Song of Songs 2
Song of Songs 2 is the second chapter of the Song of Songs in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book is one of the Five Megillot, a collection of short books, together with Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and Esther, within the Ketuvim, the third and the last part of the Hebrew Bible. Jewish tradition views Solomon as the author of this book, and this attribution influences the acceptance of this book as a canonical text. This chapter contains a dialogue in the open air and several female poems with the main imagery of flora and fauna.
Text
The original text is written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 17 verses.Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Aleppo Codex, and Codex Leningradensis.There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Alexandrinus.
Structure
The Modern English Version (MEV) attributes the voices in this chapter as follows:- = The Woman
- = The Man
- = The Woman
Female: Love in paradise (1:16–2:1)
Verse 1 closes a poetic section providing a 'picture of the bed as a spreading growth', using a theme of nature's floras, starting from the previous chapter with verses 1:16–17 focusing on the subject of trees and verse 2:1 on the subject of flowers.Verse 1
- "Rose of Sharon" : is thought to be a kind of crocus growing as a "lily among brambles" in the Sharon plain.
- "Rose": is translated from the Hebrew word ḥăḇatzeleṯ, that occurs two times in the scriptures, beside in this verse also in Isaiah 35:1, which reads, "the desert shall bloom like the rose". The word translated as "rose" in KJV is rendered variously as "lily", "jonquil" and "crocus".
- "Sharon": the Mediterranean coastal plain which spans south of the slopes of Mount Carmel, extending about 30 miles south to the Yarkon River north of Joppa, varying from about 8 to 12 miles in width. It is mentioned 5 times in the Old Testament; the other four references are in ; ; ;.
Male: My love is like a flower (2:2)
Verse 2 links to verse 1 on the use of "lily", and forms a parallel with verse 3 on the word order and the use of particles as well as the 'terms of endearment'.Verse 2
- "Thorns" : the Hebrew root word is found twelve times in the Bible: aside from this verse, also in ; ; .
- "My love" a specific term of endearment used by the man for the woman that is used nine times in the book. The masculine form of the same root word to call the man is used in a parallel construction with "my beloved" in Song of Songs 5:16.
Female: A pastoral scene (2:3-7)
The [|verse 3] shows an 'excellent synonymous parallelism' with verse 2 on the word order and the use of certain words, such as "as" or "like", "so", "among" or "between", "my love"/"my beloved" or "my darling"/"my lover". Each verse begins with a preposition of comparison, followed by three Hebrew words consisting of a singular noun, a preposition and a plural common noun with a definite article.Verse 3
The sensual imagery of "apple tree" as a place of romance is still used in modern times in songs such as "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" and "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree".Verse 4
- "The banqueting house" is a rendering of the phrase bet hayyayin, which is only used here in the Bible, literally meaning "house of the wine". Some near synonyms include "house of the drinking of wine" in, and "house for drinking" in and.
Verse 5
The first two lines of this verse form a 'distinctive structure', using verbs and preposition of the same ideas: "refresh me"/"revive me", "with raisins"/"with apples". The word "apple" links to the first word of verse 3, while the word "love" links to the last word of verse 4.Verse 7
- Cross references: Song of Songs 3:5; 8:4
- "Charge" or "adjure"
Female: Her lover pursues her (2:8–9)
This section starts a poetic exposition of lovers who are joined and separated.Verses 8–17 form a unity of a poem of the spring by the woman, beginning with 'the voice of my beloved', which signals his presence before he even speaks.
Andrew Harper suggests that the scene moves now from Jerusalem to "some royal residence in the country", probably in the northern hills. Verse 8b refers to her beloved "leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills". St. Ambrose comments by way of a paraphrase,
Male: Invitation to come away (2:10-14)
Verse [|13]
- "Green figs": is translated from the Hebrew word paggâh, which occurs in its Aramaic form in the city name, "Bethphage". The plural form paggîm are used to call unripe fruits of the early fig, which takes about four months to ripe, usually towards the end of June, in contrast to the late figs that grow continuously on the new branches and ripen usually they ripen from August onwards in Palestine.
- "My love": see notes on verse 2.
Verse 14
- "Dove" serves as a 'metaphor for inaccessibility'.
Couple: Protect our love (2:15)
Verse 15
- "Foxes": or "jackals". The foxes are associated with the obstacle of the blossoming romantic relationship.