Song of Songs 2: Endearments of a growing relationship

[Preliminary Comments: Please ensure you have read the notes in the Introduction. Very well, to begin with, the study which simply seeks to help the reader absorb the text more easily:

Possible breakdown [ignoring ‘the Friends’]:

• v.1-3 Their reassuring words describing one another
• v.4-7 She imagines him coming to her
• v.8-13 She imagines him coming to her in the Spring
• v.14-15 He calls her to come out [in her imagination?]
• v.16-18 She affirms she wants him

She

v.1 she feels ordinary like a common flower

v.1  I am a rose of Sharon,
    a lily of the valleys.

He

v.2 he counters by saying she stands out

v.2 Like a lily among thorns
    is my darling among the young women.

She

v.3 not to be outdone she says he stands out providing the shelter and sustenance she needs

v.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.

v.4 that leads her on to think about being with him in his banqueting hall where his love for her can be expressed even more

v.4 Let him lead me to the banquet hall,
    and let his banner over me be love.

v.5 she feels weak with love

v.5  Strengthen me with raisins,
    refresh me with apples,
    for I am faint with love.

v.6 she imagines him supporting & embracing her

v.6 His left arm is under my head,
    and his right arm embraces me.

v.7 she tells the world – as if to herself perhaps – don’t rush this love thing

v.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.

v.8 again, perhaps imagining, perhaps seeing him, she sees him bounding towards her

v.8  Listen! My beloved!
    Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
    bounding over the hills.

v.9 he comes to her house, clearly looking for her

v.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.

v.10 he calls out to her to come with him

v.10  My beloved spoke and said to me,
    ‘Arise, my darling,
    my beautiful one, come with me.

v.11 it’s a new day, Spring is coming

v.11 See! The winter is past;
    the rains are over and gone.

v.12 life is bursting out all round them

v.12 Flowers appear on the earth;
    the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
    is heard in our land.

v.13 in this season of early life, she calls to him to follow

v.13 The fig-tree forms its early fruit;
    the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
    my beautiful one, come with me.’

He

v.14 he replies, let me see you, come out of (Winter) hiding

v.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.

v.15 don’t let there be anything that might spoil our time together

v.15 Catch for us the foxes,
    the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
    our vineyards that are in bloom.

She

v.16 she rejoices in the early signs of a relationship forming

v.16 My beloved is mine and I am his;
    he browses among the lilies.

v.17 even if it is night, stop all you do and come

v.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.

[Concluding Comment: Yet still there are no clues to who this young couple is and again Solomon is not mentioned. It is a chapter full of endearments.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: