Song of Songs 7

Song of Songs 7​
Christian Standard Bible

7 How beautiful are your sandaled feet, princess!
The curves of your thighs are like jewelry,
the handiwork of a master.
2 Your navel is a rounded bowl;
it never lacks mixed wine.
Your belly is a mound of wheat
surrounded by lilies.
3 Your breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
4 Your neck is like a tower of ivory,
your eyes like pools in Heshbon
by Bath-rabbim’s gate.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
looking toward Damascus.
5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel,
the hair of your head like purple cloth--
a king could be held captive in your tresses.
6 How beautiful you are and how pleasant,
my love, with such delights!
7 Your stature is like a palm tree;
your breasts are clusters of fruit.
8 I said, “I will climb the palm tree
and take hold of its fruit.”
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes,
and the fragrance of your breath like apricots.
9 Your mouth is like fine wine--

Woman
flowing smoothly for my love,
gliding past my lips and teeth!
10 I am my love’s,
and his desire is for me.

11 Come, my love,
let’s go to the field;
let’s spend the night among the henna blossoms.
12 Let’s go early to the vineyards;
let’s see if the vine has budded,
if the blossom has opened,
if the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give you my caresses.
13 The mandrakes give off a fragrance,
and at our doors is every delicacy,
both new and old.
I have treasured them up for you, my love.

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The chapter is written in the CSB such that the speaker/singer changes abruptly in the middle of verse 9, but I think it's because it's uncertain who is speaking verse 9 to whom (it makes sense both ways, but verse 8 is definitely being said by the Man to the Woman and verse 10 is definitely being said by the Woman to the Man).  I think the thought here is that this is like a musical where one person starts singing and the other person picks up in the middle (finishing the person's sentence) and continues with their own verse.

This is probably the moment of their reunification when they have found each other after Solomon goes out to look for her and she has gone to one of Solomon's favorite places to look for him.  It is as he is singing about how much he loves her and desires to be a faithful husband to her once again that she suddenly appears and joins the chorus.  She takes him back without question or reservation, though he by no means deserves it.  She has made a vow to him until death separates them, and nothing, not even Solomons continued unfaithfulness, can make the Shulamite woman stop loving him.  Aren't we glad that God's love is even stronger than this?  We often are unfaithful to Him, and He still seeks after us and wants to have us back (like the Good Shepherd going after the 1 lost sheep, leaving the other 99 to find the one that has wandered off).

She desires intimacy with her husband once more (mandrakes were used as an aphrodisiac, and we're already aware of all the symbols of fruit, blossoms, gardens, vineyards, etc from this song already).  We'll have one more chapter next time that will be the conclusion of the song.  I hope you see why this is a text taught to many young people before they get married, but I hope that you don't ever have to experience the infidelity that the Man made the Woman experience.  She had made a choice to always love him--it wasn't a choice of emotion of what felt good like it was for the man, it was a deeper love that lived out in action first by waiting for him, and then by searching for him, even when she knew he was unfaithful.  She just wanted him to come home and be with her again.