Bible Commentary

Who [is] this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? 6. Who is this that cometh out ] In the Heb. as it stands, this is feminine, and the participles coming up and perfumed are in agreement with it. Hence many … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 3:6”

I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake [my] love, till he please. 5. As in ch. Son 2:7. Probably here as there the significance of the adjuration is, that after such a demonstration of her deep-seated love … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 3:5”

[It was] but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. 4. It was but a little that I passed from … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 3:4”

The watchmen that go about the city found me: [to whom I said], Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? 3. The watchmen ] For the practice of having watchmen in cities, cp. Psa 127:1, “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” Grtz supposes that the mention of watchmen favours … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 3:3”

I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. 2. R.V. rightly inserts I said at the beginning of the verse. It is a vivid presentment of what happened, when her … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 3:2”

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. 1. By night ] Lit. In the nights. In Psa 16:7 the same phrase is translated “in the night seasons,” and some understand it here of the night hours. But in none of the few … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 3:1”

Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether. 17. Alarmed for his safety, she now exhorts her lover to depart till the evening when he might return with greater safety. Until the day break ] R.V. … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 2:17”

My beloved [is] mine, and I [am] his: he feedeth among the lilies. 16. This verse is addressed by the bride to her companions within the house, or is spoken in a loving rapture to herself. Some however think that it is sung to the lover. he feedeth among the lilies ] Rather, as in … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 2:16”

Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines [have] tender grapes. 15. In answer to her lover’s request that she should let him hear her voice the bride sings a fragment of a vineyard-watcher’s song. Probably, as Oettli suggests, he had heard her sing it before, and would recognise … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 2:15”

O my dove, [that art] in the clefts of the rock, in the secret [places] of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet [is] thy voice, and thy countenance [is] comely. 14. clefts of the rock ] Rather, hiding places of the rock. The word chaghw occurs only … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 2:14”