form appears in chs. 2:16; 4:5; 5:13; 6:2, 3; 7:2.
The feminine form occurs again in ch. 2:2, where it definitely applies to the Shulamite maid. Contextual considerations also favor this view. According to it the bride is confessing her modesty, stating that she feels out of place in a palace. She is only a country flower.
The word translated “rose” occurs only here and in Isa. 35:1, and the identity is uncertain. It may be identified with the crocus, asphodel, or narcissus.
Some wildflower seems to be intended. “Sharon” means literally, “a field,” “a plain,” and as a proper name signifies the maritime plain between Joppa and Mt. Carmel. The LXX takes “Sharon” here as a general designation of an open field.
Son 2:2 Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women.
Not the thorns that appear on plants and trees, but thorn plants. Solomon assures his bride that all other women, compared with her, are like thorn plants compared with a beautiful wildflower.
Son 2:3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
The apple tree. The bride returns the compliment.
Her bridegroom, compared with other men, is like a fruit tree compared with the nonfruit-bearing trees of the forest.
In his shadow. The bride not only enjoys the shade but also eats the fruit with great pleasure. These words have been taken to picture the soul resting in the shadow of Christ’s love, enjoying blessed companionship with the Lord. The benefits of such a communion cannot be enjoyed by those who pause but a moment in the presence of Jesus.
Too often life’s busy activities crowd out the precious seasons of fellowship that are so essential to a healthy growth in grace.
Son 2:4 Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love.
Banquet hall. Literally, “house of wine” (see on v. 2). This verse has been used to further illustrate fellowship with Christ.
Son 2:5 Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love.
These cakes were considered to be stimulating, and hence beneficial in cases of exhaustion.
Faint with love. In modern English she would say that she was lovesick. The bride was completely overcome with the thrill of her new experience and could not find figures adequate to describe her ecstatic delight.
Son 2:6 His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me.
Son 2:7 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.
This verse is a refrain. It is repeated in chs. 3:5 and 8:4. The speaker is presumably still the bride. My love. The “my” is supplied. “Love” is from ’ahabah, a feminine form considering love in the abstract, and not the lover. Pure and natural affection is extolled.
The Bride Adores Her Beloved
Son 2:8 Listen! My beloved! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills.
Verses 8–17 seem to be the bride’s reminiscence of a delightful rendezvous in the springtime. The whole is probably spoken while she is in the loving embrace of her husband (see v. 6).
He comes. The bride’s quick sense of love discerns a long way off the approach of her lover as he comes to her mountain home.
Son 2:9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look! There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.
Gazing through the windows. Literally, “gazing from [the outside of] the windows.”
Solomon is represented as playfully looking through the windows in search of his beloved.
Son 2:10 My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me.
Son 2:11 See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.
Verses 11–13 constitute one of the most beautiful poetic descriptions of springtime ever penned. The spring of the year was the time when the joyful pilgrims made their way to the Passover festival in Jerusalem.
The rain is over. The latter rain ended in the early spring.
Son 2:12 Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
Several species of the turtledove are migratory, and their coming marks the return of spring (see Jer. 8:7).
Son 2:13 The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”
Son 2:14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
The rock pigeon selects the lofty cliffs and deep ravines (see Jer. 48:28) for its roosting places and avoids the neighborhood of men. Thus Solomon indicates the modesty and shyness of his loved one.
Son 2:15 Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.
The meaning of this line and the identification of the speaker are matters of conjecture. Moulton suggests that the bride hears her brothers speaking to her, or that they interrupt the bridegroom, who says he wants to see her face and hear her voice.
They give the warning against the foxes that come in the spring and destroy the vines that are just then in blossom. Some think that the Shulamite is giving the reason why she cannot immediately respond to her beloved’s invitation, since she has domestic duties to perform.
Others think that the reference is merely to the playful pleasure the happy lovers would enjoy chasing the little foxes in the aromatic vineyards.
Son 2:16 My beloved is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies. My beloved is mine. These words are a frequent refrain in this Song of Solomon (see chs. 6:3; 7:10). The expression illustrates the tender attraction between Christ and His people.
Son 2:17 Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the rugged hills.
Until the day break. Literally, “until the day breathes.” Reference may be either to the dawn of day, when the fresh morning breeze comes up, or to the beginning of evening, when the fresh evening breeze comes up.