성경 주석서

What Shulamith now further says confirms what had just been said. City and palace with their splendour please her not; forest and field she delights in; she is a tender flower that has grown up in the quietness of rural life.

1 I am a meadow-flower of Sharon,

A lily of the valleys.

We do not render: “the wild-flower,” “the lily,” ... for she seeks to represent herself not as the one, but only as one of this class; the definiteness by means of the article sometimes belongs exclusively to the second number of the genit. word-chain. מלאך ה may equally ( vid., at Song of Solomon 1:11, Hitz. on Psalms 113:9, and my Comm. on Genesis 9:20) mean “an angel” or “the angel of Jahve;” and בת ישׂ “a virgin,” or “the virgin of Israel” (the personification of the people). For hhǎvatstsělěth (perhaps from hhivtsēl , a denom. quadril. from bětsěl , to form bulbs or bulbous knolls) the Syr. Pesh. (Isaiah 35:1) uses chamsaljotho , the meadow-saffron, colchicum autumnale; it is the flesh-coloured flower with leafless stem, which, when the grass is mown, decks in thousands the fields of warmer regions. They call it filius ante patrem, because the blossoms appear before the leaves and the seed-capsules, which develope themselves at the close of winter under the ground. Shulamith compares herself to such a simple and common flower, and that to one in Sharon, i.e., in the region known by that name. Sharon is per aphaer. derived from ישׁרון . The most celebrated plain of this name is that situated on the Mediterranean coast between Joppa and Caesarea; but there is also a trans-Jordanic Sharon, 1 Chronicles 5:16; and according to Eusebius and Jerome, there is also another district of this name between Tabor and the Lake of Tiberias,

(Note: Vid., Lagarde, Onomastica, p. 296; cf. Neubauer, Géographic du Talm. p. 47.)

which is the one here intended, because Shulamith is a Galilean: she calls herself a flower from the neighbourhood of Nazareth. Aquila translates: “A rosebud of Sharon;” but שׁושׁנּה (designedly here the fem. form of the name, which is also the name of a woman) does not mean the Rose which was brought at a later period from Armenia and Persia, as it appears,

(Note: Vid., Ewald, Jahrbuch, IV p. 71; cf. Wüstemann, Die Rose, etc., 1854.)

and cultivated in the East (India) and West (Palestine, Egypt, Europe). It is nowhere mentioned in the canonical Scriptures, but is first found in Sir. 24:14; 39:13; 50:8; Wisd. 2:8; and Esther 1:6, lxx. Since all the rosaceae are five-leaved, and all the liliaceae are six-leaved, one might suppose, with Aben Ezra, that the name sosan ( susan) is connected with the numeral שׁשׁ , and points to the number of leaves, especially since one is wont to represent to himself the Eastern lilies as red. But they are not only red, or rather violet, but also white: the Moorish-Spanish azucena denotes the white lily.

(Note: Vid., Fleischer, Sitzungs-Berichten d. Sächs. Gesell. d. Wissensch. 1868, p. 305. Among the rich flora on the descent of the Hauran range, Wetstein saw ( Reisebericht, p. 148) a dark-violet magnificent lily ( susan) as large as his fist. We note here Rückert's “Bright lily! The flowers worship God in the garden: thou art the priest of the house.”)

The root-word will thus, however, be the same as that of שׁשׁ , byssus, and שׁישׁ , white marble. The comparison reminds us of Hosea 14:5, “I shall be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily.” העמקים are deep valleys lying between mountains. She thinks humbly of herself; for before the greatness of the king she appears diminutive, and before the comeliness of the king her own beauty disappears - but he takes up her comparison of herself, and gives it a notable turn.

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2 As a lily among thorns,

So is my love among the daughters.

By החוחים are not meant the thorns of the plant itself, for the lily has no thorns, and the thorns of the rose are, moreover, called kotsim , and not hhohhim ;

(Note: An Aramaic proverb: “from thorns sprouts the rose” ( i.e., bad fathers have often pious children), in Heb. is קוץ מוציא שׁושׁן ; vid., Jalkut Samuel, §134.)

besides, ben (among) contradicts that idea, since the thorns are on the plant itself, and it is not among them - thus the hhohhim are not the thorns of the flower-stem, but the thorn-plants that are around. חוח designates the thorn-bush, e.g., in the allegorical answer of King Josiah to Amaziah, 2 Kings 14:9. Simplicity, innocence, gentleness, are the characteristics in which Shulamith surpasses all בּנות , i.e., all women ( vid., Song of Solomon 6:9), as the lily of the valley surpasses the thorn-bushes around it. “Although thorns surround her, yet can he see her; he sees her quiet life, he finds her beautiful.” But continuing this reciprocal rivalry in the praise of mutual love, she says:

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3a As an apple-tree among the trees of the wood,

So is my beloved among the sons.

The apple-tree, the name of which, תּפּוּח , is formed from נפח , and denominates it from its fragrant flower and fruit, is as the king among fruit trees, in Shulamith's view. יער (from יער , to be rough, rugged, uneven) is the wilderness and the forest, where are also found trees bearing fruit, which, however, is for the most part sour and unpalatable. But the apple-tree unites delicious fruit along with a grateful shade; and just such a noble tree is the object of her love.

3 b Under his shadow it delighted me to sit down;

And his fruit is sweet to my taste.

In concupivi et consedi the principal verb completes itself by the co-ordinating of a verb instead of an adv. or inf. as Isaiah 42:21; Esther 8:7; Ewald, §285. However, concupivi et consedi is yet more than concupivi considere , for thereby she not only says that she found delight in sitting down, but at the same time also in sitting down in the shadow of this tree. The Piel חמּד , occurring only here, expresses the intensity of the wish and longing. The shadow is a figure of protection afforded, and the fruit a figure of enjoyment obtained. The taste is denoted by חך = חנך , from חנך , to chew, or also imbuere ; and that which is sweet is called מתוק , from the smacking connected with an agreeable relish. The usus loq. has neglected this image, true to nature, of physical circumstances in words, especially where, as here, they are transferred to the experience of the soul-life. The taste becomes then a figure of the soul's power of perception ( αἰσθητικόν ); a man's fruit are his words and works, in which his inward nature expresses itself; and this fruit is sweet to those on whom that in which the peculiar nature of the man reveals itself makes a happy, pleasing impression. But not only does the person of the king afford to Shulamith so great delight, he entertains her also with what can and must give her enjoyment.

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4 He has brought me into the wine-house,

And his banner over me is love.

After we have seen the ladies of the palace at the feast, in which wine is presented, and after Solomon, till now absent, has entered the banqueting-chamber (Arab. meglis ), by היּין בּית we are not to understand the vineyard, which would be called bēth hǎggephānim or bēth hā'ǎnāvim , as in Acts 1:12, Pesh. the Mount of Olives, bēth zaite .

(Note: In Heb. יין does not denote the vine as a plant, as the Aethiop. wain , whence asada wain , wine-court = vineyard, which Ewald compares; Dillmann, however, ineptly cites “vine-arbour,” and South-Germ. “ kamerte ” = vinea camerata; in Heb. היין בּית is the house in which wine is drunk.)

He has introduced her to the place where he royally entertains his friends. Well knowing that she, the poor and sunburnt maiden, does not properly belong to such a place, and would rather escape away from it, he relieves her from her fear and bashfulness, for he covers her with his fear-inspiring, awful, and thus surely protecting, banner; and this banner, which he waves over her, and under which she is well concealed, is “love.” דּגל (from דּגל , to cover) is the name of the covering of the shaft or standard, i.e., pannus, the piece of cloth fastened to a shaft. Like a pennon, the love of the king hovers over her; and so powerful, so surpassing, is the delight of this love which pervades and transports her, that she cries out:

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5 Support me with grape-cakes,

Refresh me with apples:

For I am sick with love.

She makes use of the intensive form as one in a high degree in need of the reanimating of her almost sinking life: סמּך is the intens. of סמך , to prop up, support, or, as here, to under-prop, uphold; and ripeed, the intens. of רפד (R. רף ), to raise up from beneath ( vid., at Proverbs 7:16), to furnish firm ground and support. The apple is the Greek attribute of Aphrodite, and is the symbol of love; but here it is only a means of refreshing; and if thoughts of love are connected with the apple-tree (Song of Solomon 2:3; Song of Solomon 8:5), that is explained from Shulamith's rural home. Böttcher understands quinces; Epstein, citrons; but these must needs have been more closely denoted, as at Proverbs 25:11, by some addition to the expression. אשׁישׁות (from אשׁשׁ , to establish, make firm) are (cf. Isaiah 16:7; Hosea 3:1) grapes pressed together like cakes; different from צמּוּקים , dried grapes (cf. דּבלה ), fig-cakes (Arab. dabbûle , a mass pressed together), and πλακοῦς , placenta, from the pressed-out form. A cake is among the gifts (2 Samuel 6:19) which David distributed to the people on the occasion of the bringing up of the ark; date-cakes, e.g., at the monastery at Sinai, are to the present day gifts for the refreshment of travellers. If Shulamith's cry was to be understood literally, one might, with Noack, doubt the correctness of the text; for “love-sickness, even in the age of passion and sentimentality, was not to be cured with roses and apples.” But (1) sentimentality, i.e., susceptibility, does not belong merely to the Romantic, but also to Antiquity, especially in the Orient, as e.g., is shown by the symptoms of sympathy with which the prophets were affected when uttering their threatenings of judgment; let one read such outbreaks of sorrow as Isaiah 21:3, which, if one is disposed to scorn, may be derided as hysterical fits. Moreover, the Indian, Persian, and Arabic erotic ( vid., e.g., the Romance Siret 'Antar) is as sentimental as the German has at any time been. (2) The subject of the passage here is not the curing of love-sickness, but bodily refreshment: the cry of Shulamith, that she may be made capable of bearing the deep agitation of her physical life, which is the consequence, not of her love-sickness, but of her love-happiness. (3) The cry is not addressed (although this is grammatically possible, since סמּכוּני is, according to rule, = סמּכנה אתי ) to the daughters of Jerusalem, who would in that case have been named, but to some other person; and this points to its being taken not in a literal sense. (4) It presupposes that one came to the help of Shulamith, sick and reduced to weakness, with grapes and apple-scent to revive her fainting spirit. The call of Shulamith thus means: hasten to me with that which will revive and refresh me, for I am sick with love. This love-sickness has also been experienced in the spiritual sphere. St. Ephrem was once so overcome by such a joy that he cried out: “Lord, withdraw Thine hand a little, for my heart is too weak to receive so great joy.” And J. R. Hedinger († 1704) was on his deathbed overpowered with such a stream of heavenly delight that he cried: “Oh, how good is the Lord! Oh, how sweet is Thy love, my Jesus! Oh, what a sweetness! I am not worthy of it, my Lord! Let me alone; let me alone!” As the spiritual joy of love, so may also the spiritual longing of love consume the body (cf. Job 19:27; Psalms 63:2; Psalms 84:3); there have been men who have actually sunk under a longing desire after the Lord and eternity. It is the state of love-ecstasy in which Shulamith calls for refreshment, because she is afraid of sinking. The contrast between her, the poor and unworthy, and the king, who appears to her as an ideal of beauty and majesty, who raises her up to himself, was such as to threaten her life. Unlooked for, extraordinary fortune, has already killed many. Fear, producing lameness and even death, is a phenomenon common in the Orient.

(Note: “ Ro‛b ( רעב , thus in Damascus), or ra‛b (thus in the Hauran and among the Beduins), is a state of the soul which with us is found only in a lower degree, but which among the Arabians is psychologically noteworthy. The wahm , i.e., the idea of the greatness and irresistibility of a danger or a misfortune, overpowers the Arabian; all power of body and of soul suddenly so departs from him, that he falls down helpless and defenceless. Thus, on the 8th July 1860, in a few hours, about 6000 Christian men were put to death in Damascus, without one lifting his hand in defence, or uttering one word of supplication. That the ro‛b kills in Arabia, European and native physicians have assured me; and I myself can confirm the fact. Since it frequently produces a stiffening of the limbs, with chronic lameness, every kind of paralysis is called ro‛b , and every paralytic mar‛ûb . It is treated medically by applying the 'terror-cup' ( tâset er - ro‛b ), covered over with sentences engraved on it, and hung round with twenty bells; and since, among the Arabians, the influence of the psychical on the physical is stronger and more immediate than with us, the sympathetic cure may have there sometimes positive results.” - Wetstein.)

If Pharaoh's daughter, if the Queen of Sheba, finds herself in the presence of Solomon, the feeling of social equality prevents all alarm. But Shulamith is dazzled by the splendour, and disconcerted; and it happens to her in type as it happened to the seer of Patmos, who, in presence of the ascended Lord, fell at His feet as one dead, Revelation 1:17. If beauty is combined with dignity, it has always, for gentle and not perverted natures, something that awakens veneration and tremor; but if the power of love be superadded, then it has, as a consequence, that combination of awe and inward delight, the psychological appearance of which Sappho, in the four strophes which begin with “ Φαίνεταί μοι κῆνος ἴσος θεοῖσιν ἔμμεν ὡνήρ ,” has described in a manner so true to nature. We may thus, without carrying back modern sentimentality into antiquity, suppose that Shulamith sank down in a paroxysm caused by the rivalry between the words of love and of praise, and thus thanking him, - for Solomon supports and bears her up, - she exclaims:

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6 His left hand is under my head,

And his right hand doth embrace me.

With his left hand he supports her head that had fallen backwards, and with his right he embraces her [ herzet ], as Luther rightly renders it (as he also renders the name Habakkuk by “ der Herzer ” = the embracer); for חבּק signifies properly to enfold, to embrace; but then generally, to embrace lovingly, to fondle, of that gentle stroking with the hand elsewhere denoted by חלּה , mulcere . The situation here is like that at Genesis 29:13; Genesis 48:10; where, connected with the dat., it is meant of loving arms stretched out to embrace. If this sympathetic, gentle embracing exercises a soothing influence on her, overcome by the power of her emotions; so love mutually kindled now celebrates the first hour of delighted enjoyment, and the happy Shulamith calls to those who are witnesses of her joy:

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7 I adjure you, ye daughters of Jerusalem,

By the gazelles or the hinds of the field,

That ye arouse not and disturb not love

Till she pleases.

It is permitted to the Israelites to swear, נשׁבּע , only by God (Genesis 21:23); but to adjure, השׁבּיע , by that which is not God, is also admissible, although this example before us is perhaps the only direct one in Scripture. צבי (= צבי , dialect. טבי ), fem. צביה (Aram. טביתא , Acts 9:36), plur. tsebaim or tsebajim , fem. tsabaōth (according with the pl. of צבא ), softened from tsebajōth , is the name for the gazelle, from the elegance of its form and movements. אילות is the connecting form of איּלות , whose consonantal Yod in the Assyr. and Syr. is softened to the diphthong ailuv, ailaa; the gen. “of the field,” as not distinguishing but describing, belongs to both of the animals, therefore also the first is without the article. או (after the etymon corresponding to the Lat. vel ) proceeds, leaving out of view the repetition of this so-called Slumber-Song (Song of Solomon 3:5; cf. Song of Solomon 8:4, as also Song of Solomon 2:9), from the endeavour to give to the adjuration the greatest impression; the expression is varied, for the representations flit from image to image, and the one, wherever possible, is surpassed by the other ( vid., at Proverbs 30:31).

Under this verse Hengst. remarks: “The bride would not adjure by the hinds, much more would she adjure by the stage.” He supposes that Solomon is here the speaker; but a more worthless proof for this could not be thought of. On the contrary, the adjuration by the gazelles, etc., shows that the speaker here is one whose home is the field and wood; thus also not the poet (Hitz.) nor the queen-mother (Böttch.), neither of whom is ever introduced as speaking. The adjuration is that love should not be disturbed, and therefore it is by the animals that are most lovely and free, which roam through the fields. Zöckler, with whom in this one point Grätz agrees, finds here, after the example of Böttch. and Hitz., the earnest warning against wantonly exciting love in themselves (cf. Lat. irritamenta veneris, irritata voluptas ) till God Himself awakens it, and heart finds itself in sympathy with heart. But the circumstances in which Shulamith is placed ill accord with such a general moralizing. The adjuration is repeated, Song of Solomon 3:5; Song of Solomon 8:4, and wherever Shulamith finds herself near her beloved, as she is here in his arms. What lies nearer, then, than that she should guard against a disturbance of this love-ecstasy, which is like a slumber penetrated by delightful dreams? Instead of אתכם , תּעירוּ , and תּעוררוּ , should be more exactly the words אתכן , תּעררנה , and תּעוררנה ; but the gram. distinction of the genera is in Heb. not perfectly developed. We meet also with the very same synallage generis, without this adjuration formula, at Song of Solomon 5:8; Song of Solomon 7:1; Song of Solomon 4:2; Song of Solomon 6:8, etc.; it is also elsewhere frequent; but in the Song it perhaps belongs to the foil of the vulgar given to the highly poetic. Thus also in the vulgar Arab. the fem. forms jaḳtulna , taḳtulna , corresponding to תּקטלנה , are fallen out of use. With העיר , expergefacere, there is connected the idea of an interruption of sleep; with עורר , excitare, the idea, which goes further, of arousing out of sleep, placing in the full activity of awakened life.

(Note: The distinction between these words is well explained by Lewisohn in his Investigationes Linguae (Wilna, 1840), p. 21: “The מעיר את־הישׁן is satisfied that the sleeper wakes, and it is left to him fully to overcome the influence of sleep; the מעורר , however, arouses him at once from sleepiness, and awakes him to such a degree that he is secured against falling asleep again.”)

The one adjuration is, that love should not be awakened out of its sweet dream; the other, that it should not be disturbed from its being absorbed in itself. The Pasek between מעירו and the word following has, as at Leviticus 10:6, the design of keeping the two Vavs distinct, that in reading they might not run together; it is the Pasek which, as Ben Asher says, serves “to secure to a letter its independence against the similar one standing next it.” האהמה is not abstr. pro concreto, but love itself in its giving and receiving. Thus closes the second scene of the first act: Shulamith lies like one helpless in the arms of Solomon; but in him to expire is her life; to have lost herself in him, and in him to find herself again, is her happiness.

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8 Hark, my beloved! lo, there he comes!

Springs over the mountains,

Bounds over the hills.

The word קול , in the expression דּודי קול , is to be understood of the call of the approaching lover (Böttch.), or only of the sound of his footsteps (Hitz.); it is an interjectional clause (sound of my beloved!), in which kōl becomes an interjection almost the same as our “ horch ” “hear!”. Vid., under Genesis 4:10. זה after הנּה sharpens it, as the demonst. ce in ecce = en ce. בּא is though of as partic., as is evident from the accenting of the fem. בּאה , e.g., Jeremiah 10:22. דּלּג is the usual word for springing; the parallel קפץ ( קפּץ ), Aram. קפץ , קפז , signifies properly contrahere (cogn. קמץ , whence Kametz, the drawing together of the mouth, more accurately, of the muscles of the lips), particularly to draw the body together, to prepare it for a spring. In the same manner, at the present day, both in the city and in the Beduin Arab. kamaz , for which also famaz , is used of the springing of a gazelle, which consists in a tossing up of the legs stretched out perpendicularly. 'Antar says similarly, as Shulamith here of the swift-footed schêbûb ( D. M. Zeitung, xxii. 362); wahu jegmiz gamazât el - gazâl , it leaps away with the springing of a gazelle.

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