seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Song of Songs 7
1 [a]How beautiful your sandaled feet,
O prince’s daughter!
Your graceful legs are like jewels,
the work of an artist’s hands.
2 Your navel is a rounded goblet
that never lacks blended wine.
Your waist is a mound of wheat
encircled by lilies.
3 Your breasts are like two fawns,
like twin fawns of a gazelle.
4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon
by the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
looking toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel.
Your hair is like royal tapestry;
the king is held captive by its tresses.
6 How beautiful you are and how pleasing,
my love, with your delights!
7 Your stature is like that of the palm,
and your breasts like clusters of fruit.
8 I said, “I will climb the palm tree;
I will take hold of its fruit.”
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes on the vine,
the fragrance of your breath like apples,
9 and your mouth like the best wine.
O prince’s daughter!
Your graceful legs are like jewels,
the work of an artist’s hands.
2 Your navel is a rounded goblet
that never lacks blended wine.
Your waist is a mound of wheat
encircled by lilies.
3 Your breasts are like two fawns,
like twin fawns of a gazelle.
4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are the pools of Heshbon
by the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
looking toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel.
Your hair is like royal tapestry;
the king is held captive by its tresses.
6 How beautiful you are and how pleasing,
my love, with your delights!
7 Your stature is like that of the palm,
and your breasts like clusters of fruit.
8 I said, “I will climb the palm tree;
I will take hold of its fruit.”
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes on the vine,
the fragrance of your breath like apples,
9 and your mouth like the best wine.
She
May the wine go straight to my beloved,
flowing gently over lips and teeth.[b]
10 I belong to my beloved,
and his desire is for me.
11 Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside,
let us spend the night in the villages.[c]
12 Let us go early to the vineyards
to see if the vines have budded,
if their blossoms have opened,
and if the pomegranates are in bloom—
there I will give you my love.
13 The mandrakes send out their fragrance,
and at our door is every delicacy,
both new and old,
that I have stored up for you, my beloved.
flowing gently over lips and teeth.[b]
10 I belong to my beloved,
and his desire is for me.
11 Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside,
let us spend the night in the villages.[c]
12 Let us go early to the vineyards
to see if the vines have budded,
if their blossoms have opened,
and if the pomegranates are in bloom—
there I will give you my love.
13 The mandrakes send out their fragrance,
and at our door is every delicacy,
both new and old,
that I have stored up for you, my beloved.
a. Song of Songs 7:1 In Hebrew texts 7:1-13 is numbered 7:2-14.
b. Song of Songs 7:9 Septuagint, Aquila, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew lips of sleepers
c. Song of Songs 7:11 Or the henna bushes
I thought I was going to title this one consummation..... until I got to verse 13.... mandrakes act like a drug.
This is from the easy English site.
The young woman is now showing the attitudes of a good wife. Like him, she wants to look at the plants. Like him, she wants to work in the country. Like him, she wants to know the state of the fruit plants. These are the attitudes of the perfect wife in Proverbs 31:10-31.
Of course, Solomon was not really a farmer. He was a king. But to Solomon, a king’s work seemed like a farmer’s work. Both kings and farmers look after the land. Of course, they do this in different ways. Farmers look after the soil and the plants. Kings look after the people who live on the land. And kings look after the borders of the country.
So perhaps the woman really means that they should make a royal visit to the country. They can see whether the people have problems. If so, the king may be able to help them. Christians look after other people because God loves us. We show our love to him by helping other people (Matthew 25:34-45).
The mandrake was a special plant. People used it to help women to have babies (Genesis 30:14-16). So we can see that Solomon’s bride now wants to become a mother.
And this is from enduringword.com.Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the field; let us lodge in the villages: Responding to the desire of her beloved, the maiden invited him to come away on a trip to the countryside where they could enjoy their intimacy. It was like a weekend get-away for a couple deeply in love.
There I will give you my love: The maiden was refreshingly honest and open with her beloved. She said to him, “Let’s get away to the countryside and make love.” This is an invitation likely to appeal to a husband.
The mandrakes give off a fragrance: This plant was understood to be an aphrodisiac in the ancient world, especially in the sense of increasing fertility (Genesis 30:14-17).
“The mandrake or ‘love apple’ is a pungently fragrant plant that has long been considered an aphrodisiac – not that these lovers needed any additional stimulation, but the use of such items has long been part of the lore of love-making.” (Carr)
Therefore the reference to mandrakes shows a desire for children. “Shulamith wanted children as a visible demonstration of the oneness in her and Solomon’s love.” (Estes)
All manner, new and old, which I have laid up for you, my beloved: This difficult to translate phrase may have the sense that she is inviting him to enjoy intimacy in ways that are both familiar and new to the couple. The idea would be they would enjoy their lovemaking in creative ways that were planned in advance by the maiden (which I have laid up for you).
Well.... a good glass of wine from the local vineyard would be nice... right? I mean I don't see them playing with myhhr this time.... wait... verse 13... mandrakes. There's the drug of the day..... I've seen that before....
This is from a site called "interfaith.org".
In Genesis 30, Reuben, the eldest son of Jacob and Leah finds mandrakes in a field. Rachel, Jacob's infertile second wife and Leah's sister, is desirous of the mandrakes and barters with Leah for them. The trade offered by Rachel is for Leah to spend the next night in Jacob's bed in exchange for Leah's mandrakes. Leah gives away the plant to her barren sister, but soon after this (Genesis 30:14-22), Leah, who had previously had four sons but had been infertile for a long while, became pregnant once more and in time gave birth to two more sons, Issachar and Zebulun, and a daughter, Dinah. Only years after this episode of her asking for the mandrakes did Rachel manage to get pregnant.
According to the legend, when the root is dug up it screams and kills all who hear it. Literature includes complex directions for harvesting a mandrake root in relative safety. For example Josephus (c. AD 37 Jerusalem – c. 100) gives the following directions for pulling it up:
A furrow must be dug around the root until its lower part is exposed, then a dog is tied to it, after which the person tying the dog must get away. The dog then endeavours to follow him, and so easily pulls up the root, but dies suddenly instead of his master. After this the root can be handled without fear.
It was a common folklore in some countries that mandrake would only grow where the semen of a hanged man had dripped on to the ground; this would appear to be the reason for the methods employed by the alchemists who "projected human seed into animal earth"
In Baltimore... back in the 70's.... most of the bars had vending machines in the bathrooms. There was a drug that was sold in the mens room vending machine. It was well known as Spanish Fly. I know for a fact that stuff was real. I know the affects of Spanish Fly first hand. Humans in the Bible were known to use drink and drugs to get what they want. Back in Genesis 19 they drugged Lot.... because they needed to get pregnant and his daughters figured he was the only man around after Sodom.Now... in this poem.... Solomon is bringing out the drugs.... and she's saying.... let's go out in the fresh air....
IMHO.... she's still not ready but Solomon needs to bed a virgin....
