Song of Solomon — Chapter 2

1 I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.
5 Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
7 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.
10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.
11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
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.
14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.
15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
16 My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.
17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.
Abrahamic Catechism
Bible Study
Song of Solomon — Chapter 2
✦ Talmud

• Berakhot 8a teaches that one should always finish the Torah portion with the community, reading it twice in Hebrew and once in Aramaic (Targum) — Song of Solomon 2:4 "he brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love" is interpreted in Midrash Rabbah as the Sinai revelation where Torah was Israel's battle-standard: the "banner of love" is not a romantic decoration but a military ensign that identifies the soul's allegiance in the field against the Sitra Achra.

• Shabbat 63a records the dispute over whether a sword is an ornament or a shame — Song of Solomon 2:6 "his left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me" is the Talmudic divine-encirclement doctrine: the soul in full relationship with the divine is surrounded by divine protection from all tactical angles — the Sitra Achra cannot find an exposed flank.

• Yoma 76a teaches that the manna Israel ate in the desert could taste like anything each person desired — Song of Solomon 2:3 "as an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste" is the Talmudic customized-divine-sustenance doctrine: the Torah-relationship feeds each soul according to its unique configuration, the Sitra Achra's standardized temptations being incompatible with this individualized nourishment.

• Avot 5:22 (Ben Bag Bag: "Turn it and turn it, for everything is in it; and through it you will see everything") parallels Song of Solomon 2:9 "my beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice" — the divine Presence that gazes through the Torah's lattice-work is precisely accessible to the soul who "turns and turns" the text: the Sitra Achra's wall of this-worldly distraction cannot ultimately block the loving gaze that searches through every material obstacle.

• Berakhot 57b records that dreaming of the Song of Songs is a sign of love for God — Song of Solomon 2:15 "catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom" is the Talmudic minor-iniquity doctrine applied to warfare: the Sitra Achra's most successful vineyard-destruction campaigns use the "little foxes" — the minor sins the warrior dismisses as negligible — rather than major assaults that would trigger a defense response.