Song of Solomon 1:15

SOLOMON CONTINUES HIS FLATTERY

"Behold, thou art fair, my love;

Behold thou art fair;

Thine eyes are as doves.

Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant:

Also our couch is green.

The beams of our house are cedars,

And our rafters are firs

(Song of Solomon 2:1)

I am a rose of Sharon,

A lily of the valleys."

"The adjectives in this verse are feminine,"[17] therefore they cannot apply to Solomon, who must be understood as the speaker here, not the one spoken to. He is thus continuing his flattery of the Shulamite maiden.

Balchin sees this verse as the Shulamite's loving remembrance of her true love, thus construing the house of cedars with rafters of firs as the scene of their love-making outdoors. This writer cannot accept that, because there is no evidence that the maiden here is speaking. Oh yes, the adjectives are masculine; but so what? Solomon was applying the words to himself in order to impress the maiden. Of course, he would have used masculine pronouns. That Solomon is the one spoken of here is inherent in the mention of the cedar palace, the triple flattery, "Behold, thou art fair my love," and in the fact that there has been no change in the maiden's identification of her lover back in Song of Solomon 1:7. It is impossible to suppose that, suddenly, Solomon is her true love here. Also, the proposition that the maiden would have referred to herself as the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley is not half as attractive as the one that makes the words Solomon's conceited flattery of himself (Someone was certainly flattering himself here). He was still trying to overwhelm the maiden with his persistent advances. We also believe that Song of Solomon 2:2 proves Solomon is the speaker here.