Song of Solomon 7:2

7:1-9 The similitudes here are different from what they were before, and in the original refer to glorious and splendid clothing. Such honour have all his saints; and having put on Christ, they are distinguished by their beautiful and glorious apparel. They adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things. Consistent believers honour Christ, recommend the gospel, and convince and awaken sinners. The church resembles the stately and spreading palm; while her love for Christ, and the obedience resulting therefrom, are precious fruit of the true Vine. The King is held in the galleries. Christ takes delight in the assemblies and ordinances of his people; and admires the fruit of his grace in them. When applied to the church and to each faithful Christian, all this denotes that beauty of holiness, in which they shall be presented to their heavenly Bridegroom.

(2) Heap of wheat set about with lilies. —Wetstein (quoted by Delitzsch in his Appendix) remarks that in Syria the colour of wheat is regarded as the most beautiful colour the human body can have; and after remarking on the custom of decorating the heaps of winnowed corn with flowers in token of the joy of harvest, says:—“The appearance of such heaps of wheat, which one may see in long parallel rows on the threshing-floors of a village, is very pleasing to a peasant; and the comparison of the Song ( Song of Solomon 7:5 ) every Arabian will regard as beautiful.”

Or, Thy lap is like a moon-shaped bowl where mixed wine faileth not." The wine in the bowl rising to the brim adds to the beauty of the vessel, and gives a more pleasing image to the eye. Some interpret, "thy girdle is like a moon-shaped bowl," or "bears a moon-shaped ornament" (compare Isaiah 3:18 ). Set about with lilies - The contrast is one of colors, the flowers, it may be, representing the purple of the robe. "The heap of wheat is not seen because covered by the lilies."

Thy navel is like a round goblet, to which it is not unfitly compared, because it is of a round form, and hollow, and hath windings and circlings in it, which wanteth not liquor; thy navel is not only comely, but fruitful. For the navel is the proper instrument of nourishing the child or children which are in the womb. And so this seems to signify the church’s fruitfulness, partly in herself, in cherishing and improving all the graces and good motions of God’s Spirit within her; and principally in reference to those many children which she bears and feeds in her womb with the wholesome liquor of God’s ordinances. Thy belly, in which thy children are for a time contained and fed, is like a heap of wheat, i.e. of wheat corn, round and swelling, as it is in women with child, and full of nourishment, not only of liquor, as was last said, but also of meat, which may note the various provisions which Christ hath laid up in his church according to the several capacities of her children, milk for babes, and stronger meat for those who are grown up.

Set about with lilies; not for defence, which the church doth not need, having the strong God for her Protector, but for ornament and beauty; whereby is implied that she is not only fruitful, but beautiful, and that her children are not only numerous and well fed, but also comely and delightful to the eye, as lilies are, and withal pure and innocent, in which respect both Christ and the church are compared to lilies, Song of Solomon 2:1,2 .

2. navel—rather, "girdle-clasp," called from the part of the person underneath. The "shoes" (So 7:1) prove that dress is throughout presupposed on all parts where it is usually worn. She is "a bride adorned for her husband"; the "uncomely parts," being most adorned (1Co 12:23). The girdle-clasp was adorned with red rubies resembling the "round goblet" (crater or mixer) of spice-mixed wine (not "liquor," So 8:2; Isa 5:22). The wine of the "New Testament in His blood" (Lu 22:20). The spiritual exhilaration by it was mistaken for that caused by new wine (Ac 2:13-17; Eph 5:18). belly—that is, the vesture on it. As in Ps 45:13, 14, gold and needlework compose the bride's attire, so golden-colored "wheat" and white "lilies" here. The ripe grain, in token of harvest joy, used to be decorated with lilies; so the accumulated spiritual food (Joh 6:35; 12:24), free from chaff, not fenced with thorns, but made attractive by lilies ("believers," So 2:2; Ac 2:46, 47; 5:13, 14, in common partaking of it). Associated with the exhilarating wine cup (Zec 9:17), as here.

2 . Thy navel ] Better, Thy body . which wanteth not ] This should be let not liquor be wanting . liquor ] Heb. mezegh is wine mixed with snow or water. thy belly is like a heap of wheat ] The point of the comparison is the yellowish-white colour of wheat threshed and winnowed, which is considered in Syria the perfect colour of the human skin. The soft curves of such a heap may also be referred to. The lilies may possibly indicate some part of the dress, but most probably belong to the simile only. Heaps of corn are still decorated with flowers on festal occasions, and the contrast of the scarlet lilies or anemones would bring out the colour of the grain.

Verse 2. - Thy navel is like a round goblet, wherein no mingled wine is wanting: thy belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies. It must be remembered that ladies are speaking of one who is in the ladies' apartment. There is nothing indelicate in the description, though it is scarcely Western. The "round goblet," or basin, with mixed wine, i.e. wine with water or snow mixed with it, is intended to convey the idea of the shape of the lovely body with its flesh colour appearing through the semitransparent clothing, and moving gracefully like the diluted wine in the glass goblet. The navel is referred to simply as the center of the body, which it is in infants, and nearly so in adults. Perhaps Delitzsch is right in thinking that there may be an attempt to describe the navel itself as like the whirling hollow of water in a basin. In the latter part of the verse the shape of the body is undoubtedly intended. "To the present day winnowed and sifted corn is piled up in great heaps of symmetrical, half-spherical form, which are then frequently stuck over with things that move in the wind, for the purpose of protecting them against birds. The appearance of such heaps of wheat," says Wetstein, "which one may see in long parallel rows on the threshing floors of a village, is very pleasing to a peasant; and the comparison of the song every Arabian will regard as beautiful." According to the Moslem Sunnas, the colour of wheat was that of Adam.

2 Thy navel is a well-rounded basin - Let not mixed wine be wanting to it Thy body is a heap of wheat, Set round with lilies. In interpreting these words, Hitzig proceeds as if a "voluptuary" were here speaking. He therefore changes שׁררך into שׁררך, "thy pudenda." But (1) it is no voluptuary who speaks here, and particularly not a man, but women who speak; certainly, above all, it is the poet, who would not, however, be so inconsiderate as to put into the mouths of women immodest words which he could use if he wished to represent the king as speaking. Moreover (2) שׁר equals (Arab.) surr, secret (that which is secret; in Arab. especially referred to the pudenda, both of man and woman), is a word that is (Note: Vid., Tebrzi, in my work entitled Jud.-Arab. Poesien, u.s.w. (1874), p. 24.) foreign to the Heb. language, which has for "Geheimnis" secret the corresponding word סוד (vid., under Psalm 2:2; Psalm 25:14), after the root-signification of its verbal stem (viz., to be firm, pressed together); and (3) the reference - preferred by Dpke, Magnus, Hahn, and others, also without any change of punctuation - of שׁר to the interfeminium mulieris, is here excluded by the circumstance that the attractions of a woman dancing, as they unfold themselves, are here described. Like the Arab. surr, שׁר ( equals shurr), from שׁרר, to bind fast, denotes properly the umbilical cord, Ezekiel 16:4, and then the umbilical scar.

Thus, Proverbs 3:8, where most recent critics prefer, for לשׁרּך, to read, but without any proper reason, לשׁרך equals לשׁארך, "to thy flesh," the navel comes there into view as the centre of the body, - which it always is with new-born infants, and is almost so with grown-up persons in respect of the length of the body, - and as, indeed, the centre. whence the pleasurable feeling of health diffuses its rays of heat. This middle and prominent point of the abdomen shows itself in one lightly clad and dancing when she breathes deeply, even through the clothing; and because the navel commonly forms a little funnel-like hollow (Bttch.: in the form almost of a whirling hollow in the water, as one may see in nude antique statues), therefore the daughters of Jerusalem compare Shulamith's navel to a "basin of roundness," i.e., which has this general property, and thus belongs to the class of things that are round. אגּן does not mean a Becher (a cup), but a Bechen (basin), pelvis; properly a washing basin, ijjanah (from אגן equals ajan, to full, to wash equals כּבּס); then a sprinkling basin, Exodus 24:6; and generally a basin, Isaiah 22:24; here, a mixing basin, in which wine was mingled with a proportion of water to render it palatable (κρατήρ, from κεραννύναι, temperare), - according to the Talm. with two-thirds of water.