Ἀλλ’ ἔμπας ἐν τοῖς στεφάνοις τὰ πρᾶτα λέγονται.
“Charming Bambyce, though some call you thin,
And blame the tawny colour of your skin;
Yet I the lustre of your beauty own,
And deem you like Hyblaean honey-brown.
The letter’d hyacinth’s of darksome hue,
And the sweet violet a sable blue;
Yet these in crowns ambrosial odours shed,
And grace fair garlands that adorn the head.”
Compare also Virgil, Eclog. x. 38. The comparison between the dark complexion and the tents of the Kedareens, and between the comeliness and the pavilions of Solomon, arose from the custom of nomades and travellers in the East of carrying with them moveable tents, which were temporarily pitched for the purpose of the pernoctation or protection against meridian sun. The tents of the Kedareens, a nomadic tribe of North Arabia (Gen. xxv. 13; Isa. xxi. 17), were and still are to this day made of coarse cloth, obtained from the shaggy hair of their black goats (Rosenmüller, Orient. iv. 939; Saalschütz, Archäologie der Hebräer, Erster Theil, p. 63). Whereas, the curtains of which Solomon’s pavilion was constructed were, most probably, very fine and beautiful. From this passage, confirmed by chap. iii. 6, and vi. 12, we see that this scene took place in the royal tent of Solomon, pitched in the open air of some favourite spot to which the king resorted in the summer. It is still the custom of Oriental potentates to go once a-year to some attractive neighbourhood, where they erect their magnificent tents, which serve as their temporary abodes. (Morier, Zweite Reise in Persien, p. 223; Jaubert, Voyage, p. 334). שְׁחוֹרָה, swarthy, refers to ﬡָהֳלֵי קֵדָר, the tents of Kedar, and נָאוָה, comely, to יְרִעוֹת שְׁלֹמֹה the pavilion of Solomon. נָﬡוָה, a contraction of נָﬡֲוָה, from the root נָﬡָה, is formed from the Pilel. The third radical, which this conjugation requires to be doubled, appears in this and in two other words, under the form וה. Compare שָׁחַה, to bow, Pilel, שָׁחֲוָה, hence the reflexive הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה, to bow, or prostrate oneself; מְטַחֲוִים, archers, Gen. xxi. 16; Gesen. § 75, Rem. 18; Ewald, § 121 c. יְרִעָה, prop. a vail, a curtain of a tent, Exod. xxvi. 12, and metonomically for the tent itself, 2 Sam. vii. 2; 1 Chron. xvii. 1, and like here, in parallelism with אֹהֶל, Jer. iv. 20; x. 20; xi. 29. The Septuagint, followed by the Vulgate, erroneously renders כִּירִיעוֹת שְׁלֹמֹה, ὥς δέῤῥεις Σολομὼν, as the skins of Solomon, and Bishop Foliot refers it to the beautiful skin of Solomon’s body, with which the Church compares herself to set forth her comeliness. Hodgson, misunderstanding the figure, absurdly renders כְּאָהֳלֵי קֵדָר, like the spices of Kedar, and makes the Shulamite compare herself to the odoriferous trees and beautiful figures in the (יְרִיעוֹת), fine tapestry.