All this Shulamith dreamed; but the painful feeling of repentance, of separation and misapprehension, which the dream left behind, entered as deeply into her soul as if it had been an actual external experience. Therefore she besought the daughters of Jerusalem:
Ver. 8 I adjure you, ye daughters of Jerusalem, If ye find my beloved,— What shall ye then say to him? ‘* That I am sick of love.”
That OX is here not to be interpreted as the negative particle of adjuration (Béttch.), as at ii. 7, iii. 5, at once appears from the absurdity arising from such an interpretation. The or. directa, following “I adjure you,” can also begin (Num. v. 19 f.) with the usual Dx, which is followed by its conclusion. Instead of “ that ye say to him I am sick of love,” she asks the question: What shall ye say to him? and adds the answer: quod aegra sum amore, or, as Jerome rightly renders, in conformity with the root-idea of Non: quia amore langueo; while, on the other hand, the LXX.: ὅτε τετρωμένη (saucia) ἀγάπης ἐγώ εἰμι, as if the word were noon, from 227. The question proposed, with its answer, inculcates in a naive manner that which is to be said, as one examines beforehand a child who has to order something. She turns to the daughters of Jerusalem, because she can presuppose in them, in contrast with those cruel watchmen, a sympathy with her love-sorrow, on the ground of their having had similar experiences. They were also witnesses of the origin of this covenant of love, and graced the marriage festival by their sympathetic love. When, therefore, they put to her the question:
Ver. 9 What is thy beloved before another (beloved), Thou fairest of women? What is thy beloved before another (beloved), That thou dost adjure us thus?
the question thus asked cannot proceed from ignorance; it can only have the object of giving them the opportunity of hearing from Shulamith’s own mouth and heart her laudatory description of him, whom they also loved, although they were not deemed worthy to stand so near to him as she did who was thus questioned. Béttch. and Ewald, secs. 325a, 326a, interpret the [9 in 9 partitively: guid amati (as in Cicero: quod hominis) amatus tuus; but then the words would have been 7111 ΤΟ ΠΟ, if such a phrase were admissible; for N17 certainly of itself alone means guid amati, what kind of a beloved. Thus the [9 is the comparative ( prae amato), and i the sing., representing the idea of species or kind; 5°17, here easily misunderstood, is purposely avoided. The use of the form why for WAPI is one of the many instances of the disregard of the generic distinction occurring in this Song, which purposely, after the manner of the vulgar language, ignores pedantic regularity.
Hereupon Shulamith describes to them who ask what her beloved is. He is the fairest of men. Everything that is glorious in the kingdom of nature, and, so far as her look extends, everything in the sphere of art, she appropriates, so as to present a picture of his external appearance. Whatever is precious, lovely, and grand, is all combined in the living beauty of his person She first praises the mingling of colours in the countenance of her beloved, Ver. 10 My beloved is dazzlingly white and ruddy, Distinguished above ten thousand.
The verbal root n¥ has the primary idea of purity, i.e. freedom from disturbance and muddiness, which, in the stems springing from it, and in their manifold uses, is transferred to undisturbed health (Arab. sahh, cf. baria, of smoothness of the skin), a temperate stomach and clear head, but particularly to the clearness and sunny brightness of the heavens, to dazzling whiteness (MM¥, Lam. iv. 7; cf. Ws), and then to parched dryness, resulting from the intense and continued rays of the sun; M¥ is here adj. from nn¥, Lam. iv. 7, bearing almost the same relation to ἜΝ as λαμπρός to λευκός, cogn. with Jucere. O18, R. D5, to condense, is properly dark-red, called by the Turks kuju kirmesi (from kuju, thick, close, dark), by the French rouge foncé, of the same root as 0%, the name for blood, or a thick and dark fluid. White, and indeed a dazzling white, is the colour of his flesh, and redness, deep redness, the colour of his blood tinging his flesh. Whiteness among all the race-colours is the one which best accords with the dignity of man; pure delicate whiteness is among the Caucasian races a mark of high rank, of superior training, of hereditary nobility; wherefore, Lam. iv. 7, the appearance of the nobles of Jerusalem is likened in whiteness to snow and milk, in redness to corals; and Homer, J/. iv. 141, says of Menelaus that he appeared stained with gore, “ as when some woman tinges ivory with purple colour.” In this mingling of white and red, this fulness of life and beauty, he is 333, distinguished above myriads. The old translators render dagul by “chosen” (Aquila, Symm., Syr., Jerome, Luther), the LXX. by ἐκλελοχισμένος, ὁ cohorte selectus; but it means “bannered ” (degel, ii. 4), as the Venet.: σεσημαιωμένος, 1.6. thus distinguished, as that which is furnished with a degel, a banner, a pennon. Gritz takes dagul as the Greek σημειωτός (noted). With nay, as a designation of an inconceivable number, Rashi rightly compares Ezek. xvi. 7, Since the “ten thousand” are here thought of, not in the same manner as O15, the particle min is not the compar. magis quam, but, as at Gen. iii. 14, Judg. v. 24, Isa, li. 14, prae, making conspicuous (cf. Virgil, Aen. v. 435, prae omnibus
1 Hengstenberg finds in this eulogium, on the supposition that Solomon is the author, and is the person who is here described, incomprehensible self-praise. But he does not certainly say all this immediately of himself, but puts it into the mouth of Shulamith, whose love he gained. But love idealizes; she sees him whom she loves, not as others see him,—she sees him in her own transforming light.
unum). After this praise of the bright blooming countenance, which in general distinguished the personal appearance of her beloved, so far as it was directly visible, there now follows a detailed description, beginning with his head. Ver. 11 His head is precious fine gold, His locks hill upon hill, Black as the raven.
The word-connection '® 0M3, occurring only here, serves as a designation of the very finest pure gold; for 0N2 (hiding, then that which is hidden), from ond, R. n> (vid. concerning the words appertaining to this root, under Ps. lxxxvii. 6), is the name of fine gold, which was guarded as a jewel (cf. Prov. xxv. 12), and 18 (with long ἃ) is pure gold freed from inferior metals, from "8, to set free, and generally violently to free (cf. zahav muphaz, 1 Kings x. 18, with zahav tahor, 2 Chron. ix. 17). The Targ. to the Hagiog. translate 1 by XM™3IR (eg. Ps, exix. 127), or PMIDR (eg. Ps. xix. 11), ὄβρυζον, ie. gold which has stood the fire-proof (obrussa) of the cupel or the crucible. Grammatically regarded, the word-connection kethem paz is not genit., like kethem ophir, but appositional, like naarah b‘thulah, Deut. xxii. 28, z*vahim sh‘lamim, Ex. xxiv. 5, etc. The point of comparison is the imposing nobility of the fine form and noble carriage of his head. In the description of the locks of his hair the LXX. render o*>non by ἐλάται, Jerome by sicut elatae palmarum, like the young twigs, the young shoots of the palm. Ewald regards it as a harder parall. form of =°5t, Isa, xviii. 15, vine-branches; and Hitzig compares the Thousand and One Nights, iii. 180, where the loose hair of a maiden is likened to twisted clusters of grapes. The possibility of this meaning is indisputable, although (Arab.) taltalat, a drinking-vessel made of the inner bark of palm-branches, is named, not from taltalah, as the name of the palm-branch, but from ἑαϊέαϊα, to shake down, viz. in the throat. The palm-branch, or the vine-branch, would be named from ΠΈΡΙ, pendulum esse, to hang loosely and with a wavering motion, the freq. of non, pendere. The Syr. also think on mn, for it translates “spread out,” ἐξ. waving downward; and the Venet., which translates by ἀπαιωρήματας The point of comparison would be the freshness and flexibility of the abundant long hair of the head, in contrast to motionless close-lying smoothness. One may think of Jupiter, who, when he shakes his head, moves heaven and earth. But, as against this, we have the fact: (1) That the language has other names for palm-branches and vine-branches; the former are called in the Song vii. 9, sansinnim. (2) That ordndn, immediately referred to the hair, but not in the sense of “ hanging locks” (Bottch.), is still in use in the post-bibl. Heb. (vid. under ν. 28); the Targ. also, in translating [W279 M34, cumuli cwmuli, thinks odndn = pon yon, Menachoth 29b. Aphill is called bn, (Arab.) tall, from Son, prosternere, to throw along, as of earth thrown out, sand, or rubbish; and ner, after the form 393, in use probably only in the plur,, is a hilly country which rises like steps, or presents an undulating appearance. Seen from his neck upwards, his hair forms in undulating lines, hill upon hill. In colour, these locks of hair are black as a raven, which bears the Semitic name 3'Y from its blackness (2), but in India is called kdrava from its croaking. The raven-blackness of the hair contrasts with the whiteness and redness of the countenance, which shines forth as from a dark ground, from a black border. The eyes are next described. Ver. 12 His eyes like doves by the water-brooks, Bathing in milk, stones beautifully set
The eyes in their glancing moistness (cf. ὑγρότης τῶν ὀμμάτων, in Plutarch, of a languishing look), and in the movement of their pupils, are like doves which sip at the water-brooks, and move to and fro beside them. PDS, from PDX, continere, is a watercourse, and then also the water itself flowing in it (vid. under Ps. xviii. 16), as (Arab.) wadin, a valley, and then the river flowing in the valley, bahr, the sea-basin (properly the cleft), and then also the sea itself. The pred. “ bathing” refers to the eyes (cf. iv. 9), not to the doves, if this figure is continued. The pupils of the eyes, thus compared with doves, seem as if bathing in milk, in that they swim, as it were, in the white in the eye. But it is a question whether the figure of the doves is continued also in nxbo- by Γήϑ It would be the case if milleth meant “fulness of water,” as it is understood, after the example of the LXX., also by Aquila (ἐκχύσεις), Jerome (fluenta plenissima), and the Arab. (piscinas aqua refertas); among the moderns, by Dopke, Gesen., Hengst., and others. But this pred. would then bring nothing new to 12a; and although in the Syr. derivatives from Wt signify flood and high waters, yet the form milleth does not seem, especially without 0‘, to be capable of bearing this signification. Luther’s translation also, although in substance correct: und stehen in der fille (and stand in fulness) (maileth, like xmwdw of the Syr., πληρώσεως of the Gr. Venet., still defended by Hitz.), yet does not bring out the full force of milleth, which, after the analogy of 8B3, THY), appears to have a concrete signification which is seen from a comparison of Ex. xxv. 7, xxvii. 17, 20, xxxix. 13. There md and Dp signify not the border with precious stones, but, as rightly maintained by Keil, against Knobel, their filling in, t+. their bordering, setting. Accordingly, milleth will be a synon. technical expression: the description, passing from the figure of the dove, says further of the eyes, that they are firm on (in) their setting; by is suitable, for the precious stone is laid within the casket in which it is contained. Hitzig has, on the contrary, objected that MX and o'xd denote filling up, and thus that milleth cannot be a filling up, and still less the place thereof. But as in the Talm. 81% signifies not only fulness, but also stuffed fowls or pies, and as πλήρωμα in its manifold aspects is used not only of that with which anything is filled, but also of that which is filled (eg. of a ship that is manned, and Eph. i. 23 of the church in which Christ, as in His body, is immanent),—thus also milleth, like the German “ Fasswng,” may be used of a ring-casket (funda or pala) in which the precious stone is put. That the eyes are like a precious stone in its casket, does not merely signify that they fill the sockets,—for the bulbus of the eye in every one fills the orbita,—but that they are not sunk like the eyes of one who is sick, which fall back on their supporting edges in the orbita, and that they appear full and large as they press forward from wide and open eyelids. The cheeks are next described. Ver. 13a His cheeks like a bed of sweet herbs, Towers of spicy planta,
A flower-bed is called "2 Y, from 4, to be oblique, inclined. His cheeks are like such a soft raised bed, and the impression their appearance makes is like the fragrance which flows from such a bed planted with sweet-scented flowers. Mig‘daloth are the tower-like or pyramidal mounds, and merkahhim are the plants used in spicery. The point of comparison here is thus the soft elevation; perhaps with reference to the mingling of colours, but the word chosen (merkahhim) rather refers to the lovely, attractive, heart-refreshing character of the impression. The Venet., keeping close to the existing text: ai σιωγόνες αὐτοῦ ὡς πρασιὰ τοῦ ἀρώματος, πύργοι ἀρωμα- τισμῶν (thus (not ἀρωματιστῶν) according to Gebhardt’s just conjecture). But is the punctuation here correct? The sing. M245 is | explained from this, that the bed is presented as sloping from its height downward on two parallel sides; but the height would then be the nose dividing the face, and the plur. would thus be more suitable; and the LXX.,Symm., and other ancient translators have, in fact, read nimy>. But still less is the phrase migd‘loth merkahhim to be comprehended; for a tower, however diminutive it may be, is not a proper figure for a soft elevation, nor even a graduated flowery walk, or a terraced flowery hill,—a tower always presents, however round one may conceive it, too much the idea of a natural chubbiness, or of a diseased tumour. Therefore the expression used by the LXX., φύουσαι μυρεψικά, ie. ‘PID nipay, commends itself. Thus also Jerome: sicut areolae aromatum consitae a pigmentarvs, and the Targ. (which refers Dyn? allegorically to the ‘m5 of the law, and merkahhim to the refinements of the Halacha): “like the rows of a garden of aromatic plants which produce (gignentes) deep, penetrating sciences, even as a (magnificent) garden, aromatic plants.” Since we read M720 NINy2, we do not refer migadloth, as Hitzig, who retains M32, to the cheeks, although their name, like that of the other members (e.g. the ear, hand, foot), may be fem. (Bottch. § 649), but to the beds of spices; but in this carrying forward of the figure we find, as he does, a reference to the beard and down on the cheeks, 33 is used of suffering the hair to grow, Num. vi. 5, as well as of cultivating plants; and it isa similar figure when Pindar, Nem. v. 11, compares the milk-hair of a young man to the fine woolly down of the expanding vine-leaves (vid. Passow). In merkahhim there scarcely lies anything further than that this flos juventae on the blooming cheeks gives the impression of the young shoots of aromatic plants; at all events, the merkahhim, even although we refer this feature in the figure to the fragrance of the unguents on the beard, are not the perfumes themselves, to which m‘gadloth is not appropriate, but fragrant plants, so that in the first instance the growth of the beard is in view with the impression of its natural beauty. Ver. 13) His lips lilies, Dropping with liquid myrrh. Lilies, viz. red lilies (vid. under ii. 1), unless the point of comparison is merely loveliness associated with dignity. She thinks of the lips as speaking. All that comes forth from them, the breath in itself, and the breath formed into words, is 72¥ "iD, most precious myrrh, viz. such as of itself wells forth from the bark of the balsamodendron. ΣΝ), the running over of the eyes (cf. myrrha in lacrimis, the most highly esteemed sort, as distinguished from myrrha in granis), with which Dillmann combines the Aethiop. name for myrrh, karbé (vid. under v. 5). Ver. 14a His hands golden cylinders, Filled in with stones of Tarshish.
The figure, according to Gesen., Heb. Worterbuch, and literally also Heilgst., is derived from the closed hand, and the stained nails are compared to precious stones. Both statements are incorrect; for (1) although it is true that then Israelitish women, as at the present day Egyptian and Arabian women, stained their eyes with stibiwm (vid.
under Isa. liv. 11), yet it is nowhere shown that they, and particularly men, stained the nails of their feet and their toes with the orange-yellow of the Alhenna (Lane’s Egypt, I. 33-35); and (2) the word used is not 82, but "; it is thus the outstretched hands that are meant; and only these, not the closed fist, could be compared to “ lilies,” for bya signifies not a ring (Coce., Dépke, Bottch,, ete.), but that which is rolled up, a roller, cylinder (Esth. i. 6), from 722, which properly means not κυκλοῦν (Venet., after Gebhardt: κεκυκλω- pévat), but κυλίνδειν. The hands thus are meant in respect of the fingers, which on account of their noble and fine form, their full, round, fleshy mould, are compared to bars of gold formed like rollers, garnished (Θ᾽ ΜΡ, like X9D, Ex. xxviii. 17) with stones of Tarshish, to which the nails are likened. The transparent horn-plates of the nails, with the /unula, the white segment of a circle at their roots, are certainly, when they are beautiful, an ornament to the hand, and, without our needing to think of their being stained, are worthily compared to the gold-yellow topaz. Tarshish is not the onyx, which derives its Heb. name 07% from its likeness to the finger-nail, but the χρυσόλεθος, by which the word in this passage before us is translated by the Quinta and the Sexta, and elsewhere also by the LXX. and Aquila. But the chrysolite is the precious stone which is now called the topaz. It receives the name Tarshish from Spain, the place where it was found. Pliny, xxxviii. 42, describes it as aureo fulgore tralucens, Bredow erroneously interprets Tarshish of amber. There is a kind of chrysolite, indeed, which is called chryselectron, because in colorem electri declinans. The comparison of the nails to such a precious stone (Luther, influenced by the consonance, and apparently warranted by the plena hyacinthis of the Vulg., has substituted golden rings, vol Turkissen, whose blue-green colour is not suitable here), in spite of Hengst., who finds it insipid, is as true to nature as it is tender and pleasing. The description now proceeds from the uncovered to the covered parts of his body, the whiteness of which is compared to ivory and marble. Ver. 140 His body an ivory work of art, Covered with sapphires.
The plur. D'Y2 or DOWD, from ΠΡῸ or ‘VO (vid. under Ps. xl. 9), signifies properly the tender parts, and that the inward parts of the body, but is here, like the Chald. fyo, Dan. ii. 32, and the 13, vii. 3, which also properly signifies the inner part of the body, κοιλία, transferred to the body in its outward appearance. To the question how Shulamith should in such a manner praise that which is for the most part covered with clothing, it is not only to be answered that it is the poet who speaks by her mouth, but also that it is not the bride or the beloved, but the wife, whom he represents as thus speaking. NY (from the peculiar Hebraeo-Chald. and Targ. nvy, which, after Jer. v. 28, like khalak, creare, appears to proceed from the fundamental idea of smoothing) designates an artistic figure. Such a figure was Solomon’s throne, made of j¥, the teeth of elephants, ivory, 1 Kings x. 18. Here Solomon’s own person, without reference to a definite admired work of art, is praised as being like an artistic figure made of ivory,—like it in regard to its glancing smoothness and its fine symmetrical form. When, now, this work of art is described as covered with sapphires (nBbyD, referred to NY, as apparently gramm., or as ideal, fem.), a sapphire-coloured robe is not meant (Hitzig, Ginsburg); for »by, which only means to disguise, would not at all be used of such a robe (Gen. xxxvill. 14; cf. xxiv. 65), nor would the one uniform colour of the robe be designated by sapphires in the plur. The choice of the verb ἢ} (elsewhere used of veiling) indicates a covering shading the pure white, and in connection with 0° 8D, thought of as accus., a moderating of the bright glance by a soft blue. For wep (a genuine Semit. word, like the Chald. YY; cf. regarding ἽΒΌ = BY, under Ps. xvi. 6) is the sky-blue sapphire (Ex. xxiv. 10), including the Lasurstein (lapis lazuli), sprinkled with golden, or rather with gold-like glistening points of pyrites, from which, with the ἦ omitted, sky-blue is called azwr (azure) (vid. under Job xxviii. 6). The work of art formed of ivory is quite covered over with sapphires fixed in it. That which is here compared is nothing else than the branching blue veins under the white skin. Ver. 15a His legs white marble columns, Set on bases of fine gold.
If the beauty of the living must be represented, not by colours, but in figurative language, this cannot otherwise be done than by the selection of minerals, plants, and things in general for the comparison, and the comparison must more or less come short, because dead soulless matter does not reach to a just and full representation of the living. Thus here, also, the description of the lower extremity, which reaches from the thighs and the legs down to the feet, of which last, in the words of an anatomist,’ it may be said that “they form the pedestal for the bony pillars of the legs.” The comparison is thus in accordance with fact; the ΟΡ ἢ (from pw = (Arab.) sak, to drive: the movers forward), in the structure of the human frame, take in reality the place of “ pillars,” and the feet the place of “ pedestals,” as in the tabernacle the wooden pillars rested on small supports in which they were fastened, Ex. xxvi. 18 f. But in point of fidelity to nature, the symbol is inferior to a rigid Egyptian figure. Not only is it without life; it is not even capable of expressing the curvilinear shape which belongs to the living. On the other hand, it loses itself in symbol; for although it is in conformity with nature that the legs are compared to pillars of white (according to Aquila and Theod., Parian) marble—t¥ =, 1 Chron. xxix. 2 (material for the building of the temple), Talm. 757, of the same verbal root as ἴθ, the name of the white lily—the comparison of the feet to bases of fine gold is yet purely symbolical. Gold is a figure of that which is sublime and noble, and with white marble represents greatness combined with purity. He who is here praised is not a shepherd, but a king. The comparisons are thus so grand because the beauty of the beloved is in itself heightened by his kingly dignity." Ver. 15. His aspect like Lebanon, Distinguished as the cedars,
By "2 the Chald. thinks of “a young man” (from "73 = "33, to be matured, as at Ps. Ixxxix. 20); but in that case we should have expected the word MX? instead of O° ND. Luther, with all other translators, rightly renders “chosen as the cedars.” His look, te. his appearance as a whole, is awe-inspiring, majestic, like Lebanon, the king of mountains; he (the praised one) is chosen, i. presents a rare aspect, rising high above the common man, like the cedars, those kings among trees, which as special witnesses of creative omnipotence are called “ cedars of God,” Ps. Ixxx. 11 ΠΣ, electus, everywhere else an attribute of persons, does not here refer to the look, but to him whose the look is; and what it means in union with the cedars is seen from Jer. xxii. 7; cf. Isa. xxxvii. 24. Here also it is seen (what besides is manifest), that the fairest of the children of men is a king. In conclusion, the description returns from elevation of rank to loveliness.
1 Dillmann proposes the question, the answer to which he desiderates in Ewald, how the maiden could be so fluent in speaking of the new glories of the Solomonic era (plants and productions of art). Béttcher answers, that she had learned to know these whilst detained at court, and that the whole description has this groundthought, that she possessed in her beloved all the splendour which the women of the harem value and enjoy. But already the first words of the description, “‘ white and ruddy,” exclude the sunburnt shepherd. To refer the gold, in the figurative description of the uncovered parts of the body, to this bronze colour is insipid.
The palate, 34, is frequently named as the organ of speech, Job vi. 30, xxxi. 30, Prov. v. 3, viii. 7; and it is also here used in this sense. The meaning, “the mouth for kissing,” which Béttch, gives to the word, is fanciful; 4M ( =hink, Arab. hanak) is the inner palate and the region of the throat, with the wvula underneath the chin. Partly with reference to his words, his lips have been already praised, 13); but there the fragrance of his breath came into consideration, his breath both in itself and as serving for the formation of articulate words, But the naming of the palate can point to nothing else than his words. With this the description comes to a conclusion; for, from the speech, the most distinct and immediate expression of the personality, advance is made finally to the praise of the person. The pluraliatant. D'pnMD and dono designate what they mention in richest fulness. His palate, 1.6. that which he speaks and the manner in which he speaks it, is true sweetness (cf. Prov. xvi. 21; Ps. lv. 15), and his whole being true loveliness. With justifiable pride Shulamith next says:
The emphatically repeated “this” is here pred. (Luth.: “such an one is”...); on the other hand, it is subj. at Ex. iii 15 (Luth.: “that is”...).
The daughters of Jerusalem now offer to seek along with Shulamith for her beloved, who had turned away and was gone.
Chap. vi. 1. Whither has thy beloved gone, Thou fairest of women? Whither has thy beloved turned, That we may seek him with thee?
The longing remains with her even after she has wakened, as the after effect of her dream. In the morning she goes forth and meets with the daughters of Jerusalem. They cause Shulamith to describe her friend, and they ask whither he has gone. They wish to know the direction in which he disappeared from her, the way which he had probably taken (mp, R. 15, to drive, to urge forward, to turn from one to another), that with her they might go to seek him (Vav of the consequence or the object, as at Ps. lxxxiii. 17). The answer she gives proceeds on a conclusion which she draws from the inclination of her beloved.
Ver. 2 My beloved has gone down into the garden, To the beds of sweet herbs, To feed in the gardens And gather lilies.
He is certainly, she means to say, there to be found where he delights most to tarry. He will have gone down—viz. from the palace (vi. 11; cf. 1 Kings xx. 43 and Esth. vii. 7)—into his garden, to the fragrant beds, there to feed in his garden and gather lilies (cf. Old Germ. “to collect résen”); he is fond of gardens and flowers. Shulamith expresses this in her shepherd-dialect, as when Jesus says of His Father (John xy. 1), “ He is the husbandman.” Flowerbeds are the feeding place (vid. regarding niyn> under ii. 16) of her beloved. Solomon certainly took great delight in gardens and parks, Eccles. ii. 5. But this historical fact is here idealized; the natural flora which Solomon delighted in with intelligent interest presents itself as a figure of a higher Loveliness which was therein as it were typically manifest (cf. Rev. vii. 17, where the “ Lamb,” “feeding,” and “ fountains of water,” are applied as anagogics, 7. heavenward-pointing types). Otherwise it is not to be comprehended why it is lilies that are named. Even if it were supposed to be implied that lilies were Solomon’s favourite flowers, we must assume that his taste was determined by something more than by form and colour. The words of Shulamith give us to understand that the inclination and the favourite resort of her friend corresponded to his nature, which is altogether thoughtfulness and depth of feeling (cf. under Ps. xcii. 5, the reference to Dante: the beautiful women who gather flowers representing the paradisaical life); lilies, the emblems of unapproachable grandeur, purity inspiring reverence, high elevation above that which is common, bloom there wherever the lily-like one wanders, whom the lily of the valley calls her own. With the words: Ver. 3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine, Who feeds among the lilies,
Shulamith farther proceeds, followed by the daughters of Jerusalem, to seek her friend lost through her own fault. She always says, not ‘WX, but ὙΠ and ‘2; for love, although a passion common to mind and body, is in this Song of Songs viewed as much as possible apart from its basis in the animal nature. Also, that the description hovers between that of the clothed and the unclothed, gives to it an ideality favourable to the mystical interpretation. Nakedness is my. But at the cross nakedness appears transported from the sphere of sense to that of the supersensuous.
With ver. 4 Solomon’s address is resumed, and a new scene opens. Shulamith had found him again, and she who is beautiful in herself appears now so much the more beautiful, when the joy of seeing him again irradiates her whole being.
Ver. 4 Beautiful art thou, my friend, as Tirzah, Comely as Jerusalem, Terrible as a battle-array. In the praise of her beauty we hear the voice of the king. The cities which are the highest ornament of his kingdom serve him as the measure of her beauty, which is designated according to the root conceptions by 75’, after the quality of completeness; by 78, after the quality of that which is well-becoming, pleasing. It is concluded, from the prominence given to Tirzah, that the Song was not composed till after the division of the kingdom, and that its author was an inhabitant of the northern kingdom; for Tirzah was the first royal city of this kingdom till the time of Omri, the founder of Samaria. But since, at all events, it is Solomon who here speaks, so great an historical judgment ought surely to be ascribed to a later poet who has imagined himself in the exact position of Solomon, that he would not represent the king of the undivided Israel as speaking like a king of the separate kingdom of Israel. The prominence given to Tirzah has another reason. Tirzah was discovered by Robinson on his second journey, 1852, in which Van de Velde accompanied him, on 8 height in the mountain range to the north of Nablis, under the name Jullizah. Brocardus and Breydenbach had already pointed out a village called Zhersa to the east of Samaria. This form of the name corresponds to the Heb. better than that Arab. Tullizah; but the place is suitable, and if Tullfizah lies high and beautiful ina region of olive trees, then it still justifies its ancient name, which means pleasantness or sweetness. But it cannot be sweetness on account of which Tirzah is named before Jerusalem, for in the eye of the Israelites Jerusalem was “ the perfection of beauty” (Ps.1. 2; Lam. ii, 15). That there is gradation from Tirzah to Jerusalem (Hengst.) cannot be said; for ΠΝ) (decora) and ΠΡ" (pulchra) would be reversed if a climax were intended. The reason of it is rather this, that Shulamith is from the higher region, and is not a daughter of Jerusalem, and that therefore a beautiful city situated in the north toward Sunem must serve as a comparison of her beauty. That Shulamith is both beautiful and terrible ("28 from O'X) is no contradiction: she is terrible in the irresistible power of the impression of her personality, terrible as ntdgaloth, 1.¢. as troops going forth with their banners unfurled (cf. the Kal of this v. denom., Ps. xx. 6). We do not need to supply ΤΠ, which is sometimes fem., Ps. xxv. 3, Gen. xxxii. 9, although the attribute would here be appropriate, Num. ii. 3, cf. x. 5; still less nix2¥, which occurs in the sense of military service, Isa. xl. 2, and a war-expedition, Dan. viii. 12, but not in the sense of war-host, as fem. Much rather nidgaloth, thus neut., is meant of bannered hosts, as MIM (not ‘Ws), Isa. xxi. 13, of those that are marching. War- hosts with their banners, their standards, go forth confident of victory. Such is Shulamith’s whole appearance, although she is unconscious of it—a venti, vidi, υἱοὶ, Solomon is completely vanquished by her. But seeking to maintain himself in freedom over against her, he cries out to her:
Ver. 5a Turn away thine eyes from me, For overpoweringly they assail me.
Dépke translates, ferocire me faciunt; Hengst.: they make me proud; but although 2777, after Ps. exxxviii. 3, may be thus used, yet that would be an effect produced by the eyes, which certainly would suggest the very opposite of the request to turn them away. The verb 25 means to be impetuous, and to press impetuously against any one; the Hiph. is the intens. of this trans. signification of the Kal: to press overpoweringly against one, to infuse terror, terrorem incutere. The LXX. translates it by ἀναπτεροῦν, which is also used of the effect of terror (“to make to start up”), and the Syr. by afred, to put to flight, because arheb signifies to put in fear, as also arhab = khawwaf, terrefacere; but here the meaning of the verb corresponds more with the sense of ten -», to be placed in the state of rob, i.e. of paralyzing terror. If she directed her large, clear, penetrating eyes to him, he must sink his own: their glance is unbearable by him. This peculiar form the praise of her eyes here assumes; but then the description proceeds as at iv. 10, ii. 3b. The words used there in praise of her hair, her teeth, and her cheeks, are here repeated.
Ver. 5b Thy hair is like a flock of goats Which repose downwards on Gilead. 6 Thy teeth like a flock of lambs Which come up from the washing, All of them bearing twins, And a bereaved one is not among them. 7 Like a piece of pomegranate thy temples Behind thy veil.
The repetition is literal, but yet not without change in the expression,—there, ἧς 9, here, 30710; there, ‘YP, tonsarwm, here, ‘Mi, agnarwm (Symm., Venet. τῶν ἀμνάδων): for ὉΠ, in” its proper signification, is like the Arab. rachil, richl, richleh, the female lamb, and particularly the ewe. Hitzig imagines that Solomon here repeats to Shulamith what he had said to another donna chosen for marriage, and that the flattery becomes insipid by repetition to Shulamith, as well as also to the reader. But the romance which he finds in the Song is not this itself, but his own palimpsest, in the style of Lucian’s transformed ass. The repetition has a morally better reason, and not one so subtle. Shulamith appears to Solomon yet more beautiful than on the day when she was brought to him as his bride. His love is still the same, unchanged; and this both she and the reader or hearer must conclude from these words of praise, repeated now as they were then. There is no one among the ladies of the court whom he prefers to her—these must themselves acknowledge her superiority. Ver. 8 There are sixty queens, And eighty concubines, And virgins without number. 9 One is my dove, my perfect one,—
The choice one of her that bare her.
Queens and concubines, and they extolled her. Even here, where, if anywhere, notice of the difference of gender was to be expected, 757 stands instead of the more accurate 37 (e.g. Gen. vi. 2). The number of the women of Solomon’s court, 1 Kings xi. 3, is far greater (700 wives and 300 concubines); and those who deny the Solomonic authorship of the Song regard the poet, in this particular, as more historical than the historian. On our part, holding as we do the Solomonic authorship of the book, we conclude from these low numbers that the Song celebrates a love-relation of Solomon’s at the commencement of his reign: his luxury had not then reached the enormous height to which he, the same Solomon, looks back, and which he designates, Eccles. 11. 8, as vanitas vanitatum. At any rate, the number of 60 nin20, ae. legitimate wives of equal rank with himself, is yet high enough; for, according to 2 Chron. xi. 21, Rehoboam had 18 wives and 60 concubines. The 60 occurred before, at iii. 7. If it be a round number, as sometimes, although rarely, sexaginta is thus used (Hitzig), it may be reduced only to 51, but not further, especially here, where 80 stands along with if, 2,%8 (ΡῈ), Gr. πάλλαξ, παλλακή (Lat. pellex), which in the form NADPB
(xnpbs) came back from the Greek to the Aramaic, is a word as yet unexplained. According to the formation, it may be compared to worn, from 074, to cut off; whence also the harem bears the (Arab.) name haram, or the separated gynaeconits, to which access is denied. An ending in is (Ὁ) is known to the Assyr., but only as an adverbial ending, which, as ’istinis = i729, alone, solus, shows is connected with the pron. su. These two nouns appear as thus requiring to be referred to quadrilitera, with the annexed οὐ; perhaps vida, in the sense of to break into splinters, from dp, to divide (whence a brook, as dividing itself in its channels, has the name of 2B), points to the polygamous relation as ἃ breaking up of the marriage of one; 80 that a concubine has the name pillegesh, as a representant of polygamy in contrast to monogamy.
In the first line of ver. 9 nnx is subj. (one, who is my dove, my perfect one); in the second line, on the contrary, it is pred. (one, unica, is she of her mother). That Shulamith was her mother’s only child does not, however, follow from this; NX, wnica, is equivalent to unice dilecta, as TM, Prov. iv. 3, is equivalent to wnice dilectus (cf. Keil’s Zech. xiv. 7). The parall. 2 has its nearest signification electa (LXX., Syr., Jerome), not pura (Venet.); the fundamental idea of cutting and separating divides itself into the ideas of choosing and purifying. The Aorists, 90, are the only ones in this book; they denote that Shulamith’s look had, on the part of the women, this immediate result, that they willingly assigned to her the good fortune of being preferred to them all,—that to her the prize was due. The words, as also at Prov. xxxi. 28, are an echo of Gen. xxx. 13,—the books of the Chokma delight in references to Genesis, the book of pre-Israelitish origin. Here, in vers. 8, 9, the distinction between our typical and the allegorical interpretation is correctly seen. The latter is bound to explain what the 60 and the 80 mean, and how the wives, concubines, and “ virgins” of the harem are to be distinguished from each other; but what till now has been attempted in this matter has, by reason of its very absurdity or folly, become an easy subject of wanton mockery. But the typical interpretation regards the 60 and the 80, and the unreckoned number, as what their names denote,—viz. favourites, concubines, and serving-maids. But to see an allegory of heavenly things in such a herd of women—a kind of thing which the Book of Genesis dates from the degradation of marriage in the line of Cain—is ἃ profanation of that which is holy. The fact is, that by a violation of the law of God (Deut. xvii. 17), Solomon brings a cloud over the typical representation, which is not at all to be thought of in connection with the Antitype. Solomon, as Jul. Sturm rightly remarks is not to be considered by himself, but only in his relation τὶ Shulamith. In Christ, on the contrary, is no imperfection; sin remains in the congregation. In the Song, the bride is purer than the bridegroom; but in the fulfilling of the Song this relation is reversed: the bridegroom is purer than the bride,
The fourth Act, notwithstanding little disturbances, gives a clear view of the unchanging love of the newly-married pair. This fifth shows how Shulamith, although raised to a royal throne, yet remains, in her childlike disposition and fondness for nature, a lily of the valley. The first scene places us in the midst of the royal gardens. Shulamith comes to view from its recesses, and goes to the daughters of Jerusalem, who, overpowered by the beauty of her heavenly appearance, cry out:
The question, “Who is this?” is the same as at iii. 6. There, it refers to her who was brought to the king; here, it refers to her who moves in that which is his as her own. There, the “this” is followed by nop appositionally; here, by #3 [looking forth] determ., and thus more closely connected with it; but then indeterm., and thus apposit. predicates follow. The verb ‘PY signifies to bend forward, to overhang; whence the Hiph. P and Niph. §P¥2, to look out, since in doing so one bends forward (vid. under Ps. xiv. 2). The LXX. here translates it by ἐκκύπτουσα, the Venet. by παρακύτ- τουσα, both of which signify to look toward something with the head inclined forward. The point of comparison is, the rising up from the background: Shulamith breaks through the shades of the garden-grove like the morning-red, the morning dawn; or, also: she comes nearer and nearer, as the morning-red rises behind the mountains, and then fills always the more widely the whole horizon. The Venet. translates ὡς ἑωσφόρος; but the morning star is not In, but 79v-13, Isa. xiv. 12; shahhar, properly, the morning - dawn, means, in Heb., not only this, like the Arab. shahar, but rather, like the Arab. fajr, the morning-red,—iz. the red tinge of the morning mist. From the morning-red the description proceeds to the moon, yet visible in the morning sky, before the sun has risen. It is usually called ΠῚ, as being yellow; but here it is called m229, as being white; as also the sun, which here is spoken of as having risen (Judg. v. 31), is designated not by the word vow, as the unwearied (Ps. xix. 6b, θα), but, on account of the intensity of its warming light (Ps. xix. 76), is called ΠΘΠ, These, in the language of poetry, are favourite names of the moon and the sun, because already the primitive meaning of the two other names had disappeared from common use; but with these, definite attributive ideas are immediately connected. Shulamith appears like the morning-red, which breaks through the darkness; beautiful, like the silver moon, which in soft still majesty shines in the heavens (Job xxxi. 26); pure (vid. regarding 73, Ἢ. in this signification: smooth, bright, pure, under Isa. xlix. 2) as the sun, whose light (ef. “ind with the Aram. xD, mid-day brightness) is the purest of the pure, imposing as war-hosts with their standards (vid. vi. 4b). The answer of her who was drawing near, to this exclamation, sounds homely and childlike: Ver. 11 To the nut garden I went down
Ver. 12 I knew it not that my soul lifted me up To the royal chariots of my people, a noble (one).
In her loneliness she is happy; she finds her delight in quietly moving about in the vegetable world; the vine and the pomegranate, brought from her home, are her favourites. Her soul—viz. love for Solomon, which fills her soul—raised her to the royal chariots of her people, the royal chariots of a noble (one), where she sits beside the king, who drives the chariot; she knew this, but she also knew it not for what she had become without any cause of her own, that she is without self-elation and without disavowal of her origin. These are Shulamith’s thoughts and feelings, which we think we derive from these two verses without reading between the lines and without refining. I went down, she says, viz. from the royal palace, cf. vi. 2. Then, further, she speaks of a valley; and the whole sounds rural, so that we are led to think of Etam as the scene. This Etam, romantically (vid. Judg. xv. 8 f.) situated, was, as Josephus (Antz. viii. 7. 3) credibly informs us, Solomon’s Belvedere. “In the royal stables,” he says
“so great was the regard for beauty and swiftness, that nowhere else could horses of greater beauty or greater fleetness be found. ΑἹ] had to acknowledge that the appearance of the king’s horses was wonderfully pleasing, and that their swiftness was incomparable. Their riders also served as an ornament to them. They were young men in the flower of their age, and were distinguished by their lofty stature and their flowing hair, and by their clothing, which was of Tyrian purple. They every day sprinkled their hair with dust of gold, so that their whole head sparkled when the sun shone upon it. In such array, armed and bearing bows, they formed a bodyguard around the king, who was wont, clothed in a white garment, to go out of the city in the morning, and even to drive his chariot. These morning excursions were usually to a certain place which was about sixty stadia from Jerusalem, and which was called Etam; gardens and brooks made it as pleasant as it was fruitful.” This
Etam, from whence (the 00°Y }'Y') a watercourse, the ruins of which are still visible, supplied the temple with water, has been identified by Robinson with a village called Artas (by Lumley called Urtas), about a mile and a half to the south of Bethlehem. At the upper end of the winding valley, at a considerable height above the bottom, are three old Solomonic pools,—large, oblong basins of considerable compass placed one behind the other in terraces. Almost at an equal height with the highest pool, at a distance of several hundred steps there is a strong fountain, which is carefully built over, and to which there is a descent by means of stairs inside the building. ΒΥ it principally were the pools, which are just large reservoirs, fed, and the water was conducted by a subterranean conduit into the upper pool. Riding along the way close to the aqueduct, which stills exists, one sees even at the present day the valley below clothed in rich vegetation; and it is easy to understand that here there may have been rich gardens and pleasure-grounds (Moritz Liittke’s Mittheilung). A more suitable place for this first scene of the fifth Act cannot be thought of; and what Josephus relates serves remarkably to illustrate not only the description of ver. 11, but also that of ver. 12. Tas is the walnut, 1.6. the Italian nut tree (Juglans regia L.), originally brought from Persia; the Persian name is keuz, Aethiop. giz, Arab. Syr. gauz (σός), in Heb. with δὲ prosth, like the Armen. engus, 8 N33 15 a garden, the peculiar ornament of which is the 1 According to Sebachim 54b, one of the highest points of the Holy Land.
fragrant and shady walnut tree; ΘΝ ΠΣ would not be a nut garden, but a garden of nuts, for the plur. signifies, Mishn. nuces (viz. juglandes=Jovis glandes, Pliny, xvii. 136, ed. Jan.), as DRA, figs, in contradistinction to 728M, a fig tree, only the Midrash uses mri here, elsewhere not occurring, of a tree. The object of her going down was one, viz. to observe the state of the vegetation; but it was manifold, as expressed in the manifold statements which follow ‘AT. The first object was the nut garden. Then her intention was to observe the young shoots in the valley, which one has to think of as traversed by a river or brook; for 5m), like Wady, signifies both a valley and a valley-brook. The nut garden might lie in the valley, for the walnut tree is fond of a moderately cool, damp soil (Joseph. Bell. iii, 10.8). But the ‘2% are the young shoots with which the banks of a brook and the damp valley are usually adorned in the spring-time. 3%, shoot, in the Heb. of budding and growth, in Aram. of the fruit-formation, comes from R. 3x, the weaker power of 2), which signifies to expand and spread from within outward, and particularly to sprout up and to well forth. 2m signifies here, as at Gen. xxxiv. 1, attentively to observe something, looking to be fixed upon it, to sink down into it. A further object was to observe whether the vine had broken out, or had budded (this is the meaning of ™8, breaking out, to send forth, R. 1, to break),\—-whether the pomegranate trees had gained flowers or flower-buds *827, not as Gesen. in his Thes. and Heb. Lex. states, the Hiph. of yo, which would be 33°94, but from 72 instead of %¥25, with the same omission of Dagesh, after the forms 159, ἘΠ, ef, Prov. vii. 13, R. 72 02, to glance, bloom (whence JVisan as the name of the flowermonth, as Ad the name of the fruit-month).’ Why the pomegranate tree (Punica granatum L.), which derives this its Latin name from its fruit being full of grains, bears the Semitic name of jim, (Arab.) rummdn, is yet unexplained; the Arabians are so little acquainted with it, that they are uncertain whether ramm or raman (which, however, is not proved to exist) is to be regarded as the root-word. The question goes along with that regarding the origin and signification of Rimmon, the name of the Syrian god, which appears to denote, “sublimity;” and it is possible that the pomegranate tree has its name from this god as being consecrated to him.*
5. An old Chald. king is called Rim-Sin; rammu is common in proper names, as Ab-rammu.
In ver. 12, Shulamith adds that, amid this her quiet delight in contemplating vegetable life, she had almost forgotten the position to which she had been elevated. ‘ny? N? may, according to the connection in which it is used, mean, “I know not,” Gen. iv. 9, xxi. 26, as well as “I knew not,” Gen. xxviii. 16, Prov. xxiii. 35; here the latter (LXX., Aquila, Jerome, Venet., Luther), for the expression runs parallel to ‘n7, and is related to it as verifying or circumstantiating it. The connection ‘wp ‘1’ xb, whether we take the word ‘5 as permut. of the subject (Luther: My soul knew it not) or as the accus. of the object: I knew not myself (after Job ix. 21), is objectionable, because it robs the following ‘3n2¥ of its subject, and makes the course of thought inappropriate. The accusative, without doubt, hits on what is right, since it gives the Rebia, corresponding to our colon, to ‘1’; for that which follows with ‘np’ v5) is just what she acknowledges not to have known or considered. For the meaning cannot be that her soul had placed or brought her in an unconscious way, 1.6. involuntarily or unexpectedly, etc., for “I knew not,” as such a declaration never forms the principal sentence, but, according to the nature of the case, always a subordinate sentence, and that either as a conditional clause with Vav, Job ix. 5, or as a relative clause, Isa. xlvii. 11; cf. Ps. xlix. 21. Thus “I knew not” will be followed by what she was unconscious of; it follows in oratio directa instead of obliqua, as also elsewhere after "1", °5, elsewhere introducing the object of knowledge, is omitted, Ps. 1x. 21; Amos v.12. But if it remains unknown to her, if it has escaped her consciousness that her soul placed her, etc., then naphshi is here her own self, and that on the side of desire (Job xxii. 13; Deut. xii. 15); thus, in contrast to external constraint, her own most inward impulse, the leading of her heart. Following this, she has been placed on the height on which she now finds herself, without being always mindful of it. It would certainly now be most natural to regard i327, after the usual constr. of the verb mw with the double accus., eg. Gen. xxviii. 22, Isa. 1. 2, Ps. xxxix. 9, as pred. aceus. (Venet. ἔθετό με ὀχήματα), as eg. Hengst.: I knew not, thus my soul brought me (ie. brought me at unawares) to the chariots of my people, who are noble. But what does this mean? He adds the remark: “ Shulamith stands in the place of the war-chariots of her people as their powerful protector, or by the heroic spirit residing in her.” But apart from the syntactically false rendering of ‘nyt xb, and the unwarrantable allegorizing, this interpretation suffers from worm-holes; the worm which pierces it bears the strange name (2903) AA, Shabbath 90a.
wrecks itself on this, that “chariots ” in themselves are not for protection, and thus without something further, especially in this designation by the word max», and not by 339 (2 Kings vi 17; cf. 2 Kings ii 12, xiii 14), are not war-chariots. “Ὁ will thus be the accus. of the object of motion. It is thus understood, eg., by Ewald (sec. 281d): My soul brought me to the chariots, etc. The shepherd-hypothesis finds here the seduction of Shulamith. Hollinder translates: “I perceived it not; suddenly, it can scarcely be said unconsciously, I was placed in the state-chariots of Amminadab.” But the Masora expressly remarks that 21) ‘py are not to be read as if forming one, but as two words, roo pan! Hitzig proportionally better, thus: without any apprehension of such a coincidence, she saw herself carried to the chariots of her noble people, ie. as Gesen. in his Thes.: inter currus comitatus principis. Any other explanation, says Hitzig, is not possible, since the accus. ‘3 in itself signifies only in the direction whither, or in the neighbourhood whence. And certainly it is generally used of the aim or object toward which one directs himself or strives, eg. Isa. xxxvii. 23. Kodesh, “toward the sanctuary,” Ps. cxxxiv. 2; ef. hashsha’ra, “ toward the gate,” Isa. xxii. 7. But the accus. ma@rom can also mean “ on high,” Isa. xxii. 16, the accus. hashshimatm “in the heavens,” 1 Kings viii. 32; and as hishlic haiorah is used, Ex. i. 22, of being cast into the Nile, and shalahh haarets of being sent into the land, Num. xiii. 27, thus may also stm merkavah be used for sim bmerkavah, 1 Sam. viii. 11, according to which the Syr. (δ΄ πιετοαδίο) and the Quinta (εἰς ἅρματα) translate; on the contrary, Symm. and Jerome destroy the meaning by adopting the reading Nev (my soul placed me in confusion). The plur. mark‘voth is thus meant amplifi., like richvé, i. 9, and batténu, 1. 17. As regards the subject, 2 Sam. xv. 1 is to be compared; it is the king’s chariot that is meant, yoked, according to 1. 9, with Egypt. horses. It is 8 question whether nadiv is related adject. to ammi: my people, a noble (people),—a connection which gives prominence to the attribute appositionally, Gen. xxxvil. 2; Ps, cxliii 10; Ezek. xxxiv. 12,—or permutat., so that the first gen. is exchanged for one defining more closely: to the royal chariot of my people, a prince. The latter — has the preference, not merely because (leaving out of view the proper name Amminadab) wherever Dy and 373 are used together — 1 sony, thus in Ὁ F: “py, without the accent and connected with 3.) by Makkeph. On the contrary, P has 3 "Dy one word, as also the Masora ~ parva has here noted mop mon. Our Masora, however, notes "22 PIN and thus Rashi and Aben Ezra testify.
they are meant of those who stand prominent above the people, Num. xxi. 18, Ps. xlvii 10, cxiii 8, but because this 3) and 17°72 evidently stand in interchangeable relation. Yet, even though we take 2) and ‘ny together, the thought remains the same. Shulamith is not one who is abducted, but, as we read at iii. 6 ff. one who is honourably brought home; and she here expressly says that no kind of external force but her own loving soul raised her to the royal chariots of her people and their king. That she gives to the fact of her elevation just this expression, arises from the circumstance that she places her joy in the loneliness of nature, in contrast to her driving along in a splendid chariot. Designating the chariot that of her noble people, or that of her people, and, indeed, of a prince, she sees in both cases in Solomon the concentration and climax of the people’s glory.
Encouraged by Shulamith’s unassuming answer, the daughters of Jerusalem now give utterance to an entreaty which their astonishment at her beauty suggests to them.
Chap. vii. 1 Come back, come back, O Shulamith! Come back, come back, that we may look upon thee! She is now (vi. 10 ff.) on the way from the garden to the palace. The fourfold “come back ” entreats her earnestly, yea, with tears, to return thither with them once more, and for this purpose, that they might find delight in looking upon her; for 2 ΠῚΠ signifies to sink oneself into a thing, looking at it, to delight (feast) one’s eyes in looking on a thing. Here for the first time Shulamith is addressed by name. But 38 cannot be a pure proper name, for the art. is vocat., as eg. “nan, “O daughter of Jerusalem!’ Pure proper names like ΠΌΡ are so determ. in themselves that they exclude the article; only such as are at the same time also nouns, like 17) and 122, are susceptible of the article, particularly also of the vocat., Ps. cxiv. 5; but cf. Zech. xi. 1 with Isa. x. 34. Thus 409 will be not so much 8 proper name as a name of descent, as generally nouns in 7 (with a few exceptions, viz. of ordinal number, 777, ‘25, etc.) are all gentilicia. The LXX. render ‘wn by ἡ Σουναμῖτις, and this is indeed but another form for MOR, 1.6. she who is from Sunem. Thus also was designated the exceedingly beautiful Abishag, 1 Kings 1. 3, Elisha’s excellent and pious hostess, 2 Kings iv. 8 ff. Sunem was in the tribe of Issachar (Josh. xix. 18), near to Little Hermon, from which it was separated by a valley, to the south-east of Carmel. This lower Galilean Sunem, which lies south from Nain, south-east from Nazareth, south-west from Tabor, is also called Shulem. Eusebius in his Onomasticon says regarding it: Σουβήμ (1. Σουλήμ) κλήρου
᾿Ισσάχαρ. καὶ viv ἐστὶ κώμη Σουλὴμ κιτλ., ic. as Jerome translates it: Sunem in tribu Issachar. et usque hodie vicus ostenditur nomine Sulem in quinto miliario montis Thabor contra australem plagam. This place is found at the present day under the name of Suwlam (Sélam), at the west end of Jebel ed-Duhi (Little Hermon), not far from the great plain (Jisre’el, now Zer'tn), which forms a convenient way of communication between Jordan and the sea-coast, but is yet so hidden in the mountain range that the Talmud is silent concerning this Sulem, as it is concerning Nazareth. Here was the home of the Shulamitess of the Song. The ancients interpret the name by elpnvevovea, or by ἐσκυλευμένη (vid. Lagarde’s Onomastica), the former after Aquila and the Quinta, the latter after Symm. The Targum has the interpretation: Ἢ py mnoxa ΠΌΡΟΣ (vid. Rashi). But the form of the name (the Syr. writes RIND) is opposed to these allegorical interpretations. Rather it is to be assumed that the poet purposely used, not ‘wn, but ‘yin, to assimilate her name to that of Solomon; and that it has the parallel meaning of one devoted to Solomon, and thus, as it were, of a passively-applied mniow = Σαλώμη, is the more probable, as the daughters of Jerusalem would scarcely venture thus to address her who was raised to the rank of a princess unless this name accorded with that of Solomon.
1b « What do you see in Shulamith? She is not aware that anything particular is to be seen in her; but the daughters of Jerusalem are of a different opinion, and answer this childlike, modest, but so much the more touching question,— 1b 6 As the dance of Mahaniim!
They would thus see in her something like the dance of Mahanaim. If this be here the name of the Levitical town (now Mahneh) in the tribe of Gad, north of Jabbok, where Ishbosheth resided for two years, and where David was hospitably entertained on his flight from Absalom (Luthr.: “the dance to Mahanaim "ἢ, then we must suppose in this trans-Jordanic town such a popular festival as was kept in Shiloh, Judg. xxi. 19, and we may compare <Abel-Meholah t= meadow of dancing], the name of Elisha’s birth-place (cf. also Herod. i. 16: “Todance the dance of the Arcadian town of Tegea”). But the Song delights in retrospective references to Genesis (cf. iv.116,vii.11). At xxxii. 3, however, by Mahanaim’ is meant the double encampment of angels who protected Jacob’s two companies
, Bottcher explains Mahandim 85 ἃ plur.; but the plur. of AND is nian and DYIND; the plur. termination ajim is limited to DYD and Σοῦ.
(xxxii. 8). The town of Mahandim derives its name from this vision of Jacob’s. The word, as the name of a town, is always without the article; and here, where it has the article, it is to be understood appellatively. The old translators, in rendering by “ the dances of the camps” (Syr., Jerome, choros castrorum, Venet. θίασον στρατοπέδων), by which it remains uncertain whether a war-dance or a parade is meant, overlook the dual, and by exchanging Ὁ) ΠΩ with 2nd, they obtain a figure which in this connection is incongruous and obscure. But, in truth, the figure is an angelic one. The daughters of Jerusalem wish to see Shulamith dance, and they designate that as an angelic sight. Mahandim became in the postbibl. dialect a name directly for angels. The dance of angels is only a step beyond the responsive song of the seraphim, Isa. vi. Hngelkoere [angel-choir] and “ heavenly host” are associated in the old German poetry.’ The following description is undeniably that (let one only read how Hitzig in vain seeks to resist this interpretation) of one dancing. In this, according to biblical representation and ancient custom, there is nothing repulsive. The women of the ransomed people, with Miriam at their head, danced, as did also the women who celebrated David’s victory over Goliath (Ex. xv. 20; 1 Sam. xviii. 66). David himself danced (2 Sam. vi.) before the ark of the covenant. Joy and dancing are, according to Old Testament conception, inseparable (Eccles. iii. 4); and joy not only as the happy feeling of youthful life, but also spiritual holy joy (Ps. Ixxxvii. 7). The dance which the ladies of the court here desire to see, falls under the point of view of a play of rival individual artistes reciprocally acting for the sake of amusement. The play also is capable of moral nobility, if it is enacted within the limits of propriety, at the right time, in the right manner, and if the natural joyfulness, penetrated by intelligence, is consecrated by ἃ spiritual aim. Thus Shulamith, when she dances, does not then become a Gaditanian (Martial, xiv. 203) or an Alma (the name given in Anterior Asia to those women who go about making it their business to dance mimic and partly lascivious dances); nor does she become a Bajadere (Isa. xxiii. 15 f)? as also Miriam, Ex. xv. 20, Jephthah’s daughter, Judg. xi. 34, the “daughters of Shiloh,” Judg.
1 Vid. Walther von der Vogelweide, 173. 28. The Indian mythology goes farther, and transfers not only the original of the dance, but also of the drama, to heaven; vid. Gétting. Anzeigen, 1874, p. 106.
2 Alma is the Arab. ’ualmah (one skilled, viz. in dancing and jonglerie), and Bajadere is the Portug. softening of baladera, a dancer, from balare (ballare), mediaey. Lat., and then Romanic: to move in a circle, to dance.
xxi. 21, and the women of Jerusalem, 1 Sam. xviii. 6, did not dishonour themselves by dancing; the dancing of virgins is even @ feature of the times after the restoration, Jer. xxxi. 13. But that Shulamith actually danced in compliance with the earnest entreaty of the daughters of Jerusalem, is seen from the following description of her attractions, which begins with her feet and the vibration of her thighs.
After throwing aside her upper garments, so that she had only the light clothing of a shepherdess or vinedresser, Shulamith danced to and fro before the daughters of Jerusalem, and displayed all her attractions before them. Her feet, previously (v. 3) naked, or as yet only shod with sandals, she sets forth with the deportment of a prince’s daughter.
The noun 22, which signifies noble in disposition, and then noble by birth and rank (cf. the reverse relation of the meanings in generosus), is in the latter sense synon. and parallel to 720 and ἪΡ, Shulamith is here called a prince's daughter because she was raised to the rank of which Hannah, 1 Sam. ii. 8, ef. Ps. exiii. 8, speaks, and to which she herself, vi. 12, points. Her beauty, from the first associated with unaffected dignity, now appears in native princely grace and majesty. Oy® (from O¥B, pulsare, as in nunc pede libero pulsanda tellus) signifies step and foot,—in the latter sense the poet. Heb, and the vulgar Phoen. word for 722; here the meanings pes and passus (Fr. pas, dance-step) flow into each other. The praise of the spectators now turns from the feet of the dancer to her thighs: Ver. 2b The vibration of thy thighs like ornamental chains, The work of an artist’s hands.
The double-sided thighs, viewed from the spine and the lower part of the back, are called 0°22; from the upper part of the legs upwards, and the breast downwards (the lumbar region), thus seen on the front and sidewise, pryon or 3. Here the manifold twistings and windings of the upper part of the body by means of the thigh-joint are meant; such movements of a circular kind are called D°P30N, from pon, v. 6. oon is the plur. of = (Arab) haly, as OWOY (gazelles) of ‘2¥=zaby. The sing. Sn (or mon = (Arab.) Aulyah signifies a female ornament, consisting of gold, silver, or precious stones, and that (according to the connection, Prov. xxv. 2; Hos. ii. 15) for the neck or the breast as a whole; the plur. ‘Sm, occurring only here, is therefore chosen because the bendings of the loins, full of life and beauty, are compared to the free swingings to and fro of such an ornament, and thus to a connected ornament of chains; for ‘on are not the beauty-curves of the thighs at rest,—the connection here requires movement. In accordance with the united idea of "ὌΠ, the appos. is not ‘YY, but (according to the Palestin.) nvyn (LXX., Targ., Syr., Venet.). The artist is called 1% (ommdn) (the forms POX and PS are also found), Syr. avmon, Jewish-Aram. }28; he has, as the master of stability, a name like 2), the right hand: the hand, and especially the right hand, is the artifex among the members! The eulogists pass from the loins to the middle part of the body. In dancing, especially in the Oriental style of dancing, which is the mimic representation of animated feeling, the breast and the body are raised, and the forms of the body appear through the clothing. Ver. 3 Thy navel is a well-rounded basin— Let not mixed wine be wanting to it
In interpreting these words, Hitzig proceeds as if a “ voluptuary ” were here speaking. He therefore changes JW into 7W, “thy pudenda.” But (1) it is no voluptuary who speaks here, and particularly not a man, but women who speak; certainly, above all, it is the poet, who would not, however, be so inconsiderate as to put into the mouths of women immodest words which he could use if he wished to represent the king as speaking. Moreover (2) = (Arab.) swrr, secret (that which is secret; in Arab. especially referred to the pudenda, both of man and woman), is a word that is? foreign to the Heb. language, which has for “ Geheimnis” [secret] the corresponding word ‘iD (vid. under Ps. ii. 2, xxv. 14), after the rootsignification of its verbal stem (viz. to be firm, pressed together); and (3) the reference—preferred by Dopke, Magnus, Hahn, and others, also without any change of punctuation—of “W to the interfeminium mulieris, is here excluded by the circumstance that the attractions of a woman dancing, as they unfold themselves, are here described. Like the Arab. surr, WW (=shurr), from TW, to bind fast, denotes properly the umbilical cord, Ezek. xvi. 4, and then the umbilical scar. Thus, Prov. iii. 8, where most recent critics prefer, for TW, to read, but without any proper reason, Tw? = TINw?, “ to thy flesh”? the navel comes there into view as the centre of the body,—which it always is with new-born infants, and is almost so with grown-up persons in respect of the length of the body,—and as, indeed, the centre, whence the pleasurable feeling of health diffuses its rays of heat. This middle and prominent point of the abdomen shows itself in one lightly clad and dancing when she breathes deeply, even through the clothing; and because the navel commonly forms a little funnel-like hollow (Béttch.: in the form almost of a whirling hollow in the water, as one may see in nude antique statues), therefore the daughters of Jerusalem compare Shulamith’s navel to a “basin of roundness,” ie. which has this general property, and thus belongs to the class of things that are round. }2& does not mean a Becher (a cup), but a Bechen (basin), pelvis; properly a washing basin, ijanah (from Ἰδὲ =ayan, to full, to wash = 022); then a sprinkling basin, Ex. xxiv. 6; and generally a basin, Isa. xxii. 24; here, a mixing basin, in which wine was mingled with a proportion of water to render it palatable (κρατήρ, from κεραννύναι, temperare),—according to the Talm. with two-thirds of water. In this sense this passage is interpreted allegorically, Sanhedrin 14b, 37a, and elsewhere (vid. Aruch under 3D). Ὁ is not spiced wine, which is otherwise designated (viii. 2), but, as Hitzig rightly explains, mixed wine, ἐς. mixed with water or snow (vid. under Isa. v. 22). 3% is not borrowed from the Greek μέσγειν (Gritz), but is a word native to all the three chief Semitic dialects— the weaker form of 3D, which may have the meaning of “ to pour in;” but not merely “to pour in,” but, at the same time, “to mix” (vid. under Isa. v. 22; Prov. ix. 2). 0, with 2X, represents the circular form (from =D), corresponding to the navel ring; Kimchi thinks that the moon must be understood (cf. 77%, Junula): a moonlike round basin; according to which the Venet., also in Gr., choosing an excellent name for the moon, translates: ῥάντιστρον τῆς ἑκάτης. But “ moon-basin” would be an insufficient expression for it; Ewald supposes that it is the name of a flower, without, however, establishing this opinion. The “ basin of roundness” is the centre of the body a little depressed; and that which the clause, “may not mixed wine be lacking,” expresses, as their wish for her, is soundness of health, for which no more appropriate and delicate figure can be given than hot wine tempered with fresh water.
The comparison in 3) is the same as that of R. Johanan’s of beauty, Mezfa 84a: “He who would gain an idea of beauty should take a silver cup, fill it with pomegranate flowers, and encircle its rim with a garland of roses.” To the present day, winnowed and sifted corn is piled up in great heaps of symmetrical half-spherical form,
1 See my Gesch. d. Jiid. Poesie, p. 30f. Hoch (the German Solomon) reminds us of the Jewish marriage custom of throwing over the newly-married pair the contents of a vessel wreathed with flowers, and filled with wheat or corn (with money underneath), accompanied with the cry, 3273 778 [be fruitful and multiply].
which are then frequently stuck over with things that move in the wind, for the purpose of protecting them against birds. “The appearance of such heaps of wheat,” says Wetstein (Jsa. p. 7 10); “which one may see in long parallel rows on the thrashing-floors of a village, is very pleasing to a peasant; and the comparison of the Song, vii. 3, every Arabian will regard as beautiful.” Such a cornheap is to the present day called subbah, while ’aramah is a heap of thrashed corn that has not yet been winnowed; here, with ΠῚ, 15 to be connected the idea of a subbah, 1.6. of a heap of wheat not only thrashed and winnowed, but also sifted (riddled). x», enclosed, fenced about (whence the post-bibl. 3D, a fence), is a part. pass. such as YB, scattered (vid. under Ps. xcii. 12). The comparison refers to the beautiful appearance of the roundness, but, at the same time, also to the flesh-colour shining through the dress; for fancy sees more than the eyes, and concludes regarding that which is veiled from that which is visible. A wheat-colour was, according to the Moslem Sunna, the tint of the first created man. Wheat-yellow and lily-white is a subdued white, and denotes at once purity and health; by πυρός [wheat] one thinks of wip—heaped up wheat developes a remarkable heat, a fact for which Biesenthal refers to Plutarch’s Quaest. In accordance with the progress of the description, the breasts are now spoken οἵ: Ver. 4 Thy two breasts are like two fawns, Twins of a gazelle. iv. 5 is repeated, but with the omission of the attribute, “ feeding among lilies,” since lilies have already been applied to another figure. Instead of ‘pikM there, we have here ‘OXM (tadme), the former after the ground-form ¢:’dm, the latter after the ground-form to’m (cf. ‘83, Neh. xiii. 29, from ita = 5x83). Ver. 5a Thy neck like an ivory tower.
The article in #0 may be that designating species (vid. under i. 11); but, as at vii. 5 and iv. 4, it appears to be also here a definite tower which the comparison has in view: one covered externally with ivory tablets, a tower well known to all in and around Jerusalem, and visible far and wide, especially when the sun shone on it; had it been otherwise, as in the case of the comparison following, the locality would have been more definitely mentioned. So slender, so dazzlingly white, so imposing, and so captivating to the eye did Shulamith’s neck appear. These and the following figures would be open to the objection of being without any occasion, and monstrous, if they referred to an ordinary beauty; but they refer to Solomon’s spouse, they apply to a queen, and therefore are derived from that which is most splendid in the kingdom over which, along with him, she rules; and in this they have the justification of their grandeur. Ver. 5b « Thine eyes pools in Heshbon, At the gate of the populous (city). Heshbon, formerly belonging to the Amorites, but at this time to the kingdom of Solomon, lay about 54 hours to the east of the northern point of the Dead Sea, on an extensive, undulating, fruitful, high table-land, with a far-reaching prospect. Below the town, now existing only in heaps of ruins, a brook, which here takes it rise, flows westward, and streams towards the Ghér as the Nahr Hesban. It joins the Jordan not far above its entrance into the Dead Sea. The situation of the town was richly watered. There still exists a huge reservoir of excellent masonry in the valley, about half a mile from the foot of the hill on which the town stood. The comparison here supposes two such pools, but which are not necessarily together, though both are before the gate, ie. near by, outside the town. Since We, except at Isa. xiv. 31, is fem., D'27N3, in the sense of py ‘N31, Lam. i. 1 (cf. for the non-determin. of the adj., Ezek. xxi. 25), is to be referred to the town, not to the gate (Hitz.); Blau’s' conjectural reading, bath-'akrabbim, does not recommend itself, because the craggy heights of the “ ascent of Akrabbim” (Num. xxxiv, 4; Josh. xv. 3), which obliquely cross? the Ghér to the south of the Dead Sea, and from remote times formed the southern boundary of the kingdom of the Amorites (Judg. i. 36), were too far off, and too seldom visited, to give its name to a gate of Heshbon. But generally the crowds of men at the gate and the topography of the gate are here nothing to the purpose; the splendour of the town, however, is for the figure of the famed cisterns like a golden border. 373 (from 7722, to spread out, vid. Genesis, p. 98; Fleischer in Levy, I. 4200) denotes a skilfully built round or square pool. The comparison of the eyes to a pool means, as Wetstein * remarks, “ either thus glistening like a water-mirror, or thus lovely in appearance, for the Arabian knows no greater pleasure than to look upon clear, gently rippling water.” Both are perhaps to be taken together; the mirroring glance of the moist eyes (cf. Ovid, De Arte Am. i. 722:
“ Adspicies oculos tremulo fulgore micantes, Ut sol a liquida saepe refulget aqua’’),
and the spell of the charm holding fast the gaze of the beholder.
This comparison also places us in the midst of the architectural and artistic splendours of the Solomonic reign. A definite town is here meant; the art. determines it, and the part. following appositionally without the art., with the expression “towards Damascus” defining it more nearly (vid. under iii. 6), describes it. i257 designates here “the whole Alpine range of mountains in the north of the land of Israel” (Furrer); for a tower which looks in the direction of Damascus (28, accus., as JBN, 1 Sam. xxii. 4) is to be thought of as standing on one of the eastern spurs of Hermon, or on the top of Amana (iv. 8), whence the Amana (Barada) takes its rise, whether as a watch-tower (2 Sam. viii. 6), or only as a look-out from which might be enjoyed the paradisaical prospect. The nose gives to the face especially its physiognomical expression, and conditions its beauty. Its comparison to a tower on a lofty height is occasioned by the fact that Shulamith’s nose, without being blunt or flat, formed a straight line from the brow downward, without bending tc the right or left (Hitzig), a mark of symmetrical beauty combined with awe-inspiring dignity. After the praise of the nose it was natural to think of Carmel; Carmel is a promontory, and as such is called anf el-jebel (“ nose of the mountain-range ἢ).
We say that the head is “on the man” (2 Kings vi. 31; Judith xiv. 18), for we think of a man ideally as the central unity of the members forming the external appearance of his body. Shulamith's head ruled her form, surpassing all in beauty and majesty,as Carmel with its noble and pleasing appearance ruled the land and sea at its feet. From the summit of Carmel, clothed with trees (Amos ix. 3; 1 Kings xviii. 42), a transition is made to the hair on the head, which the Moslem poets are fond of comparing to long leaves, as vine leaves and palm branches; as, on the other hand, the thick leafy wood is called (vid. under Isa. vii. 20) comata silva (cf. Oudendorp’s Apuleii Metam. p.744). Gritz, proceeding on the supposition of the existence of Persian words in the Song, regards nna as the name of a colour; but (1) crimson is designated in tne Heb.-Pers. not 203, but ὈΝΘΊΣ, instead of "}} nydin (vid. under Isa. 1. 18; Prov. pexi, 24}. (2) if the hair of the head (if qwin might be directly understood of this) may indeed be compared to the glistening of purple, not, however, to the glistening of carmese or scarlet, then red and not black hair must be meant. But itis not the locks of hair, but the hair in locks that is meant. From this the eulogium finally passes to the hair of the head itself.
Hitzig supposes that Sona reminded the poet of SD (carmese), and that thus he hit upon j0% (purple); but one would rather think that Carmel itself would immediately lead him to purple, for near this promontory is the principal place where purple shell-fish are found (Seetzen’s Reisen, IV. 277 1). "71 (from 951, to dangle, to hang loose, Job xxviii 4, Arab. tadladal) is res pendula, and particularly coma pendula, Hengst. remarks that the “ purple” has caused much trouble to those who understand by 7 the hair of the head. He himself, with Gussetius, understands by it the temples, tempus capitis; but the word 32 is used (iv. 3) for “ temples,” and “ purplelike” hair hanging down could occasion trouble only to those who knov' not how to distinguish purple from carmese. Red purple, jo (Assyr. argamannu, Aram, Arab., Pers., with departure from the } rimary meaning of the word, M7), which derives this name from 02) = DP}, material of variegated colour, is dark-red, and almost glistening black, as Pliny says (Hist. Nat. ix. 135): Laus et (the Tyrian purple) summa ἐπ colore sanguinis concreti, nigricans adspectu idemque suspectu (seen from the side) refulgens, unde et Homero purpureus dicitur sanguis. The purple hair of Nisus does not play a part in myth alone, but beautiful shining dark black hair is elsewhere also called purple, eg. πυρφύρεος πλόκαμος in Lucian, πορφυραῖ χαῖται in Anacreon. With the words “ like purple,” the description closes; and to this the last characteristic distinguishing Shulamith there is added the exclamation: “A king fettered by locks!” For 0°87, from 57, to run, flow, is also a name of flowing locks, not the ear-locks (Hitz.), ic. long ringlets flowing down in front; the same word (i. 17) signifies in its North Palest. form ©°7) (Chethtb), a water-trough, canalis. The locks of one beloved are frequently called in erotic poetry “the fetters” by which the lover is held fast, for “ love wove her net in alluring ringlets ” (Desh4mi in Joseph and Zuleika) Goethe in his Westdst. Divan presents as ἃ bold yet moderate example: “There are more than fifty hooks in each lock of thy hair;” and, on the other hand, one offensively extravagant, when it is said of a Sultan: “In the bonds of thy locks lies fastened the neck of the enemy.” ‘OX signifies also in Arab. frequently one enslaved by
1 Compare from the same poet: “ Alas! thy braided hair, a heart is in every curl, and a dilemma in every ring” (Deut. Morg. Zeit. xxiv. 581).
love: asfruha is equivalent to her lover The mention of the kine now leads from the imagery of a dance to the scene which fallows. where we again hear the king’s voice. The scene and situation aes now manifestly changed. We are transferred from the garden to the palace, where the two, without the presence of any spectators, carry on the following dialogue.
It is the fundamental thought forming the motive and aim of the Song which now expresses itself in the words of Solomon.
It is a truth of all-embracing application which is here expressed. There is nothing more admirable than love, 1.6. the uniting or mingling together of two lives, the one of which gives itself to the other, and so finds the complement of itself; nor than this self-devotion, which is at the same time self-enrichment. All this is true of earthly love, of which Walther v. ἃ. Vogelweide says: “ minne ist zweier herzen wiinne” [love is the joy of two hearts], and it is true also of heavenly love; the former surpasses all earthly delights (also such as are purely sensuous, Eccles. 11. 8), and the latter is, as the apostle expresses himself in his spiritual “ Song of Songs,” 1 Cor. xiii. 13, in relation to faith and hope, “ greater than these,” greater than both of them, for it is their sacred, eternal aim. In "5. it is indicated that the ideal, and in My) that the eudaemonistic feature of the human soul attains its satisfaction in love. The LXX., obliterating this so true and beautiful a promotion of love above all other joys, translate ἐν ταῖς τρυφαῖς cov (in the enjoyment which thou impartest). The Syr., Jerome, and others also rob the Song of this its point of light and of elevation, by reading 7278 (O beloved!) instead of 727%. The words then declare (yet contrary to the spirit of the Hebrew language, which knows neither [8 nor ‘NIN as vocat.) what we already read at iv. 10; while, according to the traditional form of the text, they are the prelude of the love-song, to love as such, which is continued in viii. 6 f.
When Solomon now looks on the wife of his youth, she stands before him like a palm tree with its splendid leaf-branches, which the Arabians call weht insdn (the sisters of men); and like a vine which climbs up on the wall of the house, and therefore is an emblem of the housewife, Ps. cxxviii. 3. Ver. 8 Thy stature is like the palm tree; And thy breasts clusters. 9 I thought: I will climb the palm, Grasp its branches; And thy breasts shall be to me As clusters of the vine, And the breath of thy nose like apples, 10a « And thy palate like the best wine. Shulamith stands before him. As he surveys her from head to foot, he finds her stature like the stature of a slender, tall date-palm, and her breasts like the clusters of sweet fruit, into which, in due season, its blossoms are ripened. That WP (thy stature) is not thought of as height apart from the person, but as along with the person (cf. Ezek. xiii. 18), scarcely needs to be remarked. The palm derives its name, fémdr, from its slender stem rising upwards
Phoenix dactylifera, which is indigenous from Egypt to India, and which is principally cultivated (eid, under Gen. xiv. 7), the female the appearance of the palm, especially when seen in the evening twilight, are here called nde (connecting form at Deut. xxii. 32),
3, as Ps. xxiv. 3) a palm tree and seizes (10, fut. mit, and thas with 3, as at Job xxiii. 11) its branches (0020, so called, as it appears," after the feather-like pointed leaves proceeding from the mid-rib on | both sides), in order to break off the fulness of the sweet fruit under its leaves. As the cypress (sarwat), so also the palm is with the Moslem poets the figure of a loved one, and with the mystics, of God;* 1 Also that 75) is perhaps equivalent to Sooo Cm, orig), to ware hither and thither, comes here to view. 7 2 Vid. Hafiz, ed. Brockhaus, II. p. 46.
and accordingly the idea of possession is here particularly intended. x-w™ denotes what he then thought and aimed αἱ. Instead of WN2, Ya, the punctuation N23 jis undoubtedly to be preferred. The figure of the palm tree terminates with the words, “ will grasp its branches.” It was adequate in relation to stature, but less so in relation to the breasts; for dates are of a long oval form, and have a stony kernel. Therefore the figure departs from the date clusters to that of grape clusters, which are more appropriate, as they swell and become round and elastic the more they ripen. The breath of the nose, which is called AS, from breathing hard, is that of the air breathed, going in and out through it; for, as a rule, a man breathes through his nostrils with closed mouth. Apples present themselves the more naturally for comparison, that the apple has the name 5M (from ΠΡ), after the form 2:29), from the fragrance which it exhales.
ais ™. is wine of the good kind, ze. the best, as Y2 NWS, Prov. vi. 24, a woman of a bad kind, ie. a bad woman; the neut. thought of as adject. is both times the gen. of the attribute, as at Prov. xxiv. 25 it is the gen. of the substratum. The punctuation 21 "> (Hitz.) is also possible; it gives, however, the common instead of the delicate poetical expression. By the comparison one may think of the expressions, jungere salivas oris (Lucret.) and oseula per longas jungere pressa moras (Ovid). But if we have rightly understood iv. 11, v. 16, the palate is mentioned much rather with reference to the words of love which she whispers in his ears when embracing her. Only thus is the further continuance of the comparison to be explained, and that it is Shulamith herself who continues it.
The dramatic structure of the Song becomes here more strongly manifest than elsewhere before. Shulamith interrupts the king, and continues his words as if echoing them, but again breaks off.
Ver. 10a β ὃ Which goes down for my beloved smoothly, Which makes the lips of sleepers move. The LXX. had here "145 in the text. It might notwithstanding be a spurious reading. Hitzig suggests that it is erroneously repeated, as if from ver.11. Ewald also (Hohesl. p. 137) did that before —— Heiligstedt, as usual, following him. But, as Ewald afterwards objected, the line would then be “too short, and not corresponding to that which follows.” But how shall ‘115 now connect itself with Solomon’s words? Ginsburg explains: “Her voice is not merely compared to wine, because it is sweet to everybody, but to such Wine as would be sweet to a friend, and on that account is more valuable and pleasant.” But that furnishes a thought digressing εἰς
ἄλλο γένος; and besides, Ewald rightly remarks that Shulamith always uses the word "7 of her beloved, and that the king never uses it in ἃ similar sense. He contends, however, against the idea that Shulamith here interrupts Solomon; for he replies to me (Jahrb. IV. 75): “ Such interruptions we certainly very frequently find in our ill-formed and dislocated plays; in the Song, however, not a solitary example of this is found, and one ought to hesitate in imagining such a thing.” He prefers the reading Ὁ [beloved ones], although possibly vv, with ¢, abbreviated after the popular style of speech from fm, may be the same word. But is this /dodim not a useless addition? Is excellent wine good to the taste of friends merely; and does it linger longer in the palate of those not beloved than of those loving? And is the circumstance that Shulamith interrupts the king, and carries forward his words, not that which frequently also occurs in the Greek drama, as eg. Eurip. Phoenissae, v. 608% The text as it stands before us requires an interchange of the speakers, and nothing prevents the supposition of such an interchange. In this idea Hengstenberg for once agrees with us. The Lamed in I‘dodi is meant in the same sense as when the bride drinks to the bridegroom, using the expression /‘dodi. The Lamed in py) is that of the defining norm, as the Beth in “ὯΣ, Prov. xxiii. 31, is that of the accompanying circumstance: that which tastes badly sticks in the palate, but that which tastes pleasantly glides down directly and smoothly, But what does the phrase “ὋΝ 'pY 23i7 mean? The LXX. translate by ixavovpevos χείλεσί pou καὶ ὀδοῦσιν, “ accommodating itself (Sym. προστιθέμενος) to my lips and teeth.” Similarly Jerome (omitting at least the false μου), labisque et dentibus illius ad ruminandum, in which 134, rumor, for 2374, seems to have led him to ruminare. Equally contrary to the text with Luther's translation: “ which to my friend goes smoothly down, and speaks of the previous year;” a rendering which supposes Ὁ (as also the Venet.) instead of Dx (good wine which, as it were, tells of former years), and, besides, disregards ‘nav. The translation: “which comes at unawares upon the lips of the sleepers,” accords with the language (Heiligst., Hitz.). But that gives no meaning, as if one understood by 0°20, as Gesen. and Ewald do, una in eodem toro cubantes; but in this case the word ought to have been Ὁ 33. Since, besides, such a thing is known as sleeping through drink or speaking in sleep, but not of drinking in sleep, our earlier translation approves itself: which causes the lips of sleepers to speak. This interpretation is also supported by a proverb in the Talm. Jebamoth 97a, Jer. Moed Katan, iii. 7, etc, which, with reference to the passage under review, says that if any one in this world adduces the saying of a righteous man in his name (ΓΦ ΠΥ or min), 92p2 Maa ΚΓ». But it is an error inherited from Buxtorf, that m\2215 means there loquuntur, and, accordingly, that 2217 of this passage before us means logui faciens. It rather means (vid. Aruch), bullire, stillare, manare (cogn, at, ἢ, Syn. wm), since, as that proverb signifies, the deceased experiences an after-taste of his saying, and this experience expresses itself in the smack of the lips; and 1213, whether it be part. Kal or Po, = 131%, thus: brought into the condition of the overflowing, the after-experience of drink that has been partaken of, and which returns again, as it were, rwminando, The meaning “ to speak” is, in spite of Parchon and Kimchi (whom the Venet., with its φθεγγό- μενος, follows), foreign to the verb; for 723 also means, not discourse, but sneaking, and particularly sneaking calumny, and, generally, fama repens. The calumniator is called in Arab. dabéd, as in Heb. 37, We now leave it undecided whether in 23}, of this passage before us, that special idea connected with it in the Gemara is contained; but the roots 17 and 3 are certainly cogn., they have the fundamental idea of a soft, noiseless movement generally, and modify this according as they are referred to that which is solid or fluid. Consequently 325, as it means in lente incedere (whence the bear has the name 35), is also capable of being interpreted leniter se movere, and trans. leniter movere, according to which the Syr. here translates, guod commovet labia mea et dentes meos (this absurd bringing in of the teeth is from the LXX. and Aq.), and the Targ. allegorizes, and whatever also in general is the meaning of the Gemara as far as it exchanges ΠΣ for mwnn (vid. Levy under wn). Besides, the translations gui commovet and qui logui facit fall together according to the sense. For when it is said of generous wine, that it makes the lips of sleepers move, a movement is meant expressing itself in the sleeper speaking. But generous wine is a figure of the love-responses of the beloved, sipped in, as it were, with pleasing satisfaction, which hover still around the sleepers in delightful dreams, and fill them with hallucinations.
It is impossible that 115 in ver. 10 has any other reference than it has in ver. 11, where it is without doubt Shulamith who speaks.
After the words “I am my beloved’s,” we miss the “ and my beloved is mine” of vi. 3, cf. ii. 16, which perhaps had dropped out. The second line here refers back to Gen. iii. 16, for here, as there, NWN, from pi, to impel, move, is the impulse of love as a natural power.
When a wife is the object of such passion, it is possible that, on the one side, she feels herself very fortunate therein; and, on the other side, if the love, in its high commendations, becomes excessive, oppressed, and when she perceives that in her love-relation she is the observed of many eyes, troubled. It is these mingled feelings which move Shulamith when she continues the praise so richly lavished on her in words which denote what she might be to the king, but immediately breaks off in order that, as the following verse now shows, she might use this superabundance of his love for the purpose of setting forth her request, and thus of leading into another path; her simple, child-like disposition longs for the quietness and plainness of rural life, away from the bustle and display of city and court life. Ver. 12 Up, my lover; we will go into the country, Lodge in the villages.
Hitzig here begins a new scene, to which he gives the superscription: “Shulamith making haste to return home with her lover.” The advocate of the shepherd-hypothesis thinks that the faithful Shulamith, after hearing Solomon’s panegyric, shakes her head and says: “Tam my beloved’s.” To him she calls, “Come, my beloved;” for, as Ewald seeks to make this conceivable: the golden confidence of her near triumph lifts her in spirit forthwith above all that is present and all that is actual; only to him may she speak; and as if she were half here and half already there, in the midst of her rural home along with him, she says, “Let us go out into the fields,” etc. In fact, there is nothing more incredible than this Shulamitess, whose dialogue with Solomon consists of Solomon’s addresses, and of answers which are directed, not to Solomon, but in a monologue to her shepherd; and nothing more cowardly and more shadowy than this lover, who goes about in the moonlight seeking his beloved shepherdess whom he has lost, glancing here and there through the lattices of the windows and again disappearing. How much more justifiable is the drama of the Song by the French Jesuit C. F. Menestrier (born in Sion 1631, died 1705), who, in his two little works on the opera and the ballet, speaks of Solomon as the creator of the opera, and regards the Song as a shepherd-play, in which his love-relation to the daughter of the king of Egypt is set forth under the allegorical figures of the love of a shepherd and a shepherdess!! For Shulamith is thought of as a ΠΡῚ (shepherdess], i. 8, and she thinks of Solomon not new. This also was the sentiment of Fray Luis de Leon; vid. his Biogruphie by Wilkens (1866), p. 209.
as a ΠΡ [shepherd]. She remains so in her inclination even after her elevation to the rank of a queen. The solitude and glory of external nature are dearer to her than the bustle and splendour of the city and the court. Hence her pressing out of the city to the country. 782 is local, without external designation, like rus (to the country). O53 (here and at 1 Chron. xxvii. 25) is plur. of the unused form 753 (const, 153, Josh. xviii. 24) or 183, Arab. kafar (cf. the Syr. dimin. kafrino, a little town), instead of which it is once pointed 755, 1 Sam. vi. 18, of that name of a district of level country with which a multitude of later Palest. names of places, such as 04N) 423, are connected. Ewald, indeed, understands k‘pharim as at iv. 13: we will lodge among the fragrant Al-henna bushes. But yet ‘23 cannot be equivalent to O%527 nnn; and since }? (probably changed from 2?) and Ὁ ὅπ, 13a, stand together, we must suppose that they wished to find a bed in the henna bushes; which, if it were conceivable, would be too gipsy-like, even for a pair of lovers of the rank of shepherds (vid. Job xxx. 7). No. Shulamith’s words express a wish for a journey into the country: they will there be in freedom, and at night find shelter ('p>2, as 1 Chron. xxvu. 25 and Neh. vi. 2, where also the plur. is similarly used), now in this and now in that country place. Spoken to the supposed shepherd, that would be comical, for a shepherd does not wander from village to village; and that, returning to their home, they wished to turn aside into villages and spend the night there, cannot at all be the meaning. But spoken of a shepherdess, or rather a vinedresser, who has been raised to the rank of queen, it accords with her relation to Solomon,—they are married,—as well as with the inexpressible impulse of her heart after her earlier homely countrylife. The former vine-dresser, the child of the Galilean hills, the lily of the valley, speaks in the verses following. Ver. 13 In the morning we will start for the vineyards,
14 The mandrakes breathe a pleasant odour, And over our doors are all kinds of excellent fruits,
Which, my beloved, I have kept for thee. As the rising up early follows the tarrying over night, the description of that which is longed for moves forward. As D'3¥% is denom. of 02%, and properly signifies only to shoulder, zc. to rise, make oneself ready, when early going forth needs to be designated it has generally "P33 (cf. Josh. vi. 15) along with it; yet this word may also be wanting, 1 Sam. ix. 26, xvii. 16. "132 ‘D¥2 = ‘10> Ἴ99) 30), an abbreviation of the expression which is also found in hist. prose, Gen. xix. 27; cf. 2 Kings xix. 9. They wished in the morning, when the life of nature can best be observed, and its growth and progress and striving upwards best contemplated, to see whether the vine had opened, i.e. unfolded (thus, vi. 11), whether the vine-blossom (vid. at ii. 13) had expanded (LXX. ἤνθησεν ὁ κυπρισμός), whether the pomegranate had its flowers or flower-buds (27, as at vi. 11); nnp is here, as at Isa. xlviii. 8, lx. 11, used as internally transitive: to accomplish or to undergo the opening, as also (Arab.) fattah 1 is used of the blooming of flowers, for (Arab.) tafttah (to unfold). The vineyards, inasmuch as she does not say Y°D)?, are not alone those of her family, but generally those of her home, but of her home; for these are the object of her desire, which in this pleasant journey with her beloved she at once in imagination reaches, flying, as it were, over the intermediate space. There, in undisturbed quietness, and in a lovely region consecrating love, will she give herself to him in the entire fulness of her love. By 't? she means the evidences of her love (vid. under iv. 10, i. 2), which she will there grant to him as thankful responses to his own. Thus she speaks in the spring-time, in the month Ijjar, corresponding to our Wonnemond (pleasuremonth, May), and seeks to give emphasis to her promise by this, that she directs him to the fragrant “ mandragoras,” and to the precious fruits of all kinds which she has kept for him on the shelf in her native home.
wn (after the form 939), love's flower, is the mandragora offcinalis, L., with whitish green flowers and yellow apples of the size of nutmegs, belonging to the Solanaceae; its fruits and roots are used as an aphrodisiac, therefore this plant was called by the Arabs abd al-sal’m, the servant of love, postillon d'amour; the son of Leah found such mandrakes (LXX. Gen. xxx. 14, μῆλα μανδραγορῶν) at the time of the vintage, which falls in the month of Ijjar; they have a strong but pleasant odour. In Jerusalem mandrakes are rare; but so much the more abundantly are they found growing wild in Galilee, whither Shulamith is transported in spirit. Regarding the nD (from 722, occurring in the sing. exclusively in the blessing of Moses, Deut. xxxiii.), which in the Old Testament is peculiar to the Song, vid. iv. 13,16. From “over our doors,” down to “ I have kept for thee,” is, according to the LXX., Syr., Jerome, and others, one sentence, which in itself is not inadmissible; for the object can precede its verb, iii. 3, and can stand as the subject between the place mentioned and the verb, Isa. xxxii. 13a, also as the object, 2 Chron. xxxl. 6, which, as in the passage before us, may be interpunctuated with Athnach for the sake of emphasis; in the bibl. Chald. this inverted sequence of the words is natural, e.g. Dan. ii.175. But such a long-winded sentence is at least not in the style of the Song, and one does not rightly see why just “over our doors” has the first placeinit. I therefore formerly translated it as did Luther, dividing it into parts: “and over our doors are all kinds of precious fruits; I have,” etc. But with this departure from the traditional division of the verse nothing is gained; for the “keeping” (laying up) refers naturally to the fruits of the preceding year, and in the first instance can by no means refer to fruits of this year, especially as Shulamith, according to the structure of the poem, has not visited her parental home since her home-bringing in marriage, and now for the first time, in the early summer, between the barley harvest and the wheat harvest, is carried away thither in her longing. Therefore the expression, “my beloved, I have kept for thee,’ is to be taken by itself, but not as an independent sentence (Bottch.), but is to be rendered, with Ewald, as a relative clause; and this, with Hitz., is to be referred to 0'2%* (old). Col refers to the many sorts of precious fruits which, after the time of their ingathering, are divided into “new and old” (Matt. xii. 52). The plur. “our doors,’ which as amplif. poet. would not be appropriate here, supposes several entrances into her parents’ home; and since “I have kept” refers to a particular preserving of choice fruits, αὐ does not (Hitzig) refer to a floor, such as the floor above the family dwelling or above the barn, but to the shelf above the inner doors, a board placed over them, on which certain things are wont to be laid past for some particular object. She speaks to the king like a child; for although highly elevated, she yet remains, without self-elation, a child.