~* It is impossible to understand the perfects in 6> as real preterites. Thev are perfects of certain expectation (per/ecla coniiileiitkF, cf.'Gcs.-Kautzsch, Gram.^ § IWin.). The mis- understanding of these perfects has been the occasion of much conhision. ,_ *,. j
♦ How kings married daughters of the people may be gathered from 2 S ll'«, while Ps 4.-. may give light in regard to the pro- cedure when a foreign princess w.-is concerned.
J The following of these popular customs also shows irrcfut- »blv that the call to eat and drink and intoxicate themselves refers not to the enjoyment of love, but to an actual banquet at which the friends, too, are to do their part.
ceremonial procession of the bridegroom, which was exprc?slj mentioned in the case of the king in 36«-, is thus presupposed ill the present instance. The search for the beloved, in which the women (B') are prepared to help the shulamniite, corre- siionds to the ceremonial conducting of the bride in the evening to tlie festal spot. 64-'<i [vv.6b-7 are to be struck out as having been introduced by mistake from ch. 4) conUin the songs which greet the approaching bride and describe in strikmg Bgures her unique overpowering beauty. 61'- " are words of the Shulamniite. She is apparently surprised at coming upon the festive companv, she still acts as if she did not notice that the object of her search is in their midst. She had gone down, she savs, to the nut garden to refresh herself by the ( njoymcnt of it, i.e. she too has gone out to find her beloved and to enjoy his love, and has all at once come upon the crowd. We are to suppose now that she makes as if she would turn back, wnere- upon the chorus breaks out (V (Eng. 6i^)), ' Turn round, turn round, O Sbiilanimite,' etc. Then the short inviution and di.nlo^'ueof this verse lead directlv to the sword dance, in which the bride dances in a sense to her beloved and presents herself to him symbolicallv with all her charms, while the double choruj ranging itself behind her proclaims her physical attractions u a highlv realistic Jrasf. Now she is ready, as 7"f- show, to yield to the wishes of her beloved (7»-10), and herself mntea him to go with her where she will grant him her love. Tiie last section of this Act, S-",* shows the loving pair on their wav to the house where the bridal night is to be p.assed ; they are received by the festal chorus with the words of 8=», which find their echo 'in the alternating song of the lovers with Us glorious
panegl-ric on true love (vv.i> 'O. . i u
\nd now the moment had come when it must be shown whether the Shulammite had really maintained her love true and unimpaired, whether the lofty ode to love in which she had joined IbS 7) was reallv suitable to her love. 8»ir t transport us to the morning after the bridal night. In the space of time between v.v and v.8 we are therefore to place not only the bridal night with its mvstcries, but also the transition to the serious transaction earh' in the following morning (see above, p. 69.5, note t). The litter is brought directly before us in vyS-io, which proclaim the triumph of steadfast loval love over all the difficulties and fears that have beset it. We hear in vv.8.» the brothers of the Shulamniite declaring what they mean to do to their sister according as she has shown herself, in face of the seductive whispers of love, firm and inaccessible as a wall, or open and easilvapproachable like a door(!.e. easily led into mchastity). These of course, are words which the brothers have spoken before the commencement of the severe period of probation and danger exhibited to us in the Song of Songs. We are thus rividlv reminded of 16, and in point of fact— as is showii also bv 8'2« which in like manner looks back to l"— the author m his beautiful closing section, S'lf-, attaches his words once more to the opening of the poem, thus indicating not only that tliis resolute maiden has succeeded in maintaining her childhood s puritv, but also that the Song of Son^ is really a well-rounded whole The brothers have a direct interest in the issue of the test of their sister's virginity, and, besides, have the duty of maintaining the honour of the family. lint while they are utterin" the language of anxious expecUtion, which is finely put inU) their mouth, reganling the result of the test, Uie actual piece of evidence is brought forward (this we must suppose to be done between v.9 and v.lO), and in face of tins irretra'-able proof the Shulamniite breaks forth m the confident triiimp'hant words of v.io. She has been found inviolate she has kept herself as an impregnable fortress, there being perhaps in the last words of the verse a delicate allusion to Solomon, and the fact that even he had finally to recognize that this vir-in was unimpressed by himself, his splendour, his allure- ments, and that he must thus let her go in peace The words in V 12 connect themselves closely with v. 10 ; she has kept her own'vinevard, i.e. herself, her honour, her love, for heijelf and her beloved ; Solomon may rest content with the abundant resources he possesses for gratifjing his love.