Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 4:2

Thy teeth [are] like a flock [of sheep that are even] shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none [is] barren among them.

2. The A.V. has supplied a great deal in the first clause, and has diverted the comparison thereby from the whiteness to the evenness of the teeth. The comparison is really this, Thy teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep which have come up from the washing, i.e. they are white as a flock of sheep in their most spotlessly white condition. The smoothness of the teeth may also be referred to in the simile.

whereof every one beareth twins, and none is barren among them ] There is a play on words here such as Orientals love. ‘All of whom’ is shekkullm, and ‘a barren,’ or rather, ‘a childless one,’ is shakklh. In the R.V. margin the clause is translated, which are all of them in pairs, and undoubtedly that is the idea meant to be conveyed. The teeth run accurately in pairs, the upper corresponding to the lower, and none of them is wanting. But the Hiph. participle math’mth can hardly mean anything, according to O.T. usage, but ‘producing twins.’ Cp. the word for ‘producing a firstborn’ in Jer 4:31. Consequently the leading commentators retain this meaning. It would also seem to be demanded by the use of the word shakklh, ‘bereaved,’ for that too implies that the individual teeth are compared to mothers. The only thing in favour of the R.V. margin is that in the Talmud this same Hiph. is used in the meaning ‘to be twins.’ (Cp. Levy, Neuhebr. Wrterb. IV. 622.) As the language of the Song has in some respects affinities with late Heb., the word may have the same signification here. Certainly, if that view be not taken, the last clause of the verse can be only a rhetorical expansion of the simile, to indicate that the sheep to which the teeth are compared are in full health.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Whereof … – Or, all of them are equal pairs, and none is bereft among them, i. e., none has lost her mate. The points of comparison in this simile are of course brilliant whiteness, regularity, and completeness of number.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 2. Thy teeth are like a flock] This comparison appears to be founded on the evenness, neatness, and whiteness of the newly shorn and newly washed sheep.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Thy teeth are like a flock, numerous, and placed in due order, of sheep; which is here fitly supplied out of Son 6:6, where it is expressed.

Even shorn; smooth and even, as also clean and white, whereas unshorn sheep retain much filth in their wool, even after their washing.

Every one bear twins; which seems to note the two rows of teeth, like twins, one directly answering to the other; which is a great part of the beauty or comeliness belonging to the teeth. Nor let any wonder to hear of sheep bearing. twins; for that there were many such in the Eastern countries is apparent, not only from Holy Scripture, but also from the express testimony of Aristotle, and other ancient writers.

None is barren among them; not one tooth is lacking. By the teeth some understand the teachers, which may be compared to teeth, because they prepare, and as it were chew, spiritual food for the people, and to such teeth as are here described for their great number and excellent order, and for that purity and fruitfulness which is required of them. Others understand some gracious qualification or action of the faithful, either their faith, which is compared to eating, Joh 6:41, &c., and elsewhere; which also purifies the heart and life, and produceth good works in abundance; or their meditation or study of God, and of his word, whereby, like the clean beasts under the law, they chew the cud; which also much promotes their purity and fertility. But, as I said on the first verse, there is no need of a distinct application of every particular, as it is in parables, where many things are added for decency, which belong not to the main scope, and therefore are neglected in the interpretation of them. The scope of this place is only to set forth the churchs perfection and beauty by the resemblance of a beautiful woman, and one part of beauty consists in the colour and order of the teeth.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

2. even shornthe Hebrewis translated (1Ki 6:25), “ofone size”; so the point of comparison to teeth is theirsymmetry of form; as in “came up from the washing,”the spotless whiteness; and in “twins,” the exactcorrespondence of the upper and lower teeth: and in “nonebarren,” none wanting, none without its fellow. Faith isthe tooth with which we eat the living bread (Joh 6:35;Joh 6:54). Contrast the teeth ofsinners (Psa 57:4; Pro 30:14);also their end (Psa 3:7; Mat 25:30).Faith leads the flock to the washing (Zec 13:1;1Co 6:11; Tit 3:5).

none . . . barren (2Pe1:8). He who is begotten of God begets instrumentally other sonsof God.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Thy teeth [are] like a flock [of sheep],…. That is, like the teeth of a flock of sheep; as her eyes were like the eyes of doves, and her hair like the hair of goats: and Galen long ago observed, that human teeth are much like the teeth of sheep, in figure, order, and structure, as well as are small and white; neatly set, innocent and harmless, not ravenous and voracious, cropping herbs and grass only w; the whiteness of the teeth is chiefly intended, in which the beauty of them lies, for which they are sometimes compared x to Parian marble for whiteness. The Targum interprets these teeth of the priests and Levites; but it is much better to understand them of the ministers of the Gospel: teeth are bony, solid, firm, and strong, sharp to cut and break the food, and prepare it for the stomach: all which well agree with ministers; who are strong in the Lord, and in his grace, to labour in the word and doctrine; to oppose gainsayers, withstand Satan’s temptations; bear the reproaches of the world, and the infirmities of weaker saints; and remain firm and unmoved in their ministry; unshaken by all they meet with, from without and from within: they are sharp to rebuke such who are unsound in the faith, or corrupt in their morals, and to penetrate into Gospel truths; to cut and rightly divide the word of truth, and break the bread of life to others, and so chew and prepare spiritual food for souls; not raw and crude; not hard and difficult of digestion, but plain and easy to be understood. And they are like to a flock of sheep,

[that are even] shorn; on which no wool is left, sticking out here and there; which is another good property of teeth, that are of equal size and bigness, do not stand out, nor rise up one above another; and are as if they had been “cut [and] planed, [and made] alike” y, as some render the word: which may denote the equality of Gospel ministers in power and authority; one having no superiority over another; all having the same mission and commission, employed in the same work, preaching the same Gospel; and though their gifts are different, yet there is a harmony and agreement in the doctrines they preach;

which came up from the washing; white and clean, which is another property of good teeth; as the teeth of sheep be, and they themselves are, when just come up out of the washing pit: this may signify the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which are necessary to ministers of the word, in order to preach it; and more especially the purity of their lives and conversations, in which they should be examples to the flock;

whereof everyone bear twins, and none [is] barren among them; the figures are just and beautiful; it is common with sheep to bear twins, or more, in the eastern countries, as the philosopher observes z; frequent mention is made of goats bearing twins a: these may answer to the two rows of teeth, and the word for “teeth” is in the dual number; and when these are white and clean, and equal, are well set, and not one wanting, none rotten, nor shed, nor fallen out, look very beautiful. This may express the fruitfulness and success of Gospel ministers, in bringing many souls to Christ; and was particularly true of the apostles, and first ministers of the Gospel, who were instrumental in the conversion of many; and who bore twins to Christ, Jews and Gentiles; and none were without their usefulness. Likewise all this may be understood of believers in general, and of meditation and faith in them; by meditation they feed upon Christ, his Gospel, doctrines, and promises; they chew the end, and ruminate on the word of God; and are equal, alike partakers of the same grace, and blessings of it; and are sanctified, and, in some measure, cleansed, from the pollution of their minds and actions; ascend heavenwards in their thoughts, desires, and affections; and are not “barren” and unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ and his Gospel; and generally, through meditation, bring forth the “twins” of prayer and praise: by faith also they feed on Christ and his grace; and which is “alike”, precious faith in all, as to nature and quality; is “pure”, sincere, and unfeigned; is always fruitful, and bears the “twins” of love to Christ, and of love to his saints; and is not “barren”, but attended with the fruits of righteousness.

w In Salazar apud Marckium in loc. x Theocrit. Idyll. 6. v. 37, 38. y “caesae vel dedolatae”, Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 1. I. 2. c. 45. col. 493. “aequarum”, Junius Tremellius “statura aequalium”, Cocceius. z Aristot. de Animal. Hist. l. 6. c. 19. a Theocrit. Idyll. 1. v. 25. & 3. v. 34. & 5. v. 54. & 8. v. 44.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

2 Thy teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep

Which comes up from the washing

All bearing twins,

And a bereaved one is not among them.

The verb is, as the Arab. shows, in the sense of tondere oves, the synon. of . With shorn (not to be shorn) sheep, the teeth in regard to their smoothness, and with washed sheep in regard to their whiteness, are compared – as a rule the sheep of Palestine are white; in respect of their full number, in which in pairs they correspond to one another, the one above to the one below, like twin births in which there is no break. The parallel passage, Son 6:6, omits the point of comparison of the smoothness. That some days after the shearing the sheep were bathed, is evident from Columella 7:4. Regarding the incorrect exchange of mas. with fem. forms, vid., under Son 2:7. The part. Hiph. (cf. , Theocr. i. 25) refers to the mothers, none of which has lost a twin of the pair she had borne. In “which come up from the washing,” there is perhaps thought of, at the same time with the whiteness, the saliva dentium . The moisture of the saliva, which heightens the glance of the teeth, is frequently mentioned in the love-songs of Mutenebbi, Hariri, and Deschami. And that the saliva of a clean and sound man is not offensive, is seen from this, that the Lord healed a blind man by means of His spittle.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(2) Thy teeth . . . i.e., white as newly washed sheep. The word translated shorn is only used as a synonym for sheep, as we see by comparison with Son. 6:6. The only other place where it is found is 2Ki. 6:6, where it is used of cutting wood.

Bear twins.The Hebrew word means to make double. But this may either be to produce twins, as in the text, or to make pairs, or to occur in pairs, a rendering which gives far better sense. The perfect and regular rows of teeth are exactly paired, upper to lower, like the sheep coming two and two from the washing, not one being bereaved of its fellow.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

2. Thy teeth, etc. This verse should read, Thy teeth are like a fleecy flock which have come up from the washing, all of which are paired, and not one among them solitary.

Shorn Should be, accustomed to be shorn, that is, fleece-bearing. Paired, means, each having its fellow in the opposite row. Wool, in Scripture, is associated with snow for whiteness. The teeth, full, white, and sound, are always reckoned a beauty and a blessing.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Son 4:2. Whereof every one bear twins Which are all of them twins, and none hath lost its fellow. New Translation.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Son 4:2 Thy teeth [are] like a flock [of sheep that are even] shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none [is] barren among them.

Ver. 2. Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep, &c. ] Handsome teeth set forth a woman very well, and they are then held handsome when they are (1.) Even and well matched; (2.) Fair and white; (3.) Thick and full. All this we have here daintily set forth in an allegory. And by teeth the Chaldee paraphrast will have meant (and I dissent not) the priests and Levites of the law, the pastors and preachers, think I, of the Church; who, as they must be “eyes” to see, so they nmst be “teeth” in another regard – viz. (1.) To chew; (2.) To bite. First, They must champ and chew the children’s meat for them, as good nurses, such as Paul was, 1Th 2:7 and before him Isaiah. Isa 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand? Not the wise and prudent, not conceited persons, that make divinity only a matter of discourse, or come to hear only to exercise their critics, and to sit as judges on their ministers’ gifts. But such as are “weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.” And how will he do to deal with such, and to “divide the word aright” , 2Ti 2:25 to them? He will praemansum cibum in os indere, mollify their harder meat for them, that it hurt not the tender toothless gums of these weanlings, weaklings “Precept,” saith he, “shall be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, and there a little.” They shall have it as they can take it, neither will he put that upon them that is not fit for them. They shall have milk, and not strong meat; or if they have, it shall be ready chewed for them. Our Saviour spake “as the people could hear,” Mar 4:33 and not as he could have spoken. “If we have spoken to you,” saith he, “of earthly things” (that is, of spiritual matters under earthly similitudes borrowed from wind, water, &c.) “and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?” Joh 3:12 that is, of more sublime matters and mysteries of eternal life. Ministers must stoop to their hearers’ capacities, and not be up in their altitudes, or deliver their discourses in a high language, in a Roman English, &c. For what is that but to “beat the air,” to lose their labour, and to be “as barbarians to their hearers?” &c. Non oratorum filii sumus, sed piscatorum; nec verborum , sed Spiritus , said that great divine to Libanius the rhetorician. We are not orators, but preachers; neither come we with “excellence of words,” but with “evidence of the Spirit and of power,” and “by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” 1Co 2:4 2Co 4:2 This is preaching; the art whereof plus operis habet quam ostentationis, as Quintillian saith of the art of grammar, is not a matter of show, but of service. And to the ears of that which St Peter calls “the hidden man of the heart,” the plain song always makes the best music.

But, secondly, As ministers must masticate the children’s meat, and make it fit for eating, so they are bound to bite – that is, to “rebuke sharply” a those that are unsound in their faith, or enormous in their practice; Tit 1:13 to gore their very souls with smarting pain, and to sting their consciences to the quick, with the forked arrows of biting reproofs and unquestionable convictions. “Thine arrows are sharp in the hearts of the king’s enemies, whereby the people fall under thee.” Psa 45:5 Ministers must not only whet their teeth against the wicked (as boars do their tusks when provoked), but set their teeth in the sides of those boars that root up the vineyard, and those foxes that destroy the grapes. Thus the ancient prophets pricked and pierced the hearts of their hearers; so did the holy apostles, St Peter for instance. He so handled the matter that they were punctually “pricked at heart” b Act 2:37 they felt the nails wherewith they had crucified Christ sticking fast in their own spirits, and driven home to the head by that “Master of the assembly.” Ecc 12:11 Penitence and pain are words of one derivation, and are very near of kin. Hardly will men be made to repent till touched to the quick, till the Preacher do mordaci radere vero, c deal plainly and roundly with them, stab them to the heart with the menaces of the law, and lay them for dead at Christ’s feet, that he may revive them, as the pelican doth her young ones with her blood. It is said of Chrysostom, that he took the same liberty to cry down sin that men did to commit it. d Of Mr Bradford, that as he did earnestly persuade to a godly life, and sweetly preach Christ crucified, so he did sharply reprove sin, and zealously impugn errors. Of Mr Perkins, that he came so close in his applications, that he was able almost to make his hearers’ hearts fall down, and their hairs to stand upright. This was preaching indeed, preaching in the life of it. I know well that most men are sick of a Noli me tangere, and are apt to hate him that reproveth in the gate. As loath they are to be searched as Rachel, when she sat upon the idols; to have their lusts mortified, as David was to have Absalom executed. “Handle him gently, for my sake,” &c. Cannot preachers meddle only with toothless truths, say they, as Balak bade Balaam neither curse nor bless at all. But why hath Christ given his ministers teeth, but to bite and be bitter against sin and wickedness? personal invectives, indeed, proceeding from private grudge, he allows not. Spiritus Christi nec mendax, nec mordax. The Spirit of Christ is neither deceitful nor caustic. The rule here is,

“ Parcere nominibus, dicere de vitiis. ”

“To space by names, is to say concerning the crimes.”

Of Erasmus it is said that he was Mente et dente potens, sharp with discretion. Every minister should be so; and his doctrine should distil as honey, as the property whereof is to purge wounds, but to bite ulcers; e it causeth pain to exulcerate parts, though of itself sweet and medicinable.

That are even shorn. ] The commendations of a set of teeth, whereof before. (1.) Even they must be and well matched; so should ministers be “likeminded, having the same love; being of one accord, and of one mind,” Php 2:2 serving the Lord with one shoulder, Zep 3:9 not shouldering one another, and striving for precedence, but content with a parity, and in giving honour, going one before another. The six branches in the golden candlestick joined all in one, and the cherubims in the temple looked one toward another, which some think signified the agreement and oneness that should be between the ministers of the gospel.

Which came up from the washing. ] (2.) Fair and white, washed in the king’s bath of Christ’s blood, famous and eximious for their extraordinary and exemplary holiness. It is their office to be fullones animarum, to make and keep white the fleeces of their flocks, the people’s souls. And therefore themselves had need be as Jerusalem’s Nazarites were, Lam 4:7 , “Purer than snow, whiter than milk,” &c.

Whereof every one bears twins. ] Gemelliparae. It must be ministers’ care to bring many to God, whom they may one day present with, Here am I, and the children whom thou hast given me. Aaron’s sons, by generation, are said to be Moses’ sons by institution and instruction. Num 3:1 See Gal 4:19 1Co 4:15 . “Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.”

a , cuttingly.

b K .

c Horat.

d Osiand. Hist. Eccles., cent. 5, lib. i. c. 6.

e . – Alex. Aphrod. Probl.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)