She seeks his love; she looks for it like raisins and apples that refresh her. She seeks his caresses like fruits that come from her apple tree. She is lovesick. She longs so strongly for the experience of love; for the loving touch of her husband; for physical union with him. This longing overwhelms her.
She is in no way afraid of intimate intercourse with her husband because it is all done out of tender love—under the banner of love. This means, therefore, that one is not concerned exclusively with seeking to satisfy one’s own desires. It means that one also wants to meet the other in the experience of love, that you talk about this together in love and tenderness, each taking the other into account. Christ’s love then provides tenderness in love. One would also want to lead the other to the climax of physical love. It is also for this reason that Paul later writes in 1 Corinthians 7:4–5: “For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
5 Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.