Αἰεὶ φοιτῶσαι τὰ ποθέσπερα ῥαγίζοντι.
“I hate those brush-tail’d foxes, that each night
Spoil Micon’s vineyards with their deadly bite:”
also Idyl. i. 47–50. The young foxes are especially injurious to the vineyards, because they burrow in holes in the ground, Neh. iv. 3. The brothers, in the last clause, assign a reason for their proposal; the ו in [[148]]וּכְרָמֵינוּ is therefore to be rendered for, Gesen. § 155, 1 c. The Sept. inadvertently omits the word שׁוּעָלִים.
[16]. My beloved is mine, &c. The Shulamite tells the court ladies how she had consoled herself under these circumstances of separation: “Though my brothers succeeded in separating us bodily by assigning to me this post of keeping the vineyards, yet our affections are inseparable; and though still separated from me, my beloved is mine and I am his; his who tends his flock in the meadows abounding with flowers.” It seems as if the words, “he who feeds his flock among the lilies,” were designedly added, whenever the damsel speaks of her beloved, to show unmistakably that he was a shepherd. How such passages can be reconciled with the supposition that the king is the object of the maiden’s attachment, or, according to others, that the maiden is the daughter of Pharaoh, is difficult to divine.
[17]. When the day cools, &c. She also relates how she had comforted her beloved, telling him that this state of separation would not last long; that he must come in the evening, when unobserved, with the same swift-footed speed as he came in the morning. עַד שָׁיָפוּחַ הַיּוֹם, i.q. עַד שֶׁיָפוּחַ רוּחַ הַיּוֹם, when the day breeze blows, i.e. in the evening, shortly before sunset, when a gentle and cooling breeze blows in the East (see Pliny, Hist. Nat. ii. 47); hence רוּחַ הַיּוֹם, Gen. iii. 8, opposed to חוֹם הַיּוֹם, xviii. 1. That this is the sense of שֶׁיָפוּחַ הַיּוֹם, and not day-break (English Ver.), or morning-breath (Good), is evident from the immediately following וְנָסוּ הַצְלָלִים, which expresses the same idea in other words, i.q. evening; comp. Job xiv. 2. The shadows are said to flee away when at sunset they become elongated and stretched out; thus as it were run away from us, further and further, till they eventually vanish in the dark of night. Hence David, speaking of the approaching sunset of his life, says, יָמַֹי כְּצֵל נָטוּי, My days are like an elongated shadow, Ps. cii. 12; cix. 23. Comp. also Virg. Eclog. i. 84, and ii. 66. So Herder, Kleuker, Ewald, Gesen., Döpke, Rosenmüller, Magnus, Heiligstedt, Fürst, Philippson, Meier, Hengstenberg, Hitzig. The rendering of Hodgson, Good, &c., “till the day-breath,” and their reference to the passage of Milton, “Sweet is the breath of morn” (Par. Lost, iv. 641), is gratuitous. The words הֶרֵי בָתֶר are rendered by the Sept. ὄρη τῶν κοιλωμάτων, mountains of cavities, i.e. decussated mountains, from בָּתַר, to divide, to cut, which Gesenius and Heiligstedt explain, a region divided by mountains and valleys, but very unsatisfactorily. The Syriac and Theodo. have θυμιαμάτων, taking בָּתֶר for בְּשָׂמִים, which is adopted by Meier; but this emendation is unsupported by MSS., and has evidently arisen from viii. 14. The Vulg. and Rashbam take בָּתֶר as a proper name, montes Bether; but neither place nor mountain is known by such name. The Chald., Ibn Ezra, Rashi explain הָרֵי בָתֶר by mountains of separation, i.e. mountains which separate thee from me: this is followed by Luther, Ewald, De Wette, Hengstenberg, Philippson, Hitzig, and is most [[149]]consonant with the context. We have seen (ver. 9), that there were mountains separating the houses of the lovers, which the shepherd had to cross to reach the Shulamite; and as she told him to go back and return in the evening, it was evident that he had to cross again those separating mountains.
[1]. When on my nightly couch, &c. Through some means or other her beloved did not come in the evening according to request, and, unable to wait any longer, she retired. Her thoughts, however, kept her awake, and her confidence in him made her look for him even when on her couch. The words עַל מִשְׁכָּבִי וְגו״ do not mean, “I sought him in my bed,” at which unnecessary umbrage has been taken, but “Even when I reclined upon my nocturnal couch, I could not give him up; I still sought to find him.” מִשְׁכָּבִי בַּלֵילוֹת means my couch used at nights, i.q. מִשְׁכַּב הַלֵּילוֹת, in contradistinction to מִשְׁכַּב הַצָהֳרַיִם, a couch used at noonday, 2 Sam. iv. 5. This is evident from the plural בַּלֵילוֹת, in the nights, and from ver. 8, where the same plural is used to describe nocturnal marauders. The affirmation of Harmer, therefore, that no reasonable doubt can be made that these are the words of one to whose bed the beloved was no stranger, falls to the ground. The Sept. adds, ἐκάλεσα αὐτὸν καὶ οὐχ ὑπηκούσεν ἐμὲ, from chap. v. 6.
[2]. I must arise now, &c. Seeing, however, that her beloved did not come, and apprehending that some disaster might have befallen him on his way, the Shulamite determined to go and find him. The –ָה in אֲקוּמָה is expressive of self-summons and determination: “I said to myself, Come! I must arise now!” Comp. Ps. ii. 3; lv. 3; Gesen. § 128, 1; Ewald, § 228 a.
[3]. The watchmen, &c., found her whilst engaged in seeking her beloved, and she at once inquired of them whether they had seen him. The interrogative particle is here omitted. This is sometimes the case when the whole sentence, as here, is interrogative, in which case it is distinguished by the prominence given to the word upon which the force or weight of the interrogation more especially falls; as by the tone in which it is uttered, e.g. זֶה חַסְדְּךָ אֶת־רֵעֶךָ, “This thy kindness to thy friend!” 2 Sam. xvi. 17; xviii. 29; Gesen. § 153, 1; Ewald, § 324 a.
[4]. Scarcely had I passed them, &c. The abruptness of the description here is very characteristic. She informs us that she had put a question to the watchmen, but, in her hurry to find her beloved, does not tell us the answer which she received. The construction [[150]]כִּמְעַט שֶׁ—עַד, scarcely when, is nowhere else to be found in the Old Testament; it may be resolved to זמן אשר עברתי מהם כמעט, the time that I passed them amounted to a little while.