Song of Songs 2 Study Notes

2:1 The Hebrew shushan was probably not the lily (Lilium spp.) but the water lily or lotus flower (Nymphaea lotus L.), which the ancient world associated with almost magical, life-giving powers. This association is consistent with references in the Song: the life-giving princess (v. 1); the source of life that bonds Solomon to her (v. 16); the erotic setting of her breasts (4:5); his lips flowing with liquid myrrh (5:13); flowers enjoyed before a reconciliation (6:3); and the flowers that surround her abdomen and navel. There is also a wordplay: Solomon praised Shulamith as a mare (Hb susa, 1:9) that drew the attention of others; she responded that she was also a life-giving flower (Hb shushan). She not only received attention; she gave attention as well.

2:2-3 The significance of the lotus flower’s place among thorns is similar to the tree’s shade and fruit in a dangerous forest: both are places of safety surrounded by danger. The implication is that their love was likewise a place of safety in a hostile world. Fruit is often a metaphor for speech (Pr 12:14; 13:2; 18:20) that can be described as sweet not only in Proverbs (Pr 16:24), but also in the Song (Sg 5:13,16).

2:4-5 Banquet hall is literally “house of wine,” inviting a contrast with the house of nature in 1:17 and the house of wealth in 8:6-7; the latter is the corresponding section in the chiastic structure. He looked on me with love assumes that the root meaning behind the military banner was the concept of looking. The alternate reading, “His banner over me is love,” is supported by the fact that drawings in the ancient Near East show groups carrying banners with symbols identifying the group. Solomon’s love for Shulamith is clear and public. I am lovesick affirms the intensity of romantic love.

2:6-17 Between the two refrains of vv. 6-7 and the two of vv. 16-17 is Solomon’s invitation to Shulamith during courtship to come from her house and enjoy a spring day that reflects the new life love has given (vv. 8-15). This section is in chiastic contrast with Shulamith’s invitation to Solomon during marriage to enjoy a spring day and go to her house (7:10-8:4). This latter section is also framed by similar refrains (see outline in the Introduction). The wives of kings commonly had separate quarters from the king.

2:6-7 These refrains conclude the first section and begin the second (3:5), just as they appear in chiastic balance in 8:3-4 to conclude the sixth section and begin the last (see outline in the Introduction).

2:6 Wishes appear in the Song’s opening request, “Oh, that he would kiss me” (1:2), and even on the wedding night, “Let my love come to his garden” (4:16). Some translate this as a realized fact, “His left hand is.” But it is more likely a wish, may his left hand be. It is a public context (2:4-5,7), and afterwards comes an admonition advocating restraint until the appropriate time. The wedding night is that time, as evidenced in its fulfillment of a wish for intimacy (cp. 2:17 with 4:5-6) and the praise of Shulamith’s virgin purity (4:12).

2:7 Shulamith asked the women to promise by the gazelles and the wild does of the field. Gazelles (Hb tseva’oth) is precisely like “armies” (Hb tseva’oth) in “Lord of Armies,” and wild does of the field (Hb ’ayloth hasadeh) is similar to El Shaddai—two wordplays that might go unnoticed except that Shulamith’s request is in the form of the traditional oath formula normally requesting a promise “by the Lord” (Gn 24:3). The play on the names of God is instructive. Shulamith asked for a promise of patience in love. So she asked for the promise not by the Lord of Armies nor by the Almighty God but by the creatures whose manner modeled romantic ways. Love, as she expresses it here, awakens not in response to the coercive power of an army or the might of God, but to love expressed with the gentle sensitivity of the gazelles or does of the meadow. Until the appropriate time (lit “until it pleases”) personifies love as their guide.

2:8-14 Listen! My love is approaching is literally “The voice of my beloved!” Voice can also mean “sound,” which may be the sense of it here, but the same word appears in v. 12 to refer to the cooing (lit “voice”) of the dove and in v. 14 to refer to the voice of Shulamith. The “voice” is thus at the beginning, middle, and end of this section and a theme of these lyrics develops around it: the desire of each to hear the voice of the other, to communicate in the uncluttered freedom of nature—a theme begun in 1:4 that does not conclude until the last lyrics of the Song (8:13) but is distinctively developed in 2:8-14.

2:8 Bounding (Hb qaphats, v. 8) plays on the word “pleases” (Hb chaphets) in “until the appropriate time” (see note at v. 7). Solomon approached in response to the leading of love.

2:10-14 Solomon’s address to Shulamith comprises two lyrical sets: the first (vv. 10-13) describes the beauty of spring with the singing voice of the turtledove as its centerpiece; the second (v. 14) describes the hidden Shulamith as the real dove whose appearance and voice he wished to hear.

2:12 The word for singing may also mean “pruning,” but the parallelism with the turtledove’s cooing confirms the translation here.

2:15-17 These verses conclude section B with refrains resumed in part at the transition (7:7-8,10) beginning the corresponding section B´ (7:10-8:4; see Introduction).

2:15 The term vineyards refers to Shulamith (1:6; 8:12). In bloom anticipates the vineyard’s beauty before the harvest, and thus describes the beauty of the two lovers anticipating marriage; foxes extends the metaphor to anything harmful to the romance. Perhaps the primary warning is against a “premature harvest” of the fruit Shulamith offered Solomon on the wedding night (4:16). The speaker of Catch . . . for us could be Solomon, Shulamith, or both; the ambiguity is likely intentional, suggesting mutual resolve.

2:16 My love is mine and I am his later transforms to “I am my love’s and my love is mine” (6:3) and finally to “I am my love’s, and his desire is for me” (7:10)—all similar but differing in ways that show a progression in Shulamith’s security. First her possession of him was primary, then secondary, then finally omitted completely, as she found security not in her possession of him, but in his devoted love of her (see note at 7:10). On lilies, see note at v. 1. The flower becomes increasingly erotic and evidently associated with tenderness—her breasts, his lips, her abdomen.

2:17 The request in this verse is answered in similar language on the wedding night (4:6). Gazelle or a young stag is identical to the phrase in v. 9 that describes Solomon’s behavior in courtship. Shulamith longed for the same delight on the wedding night. Divided mountains (lit “mountains of separation”) is a poetic reference to her breasts (see note at 4:1-7). In Solomon’s answer to this request, he embellished the metaphor as the “mountain of myrrh and hill of frankincense” (4:6; cp. 8:14), adding fragrance to the image. The enjoyment of Shulamith’s breasts is again poetically expressed in a later night of lovemaking (7:7-8). So Solomon displayed in the Song what he encouraged in Proverbs, “Let your fountain be blessed, and take pleasure in the wife of your youth. A loving deer, a graceful doe—let her breasts always satisfy you; be lost in her love forever” (Pr 5:18-19). Until Solomon answered Shulamith’s request, the night remained and with it the anxiety of anticipation (3:1-4).