LESSON IV.
But experience proved that even this second degree of slavery was not a sufficient preventive of sin to preserve man upon the earth. “That the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man.” Gen. vi. 2, 3. The word translated “fair,” and applied to the daughters of men, is טֹבֹ֖תṭōbōt to voth; it is in the feminine plural, and comes from טָבṭāb tav, and cognate with the Syriac word [ܛܒܳܗܳ] tov or tob; it merely means good, excellent, as the quality may exist in the mind of the person taking cognisance.
It implies no quality of virtue or complexion, but in its use is reflective back to the nominative. It is one of those words which we find in all languages, of which rather a loose use is made. We find it in Dan. ii. 32, (the 31st of the English text,) “excellent;” also Ezra v. 17, “good.” When it is said of Sarah, in Gen. xii. 11, that she was “fair,” meaning that she was of a light complexion, the word יְפַהyĕpa yĕphath, is used, and is the same with our Japheth, the son of Noah, and comes from יָפַהyāpa yapha, and means to shine, to give light, and, as an adjective, well means lightness of complexion, fairness, and brilliancy of beauty. So in Esth. ii. 7, “and the maid was fair and beautiful,” יָפַהyĕpa yephath. 1 Sam. xvi. 12, “Now he was ruddy and of a fair countenance,” יְפַהyĕpa yepha. 1 Kings i. 4, “and the damsel was fair,” יָפָ֣הyāpâ yaphah.
It is true that in Solomon’s Song, i. 16, “Behold, thou art fair, my beloved,”—ii. 10, “My beloved spake and said unto me, Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away,”—iv. 1, “Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes,”—iv. 7, “Thou art fair, my love; there is no spot in thee,” and also v. 9, “O thou fairest among women,” the word יָפַהyāpa yapha, in grammatical form, is used in the original, and that the term is applied to a black woman. But this whole song is written in hyperbole. In the description of Solomon’s person, it says, v. 11, “His head is as the most fine gold;” in the original, “His head is the most fine gold.” 14: “His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. 15: His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.”
Asiatic poetry always abounded in hyperbole. Thus an Arabian poet, speaking of his mistress, says—
“I behold in thine eyes, angels looking at me.
Deformity in another, in thee is excellent beauty;
The garments of the shepherd, upon thee, are the finest tissue,
And brass ornaments become fine gold.
Thy excellence, so great among men, the god beholds,
And is astonished at thy beauty.”
It is not from such productions that we are to look for the simple, original, and radical meaning of terms; and probably even in the case of Canticles, the word יָפַהyāpa yapha would not have been allowed by the rules of composition, had it not been first announced in a calm, initiatory manner, that she was a black woman, in order that no misconception might arise from such hyperbole.
Let us suppose ourselves in Arabia, and some poet announces that, for our evening entertainment and diversion, he will deliver a panegyric upon some black woman, and, among other things, says—
Thy neck is as a tower of ivory.
Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep.
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet.
Thy nose like the tower of Lebanon,
That looketh towards Damascus;
And the smell of thy nose like apples;
And the smell of the roof of thy mouth like the best wine
Thy stature is like the palm-tree.
Thy skin is fairer than snow,
And thy breasts like two clusters of grapes.
Thy head is as Mount Carmel,
And the hair of thy head like purple,
And the curls of thy hair like a flock of goats.
Behold, thou art fair, my love; thou hast doves’ eyes.
True, amid such hyperbole, we might have mistaken her colour, if he had not previously informed us on that subject. But, as it stands, there is no falsehood asserted; there is no liability to mistake. The poet merely means that, at least in his conception, she is as lovely, beautiful, and desirable as all those hyperboles would make her. And we think we have reason to contend, that the hyperbolic use of the word יָפַהyāpa yapha, in Canticles, does not alter in any sense its real meaning, or, in any ordinary use of language, make it a term applicable to people of colour, or in any sense whatever a synonyme of the טָבṭāb tav, or טֹבֹתṭōbōt to voth, as used in Genesis.
This explanation is thought necessary, since it is seen that we shall hereafter contend that the descendants of Cain were black.