Praise for the beloved; the lover desires the palm tree; and she, her home in Lebanon
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| 1 ¶ How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman. | The first nine verses are
a response to the question at the end of chapter 6, "What will ye see in
the Shulamite?" She is now Solomon's representative.
" For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness. . . .thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God." (Isa. 62:1-3). |
| 2 Thy navel is like a round
goblet, which wanteth not liquor: thy belly is like an heap of wheat set
about with lilies.
3 Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins. |
3 -
Like two young roes Compare 4:5.
4 - As a tower Compare 4:4. |
| 4 Thy neck is as a tower of
ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim:
thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus.
5 Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries. 5 You carry your head like Carmel; your flowing locks are lustrous black, tresses braided with ribbons. (REB) 5 Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses. (RSV) |
FishpoolsOr
"pools" as in 2sa0213.
Heshbon East of the Jordan, D5 on the twelve-tribes map. Assigned to Reubenites after capture from the Amonites. jos1315, nu2125. Bath-rabbim Meaning "daughter of multitudes." Carmel A mountain range projecting slightly into the Mediterranean. See the Carmel-Megiddo map. Galleries The Hebrew rehatim is uncertain. It may have a root meaning of flowing down. See it as "watering troughs" in ge3038. |
| 6 How fair and how pleasant
art thou, O love, for delights!
7 This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes. |
Palm tree Hebrew tamar. Several Hebrew women had that name. ge3806, 2sa1301. The latter part of the verse is translated by the NASB as "And your breasts are like its clusters." The words "like its" are supplied. We might think of clusters of dates or any fruit of the palm. |
| 8 I said, I will go up to
the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts
shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples;
9 And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak. |
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| .10 ¶ I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me. | The central thought of this chapter and the closing refrain for this section. Compare 2:16 and 6:3. |
| 11 Come, my beloved, let us
go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.
12 Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves. |
11 - Go forth She may be wanting to return to her Lebanon home. Looking for good fruit in the villages I like to think of as seeking lost souls. |
| .13 The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved. | 13 - Mandrakes Thought to be "love apples" that encouraged procreation ge3014. |
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