Hebrew Poetic Devices in Song of Songs: Person Shift, Love Terms, and Lexical Changes, Lecture notes of Literature

Download Hebrew Poetic Devices in Song of Songs: Person Shift, Love Terms, and Lexical Changes and more Lecture notes Literature in PDF only on Docsity! The Song of Songs 15 Title/Superscription 1:1 Solomon’s Most Excellent Love Song.  tn The preposition ל in ֹלֹמה ר ִלׁשְ  has (asher lishlomoh’) ֲאׁשֶ been taken as: (1) authorship: “which is written by Solomon.” The  lamed of authorship (also known as  lamed auctoris)  is  well attested in Hebrew (see GKC 421 §130.b), particularly  in the Psalms (e.g., Pss 18:1; 30:1; 34:1; 51:1; 52:1; 54:1;  56:1; 57:1; 59:1; 60:1; 63:1; 72:1); (2) dedication: “which is  dedicated for Solomon.” The lamed of dedication  is attest- ed in Ugaritic psalms dedicated to Baal or about Baal (CTA  6.1.1  =  UT  49.1);  or  (3)  topic:  “which  is  about/concerning  Solomon.” The lamed of topic is attested in Hebrew (e.g., 1  Chr 24:20) and in Ugaritic, e.g., lb`l “About Baal” (CTA 6.1.1  = UT 49.1). The ל  is most  likely denoting authorship. The ל  followed by a name in the superscription of a poetic composi- tion in the OT, usually (if not always) denotes authorship. Just  as the superscription ְלָדִוד (lÿdavid) claims Davidic authorship  within the Psalter, the heading claims Solomonic authorship. Whether or not this attribution is historically reliable or simply  a matter of Jewish tradition is debated in scholarship, just as  the Davidic superscriptions  in the Psalter are debated (see  study note on the word “Song” in the superscription).  tn Heb  “the song of songs.” The genitive construct יר ׁשִ יִרים  ַהׁשִ (shir hashirim) is  translated  literally  as  “the  song  of  songs” in the early versions: Greek LXX (ᾀσμα ᾀσμάτων, asma asmatwn), Latin Vulgate (canticum canticorum) and  Syriac Peshitta (tesŒbÿhat tesŒbÿha„ta„á).  The  phrase  יִרים ַהׁשִ יר  ׁשִ may be understood in two ways: (1) The noun יִרים -is a plu ַהׁשִ ral of number (“songs”) and functions as a genitive of com- position: “the song composed of several songs,” that is, the  book is a unified collection (hence the singular יר  (”song“ ׁשִ composed of individual love songs (see note on the expres- sion “Her Lover” in v. 1). (2) The expression may be a superla- tive genitive construction denoting par excellence (see IBHS  154 §9.5.3j; GKC 431 §133.i; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax,  11, §44; 17-18, §80). For example, ים ָקָדׁשִ  ֹקֶדׁש (qodesh qa- dashim, “the holy of holies”) means the most holy place (Exod ָהֲאֹדִנים ;(29:37 ַוֲאֹדֵני ָהֱאֹלִהים  ֱאֹלֵהי (’elohe ha’elohim va’adone ha’adonim, “the God of Gods and Lord of Lords”) means the Highest God and the Supreme Lord (Deut 10:17); and ־ֶעֶבד ֲעָב  means an abject slave (”eved ’avadim,“a slave of slaves’) ִדים (Gen 9:25). The title “the Song of Songs” is an expression of great esteem for the composition. It has been translated vari- ously: “The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s” (KJV, NKJV, RSV, NRSV, NASB), “Solomon’s Song of Songs” (NIV), “The most beautiful of songs, by Solomon” (TEV), “dedicated to,” or “about Solomon” (TEV margin), “Solomon’s most beautiful song” (CEV), “This is Solomon’s song of songs, more wonder- ful than any other” (NLT).  tn Heb “song.” The noun יר -may refer to a musi (shir) ׁשִ cal song that was sung (Exod 15:1; Num 21:17; Ps 33:3; Isa 42:10) or a poetic composition that was simply read (Deut  31:19, 21, 22; 30; 32:44) (BDB 1010 s.v. ׁשיר). Several fac- tors suggest that the Song of Songs was poetry to be read and enjoyed rather than sung: (a) its sheer length, (b) absence of  musical notations or instrumental instructions, (c) testimony  of Jewish tradition and interpretation, (d) lack of evidence of  its musical performance in the history of Israel, and (e) com- parison with ancient Egyptian love poetry. The term יר  here ׁשִ probably refers to love poetry (e.g., Isa 5:1) (BDB 1010 s.v. 1;  W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 368).  The Song appears to be a collection of individual love songs rather than a single multistanza poem. For comparison of the Song of Songs with ancient Egyptian loves songs, see M. V. Fox, The Song of Songs and the Ancient Egyptian Love Songs,  and J. B. White, Language of Love in the Song of Songs and The Desire for Love The Beloved to Her Lover: 1: Oh, how I wish you would kiss me Ancient Egyptian Poetry (SBLDS). sn The superscription “Solomon’s Most Excellent Love Song” appears to be a late addition, just as many superscrip- tions in the Psalter appear to have been added to the psalms  sometime after their original composition. R. E. Murphy (Song of Songs [Hermeneia], 119) notes that the use of the inde- pendent relative pronoun ר  ֲאׁשֶ (’asher) in 1:1 sharply distin- guishes the superscription from the body of the Song as a whole where the short form -  occurs thirty-two times (-she) ׁשֶ (e.g., 1:6, 12; 6:5). The short form -  also occurs frequently ׁשֶ in Ecclesiastes which is traditionally attributed to Solomon. Therefore, it would appear that the superscription is a later  addition to the Song. This, of course, raises the question whether or not the attribution of Solomonic authorship of the Song is historically reliable or simply a matter of later Jewish tradition.  tn The introductory headings that identify the speakers of  the poems throughout the Song do not appear in the Hebrew text. They are supplied in the translation for the sake of clar- ity. These notations should not be misinterpreted as suggest- ing that the Song be interpreted as a drama. Throughout the Song, the notation “The Lover” refers to the young man, while “the Beloved” refers to the young woman. Since the Song of Songs appears to be a collection of individual love songs, the individual  love  poems  within  the  collection  might  not  have  originally referred to the same young man and young woman  in each case. Just as the Book of Proverbs contains proverbs  composed by Solomon (10:1-22:16; 25:1-29:27) as well as proverbs composed by other wise men (22:17-24:34; 30:1- 31:9), so the Song of Songs may contain love poems com- posed by Solomon or written about Solomon as well as love poems composed by or written about other young couples in  love. Nevertheless, the final canonical form of this collection presents a unified picture of idyllic love between one man and one woman in each case. The young man in several of the  individual love poems is explicitly identified as Solomon (3:7; 8:11-12), King Solomon (3:9, 11) or the king (1:4; 7:6). Some statements in the Song are consistent with a royal figure such as Solomon: references to Tirzah and Jerusalem (6:4) and to multiple queens and concubines (6:8). It is not so clear, how- ever, whether Solomon is the young man in every individual poem. Nor is it clear that the same young woman is in view  in each love poem. In several poems the young woman is a  country maiden working in a vineyard (1:5-6; 8:11-12); how- ever, the young woman in another poem is addressed as “O  prince’s daughter” (7:2). The historian notes, “Solomon loved many  women,  especially  the  daughter  of  Pharaoh”  (1  Kgs  11:1). So it would be surprising if the Song devoted itself to only one of Solomon’s many liaisons. The Song may simply be a collection of love poems written at various moments in  Solomon’s illustrious career as a lover of many women. It may also include love poems written about other young lovers that  were collected into the final form of the book that presents a portrait of idyllic love of young lovers.  tn Heb  “May  he  kiss  me….”  The  shift  from  3rd  person  masculine  singular  forms  (“he”  and  “his”)  in  1:2a  to  2nd  person masculine singular forms (“your”)  in 1:2b-4 has  led  some to suggest that the Beloved addresses the Friends in 1:2a and then her Lover in 1:2b-4. A better solution is that the shift from the 3rd person masculine singular to 2nd person  masculine singular forms is an example of heterosis of per- son: a poetic device in which the grammatical person shifts  from line to line (M. H. Pope, Song of Songs [AB], 297). The passionately! For your lovemaking is more delightful than wine. 1:3 The fragrance of your colognes is delightful; third person is put for the second person (e.g, Gen 49:4; Deut  32:15; Ps 23:2-5; Isa 1:29; 42:20; 54:1; Jer 22:24; Amos 4:1;  Micah 7:19; Lam 3:1; Song 4:2; 6:6) (E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 524-25). Similar shifts occur in ancient Near East- ern love literature (cf. S. N. Kramer, The Sacred Marriage Rite,  92, 99). Most translations render 1:2 literally and preserve  the shifts from 3rd person masculine singular to 2nd person  masculine singular forms (KJV, AV, NASB, NIV); others render 1:2  with  2nd  person  masculine  singular  forms  throughout  (RSV, NJPS).  tn Heb “May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!” The phrase יקֹות ׁשִ ֵקִני ִמּנְ ָ  yishshaqeni minnÿshiqot, “kiss me) ִיׁשּ with kisses”)  is a cognate accusative construction used for  emphasis.  tc The MT vocalizes consonantal דדיך as ּדֶֹדיָך (dodekha, “your  loves”; mpl noun  from ּדֹוד, dod, “love” + 2nd person  masculine singular suffix). The LXX and Vulgate reflect the vo- calization יָך ּדֶ ד daddekha, “your breasts”; mpl noun from) ּדַ  ,ּדַ dad, “breast” + 2nd person masculine singular suffix). This alternate tradition was well known; it was followed by Hippoly- tus of Rome (d. 235) in his exposition of Canticles 1:2 and by Rabbi Yohanan of Tiberias (3rd century a.d.) as recorded  in the Jewish midrashim on Canticles Rabbah 1:2.2. Howev- er, the MT vocalization is preferred. In terms of external evi- dence, the MT vocalization tradition is generally more reliable.  In terms of internal evidence, the LXX form יָך ּדֶ ,daddekha) ּדַ “your [male!] breasts”) is a bit shocking, to say the least. On the other, the plural form ּדֹוִדים (dodim, “loves”) is used in the  Song to refer to multiple expressions of love or multiple acts of lovemaking (e.g., 1:4; 4:10; 5:1; 7:13 [ET 12]). tn Although  it  may  be  understood  in  the  general  sense  meaning “love” (Song 1:4), the term ּדֹוד (dod) normally means  “lovemaking” (Prov 7:18; Song 4:10; 7:12[13]; Ezek 16:8; 23:17). The plural form ּדֶֹדיָך (dodekha, lit. “your lovemakings”)  is probably not a plural of number but an abstract plural (so  BDB 187 s.v. 3 ּדֹוד).   tn Heb “better than.” With the comparison of lovemaking  to wine, the idea is probably “more intoxicating than wine” or “more delightful than wine.”  tn The young woman compares his lovemaking to the in- toxicating effects of wine. A man is to be “intoxicated” with the love of his wife (Prov 5:20). Wine makes the heart glad (Deut  14:26; Judg 9:13; Ps 104:15) and revives the spirit (2 Sam 16:1-2; Prov 31:4-7). It is viewed as a gift from God, given to enable  man  to  enjoy  life  (Eccl  2:24-25;  5:18).  The  ancient  Egyptian love poems use the imagery of wine and intoxica- tion to describe the overwhelming effects of sexual love. For example, an ancient Egyptian love song reads: “I embrace her and her arms open wide; I am like a man in Punt, like some- one overwhelmed with drugs. I kiss her and her lips open; and  I am drunk without beer” (ANET 467-69).  tn The preposition ְל (lÿ) of ְלֵריַח (lÿrekha) has been under- stood in three ways: (a) dative of reference: “with respect to  fragrance [your perfumes are pleasing]” (see GKC 430 §133. d);  (b)  asseverative  or  emphatic:  “indeed  the  fragrance  [of  your perfumes is pleasing]” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syn- tax, 50-51, §283); or  (c) comparative: “[your  lovemaking  is  better than wine], indeed better the scent [of precious oint- ments]” (W. F. Albright, “Archaic Survivals in the Text of Can- ticles,” Hebrew and Semitic Studies, 2, n. 4).  tn Heb “the scent of your oils.” The term ֶמן -shemen, “co) ׁשֶ logne”) refers to perfumes or colognes (Eccl 7:1; 10:1; Song 4:10). In Israel bodily oils were expensive (1 Kgs 17:12ff; 2 Kgs 2:4ff). Possession of oils and perfumes was a sign of  prosperity and luxury (Deut 32:8; 33:24; Job 29:6; Prov 21:17; Ezek 16:13, 20). Wearing cologne was associated with joy (Ps 45:8; Eccl 9:8; Isa 61:3) because they were worn  on festive occasions (Prov 27:9).  sn The  term   טֹוִבים (tovim, “pleasing”)  refers  to  what  is  pleasant to the olfactory senses (BDB 373 s.v. II 1 טֹוב.c) (e.g.,  your name is like the finest perfume.0 No wonder the young women adore you! Jer 6:20).  sn The term ֶמָך -may be a me (”shÿmekha, “your name) ׁשְ tonymy of association for her lover. In Hebrew idiom, the name  often represents the person (e.g., 1 Sam 25:25).  tn The meaning of the phrase ֶמן ּתּוַרק  is (shemen turaq) ׁשֶ difficult to determine; several options have been proposed: (1) Traditionally, the term ּתּוַרק is taken as a verb (Hophal im- perfect 3rd person feminine singular from ִריק, riq, “to pour  out”)  which  functions  as  an  attributive  adjective  modifying  the noun ֶמן  poured out oil.” The phrase is“ :(”oil, perfume“) ׁשֶ taken this way by LXX ἒλαιον ἐκχεομενον (“oil poured out”)  which seems to reflect a Hebrew Vorlage of a passive verb  functioning adjectivally. Accordingly,  the phrase  is  tradition- ally translated “ointment/oil poured forth/poured out” (KJV,  NKJV, ASV, NIV, RSV, NRSV, NJB), “purified oil” (NASB) or “spreading perfume” (NAB, CEV). However, this is syntactically awkward because: (a) the noun ֶמן  is masculine (BDB (”oil“) ׁשֶ 1032 s.v.  ֶמן  but (ׁשֶ the verb ּתּוַרק  (“poured out”)  is  feminine  (3rd person  feminine singular); and  (b)  this would demand  heterosis of the verb for an adjective function. (2) Aquila, who  is known for his woodenly literal translation technique, reads  ἒλαιον ἐκκενωθὲν  (elaion ekkenwqen,  “oil  poured out”)  which reflects a passive participle functioning adjectivally, perhaps מּוָרק (muraq; Hophal participle ms from ִריק “to pour  out”). This involves simple orthographic confusion between ת  and מ. This might be reflected in Qumran because Baillet’s restoration of 6QCant reads מרקחת מורקה (cited in BHS appa- ratus “c-c”) which would be vocalized ִמְרַקַחת מּורָקה (mirqakhat murqah, “perfumed  poured  out”).  However,  Baillet’s  resto- ration is questioned by some scholars. (3) The BHS editors  suggest emending MT ּתּוַרק (turaq) to the noun ְמרּוק ,tamruq) ּתַ “purification”), used for oil of purification (e.g., Esth 2:3, 9, ְמרּוק :(12 ֶמן ּתַ -would mean “oil of purifica (shemen tamruq) ׁשֶ tion” or “purified oil.” (4) A simpler solution is to take ּתּוַרק as  a previously unrecognized noun that is related to the Ugaritic noun trq which refers to high grade cosmetic oil (UT 145.20;  19.371). This approach is adopted by one other translation: “Your name is like finest oil” (NJPS). 0 sn The similar sounding terms ם  ׁשֵ (shem, “name”) and  ֶמן .create a wordplay (paronomasia) (”shemen, “perfume) ׁשֶ  sn The term ַעְלָמה (’almah, “young woman”) refers to a  young woman who  is of marriageable age or a newly mar- ried young woman, usually before the birth of her first child (HALOT 835-36 s.v. ַעְלָמה; BDB 761 s.v. ַעְלָמה) (e.g., Gen 24:43;  Exod 2:8; Ps 68:26; Prov 30:19; Song 1:3; 6:8; Isa 7:14). The only other use of the term “young women” (ֲעָלמֹות) in the Song refers to the young women of Solomon’s harem (Song 6:8). The root עלם denotes the basic idea of “youthful, strong, pas- sionate” (HALOT 835 s.v. III עלם). While the term ַעְלָמה (“young  woman”) may be used in reference to a young woman who  is a virgin, the term itself does not explicitly denote “virgin.” The Hebrew term which explicitly denotes “virgin” is תּוָלה  ּבְ (bÿtulah) which refers to a mature young woman without any  sexual experience with men (e.g., Gen 24:16; Exod 22:15- 16; Lev 21:3; Deut 22:23, 28; 32:25; Judg 12:12; 19:24; 2 Sam 13:2, 18; 1 Kgs 1:2; 2 Chr 36:17; Esth 2:2-3, 17, 19; Job 31:1; Pss 45:15; 78:63; 148:12; Isa 23:4; 62:5; Jer 2:32; 31:3; 51:22; Lam 1:4, 18; 2:10, 21; 5:11; Ezek 9:6; Joel 1:8; Amos 9:13; Zech 9:17 (HALOT 166-7 s.v. תּוָלה  .BDB 143 s.v ;ּבְ תּוָלה תּוִלים The related noun .(ּבְ -means “state of vir (bÿtulim) ּבְ ginity” (Lev 21:13; Judg 11:37-38; Ezek 23:3, 8; Sir 42:10) and “evidence of virginity” (Deut 22:14-15, 17, 20) (HALOT 167 s.v. תּוִלים .(ּבְ  tn Heb “love.” the sonG oF sonGs 1:3 16 Salmah. 1:6 Do not stare at me because I am dark, for the sun has burned my skin. My brothers were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards. Alas, my own vineyard I could not keep! of  Kedar,  although  from  outside  they  look  ugly,  black,  and  ragged, yet inside contain precious stones and pearls, so the  disciples of the wise, although they look repulsive and swar- thy in this world, yet have within them knowledge of the Torah,  Scriptures, Mishnah, Midrash, Halachoth, Talmud, Toseftas and Haggadah” (Midrash Rabbah 4:54-55).  tc The MT vocalizes ׁשלמה as ֹלֹמה ;(”shÿlomoh, “Solomon) ׁשְ however,  the  BHS  editors  suggest  the  vocalization  ְלָמה  ׁשַ (shalmah); cf. NAB “Salma.” Salmah is the name of an an- cient Arabian tribe mentioned in Assyrian and South Arabic sources, as well as Targum Onqelos (Gen 15:19; Num 24:21;  Judg 4:17). Like the tribe of Qedar, Salmah was an Arabian nomadic  tribe  which  inhabited  a  region  in  northern  Arabia  and the region of Petra. The proposed revocalization produc- es tighter parallelism between Qedar and Salmah, than Qe- dar and Solomon. This also creates a striking wordplay on the name ֹלֹמה .(M. H. Pope, Song of Songs [AB], 320) ׁשְ  tn The relative pronoun  ֲאִני on (she) ׁשֶ  she’ani, “because) ׁשֶ I”) functions in a causal sense, as in the following colon (BDB  980 s.v.  .b) (e.g., Song 5:2; Eccl 2:18).3 ׁשֶ  tn The relative pronoun  ָזַפְתִני on (she) ׁשֶ ֱ ׁשּ -sheshshezaf) ׁשֶ atni) functions in a causal sense, as in the preceding colon  (BDB 980 s.v.  .b) (e.g., Song 5:2; Eccl 2:18).3 ׁשֶ  tn Heb “the sun has stared at me.” The verb ַזף (shazaf) ׁשָ means “to look at, catch sight of, glance at” (e.g., Job 20:9;  28:7) (HALOT 1456 s.v. ׁשזף; BDB 1004 s.v. ַזף  The Beloved .(ׁשָ personifies the sun (ֶמׁש ָ  hashshamesh) as having looked at ,ַהׁשּ her too long, that is, it burned her skin.  tn Heb “the sons of my mother.”  sn The verb ָהָרה (harah, “to burn in anger, to be angry”)  creates an interesting wordplay or pun on the preceding line:  “The sun burned me (= my skin).” The sun burned her skin,  because  her  brothers  had  burned   (niharu ,ִנֲהרּו) in  anger  against her. This is an example of a polysemantic wordplay which explains the two basic meanings of ָהָרה (“to burn, to be  angry”) (W. G. E. Watson, Classical Hebrew Poetry [JSOTSup], 241-42).  sn The noun ֶרם  ּכֶ (kerem, “vineyard”) is used figuratively in this line (see following note on the wordplays in this verse).  Some suggest that her “vineyard” refers to her virginity, that is,  she  lost her  virginity. However,  this  runs contrary  to  the  moral purity accorded to the Beloved throughout the Song (e.g., 4:12; 8:8-10). It is better to take the “vineyard” imagery  as a reference to her ability to take care of her physical ap- pearance which had been thwarted by being forced to work  outside where her skin had been darkened by the scorching  rays of the sun, as alluded to throughout 1:4-5[5-6].  sn The repetition of the noun ֶרם  and (”kerem, “vineyard) ּכֶ the verb ָנַטר (natar, “to keep, maintain”) creates a series of  eloquent wordplays. The first occurrence of ֶרם  (”vineyard“) ּכֶ and ָנַטר (“to keep”) is literal, the second occurrence of both  is figurative (hypocatastasis). Her brothers forced her to work outside in the sun, taking care of the vineyards; as a result,  she was not able to take care of her appearance (“my own  vineyard I could not keep”).  The Shepherd and the Shepherdess The Beloved to Her Lover: 1:7 Tell me, O you whom my heart loves, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest your sheep during the midday heat? Tell me lest0 I wander around  tn Heb “soul.”  0 tn The causal relative pronoun   she, “because”; BDB) ׁשֶ 980 s.v.  -la) ָלָמה b) is prefixed to the interrogative particle.3 ׁשֶ mah, “why?”; BDB 554 s.v. 4 ַמה.d) to form the idiom ָמה ּלָ  ׁשַ (shallamah, “lest”; BDB 554 s.v. 4 ַמה.d.β; 980 s.v.   3b). BDB ׁשֶ notes that ָלָמה is used with an imperfect – as is the case here  with ֶאְהֶיה  (’ehyeh, Qal  imperfect 1st person common singu- lar from ָהָיה, haya, “to be”) – to deprecate a situation and for  rhetorical emphasis to introduce the reason why something  should,  or  should  not,  be  done:  “Why  should?”  (e.g.,  Gen  27:45; 47:19; Exod 32:12; 1 Sam 19:5, 17; 20:8, 32; 2 Sam 2:22; 13:26; 16:9; 20:19; 2 Kgs 14:10; 2 Chr 25:16; Neh 6:3; Pss 79:10; 115:2; Eccl 5:5; 7:16-17; Jer 40:15; Joel 2:17) (BDB 554 s.v. 4 ַמה.d.β). When connected with a  foregoing  sentence by the causal relative pronouns   because,” the“ ׁשֶ idiom ָמה ּלָ  connotes “lest” (literally, “Because why should?”) ׁשַ (BDB 554 s.v. 4.d.β). The meaning of ָמה ּלָ  is identical to the ׁשַ parallel  constructions ה ָלּמָ ר  ֲאׁשֶ (’asher lammah, “lest”;  Dan  1:10) and י ְלָמה In Song 1:6[7] .(di lÿmah, “lest”; Ezra 7:23) ּדִ the causal  relative pronoun   connects ׁשֶ it  to  the preceding  lines, and our idiom assumes the elided phrase יָדּה ִלי -hag) ַהּגִ gidah li, “Tell me!”) which occurred earlier: “Tell me lest I …!” or “Tell me! For why should I…?”  tn The meaning of MT ֹעְטָיה (’otÿyah, Qal active participle  fs from ָעָטה, ’atah, “to veil oneself”) is debated; several options  have been proposed: (1) Some scholars attempt to explain this in light of ancient Israelite culture or customs. The term   describes a person wrapping oneself in a garment or with ָעָטה a veil (HALOT 813 s.v. I עטה) as (a) a sign of grief or mourning  (Ezek 24:17, 22), uncleanness (Lev 13:45), or shame (Mic 3:7), and as (b) the clothing of the deceased (1 Sam 28:14) and veiled cult-prostitutes (Gen 28:14). The term is rendered  “one who veils herself” (NASB), “one who is veiled” (NRSV, KJV margin) and “like a veiled woman” (ASV, NIV). BDB sug- gests that she veiled herself in mourning (BDB 741 s.v. I ָעָטה).  Rashi suggested that she veiled herself in mourning because  she did not know where to find her beloved (Canticles Rab- bah 1:6). Many commentators connect  this with  the veiled  cult-prostitute soliciting business among shepherds. She wished to avoid what Tamar tried to do: to be mistaken as a  harlot looking for business among the shepherds (Gen 38:14- 23). If her beloved would not declare his whereabouts, she  would be reduced to looking for him among the shepherds  – an action  that could be easily misunderstood. This  is  re- flected in the CEV paraphrase: “Don’t let the other shepherds think badly of me.” R. E. Murphy (Song of Songs [Hermeneia],  131) writes: “Commentators have interpreted the covering as a sign of mourning (2 Sam 15:30) or as the sign of a harlot (Gen 38:14-15). These references are not helpful in explain- ing the context of v 7, and in neither of the instances is the word ָעָטה used. She seems rather to refer to some kind of cov- ering or disguise she will be forced to use unless she knows  where to find him. One can infer that the disguise will enable her to avoid being identified by his ‘companions,’ but no rea- son is given (perhaps she does not want them to know about  the rendezvous?)” (2) Other scholars resort to comparative  lexicography. For example, S. R. Driver suggested that ֹעְטָיה is  not derived from ָעָטה I (“to veil”), but from the Arabic root gth  that came into Hebrew as the homonymic root ָעָטה “to pick  lice” (Isa 22:17; Jer 43:12) (HALOT 814 s.v. II עטה). Driver ren- ders the line, “lest I be left picking lice,” that is, while away  the  siesta-time  grooming  herself.  Most  scholars  reject  this  proposal; it seems strange in the context and unnecessarily creates a homonym  for a well-known  term  that makes ad- equate sense contextually. Nevertheless, Driver’s proposal was adopted by the NEB: “that I may not be left picking lice.”  See D. R. Driver, “Lice in the Old Testament,” PEQ 106 (1974): 19 the sonG oF sonGs 1:7 beside the flocks of your companions! The Lover to His Beloved: 1:8 If you do not know, O most beautiful of women, simply follow the tracks of my flock, and pasture your little lambs beside the tents of the shepherds. The Beautiful Mare and the Fragrant Myrrh The Lover to His Beloved: 1:9 O my beloved, you are like a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions. 159-160. (3) Still other scholars emend the text. MT reads ֹעְטָיה  preposition) (”kÿ’otÿyah, “like one who is veiled) ּכְ  Qal + ּכְ active participle fs ָעָטה I “to veil”) which is also reflected in the LXX’s ὠ περιβαλλομενη (w periballomenh, “like one who is  covered”;  fs passive participle from περιβάλλω, periballw, “to cover”). However, several ancient versions (Greek: Sym- machus, Syriac Peshitta, Vulgate) reflect a Hebrew Vorlage  with metathesis of the first two consonants: ֹטִעּיָה (kÿto’iyyah) ּכְ from ָטָעה (ta’ah, “to wander about, to stray”; e.g., Ezek 13:10).  The root ָטָעה would be an Aramaizing form of Hebrew ָעה  to“) ּתָ wander”). This emendation is suggested by the BHS editors  and the lexicons (HALOT 377 s.v. 814 ;טעה; BDB 742 s.v.); It is adopted by many translations: “like one who wanders” (RSV, AV, JB, NAB, NJV), “like one who strays” (JPS, NJPS) and “as one that turneth aside” (KJV). This would make nice sense  contextually: she begs her beloved to tell her where to find him because she does not want to wander around like some- one who is lost.   tn Heb “I compare you to.”  tn The hireq-yod ending on ֻסָסִתי (susati) is a remnant of  the old genitive ending (e.g., nominative: malku, genitive: mal- ki, accusative: malka), the so-called hireq compaginis ending.  Thus, ִרְכֵבי ַפְרֹעה -is a double geni (susati berikve par’oh) ֻסָסִתי ּבְ tive-construct: “a mare among the chariot-horses of Pharaoh”  (M. H. Pope, Song of Songs [AB], 338) or “a mare among the  chariots of Pharaoh” (R. E. Murphy, Song of Songs [Herme- neia], 131). The hireq-yod ending was mistakenly treated as  1st person common singular possessive suffix “my mare” by  LXX, Vulgate, Syriac. This approach is mistakenly adopted by several translations: “my mare” (NASB, NJB), “my filly” (NKJV) and “my company of horsemen” (DRA).  sn It was common in ancient love literature to compare a  beautiful woman to a sleek filly. For example, Horace likened Lyde to a three year old filly: “She gambols over the spreading plains and shrinks from touch, to wedlock still a stranger, not  yet ripe for eager mate” (Horace, Odes iii. xi. 9). Theocritus compared Helen of Troy to a graceful steed harnessed to a  chariot: “As towers the cypress mid the garden’s bloom, as  in  the  chariot  proud  Thessalian  steed,  thus  graceful  rose- complexion’d Helen moves” (Theocritus, Idyll xviii. 30-31).  tn Heb “among the chariot-horses” or “among the chari- ots.” The noun ֶרֶכב (rekhev) has a wide range of meanings:  “chariots, war-chariots” (Exod 14:17-18, 23; 15:19; Deut 11:4; 20:1; Josh 11:4) “chariot crews, chariot troops” (1 Kgs  9:22; 16:9; 22:31; 2 Kg 8:21), “column of chariots, troop of  warriors” (Isa 21:7, 9), “charioteer” (Ps 76:7), and “chariot- horses” (Exod 14:9; 2 Sam 8:4; 1 Chr 18:4; Ezek 39:20) (HALOT 1233-35 s.v. ֶרֶכב). Scholars have struggled with the meaning of ַפְרֹעה ִרְכֵבי  ּבְ (bÿrikhbe par’oh, “[harnessed to (?)]  Pharaoh’s chariot”; HALOT 1234 s.v. 6.b). M. H. Pope (Song of Songs [AB], 338) suggests that ִרְכֵבי (rikhbe) be nuanced  “chariot-horses” and the phrase rendered “among the char- iot-horses of Pharaoh.” Pope offers the best explanation of this enigmatic picture: “A crucial consideration overlooked by  commentators is the well-attested fact that Pharaoh’s chari- ots, like other chariotry in antiquity, were not drawn by a mare  or mares but by stallions hitched in pairs. This bit of  intelli- gence radically alters the usual understanding of the verse  and dispels the notion that there is a grammatical incongru- ity, which needs harmonizing. The juxtaposition is between 1:10 Your cheeks are beautiful with orna- ments; your neck is lovely with strings of jew- els. 1:11 We will make for you gold orna- ments studded with silver. The Beloved about Her Lover: 1:1 While the king was at his banqueting table, my nard gave forth its fragrance.0 1:13 My beloved is like a fragrant pouch of myrrh a single mare and a plurality of stallions and it requires only  a modicum of what is called ‘horse sense’ to appreciate the  thrust of the comparison. The situation envisaged is illustrat- ed by the famous incident in one of the campaigns of Thut- mose III against Qadesh. On his tomb at Thebes, the Egyptian  soldier Amenemheb relates how the Prince of Qadesh sent  forth a swift mare, which entered among the army. But Amen- emheb ran after her on foot and with his dagger ripped open  her belly, cut off her tail, and presented it to the king, thus  preventing a debacle before the excited stallions could take out after the mare.”  tn The phrase “is lovely” does not appear in the Hebrew  but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity to com- plete the parallelism with the preceding line.  tn The subject of the 1st person common plural verb ה  ַנֲעׂשֶ (na’aseh) might be the maidens of Jerusalem mentioned in  1:4[5]. However, this might be an example of heterosis of number, that is, the 1st person common plural for 1st person  common singular person. In this case, her lover – the speaker  throughout the rest of 1:8-9[9-10] – would still be the speak- er here. Other possible examples of heterosis of number of the plural for the singular in the Song include 1:3[4]; 2:15; 5:1b; 6:13[7:1].  tn Or “We will make gold ornaments with your studs of  silver.”  tn The lexicons suggest that ֵמַסב (mesav) refers to a round  banquet table (HALOT 604 s.v. ֵמַסב) or divan with cushions  (BDB 687 s.v. 2 ֵמַסב). In Mishnaic Hebrew the noun ֵמַסב re- fers  to a dining couch, banquet  table, as well  as  cushions  or pillows  (HALOT 604).  The  related noun ה  ְמִסּבָ (mÿsibbah) refers to a banqueting party (HALOT 604 s.v. ה  Jastrow ;ְמִסּבָ 803 s.v. ה  The versions took it as a reference to a resting .(ְמִסּבָ place (see LXX, Vulgate, Syriac Peshitta). R. E. Murphy (Song of Songs  [Hermeneia], 131) suggests that  it  refers  to  (1) a  couch or divan on which a person declined while eating, (2) a  group of people gathered in a circle, that is, an entourage, or  (3) a private place such as an enclosure. tc The  MT  ְמִסּבֹו  ּבִ (bimsibbo, “his  banquet  table”)  is  enig- matic: “While the king was at his banquet table, my nard gave  forth its fragrance.” W. Rudolph suggests emending to י  ְמִסּבִ (mÿsibbi, “around me”): “While the king surrounded me, my  nard gave forth its fragrance” (Des Buch Ruth, das Hohe Lied, die Klagelieder [KAT], 27).  sn “Nard” ( nerdÿ) was an aromatic oil extracted from ,ֵנְרּדְ the Valerian nardostachys jatamansi which was an aromatic  drug from a plant which grew in the Himalaya region of India,  used for perfume (HALOT 723 s.v. ְֵנְרּד). Nard was an expen- sive imported perfume, worn by women at banquets because  of its seductive charms. It was used in the ANE as a love po- tion because of its erotic fragrance (R. K. Harrison, Healing Herbs of the Bible, 48-49). 0 tn Or “The fragrance of my nard wafted forth.”  sn The term ֹמר (mor, “myrrh”) refers to an aromatic gum  (Commiphora abessinica resin) which exudes from the bark of the Balsmodendron myrrha tree which was native only to Ara- bia, Abyssinia, and India (HALOT 629 s.v. ֹמר). It was an expen- sive luxury item, which had to be imported into Israel. In liquid form it could be carried in small bottles like nard, but it was  also used in solid form in which it was carried in a small cloth  pouch or sachet worn next to the body. The myrrh was mixed the sonG oF sonGs 1:8 130 spending the night between my breasts. 1:14 My beloved is like a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-Gedi. Mutual Praise and Admiration The Lover to His Beloved: 1:15 Oh, how beautiful you are, my be- loved! with fat and shaped into cones and as the fat melted from  the body heat, the aroma of myrrh and the anointing oil would  perfume a woman’s body. Because it had a very strong aroma  which would last for long periods of time, women often wore  it to bed to perfume themselves for the next day. Because of its  beautiful  fragrance,  it  is  associated  with  romance  (e.g.,  Isa 3:24) (R. K. Harrison, Healing Herbs of the Bible, 45-46).  tn Alternately, “resting between my breasts.” The verb ִלין  (lin) has a three-fold range of meaning in the Qal stem: (1) “to  leave overnight,” e.g., meat or corpse on a tree, (2) “to spend  the night, stay overnight,” and (3) “to stay, dwell” (HALOT 529  s.v. לין). The myrrh motif (see study note above) suggests the  nuance “to spend the night” (HALOT 529 s.v. 2). This is also  the most appropriate nuance of its usage in Song 7:12 (e.g., Gen  19:2;  24:23,  25,  54;  28:11;  31:54;  32:14,  22;  Num  22:8; Josh 3:1; 4:3; 6:11; 8:9; Judg 18:2; 19:4-15 (9x), 20; 20:4; 2 Sam 12:16; 17:8, 16; 19:8; 1 Kgs 19:9; Isa 21:13; 65:4; Jer 14:8; Joel 1:13; Zeph 2:14; Pss 25:13; 55:8; Job  24:7; 31:32; 39:9; Prov 19:23; Song 7:12; Ruth 1:16; 3:13; Neh 4:16; 13:20; 1 Chr 9:27). Several translations follow course: “he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts” (KJV) and “which lies all night between my breasts” (NASB). Others downplay the obvious sexual connotations: “resting between my breasts” (NIV) and “lodged between my breasts” (NJPS). The imperfect has been taken in two basic senses: (1) future  time action: “he shall spend the night between my breasts”  and  (2)  present  characteristic  or  present  progressive:  “he  spends the night between my breasts.” The latter is favored  by  the  characteristic/progressive  nature  of  the  metaphors  used through 1:12-13[13-14].  sn The henna plant (ּכֶֹפר, kofer, “henna”; HALOT 495 s.v.  III  -is an inflorescent shrub with upward pointing blos (ּכֶֹפר soms, that have sweet smelling whitish flowers that grow in thick clusters (Song 4:13; 7:12). Like myrrh, the henna plant was used to make sweet smelling perfume. Its flowers were used to dye hair, nails, fingers, and toes orange.  sn En-Gedi is a lush oasis in the midst of the desert wil- derness on the southwestern shore of the Dead Sea. The sur- rounding region is hot and bleak; its dry sands extend monot- onously for miles. The Dead Sea region is a salty desert cov- ered with a dusty haze and characterized by almost unbear- able heat during most of the year. The lush oasis of En-Gedi is  the only sign of greenery or life for miles around. It stands out  as a surprising contrast to the bleak, dry desert wilderness  around it. In the midst of this bleak desert wilderness is the  lush oasis in which indescribable beauty is found. The lush  oasis and waterfall brings welcome relief and refreshment to  the weary desert traveler.  sn His praise begins with the exclamatory particle ִהּנֵה  (hinneh, “behold!”). This is often used to introduce a state- ment in which the speaker either newly asserts or newly rec- ognizes something (BDB 244 s.v. ִהּנֵה b.a).  sn The term ַרְעָיִתי  (ra’yati, “my darling”)  is from ֵרַע (re’a)  “companion, friend” in general (e.g., Job 2:11; 6:27; 12:4; Pss 35:14; 122:8; Prov 14:20; 17:17; 19:6; 27:10) and “dar- ling, beloved” in romantic relationships (e.g., Job 30:29; Jer  3:1, 20; Hos 3:1; Song 5:1, 16) (HALOT 1253-54 s.v.  II   ;ֵרַע BDB 945 s.v.  II ָרָעה  II.1). This  is  the most common term of  affection to address the Beloved (Song 1:9, 15; 2:2, 10, 13; 4:1, 7; 5:2; 6:4). Oh, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves! The Beloved to Her Lover: 1:16 Oh, how handsome you are, my lover! Oh, how delightful0 you are!  sn In the ancient Near East there was an unusual empha- sis on beauty of a woman’s eyes. This was probably due to  the practice of women veiling themselves and wearing long  robes so that no portion of their body or face was exposed to sight except for their eyes (e.g., Gen 26:17). The only indica- tion of a woman’s beauty was her eyes. There was no better  (and no other, in light of the attire) way to praise a woman’s  beauty in the ancient Near East (G. L. Carr, Song of Solomon [TOTC], 86).  tn Heb “Your eyes are doves.” This metaphor compares  her eyes to doves. There is no lack of suggestions as to the  point of the comparison: (1) Arabic love literature describes  doves having sentimental eyes, the point here (Marcia Falk, Love Lyrics from the Bible, 113). (2) The comparison has to  do with the color of her eyes (G. L. Carr, Song of Solomon [TOTC], 86). (3) The comparison has to do with the glistening color of the dove and its quick movements, that is, her eyes  had a beautiful color and had lively motion (M. H. Pope, Song of Songs [AB], 356). (4) The comparison has to do with the  fluttering of her eyes which reminded him of the fluttering of a dove’s wings (M. D. Goulder, The Song of Fourteen Songs [JSOTSup], 5). (5) The comparison has to do with gentleness and purity, as well as longing and simplicity (K&D 18:38).   sn The  statement  ַרְעָיִתי ָיָפה ְך  ִהּנָ (hinnakh yafah ra’yati, “How beautiful you are, my darling”) in 1:15 is virtually mir- rored by the Beloved’s statement in 1:16, ְך ָיֶפה דֹוִדי hinnÿkh) ִהּנְ yafeh dodi, “How handsome you are, my lover”).  tn The term ַאף (’af, “how”) is used to: (1) introduce addi- tional information; (2) to emphasize a point; (3) to enhance a  statement; (4) to create an antithesis (HALOT 76 s.v. ַאף). The  usage here is to enhance “how pleasant” or “certainly pleas- ant” (HALOT 76). The particle ַאף is often used in Hebrew po- etry to emphatically introduce a thought in the second colon  which is a step beyond what was asserted in the first colon (e.g., Deut 33:3, 20, 28; 1 Sam 2:7; Pss 16:6, 7, 9; 18:49 HT [18:48 ET]; 65:14 HT [65:13 ET]; 68:9, 17 HT [68:8, 16 ET]; 74:16; 89:28 HT [89:27 ET]; 93:1; Prov 22:19; 23:28) (BDB 64 s.v. b.1). Sometimes, ַאף  is used to introduce a surprise  or something unexpected (e.g., Job 14:3; 15:4) (BDB 65 s.v. a.1). The particle ַאף (“Oh!”), which introduces this line, is of- ten used in Hebrew poetry to emphatically introduce a new  thought and indicates that this is an addition to the previous  statement; it is something far greater. 0 tn The term ָנִעים (na’im, “pleasant, delightful”) can refer  to physical attractiveness or to personal character (BDB 653  I ָנֵעם; HALOT 705 s.v. I נעם). Some suggest that it refers to the pleasantness of his character and personality; however, it is  better to take this as a reference to his handsome physical  appearance  for  several  reasons:  (1)  The  terms   ָיֶפה (yafeh, “handsome”) and ָנִעים (“delightful”) are probably used in syn- onymous rather than synthetic parallelism. (2) The emphasis  in 1:15-16 is on physical beauty as the repetition of the term  “beautiful, handsome” (ָיֶפה) suggests. (3) The related verb  ַעְמּתְ  ּנָ (na’amtÿ, “to be delightful”) is used in Song 7:7 in synonymous parallelism with ָיָפת (yafat, “to be beautiful”) in the description  of the Beloved’s physical beauty. (4) Hebrew lexicographers classify this usage of ָנִעים in Song 1:16 in terms of physical beauty  rather  than  personal  character  (BDB  653  s.v.  2). 131 the sonG oF sonGs 1:16 and he looked at me lovingly.  tc The MT vocalizes דגלו as the noun ֶגל  with 3rd (dÿgel) ּדְ person masculine singular suffix ְֹגלו  diglo, “his banner [over) ּדִ me is love]”). However, several medieval Hebrew mss vocali- ze דגלו as Qal mp imperative ְוִדְגלּו (vÿdihlu, “Set [love before me].”) This is also reflected in LXX τάξατε ἐπ’ ἐμὲ ἀγάπην  (taxate ep eme agaphn, “Set love before me!”). tn The  meaning  of  the  term  ְגלֹו  ּדִ (diglo) is debated. Five basic views have emerged: (1) “his banner over me was love.”  BDB relates  ְגלֹו ֶגל to the noun ּדִ  ;”dÿgel, “standard, banner) ּדְ BDB  186  s.v.  ֶגל  (ּדֶ which  refers  to  (a)  banners,  standards  (Num 1:52; 2:2) and (b) battalion, company of troops, or di- vision of a tribe signaled by a banner or standard (Num 2:3,  10, 17-18, 25, 31, 34; 10:14, 18, 22, 25). Thus, most transla- tions render ְגלֹו -as “his banner” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NJPS). Ho ּדִ wever, the expression “His banner over me was love” is enig- matic. (2) “serve love to me!” Delitzsch revocalized the noun  ְוִדְגלֹו (“his  banner”)  as  an  imperative   ְוִדְגלּו (vÿdiglu, “serve  [me]”) from the root ַגל -which is rela (”dagal, “to serve food) ּדָ ted to Akkadian dagalu II (“to serve food”). Delitzsch renders  the passage: “Bring me into the banquet hall and serve me  love…for I am faint with love.” This is supported by LXX which reads: εἰσαγάγετέ με εἰς οἶκον τοῦ οἲνου, τάξατε ἐπ’ ἐμὲ ἀγάπην  (eisagagete me eis oikon tou oinou, tax- ate ep’ eme agaphn, “Bring me into the wine house, and set  love before me”). However, R. Gordis points out the difficul- ties with Delitzsch’s proposal: (a) The meaning “serve” for ַגל  ּדָ is unparalleled in Hebrew thus, it would create a homonymic  hapax legomenon; (b) We would expect the preposition ִלי (li, “to me”) rather than ָעַלי (’ala, “over me”) after the imperative;  and  (c)  The  Akkadian  parallel  is  uncertain.  (3)  “its  banner  above me is love.” HALOT relates ְגלֹו  to the Akkadian noun ּדִ diglu (“eyesight, view, look, gaze”) and proposes the nuance  “sign of an inn,” such as a flag placed over taverns (HALOT 213 s.v. ֶגל  This approach renders the line: “He has brought .(ּדֶ me to the banquet hall, and its banner above me is love.” (4)  “his look toward me was loving” = “he looked at me lovingly.”  Several lexicons relate ְגלֹו ַגל to the homonymic root ּדִ  ,look“ ,ּדָ glance” (e.g., DCH 2:415 s.v. II ַגל  The Hebrew noun degel .(ּדָ II is related to the Akkadian noun diglu “eyesight, view, look,  gaze” (CAD 3:21; AHw 1:14). Likewise, the Hebrew verb II ַגל  ּדָ (“to look, behold”; Song 5:10; 6:4, 10; Eccl 9:13; Ps 20:6) (BDB 186 s.v. ַגל  DCH 2:414 s.v. I) is ;דגל HALOT 213 s.v. I ;ּדָ related to the Akkadian verb dagalu I “to look upon, to gaze,  to look with astonishment, to look at with admiration” (CAD  3:21; AHw 1:14). Those who adopt this approach render the  line: “His glance upon me is love” (DCH 2:414) or “His look  upon me was loving” (R. Gordis, “The Root dgl in the Song of Songs,” JBL 88 [1969]: 203-204; idem, Song of Songs and Lamentations, 81-82); or “He looked upon me with love.” (5)  “his wish regarding me was lovemaking.” M. H. Pope (Song of Songs [AB], 376-77) notes that the Assyrian noun diglu may  denote “wish,” i.e., desire or intent (CAD 3:136). He renders  the line: “His wish regarding me was lovemaking” or “His in- tentions were to make love.” Pope’s suggestion has been ad- opted by several recent commentators (e.g., G. L. Carr, Song of Solomon [TOTC], 91).  tn The syntax of the noun ַאֲהָבה  (’ahavah, “love”)  has  been taken as: (1) predicate nominative: “His banner over me  [was] love” or “His intention toward me [was] lovemaking” (M.  H. Pope, Song of Songs [AB], 376-77; G. L. Carr, Song of Solo- mon [TOTC], 91); (2) genitive of attribute/content: “His ban- ner of love [was] over me,” and (3) adverbial or adjectival ac- cusative: “His look upon me was loving” or “He looked upon  me lovingly” (R. Gordis, Song of Songs and Lamentations, 81- 82). Examples of adverbial or adjectival accusatives, e.g., “I am peace” = “I am peaceful” (Ps 120:7); “I will love them as a free gift” = “I will love them freely” (Hos 14:5). :5 Sustain me with raisin cakes, refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. The Double Refrain: Embracing and Adjura- tion :6 His left hand caresses my head,  tn The imperatives כּוִני  and (”sammÿkhuni, “sustain me) ַסּמְ דּוִני  are both plural in address (Piel (”rappÿduni, “revive me) ַרּפְ 2nd  person  masculine  plural  imperatives  with  1st  person  common singular suffixes). Thus, some commentators sug- gest that the woman is speaking to a large audience, perhaps  the banquet guests implied in 2:4 or the maidens mentioned  in 2:7 (R. Gordis, Song of Songs and Lamentations, 82). How- ever, the Hebrew plural can be used in reference to a single  individual when functioning in an intensive sense (IBHS 122  §7.4.3a). Thus, the woman may be speaking to her beloved, as in the rest of 2:3-6, but with intense passion. Similarly, in Sumerian love literature the bride sometimes uses plural verbs in reference to herself or her bridegroom (S. N. Kramer, The Sacred Marriage Rite, 92, 99).  sn The term יׁשֹות ה ashishot, “raisin cakes,” from’) ֲאׁשִ יׁשָ  ,ֲאׁשִ ’ashishah) refers to an expensive delicacy made of dried com- pressed grapes  (HALOT 95 s.v. ה יׁשָ ה .BDB 84 s.v ;ֲאׁשִ יׁשָ  ;ֲאׁשִ Jastrow 128 s.v. ה יׁשָ -Raisin cakes were used as cultic of .(ֲאׁשִ ferings by many ancient Near Easterners, and were especially  prominent in ancient Near Eastern fertility rites (e.g., Isa 16:7; Hos 3:1). In ancient Israel they were eaten during festive cel- ebrations, being viewed as enhancing sexual fertility (2 Sam 6:19; 1 Chr 16:3). Scholars regard the “raisin cakes” as (1) literal food viewed as an aphrodisiac to “cure” her love-sick- ness; (2) a figurative expression (hypocatastasis) for sexual passion or lovemaking; or (3) double entendre referring to the  literal food as an aphrodisiac and her desire for lovemaking.  tn Or “apricots.” The  term ּפּוִחים  ּתַ (tappukhim, “apples,”  from ּפּוַח ,tappukha) occurs four times in the book (Song 2:3 ,ּתַ 5; 7:9; 8:5) and twice outside (Prov 25:4; Joel 1:12). It is usu- ally defined as “apples” (BDB 656 s.v. ּפּוַח  however, some ;(ּתַ argue for “apricots” (FFB 92-93). The Hebrew noun ּפּוַח  ּתַ (“apple”) is derived from the Hebrew root ָנַפח (nafakh, “scent,  breath”) which is related to the Arabic root nafahu “fragrant  scent” (HALOT 708 s.v. נפח). Hence, the term refers to a fruit  with a fragrant scent. This may explain why the mere scent of this fruit was thought to have medicinal powers in the ancient  Near East (G. E. Post, Flora of Syria, Palestine and Sinai, 128).  This imagery draws upon two motifs associated with apples.  First, apples were viewed as medicinal in ancient Syro-Pales- tinian customs; the sick were given apples to eat or smell in  order to revive them. Similarly, the Mishnah and Talmud re- fer to apples as a medication like wine and grapes. Second, apples were considered an aphrodisiac in the ancient Near  East. Both motifs are combined here because the Beloved is  “love-sick” and only the embrace of her beloved can cure her,  as 2:6 indicates (T. H. Ratzaby, “A Motif in Hebrew Love Po- etry: In Praise of the Apple,” Ariel 40 [1976]: 14).  tn Heb “sick of love.” The expression ַאֲהָבה  חֹוַלת (kholat ’ahavah, “sick of love”) is an example of the causative use of  the genitive construct:  “I am sick because of  love,”  that  is, “I am love-sick.” The expression ַאֲהָבה  חֹוַלת (kholat ’aha- vah, “faint with love”) is a figure which compares physical or medical illness caused by a physically draining disease to  sexual desire which is so intense that a person is so physically drained that they feel as if they could faint. The term חֹול (khol, “sick”)  refers  to  the  physical  weakness  which  consumes  a  person who is suffering from a medical illness (Gen 48:1; 1  Sam 19:14). It is used figuratively as a hyperbolic hypocatas- tasis for being so consumed with sexual desire that it saps one of his/her physical and emotional strength (BDB 317 s.v. 2). This is commonly referred to as “love-sickness.” It was as- sociated with such deep longing for physical and sexual fulfill- ment that it weighed so heavily upon a person that he/she  was physically and emotionally drained (2 Sam 13:2).  tn Heb “His left hand is under my head.” Ultimately, the only cure for her love-sickness is the caress of her beloved.  the sonG oF sonGs :5 134 and his right hand stimulates me. The Beloved to the Maidens: :7 I adjure you, O maidens of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields: The ancient Near Eastern love songs frequently portray the  embrace of the lover as the only cure for the speaker’s love- sickness. For example, one Egyptian love song reads: “She will make the doctors unnecessary, because she knows my  sickness” (Papyrus Harris 4:11). Similarly, “My salvation is her coming in from outside; when I see her, I will be healthy. When  she opens her eye, my body is young; when she speaks, I will  be strong. When I embrace her, she exorcises evil from me” (Papyrus Chester Beatty, C5:1-2).  tn Heb  “embraces.”  Alternately,  “May  his  left  hand  be  under  my  head,  and  [may]  his  right  hand  embrace  me.”  The verb ָחַבק (khavaq) has a two-fold range of meanings in  the Piel stem: (1) to embrace or hug someone (Gen 29:13;  33:4; 48:10; Job 24:8; Prov 4:8; Eccl 3:5; Lam 4:5) and (2) to fondle or sexually stimulate a lover (Prov 5:20; Song 2:6; 8:3) (HALOT 287 s.v. חבק; BDB 287 s.v. ָחַבק). The verb desig- nates an expression of love by the position or action of one’s hands (TWOT 1:259). The term is probably used here as a eu- phemism. The function of the prefixed verbal form of ֵקִני ַחּבְ  ּתְ (tÿkhabbÿqeni, “embrace me”) may be classified several ways: (1) ingressive: “His right hand is beginning to stimulate me,”  (2)  instantaneous:  “His  right  hand  is  stimulating  me  [right  now],” (3) progressive: “His right hand stimulates me,” (4) jus- sive of desire: “May his right hand stimulate me!” (5) injunc- tion: “Let his right hand stimulate me!” or (6) permission: “His right hand may stimulate me.” Based upon their view that the  couple is not yet married, some scholars argue for an imper- fect of desire (“May his right hand stimulate/embrace me!”). Other scholars suggest that the progressive imperfect is used  (“His right hand stimulates me”). For a striking parallel, see S. N. Kramer, The Sacred Marriage Rite, 105.  sn Frequently, when oaths were taken in the ancient world, witnesses were invoked in order to solemnize the vow  and to act as jurists should the oath someday be broken. Cos- mic forces such as the “heavens and earth” were often per- sonified to act as witnesses to an oath (e.g., Deut 32:1; Isa 1:2; Mic 1:2; 6:1-2; Ps 50:2). In this case, the “witnesses” are  the “gazelles and stags of the field” (2:7; 3:5). These animals were frequently used as symbols of romantic love in the OT  (Prov 5:19). And in Egyptian and Mesopotamian love litera- ture and Ugaritic poetry the gazelle was often associated with sexual fertility. For instance, in the following excerpt from a Mesopotamian incantation text the stag is referred to in the context of sexual potency in which a woman urges an ailing male: “With the love-[making of the mountain goat] six times, with the lovemaking of a stag seven times, with the lovemak- ing of a partridge twelve times, make love to me! Make love to me because I am young! And the lovemaking of a stag…Make love to me!” (R. D. Biggs, Ancient Mesopotamian Potency In- cantations [TCS], 26, lines 4-8).  tn Traditionally, “hinds.” A hind is a female deer, generally  less than three years old.  tn  Heb “of the field.” The Hebrew term refers to open fields or open country as the home of wild animals; if taken adjectivally this could modify the previous term: “wild young  does” (cf. NRSV). sn The “gazelles” and “does of the fields” are probably zoo- morphisms for love personified. In other words, the witness of this oath is “love” itself. Should the daughters violate this vow which they are asked to make, “love” itself would hold them  accountable. Gazelles were often figures in Hebrew, Akkadi- an, and Ugaritic literature for mighty warriors or virile young men (e.g., 2 Sam 1:19; 2:18; Isa 14:9; Zech 10:3). Do not awaken or arouse love until it pleases!  tn Alternately, “arouse…awaken….” The root עּור (’ur) is re- peated twice in 2:7 for rhetorical emphasis. The first is the Hiphil imperative (“do not awake/excite…”) and the second is the Polel imperative (“do not awake/start to move…”). The Hi- phil depicts a causative action (causing love to initially awak- en) and the Polel depicts an intensive action (repeated efforts  to awaken love or to set love into motion). On the other hand,  G. L. Carr (Song of Solomon [TOTC], 94) writes: “The meaning is not stir up, i.e., a repetition of the same act, but is rather  first the act of awakening or summoning something, and then  doing what is necessary to sustain the activity already begun,  i.e., being so fully awakened that sleep becomes impossible  (e.g., 5:2).” The terms   ָּתִעירּו (ta’iru, “arouse”; Hiphil  impera- tive from עּור) and עֹוְררּו  tÿ’orÿru, “awaken”; Polel imperative) ּתְ from עּור) are probably figurative expressions (hypocatastasis) rather than literal, because the object does not refer to a per- son (her lover) but to an emotional state (“love”). The Hebrew  root עּור has two basic meanings: (1) to wake up and (2) to  excite (HALOT 802 s.v. II עּור). These two nuances are paral- leled in the related Semitic roots: Ugaritic `r and ̀ rr “to be ex- cited” (UT 19.1849; 19.1926; WUS 2092) and Akkadian eru  “to awake” (AHw 1:247) (HALOT 802 s.v. II). The Hiphil stem  has a four-fold range of meanings: (1) to wake up someone/ something, (2) to excite, put into motion, start to work, (3) to summons, (4) to disturb (HALOT 802-803 s.v. II). When used  literally, the Hiphil describes waking up a sleeper (Zech 4:1) or  stirring up a fire (Hos 7:4). When used figuratively, it describes stirring up (Isa 50:4; Pss 57:9; 108:3) strength (Dan 11:25), anger/wrath (Ps 78:38), jealous/zeal (Isa 42:13), and love/ sexual passion (Song 2:7; 3:5; 8:4). The Polel stem has a three-fold range of meanings: (1) to awake, start to move, (2)  to agitate, disturb, (3) to set in motion (HALOT 802-803 s.v. II).  The expression “arouse or awaken love” is figurative (hypoca- tastasis). It draws an implied comparison between the literal  action of arousing a person from sleep and stirring him/her  up to excited action, with the figurative picture of a lover sexu- ally stirring up, arousing and exciting the sexual passions of his beloved. sn What does the expression to “arouse or awaken love” mean? There are three major views: (1) to force a love rela- tionship to develop prematurely rather than to allow it to de- velop naturally; (2) to interfere with the experience of passion- ate love; or (3) to stir up sexual passion, that is, to become sexually active. As noted above, ַאֲהָבה (’ahavah, “love”) prob- ably denotes “sexual passion” (DCH 1:141 s.v. I ַאֲהָבה; HALOT 18 s.v. I ַאֲהָבה) and עּור (’ur, “awaken…arouse”) probably de- notes “to stir up, excite” (HALOT 802-803 s.v. II עּור). Likewise, the verb עּור (“awake”) is used in Song 4:16 and Hosea 7:4 in reference to stirring up sexual passion to excitement.  tn The  syntactical  function  of  the  article  on   ָהַאֲהָבה (ha’ahavah, “love”)  is  debated.  Most  translations  view  this  as an example of the article denoting an abstract concept. However, a few translations (KJV, AV, JB, NEB) view it as an  abstract use of the article for the concrete (abstractum pro concreto), and render it as “my love” as referring either to the  woman’s own feelings or the feelings of her lover. Through- out the Song, the term ַאֲהָבה (’ahavah, “love”) is not used as a  term for endearment in reference to one of the lovers; it typi- cally refers to sexual passion (Song 2:4, 5, 7; 3:5; 5:4; 8:4, 6, 7). When used of the man/woman relationship, the term  ַאֲהָבה (“love”) may refer to emotional  love (Eccl 9:1, 6; Prov  15:17; Ps 109:4-5) or sexual love/desire (Gen 29:20; 2 Sam 1:26; 13:4, 15; Prov 5:19-20; 7:18; Jer 2:33; Song 2:4, 5, 7; 3:5; 5:4; 8:4, 6, 7) (DCH 1:141 s.v.  I ַאֲהָבה; HALOT 18 s.v.  I   חֹוַלת ַאֲהָבה The reference to sexual desire in 2:4-5 and .(ַאֲהָבה (kholat ’ahavah, “love-sickness”) in 2:5 suggests that the use  of ַאֲהָבה (“love”) in 2:7 is sexual desire. Love is personified in this picture.  tn Heb “If you arouse or if you awaken love before it pleas- es….” Paraphrase: “Promise that you will not arouse or awak- en love until it pleases!” This line is a typical Hebrew negative oath formula in which the speaker urges his/her audience to  take a vow to not do something that would have destructive  consequences: (1) The expression י ְעּתִ ּבַ  hishba’ti, “I adjure) ִהׁשְ 135 the sonG oF sonGs :7 The Arrival of the Lover The Beloved about Her Lover: :8 Listen! My lover is approaching! Look! Here he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills! :9 My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look! There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the window, peering through the lattice. The Season of Love and the Song of the Turtle- Dove The Lover to His Beloved: :10 My lover spoke to me, saying: “Arise, my darling; My beautiful one, come away with me! :11 Look! The winter has passed, the winter rains are over and gone. you”) is used when a speaker urges his audience to take an  oath. (2) The conditional clause עֹוְררּו ֶאת־ָהַאֲהָבה ִעירּו ְוִאם־ּתְ  ִאם־ּתָ (’im-ta’iru vÿim-te’orÿru ’et-ha’ehavah, “If you arouse or awak- en love…”) reflects the typical construction of a negative oath formula which consists of two parts: (1) protasis: the warning  introduced by the conditional particle ִאם  (“if”) and (2) apo- dosis: the description of the disaster or penalty which would  befall the person who broke the vow and violated the condi- tion of the oath. (3) If the consequences of violating the oath  were extremely severe, they would not even be spoken; the statement of the consequences would be omitted for empha- sis – as is the case here, that is, the apodosis is omitted for  rhetorical emphasis. As is typical in negative oath formulas,  the sanction or curse on the violation of the condition is sup- pressed for rhetorical emphasis. The curse was so awful that  one could not or dare not speak of  them (M. H. Pope,  IDB  3:575-77).  tn Heb “The voice of my beloved!” The exclamation קֹול  (qol, “Listen!”) is an introductory exclamatory particle used to emphasize excitement and the element of surprise.  tn The phrase “is approaching” does not appear  in He- brew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.  tn The exclamation ִהּנֵה־ֶזה  (hinneh-zeh, “Look!”) is used of excited speech when someone is seen approaching (Isa 21:9).   sn Gazelles are often associated with sensuality and mas- culine virility in ancient Near Eastern love literature. Gazelles  were often figures in Hebrew, Akkadian, and Ugaritic litera- ture for mighty warriors or virile young men (e.g., 2 Sam 1:19; 2:18; Isa 14:9; Zech 10:3). In ancient Near Eastern love litera- ture gazelles often symbolize the excitement and swiftness of the lover coming to see his beloved, as in an ancient Egyptian  love song: “O that you came to your sister swiftly like a bound- ing gazelle! Its feet reel, its limbs are weary, terror has entered its body. A hunter pursues it with his hounds, they do not see  it in its dust; It sees a resting place as a trap, it takes the river  as its road. May you find her hiding-place before your hand is kissed four times. Pursue your sister’s love, the Golden gives  her to you, my friend!” (“Three Poems” in the Papyrus Chester Beatty 1 collection). :1 The pomegranates have appeared in the land, the time for pruning and singing has come; the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. :13 The fig tree has budded, the vines have blossomed and give off their fragrance. Arise, come away my darling; my beautiful one, come away with me!” The Dove in the Clefts of En-Gedi The Lover to His Beloved: :14 O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places of the mountain crags, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.  tn Heb “are seen.”  tn Alternately, “the time of singing” or “the time of prun- ing.”  The  homonymic  root   ָזִמיר (zamir)  means  “song,  sing- ing” (HALOT 273 s.v. I ָזִמיר; DCH 3:117 s.v. ָזִמיר a), while ָזִמיר  II means “pruning, trimming” (HALOT 273 s.v. II; DCH 3:117 s.v. II). The intended root is debated among the ancient ver- sions (LXX, Aquila, Symmachus, Vulgate, Targum), Hebrew lexicographers (HALOT 273; DCH 3:117), and translations: “singing” (KJV, NIV, NASB margin, NJPS margin), “pruning” (NASB, NJPS). However, rather than choosing between these two roots, it is likely that this is an example of intentional ambiguity. The preceding line draws out the meaning of ָזִמיר  (“trimming,  pruning”):  “The  pomegranates  are  seen  in  the  land, the time of pruning has come.” The following line draws  out the meaning of ָזִמיר (“singing”): “The time of singing has  come, the voice of the turtledove is heard in the land.” This  homonymic wordplay creates an example of “janus parallel- ism” between the three poetic lines which play off both root  meanings of the intentionally ambiguous homonym. This ele- gant wordplay and the AB:BA “janus parallelism” may be rep- resented thus: “The pomegranates are seen in the land, the  time has come for pruning // singing, the voice of the turtle- dove is heard in the land.”  sn The dove was a common figure for romantic love in ancient Near Eastern love literature. This emphasis seems to  be suggested by his use of the term “my dove.” Just as the  young man heard the voice of the turtledove in 2:12, so now  he wants to hear her voice. Doves were often associated with  timidity in the ancient world. Being virtually defenseless, they  would often take refuge in crevices and cliffs for safety (Jer  48:28). The emphasis on timidity and the need for security  is undoubtedly the emphasis here because of the explicit de- scription of this “dove” hiding in the “clefts of the rock” and in  “the hiding places of the mountain crevice.” Fortresses were sometimes built in the clefts of the rocks on mountainsides  because  they were  inaccessible and  therefore,  in a secure  place of safety  (Jer 49:16; Obad 3). Perhaps he  realized  it  might be  intimidating for her to  join him and communicate  with him freely. She would need to feel secure in his love to do this. It would be easy for her to hide from such emotionally  exposing experiences. the sonG oF sonGs :8 136 3: “I will arise and look all around throughout the town, and throughout the streets and squares; I will search for my beloved.” I searched for him but I did not find him. 3:3 The night watchmen found me – the ones who guard the city walls. “Have you seen my beloved?” 3:4 Scarcely had I passed them by when I found my beloved!  sn Three  1st  person  common  singular  cohortatives  appear  in  verse  2:   ָאקּוָמה (’aqumah, “I  will  arise”),   ֲאסֹוְבָבה (’asovÿvah, “I  will  go  about”),  and ה  ֲאַבְקׁשָ (’avaqshah, “I  will  seek”).  These  cohortatives  have  been  taken  in  two  basic  senses: (1) resolve: “I will arise…I will go about…I will seek”  (KJV, NIV) or (2) necessity: “I must arise…I must go about…I  must seek” (NASB, NJPS). There is no ethical or moral obliga- tion/necessity, but the context emphasizes her intense deter- mination (e.g., 3:4b). Therefore, they should be classified as cohortatives of resolve, expressing the speaker’s determina- tion to pursue a course of action. The three-fold repetition of  the cohortative form emphasizes the  intensity of her deter- mination. tn The emphatic particle of exhortation נא appears in the  expression ָאקּוָמה ּנָא (’aqumah nah, “I will arise…”). This par- ticle is used with 1st person common singular cohortatives  to emphasize self-deliberation and a determined resolve to  act (BDB 609 s.v. ָנא b.3.a) (e.g., Gen 18:21; Exod 3:3; 2 Sam 14:15; Isa 5:1; Job 32:21).  tn The  root   ָסַבב (savav) in  the  Qal  stem  means  “to  go  around, to do a circuit” (1 Sam 7:16; 2 Chr 17:9; 23:2; Eccl 12:5; Song 3:3; Isa 23:16; Hab 2:16), while the Polel stem means “to prowl around” (Ps 59:7, 15; Song 3:2) (HALOT 739-740 s.v. סבב). The idea here is that the Beloved is deter- mined to “look all around” until she finds her beloved.  sn There is a consonantal wordplay  in 3:2 between the  roots   ּבקׁש and   ,ּבׁשק that  is,  between  ה  ֲאַבְקׁשָ (’avaqshah, “I  will  seek  [him]”)  and  ָוִקים ׁשְּ  ּבַ (bashshÿvaqim, “streets”).  The  wordplay emphasizes that she searched in every nook and  cranny.  sn The  statement  ְמָצאִתיו ְוֹלא יו ּתִ ׁשְ ּקַ  ּבִ (biqqashtiv vÿlo’ mÿtsa’tiv, “I sought him but I did not find him”) appears twice in 3:1-2. In both cases it concludes a set of cola. The repeti- tion depicts her mounting disappointment in her failure to lo- cate her beloved. It stands in strong contrast with 3:4.  tn Heb “those who go around the city” or “those who go  around in the city.” The expression ִעיר ּבָ  ַהּסְֹבִבים (hassovÿvim ba’ir, “those who go around the city”) probably refers to the  watchmen of  the city walls  rather  than night city street pa- trol (e.g., Ps 127:1; Song 5:7; Isa 21:11; 62:6). The Israelite night  watchmen  of  the  walls  is  paralleled  by  the  Akkadian  sahir duri (“one who goes around the wall”) which appears  in a lexical text as the equivalent of ma-sar  musi  (“night  watchman”)  (CAD 4:192). See M. H. Pope, Song of Songs  (AB), 419. There is a wordplay in 3:2-3 between the verb  ־ַוֲאסֹו  ,hassovÿvim) ַהּסְֹבִבים and (”va’asovÿvah, “I will go about) ְבָבה “those who go around”). This wordplay draws attention to the  ironic similarity between the woman’s action and the action  of the city’s watchmen. Ironically, she failed to find her be- loved as she went around in the city, but the city watchmen  found her. Rather than finding the one she was looking for, she was found.  tn Heb  “the one whom my soul  loves – have you seen  [him]?”  The  normal  Hebrew  word-order  (verb-subject-direct  object)  is reversed in 3:3 (direct object-verb-subject) to em- phasize  the  object  of  her  search: ְרִאיֶתם י ַנְפׁשִ ָאֲהָבה ׁשֶ  ֵאת (’et she’ahavah nafshi rÿ’item, “The one whom my soul  loves –  have you seen [him]?”).  tn Heb “like a little.” The term ְמַעט -which is com ,(kim’at) ּכִ posed of  the comparative preposition   ּכְ (kÿ, “like”) prefixed to the noun ְמַעט (mÿ’at, “the small, the little, the few”), is an  idiom that means “within a little” or “scarcely” (BDB 590 s.v.  .(b.2.a ְמַעט I held onto him tightly and would not let him go until I brought him to my mother’s house,0 to the bedroom chamber of the one who conceived me. The Adjuration Refrain The Beloved to the Maidens: 3:5 I admonish you, O maidens of Jeru- salem, by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields:  tn Heb  “I  held  him”  יו)  .(akhaztiv’ ,ֲאַחְזּתִ The  term   ָאַחז (’akhaz, “grasp”) denotes to forcefully seize someone to avoid  losing hold of him (BDB 28 s.v. ָאַחז b).  tn The verb ָרָפה (rafah, “to let go”) means to relax one’s grip on an object or a person (HALOT 1276-77 s.v. רפה; BDB  952 s.v. 2 ָרָפה). The Hiphil  stem means “to  let  loose”  (Job  7:19; 27:6; Song 3:4; Sir 6:27) or “to release from one’s hands” (Deut 9:14; Josh 10:6; Ps 37:8). The negative expres- sion ֹלא ָרָפה (lo’ rafah, “to not let [someone or something] go”)  denotes an intense desire or effort to not lose possession of  someone or something (Job 27:6; Prov 4:13). Here the expres- sion ּנּו  pictures (”vÿlo’ ’arpennu, “I would not let him go) ְוֹלא ַאְרּפֶ her determination to hold on to him so she would not  lose  him again. The shift from a suffix-conjugation (perfect) יו  ֲאַחְזּתִ (’akhaztiv, “I grasped him”) to a prefix-conjugation (imperfect) ּנּו  depicts a shift from (”arpennu, “I would [not] let him go’) ַאְרּפֶ a completed/consummative action (perfect: she took hold of  his hand)  to an ongoing/progressive action  (imperfect: she  would not  let go of  it). A basic distinction between the per- fect  and  imperfect  tenses  is  that  of  consummative  versus  progressive action. The literary/syntactical structure of יו ֲאַחְזּתִ ּנּו  in 3:4 (”I grasped him and I would not let him go“) ְוֹלא ַאְרּפֶ mirrors that of יו ְוֹלא ְמָצאִתיו ּתִ ׁשְ ּקַ  biqqashtiv vÿlo’ mÿtsa’tiv, “I) ּבִ searched for him but I could not find him”) in 3:1-2. This paral- lelism in the literary and syntactical structure emphasizes the  fortunate reversal of situation. 0 sn There  is  debate  about  the  reason  why  the  woman  brought her beloved to her mother’s house. Campbell notes that  the  mother’s  house  is  sometimes  referred  to  as  the  place where marital plans were made (Gen 24:28; Ruth 1:8).  Some suggest, then, that the woman here was unusually bold and took the lead in proposing marriage plans with her  beloved. This approach emphasizes that the marriage plans  in 3:4 are followed by the royal wedding procession (3:6-11)  and the wedding night (4:1-5:1). On the other hand, others  suggest  that  the  parallelism  of  “house  of  my  mother”  and  “chamber of she who conceived me” focuses on the bedroom  of her mother’s house. Fields suggests that her desire was to make love to her beloved in the very bedroom chambers  where she herself was conceived,  to complete  the cycle of  life/love. If this is the idea, it would provide a striking paral- lel to a similar picture in 8:5 in which the woman exults that they had made love in the very location where her beloved  had been conceived: “Under the apple tree I aroused you; it was there your mother conceived you, there she who bore you  conceived you.”  tn The  term   ֶחֶדר (kheder, “chamber”)  literally  means  “dark room” (HALOT s.v. 293 ֶחֶדר) and often refers to a bed- room (Gen 43:30; Exod 7:28 HT [8:3 ET]; Judg 3:24; 15:1; 16:9, 12; 2 Sam 4:7; 13:10; 1Kgs 1:15; 2 Kgs 6:12; 9:2; Eccl 10:20; Isa 26:20; Joel 2:16; Prov 24:4; Song 1:4; 3:4).  tn See the notes on these lines at 2:7. 139 the sonG oF sonGs 3:5 “Do not awake or arouse love until it pleases!” The Royal Wedding Procession The Speaker: 3:6 Who is this coming up from the desert like a column of smoke, like a fragrant billow of myrrh and frankincense, every kind of fragrant powder of the traveling merchants? 3:7 Look! It is Solomon’s portable couch!  sn  It  is not certain whether the speaker here is the Be- loved or not.  tn The comparative “like” does not appear in the Hebrew  but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.  tn The proper nuance of ֶרת -mÿqutteret, Pual partici) ְמֻקּטֶ ple fs from ָקַטר, qatar, “to make a sacrifice, go up in smoke”) is illusive. The lexicons take the participle adjectivally and translate ֶרת מֹור as “completely filled with (mÿqutteret mor) ְמֻקּטֶ fragrance or incense” (HALOT 1094 s.v. I קטר) or “fumigated  with myrrh” (BDB 883 s.v. ָקַטר). Most translations take it ad- jectivally: “perfumed with myrrh” (KJV, NASB, NIV); however, NJPS takes it as a substantive: “clouds of myrrh.” It is better to  take the participle as a substantive and to nuance  ־ְמֻקּטֶ  as “billow of myrrh,” as suggested by ֶרת מֹור its parallelism  with ן ִתיֲמרֹות ָעׁשָ  .(”kÿtimarot ’ashan, “like a column of smoke) ּכְ While this is the only usage of the Pual stem of the verb, the  root קטר appears frequently in other stems, all of which con- note smoke, e.g., Piel: “to make a sacrifice, to go up in smoke” and Hiphil:  “to cause  to go up  in smoke”  (HALOT 1094-95  s.v. I קתר). In Middle Hebrew the root ִקְטָרא (qitra’) meant “to  steam, smell” (Qal) and “to smoke” (Hiphil). The Hebrew root  is related to Ugaritic qtr “smoke, incense” (UT 19.2220; WUS 1404); Akkadian qataru “to billow (of smoke)” (AHw 2:907; CAD Q:166); Old South Arabic mqtr “incense; Ethiopic qetare  “fragrance, spice”; Arabic qatara “to smell, smoke”; and Syr- iac `etar “vapour, fume, incense” (HALOT 1094). Due to the  rarity of the Pual stem of this root, the Targum mistakenly vo- calized the form as Piel participle ֹטֶרת  miqqÿtoret, “going) ִמּקְ up in smoke”).  tn The term ְלבֹוָנה (lÿvonah, “frankincense”) refers to fra- grant incense (Exod 30:34; Lev 2:1, 15; 5:11; 6:8; 24:7; Num 5:15; Isa 43:23; 66:3; Jer 6:20; 17:26; 41:5; Neh 13:5, 9; 1 Chr 9:29; Song 3:6; 4:6, 14). It is composed of the white (sometimes yellow) resin of Boswellia Carteri and Frereana  from Hadramawt and Somaliland (HALOT 518 s.v. ְלֹבָנה).  tn The  term   ַאְבַקת (’avqat, “fragrant-powder”)  means  “scent-powders”  (HALOT 9  s.v.   (ַאָבָקה or  “ground  spice”  (HALOT 1237 s.v. I 2 רכל.a). The noun ֲאָבָקה (’avaqah) is from  the root ָאָבק (’avaq, “dust, powder”) (HALOT 9 s.v.).  tn The singular form of רֹוֵכל (rokhel, “merchant”) may be  classified as a generic singular, representing the genus  of  the merchant guild of which there are many. The term רֹוֵכל  means “trader, vendor,” as small retailer (HALOT 1237 s.v. I  distinct (רכל from ָסַתר  (satar) “shopkeeper, dealer” as  large  wholesaler (HALOT 750 s.v. סתר).  It may refer to a traveling  merchant,  as  in  Middle  Hebrew   רֹוְכָלה (rokhÿlah) “traveling  merchant” and Old South Arabic rkl “to go about as a trader”  (Conti 242a). The general nuance appears in Judean Aramaic -and Syriac rakkala “mer (”rokhÿla’, “hawker, peddler) רֹוְכָלא chant.”  tn The term ה  ”refers to a “royal portable couch (mittah) ִמּטָ spread with covers, cloth, and pillows (HALOT 573 s.v. ה  ;ִמּטָ BDB 641 s.v. ה  The Hebrew noun is related to Ugaritic mtt .(ִמּטָ “bed” (UT 1465). The term ה  itself can refer (”bed, couch“) ִמּטָ to a number of similar but different kinds of pieces of reclining  furniture: (1) the bed of a common person, found in the bed- chamber for reposing and sleeping at night (Gen 47:31; 48:2; 49:33; Exod 8:3[7:28]; 2 Sam 4:7; 1 Kgs 17:19; 2 Kgs 4:10, 21, 32; Ps 6:6[7]; Prov 26:14); (2) the royal bed of the king or nobility, often elevated and made of expensive materials (1 Kgs 21:4; 2 Kgs 1:4, 6, 16; 2 Chr 24:25; Esth 7:8; Amos 6:4; It is surrounded by sixty warriors, some of Israel’s mightiest warriors. 3:8 All of them are skilled with a sword, well-trained in the art of warfare. Ezek 23:41); (3) the couch of a common person for reclining  or sitting during the day (1 Sam 28:23); (4) a royal banqueting couch for reclining at feasts or carousing (Ezek 23:41; Amos  3:12; 6:4; Esth 1:6; 7:8); (5) a portable light-weight bed for transporting the sick (1 Sam 19:15); (6) a portable bed, such as a funeral bier for transporting the dead (2 Sam 3:31); and (7) a portable royal couch for transporting the king (Song 3:7). The royal couch was often made of expensive materials, such as ivory, silver, and gold (Ezek 23:41; Amos 6:4; Song 3:9-10; Esth 1:6).  tn Heb “trained of sword” or “girded of sword.” Alternate- ly,  “girded with swords.” The genitive construct phrase  ֲאֻחֵזי -is interpreted in two ways: (1) Most in (akhuze kherev’) ֶחֶרב terpret  it with the assumption that ָאַחז  (’akhaz) denotes “to  physically grasp, hold” (HALOT 31-32 s.v. I אחז; BDB 28 s.v.  -Most translations adopt this approach, although differ .(ָאַחז ing on whether the participle functions substantivally (NASB), verbally (KJV, NIV), or adjectivally (RSV), they all are heading in the same direction: “[all] hold swords” (KJV), “girded with  sword” (RSV), “wielders of the sword” (NASB), and “wear- ing  the  sword”  (NIV).  This,  however,  provides  only  a  vague  parallel  with  the  following  colon:  ִמְלָחָמה ֵדי  ְמֻלּמְ (mÿlummÿde milkhamah, “trained in warfare”).  (2) Others, however, sug- gest  taking   אחז in  its  rare metaphorical sense of “to  learn”  (=  mentally  grasp,  take  hold  of):  “learned,  skillful”  (R.  Gor- dis, Song of Songs and Lamentations, 85; J. Lewy, “Lexico- graphical  Notes,”  HUCA 12/13 (1937/1938): 98-99). This nuance is much more common in the related Akkadian verb  ahazu “to learn,” as HALOT 31 notes. Likewise, JB renders it “skilled swordsmen,” and NJPS suggests “trained in warfare” for Song 3:8, citing Akkadian ahazu “to learn.” The Akkadian  verb ahazu has a broad range of meanings including: (1) to  seize, hold a person, (2) to take a wife, to marry, (3) to hold,  possess,  take over,  grasp something,  to  take  to  (a  region),  and (4) to learn, to understand (CAD 1:1:173). The concrete, physical sense of grasping or taking an object in one’s hands  lent  itself  to  the  metaphorical  sense  of  mentally  grasping  something, that is,  learning or understanding. The category  ahazu 4  (“to  learn,  to understand”)  is used  in reference to  general learning, as well to specialized knowledge involving a  special skill, professional craft, or ability acquired through in- struction and experience (CAD 1:1:177). The causative form suhuzu means “to teach, educate, train” someone to become  a  skilled  craftsman  in  a  professional  trade  (CAD  1:1:180).  This provides a tight parallelism with the following colon: ֲאֻחֵזי  ֶחֶרב (’akhuze kherev, “skillful  in  swordsmanship”)  precisely  parallels ֵדי ִמְלָחָמה  .(”well-trained in [the art of] warfare“) ְמֻלּמְ The AB:AB parallelism between the two lines is exact: (1) ֲאֻחֵזי  “learned, skillful” parallels ֵדי  trained, instructed,” and (2)“ ְמֻלּמְ in respect to swordsmanship” (genitive of specification“ ֶחֶרב or limitation) exactly parallels ִמְלָחָמה “in regard to [the art of]  warfare” (genitive of specification or limitation). The term ֶחֶרב  (“sword”)  may  be  nuanced  metonymically  as  “swordsman- ship” in the light of (a) its collocation with terms for profes- sional expertise: ֵדי  and (b) ,(”skilled“) ֲאֻחֵזי and (”trained“) ְמֻלּמְ the connotation “swordsmanship” can be sustained in a few  cases, e.g., “It was not by their swordsmanship that they won  the land, nor did their arm bring them victory” (Ps 44:3). In  the genitive construct phrase ֲאֻחֵזי ֶחֶרב, the genitive noun ֶחֶרב  (“sword”) may be classified either as (1) a genitive of specifi- cation; “[skilled] in respect to swordsmanship” or (2) a geni- tive of instrument; “[skilled] with a sword.”  tn Heb  “trained of war.”  In  the genitive construct  ֵדי ְמֻלּמְ  ִמְלָחָמה (mÿlummÿde milkhamah,  “trained of war”)  the noun  ,is a genitive of specification or limitation (”war, battle“) ִמְלָחָמה that is, it specifies the extent to which the expertise of the sub- jects applies: “in regard to warfare.” The term ִמְלָחָמה  (“war- fare”) may be nuanced metonymically as “the art of warfare”  in  the  light of  (1)  its collocation with terms for professional  expertise: ֵדי  and ,(”akhuze, “skilled’) ֲאֻחֵזי and (”trained“) ְמֻלּמְ (2) its parallelism with ֶחֶרב (kherev, “sword, swordsmanship”). the sonG oF sonGs 3:6 140 Each has his sword at his side, to guard against the terrors of the night. 3:9 King Solomon made a sedan chair for himself of wood imported from Lebanon. 3:10 Its posts were made of silver;  tn The term ְריֹון -is a hapax legomenon vari (affiryon’) ַאּפִ ously rendered “sedan-chair” (HALOT 80 s.v. ְריֹון -and “se (ַאּפִ dan, litter, palanquin” (BDB 68 s.v. ְריֹון -It occurs in Mish .(ַאּפִ naic Hebrew ְריֹון ְריֹוָנא and Judean Aramaic ַאּפִ  ַאּפִ (’affiryona’, “bridal-litter”;  Jastrow  108  s.v.  ְריֹון /and Syriac pwrywn (ַאּפִ purya (“litter”). The Mishnah used ְריֹון -in reference to a brid ַאּפִ al-litter: “In the last war it was decreed that a bride should not  pass through the town in an ְריֹון -but our Rabbis later sanc ַאּפִ tioned it” (Sotah 9:14). There are several views of the origin of the term: (1) LXX Greek φορεῖον (foreion, “bridal-litter”) is a  loanword from Hebrew; the term is not used in Greek until the  Koine period (LSJ 1950-51); (2) Sanskrit paryanka and palki  “palanquin, sedan-chair” (M. Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-Eng- lish Dictionary, 554); (3) Old Persian upariyana “litter-bed” (R.  Gordis, “A Wedding Song for Solomon,” JBL 63 [1944]: 263- 70; G. Widengren, Sakrales Königtum im Alten Testament und im Judentum, 122); (4) less likely is Ugaritic apn “two- wheeled cart” (UT 305); and (5) Egyptian pr “house” with the  prefix ua and suffix yn meaning “palace” (G. Gerleman, “Die  Bildsprache des Hohenliedes und die altegyptische Kunst,”  ASTI 1 [1962]: 24-30). A palanquin was a riding vehicle upon  which a royal person sat and which was carried by servants  who lifted it up by its staffs. Royalty and members of the aris- tocracy only rode in palanquins. The Illustrated Family Ency- clopedia of the Living Bible, 10:55, describes what the typical  royal palanquin was made of and looked like in the ancient  world: “Only the aristocracy appear to have made use of lit- ters in Israel. At a later period, in Greece, and even more so  in Rome, distinguished citizens were carried through the city  streets in splendid palanquins. In Egypt the litter was known  as early as the third millennium b.c., as is testified by the one belonging to Queen Hetepheres, the mother of the Pharaoh  Khufu (Cheops), which was found at Gaza. This litter is made of wood and inlaid in various places with gold decorations. Its  total length is 6 ft. 10 in., and the length of the seat inside is  3 ft. 3 in. An inscription on the litter, of gold set in ebony, lists  the queen’s titles.”  tn Heb “with trees of Lebanon.” In the genitive construct phrase  ָבנֹון ַהּלְ  ֵמֲעֵצי (me’atse hallÿvanon, “the wood of Leba- non”) the genitive functions as a genitive of place of origin:  “wood from Lebanon.” The plural construct noun ֲעֵצי (’atse, lit- erally, “trees, woods” from ֵעץ, ’ets, “tree, wood”) is a plural of  composition: the plural is used to indicate composition, that  is, what the sedan-chair was made out of. The plural is used  because  the  sedan-chair  was  constructed  from  the  wood  from several trees or it was constructed from several pieces  of wood  (see  IBHS 119-20 §7.4.1b; R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 7, §9; Joüon 2:500 §136.b).  tn Heb “He made its posts of silver.”  tn The nouns ֶכֶסף (kesef, “silver”), ָזָהב (zahav, “gold”) and  ָמן  ַאְרּגָ (’argaman, “purple”)  function as genitives of material  out  of  which  their  respective  parts  of  the  palanquin  were  made: the posts, base, and seat. The elaborate and expen- sive nature of the procession is emphasized in this descrip- tion. This litter was constructed with the finest and most ex- pensive materials.  The  litter  itself was made  from  the very  best wood: cedar and cypress from Lebanon. These were the same woods which Solomon used in constructing the temple (1 Kgs 4:33-5:14). Silver was overlaid over the “posts,” which were either the legs of the litter or the uprights which support- ed its canopy, and the “back” of the litter was overlaid with  gold. The seat was made out of purple material, which was  an emblem of royalty and which was used in the tabernacle  (Exod 26:1f; 27:16; 28:5-6) and in the temple (2 Chr 3:14). Thus, the litter was made of the very best which Solomon could offer. Such extravagance reflected his love for his Be- loved who rode upon it and would be seen upon it by all the  Jerusalemites as she came into the city. its back was made of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple wool; its interior was inlaid with leather by the  tn The noun ְרִפיָדה (rÿfidah) is a hapax legomenon whose  meaning is uncertain. It may be related to the masculine noun   referring to a stopping (”rafad, “camping place, station) ָרַפד point in the wilderness march of Israel (Exod 17:1, 8; 19:2; Num 33:14); however, what any semantic connection might  be is difficult to discern. The versions have translated ְרִפיָדה  variously: LXX ἀνάκλιτον  (anakliton,  “chair  for  reclining”),  Vulgate reclinatorium (“support, back-rest of a chair”) Peshit- ta teshwiteh dahba (“golden cover, throne sheathed in gold  leaf”). Modern translators have taken three basic approach- es: (1) Following the LXX and Vulgate (“support, rest, back of a chair”), BDB suggests “support,”  referring  to  the back  or arm of the chair of palanquin (BDB 951 s.v. ָרַפד). Several translations take this view, e.g., NRSV: “its back,” NEB/REB: “its headrest,” and NJPS: “its back.” (2) Koehler-Baumgart- ner suggest “base, foundation of a saddle, litter” (KBL 905). Several translations follow this approach, e.g., KJV: “the bot- tom,” NASB: “its base” (margin: “its support,” and NIV: “its base.” (3) G. Gerleman suggests the meaning “cover,” as pro- posed by Peshitta. The first two approaches are more likely than the third. Thus, it probably refers either to (1) the back of  the sedan-chair of the palanquin or (2) the foundation/base  of the saddle/litter upon which the palanquin rested (HALOT 1276 s.v. רפד).  tn The Hebrew noun ָמן  is (”argaman, “purple fabric’) ַאְרּגָ a loanword from Hittite argaman “tribute,” which is reflected in Akkadian argamannu “purple” (also “tribute” under Hittite  influence), Ugaritic argmn “tax, purple,” and Aramaic argwn  “purple”  (HALOT 84  s.v.  ָמן  .(ַאְרּגָ The  Hebrew  term  refers  to  wool dyed with red purple (BRL2 153; HALOT 84). It is used  in reference to purple threads (Exod 35:25; 39:3; Esth 1:9) or purple cloth (Num 4:13; Judg 8:26; Esth 8:15; Prov 31:22; Jer  10:9; Song 3:10). Purple cloth and fabrics were costly (Ezek 27:7, 16) and were commonly worn by kings as a mark of their royal position (Judg 8:26). Thus, this was a sedan-chair  fit for a king. KJV and NIV render it simply as “purple,” NASB as “purple fabric,” and NJPS “purple wool.”  tn The participle ָרצּוף (ratsuf) probably functions verbally:  “Its interior was fitted out with love/lovingly.” Taking it adjecti- vally would demand that ַאֲהָבה (’ahavah, “love”) function as a  predicate nominative and given an unusual metonymical con- notation: “Its inlaid interior [was] a [gift of] love.”  tn The accusative noun ַאֲהָבה  (’ahavah, “love” or “leath- er”) functions either as an accusative of material out of which  the  interior was made  (“inlaid with  leather”) or an accusa- tive of manner describing how the interior was made (“inlaid  lovingly,” that is, “inlaid with love”). The term ַאֲהָבה is a hom- onymic noun  therefore,  there  is an  interesting  little debate  whether ַאֲהָבה in 3:10 is from the root ַאֲהָבה “love” (BDB 13  s.v. ָאֵהב; DCH 1:141 s.v. ַאֲהָבה) or אהבה “leather” (HALOT 18  s.v. II ַאֲהָבה). The homonymic root ַאֲהָבה “leather” is related to  Arabic `ihab “leather” or “untanned skin.” It probably occurs  in Hos 11:4 and may also appear in Song 3:10 (HALOT 18 s.v.  II). Traditionally, scholars and translations have rendered this  term as “love” or “lovingly.” The reference to the “daughters  of Jerusalem” suggests “love” because they had “loved” Solo- mon (1:4). However, the context describes the materials out of which the palanquin was made (3:9-10) thus, an interior  made out of leather would certainly make sense. Perhaps the  best solution is to see this as an example of intentional am- biguity in a homonymic wordplay: “Its interior was inlaid with  leather // love by the maidens of Jerusalem.” See G. R. Driver, “Supposed Arabisms in the Old Testament,” JBL 55 (1936):  111; S. E. Loewenstamm, Thesaurus of the Language of the Bible, 1:39; D. Grossberg, “Canticles 3:10 in the Light of a Ho- meric Analogue and Biblical Poetics,” BTB 11 (1981): 75-76. 141 the sonG oF sonGs 3:10 4:9 You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride! You have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.  tn The  Piel  denominative  verb   לבב is  derived  from  the  noun ֵלָבב (levav, “heart”), and occurs only here. Its meaning  is  debated:  (1)  metonymical  sense:  “you  have  encouraged  me,” that is, given me heart (BDB 525 s.v. ֵלב; AV, RSV); (2) intensive sense: “you have made my heart beat faster” (KBL 471 s.v. I לבב); and (3) privative sense: “you have ravished my  heart” or “you have stolen my heart” (HALOT 515 s.v. I לבב;  GKC 141-42 §52.h) (NIV). While the Niphal stem has a met- onymical nuance (cause for effect): to get heart, that is, to get  understanding (Job 11:12), the Piel stem may have a priva- tive nuance: to take away heart, that is, to take away the sens- es. Her beauty was so overwhelming that it robbed him of his  senses (e.g., Hos 4:11). This is paralleled by a modern Pales- tinian love song: “She stood opposite me and deprived me of reason (literally, “took my heart”), your dark eyes slew me  while I was singing, your eyebrows drove shame from me…the  darkness of your eyes have slain me; O one clad  in purple  clothes, it is worthwhile falling in love with you, for your eyes  are black and sparkle, and have slain me indeed.” Less likely is the proposal of Waldeman who relates this to Akkadian la- babu (“to rage, be aroused to fury”), suggesting that Song 4:9 means “to become passionately aroused” or “to be aroused  sexually.” See S. H. Stephan, “Modern Palestinian Parallels to the Song of Songs,” JPOS 2 (1922): 13; R. Gordis, Song of Songs and Lamentations, 85-86; N. M. Waldman, “A Note on  Canticles 4:9,” JBL 89 (1970): 215-17; H. W. Wolff, Anthropol- ogy of the Old Testament, 40-58.  sn It is clear from Song 8:1 that the young man and his bride were not physical brother and sister, yet he addresses  his bride as ֲאֹחִתי (’akhoti, “my sister”) several times (4:9, 10,  12; 5:1). This probably reflects any one of several ancient Near Eastern customs: (1) The appellatives “my sister” and  “my brother” were both commonly used in ancient Near East- ern love literature as figurative descriptions of two lovers. For instance, in a Ugaritic poem when Anat tried to seduce Aqhat, she says, “Hear, O hero Aqhat, you are my brother and  I your sister” (Aqhat 18 i. 24). In the OT Apocrypha husband  and wife are referred to several times as “brother” and “sis- ter” (Add Esth 15:9; Tob 5:20; 7:16). This “sister-wife” motif might be behind Paul’s perplexing statement about a “sis- ter-wife” (1 Cor 9:5). (2) In several Mesopotamian societies husbands actually could legally adopt their wives for a variety  of reasons. For instance, in Hurrian society husbands in the upper classes sometimes adopted their wives as “sisters” in  order to form the strongest of all possible marriage bonds; a  man could divorce his wife but he could not divorce his “sis- ter” because she was “family.” At Nuzi a husband could adopt  his wife to give her a higher status in society. See M. Held, “A Faithful Lover in Old Babylonian Dialogue,” JCS 15 (1961):  1-26 and S. N. Kramer, The Sacred Marriage Rite, 103-5; T.  Jacobsen, “The Sister’s Message,” JANESCU 5 (1973): 199- 212; E. A. Speiser, “The Wife-Sister Motif in the Patriarchal Narratives,” Oriental and Biblical Studies, 15- 28; G. R. Driver,  Canaanite Myths and Legends, 111.  tn Alternately, “eye-stone [of your necklace].” The term  ־ִעי  probably refers to her physical eyes (”inayikh, “your eyes’) ַנִיְך (e.g., 4:1). However, in Sumero-Akkadian literature the term “eye” sometimes refers to the eye-stone of a necklace. Agate- stones were cut so that white stripes appeared around the  black or brown core to look like the pupil on the eye. M. H.  Pope (Song of Songs [AB], 482-83) suggests that the paral- lelism between the A and B lines suggests the following: “with  one of your eye-stones” and “with one jewel of your necklace.”  See W. G. Lambert, “An Eye Stone of Esarhaddon’s Queen and Other Similar Gems,” RA 63 (1969): 65-71. 4:10 How delightful is your love, my sis- ter, my bride! How much better is your love than wine; the fragrance of your perfume is better than any spice! 4:11 Your lips drip sweetness like the hon- eycomb, my bride, honey and milk are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. The Wedding Night: The Delightful Garden The Lover to His Beloved: 4:1 You are a locked garden, my sister, my bride; you are an enclosed spring, a sealed-up fountain. 4:13 Your shoots are a royal garden full of pomegranates with choice fruits: henna with nard, 4:14 nard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon with every kind of spice, myrrh and aloes with all the finest spices. 4:15 You are a garden spring,  sn The twin themes of the enclosed garden and sealed  spring  are  highlighted  by  the  wordplay  (paronomasia)  be- tween the Hebrew expressions ָנעּול ן  ּגַ (gan na’ul, “a garden  locked up”) and ל ָנעּול .(”gal na’ul, “an enclosed spring) ּגַ  sn The noun ס ְרּדֵ  is a (”pardes, “garden, parkland, forest) ּפַ foreign loanword that occurs only 3 times in the Hebrew Bible  (Song 4:13; Eccl 2:5; Neh 2:8). The original Old Persian (Aves- tan) term pairidaeza designated the enclosed parks and plea- sure-grounds which were the exclusive domain of the Persian kings and nobility in the Achaemenid period (HALOT 963 s.v.  ס ְרּדֵ -LSJ 1308). The Babylonian term pardesu means “mar ;ּפַ velous  garden,”  in  reference  to  the  enclosed  parks  of  the  kings  (AHw  2:833.a  and  3:1582.a).  The  term  passed  into  Greek  as  παραδείσος  (paradeisos,  “enclosed  park,  plea- sure-ground”), referring to the enclosed parks and gardens of  the Persian kings (LSJ 1308). The Greek term was transliter- ated into English as “paradise.”  tn Or “with all the finest balsam trees.” The Hebrew term ם -can refer either to the balsam tree, the spice as (bosem) ּבֹׂשֶ sociated with it, or by extension any fragrant aroma used as perfuming oil or incense.  tn Heb “a fountain of gardens” or “a headwaters for gar- dens.”  The  term   ַמְעַין (m’yan, “fountain”)  denotes  “source,  headwaters” as the place of origin of streams (HALOT 612  s.v.   The term does not .(ַמְעַין refer  to a water  fountain such  as commonly found in modern cultivated gardens or parks;  rather, it refers to the headwaters of streams and rivers, such  as the headwaters of the Jordan. The genitive construct ַמְעַין ים ּנִ -is an unusual ex (”m’yan gannim, “a fountain of gardens) ּגַ pression that has been treated in various ways: (1) “a garden  fountain,” that is, a fountain located in a garden (HALOT 198  s.v. ן  a fountain of gardens,” that is, the headwaters of“ (2) ;(ּגַ many spring-watered gardens. The latter is preferred. In Song 4:12-14 the bride is figuratively described as a garden with exotic plants; however, in 4:15 the metaphor shifts to the source of the water for the garden: ַמְעַין (“headwaters”) and  ֵאר .of fresh water flowing down from Lebanon (”bÿ’er, “well) ּבְ the sonG oF sonGs 4:9 144 a well of fresh water flowing down from Lebanon. The Beloved to Her Lover: 4:16 Awake, O north wind; come, O south wind! Blow on my garden so that its fragrant spices may send out their sweet smell. May my beloved come into his garden and eat its delightful fruit! The Lover to His Beloved: 5:1 I have entered my garden, O my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my bal- sam spice. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk!  tn Heb  “a  watering  place” or  “well  of underground wa- ter.” The term ֵאר  refers to an underground well (”bÿ’er, “well) ּבְ that is dug in the ground to provide fresh water for humans  and beasts (e.g., Gen 21:19, 25, 30; 26:15, 18, 19, 22, 32)  (HALOT 106 s.v. I ֵאר ֵאר DCH 2:87 s.v. I ;ּבְ  The term is often .(ּבְ used in parallelism with ּבֹור (bor, “cistern”), ַעִין (’ayin, “spring”),  and ׁשּוָחה (shukhah, “water-hole”).  tn Heb “living water.” The phrase ים -mayim khayy) ַמִים ַחּיִ im, “living water”) refers to flowing, fresh water in contrast to standing, stagnant water (Gen 26:19; Lev 14:5-6, 50-52; 15:13; Num 19:17; Jer 2:13; 17:13; Zech 14:8; Song 4:15; 1QH 8:7, 16; 4Q418 103.2:6; 4QDibHama  1.5:2;  11QT  45:16) (DCH 3:202 s.v. I 1 ַחי; HALOT 308 s.v. 1 חיה; BDB 312  s.v. ַחי f). The adjective ים  frequently refers to what (”living“) ַחּיִ is fresh (Gen 26:19), healthy (Sir 30:14), or thriving (Gen 43:7, 27). Fresh, flowing water is pictured as pure (Lev 14:5- 6, 50-52; 15:13) and a source of refreshment (Gen 26:19).  See P. Reymond, L’eau, sa vie, et sa signification dans l’An- cien Testament (VTSup), 136.  tn Heb “may flow.”  sn There  is  no  little  debate  about  the  identity  of  the  speaker(s) and the audience addressed  in 5:1b. There are  five options: (1) He is addressing his bride. (2) The bride is ad- dressing him. (3) The wedding guests are addressing him and  his bride.  (4) He and his bride are addressing the wedding  guests. (5) The poet is addressing him and his bride. When  dealing with this issue, the following factors should be consid- ered: (1) the form of both the exhortations and the address- ees are plural. This makes it unlikely that he is addressing his  bride or that his bride is addressing him. (2) The exhortation has an implicitly sexual connotation because the motif of “eat- ing” and “drinking” refers to sexual consummation in 5:1a. This makes it unlikely that he or his bride are addressing the  wedding guests – an orgy is quite out of the question! (3) The poet could be in view because as the writer who created the  Song, only he could have been with them – in a poetic sense – in the bridal chamber as a “guest” on their wedding night.  (4) The wedding guests could be in view through the figurative use of apostrophe (addressing an audience that is not in the  physical presence of the speaker). While the couple was alone  in their wedding chambers, the wedding guests wished them  all the joys and marital bliss of the honeymoon. This is sup- ported by several factors: (a) Wedding feasts in the ancient  Near East frequently lasted several days and after the couple  had consummated their marriage, they would appear again  to celebrate a feast with their wedding guests. (b) The struc- ture of the Song is composed of paired-dialogues which ei- ther begin or conclude with the words of the friends or daugh- ters of Jerusalem (1:2-4, 5-11; 3:6-11; 5:9-16; 6:1-3, 4-13;  7:1-10) or which conclude with an exhortation addressed to them (2:1-7; 3:1-5; 8:1-4). In this case, the poetic unit of 4:1- 5:1 would conclude with an exhortation by the friends in 5:1b. The Poet to the Couple: Eat, friends, and drink! Drink freely, O lovers! The Trials of Love: The Beloved’s Dream of Losing Her Lover The Beloved about Her Lover: 5: I was asleep, but my mind was dreaming.  sn The physical love between the couple is compared to  eating and drinking at a wedding feast. This is an appropri- ate figure of comparison because it would have been issued during the feast which followed the wedding and the consum- mation. The term “drink” refers to intoxication, that is, it com- pares becoming drunk on wine with enjoying the physical love  of one’s spouse (e.g., Prov 5:19-20).   tn Heb “my heart.” The term י -is a me (”livvi, “my heart) ִלּבִ tonymy of association for emotions (e.g., Prov 15:13; Song 3:11) or thoughts (e.g., Ps 90:12; Prov 18:15) or a synecdo- che of part for the whole. If this verse is introducing a dream  sequence  in  5:2-8,  this  is  a  metonymy  for  the  Beloved’s  thoughts  in  her  dream:  “I  was  sleeping  but  my  mind  was  dreaming.” If this verse depicts the Beloved beginning to doze  off to sleep – only to be awakened by his knocking at her door  – then it is a synecdoche of part for the whole: “I was about to  fall asleep when I was suddenly awakened.”   tn Heb “but my heart was awake.” Scholars have inter- preted  5:2a  in  two  basic  ways:  (1)  The  Beloved  had  been  asleep or was just about to fall asleep when she was awak- ened by the sound of him knocking on the door of her bed- room chambers. The term י -is a synec (”livvi, “my heart) ִלּבִ doche of part for the whole: “my heart” = “I.” The participle   :functions verbally, describing a past ingressive state (er’) ֵער “was awakened.” The line would be rendered: “I was sleep- ing when I (= my heart) was awakened.” (2) The Beloved was  sleeping, but her mind was dreaming (in her dream she heard  him knocking on her door).  In this case, י  ִלּבִ (“my heart”)  is  a metonymy of association for the thoughts (e.g., Ps 90:12;  Prov 18:15) and emotions (e.g., Prov 15:13; Song 3:11) she experienced during her dream: “my heart” = “my mind.” The participle   ֵער functions  verbally,  describing  a  past  progres- sive state: “was awake.” The line could be nuanced, “I was  asleep, but my mind was dreaming.” Many translations adopt  this approach: “I was asleep but my heart waketh” (KJV), “I  was asleep but my heart was awake” (NASB, NIV), and “I was asleep, but my heart was wakeful” (NJPS). 145 the sonG oF sonGs 5: Listen! My lover is knocking at the door! The Lover to His Beloved: “Open for me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one! My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night.”  sn The  noun   קֹול (qol, literally,  “sound,  noise,  voice”)  is  used as an exclamation: “Listen!” or “Hark!” (e.g., Gen 4:10; Isa 13:4; 40:3; 52:8;  Jer 3:21; 4:15; 10:22; 31:51; 50:28;  51:54; Mic 6:9; Zeph 1:14; 2:14; Song 2:8; 5:2) (HALOT 1085  s.v. 8 קֹולb; BDB 877 s.v. 1 קֹול.f; Joüon 2:614 §162.e; GKC 467 §146.b). The term often refers to a loud or unexpected sound that arrests the attention of a character in a narrative.  The speaker/writer uses it as a rhetorical device to dramati- cally portray his/her own startled reaction to an unexpected sound that called his/her attention. The Beloved is startled  from her sleep by the unexpected sound of him loudly knock- ing at her bedroom door late at night.  sn The phrase קֹול ּדֹוִדי (qol dodi, “Listen! My lover …!”) that introduces this scene in 5:2-8 is the exact same phrase used in 2:8 to introduce the courtship section 2:8-11. In 2:8-11, the  Beloved was excited about his unexpected arrival; however, in 5:2-8 she is apathetic about his unexpected approach. One should not miss the dramatic contrast between the Beloved’s  eagerness to see her lover in 2:8-11 and her apathy about his  approach on this evening in 5:2-8. The repetition of ּדֹוִדי  קֹול (“Listen! My lover …!”) in 2:8 and 5:2 is designed to draw out the parallels and contrasts between 2:8-11 and 5:2-8.  sn The participle דֹוֵפק (dofeq) connotes present progres- sive or iterative action. The verb ַפק  ,dafaq, “to knock, pound) ּדָ beat”) occurs only three times in biblical Hebrew, twice in ref- erence to knocking at a door (Judg 19:22; Song 5:2) and once of beating cattle  in order  to drive them along (Gen 33:13).  The Qal stem depicts the normal action of knocking at a door,  while  the Hitpael denotes a more  intensive pounding, e.g.,  Qal: “to knock at the door” (Song 5:2) and Hitpael: “to beat violently against the door” (Judg 19:22) (HALOT 229 s.v. דפק;  BDB 200 s.v. ַפק -The same connotations are seen in Mish .(ּדָ naic Hebrew, e.g.,  the verbs ַפק ַפק and ּדָ  ּדְ (dÿfaq), “to knock  at the door” (Jastrow 317 s.v. ַפק  door“ ּדֹוֵפק and the nouns ,(ּדָ frame (= what someone knocks on), movable tomb stone,”  and   ּדֹוְפָקִנין (dofÿqanin, “knockers”; Jastrow 287 s.v. ּדֹוְפָקִנין).  The collocation of the verb פתח “to open” a door (HALOT 986- 87 s.v. פתח; BDB 835 s.v. ַתח  clearly suggests that he is at (ּפָ the Beloved’s bedroom door.  tn The phrase “at the door” does not appear in the He- brew but is supplied in the translation for clarity.  tn Heb “Open to me!” Alternately, “Let me in!” The imper- atival form of ְתִחי  connotes a polite, but (”pitkhi, “to open) ּפִ earnest request. The verb ַתח  refers to the action of (patakh) ּפָ opening various objects, e.g., sack (Gen 42:27), skin bottle (Judg 4:19), hamper (Exod 2:6), pit (Exod 21:33), mouth of a cave (Josh 10:22), grave (Ezek 37:12, 13), city gates (Neh 13:19; Isa 45:1), gate of a land (Nah 3:13), window (2 Kgs  13:17). When used with the accusative ֶלת  ּדֶ (delet, “door”),  it refers to opening a door (e.g., Judg 3:25; 19:27; 1 Sam 3:15; 2 Kgs 9:3, 10; 2 Chr 29:3; Job 31:32) (HALOT 986-87 s.v. פתח; BDB 835 s.v. ַתח ֶלת Although the object .(ּפָ  (”door“) ּדֶ is here omitted, a bedroom door is clearly in mind in 5:2, as  indicated by the collocated verb ַפק  dafaq, “to knock on a) ּדָ door”) in the preceding line. Translators have often rendered  this line woodenly: “Open to me!” (KJV, NASB, NIV); however, NJPS nuances it well: “Let me in!” sn The  three-fold  repetition  of  the  verb  ַתח  ּפָ (patakh, “to  open”) (Song 5:2, 5, 6) indicates that it is a key word (Leit- wort) in this section. While it is clear that the verb describes  her action of opening the door of her bedroom chamber in  5:2, some suggest that in 5:5-6 it is used figuratively (hypo- catastasis: implied comparison) of the Beloved “opening” her  female genitalia for sexual intercourse (but see study notes below). The Beloved to Her Lover: 5:3 “I have already taken off my robe – must I put it on again? I have already washed my feet – must I soil them again?” 5:4 My lover thrust his hand through the hole,  tn Possibly  a  euphemism  (double entendre).  The  term   normally refers simply to the physical hand (”yad, “hand) ָיד (HALOT 386 s.v. I 1 ָיד; BDB 388 s.v. 1 ָיד). There are, howev- er, at least three occasions when ָיד refers to tall stone pillars  (translated “monument” or  “pillar”), such as  those used  in  Canaanite fertility-cults in the form of phallic representations (1 Sam 15:12; 2 Sam 18:18; Isa 56:5). It is clearly used as a euphemism for the male copulative organ in Isa 57:8, 10. It is now an established fact that yad is sometimes used as a eu- phemism for the male sexual organ in Ugaritic literature (e.g., text no. 52:33-35) (UT 1072). The noun ָיד is also used in the  Qumran literature in this sense in a list of penalties for inde- cent exposure (Manual of Discipline 7:12-15). Thus, several scholars suggest that a subtle double entendre in 5:4-6. The  imagery of the man thrusting his “hand” through the “hole” in  the door, and the Beloved “opening” to her lover, with her fin- gers dripped with “myrrh” on the “handles of the lock,” might  have a double reference to the literal attempt to gain entry  to her bedroom and his desire to make love to her. See M. Delcour, “Two Special Meanings of the Word yd in Biblical He- brew,” JSS 12 (1967): 230-40.  tn Heb “sent his hand through.” Most scholars suggest  that it denotes “to send through,” that is, “to thrust through”  or “to extend through.” For example, BDB 1018 s.v. ַלח  a.3 ׁשָ proposes that ַלח + ִמן  means “to stretch out (shalakh + min) ׁשָ (his hand) from the outside,  inward.” He was attempting to  open the door from the outside by extending his hand inside the door through some kind of latch-opening: “he put in his  hand by the opening of the door” (KJV), “he extended his hand through the opening” (NASB), “he thrust his hand through the latch-opening” (NIV). Others, however, suggest that the con- struction  ַלח + ִמן  denotes ׁשָ “to withdraw  from”  (e.g., 1 Kgs  13:4).  The  preposition   ִמן is  taken  to  mean,  not  “through,”  but “away from.” Thus, he was withdrawing his hand from the  latch-opening, that is, he had given up and was leaving. This  approach is adopted by NJPS: “My beloved took his hand off the  latch.” His departure  is clearly stated in 5:6, “I opened  [the door] for my beloved, but my beloved had already turned  and gone away; my heart sank at his departure!” (see study notes below on 5:6).  tn Heb  “hole.”  Probably  “latch-hole”  or  “key-hole,”  but  possibly a euphemism (double entendre). The noun ֹחר (khor, “hole”) is used in OT in a literal and metaphorical sense: (1)  literal sense: hole bored in the lid of a chest (2 Kgs 12:10);  hole in a wall (Ezek 8:7); hole in the ground or cave used as hiding places for men (1 Sam 13:6; 14:11; Isa 42:23); hole in the ground, as the dwelling place of an asp (Isa 11:8); and  a hole in a mountain, as the den of lions (Nah 2:13); and (2)  figurative sense: hole of an eye (metonymy of association), that is, eye-socket (Zech 14:12) (HALOT 348 s.v. II ֹחר; BDB  359 s.v. III ֹחר). While the meaning of ֹחר in Song 5:4 is clear – “hole” – there is a debate whether it is used in a literal or  figurative sense. (1) Literal sense: The lexicons suggest that it denotes “hole of a door, that is, key-hole or latch-opening”  (HALOT 348; BDB 359). Most commentators suggest that it  refers to a hole bored through the bedroom door to provide  access to the  latch or  lock. The mention  in 5:5 of  ַהּמַ ּפֹות ־ּכַ  ְנעּול (kaffot hamman’ul, “latches of the door-bolt”) suggests  that the term refers to some kind of opening associated with  the latch of the bedroom door. This approach is followed by  most translations: “the hole in the door” (JB), “the latch-hole”  (NEB), “the latch-opening” (NIV), “the latch-hole” (NEB), “the  latch” (RSV, NJPS), and “the opening of the door” (KJV). The assumption that the hole in question was a latch-hole in the  door is reflected in Midrash Rabbah: Rabbi Abba ben Kahana said, “Why is the hole of the door mentioned here, seeing that  it is a place where vermin swarm?” The situation envisaged  by his actions are often depicted thus: In ancient Near East- the sonG oF sonGs 5:3 146 balsam trees yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies dripping with drops of myrrh. 5:14 His arms are like rods of gold set with chrysolite. His abdomen is like polished ivory in- laid with sapphires. 5:15 His legs are like pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars. 5:16 His mouth is very sweet; he is totally desirable.  sn In  the  genitive  construct  phrase  ם ַהּבֹׂשֶ  ֲערּוַגת (’arugat havvosem, literally, “beds of balsam”) the term ם  (bosem) ּבֹׂשֶ is a genitive of composition, identifying what these gardens  were composed of. The term ֲערּוַגת (“garden-beds”) refers to  a private garden terrace or garden bed, a rare luxury in Pales- tine and very expensive to own (Ezek 17:7, 10) (BDB 788 s.v. ם The term .(ֲערּוָגה  refers to balsam trees (”bosem, “balsam) ּבֹׂשֶ which yielded sweet-smelling oils from which perfumes were  produced. The balsam trees should be identified either as Astragalus tragacantha which grew everywhere in Palestine  and exude resin from its thorns, or as Commiphora opobalsa- mum which was not native to Israel but to South Arabia from whence it had to be imported at great cost (2 Chr 9:1) (Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 177-78). She is comparing the beauti- ful scent of his cologned cheeks to fragrant beds of spice.  tn Alternately, “towers of perfume.” The MT reads לֹות  ִמְגּדְ (migdÿlot) which yields the awkward “towers of perfume.” The  term ל  is normally used in reference to (”migdal, “tower) ִמְגּדָ (1) watch-towers, defended towers along the city wall, and in- dividual towers in the countryside to protect the borders, (2)  storehouses, and (3) a  tower  in a vineyard  (HALOT 543-44  s.v. I ל It is never used in OT in association with a flower .(ִמְגּדָ garden. On the other hand, LXX reads φυουσαι (fuousai,  “yielding”) which reflects an alternate vocalization tradition of לֹות ַדל mÿgaddÿlot; Piel participle feminine plural from) ְמַגּדְ  ,ּגָ gadal, “to increase, produce”). This makes good sense con- textually because the Piel stem of ַדל  means “to grow” plants ּגָ and trees (Isa 44:14; Ezek 31:4; Jonah 4:10) (HALOT 179 s.v. I 2 גדל). This revocalization is suggested by BHS editors, as  well as the Hebrew lexicographers (HALOT 544 s.v. 2; 179 s.v. I 2; BDB 152 s.v. ַדל -Several translations follow LXX and re .(1 ּגָ vocalize the text (RSV, NIV, NJPS margin): “His cheeks are like beds of spice yielding perfume” (NIV) and “His cheeks are like  beds of spice producing perfume” (NJPS margin). The other translations struggle to make sense of the MT, but are forced  to  abandon  a  literal  rendering  of לֹות  ִמְגּדְ (“towers”):  “banks  sweet herbs” (ASV), “banks sweetly scented” (JB), “treasure- chambers full of perfume” (NEB), “banks of sweet scented  herbs” (NASB), and “banks of perfume” (JPS, NJPS).  tn The term ֵמֶעה  (me’eh) is used  in reference to several  things in the Old Testament: (1) the womb of a woman (Gen  25:23; Isa 49:1; Ps 71:6; Ruth 1:11), (2) a man’s loins (Gen 15:4; 2 Sam 7:12; Isa 48:19; 2 Chr 32:21), (3) the “inward parts” of a person, such as the stomach or intestines which  are used to digest food (Num 5:22; Job 20:14; Ezek 3:3; Jo- nah 2:1-2), and (4) the external stomach or abdominal mus- cles: “abdomen” (Song 5:14).  tn Heb “sweetnesses.” Alternately, “very delicious.” The  term  ים  ַמְמַתּקִ (mamtaqqim, “sweetness”;  HALOT 596  s.v.  ים ים .BDB 609 s.v ;ַמְמַתּקִ  is the plural form of the noun (ַמְמַתּקִ -This may be an example of the plu .(”moteq, “sweetness) ֹמֶתק ral of intensity, that is, “very sweet” (e.g., IBHS 122 §7.4.3a). The rhetorical use of the plural is indicated by the fact that  ים -is functioning as a predicate nomina (”sweetness“) ַמְמַתּקִ tive relative to the singular subjective nominative ִֹחּכו (khikko, “his mouth”).  tn The term ים -is the plu (”makhmaddim, “desirable) ַמֲחַמּדִ ral form of the noun ַמְחַמד (makhmad, “desire, desirable thing,  precious object”; HALOT 570 s.v. 1 ַמְחָמד; BDB 326 s.v. ַמְחַמד).  Like the plural ים  in the preceding parallel (”sweetness“) ַמְמַתּקִ line, this use of the plural is probably an example of the plural This is my beloved! This is my companion, O maidens of Jerusalem! The Lost Lover Found The Maidens to the Beloved: 6:1 Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned? Tell us, that we may seek him with you. The Beloved to the Maidens: 6: My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the flowerbeds of balsam spices, to graze0 in the gardens, and to gather lilies. of intensity: “very desirable.”   tn The phrase “Tell us!” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness.  tn Heb “And we may seek him with you.” The vav-conjunc- tive on  ּנּו  ּוְנַבְקׁשֶ (unÿvaqshennu,  “and we may seek him with  you”) denotes purpose/result.  sn The term ן is used six other times in (”gan, “garden) ּגַ the Song. In five cases, it is used figuratively (hypocatastasis) to describe her body or the sexual love of the couple (4:12, 15, 16a, 16b; 5:1). There is only one usage in which it might  refer  to a  real garden  (8:13).  Thus,  this usage of  “garden”  might be figurative or literal: (1) He went to a real garden for repose. Solomon did, in fact, own a great many gardens (Eccl 2:4-7; 1 Chr 27:27). (2) The “garden” is a figurative descrip- tion referring either to: (a) the young woman, (b) their sexual love, or (c) Solomon’s harem.  sn The phrase ם ֲערּוַגת ַהּבֹׂשֶ -ka’arugat havvosem, “flower) ּכַ beds of balsam”) is used elsewhere in the Song only in 5:13 where it is a simile comparing his cheeks to a flower-bed of balsam yielding perfumed spices. The term ם -balsam“) ַהּבֹׂשֶ spice”) by itself appears five times in the Song, each time as a figure for sexual love (4:10, 14, 16; 5:1; 8:14). Thus, the two options are: (1) the term refers to a real flower-bed of bal- sam to which Solomon had gone or (2) this term is a figure for sexual love. 0 tn The  verb   ִלְרעֹות (lir’ot, “to  browse”;  so  NAB,  NIV)  is  from the root ָרָעה (ra’ah, “to feed, graze”) which is used seven  times in the Song (1:7, 8a, 8b; 2:16; 4:5; 6:2, 3). All its uses appear to be either literal or figurative descriptions of sheep grazing. The verb is used twice in reference to sheep “graz- ing” in a pasture (1:7, 8). The participle is used once to desig- nate “shepherds” (1:8), once in reference to two fawns which  “which graze among the lilies” as a figurative description of her breasts (4:5), and twice as a figurative description of Solo- mon as “the one who grazes among the lilies” which is prob- ably also a comparison of Solomon to a grazing sheep (2:16; 6:3). Therefore, it is likely that the usage of the term ִלְרעֹות (“to  graze”) in 6:2 is also a figurative comparison of Solomon to a sheep grazing among garden flowers. Thus, there are two options: (1) nuance the term ִלְרעֹות as “to browse” (NAB, NIV)  and take this as a literal action of Solomon walking through a real garden or (2) nuance the term ִלְרעֹות as “to graze” (NLT) and take this as a figure in which Solomon is pictured as a gazelle grazing on the flowers in a garden.  sn The  term  ּנָה  ׁשֹוׁשַ (shoshannah, “lily”)  or  ִנים  ׁשֹוׁשַ (shoshanim, “lilies”) appears eight times in the Song (2:1, 2, 16; 4:5; 5:13; 6:2, 3; 7:2). Of these five are unequivocally used figuratively as descriptions of a woman or women (2:1, 2), the color and softness of her breasts (4:5), the attractive- ness of his lips (5:13), and her waist (7:2). The closest parallel to 6:2 is the description “the one who grazes among the lil- ies” (2:16; 6:3) which is a figurative expression comparing his romancing of his Beloved with a sheep feeding on lilies. How- ever, this still leaves a question as to what the lilies represent  in 2:16; 6:2, 3. The phrase “to gather lilies” itself appears only  149 the sonG oF sonGs 6: Poetic Refrain: Mutual Possession The Beloved about Her Lover: 6:3 I am my lover’s and my lover is mine; he grazes among the lilies. The Renewal of Love The Lover to His Beloved: 6:4 My darling, you are as beautiful as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as awe-inspiring as bannered armies! here in the Song. However, the synonymous phrase “to gather myrrh and balsam spice” is used in 5:1 as a figure (euphe- mistic hypocatastasis) for sexual consummation by the man of the woman. There are three basic options as to how “lilies”  may be taken: (1) The lilies are real flowers; he has gone to a real garden in which to repose and she is picking real lilies.  (2) The term “lilies” is a figure for the young woman; he is ro- mancing her just as he had in 2:16 and 5:1. He is kissing her  mouth just as a sheep would graze among lilies. (3) The term  “lilies” is a figure expression referring to other women, such as his harem (e.g., 6:8-9). Two factors support the “harem”  interpretation: (1) Solomon had recently departed from her, and she was desperate to find him after she refused him. (2) His harem is mentioned explicitly in 6:8-9. However, several other factors support the Beloved interpretation: (1) She ex- presses her confidence in 6:3 that he is devoted to her. (2) The immediately following use of “lilies” in 6:3 appears to re- fer to her, as in 2:16 and 5:1. (3) He praises her in 6:4-7, sug- gesting that he was romancing her in 6:2-3. (4) Although his  harem is mentioned in 6:8-10, all these women acknowledge  that he is disinterested in them and only loves her. (5) Her ex- ultation “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; the one  who grazes among the lilies” (6:3)  is a statement of assur- ance in their relationship and this would seem quite strange if  he was cavorting with his harem while she said this.  sn This is the second occurrence of the poetic refrain that  occurs elsewhere in 2:16 and 7:11. The order of the first two cola are reversed from 2:16: “My beloved is mine and I am  his” (2:16) but “I am my beloved’s and he is mine” (6:3). The  significance of this shift depends on whether the parallelism is synonymous or climactic. This might merely be a  literary  variation with no rhetorical significance. On the other hand, it might signal a shift in her view of their relationship: Originally,  she focused on her possession of him, now she focused on  his possession of her.  tn Or “I belong to my beloved, and my  lover belongs to  me.” Alternately, “I am devoted to my beloved, and my lover  is devoted to me.”  tn He compares her beauty to two of the most beautiful  and important cities in the Israelite United Kingdom, namely, Jerusalem and Tirzah. The beauty of Jerusalem was legend- ary; it is twice called “the perfection of beauty” (Ps 50:2; Lam 2:15). Tirzah was beautiful as well – in fact, the name means  “pleasure, beauty.” So beautiful was Tirzah that it would be chosen by Jeroboam as the original capital of the northern  kingdom (1 Kgs 15:33; 16:8, 15, 23). The ancient city Tirzah  has been identified as Tel el-Far`ah near Nablus: see B. S. J. Isserlin, “Song of Songs IV, 4: An Archaeological Note,” PEQ 90 (1958): 60; R. de Vaux, “Le premiere campagne de fouilles a Tell el-Far`ah,” RB 54 (1947): 394-433.  map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.  sn The  literary  unity  of  6:4-10  and  boundaries  of  his  praise are indicated by the repetition of the phrase  ְדּגָ ּנִ ה ּכַ ־ֲאיֻּמָ /ayummah kannidÿgalot, “majestic as bannered armies’) לֹות stars in procession…”) in 6:4 and 6:10 which creates an in- clusion.  His  praise  includes  his  own  personal  statements  (6:4-9a) as well as his report of the praise given to her by the  maidens, queens, and concubines (6:9b-10). His praise indi- 6:5 Turn your eyes away from me – they overwhelm me! Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Mount Gilead. 6:6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing; each has its twin; not one of them is missing. 6:7 Like a slice of pomegranate is your forehead behind your veil. 6:8 There may be sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and young women without number. 6:9 But she is unique!0 My dove, my perfect one! She is the special daughter of her mother, cates that he had forgiven any ingratitude on her part.  tn The verb ָרַהב (rahav) should be nuanced “overwhelm”  or “arouse” rather than “storm against,” “make proud,” “con- fuse,” “dazzle,” or “overcome” (BDB 923 s.v. ָרַהב).  tn Alternately, “your cheeks” or “your temple.” See 4:3.  sn The sequence “sixty…eighty…without number” is an example of a graded numerical sequence and is not intended to be an exact numeration (see W. G. E. Watson, Classical He- brew Poetry [JSOTSup], 144-50).  sn The  term ַעְלָמה  (’almah, “young  woman”)  refers  to  a  young woman who is of marriageable age or a newly married  young woman, usually before the birth of her first child (HALOT  835-36 s.v. ַעְלָמה; BDB 761 s.v. ַעְלָמה) (e.g., Gen 24:43; Exod 2:8; Ps 68:26; Prov 30:19; Song 1:3; 6:8; Isa 7:14). The only other use of the term “young women” (ֲעָלמֹות) in the Song re- fers to the young women of Solomon’s harem (Song 6:8). The root עלם denotes the basic idea of “youthful, strong, passion- ate” (HALOT 835 s.v. III). While the term ַעְלָמה may be used in  reference to a young woman who is a virgin, the term itself  does not explicitly denote “virgin.” The Hebrew term which explicitly denotes “virgin” is תּוָלה  ּבְ (bÿtulah)  which  refers  to  a mature young woman without any sexual experience with men (e.g., Gen 24:16; Exod 22:15-16; Lev 21:3; Deut 22:23, 28; 32:25; Judg 12:12; 19:24; 2 Sam 13:2, 18; 1 Kgs 1:2; 2 Chr 36:17; Esth 2:2-3, 17, 19; Job 31:1; Pss 45:15; 78:63; 148:12; Isa 23:4; 62:5; Jer 2:32; 31:3; 51:22; Lam 1:4, 18; 2:10, 21; 5:11; Ezek 9:6; Joel 1:8; Amos 9:13; Zech 9:17; HALOT 166-7 s.v. תּוָלה  ;ּבְ BDB  143  s.v.  תּוָלה  .(ּבְ The  related  noun תּוִלים  ּבְ (bÿtulim) means “state of virginity” (Lev 21:13; Judg 11:37-38; Ezek 23:3, 8; Sir 42:10) and “evidence of vir- ginity” (Deut 22:14-15, 17, 20) (HALOT 167 s.v. תּוִלים .(ּבְ 0 tn Alternately, “She alone is my dove, my perfect one.” The term ַאַחת (’akhat) is used here as an adjective of qual- ity: “unique, singular, the only one” (DCH 1:180 s.v. 1 ֶאָחדb).  The masculine form is used elsewhere to describe Yahweh as  the “only” or “unique” God of Israel who demands exclusive love and loyalty (Deut 6:4; Zech 14:9). Although Solomon pos- sessed a large harem, she was the only woman for him.  tn Heb “the only daughter of her mother.” The phrase  ה  is sometimes translated as “the (akhat lÿ’immah’) ַאַחת ְלִאּמָ only daughter of her mother” (NIV, NASB) or “the only one of her mother” (KJV). K&D 18:112 suggests that she was not  her mother’s only daughter, but her most special daughter.  This is supported by the parallelism with ָרה -barah, “favor) ּבָ ite”) in the following line. Similarly, Gen 22:2 and Prov 4:3 use the masculine term ֶאָחד (’ekhad, “the only one”) to refer to the  specially favored son, that is, the heir.  the sonG oF sonGs 6:3 150 she is the favorite of the one who bore her. The maidens saw her and complimented her; the queens and concubines praised her: 6:10 “Who is this who appears like the dawn? Beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun,  tn The  term ָרה  ּבָ (barah)  is  sometimes  nuanced  “pure”  (NASB) because the root ברר I denotes “to purify, purge out”  (BDB 140-41 s.v. ַרר ַרר However, the root .(ּבָ  also denotes “to ּבָ choose, select” (BDB 141 s.v. 2) (Neh 5:18; 1 Chr 7:40; 9:22; 16:41). Most  translations adopt  the second  root, e.g.,  “the  choice one” (KJV), “the favorite” (NIV), “favorite” (JB). This is  supported by the exegetical tradition of LXX, which translates ָרה  .as ἐκλεκτή (eklekth, “the chosen one”) ּבָ  tn Heb “daughters.”  tn Heb “to call blessed.” The verb ר  is used of (ashar’) ָאׁשַ people whom others consider fortunate because they have  prospered or are to be commended (Gen 30:13; Ps 72:17; Mal 3:12, 15). Likewise, the verb ָהַלל  (halal, “to praise”)  is  used elsewhere of people who are held in high esteem by oth- ers either due to a commendable moral quality (Prov 31:28,  31) or due to one’s physical beauty (Gen 12:15; 2 Sam 14:25). The actual content of their praise of her appears in  Song 6:10 in which they compare her beauty to that of the dawn, moon, sun, and stars.  sn This  rhetorical  question  emphasizes  her  position  among women (e.g., Mic 2:7; Joel 2:1).  tn Alternately, “rises” or “looks forth.” Delitzsch renders  ָקָפה ׁשְ  as “who rises,” while NIV opts for “who (hannishqafah) ַהּנִ appears.” The verb means “to look down upon [something]  from a height” and is derived from the related noun “ceiling,  roof, sky” (BDB 1054 s.v. ַקף  The verb .(ׁשקף .HALOT 1645 s.v ;ׁשָ is used of looking down over a plain or valley from the vantage  point of a mountain-top (Num 21:20; 23:28; 1 Sam 13:18); of God looking down from heaven (Ps 14:2); or of a person look- ing down below out of an upper window (Judg 5:28; 2 Sam 6:16; Prov 7:6). M. H. Pope (The Song of Songs [AB], 571-72) suggests that this verb implies the idea of her superiority over  the other women,  that  is, she occupies a “higher” position  over them due to his choice of her. But another interpretation  is possible: The verb creates personification (i.e., the dawn is attributed with the human action of looking). Just as the dawn  is the focus of attention during the morning hours and looks  down upon the earth, so too she is the focus of his attention  and is in the privileged position over all the other women.  sn The common point in these four comparisons is that all  are luminaries. In all four cases, each respective luminary is  the focus or center of attention at the hour at hand because  it dwarfs  its celestial surroundings  in majesty and  in sheer  brilliance. All other celestial objects pale into insignificance in their presence. This would be an appropriate description of  her because she alone was the center and focus of his at- tention. All the other women paled into the background when  she was present. Her beauty captured the attention of all that  saw her, especially Solomon.  tn The term ְלָבָנה (lÿvanah) literally means “the white one”  (BDB 526  s.v.   (ְלָבָנה and  is  always used  in  reference  to  the  moon. It is only used elsewhere in the OT in parallelism with the  term used to designate the sun (Isa 24:23; 30:26), which like- wise is not the ordinary term, but literally means “the hot one,”  emphasizing the heat of the sun (Job 30:28; Ps 19:6). Both of  these terms, “the white one” and “the hot one,” are metony- mies of adjunct in which an attribute (i.e., color and heat) are  substituted for the subject itself. The white moon in contrast to  the dark night sky captures one’s attention, just as the red-hot  sun in the afternoon sky is the center of attention during the  day. The use of the figurative comparisons of her beauty to that of the dawn, sun, moon, and stars is strikingly similar to the He- brews’ figurative comparison of Simon the high priest coming out of the sanctuary to the morning star, moon, sun, and rain- bow: “How glorious he was when the people gathered round  him as he came out of the inner sanctuary! Like the morning star among the clouds, like the moon when it is full; like the sun  shining upon the temple of the Most High, and like the rainbow  awe-inspiring as the stars in proces- sion?”0 The Return to the Vineyards The Lover to His Beloved: 6:11 I went down to the orchard of walnut trees, to look for the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines had budded or if the pomegranates were in bloom. 6:1 I was beside myself with joy! gleaming in glorious clouds” (See G. Gerleman, Ruth, Das Ho- helied [BKAT], 171).  tn Heb “pure as the sun.”  tn The adjective ָאֹים (’ayom) has been nuanced “terrible”  (KJV, RSV), “frightful, fear-inspiring” (Delitzsch), “majestic” (NIV), “awesome” (NASB). In the light of its parallelism with  in 6:4, and (”na’vah, “lovely) ָנאָוה and (”yafah, “beautiful) ָיָפה ָרה and (”fair“) ָיָפה -in 6:10, it should be nu (”barah, “bright) ּבָ anced “awe-inspiring” or “unnervingly beautiful.” 0 tn Heb  “as  bannered  armies.”  The  term  לֹות ְדּגָ ּנִ  ּכַ (kan- nidgalot, “as bannered armies”) is used figuratively (hypoca- tastasis) in reference to stars which are often compared to  the heavenly armies. This nuance is clear in the light of the  parallelism with the dawn, moon, and sun.  sn It is difficult to determine whether the speaker in 6:11-12 is Solomon or the Beloved.  tn The term ֱאגֹוז (’egoz, “nut”) probably refers to the “wal- nut” or “walnut tree” (juglans regia) (DCH 1:116 s.v. ֱאגֹוז). The  singular form is used collectively here to refer to a grove of  walnut trees.  sn It is not clear whether the “valley” in 6:12 is a physi- cal valley (Jezreel Valley?), a figurative description of their love relationship, or a double entendre.  tn Most scholars agree that the Hebrew text of 6:12 is the most elusive in the entire Song. The syntax is enigmatic and the textual reading is uncertain. The difficulty of this verse has gen- erated a plethora of different translations: “Or ever I was aware,  my  soul  made  me  [like]  the  chariots  of  Ammi-nadib”  (KJV),  “Before I knew it, my soul made me like the chariots of Ammi- nadib” (AV), “Before I knew it, my fancy set me in a chariot be- side my prince” (AT), “Before I knew…my desire hurled me on  the chariots of my people, as their prince” (JB), “Before I knew  it, my desire set me mid the chariots of Ammi-nadib” (JPSV), “I did not know myself, she made me feel more than a prince  reigning over the myriads of his people” (NEB), “Before I knew  it, my heart had made me the blessed one of my kins-women”  (NAB), “Before I was aware, my soul set me [over] the chariots  of my noble people” (NASB), “Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people” (NIV), “…among the  chariots of Amminadab” (NIV margin), “…among the chariots  of the people of the prince” (NIV margin), and “Before I real- ized it, I was stricken with a terrible homesickness and wanted  to be back among my own people” (NLT). For discussion, see R. Gordis, Song of Songs and Lamentations, 95; R. Tournay,  “Les Chariots d’Aminadab (Cant. VI 12): Israel, Peuple Theo- phore,” VT 9 (1959): 288-309; M. H. Pope, Song of Songs (AB),  584-92; R. E. Murphy, “Towards a Commentary on the Song of Songs,” CBQ 39 (1977): 491-92; S. M. Paul, “An Unrecognized Medical Idiom in Canticles 6,12 and Job 9,21,” Bib 59 (1978): 545-47; G. L. Carr, Song of Solomon [TOTC], 151-53.  tn Alternately, “Before  I  realized  it, my soul placed me  among the chariots of my princely people.” There is debate  whether י belongs with the first or (”nafshi, “my soul” = “I) ַנְפׁשִ second colon. The MT accentuation connects it with the sec- ond colon; thus, the first colon introduces indirect discourse: י  ”.…I did not know” or “Before I realized it“ (lo’ yada’ti) ֹלא ָיַדְעּתִ According to MT accentuation, the fs noun י  ַנְפׁשִ (“my soul”)  is the subject of ַמְתִני -samatni, Qal perfect 3rd person femi) ׂשָ nine singular from ים  sim, + 1st person common singular ,ׂשִ suffix, “to put”): “my soul placed me….” This approach is fol- lowed by several translations (KJV, NASB, AV, AT, JB, JPSV, NAB, NIV). On the other hand, the LXX takes י  ”my soul“) ַנְפׁשִ 151 the sonG oF sonGs 6:1 7: Your navel is a round mixing bowl –  tn The noun ׁשֶֹרר (shorer) is a hapax legomenon, appear- ing in the OT only here. There is debate whether it means “na- vel” or “vulva”: (1) Lys and Pope suggest that ׁשֶֹרר is related to  Arabic srr (“secret place, pudenda, coition, fornication”). They  suggest that this is contextually supported by three factors: (a) His descriptive praise of her is in ascending order, begin- ning with her  feet and concluding with her hair. The move- ment from her thighs (7:1b), to her vulva (7:2a), and then to her waist (7:2b) would fit this. (b) The descriptive comparison to a glass of wine would be grotesque if her navel were in view  – her navel was moist or filled with liquid? – but appropriate if her vulva were in view. (c) The navel would be a somewhat  synonymous reference to the belly which is already denoted  by ְטֵנְך in the following line. Because 7:1-7 (”bitnekh, “belly) ּבִ does not use synonymous parallelism,  the  term ׁשֶֹרר would  have to refer to something other than the belly. (2) The term   denotes ׁשֶֹרר “navel”:  (a)  It may be  related  to  the bi-conso- nantal noun ׁשֹר (shor, “navel, umbilical cord”) (Prov 3:8; Ezek  16:4). (b) Mishnaic Hebrew ָרר -denotes “navel, um (sharar) ׁשָ bilical  cord”  (Jastrow 1634 s.v. ָרר -For example, in a mi .(ׁשָ drash on the Book of Numbers, the noun ׁשֶֹרר appears in an  allusion to Song 7:3 to justify the seating of the Sanhedrin in the middle of the synagogue: “As the navel (ׁשֶֹרר) is placed in  the centre of the body, so are the Sanhedrin…” (Num. Rab.  1:4). On the other hand, the meaning “vulva” never appears  in Mishnaic Hebrew. Therefore, apart from this disputed us- age there is no evidence that this term was ever used in this  manner in Hebrew. (c) Rather than ׁשֶֹרר being related to Ara- bic sirr (“pudenda”), it could just as easily be related to the  Arabic noun surr “navel.” It is methodologically more sound  to define ׁשֶֹרר as “navel” than as “vulva.” (d) The nuance “na- vel” is not as out of line contextually as Lys and Pope suggest. The navel would not be out of place in the ascending order  of praise because the ְטֵנְך  which follows may (”abdomen“) ּבִ be viewed as both above and below the navel. The figurative association of the ׁשֶֹרר as a mixing bowl filled with wine does not imply that this bodily part must actually be moist or filled with liquid as Pope suggests. The point of comparison is not  physical or visual but one of function, i.e., it is intoxicating. The comparison of the navel to a mixing bowl of wine is no more out of line than the comparison of the belly to a heap  of wheat in the next line. In fact, the two go together – she is both the “drink” and “food” for Solomon. The shape of the na- vel is as congruent with the metaphor of the “round bowl” as  the vulva; both are round and receding. (3) Since both terms are derived from the same geminate root – Hebrew ׁשֶֹרר and  Arabic srr – it is more prudent to take the term as a synecdo- che of whole (lower region) for the parts (including navel and  vulva). The attempt to decide between these two options may  be illegitimately splitting hairs. See K&D 18:123; J. S. Deere, “Song of Solomon,” BKCOT, 199-200; D. Lys, “Notes sur de Cantique,” VTSup 17 (1969): 171-78; M. H. Pope, Song of Songs (AB), 617; G. L. Carr, Song of Solomon (TOTC), 157.  sn The expression ַהר ן ַהּסַ -aggan hassahar, “round mix’) ַאּגַ ing bowl”) refers to a vessel used for mixing wine. Archaeolo- gists have recovered examples of such large, deep, two han- dled, ring-based round bowls. The Hebrew term ן mixing“) ַאּגַ bowl”) came into Greek usage as ἂγγος (angos) which des- ignates vessels used for mixing wine (e.g., Homer, Odyssey xvi 16) (LSJ 7). This is consistent with the figurative references to wine which follows: “may it never lack mixed wine.” Selected Bibliography: J. P. Brown, “The Mediterranean Vocabulary for  Wine,” VT 19 (1969): 158; A. M. Honeyman, “The Pottery Ves- sels of the Old Testament,” PEQ 80 (1939): 79. The compari- son of her navel to a “round mixing bowl” is visually appropri- ate in that both are round and receding. The primary point of  comparison to the round bowl is one of sense, as the follow- ing clause makes clear: “may it never lack mixed wine.” J. S. Deere suggests that the point of comparison is that of taste,  desirability, and function (“Song of Solomon,” BKCOT, 202).  More specifically, it probably refers to the source of intoxica- tion, that is, just as a bowl used to mix wine was the source of physical intoxication, so she was the source of his sexual in- toxication. She intoxicated Solomon with her love in the same way that wine intoxicates a person. may it never lack mixed wine! Your belly is a mound of wheat, encircled by lilies. 7:3 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. 7:4 Your neck is like a tower made of ivory.  tn The phrase ַאל־ֶיְחַסר (’al-yekhsar) has traditionally been  taken as an imperfect: “it never lacks mixed wine” (M. H. Pope, Song of Songs [AB], 619); “which wanteth not liquor” (KJV); “in  which liquor is never lacking” (RSV); “that never lacks mixed wine” (JB); “with no lack of wine” (NEB); “that shall never want  for spiced wine” (NEB); “that never lacks blended wine” (NIV).  This is also how LXX understood it: μὴ ὑστερούμενος κρᾶμα  (mh usteroumenos, “not lacking liquor”). However, the nega- tive ַאל (’al) normally precedes a jussive expressing a wish or request: “May it never lack mixed wine!” (J. S. Deere, “Song of Solomon,” BKCOT, 202). This approach is adopted by several  translations: “that should never lack for mixed wine” (NASB) and “Let mixed wine not be lacking!” (NJPS).  sn The term ָמֶזג (mazeg, “mixed wine”) does not refer to wine mixed with water to dilute its potency, but to strong wine mixed with weaker wine. The practice of mixing wine with water is not attested in the Hebrew Bible. Both ָמֶזג and ֶמֶסְך  (mesekh) refer to strong wine mixed with weaker wine. The rabbis  later distinguished between  the  two, stating  that ָמֶזג  was strong wine mixed with weak wine, while ֶמֶסְך was wine  mixed with water (Aboda Zara 58b). However, both types of wine were intoxicating. Mixed wine was the most intoxicating type of wine. In a midrash on the Book of Numbers a com- ment is made about the practice of mixing strong wine with weaker wine (e.g., Isa 5:22; Prov 23:30), stating its purpose:  “They used to mix strong wine with weak wine so as to get drunk with it” (Num. Rab. 10:8). See J. P. Brown, “The Medi- terranean Vocabulary of Wine,” VT 19 (1969): 154. The com- parison of a wife’s sexual love to intoxicating wine is common in ancient Near Eastern love literature. Parallel in thought are  the words of the Hebrew sage, “May your fountain be blessed  and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe,  a graceful deer – may her love (or breasts) always intoxicate you, may you ever stagger like a drunkard in her love” (Prov  5:18-19).  tn Alternately, “your waist.” The term ְטֵנְך -prob (bitnekh) ּבִ ably refers to the woman’s “belly” rather than “waist.” It is as- sociated with a woman’s abdominal/stomach region rather  than her hips (Prov 13:25; 18:20; Ezek 3:3). The comparison  of her belly to a heap of wheat is visually appropriate because  of the similarity of their symmetrical shape and tannish color.  The primary point of comparison, however, is based upon the  commonplace association of wheat in Israel, namely, wheat  was the main staple of the typical Israelite meal (Deut 32:14;  2 Sam 4:6; 17:28; 1 Kgs 5:11; Pss 81:14; 147:14). Just as wheat satisfied an Israelite’s physical hunger, she satisfied his sexual hunger. J. S. Deere makes this point in the follow- ing manner: “The most obvious commonplace of wheat was  its function, that is, it served as one of the main food sources  in ancient Palestine. The Beloved was both the ‘food’ (wheat)  and ‘drink’ (wine) of the Lover. Her physical expression of love nourished and satisfied him. His satisfaction was great for the ‘mixed wine’ is intoxicating and the ‘heap of wheat’ was ca- pable of feeding many. The ‘heap of wheat’ also suggests the  harvest, an association which contributes  to  the emotional  quality of the metaphor. The harvest was accompanied with a  joyous celebration over the bounty yielded up by the land. So also, the Beloved is bountiful and submissive in giving of her- self, and the source of great joy” (“Song of Solomon,” BKCOT,  203-204).  tn Heb “fenced around by.”  tn Alternately, “the ivory tower.” The noun ן ֵ  ,hashshen) ַהׁשּ “ivory”) is a genitive of composition, that is, a tower made out  of ivory. Solomon had previously compared her neck to a tow- er (Song 4:4). In both cases the most obvious point of com- parison has to do with size and shape, that is, her neck was  long and symmetrical. Archaeology has never found a tower  overlaid with ivory in the ancient Near East and it  is doubt- the sonG oF sonGs 7: 154 Your eyes are the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-Rabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon overlooking Damascus. 7:5 Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel. The locks of your hair are like royal tapestries – the king is held captive in its tresses! ful that there ever was such a tower. The point of comparison  might simply be that the shape of her neck looks like a tower,  while the color and smoothness of her neck was like  ivory.  Solomon is mixing metaphors: her neck was long and sym- metrical like a tower; but also elegant, smooth, and beautiful  as ivory. The beauty, elegance, and smoothness of a woman’s  neck is commonly compared to ivory in ancient love literature.  For example, in a piece of Greek love literature, Anacron com- pared the beauty of the neck of his beloved Bathyllus to ivory  (Ode xxxix 28-29).  sn It is impossible at the present time to determine the  exact significance of the comparison of her eyes to the “gate of Bath-Rabbim” because this site has not yet been identified by archaeologists.  tn Heb “your head [is] upon you.”  sn The Carmel mountain range is a majestic sight. The mountain range borders the southern edge of the plain of Es- draelon, dividing the Palestinian coastal plain into the Plain  of Acco to the north and the Plains of Sharon and Philistia to the south. Its luxuriant foliage was legendary (Isa 33:9; Amos 1:2; Nah 1:4). Rising to a height of approximately 1750 feet (525 m), it extends southeast from the Mediterranean for 13 miles (21 km). Due to its greatness and fertility, it was often  associated with majesty and power (Isa 35:2; Jer 46:18). The  point of the comparison is that her head crowns her body just  as the majestic Mount Carmel rested over the landscape, ris- ing above it in majestic and fertile beauty. See ZPEB 1:755; C. F. Pfeiffer and H. F. Vos, Wycliffe Historical Geography of Bible Lands, 100.  sn The term ה ּלָ  refers to dangling (”dallah, “locks, hair) ּדַ curls or loose hair that hangs down from one’s head (HALOT 222-23 s.v. I ה ּלָ -The Hebrew term is from a common Se .(ּדַ mitic root meaning “to hang down,” and is related to Arabic  tadaldala “dangle” and Ethiopic delul “dangling curls” (KBL 222-23).  tn Heb “like purple” or “like purple fabric.” The term ָמן  ַאְרּגָ (’argaman, “purple fabric”) refers to wool dyed with red purple  (HALOT 84 s.v. ָמן  It is used in reference to purple threads .(ַאְרּגָ (Exod 35:25; 39:3; Esth 1:9) or purple cloth (Num 4:13; Judg 8:26; Esth 8:15; Prov 31:22; Jer 10:9; Song 3:10). NASB translates it as “purple threads,” while NIV nuances this term  as “royal tapestry.” M. H. Pope (The Song of Songs [AB], 629- 30) adduces several ancient Near Eastern texts and suggests that  it  refers  to  purple  hair-dye.  The  comparison  is  to  hair  which entangles Solomon like binding cords and therefore, it seems most likely that the idea here must be purple threads.  The Hebrew noun is a loanword from Hittite argaman “trib- ute,” which is reflected in Akkadian argamannu “purple” (also  “tribute” under Hittite influence), Ugaritic argmn “tax, pur- ple,” Aramaic argwn “purple” (HALOT 84). Purple cloth and  threads were considered very valuable (Ezek 27:7, 16) and were commonly worn by kings as a mark of their royal posi- tion (Judg 8:26).  tn Alternately, “captivated.” The verb ָאַסר (’asar, “to bind,  capture, hold  captive, put  in prison”)  is  commonly used of  binding a prisoner with cords and fetters (Gen 42:34; Judg  15:10-13; 16:5-12; 2 Kgs 17:4; 23:33; 25:7; 2 Chr 33:11) (HALOT 75 s.v. אסר). It is frequently used as a figure to depict absolute authority over a person  (Ps 105:22).  The passive  participle סּור means “to be bound, held captive, imprisoned”  (2 Sam 3:34; Jer 40:1; Job 36:8). Like a prisoner bound in cords and fetters and held under the complete control and  authority of his captor, Solomon was captivated by the spell- binding power of her hair. In a word, he was the prisoner of  love and she was his captor. Similar imagery appears in an ancient Egyptian love song: “With her hair she throws lassoes  7:6 How beautiful you are! How lovely, O love, with your delights! The Palm Tree and the Palm Tree Climber The Lover to His Beloved: 7:7 Your stature is like a palm tree,0 at me, with her eyes she catches me, with her necklace she  entangles me, and with her seal ring she brands me” (Song 43 in the Chester Beatty Cycle, translated by W. K. Simpson, ed., The Literature of Ancient Egypt, 324). J. S. Deere sug- gests, “The concluding part of the metaphor, ‘The king is held  captive by your tresses,’ is a beautiful expression of the pow- erful effect of  love. A strong monarch was held prisoner by  the beauty of his Beloved” (“Song of Solomon,” BKCOT, 206- 207). This is a startling statement because Solomon empha- sizes that the one who was being held captive like a prisoner  in bonds was the “king”! At this point in world history, Solo- mon was the ruler of the most powerful and wealthy nation in  the world (1 Kgs 3:13; 10:23-29). And yet he was held totally  captive and subject to the beauty of this country maiden!  tn Alternately, “O beloved one.” Consonantal אהבה is vo- calized by the Masoretes as ַאֲהָבה  (’ahavah, “love”). Howev- er, a variant Hebrew ms tradition preserves the vocalization  of  the passive  form ֲאֻהָבה  (’ahuvah,  “beloved one, one who  is loved”), as is also reflected in the Vulgate and Syriac. The term ַאֲהָבה (“love”) usually refers to sexual (2 Sam 13:15; Prov 5:19) or emotional love between a man and a woman (2 Sam 1:26; Song 8:6-7) (HALOT 18 s.v. I ַאֲהָבה).  tc The MT preserves a syntactically difficult reading ֲע ּתַ ־ּבַ -A variant Hebrew tex .(”batta’anugim, “in/with delights) נּוִגים tual tradition preserves the alternate reading ֲענּוִגים ת ּתַ bat) ּבַ ta’anugim,  “daughter  of  delights”  or  “delightful  daughter”).  The textual variant is either due to haplography (mistakenly writing   ת once  instead  of  twice)  or  dittography  (mistakenly  writing ת twice instead of once). The alternate textual tradition is reflected in Aquila θυγάτηρ τρυφῶν (qugarhr trufwn,  “daughter of delights”). However, the MT reading  ֲענּו ּתַ ־ַאֲהָבה ּבַ ַאֲהָבה is (”ahavah batta’anugim, “O love, in your delights’) ִגים ֲענּוִגים ּתַ is supported by LXX (Old (”O love, in your delights“) ּבַ Greek) ἀγάπη, ἐν τρυφαῖς σου (agaph, en trufais sou,  “O love, in your delights”). tn The  term  ֲענּוג  ּתַ (ta’anug, “luxury, daintiness, exquisite delight”) is used in reference to: (1) tender love (Mic 1:16);  (2) the object of pleasure (Mic 2:9); (3) erotic pleasures (Eccl  2:8); (4) luxury befitting a king (Prov 19:10). The term may have sexual connotations, as when it is used in reference to a harem of women who are described as “the delights” of the  heart of a man (Eccl 2:8) (BDB 772 s.v. ֲענּוג .(ּתַ  tn The  term   קֹוָמֵתְך (qomatek,  “stature”)  indicates  the  height of an object, e.g., tall person (1 Sam 16:7; Ezek 13:8), tall tree (2 Kgs 19:23; Isa 10:33; Ezek 31:3-5, 10-14), a tow- ering vine (Ezek 19:11). 0 sn The term ָמר  refers to the date (”tamar, “palm tree) ּתָ palm  tree  (Phoenix dactyliferia)  that  can  reach a height of  80 feet (24 m). It flourished in warm moist areas and oases from Egypt to  India. Ancient  Iraq was the  leading grower of  date palms and dates in the ancient world, as today (M. H.  Pope, The Song of Songs [AB], 633). There is also a hint of  eroticism in this palm tree metaphor because the palm tree  was often associated with fertility  in the ancient world. The  point of comparison is that she is a tall, slender, fertile young  woman. The comparison of a tall and slender lady to a palm  tree is not uncommon in love literature: “O you, whose height  is that of a palm tree in a serail” (Homer, Odyssey vi 162-63)  (S. H. Stephan, “Modern Palestinian Parallels to the Song of Songs,” JPOS 2 [1922]: 76). 155 the sonG oF sonGs 7:7 and your breasts are like clusters of grapes. 7:8 I want to climb the palm tree, and take hold of its fruit stalks. May your breasts be like the clusters of grapes, and may the fragrance of your breath be like apples!  tn Alternately “clusters of figs.” The term ּכֹלֹות -ashko’) ַאׁשְ lot, “clusters”) usually refers to (1) clusters of grapes, that is,  the stalk on which the bunch of grapes grow and the bunch of  grapes themselves (Gen 40:10; Num 13:23-24; Deut 32:32;  Isa 65:8; Mic 7:1) or (2) the berry on a cluster of henna bush (Song 1:14) (HALOT 95 s.v. I ּכֹול  It is possible that this is .(ַאׁשְ an anomalous usage in reference to a cluster of dates rath- er than to a cluster of grapes for three reasons: (1) the ָמר  ּתָ (tamar, “palm tree”) referred to in 7:7 is a date palm, (2) the term ים in 7:8a refers to the fruit (”sansinnim, “fruit stalks) ַסְנִסּנִ stalk of dates (Rademus dactylorum), being related to Akka- dian sissinnu (“part of the date palm”), and (3) the reference  to climbing the palm tree in 7:8a is best understood if it is a date palm and its fruit are dates. The comparison between  her  breasts  and  clusters  of  dates  probably  has  to  do  with  shape and multiplicity, as well as taste, as the rest of this ex- tended metaphor intimates. M. H. Pope (The Song of Songs [AB], 634) notes: “The comparison of the breasts to date clus- ters presumably intended a pair of clusters to match the dual  form of the word for ‘breasts.’ A single cluster of dates may  carry over a thousand single fruits and weigh twenty pounds  or more. It may be noted that the multiple breasts of the rep- resentations of Artemis of Ephesus look very much like a clus- ter of large dates, and it might be that the date clusters here  were intended to suggest a similar condition of polymasty.”  tn Heb “I said, ‘I will climb….’” The verb ָאַמר (’amar, “to  say”) is often used metonymically in reference to the thought  process, emphasizing the spontaneity of a decision or of an  idea  which  has  just  entered  the  mind  of  the  speaker  mo- ments before he speaks (Gen 20:11; 26:9; 44:28; Exod 2:14; Num 24:11; Ruth 4:4; 1 Sam 20:4, 26; 2 Sam 5:6; 12:22; 2 Kgs 5:11). M. H. Pope renders it appropriately: “Methinks”  (Song of Songs [AB], 635).  sn A  Palestinian  palm  tree  grower  would  climb  a  palm  tree for two reasons: (1) to pluck the fruit and (2) to pollinate  the female palm trees. Because of their height and because  the dates would not naturally fall off  the tree, the only way  to harvest dates  from a palm tree  is  to climb the  tree and  pluck the fruit off  the stalks. This seems to be the primary  imagery behind this figurative expression. The point of com- parison here would be that just as one would climb a palm  tree to pluck its fruit so that it might be eaten and enjoyed,  so too Solomon wanted to embrace his Beloved so that he might embrace and enjoy her breasts. It is possible that the  process of pollination is also behind this figure. A palm tree is climbed to pick its fruit or to dust the female flowers with pol- len from the male flowers (the female and male flowers were on separate trees). To obtain a better yield and accelerate the  process of pollination, the date grower would transfer pollen  from the male trees to the flowers on the female trees. This method of artificial pollination is depicted in ancient Near Eastern art. For example, a relief from Gozan (Tel Halaf) dat- ing to the 9th century b.c. depicts a man climbing a palm tree  on a wooden ladder with his hands stretched out to take hold  of its top branches to pollinate the flowers or to pick the fruit from the tree. The point of this playful comparison is clear:  Just as a palm tree grower would climb a female tree to pick  its fruit and to pollinate it with a male flower, Solomon wanted to grasp her breasts and to make love to her (The Illustrated Family Encyclopedia of the Living Bible, 10:60).  tn Heb “of the vine.”  tn See tn on “apples” in 2:5. 7:9 May your mouth be like the best wine, flowing smoothly for my beloved, gliding gently over our lips as we sleep together. Poetic Refrain: Mutual Possession The Beloved about Her Lover: 7:10 I am my beloved’s, and he desires me! The Journey to the Countryside The Beloved to Her Lover: 7:11 Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside; let us spend the night in the villages. 7:1 Let us rise early to go to the vine- yards, to see if the vines have budded, to see if their blossoms have opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom – there I will give you my love. 7:13 The mandrakes send out their fra- grance; over our door is every delicacy,0  tn The term ֵחְך (khek, “palate, mouth”) is often used as  a metonymy for what the mouth produces, e.g., the mouth is  the organ of taste (Ps 119:103; Job 12:11; 20:13; 34:3; Prov  24:13; Song 2:3), speech (Job 6:30; 31:30; 33:2; Prov 5:3; 8:7), sound (Hos 8:1), and kisses (Song 5:16; 7:10) (HALOT 313 s.v. ֵחְך; BDB 335 s.v. ֵחְך). The metonymical association  of her palate/mouth and her kisses is made explicit by RSV which translated the term as “kisses.”  tc The MT reads ִנים ְפֵתי ְיׁשֵ  shifte yÿshenim, “lips of those) ׁשִ who sleep”). However, an alternate Hebrew reading of ָפַתי ׂשְ י ּנָ  is suggested by (”sÿfata vÿsinna, “my lips and my teeth) ְוׁשִ the Greek tradition (LXX, Aquila, Symmachus): χείλεσίν μου καὶ ὀδοῦσιν  (ceilesin mou kai odousin, “my  lips and  teeth”). This alternate  reading, with minor variations,  is  fol- lowed by NAB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, NLT. tn Or “his lips as he falls asleep.” Heb “the lips of sleepers.”  Alternately, “over lips and teeth” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).  tn Heb “his desire is for me” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).  sn In the ancient Near East the mandrake was a widely  used symbol of erotic love because it was thought to be an  aphrodisiac and therefore was used as a  fertility drug. The  unusual shape of the large forked roots of the mandrake re- sembles the human body with extended arms and legs. This similarity gave rise to the popular superstition that the man- drake could induce conception and it was therefore used as  a fertility drug. It was so thoroughly associated with erotic love  that its name is derived from the Hebrew root ּדֹוד (dod, “love”),  that is, ּדּוָדִאים (duda’im) denotes “love-apples.” Arabs used its  fruit and roots as an aphrodisiac and referred to it as abd al-  sal’m (“servant of love”) (R. K. Harrison, “The Mandrake and  the Ancient World,” EQ 28 [1956]: 188-89; Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 138-39). 0 sn Her comparison of their love to fruit stored “over our  door” reflects an ancient Near Eastern practice of storing fruit on a shelf above the door of a house. In the ancient Near East,  fruits were stored away on shelves or cupboards above door- ways where they were out of reach and left to dry until they  became very sweet and delectable. The point of comparison  in this figurative expression seems to be two-fold: (1) She was treasuring up special expressions of her sexual love to give to him, and (2) All these good things were for him alone to enjoy.  See M. H. Pope, The Song of Songs [AB], 650. the sonG oF sonGs 7:8 156 like a signet on your arm. For love is as strong as death, passion is as unrelenting as Sheol. Its flames burst forth, it is a blazing flame.  tn Literally “cylinder-seal” or “seal.” The term חֹוָתם (kho- tam,  “cylinder-seal”)  is  repeated  in  8:6  for  emphasis.  The  translation above uses the terms “cylinder seal” and “signet”  simply for the sake of poetic variation. The Beloved wanted to  be as safe and secure as a cylinder seal worn on the arm or  around the neck, hanging down over the heart. She also want- ed to be placed on his heart (emotions), like the impression of  a cylinder seal is written on a document. She wanted to be “written” on his heart like the impression of a cylinder seal,  and kept secure in his love as a signet ring is worn around his  arm/hand to keep it safe.  tn Alternately, “wrist.” In Palestine cylinder seals were of- ten hung on a bracelet worn around one’s wrist. The cylinder  seal was mounted on a pin hanging from a bracelet. The cylin- der seal in view in Song 8:6 could be a stamp seal hung from a bracelet of a type known from excavations in Israel. See W. W. Hallo, “‘As the Seal Upon Thy Heart’: Glyptic Roles in the Biblical World,” BRev 2 (1985): 26.  sn It was a common practice in the ancient world to com- pare intense feelings to death. The point of the expression “love is as strong as death” means that love is extremely strong. The expression “love is as cruel as Sheol” may sim- ply mean that love can be profoundly cruel. For example: “His soul was vexed to death,” means that he could not stand it any longer (Judg 16:16). “I do well to be angry to death,”  means that he was extremely angry (Jonah 4:9). “My soul is sorrowful to death,” means that he was exceedingly sorrowful (Matt 26:38 = Mark 14:34) (D. W. Thomas, “A Consideration of Some Unusual Ways of Expressing the Superlative in He- brew,” VT 3 [1953]: 220-21).  tn Alternately,  “jealousy.”  The  noun ִקְנָאה  (qin’ah)  has  a  wide range of meanings: “jealousy” (Prov 6:34; 14:30; 27:4), “competitiveness”  (Eccl 4:4; 9:6),  “anger”  (Num 5:14, 30),  “zeal” (2 Kgs 10:16; Pss 69:10; 119:139; Job 5:2; Sir 30:24), and “passion” (Song 8:6). The Hebrew noun is related to the Akkadian and Arabic roots that mean “to become intensely  red” or “become red with passion,” suggesting that the root  denotes  strong  emotion.  Although   ִקְנָאה is  traditionally  ren- dered “jealousy” (KJV, RSV, NASB, NIV), the parallelism with .suggests the nuance “passion” (NJPS) (”ahavah, “love’) ַאֲהָבה Coppes notes, “This word is translated in the KJV in a bad sense in Song 8:6, ‘jealousy is as cruel as the grave,’ but it could be taken in a good sense in parallel with the preceding,  ‘ardent zeal is as strong as the grave’” (TWOT 2:803).  tn Heb “harsh” or “severe.”  tn Heb “Its flames are flames of fire.”  tn The noun ְלֶהֶבְתָיה -is re (”shalhevetyah, “mighty flame) ׁשַ lated to the nouns ְלֶהֶבת  ,lehavah) ֶלָהָבה ,(”shalhevet, “flame) ׁשַ “flame”), and ַלַהב  (lahav, “flame”), all of which are derived from the root להב “to burn, blaze, flame up” (HALOT 520 s.v.  ְלֶהֶבְתָיה The form .(ַלַהב  is an unusual noun pattern with (1) a ׁשַ prefix ־ׁש that is common in Akkadian but rare in Hebrew; it  has an intensive adjective meaning, (2) a feminine ־ת ending,  and (3) a suffix ־ָיה whose meaning is debated. The suffix ־ָיה  has been taken in three ways by scholars and translators: (1)   ,(”Yahweh“) יהוה is an abbreviated form of the divine name ָיה functioning as a genitive of source: “the flame of the Lord”  (NASB). The abbreviated form ָיּה is used only in poetic texts as a poetic variation of יהוה (e.g., Exod 15:2; 17:16; Pss 68:5, 19; 77:12; 89:9; 94:7, 12; 102:19; 104:35; 105:45; 106:1, 48; 111:1; 112:1; 113:1, 9; 115:17, 18; 116:19; 117:2; 118:5, 14, 17-19; 122:4; 130:3; 135:1, 3, 4, 21; 146:1, 10; 147:1, 20; 148:1, 14; 149:1, 9; 150:1, 6;  Isa 12:2; 26:4; 38:11).  However, the Masoretes did not point the text as ְלֶהֶבת־ָיּה  ׁשַ (shalhevet-yah) with maqqep and daghesh in the ּה, as would  be the case with the divine name. (2) Thomas suggests that,  just as ֱאֹלִהים (’elohim) and ֵאל (’el) are sometimes used to ex- press superlatives or intensive ideas, so ָיה expresses the su- perlative/intensive: “a mighty flame” (D. W. Thomas, “A Con- sideration of Some Unusual Ways of Expressing the Super- 8:7 Surging waters cannot quench love; floodwaters cannot overflow it. If someone were to offer all his posses- sions to buy love,0 the offer would be utterly despised. The Brother’s Plan and the Sister’s Reward The Beloved’s Brothers: 8:8 We have a little sister, and as yet she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for? 8:9 If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver; lative in Hebrew,” VT 3 [1953]: 209-24). Examples of ֱאֹלִהים  (’elohim): “a mighty wind” (Gen 1:2), “a mighty prince” (Gen  23:6), “a great struggle” (Gen 30:8), “a great fire” (Job 1:16), “an exceeding great city” (Jonah 3:3). Examples of ֵאל  (’el):  “the mighty mountains” (Ps 36:7) and “the mighty cedars” (Ps 80:11). Examples of ָיה (yah) suffixed: “darkest gloom” (Jer 2:31),  “mighty deeds”  (Jer 32:19), and “mighty deeds”  (Ps  77:12). (3) The most likely view is that ָיה is an intensive adjec- tival suffix, similar to –iy and –ay and –awi in Aramaic, Akka- dian, and Arabic: “a most vehement flame” (KJV), “a mighty flame” (RSV, NIV), and “a blazing flame” (NJPS). This also best explains “darkest gloom” (Jer 2:31), and “mighty deeds” (Jer 32:19) (see S. Moscati, Comparative Grammar, 81, §12.18,  and 83, §12.23).  tn Heb “rivers.”  tn Heb “all the wealth of his house.” 0 tn Heb  “for  love.”  The  preposition   ּבְ (bÿ)  on  ַאֲהָבה  ּבָ (ba’ahavah, “for love”) indicates the price or exchange in trad- ing (HALOT 105 s.v.  -e.g., “Give me your vineyard in ex ,(17 ּבְ change for silver [ֶכֶסף .bÿkhesef]” (1 Kgs 21:6) ,ּבְ  tn Heb  “he/it.” The referent  (the offer of possessions)  has been specified in the translation for clarity. Some Eng- lish versions take the referent to be the man himself (ASV “He would utterly be condemned”; NAB “he would be roundly  mocked”). Others take the offer as the referent (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “it”).  tn The root ּבּוז (buz, “to despise”) is repeated for empha- sis:  The infinitive absolute frequently is .(boz yavuzu) ּבֹוז ָיבּוּזּו used with the imperfect of the same root for emphasis. The  point is simply that love cannot be purchased; it is infinitely more valuable than any and all wealth. Love such as this is priceless; no price tag can be put on love.  sn The Beloved’s brothers knew that once a couple is be- trothed, sexual temptations would be at their greatest. Thus, in v. 9 they devise a plan to protect the purity of their sister: If  she is a virtuous young woman, they would reward her; how- ever, if she is prone to temptation, they will restrain her and  guard her from promiscuity.  sn The simile  if she is a wall draws a comparison be- tween the impregnability of a city fortified with a strong outer wall and a virtuous young woman who successfully  resists  any  assaults  against  her  virginity.  The  term   חֹוָמה (khomah,  “wall”) often refers to an outside fortress wall that protects  the city from enemy military attacks (e.g., Lev 25:29-30; Josh 6:5; 1 Kgs 3:1; Neh 2:8; 12:27; Jer 1:8; 15:20).  sn The term ִטיָרה (tirah, “battlement, turret”) refers to the  row of stones along the top of a fortress wall, set for the de- fense and stability of the wall (Ezek 46:23; cf. HALOT 374 s.v.  This structure is connected with military operations set .(ִטיָרה in defense of a siege. 159 the sonG oF sonGs 8:9 but if she is a door, we will barricade her with boards of cedar. The Beloved: 8:10 I was a wall, and my breasts were like fortress towers. Then I found favor in his eyes. Solomon’s Vineyard and the Beloved’s Vineyard The Beloved to Her Lover: 8:11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal- Hamon; he leased out the vineyard to those who maintained it. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.  sn The verb צּור (tsur, “to surround, encircle, enclose”) is  often used in military contexts in reference to the siege or defense  of  a  fortress  city:  (1)  setting  up  military  positions  (siege walls) to surround a besieged city (e.g., Isa 29:3); (2)  encircling and laying siege to a city (e.g., Deut 20:12, 19; 2  Sam 11:1; 1 Kgs 15:27; 16:17; 20:1; 2 Kgs 6:24-25; 17:5; 19:9; 24:11; 1 Chr 20:1; Isa 21:2; 29:3; Jer 21:4, 9; 32:2; 37:5; 39:1; Ezek 4:3; Dan 1:1); (3) enclosing a city with sen- tries (e.g., Isa 29:3); (4) shutting a person within a city (1 Sam 23:8; 2 Sam 20:15; 2 Kgs 16:5); and (5) barricading a city door shut to prevent the city from being broken into and con- quered (e.g., Song 8:7) (HALOT 1015 s.v. I צור).  tn Heb “a board.” The singular noun לּוַח (lukha, “board,  plank”) may denote a singular of number or a collective.  sn An  interesting semantic parallel  involving  the “door/ bar” motif in ancient Near Eastern texts comes from an Assyr- ian charm against an enemy: “If he is a door, I will open your  mouth; but if he is a bar, I will open your tongue.” Obviously,  the line in the Song is not an incantation; the formula is used in a love motif. Cited by J. Ebeling, “Aus dem Tagewerk eines assyrischen Zauberpriesters,” MAOG 5 (1931): 19.  sn The  noun  ל  ִמְגּדָ (migdal,  “tower”)  can  refer  to  the  watchtowers of a fortified city (2 Kgs 17:9; 18:8; 2 Chr 26:9), projecting median towers along the fortified city wall which were crucial to the defense of the city (2 Chr 14:6; 26:15; 32:5), or fortress towers in the countryside set for the defen- se of the land (Judg 9:52; 2 Chr 27:4; Ezek 27:11) (HALOT 544 s.v. I ל The Beloved mixes metaphors by describing .(ִמְגּדָ her breasts with a comparison of sense and a comparison of  sight: (1) Comparison of sense: She successfully defended her virginity and sexual purity from seduction, as fortress tow- ers defended the city. (2) Comparison of sight: Just as the for- tress towers along a city wall projected out at the corners of  the wall, the Beloved’s breasts finally developed into beautiful “towers” (see 8:8 when she had no breasts as a young girl).  tn Heb “peace.” An eloquent wordplay is created by the  use of the noun לֹום  in 8:10b and (”shalom, “peace, favor) ׁשָ the name ֹלֹמה in 8:11a. The Beloved (”shÿlomoh, “Solomon) ׁשְ found “favor” (לֹום ֹלֹמה) in the eyes of Solomon (ׁשָ She won .(ׁשְ his heart because she was not only a beautiful young woman  (“my breasts were like fortress towers”), but a virtuous wom- an (“I was a wall”).  tn Heb “Then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace.”  tn Heb “gave.” 8:1 My vineyard, which belongs to me, is at my disposal alone.0 The thousand shekels belong to you, O Solomon, and two hundred shekels belong to those who maintain it for its fruit. Epilogue: The Lover’s Request and His Beloved’s Invitation The Lover to His Beloved: 8:13 O you who stay in the gardens, my companions are listening attentively for your voice; let me be the one to hear it! The Beloved to Her Lover: 8:14 Make haste, my beloved! Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.  sn The term ֶרם  is used literally in 8:11 (”kerem, “vineyard) ּכֶ in reference to Solomon’s physical vineyard, but in 8:12 it is used figuratively (hypocatastasis) in reference to the Beloved: ְרִמי Throughout the Song, the term .(”karmi, “my vineyard) ּכַ ֶרם is used figuratively (Song 1:6; 2:15; 8:12). In (”vineyard“) ּכֶ 8:12 it is used in reference to either (1) herself, (2) her choice  of whom to give herself to in love, or (3) her physical body. In  contrast to Solomon’s physical vineyard, whose fruit can be bought and sold (8:11), she is not for sale: She will only give herself freely to the one whom she chooses to love.  tn Each of the three terms in this line has the 1st person  common singular suffix which is repeated three times for em- phasis: ְרִמי י ,(”karmi, “my vineyard) ּכַ ּלִ  shelli, “which belongs) ׁשֶ to me”), and ְלָפָני (lÿfana, “at my disposal”). In contrast to King  Solomon, who owns the vineyard at Baal-Hamon and who can buy and sell anything in the vineyard that he wishes, she  proclaims that her “vineyard” (= herself or her body) belongs  to her alone. In contrast to the vineyard, which can be leased  out, and its fruit, which can be bought or sold, her “vineyard”  is not for sale. Her love must and is to be freely given. 0 tn Heb “[it is] before me.” The particle ְלָפָני (lÿfana) can  denote  “at  the  disposal  of”  (e.g.,  Gen  13:9;  20:15;  24:51;  34:10; 47:6; Jer 40:4; 2 Chr 14:6) (HALOT 9 s.v. ֶנה  f; BDB.4 ּפָ 817 s.v. 4 פנה.a.f). Similar to Akkadian ana pan “at the dis- posal of” (AHw 2:821.a, paragraph 20), the term is used in  reference to a sovereign (usually a land-owner or king) who  has full power over his property to dispose of as he wishes,  e.g., “The whole country is at your disposal [ְלָפֶניָך, lÿfaneka]”  (Gen 13:9). In Song 8:12 the form ְלָפָני has the 1st person  common singular suffix: “My vineyard, which belongs to me, is at my disposal.”   tn The  term יִבים  ַמְקׁשִ (maqshivim)  is  in  the Hiphil  stem  which denotes an  intense desire  to hear someone’s voice,  that is, to eagerly listen for someone’s voice (e.g., Jer 6:17) (HALOT 1151 s.v. 1 קׁשב). The participle functions verbally and  denotes a continual, ongoing, durative action.  tc The  editors  of  BHS  suggests  that  ָאִני  ַגם (gam ’ani,  “me also”) should be inserted. Although there is no textual evidence  for  the  insertion,  it  seems clear  that  the 1st per- son  common  singular  referent  is  emphatic  in  MT  ִמיִעיִני  ַהׁשְ (hashmi’ini, “Let me hear it!”).  tn The imperative ִמיִעיִני -functions as a re (hashmi’ini) ַהׁשְ quest. The lover asks his beloved to let him hear her beautiful  voice (e.g., Song 2:14). the sonG oF sonGs 8:10 160