Comp. also Propert. i. 16, 23; Ovid Amor. ii. 19, 21. תַמָּתִי, my perfect one, is well explained by Rosenmüller by מוּם אֵין בָּךְ, there is no fault in thee, iv. 7; 2 Sam. xiv. 25.
[3]. I have put off my tunic; was the answer she gave in her dream. כֻּתֹּנֶת, χιτών, tunic, is an inner garment, commonly of linen, descending to the ankles, which is taken off when one retires. On the costume of the Hebrews, see Rosenmüller, Orient. ii. 19; Winer, Bib. Dict.; Kitto, Cyclop. Bib. Lit. s.v.; Saalschütz, Archäologie der Hebräer, vol. i. c. 2.
I have washed my feet, &c. In the East, where people wear sandals, which protect the soles only, or go barefoot, as in the passage before us, the feet soon get dirty and parched; it is therefore essential and refreshing to wash the feet after much walking (Gen. xviii. 4; xix. 2), or before retiring to rest: remembering this, we can appreciate the hospitality shown to travellers in providing for the washing of their feet, Judges xix. 21. On the masculine suffix in אֲטַנְּפַם, referring to the feminine רַגְלַי, see iv. 9.
[4]. My beloved withdrew his hand, &c. Hearing her excuses for not getting up, he at last grew weary and ceased knocking, which immediately caused her uneasiness. The words שָׁלַח יָדוֹ מִן הַחוֹר are better translated, he sent away his hand from the hole = withdrew; so the Sept. and Rashbam, ההזירה לעצמו מן החור בדלת, he took his hand back from the hole in the door. The expression מֵעִים, like רַחֲמִים, has not the modern sense of bowels, which is restricted to the lower viscera, but denotes, like τὰ σπλάγχνα in Greek, the upper viscera, comprising the heart, lungs, liver, &c. Hence it is used for the heart alone as the seat of passion, Isa. lxiii. 15; Jer. xxxi. 20; and for נֶפֶשׁ, soul, Job xxx. 27; Ps. xl. 9. הָמָה, to hum, to make a noise, which is frequently used for the roaring produced by the waves of the troubled sea (Isa. li. 15; Ps. xlvi. 4; Jer. v. 22), is employed to denote the motion of an agitated heart. With upwards of fifty MSS. and several editions we read עָלַי, in me, instead of עָלָיו, to him; the phrase thus exactly corresponds to תֶּהֱמִי נַפְשִׁי עָלָי, Ps. xlii. 6, 12.
[5]. My hands dropped with myrrh, &c. Alarmed at his ceasing to knock, she flew at once to open the door, and in trying to unfasten it, her hands came [[166]]in contact with the liquid myrrh which her beloved had poured upon the bolts, and which dropped from her fingers. So Immanuel, כי שרצתי לפתח לדודי ונגעתי בידי במקום אשר נגע בו דודי כששלח ידו מן החור נתבשמו ידי וקבלו מן הריח שהיה בידי דודי עד שעבור Lovers, in ancient times, whilst suing for admission, used to ornament the door with wreaths, and perfume it with aromatics. Thus Lucretius, iv. 1171,
At lacrimans exclusus amator limina sæpe
Floribus, et sertis operit, posteisque superbos
Unguit amaracino, et foribus miser oscula figit.
“Then, too, the wretched lover oft abroad
Bars she, who at her gate loud weeping stands,