Page:The Song of Songs (1857).djvu/192



SOLOMON.

VII. 1 Return, return, O Shulamite, Return, return, that we may look at thee.

THE SHULAMITE.

What will you behold in the Shulamite?

SOLOMON.

Like a dance to double choirs.

Ezra takes the chariots as a figure for swiftness, [HE: l' yd`ty Shyyty hvlkt bmrvxh 'lyk/] [HE: kmv mrkbvt `my ndyb hgdvl SyS b`my], "I did not know that I was hurrying on to thee with the rapidity of the chariots of the great prince who is among my people;" which the Syriac, [SY:'=a' yed`at napshy s=amta`y bm=arb=abt'], though sharing somewhat in the errors of the Sept. and Vulg., seems to favour. Herder takes the chariots as a symbol of martial power, guard, and protection (Ps. xx. 8; 2 Kings ii. 11, 12). Hengstenberg affirms that the chariots signify champion, guard, defence. And secondly, this translation interrupts the connexion of this verse with the preceding one. Now the second rendering avoids all this. Solomon has repeated in verse 10 the praise which the court ladies had pronounced on the Shulamite when they first saw her; the Shulamite (in ver. 11, 12), in reply, explains how she came to the carriages of the court ladies.

1. Return, return, &c. Here we see how little all the persuasions, promises, and eulogies of the king and courtiers affected the sincere and deeply rooted affections of the Shulamite for her beloved shepherd. No sooner had she explained (as she incidentally informs us) how she came to be noticed and taken up by the king, than she actually started off. But the king entreated her to return, that he might look at her once more. The Shulamite, pausing a little, turns round and modestly asks:

What will you behold in the Shulamite? That is, what can ye see in a humble rustic girl? [HE: haS/.v.lam.yt], as is evident from the article, is a gentile noun, according to the analogy of [HE: haS/.v.nam.iyt], (1 Kings i. 3; 2 Kings iv. 12, 25.) Ewald, § 156c: and a female inhabitant of Shulem, i.q. Shunem. Shulem still exists as a village, now called Sôlam, about three miles and a half north of Zerîn, (Jezreel), and lies on the declivity, at the western end of the mountain of Duhy, the so-called Little Hermon. "There is little room for doubt that it is the ancient Shunem of the tribe of Issachar, where the Philistines encamped before Saul's last battle, (Josh. xix. 18; 1 Sam. xxviii. 4.) From the same place, apparently, Abishag the Shunammite was brought to the aged David; and here it was probably that Elisha often lodged in the house of the Shunammite woman, and afterwards raised her son from the dead (1 Kings i. 3; 2 Kings iv. 8-37; viii. 1-6). Eusebius and Jerome describe it in their day as a village lying five Roman miles from Mount Tabor, towards the southern quarter, and they write the name already Sulem." Robinson, Palestine, iii. 169, &c. The transition of [HE: l] into [HE: n] is of frequent occurrence; comp. [HE: loHax/] and [HE: noHax/], to burn. (Gesen. Lexicon, [HE: l] a; Ewald, § 156, c.) [HE: S/v.lam.iyt] is not the feminine of the name [HE: S/^elOmOh], which would be [HE: S/^elOmiyt]; comp. Lev. xxiv. 11; 1 Chron. iii. 19; Ewald, § 274, f.

Like a dance to double choirs, replies the king, i.e. "to see thee is like gazing at the charming view of a festive choir expressing their merriment in a sacred dance. The Hebrews, in common with other nations (Strabo, 10), used sacred dancing, accompanied by vocal and instrumental music, as expressive of joy and rejoicing (Exod. xv. 20; 2 Sam. vi. 15; Ps. cxlix. 3).