Bible Commentary

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if [a] man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. 7. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it ] Better, neither can rivers drown it. The word translated drown may also mean … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 8:7”

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love [is] strong as death; jealousy [is] cruel as the grave: the coals thereof [are] coals of fire, [which hath a] most vehement flame. 6. As seals are not impressed upon the heart, nor upon the arm, we must understand … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 8:6”

Who [is] this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth [that] bore thee. 5. the wilderness ] i.e. the uncultivated open pasture lands round the village. This again is an insurmountable difficulty for … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 8:5”

I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake [my] love, until he please. 4. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem ] Rather, as in R.V., I adjure you nor awaken love, until it please. This verse is a repetition of Son 2:7 and Son 3:5 with the difference … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 8:4”

His left hand [should be] under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. 3. The bride here repeats in other words what she has already spoken of in Son 8:1, and losing herself in the anticipation of that which she had before regarded only as a possibility, she drops into the use of … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 8:3”

I would lead thee, [and] bring thee into my mother’s house, [who] would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. 2. The bride thinks with delight of the close familiar intercourse she would in that case have had with him. who would instruct me ] … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 8:2”

O that thou [wast] as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! [when] I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised. Ch. Son 8:1. O that thou wert as my brother ] As should probably be omitted, as the accidental repetition of the last letter of … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 8:1”

The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates [are] all manner of pleasant [fruits], new and old, [which] I have laid up for thee, O my beloved. 13. The mandrakes give a smell ] Heb. had-ddh m (LXX, ), lit. ‘love plants.’ The mandrake is fully described in Tristram, Nat. Hist. pp. 466 ff. … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 7:13”

Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, [whether] the tender grape appear, [and] the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves. 12. if the vine flourish ] whether the vine hath budded, R.V. Cp. Son 6:11. whether the tender grape appear ] Rather, and … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 7:12”

Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. 11. let us lodge in the villages ] The verb ln = ‘to pass the night,’ does not always mean a passing sojourn. Consequently there is no hint here that the home of the Shulammite and her lover was … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 7:11”