Bible Study Song of Solomon 7
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Song of Solomon 7 · WEB

How Beautiful Are Your Feet

Listen — WEB narration 0:00 / 0:00 Narration: World English Bible (David Williams), public domain — AudioTreasure.

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How beautiful are your feet in sandals, prince's daughter! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skillful workman.
2Your body is like a round goblet, which doesn't lack mixed wine. Your waist is like a heap of wheat, set about with lilies.
3Your two breasts are like two fawns, that are twins of a roe.
4Your neck is like a tower of ivory. Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath Rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus.
5Your head on you is like Carmel. The hair of your head like purple. The king is held captive in its tresses.
6How beautiful and how pleasant you are, love, for delights!
7This stature of yours is like a palm tree, the clusters of your fruit like grapes.
8I said, "I will climb the palm tree. I will take hold of its fruit." Let your breasts be like clusters of the vine, the fragrance of your breath like apples,
9Your mouth like the best wine. *She:* that flows smoothly for my beloved, gliding through the lips of those who are asleep.
10I am my beloved's. His desire is toward me.
11Come, my beloved, let's go out into the field. Let's lodge in the villages.
12Let's go early to the vineyards. Let's see whether the vine has budded, its blossom is open, and the pomegranates are in flower. There I will give you my love.
13The mandrakes give fragrance, and at our doors are all kinds of precious fruits, new and old, which I have stored up for you, my beloved.
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Summary

Song of Solomon 7 contains the book's most extensive *wasf* — this time beginning from the feet upward. The beloved's description of the woman moves from feet to head in an ascending journey of admiration, culminating in his declaration that she is held captive in her beauty and he intends to climb her as a palm tree to take hold of its fruit. The woman responds with the third and final form of the mutual possession formula — this time acknowledging his desire toward her — and then she takes the initiative, inviting him to go with her into the countryside where she will give him her love.

Themes

  • The ascending *wasf* — beauty admired from ground to crown
  • The woman's active desire and initiative — she invites, she leads, she gives
  • The third mutual possession formula — "I am my beloved's, his desire is toward me"
  • The reversal of the Genesis curse — desire redeemed in covenant love
  • The countryside as the setting for love — nature as the context for intimacy

Key verses

  • Song 7:10 — “I am my beloved's. His desire is toward me.”
  • Song 7:11-12 — “Come, my beloved, let's go out into the field... There I will give you my love.”
  • Song 7:6 — “How beautiful and how pleasant you are, love, for delights!”

Context & background

Song of Solomon 7's *wasf* (vv. 1-9) begins at the feet — the only top-to-bottom description in the book's three *wasf* poems — perhaps evoking the dance of the Shulamite mentioned at the end of chapter 6. The geographical references are revealing: Heshbon (v. 4) is in modern Jordan (ancient Moab), east of the Jordan River, known for its pools; Bath Rabbim ("daughter of many") may be a city gate there. Carmel (v. 5) is the beautiful coastal mountain range of northern Israel, lush and forested. Damascus (v. 4) is the ancient Syrian capital (modern Damascus, Syria), mentioned as the direction the Lebanon tower faces — a compass of the whole land. Most significantly, verse 10's "his desire is toward me" (*teshuqah*) directly echoes Genesis 3:16, where God says to Eve "your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you" — in the context of the curse. Here, the same word describes the man's desire toward the woman — the dynamic is reversed and mutually honoring, suggesting the Song portrays love as the redemption of what sin distorted.

Cross-references

  • 1 Corinthians 7:3-5 — mutual obligation and desire in marriage — v. 10
  • Genesis 3:16 — "your desire will be for your husband" — v. 10's reversal of the curse
  • Hosea 2:14-16 — "I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her" — vv. 11-12
  • John 4:35 — "look at the fields, they are ripe for harvest" — vv. 11-12 in allegorical reading
  • Proverbs 31:28-29 — "her husband also praises her: 'many women do noble things'" — vv. 1-9

Check your reading

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  1. Observe

    Where does the beloved's *wasf* begin in chapter 7?

  2. Observe

    What does the woman initiate in verses 11-12?

  3. Interpret

    What does the *teshuqah* of verse 10 ("his desire is toward me") signify in relation to Genesis 3:16?

  4. Interpret

    What does the third form of the mutual possession formula add to the previous two?

  5. Apply

    What does the woman's active initiative in verses 11-13 model for one's relationships?

  6. Apply

    What does it look like to "store up precious fruits, new and old" (v. 13) for an important relationship?

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