The Lost Lover Found, 1-2
The Maidens to the Beloved:
6:1 Where has your beloved gone,
O most beautiful among women?
Where has your beloved turned?
Tell us, that we may seek him with you.
The Beloved to the Maidens:
6:2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the flowerbeds of balsam spices,
to graze in the gardens,
and to gather lilies.
Poetic Refrain: Mutual Possession, 3
The Beloved about Her Lover:
6:3 I am my lover’s and my lover is mine;
he grazes among the lilies.
The Renewal of Love, 4-10
The Lover to His Beloved:
6:4 My darling, you are as beautiful as Tirzah,
as lovely as Jerusalem,
as awe-inspiring as bannered armies!
6:5 Turn your eyes away from me—
they overwhelm me!
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from Mount Gilead.
6:6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
coming up from the washing;
each has its twin;
not one of them is missing.
6:7 Like a slice of pomegranate
is your forehead behind your veil.
6:8 There may be sixty queens,
and eighty concubines,
and young women without number.
6:9 But she is unique!
My dove, my perfect one!
She is the special daughter of her mother,
she is the favorite of the one who bore her.
The maidens saw her and complimented her;
the queens and concubines praised her:
6:10 “Who is this who appears like the dawn?
Beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,
awe-inspiring as the stars in procession?”
The Return to the Vineyards, 11-12
The Lover to His Beloved:
6:11 I went down to the orchard of walnut trees,
to look for the blossoms of the valley,
to see if the vines had budded
or if the pomegranates were in bloom.
6:12 I was beside myself with joy!
There please give me your myrrh,
O daughter of my princely people.
I went down to the orchard of walnut trees – Duguid cites Richard Brooks:
‘Why is the church described now as a ‘garden of nuts’ (NIV: grove of nut-trees)? The garden is already a familiar picture in the Song where the church is concerned (for example, 4:12). The nut in question is probably the walnut, having as hard shell with a sweet kernel. This would be suitable as a figurative expression of the church in its relationship both to Christ and the world, going through many tribulations in entering the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). The life of the believer is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people (Ps. 125:2).’
Duguid judges this to be a specimen of interpretation by ‘free association’: