The YOUNG WIFE continues her words to her beloved husband.
“Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, Let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards, Let us see whether the vine has budded, And its blossom is open, And the pomegranates are in flower. There will I give you my love. The mandrakes give forth fragrance, And at our doors are all manner of precious fruits, new and old, Which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.”
The Beloved's wife now calls on him in their reunited love to go forth with her into the countryside and the villages, and into the vineyards to see whether the vines have budded and the pomegranates are in flower. It is there that she will give him her love, in the place where the mandrakes (famous as an aphrodisiac - see Genesis 30:14-16) give forth their fragrance. The provision of ‘all manner of precious fruits' at ‘our doors', which she has laid up for him, may indicate the promise of the pleasures of love. The plural ‘our doors' probably indicates the recognition of her as their princess by her countrymen and countrywomen. They gladly leave their gifts, possibly even tribute to their tribal chieftain, for her to share with her husband. But it may indicate a personal offering of herself to her beloved husband.
We can see how these verses might well have been used by the country folk in worship at their local feasts as they offered their love unrestrainedly to God. And it is a reminder to us that wherever we are we also should be desirous of going aside with our Beloved and offering up ourselves and our worship to Him, because we love Him so.