Song of Solomon 2:1

2:1-7 Believers are beautiful, as clothed in the righteousness of Christ; and fragrant, as adorned with the graces of his Spirit; and they thrive under the refreshing beams of the Sun of righteousness. The lily is a very noble plant in the East; it grows to a considerable height, but has a weak stem. The church is weak in herself, yet is strong in Him that supports her. The wicked, the daughters of this world, who have no love to Christ, are as thorns, worthless and useless, noxious and hurtful. Corruptions are thorns in the flesh; but the lily now among thorns, shall be transplanted into that paradise where there is no brier or thorn. The world is a barren tree to the soul; but Christ is a fruitful one. And when poor souls are parched with convictions of sin, with the terrors of the law, or the troubles of this world, weary and heavy laden, they may find rest in Christ. It is not enough to pass by this shadow, but we must sit down under it. Believers have tasted that the Lord Jesus is gracious; his fruits are all the precious privileges of the new covenant, purchased by his blood, and communicated by his Spirit; promises are sweet to a believer, and precepts also. Pardons are sweet, and peace of conscience sweet. If our mouths are out of taste for the pleasures of sin, Divine consolations will be sweet to us. Christ brings the soul to seek and to find comforts through his ordinances, which are as a banqueting-house where his saints feast with him.

The love of Christ, manifested by his death, and by his word, is the banner he displays, and believers resort to it. How much better is it with the soul when sick from love to Christ, than when surfeited with the love of this world! And though Christ seemed to have withdrawn, yet he was even then a very present help. All his saints are in his hand, which tenderly holds their aching heads. Finding Christ thus nigh to her, the soul is in great care that her communion with him is not interrupted. We easily grieve the Spirit by wrong tempers. Let those who have comfort, fear sinning it away.

Song of Solomon 2:1-2 . I am the rose of Sharon — These are the words of the bridegroom. He compares himself to the rose and lily, for fragrancy and beauty. Sharon was a very fruitful place, and famous for roses. As the lily among thorns — Compared with thorns, which it unspeakably exceeds in glory and beauty; so is my love — So far doth my church, or people, excel all other assemblies. The title of daughter is often given to whole nations. These are Christ’s words, to which the spouse makes the following reply.

II. (1) The rose.—Heb., chabatseleth. The identification of this flower is a much vexed question. From its derivation, it should be a bulbous plant (batsal—a bulb), and it happens that the flower which for other reasons best satisfies the requirements is of this kind, viz., the Sweet-scented Narcissus (Narcissus tazetta). “Others have suggested the crocus, of which there are many species very common, but they are deficient in perfume, and there is no bulb more fragrant than the narcissus; it is, besides, one of which the Orientals arc passionately fond. While it is in flower it is to be seen in all the bazaars, and the men as well as the women always carry two or three blossoms, at which they are continually smelling” (Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 477). Dr. Thomson prefers the mallow, from the fact that the Arabs call it khubbazey. In Isaiah 35:1, the only other place where chabatseleth occurs, the LXX., Vulg., and Chaldee render “lily,” and many eminent moderns “autumn crocus.” Here the LXX. and the Vulg. have flower. Of Sharon.—Better, of the plain, as in the LXX. Here (as invariably except 1Chronicles 5:16) the Hebrew has the article before sharon, but without definite local allusion to the district north of Philistia. The verse is by many taken as a snatch of a song into which the heroine breaks in answer to the eulogies on her beauty.

It is certainly spoken with modest and lowly intention: “I am a mere flower of the plain, a lily of the valley;” by no means like Tennyson’s “Queen lily and rose in one.” Lily.—So the LXX. and Vulg.; Heb., shôshanath (fem. of shôshan, or shûshan; comp. name Susan), a word occurring seven times in the poem, three times in 1 Kings 7, and in the headings to Psalms 45, 60, 69, 80. The Arabs have the word, and apply it to any brilliantly coloured flower, as the tulip, anemone, ranunculus. Although many plants of the lily tribe flourish in Palestine, none of them give a predominant character to the flora. There are, however, many other plants which would in popular language be called lilies. Of these, the Irises may claim the first mention; and Dr. Thomson (Land and Book, p. 256) unhesitatingly fixes on one, which he calls Huleh Lily, or the Lily of the Gospel and of the Song of Songs. “Our flower,” he says, “delights most in the valleys, but it is also found in the mountains. It grows among thorns, and I have sadly lacerated my hands while extricating it from them. . . . Gazelles still delight to feed among them, and you can scarcely ride through the woods north of Tabor, where these lilies abound, without frightening them from their flowery pasture.” Tristram, however, prefers the Anemone (A. coronaria), “the most gorgeously painted, the most conspicuous in spring, and the most universally spread of all the treasures of the Holy Land” (Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 464).

The division of the chapters is unfortunate; Cant. 2 ought to have begun at Sol 1:15, or Cant. 1 to have been continued to Sol 2:7. The bride replies, "And I am like a lovely wild flower springing at the root of the stately forest-trees." The majority of Christian fathers assigned this verse to the King (Christ). Hebrew commentators generally assign it to the bride. It is quite uncertain what flower is meant by the word rendered (here and Isaiah 35:1 ) "rose." The etymology is in favor of its being a bulbous plant (the white narcissus, Conder). "Sharon" is usually the proper name of the celebrated plain from Joppa to Caesarea, between the hill-country and the sea, and travelers have remarked the abundance of flowers with which this plain is still carpeted in spring. But in the time of Eusebius and Jerome there was a smaller plain of Sharon (Saron) situated between Mount Tabor and the sea of Tiberias, which would be very near the bride's native home if that were Shunem.

CHAPTER 2 So 2:1-17. 1. rose—if applied to Jesus Christ, it, with the white lily (lowly, 2Co 8:9), answers to "white and ruddy" (So 5:10). But it is rather the meadow-saffron: the Hebrew means radically a plant with a pungent bulb, inapplicable to the rose. So Syriac. It is of a white and violet color [Maurer, Gesenius, and Weiss]. The bride thus speaks of herself as lowly though lovely, in contrast with the lordly "apple" or citron tree, the bridegroom (So 2:3); so the "lily" is applied to her (So 2:2), Sharon—(Isa 35:1, 2). In North Palestine, between Mount Tabor and Lake Tiberias (1Ch 5:16). Septuagint and Vulgate translate it, "a plain"; though they err in this, the Hebrew Bible not elsewhere favoring it, yet the parallelism to valleys shows that, in the proper name Sharon, there is here a tacit reference to its meaning of lowliness. Beauty, delicacy, and lowliness, are to be in her, as they were in Him (Mt 11:29).The excellency of the majesty of Christ, Song of Solomon 2:1, and of his church, Song of Solomon 2:2. The benefits which the church receives from him, Song of Solomon 2:3. Christ’s love to his church, Song of Solomon 2:4. The church sick of love; her prayer for help, Song of Solomon 2:5. His ears for her in this condition, Song of Solomon 2:6. The hope and calling of the church, Song of Solomon 2:10-13. Christ’s care of the church, Song of Solomon 2:14,15. The profession of the church; her faith and hope, Song of Solomon 2:16,17. These are the words either, 1.

Of the spouse, continuing her discourse. Or rather, 2. Of the bridegroom, drawing forth the church’s affections to him. He compares himself to the rose and lily, for fragrancy and beauty. Nor is it in the least degree indecent that Christ should thus commend himself, partly because his excellency is so transcendently great, that he is free from all suspicion of vanity and self-flattery; and partly because it is suitable to the style of such writings, and to the present design of recommending himself to the affection of his spouse. He mentions the rose of Sharon, which was a very fruitful place, as is evident from 1 Chronicles 27:29 Isaiah 33:9 65:10, and famous for roses, as may seem probable from Isaiah 35:1,2. Or, as others translate it, the rose of the field, which may note that Christ is not only pleasant and beautiful, but free and communicative, offering himself to all that come to him. The lily is a beautiful and glorious creature, Matthew 6:29, especially to one who beholds it through a magnifying glass. He saith, the lily of the valleys, because they grew and flourished best in such low and waterish grounds.

Ch. Song of Solomon 2:1-2 . In Song of Solomon 2:1 the bride speaks, describing herself as a humble meadow flower unfit to be in such a luxurious place as that in which she now finds herself, and in Song of Solomon 2:2 Solomon replies. 1 . Render, I am a crocus of Sharon, a lily of the valleys . the rose of Sharon ] The Heb. word chabhatstseleth , which occurs besides only in Isaiah 35:1 , can hardly mean a rose. The LXX, Vulg., and Targ. to Isaiah 35:1 translate it ‘lily,’ but as we have shôshannâh for lily in the next clause, it is probably some other flower. The Targum here gives narqôs rattîb , ‘the green narcissus,’ but Gesen. Thes . prefers the Syriac translation, Colchicum autumnale or meadow saffron , a meadow flower like the crocus, white and violet in colour, and having poisonous bulbs. This is the most probable of the proposed identifications, though Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible , p. 476, decides for the sweet-scented narcissus, Narcissus tazetta , a native of Palestine, and a flower of which the natives are passionately fond. While it is in flower it is to be seen in all the bazaars, and the men as well as the women at that season always carry two or three blossoms which they are constantly smelling. Sharon ] is generally supposed to be the great plain of Sharon to the S. of Carmel on the Mediterranean coast, stretching from Caesarea to Joppa.

But the word probably means ‘a plain,’ and might, consequently, be applied by the inhabitants of any district to the plain in their neighbourhood. This is supported by the fact that Eusebius states that the district from Tabor to the Lake of Gennesaret was called Sharon, so here we may render either a crocus of Sharon, or of the plain , as in the LXX. the lily ] Rather, a lily . Shôshannâh must be a red flower; cp. Song of Solomon 5:13 , “His lips are like lilies.” Tristram, Nat. Hist . p. 464, identifies it with the scarlet Anemone coronaria . It is found everywhere, on all soils and in all situations. It meets every requirement of the allusions in Canticles and is one of the flowers called susan by the Arabs. Song of Solomon 2:1

What Shulamith now further says confirms what had just been said. City and palace with their splendour please her not; forest and field she delights in; she is a tender flower that has grown up in the quietness of rural life. 1 I am a meadow-flower of Sharon, A lily of the valleys. We do not render: "the wild-flower," "the lily," ... for she seeks to represent herself not as the one, but only as one of this class; the definiteness by means of the article sometimes belongs exclusively to the second number of the genit. word-chain. מלאך ה may equally (vid., at Sol 1:11, Hitz. on Psalm 113:9, and my Comm. on Genesis 9:20) mean "an angel" or "the angel of Jahve;" and בת ישׂ "a virgin," or "the virgin of Israel" (the personification of the people). For hhǎvatstsělěth (perhaps from hhivtsēl, a denom. quadril. from bětsěl, to form bulbs or bulbous knolls) the Syr. Pesh. (Isaiah 35:1) uses chamsaljotho, the meadow-saffron, colchicum autumnale; it is the flesh-coloured flower with leafless stem, which, when the grass is mown, decks in thousands the fields of warmer regions. They call it filius ante patrem, because the blossoms appear before the leaves and the seed-capsules, which develope themselves at the close of winter under the ground. Shulamith compares herself to such a simple and common flower, and that to one in Sharon, i.e., in the region known by that name. Sharon is per aphaer. derived from ישׁרון.