Song of Solomon 7:1

thy feet with shoes Lit. thy steps in sandals. Budde emphasises the fact that the feet are not spoken of here, but the steps, i.e. in his view the dancing movements of the feet in the sword dance. Oettli on the other hand emphasises the shoes, pointing out that the country maiden had probably not worn them before, but the ladies say how well she walks, and how well they become her. The latter is the sense which accords best with the view of the poem which we have taken.

O prince's daughter This does not mean that the bride was actually of a noble family. Even if Budde's interpretation of the poem were accepted, it would be a strange thing to call the bride a nobleman's daughter, for it would be ridiculous to call a peasant bride, who was a queen only as a bride, a prince's daughter, and even if Abishag were referred to she was not that either. Nor can the phrase be a substitute for queen, for strictly speaking Solomon's queens were not noblemen's but kings" daughters. On the dramatic view, bath nâdhîbhmust mean -a born lady" as we say, i.e. one who would adorn any station. Siegfried thinks that the words arise from a confusion with the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4:8, who is called -a great woman," i.e. a woman of good position. Cheyne would read here, as in Song of Solomon 6:12, daughter of delights. That would suit our view admirably, but there seems to be no sufficient support for it.

The joints of thy thighs are like jewels Probably this should be rendered as in the R.V. margin, Thy rounded thighs are like jewels, except that the diminutive force which the word -jewels" has is rather inappropriate here, where some large ornament must be meant. The graceful curves of the hips are for beauty of form like ornaments. Some with less probability explain the word to mean the rhythmical movements of the dance.

a cunning workman Cunning, of course, is used here in the old sense of -skilful," and probably "ommânis equivalent to "âmôn, a skilled artisan. Stade, Gramm. p. 12, gives it as a word of the Northern dialect.