The Description of the Young Woman
The Young Man
v1 You have sandals on your feet.
Your feet are as beautiful as the feet of a prince’s daughter!
The curves of your legs are like jewels.
They are like the work of a skilled worker.
v2 Your stomach is like a round cup.
It shall never have a lack of wine.
Your waist is a heap of wheat.
Flowers are in a circle round it.
v3 Your breasts are like two young gazelles.
A gazelle can have twins.
Your breasts are like these young twins.
v4 Your neck is like a high, round building.
Someone has made the building with ivory.
Your eyes are like the pools of Heshbon.
These pools are next to the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like a high round building.
This building is in Lebanon.
It points towards Damascus.
v5 Your head is better than a crown.
It is like the mountain called Carmel.
Your hair is like silk.
It is long and smooth.
Although I am the king, I am excited to see it.
v6 You are so beautiful!
And you are so pleasant!
My special young woman, you are a delightful young woman!
v7 You are tall,
as tall as a palm tree.
And your breasts are like its plentiful fruit.
v8 I said, ‘I will climb the palm tree.
I will hold its fruit.’
I would like your breasts to be like groups of grapes.
I would like your breath to smell like apples.
The Young Woman
v9 I would like your mouth to smell like the best wine.
I hope that the wine goes straight to my lover.
I hope that it flows gently over his lips and teeth.
v10 I belong to my lover,
and he desires me.
v11 Come, my lover, let us go to the country.
Let us spend the night in the villages.
v12 Let us go early to the vineyards.
We will see if the vine has begun to flower.
Perhaps the vines have flowers.
We will see if the pomegranate trees have begun to flower.
There I will give you my love.
v13 You can smell the mandrakes.
And you can smell all the special fruits that are near us.
Yes, I have saved many pleasant things for you, my lover.
There are both old and new things.
Commentary
Verse 1
Solomon describes his beautiful bride. Perhaps he begins with her feet because she is dancing. Her movements are very graceful. The man may be describing her as she dances. But this description is different from the two previous ones (4:1-7 and 6:4-7). It is different because:
· He describes the lower part of her body for the first time. On the previous occasions, he only mentioned her head and her breasts. On this occasion, he also mentions her legs, her feet and her stomach.
· Again for the first time, he does not mention a veil in the description.
There is probably the same reason for both of these. The man and woman are now married. They are husband and wife.
Before this chapter, the man did not consider it proper to stare at her lower body. But when they became married, he had the right to do so.
Before this chapter, she wore the veil so that he would not see her face clearly. But after their marriage, she allowed him to see her without a veil.
These facts are important for young men and women today. They should not just look at each other’s bodies. And they should not just undress together. They should ask themselves what is right to do. It is not right to do these things just because of your emotions. And it is not right to do them just because you love someone. This man and woman would not do these things until after their marriage. They were always very careful to behave in a proper manner.
It is clear that this is not a description of sex. She is wearing *sandals. That fact shows that it may be a description of her dance (7:1). People would often lift their clothes as they danced (2 Samuel 6:20).
Everything that he sees is beautiful. Her feet and legs seem perfect. He would not guess that she had to work outside (1:6). Her feet are like a princess’s feet!
Verse 2
He associates her waist with wine and wheat. People make wine from the fruit called grapes. Fruit and grain were the most important crops in ancient Israel. Solomon speaks about plentiful wine and wheat. So, he was describing a good harvest. Wine and wheat were among the most important and valuable agricultural products in Israel.
Verse 3
We have already seen this description in 4:5. This young woman is almost perfect for Solomon. But there is one problem. She is still very young. Solomon needed a son, who would be the king after him. But Solomon’s bride is not yet ready to become a mother. Solomon waited eagerly (verse 8).
In the Song, Solomon often has to wait. He needed to be patient twice when she sent him away. Now he must be patient again while he waits for her to become a mother.
God is very patient with us. He wants us to learn many new qualities (2 Peter 1:5-8). He wants us to be mature Christians (Hebrews 6:1). In the end, we shall be perfect for him (1 Corinthians 13:9-13).
Verse 4
He said that her neck was like a tower in 4:4. But now he improves his description. It is like the precious substance called ivory. Ivory is white. So perhaps the shields in 4:4 refer to a high collar. And when she removed the collar, the skin of her neck was white. It was white although her other skin was dark because of the sun (1:6).
Heshbon is in high hills above a valley. It was at one time a royal city. There are pools in the valley near the steep path that goes into the city.
Verse 5
On previous occasions, the description of her hair is like a group of goats (4:1; 6:5). That seems to be a description of its length and its quality. But now he considers her to be like a queen. So he selects royal words to describe her head and her hair. Our translation says that her hair is ‘long and smooth’, like ‘silk’. But the original language says that it is ‘like something purple’. Purple was the royal color.
The man compares her head to a crown. Or, he says, it is like the mountain called Carmel. Carmel is the richest place in its entire region. People can see it across much of Israel. Its soil is the best quality. And people produce much wine and oil there.
Verse 6
He completes this last description of his wife. She is very beautiful. She pleases him completely.
Verses 7-8
Next, he speaks about his desires for his wife. He says that she seems as tall as a palm tree.
Of course, she was not really as tall as a tree! The palm is an especially tall tree. And near the top, it carries its fruits. The fruits grow in huge groups. They hang down in the same shape as a woman’s breasts.
The palm tree produces very much fruit. And the man wants his wife to have many, good results from her life. He wants her to have children. And of course, he wants her breasts to provide plentiful milk for them.
It is very difficult to climb a palm tree. The person who climbs it must be brave! This man will be like the person who harvests fruit. He will achieve the best things that his relationship with his wife can bring. He knows that they will have problems and difficulties. But such matters do not frighten him. He considers his wife to be so wonderful that these problems seem unimportant to him.
Verse 9
She adds that her desire is to provide the best things for her husband.
Verse 10
This is the final form of the phrase that she used at 2:16 and 6:3. This time, she shows a mature attitude. She has made a decision to give her life to her husband. And she is very pleased that he wants her.
That is the right attitude for a wife. It is the right attitude for a husband, too. A husband should give himself completely to his wife (Ephesians 5:33).
Verses 11-12
The woman requests that she may go with her husband into the country. They need to examine the plants. This is a word picture that she used before, in 6:11. Then, she was explaining how she understood about the right time for marriage.
This time, she seems to speak about the right time to express love to her husband. The right time matters very much to a married couple who wants to have children. The Bible says not to have sex during the period in the month when the woman bleeds (Leviticus 15:24). And it is wise for a woman to improve her health before she tries to have a baby. If she is too weak, the baby may not be strong enough.
Verse 13
Women would sometimes use the plants called mandrakes when they wanted a baby (Genesis 30:14). They were, perhaps, a type of medicine that would help the woman’s body.
The woman adds that she has many precious things for her husband. These gifts are things that are both old and new. She has saved them especially. And they are all for him.
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