Song of Solomon 7:7 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

7 This thy stature H6967 is like H1819 to a palm tree, H8558 and thy breasts H7699 to clusters H811 of grapes.

Cross Reference

Song of Solomon 4:5 STRONG

Thy two H8147 breasts H7699 are like two H8147 young H6082 roes H6646 that are twins, H8380 which feed H7462 among the lilies. H7799

Psalms 92:12 STRONG

The righteous H6662 shall flourish H6524 like the palm tree: H8558 he shall grow H7685 like a cedar H730 in Lebanon. H3844

Song of Solomon 1:13 STRONG

A bundle H6872 of myrrh H4753 is my wellbeloved H1730 unto me; he shall lie H3885 all night betwixt my breasts. H7699

Song of Solomon 7:3 STRONG

Thy two H8147 breasts H7699 are like two H8147 young H6082 roes H6646 that are twins. H8380

Song of Solomon 7:8 STRONG

I said, H559 I will go up H5927 to the palm tree, H8558 I will take hold H270 of the boughs H5577 thereof: now also thy breasts H7699 shall be as clusters H811 of the vine, H1612 and the smell H7381 of thy nose H639 like apples; H8598

Song of Solomon 8:8 STRONG

We have a little H6996 sister, H269 and she hath no breasts: H7699 what shall we do H6213 for our sister H269 in the day H3117 when she shall be spoken for? H1696

Isaiah 66:10 STRONG

Rejoice H8055 ye with Jerusalem, H3389 and be glad H1523 with her, all ye that love H157 her: rejoice H7797 for joy H4885 with her, all ye that mourn H56 for her:

Jeremiah 10:5 STRONG

They are upright H4749 as the palm tree, H8560 but speak H1696 not: they must needs H5375 be borne, H5375 because they cannot go. H6805 Be not afraid H3372 of them; for they cannot do evil, H7489 neither also is it in them to do good. H3190

Ephesians 3:17 STRONG

That Christ G5547 may dwell G2730 in G1722 your G5216 hearts G2588 by G1223 faith; G4102 that G2443 ye, being rooted G4492 and G2532 grounded G2311 in G1722 love, G26

Ephesians 4:13 STRONG

Till G3360 we all G3956 come G2658 in G1519 the unity G1775 of the faith, G4102 and G2532 of the knowledge G1922 of the Son G5207 of God, G2316 unto G1519 a perfect G5046 man, G435 unto G1519 the measure G3358 of the stature G2244 of the fulness G4138 of Christ: G5547

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Song of Solomon 7

Commentary on Song of Solomon 7 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Verse 1

1 a How beautiful are thy steps in the shoes,

O prince's daughter!

The noun נדיב , which signifies noble in disposition, and then noble by birth and rank (cf. the reverse relation of the meanings in generosus ), is in the latter sense synon. and parallel to מלך and שׂר ; Shulamith is here called a prince's daughter because she was raised to the rank of which Hannah, 1 Samuel 2:8, cf. Psalms 113:8, speaks, and to which she herself, 6:12 points. Her beauty, from the first associated with unaffected dignity, now appears in native princely grace and majesty. פּעם (from פּעם , pulsare , as in nunc pede libero pulsanda tellus ) signifies step and foot, - in the latter sense the poet. Heb. and the vulgar Phoen. word for רגל ; here the meanings pes and passus (Fr. pas , dance-step) flow into each other. The praise of the spectators now turns from the feet of the dancer to her thighs:

1 b The vibration of thy thighs like ornamental chains,

The work of an artist's hands.

The double-sided thighs, viewed from the spine and the lower part of the back, are called מתנים ; from the upper part of the legs upwards, and the breast downwards (the lumbar region), thus seen on the front and sidewise, חלצים or ירכים . Here the manifold twistings and windings of the upper part of the body by means of the thigh-joint are meant; such movements of a circular kind are called חמּוּקים , from חמק , Song of Solomon 5:6. חלאים is the plur. of חלי = (Arab.) ḥaly , as חבאים (gazelles) of צבי = zaby . The sing. חלי (or חליה = Arab. hulyah ) signifies a female ornament, consisting of gold, silver, or precious stones, and that (according to the connection, Proverbs 25:2; Hosea 2:15) for the neck or the breast as a whole; the plur. חל , occurring only here, is therefore chosen because the bendings of the loins, full of life and beauty, are compared to the free swingings to and fro of such an ornament, and thus to a connected ornament of chains; for חם are not the beauty-curves of the thighs at rest, - the connection here requires movement. In accordance with the united idea of חל , the appos. is not מעשׂי , but (according to the Palestin.) מעשׂה (lxx, Targ., Syr., Venet.). The artist is called אמּן ( ommân ) (the forms אמן and אמן are also found), Syr. avmon , Jewish-Aram. אוּמן ; he has, as the master of stability, a name like ימין , the right hand: the hand, and especially the right hand, is the artifex among the members.

(Note: Vid ., Ryssel's Die Syn. d. Wahren u. Guten in d. Sem. Spr . (1873), p. 12.)

The eulogists pass from the loins to the middle part of the body. In dancing, especially in the Oriental style of dancing, which is the mimic representation of animated feeling, the breast and the body are raised, and the forms of the body appear through the clothing.


Verse 2

2 Thy navel is a well-rounded basin -

Let not mixed wine be wanting to it

Thy body is a heap of wheat,

Set round with lilies.

In interpreting these words, Hitzig proceeds as if a “voluptuary” were here speaking. He therefore changes שׁררך into שׁררך , “thy pudenda .” But (1) it is no voluptuary who speaks here, and particularly not a man, but women who speak; certainly, above all, it is the poet, who would not, however, be so inconsiderate as to put into the mouths of women immodest words which he could use if he wished to represent the king as speaking. Moreover (2) שׁר = (Arab.) surr , secret (that which is secret; in Arab. especially referred to the pudenda, both of man and woman), is a word that is

(Note: Vid ., Tebrîzi, in my work entitled Jud.-Arab. Poesien, u.s.w . (1874), p. 24.)

foreign to the Heb. language, which has for “ Geheimnis ” secret the corresponding word סוד ( vid ., under Psalms 2:2; Psalms 25:14), after the root-signification of its verbal stem (viz., to be firm, pressed together); and (3) the reference - preferred by Döpke, Magnus, Hahn, and others, also without any change of punctuation - of שׁר to the interfeminium mulieris , is here excluded by the circumstance that the attractions of a woman dancing, as they unfold themselves, are here described. Like the Arab. surr , שׁר (= shurr ), from שׁרר , to bind fast, denotes properly the umbilical cord, Ezekiel 16:4, and then the umbilical scar. Thus, Proverbs 3:8, where most recent critics prefer, for לשׁרּך , to read, but without any proper reason, לשׁרך = לשׁארך , “to thy flesh,” the navel comes there into view as the centre of the body, - which it always is with new-born infants, and is almost so with grown-up persons in respect of the length of the body, - and as, indeed, the centre. whence the pleasurable feeling of health diffuses its rays of heat. This middle and prominent point of the abdomen shows itself in one lightly clad and dancing when she breathes deeply, even through the clothing; and because the navel commonly forms a little funnel-like hollow (Böttch.: in the form almost of a whirling hollow in the water, as one may see in nude antique statues), therefore the daughters of Jerusalem compare Shulamith's navel to a “basin of roundness,” i.e. , which has this general property, and thus belongs to the class of things that are round. אגּן does not mean a Becher (a cup), but a Bechen (basin), pelvis ; properly a washing basin, ijjanah (from אגן = ajan , to full, to wash = כּבּס ); then a sprinkling basin, Exodus 24:6; and generally a basin, Isaiah 22:24; here, a mixing basin, in which wine was mingled with a proportion of water to render it palatable ( κρατήρ , from κεραννύναι , temperare ), - according to the Talm. with two-thirds of water. In this sense this passage is interpreted allegorically, Sanhedrin 14 b , 37 a , and elsewhere ( vid ., Aruch under מזג ). מזג .)מז is not spiced wine, which is otherwise designated (Song of Solomon 8:2), but, as Hitzig rightly explains, mixed wine, i.e. , mixed with water or snow ( vid ., under Isaiah 5:22). מזג is not borrowed from the Greek μίσγειν (Grätz), but is a word native to all the three chief Semitic dialects, - the weaker form of מסך , which may have the meaning of “to pour in;” but not merely “to pour in,” but, at that same time, “to mix” ( vid ., under Isaiah 5:22; Proverbs 9:2). סהר , with אגּן , represents the circular form (from סהר = סחר ), corresponding to the navel ring; Kimchi thinks that the moon must be understood (cf. שׂהרון , lunula ): a moon-like round basin; according to which the Venet., also in Gr., choosing an excellent name for the moon, translates: ῥἀντιστρον τῆς ἑκάτης . But “moon-basin” would be an insufficient expression for it; Ewald supposes that it is the name of a flower, without, however, establishing this opinion. The “basin of roundness” is the centre of the body a little depressed; and that which the clause, “may not mixed wine be lacking,” expresses, as their wish for her, is soundness of health, for which no more appropriate and delicate figure can be given than hot wine tempered with fresh water.

The comparison in 3b is the same as that of R. Johanan's of beauty, Mezîa 84 a : “He who would gain an idea of beauty should take a silver cup, fill it with pomegranate flowers, and encircle its rim with a garland of roses.”

(Note: See my Gesch. d. Jüd. Poesie , p. 30 f. Hoch (the German Solomon) reminds us of the Jewish marriage custom of throwing over the newly-married pair the contents of a vessel wreathed with flowers, and filled with wheat or corn (with money underneath), accompanied with the cry, פּרוּ וּרבוּ be fruitful and multiply.)

To the present day, winnowed and sifted corn is piled up in great heaps of symmetrical half-spherical form, which are then frequently stuck over with things that move in the wind, for the purpose of protecting them against birds. “The appearance of such heaps of wheat,” says Wetstein ( Isa . p. 710), “which one may see in long parallel rows on the thrashing-floors of a village, is very pleasing to a peasant; and the comparison of the Song; Song of Solomon 7:3, every Arabian will regard as beautiful.” Such a corn-heap is to the present day called ṣubbah , while ‛aramah is a heap of thrashed corn that has not yet been winnowed; here, with ערמה , is to be connected the idea of a ṣubbah , i.e. , of a heap of wheat not only thrashed and winnowed, but also sifted (riddled). סוּג , enclosed, fenced about (whence the post-bibl. סיג , a fence), is a part. pass. such as פּוּץ , scattered ( vid ., under Psalms 92:12). The comparison refers to the beautiful appearance of the roundness, but, at the same time, also the flesh-colour shining through the dress; for fancy sees more than the eyes, and concludes regarding that which is veiled from that which is visible. A wheat-colour was, according to the Moslem Sunna, the tint of the first created man. Wheat-yellow and lily-white is a subdued white, and denotes at once purity and health; by πυρός wheat one thinks of πῦρ - heaped up wheat developes a remarkable heat, a fact for which Biesenthal refers to Plutarch's Quaest . In accordance with the progress of the description, the breasts are now spoken of:


Verse 3

3 Thy two breasts are like two fawns,

Twins of a gazelle.

Song of Solomon 4:5 is repeated, but with the omission of the attribute, “feeding among lilies,” since lilies have already been applied to another figure. Instead of תּאומי there, we have here מּאמי ( taǒme ), the former after the ground-form ti'âm , the latter after the ground-form to'm (cf. נּאלי , Nehemiah 8:2, from גּאל = גּאל ).


Verse 4

4a Thy neck like an ivory tower.

The article in חשּׁן may be that designating species ( vid ., under Song of Solomon 1:11); but, as at Song of Solomon 7:5 and Song of Solomon 4:4, it appears to be also here a definite tower which the comparison has in view: one covered externally with ivory tablets, a tower well known to all in and around Jerusalem, and visible far and wide, especially when the sun shone on it; had it been otherwise, as in the case of the comparison following, the locality would have been more definitely mentioned. So slender, so dazzlingly white, is imposing, and so captivating to the eye did Shulamith's neck appear. These and the following figures would be open to the objection of being without any occasion, and monstrous, if they referred to an ordinary beauty; but they refer to Solomon's spouse, they apply to a queen, and therefore are derived from that which is most splendid in the kingdom over which, along with him, she rules; and in this they have the justification of their grandeur.

4 b a Thine eyes pools in Heshbon,

At the gate of the populous (city).

Hesbhon , formerly belonging to the Amorites, but at this time to the kingdom of Solomon, lay about 5 1/2 hours to the east of the northern point of the Dead Sea, on an extensive, undulating, fruitful, high table-land, with a far-reaching prospect. Below the town, now existing only in heaps of ruins, a brook, which here takes it rise, flows westward, and streams toward the Ghôr as the Nahr Hesbán . It joins the Jordan not far above its entrance into the Dead Sea. The situation of the town was richly watered. There still exists a huge reservoir of excellent masonry in the valley, about half a mile from the foot of the hill on which the town stood. The comparison here supposes two such pools, but which are not necessarily together, though both are before the gate, i.e. , near by, outside the town. Since שׁער , except at Isaiah 14:31, is fem., רבּים־בּים , in the sense of עם רבּתי , Lamentations 1:1 (cf. for the non-determin. of the adj., Ezekiel 21:25), is to be referred to the town, not to the gate (Hitz.); Blau's

(Note: In Merx' Archiv. III 355.)

conjectural reading, bath - 'akrabbim , does not recommend itself, because the craggy heights of the “ascent of Akrabbim” (Numbers 34:4; Joshua 15:3), which obliquely cross

(Note: Vid ., Robinson's Phys. Geogr. p. 51.)

the Ghôr to the south of the Dead Sea, and from remote times formed the southern boundary of the kingdom of the Amorites (Judges 1:36), were too far off, and too seldom visited, to give its name to a gate of Heshbon. But generally the crowds of men at the gate and the topography of the gate are here nothing to the purpose; the splendour of the town, however, is for the figure of the famed cisterns like a golden border. בּרכה (from בּרך , to spread out, vid ., Genesis , p. 98; Fleischer in Levy , I 420 b ) denotes a skilfully built round or square pool. The comparison of the eyes to a pool means, as Wetstein

(Note: Zeitschr. für allgem. Erdkunde , 1859, p. 157 f.)

remarks, “either thus glistening like a water-mirror, or thus lovely in appearance, for the Arabian knows no greater pleasure than to look upon clear, gently rippling water.” Both are perhaps to be taken together; the mirroring glance of the moist eyes (cf. Ovid, De Arte Am . ii. 722):

“Adspicies obulos tremulo fulgore micantes,

Ut sol a liquida saepe refulget aqua”