Female lover
“O you!
Who dwell in the gardens!
My companions are listening
For your voice.
Let me hear it!
Make haste!
My beloved!
Be like a gazelle!
Be like a young stag
Upon the mountains of spices!”
This female lover wanted to hear her lover’s voice. Her companions were listening for his voice with her, as she wanted to hear it. She wanted her lover to make haste. She wanted him to be like a young gazelle or stag in a mountain of spices. So ends this great romantic love story.
Female lover
“Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon.
He entrusted the vineyard to keepers.
Each one was to bring for its fruit
A thousand pieces of silver.
My vineyard,
My very own,
Is for myself.
You!
O Solomon!
May have the thousand.
The keepers of the fruit
May have two hundred.”
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon. This is the only mention of Baal-hamon, but it may have been an ancient worship place of Baal with that name. He obviously had vineyard workers. Each of the keepers of the vineyard had to bring 1,000 pieces of silver to get the fruit of the vine. This female lover said that she had a vineyard of her own also. She was going to let Solomon keep his 1,000 pieces of silver. However, she was going to give the keepers of the vineyard 200 pieces of silver. This vineyard might have been part of a dowry for the bride.
Female lover
“We have a little sister.
She has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister?
What shall we do
On the day when she is spoken for?
If she is a wall,
We will build
Upon her
A battlement of silver.
But if she is a door,
We will enclose her
With boards of cedar.
I was a wall,
My breasts were like towers.
Then I was in his eyes
As one who brings peace.”
Somehow, there is a problem about a little sister. Probably she was not yet ready for marriage since she had no breasts. She was not spoken for or engaged. What were they to do? They were going to protect her. She either was a wall or a door. If she was a wall, they would add a silver fortification. If she was a door, they would enclose her with cedar boards. This female lover says that she was a wall with large breasts that had brought peace to everyone. It could also be future child, as interpretations abound.
Female lover
“O that
His left hand was under my head!
His right hand embraced me!”
Here is an exact repetition, word for word, of the same verse that was in chapter 2. This female lover wants her lover to put his left hand under her head at the same time that his right hand embraces her. This young female lover still yearns for the embrace of her beloved.
Female lover
“O that you were
Like a brother to me!
You have nursed at my mother’s breast!
If I met you outside,
I would kiss you.
No one would despise me.
I would lead you.
I would bring you
Into the house of my mother.
I would bring you
Into the chamber of the one who bore me.
I would give you
Spiced wine to drink.
I would give you
The juice of my pomegranates.”
This female lover wishes that her lover was her brother so that both of them would have been nursed with her mother’s breast. If she met him outside, she would kiss him and not feel ashamed. She would lead him to her mother’s house. She wanted to bring him into the chamber room of her mother. She wanted to give him spiced wine and the juice of her pomegranates. Clearly this was an invitation to her lover to come to where she lived like earlier in chapter 3.
Female lover
“I am my beloved’s.
His desire is for me.
Come!
My beloved!
Let us go forth into the fields.
Let us lodge in the villages.
Let us go out early to the vineyards.
Let us see
Whether the vines have budded,
Whether the grape blossoms have opened,
Whether the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my love.
The mandrakes give forth fragrance.
Over our doors are all choice fruits.
There are new as well as old.
I have laid up for you.
O my beloved!”
This female lover responded that she belonged to her lover. She knew that he has a desire for her. She asked her lover to go into the fields and lodge in the villages. She wanted them to go out into the vineyards early in the day. She wanted to check whether the vines had budded, whether the grape blossoms were open, and whether the pomegranates were in bloom. She wanted to give her love to him there in vineyards where the mandrakes gave off their fragrance. There would be all kinds of choice fruits, both old and new. She had prepared them for him. She wanted her lover.
Male lover
“Why should you look upon the Shulammite?
Is she like a dance before two armies?”
This male lover wanted to know why they were looking at his female lover, the Shulammite, as if she was some kind of dancer in front of a couple of armies ready to do battle.
Chorus
“Return!
Return!
O Shulammite!
Return!
Return!
Thus we may look upon you.”
At the same time, the chorus or daughters of Jerusalem want this female lover, who is called a Shulammite, to return. They wanted to look at her. This name of Shulammite means pacifier. She may also have been from Shulen or Shunen, a northern Israelite town. There is some dispute whether this and the following verse were the end part of chapter 6 or the beginning of chapter 7. I have chosen to put it at the end of chapter 6 as in the Oxford Bible.
Female lover
“My beloved is all radiant.
He is ruddy.
He is distinguished among ten thousand.
His head is the finest gold.
His locks are wavy.
His locks are black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves,
Beside springs of water,
Bathed in milk,
Fitly set.
His cheeks are like beds of spices,
Yielding fragrance.
His lips are lilies,
Distilling liquid myrrh.
His arms are rounded gold,
Set with jewels.
His body is an ivory work,
Encrusted with sapphires.
His legs are alabaster columns,
Set upon bases of gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon,
Choice as the cedars.
His speech is most sweet.
He is altogether desirable.
This is my beloved.
This is my friend.
O daughters of Jerusalem!”
This female lover responded to the daughters of Jerusalem. She explains why her male lover is so special with a long description of him. First of all, he is radiant and ruddy. What does that mean? He is a glowing happy guy with a healthy reddish complexion. He is one in 10,000. He has a golden head with black wavy hair. His eyes are like clean white doves perfectly set in his head. His cheeks are like fragrant spices. His lips are like lilies spreading liquid myrrh. His arms are like rounded gold with jewels set in them. His body is like ivory with sapphires. His legs are like alabaster columns with golden bases as feet. He appears to be like a Lebanon cedar tree. His speech is sweet. He is quite a guy, altogether desirable. He is her beloved and her friend. That is some great description of the perfect man.
Chorus
“What is your beloved
More than another beloved?
O fairest among women!
What is your beloved
More than another beloved?
That you thus adjure us?”
The chorus asks this female lover why she is looking for his particular male lover. What makes him so special? What makes him better than any other men? Why was she appealing to them?
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 