Song of Solomon - Grace Notes

SONG OF SOLOMON Page 29By C. F. Keil and F. Delitzscha Grace Notes studysuch a place, and would rather escape awayfrom it, he relieves her from her fear andbashfulness, for he covers her with his fearinspiring,awful, and thus surely protecting,banner; and this banner, which he waves overher, and under which she is well concealed, is“love.” דֶּ‏ גֶּ‏ ל (from גַ‏ ל ‏,דָ‏ to cover) is the name of thecovering of the shaft or standard, i.e., pannus,the piece of cloth fastened to a shaft. Like apennon, the love of the king hovers over her;and so powerful, so surpassing, is the delight ofthis love which pervades and transports her,that she cries out:5 Support me with grape-cakes,Refresh me with apples:For I am sick with love.Song 2:5. She makes use of the intensive formas one in a high degree in need of thereanimating of her almost sinking life: סִ‏ ‏ֹּמֵ‏ ‏ְך isthe intens. of מַ‏ ‏ְך ‏,סָ‏ to prop up, support, or, ashere, to under-prop, uphold; and פֵ‏ ד ‏,רִ‏ theintens. of רָ‏ פַ‏ ד (R. ‏,(רף to raise up from beneath(vid., at Prov. 7:16), to furnish firm ground andsupport. The apple is the Greek attribute ofAphrodite, and is the symbol of love; but here itis only a means of refreshing; and if thoughts oflove are connected with the apple-tree (Song2:3; 8:5), that is explained from Shulamith’srural home. Böttcher understands quinces;Epstein, citrons; but these must needs havebeen more closely denoted, as at Prov. 25:11,אֲ‏ שִ‏ ישות expression. by some addition to the(from שַ‏ ש ‏,אָ‏ to establish, make firm) are (cf. Isa.16:7; Hos. 3:1) grapes pressed together likecakes; different from ‏ֹּמּוקִ‏ ים ‏,צִ‏ dried grapes (cf.fig-cakes (Arab. dabbûle, a mass pressed ‏,(דְׁ‏ בֵ‏ לָ‏ הtogether), and πλ ῦς, placenta, from thepressed-out form. A cake is among the gifts (2Sam. 6:19) which David distributed to thepeople on the occasion of the bringing up of theark; date-cakes, e.g., at the monastery at Sinai,are to the present day gifts for the refreshmentof travellers. If Shulamith’s cry was to beunderstood literally, one might, with Noack,doubt the correctness of the text; for “lovesickness,even in the age of passion andsentimentality, was not to be cured with rosesand apples.” But (1) sentimentality, i.e.,susceptibility, does not belong merely to theRomantic, but also to Antiquity, especially inthe Orient, as e.g., is shown by the symptoms ofsympathy with which the prophets wereaffected when uttering their threatenings ofjudgment; let one read such outbreaks ofsorrow as Isa. 21:3, which, if one is disposed toscorn, may be derided as hysterical fits.Moreover, the Indian, Persian, and Arabic erotic(vid., e.g., the Romance Siret ‘Antar) is assentimental as the German has at any timebeen. (2) The subject of the passage here is notthe curing of love-sickness, but bodilyrefreshment: the cry of Shulamith, that she maybe made capable of bearing the deep agitationof her physical life, which is the consequence,not of her love-sickness, but of her lovehappiness.(3) The cry is not addressed(although this is grammatically possible, sinceto the ‏(סַ‏ ‏ֹּמֵ‏ כְׁ‏ נָ‏ ה אֹתִ‏ י = rule, is, according to סַ‏ ‏ֹּמְׁ‏ כּונִיdaughters of Jerusalem, who would in that casehave been named, but to some other person;and this points to its being taken not in a literalsense. (4) It presupposes that one came to thehelp of Shulamith, sick and reduced toweakness, with grapes and apple-scent torevive her fainting spirit. The call of Shulamiththus means: hasten to me with that which willrevive and refresh me, for I am sick with love.This love-sickness has also been experienced inthe spiritual sphere. St. Ephrem was once soovercome by such a joy that he cried out: “Lord,withdraw Thine hand a little, for my heart is tooweak to receive so great joy.” And J. R. Hedinger(†1704) was on his deathbed overpoweredwith such a stream of heavenly delight that hecried: “Oh, how good is the Lord! Oh, how sweetis Thy love, my Jesus! Oh, what a sweetness! Iam not worthy of it, my Lord! Let me alone; letme alone!” As the spiritual joy of love, so mayalso the spiritual longing of love consume thebody (cf. Job 19:27; Ps. 63:2; 84:3); there havebeen men who have actually sunk under alonging desire after the Lord and eternity. It is