HEBREW WORD STUDY – SWEET – MOTAQ – מותק
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.”
Commentators generally teach that the Shulamite woman was making an allusion to the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. This is most likely the case because the love affair between King Solomon and the Shulamite woman was a forbidden romance. Marriages were usually arranged by the fathers in those days, as they are today in many Middle Eastern countries. Love, age, looks had nothing to do with a couple getting married and it was, in fact, scandalous to marry out of love. Kings would marry foreign women from a royal family to ratify a treaty. The more foreign wives a king had the more powerful he was because each wife represented his control over another nation. That is why Solomon and David had so many wives. Love, sex, beauty had nothing to do with it. They just kept them in a harem as sort of hostages.
Many Jewish scholars teach that the Shulamite woman was already pledged to a middle-aged weather worn Shepherd when Solomon came along. Solomon had over 80 wives at this time; the poor Shepherd had none. But considering this was an arranged marriage it was likely a loveless union. In ancient Jewish culture, as we see in Genesis 24:5, a woman could have a say in the matter. It was perfectly legal but morally unsound to break a pledge. Yet, it could be done especially if there were two men seeking the woman’s attention. (Think Fiddler on the Roof, Motel makes a pledge to Tzeitel after Tevey pledges her to Lazar Wolf)
Consider this, we are already pledged to the enemy in a loveless union and hence we are forbidden fruit to Jesus. But Jesus makes a bid for us out of love. Like the Shulamite woman, we have a say in the matter as to who we will give our lives to.
Verse 23 starts off a little curious: “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood so is my beloved among the sons.” The Midrash teaches that as the apple tree is the most desired tree in the woods because of the appeal of its fruits, the Jews were to place holy action and observance of Torah before understanding and rational acceptance. That is a holy way of saying; let your heart rule over your conventional earthly wisdom. In other words, Solomon was risking a scandal out of passion and not reason. The Shulamite woman could also risk losing a safe, secure, but loveless marriage with the Shepherd out of an irrational thing called romantic love which could change and she would become just another woman in a harem (another tree in the forest) or maybe she would remain that special apple tree. She chose to go with her heart as we do when we accept Jesus and Jesus who already paid with His life to obtain us.
The young woman found that this fruit was sweet to her taste. The word for sweet is motaq I found a reference in Jewish literature that addressed the Qop in the word motaq. The Qop represents a sacrifice. Love is a risk, you literally sacrifice your life (your freedom, self will, your possessions etc) for the sake of another. You make yourself vulnerable by giving someone your heart who then has the power to break it. Marriage to the shepherd was safe, she did not risk getting her heart broken, but to a king with 80 other wives not including concubines, that was a risk.
You know when we give our hearts to Jesus we trust Him to protect our hearts and to never break it. But we forget that Jesus also gives us His heart, and will compete with other gods. Can He trust us not to break His heart? If He can, then that is motaq, sweet.
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