Garden of the Gods: The Gardens of Love

In the metaphorical language of love between husband and wife in the Song of Solomon, Solomon calls his wife a garden, nay, a paradise of delectable delights:

¹² You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain. ¹³ Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard, ¹⁴ nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices. ¹⁵ You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon. ¹⁶ Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread everywhere. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choice fruits. (Song of Solomon 4:12-16, NIV)

She is locked up because he cannot take what he wants without willing permission on her part. He must woo her, must invite her, and she must accept his invitation.

So he describes her as a garden, and what a garden. Provan, in the NIV Application Commentary, remarks,

As a garden she is unparalleled — no ordinary garden in ancient Palestine would have contained such a diversity of plant life, drawn from every corner of the ancient world. At the same time she is also a spring, a fountain, or a well that waters the garden.

It is fitting that love be viewed in terms of a garden, the place where originally God placed Adam and Eve and where they experienced marital intimacy. A garden is a perfect metaphor for marital love.