Song of Solomon 2:13

2:8-13 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 fruits of holiness are pleasant unto Him whose grace has produced them. All these encouraging tokens and evidences of Divine favour, are motives to the soul to follow Christ more fully. Arise then, and come away from the world and the flesh, come into fellowship with Christ. This blessed change is owing wholly to the approaches and influences of the Sun of righteousness.

(13) The fig tree putteth forth her green figs. —Literally, has ripened its unripe figs. Heb., phag (preserved in Bethphage); not the early fruit that appears before the leaves ( Matthew 24:31 ), but the green fruit that remains through the winter (Gesenius and Tristram). The vines with the tender grape.—Literally, the vines (are) blossoms, i.e., are in blossom.

Green figs; which it shooteth forth as soon as it doth leaves, in the spring time, Matthew 24:32 . A good smell; which, though not strong, is pleasant and grateful, and given by it in the progress of the spring. Come away: these words are here repeated, to show both the church’s infirmity and indisposition, which needs so many calls and arguments to press so necessary and advantageous a duty; and Christ’s tender compassion to her weakness, and fervent desire of converse with her.

13. putteth forth—rather, "ripens," literally, "makes red" [Maurer]. The unripe figs, which grow in winter, begin to ripen in early spring, and in June are fully matured [Weiss]. vines with the tender grape—rather, "the vines in flower," literally, "a flower," in apposition with "vines" [Maurer]. The vine flowers were so sweet that they were often put, when dried, into new wine to give it flavor. Applicable to the first manifestations of Jesus Christ, "the true Vine," both to the Church and to individuals; as to Nathanael under the fig tree (Joh 1:48). Arise, &c.—His call, described by the bride, ends as it began (So 2:10); it is a consistent whole; "love" from first to last (Isa 52:1, 2; 2Co 6:17, 18). "Come," in the close of Re 22:17, as at His earlier manifestation (Mt 11:28).

13 . the fig tree putteth forth her green figs ] The word for ‘green fig’ is paggâh , which occurs in its Aramaic form in the name Bethphage . According to Riehm’s Handwörterbuch , the fig bears two kinds of figs. (1) There is the early fig (Heb. bikkûrâh ). These, when unripe, are called paggîm . They grow upon the old wood and appear before the leaf-buds, but require about four months, as a rule, to ripen. They are ripe towards the end of June. (2) The late figs (Heb. tě’çnîm ) which grow successively upon the new branches so long as the development of vegetation continues, and ripen at various times. In Palestine they ripen from August onwards. Often, especially in the older trees, there are many figs still unripe when the leaves fall and vegetation stops. These remain on the tree in their unripe state throughout the winter and become ripe only in spring, partly before, and partly after, the coming of the leaves. These, which are usually darker and partly violet coloured, are called winter figs. These latter are the only ones that can be referred to here, for they are a mark of the coming of spring. Probably they too were called paggîm . putteth forth ] With regard to the word thus translated there is much difference of opinion. It is châněṭä́h , and the verb occurs elsewhere in Scripture only in Genesis 50:2 ; Genesis 50:26 , where it means ‘to embalm.’ The dictionaries give two meanings, (1) to spice, (2) to embalm.

The latter is here out of the question, but the words may mean, the fig tree spiceth her unripe figs , that is, gives taste and perfume to them. On the other hand it may be rendered reddeneth as the Heb. word for ‘wheat,’ viz. chiṭṭâh , is in all probability derived from this root, and means the red or reddish-brown (cp. Levy’s Neuhebr. Wörterb . 11. 203 a ). The corresponding Arabic word which means to redden, occurs of leather only, but all the data suggest that it was also used of the colour of plants approaching maturity. Here consequently it most probably means, the fig tree maketh red ripe her winter figs , which grow red or even violet as they ripen. and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell ] Rather, as R.V., and the vines (are) in blossom, they give forth their fragrance . Blossom is in Heb. sěmâdhar , a word which occurs only in the Song of Solomon. The Rabbis and the Mishnah say that the word signifies the tender grapes when they first appear. Twenty days later they become bôsěrîm = ὄμφακες, and when they are fully ripe they are called ‘anâbhîm . Similarly Kimchi. But in the Targum to Isaiah 18:5 nitztzâh = ‘flower’ is translated by semâdhar , and in the Syriac version of Isaiah 17:11 the same word is used where we have, “thou makest thy seed to blossom,” so that probably it is to be taken as ‘bloom’ or flower, more especially as the vines would hardly have rudimentary grapes so early as April, which is the time when the rain is over and gone.

11 For, lo! the winter is past, The rain is over, is gone. 12 The flowers appear in the land; The time of song has come, And the voice of the turtle makes itself heard in our land. 13 The fig-tree spices her green figs, And the vines stand in bloom, they diffuse fragrance; - Rise up, my love, my fair one, and go forth! The winter is called סתו, perhaps from a verb סתה (of the same root as סתר, סתם, without any example, since סוּת, Genesis 49:11, is certainly not derived from a verb סוּת), to conceal, to veil, as the time of being overcast with clouds, for in the East winter is the rainy season; (Arab.) shataā is also used in the sense of rain itself (vid., D. M. Zeitsch. xx. 618); and in the present day in Jerusalem, in the language of the people, no other name is used for rain but shataā (not metar). The word סתיו, which the Kerı̂ substitutes, only means that one must not read סתו, but סתו, with long a; in the same way עניו, humble, from ענה, to be bowed down, and שׂליו, a quail, from שׂלה, to be fat, are formed and written. Rain is here, however, especially mentioned: it is called gěshěm, from gāshǎm, to be thick, massy (cf. revīvīm, of density). With עבר, to pass by, there is interchanged חלף, which, like (Arab.) khalaf, means properly to press on, and then generally to move to another place, and thus to remove from the place hitherto occupied.

In לו הלך, with the dat. ethicus, which throws back the action on the subject, the winter rain is thought of as a person who has passed by. נצּן, with the noun-ending n, is the same as ניסן, and signifies the flower, as the latter the flower-month, floral; in the use of the word, נצּן is related to נץ and נצּה, probably as little flower is to flower. In hǎzzāmīr the idea of the song of birds (Arab. gharad) appears, and this is not to be given up. The lxx, Aquila, Symm., Targ., Jerome, and the Venet. translate tempus putationis: the time of the pruning of vines, which indeed corresponds to the usus loq. (cf. זמר, to prune the vine, and מזמרה, a pruning-knife), and to similar names, such as אסיף ingathering of fruit, but supplies no reason for her being invited out into the open fields, and is on this account improbable, because the poet further on speaks for the first time of vines. זמר (זמּר) is an onomatopoeia, which for the most part denotes song and music; why should זמיר thus not be able to denote singing, like זמרה, - but not, at least not in this passage, the singing of men (Hengst.), for they are not silent in winter; but the singing of birds, which is truly a sign of the spring, and as a characteristic feature, is added (Note: It is true that besides in this passage zāmǎr, of the singing of birds, is not demonstrable, the Arab. zamar is only used of the shrill cry of the ostrich, and particularly the female ostrich.) to this lovely picture of spring?