דּוּדָאִים, which occurs only once more, (Gen. xxx. 14), is, according to the testimony of the ancient versions, the mass of commentators and modern travellers, the mandrake-plant, Atropa mandragora, called yabrochack by the Arabs, the fruit of which is highly valued by the Orientals for its supposed exhilarating, aphrodisiac, and procreative properties. “It grows low, like lettuce, to which its leaves have a strong resemblance, except that they have a dark green colour. The flowers are purple, and the root is for the [[184]]most part forked. The fruit, when ripe, in the beginning of May, is of the size and colour of a small apple, exceedingly ruddy, and of a most agreeable flavour.” See Kitto, Cyclop. Bib. Lit.; Winer, Bib. Dict. s.v. Here, however, this plant is mentioned merely to fill out the picture of charming and highly prized plants, without reference to any supposed internal properties, and has evidently been suggested by the preceding דּוֹדִי, beloved. דּוּדָאִים, lit. love-apples, is the plural of דּוּדַי, from the root דּוּד, to love, with the termination –ַי, like לוּלָאוֹת, the plural of לוּלַי, from the root לוּל. Gesen. § 93, 6, 6; Ewald, § 189 g. וְעַל פְּתַחֵינוּ is well explained by Rashbam, אצל פתח פרדס שלנו, “in our garden, close to our door,” &c. עַל has not unfrequently the sense of neighbourhood and contiguity. Gesen. Lexicon, עַל 3. Others however render עַל, over, i.e. “and over our doors grow,” &c.; others again translate in, i.e. “in our house are,” &c., taking פֶּתַח in the sense of house; comp. Prov. xiv. 19, but with less probability. Houbigant’s transposition of letters, viz. על תפחינו, in nostris malis aureis, instead of על פתחינו, is an idle conjecture.
[1]. Oh that thou wert as my brother, &c. The charming description which the Shulamite gave of their happiness when at home, recalled to her mind the obstacles which they met with, even there; and hence she is led to wish that he had sustained to her the relation of a brother, that, whether in the street or the house, none might misinterpret or interrupt the manifestation of their attachment. מִי יִתֵּן is used to express the optative. Comp. Deut. v. 29; xxviii. 67; Ps. xiv. 7; Job vi. 8; Gesen. § 136, 1; Ewald, § 329 c. כְּאָח is the accusative. The rendering of the Septuag., Τὶς δῴη σε, ἀδελφιδέ μου, θηλάζοντα μαστοὺς μητρός μου; and Luther, “O dass ich dich, mein Bruder, der du meiner Mutter Brüste saugest, draussen fände,” are wrong. יֹונֵק שְׂדֵי אִמִּי, does not mean “an infant still sucking the breasts.” (Grotius, Gill, Good, Williams, &c.), but “one who had sucked and is now a youth;” it is the second accusative to מִי יִתֶּנְךָ, and stands in parallelism with אָח, brother; like the participle יֹולֶדֶת (which does not mean one who just gave birth), and אֵﬦ, vide supra, chap. vi. 9. אֶמְצָאֲךָ is conditional, with the particle אִﬦ implied, Judg. xi. 36; Prov. xxiv. 10; Ewald, § 367 b. גַם is used poetically for וְ, and, Judg. v. 4; Joel i. 12. יָבֻזוּ: the third person is used to express the indeterminate third person, the passive in English. Gen. xli. 14; Gesen. § 157, 3. For לִי, me, five MSS. and two editions read לָךְ, thee, which Ewald adopts. But this is against the majority of MSS. and all the versions, and does not at all improve the sense.
[2]. I would lead thee, &c. As a brother, she could unreservedly bring him from the spot, where she met him in the street, to her mother’s house. We must supply מִשָּׁם, thence, before אֱנְהָגְךָ; so Rashbam. Simple as the word תְּלַמְּדֵנִי seems to be, it has nevertheless produced a variety of renderings. The Septuagint and Syriac, followed by Percy, entirely omit it, and interpolate here וְאֶל חֶדֶר הוֹרָתִי, and into the apartment of her who gave me birth, from chap. iii. 4; after בֵית אִמִּי, [[185]]the house of my mother. Ibn Ezra, the Authorized Version, Kleuker, Döderlein, Hitzig, &c., supply אֲשֶׁר, who, before תְּלַמְּדֵנִי, and refer it to אִמִּי, my mother. But this interrupts the construction, and, against the scope of the description, introduces the mother as an actress. Hodgson and the editor of Calmet, strangely enough, render it Talmudni, as a proper name of the maiden’s mother. The most natural way seems to be to take it with the Vulgate, Chaldee, Rashbam, Luther, Ewald, Döpke, De Wette, Delitzsch, Hengstenberg, Philippson, &c., as the second person masculine.
I would cause thee to drink, &c. On the aromatic wine, see supra, chap. vii. 3. The pomegranate-juice was and still is a favourite beverage in the East. “The Orientals,” says Dr. Kitto, “indulge largely in beverages made with fresh juice of various kinds of fruits. Among these, sherbet made with pomegranate-juice is particularly esteemed, and, from its agreeable and cooling acidity, the present writer was himself accustomed to prefer it to any other drink of this description.” יַיִן, is either an anomalous construct (Gesenius; Fürst, Lex. s.v.), or the absolute, and הַרֶקַח, apposition in the accusative. Compare מַיִם לַחַץ, 1 Kings xx. 27; Gesen. § 116, 6, Rem. b; Ewald, § 287 h. אֶשָׁקְךָ and אֲשְׁקְךָ are a paranomasia, vide supra, chap. i. 3. עַסִיס רִמֹּנִי, my pomegranate-juice, i.e. which I myself have prepared. The noun in the genitive, expressing the quality of the nominative, has the suffix; compare הַר קָדְשִׁי, my holy mountain, Ps. ii. 6; Gesen. § 121 b; Ewald, § 291 b. From an oversight of this most probably arose the readings of רמנים or רמונים (several MSS.), רִמֹּנַי (Vulgate, Syriac), the supposition that רִמֹּנִי is an adjective (Schultens), and the opinion that it is an abbreviated plural from רִמֹנִים, like מִּנִּי for מִנִּים, (Ps. xlv. 9, Meier, Fürst, Lexicon, מ, 3 b.)
[3]. Let his left hand, &c. Exhausted with the attempt to describe her unfailing attachment for her beloved shepherd, an attachment far deeper than external circumstances permit her to manifest, the Shulamite desires that no other hand should raise her drooping head, no other arm support her enfeebled frame, than those of her beloved; compare chap. ii. 6.
[4]. I adjure you, &c. This last affecting scene, having brought the Shulamite’s struggle to a successful termination, is closed by her adjuring the court ladies as before (ii. 7, and v. 3), to make no more attempt to draw her affections away from her beloved to any one else, since they were unalterably fixed. The Septuagint, which is followed by Good, &c., supplies here בִּצְבָאוֹת אוֹ בְּאַיְלוֹת הַשָּׂדֶה, from ii. 7, and v. 3. It is obvious, from the change of אִם into the more urgent negative particle מַה, (comp. Job xxxi.; Ewald, § 325 b), that the variation is designedly made; and indeed the haste in which the Shulamite is to depart with her beloved does not permit her to use the lengthy adjuration. [[186]]
[5]. Who is it that comes up, &c. The last successful resistance secured for the Shulamite her liberty. Convinced that even the blandishments of a king cannot overcome the power of virtuous love in the heart of a rustic damsel; satisfied that “all the wealth of his house” could not buy it, Solomon dismisses her. Then, reunited to her beloved shepherd, the happy pair immediately depart for home. As they approach their native place the inhabitants, beholding them at a distance, exclaim, “Who is it that comes up from the plain, leaning upon her beloved?” הַמִּדְבָּר, the plain (vide supra, iii. 6), most probably the plain of Esdraelon, at present known by the name of Merij Ibn ’Amir, lying between Jezreel and Sulem (Robinson, Palestine, iii. 169), which the lovers had to cross on their way home. מִתְרַפָּקֶת (from רָפַק, to lean; hence מַרְפֵּק, an arm, on which one leans, Talm. Sabbath, 92), supporting herself, being weary with so long a journey. So the Sept. ἐπιστηριζομένη; the Vulg. innixa, &c. As for the additional λελευκανθισμένη in the Sept., and deliciis affluens in the Vulg., the one most probably arose from the word בָּרַה, used in chap. vi. 10, where a similar question occurs, and the other from a marginal gloss, מתפנקת or מתנענעת.
Under this apple-tree, &c. As they drew nearer home they beheld the endeared spot—the memorable shady tree under which the shepherd was born, and where their mutual love was first kindled. These sweet musings are at length terminated by the Shulamite, who joyfully recounts the pleasing reminiscences of that place. The frequent meetings of shepherds and shepherdesses under shady trees, (vide supra, chap. i. 7), often resulted in the formation of a sacred tie. The solemn vow of love was then engraven on the bark of the tree, as a witness of their union. Thus Theocritus, Idyl. xviii. 47, 48:—
γράμματα δ’ ἐν φλοιῷ γεγράψεται, ὡς παριών τις
ἀννείμῃ, Δωριστὶ, σέβου μ’· Ἑλένας φυτὸν εἰμί.