Wisdom · Chapter 2 of 8

Song of Solomon 2

The lovers exchange songs of springtime delight. The bride is a rose of Sharon and lily of the valleys; her beloved is an apple tree in whose shade she rests. His banner over her is love. He comes leaping over the hills and calls her to rise, for winter is past and flowers appear. They guard against the little foxes that spoil the vines, and she rejoices that she is his and he hers.

What happens in Song of Solomon 2

The bride calls herself the rose of Sharon and lily of the valleys, and the beloved answers that she is a lily among thorns (verses 1-2). She likens him to an apple tree whose shade and fruit she delights in, and tells how he brought her to the banqueting house with his banner of love over her (verses 3-4). Faint with love, she rests in his embrace and charges the daughters of Jerusalem not to awaken love before it pleases (verses 5-7).

Then she hears his voice as he comes leaping over the mountains like a young deer (verses 8-9). He calls her to rise and come away, for winter is past, flowers appear, birds sing, and the vines give their fragrance (verses 10-13). He longs to see her face and hear her voice, and asks that the little foxes spoiling the vines be caught (verses 14-15). She declares that her beloved is hers and she is his (verses 16-17).

Song of Solomon 2 in context

This chapter continues the exchanged love songs of the Song of Songs, rich with springtime imagery. Traditionally Solomonic, it celebrates the awakening of love as a season of blossoming and invitation. On its plain level it honours the joy and mutual belonging of the bride and beloved.

Readers in the Jewish and Christian traditions have also heard in its call to rise and come away the voice of God inviting His people into renewed nearness, an interpretation the passage suggests.

Main themes of Song of Solomon 2

Song of Solomon 2 (KJV)

1I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. 2As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. 3As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. 4He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. 5Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. 6His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. 7I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. 8The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. 9My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice. 10My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. 11For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; 12The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; 13The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. 14O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. 15Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. 16My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. 17Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

Verses to carry from Song of Solomon 2

“I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.”Song of Solomon 2:1

“He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.”Song of Solomon 2:4

“My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.”Song of Solomon 2:16

Reflection

Love, in this chapter, both rests and rises. The bride reclines under the banner of love and is also called to rise and come away. Consider where you are being invited out of an old winter into fresh nearness. And treasure the line my beloved is mine, letting your soul rest in the security of belonging to the One who loves you.

A prayer from Song of Solomon 2