Song of Solomon 8:2

Son 8:2 I would lead thee, [and] bring thee into my mother’s house, [who] would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate.

Ver. 2. I would lead thee and bring thee.] With solemnity and joy. She speaks it twice, as fully resolved to do it; and hereby to bind herself more straitly to a performance, I would not only kiss thee at the door, but bring thee into the house. Many are strict abroad and in company, but much too loose at home and in their own houses; follow these stage players to their dressing rooms, where they disrobe themselves, and you shall soon see what they are. Heed must be taken, say the very heathen, Aedibus in propriis quae prava aut recta gerantur. Religion admits not of that distinction between a good man and a good governor. If you will be for the public, be good in private; bear your own fruit, work in your own hives, reform your own hearts and houses, man your own oars, and make good your own standing. Cato could say that he could pardon all men’s faults but his own. {a} And Augustus, going about to redress some abuses in the state, was upbraided with his own domestic disorders. Abraham had a well ordered family; so had Joshua, {Jos 24:15} David. {Psa 101:1-8} And although his house were not so with God, yet that was all his desire. {2Sa 23:5} And he well knew that it was the care, not the cure, of his charge that he stood charged with. {b} Noah may bring the Lord Christ into his house, and labour to set him up in the hearts of his children, speaking persuasively to that purpose; but when all is done, God must "persuade Japheth," and speak to his heart. Now this the Lord doth, Monendo potius quam minando, docendo quam ducendo. Hence the Church in the next words cries out,

Thou shalt instruct me.] For so the text is to be rendered. Thou who art the arch-prophet, a teacher sent from God, anointed and appointed for the purpose to put divine learning into us, "thou shalt instruct or learn us." Now, quando Christus magister, quam cito discitur quod docetar? saith Augustine. Christ is a quick teacher; and all his scholars are very forwardly. Nescit tarda molimina gratia Spiritus Sancti, saith Ambrose. God’s people must needs be well taught, because they are "all taught of God." {c}

I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine.] Such as we call Ipocras, which, besides the nature and strength of the wine itself, hath, by the mixture of many spices with it, great power and pleasantness, to the comforting of the heart, and satisfying of the smell. And this was the διδακτρον Minervale, recompense, that Christ should have for teaching her. She resolveth to testify her thankfulness by her obedience, rendering unto him such fruits of faith and holiness as should be sweetened and spicened with his own Spirit in her, and should exceedingly delight him. Contrary to these λιπαρα και λαμπρα, these "dainty and goodly fruits," {Rev 18:14} are those nasty and naughty ones, {Isa 5:4} that, besides their stench, are so offensive to the taste that they cannot be eaten, they are so naught. {Jer 24:2} Wicked men’s grapes are of gall, and their wine is venom; {Deu 32:32-33} both their natures and practices are abominable.

{a} Plut.; Dio.

{b} Curam exegeris, non curationem. - Bern.

{c} Yεοδιδακτοι. {Joh 6:45}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Who would instruct me - Or, thou shouldest teach me Isa 54:13. Some allegorists make the whole passage Cant. 7:11–8:2 a prayer of the synagogue for the Incarnation of the Word, like Son 1:2 (see note). Others, a prayer of the Church under both covenants for that complete union with the Incarnate Godhead which is still future.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Son 8:2-3. I would lead and bring thee — With joy and triumph, as the bridegroom was usually brought to the bride’s house; into my mother’s house, who would instruct me — How I should behave myself toward thee: or, as the clause may be rendered, where she did instruct, or educate me. I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine, &c. — I would give thee the best entertainment the house affords. My gifts and graces should all be employed to serve and glorify thee. His left hand, &c. — The same expressions are used Son 2:6. The sense is, He would not despise me for my forwardness in my affection to him, but would kindly accept of my love, and return it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8:2-3 bring you to my childhood home (literally to my mother’s house): Cp. 3:4.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 2. Would - bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me] She would teach me how to conduct myself towards thee, as she would how to nurse a young child.

To drink of spiced: wine] Wine rendered peculiarly strong and invigorating. The bride and bridegroom on the wedding day both drank out of the same cup, to show that they were to enjoy and equally bear together the comforts and adversities of life.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(2) Juice of my pomegranate.—“The Orientals,” says Dr. Kitto, “indulge largely in beverages made of fresh juice of various kinds of fruits. Among these, sherbet made of pomegranate juice is particularly esteemed; and from its agreeable and cooling acidity, the present writer was himself accustomed to prefer it to any other drink of this description.” The meaning of the verse is explained by Son_1:2; Son_5:1; Son_7:9.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. The bride thinks with delight of the close familiar intercourse she would in that case have had with him.

who would instruct me] The verb here may be either 3rd pers. sing. fem. as the A.V. takes it, or 2nd pers. sing. masc. as the Vulgate and Targum take it. In the latter case the translation would be, ‘thou wilt instruct me,’ or as R.V. margin, ‘that thou mightest instruct me.’ If we adopt the former view, the meaning must be that the Shulammite’s mother would instruct her how to play a maiden’s part to her betrothed lover; if the latter, that her lover would be able to impart to her his wisdom. But in both cases the wish that he had been her brother must be understood to have been given up, or lost sight of; and in the latter it may be doubted whether this exaltation of the wisdom of the beloved is an Eastern trait at all, unless the instruction is instruction in agriculture, as Oettli suggests, comparing Isa_28:23-28 and ch. Son_7:12. That is surely too prosaic. But in ch. Son_3:4 the clause “until I had brought him into my mother’s house” is followed by the words, “and into the chamber of her that conceived me,” and the LXX and the Syriac actually have these words here in place of who would instruct me. This reading would keep the whole clause in harmony with the wish in Son_8:1, and probably should be accepted.

of the juice of my pomegranate] Rather, my new pomegranate wine. Asîs is the juice of grapes or other fruit, trodden out in the wine-press and fermented quickly; cp. Isa_49:26, “As with ’âsîs they shall be drunk with their own blood”; Joe_1:5; Joe_3:18; Amo_9:13. Tristram (Nat. Hist. p. 388) says of the pomegranate, “The juice was and still is expressed for a cooling drink, or sherbet, and sometimes also fermented into a light wine. It is now commonly used in the East with sugar or spices, and then strained before being fermented. The wine of the pomegranate does not keep long and is very light.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Teach me economy, on which subject Xenophon represents the newly married entertaining themselves. --- Wine. Mark xv. 23., and Osee xiv. 8. Nectar was of this description, (Calmet) being composed of wine, honey, and odoriferous flowers. The best was made at Babylon. (Atheneus i. 25., and ii. 2.) --- These liquors intimate all the virtues, which Christ has taught; the practice of which affords him the greatest satisfaction, John xiv. 23. They are best learnt in retirement, (Calmet) and from our great teacher, Micheas iv. 2. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Bring thee, with joy and triumph, as the bridegroom was usually brought to the bride’s house. See Psa 45:14,15.

Into my mother’s house; either,

1. My mother’s-inlaw, my husband’s mother, as the custom was, Gen 24:61; Jdg 12:9. Or,

2. My own mother’s, to show her extraordinary respect and affection to him. In the mystical sense both come to one; for the universal church was in some sort both his and her mother.

Who would instruct me, to wit, how I should behave myself towards thee. Or, where she did instruct or educate me.

I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate; I would give thee the best entertainment which the house affords. My gifts and graces should all be employed to serve and glorify thee.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. I would lead thee — That is, from the street.

Who would instruct me — Hebrew, Thou shouldst be my teacher. There should be a pause between spiced wine and of the juice of my pomegranate, as they refer to entirely distinct things.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Instruct me - Or, where she did instruct or educate me. I would - My gifts and graces should all be employed to serve and glorify thee.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

The young woman continues to speak to the man.

I would lead you and bring you into my mother's house

If the man were her brother, she could bring him to the family home. This was normal in that culture and is still today in some.

she who taught me

taught her how to make love (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

I would give you spiced wine to drink and some of the juice of my pomegranates

The woman uses these images to say that she will give herself to the man and make love with him. (See: Metaphor)

spiced wine

"wine with spices" or "wine that has spices in it." This represents the intoxicating power of lovemaking. (See: Metaphor)

His left hand ... embraces me

See how you translated this in Song of Songs 2:6.

left hand ... right hand

"left arm ... right arm"

embraces me

"holds me"

translationWords

teach

wine

pomegranate

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

to the house of my mother the Temple.

who instructed me as You were accustomed to do in the Tent of Meeting.

I would give you to drink some spiced wine libations.

of the juice sweet wine.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.