Song of Solomon 7 explained: Praise, Desire and a Spring Invitation

Praise from her feet up (vv. 1-3)

The woman is praised from her sandaled feet upward, perhaps as she dances (see 6:13), and is called a 'prince's daughter', probably a title of honor. Translations differ on some body words ('legs' or 'thighs', 'navel' or 'body') because the Hebrew is uncertain, but wine and a heap of wheat suggest richness and plenty.

Pictured as famous sights (vv. 4-5)

Her neck, eyes, nose and head are likened to grand sights: an ivory tower, the pools of the town of Heshbon, a tower facing Damascus, and Mount Carmel on the coast. Her hair is compared to costly royal purple, and 'the king', probably her lover pictured as royalty, is held captive by it, meaning he is utterly taken with her.

Climbing the palm tree (vv. 6-8)

He likens her tall figure to a palm tree and her breasts to its clusters, and says he will climb it, an openly sexual picture. Translations differ on whether he takes hold of its 'fruit' or its 'branches', because the Hebrew word is rare.

Wine and a shifting voice (v. 9)

Her mouth is likened to the finest wine, but the end of the verse is unclear in Hebrew, so translations differ ('lips and teeth' or 'lips of those that are asleep'). It says 'my beloved', her usual word for him, so many readers think she breaks in here, though exactly where the voice changes is not settled.

She is his (v. 10)

She says she is her beloved's and his desire is turned toward her. The rare Hebrew word for desire also appears in Genesis 3:16, where a wife's desire is met by her husband ruling over her, and many scholars see this verse as turning that around, with desire running freely from him to her.

An invitation to the countryside (vv. 11-13)

She invites him out to the fields and vineyards in spring, when vines bud and pomegranates flower, and promises to give him her love there. Mandrakes were plants believed in the ancient world to stir desire and help conception (see Genesis 30), and the delights 'new and old' she has saved suggest pleasures kept just for him.

Key verse: Song of Solomon 7:10

Where Christians differ

Jewish tradition has long read the Song as a picture of the love between God and Israel, and many Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Christians have read it as the love between Christ and the church or the believer, while many modern readers, religious and not, read it first as a poem celebrating human love and desire, and some hold both readings together.

Something to think about

What do you make of a poem this frank about bodies and desire being kept and treasured among sacred writings for thousands of years?