His invita- to come Her response that she would receive him at eventide Her passionate longing and quest for her lover Refrain 13The figtree ripens her figs, And the vines" give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away, 140 my dove, in the rocky clefts, in the covert of the cliff, 15 Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes, That spoil the vineyards, when our vineyards are in bloom. 17Until the day becomes cool, and the shadows flee away, Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a gazelle, Or like a young hind on the mountains of spices. 3 'By night on my bed I sought him whom I love; In the streets and in the broad ways I will seek him whom I love.' "The watchmen who go about the city found me; To whom I said, 'Saw ye him whom I love?'y 'It was but a little after I passed from them, when I found him; I held him whom I love, and would not let him go, Until I brought him to my mother's house, to the chamber of her who conceived me." "I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles or by the hinds of the field, That you stir not up nor awaken love until it please. u213 A scribe has added, destroying the metre, the explanatory words in bloom. Its lack of syntactical connection with the context reveals its secondary character. 215 Heb. adds My beloved is mine, and I am his, as he feeds among the lilies. This was This makes no sense. y34 Adding him and joining him whom I love (lit., him whom my soul loves) to the next line as the metre demands. 134 By many this awkward line is regarded as a scribal expansion. Cf. 82 with which it is apparently inconsistent. THE APPROACH OF THE BRIDEGROOM III WEDDING-SONGS Sg. of Sgs. 36-814 §30. The Approach of the Bridegroom and His Wedding Address to His Bride, Sg. of Sgs. 36-51 Sg. of Sgs. 3 'Who is this coming up from the wilderness like pillars of Query smoke, Perfumed with myrrh and incense, with all the powders of the merchant? "Sixty brave warriors are about it, of the warriors of Israel, 8All of them handle the sword and are expert in war; Every man hath his sword upon his thigh, because of fear at night. 'King Solomon made himself a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon; 10 He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, Its seat of purple, its midst adorned with love. b of the people Reply that it is the bridegroom ap proaching with his friends Com mand "Go forth, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, and behold King Solomon, With the crown wherewith his mother hath crowned him on the day of his to the espousals. bride's atten dants 4 'Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; Thine eyes are like doves peeping from behind thy veil. Thy hair is as a flock of goats that stream down from Mount Gilead." 30 The opening stanzas of this song introduce the bridegroom advancing with his attendants to claim his bride. In keeping with the Palestinian wedding customs, he is spoken of as King Solomon; his attendants are described as mighty warriors corresponding to the royal bodyguard. In imagination he is clad and attended with royal splendor. It is not clear who is speaking in the second stanza. It may possibly have been the bride, but more probably it was the people or some one of the wedding-guests who answered the question of the people and called the attention of the daughters of Jerusalem (the bride's attendants) to the approach of the bridegroom on this his wedding-day. The scene is evidently before the home of the bride and the hour is in the early evening, when the Oriental wedding festivities began. It The stanzas which follow represent the bridegroom's praise of his bride. It corresponds to the wasf of the bridegroom in the modern Palestinian weddings. The description is characteristically concrete and typically Oriental. It begins with praise of her eyes and hair. A description of her bodily charms then follows. It was the one occasion when, in the social life of the East, such a description was deemed proper and appropriate. Its spirit, however, is chaste. is followed by a highly poetic passage in which the bridegroom requests the bride to leave her home and become his wife. It is significant that, whereas in 41.7 the bridegroom employs as earlier the more formal term friend in addressing the object of his affections, in and 10 he for the first time uses the term bride. The bride is described under the figure of a garden, even as in modern Arabic poetry. Using the same figure, and with great delicacy, the bride in is expresses her willingness to enter into the marriage relation. The song ends with an address to the assembled guests by the bridegroom. This corresponds to the refrain in which the bride addressed her attendants at the conclusion of the earlier songs. 36 The brevity of this line is probably in order to make it more impressive. b311 The Heb. adds daughters of Zion, but this destroys the metre and is evidently a scribal duplicate of the term daughters of Jerusalem, which, in the current division of the vss., is connected with 10 and introduced by from. 0311 Heb. adds in the day of the gladness of his heart; this, however, is probably but a scribal duplicate of the preceding phrase in the day of his espousals. d41 Supplying the verb implied by the preposition. 41 So certain Heb. MSS. and Gk. Heb., along the side of Mount Gilead. The goats of Palestine are, as a rule, black, and the poet's figure describes the bride's black, waving locks. Bridegroom's description of the bride's beauty His invita tion to come away His description of the bride's charms The bride's consent "Thy teeth are like a flock of shorn' ewes coming up from the washing, "Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy mouth is comely, On which hang a thousand bucklers, all the shields of the warriors.b Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,k from Lebanon, From the top of Amana, my sister, from the top of Senir and Hermon,1 "Thou hast captured my heart, O my sister, my briden 10 How fair is thy love, O sister, my bride! How much better is thy love than wine, And the fragrance of thine oils than all kinds of spices! "Thy lips, O my bride, drop as the honeycomb, Honey and milk are under thy tongue; And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. 12A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed. 13Thy shoots are a pomegranate park, with precious fruits: 16 Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; Blow upon my garden that its spices may flow out; Let my beloved enter his garden, and eat his precious fruits. 142 I. e., pearly white, symmetrical, and complete. 843 The reference is to the delicate veining. h4 The meaning is exceedingly doubtful. The current translation given above is based on implications of the context. The reference is probably to the adornments and especially to the golden spangles referred to in 111. 145 Possibly two, which is superfluous in the Heb., is due to a scribal repetition. 145 Heb. adds which feed among the lilies; but this makes no sense and is, without reasonable doubt, a scribal insertion from 218. The same scribe has apparently introduced from the same context, 217, the vs.: Until the day be cool and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense. Vs. is the natural sequel of 5, while the inserted vs. is out of harmony with the bridegroom's invitation in 8. k48 So Gk., Lat., and Syr. Cf.. Heb. repeats with me. 148 This vs. suggests the ancient form of marriage by capture and flight. m48 Lit., mount of the leopards. 49 Heb. repeats thou hast captured my heart. 04 Lit., of thy neck; i. e., the necklace on thy fair neck P4' Possibly the original read: Thou hast captured my heart, with one of thine eyes § 31. The Bride's Praise of the Bridegroom, Sg. of Sgs. 52–63 Sg. of Sgs. 5 I was asleep, but my mind was awake: Hark! My beloved is knocking! [He said], 'Open to me, my sister, My locks with the drops of the night.' [But I said], 'I have put off my garment; How shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; How shall I soil them?' 'My beloved took his hand away from the latch." "I rose up to open to my beloved; "I myself opened to my beloved; But my beloved had turned away, was gone. My soul had failed me when he spoke, I sought him, but could not find him, I called him, but he gave me no answer. "The watchmen who go about the city Found me, they smote me, they wounded me; The keepers of the walls took from me my mantle. Bride's reminis cence of another visit of her lover Refrain "What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among Their women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so adjure us? §31 This song contains the bride's impassioned description of her love for the bridegroom and of his physical charms. It corresponds to the bridegroom's description of her charms in the preceding song. Like the similar song in 28-35, it is in part a monologue. Its object is evidently to indicate the intensity of the love which burns in her heart. Her description of her lover which follows is provoked by the question of her attendants. The bridegroom does not appear in person in this song until the close. As in the second song, 28-35, she is alone with her attendants in whose presence her frank expression of her love is appropriate. While her concrete description of the physical characteristics of the bridegroom does not appeal to Western taste, it is thoroughly chaste and full of Oriental charm. 15 Lit., hole of the door through which one reached to lift the latch. request that she describe her beloved Her de scription of his charms Effect upon her attendants Her coy reply Bridegroom's apostrophe to his bride 10My beloved is dazzling and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand; 12 His eyes are like doves beside the streams of water, 13His cheeks are a bed of spices; banks of sweet herbs;" His body is ivory work overlaid with sapphires. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. 6 'Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? "My beloved is gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, In order that he may feed in the gardens, and there gather lilies. "I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine, as he feeds among the lilies. § 32. Praise of the Bride and Her Public Avowal of Her Love, Sg. of Sgs. 6184 Sg. of Sgs. 6 4Thou art fair, O my friend, as Tirzah!* "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they cause me alarm. Thy hair is as a flock of goats that stream down from Mount Gilead. "Thy teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes, which come up from the washing, "Thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate behind thy veil." 'My dove, my undefiled, is but one! She is the only one of her mother, the choice one of her who bore her. 511 The Heb. adds a doubtful word usually translated bushy, but it is probably secondary. 1512 The exact meaning of the Heb. is not known. The translation is based on the root meanings of the Heb. words. u513 Lit., balsam. 514 Lit., the Tarshish stone. 518 Or, revising the text slightly, Behold he is. § 32 This song, chiefly devoted to a description of the charms of the bride, corresponds to the preceding description of the bridegroom. As in the third song, 36-51, the bridegroom advanced in regal state, so now the bride advances. She is first addressed by the bridegroom. The opening stanza is largely a duplicate of the bridegroom's praise of the bride in 41-51. Possibly it is secondary, and the original song, like the corresponding one in 36-11, began with a question of the assembled guests. Here the bride evidently appears before the guests, clad in all her finery, and possibly brandishing a sword, as in the corresponding scene in the modern east-Jordan wedding ceremony, and dances, while they chant her charms. It is significant that the remarkably free description of her physical beauty in 715 begins with her feet and concludes with a reference to her tresses, in which the king, i. e., the bridegroom, is held captive. The brief dialogue between the bridegroom and bride at the end apparently concludes the public wedding ceremony. *6 Tirzah, for a brief time after the death of Solomon, the capital of northern Israel, is probably to be identified with the modern Teiasir, twelve miles northeast of Samaria. It stood on a commanding height in the midst of fertile fields. 68 Following Budde (Komm, 32) in emending the text in the light of 8". A scribe familiar with the statement in I Kgs. 11' that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines has added and virgins without number. |