“How splendid he was in his interview with the people.
In his coming out from the house of the veil!
As the morning star amid the clouds,
As the moon when full in her days,
As the sun when beaming upon the temple of the Most High.”
Comp. also Rev. i. 16; Theocritus’ description of Helen, xviii. 26–28; Lane’s Arabian Nights, i. 29. חַמָּה and לְבָנָח are poetical epithets for the sun and moon, Isa. xxiv. 23.
11, 12. I went down into the nut-garden, &c. As Solomon had referred, in uttering his encomium, to her first coming within sight of the court ladies, the Shulamite here instantly interrupts the king, in order to explain how that came to pass. “I did not go to meet the king, to exhibit myself and be admired by him or his royal retinue; I merely went into the garden with the intention of seeing whether there were any herbs to take home for use, and whether the fruit promised well; and this (נַפְשִׁי) intention of mine brought me unawares near the monarch and his cortége.” Though אֱגוֹז, nut-tree, (so Sept., Vulg., Chald.,) nut occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament, yet its meaning is established from the cognate languages, and its frequent usage in the Talmud and latter Hebrew writers, רָאָה ב, to look among (Gen. xxxiv.), with the intention of choosing [[175]]that which pleases, Gen. vi. 2. אִבֵּי הַנָּחַל, the green or vegetables growing by the river side; so the Sept. γενήματι τοῦ χειμάῤῥου, and Rashbam, על שפת הנחל. The Sept. has here שָׁם אֶתֵּן אֶת דּוֹדַי לָךְ, from chap. vii. 14, which the Arabic, Æthiopic, and several modern commentators wrongly follow, as it has no MS. authority, and has evidently arisen from a misunderstanding of this passage.
[12]. Unwittingly, &c. This verse has caused much perplexity to interpreters. The ancient versions, finding the sense obscure, have altered almost every word, and hence increased the difficulty. Thus the Sept. has οὐκ ἔγνω ἡ ψυχή μου· ἔθετό με ἅρματα Ἀμιναδάβ, which Luther follows: “Meine Seele wusste es nicht, dass er mich zum Wagen Aminadib gezetzt hatte:” They take נֶפֶשׁ as the subject, alter לֹא יָדַעְתִּי, the first person com., into לֹא יָדְעָה, the third fem., to agree with נֶפֶשׁ, a fem. noun, שָׂמַתְנִי, the third fem., into שַׂמְנִי, the third masc. referring it to Solomon, and regard עַמִּי נָדִיב as a proper name. The Vulg. has Nescivi, anima mea conturbavit me propter quadrigas Aminadab; altering שָׂמַתְנִי, the Kal of שׂוּם, to put, to place, into the Hiphil of שָׂמֵם, to be astonished, מַרְכְּבוֹת into מֵרִכְבוֹת, the plural of רֶכֶב, with the preposition מ, and taking עַמִּי נָדִיב as a proper name. Passing over these textual alterations, and the emendations proposed by modern commentators, as unauthorized, we shall first examine the words as they are in the text, and then the most plausible interpretations deducible therefrom. לֹא יָדַעְתִּי are rightly taken by most, though differing in their opinion as to the rendering of the remainder of the verse, as adverbial, in the sense of suddenly, unwittingly, and as subordinate to נַפְשִׁי שָׂמַתְנִי, my soul has unwittingly put me, or placed me; comp. Job v. 9; Isa. xlvii. 11; Jer. l. 24. The verb שׂוּם, to put, to place, may be construed with two accusatives, one of the person, and the other of the thing; and מַרְכְּבוֹת may be taken as the second accusative (comp. Ps. xxxix. 9; 1 Sam. viii. 1; Mich. i. 7), or מַרְכְּבוֹת may be taken as a designation of place after שׂוּם, a verb of motion; comp. Isa. xl. 26. מֶרְכָּבָה, a chariot, used for warlike purposes, or for state or pleasure, Gen. xlvi. 29; Exod. xv. 4; 2 Sam. xv. 1. The expression עַמִּי may either mean populares mei—(the Hebrews having no separate word for “countryman,” use this expression to denote one of their own people (Gesen. xxiii. 11; Lam. ii. 11), and נָדִיב may be an adjective for הַנַּדִיב, as the article is sometimes omitted through following a noun with suffix)—or עַמִּי may here be used, like עִישׁ, for companions, attendants, followers, (Eccl. iv. 16,) the י in עַמִּי not being a suffix, but paragogic, and a mark of the const. state (Deut. xxxiii. 16; Lam. i. 1), and נָדִיב, a noun in the genitive of the king or prince. As to how much stress there is to be laid on the Sept., which takes עַמִּי נָדִיב as a proper name, and is followed by the Arabic, Æthiop., Vulg., and which also produced some variations in the orthography of these words, we need only refer to vii. 2, where the same version renders בַּת נָדִיב by θυγάτηρ Ἀμιναδὰβ. The verse, therefore, may either be translated: “My soul has unwittingly made me the chariots of my noble countrymen,” or, “My soul has unwittingly placed at, or brought me to the chariots of my noble people, or to the chariots of the companions of the prince.” Now against the first rendering we urge, in the first place, that if the chariots be taken in the accusative, and hence in a figurative sense, we are unavoidably led into a bewildering maze of conjectural and fanciful opinions. The following may serve as a specimen. Rashi takes the chariots to be a sign of ignominy. נפשי שמתני להיות מרכבות להרכיב עלי נדיבות שאר אומות, “My soul has made me to be chariots for foreign princes to ride upon”; i.e. I have willingly brought upon me a foreign yoke. Ibn [[176]]Ezra takes the chariots as a figure for swiftness, לא ידעתי שהייתי הולכת במרוצה אליך כמו מרכבות עמי נדיב הגדול שיש בעמי, “I did not know that I was hurrying on to thee with the rapidity of the chariots of the great prince who is among my people;” which the Syriac, ܐܳܐ ܝܶܕܥܰܬ ܢܰܦܫܝ ܣܳܡܬܰܥܝ ܒܡܳܪܒܳܒܬܐ, though sharing somewhat in the errors of the Sept. and Vulg., seems to favour. Herder takes the chariots as a symbol of martial power, guard, and protection (Ps. xx. 8; 2 Kings ii. 11, 12). Hengstenberg affirms that the chariots signify champion, guard, defence. And secondly, this translation interrupts the connexion of this verse with the preceding one. Now the second rendering avoids all this. Solomon has repeated in verse 10 the praise which the court ladies had pronounced on the Shulamite when they first saw her; the Shulamite (in ver. 11, 12), in reply, explains how she came to the carriages of the court ladies.
[1]. Return, return, &c. Here we see how little all the persuasions, promises, and eulogies of the king and courtiers affected the sincere and deeply rooted affections of the Shulamite for her beloved shepherd. No sooner had she explained (as she incidentally informs us) how she came to be noticed and taken up by the king, than she actually started off. But the king entreated her to return, that he might look at her once more. The Shulamite, pausing a little, turns round and modestly asks:
What will you behold in the Shulamite? That is, what can ye see in a humble rustic girl? הַשּׁוּלַמּית, as is evident from the article, is a gentile noun, according to the analogy of הַשּׁוּנַמִּית, (1 Kings i. 3; 2 Kings iv. 12, 25.) Ewald, § 156 c: and a female inhabitant of Shulem, i.q. Shunem. Shulem still exists as a village, now called Sôlam, about three miles and a half north of Zerîn, (Jezreel), and lies on the declivity, at the western end of the mountain of Duhy, the so-called Little Hermon. “There is little room for doubt that it is the ancient Shunem of the tribe of Issachar, where the Philistines encamped before Saul’s last battle, (Josh. xix. 18; 1 Sam. xxviii. 4.) From the same place, apparently, Abishag the Shunammite was brought to the aged David; and here it was probably that Elisha often lodged in the house of the Shunammite woman, and afterwards raised her son from the dead (1 Kings i. 3; 2 Kings iv. 8–37; viii. 1–6). Eusebius and Jerome describe it in their day as a village lying five Roman miles from Mount Tabor, towards the southern quarter, and they write the name already Sulem.” Robinson, Palestine, iii. 169, &c. The transition of ל into נ is of frequent occurrence; comp. לָחַץ and נָחַץ, to burn. (Gesen. Lexicon, ל a; Ewald, § 156, c.) שׁוּלַמִּית is not the feminine of the name שְׁלֹמֹה, which would be שְׁלֹמִית; comp. Lev. xxiv. 11; 1 Chron. iii. 19; Ewald, § 274, f.