7:1 (7:2) How beautiful are your sandaled feet, O nobleman’s daughter! The curves of your thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a master craftsman.
Shulamite tried a new sexual technique with her husband. She was dancing the Dance of Mahnaim in front of Solomon alone. She was either dancing in the nude or in a see-through veil. Solomon was able to see all of her, and he began to describe what he sees.
The Hebrew word for feet is paam (פָּ֫עַם), meaning step and foot. This portrays her dancing, with her feet going back and forth in rhythm to the vibrations of her dancing thighs.
7:2 Your navel is a round mixing bowl— may it never lack mixed wine! Your belly is a mound of wheat, encircled by lilies.
Solomon described his wife’s navel.
7:3 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.
Solomon described his wife’s breasts.
7:4 Your neck is like a tower made of ivory. Your eyes are the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-Rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon overlooking Damascus.
Solomon described the neck, eyes, and nose of his beautiful wife.
7:5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel. The locks of your hair are like royal tapestries— the king is held captive in its tresses!
Solomon described his wife’s head and hair in dancing motion. He was a prisoner to his wife’s beauty, locked by her tresses of hair.
7:6 How beautiful you are! How lovely, O love, with your delights!
After the erotic dance, love making began.
7:7 Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like clusters of grapes.
Shulamite stood nude in front of Solomon. He compared her to a beautiful palm tree. Shulamite’s breasts were like clusters of grapes which beautified her body.
7:8 I want to climb the palm tree, and take hold of its fruit stalks. May your breasts be like the clusters of grapes, and may the fragrance of your breath be like apricots!
Solomon climbed upon the palm tree and united sexually with his wife.
7:9 May your mouth be like the best wine, flowing smoothly for my beloved, gliding gently over our lips as we sleep together.
Their sexual encounter was intoxicating, like sipping good wine.
7:10 I am my beloved’s, and he desires me!
Shulamite declared that she belonged to Solomon alone, just as Solomon’s desire was only for her.
7:11 Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside; let us spend the night in the villages.
Shulamite wanted to visit her home town. She made her request to Solomon. She wanted to spend the night in the villages, which were on the way to Galilee.
7:12 Let us rise early to go to the vineyards, to see if the vines have budded, to see if their blossoms have opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom— there I will give you my love.
Shulamite wanted to take Solomon to her home town and make outdoor love with him in the vineyards. This was something that she could do in the country, but not at the palace.
7:13 The mandrakes send out their fragrance; over our door is every delicacy, both new and old, which I have stored up for you, my lover.
Mandrakes were known as the “lover’s flower” and also as “love apples.” It is a whitish green flower with small yellow apples. It possessed a strong and pleasant perfume odor. The fruits and roots were used as an aphrodisiac and were thought to stimulate sexual arousal. Therefore, she urges her husband to travel north with her and try a new sexual technique.