Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 6:13
Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.
13. It is not clear at once who the speaker in this verse is. There must be either more than one person concerned in it, or quotation, for there is an evident interchange of question and answer. Probably we should, with Oettli, assign the verse to the bride. She is rehearsing all that happened on the eventful day when Solomon came upon her. When she found herself among the royal chariots she turned to flee, and the ladies called to her to return. Hearing the call, she stopped to ask, ‘Why would ye gaze at the Shulammite as upon the dance of Mahanaim’? See below.
O Shulammite ] This name for the bride occurs here only, and cannot be a proper name, otherwise even in the vocative there would be no article, as there is here. It must, therefore, mean ‘maiden of Shulam’ (cp. the Shunammite, 1Ki 1:3). Not knowing her name, the courtiers call her by the name of the village near which they were when they saw her. This village was doubtless Shunem, in the plains of Esdraelon, which belonged to the tribe of Issachar. It has been identified by Robinson ( Researches, 11. 325) with the modern Solam, a village in the neighbourhood of Jezreel on the southern slope of the east end of Little Hermon, as Nain is upon its northern slope. From the fact that the modern name has l for n, it is probable that Shulam is a later form than Shunem.
that we may look upon thee ] The Heb. verb with the construction it has here means generally ‘to look upon with pleasure,’ but also simply ‘to gaze at’ (cp. Isa 47:13). In the first clause here we have the first meaning, in the second the other according to many expositors. In this latter case, “What will ye see” should be What would ye gaze at? But it is better to keep the same meaning and translate, Why would ye look upon the Shulammite?
As it were the company of two armies ] The R.V. gives As upon the dance of Mahanaim? and probably this is the right translation. As she endeavours to escape, the Shulammite asks, would they stare at her as at a public spectacle. Some have thought that there is a reference here to the angel hosts from which Jacob is said to have named the place (Gen 32:2). But there is no hint that there was anything resembling a dance in their movements. The probability, therefore, is that after Jacob’s vision Mahanaim became a holy place, if it was not one before, and that God was there praised in the dance (cp. Jdg 21:21), and that these dances had become famous either for their gracefulness or for their splendour. That Mahanaim was a place of importance, whether for political or for religious reasons or for both, is clear from the fact that Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, set up his kingdom there, and that David fled thither when he was driven away from Jerusalem by Absalom. It was also a Levitical city. It lay to the N. of the Jabbok not far from the valley of the Jordan, on the heights above that valley. Its exact site is unknown, as it can hardly have been el-Michne as Robinson supposes, for that is too far both from the Jabbok and from the Jordan. That places were famed for dances is shewn by the name Abel-Mecholah = ‘Dance meadow.’ The R.V. has in the margin, “a dance of two companies.” This might be supposed to be a dance specially worth seeing. Such a dance is described by Wetzstein, who says that in the Gof, or as Palgrave writes it, the Djowf, a region of N. Arabia, there is a variety of the dance called Sahqa, which is danced by two companies of men standing opposite each other, as in our country dances. But these Bedouin and Arab customs have no known connexion with the people west of the Jordan. Budde would change the dual into the plural and would read machanim and translate “as upon a camp dance,” i.e. ‘a sword dance,’ which forms part of the marriage customs Wetzstein describes. But a camp dance would be a very odd name for the sword dance, and though it is true that the place-name Mahanaim does not occur with the article, the article here may quite well define the dance, not Mahanaim.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Return, return – About to withdraw, the bride is recalled by the chorus, desiring yet a little longer to contemplate a grace and beauty which has won all hearts.
Shulamite – Probably the same as Shunamite, i. e., a native of the town or district of Shunem, situated in the territory of Issachar Jos 19:18, on the slopes of the Little Hermon, overlooking the plain of Jezreel. It is now called Salem.
See – Look or gaze at. The brides modest reply, taking up their words, and wondering at their request. The chorus answer with a further petition.
As it were the company of two armies – Or, rather, the dance of Mahanaim (see the margin), a well-known sacred dance, taking its name from the locality in which it originated Gen 32:2; Jos 21:38. Some, taking Mahanaim to be an ordinary designation for the Angels or Angelic Hosts, render here a dance as it were of angel-choirs, i. e., one of special grace and beauty. The former of these interpretations is to be preferred.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Son 6:13
Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee.
Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return!
The translation Shulamite is unhappy: it is unmusical, and misses the meaning. The Hebrew word is a feminine of Solomon. Solomon may stand for the bridegrooms name, and then the well-beloved bride takes her husbands name in a feminine form of it which is Shulamith, Salome, or perhaps better Solyma. The King has named his name upon her, and as Caius has his Caiia, so Solomon has his Solyma. He is the Prince of Peace, and she is the Daughter of Peace. Aforetime she was called the fairest among women, but now she is espoused unto her Lord, and has a fulness of peace. Therefore is she called the Peace-laden, or the Peace-crowned. Yon know how truly it is so with the justified in Christ Jesus. It appears that the Church in her beauty had gone down to attend to her work. I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded. She did not sit down in the house to admire herself, nor go into the street to show herself: she went down into her Lords garden to attend to her proper work, and then it was that they cried, Return, return. Neither the world nor Christ Himself will call much after us if we go forth to make display of our own excellences. Come, see my zeal for the Lord of Hosts, is a wretched piece of self-consciousness, which disgusts more than it attracts. A diligent life is an attractive life. Do thou, like an ant, work in thy season, carrying thy due burden upon the ant-hill, and if thou doest this for love of Jesus thou doest nobly. Plod on without courting approbation, and rest content to do thine utmost for the common weal. Ask not to rule in the court, but be willing to work in the field; seek not to recline on the couch, but take thy pruning-knife, and go forth among the vines, to fulfil thine office, and in that self-forgetting service thy beauty shall be manifested, and voices shall salute thee, crying, Return, return. It appears, too, that while she was thus engaged, she was the subject of a great stir and emotion of heart. Perhaps she had felt dull and dreary till she entered on her work, but while she was busy with her pome granates and her nuts, she cries, Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Ammi-nadib. She felt that she could hasten like the chariots of a willing people, who rush to the fight from love of their prince. She felt as if she could run after her Beloved; she could leap, she could fly. Thus vigorous and active, she was watched by many eyes, and soon she heard voices coming from the four quarters of the universe, crying, Return, return, O Shulamith; return, return.
I. Let us listen, but only with our ears, not with our hearts, to the lower voices. Whence come these voices? There are voices from the vasty deep of sin and hell, voices from the tombs which we have quitted, voices from the Egypt from which we have fled. They are crying evermore, like unquiet ghosts, Return, return. The devil is not altogether a fool, although he is great in that direction; and therefore he does not continue for ever to use nets which have failed to entangle the birds. If he finds that cajolery will not ensnare us, he leaves his old tactics and tries other methods. When Return, return will not woo us, he puts on his lion form, and roars till the mountains shake. By old companions he does this. They say, You have left us all, we do not know why. You have turned a fanatic; you have joined with gloomy Christian people, and you are not half the good fellow you used to be. Arc you not getting a little tired of those dreary ways? Are not the rules of Christ too precise and Puritanic? Thus do her former comrades cry, Return, return, O Solyma The old joys sometimes, in moments of weakness which will come upon us, revive upon the memory, and attempt to mislead us. When do these voices come? Their sound is heard full often. Return, return, return, return–four times over the text hath it. They come so often that the word in the Epistle to the Hebrews is more than justified, And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. These opportunities come in our way everywhere, and at all times. If you wish to leave off being a Christian, if you wish to follow the world in its pleasures or in its labours, the doors are always open. It is a fight to reach to heaven, and few there be to help us in it; but the path to hell is downward, and multitudes thrust out their hands to urge us to the infernal deeps. These cries are borne to us by every gale, in tones both loud and gentle, Return, return. And we shall find that they solicit us in our best moments. I cannot fully account for the fact, but so it is, that I am most liable to speak unadvisedly with my lips when I have just enjoyed the raptures of high fellowship with God. Yonder shines the Mountain of Transfiguration in its unrivalled splendour; but lo, at the very foot of it the devil rages in the lunatic child! Our highest graces are not to be trusted, for, as the most venomous serpents lurk among the brightest flowers, so are temptations most abundant hard by our most spiritual and heavenly joys. Notice that our text goes on to say why they wish us to return. Return, return, that we may look upon thee. And is that all? Am I to be a traitor to my Lord, and quit His holy ways, and forfeit heaven, to be made a show of by thee, O Satan? or by thee, O world? Is this a full reward for treachery–that we may look upon thee? Why, their looks are daggers. As the eyes of basilisks are the eyes of the ungodly world; as malignant stars that blast the soul. When the world loves the holy man it is the love of the vulture for the sick lamb. Fear you the worldling, even when lie bears you gifts. Now hear Solymas wise answer to her tempters. She says, What will ye see in Solyma? Dost thou ask me, O world, to come back and show myself to be thy friend? Dost thou promise me approbation? Dost thou vow to look upon me, and admire me, and take me for an example? What is there in me that thou canst approve of? What wilt thou see in Solyma? What can the world see in a believer? The world knoweth us not, because it knew Christ not.
II. Now we turn to listen, not with our ears only, but with our hearts too, to the call of the higher voices which cry, Return, return. Brethren to go to heaven, to go to Christ, to go towards Holiness, is a return to Gods people: for Gods people are originally His children. Though they are prodigals, and have gone into a far country, they always were His children; even when they spent their substance in riotous living they were still His sons, and each of them could speak of My Fathers house. To come to Christ, and holiness, and heaven, is to return. Notice that in the text that word return is put four times over. Is it not because it is of the highest importance that every child of God should keep returning, and coming nearer to the Fathers house? Is it not because it is our highest joy, our strongest security, our best enrichment, to be always coming to Christ as unto a living stone, and getting into closer fellowship with Him? As He calls four times, is it not a hint that we are slow to come? We ought to come to Jesus not only at His first call, but even at the glances of His eyes, when He looks as though He longed for our love: it ought to be our rapture to think only of Him, and live wholly to Him; but as we fail to answer to first pleas, He cries four times, Return, return, O Solyma; return, return. Come to thine own Husband, thine own loving Lord. He ceases not to entreat until we do return. Do not the reduplications of this call hint at His strong desire after us, His condescending love for us? I beg you to observe what the spouse has to say to this when she is thus called upon to return to the Lord. The Lord saith to her, Return, return, that we may look upon thee. Is not that a reason for coming back? The Lord says, That I may look upon thee. He desires your society, and seems gently to hint that you have kept aloof from Him. He seems to say, You have not been much with Me alone lately, you have neglected the reading of the Word, and the hearing of it; I have scarcely seen thy face; therefore return, that I may look upon thee. Cover your face and say, Lord, why shouldst Thou look on me? I am full of sin; but then draw near to Him, that His look of love may bring thee to repentance, and cause thy sin to pass away. Remember He hath power in His eyes to look thee into purity and beauty. Come and say, Look upon me, Lord; search me, try me, and know my ways. Return, that with infinite pity thy Beloved may see what aileth thee, and then with His dear pierced hand may perform a Divine surgery upon thee, and make thee well again. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. Return, O Shulamite] This appears to be addressed to the bride, as now the confirmed, acknowledged wife of Solomon; for shulammith, appears to be a feminine formed from shelomoh, or shelomon, as we form Charlotte from Charles; Henrietta, from Henry; Janette, from John, c.
The company of two armies.] Or the musicians of the camps. She is as terrible as hosts of armed men, on the ground of what is said on Son 6:4-5. The two armies may refer to the choirs of the bride’s virgins, and the bridegroom’s companions but the similitude is not very perceptible. The Targum explains it of “the camps of Israel and Judah:” as if the bridegroom should say, “My beloved possesses all the perfections both of the Israelitish and Jewish women.” But how little satisfaction do the best conjectures afford!
With this chapter the fifth night is supposed to end.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Return: Christ recalls his spouse, who as when Christ was gone she pursued after him, so now when Christ was coming or come to her, she was ready to wander and go astray from him, according to the common and corrupt disposition and custom of mankind; and therefore he seeks to stop or to reclaim her, and to oblige her to return to her first love, and to repent more thoroughly than she had yet done. Return: this word is here repeated four times, to signify both Christs passionate love to her, and earnest desire of her return, and her backwardness to it, which made so many calls necessary.
Shulamite: this title signifies either,
1. One born in or belonging to Jerusalem, called also Salem, Psa 76:2. Or,
2. The wife of Solomon, thus called after her husbands name: see Isa 4:1. And as Christ is called by the name of Solomon, Son 3:7,9,11, so the church is fitly described by the title of Solomons wife.
That we may look upon thee; that I and my companions and friends may contemplate thy beauty.
What will ye see? but what do you my friends expect to discover in her? Christ proposeth the question, that he may give the following answer, and that they should take special notice of this as a very remarkable thing in her.
The company, whereby he intimates that this one and only spouse was made up of the whole multitude of believers, of two armies; either,
1. Opposite one against the other; and so this may note the conflict between the flesh and Spirit which is in all the faithful in this life. Or,
2. Confederate together; and so this may signify either,
1. The re-collection and union of Jews and Gentiles which shall one
day be under Christ as their common Head, Eph 2:15. Or,
2. The safety and strength of the church, which is compared to an army
with banners, above, Son 6:4,10, and here to a numerous host distributed into two armies; wherein also there may be an allusion to that story, Gen 32:1, where this very word, here rendered two armies, is used.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. Entreaty of the daughters ofJerusalem to her, in her chariot-like flight from them (compare2Ki 2:12; 2Sa 19:14).
Shulamitenew nameapplied to her now for the first time. Feminine of Solomon,Prince of Peace; His bride, daughter of peace, accepting andproclaiming it (Isa 52:7; Joh 14:27;Rom 5:1; Eph 2:17).Historically, this name answers to the time when, not without adivine design in it, the young Church met in Solomon’s porch(Act 3:11; Act 5:12).The entreaty, “Return, O Shulamite,” answers to thepeople’s desire to keep Peter and John, after the lame man washealed, when they were about to enter the temple. Their replyattributing the glory not to themselves, but to Jesus Christ, answersto the bride’s reply here, “What will ye see” in me? “Asit were,” c. She accepts the name Shulamite, as truly describingher. But adds, that though “one” (So6:9), she is nevertheless “two.” Her glories are herLord’s, beaming through her (Eph 5:31Eph 5:32). The two armies are thefamily of Jesus Christ in heaven, and that on earth, joined and onewith Him; the one militant, the other triumphant. Or Jesus Christ andHis ministering angels are one army, the Church the other, both beingone (Joh 17:21; Joh 17:22).Allusion is made to Mahanaim (meaning two hosts), the scene ofJacob’s victorious conflict by prayer (Gen 32:2;Gen 32:9; Gen 32:22-30).Though she is peace, yet she has warfare here, between flesh andspirit within and foes without; her strength, as Jacob’s at Mahanaim,is Jesus Christ and His host enlisted on her side by prayer; whenceshe obtains those graces which raise the admiration of the daughtersof Jerusalem.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return,…. By whom the church is meant, so called from her being the spouse of Christ, the true Solomon; it being common for the wife to have the same name with her husband; thus, with the Romans, if the man’s name was Caius, the woman’s name was Caia: is the name of Christ Solomon? the church’s name is Shulamite; see Jer 23:6. The word from which this is derived signifies both perfection and peace; and the church may be called the Shulamite from her perfection, not in herself, but in Christ, in whom she is complete, and perfectly comely through his righteousness; and is also denominated from the peace which she has from Christ, and he has made for her through his blood, and he gives unto her by his Spirit; and from what she does or should enjoy in her members, and from what she will be possessed of to all eternity. Now the church, the Shulamite, is very importunately desired by the daughters of Jerusalem to return; which is said no less than four times, which shows how vehemently desirous they were of her company: and perceiving she was about to go from them, most earnestly press her to return, or to “turn” b; to turn herself, that her beauty and comeliness might be more plainly seen; for this is the end proposed by them,
that we may look upon thee; that they might still have more opportunity of viewing her, and more narrowly to examine her beauty, for which she was so much commended; and that they might enjoy more of her company and conversation, which had been, and they might hope would be, more useful and instructive to them. A question upon this follows,
What will ye see in the Shulamite? which question is put, either by the daughters among themselves; some wishing for her return, and others asking what they expected to see in her, should she return: or rather it is put by the church herself; who asks the daughters, what they expected to see in her, a poor, mean, unworthy creature, not fit to be looked on, having nothing extraordinary, nor indeed valuable or of worth, in seeing of her? Which question is thus answered,
As it were the company of two armies: either by the daughters, declaring what they expected to see in the church; either such a glorious and joyful meeting between Christ and her, as is often between great persons, attended with singing and dancing; so the word for company is rendered by the Septuagint c “choroi”, a “company” of those that dance and sing; see Ps 68:24; or such an appearance as an army makes at the reception of their prince, when it is divided into two bands, for the sake of greater honour and majesty. Or rather this answer is returned by the church herself; signifying that nothing was to be seen in her but two armies, flesh and Spirit, sin and grace, continually warring against each other; which surely, she thought, could be no desirable and pleasing sight to them; see Ro 7:23.
b , Sept. “convertere”, Sanctius, Marckius. c , Sept. “sicut chorus”, Vatablus, Marckius, Michaelis, & alii.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Encouraged by Shulamith’s unassuming answer, the daughters of Jerusalem now give utterance to an entreaty which their astonishment at her beauty suggests to them.
13 Come back, come back, O Shulamith!
Come back, come back, that we may look upon thee!
She is now (Son 6:10.) on the way from the garden to the palace. The fourfold “come back” entreats her earnestly, yea, with tears, to return thither with them once more, and for this purpose, that they might find delight in looking up her; for signifies to sink oneself into a thing, looking at it, to delight (feast) one’s eyes in looking on a thing. Here for the first time Shulamith is addressed by name. But cannot be a pure proper name, for the art. is vocat., as e.g., , “O daughter of Jerusalem!” Pure proper names like are so determ. in themselves that they exclude the article; only such as are at the same time also nouns, like and , are susceptible of the article, particularly also of the vocat., Psa 114:5; but cf. Zec 11:1 with Isa 10:34. Thus will be not so much a proper name as a name of descent, as generally nouns in (with a few exceptions, viz., of ordinal number, , , etc.) are all gentilicia . The lxx render by , and this is indeed but another form for , i.e., she who is from Sunem. Thus also was designated the exceedingly beautiful Abishag, 1Ki 1:3, Elisha’s excellent and pious hostess, 2Ki 4:8 ff. Sunem was in the tribe of Issachar (Jos 19:18), near to Little Hermon, from which it was separated by a valley, to the south-east of Carmel. This lower Galilean Sunem, which lies south from Nain, south-east from Nazareth, south-west from Tabor, is also called Shulem. Eusebius in his Onomasticon says regarding it: ( l. ) . . ., i.e., as Jerome translates it: Sunem in tribue Issachar. et usque hodie vicus ostenditur nomine Sulem in quinto miliario montis Thabor contra australum plagam . This place if found at the present day under the name of Suwlam ( Slam), at the west end of Jebel ed-Duhi (Little Hermon), not far from the great plain ( Jisre’el, now Zer’n), which forms a convenient way of communication between Jordan and the sea-coast, but is yet so hidden in the mountain range that the Talmud is silent concerning this Sulem, as it is concerning Nazareth. Here was the home of the Shulamitess of the Song. The ancients interpret the name by , or by ( vid., Lagarde’s Onomastica), the former after Aquila and the Quinta, the latter after Symm. The Targum has the interpretation: ( vid., Rashi). But the form of the name (the Syr. writes ) is opposed to these allegorical interpretations. Rather it is to be assumed that the poet purposely used, not hshwb’, but hshwl’, to assimilate her name to that of Solomon; and that it has the parallel meaning of one devoted to Solomon, and thus, as it were, of a passively-applied = , is the more probable, as the daughters of Jerusalem would scarcely venture thus to address her who was raised to the rank of a princess unless this name accorded with that of Solomon.
Not conscious of the greatness of her beauty, Shulamith asks –
1 b a What do you see in Shulamith?
She is not aware that anything particular is to be seen in her; but the daughters of Jerusalem are of a different opinion, and answer this childlike, modest, but so much the more touching question –
1 b b As the dance of Mahanaim!
They would thus see in her something like the dance of Manahaam. If this be here the name of the Levitical town (now Mahneh) in the tribe of Gad, north of Jabbok, where Ishbosheth resided for two years, and where David was hospitably entertained on his flight from Absalom (Luthr.: “the dance to Mahanaam”), then we must suppose in this trans-Jordanic town such a popular festival as was kept in Shiloh, Jdg 21:19, and we may compare Abel-meholah = meadow of dancing, the name of Elisha’s birth-place (cf. also Herod. i. 16: “To dance the dance of the Arcadian town of Tegea”). But the Song delights in retrospective references to Genesis (cf. Gen 4:11, Gen 7:11). At Gen 32:3, however, by Mahanaam
(Note: Bttcher explains Mahanaam as a plur.; but the plur. of is and ; the plur. termination ajim is limited to and .)
is meant the double encampment of angels who protected Jacob’s two companies (Gen 32:8). The town of Mahanaam derives its name from this vision of Jacob’s. The word, as the name of a town, is always without the article; and here, where it has the article, it is to be understood appellatively. The old translators, in rendering by “the dances of the camps” (Syr., Jerome, choros castrorum , Venet. ), by which it remains uncertain whether a war-dance or a parade is meant, overlook the dual, and by exchanging with , they obtain a figure which in this connection is incongruous and obscure. But, in truth, the figure is an angelic one. The daughters of Jerusalem wish to see Shulamith dance, and they designate that as an angelic sight. Mahanaam became in the post-bibl. dialect a name directly for angels. The dance of angels is only a step beyond the responsive song of the seraphim, Isa 6:1-13. Engelkoere angel-choir and “heavenly host” are associated in the old German poetry.
(Note: Vid., Walther von der Vogelweide, 173. 28. The Indian mythology goes farther, and transfers not only the original of the dance, but also of the drama, to heaven; vid., Gtting. Anziegen, 1874, p. 106.)
The following description is undeniably that (let one only read how Hitzig in vain seeks to resist this interpretation) of one dancing. In this, according to biblical representation and ancient custom, there is nothing repulsive. The women of the ransomed people, with Miriam at their head, danced, as did also the women who celebrated David’s victory over Goliath (Exo 15:20; 1Sa 18:6). David himself danced (2 Sam 6) before the ark of the covenant. Joy and dancing are, according to Old Testament conception, inseparable (Ecc 3:4); and joy not only as the happy feeling of youthful life, but also spiritual holy joy (Psa 87:7). The dance which the ladies of the court here desire to see, falls under the point of view of a play of rival individual artistes reciprocally acting for the sake of amusement. The play also is capable of moral nobility, if it is enacted within the limits of propriety, at the right time, in the right manner, and if the natural joyfulness, penetrated by intelligence, is consecrated by a spiritual aim. Thus Shulamith, when she dances, does not then become a Gaditanian (Martial, xiv. 203) or an Alma (the name given in Anterior Asia to those women who go about making it their business to dance mimic and partly lascivious dances); nor does she become a Bajadere (Isa 23:15 f.),
(Note: Alma is the Arab. ‘ualmah (one skilled, viz., in dancing and jonglerie), and Bajadere is the Portug. softening of baladera , a dancer, from balare ( ballare ), mediaev. Lat., and then Romanic: to move in a circle, to dance.)
as also Miriam, Exo 15:20, Jephthah’s daughter, Jdg 11:34, the “daughters of Shiloh,” Jdg 21:21, and the woman of Jerusalem, 1Sa 18:6, did not dishonour themselves by dancing; the dancing of virgins is even a feature of the times after the restoration, Jer 31:13. But that Shulamith actually danced in compliance with the earnest entreaty of the daughters of Jerusalem, is seen from the following description of her attractions, which begins with her feet and the vibration of her thighs.
After throwing aside her upper garments, so that she had only the light clothing of a shepherdess or vinedresser, Shulamith danced to and fro before the daughters of Jerusalem, and displayed all her attractions before them. Her feet, previously (Son 5:3) naked, or as yet only shod with sandals, she sets forth with the deportment of a prince’s daughter.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Notes
Son. 6:13. Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return. Return. shubhi, return, come back. So most; though some, as Do WETTR. HAHN, and SANDERS render it, turn round, for which a different word would probably be used. Spoken by Solomon and his female attendants. EWALD. By brides companions, who desire her to return back to the garden with them. DELITZSCH. By the bridegrooms servants. THEODORET. By his friends. HOUBIGANT, PERCY. By chorus of women. MENOCHIUS. The Bride, finding her beloved, takes leave of the women, who call her to return. MERCER. GILL: Observing her bashfulness, they call her to turn her face, that they may behold it. HARMER: Spoken by Solomon or his attendants to the Jewish Queen, who had fled as not able to bear an interview with the King. SANCTIUS: Spoken by the daughters of Jerusalem, desiring to see her beauty for themselves. M. STUART: By the daughters, desiring in the Kings absence to see the Bride. WEISS: By first division of the daughters. FRY: by the company who had broken in upon her retirement, while she turned away to conceal herself. NOYES: By the court ladies. ZCKLER: The ladies calling to her when appearing to leave the court. HAHN: The call of the King and his host out of the chariots to the virgin in her home which they have speedily reached. WILLIAMS: Seeing her at a distance, the king instantly turns back and flies to meet her. Thus allegorized. TARGUM: The Lord calls Jerusalem to receive His prophets. RASHI: To return to Himself. THEODORBT: Christs servants call to the Church, not to fear the attacks of persecutors. PHILO, TRES PATRES: Call to the imperfect to repent. AMBROSE: To return to the way of virtue and of heaven. BERNARD: Bridegroom calls to the Church to return from lukewarmness, torpor and pridefrom foolish joy and useless grief. DEL RIO: The call of the Christian Church addressed to the latter day Jews in the four quarters of the world. HAHN: The call of the Gospel of peace to the heathen world. WORDSWORTH: The summons reiterated, as addressed to Jew and Gentile to return to God. THRUPP: Call to the Church to return in peace from victorious conflict. HAWKER: The call of the Triune Jehovah. Shulamite. ha-shulammith. Different meanings and derivations of the name given. Probably named from Solomon. Shelomo; she who is Solomons Bride; or, she who has been visited with peace. GESENIUS. The Bepeaced. THRUPP. A dialectic variation of Shunemite, from Shunem, also called Solam, the place of her abode. Zckler. Shunem called Solam as early as the time of Eusebius, who refers to 1Ki. 1:3; 1Ki. 2:17, as a possible explanation of the term. GESENIUS. Inhabitant of Salem or Jerusalem. ABEN EZRA, KIMCHI, COCCEIUS, PATRICK, &c. From perfect, or to restore; the perfect or restored one. WEISS. Perfect in thy faithfulness. RASHI. SEPTUAGINT: Sunamite; though the Complutensian and Royal Editions have Sulanute. VULGATE, SYRIAC, and ARABIC: Sulamite. AQUILA: She who is at peace. WICKLIFFE: Sunamytis. The name here used to remind her of her condition as Solomons bride, and so to remove her bashfulness. PERCY.
Ibid. As it were the company of two armies. The answer given by the Bridegroom. So THEODORET and the Fathers. By his friends. CALVIN. By the daughters. ZCKLER and many moderns. A continuation of the Virgins question. DE WETTE and others As it were the company, &c. (kimkholath mahanaim). (mekholah) a choir or dance, to celebrate a victory; from to turn or go round, to dance. GESENIUS. (makhul) always a religious dance, or dance at a religious festival (Exo. 15:20; Jdg. 21:19; Jer. 31:4; Jer. 31:13). EWALD. a circular dance, well known and common to the Orientals in feasts and solemn occasions, performed by several companies at once and by ranks, moving in opposite directions; performed anciently round heathen idols. WEISS. , like , a chorus or dance; processions or bands constantly employed on occasions of public rejoicing. FRY. (mahanaim); dual or plural of , a camp or army; from , to pitch tent: here, according to some, the heavenly hosts or angels. So GESENIUS and DELITZSCH. Two hosts or choral bands. PERCY, GOOD. Two bands; alluding probably to the two choruses or semi-chorusses that accompanied the Bride and Bridegroom. WILLIAMS. Two camps. A. CLARKE. Simply, Mahanaim: The dance of Mahanaim. ZCKLER. What resembles the dance of M.: they would see her dance. EWALD, who observes: Mahanaim was an old city on the other side of Jordan celebrated in Jacobs time (Gen. 32:3): must have become in the poets time celebrated for its female dancers at the solemn religious festivals, having been a holy city from antiquity through Jacobs abode in it: home such dances, as at Shiloh (Jdg. 21:19), in the Kingdom of Israel, at first only at Dan and Beersheba (1Ki. 12:28-29), afterwards in in many other cities (Amo. 4:4; Amo. 5:5). These remarks, however, made on the supposition that the Song was composed by a later poet than Solomon. The SEPTUAGINT has: As choruses or dances of the camps. VULGATE: Unless the choruses of camps. WICKLIFF: But quires of tents. DOUAI: The dance of the angelic choirs. LUTHER: As the ranks at Mahanaim. DUTCH: A row of two armies. DIODATI and MARTIN: As a dance of two companies. VATABLUS, PAGNINUS, MERCER, &c.: As the chorus of a camp or camps. JUNIUS and TREMELLIUS: The quite of Mahanaim. BRIGHTMAN: What but as the company of an army. SANCTIUS: Indicates sweetest pleasure, whether it be a chorus of dancers or instrumental music. Refers to the songs or praises of warriors. RUPERT. Singing a triumph as conquerors. THEODORET. As it were the meeting or conflict of two hosts. PERCY. Rather the amiable junction of two friendly companies as in a dance. HARMER. The rushing together after the manner of dancers. GOOD. The squadrons of two hosts dazzling by their armour, and performing their evolutions with the greatest order and beauty. BOOTHROYD, COHBIN. Indicates the stateliness and majesty of two armies in battle array. GILL. Allegorically: In the Church is both warfare and festivity, choirs and camps; fighting first and singing afterwards. THEODORET. Indicates the glorious presence of God in the Christian Church, resembling what Jacob saw at Mahanaim, or in the hosts of heaven. PATRICK. The deliverance of Shulamite from her miseries, and the joy of men and angels for her victory. AINSWORTH. The union of Jews and Gentile; or rather, the conflict between the flesh and the spirit in a believer. GILL. Indicates only a certain terrible and wonderful majesty. MERCER. The Churchs excellence. DURHAM. A band of two camps united under one leader: seen in the desire of Luther and others in regard to the Bohemians in 1522 COCCEIUS. Points to the time when the Beloved shall he as an ensign to the nations, and the two armies of Jews and Gentiles shall be united. WEISS. Something as magnificent and transporting as the dance of the angel bands at Mahanaim: the sight of Shulamite one of angelic beauty and heavenly sublimity. ZCKLER.
THE CALL TO SHULAMITE
Son. 6:13
Return, return, O, Shulamite;
Return, return;
That we may look upon thee.
Probably the language of the King, speaking in the plural as in chap. Son. 1:11, perhaps as being attended by companions. Expressive of admiration of Shulamites beauty, and ardent desire for her presence and society. Shulamite, though entreated to return, supposed to be near enough to answer the call. What will ye see in the Shulamite? Her attempted flight from the King, from whatever cause, supposed in the call. Probably from conscious unworthiness, as indicated in her answer, What will ye see? &c. The reference in the words, and their connection with the preceding, obscure. Clearer on the supposition of the king relating his first meeting with his future Bride. Perhaps the allusion to the Brides own narrative. The spiritual application of the words little affected by the obscurity of the reference. The allegorical meaning, the principal matter, sufficiently obvious. Similar language too frequently addressed through the prophets by the heavenly Bridegroom to His ancient Church. The text in harmony with such passages as Jer. 3:1; Jer. 3:12-14; Jer. 3:20-22; Jer. 4:1; Jer. 5:23; Jer. 31:22; Hos. 12:6; Hos. 14:1; Joe. 2:13; Zec. 1:3. May be viewed therefore as a prophetic intimation
(1) of Israels departure from the Lord in the time of the kings, as well as in that of the Saviour; and of the earnestness with which the Lord, first by His prophets, then by Himself personally in the flesh, and subsequently by His Apostles and servants, sought to bring back His backslidden people. The Gospel to be first preached in Jerusalem and to the Jewish nation. Christs personal call and that of His forerunner: Repent. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings! The Apostles call to the same people: Repent and be converted.
(2) Of the same tendency in the New Testament Church. A similar call on the part of the Bridegroom heard in most of the Epistles to the Seven Churches. Because iniquity should abound, the love of many should wax cold. The caution as necessary for the New Testament Church as for the Old: Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. The Epistle to the Hebrews written especially to guard the Hebrew Christians from backsliding and apostacy. Pauls Epistle to the Churches of Galatia indicative of a similar danger: O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth? Be not again entangled in the yoke of bondage. I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel. Ye did run well: who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth. Practical as well as doctrinal departures even then to be mourned over. Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. Observe in regard to the
Call to Return.
I. The PARTY called. O Shulamite. Different significations assigned to the name.
(1) Bride of Solomon; the name viewed as the feminine form of Solomon. The Bride thus named from her husband. So Christs new name to be written upon His faithful people (Rev. 3:12). Disciples called Christians or Christs people. The same name given to both the heavenly Bridegroom and the Bride: The Lord our righteousness (Jer. 23:6; Jer. 33:16).
(2) One who has been reconciled, or has obtained peace. As Solomon is The Peaceful, or The Peace-giver; so Shulamite, The Pacified, or The Peacereceiver. Justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our peace, having made peace through the blood of His cross; and you hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:14; Col. 1:20; Col. 1:22).
(3) The perfect One. So chap. Son. 4:7; Son. 6:9. Israels beauty said to have been perfect through Jehovahs comeliness put upon her (Eze. 16:14). Believers complete in Christ. Called to be perfect as God is perfect; to be perfect and entire, wanting nothing; to stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
(4) An inhabitant of Salem or Jerusalem (Psa. 76:2). The Bride made such by her union with Solomon. Believers, through union with Christ, made citizens of the new and heavenly Jerusalemthe Jerusalem which is above. Their citizenship in heaven, from whence they look for the Saviour (Php. 3:19; Heb. 12:22; Rev. 3:12; Gal. 4:23). Jerusalem also literally the birthplace of the New Testament Church, which had its first meetings in that city, and began from thence to publish the glad tidings of salvation and peace to the world (Luk. 24:47; Isa. 40:9).
(5) Equivalent to Shulamite, or an inhabitant of Shunem, early known as Sulem, and corresponding with the present Solam, a village about three miles north of Jezreel. The Bride thus apparently identified with Abishag (1Ki. 1:3), and reminded of her native home and humble origin. Believers not to forget the hole of the pit from whence they were taken, and the dust and dunghill from which rich and sovereign grace stooped to lift them, in order to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory (1Sa. 2:8; Psa. 113:7-8; Isa. 51:1). The text, viewed as Christs call to His timid, down-cast and backslidden people, thus given in the greatest tenderness and love, as to those whom He has already espoused to Himself. Reminds them of their abiding union with and interest in Him. Like that to Israel: Turn O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married to you (Jer. 3:14). The bond that unites Christs people to Himself indissoluble. I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. I will betroth thee unto Me for ever (Jer. 31:3; Hos. 2:19).
II. The CALL itself. Return. The call, as addressed to Shulamite, not merely applicable to Solomons first meeting with her. Her own narrative indicative of its subsequent appropriateness. Mans return to God the aim of all Divine revelation and the economy of redemption. Sin and the fall a departure from God. The first act of our fallen parents symbolical of the moral state into which the fall brought mankinda fleeing from our Maker. The tendency in mans fallen nature continually to do the same. Man now by nature actually in a state of departure and apostasy from God. The Bible a continuous call to men to return to Him from whom they have revolted. Christs redeemed Church naturally in this state of apostasy from God in common with others. The object of Christ to bring her back from her wandering. I came not call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Hence the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Piece of Money, and the Prodigal Son. Every converted soul an example of obedience to the call in the text. The Gospel call: Turn ye, turn ye; for why will ye die? Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, for He will have mercy upon him. Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden; and I will give you rest. Same proneness to depart from God in the carnal nature still remaining in the believer. Constant tendency to backslide. The tendency too often yielded to. Believers not unfrequently in a backslidden state. The first of the Seven Epistles of the ascended Saviour a reproof for having left first love, and a call to repent and do the first works. The last of them a similar call to be zealous and repent. Cowpers lament too frequently to be made by Christs Bride: Where is the blessedness I knew, when first I saw the Lord? Believers, like Peter, often requiring a second conversion. As addressed to believers, the call in the text to
(1) The ardour of first love. So the call to the Church at Ephesus (Rev. 2:4-5).
(2) Renewed zeal in His service. Do the first works (Rev. 2:5).
(3) To a holy and Christlike life.
(4) To closeness of walk with God and with Jesus Christ. The nature of sin to cause coolness and distance between the soul and God.
(5) To the peace and comfort formerly enjoyed. Davids sin cost him broken bones and sleepless nights. The joy of Gods salvation lost through backsliding, though the salvation itself is not (Psa. 51:8; Psa. 51:12).
III. The MANNER of the Call. Indicated in the fourfold repetition of the same word: Return. Intimates
1. Its earnestness. Like the Call in Ezekiel: Turn ye, turn ye; for why will ye die? Yet even that double call here repeated. Shows the earnestness of Christ both for the return of a sinner, and of a backslidden believer. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together! Corresponds with all that He has done and suffered for the salvation of men. So He stands at the door and knocks, as if unwilling to depart.
2. Its continuousness. Not once or twice, but four times. All day long have I stretched out my hand to a disobedient and gainsaying people. How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? The patience of God with His backslidden people, and the continuousness of His call to sinners to repent, something wonderful.
3. Its kindness. Each successive Return a declaration of His loving heart. One such call to a sinner or backslider a token of love. What when it is repeated four times over?
4. The difficulty of compliance. Great the unwillingness to return, or the difficulty of doing so, that requires a four times repeated call to overcome it. Much easier to stray and backslide than to return. Departure from God a downward motion. The return an ascent. Impossible to renew a certain once favoured class to repentance. Yet nothing impossible with God. Christs fourfold call, entering the ear and heart, the means of overcoming the natural reluctance and fear, as well of a sinner as a backsliding saint. The longer the Prodigals absence, the more difficult his return.
5. The seriousness of the case. No slight cause the occasion of a fourfold call. Awful condition of the soul away from Christ. Mournful, as well as hazardous, state of a backslider. Such a thing as a drawing back unto perdition. Sad loss both to himself and others when a believer keeps at a distance from God.
6. The duty and necessity of immediate compliance. When Christ calls earnestly to return, hazardous as well as sinful to sit still. Such a Call to be at once followed by the Prodigals resolution: I will arise and go to my Father.
IV. The OBJECT of the Call. That we may look upon Theeadmire and enjoy Thy beauty. The language of the king, either for himself alone, or for others with him. Christ speaks to His people both in His own name and the Fathers. My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him (Joh. 14:23). The object of the Call to sinners and backsliders, to return that Christ the Father may rejoice in their spiritual beauty as restored, renewed, and saved souls. The pleasure and glory of God necessarily the object of all His dealings with His creatures. He hath made all things for Himself. For Thy pleasure they are and were created. So with believers: This people have I formed for Myself, that they may show forth My praise (Isa. 3:2). Believers chosen by God in Christ to be holy and without blame before Him in love (Eph. 1:4). Gods greatest glory and joy in looking on lost sinners restored, renewed, and saved by the obedience of His Son, and the grace of His Spirit. Saved souls the Saviours reward, and the subject of His joy (Isa. 53:10-11; Luk. 15:5). His love to sinners indicated in the joy He feels in their salvation. His lore to His people shown in the pleasure He has in their spirituality, beauty, and prosperity. His joy especially in beholding them returning from their wanderings, and giving up all for His sake. His delight in their beauty an argument for their entire consecration. Forget also thine own people, and thy fathers house. So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty (Psa. 45:10-11). The sinner exhorted to return for his own take; the saint for his Saviours. Yet a powerful argument with the sinner that God has pleasure in his salvation, not in his destruction. Turn ye, turn ye; for why will ye die? I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that he should turn unto Me and live (Eze. 18:18; Eze. 18:23; Eze. 33:11). An irresistible motive in the hands of the Spirit both with the sinner and the saint, that a Three-One God is glorified and rejoices in his return.
SHULAMITES DIFFIDENCE
Son. 6:13
What will ye see in the Shulamite?
The question the reply to the Call. Shulamite little conscious of any such beauty and attractiveness. Acknowledges herself Solomons wife; or perhaps confesses to her humble origin. What am I, and what is my fathers house? So Gideon when called to be Israels deliverer: My family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my fathers house (Jdg. 6:14-15). One effort of grace to make us conscious of our unworthiness. Moses, on coming down from the Mount, wist not that his face shone. Isaiah in the Temple: I am a man of unclean lips. Peter in the presence of a divine Saviour: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Job: Now mine eye seeth Thee; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. The more light, the more defects seen. Company with Christ discovers our shortcomings. Formerly, before the marriage, Shulamite defended her beauty before the daughters of Jerusalem. After being for a little with her Beloved, she hangs her head: I am but a common wildflower of the plaina lily of the valley. Now, as the Kings married wife: What will ye see in the Shulamite? So Paul, righteous in his own eyes before he had seen the Lord; then, less than the least of all saints; last of all, the chief of sinners. Sight of Christ shows us our own deformity. John Wesleys dying testimony: I the chief of sinners am; But Jesus died for me. That of William Wilberforce: By the grace of God I am what I am. Humility, in Gods estimation the greatest beauty. To that man will I look who is humble. The great Exemplar meek and lowly in heart. Humility the first lesson He teaches. The poor in spirit the heirs of the kingdom. Humility to be the believers clothing. A believer puts on humility as he puts on Christ. The believers twofold testimony: I am nothing; Christ is all. The glow-worm hides itself in the light which clothes it. The question of the Shulamite that of Peter and John after Pentecost: Why look ye so earnestly upon us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? (Act. 3:12).
Yet, notwithstanding unworthiness, believers still Christs spouse. That relation to Christ to be maintained in the face of all shortcomings. Believers not to deny the grace of God in them and towards them. Sense of sin and unworthiness quite compatible with consciousness of acceptance in the Beloved and the joy of faith.
THE KINGS ANSWER
Son. 6:13
As it were the company of two armies
The Kings answer intended to dispel the diffidence of the Bride. Expressive of her grace and attractiveness in his sight. The company properly a dance, or a company of dancers. Dances anciently a part of religious worship. Especially practised in connection with religious festivals, the celebration of victories, and other solemn and festive occasions. Performed by several companies at once, and by ranks moving in opposite directions. Always an expression of joy, whether in God or otherwise (Exo. 15:20-21; Exo. 32:19; Jdg. 21:19; 1Sa. 18:6-7; Jer. 31:4; Jer. 31:13; Psa. 149:3, doubtful; Luk. 15:25; Mat. 11:11; Mat. 11:17). Religious dances still common in the East. Their introduction into the West an idea of Savanarola. The armies, or camps either literally armies of men who, in celebration of a victory, engaged in such dances; or the angelic hosts; the word here used being the name given by Jacob to the place where the angels of God met him: Mahanaim, or, as in margin, Two hosts or camps (Gen. 32:12). The dual form of the word, though not necessarily implying two, perhaps indicating two divisions or semi-choruses, as of the women of Israel (1Sa. 18:7), or, of the Levites at the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. 12:12; Neh. 12:31; Neh. 12:38; Neh. 12:40), the companies of Levites being also called camps (1Ch. 9:18-19). The comparison expressive of
1. Grace and beauty. The Bride from her beauty already compared to an army with banners, whether as marshalled for battle, on the march, or under review. The beauty, perhaps, still greater of military companies engaged in a martial or festive dance, or in performing their orderly evolutions. Even this much short of the beauty of a company, or, rather of two responsive bands of angels engaged in holy dance, as expressive of their joy and praise. Such the beauty and grace of the Bride in the eyes of her Beloved. Such the beauty of the Church in the eyes of Christ amid all her blemishes and defects. The mind of Christ Himself expressed by the Apostle when he wrote to the Church at Colosse: Joying and beholding your order. What the beauty of the Church when she shall be presented to her Bridegroom, a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing? Beautiful and glorious indeed when the Lord of glory Himself shall, on the day of His glorious appearing, be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe (2Th. 1:10). We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Our vile bodies changed and fashioned like His own glorious body.
2. Grandeur and terribleness. The Bride already said to be terrible as an army with banners. Something in great personal beauty that awes while it charms you. Terror in beauty. So with spiritual beauty. He perceived how awful goodness is. So with the Church after Pentecost. Of the rest durst no man join himself to them; but the people magnified them (Act. 2:13). All that sat in the Council looking steadfastly at Stephen, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. A beauty in Christian meekness and patience that awes even persecutors.
3. Joy and adoration. The comparison, whether referring to things celestial or terrestrial, suggestive of joy and praise. The dance, like music in general, expressive of festive joy, and, like sacred song, employed, as already noticed, in connection with divine worship (Jdg. 11:34; Jdg. 21:21). God to be worshipped with holy gladness. Joy especially becoming in the service and worship of Him who is love itself and the fountain of every blessing. O come let us sing unto the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp and the voice of a Psalm; with trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord the King. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and organs (Psa. 95:1; Psa. 98:4-6; Psa. 100:2; Psa. 150:4). To rejoice in the Lord a repeatedly enjoined duty. That joy, however, far removed from levity and carnal mirth. Mingled with reverence and godly fear. A holy awe in the true worship of God, which deepens instead of damping the joy. Joy, as well as love and peace, a fruit of the Spirit, (Gal. 5:22). Joy in divine worship probably only hindered by the corruption of the heart and its coldness in respect to God, from expressing itself, at certain times, in dance as well as song. The beauty and attractiveness of grace heightened by the deep and holy joy which it produces.
4. Boldness and courage. A characteristic of armies, whether human or angelic Holy courage a grace of the Spirit. Add to your faith virtue, or courage. Believers called to quit themselves like men, and be strong. The fearful classed with the unbelieving. Courage the child of faith. By faith men out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, put to flight the armies of the aliens. Verified in the Primitive Church and in times of persecution. The noble army of martyrs. They loved not their lives unto the death. True courage, to fear God and have no other fear. Such courage a part of the Christian character. The Church while on earth necessarily militant. The believers adversaries the world, the flesh, and the devil. Carries in himself two contending armies, the flesh and the spirit (Rom. 7:23; Gal. 5:17; 1Pe. 2:7). The life of a believer a warfare, but a blessed one (1Ti. 1:18; 1Ti. 6:12; 2Ti. 4:7). The Church enlisted under Christ as the sacramental host of Gods elect, to do battle against its spiritual foes. Not less beautiful in the Bridegrooms eyes because returning, like himself, with scars and wounds. A penitent and believing soul courageously fighting in the Saviours strength, against sin, Satan, and an evil world, more beautiful in Christs eyes than armies of Seraphim (Luk. 15:6-7; Luk. 15:10).
The whole redeemed Church of Christ known as two armiesthe Church militant on earth, and the Church triumphant in heaven. With the latter the battle is fought, and the victory won; with the former, the fight still continues, but the victory certain. In the eye of the glorious Leader, both but one army of the living God. The day at hand when they shall be visibly one, as the armies which are in heaven, following their victorious Commander, who, as the Rider on the White Horse, with righteousness doth judge and make war (Rev. 19:11-14).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
13. Shulamite is, in Hebrew, the same as “Shunammite.” Shunem was a little village near Jezreel, the residence of Abishag, the last wife of David, and of the woman whose son Elisha restored to life. The address of the verse is to one who is, apparently, in the act of departing. The speaker, in the first period, may be either the King or the Chorus.
The Shulamite Representing herself as one of the people of the village, the proper translation should be, “a Shulamite;” that is, an humble country girl.
The company of two armies This very difficult passage can, on the whole, have but one of two meanings. One is, “a dance of double lines,” as when the dancers are arranged in rows facing each other. It would then be poetically equivalent to “many beauties and graces in harmony.” Its other sense would be taken from Gen 32:1-2, where Jacob and his company are met by the vision of angels, and he calls the place Mahanaim, because angels as well as mortals are there. This would poetically signify, “Something more than human, more fair and lovely, seems added to our company when thou art here.” The idea of angels was always familiar to the Jewish mind, nor is this sense of the word extravagant. In either case and sound criticism can hardly admit the possibility of a third the speech is very highly complimentary.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Son 6:13. Return, return, O Shulamite Shulamith. SHULAMITE is evidently formed from shelomah, SOLOMON; as Charlotte from Charles, &c. and is equivalent to wife or bride of Solomon. This appellation is the more remarkable, as it was inconsistent with the Jewish customs to give the name of the husband to his wife. I have no doubt but there was a mystic meaning in the imposition of this name; which might be, that as the Shulamite is held by some to have been a foreigner, and the favourite spouse of Solomon, the king, in marrying her, typified the true Prince of Peace, the Messiah, who was to espouse a church taken from the Gentiles, though strangers and foreigners with respect to the Jews. We may just observe, that the former part of this verse is assigned to the bridegroom’s companions: then the virgins are supposed to ask, What would, or, will you see in the Shulamite? or, what do you look for in the Shulamite? when the bridemen answer, As it were the conflict, or perhaps more exactly, the rushing together of two armies; not in the way of battle, for that will not agree with the original word mecholath, but in the way of a friendly or triumphant meeting; and may imply the exultation of the two choruses of men and women on this occasion.
REFLECTIONS.1st, Struck with the description of the excellence of Jesus, which the spouse his church had given, the daughters of Jerusalem no longer wonder that she should so highly value him; their own hearts caught the sacred flame; and since here no rivalship awakens jealousy, they are resolved, with her, to seek him. Her discourse shewed the intimacy of her acquaintance with him, therefore they in their turn are solicitous to learn of her where he may be found. We have,
1. The question, Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with thee? Holy zeal is a spreading flame; they who delight to proclaim the glories of Christ, will find others charmed with his beauty, and ready to join in seeking him, in prayer, in his word, and in his other ordinances, and he will be found of all that call upon him faithfully.
2. The answer is given, My beloved is gone down into his gardens. The spouse had toiled in vain to seek him in the streets; in the noise and hurry of the world he is not to be found; she now remembers that he had gone down to his garden, his church, to the beds of spices, the several congregations of his saints, or the souls of his believing people filled with divine graces, where, well-pleased, he takes up his abode: To feed in the gardens, either his flocks in the green pastures of his ordinances, or himself with the pleasant fruits of holiness, which he with delight beholds growing up before him; and to gather lilies; to place his saints now in the bosom of his love, or at death to gather them into his everlasting arms.
3. She professes her confidence of an assured interest in him. I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine; she entertains not a doubt of his regard, and is conscious of the simplicity of her own heart before him. He feedeth among the lilies; there in the midst of his people she expected with delight to find him; nor was she disappointed of her hope. Note; (1.) That soul is truly happy which in faith and love can say, My beloved is mine, and I am his. (2.) When we can rest assured of our own unfeigned attachment of heart to Christ, we may safely conclude our sure interest in his regard.
2nd, The gracious Lord no longer hides his face, not delays to satisfy the desires of his believing people. He comes; grace is in his lips, and tenderness in his heart.
1. He admires her beauty: Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, which was most pleasantly situated on a rising hill; comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners, to all her enemies, who must finally bow before her feet.
2. He expresses the delight that he took in her: Turn away thine eyes from me; he can no longer bear the earnestness, anguish, love, and tenderness, which speak in her looks. Or, Turn thine eyes over against me; the eyes of faith and affection; hang not down thy head with shame, but raise these downcast looks: all the past is forgiven and forgotten, return then unto thy rest again; for they have overcome me, brought me back again: or, they have strengthened me; it refreshed his heart to behold her penitent return: or, lifted me up with joy, so delighted was he with her love.
3. He gives the same description of her beauty which he had done before, chap. Son 4:1-3. Though by her unfaithfulness it was sullied, and she might be fearful that Christ’s love towards her would not return with equal ardour, he assures her of the recovery of his warm affection, and that she is again beautiful in his eye. Blessed be our dear Lord, he hateth putting away; and, though corruptions have prevailed to our defilement, yet the fountain of his blood is still open; and if we come to wash there, our souls shall then appear as the moon, fair as ever, when the cloud is passed away.
4. Her excellence is above all compare. By the queens, concubines, and virgins, some understand the world in general, from the highest in rank and station to the lowest; others, the false churches and deluded people; but rather it may mean believers in general, the most advanced in spiritual attainments, or the converts of lesser experience, who are afterwards said to praise her. Whatever amiable qualities may be in any individuals, the church in the aggregate possesses them all. My dove, my undefiled, is but one; dear to him above all others; one body, of which he is the living head. She is the only one of her mother; she is the choice one of her that bare her; more tenderly beloved than an only darling child. The daughters saw her and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. Either this signifies the high honour the church will receive in the latter day, see Isa 60:3-11 or the delight in her expressed by all the faithful, and their prayers for her prosperity.
5. They who praised her, burst forth into admiration at her beauty. Who is she that looketh forth as the morning? The image is taken from the light, and may be applied to the church, whose day began to dawn in the patriarchal age: fair as the moon, as increasing discoveries of the divine Messiah were reflected from the prophetic word: clear as the sun, when in the dispensation of the Gospel spiritual light and knowledge were in their full blaze diffused: terrible as an army with banners, going on conquering and to conquer, till all the powers of darkness shall be at last finally and eternally subdued. And this may be applied in particular to every faithful soul, to whom the light of truth at first, like the grey morning, is indistinct: as they advance in grace they shine with borrowed but increasing splendour derived from Christ; till at last they appear bright as the sun in the firmament of glory, and all their enemies, which in their militant state opposed them, shall for ever become their footstool.
3rdly, The reconciliation being now complete, Christ gives his church an account whither he went, and how he was affected during his absence from her.
1. I went down into the garden of nuts: though his sensible and comforting presence was withheld, he was among the trees, to see the fruits of the valley, what graces of repentance would be exercised by his church; and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded; either the first movings of his Spirit quickening the hearts of new converts, or the risings of gracious repentance for the unfaithfulness which had caused him to hide his face, which he with delight observed.
2. He declares how strongly he felt his heart drawn forth towards her: Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Ammi-nadib. He could refrain no longer; swift he flew to dry the tears of her penitence, and, with the sense of his presence and love, to comfort her disconsolate heart. Or, My soul made me as chariots to my willing people: since they began to seek him in prayer and faith, his heart is open for their reception, and he takes them up into his chariot of love. Some make these the words of the spouse, pleasingly surprised to find her Lord come down to visit her, and flying to meet him with rapid eagerness.
3. He invites her with affectionate importunity to return to him, and be happy. Return, return, O Shulamite: Christ, the greater than Solomon, communicates his name to his spouse the church; she is the Shulamite. Ubi tu Caius, ibi ego Caia. And lest, discouraged by her past conduct, she should be ashamed or afraid to meet him, he assures her of the kindest reception. Guilt makes the soul fearful, and bitter are the disquietudes which the awakened backslider experiences; but let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Return, return, that we may look upon thee; Christ now taking pleasure in her, and all the saints and angels admiring her beauty, when presented without blame before him in love.
4. A short account is given of the Shulamite. What will ye see in the Shulamite? which, considered as her own words, bespeaks her modesty and humility. Christ desired to look upon her, and she is not conscious of aught in herself worthy the least regard from him: as it were the company of two armies; a scene of warfare between her and her enemies without, or between grace and corruption within. Or this is the description that Christ gives of her: she is beautiful as two companies that go forth with music and dancing to convey the bride to her husband’s house; or, as divided into two bands, the church militant on earth, and triumphant in heaven, and both glorious in holiness.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.
The church is in this verse called upon, most probably by the daughters of Jerusalem, to return. But it doth not so immediately appear what the church is called upon to return to; some, therefore, have accepted the call as the words of Christ; and in this sense the words are certainly much more plain and obvious; for then the object of the return, that we may look upon thee, will be that all the Persons of the God-head, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, may behold the fair beauty of the church, robed in the apparel of her Husband. I do not presume to determine the exact sense of the passage, or to which they refer. But, when the church is called Shulamite, it should seem it means a woman of Salem, or Jerusalem; for the word is the same. And as the bride of Jesus, she is the Shulamite indeed. Solomon, as the name of a man, is precisely the same as Shulamite for a woman. Now as the Lord Jesus, in one scripture, is called the Lord our righteousness, and in another passage of the same prophet, the church is so called, all this seems to throw a light upon the subject, in explaining why the church is called Shulamite. Jer 33:16Jer 33:16 . The answer of the church is a most beautiful proof of grace, and her humbleness of soul. What will ye see, saith the church, but as a company of two armies, or as the margin of the Bible hath it, of Mahanaim, two hosts, such as the patriarch Jacob noticed, Gen 32:1-2 . The conflict between grace and nature is very aptly represented by two armies, and in a warfare that ends not but with death. Blessed Jesus, it is well that it ends then; and everlasting praises be to thy name the victory is not doubtful; for thy people are more than conquerors, through thy grace making them so. Rom 8:37-39 .
REFLECTIONS
Here Reader, let us pause; and before we close the chapter, take into one view, some at least of the many blessed things contained in it for our instruction. Are we earnest in our enquiries for Jesus? Do we now seek after him from a knowledge of him, and a conviction of our need of him, and our utter ruin without him? Then let us learn from hence, where we are to seek Christ, and the earnestness with which we should enquire after him. There is a generation that seek the Lord, and of whom he saith, he will not be sought in vain. And very blessed it is to have this assurance from the Lord himself; while in a day of much heresy the cry is, Lo! here is Christ, or lo, he is there! Reader! let us not be discouraged with these things. A real love for Christ, and the going forth of real desires after Christ; both are of Jesus’s own giving: and the grace he gives, he will perfect. And if, as the church speaks, Jesus is gone down into his garden, his church; let us in ordinances, and in all the several means of grace there, seek him, where his name is as ointment poured forth, and where his glory and his salvation are the chief and only object regarded; and we shall find that, ere we are aware, our souls will be made like the chariot of Amminadib. And oh for grace, like the church, to arrive at that blessedness of assurance founded in the Father’s love, the Redeemer’s grace, and the Spirit’s fellowship, that each may say for himself as the church: I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.
Precious Jesus! is thy church indeed lovely and beautiful as Tirzah? is she comely as Jerusalem; and in thy strength terrible as an army with banners? Surely then, blessed Lord, the whole is derived from thee! What grace, what endowment, what ornament can our poor polluted nature have but in, and from thee. In thy light, Lord, we shalt see light; and in thy strength we are strong: but without thee we are nothing. Cause thy redeemed to come up as a flock of sheep from the washing, and let there be not one barren among them.
I praise thee, my blessed Lord and Saviour, for this account of thy church, that she is but one and undefiled; and the choice one of her that bare her; and oh! for grace to bear about with me this precious mark of unity. One, Lord, with thee, and one, with thy people: one faith, one hope, one baptism; and all thy redeemed shall be found in one spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling. And although, thou glorious Head of thy body the church, all thy redeemed here below are like the Shulamite, always in the conflict as of two armies; yet already in thy strength we have overcome. Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ! And therefore now we would begin the Song, until in the full assembly of the church above we come to sing with a louder, fuller, sweeter strain: Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Son 6:13 Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.
Ver. 13. Return, return, O Shulamite. ] The Church is so called from her peace and perfection with God in Christ. Brightman gathers from this word, that the Church of the Jews in special is meant (the Church in general being usually before signified by the daughters of Jerusalem), and applies it to the recalling of the Jews, according to Rom 11:25 , &c., which is yet to be fulfilled. Solomon’s wife, saith another, was after his name called the Shulamite, according to Isa 4:1 . And as Christ in this book is named Solomon, so the Church is called Shulamite, to show the communion that she hath with him; and therefore also the forming of the Hebrew word is rather passive than active. That which she is again and again called upon to do, is to return. It seems she had so posted apace after Christ (as on swift chariots, Son 6:12 ), that she had gone quite beyond him. He therefore, as it were by houting and shouting to her, calls her back. How easily we overshoot and run into extremes, may be seen in Peter, Joh 13:9 and the Galatians. Gal 4:9-10 It is best to hold the golden mean. Howbeit, as in falling forward, is nothing so much danger as backward; so he that is earnest in good, though he may overdo, and carry some things indiscreetly, yet is he far better than a lusk or apostate, especially if he afterwards return and discern, and hearken to better counsel. But some are so set upon it, that, like a man that is running a race, though you give them never so good advice, they will not stay to hear it. Of these the proverb is verified, “He that hasteth with his feet, sinneth” Pro 19:2 See Trapp on “ Pro 19:2 “
That we may look upon thee.
What will ye see in the Shulamite? as it were the company of two armies.
a .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Son 6:13 -b
13Come back, come back, O Shulammite;
Come back, come back, that we may gaze at you!
Son 6:13 At this verse the MT changes to Son 7:1.
Come back This Qal IMPERATIVE (BDB 996, KB 1427) is repeated four times! The question is who or what does it refer to:
1. she has left (possibly the garden of Son 6:2-3) and gone somewhere
2. she is dancing a wedding dance, but has stopped for some reason (cf. Son 6:13, lines 3-4)
that we may gaze at you This is a Qal IMPERFECT (BDB 302, KB 301) used in a COHORTATIVE sense. This may relate to Son 1:6, line 1. However, I am not convinced that there is a united plot. Song of Songs seems more like a series of love poems. There are too many strange stanzas (i.e., Son 5:7; Son 6:10-12; Son 8:8-9).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Return, return. This was the entreaty of Solomon, as she turned to go away, the moment her necessary explanation had been made.
Shulamite. Shulem is thought to be the same as Shunem, now Solam, about three and a half miles from Zerin, north of Jezreel, mentioned in Jos 19:18. 1Sa 28:4. 1Ki 1:3, 1Ki 1:15; 1Ki 2:17, 1Ki 2:21, 1Ki 2:22; 2Ki 4:8, 2Ki 4:12, 2Ki 4:25, 2Ki 4:36. Instead of this proper name causing “great difficulty”, it is necessary, to enable us to fix the locality of the whole subject of the song. Abishag came from Shunem (1Ki 1:4); and is here used as being synonymous with “fairest among women” (Son 1:8; Son 5:9; Son 6:1).
look = gaze on.
What will ye see . . . ? This is her answer to Solomon’s request as she was departing.
see = gaze on.
the company of two armies. Instead of “of two armies”, the Authorized Version margin and Revised Version text reads “of Mahanaim”, and the Revised Version renders the phrase: “the dance (or steps) of Mahanaim”. Modern critics say “This is another proper name which must in all probability vanish from the text”. But the text needs this here, though it does not need “Ammi-nadib” in Son 6:12. The Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund (1891, pp 244, 245) shows that in kimholath hammahdndyim, the root of the former word (hul, to be round) is the common name for a circle (hence another suggested rendering is “like a dance to double choirs”; one even ventures on “a sword-dance”), or geographical “basin”, and mphanayim as meaning a plain or camp on a plain. Remembering that a man was seen by David’s watchman from “the wood Ephraim” (2Sa 18:6. Compare Son 17:27) running on “a plain” (2Sa 18:24-27. Compare 2Sa 19:32), and now putting the word “plain” by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct), App-6, for the view obtained of it, we have the suitable rendering, “Like the view of Mahanaim”, i.e. a view as beautiful as that, which would be the answer to her question, “What will ye behold in the Shulamite? “For “Mahanaim” see Gen 32:2.
Mahanaim = two camps.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
return: Son 2:14, Jer 3:12-14, Jer 3:22, Hos 14:1-4
What: Son 1:6, Luk 7:44, Luk 15:10, 2Th 1:10
Shulamite: Gen 49:10, Psa 76:2, Isa 8:6, Joh 9:7, Heb 7:2
As: Joh 10:16, Rom 3:29, Eph 2:14-17
two armies: or, Mahanaim, Gen 32:2, Rom 7:23, Gal 5:17, Eph 6:10-19
Reciprocal: Psa 45:14 – virgins
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Son 6:13. Return Christ recalls his spouse, who, as when Christ was gone, she pursued after him, so now, when Christ was coming to her, she was ready to wander from him. Return This word is repeated four times, to signify both Christs passionate love to her, and her backwardness. O Shulamite This title signifies the wife of Solomon, thus called after her husbands name; see Isa 4:1; and as Christ is called by the name of Solomon, (Son 3:7,) so the church is fitly described by the title of Solomons wife. That we may look upon thee That I and my companions may contemplate thy beauty. What will you see But what do you, my friends, expect to discover in her? Christ proposes the question, that they might take special notice of this as a very remarkable thing in her. The company Whereby he intimates, that this one spouse was made up of the whole multitude of believers; of two armies Confederate together, and so this may signify the union of Jews and Gentiles, and the safety and strength of the church, which is compared to a numerous host, distributed into two armies.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Son 6:13 to Son 8:4. The Dancing Bride and the Rapture of Love.This section also is probably composed of different lyrics, though it is difficult to separate them; we have first the description of the loved one or bride in the act of dancing, then the comparison of her figure to a date palm, and finally a song of love and spring, concluding with the repetition of Son 2:6 f. In Son 7:1-6 it is possible that we have a descriptive poem setting forth the charms of the bride and sung by a chorus of women at the wedding dance.
Son 6:13. A very similar word would give turn (instead of return) i.e. in the dance.Shulammite: on the dramatic theory the maiden of Shunem who is the heroine of the story. More likely a traditional name for a very beautiful woman, based on the narrative of 1Ki 1:3*. Shunem (now Solam or Sulam), a village a little N. of Jezreel.dance of Mahanaim: another riddle with several possible answers: (a) Mahanaim (Gen 32:2) was a sacred place famous for its dances (cf. Jdg 21:21); (b) adopt mg., of two companies, explaining company of a country dance or bridal sword-dance; circling dance of the armed company (LXX). The feet were enclosed in jewelled sandals and the dancer moved with glittering graceful steps (mg.).
Son 7:1. princes daughter is not taken literally on either theory; it is supposed to rest on a reminiscence of 2Ki 4:8.The curved lines of thy thighs (cf. mg.). The swaying movement of the dance brings out the beauty of the figure and suppleness of the limbs. The Orientals delighted in these sensuous descriptions, as may be seen from the quotations in the commentaries. It is exceedingly difficult, in many cases impossible, to settle the precise point involved in these comparisons of various parts of the body to different natural objects, such as the decorated body of the dancer and the heap of brown wheat adorned with scarlet flowers.
Son 7:3. See Son 4:5.
Son 7:4. We can understand eyes that are like pools, on which the light is reflected, but undue prominence of the nose to us seems to border on the grotesque.Bath-rabbim (daughter of many) is uncertain, whether another name for Heshbon, or of a village near by. She holds her head proudly, and her dark hair has an almost purple hue.
Son 7:5. hair: the Heb. word is very rare; in Isa 38:12 it seems to be used of the threads of the loom. The word rendered tresses (AV galleries) means elsewhere water-troughs (Gen 30:38; Gen 30:41; Exo 2:16); how it comes to mean tresses is not clear; the idea of flowing is supposed to make the connexion.
Son 7:6. May be an interpolation or an interlude. How supremely beautiful and gracious is love among all the delights of life, or How beautiful art thou, how gracious, my loved one, in the delights of love.
Son 7:7. stature from verb to rise, because graceful height is the feature made prominent (cf. Tamar, palm, as name of a woman). Perhaps the words of grapes should be dropped as the reference may be to dates (cf. Son 1:14).
Son 7:9. The lover decides on bold action and asks for favourable reception.Nose (mg.) same word as in Son 6:5; here, however, breath (RV) is probably a correct interpretation.
Son 7:9 b is difficult to translate. Neither AV nor RV is satisfactory. By conjecture and comparison with VSS a plausible translation is secured: That goes down pleasantly for my palate, gliding over my lips and teeth.
Son 7:10. A repetition from Song 3:16, Son 6:3, or a formal opening of a new song. On the dramatic view uttered with an almost triumphant gesture of rejection towards Solomon.
Son 7:11-13. Cordial invitation of the bride to the lover to enjoy, at the same time, the beauties of nature in the glory of spring, and the delight of friendly companionship.in the villages may mean among the henna-flowers (Son 4:13).mandrakes or love-plants: perhaps the reference here is rather to the pleasant taste, peculiar smell, and stimulating qualities than to the magical virtues ascribed to it (Gen 30:14*).The transition to thrifty housekeeping in the reference to fruits new and old stored up over the door is rather prosaic; if we could eliminate new and old, the statement would harmonise better with the spirit of the song, but even then stored up would be troublesome. Some interpret the fruit symbolically of maidenly charms (cf. Son 4:12 ff.), and take new and old to mean all kinds (Mat 13:52).
Son 8:1-4. It is difficult to say whether this is a continuation of the foregoing or a separate piece; Son 6:3 f. is a repetition from Son 2:6 f., Son 3:5, probably by an editor. She expresses a longing for closest intimacy. If he were a near relative she could lavish tenderness without shame or fear of rebuke.
Son 8:2. Probably the first two lines should be, I would lead thee into my mothers house, and into the chamber of her that bare me (cf. LXX and Son 3:4).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
6:13 Return, return, O {i} Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.
(i) O ye people of Jerusalem, for Jerusalem was called Shalem which signifies peace.