Song of Solomon 8:1-2

Maiden’s Fanciful Wish

1 {How I wish that you were my little brother}, [who] nursed {upon my mother's breasts}! [If] {I met you outside}, I would kiss you, {and no one would despise me}!

2 {I would surely bring you} to the house of my mother, {who would surely teach me}; {I would give you spiced wine to drink}, the {sweet wine} of my pomegranates.

Song of Solomon 8:1-2 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SONG OF SOLOMON 8

This chapter begins with an ardent wish of the church for a free and intimate converse with Christ; declaring what she would do to him, and for him, should she have such an interview with him, So 8:1,2; what familiarity should be between them, So 8:3; charging the daughters of Jerusalem not to give him any disturbance, So 8:4. Upon which they inquire who she was that was in such a posture they saw her in, So 8:5; when the church, instead of giving them an answer, says some things concerning her beloved, on whom they saw her leaning; and makes some requests to him for more nearness to him, and manifestations of his love to her; urged from the strength her love and affections to him, which was invincible, So 8:6,7. Next follows a speech of the church about her little sister; expressing a concern for her, and what she would do to her and with her, So 8:8,9; and the answer of the little sister, declaring what she, was, and what she enjoyed, So 8:10; then the words of the church again, concerning her husband's vineyard; the place, keepers, and profit of it, So 8:11,12. And the chapter, and with it the Song, is concluded with a request of Christ to the church, that he might hear her voice, So 8:13; and with a petition of hers to him, that he would come quickly to her, So 8:14.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "O that he would give you like a brother to me"
• [b]. The Hebrew construction (which is somewhat misleading if rendered in a woodenly literal sense) is an idiom expressing one's fanciful wish
• [c]. Literally "at the breast of my mother"
• [d]. Literally "I will find you in the street"
• [e]. Literally "also they would not despise me"
• [f]. Literally "I would lead you and I would bring you"
• [g]. The combination of the two verbs creates a hendiadys which may be rendered more cogently as "I would surely bring you ..."
• [h]. Literally "she will teach me"
• [i]. Literally "I would give you to drink from the wine of the spice"
• [j]. Or "juice"
• [k]. The traditional Hebrew reads the singular "my pomegranate." However, the plural reading "my pomegranates" is attested in numerous medieval Hebrew manuscripts and is reflected in the ancient versions (Greek Septuagint, Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta). The latter makes the most sense in this context as a euphemistic description of the maiden's delights