_By night_ Lit. IN THE NIGHTS. In Psalms 16:7 the same phrase is translated "in the night seasons," and some understand it here of the night hours. But in none of the few passages in which the plural _lçlôth_occurs, is it used in this sense. In all it refers to more nights than one, not to the sever... [ Continue Reading ]
Song of Solomon 3:1-5. A Dream Almost all commentators agree that we have here a dream narrated to some persons, in which the Shulammite seems to herself to have sought her lover in the city and failed to find him. Those who take the dramatic view think of it as narrated to the women of the court.... [ Continue Reading ]
R.V. rightly inserts _I said_at the beginning of the verse. It is a vivid presentment of what happened, when her hope of her lover's presence was disappointed. She said in her dream not _I will rise now_, but COME LET ME ARISE AND LET ME GO ABOUT IN THE CITY. The hortative forms of the verb beautifu... [ Continue Reading ]
_The watchmen_ For the practice of having watchmen in cities, cp. Psalms 127:1, "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." Grätz supposes that the mention of watchmen favours his very late date for the book. But probably this very obvious precaution was taken in Palestine from... [ Continue Reading ]
It was _but a little that I passed from them_ i.e. HARDLY HAD I GONE FROM THEM _when I found him whom my soul loveth_. _I held him_ Rather, I LAID HOLD ON HIM. _and would not let him go_ Better, either as Oettli, _I DID NOT LET HIM_ _go until_, &c., or as Driver, _Tenses_, § 42 β and § 85 note, _I... [ Continue Reading ]
As in ch. Song of Solomon 2:7. Probably here as there the significance of the adjuration is, that after such a demonstration of her deep-seated love the daughters of Jerusalem should not seek to arouse in her love for another by mere extraneous solicitations.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whois this that cometh out_ In the Heb. as it stands, _this_is feminine, and the participles _coming up_and _perfumed_are in agreement with it. Hence many hold that the verse is spoken of a woman, either of a princess whom Solomon, even in the midst of his wooing of the Shulammite, is about to marr... [ Continue Reading ]
Song of Solomon 3:6-11. The King's Return King Solomon must be supposed to be coming from Jerusalem, to the royal residence in the North where the Shulammite is, or to be returning thither after an absence. Apparently he comes in special splendour, seeking to overawe her thereby. She notices the ap... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold his bed, which is Solomon's_ This is an answer to the question of the last verse, "Who or what is this which cometh up," &c. It should be, BEHOLD, IT IS SOLOMON'S PALANQUIN, and it is spoken either by the same person who asks the question, or by another bystander. The word _miṭṭâh_, translat... [ Continue Reading ]
_They all hold swords_ This is a circumstantial and descriptive clause, and their holding swords is not meant to be explained by _expert in war_, as the insertion of -being" in the A.V. might suggest. Rather it should be rendered, THREESCORE VALIANT MEN ALL OF THEM WITH SWORDS IN THEIR HANDS, AND TR... [ Continue Reading ]
In this verse we have a continuation of the spectator's or warder's call to those who are looking out at the royal cavalcade from the house or palace where the Shulammite is. The speaker must be conceived as uttering an aside to those about him, giving a description of the _miṭṭâh_from his previous... [ Continue Reading ]
_the pillars thereof_ The supports of the canopy or roof. _the bottom thereof_ Rather, THE BACK, that upon which one leans. Cp. LXX ἀνάκλιτον, Vulg. _reclinatorium_. _the covering of it_ THE SEAT OF IT. _purple_ i.e. the seat of it is upholstered with purple, _argâmân_. This is the _red_purple, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_the day of his espousals_ Either this day, or another, so that the meaning may be either that he was to be married on this day, or that he had been married formerly, and now was wearing the crown his mother then gave him. The latter is the more probable. Budde maintains that this verse proves that... [ Continue Reading ]