Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 6:12
Or ever I was aware, my soul made me [like] the chariots of Ammi-nadib.
12. This is probably the most difficult verse in the whole book to interpret satisfactorily. Perhaps it may best be rendered as in R.V. my soul (or, desire, marg.) set me among the chariots of my princely people. That nephesh may mean ‘appetite’ or ‘desire’ is clear from Pro 23:2. So taken, the words would mean that when she was engaged in inspecting and enjoying the gardens, suddenly, before she knew, her longing to see the plants brought her among the chariots of her noble people, i.e. of noble people who were hers, i.e. rulers of her land. She suddenly came upon the train of King Solomon, as they were on the way from or to some royal dwelling in the North. But it must be confessed that the translation of Ammi-nadib as ‘my princely people’ is not very satisfactory, though the omission of the article with the adj. after a noun defined by a pronominal suffix is not uncommon. (Cp. Ges.-K. Gramm. 126, h and z). The text may be corrupt, but the extensive changes of reading proposed by Budde, Grtz, and Cheyne do not mend matters much, and are none of them convincing. But if the meaning we have found in these words is even generally correct, it is fatal to Budde’s theory that the book is a mere collection of unconnected marriage songs. Nothing can be made of them on that hypothesis, and all who support it have to get rid of them, either by amending them, or excising them.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Son 6:12
Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Ammi-nadib.
The influence of the unseen
The world passeth away and the lusts thereof. The spiritual alone is permanent. Some men acquire notoriety in their day, their name passes into a proverb, and yet, singular to say, in after times, we find their names recorded, but we are at a loss to know what their deeds were which made them so famous. I have read Out a text in which a mans name occurs about whom we know nothing. As a proverbial saying, it may be regarded as an illustration of the spontaneity and intuition of the heart. The affections under the guidance of the will becoming a chariot, in which the man is borne away.
I. Spiritual spontaneity. Spontaneity signifies that which is voluntary and unconstrained, free and instantaneous action. Without spontaneity our lives would sink to the dull, dead level of things, we should be mere links in the great chain of cause and effect. Without spontaneity we should be things, not men. This power, this pure activity is necessary to our personality. We are about to speak of the spontaneity of life–that is, spiritual life. By the spontaneity of this life, we mean that its impulses, sensibilities, and affections are not the result of a painful and protracted effort, but spring from life as its natural manifestation and development. There is naturalness in all the forms of life. We are often struck with the unnatural character of some mens religion. It seems like something that belongs to the man, a mere accident or appendage; he can put it on as a garment, but he can divest himself of it at any moment. What naturalness there is in life, in the modest, quiet beauty of the flower, that opens itself to drink in the dew and the sunlight, and gives its perfume to every breath that passes by, and does this spontaneously, for it is the law of its life. Some few illustrations of the spontaneity of life may make our meaning more apparent. When the physical organization is perfect, when there is health as well as life, the body performs many of its functions without effort and unconsciously. The man runs without weariness, and walks without fainting. Life is like a stream sparkling in the sunshine, making its own music as it flows on, sustained and nourished by the fountain that gave it birth. It is the sick man who frequently places his finger on the pulse. It is the man out of health who has the study of his own nature forced upon him, and who is constantly seeking to reproduce and restore harmony. A man who lives near to God and has constant communion with Him, will have Divine beauty put upon him. He may, like Moses, put a veil over his face, but at any moment he can put off the veil, and go in and speak with God. There is no necessity for the soul to see that the strings of the instrument are tuned concert pitch, at any instant she can awaken music and call on all spiritual faculties like so many choristers to blend their voices in one song. A man need not, like Saul, the first king of Israel, force himself to offer sacrifice. There are spiritual instincts: My heart and my flesh cry out for God. There is no fixedness of heart: Oh God, my heart is fixed. there is spontaneity: Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Ammi-nadib. The highest acts of the spiritual life are for the most part acts of pure spontaneity. Life is in its incipient and undeveloped forms, when we must learn to see, to speak, to walk; and so in the beginning of the spiritual life, there must be effort, and painful consciousness, till we grow up into Him who is the Head, even Christ. How may we attain this high spiritual state? We must seek the constant actings of the Spirit, and yield ourselves to the felt influence of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit is to help our infirmities,–that is, the Spirit is to lift us up, to raise, to elevate us; the Spirit gives wings to the soul, so that we maybe borne up into a spiritual region, and commune with spiritual things. We must get the unity of our whole nature. You must live in constant communion with God. Let me say, there is real happiness and great peace resulting from this spontaneity of life. There is the Sabbath of the soul; the work of the new creation being over, God still comes to man, and walks in the garden in the cool of the day. Love manifests itself to love; a living God to a living soul. In this state you will be prepared to use all things; you will be ready to receive Divine communications; you will be fitted for all seasons of fellowship. Worldly men instinctively go after the world. They come to the sanctuary, but they go where their heart goes: Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib. There is spontaneity in sin. It becomes natural–it awakens no astonishment–man seeks his gratification in it.
II. The intuitions of the heart. The circumstances in the chapter are these: The bridegroom is without the bride, but he goes into scenes where she has been, which seem to him filled with her presence; everything reminds him of her–his heart goes after her, he instinctively feels that she is near, though he does not see her. We are influenced by the unseen. The true centre of our life–of all its thoughts, feelings, and energies–is the unseen. There is an attractive force, of even higher power than the force which draws bodies to the earth. Our life is in God; our holiness is the shadow of His light; our love the birth of His love. The regenerated soul goes to God to find satisfaction in Him; it goes instinctively, by the law of its new life, to have communion with God. The spiritual man finds, or ever he is aware, his heart has lifted him up to heaven. The unseen influences us. There are influences which do not act on the senses, but on the spirit, which do not proceed from anything that may be seen or that is handled, but from the spiritual. Men are influenced by fellowship, by example, by mind acting on mind, by the literature of the day, by the daily papers. We are influenced by the past, by the writings of men who have entered the unseen world. And are not our minds open to the direct influences of the Spirit of God? Cannot the Father of our spirits draw near to us, and illuminate, sanctify, and commune with our hearts? A man must be spiritual to recognize and appropriate spiritual things. What is meant by a man being spiritual? That he is born of the Spirit, that he lives in the Spirit, that his own spiritual nature has the mastery over the outward and the physical–that there is a state of real spiritual unity. With his well-balanced mind he can respond to spiritual impressions, and make use of spiritual opportunities. This ready response is indispensable; the vision will not tarry. A right state of heart is necessary that we may be able to take advantage of all opportunities, that we may be prepared, not only for the Sabbath, but for all times, so as to respond to all spiritual impressions and impulses. A right state of heart is necessary that we may be fitted for manifestations. We must be prepared, like the disciples in the upper room, waiting for the promise of the Father, for suddenly there may come a sound from heaven. We must be prepared, like mariners who have long been becalmed, but who see indications of a breeze springing up, and so make all ready to take every possible advantage of the wind which presently will sweep over the waters. We must be prepared to ascend the mount, so that at any moment we hear the Divine voice saying,–Come up, and I will make all My goodness pass before you, we may go up and see the glory. We must walk in the light, as He is in the light, that we may have fellowship one with another. (H. J. Bevis.)
The chariots of Ammi-nadib
It appears to me that without in the slightest degree wresting the passage, or deviating from an honest interpretation, we may understand that this is the language of the Church concerning Christ. If so, Christs words conclude at the end of the tenth verse, and it is the Church that speaks at the eleventh. There is not an instance in the whole Song, so far as I can remember, of the Prince Himself speaking in the first person singular; either, therefore, this would be a solitary exception, or else, following the current plan, where the same pronoun is used, the Church is speaking to Christ, and telling him of herself.
I. What is the most wanted in all religious exercises is the motion, the exercise of the soul. Or ever I was aware, my soul made me–or my soul became–like the chariots of Ammi-nadib. Soul-worship is the soul of worship, and if you take away the soul from the worship, you have killed the worship; it becomes dead and barren henceforth. There are professors in this world who are perfectly content if they have gone through the mechanical part of public devotion. If they have occupied their seats, joined in the hymns and the prayers, and listened to the preaching, they go away quite content and easy. Only that prayer which comes from our heart can get to Gods heart. Oh, that we may be more and more scrupulous and watchful in these things! In the diary of Oliver Heywood, one of the ejected ministers, he often says, God helped me in prayer in my chamber and in the family. And once he writes thus–In my chamber this morning I met with more than ordinary incomings of grace and outgoings of heart to God. Be it always recollected that we do not pray at all, unless the soul is drawn out in pleading and beseeching the Lord.
II. Sometimes it happens that the heart is not in the best state for devotion. If religion be a matter of soul, it cannot always be attended to with equal pleasure and advantage. You can always grind a barrel-organ; it will invariably give you the same discordant noise, which people call music, but the human voice will not admit of being wound up in the same fashion, nor will it for the most part discharge the same monotonous functions. The great singer finds that his voice changes, and that he cannot always use it with the same freedom. If the voice is a delicate organ, how much more delicate is the soul! The soul is continually the subject of changes. Ah, how often it changes because of its contact with the body! If we could be disembodied, oh, how we would praise God and pray to Him! The spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak. And then, alas, our sins are a much more serious hindrance to our devotion. Perhaps we have been angry. How can we come before the Lord calmly when our spirit has been just now tossed with tempest? Probably we have been seeking the world, and going after it with all our might. How can we suddenly pull up, and put all our strength into a vigorous seeking of the kingdom of God and His righteousness in a moment? Now Gods grace can help us to overcome all these things, and can even make our souls like the chariots of Ammi-nadib. We do not want grace for such emergencies. The soul, in its different phases and states, has need of help from the sanctuary to which it repairs.
III. There are seasons when our heart is sweetly moved towards God. Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Ammi-nadib. Have ye not proved welcome opportunities when all your thoughts have been quickened, enlivened, and stimulated to activity in the highest degree about your highest interests? All within us was awake; there was not a slumbering faculty. Our memory told us of the goodness of the Lord in days gone by; and our hopes were regaled by the mercy which we had not tasted yet, but which was made sure to us by promise, and brought near to us by faith. Our faith was active and bright of eye. Our love especially shed a clear light over our prospects. Oh, we have had our blessed times, when our soul has been light and rapid as the chariots of Ammi-nadib! And at such times we were conscious of great elevation. The chariots of Ammi-nadib were those of a prince. And oh, we were no more mean, and low, and beggarly, and grovelling, but we saw Christ, and were made kings and princes and priests with Him. Then we could have performed martyrs deeds. Then we were no cowards, we were afraid of no foes. We had princely thoughts then, large, liberal, generous, capacious thoughts concerning Christ and His people, His cause, and His conquests: our souls were like the chariots of Ammi-nadib. At the same time they were full of power; for, when the chariots of Ammi-nadib went forth, who could stop them? Such was our spirit. We laughed at thoughts of death, and poured contempt upon the trials of life. We were strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Oh, what splendid times we have had when God has been with us. Oh, yes! in Gods house you have known the days of heaven upon earth. Not unfrequently too have I known that the Lord has appeared to His people and warmed their hearts when they have been working for Him.
IV. Sometimes the sweet seasons come to us when we do not expect them. Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Ammi-nadib. Some poor hearts do not reckon ever to have these joys again. They say, No, no, they are all gone; the last leaf has blown from the tree; the, last flower has faded in the garden. My summer is past. It is all over with me! That is the bitter complaint and the hollow murmuring of unbelief. But the Lord for whom ye wait can suddenly appear, and while you are saying hard things of yourself He can refute them with the beams of His countenance. Even at this very moment you may stand like Hannah, a woman of sorrowful spirit, feeling as if you would be sent away empty; yea, and Gods servant himself may address you with rough words as Eli did her, and may even tell you that you are drunken, when it is deep grief that enfeebles your steps and chokes your voice; and all the while the Lord may have in store for you such a blessing as you have never dreamed of; and He may say to thee, Go thy way, My daughter; I have heard thy petition, thy soul shall have its desire. Or ever I was aware, while my unbelief led me to think such a thing impossible, Thou hast made me like the chariots of Ammi-nadib. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. The chariots of Amminadib.] Probably for their great speed these chariots became proverbial. The passage marks a strong agitation of mind, and something like what we term palpitation of the heart. As I am not aware of any spiritual meaning here, I must be excused from commenting on that which is literal. Amminadib signifies my noble or princely people; but it may here be a proper name, and Amminadib might be celebrated for his skill and rapidity in driving, as Jehu was.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Or ever I was aware; I was surprised with a sudden and vehement desire of enjoying my spouse; which is to be understood figuratively, and so as to agree with the majesty and omnisciency of Christ.
My soul made me; I made myself; which may signify Christs activity in stirring up his affections to the church: or, I was made; for the active phrase is oft understood passively, and the soul is commonly put for the person.
Like the chariots of Ammi-nadib; eager in my desire and swift in my motion towards the church. Ammi-nadib is supposed to be some eminent charioteer then well known, and famous for his speed in driving chariots. But this clause with the former is otherwise rendered, both in the margin and by others, and that very agreeably to the Hebrew words, my soul set me on the chariots of my willing (or, as others, noble or princely) people, i.e. which mine and the brides friends had prepared to bring me to the bride with more expedition, into which I ascended with all my soul, as longing to come to my bride.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. Sudden outpourings of theSpirit on Pentecost (Ac2:1-13), while the Church was using the means (answering to “thegarden,” Son 6:11; Joh 3:8).
Ammi-nadibsupposed tome one proverbial for swift driving. Similarly (So1:9). Rather, “my willing people” (Ps110:3). A willing chariot bore a “willing people”; orNadib is the Prince, Jesus Christ (Ps68:17). She is borne in a moment into His presence (Eph2:6).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Or ever one was aware, my soul made me [like] the chariots of Amminadib. These are either the words of the church or of Christ, saying, “I know not” y as the first clause may be rendered: if the words of the church, the sense may be, that though she knew not where her beloved was gone, when he went from her, yet she ran about in search of him as swiftly as the chariots of Amminadib; and when she did know that he was gone down into the garden, immediately, on a sudden, at an unawares, such was the strength of her love and affection to him, the she moved as swiftly after him as if she had been in one of those chariots; and this may signify also her courage and resolution, that, notwithstanding all difficulties and discouragements she met with, she drove on as briskly and as courageously after him as ever Amminadib did, in one of his chariots, in the field of battle: or, “I know not”; whether in the body or out of the body; such was the rapture and ecstasy she was in, when she heard her beloved say, “I went down into the garden of nuts”, c. or, when she heard the daughters’ commendations of her, she did not think that such belonged to her, and therefore said, “I know not” however, this caused her to make the greater haste to answer such characters, and to enjoy the company of her beloved. But rather they are the words of Christ, who was now in his garden, observing the condition it was in, and says, “I know not”, or do not perceive z, that it was in a fruitful and flourishing case, and therefore took all the speedy methods he could to bring it into a better; or being in a transport of love to his church, it caused him speedily to return unto her, and grant her his presence; offer all necessary assistance, and be as chariots to her, to carry her through difficulties, and to protect and defend her from all enemies: and this his soul caused him to do, not her worth and worthiness, love and loveliness, but his own good will and pleasure, and cordial affection for her. Many take Amminadib to be the proper name of a person, who was one of Solomon’s chariot drivers, that understood his business well, and drove swiftly, and with success, to whom Christ compares himself, when returning to his church with haste: but I rather think, with Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and others, that it is an appellative, consisting of two words, “ammi”, my people, and “nadib”, willing or princely, and may be rendered, “the chariots of my willing” or “princely people” a; meaning, not angels, nor ministers, but the people of Christ themselves, to whom he is as chariots; for so I should choose to translate the words, “my soul made me as chariots to my willing” or “princely people”; and so describes the persons who share in this instance of his grace; they are such who are made willing by Christ, in the day of his power on them, to be saved by him, and serve him,
Ps 110:3; and who are of a free, princely, and munificent spirit, Ps 2:12; being princes, and the sons and daughters of a prince, So 7:1; to these Christ makes himself as chariots, as he now was to the church, and took her up along with him to enjoy his presence, she had sought for and desired. Wherefore the daughters of Jerusalem, who had accompanied her hitherto in search of him, perceiving she was going from then, say what follows.
y , Sept. “nescivi”, V. L. “non novi”, Montanus. z “Nondum percipientem haec”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator. a “populi mei spontanei”, Pagninus “voluntari”, Piscator, Cocceius, Marchius, Michaelis.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
12. Or ever I was aware Hebrew, I knew not; that is, unconsciously, unintentionally.
Made me Hebrew, set me.
Amminadib Hebrew, the escort of the prince. “By some influence, of which I could hardly explain the cause, I joined the chariots of the escort of the King.” The most careful and rigorous construction of the Hebrew comes to this as the sense and design of the verse. It explains how she left her home which she herself cannot quite understand and came with the King’s train from the pavilion in the country, and afterward to the palace in the capital. This bashful, half-hinted, half-suppressed confession, skilful as if from the lips of the Jocaste of Sophocles, tells what seems passing strange to the heroine herself that she should be at all in royal company.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Son 6:12. Or ever I was aware, &c. I knew [them] not: my heart set me upon the chariots of my willing people. Carpzov. Crit. Sacr. p. 904. See Aquila, and Symmachus. According to the common rendering, chariots of Ammi-nadib, is supposed to be a proverbial expression for chariots of an extraordinary swiftness. The author of the New Translation renders the verse thus; I knew not the irresolution of my mind, which made me withdraw swift as the chariots of Ammi-nadib.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.
And Jehovah speaks and the church thus conscious of the presence of her Lord visiting his garden, felt that blessed but sudden effect that her soul became as the chariots of Amminadib, perhaps the swiftest ever known. But some have rendered the passage as the words of Jesus. That God is overcome by the earnest cries of his people; and, indeed, speaking after the manner of men, this is evident, from passages in scripture already quoted in this chapter. And, in addition to these, the Reader will find a beautiful illustration to the same amount; Hos 11:8-9 . And also another in Jer 31:20 . The chariots here spoken of, if the words be accepted in this latter sense, will be the chariots of my willing people; that is their faith, love, and all the other graces implanted by Jesus in the soul, and thus called forth by him into exercise. Ammi, meaning my people, and Nadib, implying their willingness.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Son 6:12 Or ever I was aware, my soul made me [like] the chariots of Amminadib.
Ver. 12. Or ever I was aware, my soul, &c. ] Heb., I knew not. So Christ speaketh after the manner of men. And it is as if he should say, I could not conceive that my people were in so good a forwardness, as indeed I found them; for they have over and above answered mine expectation, being “full of goodness,” as those believing Romans, Rom 15:14 “filled with all knowledge,” and always abounding in the work of the Lord; from whom therefore they shall be sure to receive “a full reward.” 2Jn 1:8 Or thus, “I know not,” that is, I perceived not that the vines flourished, the pomegranates budded, that all was ripe and ready; therefore I withdrew myself for a season, O my spouse; and therein I dealt with thee no otherwise, than as good gardeners and vinedressers do, who coming (perhaps before the time of fruit) to look for fruit, and finding none, depart for present, till a more convenient season. But that thou mayest know my dear love and tender care of thy comfort, behold my haste to call thee to thy former feelings again. For dicto citius, I say more quickly, “my soul set me on the chariots of Amminadib,” who may seem to be some famous chariot driver of Solomon’s, that could outdrive all the rest. There is another sense given of these words, and perhaps a better. For by some these are thonght to be the words of the Church confessing her ignorance. I knew not, Lord, saith she, that thou wast gone down into the garden to do those things. I thought rather that thou hadst departed in great anger against me for my negligence; and therefore I sought thee carefully, I made out after thee with all my might; my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib; Amor addidit alas, I drove furiously till I had found thee. I was like unto those two women in Zechariah, that “had wings, and wind in their wings.” Zec 5:9 This was well; that missing her spouse, she followed so hard after him. “My soul cleaveth after thee,” saith David, Psa 63:8 thereby showing his love, constance, and humility. But then that was not so well; that she so far mistook Christ, as to think that he went away from her in deep displeasure, and kept away from her, as loathing her company. Such hard conceits of Christ, and heavy conceits we are apt to have of ourselves, as if he had forsaken us, because we cannot presently find him, whenas he is only gone down in his garden to prune it, or to see how things thrive there, as if he had cast off the care of us; because, finding us too light, he “make us heavy (as there is need) with manifold temptations.” 1Pe 1:6 We are therefore “judged of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world”: 1Co 11:32 He leaves us on the other side the stile (as fathers sometimes do their children), and then helps us over when we cry. To say God hath cast us off, because he hath hid his face, is a fallacy fetched out of the devil’s topics. Non est argumentum aversi Dei quemadmodum diabolus interpretatur, sed potius paternae ipsius benevolentiae, saith learned Lavater. a It is not an argument of God’s wrath and displeasure, as the devil would make it, but rather of his fatherly love and affection; he hides his love, as Joseph did, out of increasement of love. And yet how apt are we to say in this case, with those malcontents in Malachi, In quo dilexisti nos? Wherein hast thou loved us? and with those Israelites in the wilderness, “Is God among us?” as if that could not be, and they athirst. Exo 17:7 “O my Lord,” said Gideon, “If the Lord be with us, why then is all this evil befallen us?” Jdg 6:12 And, “Lord God,” said Abraham, when he had received many gracious promises, “what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless?” Gen 15:1-2 We see then how ready the best of us are to cast the helve after the hatchet, as they say; and, like little children, because we may not have what we would, sullenly to say, God loves us not, and we will not have what he thinks good to give unto us. “My soul refused comfort,” saith he in Psa 77:2 ; and “I said, My hope and my strength is perished from the Lord: remembering mine afflictions and my misery, the wormwood and the gall.” Lam 3:18-19 This our folly and fault we must confess to Christ, as the Church here doth; and beseech him, by his Spirit, to teach us better things, that we may not mistake the cause of our calamities, and make them heavier than God meant them, by our frowardness and impatience. Pondus ipsa iactatione incommodius sit, saith Seneca.
a Lavat. in Prov. iii.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Or ever I was aware = Unwittingly, or I know not [how it was], &c.
my soul = I (emph.) Hebrew. nephesh. App-13.
made me like = placed me at, or was brought.
the chariots of Ammi-nadib. So various are therenderings that the text is said to be corrupt by modern critics. The Authorized Version follows the Septuagint, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Vulgate, by treating it as a proper name (with variations in the orthography). The Hebrew is “the chariots of my People, the noble”, or, of my noble People. From which, when we note the context, and who is speaking, and what fact she is referring to, the Shulamite plainly seems to be saying that she came unwittingly on the royal chariots and the retinue of nobles with Solomon when he first saw her (see p. 921).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Or ever I was aware: Heb. I knew not
soul: Jer 31:18-20, Hos 11:8, Hos 11:9, Luk 15:20
made me like the chariots of Amminadib: or, set me on the chariots of my willing people
Reciprocal: Son 3:4 – but Son 4:9 – thou hast
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Son 6:12. Or ever I was aware I was surprised with a vehement desire of my spouse, which is to be understood figuratively, and so as to agree with the majesty and omniscience of Christ. My soul made me, &c. Eager in my desire, and swift in my motion toward the church. Amminadib is supposed to be some eminent charioteer then well known, and famous for his speed in driving chariots.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6:12 {g} Before I was aware, my soul made me {h} [like] the chariots of Amminadib.
(g) I found nothing but rebellion.
(h) Or, Set me on the chariots of my willing people.