TEXT [Commentary]

  VII.   Seventh Love Poem: Flowers and Trees (2:1-7)

Young Woman

1 I am the spring crocus blooming on the Sharon Plain,[*]

the lily of the valley.

Young Man

2 Like a lily among thistles

is my darling among young women.

Young Woman

3 Like the finest apple tree in the orchard

is my lover among other young men.

I sit in his delightful shade

and taste his delicious fruit.

4 He escorts me to the banquet hall;

it’s obvious how much he loves me.

5 Strengthen me with raisin cakes,

refresh me with apples,

for I am weak with love.

6 His left arm is under my head,

and his right arm embraces me.

7 Promise me, O women of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles and wild deer,

not to awaken love until the time is right.[*]

NOTES

2:1 crocus. The NLT here translates the Heb. word khabatseleth [TH2261, ZH2483] as “crocus.” This may be too specific a translation; we cannot be sure that the word means “crocus.” However, the crocus is a common flower that blooms in the early spring. The parallel with “lily of the valley” suggests that this plant is a wildflower common in ancient Israel. In the Bible the word is only found elsewhere in Isa 35:1, where the desert will burst into bloom with these flowers. The traditional translation, as found in the KJV, is “rose.” However, this is surely incorrect since the rose was not introduced into the region until well after the OT period.

Sharon Plain. This is a plain just between the coast and the foothills of western Israel, north of Jaffa up to Athlit. Sharon was a very fertile area that was probably well known for its wildflowers (see Borowski 1988).

lily. The Heb. for “lily” is shoshannah. This is the origin of the name Susanna.

2:3 apple tree. Again, we encounter the problem of identifying an ancient Heb. word (tappuakh [TH8598, ZH9515]) with a plant name. There have been many different suggestions for this word including peach, apricot, and quince. Indeed, this ambiguity led M. Falk (1982:174) to simply translate it as “sweet fruit tree.” The major English translations, however, are convinced that the word refers to the apple tree.

2:4 banquet hall. Lit., this phrase is “house of wine” (beth hayyayin). It appears to be similar to what in other passages is called the “house for the drinking of wine” (cf. Heb. of Esth 7:8) and the “drinking house” (cf. Eccl 7:2; Jer 16:8).

it’s obvious how much he loves me. This is a rather prosaic translation of the Heb., which is more lit. rendered “his banner over me is ‘Love.’” The banner (degel [TH1714, ZH1840]) was most likely a battle standard or emblem that identified an army (see Num 1:52; 2:2, 3, 10, 17, 18, 25, 31, 34; 10:14, 18, 22, 25). The NLT, though perhaps overly interpretive, presents the meaning of this military image accurately. The point is that he is making public how much he loves the woman. He has taken out an advertisement, to use a related (but non-military) analogy.

2:7 by the gazelles and wild deer. This enigmatic expression (cf. 3:5) is a very subtle and playful means of taking an oath. First, it is important to remind ourselves that while God’s name does not appear in the book, most oaths do invoke a divine name to add force. (There seems to be an intentional avoidance of naming God in the Song.) Second, we must remember the pastoral mood that is evoked in the Song, and gazelles and deer certainly evoke a pastoral scene. Thus, the explanation for this particular expression comes from both the pastoral scene it evokes and from the fact that it sounds like another common oath expression that does include divine names. In Heb., this expression (bitsba’oth ’o be’ayloth hassadeh) sounds a great deal like “by (the LORD) of Hosts or by God Almighty” (be(yhwh) tseva’oth ’o be’el shaddai).

not to awaken love until the time is right. There is some debate over how to understand this command in its context (see de Villiers and Burden 1989 as well as Grossberg 1981). The woman may be requesting that the chorus not disturb them while they are in a lovers’ embrace. In essence, the phrase would then function as a kind of “Do Not Disturb” sign posted on the outside of a hotel room door. However, if this were the correct reading, it would be more likely that the text would say “not to awaken us” rather than “not to awaken love.” It is more likely that she is telling them not to hurry love in their own lives. It is a warning not to rush into intimate relationships. This refrain is also found in 3:5 and 8:4.

COMMENTARY [Text]

The woman speaks first. She likens herself to flowers, specifically the crocus—a type of common wildflower. The woman appears to be giving herself a slight self-compliment, at best. She says she is like a flower, but a common flower, one among thousands.

This love poem is a dialogue between the young woman and the young man. They compliment each other by comparing one another’s delights to flowers and trees. Perhaps, however, dialogue is the wrong word. What we have here is back-and-forth banter that is not directly addressed to the other speaker. They speak in the third, not the second person. Nonetheless, it is a kind of dialogue because one speech is clearly playing off the other. The nature of poetry is such that we can have dialogue without the speakers directly addressing each other.

As an alternative to this, perhaps we are to imagine 2:5-6 as addressed to the women of Jerusalem, to whom the woman is clearly speaking in the last verse. After all, the Hebrew imperatives are in the plural. The poem ends with two refrains, one a note of bliss, the other a word of warning (2:6-7; cf. 3:5; 8:3, 4).

The young man picks up on her modest assessment of herself and situates it in such a way as to make her superior to her peers. She is a lily indeed but a lily among thorns. In his eyes, she makes all the other girls look worse than plain. The woman then returns the compliment by comparing the young man to an apple tree. The NLT rendering proclaims that he is the best apple tree among all the other apple trees of the orchard, but the contrast may be even stronger than this implies. The Hebrew text places this apple tree in the midst of a forest, most likely a forest of non-fruit trees (cf. NIV, KJV). An apple tree is special in this context for a number of reasons. For one, an apple tree is scented. It evokes the image of a pleasant place to dally. In 8:5, the apple tree is the place of lovemaking. Besides a pleasant smell, the other relevant distinctive trait of an apple tree in contrast to other trees is that it bears apples. It is fruitful and productive, showing its fertility in an obvious way.

The woman poetically describes her being in his presence as sitting in the shade of the apple tree. To sit in someone’s shade in the ancient Near East means to enjoy their protection. But here, it implies intimacy, as made explicit by the next line where she relishes the idea of eating his delicious fruit. Note how the man is no longer compared to the tree but has metaphorically become the tree at this point.

In 2:4, the garden imagery is dropped, and she tells how he escorts her into the banquet hall. The banquet hall is literally the “wine house.” We have already seen how wine is a sensuous liquid in both its consistency as well as in its effects (1:2). Love and wine can both make one lightheaded. The “wine house” is a public place, though, and it is here that he makes his love for her manifest. The NLT makes abstract the concrete meaning of the Hebrew in 2:4b: “it’s obvious how much he loves me.” As the note above regarding this phrase explains, the poem here uses military terminology. His battle standard communicates his love for the woman.

Lovemaking is strenuous emotionally and physically. The woman thus calls out for something that will revive her. She asks for raisins and apples, fruits that were thought to replenish sexual energy. The poet seems to be tastefully implying that the man and the woman are in a most intimate embrace.

The last two verses of the poem (2:6-7) are refrains that may be found elsewhere in the Song. In the first, the woman describes the man’s embrace. The embrace is described in such a way (left arm under my head) that the couple appears to be reclining together with the man above the woman. And then finally, though she may have been implicitly speaking to the women of Jerusalem throughout, she now turns to them explicitly with what in essence is a warning. She makes them promise (see note on 2:7) not to engage in love and by implication the physical act of lovemaking until circumstances become appropriate. In essence, she becomes their teacher. They have just heard her speak of a beautiful, wonderful relationship filled with sensuality. She warns them not to jump into this type of relationship. As we will see elsewhere in the Song (2:15; 5:2ff), love is beautiful, but painful as well. It is not to be treated lightly.