The apex of this progression occurs in his final song of praise, sung just before his arrival to her door:
A garden locked is my own, my bride, a fountain locked, a sealed-up spring… You are a garden spring, a well of fresh water, a stream of Lebanon… Blow upon my garden, that its perfume may spread. Let my beloved come to his garden and enjoy its luscious fruits! (4:12, 4:15-16)
The garden with its flowing fountain is clearly a sexual image, one employed several times by Chazal for this purpose. The depiction of the garden and fountain as locked and sealed until this moment accurately captures the gradual development of their relationship from the beginning of the Megilla through this point.
IV. The Ultimate Realization of Their Love
As we know, however, the Dod does not have the opportunity at this juncture to “come to his garden and enjoy its luscious fruits.” His knocking goes unanswered by the shamefully indifferent Re’aya. As we have seen, after the missed opportunity the Dod pledges the restoration of his love to the point before the crisis, and he employs similar images to those used in his praise of chapter 4. However, at this point he moves even further, to a more intimate level of praise, now referring to all parts of her body:
Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master’s hand. Your navel is like a round goblet – let mixed wine not be lacking! Your belly is like a heap of wheat hedged about with lilies. Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. (7:2-4)
He accepts his beloved as affectionately as before, and they can now actualize their love, which had previously been lost. “How fair you are, how beautiful! O Love, with all its rapture!” (7:8). This exclamation, which signifies the successful consummation of their renewed courtship, is the great exclamation of Shir Ha-shirim, testifying to the depth of the love of the Dod towards the Re’aya. This is the moment for which she has longed from the time the Dod suggested that she follow the tracks of the sheep and wait for the proper moment of love.
At this point, when the Dod and Re’aya have finally arrived at the long-awaited moment of love, one would have thought that our work is finished. However, the Megilla is not yet done – one more chapter remains. This chapter (actually, beginning from 7:12) seems, at first glance, unrelated to the drama of the previous seven chapters, and, beyond that, presents a totally different relationship from that which had developed over the course of the Megilla.
The defining characteristic of the end of Shir Ha-shirim is the sense of calm and tranquillity that has overcome their relationship. Now the Re’aya speaks with a newfound sense of security and self-confidence:
Come, my beloved, let us go into the open; let us lodge among the henna shrubs. Let us go early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has flowered, if its blossoms have opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give my love to you. The mandrakes yield their fragrance, at our doors all choice fruits; both freshly picked and long-stored have I kept, my beloved, for you. (7:12-14)
As opposed to the previous chapters of tension and struggle, these verses speak of mutual harmony and a pastoral aura that has taken hold. The two no longer stand opposite one another; they now stand alongside each other as a single unit. This transition from tension to tranquillity is expressed in terms of their departure from the bustling city to the vineyards, where they can sleep peacefully and wake to the serene, country sounds of friends speaking warmly with one another.
