The Pulpit Commentary — Song of Songs — Section 156

hrel\king through the ~hades of lhe garden, monai·chs, by \'iolence into his lrnrem ; she like t.ho morning star appearing above the wae subdued by the power of love. It wns horizon (t•s eo,utp6pos, Venetian) (cf. Isa. xiv. love that raised her to the royo.l ohariots of J2, wbc-re the morning star is called ,ci~ 1-, ). her people. She beholds in King Solomon The moon is generally ci:r,.. "yellow," but the concentration e.nd the o.ome of her people's glory. He is the true Isro.el; sho is here ;;~:;i~, "white," i.e. pale a.nd sweet, a.s the the glory of him who is the glory of God, lesser light, with true womanly delicacy a.nd Ver. 13a,-Return, return, 0 Shula.mite ; fairness; but the rest of the description, which return, return, the.t we may look upon thee. plainly is added for the s11.ke of the symboli- Shulem is the same as Shunem (see l Kings ea.J suggrstiveness of the figures, removes all i. 8; 2 Kings iv. 8; Josh. xix. 18). Shule.m, idea of mere weakness. Clear (or, bright) as ite will, therefore, mean" lady of Shulom." th~ sun. And the word for " sun " is not, as It is the first ocounence of the name. It usual, sluimesh, but chammah, "heat," the cannot be a pure proper no.me, says Delitzsch, warming light (Ps. xix. 7; see Job x:xxi. because the e.rtiole is e.tt11.ohed to it. It is a 26 ; Isa. xlix. 2). The fierce rays of the no.me of descent. The LXX. has;, :>;oovaµ..,.,s, Eastern sun are terrible to those who en- i.e. " she who is from Sh unem." A bishag was counter them. The glory of the Church is exceedingly beautiful, and she came from a glory overwhelming as against all that the so.me district. It is the country in the opposes it. The description is pure hyper- tribe of Issaobe.r, near to little Hermon, to bole as applied to a fair bride, referring to the south-east of Carmel and south of Nain, the blazing beauty of her face and adorn- south-east of Nazareth, south-west of Tabor, ments, but symbolically it has always been It is found at present under the name felt a precious contribution to religious Sawlam, not fe.r from the great plain of language. Perhaps no sentence in the Old Jiszeal (now Zer'in), "which forms a con- Testament has been more frequently on the venient way of oommunication between lips of devout men, especially when they have Jordan and the sea-coast, but is yet so been speaking of the victories of the truth hidden in the mountain range that the and the glowing prospects of the Saviour's Te.lmnd is silent concerning this Sulem, as kingdom. it is concerning Ne.zareth." It is impossible Vera. 11, 12.-I went down into the garden to resist the impression of the fact that this of nuts to see the green plants of tb.e valley, pa.rt of Galilee so closely assooiated with our to see whether the -vine budded &nd tb.e Lord and his ministry should be the native pamegr&nates were in flower. Or ever I was place of the bride. Delitzsch thinks that the aWlLl'O, my soul set me among the ohariots of Shula.mite is on her way from the garden to my princely people. There cannot be much the palace. That the words .are addressed doubt as to the meaning of these words. to her by the admiring ladies Cll.Il scarcely be Taking them a.s put into the lips of the bride, disputed; hence the "we" of the .add1·ess. and as intended to be a response to the lavish "'l'he fourfold • come back' ( or, • tum ') en- praises of the bridegroom, we may regard treats her earnestly, yea; with tee.re, to return them as a modest confession that she had thither (th11.t is, to the garden) with theni lost her heart immedio.tely that she he.d seen once more, and for thi~ purpose, that they King Solomon. She went down into her might find delight in looking upon her." quiet garden life to occupy herself as ueual But Delitzsch is scarcely right in thinking with rustic labours and enjoymente, but the that the garden of nuts to which the bride re- moment that her beloved approached she was ferred is the garden of the palace. She is, per- carried a.way-her soul was as in a swift haps, taming to leave the company of ladies, chariot. Delitzecll thinks that the words Solomon himself being e.mongthem, &ij though refer 1.o what occurred after maniage. He she would escape from their gaze, which is too supposes the.t on some occasion the king took muoh for her in her simplicity, and the ladies, his bride with him on en excursion in his seeing her intention to leave them, call her ~ha.riot to e. plain called Etam. He refere to back. Another view is that the word "return" a clescription of such a place to be found in is for" tum round;" that is,'' Let us see thee ,Josephue, 'Ant.,' viii. 7. 8, but the explana- dance, that we may admire the beauty of thy tion is far-fetched e.nd improbable. The nut form and movements." This would explain or walnut tree (Jugl,ana regia, Linn.) came the appropriateness of the bride's reply in the originally from Persia. The no.me is very latter half of the verse. Moreover, the four• similar in the Persian, 1Ethiopic, Arabic, fold appeal is scarcely suito.ble if the bride and Syriac. One cannot help comparing the was only slightly indicating her intention to lo\'ely simplicity of the bride's description leave. She would surely not leave hastily, with the tender beauty of Goethe's' Herman 1100ing that Solomon is present. The request uncl _Dorothea.' The me.in point is this, that is not that she may remain, but that they ,he 1s not the mere captive of the king, taken, may look upon her. It would be quite fitting 11~ was too oft,;u the case with Eastern in the mouth of lp.dy-companions, The wholo Oil. VI. 1-13.] TUE SONG OF SOLOMON 117