Song of Solomon 2:4

He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love Such expressions as -banqueting house" and -his banner" suggest a regal magnificence which could not belong to any kindness or hospitality which a rustic lover could shew to his loved one. But the first expression is simply house of wine, which has no such necessary association with splendour as -banqueting house." The name might, as far as we know, be applied to any place where wine was hospitably set forth for guests, and some plausibly suggest that it means here some tent in the vineyard where the watchers refreshed and rested themselves. On the other hand, it is quite possible that Beth-hayyayinmay be a proper name (cp. Beth-hakkerem, -house of the vineyard," Jeremiah 6:1). Bruston renders it so, and suggests that it is the name of the village, near the Shulammite's village, where the shepherd lover dwelt. Others think that it is to be taken figuratively, as meaning that his love intoxicates her. The word translated -banner" is deghel, and it was supposed to be used of the banner which preceded the tribes in their march through the wilderness. But this has been disputed on plausible grounds by Gray in The Jewish Quarterly Review, Oct. 1898, who thinks the word means -company" in Numbers 2:3; Numbers 10:14. Cheyne, however, Jew. Quart. Rev., Jan. 1899, would retain -banner" as a possible meaning of the word, and if we do so the meaning of the phrase may be, as Gesen. Thes. suggests, "I follow the banner of love which my friend bears before me as soldiers follow the military standard and never desert it." If the -house of wine" be taken figuratively, as the tree with its shadow and its fruit in the previous verse must be, this gives quite a satisfactory meaning. The Shulammite was brought by her lover to the place where the wine of love was dispensed, and the standard he bore aloft was love. The best parallel to our passage is given in Lane's Arabic Dictionary s.v. -uqab, where a saying of Abu Dhu-eyb describing wine is quoted. "It has a banner which guides the generous, like as the military banner guides and attracts warriors." This gives an exact parallel and makes the simile clear. The lover is the possessor of the only wine she cares for. Cp. Ben Jonson's Song to Celia,

"Drink to me only with thine eyes,

And I will pledge with mine,

Or leave a kiss but in the cup

And I'll not look for wine."

She comes to him for the -drink divine" which she desires, and the flag which draws her and is a sign that it is there is his love. It was the custom in Arabia for the wine seller to hoist a flag and keep it flying so long as he had any wine to sell, but it may be doubted whether there is any reference to such a custom here.