TEXT [Commentary]

  XVIII.   Eighteenth Love Poem: I Will Give You My Love (7:10-13)

10 I am my lover’s,

and he claims me as his own.

11 Come, my love, let us go out to the fields

and spend the night among the wildflowers.[*]

12 Let us get up early and go to the vineyards

to see if the grapevines have budded,

if the blossoms have opened,

and if the pomegranates have bloomed.

There I will give you my love.

13 There the mandrakes give off their fragrance,

and the finest fruits are at our door,

new delights as well as old,

which I have saved for you, my lover.

NOTES

7:10 [11] he claims me as his own. Lit., “his desire is for me.” The word desire (teshuqah [TH8669, ZH9592]) is of interest here. It only appears two other places in the Bible, the other two times in Genesis. It is clear that in Gen 4:7 the desire is negative; that is, sin desires to dominate Cain. The other occurrence is in the context of the Fall and is also likely negative when it says that the woman’s desire will be for her husband (Gen 3:16). The present context is clearly positive, and the common idea is that all three occurrences express a strong desire, urging, or longing (see Foh 1974–1975).

7:11 [12] wildflowers. There is a debate over the meaning of this Heb. word. The NLT follows those who connect it to koper [TH3724B, ZH4110], which refers to the henna flower. But there is also a Heb. term kapar [TH3723/3723A, ZH4099/4107], which means “villages.” Many commentators (including Longman 2001:199) prefer the latter, but even if this is the correct reading, the effect of the poem remains the same since lovemaking takes place in cultivated countryside settings, whether gardens or villages. It is the city that is a hostile setting to love.

7:13 [14] mandrakes. The mandrake may be mentioned here because of its purported value as an aphrodisiac. Note the role of the mandrake in the episode between Rachel and Leah in Gen 30:14-16. Interestingly, the word for mandrake (duda’im [TH1736, ZH1859]) looks as though it is related to a common word for “lover” in the Heb. of the Song of Songs (dod [TH1730, ZH1856]).

new delights . . . old. The Heb. does not have “delights,” which is supplied by the NLT translators to provide the reference with some substance. This seems appropriate and does capture the sense, but a question remains: why new and old delights? This is likely a merism, a literary device that cites opposite poles of a dichotomy in order to signify “all” or “everything.” She has saved up every delight that she knows of for her lover.

COMMENTARY [Text]

This short poem has the woman expressing her desire for intimate union with the man. It is a monologue by the woman, who invites the man into the joys of their relationship. Many of the themes and motifs of this relatively short poem are already well established by this point in the Song, but they are used in new and engaging ways.

The poem opens with a variation of what we have already seen in 2:16 and 6:3. It is an expression of mutual affection, and the similarities among these three verses suggest that they function as a kind of refrain in the Song. The thought of this refrain is one of mutual ownership.

She then urges the man to join her in the countryside. Many times, as early as 1:6, we have observed how the cultivated countryside, its fields and gardens in particular, are the location of intimate physical relationship—in contrast to the city, a location hostile to union. The invitation, then, to go to the garden, is more than an invitation to tour of the botany of the region. This may be seen, too, in the fact that she desires to spend the night there. Nighttime settings, like countryside locales, heighten the privacy of the liaison.

The reference to budding, blooming, and the opening of blossoms is a way to communicate that the time is also conducive to love. It is springtime, and all the plant fragrances are in the air. She asserts that she will give him her love (7:12). “Love” is at least intended to indicate an emotion but also suggests more: she will surrender her body to him in love. By now in the Song, we are also well acquainted with the woman as the initiator in the relationship (cf. 1:2-4, 7-11). In this poem, she is the one who pursues the man, thus debunking any stereotype of the passive woman.