Song of Solomon 2:2

Solomon replies, turning her modest comparison into an exaltation of her above the ladies of the palace by saying, "My friend is indeed a lily and she is out of place, but only because the palace ladies are as thistles in comparison." Chôachis perhaps a thistle here. Tristram, Fauna and Flora of Palestine, p. 336, says it is Notobasis Syriaca, a peculiarly strong and noxious thistle. But probably chôachmeant many plants, and that the word does not always mean a thistle is shewn by its use in Proverbs 26:9, "as a chôachthat goeth up into the hand of a drunkard," where something of the nature of a brier must be intended. Cp. also the parable of Jehoash in 2 Kings 14:9.