Song of Solomon 4:1-7. The Royal Suitor King Solomon is here the speaker, and in these verses he presses his suit anew by praise of the Shulammite's beauty. The whole song is evidently modelled, as several of the succeeding songs are, on the _wasf_or description of the bride, which is so prominent... [ Continue Reading ]
_my love_ MY FRIEND. _thou_hast _doves" eyes_ THINE EYES ARE (AS) DOVES. Cp. Song of Solomon 1:15. _within thy locks_ FROM BEHIND THY VEIL. The translation _locks_is that of the Jewish commentators, Kimchi and Rashi. The _burqu-_or face-veil of a lady is thus described in Lane's _Modern Egyptians_,... [ Continue Reading ]
The A.V. has supplied a great deal in the first clause, and has diverted the comparison thereby from the whiteness to the evenness of the teeth. The comparison is really this, _Thy teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep which have come up from the washing_, i.e. they are white as a flock of sheep in... [ Continue Reading ]
_like a thread of scarlet_ i.e. she has thin red lips. The word for -red" here is _shânî_=-cochineal." In Arabic its name is _qirmiz_, hence our word -crimson." _thy speech_ THY MOUTH. The word used here, _midhbâr_, is an unusual one in this sense. _thy templesare like a piece of a pomegranate wit... [ Continue Reading ]
_for an armoury lěthalpiyyôth_. This rendering of a very difficult word follows the Talmud, which takes it to be a compound of _tal_, a form of the const. of _tel_, and _piyyôth_= -edges," i.e. swords. That gives -a mound in which swords were stored," -an armoury." But to compare a beautiful neck to... [ Continue Reading ]
_two young roes_, &c. TWO FAWNS THAT ARE TWINS OF A GAZELLE. _which feed among the lilies_ PASTURING _among the lilies_. Probably the comparison is meant to be limited merely to the twin fawns, and the feeding among the lilies is simply a familiar and somewhat conventional background (cp. Song of S... [ Continue Reading ]
_Until the day break_ As in Song of Solomon 3:7 we must translate, UNTIL THE DAY COOL AND THE SHADOWS HAVE FLED, i.e. until the evening. This verse, by its transition to action on the part of one of the chief speakers, a thing that does not occur in the bridal _wasf_, shews that we have not here a r... [ Continue Reading ]
The order of the words in the Heb. is specially, emphatic, _With me from Lebanon, O bride, with me from Lebanon do thou come_. Evidently a contrast between the speaker and some other is here intended. Come with _me_, do not remain with _him_. This strongly supports the view that Solomon is endeavour... [ Continue Reading ]
Song of Solomon 4:8 Chap. Song of Solomon 5:1. A true Lover's Pleading With Song of Solomon 4:8 a new song, representing another scene, begins. In it the peasant lover of the Shulammite comes to beseech her to flee from the mountain region where she is detained, the home of wild beasts and the scen... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou hast ravished my heart_ This clause is represented by one word in Heb., a denom. Piel verb, formed from the noun _lçbhâbh_= -heart." According to usage this might mean either -thou hast heartened me," i.e. as R.V. marg., _given me courage_, or -thou hast disheartened me," or stolen my heart aw... [ Continue Reading ]
_How fair is thy love_ HOW SWEET ARE THY CARESSES. In the next clause also, _love_should be _caresses_. _spices_ Better, _perfumes_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_drop_as _the honeycomb_ Rather, DROP VIRGIN HONEY. _Nôpheth_is honey that drops from the comb of itself. Budde understands this verse of the sweetness of kisses. Oettli and others think the -virgin honey" means loving words. Analogy, both in the Scriptures and in profane poetry, is in favour of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_a spring shut up_ The word rendered _spring_is _gal_, not found elsewhere in this sense. Another derivative from the same root is used in Joshua 15:19 and Judges 1:15 in a similar sense. Some MSS., the LXX, the Vulg. and Syr. have _gan_=-a garden," repeated, and Budde with others prefers this readi... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses are a further comparison of the bride in her beauty to a garden in its splendour of colour and its fertility, but a garden shut or closed to all but its lawful owner. The reference is to her modesty and chastity. _Nâ-ûl_is properly _shut and bolted_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy plants_are _an orchard_ Better, _Thy shoots make an orchard_. These shoots denote all the bride's charms. _Orchard_is in Heb. _pardçs_, which is merely a grander word for _gan_, and is originally Persian=-a paradise." It is found elsewhere in the O.T. only in Nehemiah 2:8 and Ecclesiastes 2:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
_saffron_ Heb. _karkôm_occurs in the O.T. only here, but its meaning is clear from the Arabic _kurkum_= the _Crocus sativus_. There are many species of crocus in Palestine, and from most of them saffron is obtained. The women and children gather the pistil and stigma from the centre of each flower.... [ Continue Reading ]
_a fountain of gardens_, &c. Some take these words as vocatives, but more probably _thou art_is to be understood as in R.V. Budde would read -my garden" (_gannî_) for -gardens" (_gannîm_), and would translate, "The fountain of my garden is a well of living waters." This is supported by the reading o... [ Continue Reading ]
It is doubtful whether this whole verse is spoken by the Shulammite, or the latter clause only, her lover being still the speaker in the first half of the verse. That he is still the speaker in the first clause is suggested by - _my_garden" in Song of Solomon 4:16 _b_and - _his_garden" in Song of So... [ Continue Reading ]