Charles Ellicott Commentary Song Of Solomon 2:1

"I am a rose of Sharon, A lily of the valleys." — Song Of Solomon 2:1 (ASV)

The rose. —Heb., chabatseleth. The identification of this flower is a much-debated question. From its derivation, it should be a bulbous plant (batsal—a bulb), and it happens that the flower which for other reasons best satisfies the requirements is of this kind, namely, the Sweet-scented Narcissus (Narcissus tazetta).

“Others have suggested the crocus, of which there are many species very common, but they are deficient in perfume, and there is no bulb more fragrant than the narcissus; it is, besides, one of which the Orientals are passionately fond. While it is in flower it is to be seen in all the bazaars, and the men as well as the women always carry two or three blossoms, at which they are continually smelling” (Tristram, Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 477).

Dr. Thomson prefers the mallow, from the fact that the Arabs call it khubbazey.

In Isaiah 35:1, the only other place where chabatseleth occurs, the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Chaldee render it “lily,” and many eminent modern scholars translate it as “autumn crocus.” Here the Septuagint and the Vulgate have flower.

Of Sharon. —It is better translated of the plain, as in the Septuagint. Here (as invariably, except in 1 Chronicles 5:16) the Hebrew has the article before sharon, but without definite local allusion to the district north of Philistia.

Many consider this verse a snatch of a song into which the heroine breaks in response to the praises of her beauty. It is certainly spoken with modest and humble intention: “I am a mere flower of the plain, a lily of the valley,” by no means like Tennyson’s “Queen lily and rose in one.”

Lily. —This is how the Septuagint and Vulgate translate it. The Hebrew word is shôshanath (feminine of shôshan, or shûshan; compare the name Susan). This word occurs seven times in the poem, three times in 1 Kings 7, and in the headings to Psalms 45, 60, 69, and 80.

The Arabs have the word and apply it to any brilliantly colored flower, such as the tulip, anemone, or ranunculus. Although many plants of the lily tribe flourish in Palestine, none of them give a predominant character to the flora. However, there are many other plants that would be called lilies in popular language.

Among these, the Irises may claim the first mention. Dr. Thomson (Land and Book, p. 256) unhesitatingly identifies one, which he calls the Huleh Lily, or the Lily of the Gospel and of the Song of Songs.

“Our flower,” he says, “delights most in the valleys, but it is also found in the mountains. It grows among thorns, and I have sadly lacerated my hands while extricating it from them... Gazelles still delight to feed among them, and you can scarcely ride through the woods north of Tabor, where these lilies abound, without frightening them from their flowery pasture.”

Tristram, however, prefers the Anemone (A. coronaria), describing it as “the most gorgeously painted, the most conspicuous in spring, and the most universally spread of all the treasures of the Holy Land” (Nat. Hist. of Bible, p. 464).