Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 7:12
Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, [whether] the tender grape appear, [and] the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.
12. if the vine flourish ] whether the vine hath budded, R.V. Cp. Son 6:11.
whether the tender grape appear ] Rather, and its blossom be open, R.V. For the word semdhar = ‘blossom,’ cp. ch. Son 2:13; Son 2:15. It is found nowhere else in the O.T.
there will I give thee ] There, in contrast to here and now. As Oettli remarks, first freedom, then love.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 12. Let us get up early to the vineyards] When in the country, we shall have the better opportunity to contemplate the progress of the spring vegetation; and there she promises to be peculiarly affectionate to him.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Let us get up early: the church having offended and lost her Beloved by her former laziness, now doubles her diligence, and discovers how earnestly she was set upon the following work.
To the vineyards; to particular congregations. See Son 6:11; Isa 5:1.
Let us see if the vines flourish &c.; let us inquire into the success of our labours, what souls are brought in and built up, how they prosper and grow in grace, whether they abound in good works, &c.
There will I give thee my loves; there I will discover the sincerity and fervency of my affections to thee, and maintain communion with thee in thy holy ordinances.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. (Mar 1:35;Joh 9:4; Gal 6:10).Assurance fosters diligence, not indolence.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Let us get up early to the vineyards,…. After a night’s lodging in the fields, or among the “Cyprus trees”. By which “vineyards” may be meant particular churches, gathered according to Gospel order, and distinguished from the world, planted with fruitful vines, and fenced by almighty power: hither the church proposes to “get up early”, very early in the morning; being willing to take the first and most seasonable opportunity of visiting the saints, to know their state and condition; and, that her visit might not be in vain, she is for taking Christ along with her;
let us see if the vine flourish; true believers in Christ; who, though weak and worthless in themselves, yet being ingrafted in Christ, the true vine, bring forth fruit, and become flourishing in grace and good works; of the flourishing or flowering of the vine,
[See comments on So 2:13];
[whether] the tender grape appear; or when “the flower of the vine opens” e, and goes off, and the small grape appears: by which young converts may be meant, who are tender, and have but a small degree of faith and knowledge; and yet these are not overlooked, much less despised, by Christ and his church, but are delighted with the promising appearance they make;
[and] the pomegranates bud forth; stronger believers, taller and more fruitful than the former; see So 4:13; the actings and exercise of whose grace are signified by “budding forth”, in an open and visible manner: the church is concerned for the good and welfare of the saints of all ranks and sizes; of vines and pomegranates, as well as tender grapes; and of the budding of the one, as well as of the opening and flowering of the other. And seeing these ends proposed by her are the same with Christ’s, So 6:11; she might conclude they would prevail upon him to go with her, particularly what follows:
there will I give thee my loves; in the fields, villages, and vineyards, when alone, and observing the state and condition of particular churches and saints; and having communion with Christ, the church might hope and expect to have her heart enlarged, and drawn forth in love to Christ more abundantly; and that she should be able to manifest it more largely to him, and give clearer and fuller proofs of it: and this she observes in order to gain her point, and get him to go along with her; knowing that her love, in the actings and exercise of it, was very acceptable to him, So 4:10; I see not why the word for “loves” may not be rendered “my lovely flowers”; as a word nearly the same, in So 7:13, is by some rendered, “these lovely flowers give a good smell”, which seems to refer to the flowers here; such as were to be met with in plenty, in fields and vineyards, among vines and pomegranates, as lilies, violets, c. and may be an allusion to lovers, who used to give to those they loved sweet smelling flowers f and here may signify the graces of the Spirit, and the actings of them, which are fragrant, and acceptable to Christ.
e “num si, vel gemmas suas aperuerit flos vitis”, Michaelis; to the same sense Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius Tremellius. f “Naias amat Thyrsin, Glauce Almona, Nisa Theonem Nisa rosas, Glauce violas, dat lilia Nais”. Cythereus Sidonius apud Auson.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
12 In the morning we will start for the vineyards,
See whether the vine is in bloom,
Whether the vine-blossoms have opened,
The pomegranates budded –
There will I give thee my love.
13 The mandrakes breathe a pleasant odour,
And over our doors are all kinds of excellent fruits,
New, also old,
Which, my beloved, I have kept for thee.
As the rising up early follows the tarrying over night, the description of that which is longed for moves forward. As is denom. of , and properly signifies only to shoulder, i.e., to rise, make oneself ready, when early going forth needs to be designated it has generally (cf. Jos 6:15) along with it; yet this word may also be wanting, 1Sa 9:26; 1Sa 17:16. = , an abbreviation of the expression which is also found in hist. prose, Gen 19:27; cf. 2Ki 19:9. They wished in the morning, when the life of nature can best be observed, and its growth and progress and striving upwards best contemplated, to see whether the vine had opened, i.e., unfolded (thus, Son 6:11), whether the vine-blossom ( vid., at Son 2:13) had expanded (lxx ), whether the pomegranate had its flowers or flower-buds ( , as at Son 6:11); is here, as at Isa 48:8; Isa 60:11, used as internally transitive: to accomplish or to undergo the opening, as also (Arab.) fattah
(Note: Vid., Fleischer, Makkari, 1868, p. 271.)
is used of the blooming of flowers, for (Arab.) tafttah (to unfold). The vineyards, inasmuch as she does not say , are not alone those of her family, but generally those of her home, but of her home; for these are the object of her desire, which in this pleasant journey with her beloved she at once in imagination reaches, flying, as it were, over the intermediate space. There, in undisturbed quietness, and in a lovely region consecrating love, will she give herself to him in the entire fulness of her love. By she means the evidences of her love ( vid., under Son 4:10; Son 1:2), which she will there grant to him as thankful responses to his own. Thus she speaks in the spring-time, in the month Ijjar, corresponding to our Wonnemond (pleasure-month, May), and seeks to give emphasis to her promise by this, that she directs him to the fragrant “mandragoras,” and to the precious fruits of all kinds which she has kept for him on the shelf in her native home.
(after the form ), love’s flower, is the mandragora officinalis, L., with whitish green flowers and yellow apples of the size of nutmegs, belonging to the Solanaceae; its fruits and roots are used as an aphrodisiac, therefore this plant was called by the Arabs abd al – sal’m , the servant of love, postillon d’amour ; the son of Leah found such mandrakes (lxx Gen 30:14, ) at the time of the vintage, which falls in the month of Ijjar; they have a strong but pleasant odour. In Jerusalem mandrakes are rare; but so much the more abundantly are they found growing wild in Galilee, whither Shulamith is transported in spirit. Regarding the (from , occurring in the sing. exclusively in the blessing of Moses, Deut 33), which in the Old Testament is peculiar to the Song, vid., Son 4:13, Son 4:16. From “over our doors,” down to “I have kept for thee,” is, according to the lxx, Syr., Jerome, and others, one sentence, which in itself is not inadmissible; for the object can precede its verb, Son 3:3, and can stand as the subject between the place mentioned and the verb, Isa 32:13, also as the object, 2Ch 31:6, which, as in the passage before us, may be interpunctuated with Athnach for the sake of emphasis; in the bibl. Chald. this inverted sequence of the words is natural, e.g., Dan 2:17. But such a long-winded sentence is at least not in the style of the Song, and one does not rightly see why just “over our doors” has the first place in it. I therefore formerly translated it as did Luther, dividing it into parts: “and over our doors are all kinds of precious fruits; I have,” etc. But with this departure from the traditional division of the verse nothing is gained; for the “keeping” (laying up) refers naturally to the fruits of the preceding year, and in the first instance can by no means refer to fruits of this year, especially as Shulamith, according to the structure of the poem, has not visited her parental home since her home-bringing in marriage, and now for the first time, in the early summer, between the barley harvest and the wheat harvest, is carried away thither in her longing. Therefore the expression, “my beloved, I have kept for thee,” is to be taken by itself, but not as an independent sentence (Bttch.), but is to be rendered, with Ewald, as a relative clause; and this, with Hitz., is to be referred to (old). Col refers to the many sorts of precious fruits which, after the time of their ingathering, are divided into “new and old” (Mat 13:52). The plur. “our doors,” which as amplif. poet. would not be appropriate here, supposes several entrances into her parents’ home; and since “I have kept” refers to a particular preserving of choice fruits, al does not (Hitzig) refer to a floor, such as the floor above the family dwelling or above the barn, but to the shelf above the inner doors, a board placed over them, on which certain things are wont to be laid past for some particular object. She speaks to the king like a child; for although highly elevated, she yet remains, without self-elation, a child.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(12) Tender grape appear.Literally, vine blossome open. (See Note on Son. 2:13.)
My lovesi.e., caresses. LXX., as before, read breasts.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Let us get up, etc. Better, Early, will we stroll in the vineyards; we will see, etc.
My loves My affections. She speaks as a queen.
“With a regal grace In her sun-kissed face,
And a light in her beaming eye.”
she assures him that he shall have what she refused to the King.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Son 7:12 Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, [whether] the tender grape appear, [and] the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves.
Ver. 12. Let us get up early to the vineyards. ] Heb., Let us morning it. Manicemas (that is, Gellius’ a word), Let us be up early and at it. Here she promiseth not to be found henceforth unready, drowsy, sluggish, but night and day to watch and attend that hour, and to inquire and learn out all the signs and tokens when she may come to be perfectly knit to Christ. But it is worthy of our observation that she would neither go any way nor do anything without Christ’s company, for she had lately felt the grief of being without him, though but “for a small moment,” as the prophet hath it. She had felt herself that while in the suburbs of hell as it were. She therefore holds him as fast as the restored cripple did Peter and John; Act 3:11 she cleaves as close to him as Ruth did to Naomi; or Elisha did to his master Elijah, when now be knew he should be taken from his head. 2Ki 2:2 She seems here to speak to Christ as once Barak did to Deborah, “If thou wilt go with me, then I will go; but if thou wilt not go with me, I will not go.” Jdg 4:8 And whereas she seemeth, as the forwarder of the two, to excite and exhort Christ to “get up early to visit the vines,” &c., we may not imagine any unwillingness in him to the performance of his office as “shepherd and bishop of our souls,” 1Pe 2:25 or any need on his part to be quickened and counselled by her, as Manoah was by his wife, or Aquila by Priscilla, whence she is set before him, Rom 16:3 for “who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him?” Isa 40:13 But the Church requesteth these things of Christ for her own encouragement and further benefit; that having his continual presence and fellowship, she may the more cheerfully and successfully go on with her duty. So when we press God with arguments in prayer, it is not so much to persuade him to help us, “for the Father himself loveth you,” Joh 16:27 saith Christ, and needs no arguments, , b to incite or entice him to show us mercy, as to persuade our own hearts to more faith, love, humility, &c., that we may be in a capacity to receive that mercy that of his own accord he hath for us, and even waits to confer upon us. Isa 30:18 Look how a man that would make a bladder capacious to hold sweet spices, blows it and rubs it, and blows it, and rubs it many times over to make it hold the more: so it is here. And as when a man that is in a ship plucks a rock, it seems as if he plucked the rock nearer the ship, whenas in very deed the ship is plucked nearer the rock: so when God’s people think they draw God to them with their arguments, in truth they draw themselves nearer to God, who sometimes ascribeth that to us which is his own work, that we may abound more and more. Certum est nos facere quod facimus, sed ille facit ut faciamus. c True it is that we do what we do, but it is he that giveth us to do what we do in his service. The bowls of the candlestick had no oil but that which dropped from the olive branches.
Whether the tender grape appear.
And the pomegranates bud forth.
There will I give thee my loves,
a A. Gel. lib. iii., cap. 29.
b Homer.
c Augustine.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
loves = endearments. Hebrew. dodim, as in Son 1:2, Son 1:4, and Son 4:10, Son 4:10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
get: Pro 8:17, Ecc 9:10
let us see: Son 6:11, Pro 24:30, Pro 24:31, Act 15:36, 2Co 13:5, 1Th 3:5, 1Th 3:6, Heb 12:15
the tender: Son 2:13, Son 2:15, Isa 18:5
appear: Heb. open
there will I give thee: Son 7:6, Son 4:16, Exo 25:22, Psa 43:4, Psa 63:3-8, Psa 73:25, Psa 122:5, Eze 20:40, Eze 20:41, Rom 5:11, 2Co 5:14, 2Co 5:15, Eph 6:24, Heb 4:16
Reciprocal: Gen 27:27 – the smell of a field Ecc 2:4 – I planted Son 1:2 – thy love Son 4:13 – are Son 8:2 – I would cause Son 8:11 – had a Son 8:13 – dwellest Eze 15:2 – What Joh 15:1 – husbandman
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Son 7:12. Let us get up early The church having lost her beloved, by her former laziness, now doubles her diligence; to the vineyards To particular congregations. Let us see if the vines, &c. Let us inquire into the success of our labours, what souls are brought in and built up, and how they prosper and grow in grace. There will I give thee my loves There I will discover the fervency of my affections to thee, and maintain communion with thee in thy holy ordinances.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
7:12 Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the {e} vine flourisheth, [whether] the tender grape appeareth, [and] the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my
loves.
(e) If the people that are called to Christ bring forth any fruit.