The bride continues conferring with her support network. The maidens ask if the bride knows where her man went. The question refers more to the kind of place, rather than some specific location. The bride answers that he is downright picky, and would have only the best of everything. In her mind, this high standard is justified, and her previous reluctance was not. Then she renews her commitment to him, and we note there is some significance now to reversing the previous similar statement. She puts first the most important fact about her existence, that she belongs to him.
So the groom returns to the scene and announces that there is no one more lovely to him than his bride. Here is why we might suppose this is not Solomon writing about himself, but someone in his court council. It was horrible bad politics to play favorites with the harem, since most of them were political marriages. But for an official of the court to suggest his bride is better to him than the king’s whole harem is altogether appropriate. He praises her beauty as overwhelming like a mighty army or a dazzling and unassailable fortress. It wouldn’t matter how many of the finest feminine treasures the king might have, they don’t compare with his one bride.
So despite whatever flaws she might be hiding, she was still more valuable and delightful than any other human pleasure in this world. He uses the imagery of a vineyard to indicate building a family and all the joy anticipation it all brings. The good times have just begun.
She responds with two lines. There are some ambiguities in how they should be translated. Since we know of no town or village named Shulam, it would appear more useful to take the meaning of the word itself as someone who is so perfect as to be untouchable. And we aren’t quite sure whether it is two lines of dancers or two armies camped against each other, but the whole point is rather obvious: Don’t just stand there slobbering like a fool! Grab me and let’s make love.
