1. She compares herself to a simple wild flower, the crocus (RM) of
Sharon. The plain, which extended from Joppa to Cæsarea, was
proverbial for its flowers (Isaiah 35:2), and travellers continue to
revert to this feature: 'We constantly had reason to admire the faint
harmonious colouring of the wild... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ARDENT AFFECTION OF THE LOVERS
2-7. Songs of the bride: her enquiry and his answers.... [ Continue Reading ]
LOVE] The original has 'loves,' i.e. expressions of love, repeated
kisses and embraces.
He will hot suffer her to depreciate her own value: compared with
other women she is a lily among thorns (Proverbs 31:29). The Huleh
lily, in the north of the Holy Land, grows in the midst of thorns,
which lacer... [ Continue Reading ]
OINTMENTS] Orientals have always been passionately fond of perfumes.
The literatures of Egypt, Greece, and Rome abound in references to
them: in the Bible see Psalms 23:5; Psalms 45:7; Proverbs 7:17;
Proverbs 27:9; Luke 7:46; John 12:3. A modern traveller writes: 'Arabs
are delighted with perfumes;... [ Continue Reading ]
He has brought her to a 'house of wine' (RM), a place of feasting and
enjoyment, where the banner floating over them was not merely
inscribed with the word Love, but was Love, itself. The entire
description is figurative, and if the language were not sufficient to
indicate this we should be driven t... [ Continue Reading ]
She begs her friends to sustain her with cakes of pressed raisins
(RV), such as were given to those who were fainting for hunger (1
Samuel 25:18; 1 Samuel 30:12; 2 Samuel 6:19; Hosea 3:1).... [ Continue Reading ]
Her mother's sons have made it impossible for her to avoid this,
treating her with that arbitrary tyranny which male relatives so often
display in the East. 'I have known an ill-natured child,' says
Doughty, 'lay a stick on the back of his good cherishing mother': cp.
1 Samuel 17:28. Her own vineyar... [ Continue Reading ]
And they are to leave her and her beloved for the present undisturbed
by the festal dances and songs. The request is repeated Song of
Solomon 3:5; Song of Solomon 8:4, and on each occasion is evidently
meant to mark one of the main divisions of the poem. The adjuration,
by the gazelles (RM), and by... [ Continue Reading ]
With kindly banter he bids her lead out her little flock of female
kids and take her chance of finding him.
9-11. It would not occur to us to compare a woman to a beautiful mare:
but an Eastern at once appreciates the simile. In Damascus 'the mare
comes before wife and child': she may be worth £40,... [ Continue Reading ]
A VISIT AND AN INVITATION
8-13 After an interval she relates one of his visits to her home. He
comes swiftly and easily; hills and mountains are no obstacle. He
stands behind the wall of her mother's house, and she gazes at him
through the lattice, for she has seen his approach from afar. The
ungla... [ Continue Reading ]
He would have her accompany him to the open country.
With the 'string of jewels' (RV) compare a song which may be heard now
in Syria:
'From above, Abu Tabba, from above, Abu Tabba,
Put golden coins upon her, and under her neck a string of pearls.
The necklace usually worn consists of three rows o... [ Continue Reading ]
It is the right season. The winter and the rains are over, for in that
climate there is a cloudless sky from the beginning of May to the end
of October.... [ Continue Reading ]
It is the time of flowers: 'Everywhere this day the earth was
beautifully green, and carpeted with flowers. The air was fresh and
balmy and laden with the sweet scents of spring... The sky was so
blue, the mountains and plains looked so beautiful, the birds,
insects, the wild flowers, the fresh balm... [ Continue Reading ]
The early figs are growing spicy; the vines are all blossom and
fragrance. It is the season when a young man's mind turns lightly to
thoughts of love. Even in our cold England the poet sings—
'Twas when the spousal time of May
Hangs all the hedge with bridal wreaths,
And air's so sweet the bosom... [ Continue Reading ]
15. He begs her to lay aside her coyness, for she is concealing
herself, like a dove in an inaccessible mountain gorge. Where there is
no village pigeon-house the wild doves of Syria build in hollows of
the steep rocks. At the monastery of St. Saba 'one sees, sailing on
outstretched wings from out o... [ Continue Reading ]
He compares her eyes to doves. Eastern women spend much pains on their
eyes, painting them round with kohl to add to their apparent size and
increase their expressiveness. And the comparison of maidens to doves
is exceedingly common in the popular poetry:
'Lovely girls are there, like a flock of do... [ Continue Reading ]
At midday the heat is overpowering—All round the coast the languid
air did swoon, Breathing like one that hath a weary dream.' But at
sunset the day 'breathes' (RM); a cool breeze blows, and the shadows
gradually disappear (Genesis 3:8; Job 14:2). The gazelles (RM) descend
at night to the plains to... [ Continue Reading ]