Charles Ellicott Commentary Song Of Solomon 2:5

"Stay ye me with raisins, refresh me with apples; For I am sick from love." — Song Of Solomon 2:5 (ASV)

Flagons. —Hebrew, ashishôth, apparently a dried cake, but of what substance is uncertain. From the margin of Hosea 3:1, possibly “grape cakes.” In 2 Samuel 6:19 it occurs as one of the gifts distributed by David at the removal of the ark, and is rendered by the Septuagint, a cake from the frying-pan. Here the Septuagint has sweet unguents, and the Vulgate flowers. The Authorized Version, flagons, follows a Rabbinical interpretation.

Comfort. —The margin, straw me with apples, follows the Septuagint; the Hebrew word occurs in Job 17:3 (Authorized Version: “make my bed”). In Job 41:30 (Hebrew 22), the Authorized Version renders it “spreadeth.” Hence, some translate here, “make me a bed of apple-leaves;” but the parallelism is against this, and the root idea in both the words translated “comfort” and “stay” is putting a prop or support under. Metaphorically, it means to refresh or sustain.