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CHAPTER VI

The companions of the bride inquire after the bridegroom, 1- 3. A description of the bride, 4-13.

NOTES ON CHAP. VI

Verse 1. Whither is thy beloved gone - These words are supposed to be addressed to the bride by her own companions, and are joined to the preceding chapter by the Hebrew and all the versions.

Verse 2. My beloved is gone down into his garden - The answer of the bride to her companions.

Verse 4. Beautiful-as Tirzah - This is supposed to be the address of Solomon to the bride. Tirzah was a city in the tribe of Ephraim, ( Josh. xii. 24,) and the capital of that district. It appears to have been beautiful in itself, and beautifully situated, for Jeroboam made it his residence before Samaria was built; and it seems to have been the ordinary residence of the kings of Israel, 1 Kings xiv. 17; xv. 53. Its same signifies beautiful or delightful.

Comely as Jerusalem - This was called the perfection of beauty, Psa. xlviii. 2, 3; l. 2. And thus the poet compares the bride's beauty to the two finest places in the land of Palestine, and the capitals of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Terrible as an army with banners. - This has been supposed to carry an allusion to the caravans in the East, and the manner in which they are conducted in their travels by night. The caravans are divided into companies, called cottors, according to Thevenet; and each company is distinguished by the form of the brazier in which they carry their lights.

After night, these braziers are placed on the ends of long poles, and carried by a person who walks at the head of the company. Some have ten or twelve lights, and are of different forms; some triangular, or like an N; some like an M, by which each pilgrim readily knows his own company, both by night and day. A whole caravan, composed of many thousands of hadgees or pilgrims, divided into various cottors or companies, each having its own distinguishing brazier or light, must necessarily produce a very splendid, if not a terrible, appearance.

Verse 5. Turn away thine eyes - As the sight of so many fires after night was extremely dazzling, and the eye could not bear the sight, so the look of the bride was such as pierced the heart, and quite overwhelmed the person who met it. Hence the bridegroom naturally cries out, "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me." Thy hair is as a flock of goats - See on chap. iv. 1.

Verse 6. Thy teeth - See on chap. iv. 2.

Verse 7. As a piece of a pomegranate - See on chap. iv. 3.

Verse 8. There are threescore queens - Though there be sixty queens, and eighty concubines, or secondary wives, and virgins innumerable, in my harem, yet thou, my dove, my undefiled, art txa achath, ONE, the ONLY ONE, she in whom I delight beyond all.

Verse 9. The daughters saw her, and blessed her - Not only the Jewish women in general spoke well of her on her arrival, but the queens and concubines praised her as the most accomplished of her sex.

With this verse the fourth night of the marriage week is supposed to end.

Verse 10. Looketh forth as the morning - The bride is as lovely as the dawn of day, the Aurora, or perhaps the morning star, VENUS. She is even more resplendent, she is as beautiful as the MOON. She even surpasses her, for she is as clear and bright as the SUN; and dangerous withal to look on, for she is as formidable as the vast collection of lights that burn by night at the head of every company in a numerous caravan. See the note on ver. 4. The comparison of a fine woman to the splendour of an unclouded full moon is continually recurring in the writings of the Asiatic poets.

Verse 11. I went down into the garden of nuts - I believe this and the following verse refer at least to the preparations for a farther consummation of the marriage, or examination of the advancement of the bride's pregnancy. But many circumstances of this kind are so interwoven, and often anticipated and also postponed, that it is exceedingly difficult to arrange the whole so as to ascertain the several parts, and who are the actors and speakers. But other writers find no difficulty here, because they have their system; and that explains all things.

It is probably not the hazel but the almond nut, that is referred to here.

Verse 12. The chariots of Amminadib. - Probably for their great speed these chariots became proverbial. The passage marks a strong agitation of mind, and something like what we term palpitation of the heart. As I am not aware of any spiritual meaning here, I must be excused from commenting on that which is literal. Amminadib signifies my noble or princely people; but it may here be a proper name, and Amminadib might be celebrated for his skill and rapidity in driving, as Jehu was.

Verse 13. Return, O Shulamite - This appears to be addressed to the bride, as now the confirmed, acknowledged wife of Solomon; for tymlwv shulammith, appears to be a feminine formed from hmlv shelomoh, or Nwmlv shelomon, as we form Charlotte from Charles; Henrietta, from Henry; Janette, from John, &c.

The company of two armies. - Or the musicians of the camps. She is as terrible as hosts of armed men, on the ground of what is said on ver. 4, 5.