Song of Solomon 2:13

The 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. PUTTETH FORTH - rather, ripens; literally, makes red [ chaanªTaah (H2590)]: or else seasons. The unripe figs, which grow in winter, begin to ripen in early spring, and in June are fully matured (Winer). VINES WITH THE TENDER GRAPE - rather, 'the vines in flower;' literally, a flower, in apposition with "vines" (Maurer). However, the Hebrew cªmaadar (H5563) here may well be taken with the English version, as referring to the first stage, when the grape is very small and tender, the flower having just fallen. Boser is the grape in a further stage of growth: Hanab, the ripe grape. The vine flowers were so sweet that the...

8-13 The church pleases herself with thoughts of further communion with Christ. None besides can speak to the heart. She sees him come. This may be applied to the prospect the Old Testament saints had of Christ's coming in the flesh. He comes as pleased with his own undertaking. He comes speedily. Even when Christ seems to forsake, it is but for a moment; he will soon return with everlasting loving-kindness. The saints of old saw him, appearing through the sacrifices and ceremonial institutions. We see him through a glass darkly, as he manifests himself through the lattices. Christ invites the new convert to arise from sloth and despondency, and to leave sin and worldly vanities, for union and communion with him. The winter may mean years passed in ignorance and sin, unfruitful and miserable, or storms and tempests that accompanied his conviction of guilt and danger. Even the unripe fru...

Verse 13. _THE FIG TREE PUTTETH FORTH HER GREEN FIGS_] The fig tree in Judea bears _double_ crops; the first of which is ripe in _spring_. But the tree, as I have elsewhere observed, bears figs all the year through, in the climes congenial to it. That is, the fig tree has always _ripe_ or _unripe_ fruit on it. I never saw a healthy tree naked. But in the beginning of spring they grow fast, and become turgid. _THE VINES_ WITH _THE TENDER GRAPE_] The versions understand this of the _flowers_ of the vine. These were formerly put into the new wine (2 lbs. to every cask) to give it a fine flavour....

The bride relates to the chorus a visit which the beloved had paid her some time previously in her native home. He on a fair spring morning solicits her company. The bride, immersed in rustic toils, refuses for the present, but confessing her love, bids him return at the cool of day. It is a spring-time of affection which is here described, still earlier than that of the former chapter, a day of pure first-love, in which, on either side, all royal state and circumstance is forgotten or concealed. Hence, perhaps, the annual recitation of the Song of Songs by the synagogue with each return of spring, at the Feast of Passover, and special interpretations of this passage by Hebrew doctors, as referring to the paschal call of Israel out of Egypt, and by Christian fathers, as foreshadowing the evangelic mysteries of Easter - Resurrection and Regeneration. The whole scene has also been thought...

EXPOSITION SONG OF SOLOMON 2:2 AS A LILY AMONG THORNS, SO IS MY LOVE AMONG THE DAUGHTERS. The king responds, taking up the lovely simile and giving it a very apt and charming turn, "My love is beyond comparison the chief and all around her are not worthy of notice beside her." The meaning is not thorns on the tree itself. The word would be different in that case. Rather it is thorn plants or bushes (_choach_);_ _see 2 Kings 14:9. _The daughters_;_ i.e._ the young damsels. The word "son" or "daughter" was commonly so used in Hebrew, the idea being that of simplicity, innocence, and gentleness. Song of Solomon

THE FIG TREE PUTTETH FORTH HER GREEN FIGS,.... Another sign of spring being come, nay, of its being pretty much advanced, since Christ makes this a token of summer being at hand, Matthew 24:32. Theopompus e speaks of figs in the middle of the spring. This tree puts forth its fruit at once, and does not flower or blossom f, wherefore Habakkuk 3:17 is wrongly translated; Habakkuk 3:17: though Arianus g speaks of its flowering: Aben Ezra thinks the word signifies the sweetening of the figs, and so points at the time when they are sweet and eatable. By the "fig tree" may be meant the saints putting forth their grace in exercise on Christ, who may be compared to fig trees for their leaves and fruit, and for the

Here we have a dialogue of love between the Lord Jesus and his people. Song of Solomon 2:1. _I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys._ Amongst all flowers, there is none that can be compared with him. «White is his soul, from blemish free, Red with the blood he shed for me.» Song of Solomon 2:2. _As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters._ The child of God cannot long be mistaken for a worldling. The lily rises up above its thorny companions, but everybody knows that it is not a thorn; and chiefly do the quick eyes of the Lord Jesus discern his people wherever they may be found. You, dear friend, may perhaps come of a graceless family, or you may live in a house where God i

CHAPTER 2 The voice of the bride is heard again in the opening verses of this chapter; some understand it as meaning the Messiah speaking of Himself as the Rose and the Lily of the valley, but it is rather the bride. She is in her purity and separation like the lily among thorns, among the apostates of the nation during the end of the Jewish age. Of the Messiah she speaks as the apple-tree. She has no fruit of herself, but rests under Him as the blessed fruit-bearer. Under Him she finds her shelter, while He protects her and she can enjoy His fruit under His shadow. There she, and all true believers have rapture and rest and enjoy His fruit, which is sweet to the taste. The Bridegroom has brought her to His own place. She is in the house of wine (the better translation, instead of banqueting house). Unlimited joy and gladness are now her portion; the banner of love is over her; while she...

SONG OF SOLOMON 2:8 contains one of the most beautiful poems in the whole book; it breathes the air of the fresh spring-time, when, according to our own poet, a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love; here it is a young woman's fancy that hears the steps of the beloved hastening over the mountains, drawn by the sweet attractiveness of love. (1) The beloved comes (Song of Solomon 2:8 f.). (2) His speech (Song of Solomon 2:10). (3) The bride calls for his companionship (Song of Solomon 2:16 f.). Note the vividness, the dramatic force, of the opening words, Hark my belo

PUTTETH FORTH. sweetens or ripens. WITH THE TENDER GRAPE. blossoms. GIVE. they give. MY LOVE. friend. Hebrew. _ra'yah,_ as in Song of Solomon 2:2. See note on Song of Solomon 1:9. Feminine. Showing that the shepherd is speaking to the Shulamite....