Which, with the bordering paint of purple glows;
Or lilies damask by the neighbouring rose.”
Comp. also Ovid. Am. ii.; Eleg. v. 39; [[168]]Hor. Od. i. 13, v. 2; iv. 10; v. 4; Tibul. Eleg. III, 4; vv. 29, 30. צַח, bright, white; compare Lam. iv. 7, where it stands in parallelism with זַךְ, clear; from the same passage we also see that the predicates צַח, white, and אָדַם, red, are not restricted to the countenance, but refer to all the parts of the body which the Oriental costume left exposed, to the carnation as it were of the picture. דָּגוּל denom. from דָּגֶל, banner; prop. to be furnished with a banner, i.e. his singular beauty renders him as distinguished above multitudes, just as a standard-bearer is marked above all other soldiers. מִן, more, above, vide supra, ver. 9, רְבָבָה indefinitely for a large number, see Gesen. xxiv. 60.
[11]. His head is as pure gold. That is of consummate excellency. Having characterized his whole person as charming, the Shulamite describes the beauty of the individual parts of his body, and begins with his head. Gold is frequently used, both in Scripture and in profane writers, to denote consummate excellency and beauty. Thus the illustrious personages are called gold and fine gold in Lam. iv. 1; and Theocritus (Idyl. iii. 28.) calls the beautiful Helen golden. The words כֶּתֶם פָּז are variously rendered. The Sept. has χρυσίου καιφάζ, gold of Cephaz, Aquila and Sym. λίθεα τοῦ χρυσίου, so the Syriac ܒܐܦܷܐ ܕܕܰܗܒܳܐ, a precious stone of gold. The Chald. has דְהַב טָב; so the Vulg. aurum optimum. The Rabbins too vary in their explanations of these words. Ibn Ezra takes כֶּתֶם to be a diadem, and פָּז, precious stones. Rashi indefinitely סגולת מלכים, choice things, which kings treasure up. Rashbam explains כָּתֶם by a heap of gold, and פָּז by זהב מופז, and says it is called פָּז, “because its colour is like pearl.” The majority of modern commentators, after the Sept., Vulg., Chald., take כֶּתֶם as a poetical expression for gold, and derive it from כָּתַם, to hide, to conceal; like סְגוֹר, gold (Job. xxviii. 15), from סָגַר, to shut up, to conceal, because precious metals are generally kept shut up or concealed. This meaning and derivation of the word are supported by the fact that treasures and precious things are generally expressed in Hebrew by words whose roots signify to conceal; comp. אוֹצָר, a treasure (1 Kings vii. 51; xiv. 26), from אָצַר, to shut up; מַטְמוֹן, a treasure, gold (Isa. liv. 2; Prov. ii. 4), from טָמַן, to hide; צָפוּן, riches (Job xx. 26), from צָפַן, to conceal. As for פָּז, it is translated by some purified, pure, from פָּזַז, to separate, to purify (Gesenius, &c.); and by others solid, massy, from פָּזַז, to be strong, solid (Rosenmüller, &c.). But פָּז never occurs as an adjective to כֶּתֶם, or to זָהָב (זָהָב מוּפָז, 1 Kings x. 18, is a contraction of זָהָב מְאוּפָז, comp. Jer. x. 9); the word itself invariably means gold (see Job xxvii. 17; Ps. xix. 11; xxi. 4; cxix. 27; Prov. viii. 19; Cant. v. 15; Isa. xiii. 12; Lam. iv. 2.); and accordingly ought to be rendered so here: “thy head is as gold, gold.” As this, however, would produce tautology, it is therefore best to take פָּז as a contraction of אוּפָז (a variation of אוֹפּיר; see Gesenius, s.v.; Henderson on Jer. x. 9, and Stuart on Dan. x. 5), with which this word goes together, 1 Kings x. 18; Jer. x. 9; Dan. x. 5. As אוּפָן = כֶּתֶם אוֹפִיר, is regarded as the best gold; hence the rendering of the Vulg. aurum optimum, and Chald. דְהַב טָב.
Black as the raven, i.e. of the purest and most jet black, so highly esteemed by the Orientals as well as by the classical writers. Thus Hafiz, as quoted by Dr. Good:—
“Thy face is brighter than the cheek of day.
Blacker thy locks than midnight’s deepest sway.”
And Ossian, Fingal, 2: “Her hair was the wing of the raven.” Comp. also Anac. xxix.; Ovid. Am. El. xiv. 9. תַּלְהַּלִּים, is rendered by the Sept. ἐλαταί, the young leaves of the palm; so the Vulg. sicut elatæ palmarum; similarly [[169]]Gesenius, De Wette, &c., pendulous branches of the palm; but this signification does not lie in the root תָּלַל, which simply means waving, hanging, or flowing down; hence תַּלְתַּלִּים (according to the analogy of זַלְזַלִּים and סַלְסַלִּים, comp. Ewald, § 158, b) flowing curls, locks.
[12]. His eyes, like doves, &c. The vivid and black pupils of his eyes, sparkling forth from the encircling lactean white, in which they are, as it were, bathing and sitting on the fountain of tears, resemble doves bathing gaily in pellucid streams. The doves themselves, and not their eyes, are the point of comparison (vide supra, i. 15, and iv. 1.) Doves are very fond of bathing, and hence choose for their abode regions abounding with streams (Boch. Hieroz. ii. 1, c. 2.) The deep blue or grey dove, reflecting the lustrous dark hue about its neck when bathing in the limpid brook, suggested this beautiful simile. A similar figure occurs in the Gitagovinda: “The glances of her eyes played like a pair of water-birds of azure plumage, that sport near a full-blown lotos in a pool in the season of dew.” The words רֹחֲצוֹת בֶּחָלָב, bathing in milk, referring to the eyes, are descriptive of the milky white in which the black pupils of the eyes are, as it were, bathing. עַל מִלֵּאת, on the fulness, also referring to the eyes, correspond to the עַל אֲפִיקֵי מַיִם, by the brooks of water, which are predicated of the doves. Hodgson’s rendering of יֹשְׁבוֹת עַל מִלֵּאת, by “and dwell among the ripe corn,” is absurd.
[13]. His cheeks are like beds of balsam, &c. His round cheeks with the pullulating beard, resemble beds growing aromatic plants. The Sept., Arabic, Æth., Chald., read מְגַדִּלוֹת, the part. Piel, instead of מִגְדְּלוֹת, which many modern commentators follow, but without MS. authority. The lily here referred to is most probably the crown imperial, of a deep red colour, whose leaves contain an aqueous humidity, which gathers itself in the form of pearls, especially at noon, and distils clear and pellucid drops; see Rosenmüller, Alther, iv. 138; Winer, Bib. Dict. s.v. There is, however, no necessity for referring the words “distilling liquid myrrh,” to the lilies. Indeed, it seems to be more consonant with the context, to take them as predicated of the lips, expressing the sweetness of his conversation. Comp. iv. 11.