Chapter 7

Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon (7:4). Heshbon was a city in the Transjordan east of the Dead Sea, at a site now called Tell Hesban. The remains of several pools have been found there, although we cannot be sure which, if any, of these the Song of Songs is referring to. The location of the “tower of Lebanon” (7:4) is unknown.

Ruins of the Pools of Heshbon

Todd Bolen/www.BiblePlaces.com

Your stature is like that of the palm, and your breasts like clusters of fruit (7:7). The date palm was (and remains) a highly valued tree in the Near East. It had many uses (e.g., its fronds were used in weaving baskets), and its fruit is sweet.33 The tree is sometimes associated with fertility goddesses in ancient artwork,34 and the clusters of its fruit resemble somewhat a woman’s breast. As such, it here represents the pleasures that the woman gives.

Date palm tree

Frederick J. Mabie

The mandrakes send out their fragrance (7:13). Similar to ginseng, the mandrake has a root that can resemble a human form. It produces a pungent odor and can be used as a narcotic.35 From ancient times, an enormous amount of lore and superstition has been associated with the plant. The fragrance of the fruit of the mandrake was thought to be an aphrodisiac. In Egyptian artwork, women hold the fruit under their noses or the noses of their husbands, apparently as a preparation for love-play. The Cairo Vase love songs also allude to the erotic power of the mandrake, as does Genesis 30:14–15.36