“As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, And his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting-place, And his banner over me was love. Sustain me with raisins, refresh me with apples, For I am ailing from love. His left hand is under my head, And his right hand embraces me.”
The maiden shyly responds and likens her beloved to an apple tree. The apple tree both provides ample shade and is fruitful. Thus it outdoes other trees. And so to her it is like ‘her beloved' in comparison with other men. For in her eyes he outshines them all. We note that she does not compare him with a tall cedar or a mighty oak. Her thought here is more on the fact that she can feast on him. That is why she wants to partake of his apples (verse 5). We learn later that outside her house was an apple tree that had great significance for her, which adds weight to the thought here (Song of Solomon 8:5).
So she has sat under his shadow, out of the sun, with great delight, and his fruit is sweet to her taste, for he is now her protector and provider, and it is a wonderful position to be in. What is more he has brought her to his banqueting tent (his ‘house of wine' where she can drink of his love to the full - Song of Solomon 1:2), and the banner flying over it indicates that it is the place of ‘love'. Indeed she is so swept away by the thought of his love, and her own given in response, that it even makes her feel weak and faint, and so she calls on the servants for raisin-cakes and apples, the food of love, to sustain her (compare 1 Samuel 30:12). And when she faints and then comes back to consciousness she finds that his left hand is under her head, and he is embracing her with his right. No wonder that she is quivering with emotion. But she is not afraid. She is confident that she is safe in his arms. The innocence of her position comes out in that the servants are still present to meet her requests, and the daughters of Jerusalem are still around them. And so is ending her first romantic meeting with her beloved.
What a wonderful picture we have here of our Lord Jesus Christ and His love for us. He too is a shadow from the heat, and a covert from the tempest (Isaiah 32:2), and the one Who supplies all our need, and feeds us with the fruits of delight, for He promises, ‘He who comes to Me will never hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst' (John 6:35). And we too have come to His house of wine (Luke 22:18). To us the wine is not only a picture of rejoicing and plenty and future blessing (Isaiah 25:6; Matthew 26:29), but also of the blood that He shed for us as He gave Himself for our salvation, bearing on Himself the sins of the world (1 John 2:1-2), and through which He brings us into His new covenant (Matthew 26:27-28). Unless we partake of Him we have no life in us (John 6:53).
Over His house of wine proudly flies the banner of love, for it is there that we are found within His arms. Indeed it is even better for us for we are rooted and grounded in His never failing love so that as His church we might experience its length, breadth, depth and height and know the love of Christ which passes all knowledge as we are filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19). And we have His promise that if we, ‘Seek first the Kingly Rule of God and His righteousness, all these things will be added to you' (Matthew 6:33). He will make full provision for us because we are His. When we think of the vastness of His love we too should surely be feeling emotional in His presence.
Her cry for apples can be seen in the light of Proverbs 25:11, ‘A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in baskets of silver', which fits aptly here, for it is through His words fitly spoken that we receive His guidance and words of love. Our desire also should thus constantly be to hear His voice speaking to us.