Song of Solomon 4:16 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Song of Solomon 4:16
Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.
to wake (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
wind
צָפוֹן֙tza.fOn
H6828
properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
come
וּב֣וֹאִיu.Vo.'i
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
south
תֵימָ֔ןtei.Man
H8486
the south (as being on the right hand of a person facin… · noun, common feminine singular absolute
blow
הָפִ֥יחִיha.Fi.chi
H6315
to puff · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
garden
גַנִּ֖יga.Ni
H1588
a garden (as fenced) · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix
spices
בְשָׂמָ֑יוve.sa.Mav
H1314
fragrance · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
out
יִזְּל֣וּyi.ze.Lu
H5140
to drip · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
beloved
דוֹדִי֙do.Di
H1730
(figuratively) to love · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
come
יָבֹ֤אya.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
garden
לְגַנּ֔וֹle.ga.No
H1588
a garden (as fenced) · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
eat
וְיֹאכַ֖לve.yo.Khal
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine singular
pleasant
מְגָדָֽיוme.ga.Dav
H4022
properly · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
fruits
פְּרִ֥יpe.Ri
H6529
fruit (literally or figuratively) · noun, common masculine singular construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Song of Solomon 6:2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
Song of Solomon 5:1 I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drun…
Song of Solomon 4:13-14 Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,
Song of Solomon 7:12-13 Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: ther…
Ezekiel 37:9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds,…
Acts 2:1-2 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus…
Ecclesiastes 1:6 The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
John Gill on Song of Solomon 4:16
Awake, O north wind,.... These words, according to some (l), are the words of the church continued, praying for the spirit; to which sense the order and connection of the words seem to incline; though the language suits best with Christ, who has the command of the winds, and a right and property in the garden, the church: nor does it seem so agreeable, that the church should petition Christ to let loose the north wind upon her, if by that are meant afflictive dispensations of Providence; but agrees well enough with Christ, since these come not without his will and order, and by him made to work together for good; by which he nips the corruptions of his people, tries their graces, and causes…
Come into your garden, my love; taste its finest fruits: Finally, the woman invites the man to enter her and experience her now-unlocked body in all its sensual perfection. • The man had poetically affirmed the woman’s chastity (4:12). However, she is totally and exclusively committed to him, so she reveals her treasures and invites him into the garden.
Rashi on Song of Solomon 4:16
Awake, wind from the north, and come, wind of the south. Since they are pleasing to me— your fragrance and the beauty of your dwellings, I command the north and south winds to blow upon your garden so that your good fragrance should spread afar. The allegory is: It refers to the ingathering of the exiles, and from all the nations they will bring them as an offering to Yerusholayim, and in the days of the rebuilding [of the Beis Hamikdosh], the [Bnei] Yisroel will be gathered there for the festivals and for the pilgrimages, and Yisroel will reply, “Let my Beloved come to His garden,” for if You are there, all are there.
Arise, O north wind, and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out (Canticles iv. 16). As Joseph was delighted with these spices, he is designated the King's son by God; as the Virgin Mary was anointed with them, she conceived the Word: then new secrets, and new truth, and a new kingdom, and also great and inexplicable mysteries, are made manifest.
Having thus learned where to seek out Christ, learn now how to merit that he may be seeking you. Arouse the Holy Spirit by saying, "Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, and let its fragrance be wafted abroad. Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its choicest fruits." The garden of the Word is the affection of a flourishing soul, and its fruit is the produce of virtue.
Recognize also the voice of the church inviting us when it says, "Arise, O north wind, and come, O south wind, blow through my garden and let my ointments flow forth. Let my brother come down into his garden and eat the fruit of his apple trees." For knowing even then, O holy church, that from these also you would have fruitful works, you promised to your anointed one the fruit from such as these. It was you who first said that you were brought into the king's chamber, loving [Christ's] breasts above wine. For you loved him who loved you, you sought him who nourished you, and you despised dangers for religion's sake.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Flowers — Very few species of flowers are mentioned in the Bible although they abounded in Palestine. It has been calculated that in Western Syria and Palestine from two thousand to two thousand five hundred…
Forest — Heb. ya’ar, meaning a dense wood, from its luxuriance. Thus all the great primeval forests of Syria (Eccl. 2:6; Isa. 44:14; Jer. 5:6; Micah 5:8). The most extensive was the trans-Jordanic forest of…
Bridegroom · General references — General references
Fruits · Divided into: Pleasant — Divided into: Pleasant
Gardens · Kinds of, mentioned in scripture: Spices, &c — Kinds of, mentioned in scripture: Spices, &c
Wind, The · Mentioned in scripture: North — Mentioned in scripture: North
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
