5 Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I aroused you. There your mother conceived you. There she was in labor and bore you.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The scene changes from Jerusalem to the birthplace of the bride, where she is seen coming up toward her mother's house, leaning on the arm of the great king her beloved.
Who is this - Compare and contrast with Song 3:6. In the former scene all was splendor and exaltation, but here condescension, humility, and loving charm.
I raised thee up - Beneath this apple-tree I wakened thee. The king calls the bride's attention to a fruit-tree, which they pass, the trysting-spot of earliest vows in this her home and birthplace. The Masoretic pointing of the Hebrew text (the most ancient traditional interpretation) assigns these words to the bride, but the majority of Christian fathers to the king. The whole passage gains in clearness and dramatic expression by the latter arrangement.
That cometh up from the wilderness - Perhaps the words of the daughters of Jerusalem, who, seeing the bride returning from the country, leaning on the arm of her beloved, are filled with admiration at her excellent carriage and beauty.
I raised thee up under the apple tree - The original of this clause is obscure, and has given birth to various translations. The following is nearly literal: "Under the apple tree I excited thee (to espouse me): there, thy mother contracted thee; - there, she that brought thee forth contracted thee (to me). Or it may be understood of the following circumstance: The bridegroom found her once asleep under an apple tree, and awoke her; and this happened to be the very place where her mother, taken in untimely labor, had brought her into the world." And here the bridegroom, in his fondness and familiarity, recalls these little adventures to her memory.
The Vulgate gives this an abominable meaning.
Sub arbore malo suscitavi te: ibi corrupta est mater tua; ibi violata est genetrix tua; "I raised thee up under the apple tree: it was there that thy mother was corrupted; it was there that she who brought thee forth was violated." Spiritually, all this is applied to Eve losing her purity by sin; and Jesus as the promised seed raising her up by the promise of mercy, through the blood of his cross. But the text says nothing of this.
(Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness?.... Which words are spoken by the daughters of Jerusalem, occasioned by her charge to them, by which they were excited to look more earnestly at her, whom Christ had indulged with so much nearness to him; at which they express their surprise, and describe her by her ascent "from the wilderness"; that is, of the world, out of which she was chosen and called; and from a state of nature, out of which she was brought; and was rising up in a state of grace to a state of glory; See Gill on Song 3:6;
leaning upon her beloved); faith in Christ, whom her soul loved, and who loved her, is signified hereby; see Isaiah 50:10; which is the grace by which believers lean on the person of Christ, for acceptance with God; on his righteousness, for justification; on his fulness, for the supply of their wants; and trust in his blood for pardon and cleansing, The word is only used in this place, and is differently rendered: by some, "casting herself" (l) on him; as sensible sinners do at first conversion, when they venture their souls on Christ, commit the care and keeping of them to him, and trust their whole salvation with him: by others, "joining, associating" (m); cleaving to him, keeping company with him, from the use of the word (n) in the Arabic tongue; so such souls give up themselves to Christ; cleave to him, with full purpose of heart; walk with him, and walk on in him, as they have received him: by others, "rejoicing" or "delighting" (o) herself in him; in the view of his personal glory, transcendent excellencies, inexhaustible fulness, and searchable riches: the Septuagint version is, "strengthened", or "strengthening herself on her beloved"; deriving all her strength from him, to exercise grace, perform duty, withstand temptation, and persevere to the end, conscious of her own weakness; faith, in every sense of the word, is intended;
I raised thee up under the apple tree; not the words of Christ concerning the church, since the affixes are masculine; but what the church said concerning Christ, when leaning on his arm as she went along with him: so the words may be connected with the preceding, by supplying the word "saying", as Michaelis observes; relating a piece of former experience, how that when she was under the apple tree, sat under the shadow of it, Song 2:3; that is, under the ordinances of the Gospel; where, having no sensible communion with Christ for some time, he being as it were asleep, she, by her earnest prayers and entreaties, awaked him, and raised him up, to take notice of her; whereby she enjoyed much nearness to him, and familiarity with him;
there thy mother brought thee forth, there she brought thee forth that bare thee; which may be said either concealing the Old Testament church, who conceived hope of the coming of Christ, waited for it, and was often like a woman in pain until he was brought forth, which at length was done, to the joy of those that looked for him; or of the New Testament church, hoping, looking, waiting for the second coming of Christ, in the exercise of faith and prayer, and is like a woman in travail, and will be until he makes his appearance; and both may be meant, the one by the former, the other by the latter phrase, and may be the reason of the repetition of it. It may be applied to the apostles of Christ, who travailed in birth, until Christ was brought forth into the Gentile world, through the preaching of the Gospel; and so to all Gospel ministers, who are in like case until Christ be formed in the souls of men; which is no other than the new birth, and is attended with pain like that of a woman in travail; and every regenerate person may be said, in this sense, to be Christ's mother, as well as his brother and sister, Matthew 12:50; and each of the above things are usually done under and by the means of the word and ordinances; which may be signified by the apple tree, or, however, the shadow of it.
(l) "injiciens se", Cocceius. (m) "Adjungens se", Montanus; "associans se", Brightman, Schmidt, Marckius, Michaelis; so Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Joseph Kimchi, & R. Song. Urbin. Ohel. Moed, fol. 19. 1. (n) "Raphak, comes fuit; rephik, comes itineris; socius", Golius, col. 1018, 1019. (o) "Deliciis affluens", V. L. "delicians", some in Mercerus, so Kimchi.
The Jewish church came up from the wilderness, supported by Divine power and favour. The Christian church was raised from a low, desolate condition, by the grace of Christ relied on. Believers, by the power of grace, are brought up from the wilderness. A sinful state is a wilderness in which there is no true comfort; it is a wandering, wanting state: There is no coming out of this wilderness, but leaning on Christ as our Beloved, by faith; not leaning to our own understanding, nor trusting in any righteousness of our own; but in the strength of him, who is the Lord our Righteousness. The words of the church to Christ which follow, entreat an abiding place in his love, and protection by his power. Set me as a seal upon thine heart; let me always have a place in thine heart; let me have an impression of love upon thine heart. Of this the soul would be assured, and without a sense thereof no rest is to be found. Those who truly love Christ, are jealous of every thing that would draw them from him; especially of themselves, lest they should do any thing to provoke him to withdraw from them. If we love Christ, the fear of coming short of his love, or the temptations to forsake him, will be most painful to us. No waters can quench Christ's love to us, nor any floods drown it. Let nothing abate our love to him. Nor will life, and all its comforts, entice a believer from loving Christ. Love of Christ, will enable us to repel and triumph over temptations from the smiles of the world, as well as from its frowns.
(CANTICLE V)--FROM THE CALL OF THE GENTILES TO THE CLOSE OF REVELATION. (Song 8:5-14)
Who is this--Words of the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, the churches of Judea; referring to Paul, on his return from Arabia ("the wilderness"), whither he had gone after conversion (Galatians 1:15-24).
I raised thee . . . she . . . bare thee-- (Acts 26:14-16). The first words of Jesus Christ to the bride since her going to the garden of nuts (Song 6:9-10); so His appearance to Paul is the only one since His ascension, Song 8:13 is not an address of Him as visible: her reply implies He is not visible (1-Corinthians 15:8). Spiritually, she was found in the moral wilderness (Ezekiel 16:5; Hosea 13:5); but now she is "coming up from" it (Jeremiah 2:2; Hosea 2:14), especially in the last stage of her journey, her conscious weakness casting itself the more wholly on Jesus Christ (2-Corinthians 12:9). "Raised" (Ephesians 2:1-7). Found ruined under the forbidden tree (Genesis 3:22-24); restored under the shadow of Jesus Christ crucified, "the green tree" (Luke 23:31), fruit-"bearing" by the cross (Isaiah 53:11; John 12:24). "Born again by the Holy Ghost" "there" (Ezekiel 16:3-6). In this verse, her dependence, in the similar verse, Song 3:6, &c., His omnipotence to support her, are brought out (Deuteronomy 33:26).
5a Who is this coming up out of the wilderness,
Leaning on her beloved?
The third Acts; Song 3:6, began with a similar question to that with which the sixth here commences. The former closed the description of the growth of the love-relation, the latter closes that of the consummated love-relation. Instead of "out of the wilderness," the lxx has "clothed in white" (λελευκανθισμένη); the translator has gathered mit
5b Under the apple tree I waked thy love:
There thy mother travailed with thee;
There travailed she that bare thee.
The words, "under the apple tree I waked thee," עוררתּיך, might be regarded as those of Shulamith to Solomon: here, under this apple tree, where Solomon met with her, she won his first love; for the words cannot mean that she wakened him from sleep under the apple tree, since עורר has nowhere the meaning of הקיץ and העיר here given to it by Hitzig, but only that of "to stir, to stir up, to arouse;" and only when sleep or a sleepy condition is the subject, does it mean "to shake out of sleep, to rouse up" (vid., under Song 2:7). But it is impossible that "there" can be used by Shulamith even in the sense of the shepherd hypothesis; for the pair of lovers do not wander to the parental home of the lover, but of his beloved. We must then here altogether change the punctuation of the text, and throughout restore the fem. suffix forms as those originally used: עוררתּיך, חבּלתך אמּך,
(Note: חבּלתך, penult. accented, and Lamed with Pathach in P. This is certainly right. Michlol 33a adduces merely ילדתך of the verse as having Kametz, on account of the pause, and had thus in view חבּ, with the Pathach under Lamed. But P. has also יל, with Pathach under Daleth, and so also has H, with the remark בּ פתחין (viz., here and Jeremiah 22:26). The Biblia Rabbinica 1526 and 1615 have also the same pointing, Pathach under Daleth. In the printed list of words having Pathach in pause, this word is certainly not found. But it is found in the MS list of the Ochla veochla, at Halle.)
and ילדתך (cf. שׁו, Isaiah 47:10), in which we follow the example of the Syr. The allegorizing interpreters also meet only with trouble in regarding the words as those of Shulamith to Solomon. If התפיח were an emblem of the Mount of Olives, which, being wonderfully divided, gives back Israel's dead (Targ.), or an emblem of Sinai (Rashi), in both cases the words are more appropriately regarded as spoken to Shulamith than by her. Aben-Ezra correctly reads them as the words of Shulamith to Solomon, for he thinks on prayers, which are like golden apples in silver bowls; Hahn, for he understands by the apple tree, Canaan, where with sorrow his people brought him forth as their king; Hengstenberg, rising up to a remote-lying comparison, says, "the mother of the heavenly Solomon is at the same time the mother of Shulamith." Hoelemann thinks on Sur. 19:32 f., according to which 'Isaiah, Miriam's son, was born under a palm tree; but he is not able to answer the question, What now is the meaning here of the apple tree as Solomon's birthplace? If it were indeed to be interpreted allegorically, then by the apple tree we would rather understand the "tree of knowledge" of Paradise, of which Aquila, followed by Jerome, with his ἐκεῖ διεφθάρη, appears to think, - a view which recently Godet approves of;
(Note: Others, e.g., Bruno von Asti († 1123) and the Waldensian Exposition, edited by Herzog in the Zeit. fr hist. Theol. 1861: malum = crux dominica. Th. Harms (1870) quotes Song 2:3, and remarks: The church brings forth her children under the apple tree, Christ. Into such absurdities, in violation of the meaning of the words, do the allegorizing interpreters wander.)
there Shulamith, i.e., poor humanity, awakened the compassionate love of the heavenly Solomon, who then gave her, as a pledge of this love, the Protevangelium, and in the neighbourhood of this apple tree, i.e., on the ground and soil of humanity fallen, but yet destined to be saved, Shulamith's mother, i.e., the pre-Christian O.T. church, brought forth the Saviour from itself, who in love raised Shulamith from the depths to regal honour. But the Song of Songs does not anywhere set before us the task of extracting from it by an allegorizing process such far-fetched thoughts. If the masc. suff. is changed into the fem., we have a conversation perfectly corresponding to the situation. Solomon reminds Shulamith by that memorable apple tree of the time when he kindled within her the fire of first love; עורר elsewhere signifies energy (Psalm 80:3), or passion (Proverbs 10:12), put into a state of violent commotion; connected with the accus. of the person, it signifies, Zac 9:13, excited in a warlike manner; here, placed in a state of pleasant excitement of love that has not yet attained its object. Of how many references to contrasted affections the reflex. התע is capable, is seen from Job 17:8; Job 31:29; why not thus also עורר?
With שׁמּה Solomon's words are continued, but not in such a way as that what follows also took place under the apple tree. For Shulamith is not the child of Beduins, who in that case might even have been born under an apple tree. Among the Beduins, a maiden accidentally born at the watering-place (menhîl), on the way (rahîl), in the dew (ṭall) or snow (thelg), is called from that circumstance Munêhil, Ruhêla, Talla, or Thelga.
(Note: Vid., Wetstein's Inschriften (1864), p. 336.)
The birthplace of her love is not also the birthplace of her life. As התפוח points to the apple tree to which their way led them, so שׁמה points to the end of their way, the parental home lying near by (Hitzig).
The lxx translates well: ἐκεῖ ὠδίνησέ σε ἡ μήτηρ σου, for while the Arab. ḥaḅida means concipere, and its Pi., ḥabbada, is the usual word for gravidam facere, חבּל in the passage before us certainly appears to be
(Note: The Arab. ḥabilat, she has conceived, and is in consequence pregnant, accords in the latter sense with ḥamilat, she bears, i.e., is pregnant, without, however, being, as Hitzig thinks, of a cognate root with it. For ḥamal signifies to carry; הבל, on the contrary, to comprehend and to receive (whence also the cord, figuratively, the tie of love, liaison, as enclosing, embracing, is called ḥabl, הבל), and like the Lat. concipere and suscipere, is used not only in a sexual, but also in an ethical sense, to conceive anger, to take up and cherish sorrow. The Assyr. , corresponding to the Hebrews. בן, is explained from this Arab. ḥabl, concipere. On the supposition that the Hebrews. had a word, חבל, of the same meaning as the Arab. ḥabl, then חבּל might mean concipiendo generare; but the Hebrews. sentence lying before us leads to the interpretation eniti.)
a denom. Pi. in the sense of "to bring forth with sorrow" (חבלי היּלדה). The lxx further translates: ἐκεῖ ὠδίνησέ σε ἡ τεκοῦσά σε, in which the σε is inserted, and is thus, as also by the Syr., Jerome, and Venet., translated, with the obliteration of the finite ילדתך, as if the reading were ילדתּך. But not merely is the name of the mother intentionally changed, it is also carried forward from the labour, eniti, to the completed act of birth.
Who - This and the next clause are the words of the bridegroom, who proposes the question, that he may give the answer following. Her beloved - He speaks of himself in the third person, which is usual in the Hebrew language. I raised - When thou wast dead in trespasses and in the depth of misery. Under - Under my own shadow; for she had compared him to an apple tree, and declared, that under the shadow of the tree she had both delight and fruit, Song 2:3, which is the same thing with this raising up. There - Under that tree, either the universal or the primitive church, did conceive and bring thee forth.
*More commentary available at chapter level.