Song of Songs 2:16

Context

Song of Songs 2:8–17 is a passage spoken by the woman. Her beloved comes over the mountains to find her and calls, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away" (2:10–13). The charge to catch "the little foxes, that spoil the vines" follows (2:15). The woman then declares, "My beloved is mine, and I am his." In the next verse (2:17), she asks him to return like a roe or a young hart before the day ends. The same declaration reappears in reverse order in 6:3 and is echoed in a similar form in 7:10.

Interpretation

• Literal reading: This reading treats the verse as poetry celebrating love between a man and a woman, expressed as an exclusive and mutual belonging. Many modern commentators and evangelical scholars accept it as the primary meaning.
• Traditional Jewish reading: Rabbinic tradition and the Targum (an Aramaic translation and paraphrase) have read the Song of Songs as an expression of the love between God and Israel. Some commentators note that the mutual belonging in this verse resembles the covenant formula "I will be your God, and ye shall be my people."
• Christian allegorical reading: Allegory is a method of reading in which the persons and objects of a text are understood as symbols pointing to spiritual realities. From Origen onward, the medieval mystical tradition and Puritan commentators read this verse as describing the union of Christ and the church, or of Christ and the individual believer. The picture of the beloved feeding his flock is linked with the image of Christ as the Shepherd (John 10:11–15).
• Integrated reading: Many Protestant interpreters today regard marital love as the original meaning. On the basis of Ephesians 5:31–32, they also apply the verse secondarily to the relationship between Christ and the church.

Questions of Application

One tradition of devotional literature traces a progression from 2:16 (he is mine, and I am his) through 6:3 (I am his) to 7:10 (I am his, and his desire is toward me). It reads this sequence as the growth of a self-centered love into a love centered on the other. Hudson Taylor's devotional meditation on the Song of Songs, Union and Communion, is known for this reading. Other interpreters regard the differences in wording as poetic variations and urge caution about reading them as intended stages.

The verse also raises questions of translation. The Hebrew text does not explicitly state the object "flock." Some translations therefore depict the man himself grazing like a gazelle rather than pasturing a flock. The precise flower meant by the Hebrew word shoshannah, translated "lily," is also uncertain.

In Korean Protestant churches, the verse is sometimes used in sermons at wedding services and on similar occasions as a text on the mutual belonging of husband and wife.

Related Passages

• Song of Songs 6:3
• Song of Songs 7:10
• Ephesians 5:31–32
• Leviticus 26:12
• John 10:14