1. She compares herself to a simple wild flower, the crocus (RM) of Sharon. The plain, which extended from Joppa to Cæsarea, was proverbial for its flowers (Isaiah 35:2), and travellers continue to revert to this feature: 'We constantly had reason to admire the faint harmonious colouring of the wild... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ARDENT AFFECTION OF THE LOVERS 2-7. Songs of the bride: her enquiry and his answers.... [ Continue Reading ]
LOVE] The original has 'loves,' i.e. expressions of love, repeated kisses and embraces. He will hot suffer her to depreciate her own value: compared with other women she is a lily among thorns (Proverbs 31:29). The Huleh lily, in the north of the Holy Land, grows in the midst of thorns, which lacer... [ Continue Reading ]
OINTMENTS] Orientals have always been passionately fond of perfumes. The literatures of Egypt, Greece, and Rome abound in references to them: in the Bible see Psalms 23:5; Psalms 45:7; Proverbs 7:17; Proverbs 27:9; Luke 7:46; John 12:3. A modern traveller writes: 'Arabs are delighted with perfumes;... [ Continue Reading ]
He has brought her to a 'house of wine' (RM), a place of feasting and enjoyment, where the banner floating over them was not merely inscribed with the word Love, but was Love, itself. The entire description is figurative, and if the language were not sufficient to indicate this we should be driven t... [ Continue Reading ]
She begs her friends to sustain her with cakes of pressed raisins (RV), such as were given to those who were fainting for hunger (1 Samuel 25:18; 1 Samuel 30:12; 2 Samuel 6:19; Hosea 3:1).... [ Continue Reading ]
Her mother's sons have made it impossible for her to avoid this, treating her with that arbitrary tyranny which male relatives so often display in the East. 'I have known an ill-natured child,' says Doughty, 'lay a stick on the back of his good cherishing mother': cp. 1 Samuel 17:28. Her own vineyar... [ Continue Reading ]
And they are to leave her and her beloved for the present undisturbed by the festal dances and songs. The request is repeated Song of Solomon 3:5; Song of Solomon 8:4, and on each occasion is evidently meant to mark one of the main divisions of the poem. The adjuration, by the gazelles (RM), and by... [ Continue Reading ]
With kindly banter he bids her lead out her little flock of female kids and take her chance of finding him. 9-11. It would not occur to us to compare a woman to a beautiful mare: but an Eastern at once appreciates the simile. In Damascus 'the mare comes before wife and child': she may be worth £40,... [ Continue Reading ]
A VISIT AND AN INVITATION 8-13 After an interval she relates one of his visits to her home. He comes swiftly and easily; hills and mountains are no obstacle. He stands behind the wall of her mother's house, and she gazes at him through the lattice, for she has seen his approach from afar. The ungla... [ Continue Reading ]
He would have her accompany him to the open country. With the 'string of jewels' (RV) compare a song which may be heard now in Syria: 'From above, Abu Tabba, from above, Abu Tabba, Put golden coins upon her, and under her neck a string of pearls. The necklace usually worn consists of three rows o... [ Continue Reading ]
It is the right season. The winter and the rains are over, for in that climate there is a cloudless sky from the beginning of May to the end of October.... [ Continue Reading ]
It is the time of flowers: 'Everywhere this day the earth was beautifully green, and carpeted with flowers. The air was fresh and balmy and laden with the sweet scents of spring... The sky was so blue, the mountains and plains looked so beautiful, the birds, insects, the wild flowers, the fresh balm... [ Continue Reading ]
The early figs are growing spicy; the vines are all blossom and fragrance. It is the season when a young man's mind turns lightly to thoughts of love. Even in our cold England the poet sings— 'Twas when the spousal time of May Hangs all the hedge with bridal wreaths, And air's so sweet the bosom... [ Continue Reading ]
15. He begs her to lay aside her coyness, for she is concealing herself, like a dove in an inaccessible mountain gorge. Where there is no village pigeon-house the wild doves of Syria build in hollows of the steep rocks. At the monastery of St. Saba 'one sees, sailing on outstretched wings from out o... [ Continue Reading ]
He compares her eyes to doves. Eastern women spend much pains on their eyes, painting them round with kohl to add to their apparent size and increase their expressiveness. And the comparison of maidens to doves is exceedingly common in the popular poetry: 'Lovely girls are there, like a flock of do... [ Continue Reading ]
At midday the heat is overpowering—All round the coast the languid air did swoon, Breathing like one that hath a weary dream.' But at sunset the day 'breathes' (RM); a cool breeze blows, and the shadows gradually disappear (Genesis 3:8; Job 14:2). The gazelles (RM) descend at night to the plains to... [ Continue Reading ]