Song of Solomon 2:3: “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.  I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. “

I have a friend down in Georgia who got me started back into reading the Song of Solomon again.  So as I was reading this passage in my Hebrew Bible I was struck by the word  chimadeti rendered above as great delight.  That word was strangely out of place in this sweet romantic verse.  I was intrigued as to how our English translators had handled this word. I first went to your friend and mine, the King James Version which rendered it as great delight. This seemed to be the good coward’s way out except the  NAS, AKJ, ASV, BBE, ERV, WBS, WEB, IRS (oops sorry just got done doing my taxes) all said the same.  The NIV and YLT simply rendered it delight.  DRB was a little braver with whom I desired. But the version with the most guts DBY (Darby  Bible Translation)  render this word as have I rapture. No not the trumpet sounding, flying in the air rapture, just the good feeling type of rapture.

What caught my attention with the use of this word chimadeti which is used only once in the Song of Solomon. The of this word is the same  root word used in Exodus 20:17: Thou shalt not covet. Check it out, if you ever go to a synagogue and glance at the Ten Commandments above the ark and scroll down to the 10^th commandment you will see in Hebrew Script the words Lo tachmod  which literally means, no you will covet.   Yet, in the same synagogue I saw a Jewish woman pick up her granddaughter kiss her and say: Come my little chamudi.  I took a look at the 10 commandment and asked my host: “What did she just call the child?”  My host explained it was modern Hebrew for my precious one.  I followed by asking: “Do my eyes deceive me but is that not the same word in the tenth commandment?”   He merely shrugged as if to say: “Go figure.”  How the Hebrew managed to meander around the guilt inducing thou shalt not covet to the Modern Hebrew my precious one proved to be an irresistible study.

First I realized that the commandment was not a blanket you will not covet but you will not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.  We interpret this word chamed or covet as having a desire for something that does not belong to us. That idea has always been troubling to me because I can barely walk out of the door in the morning before I start desiring things that I do not have.   The command is specific, you do not desire what is intimate or being consumed by your neighbor.  Just a simple desire can not hurt.  Chamed has to carry a little more punch than that.  I had an e-mail this morning from someone asking about the Garden of Eden.  I was drawn to the passage in Genesis 2:9 “And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight.”  There it was again chamed only it is translated by practically every translation as pleasant or nice to look at.  Only  the YLT (Young’s Literal Translation) used the word desirable.  Of course we learn later just how seductive that can be.

Early rabbinic literature showed a sexual connotation to chamed as
chamdam  is a reference to a lustful person.  Chimmud is even more blunt as a reference to a sexual appetite.  As a verb chamed means to be excited or hot. Yes, even hot in our modern context.   The Hebrew Jewish grammarian David Kimhi (Radak) states that it is no coincidence that the word cham (hot), makes up two thirds of the root word chamed.  He points out that lechem chamudot is taken by some to mean fresh, hot tasty bread.  

So what I am drawing from this?  Well, if we were together in a Bible Study I would share more of my research with you, but as it is, I am running out of time, my taxes are not getting done, although I just leaned they are not due until the 18^th this year and this devotional  is running it’s course.  So with all the gaps left open, let me just share my conclusion on Song of Solomon  2:3.  The young lover is making a very distinct play on the word chamed by bringing it into association with the apple tree among the trees of the woods.  I will share with you my study of the word apple later but this is a direct reference to the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden.  She sits under her beloved’s shadow (again I need to share my study on the word shadow)  with covertness or chamed eating this forbidden fruit.  Chamed has the idea of intimacy or totally possessing and consuming. Sitting under the shadow of her beloved that she is intimate with she can consume this fruit that was forbidden.  See the Shulamite woman was betroth to another man, a shepherd and thus her desire for the king was forbidden.  Just as we belong to the enemy and because of our sin our desire for God is forbidden such that He had to pay a price, the death of His Son to claim us for His own.

With Adam and Eve they could possess everything in the Garden of Eden except the fruit of one tree.  God is our forbidden fruit but for the death of His Son. When we enter into an intimacy with God through the blood of Jesus Christ, no longer is God forbidden fruit.

There is a Biblical expression that I found also uses the word chamed which is appropriate to end this little study: Va-yelekh belo  hemdah.  Literally,  I will take my leave without anyone regretting my departure. Except the IRS.