My numbers shall alone repeat
My own rencounters and defeat.
Me fleets and armies ne’er appal—
’Tis to a different host I fall:
A host within thine eyes, my fair,
That lurk and ply their arrows there.”
Comp. also Ode ii. רָהַב, in Kal, to tremble (Isa. lx. 5), and Hiphil, to cause to tremble or fear, to frighten, to awe. Similarly the Sept. ἀνεπτέρωσάν με. Vulg. me avolare fecerunt, “they make me flee for fear;” and the Syriac ܐܰܪܗܶܒ, they make me fear. The explanation of Ibn Ezra, חזקו ממני, which is followed by the Authorized Version, cannot be deduced from the root; nor does it suit the context. Equally untenable is the explanation הגיסו לבי, Rashi and Rashbam. For הֵם, mas, with עֵינַיִךְ, fem. see supra, iv. 9.
[6], [7]. Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep, &c. For the interpretation of the second half of ver. 5 and vers. 6, 7, see iv. 1–3, where the same description is given, with the exception that there קְצוּבוֹת is used for sheep, and here רְחֵלִים, and that the first half of ver. 3 is here omitted in the Hebrew, which is here given by the Sept. We cannot refrain from quoting the beautiful explanation of these figures from the manuscript commentary of Immanuel: תלתלי שערך ושורותיו נופלים זה על זה לדמיון עדר העזים שהם נתלים זה על זה בהרים ושניך הﬦ לבניﬦ ושויﬦ לדמיון עדר הרחליﬦ, שצמדם לבן והם עולים מן הרחצה שכלם מתאימות שב אל שניה שהם שוות, ושכולה אין בהם שאין שן משניה נגרע ונחסר או הם תואר הרחלים שהם שוות ואין בהם שכילה וכן שניה דומות אליהם. The Septuagint adds after וְשַׁכֻּלָּה אֵין בָּהֶם, and not one among them is bereaved, in ver. 6; ὡς σπαρτίον τὸ κόκκινον χείλη σου, καὶ λαλιά σου ὠραία, like a braid of scarlet are thy lips, and thy mouth is lovely, from chap iv. 3.
[8], [9]. I have threescore queens, &c. The flattery and praise here exceed all that have been previously offered. Solomon protests that, though he is surrounded by a numerous retinue of women of all ranks, the Shulamite is the sole possessor of his heart: she who is the [[174]]best beloved of her mother, and whose consummate beauty has elicited the highest praises from the queens, concubines and maidens. The discrepancy between the number of Solomon’s wives and concubines here stated, and that described in 1 Kings xi. 3, maybe reconciled by taking שִׁשִׁים, שְׁמֹנִים and אֵין מִסְפָּר for indefinite and large numbers: many, very many, without number: so Kleuker, Rosenmüller, Magnus, &c. “We must supply לִי, to me, after הֵמָּה, there. For הֵמָּה, mas, instead of הֵנָּה, fem., see ii. 7. The pronoun הִיא, she, is the subject in all the three clauses, and אַחַת in the first and second clause, and בַּרָה in the third are predicates. We must supply לִי after אַחַת הִיא, she is my only one; just as אַחַת הִיא לְאִמָּה. The word אֶחָד is used for the only one of its kind (Job xxiii. 13; Ezek. ii. 64; vii. 5), favourite; comp. גּוֹי אֶחָד בָּאָרֶץ, 2 Sam. vii. 23.
[10]. Who is she that looks forth, &c. That Solomon quotes here the eulogy mentioned in the preceding verse, which the court ladies pronounced upon the superlative beauty of the Shulamite when they first beheld her, has long been recognised by the Rabbins, and is now admitted by most interpreters. This is, moreover, confirmed by Prov. xxxi. 28, where the same words, אִשֵּׁר and הַלֵּל, are used, and the following verse contains the eulogy which the husband utters. The rising morning, with its red light looking down from heaven over the mountains (Joel ii. 2); the beautiful and placid complexion of the moon, and the refulgent and resplendent appearance of the sun, have often afforded, both to the Oriental and to the Greek and Latin writers, exquisite similes for beauty and grandeur. Thus Sirach (l. 5, 6), describing the High Priest, says:—