Song of Solomonchapter 2
17 verses · Solomon, by tradition · 10th century BC · Wisdom and poetry
I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley.
Introduction
Solomon, by tradition, Wisdom and poetry, Song of Solomon Overview.
This chapter continues the love songs the title gives to Solomon, and it holds the end of one song and the whole of another. The first hearers were country people who watched the seasons turn on the hills of Israel. They knew the flowers of the coastal plain, the deer on the ridges and the foxes that spoiled the vines. Listen for a solemn charge given to the women of Jerusalem, because it returns twice more in the book. Listen also for the voice at the lattice calling the woman out into the spring. The chapter teaches the reader to hear patience and eagerness in the same love.
Context
- Who
- People who knew exactly what week of the year the poem was describing
- What
- Two love songs, one closing in a charge to wait for love's right time and one in which the man calls the woman out into the spring.
- Where
- The Sharon plain on the coast of Israel, the valleys, and the hill country where gazelles and deer ran on the ridges.
- When
- The reign of Solomon, about 970 to 930 BC, by the title, and within the poem the early spring just after the winter rains.
- Why
- To show that love is to be kept for its proper season and that, when the season comes, it is to be welcomed with joy.
Historical context
The spring passage is a calendar, not a mood. "The winter is past, the rain is over and gone", the rains in that country run from roughly October to March and then stop entirely. "The flowers appear on the earth", the hills go green and covered in anemones and cyclamen for a few short weeks. "The time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land", the turtledove is a migrant that arrives in spring, so its call was the recognised signal that the season had turned.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
"The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell." Fig trees in that region put out an early crop of small green fruit before the leaves are full, and grape blossom has a faint sweet scent that carries on warm air. Both are April sights and smells.
"Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines." This is a real pest problem. Foxes and jackals dig under vineyard walls, eat ripening grapes, and break down young vines; keeping them out was part of the work of a vineyard keeper, which is what she was in chapter one.
"He brought me to the banqueting house" is literally "the house of wine", the hall where a feast was held. "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples" asks for raisin cakes and fruit, the food handed to someone faint at a celebration.
"O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock" describes rock doves nesting in cliff crevices, safe and out of reach, an image of someone hidden away who is being coaxed to come out.
Significance
For the first hearers this was the sound of their own spring, the season of weddings after the harvest of grain had not yet begun and the world was briefly green.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The refrain running through the book appears here for the first time: do not stir up love until it please. In a culture of arranged marriages and family negotiation, the song insists that love has its own timing and should not be forced.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
This chapter is heard in the synagogue once a year, when the whole Song is read at Passover on the Sabbath that falls in the festival week. The site's festival table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts records the practice and cites Tractate Soferim 14:3 for it. Probed for this lane, the same table printed parashot total 0 and haftarah uses total 0 for the book. No chapter of the Song is a weekly portion, and none is read as a Haftarah.
The commentary ties this chapter closely to the feast itself. Rashi reads the winter that is past at the eleventh verse as the season when travelling is no longer hard (Rashi on Song of Songs 2:11:1). He places the voice of the beloved at the eighth verse at the end of the four hundred years foretold in the Covenant Between the Parts (Rashi on Song of Songs 2:8:1). At the sixteenth verse he names the commandment that stands behind the Passover table. God "commanded only me, to make the Pesach sacrifice, sanctify the firstborn, make a Tabernacle, sacrifice burnt offerings" (Rashi on Song of Songs 2:16:1).
How it is read
Rashi is the one commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries, quoted here from The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. Each quotation is held to fifty words or fewer because the translation is modern, and the translator's bracketed glosses are kept as the translation prints them.
Rashi reads the chapter as the exodus told a second time. At the eighth verse he says the poet returns to a matter he passed over, "like a person who was brief with his words" and then tells the beginning (Rashi on Song of Songs 2:8:1). The gazelle of the ninth verse is God hastening to come (Rashi on Song of Songs 2:9:1). The dove in the clefts of the rock at the fourteenth verse is Israel at the sea with Pharaoh behind her. Rashi gives the image whole: "A dove that was fleeing from a hawk and entered the clefts of the rocks, where a snake was hissing at her" (Rashi on Song of Songs 2:14:1). God asks to see her face, which Rashi reads as the quality of her deeds and the one she turns to in distress. The foxes of the fifteenth verse are the Egyptians, called so because the fox looks behind him as he flees (Rashi on Song of Songs 2:15:1).
The rose among the thorns at the second verse he reads as Israel among the nations. They entice her to stray after other gods, "but she remains steadfast in her faith" (Rashi on Song of Songs 2:2:1). The apple tree of the third verse is God among the gods. Rashi adds a reading from the Midrash Aggadah that the nations fled the shade of the tree at the giving of the Torah while Israel sat in it (Rashi on Song of Songs 2:3:2). The banqueting house of the fourth verse is the Tent of Meeting (Rashi on Song of Songs 2:4:1). The left hand under the head and the right hand that embraces at the sixth verse are the wilderness. They are the three days' search for a resting place and the manna and quail, which she remembers "now in my exile" (Rashi on Song of Songs 2:6:2).
The oath of the seventh verse is laid on the nations (Rashi on Song of Songs 2:7:1). At the thirteenth verse Rashi gives a note that shows his rule from the first chapter at work. Of the green figs he says the verse is to be understood "according to its apparent meaning" (Rashi on Song of Songs 2:13:1). Some notes in his commentary carry the allegory and some carry the plain sense, and he says which.
The corpus carries one further note on this chapter that it marks linked, so it is named here and never quoted or paraphrased. It stands cited and unquoted because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref, at Ibn Ezra on Song of Songs 2:2:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty locators on this chapter and the text of none. Each is cited and linked here, and none is quoted. On the first verse it holds Midrash Lekach Tov on Song of Songs 2:1:1, Midrash Lekach Tov on Song of Songs 2:1:2 and Midrash Tehillim 1:18. On the second verse it holds Bereshit Rabbah 63:4, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Shabbat 9:11 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 15:2. On the third verse it holds Ein Yaakov, Shabbat 9:12, Esther Rabbah 9:2 and Midrash Lekach Tov on Esther 7:10:3. On the fourth verse it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 2:3, Bamidbar Rabbah 4:1 and Ein Yaakov, Shabbat 6:13.
On the fifth verse it holds Aggadat Bereshit 84:3, Beitzah 21a:3 and Chullin 124b:17. On the sixth verse it holds Kohelet Rabbah 3:8:2, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Bachodesh 9:9 and Midrash Lekach Tov on Song of Songs 2:6:1. On the seventh verse it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Ketubot 13:12 and Ein Yaakov, Ketubbot 13:8. On the eighth verse it holds Bereshit Rabbah 50:11 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Rosh Hashanah 1:3.
On the ninth verse it holds Midrash Lekach Tov on Song of Songs 2:9:1 and Midrash Lekach Tov on Song of Songs 2:9:2. On the tenth verse it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 11:2 and Midrash Lekach Tov on Song of Songs 2:10:1. On the eleventh verse it holds Midrash Lekach Tov on Song of Songs 2:11:1 and Midrash Lekach Tov on Song of Songs 2:11:2. On the twelfth verse it holds Ein Yaakov, Taanit 3:36 and Midrash Lekach Tov on Song of Songs 2:12:1.
On the thirteenth verse it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 15:12 and Midrash Lekach Tov on Song of Songs 2:13:1. On the fourteenth verse it holds Aggadat Bereshit 58:2 and Berakhot 24a:17. On the fifteenth verse it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 20:14 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sotah 1:40. On the sixteenth verse it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Shirah 3:15 and Midrash Lekach Tov on Song of Songs 2:16:1.
On the seventeenth verse it holds Aggadat Bereshit 36:1 and Midrash Lekach Tov on Song of Songs 2:17:1.
What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Song of Songs 2:1:1 to 2:17:1, The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001, reported CC-BY, 23 notes kept; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Song of Songs 2:2:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/song-of-solomon/2.json, the 40 locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, the festival entry for the Song at Passover citing Tractate Soferim 14:3 and Mishnah Yadayim 3:5, probed for this book and printing parashot total 0 and haftarah uses total 0.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
The Rose of Sharon, and His Banner Over Me Was Love
Song of Solomon 2:1-2
I am a rose of Sharon: The bride says "I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley", naming her beauty in the common flowers of the coastal plain. The bridegroom answers, "Like a lily among the thorns is my darling among the maidens," setting her above her companions as one flower stands out.
Song of Solomon 2:1
“I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. Whether Christ, or the church, is here speaking, is not certain: most of the Jewish writers (t), and some Christian interpreters (u), take them to be the words of the church, expressing the excellency of her grace, loveliness, and beauty, she had from Christ; and intimating also her being in the open fields, exposed to many dangers and enemies, and so needed his protection.”
3 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Song of Solomon 2:1
“The earth has given its fruit. First it gave a flower. He says in the Song of Songs: "I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys." This flower, then, has been made fruit, that we might eat him, that we might feed on his flesh. Do you wish to know what this fruit is? A virgin from a virgin, the Lord from a handmaid, God from man, a son from a mother, fruit from the earth. See what this fruit himself says.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Homilies on the Psalms 6 (Psalm 66)patristic
Song of Solomon 2:1
“The division of the chapters is unfortunate; Cant. 2 ought to have begun at Son 1:15, or Cant. 1 to have been continued to Son 2:7. The bride replies, “And I am like a lovely wild flower springing at the root of the stately forest-trees.” The majority of Christian fathers assigned this verse to the King (Christ). Hebrew commentators generally assign it to the bride.”
Song of Solomon 2:1
“Christ is the rose of Sharon, where probably the best roses grew and in most plenty, the rose of the field (so some), denoting that the gospel salvation is a common salvation; it lies open to all; whoever will may come and gather the rose-buds of privileges and comforts that grow in the covenant of grace.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
a lily among the thorns: The king answers by taking up the flower she named for herself in verse 1, as Albert Barnes observed. Ambrose read the thorns as the wickedness that surrounds every virtue. No one gathers its fruit without caution, he wrote.
Song of Solomon 2:2
"I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys, as a lily among thorns." This is a plain declaration that virtues are surrounded by the thorns of spiritual wickedness, so that no one can gather the fruit who does not approach with caution.
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Concerning Virginity 1.8.43patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:2
The king resumes, taking up the bride’s comparison: “As the lily excels in beauty the thorny shrubs among which it grows, so my friend excels her companions.”
Song of Solomon 2:3-4
Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest: She answers his flower with a fruit tree: "Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men." "He has brought me to the house of wine" names a feast.
Song of Solomon 2:3
“The bride’s answer: “As the ‘tappuach’ with its fragrant fruit excels the barren trees of the wild wood, so my beloved his associates and friends etc.” תפוח tappûach may in early Hebrew have been a generic name for apple, quince, citron, orange etc. Son 2:4 His banner - As the standard is the rallying-point and guide of the individual soldier, so the bride, transplanted from a lowly station to new scenes of unaccustomed splendor, finds support and safety in the known attachment of her beloved.”
2 more voices on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:3
“The trees - Which are barren. I sat - I confidently reposed myself under his protection. His fruit - The benefits which I received by him, remission of sins, faith, grace, and assurance of glory.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Song of Solomon 2:3
“The Church, following this ever-flourishing greenness of grace in Christ, says: "In his shadow I desired, and I sat." The Apostles also received this privilege of the evergreen gift, not a leaf of theirs could ever fall, so that even their shadow could heal the sick. For the weaknesses of the body overshadow the faith of the mind, and the flourishing merits of virtues.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · The Six Days of Creationpatristic
the house of wine: Adam Clarke explained that wine was stored in large jars along the wall of an upper room. That room also held the household's most precious goods. Albert Barnes read the banner as a rallying point, the support a bride from a humble home found in his known love for her.
Song of Solomon 2:4
“He brought me to the banqueting house - Literally, the house of wine. The ancients preserved their wine, not in barrels or dark cellars under ground, as we do, but in large pitchers, ranged against the wall in some upper apartment in the house, the place where they kept their most precious effects.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:4
"Bring me into the wine cellar." The Bridegroom had stopped outside and was welcomed by the bride. Truly he had rested on her bosom. Many young maidens are not such as to be worthy of having the Bridegroom as their guest: "to the crowds" outside, he "speaks in parables." How I fear that many of us are maidens! "Bring me into the wine cellar." Why do I wait outside for so long? "See, I stand at the door and knock. If someone opens to me, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me."
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Homilies on the Song of Songs 2:7patristic
Song of Solomon 2:4
“Spiritually, the bride or beloved is led (So 2:4) first into the King's chambers, thence is drawn after Him in answer to her prayer; is next received on a grassy couch under a cedar kiosk; and at last in a "banqueting hall," such as, JOSEPHUS says, Solomon had in his palace, "wherein all the vessels were of gold" (Antiquities, 8:5,2).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Song of Solomon 2:5-6
Sustain me with raisins: s; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love" asks for fruits of orchard and vineyard to steady a longing. "His left hand is under my head, and his right arm embraces me" pictures an embrace, and the same line returns at 8:3.
Song of Solomon 2:5
“Stay me with flagons - I believe the original words mean some kind of cordials with which we are unacquainted. The versions in general understand some kind of ointment or perfumes by the first term. I suppose the good man was perfectly sincere who took this for his text, and, after having repeated, Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love sat down, perfectly overwhelmed with his own feelings, and was not able to proceed! But while we admit such a person’s sincerity, who can help questioning his judgment?”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:5
“Flaggons - With wine, which is a good cordial. Apples - With odouriferous apples, the smell whereof was grateful to persons ready to faint. By this understand the application of the promises, and the quickening influences of the Spirit.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Song of Solomon 2:5
“The Word of God inflicts a wound, but it does not produce a sore. There is a wound of righteous love, there are wounds of charity, as she has said, "I am wounded with love." The one who is perfect is wounded with love. Therefore the wounds of the Word are good, and good are the wounds of the lover.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Concerning Virginity 14:91patristic
his right arm embraces me: The embrace answers her plea in verse 5. Origen read the two hands through Proverbs, where Wisdom holds long life in her right hand and riches and glory in her left. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown cite Theodoret, who took the left hand as judgment and the right as love.
Song of Solomon 2:6
But turn yourself quickly toward the life-giving Spirit and, while avoiding physical terms, look keenly at what is the "left hand" of the Word of God and what is the "right hand" and also what is the "head" of his bride, namely of the perfect soul or of the church, and let not the carnal and changeable sense of the word take hold of you.For this here is the "right hand" and "left hand" of the groom, that is said concerning Wisdom in Proverbs, where she says, "Long life is in her right hand, but in her left hand are…
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on the Song of Songs 3:9patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:6
“They really go together, though sometimes they seem divided; here both are felt at once. THEODORET takes the left hand, equivalent to judgment and wrath; the right, equivalent to honor and love. The hand of justice no longer is lifted to smite, but is under the head of the believer to support (Isa 42:21); the hand of Jesus Christ pierced by justice for our sin supports us.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you: The first refrain of adjuration, repeated at 3:5, 5:8 and 8:4, runs "Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right". The oath is sworn "by the gazelles and does of the field," gentle wild creatures, in a book that never names God plainly.
Song of Solomon 2:7
“An oath works in two ways. In the present text, the soul is progressing toward great heights, as we have seen. At the same time she is instructing less advanced souls in the way of perfection. She uses the oath not to assure them of the progress she herself has made but to lead them through their oath to a life of virtue. She adjures them to keep their love alert and watchful until his good will come to fulfillment, that is, until all are saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.”
Gregory of Nyssa · written before 395 · Homilies on the Song of Songs 4patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:7
“It is thought a gross rudeness in the East to awaken one sleeping, especially a person of rank. my love--in Hebrew, feminine for masculine, the abstract for concrete, Jesus Christ being the embodiment of love itself (So 3:5; 8:7), where, as here, the context requires it to be applied to Him, not her. She too is "love" (So 7:6), for His love calls forth her love.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Song of Solomon 2:7
“I charge you - by the roes - This was probably some rustic mode of adjuration. The verses themselves require little comment. With this verse the first night of the first day is supposed to end.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
My Beloved Leaps Upon the Mountains: Rise Up, My Fair One
Song of Solomon 2:8-9
My beloved approaches: s" turns the poem urgent, as she hears him before she sees him. He is "like a gazelle or a young stag," and "he stands behind our wall." Adam Clarke describes the lattice as the latticed window, which let him look in while hardly seen.
Song of Solomon 2:8
“For at first, impatient of love and unable to bear the delays of the Word, she prays to be worthy of kisses, and she deserved to see the desired. Secondly, when she was also introduced into the king's chambers and engaged in mutual conversation, she rested in his shadow, and suddenly the Word departed from the midst of their conversation; however, it was not absent for long, but came forth leaping over the mountains and bounding over the hills. And not long after, like a young deer or a fawn, while addressing his beloved, he leaped forth and departed.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On Isaac and the Soulpatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:8
“So Margin, title of Jesus Christ (Ps 22:1), "Hind of the morning" (type of His resurrection). Historically, the coming of the kingdom of heaven (the gospel dispensation), announced by John Baptist, is meant; it primarily is the garden or vineyard; the bride is called so in a secondary sense.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Song of Solomon 2:8
“The nearer the time came the clearer discoveries were made of it; and those that waited for the consolation of Israel with an eye of faith saw him come, and triumphed in the sight: Behold, he comes; for they had heard him say ( Ps. xl. 7 ), Lo, I come, to which their faith here affixes its seal: Behold, he comes as he has promised.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
peering through the lattice: Adam Clarke took the wall as the one that surrounded the house and enclosed its court. On that reading he comes nearer by stages, from the outer wall to the court and then to her window. Matthew Henry read the lattice as the old law's ceremonies.
Song of Solomon 2:9
“Therefore, he comes, and first after the wall is removed, which seemed to be an obstacle to harmony, in order to dissolve the enmities between soul and body. Then he looks through the windows. About what the windows are, hear the prophet saying: The windows are opened from heaven. Certainly, the prophet signifies those through whom the Lord looked upon the human race before he himself descended to the earth. And today, if any soul earnestly seeks him, it will receive much mercy; for the one who seeks much is owed the most.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On Isaac and the Soul, 4.32-33patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:9
“He standeth behind our wall - This may refer to the wall by which the house was surrounded, the space between which and the house constituted the court. He was seen first behind the wall, and then in the court; and lastly came to the window of his bride’s chamber.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Song of Solomon 2:9
“He that was the substance was not far off from the shadows, Col. ii. The saw him looking through the windows of the ceremonial institutions and smiling through those lattices; in their sacrifices and purifications Christ discovered himself to them, and gave them intimations and earnests of his grace, both to engage and to encourage their longings for his coming.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Song of Solomon 2:10-13
My beloved calls to me: His call is "Arise, my darling". Spring is the reason: "the winter is past; the rain is over and gone," and "the cooing of turtledoves is heard in our land". The fig tree and the blossoming vines complete the scene from the orchard, and the call returns in verse 13.
Song of Solomon 2:10
“Then the bridegroom makes answer to the bride and teaches her that the shadow of the old law has passed away and the truth of the gospel has come. "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away, for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone." … "The voice of the turtle [dove] is heard in our land." The turtle [dove], the most chaste of birds, always dwelling in lofty places, is a type of the Savior.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Against Jovinianus 1.30patristic
the winter is past: The verse gives the reason for the call in verse 10. John Gill noted that winter kept people indoors, with bad roads and rivers that could not be crossed. With the rain gone, travel outdoors became safe and pleasant again.
Song of Solomon 2:11
“For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. A season of the year which keeps persons within doors, makes going abroad unsafe, unpleasant, and uncomfortable; very unfit for travelling, roads bad, rivers impassable, and journeying very difficult; but now this season being over, and the spring come, the weather fair, and every thing gay and pleasant, it is inviting to be abroad; winter is by some writers (r) used not for the season of the year, but for a storm or tempest.”
2 more voices on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:11
“The winter is past - Mr. Harmer has made some good collections on this part, from Drs. Shaw and Russet, which I shall transcrilbe. One part of the winter is distinguished from the rest of it by the people of the East, on account of the severity of the cold. At Aleppo it lasts about forty days, and is called by the natives maurbanie. I would propose it to the consideration of the learned, whether the word here used, and translated winter, may not be understood to mean what the Aleppines express by the term maurbanie.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Song of Solomon 2:11
“Even the rain that drowned the world was over and gone at last ( Gen. viii. 1-3 ), and God promised to drown the world no more, which was a type and figure of the covenant of grace, Isa. liv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the season of singing has come: The flowers promise fruit that has yet to ripen, and verse 13 brings the first figs. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read that stage as the preaching of John the Baptist, when the kingdom was at hand and still to come. Cyril of Alexandria heard the turtledove as Christ's gentle voice.
Song of Solomon 2:12
"The summoned bride is welcome," say some fathers, "to weave from them garlands of beauty, wherewith she may adorn herself to meet the King." Historically, the flowers, &c., only give promise; the fruit is not ripe yet; suitable to the preaching of John the Baptist, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand"; not yet fully come. the time of . . . singing--the rejoicing at the advent of Jesus Christ.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:12
“Such did the Savior of all become toward us, showing the most perfect gentleness, and like a turtle [dove], moreover, soothing the world and filling his own vineyard, even us who believe in him, with the sweet sound of his voice. For it is written in the Song of Songs, "The voice of the turtle[dove] has been heard in our land." For Christ has spoken to us the divine message of the gospel, which is for the salvation of the whole world.”
Cyril of Alexandria · written before 444 · Commentary on Luke, Homily 3patristic
Song of Solomon 2:12
“Christ's gospel warms that which was cold, makes that fruitful which before was dead and barren; when it comes to any place it puts a beauty and glory upon that place ( 2 Cor. iii. 7, 8 ) and furnishes occasion for joy. Spring-time is pleasant time, and so is gospel-time.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The fig tree ripens its figs: Adam Clarke noted that the fig tree in Judea bears two crops, and the first ripens in spring. John Gill read the early figs as advanced spring. He compared the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:32, where the fig tree shows that summer is near.
Song of Solomon 2:13
“Immediately the turtle says to its fellow, "The fig tree has put forth its green figs," that is, the commandments of the old law have fallen, and the blossoming vines of the gospel give forth their fragrance.… While you covered your countenance like Moses and the veil of the law remained, I neither saw your face, nor did I condescend to hear your voice. I said, "Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear." But now, with unveiled face behold my glory, and shelter yourself in the cleft and steep places of the solid rock.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Against Jovinianus 1.30patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:13
“The fig tree putteth forth her green figs,.... Another sign of spring being come, nay, of its being pretty much advanced, since Christ makes this a token of summer being at hand, Mat 24:32. Theopompus (e) speaks of figs in the middle of the spring.”
Song of Solomon 2:13
“The fig tree putteth forth her green figs - The fig tree in Judea bears double crops; the first of which is ripe in spring. But the tree, as I have elsewhere observed, bears figs all the year through, in the climes congenial to it. That is, the fig tree has always ripe or unripe fruit on it. I never saw a healthy tree naked. But in the beginning of spring they grow fast, and become turgid. The vines with the tender grape - The versions understand this of the flowers of the vine.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Song of Solomon 2:14-15
in the clefts of the rock: "O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff" calls a dove hidden in a cliffside into view. The charge to catch "the little foxes that ruin the vineyards" names a real pest of vineyards "in bloom."
Song of Solomon 2:14
"Because your voice is sweet." And who would not profess that voice of the catholic church confessing the true faith is sweet, but the voice of the heretics is rough and unpleasant, which does not speak the teachings of truth but blasphemies against God and iniquity against the Most High? Thus also the appearance of the church is comely, but that of the heretics is ugly and foul—that is, if there is someone who knows how to test the beauty of the face, that is, if there is some spiritual person who knows how to examine all things.
Origen of Alexandria · written before 253 · Commentary on the Song of Songs 3:15patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:14
“My dove - So the church is called, for her dove-like temper, and for her dove-like condition, because she is weak, and exposed to persecution, and therefore forced to hide herself in rocks.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Song of Solomon 2:14
“He has assured us that the prayer of the upright is his delight; he smelled a sweet savour from Noah's sacrifice, and the spiritual sacrifices are no less acceptable, 1 Pet. ii. This does not so much commend our services as God's gracious condescension in making the best of them, and the efficacy of the much incense which is offered with the prayers of saints, Rev. viii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Adam Clarke noted that foxes abounded in Judea and did the most harm while the clusters were young and tender. Galen, Clarke adds, reported them eaten in autumn, fat from grapes. John Wesley heard the bridegroom charging his friends, whom he took as the ministers who guard the churches.
Song of Solomon 2:15
“Take us the foxes - That these were ruinous to vines all authors allow. They love the vine, and they are eaten in autumn in some countries, according to Galen, when they are very fat with eating the grapes. They abounded in Judea; and did most damage when the clusters were young and tender.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:15
“Take us - The bridegroom gives this charge to his bridemen or friends. By whom he understands those magistrates and ministers to whom, under Christ, the custody of the vineyards, the churches, principally belong.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Song of Solomon 2:16-17
My beloved is mine and I am his: s" is the first of three statements of belonging, turned around at 6:3 and completed at 7:10. The chapter closes with him sent away, "be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of Bether," the figure of verse 9.
Song of Solomon 2:16
“My beloved is mine - The words of the bride on his entering: “I am thy own; thou art wholly mine.” He feedeth among the lilies - The odor with which he is surrounded is as fine as if he passed the night among the sweetest scented flowers.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:16
“Without any loss therefore, he passed by the guardians, and the Word mixed with the daughters of that heavenly city seeks, and by seeking it arouses love in himself, and where it seeks the Word, it recognizes. It knows what waits among the prayers of the saints, and what clings to them, and understands how it feeds his Church, or the souls of his righteous ones among the lilies. The Lord demonstrated this mystery to you in the Gospel when he led his disciples through the fields on the Sabbath.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On Isaac and the Soulpatristic
Song of Solomon 2:16
“All he is is theirs, and all he has, all he has done, and all he is doing; all he has promised in the gospel, all he has prepared in heaven, all is yours. (2.) It is the undoubted character of all true believers that they are Christ's, and then, and then only, he is theirs.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the mountains of Bether: Adam Clarke rendered the first phrase literally as until the day breathes, the cool breeze that comes with the first dawn. The name Bether was also translated division. Clarke linked it to Bithron, a place across the Jordan named in 2 Samuel 2:29.
Song of Solomon 2:17
“Until the day break - Literally, until the day breathe; until the first dawn, which is usually accompanied with the most refreshing breezes. The shadows flee away - Referring to the evening or setting of the sun, at which all shadows vanish. The mountains of Bether - Translated also mountains of division, supposed to mean the mountains of Beth-horon. There was a place called Bithron, 2Sa 2:29, on the other side of Jordan; and as the name signifies Partition, it might have had its name from the circumstance of its being divided or separated from Judea by the river Jordan.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Song of Solomon 2:17
For thus he says: "I to my brother, and his desire is towards me." He repeats this meaning in a different way three times in the Song of Songs. In the beginning, he says: "My brother to me, and I to him, who grazes among the lilies, until the day breathes and the shadows flee away." Then he says: "I to my brother, and my brother to me, who grazes among the lilies." In the end, he says: "I to my brother, and his desire is towards me."
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On Isaac and the Soulpatristic
How this psalm is built
The form: The close of the first song at verse 7, and a spring song from verse 8 that runs to 3:5, as Delitzsch classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The charge to the daughters of Jerusalem | Verse 7 is the first of three charges in the same words, at 2:7, 3:5 and 8:4. Each one closes a section of the book. Albert Barnes records that the third leaves out the gazelles and does of the field.Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, on Song of Solomon 8:4. | Song of Solomon 2:7, Song of Solomon 3:5, Song of Solomon 8:4 |
| My beloved is mine | Verse 16 states the belonging both ways, and the line returns at 6:3 with the order turned and at 7:10 with a new second half. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the turned order as a love now resting on his hold of her more than on hers of him.Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on Song of Solomon 6:3. | Song of Solomon 2:16, Song of Solomon 6:3, Song of Solomon 7:10 |
How this chapter is built
2 more paragraphs on the patterns
Verse 7 ends the book's first song with a charge that returns at 3:5 and 8:4, and each time it marks the end of a section. Verse 8 opens a new song as the woman hears the man coming over the hills. His call at verses 10 to 13 begins and ends with the same words, Arise, my darling, and come away, so the call is framed by its own refrain. The chapter closes on a line of mutual belonging that returns twice later in the book.
Sources: Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, on 8:4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on 6:3.
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes, 1875 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Virginity 1.8.43; Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 3; Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 3:9.