Page:The Song of Songs (1857).djvu/151

 7 Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, Where thou feedest thy flock, Where thou causest it to lie down at noon, Lest I should be roaming Among the flocks of thy companions.

the daughter of Pharaoh can reconcile it with the facts that the damsel's dark complexion is here described as adventitious; whereas the Egyptians, even of the highest and most secluded classes, are naturally dark, and that she has been made keeper of the vineyards, which would ill agree with any prince's daughter. [HE: k.erem/] is most probably derived from [HE: k.oroh] = [HE: k.v.r], to dig, hence a garden cultivated by means of axes and spades in contradistinction to fields worked with ploughs and harrows. (Compare Saalschütz, Archäologie der Hebraër, vol. i. p. 119.) For the term. [HE: —em/] vide supra, p. 131. [HE: S/eliy], i.q. [HE: 'a:S/er liy] is used emphatically after [HE: k.arimiy], to mark the contrast, and not, as Houbigant erroneously supposes, in the sense of [HE: bSly], tranquillè, ''mine own vineyard I kept not quietly''.

7. Tell me, O thou, &c. Having repelled the disdainful looks of the court ladies, the Shulamite now resumes her address to her beloved; so that this verse is intimately connected with the fourth; and verses five and six are, as it were, parenthetical. Is it not surprising that some can read this verse, and yet believe that the king was the object of the damsel's attachment, when this shows so clearly that it was a shepherd? The violent heat of noonday compels people in the East to desist from labour, and recline in some cool part of the house (2 Sam. iv. 5). Shepherds especially, being more exposed to the burning rays of the sun, lead their flocks under some shady tree near wells and streams. (Gen. xxix. 7; Ps. xxiii.; Isa. xix. 10.) We have beautiful descriptions of the same custom by Greeks and Romans. Thus Virgil, Georg. iii. 331—

Aestibus at mediis umbrosam exquirere vallem, Sicubi magna Jovis antiquo robore quercus Ingentis tendat ramos, aut sicubi nigrum Ilicibus crebris sacra nemus adcubet umbra.

"When noon-tide flames, down cool sequester'd glades, Lead where some giant oak the dell o'ershades, Or where the gloom of many an ilex throws The sacred darkness that invites repose."

Compare also Theocritus, i. 14, 15: vi. 1, 16, 38, 39. [HE: 'Eykoh] prop. how, but also of place, where, 2 Kings xvi. 13. Twenty-eight MSS. of Kenn. and De Rossi, read [HE: v^e'Eykoh], but this weakens the sentence. We must supply [HE: xO'n^ek/o] after [HE: h.ir^e`eh], and [HE: —m/] after [HE: t.ar^eb.iyx/], see Ezek. xxxiv. 15. Immanuel accounts for the dual, [HE: xoho:rayim/], because [HE: Svh hSm/ nvpl l' `l Hxvt hyvm/ blbd 'l' gm/ `l Hlq mhyvm/ qrvb lHxvt vHlq mhyvm/ m`T 'Hr Hxvt], it speaks of that part of the day immediately preceding noon as well as of that part which immediately follows noon. [HE: S/elomoh], i.q. [HE: 'a:S/er lomoh], Dan. i. 10, ut ne, well rendered by the Sept. [GR: mê/pote], Vulg. ne. [HE: 'a:S/er] is used as a conjunction, the [HE: l] to express design, or purpose, and [HE: moh] for negation, Ewald, § 337, 6. [HE: k.^e`OT^eyoh] has caused much perplexity to interpreters. It is explained to mean ''like one veiled ([GR: ô(s periba/llomênê], Sept.), as a sign of mourning'' (Rashi, compare 2 Sam. xv. 30; xix. 5); of harlotry (Rosenmüller, comp. xxviii. 5); of shame (Umbreit, Hengstenberg, comp. Jer. xiv. 3; Mal. iii. 7); and of wandering or roaming (Philippson, comp. Jer. xliii. 12). But where-*ever covering is used to signify mourning or shame, the part of the body usually covered, in order to indicate the existence of the emotion, is invariably stated. Equally untenable is the rendering of harlot; for Tamar covered her face, not as a sign that she was a prostitute, but to disguise herself, so that she might not be recognised, and Judah took her to be a harlot because she sat by the way side, Comp. Jer. iii. 2. Ewald renders it like one unknown; but this, to say the least, is remote from the context;